Just Another Manic Monday...

You know, like the song "Manic Monday," by The Bangles (I think). Mondays are always crazy. I I went to my class today without doing my homework and I felt awful. The professor just stared at us desperately hoping that someone had an answer to all of his questions. Désolée. He's such a sweet man, he deserves good students...pas moi obviously. I had lunch at Quick, and I know, I know I shouldn't eat le fast food, but I just couldn't help myself. I had a coke too! ah!
Then I picked up my enfants at their school. I honestly want to quit. I can't stand the boy. He is very intelligent, but he is such a pain in my derrière, I won't miss him! Désolée, again. We read an English book together and it was quite a success. He loves being challenged.
Then I went to the 17th and had dinner with my other students. Lucas and I ate pizza and salad. New dressing recipe: mustard, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Yummy! I told him about my Thanksgiving weekend and he was very amused. Then Lucas asked me for women advice, he said he really values my advice and opinion, LOL, yeah right! We didn't really speak Spanish.
I just got home and turned on the News. I watch EuroNews and BBC World news. Now, I remember why I don't like watching the news, it's too depressing! Bush and Putin are in the news a lot. Bush is in the spotlight because of the Annapolis thingy, you know negotiations for Israel and Palestine (I doubt that a negotiation will ever be reached).

In today's news: Romina decides to give her notice chez the Cérisy's. Bush is putting up a front. Romina didn't do her homework. And two youngsters were killed by police in the Parisien banlieue. That's all for tonight. Thank you for tuning in and bonne soirée. :) For more on Today's news please log on to Romina's Facebook or MySpace.

Le dimanche...25 Nov.

No hangover, yay! Lucia and I woke up at 12h00. We had lunch at MacDo. I showed her around my quartier. Then I met up with Lou (my friend the nounou). We had dinner at Bastille. It was nice. She was impressed with all the mauvais français I had learned.
Some examples:
1.Beau gosse, B.G. (pronounced BJ)
2.J'ai hâte
3.putain mèrde
4.les nanas
5. instead of saying très you replace it by trop (ex: c'est trop mignon!)
There are others but I'm too tired and worn out to list them. Our waiter was sssooooo hott! She swears he was un arabe because of his tête (rien à voir!)LOL. We left at about 23h00. Oh I'm soo full and so tired! I never see her anymore because she got fired from her nounou job! So unfair! She's trop gentille!

Le samedi...24 Nov.

Samedi: Big Jour. Tonight was Marion's big bash. First I went to H&M and returned a few bad buys...and exchanged them for a jolie jupe and some basics. I'm all about basics! It's all about solid warm colors. Then I got my boots fixed. I wore the heel down so much that I was walking on the nail of the boot! It sounded like I was walking around in tap shoes!
I went to Marion's house and we worked on our marketing project with Myriam and Chloé. We're doing a 20pg paper on Men's Lingerie! I know the imagery is very graphic. After we bossed (worked) and hurried home to get ready for the fête.
I arrived with Lucia and we were greeted by a very buzzed Marion, who made us take a shot of tequila with her upon entering. Her parents had gone to the country for the weekend and we had the apartment to ourselves! The living room and dining room were decorated with bougies and red lighting. Lots of ambiance. Marion was definitely the life of the party! There was plenty to drink. I table was crowded with whisky, malibu, champagne, snacks, and more... Loreto came, and we bumped the reggeaton, but occasionally a Frenchie would come over and switch it over to House music! no! STP! oh well it's ok. We danced, drank, chatted, played Never Have You Ever (very lycée but Marion insisted)! Somehow a whip was found and all you could hear was the crack of the whip on people's butts as they shouted "putain mèrde arrete!" LOL hahaha trop rigolo! Later we were joined by Steven and his roomies, and Sarah G. It was mos def a soirée to remember. At about 4h00 the party started winding down and we took a cab to my place. Joyeux anniversaire Marion!

Le vendredi...23 Nov.

