Segways in Lyon

A couple of weeks ago I saw Orange (a mobile phone provider) advertise using Segway vehicles. The segway is a gyroscope-balanced scooter that you can cruise sidwalks with without falling off. Its unusualness catches the eye right away and is an excellent marketing tool.

Lyon wins again, but unconvincingly: 1-0 against Auxerre

Lyon won again last night 1-0 against fourteenth-placed Auxerre, but they were almost never threatened and beat out a victory on what could be called auto-pilot. Compared to the intensity of the last game against Real Madrid, Lyon could be said to have been sorely lacking. It was good that they had put themselves up 1-0 in the first half or I would have been squirming in my seat had it been a scoreless draw at the half.

The captain Juninho did admit that the game five days before in Real Madrid had drained the squad, and the fatigue is starting to show. Players are getting injured and others are less performing. Where Lyon was scoring two to three times a game, they now score barely one or two.

The Lyon coach was wise to start a few other players who had been on the sidelines over the last few crucial matches, not only to give these players some important match time but to also give his main footsoldiers time to lick their wounds.

Lyon goes into December with an astronomical 14-point lead over its second-place competitor. In the Ligue 1 soccer league, there are eight teams clustered around 24 to 26 points, far behind Lyon's 40 points. (Recall victory = 3 points, tie = 1 point, loss = 0 points. So four victories and two ties to catch up? Not going to be easy.)

Péniche, or riverboat on the Rhone river

There are these barges docked along one side of the Rhone river next to Pont Wilson bridge, near where we stayed a long time back at the Grand Hotel Concorde, which turn into bars on the weekend.

They're equipped with bars below deck and the neat thing about it is that you can be sipping a cocktail while you watch the water in the Rhone flow past you through portholes. Yes, for you are below the level of the water of the Rhone! It's difficult to explain but it's sort of like what I imagine it would be like being on a cruise ship.

I was here at one of the peniches for a reception put on by the local Lyon staff of the 20 minutes daily newspaper. They wanted a question and answer session with the local readers and I sent them an e-mail telling them I wanted to sit in.

Actually, I was hoping for the free party food (which came after the reception! yes, sandwiches, kir (cassis+white wine) cocktails, raw ham (like the kind Dad likes), desserts and all kinds of pupus. I did have six or seven raw carrot slices and four or five cherry tomatoes, to try to balance all the rich food out.

It was a cool experience and I doubt that I would've ever have gone to one of these kind of places were it not for this meeting.

Okonomiyaki in France?

Yes, believe it or not. And not very far from where I live (within walking distance).

There's a place that my Japanese sommelier friend from the Alliance Francaise told me about. A Czech friend of mine also had never tried it and was dying to try it before heading back to Czech next month, and I proposed that we gather at the end of a really busy week. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun (though way more expensive than in Japan).

Our Czech friend was a vegetarian but ordered a set with miso soup, hot rice, okonomiyaki (tuna, cheese and canned corn, but without the tuna ... yes, go ahead and laugh), and dora-yaki, a azuki-filled bean bun for dessert.

For 14 Euros I had a set with an appetizer (buta shogayaki, or ginger pork), okonomiyaki made with scallops, and then a dessert which was really quite good (some kind of chestnut tart).

I really miss Japanese food and will have to start cooking it or something like it when I have time (hopefully) next semester.

TCL Strikes Again!

Only this time was the worst strike I've ever seen.

From last week the TCL had posted posters in the bus sheds near bus stops (see photo). For strike-weary me, I had just thought it would be another minor inconvenience, but it was actually really terrible.

Buses were running at 20% capacity and in some cases only 1 out of 10 buses were circulating. One metro line (B) was completely
closed down and one tramway (T1) was not running at all.

All this to coincide (no accident!) with the opening of the T3 tramway line, nicknamed "Lea" extending from the backside of Gare Part Dieu train station.

This time, a number of unions collaborated on the strike to push for higher pay, and I think they've gotten their point across. But it was really unpleasant for them to have done it today, on a Monday. Believe me!

I got a ride both going coming and going (very nice French classmates) and so made it back safely to my apartment without trouble.


To the right: an actual screen capture taken of the tcl.fr home page listing the number of buses and trams running. It's terrible: check the #3 or #55 which passes by my school. Look also at the numbers for the Metro B and the Tram T1: zero!

Fortunately, the driverless Metro D (controlled by computer? I'm not sure how they do it) was running at 100%. Without it life would've been really miserable.

First round of tests went all right, on to another school module!

Sorry I haven't written all week! What a whirlwind it was! I made it through unscathed and actually enjoyed the latter half of the week.

