16 - Nice hat! - Dax, Castets, Hossegor, & Capbreton
Monday, December 4 - Dax
My beret was well received at the office today 😆. First guy I greeted (don't know if I mentioned this, but it seems obligatory to dit bonjour to each person and greet them the first time you see them for the day) says "Ah, you found a great beret!" Someone else said I was ready to apply for citizenship 😂 Now the only thing I need to do is figure out what to do with the hat when I go to a restaurant; I'm afraid to bend or fold the hat and stuff it into my jacket pocket...
The day at the office finished with a 4:30 to 6:30 call with people back in Newark. As much as I'm not a fan of waking up early for calls with Europe, being on the flip side of that experience is interesting to say the least. At least I was conscious for the call 🤷♂️
Did dinner at Chez Nous, table for 1. The server recognized me, am I on my way to being a regular?
Tuesday, December 5 - Hossegor
Towards the end of the workday, the AIGP guys invited me out for dinner at Gigio in Hossegor again. Subjects of discussion were: how the post office has really terrible hours (9 - 11:30, 2 - 5), the bureau of taxes also has terrible hours, France has a tax to support public TV channels that is charged to you based on whether you own a physical tv or tv box (not if you are paying for tv service), and French property taxes (taxe d'habitation) are paid by whoever is using the residence (in one lump sum) on January 1st of the year. At dinner, we discussed a little about the school/university system, sounds like there's a lot of combinations in the French system but more or less engineers or scientists will have 5 years of university education.
Gigio has a bar tap next to the beers labeled "Acqua di Gigio", when I asked what it was, turns out it's just water.
Wednesday, December 6 - Castets and Dax
I went to lunch at O'Saveurs de Carine in Castets again today. Last I went was Friday and the place was full, today there were much fewer tables to attend to. The waitress and chef (there's only two people working the place) recognized me and have seemingly given me the nickname "jeune homme" haha. Today's meal featured veal kidneys; I had picked it partially because she said there was only one serving left and mostly because I didn't know what a "rognon de veau" was. The chef was listening from the kitchen and was legitimately concerned that I wouldn't like the meal and had a sample bite of kidney in the mustard sauce brought out for me to try. I went through with it and overall I was quite pleased with the meal; won't go out of my way for kidneys but I think Carine cooks a kidney about as palatably as possible!
Upon returning from lunch, it turns that many people on site had lunch with a couple big cheeses (people up the corporate ladder, not wheels of dairy) and I was invited to join in (or at least show off my beret). I'd previously met the biggest two fish in the room back in Newark maybe 6 months ago so it was kinda fun to explain how I was doing and what I thought about things at the site in French; I'm hoping they were at least partially impressed 😅 I joined their tour of the plant, not really having a whole lot to add to the tour but was explicitly asked that I be present on site next week when even more important people would be visiting. I'd better polish up my organ grinder monkey routine 🤷♂️
Dinner was at a Japanese place in Dax; for the amount and quality of sushi served, I think the place was extremely reasonable. Subjects at dinner included: AIGP is doing their analysis of the reactor thermal data and thus far their findings almost exactly match my estimates, the importance of Factory Acceptance Tests and sending qualified people for them, summer in SW France is very different from winter and that sidewalks would be noir du monde (so crowded that light won't pass through), and that the town of Castelnaudary has the best cassoulet.
Thursday, December 7 - Castets and Capbreton
Another day, another Euro jk jk. Much of my day was occupied with calls to the US and Geneva, didn't make much actual work at the site. The next big thing I wanted to move on was reading the operating procedures / batchsheets that the operators will be using; we'll need those for the startup so it'd be good to get them done in December. The operator manager set up a meeting between me and an operator on Monday to kick off our reviewing of the documents but I'd like get a head start on reading because there's no way I can keep pace with her while reading live.
At the end of the workday, the site manager took me aside to discuss the upcoming month's schedule. Officially, the project will be on pause between Noel and New years; Week 1 of 2024 will be a return to doing final checks, and then Week 2 we hope to start the place up. So with that, he gave the thumbs up to the idea of taking vacation Dec. 18 - 22; which would taking the place of the vacation I'd originally scheduled for January 22 -26. In January, I'll need to redo the count of my Schengen zone days to see how much time I can spend at the site; at that point we might also explore what options we have for allowing me to stay longer if we still aren't in a good place at the end of January 2024.
Dinner tonight at Monsieur Mouette (Mr. Seagull) in Capbreton with the AIGP guys. The place was quite lively and I could see it being extremely popular in the summer. Subjects of discussion: many French people in the area play lotto regularly, the COVID lockdowns had people who couldn't work from home put on confinement unemployment (government paid 70% salary and company paid 30%), how the train network in SW France isn't super convenient unless traveling to Paris, how Parisians just have an attitude of being so superior to everyone else in France, and how refueling cars in France requires one to hold the trigger the entire time.
Also, I learned about the signs marking city limits. I kinda like the simplicity of "city" and "city". When I asked about why I saw some signs were upside down, I got a chuckle and a "It's France!" Turns out that many farmers aren't completely pleased with the government so they've taken it upon themselves as a form of protest to flip city limit signs upside down... Vive la revolution!
Friday, December 8 - Castets and Dax
Thus concludes my 4th work week! Nothing too crazy at work today, a couple longer meetings and a few calculations; didn't get around to reading the procedures *womp womp*. Four of us went to lunch today at O'Saveurs de Carine; it was nice to eat out with others during the daylight hours but I had trouble keeping up with the conversation. Towards the end, I think the subject of peloté Basque was brought up and they were going to keep an eye out for if I have the chance to watch a game but don't quote me on that.
The meal was excellent: probably the best (and maybe only rutabega) I've had in my life for the entrée and une saucisse de Toulouse for the main plate. I thought the sausage tasted like kielbasa but don't tell anybody I said that. The waitress complimented my beret when we entered and also corrected me when I ordered le saucise; when I asked about the difference between le saucise and la saucisse, my answer was "an s". Fair enough 😆
The last thing I did before leaving the office was upload one of my presentations to a shared folder. I'm so glad my company doesn't need to beat around the bush when it comes to evaluating my work:
I'm staying in tonight; I need to finalize my plans for the weekend and can use the time to use some of the stuff in the fridge. Tonight's meal: duck(ish) sausage, cabbage, and un verre de Madiran. Bon appetite!
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