4:38 p.m. - 2002-07-12
Back from FRANCE!
Quote of the Day:
"Get fucked!" ~Ad for a Parisian nightclub
I actually saw this sign last year. The closest I saw to that this year was a whole bunch of advertisements for a movie called "Bloody Mallory," where the slogan was "Fuck evil." This, unfortunately, made me think again of shagging the eye of Sauron.
I AM BAAAAAAACK!
I missed you guys!
I ended up having some sporadic Internet access -- once I was in Paris towards the end of the trip, I checked every day, but I didn't know how to clear the Internet history on a Mac, and particularly not on a French Mac. (The keyboard was really weird. Now I'm having trouble typing on an American keyboard, I keep mixing up A and Q. I'm not up to 120 words per minute yet!)
Overall: it was interesting. I can't explain why, but every single day was a countdown to going home. I think I really just wanted to be home, relaxing, or in Utah hanging out with Mom, Kels, and Lex. It wasn't that I wasn't having fun, but I really, really wanted to go home.
Food was also interesting. You know how I'm a super, super picky eater? Obsessively-compulsively picky eater? Well, it is considered rude if you don't eat everything on your plate. And Hugues (Emma's dad) kept giving me big portions of everything, and if you don't take seconds, then that's considered rude too. Whenever I served myself, they made a big deal that I didn't take enough.
I had couscous, fish, pig, eggplant, foie gras, steak tartare, apricots, quiche, tomatoes, mushrooms, juice with 10 fruits in it, bitty orange juice (can't stand the bits, and don't like OJ anyway), wine, champagne (I hate bubbles), zucchini, yogurts, goat cheese, and ratatouille (sp.?). Steak-frites, not once!
Mom got me a hard journal with the Eiffel Tower on the cover that was perfect for the trip because the cover wouldn't bend. I didn't want to write anything persunal because I was sure it would get read, so I wrote down what I did each day, and now I can tell you. But be warned, I'm going to go off into long sidetracked diatribes. Let's see.
6/28: Mel Brooks' birthday! I left for Paris. Dad took me to the airport, obviously. The flight was ok. Slept a little, didn't watch the movie (The Royal Tenenbaums) because I'd promised. Read some of a really cool book called "Was" by Geoff Ryman. (I'm going to do an entry at the end of the summer of the books I've read, because I really want to talk about this book, but it'll have to wait.) Sat next to weird sixteen-year-old from Poland with shaved head. Didn't talk.
6/29: Got in Paris before 9 AM, and Emma and Hugues were at the airport to pick me up. Emma as usual looked completely put-together. It is true that some French people have a certain je ne sais quoi, because whatever she wears, it looks amazing. And not only because she is in good shape. She just has cool clothes and puts together cool outfits and... wow. I hate my clothes.
Anyway. We got to their apartment and dropped off my huge suitcase. I wasn't in the tiny closet-room upstairs this time, I had a slightly bigger room, but that meant I had to share a bathroom with Hugues and Francoise. Alright, detour while I explain the family.
Hugues was married to Nadia for years and years. They had three children, Elisa, Thomas, and Emma. Elisa is married to Sergei and they have a baby girl named Marie. Emma is sixteen. Thomas is in his twenties, I think, and currently in Egypt for work. Nadia died nearly ten years ago, and Hugues remarried Francoise, a widow, who has a twelve-year-old daughter named Clemence. There we go. No more explanation needed. :)
Sharing a bathroom with Francoise wasn't a problem, because I never saw her. She worked all day and spent a lot of time at their new apartment painting and setting up because they had budget issues. But Hugues! There's this one tiny little closet thingie with a toilet in it, and I'd go knock on the door, and he'd be reading, and say, "Give me five more minutes."
There are certain issues of courtesy when you read on the toilet. Believe me, because I do it quite frequently. Most importantly: if someone wants to use the toilet, you stop reading and finish up your business. You do NOT stay on the toilet for another ten minutes while grunting loudly, leaving the door half-open, and traumatizing the poor American guest.
