Strike!

Today I will write about the strike going on in France;

It’s difficult to feel like my opinion on the strike is valid, being from Canada - a strike as great as the one here is unheard of, and would likely never happen in Canada.

So it has been incredibly easy to judge this situation and say "French people are way too passionate, and they should settle down"

But the strike continues, this week there was no gas available at gas stations from a certain time in the evening.

Every day for the last week I see riots going on around Paris- picket signs and fires! I have to admit it’s kind of exciting.

Yesterday I was on the train and I made it 2 stations away from arpajon and the train was terminated. Apparently there was a riot going on at a station in Paris so they had to cancel the trains. The funny thing is that there were about 1000 people waiting at the strain station, and every few minutes the announcements would tell us the next train was at a different platform. So hundreds of people would sprint from one platform to the next, only to hear that "oops the next train was actually at the first platform we started at". Great fun! I’ve included a picture...

So this is my personal experience, And before I say anything conclusive let me just say that I need to spend more time talking to people and understanding why this is so important to them. I will be on the search for more information and explanation on what is happening over here, because it’s no longer possible to ignore.

I have a feeling that this strike is not only about the retirement. Although increasing the age of retirement will affect everyone, not only those retiring.

I've noticed that people here are so resistance against the government and they will speak up when they feel there is a problem, where as in Canada I feel the majority of us have little to no idea what the government is actually doing. This leads me to my discovery of the importance of passion:

Passion makes the greatest stories. Nobody is interested in hearing stories about people with no passion, or people who thought passion was childish and unnecessary. Passionate people make the greatest heroines, lovers, debaters, leaders, rulers, enemies, and survivors. Passion makes you great. But perhaps passion makes you difficult. It’s not very easy to tell a passionate person how to behave.

So for hundreds of years we have labeled passionate people as a nuisance, because industrialism became our main purpose in life. - Work - work hard - don’t ask questions. But now it is absolutely necessary to be passionate. We need to find the best solutions for our future, and if we continue to feel uncomfortable with passion... our voice will never be heard and our collective ideas will never manifest.

Yes it’s a simple discovery, but it’s an important one. So no, I don't think French people are too passionate, and should settle down - I think they are just as passionate as they should be. Protecting your rights and ensuring that our society improves for everyone isn't such a bad idea.

I would love to hear your opinions on the strike in France; perhaps my opinion is a bit bias. lol

VIVE LA FRANCE!! VIVE LE MONDE !!

I don’t know if many of you know this, but I love to dance.

Big surprise, I know!

But I never knew I would love dancing to live funk music in Paris so much!
My host mom took me out last night to this funk club last night with all her work friends… who just happened to be a bunch of young, smart, funny, well dressed French men! Yay for me! Haha

Long story short, Tass and I went to the club around 8:30 and came back home at 3:30am! I love my host family! This last week has been CRAZY!! My Birthday party ended up being an entire weekend of meeting the friends of my host family. I have never experienced a party like this. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
After the party, we had a ton of great food and champagne left over, so our meals this week have been somewhat indulgent.

My family’s philosophy is to live for pleasure. It might sound selfish, but in fact they are some of the most generous people I know.

- Dance, Sing, Eat, Laugh, Speak with your heart. Be sincere in the actions you do and the sense of euphoria will be contagious.

I was on the metro yesterday, and a young guy was playing classical guitar, and it was good! But not a single person on the metro would even acknowledge the music. But it was something really special. It was kind of funny because I was on the opposite side from him, so I couldn’t compliment his music, so instead I gave him a thumbs up, and he gave me a real smile and said Merci. It was good. It was like a “ O wait! I am human and so are you, and I like the music you make” kind of moment. And believe me that is rare in Paris.

I hope that in every chance you get in life, you will choose to LIVE and screw what people think is “acceptable”. Being acceptable is way too predictable and incredibly boring. We have so much potential to be something much better than average. Try and live like a human today, let me know how it goes!