Clicking in Paris (Written on Wednesday, Posted on Friday)

In isiXhosa, ndiqala means « I start ». And with that, I shall start writing this blog entry by saying that I’m really looking forward to tomorrow evening. In the meantime, let me begin by recounting my cycle of life in Paris.

On Monday, I woke and went to my econ class, hoping to receive my mid-term grade. However, I would not be so lucky and would have to wait a bit before receiving it. On the other hand, I went on a mini quest for « Euro shoes », the term I [and I’m pretty sure others] use to describe the shoes worn by many of the Parisians here. On very basic terms, the shoes have a bit of a point to them. Thankfully Trevor had previously dissuaded me from purchasing them near our area; for less than the price of one pair there, I was able to find two pairs in St Dennis. I’m wondering how I’ll be able to bring all of my stuff home… in any event, that purchase officially ends my list of have-to-buy purchases. As we were unable to interview anyone for our third dossier assignment over the weekend, Trevor and I decided to be brave and try interviewing the women at our favourite boulangerie. In anticipation for the prospects of interviewing them and needing the extra energy to do so, I made a chicken, ham and gouda on baguette sandwich for the two of us. Unfortunately, they were busy (as usual) and we weren’t able to interview them. So, we went over to Franprix to do a bit of grocery shopping, as Trevor would be cooking dinner that night. Shopping completed, we went back upstairs and ate dinner in Trevor’s apartment (now that we know how to use the stove). He cooked rice and beans, with eggs over-easy. It sounds simple, but he cooked our meal successfully, despite the obstacles standing in his way, such as the lack of black beans and the lack of Mexican spices. It was wicked good (that would be the Boston lexicon fusing with my own) and very filling. Despite that fact, we still went through dessert (cherry sorbet with chocolate crêpe biscuits) and chocolat chaud. I then began to write my econ paper (no worries, I had done the research beforehand) and eventually quit as I was beginning to fall asleep writing it. (N.B. I didn’t work on my econ paper earlier, as I was aiming to finish my FURSCA proposal on time. Even though I finished writing it, I was unable to turn it in in the end. *Sigh.*)

I woke up early on Tuesday to finish writing my econ paper and did so sans problème. We then went back to our boulangerie to try and interview the women there, but they were once again busy. As a result we reverted to having to call our host dad. Without a response, I soon went to my Travaux Pratiques class and the five of us who are also in the immigration class together headed over to our class trip to the Cité Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration (I’m going to assume you know what that translates to). I particularly enjoyed the modern, yet not-to-modern, and rather interactive-feel of the museum. However, the journey over to the museum was a bit of a challenge. We had all gotten onto the Métro together and I suddenly realised that it may be possible to take the RER (the one faster than the Métro), but it would mean having to deal with a few line changes. Convinced that I could beat the others to the museum with my alternate route, I separated from them at Opéra and made the trek. However, I hadn’t taken into account the change-over time (walking to each line spot, as well as the time to actually wait for the car to arrive). As a result, I got there a bit late, but everyone waited for me anyway (thanks y’all!).

Cue 18h30-ish. Trevor and I meet up in his apartment and we call Antoine (our host dad) for our interview project. We talked about his job, the economic crisis in Europe, and the like. I’m quite ready to write this paper and turn it in.

Following our interview, I got a move on dinner (baked pasta shells with cheese, with extra cheesy pasta sauce, as well as carrots julienne and cubed zucchini). We ate the meal while watching part I of Aladdin (quite different watching it after a few years). At the pause, I went back upstairs as Trevor worked on some of his homework. Instead of napping, as I had planned to do, I looked up stuff for Le Roi Lion, which apparently is only 10 € for a student ticket on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, the French version opened in Paris in the fall and should be playing until the end of spring. Trevor and I are planning on going tomorrow and I’m wicked excited to see it. Through my Internet surfing, I found out/realised that the movie was inspired by South Africa and that the clicks in the stage version come from Xhosa! Did I mention I’m excited to see it? A few hours later, I went back downstairs and finished watching Aladdin while enjoying a round of chocolat chaud.

Today, I got to my econ class and received my econ grade at the end of it. I don’t understand the French grading system, but I’m not complaining. Let’s just say I did better than I thought I would-ish. I then went to the outdoor Dupleix market and bought stuff for dinner and then finally made my way to McDonalds (for lunch). Christine’s brother had suggested we try it at least once while we’re here because it’s apparently better here than in the States or anywhere else in the world for that matter). In all actuality, I am a fan of McDonald here than back home.

The plan for the evening was to go see a newly-released film, Le Code A Changé, so after dropping off the groceries in my apartment, I went back out to the school to meet up with my classmates and one of our professors. We then made our way to Passy and the second-biggest movie theatre that I’ve come across so far in Paris. We were watching a French comedy and the hilarity began to start when a big box of popcorn kept passing back and forth along the aisle; Hanadi, the professor who was with us, bought us this giant box of popcorn that somehow sufficiently satisfied the American cinematic experience for about 20 students. Before the movie even began (and while we were passing the box of popcorn), music started to play and it felt like there was going to be a live, opening tango number, on the floor in front of the screen. Alas, that wasn’t the case, but the movie did start with a tango scene. The movie was quite funny and I somehow understood most of it, despite the lack of subtitles. It also seemed to follow a traditional Franco-European feel, including a very open-ended ending. When we got back to the apartment, we had dinner (beef Bourgogne with white rice and broccoli), followed by giant strawberries with Nutella, and finally chocolat chaud. I should also mentioned that we watched a couple episodes of FRIENDS during dinner, before a long night of paper writing for the both of us.