Then the other room had the shower and sinks. Many problems here. Hugues spends an hour in there every morning tweezing hairs or something, now I don't remember, but he's in there forever. Then there's the shower issue. It's a bath. You don't stand up, because if you stand up you have a really lovely view of the kitchen and living room windows. This embarrasses you that people hanging out in the living room can see you naked? No problem, just close the shades! They're beautifully white and transparent! Need to wash your hair? It's SO easy to do it sitting down holding the spout-thingie in one hand. Your hair will be cleaner than you have ever seen it in your entire life, even if you wash it super-fast because the water is either freezing or scalding.
Yeah, showering was an issue. My hair was pretty disgusting. Who can get out all the shampoo and conditioner when you have to wash it like that? But back to Sunday.
Had lunch, don't remember what, and Emma and I walked over to the musee Jacquemart Andre. It was one of Dad's suggestions, and it was really near the house, so we decided it was a good first-day trip. The problem was that the guy there gave us those guide thingies where you hold it to your ear and listen to someone telling you about those paintings and look like the Worst of all Tourists... in French. So I didn't understand a word and had no clue what I was looking at. Emma later told me it was about the history of a certain family. I knew that?
Back to the apartment, lay down, woke up two hours later by Emma. We went and walked around Montmartre (Amelie!). That's a fun quarter. Lots of cool little shops. Went inside Sacre Coeur. Tried to take a picture but too many tourists. Felt like a tourist. Considered making a sign that said "Don't hate me, I hate tourists too." Didn't know how to translate that into French. Changed mind.
6/30: Emma and I both slept late -- I think I slept until nearly noon. Once we were mobile, we decided to pack for Brittany/Bretagne. I had brought an extra green Pottery Barn bag which I had put the presents in (we got photo frames for Hugues and Francoise and for Emma's grandparents, and nightgowns and wallets for Emma and Clemence, and also toothpaste and peanut butter for Emma because they're the best kinds and you can't get them in France). So I packed my bag, and Emma packed a bag, and then when we were done Hugues told us we should only bring one bag. So we both had to unpack and then repack and take out even more stuff. Emma and I went through my toilet kit. This was difficult.
Jessica: *holds up tube of Rhuli-Gel*: "Ca c'est pour... euh..." How do you say mosquitos in French? *imitates scratching*
Emma: "Ah, non, laisse-le ici."
I was later mad at her for this, because I got bug bites. She also suggested that I didn't bring aloe vera, and I got sunburnt. I was not happy about this. The major space-saver, though, was when I decided to just bring disposable contacts and then I could leave saline, disinfectant, and the soapie stuff at the apartment.
Packed until about four o'clock. We were very active, as you can tell. Hung out, played piano, read comic books, blah blah blah. (Tintin and Asterix and Obelix.) Then we went and visited Elisa, Sergei, and Marie. Marie is a year and eight months, she can now talk a little, walk, giggle, and dance. She's so cute! Elisa is really nice like last year, but super super skinny. Sergei is very nice, he's Russian, but he bears an uncanny resemblance to a monkey. Now, I like monkeys, so this didn't bother me, despite my usage of the word "monkey". But it is times like these when I remember how closely we are related. We weren't there long, then Elisa took Emma and I to visit the grandparents (Nadia's parents).
These are the grandparents who took me to see "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" at the Comedie Francaise last year. They also took me and Emma to Giverny and to that cool museum with the American impressionists. They're very very very nice, and it was good to see them, and I gave them the present. They're moving too this summer. Actually, they moved two days ago.
Back to the apartment, closed the suitcases, and Hugues drove us to the airport. Until we got to the airport and Emma started saying goodbye I actually thought he was coming with us to Bretagne. Whoops. The flight was only an hour, we spent much longer getting to the airport and waiting around for the plane (strikes and such).
We were going to stay with a family in Bretagne of three generations; the grandparents are friends with Emma's grandparents (I was going to stay with them in Brittany, but they're moving so they were in Paris instead), the parents (Elisabeth and Christian) are friends with Hugues and Francoise, and the kids (there are four) are friends with Emma, Thomas, and Elisa. The only kid I met was the youngest, Dimitri, 17, with curly hair like Ryan Philippe in "Cruel Intentions," who I am convinced likes Emma. More on him later.
Christian met us at the airport, wearing a pink shirt and purple pants. That might have been reversed. But it was still a bit of a shock. He had an absolutely enormous nose and such a strong accent that I had to ask him to repeat everything three times and he'd start trying to say it in English, which didn't help the situation either.
