Home in the 17e...At least for the next 4 weeks!

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

Ah! So nice to be in my own space! I officially moved in today around 1:30pm. I should have been here to meet Ignacio at 1pm, but a late taxi delayed me (more and more I am learning customer service is not the strong suite of the French).  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because Ignacio needed the extra time to do some final touches on the apartment and get the contract ready.  So here I am...paid, signed, official.

Me in my new 18m square studio apartment!

I am sitting on my bed and sofa :) (holding the ancient key in my hand)...a far cry from the 3700 square foot, 5 bedroom, 4 bath home back in Issaquah. :)

My landlord happens to be gay...which means every little detail has been thought about in this apartment (including those red votives complete with candles on my mini blue coffee table).  The pretty string of lights is one of the final details he took care of before I unloaded my four suitcases on the front steps.  It is from this amazing home store called, Habitat.  Possibly better than Crate and Barrel???  That is still up for debate.

Si Vous Plait, a little tour of my new abode...

The pristine new bathroom. 

 I have about enough room to just turn around in, but the shower has a head that is actually secured to the wall.....so much better than just the hand held shower head that seems to plague this country.

Ma Petite Cuisine!

No oven, but 2 hot plates :)....and when not hot, seem to work perfectly to set a glass of wine.

The refrigo is under the stove and you can see the little clothes washer right next to them both.  No dryer, but I do have a very storable drying rack.

Some potatoes I bought at the market just a 100 meters away from the apartment sit out waiting for me to chop them up for dinner.  Tonight's menu:  Seasoned Pork chops, pan fried potatoes with Herbes de Provence and Mache salade with fresh tomatoes and wine. 

I will be sautéing a lot of garlic in olive oil to get rid of the remodeled-apartment smell.

This is where I will study French :).

The apartment came equipped with cable t.v., internet, and a stereo system.  Right now I am listening to Chante France as dinner is being prepared (BTW, the Shazam app on my iPhone rocks for finding out the names of the songs that really get my feet tapping). 

If I get tired of studying, I can transform my desk into the dining room table....but if I do that, do you suppose I will ever transfer it back....I get worried :)

Shelf that also is suitable for counter work space. 

Efficient use of space is the name of the game here.

Still getting use to it!

Time Elapse: 30 minute (pronounced MEE-NOOT)

My first dinner in my first Parisian apartment.  I couldn't be more pleased.

The neighborhood I am in is a bit less homogeneous than the quartier I spent my first 2 weeks... :)....which at first made me a little nervous.  But after walking through it this afternoon, I feel like I will fit in just fine.  Most of my neighbors, like me, are from far away lands....French isn't our first language, but we are here to be a part of Paris.  I am surrounded by restaurants named "La Mangrove," epiciries that specialize in African, Asian and Indian food, salsa music that blares from apartment windows, Arabic that is spoken on the street corners. I stopped in a general store today to buy a Bialetti expresso maker and was greeted by the shopkeeper in French.  He quickly registered my blank look and said, "Ah, you don't speak French." To which I answered, "Ah but you speak English!"  He was from Madagascar!  Head covered with a  taqiyah and a stiff white beard he welcomed me to Paris and even offered to take a few Euros off the expresso maker.  I ended up not buying it, but I will always remember him....he was the first person I ever met from Madagascar!

Grocery Shopping was actually a huge treat for me here! 

For those who know me well, know that I REALLY dislike to go to the grocery store....for a variety of reasons...but, apparently, put me in Paris and that all changes.  I had a marvelous time amongst the specialty cheeses, fresh veggies, salamis and the French version of "t.v. dinners".  As an added bonus I was able to buy sea salt for .63 euro cents and a jar of Herbs de Provence for .69 euro cents (I didn't believe the price because I paid around $14 for them at William Sonoma!).  I may not have the exchange rate in my favor, but the spices are cheap!

The little treats above are mini-brochettes (seasoned meat on a stick) that you put in the micro-ondo for one minute, and Voila out comes a fun, healthy snack...perhaps even a dinner if I added a salad and baguette!

There was also a micro-ondoable Salmon fillet with broccoli mash potatoes that got my taste buds salivating that I will try sometime soon.

BUT right now what is calling my name is the Gateau au Fromage Blanc (vanilla cheesecake) that I grabbed on the way to the check-out garcon.

Getting a little nervous for my getting prepared for bed...in the past when I slept on my couch, it was because I was drunk. :)  Kinda strange to think that is what I am going to have to get use to here.

Saturday night in mon quartier of the 17th arrondissement.

The Eiffel Tower and I wish you a bonne nuite.

Temporary Apartment Found!

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

So I haven't found THE place, but I have found a really cute little place to lay my head for the next 4 weeks...maybe 8.  Thanks to my language school, I found a furnished studio that was JUST renovated in the 17th arrondissement.  In fact I will be its first occupent and the first to use all the new utensils and linens from Ikea :). This is great news for me because, frankly, my feet need a rest....it is quite possible that I am starting to wear grooves in some of the rues here as I keep up the apartment search.  I move in either this Friday or Saturday...I should know in a few hours when my new landloard, Ignacio, calls me (yes, he is from Mexico City).