I had three tests on Tuesday, microeconomics, macroeconomics and marketing. Except for a short section on the microeconomics test, all the others were long-essay type tests in which we were asked to apply the concepts that we had learned to some theoretical questions.

Macroeconomics was easy (oddly enough I finally understood it on the day before the test), microeconomics was a struggle, and marketing I have no idea. But the courses are basically graded on a pass/fail scale so I'm optimistic about passing. Just hoping to pass "with distinction." Nah, those days are over.

Right the next day we began our next module of Organizational Behavior, but also known as Human Resources. I have to admit that I knew nothing about what it was about, but I find some aspects of it really quite interesting. Last week was about managing within an organization, today's (Monday) session was about the role of a human resources director within an organization.

Coincidentally with my teaching background a lot of the professors or the executives whom I've talked to have recommended I look into it as a job out of school. It's a polyvalent job, meaning that you have to deal with hiring, training, firing, knowning about regulations, motivation, influencing, and so on. I'll have to ask cousin W about it sometime when I see her next.

OL fights to the end in Madrid: Final, 2-2

OL fought Real Madrid to a hard-earned tie in Madrid tonight in their final Champions League match. At Madrid, a fluid OL offense scored two goals quickly in the first half and it looked like Madrid would be the underdog for most of the game. However, a goal at the 30 minute point and an equalizer in the second half turned the game in Madrid's favor.

The Lyon team that I had been watching over the last month or so had been on cruise control, sleepwalking and yet still winning its league matches, but the OL tonight was completely different. The intensity level and especially the sole forward, in my mind the man of the match, Carew (a dark-skinned Norwegian who has played before in Spain and who know plays for Lyon, go figure?), gave Lyon the offensive pressure it needed to lay on Madrid in order to stay in the game.

Five of my colleagues gathered for the game (I arranged the place and the time for us to meet, I was glad that they showed up!) and we watched the game skitter through ninety tense minutes. In the closing minutes of the game, Cris, the defender, tripped up the former Manchester United forward Ruud van Nistelrooy and, with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper (a penalty kick) it looked like the game would finish 3-2 in Madrid's favor.

But then, miracle of miracles! The OL keeper Coupet stopped the shot and kept the score tied, and Lyon held on for the tie and denied first place to a clearly superior, stronger Madrid team. With all the talent that money can buy, Madrid should clearly be winning all its games; but a game, like this, hard-fought, proves that even lesser teams can prove their worthiness against such opponents.

What a game! What an intense ninety minutes (no time for substitutes, in fact, Lyon only substitued one player, and only in the final minutes, in order to buy time)! This kind of match is the kind of stuff you wish to see in the World Cup but never have a chance to see. Ninety minutes of two teams trading attacks, and actually scoring. Not boring stuff at all.

What's up in the Cafeteria

Just last week, they actually had full steamed artichokes as a salad offering, and just today for lunch (in between my exams) they had carrots and polenta (pan-fried, seasoned corn-meal) as a vegetable side to go with roasted pork.



Still waiting for that bouillebaisse in winter. Expecting too much?

(Sorry, artichoke picture is sideways. Forgot to rotate it before uploading).

At the market: Another deal done!

Headed over to the market yesterday towards 1:00 and, as usual, some of the vendors had started to pack up. I got a large bowl of tomatoes (maybe six or seven) for 1 Euro and ate two yesterday with salt and olive oil.

I also bargained down two plates of mushrooms from 1,50 EUR each to 2 EUR for the two. I asked the seller "What can you propose for me for two plates of mushrooms?" to which he replied, "2,50." With a smirk on my face I began to pull away and I know that he caught my drift. "All right, 2." He had made a sale of some of the last of his mushrooms and I got enough for a whole week.

OL Wins Again 1-0

Over the weekend Olympique Lyonnais won again in an away game, 1-0. That meant no soccer in Lyon this weekend to distract me from studying for my exams.

Next week Sunday night there'll be a game and I'll be sure to go see it.

Just today I found a web page that lists the chants that the fans chant during the games. Up until now I've been sitting there among the hard-core fans but had no idea what they were chanting to fire up the OL team.

Now I know. You can check out the list of lyrics here:
http://nucleolyon.free.fr/chants.html

The chant I like best is the one towards the bottom of the page, "les ultras lyonnais." Picture me chanting it at the next game!

Beaujolais has arrived!

Third Thursday in November -- way back in August this moment seemed so far away, and now, I'm experiencing it in real time.