The house was nice, really big, five minutes from the ocean. Elisabeth was really nice too. Emma and I played eeniemeenieminiemocatchatigerbyitstoeandIfeellikealittlegirlnowplayingthisstupidgame for the rooms. She got the bigger room, but I didn't really care. Her room was funny though because the walls were completely lined with photos of horses and trophies and ribbons from competitions. I contemplated taking a picture for Kelsey and Alexa, the horse nuts.
7/1: Elizabeth W. turned twelve. I met her through skiing, she and her older sister Emily always go skiing in the same places as us.
Woke up in Bretagne to rain! Emma and I both washed our hair and then went out for a walk in the rain. This was mildly counterproductive. The shower was much better than in Paris because you could put the spout up on the wall and there was no window with an interesting view of... other windows.
I understood the meaning of "third wheel" every time I was with Emma and Dimitri. They'd be gabbling on and on in French and laughing and laughing and I'd just be sitting there smiling and having no idea what they were talking about. Then Dimitri would start tickling Emma and they'd have play fights and yes, I definitely think he liked her, and I just felt so out of it.
In the afternoon it cleared up a bit and we went on their sailboat, Dimitri has his sailing license, and Emma knows how to steer too. We were out about two hours. I didn't like it that much because there was a lot to do, with the sail and mast and everything, and I kind of had no clue, so just sat there and tried to understand directions in French while they moved around me and laughed and set up the boat. Not terribly interesting.
In the evening we went and saw a movie called "Ladies and Gentlemen." It was a French movie but there were little bits in English because one of the guys was English. It was good, about these two people who lose their memory, and robbing jewelry stores, and all kinds of stuff. I was surprised by how well I understood it. That was probably because of the bits in English!
7/2: Happy birthday to Chris and to Alexis R., who turned 18, I met her through the writing tutorials. Also, the new Oasis cd came out. Gotta get David to burn that for me.
France. When we and I got up, we went driving. Emma learned how to drive in Bretagne with Dimitri on this old broken-down Jeep with no doors and no back and the gear is completely rusted over as ar the keys. So they take it to this orchard a minute away and practice swerving in and out of the trees and parking. The car stalls a lot. They use it because it doesn't matter if it crashes into anything. However, if there are people inside the car when it crashes, that would be unfortunate. They asked me if I wanted to drive. I didn't.
In the afternoon we took the bus to Quimper, about a 45-minute ride. I read "Was" the whole way up and they told me not to speak French because I have an American accent. This made me feel really secure and intelligent.
Quimper is a fun little town, old buildings, road vendors, Shetland ponies, crepes and raindrops. Emma and I visited the local cathedral and museum. The best part of the museum was seeing the costumes with the bizarre hats. The women have to bend over to get into cars, and some people actually still dress like that. Ca me fait peur.
Met back up with Dimitri, got crepes, got postcards. I tried to find postcards that showed pictures of things we'd seen or visited (i.e. the cathedral). Emma wanted me to get postcards of sunsets and wild storms. They were very pretty, but that doesn't say very much about what we've seen. I was informed that I liked ugly postcards. This made me feel really secure and intelligent. Walked around more, saw a bunch of cinemas, was amused by the translation of titles. "Not Another Teen Movie" became "Sex Academy." I think it's just that word, sex, that attracts all French people.
SEX!
Hmmm. I'll have to remember to begin an entry that way. Maybe it'll attract interest.
Read "Was" the whole way back and didn't even attempt to make conversation. Felt secure and intelligent.
In the evening we watched "Robin des Bois," which is Robin Hood, the Disney cartoon version with the snake, dubbed into French! We also watched bits of a whole bunch of other films which I don't know the names of, comedies that were on television.
The family had a cook, Annike (sp.?), who was nice too, she's been with them for ages. She was a pretty good cook but it depends on what kind of food, for example once she made a pasta which was good but it had mushrooms and ham in it which were Not Good. For breakfast most mornings Emma and I toasted bread. I got so sick of bread with butter that I started eating it with raspberry jam. (I am the only one in the family who doesn't like jam. So I always have to eat peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwiches-without-the-jelly.
