Weeks 27-28

 

The weather in Paris has been absolutely beautiful these past two weeks. It’s generally been between 16 and 20 degrees every day with nothing but sunshine. It’s amazing what a bit of nice weather does for your mood. I’ve been happy happy.

WEEK 27

The girls were at their dad’s for most of the week, which meant that I was free other than my classes. On Wednesday night I went to Shakespeare & Company for a Philosopher’s in the Library evening with a discussion on cultural heritage in the digital age. It was an interesting talk and it was good to flex my brain a bit. I decided to stick around after since the shop is open pretty late, I believe 10 or 11. I might have mentioned before that the second floor is a little library of old, used books and a few places where you can sit and read them. I found a book published in the 70s of modern short fiction, including stories from Fitzgerald and Ellison. I sat reading for an hour or maybe an hour and a half in a chair by the window, every once in a while raising my eyes to enjoy the view of Notre Dame or to smile at the fat, white cat snoozing in the chair across from me. I feel like I gush about Shakespeare & Company a lot here but it’s still not enough! I just love that place.

The dad ended up having to work last minute and the mom had already made plans since the girls weren’t meant to be with her so I had to take care of them by myself on Friday night, which was no problem for me. I hadn’t made plans and I have not had to work very much at all for the last month or so. Besides, Friday night is “junk food” and movie night, so what better night to have them? I made ravioli (that’s why I put junk food quotations) and we watched a French kids’ movie that the girls picked out called “Les enfants de Timpelbach”, which was about a village where the kids are so badly behaved that all the adults decide to leave. It wasn’t amazing but it did have a cool steampunk thing going on.

The weekend was all about enjoying Paris and the beautiful weather.

Saturday

I met some friends for lunch at an Indian restaurant. From there we wandered through Jardin du Luxembourg, which was insanely busy since everyone wanted to soak up the sunshine. We grabbed a bottle of wine and some pastries before heading over to Notre Dame where we sat on the banks of the Seine and had our snack and tipple. Next we headed to a tattoo and piercing shop….Mom and Dad, did you just start getting nervous? Don’t worry! We were just there to get my friend’s ear pierced. Then we ended the night at this fantastic little bar called Lone Palm, which has 50s tiki style decor and music as well as delicious cocktails at a very reasonable Happy Hour price. I had the signature drink, which had a gin base mixed with dill, cucumber, lemon zest, Thai basil syrup, lime juice and old Jamaican ginger beer. It was so good.

Sunday

Sunday got off to a bit of a rocky start. We had made a reservation a couple weeks ago for the cat café. I showed up right on time but it looked like I was the first one to arrive. I sent out a text and called the three friends I was supposed to meet but got no answer. I decided to go in and sit down. It became apparent that everyone else had forgotten so I got to experience a very specific type of embarrassment where you get stood up by three people at once at a cat café. Anyway, I figured if you’re going to be alone at a café, you might as well be surrounded by cats! I told the server that I didn’t think my friends were going to show up, so they moved me to a smaller table, which made me feel better. Luckily I had brought a book with me, so that helped too. There was a cat lounging on the chair opposite me and when my smoked salmon quiche arrived he poked his head up and got a good whiff of my lunch. It was too funny and I tried to get a picture but I was a dummy and forgot to put my memory card back in my camera. Rats.

After lunch I met some other friends at Place Vosges where we sat on the lawn with some snacks and soaked up the sunshine.

 

We ended the day with a little window shopping in the Marais and an éclair from L’éclair de Génie

 

WEEK 28

This week went by quickly. The nice weather makes my au pair job even easier. On Thursday the youngest played outside in the backyard by herself with a stick for close to an hour and a half. I just sat on my balcony with a book in the sunshine, occasionally peeking over to make sure she was doing alright. I’ve also been taking her to parks after school, which is great too. She plays with the other kids while I read and hope that she doesn’t sustain any major injuries. The girls went to their dad’s on Friday night and they’ll be there for the week, so I should be free until Thurday. Yay!