Beaujolais was officially released to the public today, the third Thursday of November, and I picked up a bottle this evening on my way back from school.

This week has been a grueling week of seminars and projects dealing with "evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities." Two months ago, we were given the task of identifying such opportunities. Now the situation has changed: if you are presented with two business plans, which of them do you choose? How and why?

It was especially interesting this time around because we got to meet with a real-life venture capitalist and so-called "angel investor" (generally a semi-retired person who wants to contribute not only capital but also technical and entrepreneurial advice to younger entrepreneurs) who have actually funded companies.

I had come into this workshop believing that venture capitalists and "business angels" (as those angel investors are called here in Europe) were people with a lot of money on their hands and able to absorb any losses from ventures they took part in. But after hearing them talk about their experiences, I realized that failure is part of their expectations (at least one-third of the ventures they fund fail) and that they have an important part in the process because (of course) it is they that provide the cash -- the fuel -- for the whole entrepreneurial process.

It's not a clear-cut process and even the business plans don't pan out as they always should (so said both the VC and the BA mentioned above).

But again, I digress.
Beaujolais nouveau. In Japan, shipped by air, maybe $15 a bottle. (That gives the Japanese the privilege of being the first to drink it).

Here, at the local supermarket, with the cork still stiff (freshly stuck into the bottle it hasn't absorbed the moisture from the wine and so was difficult to pull out), today, 3,50 EUR (less than $5).

It's not terribly outstanding wine but after a long week and everything ...! Still got classes tomorrow but it was good to have Beaujolais in real time. A nice memory to be able to look back on some years down the road.

Couscous for Lunch!

Yesterday was pork chops and a fabulous stewed vegetables plate with navet (almost like the Japanese daikon), carrots, potatoes and mushrooms.

Two days ago (and the evidence is here or all to see) was couscous, served with stewed seasonal vegetables and my favorite merguez sausage (the spicy halal sausage that I had enjoyed at the barbecue over the summer).

Eating well. True that it's a respite from the busy-ness of the day.

Manifestation (demonstration) at Bellecour?

After riding the metro back from Stade Gerland on Friday, where I watched an OL game, I stopped off at Place Bellecour to pick up a free magazine distributed in the parking lot under the plaza.

When I got there (and mind you, this is 11 o'clock at night), in-line skaters had gathered on the plaza and were holding informal competitions using small cones around which they spun and turned -- something like a cross between ice skating and those car commercials where you see cars navgigate a line of cones on a racetrack.

It was encouraging, nevertheless, to see that there are some people for whom drinking is not the only pasttime on weekends, and to see firsthand the size of the community of in-line skaters here in Lyon. Roll on!

Maintenance is a little difficult, but it's a small price to pay

The place I live in is very old: not just the building itself, but the interiors have aged quite a bit aside from the painted yellow living room that I showed in some earlier pictures.

I've had to do a little troubleshooting over the last few weeks, but that's to be expected for a place like this.

Water pressure is not the greatest but what was worse was the drain was plugged and the shower water wouldn't drain out of the bathtub. My first thought was to use the equivalent of Drano to dissolve the hairs and soap that might be clogging the pipes, but my colleagues at school first urged me to try working low-tech (and eco-friendly) with a plunger. And so I sucked away at the pipe and dug up grime from the pipe (which I wiped away with a paper towel, thank you), and came upon a humongous hairball which had accumulated over, who-knows-how-many months. (I wonder if the previous owner had ever had problems with the drains.)

A week or so ago my refrigerator door wouldn't close because of ice on the freezer portion and so I hacked away at the frost with the metal edge of a butter knife. I know that they don't recommend that you hack away at frost with knives or ice picks, in case you puncture the exterior and damage (read: incapacitate) the refrigerator, but I did it anyway and was able to saw off enough frost to close the door.

Both of these I realize are temporary solutions: perhaps I'll have to talk to the landlord about getting new fixtures or a newer, smaller fridge. But that's something to be negotiated further down the line, when I have time (ha! like at the end of one year!)

Lyon ekes out 2-1 victory over lowly Valenciennes

Without several stars in their lineup OL took on what was supposed to have been an easy match with fourteenth-ranked Valenciennes, but they lost a forward in the opening minutes and later another of their stars on the right side to injury. The underdog Valenciennes team played a gritty game, although several questionable calls by the referee had the fans around me in an uproar.

And when Valenciennes scored against OL late in the second half, fans began to get unruly and fearful that the team might suffer its second loss in as many games. Even I was on the edge of my seat in the final minutes, when past the eightieth minute mark Lyon had yet to score, and I had almost given up.