That reminds me of the camp we went to that I've mentioned before, the outdoors Hudson River oriented camp, run through Fieldston but I'm too tired to link. Once on an overnight, they made s'mores. No biggie, right? Well, I don't like marshmallows and I don't like graham crackers.
Everyone else had s'mores. I had chocolate chips.
7/3: We took the motor boat. It was so awesome! Dimitri went SO fast, and we were hanging on so tightly that when we got off, our fingers were curled in the same position. We got wet and completely salty and very bruised from bumping into things but it was so much fun. We got off at Concarneau, where Emma usually stays in Bretagne. It was another nice little town. Wandered around for a while and then went back. I wished the boat ride would never end.
My jeans were kinda wet, especially the butt, so Emma and I decided to go to the beach for a while. I brought a backpack with music, postcards, "Was," and ended up drifting off to sleep. I liked that. Returned to full consciousness an hour later and we went back to the house. For dinner Emma, Dimitri and I walked to a creperie. I had a cheese crepe and a chocolate crepe. The cheese was better than the chocolate. (And yes, that is the Chocolate Freak speaking.) Then in the evening we finished Robin Hood and watched a whole bunch of Tintin cartoon movies which ended in the middle and began in the middle, blending together into one long reel of mysteries which never end and never really began.
7/4: We all woke up late, and Dimitri made us leave the house in about fifteen minutes so we had time to take the motor boat to Glenand (sp.? Emma didn't know how to spell it). This time was much less fun than the day before. For one thing, she was looking for a friend of hers, Victor, who was with the French School of Sailing or something, and I really did not want to feel like a, uh, fourth wheel. So all these boats are going past us and we're just hanging out waiting to see him. We didn't, which made me happy, we gave up and went to Glenand, which is basically a sandbar, very reminiscent of Nantucket. (The whole trip made me incredibly Nantucketsick: the hydrangeas, the boats, the weather-that-changes-every-five-minutes. I can't wait for August 11th.) We spent an hour there. Emma and Dimitri tickled and wrestled and pushed each other into the water and I lay down on the rocks and pretended that I didn't exist.
After we got back to the house, Emma and I packed, Dimitri packed for his Scouts camp, and Emma and I took the plane back to Brittany. I had finished "Was" so I didn't really have anything to do. We took a taxi back to the apartment. In the evening we looked at a tour guide and worked out our plan for the six full days we had left in Paris!
7/5: Hugues' birthday, and Lauren B.'s birthday, a girl from Pathways from Alaska. Haven't talked to her in a long time.
We were going to the musee Carnavalet in the Marais, which Dad had recommended. On the way we stopped at the hotel de Ville and saw an exhibit on Yves Montand, a singer/actor who was apparently absolutely enormous in France, but I hadn't heard of him. Then we got to the museum, which was also absolutely enormous but in a different sense. Oh, ha, I amuse myself. So funny. Anyway, it was a history museum, and for some reason Emma felt the need to visit every single fucking room. This was a BIG museum, three floors, lots of rooms, lots of time periods, I wouldn't have gone to the whole thing, I would have picked and choosed (choosed, yeah) or come back another day. So we ended up spending two hours there and almost no time in each room. This didn't make me Happy. Plus, quite frankly, I was bored.
I've decided that in general, I am not a museum persun. I can do the shuffle-step-step walk, stop to look, little Mona Lisa smile of understanding, breathing the air of intellectuals who pretend to understand more than you do. I love the impressionists, but am bored by anything beyond that. I love European history, but it interests me more to read about. This aggravates me and confuses me, because in general I like seeing something concrete in front of me, but I'm not interested by a painting of, say, Waterloo, I'm more interested in a book of historical fiction about the battle. So, yes, I was a bit bored there.
We walked around the Marais for the rest of the day, visiting la place des Vosges, la Bastille, and a bakery for chocolate croissants. Unfortunately it was raining. In the evening we got dressed up and went out for dinner with her grandparents. Real food that I could choose! I got melon with ham, rumsteak, and chocolate souffle. I was Happy.
