Hey there,

My friend is taking a Marketing class in France, and they are doing a survey about Walmart. She needs responses from people who live in the U.S.
It literally takes 2 minutes….

Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHBPRExSa3l5S21USW9uRlRRQlIwWkE6MQ

Thanks for your help.

This annual French party is celebrating its 30th anniversary at the Metreon City View. Check out the event’s website here. For a more complete overview of the happenings, check out this article.

Early bird (before October 25th)
Members: $50
Non members: $70

After October 25th
Members: $60
Non members: $80

The San Francisco Film Society is having their French Cinema Now series starting Oct. 27 and ending Nov. 2 . The movies will be shown at the Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema and at New People Cinema in Japantown. (By the way the New People Building is pretty cool. I’ve been there during the J-Pop Festival, and they have rotating exhibits, stores, technology and…the cinema. If you don’t make it to one of the movies, you should still go check out the building.)

French Cinema Now is a collection of 11 movies directed by French and Belgian movie makers and shot in France, Belgium, Italy and Finland. You can find the program with a detailed explanation of the different genres and plots here.

I will be going to the The Long Falling showing on Oct. 30 at 1:30 p.m. The film was directed by Martin Provost and stars Yolande Moreau. It was shot in Belgium 😉 I don’t know the directors, but Martin Provost directed another apparently well-known movie called Séraphine. So I’ll check that out before going to see the new one and will let you know what I think of this Belgian fellow as a director.

Hey! I put this post in parentheses because I’ve also realized that blogging doesn’t always need to involve hours of reporting -It’s about sharing your experience and your knowledge with other people. So before posting something on the Francophone film series presented by the SF Film Society, I wanted to share this with you.

I was a the Learning Assistance Center at City College of San Francisco today studying for my accounting test, and I overheard a French tutor helping another student with her homework. The tutors seem really dedicated to helping other students. Check it out, and tell me about your experience.

Needless to say, it was refreshing to hear the language. It caught my attention, and I glanced at their schedule. They have a tutor on duty most of the time. I’m sure some of you might need help in French, and you can definitely find it there. (You could also e-mail me, and I could help you if you’d like…)

All right. So I’ve been MIA for a year and a half. I guess I could go on and on about why I haven’t updated this blog in so long, but that would probably be boring. I’m going to anyway because you guys deserve an explanation however lame it is.

I graduated from San Francisco State and got my Bachelor’s Degree in journalism last year. I then started a hyperlocal news site covering the Western Addition –LocalAddition.com. It was a lot of fun, but I had to take a break from that too because of money.

But I’m back now. I’ve started working on Local Addition again and am preparing a brand-new site that should be launched in the next couple months. Between that, work and the classes I’m taking for my Master’s Degree in Marketing, there isn’t a whole lot of time left to update this blog. But I want to find the time, because :

1) My readers have been asking for a comeback.

2) I miss being in touch with the French-speaking community

3) Another blogger mentioned my blog in hers and dissed it by saying that I’ve been absent. Nice way to take on a challenge; it’s just an invitation for me to start posting again.  (By the way Alice, try to be nice next time…. Just a tip from a former journalism student. You don’t have to criticize other people’s work to be successful yourself. Your blog is, in fact, quite interesting. Too bad you felt the need to self-approve and use something that wasn’t your own idea for the same assignment. Close to what’s called plagiarism. Bonne chance!)

I AM BACK!!! Cheers!

And what better way to start than the Francophone film series presented by the SF Film Society!?!

See you in a few for the preview and review of this incredible event.

The chart below was made based on numbers given by the French Consulate to the San Francisco Chronicle. The article was published March 30 and was exposing the presence of French companies in the Bay Area.The numbers below may not be completely accurate as many people don’t register. These are the official numbers.

The Café de la Presse, located at the corner of Bush Street and Grant Avenue, is one the icons of the French quarter of San Francisco. You can go there to eat or just get a croissant while reading one the many French magazines or newspapers. Although the menu is a little pricey, it is definitely  worth going once for the atmosphere and the food. Although the manager doesn’t speak French, some of the waiters do. Most of the menu is in French, and the façade displays the street names –Rue Bush and Avenue Grant– in French as well.

Notre Dame des Victoires is the French church of San Francisco. It still holds a mass in French on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Notre Dame des Victoires is also a school where everything is taught in English, but the values resemble the old European ones. The church is located on Bush Street at Grant Avenue in the Heart of San Francisco next to the French Consulate and the Chinatown gate.

Schedule of masses:

Monday through Friday: 7 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.

Saturday: 7 a.m. – 5:15 p.m. (Vigil Mass)

Sunday: 7:30 a.m. – 9a.m. – 10:30 a.m. (in French) – 12:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Belden Place

Belden Place, also known as Belden Alley and Belden Street, is usually packed with people eating at terraces. Belden Place, located by Bush and Grant streets, is surrounded by French restaurants, a church, hotels, etc. that all form what is unofficially called the French quarter of San Francisco. Although the place is usually full, it isn’t on Sundays when most restaurants are closed in the alley. This may be because Sunday is still widely observed as a “holiday” in Europe.

Belden Place

Plouf and Cafe Bastille at Belden Place

Cafe Bastille at Belden Place

Check out the timeline by clicking on the link below to see when cities became sister cities.

Sister cities of French-speaking countries in the Bay Area on Dipity.

Here is a link to Sister Cities International to get more information on how and why the sister-city program was formed.