france is good. france is great. france is not my home, however. in case you were wondering, the following is an incomplete list of things i miss.
-BROCCOLI. I. Want. Broccoli.
-getting super high and giggling the night away. alternatively, getting super high and lying on my bed, paralyzed, listening to music and convincing myself that although i have listened to the song in question at least three thousand times before, i am hearing a "level" of the song that i have never heard before. both are great. neither is happening here.
-cooking my own food. in particular, i want angel hair pasta with tomato sauce, broccoli, and crumbled "griller's vegan" morningstar veggie burger. i also miss living in a country where eating a vegan diet is possible. yes- i'm very sorry dear vegans, but this is really just out of the question for me while i'm here. i fully intend on resuming my veganism when i return to los angeles... eating non-vegan has made me feel all sorts of wack and icky. mais, c'est la vie.
-friends and loved ones. self explanatory.
-being read as queer. standards of normative gender expression vary from region to region, from culture to culture. by parisien standards, i don't look particularly gay. i am also always without partner. this lack of visibility, coupled with an appallingly high level of misogyny, has led me to receive much unwanted attention from men. i have also had to recalibrate my gaydar rather dramatically (granted, this is something that must always be done while traveling, even if you're simply relocating from southern california to northern), and it has been kind of challenging. i'm getting there, however, and i'm finally able to distinguish the true gouines with ease.
-driving. this one is a bit of a kicker. i really didn't expect that i would miss driving. but what can i say.... after two years of los angeles living, the city certainly rubbed off on me, and i think my car and i were finally entering a sort of intensely passionate [love/hate] romantic relationship. something thats nice about driving is that it provides one with a distinct personal space bubble. i think this is especially true for me, since i drive a vw bug, a car that is literally shaped like a bubble and makes me feel like i'm in a space ship when i drive it.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
je ne voudrais qu'une baguette (i just want a baguette)...
well, my dear (nonexistant?) readers, here's a little parisienne compte du jour.
this afternoon i was released from my french grammar refresher course at 3:30, or to be absolutely precise, i suppose i should say 15h30. in any case, i spent the following 45 minutes doing facebook-y things in the school's computer lab, since the wifi connection at the hotel where usc is putting us up for a week just isn't strong enough to handle 14 of us trojan brats demanding our facebooks each moment of the day. after i had my daily dose of unabashed narcissism, aka checking my facebook, i realized that i was rather hungry. being that the exchange rate is atrocious and that i've inherited at least some part of german stinginess, i absolute detest spending my precious euros on overpriced food and drink. i've gotten in the habit of eating approxamitely one baguette per day, adorned with some slices of swiss cheese, gouda, strawberry jam, or generic brand chocolate-hazelnut spread. so i decided to stroll over to one of the many delicious boulangeries around the corner from my temporary domicile to purchase my delicious 85 [euro]cent stick of bread (oh and brief tangent: instead of putting the baguettes in bags here, they just wrap a piece of paper around the center, which is where you hold on to the bread. its quite cute).
as i entered the bakery, i heard two voices conversing in rather raised tones. there were no other customers in the bakery (being as 4:30 is a rather bizarre time to be buying your bread for the day, this is usually a morning affair, and pastries usually in the later evening), and there was no one behind the counter. i could vaguely see two figures in "the back" of the shop, but they couldn't see/didn't notice me. the small middle aged french woman of asian background who i have seen each time i have been to this particular bakery, whom i suspect is the owner, was yelling at a scrappy young possibly arab man as she was pulling bottled drinks out of a refridgerator and handing them to the man, who was replacing them in some sort of order that she deemed more proper. i can't remember word for word everything she said, but the point was that this kid fucked up and she was maaad about it. this went on for several minutes before she finally returned to the cash register. as she walked away from him, she screamed "si tu fais quelque chose, fais le bien!!" (if you do something, do it well!!).
as soon as she turned the corner and saw me, i suspected that she would take my order acting as if nothing was amiss, as if i hadn't heard a thing, even though we both knew that i had. i suppose that this would have been the american thing to do. instead, she began to speak to be about her troubles with this young man. she was pretty worked up and speaking very fast- i knew what she was talking about, but i couldn't really understand the words or phrases she was using, so i nodded along sympathetically while trying to let her know that i wanted a baguette normale, all the while hoping (as i always do) that i wouldn't blow my own cover and out myself as an americaine. at one particular pause i added "alors, c'est les garçons" ('well, thats boys for ya') to which she replied "je m'en fous les garçonas!" which basically means "I don't give a shit, boys!" but from what I understand has a slightly more vulgar connotation.
finally i managed to get my baguette and my 15 cents change, and to leave the bakery all in one piece without revealing my americannes, altogether amused by the incident.
