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?!