I’ve been going on and on about this nice weather but I’m sure those of you staring grumpily at the snow in Canada will be happy to know there is a downside! The cool nights, unseasonably warm days, and lack of wind have contributed to record levels of pollution here. Apparently the air quality is currently similar to that in Beijing, which is one of the world’s most polluted cities. Awesome. I’ve seen these really awful photos of thick smog blanketing the city but to be honest I didn’t really notice until it was pointed out to me. The air quality in Paris is not great on a regular day so I couldn’t tell the difference but I’ve heard that it’s been brutal for people with asthma. In response, the government decided to make the metro free from Friday through the weekend to encourage people to use transit instead of contributing to the pollution with their cars. I think that’s pretty great. It didn’t make a difference to me since I have a monthly pass that the family pays for anyway but I still appreciate the gesture. I can’t really imagine that happening in North America.

Friday night the mom of my family had friends over, more specifically the parents of the other girl I teach English to. They invited me to join them so I had champagne and appetizers with them at home and then we went for dinner at the restaurant next door. It’s always a great opportunity for me when the mom has friends over and invites me to join them because I get to practice my French at a much higher level than when I’m interacting with the girls or in class.

Saturday I didn’t do anything during the day (other than the weekly English lesson) but I participated in a pub crawl at night. I met my friend beforehand to grab a couple drinks during Happy Hour. We ended up at this little hole in the wall bar with graffiti covered walls and tattoo covered bartenders. I really liked it. The music was great too, of course. The pub crawl was a good way to meet some new people and there were actually a number of friends who came out for it, so it was a good night.

I slept in until the afternoon today, which is not surprising considering the previous night’s activities. Apparently there had been talk last night about meeting for a picnic today, which I didn’t remember but I was happy to partake in. We met up at Champ de Mars where we snacked and gabbed in front of a fantastic view of the Eiffel Tower.

I’m starting to get a little panicked about my time here running out. I have so much left to experience and discover! I’m doing my best to make the most of this amazing time in my life. I would hate to look back and feel like I didn’t appreciate it as much as I should have.

Peace and love x

Week 9 – Vacation, Part 2

I wish I could say this post is a jam packed one, but the truth is I slacked a little bit this week. Don’t worry, I still did a couple of fun things and I have some good pictures but I also had a couple days of absolutely nothing.

Dracula lecture at Shakespeare and Company

Monday night I went to a lecture on Bram Stoker’s Dracula held at Shakespeare and Company. The event started at 7 pm and was free and open to all. I arrived around 6:45 only to find out that the shop was already full and they weren’t admitting any more people! There were a number of others who had shown up at about the same time who were disappointed by this news as well. However, all was not lost as there was a set of speakers outside that would be projecting the lecture and so we were welcome to listen outside. It wasn’t cold out, so I wasn’t too upset. There was a fairly large group behind me who already had a friend inside. The friend poked her head out to talk to them and decided she’d rather leave the comfort of the shop in order to be with her friends for the lecture. I took this opportunity to ask the guy at the door if I could take her place and was admitted inside. Once inside I even managed to grab a seat. There were festive decorations such as pumpkins and spiderwebs and as 7 o’clock approached the lights were all turned off save for one illuminating the speaker. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see him because of where I was sitting, but it wasn’t necessary to see him to enjoy the lecture. The speaker was the curator of a vampire museum (which it turns out is within walking distance of where I live!) and spoke perfect English.

Now, I’ve been saying that I don’t miss school and that is the truth. I don’t miss writing lengthy essays. I don’t miss juggling assignments. I don’t miss having mountains of readings each week. However, I really do miss learning. I can’t stress enough how good it felt to sit and listen to someone intelligent, passionate, and very well versed on his subject. And it felt even better to know I could just listen and enjoy without having to sift through the information to decide which bits were important enough to make notes on. In true academic fashion, the lecture did not focus so much on vampire lore as it did the symbolism and cultural/sociological importance of the novel Dracula.

After the 50 minute lecture there was a very short question and answer period and then we were invited to grab a free Bloody Mary courtesy of Shakespeare and Co out front. The glasses were garnished with little fake spiders and it was very cute, but since I don’t really like Bloody Mary’s and I didn’t have anyone to chat with, I decided to go home. It was a great event.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday and Wednesday I did a whole lot of nothing. The mom of my family was gone on business so I had the house entirely to myself. I just bummed around.

Halloween

Thursday was Halloween and even though it is a mostly unrecognized holiday here in France, I had to get in the spirit as best I could. I had planned a scary movie night and sleepover with a friend, but I decided before that I would visit the largest cemetery in Paris.

