The Nicest People I Know.

So, somewhat not surprisingly, but at the same time, hey, we're in France, some of the nicest people I know are city workers (SANS police, stupid popo).

Garbage Men: Every once and a while I shoot them a smile while I'm riding past and they usually respond unless they are brain dead as they are usually working at 10pm at night or 7am in the morning. Some other times when I'm trying to get by their trucks they actually would point me in the right direction (either to the left or the right) as they are figuring out a puzzle for me. Endearing, no?

Post Office: Everytime I go there, with usually strange requests, they couldn't be nicer and if they don't know English (as most Parisians switch into English when they realize I suck at French) they at least attempt to speak slower or make sure I completely understand what's going on.

Construction Workers: One classic example that sticks out in my head is from a couple of months ago. I was going home on the metro sometime late at night and since I live the second to last stop on my line there weren't many other people on the train car with me. We pull up to the station before my stop and there are a handfull of twenty something metro construction workers doing something or other on the platform. One of them starts to stare at me, delightful, and opens the metro car door. And something along the lines of "hey, you should come out here and hang out with us." "no, it's late. I have to go home." "maybe tomorrow night?" "maybe." is said in French. (don't worry Mom, he wasn't being creepy, he was genuinely trying to be cute)

Things that I have found hanging out in my bike basket:

a fedora

an empty wine cup

a list of emergency contacts for Paris

trash

alot more trash

a beeeeautiful scarf!

The Expose

I'm sitting here, 9:30 am on a Monday, having woken up at 7am to come to my History of Childhood class wishing I was in bed as I am on the struggle bus for the next half hour until class gets out. As I type (yes I am a terrible student) there are two girls giving an expose on Education and Play in Japan: Tradition, the West, and Evolution.

These girls are great, no disrespect in the fact that it is well researched and they are very good presenters, but it is straight forward, bland, and far too over-encompassing. The whole idea of an Expose is the idea that you pick a specific topic within the topic (today's overall topic was Japanese Childhood). However they are seriously talking about EVERYTHING. Their outline for the expose is an entire page long. It is very strange that our professor even lets it happen as it is really her job to give us the overall idea and not for the Expose to suplement the lecture - as in it is basically completing the lecture (she lets them go for about 30-40 minutes). I guess my understanding of the expose is a little narrowed, but at the same time I think the more focused the expose, the more interesting it is.



As I don't feel like explaining the expose, here is another blogger's view on it (not that I whole heartedly agree as she seems to hate them where I think they, when done well, are delightful - as seen in comparison to writing lengthy and annoying essays - but I say this coming off of a semester of only doing exposes in English and she did them in French - aka harder)

Weirdest Conversation for Directions Thus Far

[while I was taking pictures on my street last night]

Teenager Boy: Pardon, tu habites ici?
Me: Oui?
TB: Qu'est-ce que lkjwlekjrljwlelkjwlkerj?
Me: Pardon? Tu parles très vite. Encore?
TB: Est-ce qu'il y a du pain autour ici?
Me: Du pain? Bread?
TB: Oui. du pain. baguette.
Me: Uhhh...tout est ferme. [it was 10pm at night on a monday]
TB: Ok....
Me: Rue Felix Faure, la-bas. Peut-être. [I point behind him] [a more commercial street with restaurants]
TB: Ok....[then he walks off in that direction with his friend]

Suck it, it's Christmas time in France.

I had become a little dis-enchanted with Paris recently, but this definitely brought my mood around. I'm not sure if it was because it was the last night of November or something, but all of the Christmas lights around town that they have been putting up for the last month or so were lit up on my bike ride home. I took mad pics. And tried to take a video of it....but then almost got run over by a car coming out of a side street that didn't stop at the intersection....idiot.

Rue Lecourbe
Rue de la Convention
Intersection of de la Convention and Felix Faure
My street! Rue Saint Charles - that you can see the Eiffel Tower from :)