Being in Toulon is very different than being in Stockholm, yet of course from my American perspective, they are more alike than like either is like the States.

But first a quick story of the trip here. Since 9/11/2001 I have never worried about traveling by plane. I have been hassled by it, but I haven’t thought, what if something BAD happens. But yesterday, I had a shiver of that.

I easily took the express train to Arlanda, the Stockholm airport and then walked in no rush to check in at the self-check kiosk. But, it wouldn’t let me. I tried with my Visa card, my passport, even my flight reservation number, but it kept rejecting me. So I checked with an attendant and first she said i had already checked in; yet I insisted “no I haven’t–after all, I have no boarding pass.” So she tried again she still couldn’t. So she took my Expedia print out and passport and disappeared for a while, with the clock ticking for my flight and me getting nervous–the security line looked long and slow.

She finally returned and said some one else had checked in as me!!!! She had created a boarding pass as far as Munich, and got my luggage tagged through to Marseilles and told me I would have to check in again there, trouble is I only had 40-50 minutes between flights. How or why had some one checked in as me?? she didn’t know but maybe someone accidentally plugged in the wrong reservation number and was trying to board a plane to somewhere else with a boarding pass to Munich-Marseilles. That person may even be at my gate waiting.

As I walked to my gate, this actually started to worry me, had some one checked in as me and checked in baggage that was, uh compromised in some way? I have never heard for some one accidentally checking in as some one else. yet as worried as I was, the Luftansa folks seemed not worried at all. But I was really bothered and worried the whole time of the flight (although a cold German beer helped) until I landed, and though someone would pull me aside when we landed. Nope arrived in Munich just fine, got my second boarding pass, and then flew uneventfully to Marseilles. It was so nice to land and know exactly where I was going and what I was doing, taking the bus to the Marseilles train station and the train to Toulon.

I am staying at the same apartment as last year and I am happy to say the little flat is the same, maybe a bit nicer than last year with a fresh coat of paint. the weather is great, maybe 70-75, if a bit windy. Still had a nice 8 mile run this morning along the water–just like home!!

will write more when I can, but carrying around the little computer is low on my list for my week here.

One quick story about my walk in Stockholm today. I love traveling and I love eating what local foods I can, drinking the local beer or wine, whatever. I am not above going where tourists go, but I also like plunging into neighborhoods and having a cold one at the local pub. It is also funny to observe the McDonald’s or other American shops or stores that are found in where i am traveling (like KFC in Marrakesh).

So today i am walking down a very narrow street in Gamel Stan (the old city) and before i can register it, a familiar scent catches my nostrils. what is that???? popcorn! and then I see the British style pub front and a sign outside “O’Leary’s: Stockholm’s #1 Sportsbar.” I poke my nose in the door and what do I see? Wrigley field on the bigscreen TV and the Cubs playing the Cardinals. Holy Cow!!! Should I get a beer and settle in for some ball? Uh,…. no. Because i want something more authentically Swedish? because it seems filled with more tourists than Swedes? because I don’t trust the nachos? No, No and No. Because it was the second inning and the Cubs were already losing 5-0. Keep walking, keep walking. just checked final score: Cards 7 Cubs 1. We’ll get’em tomorrow.

The conference has been fascinating with an interesting array of scholars from many fields and a number of practitioners as well. Given its smallish size and that we are eating all meals together, it took less than a day for certain amount of bonhomie to develop. There are maybe 60 participants in the conference and we all meet for general sessions to begin the day, and then break out into workshops of 10-12. This is very productive, with exception that there are more interesting workshops than one can go to.

Oops, off for the days first keynote address.

Blame Sony for using PRO Sticks instead of SD cards, blame my Asus eeePC for not accepting Sony Prosticks instead of SD cards. Or blame me for bringing the wrong card adapter. Whomever you blame, I apologize for no pictures, but I will try to find some appropriate images as I can.

So, some quick first observations.
1) the long wait for the SAS flight at O’Hare felt like a North Park College reunion with so many Swedish Americans and Swedes gathered for a return to the home land.

2) Even though I spent four years at North Park College, had numerous close friends studying Swediish and even living in Sweden for extended periods, my knowledge of Swedish is about nil. But…

3) I cannot believe how much English I hear on the street. I am not surprised that people know English, but that so many Americans and Brits and other are here speaking to each other and with Swedes.

4) Bikes, Bikes everywhere. Let it not be said that Americans in the upper Midwest cannot ride bikes more because of the weather; same with

5) Outdoor cafes. It is quite chilly here, lower fifties and a bit drizzly as I was walking around early evening, but some glimpses of sky now. But people are out, and outside. Lots of cafes have outdoor heaters, and many have blankets or throws over their outdoor chairs for guests to use while they sit outside.

6) Stockholm is expensive. 72 Kroner for a pint of draft beer (a good bitter) that is almost $9!!

OK, conference begins tomorrow and who knows if and when i can post or get any pictures up. More when i can.