I have to say, Père Lachaise cemetery made quite an impression on me. It was the perfect kind of day and time of year to visit. It was overcast but still, with desiccated leaves strewn across the ground. The silence was occasionally punctuated by the caw of a raven. There was a real significance and solemnity to the place. Here are some pictures.   

Oscar Wilde’s grave

After the cemetery I met my friend and we headed back to her place for our scary movie night and sleep over. She lives in a much larger suburb farther outside Paris and it felt a lot more like a suburb back home. It was quite a difference from where I live!

Pitchfork After Party

Friday night was a night I have been looking forward to for a long time. This weekend was the Pitchfork music festival in Paris, and while it wasn’t financially viable for me to go to any of the shows during the day, the second day’s after party was cheap and featured none other than electronic music wizard Jon Hopkins. The after party hours were set from midnight to 6 am and luckily I found a friend willing to brave the all night party with me. The other bonus of the night is that it was located at Parc de la Villette, which I’ve mentioned here before and is only about a 15 minute walk away from me. We arrived just after midnight and the first dj was playing but there weren’t too many people there yet and the atmosphere was very relaxed. We grabbed a drink and sat down. After about an hour things were starting to pick up. I enjoyed the first set, which had kind of an old school disco/funk groove. The second guy I wasn’t as much a fan of. He used more rap and the music felt a little aggressive, but not in a good way. At 3 am, Jon Hopkins came on. I wormed my way pretty close to the front and the next hour was musical bliss. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a show and I’ve really missed that incomparable feeling you get from being immersed in live music. Time stops being linear and widens into an all encompassing moment. And in that moment you leave your head and all thinking gives way to feeling. You are your limbs, your gut, the bass rattling your ribcage. You become centred within yourself but also become bigger than yourself. It’s a beautiful thing.

The next dj sounded good but my friend was tired and hankering for some ultra late night McDonald’s so we left. Unfortunately Paris is not as accommodating as the Canadian cities than I’m used to and the McDonald’s had closed at 2. Luckily I had some chicken nuggets in the freezer so we cooked those up and then headed to bed just after 5.

Weekend – Back to reality

Saturday I only slept until 11:30 but surprisingly I didn’t feel too terrible! I was definitely a bit worn out but luckily I was able to take it easy for most of the day. Now, the mom of my family has been away seeing her parents and sister in Bretagne for the weekend and the girls were supposed to be with their dad until the end of the week. He ended up having to work though, so at 7:30 on Saturday night the girls got dropped off here and I’ve had to take care of them all by myself for the first time so far. It’s gone well though. I was told to just make meals that are easy and not to fuss too much so it’s been all the frozen/prepared stuff that I know the girls like (chicken nuggets, cordon bleu, hot dogs, etc). I would have liked to take the opportunity to make some of my favourite go to meals like spaghetti bolognese or french toast for breakfast but I didn’t want to risk putting a lot of effort in to cooking only to have the girls reject it. The youngest is pretty picky. Speaking of the youngest, I haven’t seen her for 2 weeks and I think she missed me a bit cause she’s been stuck to me like glue since she got here. Her best friend’s dad very kindly took her out for a couple of hours to the park with his daughter, which gave me a nice little breather.

Tomorrow it’s back to my routine complete with early mornings, French classes, and lots of one on one with the seven year old. Hopefully it won’t be too tough to readjust after this nice relaxing two weeks that I’ve had.

À bientôt!

Week 8 – Vacation

As I write that title “Vacation” I can’t help but feel a little bummed that I didn’t get my stuff together enough to actually go somewhere. Don’t get me wrong – this week has been great. But I’ve got another week left of vacation and I’m feeling a bit restless now. Not to mention that going places costs money, which I do not have an awful lot of. Anyway, enough moping. Let me fill you in on what I got up to this week.

Monday was a nothing day. I just stayed in, listened to music, drank tea, watched a movie. Nothing exciting but it was nice to have a day where I didn’t have to look after kids or go to school. I just got to be a lazy bum.