Then in the final five minutes, they scored once! twice! and stole victory from Valenciennes.

Beaujolais Nouveau is On Its Way!

A news clipping from the morning daily 20 minutes today announced that the Beaujolais Nouveau was making its way over to Japan, which is the first country to drink the wine each year. Crates of the stuff are shipped over there by air freight, rendering it nearly twice as much as it retails for here in France: such is the price of being the first to indulge in this yearly tradition.

Odd to find myself on the other end of the globe now with Beaujolais just up a few miles from where I now live!

LUNCH: Meats and Sauerkraut

On these kinds of days, when you're in the classroom for six hours a day, lunch really does become the highlight of your long day. Today was a green salad, choice of dessert, and sauerkraut and boiled ham, sausage and potatoes!

If you go outside to eat sauerkraut and boiled meats at, say a brasserie (remember the one we ate at in Paris), a well-done sauerkraut (or choucroute, in French) can set you back 10 EUR or so.

The past few days at the school cafeteria haven't been extraordinary, but I suspect they conserve the budget for that one time a week when the meal is just fantastic. Like today!

Russian Vodka and Caviar

Not imitation stuff: the real thing.

My Russian colleague brought back some caviar and "real" Russian vodka from Russia that he got on a recent visit home. A group of us sipped (not chugged, heavens no!) vodka from small shot glasses and ate the caviar on sliced French bread and butter, the way that he eats it in Moscow.
The only other times I've had caviar, I remember it to be salty and the eggs, small. But trying this completely changed my impression of caviar. Smooth, and not excessively salty, it goes well with butter, and, duh, vodka. The vodka was served chilled in the freezer, and slid down easily.

From what I can imagine it's not cheap and I'm not even sure if it's available in the U.S. because of regulations governing endangered species. But it's fantastic and I hope to be able to try it again. Let's see: caviar, foie gras, and truffles. Does that mean I've had the three delicacies of the world now?

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LINK:

I would dare to say that many of us are unaware of the number of brands of vodka produced. Check out the variety of labels at this link:

http://russianvodka.com/russian_vodka_bottle_labels.htm

In front of the Main Post Office, Lyon (near Place Bellecour)

This morning, I went to the market on the velo'v rent-a-cycle and dropped it off at a station right before the market. After shopping I went to a different rent-a-cycle station in front of the main post office near Place Bellecour to ride back to my place up by Hotel de Ville.

Before I got on my bike I took a shot of the plaza in front of the post office. That's what I like about Lyon: the wide open spaces, and the wide boulevards to bike and stroll along.

Sunday Market: Onions and Mushrooms

I headed out to the Sunday market shortly before 1 pm, when the vendors start preparing to go home. I walked the length of the market before deciding on one place selling onions by the plateful and also white button mushrooms.

One plate of onions was going for 1,00 EUR but the vendor said that he'd give me two plates for 1,50 EUR. Fine, I said, and came back at him saying, actually, I'd like you to throw in a plate of mushrooms going for 1,80 EUR and give me everything for 3,00 EUR. Without missing a beat, he smiled and said, all right, 3 EUR, adding "you're a real tough customer."

That was all I bought but I sauteed the mushrooms tonight and ate them with some cheese ravioli (ravioli aux quatre fromages from Carrefour). Tomorrow, back at school, I'll be eating a full meal for lunch (my highlight of the day).

OL FINALLY LOSES, 1-0

OL finally lost yesterday to low-ranking Rennes, in a game which saw the Rennes side score early and OL captain Juninho thrown out of the game for a red card.

It's hard to tell if it was fatigue (some of the games have seen OL sort of on auto-pilot), bad luck, the exclusion of their key defender Cris, or a combination of factors. It was not a home game and I tried to follow it on the Internet, but the real-time updates function was broken and I found out about the result only a few hours after the game.

The coach has been philosophical about it, that OL should take this defeat in stride and work hard to win its next few matches. Without Juninho for at least the next match (because of his expulsion in this match) it won't be easy, but OL does have the depth. We'll see.

To you, this may look just like a regular cup of coffee ...

but it has been the key to my staying awake during lectures the past few days. Rather than spend 40 centimes (52 cents) on weak vending machine coffee made from instant coffee and served in tiny plastic cups, I've made the walk over to the café inside my school to get a cup of decent coffee.

The first time I ordered coffee here, I ended up with a tiny cup of espresso. After that I made sure to get the full cup version of it -- café long -- each time. Part of the fun of drinking coffee is inhaling the aromas while you're drinking it, and a tiny espresso cup ends all too quickly.

