The relatives are here

The Prince Himself.
AAAAHHHHHH
A guard!
Pyramid cake! Now with 100% extra Nile!

Kristen's Aunts and Uncle came today and they seem like pretty chill people. I'm sure that in the future many art museums and the like will be visited. It looks like I'll be going on a tour with Karen soon as well too, which should be educational. Marshall's birthday party was today, albeit a few months late. The kids all seemed to have a lot of fun with the activities which was great, but of course, being young children they have a tendency to run around quite a bit. There is also some strange thing in the Park that says you have to have a permit to set up a table or chairs. CHAIRS. Those kooky French. The cake was home baked and wonderful and everything went well, as I think I've said already. Marshall got quite a nice haul of gifts in between all the games, Hot Scarab, Musical Pyramids, Pin the Snake on the Pharaoh and the like. Being the nerd that I am, I had fun identifying various gods and godesses present in the toys and decorations being handed out.

I'd just like to say, I just now realised that Blogger has a spell check. I wish I had known that two weeks ago...

Ne marche pas

The Opera, or at least a corner of it.
The ceiling and...
...the main part of the Galleries La Fayette
Grass Car! Vroom vroom!


Went with Kristen to the Monoprix after her card wouldn't work. We ended up going to the upstairs which is where the offices and everything are before it finally worked. At least we got free Schweppes samples, even if they are citrus flavoured and diet. Nothing here is normal, I swear. Even the canned tea is peache flavoured. And why am I spelling things like a Brit? Aaaanyway, after Monoprix, we had to do some more shopping and we went to Bouchera which was cool, got some fabric there. Then we went across the street to the Galleries LaFayatte, which is HUGENORMOGANTIC. I found that I have a sudden liking of Hippopotomi as my new favourite animal.

I've been mostly packed out of my room, for a temporary change of residence, but I'll try to keep up with the updates as best I can. Hopefully this posts successfully, Blogger is telling me that it's having trouble auto-saving, which I've never seen before. Fingers crossed!

Magic Monkey!

Yes, I'm just teasing you all with the Arc at this point...
Oh, I wonder what that thing could be.
Say hi to Napolean and my Phantom S. Hahaha Picasso.
When you see it...

Ok, I'm going to take a moment to answer some blog comments:

Anne: Kristen remembers you and says hi!

Mom: Ok, ok you get House of Leaves, but just so you know, a few other people want it as well, so speed reading would behoove you.

Dad: 20 miles!? Good luck and remember to stretch!

Jenny: I love my headscarves. And it's a 6 hour difference, so when it's noon for you, it's 6pm for me.

Alright, on to today. I went with Kristen to pick Marshall up from school and was well aquainted with the public trasport system, even more so than I already have been which is quite alot. We ended up going to this department store which is probably the poshest department store I've ever been in. Like, the deparments were Chanel, Dior, and Armani type of Posh. We bought plasticwear for Marshall's birthday and some other nifty stuff. Let's see... the bus rides were long and rather scenic as you can see from a few of my photos. The posh department store also had a posh grocery store next to it with (gasp!) some American food! Pop Secret, yours for only 5.50 Euros! The prices were a bit crazy in that part of the store. I did get a bottle of Pomegranate juice called Magic Monkey, and I saved the bottle.

I saw a girl drawing some buildings while sitting at a bus stop, which reminds me I still need to take pics of my own drawings and try my credit card again. Er... I really do have a strange train of thought, don't I?

Riz

Statues, again.
It was sunny for about half an hour today!
I know I promised the Arc, but this is the closest you'll get. See it between the trees?

I finished my new headscarf today!

Quick shout out and thanks to all my readers, whoever you may be!

Not too much going on today, But I did take Marshall to the park and while he played with Star Wars action figures I drew some surrounding buildings and attemtped to draw people that didn't move too much. I heard so much English today that I felt like I was in America and for some reason A Random French Person asked me for directions again. Do I really come across as a Parisian Kid or something?

