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i'm having trouble starting this one. might be because i just rolled out of bed finally. might be because it's saturday. so regardless of how choppy or nonsensical this entry is, i am determined to write one.
yesterday: met up with some people from the program that i'd never met. there were a few that we ended up hanging out with. werner (chicago), natalie (norwich, england), kathleen (halifax...so she's awesome). one of the prime moments of the day was when emily, sarah and i all blurted at once to kathleen, 'SARAH MCLACHLAN IS FROM HALIFAX!' whatever divine intervention brought the three of us to the same house in france, i will never know.
we went to this cafe near the eiffel tower and got to know each other by being completely ridiculous and giggling like obnoxious anglophones. i think we might have broken natalie's ribs because by the end, every time she laughed she had a look of pain on her face. (and riddle me this: why in the world did this cafe stop serving ice cream because it is cold outside? i demand chocolat liégeois all year round!)
after overstaying our welcome at this lovely little cafe, we walked down to the american church in search of housing for emily, werner and kathleen. it's a strange little place, that american church. just stuck right in the middle of the quai d'orsay. it's not really much of a church either...more of a community center. and it isn't all americans by any means. nor is it even all english speaking residents of paris. it's pretty much anyone who wants to hang out. i like that.
finally, at the end of the day, sarah and i had an audition for a choir in paris. it was one of the easiest auditions i've ever been on. all i did was explain my musical background, sing a little tune and give the accompanist a handshake. i NAILED my song by the way ('gravity' - sara bareilles). it's the newest addition to my repertoire. dad's going to love it when i play it for him.
today we plan on sticking around st germain. there's a chateau we all want to check out. and i could use a day outside of paris. it's so fast pace sometimes that i forget what i'm really doing here. so until i write again, peace out.
so we have a new croucher here at the auberge matheny. her name is emily and she is so wonderfully candid and without inhibition. sarah, emily and i have stayed up way too late the past 2 nights over sharing about ourselves (mostly emily). i love conversations like that - all of those little insights into people who you know you like immediately. that's emily. just a fascinating mind and addictive mannerisms which i find completely soothing. have you ever really paid attention to a person's mannerisms and just felt like they could put you to sleep?
anyway, we went into paris today and i FINALLY met my roommate, caitlin. she was completely jet lagged and unable to focus at times but still able to keep up with our constant jabbering. that is a good indication that we will live well together because let's be honest - sometimes i cannot SHUT UP.
another great thing about emily is that she encourages me to take pictures of those little subtle things that i find so hilarious. that should explain the photos i put up in this blog. i love the kind of humor that jumps out at you from behind a rock and you realize that you've been walking by it for days and it was never funny until that very moment or with those exact people. today was full of moments like that. just giddy, stupid laughter.
an announcement: ladies and gentlemen, i miss brad like a sonofa b. i mean, of course i do but i have had so many instances today where i just wished he was with me to share in the giddiness. and there is no way i could ever possibly convey these moments over the phone. i just want to look at him (if the bum would install skype already...).
oh, tomorrow i'm auditioning for a choir in paris with sarah. the piece i chose was "gravity" by sara bareilles. it's a great song and such a moving message. i just hope i can convey the emotion of it with my own voice because, let's be real, that woman can sing anything. and on that note, i should be sleeping. i haven't had a normal night of sleep in days...weeks even. but i am writing to let you know that life is good. keep it real folks. stay classy.
ps - i KNOW that it means stamp. let's agree that it's funny and not judge. i'm immature.
i found an apartment. it is perfect and wonderful and everything i've been searching for. it has 2 rooms - one with the beds and another with the kitchen and living space with a bathroom off of it. it's all very tiny but it is affordable and in montmartre. we can see the sacre coeur from our window. and the woman who owns it is from washington state. she sounds amazing and i think we could be friends.
i am absolutely exhausted and didn't sleep at all last night but i thought i'd leave you with a picture sarah took of me today. it's me in one of my favorite spots in paris - the luxembourg garden - relaxing after a triumphant apartment visit. bonsoir.
i feel the need to express how much i miss my cats right now. especially tux (or irving if you are my dad...he thinks tux is an old jewish man). he is the perfect cat. he snuggles when you are lonely and he snores when he is sleeping. he puts his paw on you when he wants attention and has a little bit of a half smile. he can jump up to my shoulders when he is chasing his bouncy mouse toy and when i wake him up he makes a little startled noise...just like my dad. he also farts...all the time.
