Recap of week

Oct. 21

I was supposed to go to Versailles today but I was exhausted from Mont St. Michel yesterday, so I passed. Instead I slept in and went to church. The church in my neighborhood has a roman style interior and is one of the smallest churches I’ve seen here in Paris. There is a bigger one just around the corner. It is the main church of my quartier. It is HUGE! And has a gothic style interior. It’s a new church so eventhough it’s gothic you don’t get the same old world feel when you walk in. The back balcony houses an enormous pipe organ and a fifteen person choir. The hymns they sing resonate throughout the entire church causing a dramatic effect. It feels like the force of God is pounding on top of you. It’s a very overwhelming experience.

In the evening I celebrated my soeur’s b-day she is a wopping 22! Woah! The years are really coming down on us! Anyway we went to the Quartier Latin and she was sweet talked into eating at a Fondue restaurant. I had confit de canard (preserved duck). It was salty but good. Overall, I wouldn’t go back. It wasn’t one of those places. The waiter was nice. It was Heidrun, Elaine, my soeur, and I. We dove into French cuisine:escargots, confit, French onion soup, and fondue. It was a cool chilly night. Afterwards we walked to the metro snapped some photos and mimicked French accents. And talked about how funny the Italians French accent sounds…hehehehe, no worries we love Italians! Mama mia! Che Bella!

I finished Kathy’s book today. “Free Gondola Ride” it’s about her summer in Venice with a group of Gondoliers. It started off a bit slow, but as the chapters reveal these men and her adventures I was captivated. I hated going to sleep at night because I couldn’t read on. I loved it! It was like being in Venice and seduced by their Italian accents. Nothing but wine, sunshine, gondolas, and my camera. It’s everything that I’d like my Italian vacation to be like.

Oct. 22

Oh no! The week has just begun! Shit! LOL It’s going to be a long week…

I hate the heterosexual bathrooms here! Urinals all up in my face gross! Anyway I mention this because I ate at Quick today and had to pee in their heterosexual bathroom…eeughhh. Then I headed to work, where I saw my friend the nunu. She is so nice! And she digs my American-ness. When she saw me she said “aw, ça me plait de te voir!” (I’m happy to see you!) I was so happy, a frenchie was actually happy to see me! LOL She’s actually African and not French (she reminds me of that all the time). With her I have to speak French because she speaks no English. Sometimes we don’t understand each other but it’s cool! Lately we’ve been talking a little more and I get the feeling that when I see her she tries to lean in for a bisou (kiss) but I’m not sure. Since I’m not used to doing that I never insist on it but it’s weird. I don’t know if it’s my imagination or what but anywho yeah…That makes me feel good though, that she wants to bisou me! That means we are starting to be amies (friends) or at least I think so?

Oct. 23
Today was very crazy. I had to go work at both jobs. I hate that! It means I have to run around the entire city. And I only have thirty minutes to get from one job to the next! It’s such an exhausting day. There was the cutest man on the RER today. He was a middle aged black man. He was soo cute, he was tall, slim, and wore a knee length black wool coat. He wore a rainbow striped shirt with a matching striped scarf. He smelled of musky cologne. The RER was really crowded. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder and you couldn’t help but smell the other person’s B.O. and breath. Well this man was standing next to me and he was at least two heads taller than me. He saw how short I was and tried really hard not to suffocate me. It was so cute; he tried his hardest to give me breathing room. He gave me a smile and blocked the traffic from blowing me over. He kept saying “pardon” every time he accidentally bumped into me. It was mignon.ah…les hommes!

Luke was being such a pest today. I can’t stand that boy. He is very smart but also very rude. Here in France a child is a reflection of the parents. Well if he is the reflection, then his parents did a terrible job of raising him. Marie is sweet but she has a difficult time learning English. She tries her best but it isn’t easy for her. She turned to me with her sad discouraged face and said “Romina, tu as de la chance, tu parle Anglais” (Romina, you’re luck, you speak English). I felt so bad! Here I am trying to learn her beautiful language and the poor thing has so much pressure on her to learn the English language. So then I said, «aw Marie, le français est une très belle langue» (French is a very beautiful language). And she says “non, moi je préfères l’anglais” (Me, I prefer English). I felt really bad for her. It’s not easy learning a new language and it’s even worse when you have so much pressure from your parents. I’ve been to a few countries in Europe and to Mexico, and from those travels I can see that knowing English determines whether or not you sink or swim in the job market. It’s sad to say but true. It’s moments like those where I realize how lucky I am to be fluent in English.

Well then I saw my two chaps Tom and Lucas. They coo. We had a few good laughs. Lucas told me of his new love interest. Tom told me about his Jujitsu class. I was 15min late to work. It was my long commute! We made pasta shells, it was the most perfect pasta I’ve made yet! It was al dente! Parfait! Perfect! Anyway we had pasta shells, with butter, emmental cheese (gross), and ham.