02.18.2008
Day Two:
The Real Toulouse

Well, my first night in Toulouse was ok. I had the heater turned up so high, that I actually woke myself up because it was so hot. Hahha……I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that, but I did eventually get back to sleep.

Most of the morning is dark here. I was up at 7:00am and it was still super dark. It seems that people don’t get up until fairly late in the day. I looked around my apartment complex, and no was around, it was weird. Only later did I find out that most of the country doesn’t start work until 9am.

So I get to the Moog building in Toulouse, and man, it’s a shack compared to all of the other facilities. You can see some pics below, but its not as flattering as the one in Torrance or Sal Lake City, or even Chatsworth. But hey, it’s a place to call home, for at least a little bit, at least I thought. It turns out that most of the work is done in one of the big Airbus buildings, so off to Airbus I go.

Airbus is a huge place let me tell you. It’s almost like being on a college campus, except with a runway and an airfield right in the middle of it. I had to get a visitor pass to enter, and they actually allow camera phones, but no picture taking. So, sorry, I don’t have any pics from the inside of the Airbus facility at the moment. The Moog office inside the Airbus building is in the basement, so they call it the Moog Cave or the Moog Dungeon, and for good reason. The floors are all crappy, the lighting is bad, and the places is a mess, but hey, at least I have a window seat and an internet connection, so I’m all good to work with a little natural light. Yea, I know, basements don’t usually have windows, but the building is square, so the inside faces a courtyard, and even though I’m below ground, there’s a nice sized window that I face that allows me to see some grass and a little bit of blue sky. Not bad.

Lunch was down the street at this place called Fifteen. It’s a small little café where the plate de jour is always the way to go. The special was a navy bean chili with rice and a roll, also served with a boisson (drink) and a dessert. Not bad for 9EU I understand. Either way, pretty good. It is nice to get out for lunch, and even though the choices are somewhat limited in terms of whats available, its nice to be able to get out of the dungeon for a brisk walk.

After lunch, I got a petit (small) tour of the Airbus facility. I got to see the new Airbus A380 up close and personal. I was about 5 feet away from it, and man is that thing huge. I think that the biggest thing about it is the huge rear tail on it. It’s 75 feet tall, and the rear stabilizers are as long as the wings on some other airplanes! THE WINGS! That’s HUGE! Ok, I know, you aren’t impressed reading this, but seriously, it is nuts.

Also, I got to see the A380 iron bird today as well. An iron bird is an electrical mock up of a plane, without the shell of the plane. So its all of the innards like the wiring and cabling with all of the twists and turns, along with the some engine models, actuators, and other stuff. It was really neat to be out there seeing all of this stuff you always read about, or see in pictures, but to actually be there was pretty neat.

After work, I hopped in my car to head to the grocery store over here in Purpan called Carrefour. This place was amazing.

Not only did they have food, but everything else you could imagine, refrigerators, microwaves, clothes, and everything under the sun! If you needed it, you could find it there for sure. Also, they have electronic prices in the store, pretty neat if you ask me.

So I spent about 30-45 minutes walking around there, checking out the scene and just trying to find some basic goods. In the fruit section, they have a few scales, and much like a butcher, this guy weighs out your fruit and puts a sticker on it with the price. It’s pretty neat, and much more efficient than doing it at the register, however I am not sure how you cant just go back and put more fruit in after he’s marked it, but whatever, not my problem. There are about 30 checkers at the front of the market, all of them open, all of them with a queue of at least 5-6 people. Now while the checking is pretty fast, the rest of the transaction goes pretty slowly. First, you have to bag your own stuff, so that takes some time, especially when there’s only one soccer mom buying groceries for 20 people bagging her own stuff. Oh, and don’t forget to buy a bag, or else you will be hand carrying in everything. Second, people LOVE writing checks. I don’t know why, but they do, and it takes FOREVER. Oh well, its not like the French are in a hurry to do anything anyways, except drive like maniacs.

The more that I talk to people who have traveled Europe, the more they convince me that America is the place that’s got everything backwards…..maybe they have a point.

Dinner was rather mundane at the Buffalo Grill, the only American spot in town. It figures that my two out of my first three meals are American type food, but whatever, it was the only place open at 8:30. I ate alone, struggled through the order, but it worked out ok in the end. Wine is so cheap, like 2.70EU for a glass, I love it.

Anyways, it was a pretty good first day. Maybe the French aren’t as bad as I first thought.