I got this from Dispatches from France (see links). I sort of like these memes, not only because it gives me a chance to talk about myself, and who doesn't like that!
Seven Things I Can Do
1) The french splits
2) Say obscene football chants in Italian
3) Sit quitely for hours
4) Watch french TV and sort of understand a little bit.
5) Quote huge chunks of 'Friends'
6) Cook amazing risotto
7) Lie in the bath forever.
Seven Things I Plan to Do Before I Die
1) Become fluent in at least two languages
2) Go back to be a camp counsellor in the US
3) Watch the sunrise over Macchu Picchu
4) Fall in love
5) Bathe in the River Ganges
6) Finish my Masters, then do another one
7) Write a book.
Seven Things I Can't Do
1) Keep still
2) File my nails properly
3) Keep away from my blog
4) Shave my legs without missing bits
5) Forget about Rome
6) Imagine the future
7) Remember what it was like
Seven Things That I Find Really Attractive About the Opposite Sex
1) Chocolate eyes
2) a genuinely warm smile
3) Calm
4) Intelligence
5) strength
6) Hilarity
7)Stuff that I am not willing to put on my blog....
Seven Things I Say the Most
1) But, no
2) Selfish!
3) Boring!
4) Hello!
5) Hilarious
6) Ludicrous
7)Score!
Seven Books I Love
1) Wuthering Heights By Emily Bronte
2) Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris
3) The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
4) The Rough Guide to Italy
5)The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
6) The Northern Lights Trilogy by Philip Pullman7) The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
I think that I am going to tag: Denise at battygrrl.blogspot and Sensibly Stoned. It is all quite good fun this tagging business....
September 08, 2005
Hot wandering
I spent the evening yesterday walking down Boulevard Saint Germain with C. We went to a stationary shop to buy pencil sharpeners, a cave au vin for some cool rose wine and a droguerie for some kitchen stuff.
On the way home, we stopped off at the most amazing of chocolatieries, a place called 'Cacao et Chocolat' on Rue de buci. It is close to where C lives and we have popped in their for a variety of very expensive treats to keep our apartment hunting and apartment finding spirits up. They do the most perfect macarons that I have ever tasted.
When I walk into the air conditioned shop, all I have to do is take a deep breath of cool chocolaty air and I am in heaven. There is no movement to the air in Paris at the moment, so we walked and chatted with close heat next to our skin, glistening with sweat, just from walking. We chatted about our first days at our new workplace. It is good to feel that you are sharing this experience with someone.
"What you see before you my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate"
Katherine Hepburn
"Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough"
Billie Holiday
On the way home, we stopped off at the most amazing of chocolatieries, a place called 'Cacao et Chocolat' on Rue de buci. It is close to where C lives and we have popped in their for a variety of very expensive treats to keep our apartment hunting and apartment finding spirits up. They do the most perfect macarons that I have ever tasted.
When I walk into the air conditioned shop, all I have to do is take a deep breath of cool chocolaty air and I am in heaven. There is no movement to the air in Paris at the moment, so we walked and chatted with close heat next to our skin, glistening with sweat, just from walking. We chatted about our first days at our new workplace. It is good to feel that you are sharing this experience with someone.
"What you see before you my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate"
Katherine Hepburn
"Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what's more than enough"
Billie Holiday
September 07, 2005
Sniffer Dogs
There were sniffer dogs and Police on the Paris Metro today. It felt a little bit strange to say the least. I forced myself to get up at 6.40 so that I could see if leaving twenty minutes earlier could help me keep my ribs intact.
In reality, I left 10 minutes earlier and have to say that it was a little bit more comfortable. I hope that all you blog readers are ready for a year of whinging and moaning about transport in Paris.
Last night I sat in Cafe Soufflot drinking tea and watching the sun make its final moves around the city. At just after seven, the whole street was in the shade apart from the Dome of the Pantheon, which was bathed in golden light. I don't know how long I sat there nursing my hot drink, but it must have been nearly bedtime when I walked through the door to my tiny apartment.
"Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run"
Jeff Buckley
"Not necesarily stoned, but beautiful"
Jimi Hendrix
In reality, I left 10 minutes earlier and have to say that it was a little bit more comfortable. I hope that all you blog readers are ready for a year of whinging and moaning about transport in Paris.
Last night I sat in Cafe Soufflot drinking tea and watching the sun make its final moves around the city. At just after seven, the whole street was in the shade apart from the Dome of the Pantheon, which was bathed in golden light. I don't know how long I sat there nursing my hot drink, but it must have been nearly bedtime when I walked through the door to my tiny apartment.
"Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run"
Jeff Buckley
"Not necesarily stoned, but beautiful"
Jimi Hendrix
September 06, 2005
Morning commute
I have never seen people squash onto the Metro the way they did this morning. People literally having the skin scraped off their arms as the doors closed. I really need to start coming into work much earlier or much later to avoid the nightmare.
At the end of each day in Paris, before I go to bed, I clean my face and wash the metro away. I can feel the grey grime being lifted. City life is exciting, and my daily few seconds over the Seine and past the Eiffel Tower, is enough to make it all worthwhile. Give me a year to change my mind about this.
