Daylight Saving Time

No need to reset your clocks (over here in Europe we did it), but just remember that there's an extra hour of time difference now. When I woke up this morning it was nice knowing that I had an extra hour of sleep. I woke up at 8:00 reset the clock and slept for another two hours. I'm gonna hate giving back the one hour in the spring!

Next Course: Strategy -> Accounting!

Tomorrow I start accounting, which is actually more interesting than I thought, since I'm finally learning the conventions that are used in income statements and balance sheets.

Up until now those numbers have not really made sense but today in the text I came across terms like Price/Earning ratios and dividend/yield ratios and am starting to learn the basic vocabulary of accounting.

It's also comforting to know that for every "left" transaction there is always a "right" transaction meaning that you can sort of check yourself as you go along.

I'm practicing these things manually but doing them on Excel to make sure that the numbers add up is also a lot of fun. I would hate to have to deal with the millions of transaction that real accountants have to deal with, though ...!

OL wins again! 13th straight victory, 1-0 over Nancy

An unusual Sunday night home game, starting at 21:00 local time because of television (the other match being broadcast started at 5:30). I studied until right before the game, then caught a combination of bicycle/metro (2 transfers) and got to the park in under 30 minutes.

Again, sitting in the end zone bleachers I had to ward off the high winds and even put my hood on to keep out the cold, but it was an exciting tense game with OL opening up the scoring and holding on to the lead to win 1-0.

With second-place Marseilles losing and their opponents, third-placed Nancy, losing tonight, OL has opened up a huge lead not even halfway into the season, 11 and 12 points between them and these two teams. That gives them a large cushion, but I hope that they can maintain the intensity and not become complacent about such a margin.

With several of their forwards injured, their star midfielder Juninho was playing up in the front in an attacking position and they juggled around some of the people in the midfield. Unlike some of the other matches that I've been too OL lacked some of the bluster that helps them dominate matches, but they played hard on defense and gave the opposition few chances to score (I can't remember the other side getting off too many shots from play).

Today was the fifth time this year that they had "guichets fermés," or "closed ticketboxes" which means that they were completely sold out. While some stadiums in Spain have upwards of sixty or eighty thousand seats, Gerland here in Lyon is a cosy little 40,000 seats and even up in the nosebleed seats where I sit you have an excellent view of the stadium down below.

I saw the same guys sitting around me that I always see, the same season ticket holders. Nobody's ever said anything to me, but I suppose that one of these days they'll get up enough nerve to ask, what the heck I'm doing here at the games all the time.

EUROMILLIONS -- Still Climbing!

I still haven't won the lottery yet, but as long as they keep rolling over the payout, I'm gonna give it a try. Look at it: 111 million and still going strong!

Responsible Globalization Workshop in Lyon

Yesterday (Thursday) I attended the first half of a giant conference in the Cite Internationale complex near the Parc Tete d'Or. The topic was "Responsible Globalization" and academics and business people from all over Europe and Africa (only a few from Asia) came for two days of round-table discussions and workshops.

The starting point was the often-cited fact that 90% of the world's population lives on less than 2 euros a day and that globalization made good sense economically but was destroying the livelihoods of local producers across the planet -- even here in France.

The seminars I found somewhat dull, if not academic, but the booths that various NGOs had put up caught my eye. How exactly were they going to market their message to the people assembled there, some of the richest and most powerful consumers?

There was a particularly thoughtful display talking about the possibility of "responsible tourism" rather than the resort-based tourism that consumes an amount of resources proportionally excessive to the number of people it serves (one example: golf courses, and the enormous amounts of water that they consume). But many of the outfits were selling "fair trade" items that were made abroad and which sold at substantially higher prices than the ones that you find in a drugstore or supermarket. Were they as good or better than the everyday ones, in order to justify the higher prices? (Always the question)

Incidentally, logistically, this seminar was a nightmare, with rooms poorly marked and a lunch line that was so disorganized that the lines overflowed with people and there was no place for people to put their dirty dishes .... so people stacked their dishes and leftover food on top of each other. People were also fighting each other to get at the coffee and wine. Forget civility!

