Between Merry and Happy

I didn't really see what the big deal was or why people would think it'd do me good, but when I got to Madrid I could tell. I did need to get out of Paris for a bit. I'm loving Paris on a certain level, but Madrid has giddiness and open arms. Even as I waited in line at Vueling, the cute Spanish couple in front of me played and joked and smiled and giggled. An entirely different feel than Paris already.

My brain started thinking in Spanish and my body started to shed the tight enclosing.

Charles de Gaule airport looks like communist dark bread compared to Barajas' colorful breath of life beach feeling.

I had a really good time in Madrid with Rod from Scotland, Sarah from San Francisco, and Benedicte from Normandy. It certainly wasn't an average Christmas in any way. I've started uploading the photos on flickr so please go check them out. Featuring:

belly dancing at Habibi












weird collections at rastro











walking by the palace in the gardens












interesting holiday traditions











caipirinhas












Christmas in crowns!










and much much more!! Please check it out at flickr.com/photos/lr/sets


I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I was lucky to be able to celebrate with some great friends, and I also got to Skype with my parents and sister. They, of course, were in pijamas and I had already toasted with champagne. It was great to see their faces and hear their voices. I even got to see some of the crazy snow piled high in Minneapolis. Then, I checked my email and saw a lovely note from one of my aunts with an update on who's who at the farm and what the new news was. At about midnight on Christmas I got a fabulous surprise phone call from all my relatives gathered around the speakerphone at the farm. It was such a surprise and I was so thrilled to hear their voices. It is the little things that count and it really made me feel like I was a bit home with them all. Nothing felt that far away, and love was wrapped around me.

Got back into town on the 26th with a crazy fever and cough and stayed in bed for two days. Before I left Madrid I was able to grab something called Frenadol which seemed to really bring the fever to a halt and calm the dry cough that was tearing through me. When I could finally leave the apartment on Friday I went over to Darty at M: Anvers to pick up a humidifier. The shortness of breath caused me to shuffle along like an old lady - or a French person. I walk too fast generally and it's good to be forced to slow down and look at things, take them in. I'm still adjusting to Paris. I'm still adjusting to school. Sigh. Who knew I'd still have growing pains long after puberty?

I guess if I were to make a list of things wished for or resolutions for 2008, they'd be this:

- I am going to stop worrying about the money.
- I am going to spend the money for a year's membership to the gym because it's the only way I'm going to feel better about myself mentally and physically.
- I am going to open myself up to learning
- I am going to believe in myself
- I am ridding myself of fear
- I will believe I can do it
- I will ride a Velib
- I am (only) going to give loose change to someone on the street once a month
- I am going to rejoice for the smoking ban but not rub it in too hard
- I will make time for museums on the weekends
- I think I can I think I can
- I will only be confined by what I can dream for myself
- I will write more postcards
- I will try recipes for cooking
- I will create my own sunshine in these overcast days (even if it's via vitamin D)
- I will call my grandma more
- I will be more patient in waiting for some things
- I will be more available for you
- I will be more on time to class (especially French)
- I will give and offer
- I'll stop taking photos of every darn thing and try to focus more
- I will love and forgive and stop judging and gossiping
- I will thank more people more often
- I will laugh more on the metro, and louder, but not in that obnoxious USA way

Ha. Now let's see how much actually happens in 2008!

Regardless, it's going to be a new year and new 365 days with which we can do anything we choose. It's how we make it, right? And life is short so why waste time?

Thanks to you and a very Happy New Year!

Bonne et heureuse année 2008 !

The season

Well, Sarkozy is off kissing the Pope's hand. I didn't think twice-divorced people could do that. I guess even the Pope can be flexible.

Bush is denying denying denying.

The Middle East is exploding.

Former Guantanamo 'prisoners' are freed after 4 years (oh, the stories they'll tell to the world, I hope I hope I hope).

Elizabeth II outlasts the other ones and Victoria. (Cheers to health care!)

New Orleans is coming down, but not without protest.

Candidates are jabbing and smearing.


.....