...so maybe that wasn't a great story. but you know what? je m'en fous, ici c'est un blog!!
this afternoon i was released from my french grammar refresher course at 3:30, or to be absolutely precise, i suppose i should say 15h30. in any case, i spent the following 45 minutes doing facebook-y things in the school's computer lab, since the wifi connection at the hotel where usc is putting us up for a week just isn't strong enough to handle 14 of us trojan brats demanding our facebooks each moment of the day. after i had my daily dose of unabashed narcissism, aka checking my facebook, i realized that i was rather hungry. being that the exchange rate is atrocious and that i've inherited at least some part of german stinginess, i absolute detest spending my precious euros on overpriced food and drink. i've gotten in the habit of eating approxamitely one baguette per day, adorned with some slices of swiss cheese, gouda, strawberry jam, or generic brand chocolate-hazelnut spread. so i decided to stroll over to one of the many delicious boulangeries around the corner from my temporary domicile to purchase my delicious 85 [euro]cent stick of bread (oh and brief tangent: instead of putting the baguettes in bags here, they just wrap a piece of paper around the center, which is where you hold on to the bread. its quite cute).
as i entered the bakery, i heard two voices conversing in rather raised tones. there were no other customers in the bakery (being as 4:30 is a rather bizarre time to be buying your bread for the day, this is usually a morning affair, and pastries usually in the later evening), and there was no one behind the counter. i could vaguely see two figures in "the back" of the shop, but they couldn't see/didn't notice me. the small middle aged french woman of asian background who i have seen each time i have been to this particular bakery, whom i suspect is the owner, was yelling at a scrappy young possibly arab man as she was pulling bottled drinks out of a refridgerator and handing them to the man, who was replacing them in some sort of order that she deemed more proper. i can't remember word for word everything she said, but the point was that this kid fucked up and she was maaad about it. this went on for several minutes before she finally returned to the cash register. as she walked away from him, she screamed "si tu fais quelque chose, fais le bien!!" (if you do something, do it well!!).
as soon as she turned the corner and saw me, i suspected that she would take my order acting as if nothing was amiss, as if i hadn't heard a thing, even though we both knew that i had. i suppose that this would have been the american thing to do. instead, she began to speak to be about her troubles with this young man. she was pretty worked up and speaking very fast- i knew what she was talking about, but i couldn't really understand the words or phrases she was using, so i nodded along sympathetically while trying to let her know that i wanted a baguette normale, all the while hoping (as i always do) that i wouldn't blow my own cover and out myself as an americaine. at one particular pause i added "alors, c'est les garçons" ('well, thats boys for ya') to which she replied "je m'en fous les garçonas!" which basically means "I don't give a shit, boys!" but from what I understand has a slightly more vulgar connotation.
finally i managed to get my baguette and my 15 cents change, and to leave the bakery all in one piece without revealing my americannes, altogether amused by the incident.
...so maybe that wasn't a great story. but you know what? je m'en fous, ici c'est un blog!!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
we've got cities to vist, trees we've yet to live in
oh gosh. if you know where this post's title is from, i'm reaaaally sorry to be so sappy, but i thought i'd reference some fellow queer tree huggers. if you don't know the reference, all the better ;).
at the moment, i really dont have the desire to write a long post because, well, its 2 am here, i'm a little tired, i've had some beer tonight, and most of all- i just don't really feel like it.
nonetheless, a quick update. i arrived in paris on sunday, all in one piece. my french skills have served me excellently. in fact, on tuesday some french people asked me for directions. i'm alive, safe and sound, having a pleasant time in the heat.
at the moment, i really dont have the desire to write a long post because, well, its 2 am here, i'm a little tired, i've had some beer tonight, and most of all- i just don't really feel like it.
nonetheless, a quick update. i arrived in paris on sunday, all in one piece. my french skills have served me excellently. in fact, on tuesday some french people asked me for directions. i'm alive, safe and sound, having a pleasant time in the heat.
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