++++++++++++++++

LINK:
Official Site of Conference
http://www.global-economic-and-social-forum.com/

A briefcase provided to all participants, as well as headphones to which were broadcast the simultaneous interpretations into English and French of the guest speakers' remarks. Yes, they work like mini-FM radios. Manufactured by Sennheiser!

LYON: Successful in the League Cup, Too!
Olympique Lyonnais (OL) snatches victory from PSG ... this time in the final minutes!
Again I left early (to avoid the crowd) with Lyon down 1-0 and headed for defeat in the last five minutes ... but Sylvain Wiltord scores twice (!?) in the final minutes to give OL a shocking victory over Paris St-Germain, one of their arch-rivals.
This match was not an official league match and so OL fielded a different lineup than usual, with some players coming off the injured reserve list, and their lack of game time recently showed with the on-and-off coordination of passes. Finally towards the end, with their backs against the wall, OL showed some determination, but ... unfortunately I left too early again to miss the excitement.
Two goals in the final three minutes!
This victory puts Lyon in the final eight for the League Cup (unrelated to the Champions League cup), which meets again, what, maybe next year?
The nice thing about this match was that the tickets were not covered by the season ticket pass and so you saw a lot of fans who were not usually there, especially children (the ticket prices were probably set low to encourage fans who would otherwise not be able to come, to make it out).

Strong Police Presence Yesterday at Part Dieu Shopping Center

Yesterday, on my way back from the factory tour of Renault and a washing-machine factory, I stopped over at Part-Dieu shopping center, right in front of the Part Dieu train station. As I got off, there were police stationed inside the subway terminal and then again near the exits. Going up to the ground floor I saw more police there again, and then others scattered throughout the commercial center.

It would not be unusual to find a few police waiting near the subway exits, but I found it strange that the police would be waiting here on a school day. Or perhaps I had gotten it all wrong: were the schools already on vacation? And why were there so many of them?

Some of the shops had shuttered up early, as of 5 p.m. Was it inventory season? Nothing seemed to make sense.

And then, today, on the top page of Yahoo.fr: police are on alert, one year after the November 2005 riots that spread across parts of the major cities throughout France. Incidents over the weekend between residents of the Paris suburbs and police have spooked the security forces and put them on high alert.

I am sure in the Part Dieu shopping center they were not bracing for major rioting or the like, but rather vandalism, breaking of shop windows, small fights between rival groups and so on.

++++++++++

LINK:

Article from UK Guardian newspaper
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,1929736,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1

Lunch at Carnegie Hall?

Don't ask why, but the place we stopped by for lunch was called (get this) Carnegie Hall. Which is sort of like opening up a steak house in the U.S. and calling it "Opera Bastille" and hoping no one gets the joke. I explained it to a French person, who was shocked to hear that a steak house could share a name with a concert hall.

Apparently, this place is famous for its steaks and there's actually an open kitchen area where slabs of beef hang on meat hooks and a butcher prepares the steaks for that day's meal right on-site. So it is pretty fresh and good meat, in theory.

The meal itself was nice. A nice large salad to start the meal, then a 6 oz steak served with green beans and potatoes au gratin, followed by a dessert of apple tart, ice cream and coffee. The steak was a little bit overdone (my colleagues and I asked for "à point" (medium-rare) but ended up with "bien-cuit" (well-done); another person who had asked for "saignant" (rare) ended up with something done medium) but it was nice to have a real steak for the first time here in Lyon. Oh, and to go with the meal, some very nice red wine.

Incidentally, this restaurant is near the Stade Gerland area where I go to watch the OL soccer games on weekends. Evidently there's a lot of eateries in this area and I might go and eat there with some classmates next week Wednesday before we watch the OL team take on Kiev in a Champions League match.

Renault Trucks Engine Factory Tour

Our class visited the Renault Trucks engine manufacturing plant in Venissieux, on the outskirts of Lyon. Despite its name Renault Trucks actually belongs to the Volvo group (together with Mack Trucks) and has nothing to do with Renault's car division.