Even though it isn't quite my perfect spot, it is still darn cool!

Check out the little peek-a-boo view of the Eiffle Tower from my street!

A Metro stop is close by and there is an award winning Boulanger on the corner.

I think I will be manage here just fine!

I must admit I am exhausted after just 2 weeks into my stay.  I walk more than I expected (mostly my own fault cuz I prefer to walk over the metro in such nice weather) and there is a bit of an emotional fatigue (<- ooooo, which is also a French word!) in having to adapt to a new life. It is all stuff I anticipated, but it is easy to talk about expecting to be tired/overwhelmed...it is a little different to live through it :).  As soon as I settle into the new place, I think I might need to find a spa :).  I start my language class on Monday, so perhaps one of my first inquiries to my teacher will be how to ask, "Where is the closest spa with a 90 minute hot stone massage?"  I wouldn't mind a facial too. :)

I recently jointed an Anglophone group called WICE that provides cultural, educational and social activities to the international community in Paris. I haven't quite figured out what the WICE stands for (and I have looked in many places on their website), but I know it is a non-profit that was started by women back in 1978 to meet the intellectual, professional, and self-development needs of English speaking women in Paris.  Today the group boasts some 900 members (both men and women) and offers 200 - 300 events and courses a year.  It is a pretty fantastic organization from what I know about it after only a week.  Yesterday I participated in my first activity, a market walk of the Les Halles area.

Up until 1969, Les Halles was the central market in Paris (started in the 12th century) and was called "the belly of Paris." We walked through the streets were it once existed and visited some of the restaurant and kitchen supply shops from that time that still exist today. 

This is me in front of one of those kitchen stores! Inside one could buy kettles as large as me or itty bitty tartlet pans. It was a bit like going back in time entering that store.

This little delights are from a pattisserie that was founded in 1730, Stohrer.

It also is touted as having the BEST eclair in Paris...which of course I tried, but I think it could be a detriment that I started with the best!

Francoise, the chef and cooking school instructor at WICE, was our guide.

There is so much I have to learn about food here!

For example, this picture is of one of the best kind of chickens you can buy, Poulet de bresse.  It is also important to look for chickens with black feet (the butcher will take the head and feet off before bringing it home).  I also learned that the French prefer to each female duck over male because the females are plumper.  And always buy peche (hooked or caught) fish at the market vervus farmed, because the farmed fish are fattier on the inside. Never buy scallops out of season.

In case I need a Foie Gras fix, this store is entirely dedicated to it!

The night before the market walk, my girlfriend Kisara was back in town!  We went without seeing eachother for 13 years, but now have seen eachother twice in the last two weeks!  One of the many treats of Paris so far!  We went stumbled on one of Michelle Rostang's restaurants in the 1e.  Dinner was wonderful, and even got some future restaurant recommendations from the Austrian and Parisian gentleman sitting at the table next to us who decided to join our conversation :). Somehow we ended up closing the restaurant down...luckily I still made my metro home.

WICE has a talk on Josephine Baker this afternoon that I am off to join, and then dinner with a local Microsoftie :). 

It is true, "Paris is a moveable feast."

Which you can bet will be the next book on my kindle too :).

So Much For Blending!

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

My year in Paris has officially begun!!! Actually it began last Thursday at 10:58am France time when my plane landed 30 minutes early at Charles de Gaul airport.  I welcomed myself to my new home upon pulling up to the jet way, but it didn't really hit me that I was absolutely in Paris with no return ticket until I heard my first, "Bonjour." Yikes!  And then I looked around to see all the signs in some foreign language. Bigger Yikes!  The reality of the dream took hold in that moment...no longer was it a romantic fantasy.....here I was. In Paris. To live.

Day 1!

I am in posed in one of the neighborhoods in which I am looking for apartments.

It is in the 17th arrondissement...and not too far from the Arc du Triomphe and all that shopping on Champs Elysee (please excuse lack of accent marks over the "e"s in Elysee...it is but one of the things I have yet to learn how to do here...that and speak French.)

However, one thing I have learned is that I do not pass at all, let me repeat, at all as a Frenchy :).  I can be walking down the street eating a baguette, wearing a cute little scarf, NOT wearing white tennis shoes and not saying, singing or humming an English word....yet if I am bumped or if I just look in someone's direction I am greeted with perfect English!  WHAT! Can't they pretend I speak French and let me stumble around with my words enough to tell then I don't...if nothing else it would be amusing to them!  The other night I determined my lack of blending was at the ridiculous level when I stepped into a restaurant to use their bathroom.  Before my mouth even opened, the server looked at me and said, "Toilette? Eet eez downstairz." Sigh. So downstairs I went....stomping the whole way.  

