One of the things I've been really missing from L.A. is Chinese food. Here, most often when we go out for Chinese food, it's really Vietnamese food. Which is great. But it's not Chinese food. So, I decided that the only thing to do is to make my own.

Now, theoretically, this isn't a big problem. Except that we live in a part of France where you just don't run into all that many Chinese grocery stores. It's funny how, when you live in a big city like L.A. or London or Paris, you take finding just about any exotic ingredient that you want for granted. Here, it's a bit of a project.

There IS an Asian grocery in Toulouse; however, driving three hours round trip to buy Hoi Sin sauce (amongst other things) seems a bit silly. So, after much research, I was able to find a big, Asian market that sells online. I did kind of go crazy, but it's easier to get a large order with no shipping charges, rather than make several small orders and pay an extra 8 to 10 euros each time.

Small problem though, when it came time to check out, there was no place to pay using my credit card. I called and found out that they only accept payment by check, because a lot of people in France are still very resistant to using their bank cards to pay online. No problem, I can get a check out tomorrow.

But, while I was speaking with the lovely woman who runs the company, she told me that she had just gotten notice of a postal strike in the Paris area mid-week. She didn't want me to have to wait until NEXT week to get my order, so she decided to post it to me tomorrow morning, before she gets my check! I thought that was so nice of her. Seriously, I could have lived without sesame oil for another week.

I'm always amazed at how easy it is to deal with most people here, after years of everyone (including the French!!!) telling me how non-customer oriented business are here. So far, all of my experiences, even when there have been small problems, have been pleasant and worked out great, with one notable exception at the DARTY at the Place de la Republique in Paris last December and the rather bizarre attitude at the Super U in Mirepoix when I returned a terrible coffee maker.

The rest of today has also been interesting. This morning, we were back in Limoux at the unemployment office, where I was checking in about my rather pitiful job hunting results. My counselor was very nice and we got my file up-to-date. Unfortunately, when we left, I made the embarrassing discovery that I hadn't turned off my headlights (it was a bit foggy driving in) and Beanie's battery was DOA. Let's just say that JM wasn't overly thrilled at me. Luckily, there was a garage right around the corner and they were able to give us a jump. The 22 km drive home hopefully charged the battery so that next time I go out, I won't need any further assistance. I don't think I've done anything like that in about 20 years.

I need to find out if there is anything here like AAA. Considering how isolated you often are when you drive around here, it would be good to have. I guess I need to do some more research to find out.

Final bit of news for today: JM is over at the library helping the 10 and 11-year-olds to draw their own page of comics, as part of an exhibit on how books are made. I can't wait for him to get home and tell me how it all went.

Ciao for now!

R
(see pictures on my personal site.)