mardi, septembre 26, 2006
Une année plus tard
One year ago today, I stepped off a plane, tired and stiff and in desperate need of a shower. I started to panic when I couldn't understand any of the french that the sour customs lady barked at me. I dragged my gigantic suitcase through the metro by myself, finding my way (god even knows how!) to a scummy hostel with a horrible sick girl in the dorm room who wouldn't stop scratching her head (with the fingernails of both hands at once! It was horrible!) or leave her bed the three days I was there. I sat on the stairs of the Pantheon after the hostel told me I couldn't check in until 3pm, and thought "What have I done?" I had dinner alone in a restaurant my first night in Paris because I didn't know anyone, ordered Cassoulet because I had heard of it and it sounded french, and had to pretend to eat the horrible slop that arrived on my plate (it wasn't a bad restaurant: that is what Cassoulet is!).
Today, I can't believe a whole year has passed, while at the same time it feels like 10. Today my work friends brought in a cake and a bottle of champagne for my birthday. Today Alex brought me lovely flowers and more champagne and took me took out to a gorgeous dinner. Today I've been in the process of planning the house-warming party that Alex and I are having on the weekend. While Paris is still far from easy and my french still far from perfect and family and friends are still far away, a year on, I think I can say I made it!
Today, I can't believe a whole year has passed, while at the same time it feels like 10. Today my work friends brought in a cake and a bottle of champagne for my birthday. Today Alex brought me lovely flowers and more champagne and took me took out to a gorgeous dinner. Today I've been in the process of planning the house-warming party that Alex and I are having on the weekend. While Paris is still far from easy and my french still far from perfect and family and friends are still far away, a year on, I think I can say I made it!
vendredi, septembre 22, 2006
Les Causes
I think with the help of the kind sympathy and damn 'Nam spam, I have recovered enough to put up a couple of photos.
The new Chez Nous has already been well tested, with Annika come to try out the new sofa bed for a week (her verdict: too hard - she moved to the matress on the floor after two nights. A more statistically significant verdict on the sofa bed will be posted mid-October.), and the new microwave/griller/conventional-oven hybrid getting a good workout over a quiche, and apple pie, and plenty of grilled ham and cheese croissants (would you guess that I haven't had an oven for a year?)!
Annika's visit encompassed the usual touristic sights (much of which she covered on her own while Alex and I worked), and also quite a bit of culinary tourism. She came equipped with a list, which we diligently worked our way through. Snails (another one for the new oven!), pain au chocolat, oeufs à la cocotte, foie gras, mussels, couscous, and a little drop of Moët! Sadly, no Eiffel tower picnic for this visitor - we would like to blame the weather, but closer to the truth is alcohol-and-late-night-the-night-before induced apathy.
Just before my cold took hold (and perhaps not wholly unrelated), I had time to run around the Eiffel tower along with 10,000 other women, in the annual La Parisienne run. This was, contrary to what one might think, actually really fun and had a really great atmosphere. Various bands and musical acts were dispersed along the course, and there were loads of people there supporting and shouting encouragement, with banners etc. Renée beat me by one second, and we ended up placing at about the 6,000 mark, but we still got medals!
The new Chez Nous has already been well tested, with Annika come to try out the new sofa bed for a week (her verdict: too hard - she moved to the matress on the floor after two nights. A more statistically significant verdict on the sofa bed will be posted mid-October.), and the new microwave/griller/conventional-oven hybrid getting a good workout over a quiche, and apple pie, and plenty of grilled ham and cheese croissants (would you guess that I haven't had an oven for a year?)!
Annika's visit encompassed the usual touristic sights (much of which she covered on her own while Alex and I worked), and also quite a bit of culinary tourism. She came equipped with a list, which we diligently worked our way through. Snails (another one for the new oven!), pain au chocolat, oeufs à la cocotte, foie gras, mussels, couscous, and a little drop of Moët! Sadly, no Eiffel tower picnic for this visitor - we would like to blame the weather, but closer to the truth is alcohol-and-late-night-the-night-before induced apathy.
Just before my cold took hold (and perhaps not wholly unrelated), I had time to run around the Eiffel tower along with 10,000 other women, in the annual La Parisienne run. This was, contrary to what one might think, actually really fun and had a really great atmosphere. Various bands and musical acts were dispersed along the course, and there were loads of people there supporting and shouting encouragement, with banners etc. Renée beat me by one second, and we ended up placing at about the 6,000 mark, but we still got medals!
mardi, septembre 19, 2006
Enrhumé
A week's worth of late nights coupled with running in the 6 km La Parisienne on Sunday has given me a cold. Blah.
A better report will come when I stop feeling sorry for myself.
mardi, septembre 12, 2006
Sacre Coeur
The Sacre Coeur, as a storm brewed overhead, the setting sun cast an amazing golden light on the white stone.
jeudi, septembre 07, 2006
Demenagement
In between parentals visiting for the weekend, a landlady turned witch, a move to a new apartment (did I mention it is on the 5th floor with no elevator?), trying to finish up here at work, as well as always keeping one beady eye on the internet for cheapie tickets to fabulous desitinations, la rentrée* has not been quiet.
Mum and dad turned up on Friday, and were rather undemanding visitors...
We want a beer on the Champs-Elysées they cried!
And off we went to sample the most expensive beer I've had the pleasure of consuming thus far in Paris (€7 for 250 mL)! Many other beers at more moderate prices were also consumed, as were copious quantities of cheese. They were also the first to see our new place, which we celebrated with a bottle of wine after Alex picked up the keys on Friday night.
Moving day came last night, a bit earlier than planned due to the witchiness of a certain previous landlady. It went smoothly with the help of some lovely big-armed friends, though we still have a god-awful mess of half unpacked bags in various piles, but at least these piles are on the fifth floor, and therefore require no further lugging up stairs! The moving was celebrated with a couple of beers and catching the 'revenge' of France over Italy, whom they beat 3-1, only months after Italy's World Cup win.
Photos of the actual place, not just a few cupboards behind people drinking wine, will come once it looks a little more respectable.
*la rentrée: The mass-return of bronzed Frenchies to work and school the first Monday of September after the annual 6 week trip to the South of France.
Mum and dad turned up on Friday, and were rather undemanding visitors...
We want a beer on the Champs-Elysées they cried!
And off we went to sample the most expensive beer I've had the pleasure of consuming thus far in Paris (€7 for 250 mL)! Many other beers at more moderate prices were also consumed, as were copious quantities of cheese. They were also the first to see our new place, which we celebrated with a bottle of wine after Alex picked up the keys on Friday night.
Moving day came last night, a bit earlier than planned due to the witchiness of a certain previous landlady. It went smoothly with the help of some lovely big-armed friends, though we still have a god-awful mess of half unpacked bags in various piles, but at least these piles are on the fifth floor, and therefore require no further lugging up stairs! The moving was celebrated with a couple of beers and catching the 'revenge' of France over Italy, whom they beat 3-1, only months after Italy's World Cup win.
Photos of the actual place, not just a few cupboards behind people drinking wine, will come once it looks a little more respectable.
*la rentrée: The mass-return of bronzed Frenchies to work and school the first Monday of September after the annual 6 week trip to the South of France.