I finished reading House of Leaves today. If you want a book that will mess with your head, it would be hard to find a better one. Especially the Appendices, which I ended up writing notes in the margins of (I apologize now to whoever borrows my copy in the future for ruining any of your own assumptions about characters and/or plot.) I already plan on getting a copy of Danielewski's other book (Only Revolutions, I'm pretty sure is the title), which I've heard is good as well. It's a good thing I got that Barnes & Noble membership... I really do plan on doing alot of reading this summer.

Kristen and I are going back to the fabric district in Montmarte again tommorow to get some cloth for Marshall's birthday costume. I'll see if I can't manage to take some more pictures of Sacre Coeur while I'm there. I feel like I owe you people more well known architecture.

Parrrrty

The French are so....
Not politcally correct...

Had to go to Darty again today to get another part for the vacuum. Kristen has bad luck getting stuck in slow lines behind little old ladies. After that, we went on a hunt for a party supplies store for Marshall's birthday party on Saturday. (The Egyptian Costumes finally got here, OH MY, it's too funny, I'll make sure to take pictures at the party when the Family is wearing them.) Anyway, after searching through some back streets we finally found the place, Tutt Fiesta or something like that. It was surprisingly hard to find good stuff for the party but we did get a pharaoh mask for me and some treats for goody bags for the kids and that sort of thing. Oh! I forgot to take a picture of the paint pens, it's fun to read some of the Engrish over here. Well, we did buy the pens so it's all good. I'll take a picture of those tommorow. It seems that all the cheapo party supplies in France is made in Italy. Who knew?

I think, plans pending of course, that I might trek down to the Arc de Triumph tommorow. I checked a map and it's only a few blocks away and the path is pretty direct so I don't think there's any danger of me getting lost. The streets here are so crazy though that you can't see it unless you happen to be standing almost right next to it. Really, look at a street map of Paris some time and you'll see what I mean.

Interesting tidbit... it looks like I'll be going to have tea at the Ambassador's Residence with Kristen in a few weeks. How freakin' crazy is that?

Monoprix!

I love this statue too much. It's dedicated to Chopin. I guess the artist wasn't a fan of his music...

We did so much shopping today. My card won't work over here apparently so I'm at the moment in Kristen's debt about 20 Euros. I caved and bought art supplies. I got a canvas brush holder thingy and some cheapy cheap watercolours. Ok so first we went grocery shopping at the Monoprix, which, as I think I've mentioned before is sort of like... French Wal-Mart, but more good quality groceries and less poor quality goods made in China by 5 year olds in sweat shops. Anyway, after that we came back to the apartment and sorted out Karen's wedding gifts with her sister, who was kind enough to treat Kristen and I to crepes at this cute place nearby called Mumble Crepe. I had a Philly Cheese crepe. I'm not even kidding, it has to be one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten in my life. I would kill a man right now if it ment I could have one this very moment. Well, that's a slight exaggeration, but I would certainly maim someone... it was so good.

After that we tried no less than 4 different banks to get me some Euros, which didn't work. At all. And they had English settings so I can't blame language barrier on that one. It should be taken care of soon, hopefully.

Alright, after delicious crepe lunch we had to get a part for the vacuum and we went to Darty wich is sort of like French Circuit City, but with blenders downstairs. Kristen also got an iPod dock for Marshall's birthday party so we can play Walk Like an Egyptian in the park (Egypt being the theme for the party and all.) That was also when I got my cheap art stuff. I'm frugal, but when I see art supplies... I impulse buy sometimes. Bad Habit or Good Habit, you decide.

Kristen's aunts and uncle are going to come visit for two weeks starting next weekend, so we'll probably be doing the whole tourist-y thing then. You can expect many photos of things that have had their pictures taken more times than is calculable. I wish it would not rain as often as it has been lately. Silly weather. Silly, silly weather.

Yay picnic!