7/6: Hugues was home, and he went with Emma and I to the musee Marmottan. This was the only museum that I genuinely enjoyed (granted, we only went to four; Jacquemart Andre, Carnavalet, Departemental Breton, and Marmottan). Gramie had recommended it in that awkward lunch two entries ago, and they had a whole floor of Monet. AMAZING. At least 65 paintings. None of the hugest water lilies series that are housed in the Orangerie which is always closed whenever I'm there (I've tried to go in January 1999, July 2001, and July 2002), but other big beautiful paintings that I hadn't seen before. I was thrilled. There was also a display of illuminated Bibles and other medieval religious works and then upstairs lots more impressionists. Berthe Morisot interested me most because she was a female! YAY!
Bought some stuff in the gift shop, made my first credit card purchase! I bought little pencils for Kelsey and Alexa, a bunch of postcards, and a ruler for myself with centimeters and inches because my last one broke. It has pretty Monet pictures on it. There was so much Monet stationery that I wanted, but I already have so much. And there was one book that looked absolutely amazing but I knew I could never fit it in my suitcase. That reminds me -- must look it up on amazon.com.
After the museum we visited their new apartment. Francoise was busy painting, it went over their budget and they're doing a lot of the fixing-up theirselves/themselves (?). It's nice, in a much more chic district. Two floors. She changed and we went out for a three-course lunch. It was hard to get used to these big lunches. I had faux-filet and I can't remember what else. It was very, very rare. I don't really like it that rare, but I definitely wasn't going to send it back. Francoise went back to the apartment, and Emma and Hugues and I drove around for a little while. Emma and I stopped at Le Petit Bateau; she was absolutely determined to buy me a shirt, and she said I could pick it out or not, but she was going to buy me one. Well I KNEW it wouldn't fit, nothing ever fits unless I try it on, and they don't let you try them on. So I found a maroon shirt and tried it on at the apartment and guess what, it didn't fit! That was annoying. Oh well. Then we went to the Latin quarter and walked around there for a while. We visited la place Fuston-Berg and the Saint-Germain-des-Pres church, and then Hugues left us on our own.
Wandered more around the Latin quarter, got macaroons at Mulot which she said I absoluely had to try. I hate macaroons in the U.S., but these were chocolate and yummy, a chocolate layer in between. We visited the church Saint Sulpice, which was interesting because we'd seen a painting at the musee Carnavalet of one vision of the church before it was built, and it was cool to see how it had turned out. We visited the Luxembourg gardens, the Pantheon, and the Sorbonne. Walked around the rue Mouffetard, bought some stuff. I got Kelsey and Alexa these funny dinky little pencil-holders shaped like bears, really bizarre, hard to describe, they were funny. I bought myself the "Premiere" magazine because it was less than 3 bucks (it's English) and it's 10 in the U.S., and because it had Harry Potter on the cover, with parts about the Matrix too! Emma had to go look for a present for Hugues. She ended up getting him a book and a cd.
Definitely want to take a year in Paris during college like Dad. Definitely don't want to play guitar or banjo on subway like Dad.
7/7: Emma had some errand to do in the morning so I went to the local market with Hugues. He had to buy bread, and I bought yellow roses to give to Elisa and Sergei because I hadn't brought them a present. The market was fun, I was going to buy some stuff but we were kind of in a hurry. He bought me a croissant, which was good, but so buttery.
We had lunch at Elisa and Sergei's apartment in celebration of Hugues' birthday. Afterward Elisa, Sergei, Marie, Emma, and I went to the Observatoire du Meudon, a lovely garden, and hung out there for a few hours. They're so nice! In the evening Emma and I finished "Les Visiteurs." I think we started it the week before. Anyway it was a funny movie, I'll have to try to rent it here in the US so Kels and Lex can see it.
7/8: Emma and I started out by spending an hour and a half in Fnac, one of the coolest stores in the world, books, cds, music, electronics, it's awesome! I was so tempted by so many things... the Amelie dvd... a Saruman action figure... maps of Middle-Earth... they had about every single little thing Tolkien has EVER written, but all in French! I ended up buying "Les Aventures de Tom Bombadil" because it had the English in there too for Kelsey and Alexa, the soundtrack from "Cruel Intentions" for Lauren, the new New Found Glory cd (for me, but I knew David would burn it too), and the DVD "Les Folies des Grandeurs" for Dad, because it starred Yves Montand and Emma said it was good.
