Jet Lag Reflections

At 4:30 AM this morning, I stood between my washer and dryer, waiting for the iron to heat up. It was pitch black outside but my three kids were wide awake in the family room, laughing along with the canned laughter track in response to the latest inane dilemma of Zack and Cody. Jet lag is brutal when you don't understand the concept of Greenwich Mean Time.

The minute we landed, we plunged right back into the minutia of suburban living. The calendar is filled with end of year school activities from Bella's Daisy/Brownie bridging ceremony (the reason for the pre-dawn ironing) to Jack's last day of school tomorrow. Our dance card is rapidly filling up with last play dates and final goodbyes now that we are weeks away from our move. If that wasn't enough, our stress is compounded by the fact that our house sale fell through at the last minute because the buyer lost his job and our house is back on the market.

Instead of dwelling on my growing to do list, I combed through the rapidly fading memories of our trip instead. Two overhead conversations stood out, really highlighting the differences in our cultures.

Conversation #1:
I'm standing in the pharmacy administering some ear drops in Bella's ear (pharmacists in France are very proactive in giving out medicine, even without a prescription - when Bella developed an ear infection and pink eye after landing, the pharmacist hooked us up with medicine that cleared both up in two days) when a man walks in with his wife.

The husband walks up to the counter and asks for a weight loss pill, one of the many weight loss remedies, creams, lollipops and drops advertised in the pharmacy.

Pharmacist: "Cela marche bien ces comprimes?" (Do these pills work for you?)
Husband: "Ouais. Pas mal. Evidemment, je devrais courir, mais j'ai deja essaye cela. J'ai mis mes baskets, et j'ai couru pendant dix minutes. L'horreur." (Yeah. Pretty good. Of course, I should run, but I already tried that. I put on my sneakers and I ran for 10 minutes. A horror."
Pharmacist: "Ah oui. L'horreur totale." (Oh yes, a complete nightmare)

And the slim man walked off with his wife and their weight loss pills.

Conversation #2:
A man walks by with his two little girls who appear to be about 5 and 3. The three year old stumbles clumsily and he catches her saying:
"Oh la! Marie, qu'est ce que tu as? Tu as bu, ou quoi? Tu t'es arretee au cafe pour boire un Ricard?"
"Wow! Marie, what's wrong with you? Are you drunk? Did you stop at the cafe to drink a Ricard (strong licorice liquor)?"