Vendredi:
J'ai pas fait grand chose. I was supposed to go to school, but I was so tired from Thanksgiving that I slept, slept, and slept. Then I woke up and watched Fred Claus. I waited for my mom to get home from Black Friday shopping in order to work out the details of our x-mas vacation. She is coming to visit me along with my sister. Trop mignon, I can't wait! J'ai hâte de la voir! We decided to go to Barcelona and Rome. They get here on Dec.14th I'm über excited to see them! Bon, je fait dodo à 1h du matin...z..z..z...Joyeux anniversaire momsies!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, was such a long day! Not! Well actually it was just a long night.

I promised myself I would go to class today. Again I slept in. I slept until about 11h. I decided I would try my luck at Havre-Caumartin and do some damage to my wallet by going to H&M. I hopped on line 2 and line 3 and voilà! I tried to shop at Printemps but as I was going up each floor on the escalator I was looking at Designer names and exorbitant prices. I quickly realized this store wasn't for me! So then, I tried my luck at H&M. Surprisingly, it wasn't that crowded (it always is!) and the inventory looked really good! I descended into shopping heaven and quickly forgot that I had class in 30min. The idea was just to pick up a few things (essential basics like: a hat, hair ties, and tights), but it soon turned into a lot more than that. I waited in the horrendous line for a dressing room. I was out the door about 2hrs later with a hole in my Carte de Crédit.

Picture of Thanksgiving at Steven's house! so fun!

On the metro ride home a beggar asked me for money, I refused, she kepting insisting with desperation in her eyes. I couldn't look up at her. Inside me I was thinking, you just went shopping, you have change in your purse, she looks desperate, it's Thanksgiving! But I couldn't get the money out of my wallet and the metro was breaking to stop at the next station. This all happened in a matter of seconds. I felt horrid; the lady got off. After she left I kept beating myself up for not giving her money, how could I be so mean! I"m so sorry! I feel awful! I just keep seeing her face yelling at me "une petite pièce pour améliorer la situation..."
I got home and went to Leader Price a really cheap grocery store. It was super cheap. They don't have plastic bags so you either have to buy one or bring your own. I didn't know this until I got there. There were about 5 people in line to pay with full shopping carts. I left my 3 items and went to Casino where they have plastic bags and more than one cashier.
I got ready for work and made my Thanksgiving salad. I got on the metro and it was so packed! I ran to get in just as the buzzer was signaling the departure. But it was so full that I could barely get on, a man had to hold my purse and bag from preventing the metro doors from closing. It was insane! We got to Étoile and there was a world of people trying to get on, but it was impossible to fit anyone else in there. One women was trying to get out and shouted, "Pardon, je vais sortir, mèrde laisse moi sortir!" No one would move to let her out and she almost missed the stop. Hilarious! Until it happens to you!
I got to work. I made crèpes and veggies for dinner. The boys started arguing again. They do this everytime. They argue over the dumbest things. When they're done arguing in English they start arguing in French, until I groan a bit and then they calm down. It's so annoying! I told them about Thanksgiving and they wrote it off as a stupid American Holiday. They bash America all the time.
I walked to Steven's house after work. We were having a lovely Thanksgiving celebration. There was stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, apple pies, wine (a lot of it), turkey, roasted chicken, deviled eggs, plenty of baguettes, cranberry sauce, corn bread, and cookies. I invited Marion and Edwige, they loved the food. Success! We gave thanks before eating and that was awesome. There was singing, dancing, grubbing, drinking, and mingling going on. It was a happening place!
Afterwards, Marion and I went to the Erasmus Bar, at Montparnasse in Le Financier. It was awful everyone was drunk and smelly. We headed straight for the bathroom. Unfortunately the femmes bathroom had been invaded by a male film crew interviewing Erasmus students. When I got out of the stall I had a french guy with a camera and mic in my face wanting to know where I was from. Jerk! Get out of the bathroom! There was plenty of Erasmus students and local gents trying to score with them. We stayed a demi heure and then decided to leave. Piece of mèrde, it was! Ok it's 2h34 and I have class at 10h. This is an awful habit. I must sleep.
For the record: the past two nights I have tried to go to sleep by 23h30 and it hasn't worked. I just toss and turn til about 2am...