there is a dog here at the house i'm staying in. his name is romeo and he is some sort of poodle. he is cute though because i think most poodles are fugly. he loves me because i think i'm the only one in the house that doesn't yell at him. he jumps up on the table while we're eating and licks all around the dishes. it's disgusting but i forgive him because he is such a sweet little thing. i am the dog whisperer.
there's a homeless guy that sits on bd st. michel right near les jardins luxembourg and he has this TINY little fluffy puppy that sits on this piece of cardboard. i want to steal it away but i think it might be infested with every parasite known to man. it can't be any bigger than the size of my fist and it makes me giddy every time i walk by.
so i love animals. i think that has been made clear. i love the dogs in this city. it is exactly like 101 dalmatians. they each have matching characteristics to their owners. there was a lady on the bus the other day with her little pug and they both had these matching grimaces. they also shared an unfortunate under bite and incredibly wrinkled faces. despite these gloomy traits, the pair of them still managed to warm my heart. there is nothing more sincere than a bond between a pet and its owner. i must have gotten this emotional response to animals from my grandmother who most definitely favored her dogs over her children. i mean, her poodles' ashes were buried with
her own for christ's sake. that is sick. (i love you grama mo)anyway, i should shower and get ready for this rainy day ahead of me. i'm going to look at an apartment in montmartre and it is a very promising prospect. as long as it is big enough, the landlord and i have decided that we like each other very much. she is an american teacher and has expressed a sort of comfort in having a fellow american teacher live in and take care of her apartment. wish me luck. it's the best prospect i've had yet.
more posts to come...enjoy and bonne journée!
so i've been in paris since september 10th and decided to create a blog instead of try to keep up with all the emails i've gotten. if you want to know how it's going or what i'm up to, you can just check here. and i'm really bad at keeping in touch so this makes my life a little easier...which is the real motivation behind this whole project.
anyway, i left home on a wednesday night and arrived in paris (with all of my junk - including a 90lb suitcase) on thursday afternoon. i checked into a hotel in the 17th arrondissement and stayed there for 4 nights. breakfast eachmorning consisted of baguette, croissant and individually wrapped mini slices of toast. aka - more gluten than i've eaten in a year. my body has since recovered but i refuse to stay gluten free in the city of bread and wine.
the guys at the front desk were mostly students my age and practiced their english on me while i practiced my french. they tried to help me find apartments and some even tried to get dinner with me. sadly for them, i am deeply committed to my wonderful boyfriend and i refuse to date anyone skinnier than me which all parisian men seem to be.
on those first days i played around on the metro and walked through my favorite neighborhoods to get back into the swing of life in paris. it is truly bizarre to be back in this city after four years away. it's as if i never left but at the same time it seems so new all over again. i will admit to being a little homesick at times but i'm really trying to push through it. it nearly ruined my last experience and i owe it to myself to fully enjoy this opportunity.
after the first weekend, 2 girls i met through the program and email but never in real life arrived in paris. they are betsy and sarah who i'm sure i will mention a lot in the next seven months. they are both very sweet and very smart and we all get along well. the two of them are living together in the 14th beginning october 1st while caitlin and i (another girl from the program) are still looking for a place to live. i will explain that disaster in a minute.
for now i am staying rent free in fourqueux (a town just outside of st germain-en-laye) with sarah's family friends from the us. they've been here for 20 years (betsy and ted) and raised their family here. i am so lucky to have made these friends so far because i think i might have imploded from all the overwhelming paperwork and logistics of a long stay visa in french. there are bank accounts and leases and cartes de sejour and social security and cell phones. oh, and did i mention that i came to france with no money because i have a target problem (i can't go into one without buying something from every department...including the doggy section and i have cats)? it is not conducive to saving money. that was dumb. anyway, betsy (i will call her mama betsy because that's what she is) has helped me out with all of this craziness and made me feel much better about life. no more anxiety attacks about deportation.
in terms of fellow language assistants, i have really liked every single person i've met. i'm sure i will narrow my group of friends because i couldn't possibly keep up with the 50+ people i've met so far and i believe there are hundreds of english language assistants from all english speaking countries. i have met people from the us, from canada, from ireland, scotland and england. it's all very exciting.
so for now i am continuing to adjust and get all of the important errands in order. i have been searching feverishly for an apartment and that is a constant disappointment. i am trying not to get discouraged and keep my hopes up. it is worse than looking for an apartment in nyc.
i'm sure i've forgotten things and promise to include them in my next post. i start work in my lycée on october first and will let you know all about that. i hope everyone is doing well and is totally jealous of my awesome parisian life. à bientôt mes chéries!
today is sunday so emily and i are going to get some recordings of the church bells up the street. and in order to do that, i need to get out of bed. therefore, a bientôt.