I hope to pull some time tonight to post a bunch of photos I've taken over the past month. You'll be able to see Paris - the real city of lights - at the holiday season. While some neighbors have coma-inducing lights blinking up and down the street and major shopping thoroughfares have tightropes of Santa faces or miniature trees, there's no snow to make me really think it's winter or Christmas. I am not complaining - PERIOD. But I don't feel any nostalgia or wistfulness or emptiness like I would have thought. Christmas is such a family-focused holiday for me. Snow rolls in around late Oct / early Nov, the temperature drops, the TV turns up its bombardment of commercialism, lights lights up everywhere, the capitol showcases the tallest tree in the world, I feel the pressure of time to come up with the most perfect gift for friends and family and Secret Non-Secular Santa at the office, mom sends a chocolate advent calendar, I pick my days off from work, I rent the car, I agonize about the drive up to the parents because I know blizzards and ice, I drive white-knuckled up the highway with all the distracted laissez-faire drivers, mom jokes about dragging the Christmas tree out (but I know she secretly likes challenging her Martha Stewart sensibilities), dad tells us the schedule for visiting grandma and the other relatives out at the farm, my sister and I have wine and tell stories about our lives lately to catch everyone up, we still get 1 present on Christmas Eve, mom still pretends Santa drops off our stocking gifts on our section of the couches, she also still pretends we can't see them for the bed sheets she lays over them (surprise is key!), someone wakes me up in the morning because I'm lazy now, they make fun of me being grumpy before my coffee, they make me crawl to the tree and hand out the first round of gifts because I'm still the youngest, we each take turns opening and "ooooh" and "aaaah"ing over things we had on our list, we use dad's Swiss Army knife for opening the tightly taped, we toss the gift wrap into recycling, dad asks if we'd like another cup of coffee, mom asks if we want some kind of toasted fruit bread with jam, we finally finish the glutonous high of indulgence, take naps or play with our new toys, dress, head out to the farm, hugs and kisses for all the family there, wistful thoughts for those who couldn't make it, grandma gets smaller and more frail every year and her hugs are tiny and bony but man is she still alive and twinkling, we mingle in the various rooms with the various extended family, the ladies keep the food cooking (it's a matriarchy, trust me), we serve ourselves, we sit at our randomly assigned seats at the long family table (although secretly this is planned out very well by one of the younger cousins in accordance with who they want sitting next to them and then down the line), we give the Norweigen blessing, we toast with the German white wine my dad brings or someone else's wine, we eat and laugh and laugh and debate and discuss and get seconds and hug and feel full in our bellies and full in our hearts and stronger in our minds, and then we dissapate slowly with some going home or some staying (or some cousins bucking all trends and finding a downtown bar to have coctails - or maybe that's Xmas Eve only), hugs and kisses and remembering schedules as to when we'll come back out to the farm for lunch or sledding down the hill or board games or future rendezvous in other cities for those who have to leave right away.

It's sunny outside my apartment. Sunny and 39F. Not a trace of snow to inspire me to feel seasonal, although I do - now - feel a bit wistful.

Well. I've got a paper to send off to the professor today. Once we've turned it in, I'll send out the link to it on google docs. It's a group project for our Managing Innovation in the Globalising Learning Economy: "Investment in Social Capital and Cultural Industry - An Argument for Advancing Policy to Enhance Economies of Metropoles." Sounds big, feels big, but really is just a 3-part paper to look at how better petri dishes attract better bacteria to make better colonies. IE, better cities -> creative people -> stronger economy. I'm in charge of theory - UGH! - the two boys did case studies on their respective cities (Berlin, Seoul) and we 3 sent out a survey to MPA students (and you all, thank you, although you won't be taken into consideration until next semester - we're continuing with the project beyond the class even!). We were hoping to run a regression on the data we had from the survey but frankly we're just not advanced in stats enough yet to be able to set up our own data set to run it. Maybe next semester. Yeah, so I have to finish my section and do the editing on the whole thing. Hm, English as a First Language = disadvantage here.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Madrid through the 26th to hang out with a friend there. I haven't been in 10 years so I'm psyched to see how the city has changed. I don't think there will be time to sneak down to Toledo (where I studied in undergraduate) but that's okay for now. I have no idea what to expect with this trip or this holiday. It's an adventure. Fun! Of course this means I will be nose to the grind when I get back - and NOW.

So, off I go.

A very happy merry few days to you and yours. I love my friends and family. I hope you all got your gifts - my small contribution to capitalism and my very small token to show you how much you are loved and thought about abroad. To new friends, cheers and fond thoughts in your direction!

See you when I get back - before the New Year no doubt.

Between 4 papers, a few notes

NUMERO UNO: HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMANA MIA!!!! You look one day more beautiful! xoxo


1) Don't believe the hype. The world is not filled with terrorists out to get the USA. It *is* filled with people who dispise Bush and think Americans are stupid for re-electing him. But don't believe the Republican Presidential candidates when they say "be very afraid, cower, they're coming with the Atom bomb, you must hire me to protect you." And if the Dems start saying that, by god, call 'em on it.