Determined. Nov. 21

(picture:MICEFA's Prethanksgiving soirée Nayomee and I)

I am determined to keep up this blog.

aujourd'hui.

Last night I was determined to go to sleep at a decent hour. I tried to sleep at 11pm and didn't end up falling asleep until 2:30am. I woke up and got ready to face the horrid metro. I left chez moi at 11h50m and got to Étoile at 12h00, I hopped on line 1 got off on Chatelet and walked to line 7. I waited for line 7 for 40min. I finally gave up hope and walked the 30min to my class. I had to cross the entire 5th arrondissement. The walk wasn't that bad. The weather was surprisingly really good. There was a crisp breeze and the sun was shining. I finally made it to class 30min late. I buzzed into the building and found out that my professor had canceled the class because only one student showed up. GREAT!
I was supposed to go shopping with my soeur, but then she canceled because she had fallen sick. The journey back home would be long and I had a soirée in this neighborhood later so I decided to stick around. I gave Elaine a call seeking company for lunch. Luckily, I caught her just as she was leaving her apartment. We went up the street and had a falafel. It was cheap and delicious. Then we kept walking to Jardins du Luxembourg. We sat in these lounge chairs and watched French toddlers chase pigeons.
I noticed someone waving to me. It was Janina a German student on Erasmus at my fac. We chat and made promises of hanging out. (It's weird how the city is so big and yet you still bump into people you know.) As she left I realized that I had lost my Paris map. Elaine and I walked to the Quartier Latin where I bought a new planner and a new map. We needed to kill time for the 19h MICEFA Pre-Thanksgiving soirée. We wandered into the Shakespeare Bookstore and then back chez her. As we walked to Café Universal, we stopped by the infamous Mayflower bar. I had a framboise. It was delicious. We got the Café and had good fun. I had a Mai Tai, it was my first Mai Tai. The presentation was trop mignon! It was garnished with a strawberry, slice of orange, and blue sugar. Everything a Mai Tai should be! By the time I finished it, I had a good strong buzz! Ça suffit! Well I have class in the morning and I will go this time so I better get some sleep! z...z...z...

Ange dans le métro (angel on the metro)

I almost died on the metro yesterday...or at least it felt like it. Lately, I've had the terrible habit of sleeping late and getting up even later. I don't know, I'm either out or watching a movie on Alluc or Sidereel (thanks Lily for the sites!). Monday is my run around day. I have to rush to class and then commute to my two jobs. Well between my commute from one job to the next my fatigue, malnourished-ness(mauvais anglais!), and just overall crappiness, I almost fainted on the metro.
It happened between Barbès and Anvers on line 2. On the way to Barbès...I was standing amongst a sweaty, annoyed, and tall crowd of commuters. We were all sharing a limited space on the metro cart. I was standing next to the window. A chilly breeze kept flowing in while the heat inside the cart was overwhelming. All of a sudden my body started trembling, I felt an incredible amount of heat and loosened my scarf that was choking my neck, my head felt light, I couldn't breathe. The Barbès neighborhood is terrible and I was clutching my purse knowing very well it would be gone if I fainted. I just remember staring out the window and praying that I could make it out of the metro safely as my body trembled and my head spun...then I don't know what happened...in a hazy faze I remember a lady handing me my bag and sitting me down, everyone cleared to give me as much space as possible. I sat there confused and so weak! The lady asked me if I was ok...I could bearly utter "oui, je crois..." then she asked my metro stop I told her "Rome" she said "moi aussi, je vais t'aider," I was so relieved and scared! What just happened to me! Well I got out just fine and so did she. She asked me again if I was ok I said yes, and thanked her for her help, we parted. I felt awful! What the heck just happened!
I walked the 5min to my work. I was already 35min late to work. GREAT! I got there and luckily only Luca was home, everyone else was out and about. I was exhausted. I didn't tell him what happened, I was just so relieved to be feeling a little better. And didn't have the energy or strength to explain.
We ate. We hardly spoke any Spanish. I feel bad getting paid to eat and hang out with them and not teaching them Spanish. It's just that sometimes they don't want to and you can't force a 16yr old. We talked about his girlfriends and he confessed he wasn't a virgin! at 16! Call me old fashioned, but that's too young! Anyway then he wanted my advice on sex...how do you explain this?
It was one of the most awkward situations of my life. It felt as if a younger brother wanted sex advice, I couldn't do it. He probably thinks I'm a prude, but I'm sorry I couldn't it was too awkward. I could have given him tips, but I couldn't make the words come out of my mouth. Around my friends I can talk about it and its fine, but Luca? He's like my student, I'm his tutor? It was weird. And he seemed so eager to know...sorry.