We were allowed on the floor (no cameras, of course) to see up close the production process, which makes substantial use of robotics (manufactured by an Italian company called COMAU) and droids which look to have arrived right out of Star Wars.

The detailed explanations of how engines were produced piece-by-piece went over most of our collective heads, but almost all of us found ourselves mesmerized at the giant red and black robots that expertly weld or drill or cut with precision and without fatigue throughout the day. Of course, there are humans nearby to monitor the progress of each robot but each part of the process -- cutting, welding, assembly -- has at least some part of the process is automated and quality control is also assured electronically.

Inventory is also controlled by Wi-Fi and barcoding, so that whenever a part is needed people on the factory floor scan bar codes on the boxes holding their parts. That message is conveyed over to men on forklifts who look at their computer screens to see what part and where it needs to be delivered. No loss of motion, no mixed messages, all in all, extremely efficient.

In the last part of the tour, there were these automatic yellow "droid" carts which shuttled finished engine assemblies over to a testing area. No one was driving them and if someone walked in front of them their sensors detected the person and they immediately stopped. Just like those droids in the floating worlds of Star Wars. (For George Lucas to have imagined all this thirty years ago!)

Lyon Victorious, Again, at Marseilles, 4-1

I took a break from working on my report and headed over to a pub where the game was being broadcast on a large screen. When I arrived there the place was already packed and I had to settle for a place standing in the center of the restaurant, beer in hand.

It was a hardly fought game between the two arch-rivals (Marseilles is in second place and fighting to stay within reach of league leaders OL), but at one point in the second half one of the Marseilles players spiked one of the OL players and earned himself an immediate ejection. So for much of the second half the Olympique Marseilles (OM) team was playing with only ten men. And it came back to haunt them as OL scored three times on some magnificent teamwork over the last twenty minutes. Goal after goal after goal.

The defense, which had been left open in order to allow OM to attack and score, allowed some fine passes to reach the front line and the OL offense put away the goals all too clinically.

This victory puts Lyon up eight points over second-place OM and one has to hope that they can keep up this mercurial pace.

Mussels for Lunch on Rue Merciere

A couple of us got together after working on the report and had mussels at the place which I introduced in an earlier entry, bleu de toi. Only this time I took a photo of the meal.

A large bucket of mussels (much larger than the serving at Plouf!) with a house salad and french fries for 12,40 EUR ($16, tip and tax included) and house wine for 3,50EUR. It kept me filled and I almost didn't feel like eating dinner tonight but I knew if I didn't eat that I would be hungry around midnight or 1 a.m.

Wildlife in Lyon

One night on our way back from working on our report last week, I saw a small hare run into the woods at our school. Today, on my way up the stairs to our so-called cubicles ("boxes") I saw this adorable brown frog. (No, of course, I jest, I actually prefer bright green frogs.)

The week that never ends, the paper that never ends

We had a group presentation on Accor, the company that runs the Mercure, Ibis and Sofitel hotel chains in Europe and other locations throughout the globe, on Monday and I and my colleagues have been tackling a final report that we have to submit this Tuesday. No matter how much time we seem to spend on it, the report refuses to be finished and it looks like we will have to work late until the deadline on Tuesday.

Part of it comes from the fact that some sections of the report were written without citing evidence to support the arguments and so I and a couple of the main actors in our group have had to search all over the Web for evidence one way or another to support the assertions made in those sections. Add to those tasks editing the whole report (English being a second language for half the team) and you have a recipe for a time-consuming disaster.

After spending all morning and all early evening on the paper, like this past Tuesday, I went out for a beer at a pub about five minutes walk from my place. One of my classmates, a Russian guy who enjoys watching soccer, joined me at the pub and we watched Lyon demolish Marseilles in front of a full house at Marseilles (more on that in another entry, I think).

Now I'm back working on the report, a little bit refreshed from not having to think about it for an hour or so ...

Looking forward to Lunchtimes during the Long Days of Lectures

Recent meals have been not that bad. Over the last two days in fact, I've had stewed duck and stewed beef brisket, really nice with French bread. The salads have been excellent too, with seafood one day and artichoke hearts, today. It's a real nice way to get a balanced meal, important since I've been eating a light dinner and usually late.

