The Bunny

Ok, those of you who have been to a foreign country, or even just another state that is kind of weird (you know like Texas or Wisconsin), have you ever encountered something that just totally rocked your world? That made you think, "what the...I never knew this could be possible!!" One of my friends told me she had an a-ha moment like this when she was buying butter in Europe and realized it didn't come in a thick rectangle like we are used to. It came in a flat rectangle. And she thought, I never even thought butter came any other way. But there it was, and that was normal, although at the time, to her, was tres bizarre.

My first moment like that here (well, besides stupid things like not being able to wash on Sunday or take the elevator to my own floor at work) was when I discovered that legal paper does not exist in Europe. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely hate legal paper. It just always gets wrinkly or inevitably someone will hit the button which causes your entire print job to go onto legal when you really really needed it to be on letter. But one day I needed to print something that was really long and A4 (the Euro sibling to 8 by 11 paper) just wasn't cutting it.

So I asked my office mates if there was legal paper. What? Oh 8 1/2 by 11 paper? No, I said, legal paper. It is like the same height but wider? And they had no clue. So I took a walk around the office and asked some more people. Someone claimed to know what I was talking about and showed me paper called A3. Ok, for those of you who have not seen A3 paper, it is the size of a blanket. I mean it is HUGE and in no way should be used in an office. So I said, no, I do not need this blanket sized document, don't we have legal paper, that is somewhere in between the blanket and the weird Euro A4 paper? But we don't. As the French say, ne existe pas. So that was the first time I was like....where am I?

The second was over the weekend. I give you, exhibit A.

The picture is a little blurry, but you know what it is right? Pink bunnies. Seems harmless enough.

Now, exhibit B. Notice anything weird yet?

Uh huh. I see. Ok, one more look. Exhibit C.

Did you figure it out? Did you see what caused me to do a double take at Carrefour and spend 10 francs because I simply could not believe my eyes and needed photographic evidence?.....

Did you know that there is a Duracell bunny??

That's right, a Duracell bunny. He is not the shades sportin, drum totin, going, going, going, hip hare also known as the Energizer Bunny. The pink bunny I know and love. That you know and love too. This bunny is in some weird tracksuit and what's more, he apparently has a friend. And he looks weird.

Anyway, I realize some of you might think that I have officially lost my mind but I thought this was just really strange. Kind of like that "Bizarro" episode of Seinfeld. There is an explanation though, and a good one, on Wikipedia. I really encourage you to read it, not only to educate yourselves but also because I think it is pretty funny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duracell_Bunny

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energizer_Bunny

If you want the abridged version, apparently the reason we have never seen Duracell bunny is because he actually does not exist in North America, only in Europe and Australia. And also because of some patent things.

If you have had and a-ha moment while traveling abroad and would like to guest post on my blog, just let me know via the comments section! I would be happy to post your story and photo!