On my first Saturday in Paris I met up with a dear girlfriend, Kisara, who I haven't seen in 13 years!!!

She and I lived in Costa Rica for a year back in 1998. It wasn't until now and in Paris that we were able to reunite. She currently lives in Dusseldorf, Germany and was in Paris on business. Kisara was just as remarkable and joyous as had I remembered, and meeting her husband, Das, was an added bonus!  He flew in from Germany to accompany Kisara on her business trip. We were quite the international group; Kisara from Japan, Das from India, Jen from America and my friend, Adel, from Algeria.  We met at Willi's Wine Bar which is credited as being the first wine bar in Paris.  It opened was in 1980 by an Englishman.  We all took great pleasure in a glass of tasty Touraine Sauvignon Blanc (okay, maybe I had 2!).  The wine was almost as perfect and harmonious as the English all the servers spoke there.  It was clearly an Anglo-Saxon hangout....which was a purposeful choice of mine.

So I have been to the museums of Paris, I have been to the shops of Paris and I have been to the restaurants of Paris, but never have I been to the flea markets of Paris.  That all changed on Sunday morning when I decided to go visit Paris' largest and oldest flea market, Les Puces de Saint Ouen (or just Les Puces...which translates to The Fleas...appropriate, eh?)

My idea of a flea market is clearly different than Paris' idea.

 I had visions of dusty antiques in open stalls where I would barter with gypsy-looking folk who may or may not have missing teeth.  Hardly.  At times I felt like I was more in a museum than in a modest market.....like I had literally walked into one of Napoleon’s apartment rooms that I had seen at the Louvre last November.  Mirrors were ornate, furniture was gold gilded and the tapestries were all silk.  It was clear the 40 Euro I have shoved into my Tumi purse before I headed out the door to hop on the metro wouldn't get me far in this place!  But it was incredible. Once I get my apartment, I will head back to Les Puces to find a few vintage prints to dress my walls!  I have become a fan of the Paris flea market scene.

Much to do tomorrow...and it is midnight now...plus I am fighting my first cold in France.  A girlfriend asked me today if a "cold feels better in Paris??"  :)  I can't say they do, but the "Bonne Nuit" Ricola cold medicine sure was fun to try....in fact, I am going to take some now.  Bonne Nuit!

Up-close details of one of the four main sculptures on the Arc du Triomphe.

La Résistance de 1814

Driving up Champs Elysee!

What a site!

T-Minus 1 Day! The City of Lights Awaits!

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

Ah, back to blogging....I kept warning I would start my blog back up once I got to Paris, and I am true to my word. Well, I am a little ahead of my word.  I actually don't leave to Paris until tomorrow.  In fact tomorrow morning at this exact moment I will be at the Missoula International Airport checking my 2 gargantuan pieces of luggage and praying that both are under the 50 lb limit -one of my bags was 20 lbs over the limit on the flight from Seattle to Missoula which meant I had to fork over $90 to the Delta agent.  I refuse to do that again as $90 USD is probably good for at least a week's worth of croissants and baguettes in gay Pairee....however, at the current Euro to $ exchange rate I may be being generous :).

Oh, and YES, I am going to Paris...not Provence as my last blog post suggests.  Paris seemed like the more obvious choice after some research and an inspiring coffee date with a woman author who lived in Paris for over 3 years.  I think the fit will be perfect. Me = Love for food, wine, shopping, people, Paris = great food, wine, shopping, people.  Therefore: Me + Paris = Harmonious Match   :)  Of course, I do have to learn the language to maximize the experience, which I will.  I plan on spending the first 3 months in an intensive language school broadening my current vocab and mastering the French accent (ha!).  Lets hope the Parisian folks are patient with this American girl.

This is a picture I took when I was in Paris in November of last year.

The weather will be decidedly better when I land on Thursday....temperatures will be in the 70s and 80s!

It will be nice to be reminded what sunshine looks and feels like!!!

So with my year long French Vistor Visa (Carte de Sejour) squarely adhered to page 18 of my US passport (I only had to travel to San Fransisco and promise to name my first born son "Sarkozy" for that thing!), a bag of M&Ms, and enough clothes and toiletries to get me through the summer I think I finally feel like I am ready. That feeling of course will change once I land....but I will enjoy it for now.

Me in front of my parents' pond in Montana.  

I am posing with my coveted French Visitor Visa!

I read a quote recently in an article on France that my financial advisor gave me that I think I need to remember as I embark on this journey.  The quote was made by a French Michelin three-star chef to the ariticle's author.  He said, "Please tell people in America that Parisians are not unpleasant only to them.  They are unpleasant to everyone."  Well, good to know. Then I won't take it personally :).

Il n’y a que deux endroits au monde où l’on puisse vivre heureux:  chez soi et à Paris.
(There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris.)
-Ernest Hemingway
Let's go find out!