With us stuck in the classrooms all day from 8:30 to 4:30, I relish my one hour to forget about classes and just shoot the breeze with my classmates over a hot lunch.

Instead of choosing a dessert, I've been choosing an orange, which I take home and eat with dinner or as a snack. They're really juicy and a terrific way to finish off my dinner meals.

On the left: stewed beef, with a plate of cauliflower au gratin and past shells, and a full salad.

Still dark at 7:30 AM!

Up until a few days ago, I had been walking down about five minutes to a bus stop from where I caught a bus that stops right in front of my campus, but for the last few days I've tried a new strategy to get a seat on the bus.

From right in front of my apartment, I take a bus going in the opposite direction towards the center of town, get off there and instead get on the same bus going to my school at an earlier bus stop.

During summer, it was quite bright at 7:30 in the morning but now it's dark, and I can imagine it'll get even worse up until the middle of the summer. Who knows, sunrise at 8:30, sunset at 4:30?

Rhubarb jam by Bonne Maman

I first tasted rhubarb this summer at my homestay family's house and was pleased to find that Bonne Maman, a brand of jam available even in Japan, was offering three jars for the price of two at Carrefour a couple of weeks ago. In addition, as you can see from the photo, the bottle is offering 20% extra. What a deal (and what a treat it is).
In the back is my trusty toaster, two slices at a time.

Coussins de Lyon: Too Pretty to Eat?

While waiting for a bus on my way home, I saw this advertisement for Coussin de Lyon (literally "cushion of Lyon"), a dessert made by the local confectioner Voisin.

I haven't had the chance to try it (they're terribly expensive) but are apparently made of almond paste flavored with curacao liqueur and filled with chocolate ganache.

Sounds delicious.

There's an excellent explanation of these coussins on the following blog:

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2006/01/coussin_de_lyon.php

The maker, Voisin, has its own page here:
http://www.chocolat-voisin.com/chocolats/specialite-lyonnaises-coussin-de-lyon.html

Feel free to browse the items there, then check out the price (and don't cringe now) here:
http://www.achat-lyon.com/pro423-Coussin-de-Lyon.htm

18 pieces for ... !!!

Champions League: Lyon wins again, convincingly, in frigid Kiev, 3-0

Just three days after their hard-won victory against local rivals St-Etienne, OL took on Kiev in frigid weather. Players were bundled up and so were fans; the pitch, from the way it looked on TV, was either damp and slippery from snow or rains.

In spite of the less than ideal conditions, OL managed to score three times and put away the game before the start of the second half. Just days after their victory in Lyon, captain Juninho and left midfielder Abidal were rested early in the second half so as to not completely exhaust them (another big match, against division rivals Olympique Marseille (OM) awaits them this weekend) .

I took a break from studying Accounting (yes, we finished strategy today, we begin financial accounting tomorrow), and went down to a pub down in Place des Terreaux where I was able to watch the game projected onto a large screen. I disciplined myself to study hard until the end of the first half and headed down shortly before ten PM ... but I'll be studying another hour or so before going to bed and trying to get enough sleep for yet another long day tomorrow.

---
LINK

OL Home Page:
http://www.olweb.fr/index.php?pid=0&lng=en

Writeup of the match probably available later on today.

Sunday / On the other bank of the Saone ...

On Sunday, I visited three markets -- the pet and farmer's market at Perrache, the vegetable and fruit market on the Bellecour end of the Saone river, and then, an artists' market just on the other side of the Saone river.

As I had never ventured over to the other side of the Saone on a Sunday, I was surprised to find painters hawking their paintings, which ranged from cutesy manga-like designs to dark, Francis Bacon-like oil paintings reaching upwards of 1000 EUR ($1300) for large museum-sized canvases. As I was just browsing through the offerings, I didn't find anything that I would've liked to buy for myself, but I suppose I'll be browsing here more often.

Bizarre Sport (or at Least It Just Sounds Bizarre)

I'll let you guys figure out what this is.