Mind you, the café long is not weak at all. The flavor of coffee is still quite strong, though not anywhere near the bitterness of an espresso. It's a nice pleasant caffeine fix at 0,71 EUR (90 cents).

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LINK

For an overview of some of the hot beverages in cafés check out this link:
http://www.paris-anglo.com/dedent/dedent.php?request=guide/eat/cafes/27.php

Cassoulet for Lunch!

Today was just wonderful! Confit of chicken? or some other kind of fowl, served on a bed of beans with one slice of sausage. Side salad of Avocado, tomato and surimi fishcake salad. And a side of a fruit salad (not shown).

One of my classmates, who had spent three months working in Toulouse, told me that he was disappointed he had chosen the other entree, baked fish, because he had overlooked the dish. Can you not be filled on this kind of home-style cooking?

LINK:

Wikipedia entry on Cassoulet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassoulet

Champions League: Lyon Wins Again, 1-0

Today, on Toussaint, Lyon defeated Kiev in sub-zero weather (no, actually, it wasn't nearly that cold, but the chill factor made it feel that way), 1-0 in a largely uninspiring match full of Lyon errors and missed opportunities.

Time after time, Lyon took possession of the ball and excellent assertive play by midfielder Tiago and defensive player Abidal helped keep Kiev in check for most of the game (like in the Nancy game there were few shots against Lyon).

Kiev played as hard as it could but they were no match for the highly disciplined Lyon team playing in front of a sold-out stadium tonight. Lyon is already playing on a higher level but they need to maintain it throughout the winter, as they always bomb out in the final rounds.

Today I even wore my Lyon scarf to the game to show my support and blend in with the fans. A friend from my class met me before the game and at halftime to debrief and said that he was having a good time (although, he emphasized, "the fans are tame compared to those in Marseilles.")

Halloween and Toussaint in France

Halloween isn't officially celebrated here in France, but from last Saturday (before Halloween) some stores and organizations have got in the spirit and decorated their storefronts with ghouls, cobwebs and fake body parts.

Imagine my surprise when I walked into the TCL transportation office to find their walls decorated with graffiti scribbled on towels. Was this an expression of their Halloween spirit, or was it a form of protest disguised as a Halloween decoration? The terrible thing was that I wasn't really sure! (see photo)

The day after Halloween is a holiday in France, and many schools actually give the whole week (the days before and after 1 November) off to their students (not my school, though!). The day is called "Toussaint" and for the longest time I wondered, who was this Mr. Toussaint ... was he some historical figure, some military hero who conquered Europe at the side of Napoleon, ....

"No," my American colleague pointed out to me. "You dingbat, tous, saint, All Saint's Day."

Beef Bourguignon in the School Cafeteria

Finally, a chance to eat the fabled traditional dish beef bourguignon ... ironic that it was in the school cafeteria where I always eat. With French bread it was just wonderful, especially served hot (the temperature has dropped about 10 degrees celsius over the past few days, winter's finally arrived).

As a side dish, a salad of maché lettuce. The maché looks like clover but tastes more like rocquette and it's delightful (I love the salads at lunchtime!)

Please check out this article by NPR about this "new" type of lettuce from a 2003 broadcast ...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1370492

EUROMILLIONS: Still no winner!



It's gone up to 130 million Euros, with no end in sight.

FROM STRATEGY TO FINANCE / And we march on ...

And the rollercoaster continues. We just finished a two-day module of "Introduction to Corporate Finance" and the funny (or not-so-funny) thing is that I had prepared the wrong materials for the course.

We had a small booklet on finance but instead of reading that I prepared "financial accounting" which deals with the mechanics of accounting, i.e., simply the flows of money in and out of a corporation: asset purchases, accounts receivables and payables, infusions of equity and so on. Strictly speaking, accounting seems for the most part to be neutral and not require a whole lot of interpretation or judgment; on the contrary, precision is perhaps the most important skill to bring to it.

I managed to catch up by the second day and was able to realize that finance is actually about making decisions about whether or not to purchase assets or capital, whether or not to solicit funds (financing) from banks or from investors (equity) ... so it's much less mechanical and requires one to be able to decide what sort of cash flows (the money going in and out of a company and, in particular, the money that a company needs to generate revenue from its assets) the company needs.

So it's really fascinating, because the decision-making process used here is interconnected with the strategic-decision making process from the previous course.

It's a mad pace (a new course every four days) but if you step back and try to think how it all relates, it does kind of make sense. And it's given me a new way of looking at the business news that I come across on the pages of the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times. Still no expert, though, mind you!