April 18, 2010

Many new people land in Montpellier every year, about 60,000 students and 30,000 new residents making it the fastest growing city in France. Most of these folks are from France, of course, seeking Montpellier’s 2713 hours of sunshine a year, relief from the cold and the rain of the north. Here is how Montpellier likes to think of itself:

“DEMOGRAPHIC GROWTH Montpellier is one of the French people's three favorite cities for its attractive living and working conditions. Over the past 20 years, Montpellier has grown to become France's 8th largest city. Montpellier is also the city with the highest demographic growth in France, with 43% of the population under 30. Today, the Montpellier agglomeration area has a population of 420,000. According to Insee (the national source of official estimates) forecasts this number could grow by an additional 300,000 people by 2030.

INNOVATION The Languedoc-Roussillon region is also endowed with exceptional scientific potential, with numerous universities and the 3rd highest per-capita percentage of public-sector researchers in the country. According to OSEO ANVAR, Languedoc-Roussillon is the number one region in France (outside Paris), in terms of innovative company creation. Winning first prize in a prestigious international contest, the Montpellier Agglomération Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) was chosen as Incubator of the Year by the National Business Incubator Association in Seattle, WA in April 2007.

STRATEGIC JOBS AND BRAINPOWER Montpellier is France's third most significant urban area (excluding Paris) in terms of strategic jobs - those involving the highest brainpower potential, right behind Grenoble and Toulouse. With 63,000 students enrolled each year in the city's higher educational institutions, Montpellier is ensured a high-quality available workforce. Over the last twenty years, 35 000 jobs have been created in Montpellier, promoting the emergence of cutting edge technologies with high intellectual value: fine chemistry, health, pharmaceutics, information technologies, environment, tropical and Mediterranean agronomy, but also tourism, which accounts for close to 6 500 jobs. Today, nearly 32 000 companies are already settled in the urban community of Montpellier, a figure that is destined to increase in the next fifteen years, enough to confirm Montpellier’s position among the economic capitals of Southern Europe.

LOW COST OF DOING BUSINESS Montpellier was designated as the lowest cost city in Europe for setting up a company (KPMG report, 2006).”

Is it a surprise then that only two of our French friends were actually born in Montpellier? Almost all of our married friends have at least partner from another country (German/German; French/English; English/Irish; South African/USA; French/USA, Argentina/France; Pakistan/USA) Four of these couples entertain easily in both French and English—a skill that requires bilingual competency on the part of both spouses. Two couples have lived and worked here 30 years; the other couple, seven. For two of the three couples, only one is a native French speaker. So, based on these models, we will be truly bilingual in 7 to 30 years.

Most challenging is participation in groups like Americans for Peace and Justice (APJ) where everyone in the group has mastered French, but speaks English when they get together for meetings and delicious potlucks. The food and conversation are so nourishing and welcoming, it would be so easy to fall into this container of good will and never learn enough French to do anything but shop at the market. We attended an APJ dinner for 10 last Monday night. As usual it started at 8 PM and ended at 12:30 AM.

Bob goes to APJ meetings and has web designed a new logo for the group. We both hope to carry a flag with that logo when we attend the Boycott, Divertissement and Sanctions rallies supporting 150 Palestinian organizations and at least 10 Jewish organizations that have requested that this economic, cultural and academic pressure be applied to Israel.

This was the week of that everyone in the US paid their income tax. What a contrast between the US and France. Can you imagine living in a country where the forms are made available three weeks before the deadline and the deadline is often changed because the forms are not published on time?

Preparations to move continue even as we eat , walk and attend films with friends. It was a pleasure to buy a super comfortable sofa and chairs for our new apartment that were made in France close to Montpellier. The US Patriot Act did not stop the flow of money from the US to France to pay for the apartment, but it took Bob three weeks to pry the money out of TIAA/CREF so it is relief that is done and that the exchange happened on a day when the exchange rate was favorable. Bob has been smiling ever since.

Here is a note from Bob.

A bit about the club photo of the Université de tier temps which is part of the University of Montpellier and is dedicated to continuing education.  It is a very friendly group that takes several trips throughout the year with the sole purpose of taking photos and sharing at weekly meetings in order to learn more about photography.  In addition, nearly every week there is an assignment for the following week and it is expected that everyone will provide some photos.  This week's project is black and white photos, not something that I have done in the past so gives me the chance to learn. I found portraits somewhat more rewarding.  Some of the photos follow (They all have a little tint in them as they seem a little more pleasing. Will see how that is received by the club.)

One of the first images I tried was of a group of storks that I photographed last spring with a new lens and the image was not what I wanted but I loved the birds as it was my first time seeing storks and tare were more than 50 at this location. The worst part is that there are far fewer this year.

Passing through Montpellier I realized that the most important part of black and white photos is some shadows or contrasts and this building offered both.

Only a few shadows but I like the building.

An image of the aqueduct build by Louis XIV after he conquered the south of France and had a park built in his honor.

Another picture of the park where our new apartment is located (it is not our building but we look at it from our balcony). And now for some portraits, all people who didn't land in Montpellier but draw us back to the US each summer . Some of you will recognize yourselves! Here is Kathy:

Paul

Erin

Elaine

Hi again, this is Sharon checking out. Don't we have friends with interesting faces? Or is it Bob's talent or both?

Kathy and Mussa, two friends from the United States, are visiting between May 17 and May 23rd and Marian and Bruce on June 13 and 14 before June 19th, our last day here before spending the summer on Bainbridge Island. That leaves about four weeks to get the keys, do a small remodel, clean our current apartment and furnish our new one as well as prepare for, take and recover from a four-day trip to see my sister sing in her chorale on May 1 in San Clemente, CA. So this might be the last blog before we surface for air in the United States for the summer. We'll see.