More Faits Divers

It has been entirely too long since my last blog post but frankly not a lot has happened. So I bring you snippits and random thoughts, some of France, some of just general interest. Well, interest to me.

• Flipped his wig. An american expression meaning to go crazy or lose control. It, as well as many similar expression like to flip your lid, dates from the 1930s or 40s. One of my coworkers got a book of english idioms and phrases which I enjoyed perusing, and it occurred to me that I had no idea where that expression came from. Some are fairly obvious and don't really need much explanation, but that one stuck out to me as being one of the odder things we say. I'd like to point out that many of the phrases in the book were completely new to me, even some that were specifically marked as "American" (as opposed to those that are "British" or just general English phrases). 
• The French have a snack food company called Belle France, not unlike Pepperidge Farm, which makes, among quite a lot of other things, knock-off pringle chips that I actually like better than real pringles. *gasp* It's true. So in a moment of bravery I decided to try the paprika flavor which is basically everywhere. If you're a potato chip brand in France with your salt, you sell paprika flavored chips.They weren't bad, so I decided to be even bolder and go for the bacon flavor. Not such an awesome idea. They taste nothing like bacon, or like anything really. I could conceivably buy the paprika chips again; I wouldn't bother with the bacon. 
• The stormiest place (specifically in terms of thunderstorms, not other types of storms) in the US is Florida. Worldwide, Lake Victoria, Uganda tops the list, followed by Maracaibo Lake, Venezuela and Bogor, Indonesia. Now you know. 
• There is a complete and total lack of grape jelly in France. I knew about peanut butter. I knew they wouldn't have that (or if they did it would not be anything I would be interested in eating). I was completely unprepared for the jelly situation. After all, they had grape jelly in Germany. Why not France? No. You can buy any jelly, jam, or conserve of any kind in any flavor known to man, except grape. Why? Silly Jackie, grapes are for wine. *Related Side Note: you can't get grape juice here either. All the kids juice boxes are apple.
• Working on my midterm report has been interesting. Besides the usual reflective sorts of things, it also asked about some of my financial stuff. Now I'm financially cautious on a good day and downright stingy on a bad one, so it's not like I'm unaware of my spending habits. However, it did ask about some of the pre-departure costs, like the required medical exam and TB test, and it has made me realize something: I am super happy I have health insurance. Man. Highway robbery at it's finest. 
• The soldes (sales) have started. Well, really they started about two weeks ago. In France, twice a year they have big gigantic sales for five weeks. Everybody has sales, and the longer you wait the better the sales get. If you have something specific in mind, you might want to go towards the beginning, because the selection will be better, but even still I'd hold out for the second mark-down. I did some browsing last weekend but I didn't really see anything I couldn't live without, and the prices are still a bit on the high side. Perhaps this weekend I will take another look because the stores will almost certainly have dropped prices again. By the end of the soldes you can find stuff 80% off easy. 

That's all for now folks. Have a nice week!