Today was a disaster I missed my class because I over slept. I was up 'til 3am chatting with Hondo, Jose, and Ter Bear, hence I awoke at 12h30 with 15min left of class. Then I ate, had some Airborne to boost my immunity, and waited for the slow a** metro thanks to the damn strike! I picked up Marie. We walked the dog, went to the boulangerie, I taught her "twinkle twinkle little star," blow dryed her hair, had a snack, and watched cartoons 'til their demi-brother came to take over.
It took me 40min to get home. Thank you strike! I joined a group on facebook called "Replace the RATP & SNCF idiots with machines" its a reaction to the strikes. It just makes living in Paris impossible, its ridiculous!
Playing in my head:
Twinkle Twinkle...
Jenifer: Tourner ma page
Fatal Bazooka: Parle a ma main (such a funny song!)
James Deano: "On dit que les Blancs savent pas danser" (funny!)

So much has happened!
Not to mention the strike. I think strikes are good, I'm pro strikes, but I'm not pro-no-metro! I hate not having the metro available! I can't go anywhere without it! I missed my Arabic class because there was no metro! and I couldn't shopping, I couldn't go to this cool midnight thingy in Elaine's quartier, and I had to take a taxi home from work on Thursday because the metro stopped running early.

That thursday I took the metro to work around 6:30pm and it was a little crowded, but once we got to Étoile, there was so many people waiting to get on it was ridiculous! One lady said "non, c'est pas possible monsieur, maintenant vous êtes sur moi!" LOL You could feel people breathing on your face, and since I'm short I got to experience everyones BO and bad breath. Well I got to work ok, but on the way back the metro had stopped running. I had to walk to Place de Clichy and in line for a taxi. I didn't wait long, just about 15 min. And I got home with under 10euro.

Friday Marion took me to a café that was absolutely fabulous! It was at Trocadéro in the Museum de l'Homme. It had a floor to ceiling glass wall overlooking the Champs de Mars and of course the Eiffel Tower! It was gorgeous! The most fabulous café I've ever been to! We chatted over a Baï Baï-a vodka and Passoa (a passion fruit liquor) cocktail, it was very strong and very sweet.
Later that night she picked me up and we headed just down the street of Victor Hugo and had dinner at MacDo's a block away was a party of one of her Spanish friend's who was visiting for the weekend. The appartement was HUGE! It was the entire floor, with tall ceilings and ample room. Her friend spoke mostly English. The guy who owned the place "Charles" was an aristocratic snob, who was depressed over a recent break up with a Spanish girl. It was only the four of us for a while, and the Charles' friends arrived. About 10-15 men arrived, all around their mid to late 20's and they all bisoued me left to right! My head was tired from turning so much. They all lit up their cigarettes, blasted house music, sang, chatted amongst their-manly-selves, and drank, drank, drank. Us girls stuck together and gossiped. Marion and I were exhausted and this really was are crowd. A few more Spanish girls arrived but we decided to throw in the towel. We went home and called it a night. My first encounter with aristocratic snobs...LOL