2) I am growing a bit tired of defending or explaining my country of birth (notice: not country of growth or country of favorite countries or country where I chose to stay to do my grad work because damnit it's so great). I try in broken French to explain how I am fed up with Bush and how sorry I am for all the damage he's done to the world. I try to feel calm when a speaker/lecturer/person with whom I am speaking says several negative things in a row (almost all justified) about "America" when really they mean "Many of America's Administrations and A Lot of America's Bad Movies and Most of the Commercialism That You've Exported or Allowed Leave Your Country or Voted into Office." Also, we need to start remembering to dissociate America from The United States. My fellow Americans, from Canada to Mexico to Colombia to Chile to Argentina, don't like being associated with the America of Imposed Democracy of the US Flavor. And, *I* am not American or United Statesian in that fashion. I tell them (when it's appropriate - I'm not about to raise my hand during a workshop and say, "I'd like to clarify here that *I* in fact worked for 6 years to fight Bush's policies and didn't sleep for weeks in order to get my own state Wisconsin to vote blue." It would be tacky to turn the spotlight on me), yes, I do tell them that I did do those things and that I don't buy into buying big cars and big houses and more and more and more and more. I reduce, reuse, recycle - do you, Mr/Ms Frenchy? (Such a disapointment to see the paper mixed with the banana peels.) I tell them I don't think the Iraq or Afghan wars were justified and I supported legislators who said so, but it would be a fuckall if we ditched the countries without some kind of support structure (excuse the French). I try to tell them that I'd like to make the world a better place but usually I feel like that's a bit overstating my own powers - and seems very American - what's a better place? From whose perspective?

3) The restaurant on the corner is owned by an Indian. The shisha bars are owned by Moroccans. The new, single bed was delievered - and kindly put together - by Algerians. The boulangeries are run by French. A lot of the prostitutes and their pimps in the hotel next door are Russians. There are two massage parlors (with happy endings I think) across the street owned by Thais. My tailor and his assistant are Turk and Romanian respectively. Around the corner I've got super fried juicy Chinese food made by Chinese folks. Downstairs a few doors over, a Japanese restaurant. The woman who presses clothes in the laundromat is Colombian. Yes, I really am living and going to school in international, real world places. I don't know that I would have gotten quite this exposure in Chicago, Philly, or even London. Although, I might not get this kind of living community in other arrondissements either.

4) I am proscrastinating my papers.

5) Paris hit 32F today. It doesn't feel that cold to me though. Probably due to the lack of snow. I can see my breath outside and it's super grey cloudy. But NO SNOW! YAY!!!!

6) I got my packages in the mail today - 2 people in front of me in line only! Then again, I was at the poste at 1pm. Also, PP & Family - he said it'd take a week. Hm. Curious. I'd like to see how true this is.

7) I made a law! Or at least, that's what I want on my invisible gravestone. And a do-gooder law at that. Ok, ok, I didn't make it, and I certainly didn't make it alone and it isn't a law yet, but I did help make the "Compassionate Care for Rape Victims" bill and get it through the Wisconsin legislature in 6 years. I stayed up until 1am to catch the Assembly floor debate but they were in caucus that time. So, I asked my rockstar ex-colleagues to ping me on Skype when they went to the floor on our issue. Slept until about 5am when Andrea pinged me to wake up! wake up! wake up! Only they weren't on our issue yet. So I napped until 6am (I had already emailed my French prof that I wouldn't be in class). Woke up miraculously to the quiet call on Skype again. Got to hear the whole twisted, ugly, wonderful floor debate. Some legislators - even women - can be assholes toward rape survivors. It's shocking really. Thank goodness for the WI Eye though because now people can see them being so in real time - and later... for advertisements... or additional public viewing.... at crucial times... like maybe... election season. And again, I was in admiration of my ex-intern superstar, who during the 2nd month of her year+ long internship started speaking out about her own experience with sexual assault and the empowerment of being offered a decision about her own life through the question "Would you like to take a pregnancy preventative, Emergency Contraception?" More than I, SHE made the law.