After lunch at the apartment, we set off for the half-hour-metro-ride to a cinema that was playing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. AWESOME! It was the director's cut, really funny, and at the end they showed two extra skits, one of a fussy English guy demonstrating uses for coconuts and the other of the Camelot dance scene told through Lego. The movie was in English with French subtitles and it was interesting seeing how it was translated. Emma had never seen it before. Afterward we walked around l'ile de la Cite. We saw Notre Dame (but didn't go inside, because I'd been before, and it was SO touristy), her grandparents' new apartment (but they weren't there), la plauce Dauphine, musee Cluny, and Pont Neuf. The apartment is really nice, it's actually on three floors, and has a great view of Notre Dame. Oh yeah, and we got ice cream at Berthillon, which she says is the best ice cream in Paris. She got coconut and apricot. I got chocolate. She is sophisticated. I like to stay simple.
The film wasn't over until four, and we had to be back at the apartment by six because she had a piano lesson, so that didn't give us much time, but it worked. While she had her lesson, I went on the Internet and made phone calls, it was nice.
7/9: The complete second season of the Simpsons came out!
In the morning we just kind of hung out at the apartment. We watched bits of the video of Elisa and Sergei's wedding, three years ago, and tried to watch a film called Tontons flingeurs or something but I understood next to nothing so we gave up. In the afternoon we walked in the 7th, 1st, and 2nd arrondissements (emphasis on WALKED). We saw the bouquinistes along the Seine, and the enormity of the Louvre. I'd been there twice so we didn't go back in. We were planning to go to Angelina's, a restaurant where I went with Dad three and a half years ago which has the best hot chocolate in Paris. It's like fudge, really. I didn't remember the name, but it's so good that it was in the guidebook! So we planned the afternoon around that, but Emma wasn't hungry when we got there, so she decided to go on this whole long ridiculous walk that would get us completely far away.
We visited the Tuileries, la rue Rivoli, la Comedie Francaise (I bought a cheap copy of "Tartuffe" so I don't have to worry about losing the copy Mrs. H. gave me), le Palais Royal la Bourse de Commerce, le passage des Panorames. When we saw a Virgin Megastore I ran inside to see if they had the soundtrack from "La Nouvelle Experience," one of the Cirque du Soleil performances, which Kelsey has desperately been seeking. They didn't, but I called her in Utah and consulted as to which she had and bought her a collection. It was expensive (well, my parents paid, I used the credit card) so we decided it would be a birthday gift, picked by me but paid for by my parents!
We finally finished Emma's stupid detour and got to Angelina's and ... it ... was ... closed. JUST THAT DAY! It was so frustrating! We'd planned the whole day around it! We wound up going to Haagen-Dazs (Dasz?) instead and I got her ice cream because she'd paid for the ice cream at Berthillon. Belgian Chocolate and cookie dough, yummy.
We rented Bridget Jones' diary in the evening and watched it, it was great! Cute and funny and profane. Because it was subtitled in French, I learned lots of interesting vocabulary.
I wasn't tired in the evening as usual -- I had so much trouble falling asleep there -- so I stayed up until one in the morning writing postcards to Mom, Dad, Alexis, David, Lauren, Kelsey, and Alexa. One for each persun. Before I had written letters to Katie, Missy, and Allison, and then postcards to family members and people who you absolutely have to write to (ex. Dr. Joan, Marsha, Jane, Maggie). But I didn't really have time to write any for fun. I had a whole long list of people I wanted to write to, and didn't have time, but oh well. Maybe Nantucket?
7/10: Got up and went back to Fnac because Dad had informed me the day before that French DVDs don't play in the US so I had to return "Les folies des grandeurs." This didn't make me happy. Looked for "La Nouvelle Experience" but they didn't have it. Was tempted by Saruman action figure. Tried not to imagine the interesting positions you could do with Saruman and Lurtz. Made myself try to remember the subjunctive tense instead.
We went to a cheese store that is her grandparents' favorite. I got five different types of cheeses, none very strong/smelly because Mom doesn't like them like that. Coulommiers is the only name I remember. I love Brie best, I like the soft ones, but you can get them in the US and anyway hard is better for travelling. Got back to the apartment and Emma checked for her scores on her bac, she took French and biology. She did very well, 13/20 on the oral and written and 17/20 on the bio! (13/20 may seem to be a 65, but it's really good there, a 10/20 is good!) So she called everyone in the world and then we watched Bridget Jones' diary again. Haha.