----
LINK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Poi_spinning

How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?

Today was Sunday and I had an errand down at Gare Perrache train station, and every Sunday they have a small market there with vegetable stalls and, get this, booths selling live animals. Not for cooking (heavens, no!), but for house pets. There were several kinds of small dogs and puppies (some as much as 1000 EUR for purebreds) and only a couple breeds of cats, but they were all quite popular with the children who wanted to pet the oh-so-cute puppies (while completely ignoring the signs on the cages saying, "Don't stick your fingers in the cages, please!").

There was also a booth selling all kinds of doggie beds and bones and leashes and collars. There must be some truth to the rumor that the French love their dogs!

TCL Workers: Going on Strike This Week (Again)

After one week of strikes during morning rush hour, some of the unions have urged its workers to observe a strike during the peak periods of the evening, between 5 and 6 p.m.

Hopefully, they won't call for a strike for the whole day or the whole evening, as that could easily cripple the transport network.

On the home page of the TCL, the management Keolis "deplores these strikes which create havoc in the delivery of this public service and do not conform to the fundamental values of providing a service to the public."

-----

LINK:

TCL Strike Notice (in French)
http://www.tcl.fr/home/default_home/en_savoir_plus.asp?id=9

Lyon Wins Again, This Time in Final Minutes: 2-1

Lyon took on St. Etienne in a so-called "derby" match, between neighbors in the Rhone-Alpes region, and towards the end (when I left) it looked as if the match was headed for a tie. With less than ten minutes left to go, a St. Etienne defender fouled a Lyon player and was sent off with a red card, giving Olympique Lyonnais (OL) a penalty kick. But the captain Juninho missed the kick and the game seemed to be headed for a tie. I left early so as not to be crushed by the crowd and missed the game-winning goal several minutes later, in the final minutes of the game.

Passions were running high in today's game. I was sitting in the Lyon side, along with several thousand other fans, but maybe a few hundred brave St. Etienne fans sat on the opposite end in one corner of the Virage Sud (South end zone). Between them and the OL fans stood a phalanx of security personnel. Even with them there there was always the threat of some violence; in fact, out of frustration at Juninho's missed penalty, one fan threw a lit flare into the St. Etienne stands. This is not child's play: with such firewords, somebody could easily get burnt. Security personnel were kept busy extinguishing flares lit and thrown at the field by the rowdy OL fans.

So much for the notion of "polite" French here: fans were cursing the referee, whistling and booing the St. Etienne players each time they threatened to score. It was quite a tense match and I'm glad that in the end OL won.

The rivalry was much more palpable than that between the teams playing in the World Cup. After all, in the world cup, many of the players playing for the national teams know each other from the European leagues and so after the matches it was not unusual for them to hug and exchange jerseys after the match. No such politesses here.

The photo here was taken after OL broke open the scoring in the second half. More than during the other matches, fans were waving their flags to support the team.

===========

LINK:

English page of the OL team is here
http://www.olweb.fr/index.php?pid=0&lng=en

Results of this match are posted on the page.
The link (as of today, 15 Oct 2006) is
http://www.olweb.fr/index.php?lng=en&m=707&pid=105001

Friday the 13th: Supposedly a Good Day for the Lottery Here in France

Here in France, just as in the U.S., Friday the 13th is not one of the more auspicious days, but the company that runs the national lottery here has turned the superstition on end through marketing campaigns and made it a "lucky" day to play the lottery.

Currently the Euromillions lottery (spread across several European countries) is running with a jackpot of 60+ million Euros and no one seems to be able to win it, so it keeps rolling over and getting bigger and bigger. Check out the poster here: a maximum winning of 78 million Euros (to be divided among the person or persons with the correct numbers)!

TCL - Full-Fledged Strike!

Well, the day finally arrived, when a strike by some of the unions whose workers work for the TCL finally paralyzed the entire network. Up until now, I've been able to manage because the effect of the strikes have been limited, but today, ...!

Just to be sure I got to school today I got up at 6 A.M. and got out of my house before 7 A.M. Fortunately the bus running in front of my house was right there and I was able to get down to the center of town without having to rent a bicycle or walking.