8) We've had all the presentations on our dual-degree partners: London School of Economics, Colombia in NYC, Hertie in Berlin, Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. While I feel like I should go to Hertie in Berlin for all the practical reasons (cost, cost, cost), I think I need to follow the goals and dreams and stay here. It's exciting when people ask me if I'm going home for the holidays and I say, "Nope, I'm here for two years!" I don't think people understand it really. Why don't I want to go home? Why don't my parents love me anymore? Why doesn't my sister miss me? How could I spend the holidays ALONE? How could I not want to go BACK to my country? - I see this flash quickly across their faces. And I follow my statement up, "I told them, if they want to see me, they have to come to Paris! .. So sad, isn't it? Forced to visit Paris." and then "It's really not unusual for my family. Being in the military, we travelled a lot and spent a lot of holidays outside of the States. Plus, I'll see them next spring. Yes, I've spent Christmas away from my family. Actually, that Christmas in Portugal was momentarily kind of hard. About 4 of us exchange students were travelling in Lisboa and it was pouring rain and we took turns huddling under the umbrella and making the long-distance call home. What really got me was hearing my whole, extended family at my grandparents' farm. That's what I missed. But it's a bit different now. I'll miss them, but I'm SO excited to be away from the US and be in a foreign language country. Also, I might go to Madrid for Xmas. And, I've got friends in Paris who have all graciously offered me to join them for any holidays I can. So, no, my family haven't stopped loving me. No, I don't really want to go home yet. Nope, I won't be alone - if anything I'm sure like any other country, the Chinese restaurants are open on the 25th... Although, this IS France where no one works on Sundays so who knows!"

9) Get food in french - check. Use public transport in french - check. Get different sizes of bras (insisting on using my foreign language) in french - check. Write an email in horrible french to my cool banker - check. Give a 5 min presentation on immigrants to France from 1800s-1914 in french - check. Go to the doctor in french and not die - check. Get appropriate medications and submit the receipts for reimbursement in french - check. Get wonderful wine weekly from the corner 'cave' in french - check. Order awesome cheese in french for faux thanksgiving dinner - check. Re-order minutes on my cellphone by listening to automated prompting operator chick in french - check. Explain my political "aslyum" in french - check. Know when to ignore 'em, when to hold 'em, when to walk away, when to run in french - check. Get a date in french - check. Turn someone down in french - check. Tried to slyly weasel the student rate at the Club Med gym to a guy who turned veiny and red-faced at the thought of *me* being 32 and trying to scam the *under 28* student rate, dude, I said, it's only a question, calme, I'm not trying to make you angry in french - check. Okay, I think I've officially passed culture shock and have moved into somewhat-self-sufficiency in a foreign language. Next step is, I'm sure, The Big Argument on the street or with some kind of administrative personnel. Or, maybe The Emergency - like a pipe bursts or something comes flying through the window. I know I can call my landlord, but sometime I'd like to see if I can hack it. This would be like, Level 9 of French As French Do.

10) There are some really cool things happening around the city right now and I hope I get to catch some of them sometime (aside from the cool thing like, getting my hair trimmed because it's growing so fast!). There's this new exhibit at the national library releasing France's huge collection of erotica. "France's official hoard of erotica and pornography, lovingly assembled by the Bibliothèque Nationale over a period of 170 years, will be thrown open to the startled eyes of the public for the first time this week." ... Then there's the Academie de Musique which I won't be able to catch for the holiday season but will try for spring 08.

But for now... I need to stop procrastinating.

Happy holidays, everyone!!

xoxo

Whew. For a minute there I thought I wouldn't get a job

New report from CED on Education for Global Leadership: The Importance of International Studies and Foreign Language Education for U. S. Economic and National Security.

Excerpts below, for the full report click above.

Globalization is driving the demand for a U.S. workforce that possesses knowledge of other countries and cultures and is competent in languages other than English. Most of the growth potential for U.S. businesses lies in overseas markets. Already, one in five U.S. manufacturing jobs is tied to exports. In 2004, 58 percent of growth in the earnings of U.S. businesses came from overseas.11 Foreign consumers, the majority of whom primarily speak languages other than English, represent significant business opportunities for American producers, as the United States is home to less than five percent of the world’s population. And trade is shifting to different parts of the world; our annual trade with Asia is now approaching $800 billion—out-pacing our trade with Europe.

It may come as no surprise then, that a 2002 survey of large U.S. corporations found that nearly 30 percent of the companies believed they had failed to exploit fully their international business opportunities due to insufficient personnel with international skills. Th e consequences of insufficient culturally competent workers, as identified by the firms, included: missed marketing or business opportunities; failure to recognize important shifts in host country policies toward foreign-owned corporations; failure to anticipate the needs of international customers; and failure to take full advantage of expertise available or technological advances occurring abroad. Almost 80 percent of the business leaders surveyed expected their overall business to increase notably if they had more internationally competent employees on staff.