In the afternoon we were heading to Fauchon, an incredible and incredibly expensive chocolate shop. On the way we stopped at Gap because it had a bunch of stuff really cheap. I bought Emma a white tank top (payback for the maroon shirt, except that she tried it on) and I bought myself a pink shirt for CTY. How interesting.
At Fauchon they didn't have the kind of chocolate Dad usually gets, chocolate with a bit of gold on top, which made me very Sad. I got a different kind that was also solid dark chocolate, but fudgier. It was yummy. I also got seven champagne truffles, one for each family member excluding Lauren because sadly I didn't think they'd last until August. It was funny, in the US we're not allowed to buy the Godiva champagne truffles with even a bit of alcohol, but those are seriously alcohol-tasting, and there was no problem whatsoever. So I bought seven of those, and a small box of the chocolate ones, and it was $35 euros (about the same in dollars)! Poor Dad, who has to bring back three boxes each time (one for Gramie & Grumps)!
After Fauchon we had half an hour and ran through Printemps and the Galeries Lafayette. At the very top of the Galeries was a magnificent view of Paris, the Eiffel Tower, les Invalides, l'opera, you could see everything.
In the evening we had dinner at a local Italian restaurant to celebrate Emma's good scores. I wanted to get carpaccio. They convinced me to get four-cheese pasta. I took a bite, chewed, swallowed, and felt it fall to the bottom of my stomach. Interesting. For dessert Emma and I split a tiramisu, which is quite different from the version Alexa and I have tried at one certain restaurant in the city.
Spent the rest of the night packing. I had actually done most of my major organizing the night before, when I stayed up until one and still wasn't tired. I don't get my timing, it's really screwy. I didn't adjust there, and then here I went to bed at 11 and wasn't tired, but woke up at 5... I don't get it.
7/11: Hugues had to get up to get my shoes. Here is the Shoe Saga. On Sunday when we had brunch with Sergei and Elisa, I switched shoes because I knew we'd be walking. He told me to leave my other shoes in his car and he'd bring them in because he had to go back to the apartment. He forgot to bring the shoes back in. He told me I could get them in the morning. He left at five AM. He told me he'd bring them back on Tuesday evening. He forgot. He told me he'd absolutely certainly bring them back on Wednesday evening, because he was leaving that car in a garage that wasn't nearby. He forgot. So he had to get up on Thursday and go get the shoes! If I didn't need them for CTY, I would have told him to mail them! But he got the shoes finally and we packed them and I managed to zip my suitcase and we went to the airport. Didn't have as tearful of a departure as the year before. No problem getting through security, just slow. Felt suffocated by cigarette smoke. Hugues is a serious smoker. Once he stopped the car in the middle of the road -- didn't even pull over! -- and hopped out to go buy some cigarettes! It's disgusting! I hate the smell.
My first choice of seat on the plane was right in between these two people who I cannot think of a politically correct way to describe. Um, not anorexically thin? Any suggestions? Anyway, there was only about six inches to sit, and I wish I was exaggerating. So I asked them if they were together and wanted to sit next to each other -- *please please please* -- and they were together, but no, it was no problem, I could sit there -- *damn* --. Then the people in front of us turned around and said that if they were together, would it be a problem if they switched with the guy's wife and baby? No, it was no problem. So this made me happy, I got the window seat and an interesting woman and adorable 3 1/2 year old girl and 8 month baby. The girl was bilingual in English and French! So jealous! The woman was interesting, a writer, they live in Paris but have a house near Middlebury (the college where Lauren's going), and she was really nice. The kids were cute for two hours, then I got a little, uh, annoyed. For one thing, my television was broken (there wasn't anything good on, but I would have watched "Ice Age" or something just to pass the time). For another, I had only brought one book. Admittedly it was 290 pages, but only one. For eight hours. The plane took off an hour late. I read all of "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings." I listened to both cds of "Rent." I decided never to have children. I wondered what life would be like with mute children. They weren't crying, exactly -- well, the girl did for a while -- but the little boy would just kind of squeak and shreek and it was NOT squeeing, which I don't mind at all. Hmph. Well, I put up with it, and the girl walked out of the plane holding my hand and telling me, "Jessica, I knew from the moment I saw you that you would be a good Friend. You have to promise to remember me forever. Will you remember me forever? Isn't it so much fun to be together?" Awww!
