Ten Things That Tell Me I'm Not In Kansas (Or Alabama) Anymore

1. Bread. The best in the world (sorry, Panera). And cheap, too.

2. Wine. The best in the world (sorry, Napa Valley). And cheap, too.

3. Food. Madame Puissant probably spends two hours every afternoon crafting a new dinner. One would describe it as "French country cooking," though that may sound a bit perjorative. Meals are very, very good, with I think the highlight being the soups. I better watch out or soon I'll end up looking like Bibenbum.

4. Transit. A great system of local busses here. And they are used! It is interesting though to see them, nearly American sized maneouvre in the medieval streets here.

5. The age of things here: a 700-year old cathedral, a medieval wall, Gallo-Roman ruins about 1700 years old, my 200+ year old classroom.

6. Cars that seem more human than our mammoth SUVs. Parking is certainly easier when you can lift your car up to the curb. Of course, one can go too far, or small, in size: every morning I walk past a parked Austin Mini (an original from the '60s) and I swear a hobbit would be cramped in one of those.

7. Ninety-minute lunches. They used to be two hours but the modern world is intruding on Tours. I certainly need the break from my morning classes.

8. Time. I have my waspy, uptight version of time, namely, being on time. Here time is a bit more fluid and relaxed. Of course, that drives me crazy.

9. Small beds. At six feet, one inch, I am scarcely a titan but at night I find that my feet are extended outside/over my mattress. I need an extension!

and last...

10. The school's "internet café." While I am glad to have this option at all since it is "free" it is often overcrowded (lines of 15 students waiting). And you may of read of the several signicant keyboard differences (a, q, w, z, m are in other places as is a "period mark" where one also has to shift in order to use it) that slow my already sluggish typing down. But the worst thing is that heat seems to be optional in the "cafe" and the option is usually to have the heat off. We are right on the street and people come in and out of the door producing a cold blast of air every few minutes. While some part of my body can take the cold very well, like my legs for running, my long, bony fingers just cannot take it at times as they become numb. As an experiment I did put on my gloves once to see if that would help but my fingers became as large as pickles as I ended up just mashing the keyboard. So, if some entries are short or emails do not abound, you know why.