Oh, and can Obama plug that oil thingy already!?! Why is he so slow?? And I believed in the hope, it’s just hype!

Yes, back to Europe for a brief jaunt, first 5 days or so in Stockholm Sweden, then back to Toulon, FR, …toujours Toulon,

For the next few days I will be spending long hours either traveling, or at a very interesting conference in Stockholm, Sweden. I will post as can but likely more after May 29 when i can return to Boulevard Pelletan, Cafe THT and BarA Thym

It is about 90 degrees in Grand Rapids Michigan right now, and about 45 degrees in Stockholm, so even while sweating bringing things to the car, I am carrying a jacket and have even packed some light running gloves so i don’t get the chill that I got in San Fran that last about 4 days.

Still, after stopping at Foundersfor a pint Red’s Rye with my Dad and his wife Pat, I feel ready for the flights from here to Chicago, Copenhagen, and then finally Stockholm.

Drop and line, leave a comments, and stay tuned for the new and renewed adventures of the Monk.

To hear the American critics of Pres. Obama speak about this plan to bring even a few of these detainees to the USA it was if the idea was to have detaianees placed in a witness protection plan and I would be leaning for a mango in the produce section of the Martin’s while some terrorist was sitting at the in-store Starbucks plotting the next 9/11 over a “Tall mocha with an extra shot hold the whip cream” instead of in Supermax prisons that have never had an escape.  I won’t even bother repeating all the foolishness in these concerns, but I guess one question is the complicity of the major news organizations to give them such credit, since the objective concerns are so blatantly false;  it seems that the “scare the bejeezus out of citizens and hope they see the other side as weak on terror” form of politics circa 2004 is back in business.  And even though President Obama is not flailing about, the Democrats in the Senate are showing so little confidence in themselves, the President and country you would think it was in fact 2004, President Bush was still in office, the Republican party had approval ratings above 30% and with Obama’s leadership the American people did not express as much confidence in his and Democratic position on security as they had in the Republicans.

Presidents Obama’s plans on the Guantanamo and the detainees maybe wrong or right, butt it would be so nice if we could debate it instead of quivering in fear of the super scrary monsters

coffee and NYTimes at a K-Zoo Starbucks with all my bags on morning of return

After a long trip starting at the bus stop in front of the Fort St Louis at 7:15am  I returned home safely and easily over ten days ago now.  It is shocking to me on the one hand that I have been home so long already, but then again Toulon, the Mourillion, Bar A Thym, the THT, Place Puget all seem very far away and long ago as I am now back in my native element, mowing the lawn, teaching a summer class, and running my old runs (with my old aches and pains which magically dissapeared in Toulon).

What strikes me on return?  First, how green it is..  Remember I left in the last throes of a harsh winter and it was all grays and browns here, but I have returned in the midst of a lush spring with the trees almost all leafed out, the lilacs very full and fragrent and the tulips already mostly passed.  And while there was one pretty hard freeze still early last week, we also had temps in the 80s just the next two days.

But one thing that has had me thinking is what do/would the French visitors to IUSB or even my small town of St Joseph think of it?  I was walking to the post office a few days ago through the center of St Joe, down State street to Broad and back via Pleasant and lake Boulevard and thought “some one from Toulon would ask ‘where are all the people?’”  I remember one of my first posts from Toulon was about how quiet it was at night, but during the middle of the day, whether inToulon at Place D’Opera or Place Puget, along the water front,  on Avenue du Bazailles in Mourillon, or even on my little Boulevard de Pelletan, there were always people walking.  There were cafes with people filling the seats, shops with people shuttling in and out, just a steady stream of people outside.  Maybe we need to the 35 hour work week and 2 hour lunches???

One really nice thing about returning is simple easy conversation.  The first time I went to a Meijer’s grocery store here I realized that i had missed just the freindly exchanges with the person at checkout or behind me in line.  I really did get along quite well with my horrible French in Toulon, but to only be able to say goodbye, hello, thank you, please, have a good day, how much, etc with the people at my neighborhood grocery, boulangerie or fromagerie just limited my world and even my sense of myself even as I felt that self expanding in the process.

I hope to say more but on my way out a special thanks has to be given to Hélène Ledouble and Xavier Charoze.  The two helped me so much from helping to get my apartment, to explaining the University procedures, to registering for the Monteé du Faron, and explaining away my confusion.

Thanks too to Lesley Walker and Lynn Williams back at IUSB who designed this opportunity for me and made it possible and the Political Science department for making it so easy.

Next time I will be in the States

(some day we can have a long talk about the strikes at the university here, mean time, for a local, boosterish view of the school, check out this article)

It is an irony that is always the case and i feel it now for sure that the last day you visit anyway where, no matter how long the trip, is the day you feel most at home, most familiar with the local by ways and folkways, and here even the language,  I certainly feel it..  I actually am able to get along pretty well now–and it is time to go.  C’est la vie!

If I can I will post one more time, but first, some Camembert, a baugette, and a trip to bar a Thym!