And so I stood there without knowing if a bus was going to come or not. Slowly but surely a group of people gathered around the same bus stop and waited anxiously.

Finally at 7:15 the bus came and we left with a full load at 7:29. By the time we arrived at school we were maybe 130% of capacity and straining to get there.

Going home was another story though. Since the non-French students had French classes until 7:30 all seven of us piled into a hatchback (yes, maybe a VW Golf-sized car) and headed towards downtown. It was quite comical, four Americans in the backseat and one Candian, one Russian and a Mexican sitting on his lap ... but we were all in good humor and we told jokes all the way back. Well, not jokes, but we kept each others spirits high. Even talked about having a Mexican-themed party sometime before the end of the year ...!

On my way back I rented a bicycle (the VeloV I've written about earlier) but since everybody had the same idea, I couldn't find a berth to return the bike, sort of like the way one circles around Chinatown looking for a parking space. Finally after backtracking downtown I managed to find an open stall and walked back to my apartment.

Strikes are certainly a lot of inconvenience (the B metro line was out of service today, forcing one of my friends to literally walk from one station down to Part Dieu train station because he had no other options), but they make the times when you do have service that much more sweet!

MEAL at Ecole Centrale

Roast chicken, mystery vegetable in cream with rice, choice of salad (I took taboule salad, which is like cold couscous), and dessert (I took applesauce).

Really filling meal, although today the lines were quite long.

France 5-0 Victory over Faroe Islands!

After a humbling defeat by lower-ranked Scotland last Saturday, France came back and pummeled Faeroe Islands 5-0. Two forwards substituted late in the game scored a total of three goals to propel the French team back on track to qualify for the Euro 2008 regional championship. There's still no guarantee that France will qualify but it was a needed boost to their self-confidence and proof that they still had the stuff to win, which they did (even though the Faroe Islands rank ... well, 179th in the world.)

Funny thing I noticed, the players on the Faroe Islands team have Scandinavian-sounding names. Perhaps that's because of the geography? Bust out the maps!

====

LINK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands

STRATEGIC THINKING -- Diving Right In

On the heels of Marketing we started Strategic Thinking today. I'm surprised to see how much of it is mathematical in theory although in this course I think we'll be dealing more in general terms than with numbers.

Basically the idea behind strategy is to find a way of using resources and capabilities to provide a firm with a competitive advantage which it can use to outperform competitors in a given industry. These can be due to economies of scale or to innovation, but they provide a firm with a means of acheiving levels of profit above "competitive parity," i.e., "above-average returns."

Companies like Southwest Airlines or Wal-Mart, which dominate the field they're in for various reasons, have certain competitive advantages which allow them to profit even in the face of competition with other firms.

Strategy, then is the way, is a method in which these firms use their advantages to maximize value for stakeholders, who are not only shareholders but also people who have a vested interest in the firm: the employees, the communities, the buyers and suppliers affiliated with the company and so on.

Back in the Grind: Two Days of Marketing, Finished; Next, Strategic Management

The final two days of Marketing Management classes ended today with our presentation of a case study on Virgin Atlantic Airways. From tomorrow, we start another four-day course on Strategic Management, after which there will be a 20-page paper and presentation by the group, to be followed in December by a long exam.

No let up until December, that's why the break in the last week of October will be really, really nice. Sleep in late, get ahead on the next month's reading material.

Marketing was especially interesting, because using a broader definition allows you to see it as a comprehensive method of promoting and developing a product, rather than just "selling" it to the consumer.

It was also interesting to learn that an innovative product or servivce has to win over the hearts not only of the consumer but also of the people inside the company. In the case studies that we studied, good products were sometimes spoiled by an inadquate commitment by the sales staff or management within the company.

Just Up the Road from the Sunday Market: Bouquinistes, or Used Book Sellers

The Sunday market goes halfway up the main part of the quai along the Saone, and for another two hundred meters after that the bouquinistes peddle their used books. During the week, they keep their collections in the metal cabinets that you can maybe see in the center of the picture. These cabinets are attached to the bridge along the quai and (I assume) are locked.

