General rambling post

I have a couple post ideas in mind, but they take effort like planning some nice pictures.

But since it's raining and I don't feel like working that much on my post, I'll just write about a few things on my mind.

First off, my mom recently sent me 4 emails with 2 pictures in each email (sent from her iPhone 5). When I suggested that she could just share her photostream with me, she said that the pictures she sent were actually the first successful sharing of pictures directly from her phone (purchased about 10 months ago). Later I asked what some of her favorite features of the iPhone 5 are, she replied that she was really happy to be able to text. [Cue jaw drop] And sometimes she uses the maps function when driving. My mom has an iPhone 5 for texting and occasional gps help. Mostly texting though. I've been repeating to B since that phone call "Mais c'est donner de la confiture aux cochons!!"

Next: During the recent winter break B and I went to Spain for a week to visit some friends. While chatting about things we like to cook, we got talking about American dishes I make that B has grown to like. I mentioned corn chowder, and then explained the ingredients and how I make it.
"Mais tu ne la mixes pas à la fin? Y a des morceaux?" asked our French friend. I'd never really though about it, but French soups rarely have chunks or large pieces of ingredients (Poule au pot excluded). Pretty much all soups are blended at the end. My gut reaction to seeing a blended or not blended soup is that the blended one is much lighter (like a starter), and the non-blended one is more hearty. I'm trying to remember now if I ever made a chunky soup for my in-laws, but I don't think so. Probably would really throw my MIL for a loop!

I signed up for a networking event organized by the American Chamber of Commerce here in Toulouse in about 2 weeks (it's specifically a Chicago Booth Business School event, but they've enlarged it to the American community or American university graduates). I interviewed for a new job recently, but I haven't heard anything yet and suspect they have offered the job to the other candidate and are waiting to confirm his/her acceptance before contacting me, hence my decision to network. Except that I suck at small talk. I enjoy (and think myself good at) being a hostess for networking type events where I can introduce people and comment on surprising things they may have in common. I can be a facilitator, but I'm really bad at entering a room of strangers and chatting them up. Discussing this with B, I mentioned that I'd read a couple articles on LinkedIn with suggestions for making small talk at business events. One of the suggested questions was "What's keeping you busy these days?" since it's open ended and lets people answer about their work or private lives and can help refresh your memory of what someone does if you've already met them. I need a larger sample size of French opinions, but B immediately pointed out this was a bad question because "a divorce or the death of a child" could be keeping someone busy. His suggestion of a much better question is "What do you do?" Needless to say, a 20 minute discussion ensued of which was a more appropriate question and whether not either of the questions would bring out depressing answers from people. An appropriate translation of the "what's keeping you busy" question was also discussed ("Qu'est-ce qui vous occupe?" or "Que prends votre attention ces derniers temps?"). In the end, I think it comes down to our different cultural expectations of what you should answer the different questions. For my husband "What do you do?" is open ended, and people could talk about their photo or scuba diving passion, whereas in Engish the expectation is that you will give your job title and name of your employer. This is expected at a networking event, but also really cliché and not a real conversation starter.

And last general rambling: I made an apple crumble for the little party after our community band concert last night, and instead of putting a full teaspoon of cinnamon in the crumble mixture (I know the French aren't all huge fans of it), I put 1/2 cinnamon, 1/2 cloves. While chatting with some people who were tasting it, I revealed the spices, and B piped up "Ahh, oui les clous de girofle! C'est pour ça que ça me faisait penser au dentiste." Because apparently the flavors of the product French dentists use are not bubblegum, mint, or cherry, but clove. I don't know if this was just something offered 20 years ago or if it's still common because this website sells cherry, apple, mint and anis flavored polishing product. My husband probably confused anis and clove though.