Saturday, I slept til about 13h, that's becoming a bad habit these days. I had no more minutes on my phone and I needed some TP. But it was so cold and I had woken up with a cough that I decided to stay in and finish watching Georgia Rule. Then I desperately needed minutes and forced myself to go out because I knew that Sunday everything would be closed. I recharged my phone flew to Casino (supermarket) and hurried home in the freezing cold.
Marion invited me over for dinner, but I didn't want to go out, it was cold and there was no metro. And then I said to myself "you're here to learn french, emerge yourself!" so I went and waited 45min for a taxi. I got there and they had already had dinner but they heated me up a plate. I ate, they talked, I listened. I met her cousins, uncle, and father. Her Dad is soooo funny. (he reminds me of my Dad). It was really nice I'm glad I went. Dessert was a cake and vanilla macaroons from Le Notre(one of the best bakeries in Paris), Delicious!
We followed this up with a trip to the Vidéo-Club, we rented The Holiday. The plan was to watch it at Edwige's friend's house (Elouise) because she has a projector. Elouise lives in the banlieue (92) boy was it far, we had to cross the Seine and then some! When we got there her brother was watching TV and we had to go back to Marion's place. As we were leaving Paris, it felt like I was leaving Manhattan and going to Brooklyn, it just felt wrong LOL. Well we got back to the 17th and were walking to her building when this car almost ran us over and Marion shouted "Retourne à ton Banlieue!" LOL You see the beginning of your license plate says where you're from 75 is Paris and 92 is the banlieue, it was just too funny! The movie finished at 2am, I slept over, and in the morn' her mom had an errand to run and was nice enough to drop me off chez moi! Aw so sweet! I would have stayed for breakfast, but I didn't want to intrude too much.
On a final note, I'm really excited about this week! It's Thanksgiving and Marion's b-day bash!
On a sorry note, the grève is continuing into Tuesday! Zut, how will I get to work?!

Duplex

I found my boîte(night club)! It's called Duplex and it's only three blocks from chez moi! It's so awesome! Ça bouge! Mon amie française de cours de marketing m'a invité. At first I thought no it's a Tuesday night no one will be there! Plus I have class tomorrow no way! We met at 11:45pm at Étoile. I thought it was way too late to go out on a Tuesday night. But I emerged from the depths of the metro to encounter a petit crowd of Students in front of "Duplex."
It's funny because I've passed by it a number of times in the past and have never thought of going in. Well Marion showed up and then we waited outside for her Spanish friend Loreto (female). We had to wait an extra 10min for her to get there (hint hint). LOL. We flashed our school IDs and got in for freezy! O fo sho! As we descended into the club I immediately fell in love with it. It was dark not too big not too small and had a good college crowd. Most were French students. All they were playing was house music. And I like House, but there's only so much House music you can take! They played the usual David Guetta was a must!
I didn't see any goodlooking guys. Either way I really don't like meeting guys at a club. We started dancing without anything to drink, hence I was stiff as a board. I saw a guy standing watching us and then he comes up to me(whispering into my ear as the bass is blasting in front of us): "t'es française?" "enchanté Christophe." I was like yeah yeah whatever I'm Mexican no comprendo! And her was cute too! Tall, blonde, blue eyes. But nope not my type! You see I like myself a nice tall, dark man, one with some color! deep brown eyes, a BIG NOSE, and dark eye brows! I know what I like and he wasn't cutting it. That and I just didn't wanna deal with what I thought was a clubber. Poor guy he really tried too. The girls wanted me to use him to buy us a drink, but that wouldn't be right and then I'd be indebted to him! (no no no) He would occasionally come around and ask me if I wanted to dance and if I was having fun. After a couple of hours we couldn't stand the house music and decided to go. As we made our way through the haze of smoke and sea of french and spanish students I felt an arm on my back, who do ou think it is? Christophe! He just wouldn't give up. He asked me stay and when I refused he wanted my number, but nope nope, as I said before I don't like meeting guys at clubs, he wasn't my type, and I just didn't wanna deal with it. It was sweet though!
We were just on our way out when we heard the thud of REGGEATON! C'est CHAUD ÇA! I love dancing to reggeaton! Marion has got some junk in her trunk, she could really bouge to this! Loreto and I were immediately drawn onto the dance floor whil shaking our trunks! It was so fabulous, there's nothing like listening to Pitbull's Culo after two hours of house. Give me something with some SABOR! So I can shake my saltshaker! Well here it was! The next 45min was devoted to Rhianna, Sean Paul, Don Omar, and Ivy Queen! And trust me I didn't let it go to waste! Most girls there were French and didn't have much trunk worst of all they couldn't move their trunk! Loreto and I were bouncin'up & down singing along to the lyrics and eventually Marion started shaking what her mama gave her! LOL it was such a blast. Of course the boys were staring and would come up and try to rub all up on us, but as a group of three we would circle out the intruder. At 3am it was time to call it a night, Marion had class at 8:30am.
Goodbye Duplex! Thanks Marion! Nice to meet you Loreto! And all of this on a Tuesday night! Amazing only in Paris I guess! To my pleasant suprise Marion had a car! A very French car! It was very mignon! It made me miss my car! Oh well, and luckily she drove us home! I was worried about how I would get home, but luckily I had a friend who drives and has a car here! Anway I wanted to write about this night ASAP because nights like this are memorable. One of my best nights here in Paris and I didn't even drink or admission!

