011+33+citycode+countrycode

Suggestions:
a) learn to love this sound: brrrrreeeeep. Brrrreeeeeeeep [followed by voice. or not]
b) memorize: the calling code- good for calling from anywhere in Canadunh to your loved ones in Fr*ance.

Nothing is automatic at 3am or 5am. This was clear when my directeur picked up the phone and i found myself trying to make my brain synapses FIRE. Discovery: All nighters/insomnia produce varying results at any point in life. Thanks to my new found love of the Brrreeeeep and the french that still flowed (al be it sluggishly) in my brain this early morn, I remembered to say bonjour, renseingments, and vous. all very important. I called at three AM my time, and the 1 minute phone conversation was a little less than warm- he was [v.] "occuper", and would call back. He didn't call back so I did, at 5am. He had by then received all my desperate friday and saturday messages, as well as my twice-returned e-mail--While my early-morning french was somewhat halting-- i even used "briser" when appologizing for my 'broken' french (oh yes, that's right, I did), that is ok.

This reminds me of another France-related early-morn occurance-- another hesitant and desperate phone call for information-- though those days I was still on an island in the middle of a river . There is nothing like not being committed to speaking any language in particular when a French answering machine picks up: suddenly I was speaking english with alternating french accent (think Frroaahnse) and a flat cndn-english accent. It feels like you are suddenly making honking sounds from your gaping mouth (loud belly wrenching honks), and you can't stop; all you want to say is "hello, please, help me." And it wasn't even a dream. really. there was a witness. Cure for embarassment by mortification.
...say it with me:
011+33+ city code+ country code