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November 11th: two countries, two types of commemoration
First Published on November 11th, 2014 Today is November 11th. In France, it is commemoration day, all the country remembers the soldiers and civilians who died during World War I. In the United States, it is Veterans’ Day, they celebrate the veterans of all the wars waged by the country. Two countries, two different types of commemorations. While in France the official ceremonies are generally barely noticed by the “average French” (and I put myself in the lot) and that the day is appreciated mainly because today is holiday, in the United States it’s a completely different story. Let’s talk first about official celebrations. Here in the USA too there…
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Elections présidentielles américaines : le jour d’après
Loin des commentaires politiques et sociétaux, je voudrais partager avec vous quelques mails et liens vers des publications sur Facebook que nous avons reçus aujourd’hui. Je trouve ces réactions entre humour et pragmatisme, à l’image des Américains tels que je les connais : Thrillist, un magazine en ligne humoristique et satirique pour les hommes envoyait dans sa newsletter ces 2 articles : Et Happify, un site dédié au bien-être et au « bonheur » rédigeait ainsi sa newsletter : Même le site en ligne des librairies Barnes & Noblesconsacrait sa pub d’aujourd’hui au zen et mindfulness : …
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Why I make the informed choice to live in the US?
Given the events of last night and following the election of D. Trump to the presidency of the United States, I would like to add the following update: The American people freely chose their new president and as outsiders feeling close to Americans we can only acknowledge it. I wrote my article on Tuesday, November 8th and I still mean every word of it. There are many things I love in the USA and I admire about Americans. But it is clear that following this unexpected election, like many I feel confused and a priori pessimistic. On this US Election Day I remember a question somebody asked me not so…
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Pourquoi je fais le choix éclairé de vivre aux Etats-Unis ?
Au vu des évènements de la nuit passée et suite à l’élection de D. Trump à la présidence des Etats-Unis, je me vois dans l’obligation d’ajouter ces précisions : Les Américains ont librement choisi leur nouveau président et en tant que personnes extérieures se sentant proches des Américains on ne peut qu’en prendre acte. J’avais écrit mon article dans la journée de mardi 8 novembre et je pense encore chaque mot de ce poste. Il y a beaucoup de choses que j’aime aux Etats-Unis et que j’admire chez les Américains. Par contre il est évident que suite à cette élection inattendue, je me sens comme beaucoup dans l’expectative et…
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Celebrating Halloween, in France and in the US
I already wrote an article about Halloween in Baltimore, and how my kids were delighted then. Here in France also we try to celebrate Halloween, even more since our return from the US, mainly because kids love to dress up. We therefore bought new costumes for each of the 4 kids a few days before, whereas last year they had reused their old costumes. In fact they love mixing their costumes and create new ones. But this year they each chose a new costume. They were dressed up and we went to “parc des Poussins”, THE park of Lille with rides and attractions. The park staff encourages children to come…