For example, when Microsoft Corporation developed a time zone map for its Windows 95 operating system, it inadvertently showed the region of Kashmir lying outside the boundaries of India. India banned the software, and Microsoft was forced to recall 200,000 copies of the off ending product. Other examples of such avoidable mistakes include software distributed in Turkey that contained a map that explicitly labeled “Kurdistan,” a crime in Turkey, or the video game that off ended Arab countries by including Arabic chanting of the Koran to accompany violent scenes in the game.28 In addition to the adverse economic consequences of such mistakes to individual companies, they foster negative attitudes toward America, as the mistakes are rarely viewed as accidents by the off ended countries, but instead are considered negligent indifference or intentional slights attributed to all U.S. companies.

The need for language expertise and cultural competence is only expected to grow. About 40 percent of the companies in a 2002 survey reported that their international sales are growing more rapidly than domestic sales, and more than 60 percent said that over the next decade they expected the proportion of their sales revenue from other countries to increase.

America may be the world’s only military superpower, but U.S. businesses cannot always insist on their way of doing things if they want to do business with the rest of the world.30 To be successful abroad, American business leaders have to understand the minds and preferences of people and cultures very different from their own. However, American business executives lag behind their European peers when it comes to language skills. Th e average number of languages spoken by American business executives is 1.5, compared with an average of 3.9 languages spoken by business executives in the Netherlands.31 In international business negotiations, managers are at a disadvantage if they must rely on a translator to communicate their message.


Many corporations, especially multinationals, tend to emphasize cultural competence more than foreign language skills,* but many still rate language skills as important.35 In fact, in one survey of human resource managers, participants reported that proficiency in a foreign language was a consideration in hiring decisions at 42 percent of firms, and 66 percent considered it in making retention decisions.36 For businesses of all sizes, having an appreciation for cultural differences and a global business perspective are very important for all employees and managers, even for those in domestic positions.37 Looking across all sectors (public, for-profit, non-profit), cross-cultural competence† was rated as the fifth most important attribute (of nineteen) of a successful professional in an organization with a global mission.38 Employees who demonstrate cultural competence are more likely to be selected for and perform well on global teams, which can lead to greater success and advancement within the organization.

* One explanation for why foreign language skills are not as highly rated is that employers see foreign language education as more literary (e.g., reading and writing) than applied (e.g., speaking skills for social and business interaction)

The language needs are most acute in such critical, less-commonly taught languages as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian/Farsi, Russian and Turkish.

Ban on indoor smoking

This shisha bar is on my street, along with about 6 more or so. I have yet to hang out in a shisha bar in Paris, but tried it back in Madison at The Casbah restaurant/bar. They, too, stopped serving shisha when Madison banned indoor smoking. I don't think it's hypocritical to allow an amendment for exceptions for these bars. But, man, am I excited for the ban next year!!

What's your opinion?

Subject: Survey on social and cultural capital and decision makers - we need your help

I recently developed a survey with two colleagues for our course, Managing Innovation in the Globalising Learning Economy.

The survey is designed for Master of Public Policy / Master of Public Affairs students in the Global Public Policy Network, and young to mid-career professionals. It is a portion of a group work project on the importance of cultural attractiveness of cities, the impact of that importance on economic growth, and the potential of attracting future decision-makers.

Take the survey!

(We'll collect final results for our paper on December 19th but feel free to participate any time.)

photos, policy, papers and rain

There are about 700 photos in the "Berlin" category. It's the down-side of digital cameras.

I'm thinking about policy all the time and how it's made. Luckily, unlike everyone else in the class, I have a good grasp on the practical steps, actors, processes, institutions, and politics behind policy making. Narrowing my topic down, but sticking to comparative analysis of prostitution laws: regulation, decriminalization, regulation. I absolutely love having access to all kinds of journals, Lexis Nexis, etc. So much knowledge! So much info!

More papers coming down the pipeline. Our last day of one of my classes today.

I went out last week for colleagues' birthdays and ended up at Favala Chic. Great dancing music but drinks at 10E is too much for me.

We celebrated a late Thanksgiving at my colleague, Dena's place. Those photos are forth-coming. She was so kind as to cook me up some nice salmon. I brought the French cheeses for tasting. Plenty of wine. Great company.

It's been raining since Sunday with only short intervals of dry. Seems like everyone's getting pounded with wetness in northern hemispheres. Hope the snow doesn't make its way over here. And I hope everyone's safe and sound!