I've given myself a soundtrack to the 'Anne in Paris' film. My CD walkman (a gift from the school in Warsaw), comes everywhere with me. It provides me with the poetry to describe where I am and what I am doing. I know that in the future I will listen to these albums and think of the walk down Boulevard Saint Michel towards my Metro station.
"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense"
Gertrude Stein
At the end of each day in Paris, before I go to bed, I clean my face and wash the metro away. I can feel the grey grime being lifted. City life is exciting, and my daily few seconds over the Seine and past the Eiffel Tower, is enough to make it all worthwhile. Give me a year to change my mind about this.
I've given myself a soundtrack to the 'Anne in Paris' film. My CD walkman (a gift from the school in Warsaw), comes everywhere with me. It provides me with the poetry to describe where I am and what I am doing. I know that in the future I will listen to these albums and think of the walk down Boulevard Saint Michel towards my Metro station.
"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense"
Gertrude Stein
September 04, 2005
Too many airports
There are too many airports in the world. There are too many goodbyes, too many tears. There is not enough time for one last hug or to turn and watch someone walk away. There is no permanance in a life living abroad.
It has never been easy to say hello and goodbye to the people you love the most on a regular basis. It seems to be a constant round of tears when the people you love are not around. It is hard this life that we chose.
Ally has come and she has gone. And now I know Charles De Gaulle airport a little bit better than I did yesterday.
"Promise me you'll never forget me, because if I thought you would I'd never leave"
AA Milne
It has never been easy to say hello and goodbye to the people you love the most on a regular basis. It seems to be a constant round of tears when the people you love are not around. It is hard this life that we chose.
Ally has come and she has gone. And now I know Charles De Gaulle airport a little bit better than I did yesterday.
"Promise me you'll never forget me, because if I thought you would I'd never leave"
AA Milne
September 03, 2005
France Telecom
Since I arrived in France, the hardest thing that I have had to do is try and set up a telephone line. Getting a french sim card for my mobile was easy enough but I also need a landline to keep up with friends in the UK, Poland and other places too.
There was no tone at all when I moved in and the school secretary kidly called and made an appointment for a technician to come round and connect the line at the bargain cost of 50 euros. The day before the appointment the line got connected anyway and so I called and cancelled the technician.
What actually happened is that the technician came round anyway, left me a note to say that I was now connected and then disconnected the line. After nearly two hours of sweating in glass fronted phone boxes, I managed to make another appointment with a technician to see what the problem was. He fitted another box, tutted at me and charged me another 55 euros.
What a beautifully French settling in experience that was.
"The biggest single problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place"
George Bernard Shaw
There was no tone at all when I moved in and the school secretary kidly called and made an appointment for a technician to come round and connect the line at the bargain cost of 50 euros. The day before the appointment the line got connected anyway and so I called and cancelled the technician.
What actually happened is that the technician came round anyway, left me a note to say that I was now connected and then disconnected the line. After nearly two hours of sweating in glass fronted phone boxes, I managed to make another appointment with a technician to see what the problem was. He fitted another box, tutted at me and charged me another 55 euros.
What a beautifully French settling in experience that was.
"The biggest single problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place"
George Bernard Shaw
September 02, 2005
Rear Window
The apartment that I live in is about at private as a shopping mall. My second floor window overlooks about 12 other windows, all in varying states of shyness with their curtains drawn or sometimes thrown wide open. There are about 10 metres from my window to the opposite set of apartments.
Having come from the 9th floor in Warsaw, I have to say that I am not used to such voyeuristic living. Last night my phone was connected and I was having a good gossip with Ally, getting ready for her visit on Saturday. The woman across the courtyard, huffed, tutted loudly and slammed her windows shut. Clearly the sound of my English voice laughing and gossipping was too much to bear.
There is also a flat full of young men who like to wander around with their clothes off, curtains open and lights on. I am never very comfotable with the intimacy of strangers. It all seems very inappropraite to me. I wonder if the French are just used to living this way. I feel like I am being watched all the time too. I think it will be better in the winter when it is cold, so I don't want to open the windows all the time.
"You can see a lot just by observing"
Yoggi Berra
"He alone is an acute observer, who can observe minutely without being observed"
Johann Kaspar Lavater
Having come from the 9th floor in Warsaw, I have to say that I am not used to such voyeuristic living. Last night my phone was connected and I was having a good gossip with Ally, getting ready for her visit on Saturday. The woman across the courtyard, huffed, tutted loudly and slammed her windows shut. Clearly the sound of my English voice laughing and gossipping was too much to bear.
There is also a flat full of young men who like to wander around with their clothes off, curtains open and lights on. I am never very comfotable with the intimacy of strangers. It all seems very inappropraite to me. I wonder if the French are just used to living this way. I feel like I am being watched all the time too. I think it will be better in the winter when it is cold, so I don't want to open the windows all the time.
"You can see a lot just by observing"
Yoggi Berra
"He alone is an acute observer, who can observe minutely without being observed"
Johann Kaspar Lavater
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