However, there are no real bargains to be found here, as the cheapest books (even paperbacks) start at around 3-5 EUR and some larger books can even command prices in the 10 EUR range.

Sunday Market Update: Walnuts and Chestnuts

Fall has arrived! And following on the heels of oysters which made their arrival late last month, both walnuts and chestnuts have started to appear at the Sunday market on the Saone where I go every Sunday.

The walnuts are from Grenoble and the chestnuts, come from Ardeche, both areas in the Rhone-Alpes region.

I had heard that all the best foods of the region (or perhaps even of the country) converge upon Lyon but I had never understood what that meant until I came here.

Today I only ended up buying oranges from Valencia (spain), for 4 kilos (9 lbs) for 2 EUROs. I have doubts about their juiciness but I'm willing to try them.

Shocking Loss for France National Team (Soccer):1-0 Defeat at Hands of Scotland

France lost to Scotland this past Saturday, 1-0, in the qualifying rounds for the Euro2008 regional championships. Quite an embarrassing loss for the French, ranked 2nd in the world. Scotland is ranked 34th (still higher than Japan) but perhaps the French team went in with a little too much confidence. This Wednesday they play the Faeroe Islands, a small team which nevertheless has tied England (or was it Germany) once before. If the French team doesn't come in and dominate the game like they did against Italy ....

Celebration, French Style? After-Statistics Lunch Party

I took the initiative to organize a champagne brunch for the people in my class after the statistics test, knowing that we had to celebrate the end of our first grand task together. And why not with champagne!

For this feast, for 24 people, we readied six bottles of champagne, four bottles of wine, 10 bottles of mineral water, chips, desserts, 1/2 a sandwich per person, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, chips and finger foods, cookies ... and it all worked out so well! (Sorry that the picture of the desserts is so small, it was taken on a cell (mobile) phone.)

The budget was 10 EUR (my idea, keep it easy) and of 31 students in our class 24 agreed to share the afternoon together.

Moreso than the champagne and the food itself, just seeing everybody smiling was worth all the effort put into arranging all this.

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PHOTO: Carrefour Dessert platter, 6 EURO ($8US) for bite-sized morsels of desserts, 15 pieces. An Excellent Deal.

Lunch at the Ecole Centrale (Yes, Again)

I know you may be nodding your heads about my constant talking about lunch at the Ecole Centrale, but I tend to think that it's a really good deal, for 2,90 EUR.

I mean, look at this lunch, for example: an entree of stewed beef, a side of garlic flavored carrots and a mystery potato souffle (?), sausage and lentils salad, and a dessert of Nestle dark chocolate mousse ...!

Sorry for keeping you guys hanging! Finally the Statistics Test, finished!

After Microeconomics, our class started a four-day crash course on Marketing, on Wednesday and Thursday, but the statistics test which we just had today (Saturday) was probably on everybody's mind (mine, too) and I just had no way of letting you know what was going on.

Well, the statistics test is over, and are we all relieved. It was only seventy questions in three hours, but some people evidently had some trouble finishing the test. I suppose I might've been one of them too, were it not for a number of spreadsheet templates that one of my classmates circulated to us three weeks before the test.

With these templates all the calculations come out pretty easily and it's just a matter of interpreting them. Many of them talk about p-values and n and critical this or that, but if you know what you're doing they're really quite a time-saver.

To pass this course, all you need is 10/20 and I'm sure I passed all right. Now I can get back to a regular life and enjoying my time in Lyon ... tonight it's a game between France and Scotland for the Euro 2008. Hmmm?

Concert at Transbordeur, 20 October

I just saw an ad in today's newspaper for a concert at the Transbordeur, a former factory which has been converted into a concert hall. The band Snow Patrol will be playing there, together with two other bands, for the unbelievable price of 15 EUR ($20) (price to see all three bands!)

It's a back-to-school event sponsored by a radio station, I think, but it's a Friday night, no classes (or if there are, after classes), and I think it might be possible to make it. So I'm going to see if there are any takers among my colleagues and maybe go to see them.