Tuesday I woke up before the sun had risen. I’ve joined this photo project with a group of talented people living in various cool places around the world. Every other week has a theme and we kicked off the project this week with the theme of morning. Now I realize that morning is broad not only thematically, but also in terms of time. It’s not like the theme was sunrise. I could have woken up at 10:30 and taken pictures then. However, I felt I’d be remiss if I didn’t get up early to try and snap some pictures of Paris waking up. So I got up in the dark and took the metro to the Notre Dame area. I wandered around taking pictures as the sun rose, eventually grabbing breakfast at a café/bakery in the Marais neighbourhood. I picked a place that was well occupied and got the cheapest thing on the menu, which was an espresso and a pain au chocolat. As much as I enjoy the bread, pastry and chocolate type of breakfast that they have here, I’m looking forward to a bacon and eggs kind of breakfast when I get home.

After breakfast I headed to Shakespeare and Company, which I’ve mentioned once before on the blog and is a magical English bookstore across from Notre Dame. They have a small selection of used books outside the shop, which you can buy for under 10€ but inside they have new books, and they’re quite expensive! The cheapest I could find was 12€ for a slim paperback, but I’d say you’re average book cost between 18 and 25€. The second floor has the children’s section but other than that is dedicated to a collection of old books. There is one room with seating where you are welcome to sit with one of these old books as long as you put it back where you found it when you’re finished. The other room has a piano and a mattress. I’ve read that Shakespeare and Company will often provide a free place to sleep and work for writers (and I believe also musicians and artists as well). I pulled a large anthology of English language poetry off the shelf and read while someone played the piano in the next room. The sun streamed through the window, a light breeze gently nudging and tugging at the open shutters. People wandered around the cramped area in hushed reverence. It was beautiful. And despite the multiple signs forbidding photographs (citing not wanting to bother other patrons as the reasoning), once I was alone in the room I couldn’t help but snap a couple photos.

I look forward to visiting Shakespeare and Co many more times while I’m in Paris. In fact, there is going to be a lecture on Dracula tomorrow evening so I definitely want to check that out.

Wednesday I went shopping with a couple friends. It was a successful day and I now have my winter gear. Although, it was around 20° all week so I haven’t been able to test out my purchases. According to the forecast it will be dipping down to around 12° this upcoming week, so maybe I’ll get a chance to wear my coat.

Thursday I visited Versailles with a friend. We got there I think around 11 or 11:30 in the morning and the lineup for the château was insane. We decided that we would explore the gardens first and then check back to see if the line was more reasonable. The first half of the day was chilly and grey so it wasn’t the most pleasant but once the sun came out, everything was much prettier and the day became instantly more enjoyable. I’m glad we got some sun because all my photos from before that were pretty rubbish.

After a thorough wandering of the gardens, the estate of Marie Antoinette, and the grand Trianon, we were pretty tired but knew we had to check out the château. Luckily the line up had now completely disappeared. I think it was about 3:30 or 4 by this time. So take note anyone thinking about visiting Versailles. Something that was cool for me is that, while the gardens are free for everyone, I also got to visit everything else for free thanks to my student visa. Score! I don’t really know what to say about the château. Maybe it’s because I was tired or maybe I don’t know the history well enough but I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I can understand the significance and can appreciate the scope and grandeur of it, especially when placing it in context of the time period. But everything was so lavish and gilded that it just felt garish and vulgar to me. Not to mention it was quite stuffy and very full of tourists, particularly large guided tours. Quite a few times I pretty much tried to get out of the room as soon as I got in because I felt so claustrophobic between the heavy decor and all the people. So anyway, I’m glad I went and saw it but I much preferred the quaint buildings of Marie Antoinette’s estate to the grandiose palace.

Friday I picked the oldest up at the train station and then in the evening family friends from Nantes came to visit for the weekend. The parents were really nice and the kids seemed equally nice and polite as well. I spent some time with them on the Friday night as well as Saturday night. I’ll be going with my family to visit them in Nantes on the long weekend, which is in two weeks. It’s always a bit tiring trying to keep up and participate in the conversation but it’s good practice.

I’ve just hung out at home for the weekend, which is probably why I’m feeling restless now. Hopefully I can do some cool things this week. I hear there’s a Lichtenstein exhibit at the Centre Pompidou, which I haven’t checked out yet so maybe I’ll go see that.

In other news, I have my plane ticket to come home for Christmas booked now! December 21st I’ll be back in Canada and I’ll be there for two whole weeks! I’m very excited.

À bientôt!