FYI:They never played a song in French. Everything was in English or Spanish...so sad!
4am i'm hittin'the sack!

Vivement Dimanche!

I have internet chez moi! and TV chez moi! It's a rêve! So amazing! My Gardienne let me borrow her TV (that means I didn't have to buy one!). This means: more Skype time, American French dubbed TV shows, more blogs, and more SSUpLoad. All in all it's a good deal. France Telecom told me I'd have to wait 10days to get it, but it only took 5days! Woohoo!

I saw a movie called, Les Coeurs des Hommes2, It was pretty good. It made me think, that all men like to cheat and will always get away with it. Not a very good thought, since I like the idea of monogamy but c'est dommage. All in all it was a good movie, but bad message.

Sunday:
I went to the Orsay today, for the third time in my vie (life). This time it was different, I got to see places that I had never seen before. I loved the Art Nouveau! Art nouveau is my favorite decorative art! I had some coffee in the lavish Tearoom with Lucia. We were kicked out at 5:30pm even though closing time is at 6pm.

Spanish Mass is at 6pm in my quartier with the nuns. It was 6:20pm when I got to my quartier. I stood at Place Victor Hugo debating with myself whether or not to go to mass. I decided I might as well, if I went home I’d probably just watch another Bollywood DVD or be on the internet. So I went and good thing to! I got there and Sister Pilar (she’s a 33yr. old nun, from Spain, speaks flawless French) greeted me at the door. Since it had been Toussaints (All Saints Day) we were celebrating the dead. She gave me the readings for the mass, a paper (so that I could write down the names of those who have passed away), and a tea candle (to light in their honor). I was just in time for the last reading and the Sermon. I sat down and was immediately at ease…Then they told us to go to the altar with our paper and our tea candle. There was a basket at the foot of the altar with the names of all of our loved ones who have died, and beside it there were rows and rows of tea candles lit in their honor. It was beautiful and I shed a tear. I always shed a tear when I think of my grandparents, I was very close to them…every time I go to church and they mention a prayer for dead I can’t help but get all choked up inside. It was beautiful. There was so much faith and love at that moment you could feel it in the air and it was as if they were there with us, embracing us, as we embraced their memory.*tear* I’m truly happy that I decided to go to mass…

As mass ended Sister Pilar asked me to stay for the Youth Group. I stayed. It was like being in the States. Most of the people that stayed were from Bolivia, Peru, that’s amazing (how can you manage to immigrate that far!). Some were already in their 30’s some youth group! LOL jk. There were two other girls studying abroad one from Mexico and the other from Spain. It was nice they were all nice. Most of them have just recently immigrated here and don’t speak French very well. There is a community French class being offered to them. It’s so funny in the US you get Spanish speaking immigrants taking English classes and here they’re still Spanish speaking immigrants except that their English is French! LOL It’s just crazy! I came here to learn French and I find myself in a Spanish mass, joining a Spanish youth group full of South American immigrants and Speaking a whole lotta SPANISH! LOL I like the sense of community and the Spanish but I’m here to learn French! Do I stray away from this community that has welcomed me with open arms, go to French mass, and join a French Youth Group? Or do I stay? Dilemma! My heart says stay, my head says go find Frenchies!