September 2009
64 posts
La banque - take two
Went back to the bank today for a 9 a.m. rendez-vous to finish up business from yesterday. I arrived at precisely 9:02 a.m. to find that monsieur le bank representative was already with another client. I politely waited outside his office for twenty minutes. When finally he emerged, flustered, he apologized.
“It’s fine,” I say, unbuttoning my coat and sitting down. He smoothes...
(Sperm) Bank
This morning, I headed out to a certain French Bank to open a checking account. What I expected: tedious and confusing explanations of technicalities. What I didn’t expect: an insulting debate on feminism.
To backtrack a bit, I have to return to a memory from 2005. I had just arrived in Paris to study, and was getting acquainted with my host family. They were a very bourgeois, academic...
Cooking Playlist?
I’m pretty excited to just relax tonight…things have been go-go-go, which is great! I had mentally prepared myself for a hard beginning here, and had imaged lots of reading and writing time, plus cooking to keep me busy. Can’t complain about some of the wonderful dinners or evening-time activities I’ve enjoyed so far.
But tonight, a bit of a pause. I bought some veal....
"Where Mean Little Jewish Nice Girls Go On Yom... →
Feeling religious guilt? I am. So I considered my sins. Which maybe weren’t sins. (TheFrisky)
Hey cool...not exactly sure how this happened, but... →
Me: How do you say "stubble" en français?
Him: Stubble?
Me: You know, when a guy hasn't shaved in like 3 days and his beard starts to grow.
Him: Ah...une barbe de trois jours.
Me: No - not literally. Like "stubble" is a word to describe that...
Him: Yes. That is what it is. We'd say "une barbe de trois jours."
Me: Go figure.
memries
I found myself trapped by contemplation this weekend. Being back in Paris sometimes feels like reliving my junior year of college here, except I feel like like a ghost revisiting the past. It causes me to ask if I’m so different—even physically. I’ve been spending time analyzing pictures of me from 2005, and then looking in the mirror to see if my features have changed. And did I feel...
“And personally, my code of sex-honor is that if he doesn’t make your...”
– Hannah
In France, Do Women Have the Right to Booze?
Living as one of those “single gals” in Manhattan has taught me to never count on cheap, unreliable city men. As a result, I’ve proudly championed the art of socializing alone (an oxymoron, I know). I first began with dining—scouting out restaurants with well-arranged accommodations for one. And when I got braver, I moved to going to bars by myself. While in both cases, the...
365 Days In Paris... →
To catch up, here’s the tag page…since I’m not going to post every entry here.
jesuismilena:
ninefruits:
Pagan Poetry (Matthew...
woome.com: cheap(er) dates?
I’ve come across a lot of online dating sites and written about my experience with them, and a lot of the time I feel ambivalent about the whole thing. On the one hand, I love the Internet for bringing people together and making dating easier. On the other, I have wasted countless, countless hours on bad first dates.
If you’ve read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, you may know about...
Teen Vogue: Fashion's Night Out, the Paris Report →
I did some reporting for Teen Vogue last night at the Fashion Night Out event here in Paris.
Hee-hoo-hee-hoo. Breathe breathe. Just had worst telephone conversation that I totally sucked at.
Caller: Salut Léo, c’est [person] à l’apparéil
Moi: Ahhh sault, ça va?
Caller: Oui, ça va bien, bien. Alors, pour ce soir…onpeutpredreslaj dkalftoioivjaallerfas;restok fgjsbarbraziliens;lfd kjasd;lfjkas ;dlfjkasl;k dfjas;dlkfmasmnds.kf.
(Pause)
Moi: Uh huh.
Caller: Ou peut-être...
“KFD: I need to be more successful.
Husband: OK…be more successful, sure,...”
– My hilarious friend Dana reflects at 6:28 a.m. where her sudden need for for more success is coming from…the 1st arrondissement, the superchic area of Paris filled with designer shops and ladies who lunch. (Kungfudana.blogspot.com)
After tonight, I think I might have to make it a rule to never consort with men who wear acid wash jeans in a non-ironic fashion.
Since arriving, I’ve made it a goal to find a good writing group in Paris, and have in fact been a bit overwhelmed by choice both through findings on literary message boards and Meetup.com. I tried out my first tonight, headed by a reputable-seeming author. We...
designage:
kid cudi + ratatat // alive
holy...
Today:
Fail #1: Went to Charonne/Bastille to do some boutique scouting/look for new designers/accessories to write about. Apparently France isn’t just closed on Sunday, but Monday, too. Oops. Forgot about that.
Fail #2: Bought fancy cheese that wasn’t cheap. I did specify “sec” but this chèvre variety n’est pas du tout correct. Far, far, farrrr too sec. At the...
chez moi
Tonight I’m finally feeling comfortable in my apartment. I’ve actually been pretty surprised in general about the feeling of “home” since I’ve gotten here. My surroundings haven’t felt too scary, and my place started to feel familiar on day one.
But there has definitely been an overriding anxiety when I’ve been home alone which has either manifested in...
well that was interesting. short. but interesting.
5 tags
Rain and Feminisme
There was a point yesterday where I was convinced my bipolar emotions were controlling the weather. It was one of those days where big chunks of puffy clouds overshadowed the Panthéon as they passed by, followed by brilliant stripes of clear blue sky and sun, followed by blankets of monotonous grey that threatened to rain, or dropped frustrating, uncertain sprinkles that cause you to open your...