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LINKS

Snow Patrol

http://www.snowpatrol.com/

Europe 2 (sponsor of the concert) Campus Tour
http://www.europe2.fr/radio/europe2-campus-tour/

Transbordeur (official home page)
http://www.transbordeur.fr/transbordeur.php4

From Microeconomics to Marketing --

Monday and Tuesday was an intensive introduction to Microeconomics, but having prepared over the weekend it was much easier to understand despite the numerous concept introduced during the lecture. Having some time to learn the vocabulary before the lecture makes such a big difference. And this time, the teacher was an experienced teacher who has taught MBAs before and knows the trouble that non-academics have in grasping even the most basic of economics concepts. I should know: I was one of those struggling to understand.

Today (Wednesday) we started a module on Marketing: again, condensed into four days but with four different case studies, including one on the BMW (in the Bond film Goldeneye) and one on Virgin Airlines. The professor is a no-nonsense Brit who's enthusiastic about what she teaches. Her sense of humor is a little bit hard to grasp sometimes, but her examples are generally good and she keeps up the pace of the class, so one never feels bored or sleepy. Tomorrow are lessons about segmentation, targeting, and positioning, concepts which I think I have a basic intuitive understanding of but which I have never studied in an academic environment.

Caught in the Rain and Wind, but Still Made It to Lunch

Today, at lunch, my colleauges and I battled our way through the worst wind and rain storm I've ever experienced here. At one point, the gusts were so strong that I thought my long umbrella was going to break. And by the time we go to the cafeteria the bottoms of our pants were soaked and our shoes drenched.

That made the meal all more satisfying: perhaps because of the weather, lines were much shorter today and the menu was something familiar: large serving of lasagna (not one petite square!), salad, and fresh pear (firm and sweet).

Some of my colleagues have also turned to eating dinner here because of the price and the convenience. At 2,90EUR, ($3.70), you can't complain.

CHAWARMA: Like a Kebab, Wrapped in a Burrito Wrapper + Sunday at the Marketplace

Today, on my way back from the marketplace (it was raining today, although temperatures outside remain cool and not chilly), I decided to have a kebab sandwich at the Lebanese restaurant I went to once just a few steps from the Hotel de Ville near the Lyon Opera.

Instead of the usual kebab sandwich, served in a pita-like covering, I opted today for a chawarma, which is the same meat served in a thin burrito like pancake with pickles and the same vegetables as the kebab.

Served with fries inside, it's a steal at 4 EUROs. Add to that a couple of makroud cookies (which I had bought yesterday near the Alliance Française) and you're set!

LINK:
Recipe (untested) for Chawarma (Lebanese Steak) on a private home page:
http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-archive/27/147467.shtml

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Today, the pickings at the market were lean, although it was good to see several shops selling oysters (I can only imagine what winter will bring.) There were a lot more vendors selling cheese and jams, and I expect with the fall harvest there will be a lot more of those types of producers selling on Sunday.

Today there was also one vendor selling spices and herbs for teas. Check out the bundles of cinnamon and the star anise sold by weight.

Film Titles in French

Some of the popular titles that have come out simultaneously in the US and in France sound much more intriguing in French.

Consider, for instance, "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Le Diable s'habille en Prada," or the Al Gore thriller, "An Inconvenient Truth" which has been transformed into "Une Vérite Qui Dérange."

A funny thing happened as I was watching "The Devil Wears Prada" last night on the screen: I ended up reading the subtitles, just as I did when I watched English-language movies in Japan, subtitled in Japanese.

There are some cultural differences such as the way one character talks about coming into work at 8 AM in English, which is translated into 9AM in French. With the work day beginning and ending later and meals time shifted down a few hours later than in the US, a good translator has to not only get the words right but has to also make sure these translations are "culturally acceptable."

Morning Glory

Not far from where I live is a beautiful bush of morning glories that I pass each day. In the morning, they are blooming, full of color and eager to absorb the nourishment of the sunlight; in the evening, when I return from school, they have closed up again into buds to prepare for the next day.