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New words I've learned
since arriving
frais
boulet
le teint
le traiteur
bouger
croire
l'ecran
la parole
le ménage
un quart
le choc
le mieux
le meilleur
le but
gagner
la laverie
brancher
BCBG
la inscription
la singe
la librairie
les sondeurs
le abonnement
sous-titre
la monnaie
vendre
louer
immobilier
im/meublé
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April 11, 2002, 0730 hrs
We've skipped yesterday's entry.
<FLAME ON>
Just when I think that I like everything about France I'm rudely awakened. I went out for my weekly dinner last night (I'm just going out one night a week to keep non-necessary expenses to a minimum) and found a nice restaurant serving Italian food. I had a nice entrée of carpaccio with mushrooms, olives and cornichons (which I actually liked!). About half way through my meal a yuppiesh sort of French woman sat down at the table next to me (about 3' ft away) and brought out her cigarettes. Now, I thought, she cannot mean to light up while people are trying to eat around her... Bien sûr. Damned if she didn't proceed to chain-smoke through the rest of the dinner hour, stopping only when she ate her main course. Talk about friggin' selfish. I am totally puzzled how the French can claim to respect the senses - to appreciate wine and food - and then smoke like frigging chimneys. I'm more than a little upset because I've spent the last two evenings in bars in the Paris St. Germain area watching my beloved English football teams in the Champions League quarter finals. As a result, my respitory system seems to be ailing seriously (and all my clothes are in need of a serious watch). At first I thought it was allergies (sore throat, runny nose) but now I think it has more to do with having abused myself by breathing a vast amount of 2nd-hand smoke for five or six hours. Most places the smoking really doesn't bother me (after all, I smoke cigars occasionally) but in a bar, in its closed environment, its truly torture. I swear, I think that the entire consumption by the US of cigarettes is matched by the Paris metro area. I've seen people chain-smoke for hours on end in bars. And its not just one or two, but the majority (probably 80-85%).
<FLAME OFF>
I suspect that somewhere, somehow, I'll find a bar or two that is less smokey, but it may take months. I have my interviews this morning, runny nose and all.. I've just ironed my shirt and now, je prends ma toilette et ma douche and I'm off to interview. 1145 Well, I'm back already. I received a phone message (voicemail) last night while eating dinner and was unable to retrieve it ('cause you need the number of your voicemail box stored in the phone and the chap who sold me the SIM card hadn't entered it or written it down anywhere). I spent a fruitless half hour over dinner trying to access the message and figured I would just go by his store after my interviews. Turns out it was the executive assistant of the CEO calling to say that he wouldn't be available tomorrow and could we reschedule for next week, same time, same bat-channel. So I showed up at Agency.com's offices, dressed to kill in my favorite Hugo Boss suit, all to no avail. I suppose, in the end, its a good thing 'cause I'll be healthy (and more on top of my game) next week, and my I'll have a shirt with properly long sleeves (this one is just about 3" too short, I feel ridiculous in it). Today was market day again - so it seems that this neighborhood has markets on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Not bad. It's a bit of a pity its out here on the periphery.. I would eventually like to be able to by some of the fresh food on sale (lots of veggies, chickens, cheeses, and fish). My knee just about gave out with all the walking in my dress shoes today. Makes me really appreciate how good these new Rockports have been for me. It takes most of the day walking before the knee really starts hurting in the Rockports. I imagine I'll eventually have to see a doctor about the cartilage in the knee (I think that's what cushions the joint). Some good things about France.. I should say something after my ranting about smoking.. People here are quite polite, much more so than most Americans. They hold doors for one another automatically, always say "bonjour" and "au revoir", and are kind to animals. Smoking aside, I feel pretty much at home after a week here. I also feel fairly good about the progress of my language skills. It's amazing how much I've learned in just a week of total immersion. I've been picking up a copy of L'Equipe, the sports quotidien, every morning on the way into the City (a princely 0.80E!). I manage to work my way through three or four long stories (quite well written, too) in the course of the day. I think it helps that I'm working with a limited vocabulary (football) on a recurring basis. It's getting easier and easier to read the stories. I feel like in a month I'll be able to read them fairly comfortably.. even now I'm close. Our weather today is high overcast and cold (a chill wind blowing). I didn't have an overcoat to go over my suit (which is almost summer-weight) so I about froze walking too and from the interview (entervue in French). Actually, my hands just about froze, I was moving at a pace that kept the rest of me fairly warm. It was a straight metro ride up to Le Gare De L'Est in the 10th where Agency is.. Big railroad station - Paris has four or five of them that service different parts of the country. For the first time I saw military troops with automatic rifles patrolling the area. Generally, one sees squads of four or five gendarmes moving about the stations. It was quite rare to see the military. I was going to blow off class today because of my interviews but now I think I should probably attend.. I plan to visit a Pharmacie to see if they have anything like Sudafed for my sinuses and a lip balm (my lips are so dry they are cracking here). One misses the little things.. it's impossible to find anti-perspirant, hand-soap is very rare (they have combination shampoos and soaps), and even Gillette Mach3 razors are hard to find (my current cheapie cuts me once or twice a shave). Turns out the tiny, tiny apartment I'm looking at tomorrow with the landlord is only a couple of blocks from Agency (a portent I would hope!) and a couple of blocks from the Rex (one of Paris' famous cinemas - yes, cinemas are famous here). Seems like a very nice neighborhood.. fairly industrial, lots of restaurants, mostly Italian or Japanese. Lots of stores selling fine glassware, china, and wedding clothing. Paris is still really segmented into districts where one finds similar kinds of products. It was quite striking walking around this area (Rue de Fauborg Poissonieres) that there was such a concentration of wedding stores, furriers, and glassware vendors. I imagine that it's hard to combat hundreds of years of history. Let me mention, too, that I saw Le Procope the night before last (and plan to eat there sometime in the not too distant future). Perhaps when my French is a bit more fluent.. Why is it memorable? It's in Paris St. Germain, off the Boulevard St. Michel, and it was founded in 1686. That's just AMAZING! Probably has a claim to being the oldest restaurant in the western world. Voltaire, Rousseau, Beaumarchais, Blazac, Verlaine and Hugo, Diderot, d'Alembert, Benjamin Franklin, Robespierre, Danton, Marat and Napoléon Bonaparte. With that sort of a pedigree I wouldn't be surprised to find Elvis waiting on tables. On the way back from the pub yesterday, I snapped this pic of the metro - thinking that some of you might not know what it looked like. It runs on big rubber tires, which is why it is both quiet and quite comfortable. I think the light was rather low so the shutter speed must have been very low - hence the motion blur from my movement (no, I only had 3/4 pt of beer!). But it's kind of a cool effect. )
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