Dad was waiting right for me once I got out of customs, which made me Happy. He gave me a huge hug and I went straight to the bathroom because I hadn't gone for about 10 hours and yes you needed to hear that. Ahhhhh. Then we had 45 minutes to kill before the Utah flight got in, so we dumped my pregnant suitcase in the car and went and waited in the, uh, waiting room and talked. Kelsey and Alexa started running and almost knocked me over when they saw me, it was so good to see them! Mom too. I really had missed them all. My relationship with Mom has just gotten so much better this year, it is really amazing and inspiring. I think that's the only thing that's gone well this year besides my grades (more on that later, I got my report card). I mean, of course, the fact that I've lost touch with everyone and spent the year in a deep depression and that my thoughts have terrified me. I'm really a strange persun, and my obsessions and compulsions have intensified and come into the light after CTY last summer. I'm terrified for CTY this year, and terrified of that terror. But I want to finish this stupid, ridiculously long entry now so I can write something lighthearted tomorrow. Another Goodbye Entry! (I'm kidding.)
We went out for dinner at our local Japanese restaurant and then got home, home, HOME! I had no mail, which made me very sad. I put the cheese and chocolate in the fridge and showed Kels and Lex the sunglasses Dad got me in the airport, they were really cheap, $12, and he figured I'd need a pair for Brittany. Well, they reflect you like in the Matrix, and Kelsey and Alexa were absolutely hysterical! SQUEE SQUEE SQUEE. Very cool. Gave them their presents, everyone had one of the Fauchon chocolates. Mom gave me a whole bunch of shirts that she'd gotten in the Utah outlets. I tried a few of them on this morning and they're unbelievably huge. This is certainly not her fault, but I'm frustrated because they're cute and I really am sick of all my clothes and wanted to get some different stuff for CTY. Oh well. I don't think any of them will fit and I feel badly because she really tried hard. But she got me a Cowy Potter shirt which I think will fit, a t-shirt, Cowy Potter and the Goblet of Milk. Haha. And two cute pairs of earrings, one that are purple, and some flowers. And she bought us Four Sisters each the same silver charm of Salt Lake 2002. Awesome!
Apparently it was super, super hot in Utah, and they weren't very athletically active, but it sounds like they had a good time. Ate unbelievable food. Had fun as always at the amazing July 4th parade. Mom had lunch at the same place as Lisa Kudrow and didn't get me an autograph. Met Laurel's twins and Chris Q.'s boy. Alpine slide, Internet cafe, Kels and Lex rode twenty-five miles a day, I wish I could have gone. (Not for the horseback riding. I don't like horses. I did once. A long time ago. Kelsey started imitating me. I tried to make her stop liking them. There wasn't enough room in the family for that much horse love. I wanted to take lessons, but we didn't live anywhere near a stable, so I had to satisfy myself with reading books. I made myself stop liking horses. We moved five minutes from the stable. Life is certainly ironic sometimes.)
So, yes, I'm back. Woke up at five this morning, waited till six, went online. Yay! This made me HAPPY. We went out for lunch and ice cream with Maggie, then this language teacher came over, the one that knows French and Spanish and Latin and Hebrew (and English) and whose husband was David's advisor way back when he was in the private school where Alexis is now principal. He left that school to go to the sports school in Utah. Hope you followed.
("Don't follow." "Now, that you are here, we have great strength of feet. On the count of cake. Cake!")
She seemed nice. I do know, however, that if I take the two languages together next year, I'm going to be screwed for French. I haven't studied Spanish for two years -- I don't count those two months with Lupi this year -- and I still mix them up sometimes. I even mix up Hebrew and French! Next year, when I take the AP, I want to focus on just the one language. That is clearly not going to happen. Oh well.
Mom wants to go have a discussion about how it went, so I've got to go. Post this, notify list, and I'm off. I will try really hard to get in another update, but we never know. I'm off early Sunday morning for CTY. Kiss your hamsas for me, cross your fingers, just wish me luck!
If not before, I'll be back on August 2nd.
Peace, love, and Matrix-like sunglasses.