Today was chill which was nice. There was a little after wedding picnic at My Park, and I took some pictures of things that I had already taken pictures of so that would just be redundant. Rob went to Germany for the night but will be back tommorow and I crocheted while watching BBC Prime. We had macaroni and cheese for dinner which is like America on a plate. I realised today that I'm starting to feel more at home here and less like a tourist which is good I think. I'm feeling more comfortable in my new habitat. Anyways, that's really all for today. I slept in til 12 but that was only... 9 hours of sleep I guess, considering when I was able to get to sleep last night. Oy Vey, I'm glad that work is all over for now.

So yesterday

My dress for the wedding, with horrible lighting.
Gangsta' Master Chef Ryan talking to the newlyweds.
Me and mah homeboy Maxx keepin' it gangsta, yo.
Bathtub full of Champagne.
Just a few of the dishes that were made TOTALLY BY HAND... and my hand still hurts a little...

The wedding was great. Short and great. We went to the civil ceremony in the Hotel d'ville (town hall) of the 13e arrondissmont. I know I can't write well in French at all... please excuse all my typos in this blog and all the ones proceeding and following it. Anyway, beautiful building and such. The wedding photos were taken at Parc Monceau and then everyone came back to the apartment for the reception. Being the bright, sparkling, social diva that I am, I went back to the kitchen to help Ryan and Maxx out with the food for the whole night. The food went great, everyone loved it and we got standing applause, but then again there weren't that many places to sit. There was a round of people chanting my name for a little while, which was strange seeing as how I was the third in command in the kitchen hierarchy.

Anyway, it was neat watching people. I didn't really know any of them but almost everyone wandered into the kitchen at some point to talk to the cooks. The party consisted of mostly Americans, some French, and a few Brits and Irish. One of the Irish guys had dredlocks which was pretty cool. Mom, dad, I saw Simi at the wedding and the reception, I think that he and one of the British guys were about to crash on my bed but luckily taxis were called and I got my room to myself even if it was at 3 am. It was a fun night. And I only had about half a glass of champagne, so you don't need to bother asking about that now.

Well, that's all that I can think of. Oh! It was also a Jewish reception, they smashed a glass and did the song with the chair thing. I don't know the name of it...but it was neat. Ok, that really is all that I can think of now. Ciao, until tonight when I blog again!

Wedding!

Well, it's 3 am and the reception party JUST ENDED. I'll write tommorow, now, I sleep.

Quality Control

Sacre Coeur, from the fabric shop window. My camera battery needs to be charged...

The best part of all this cooking is Quality Control. Which means getting to eat delicious food. Lots of delicious food. Ok so today, the ATM was broken AGAIN so I still have no cash of my own. It was a different ATM too... gah. Went to Montmarte with Kristen to go fabric shopping for decorations. MY GOD, THE FABRIC STORE WAS AMAZING. I want to be a fasion designer today. Yesterday I wanted to be a chef... I'll never make up my mind. Let's see, after we got home and got extra delicious sandwiches for lunch at the local bread shop, well, one of the local bread shops I should say, I helped make Spanikopita and... so much food. I made eggrolls like a fiend and stuffed mushroom caps with mushroom stuffing. Lamb brocettes... hummus... so much stuff.

The wedding is tommorow, so I finally get to eat the finished versions of this food. Going to have to cook again tommorow morning though. I'm sure the whole day will be hectic but after all is said and done, next week should be eaaaasssyyyy. I saw an Organ Grinder the other day. I forgot to mention that. He had a monkey but it was a plush and therefor did not know how to pickpocket as all Organ Grinder monkeys should. My hand hurts... I hope all this hasn't given me some sort of chef's carpal tunnel.

I need 4 tomatoes

My room is filled with wine, whatever shall I do?
Hahahah....

I have been very busy today. This morning I started making wedding favors (tieing on ribbons and lables that I had to cut out as well). Then I assisted a FRENCH CHEF OF THE COURDON BLEU in making food for the wedding. Ok, it was just Ryan, the chef/breakdancer/graffiti guy. He's definetly been added to my list of interesting people along with Maxx (yes, 2 x's) who came to help Ryan cook. I spent the majority of the afternoon, pretty much literally, up to my elbows in frois gras. I was using a food syringe to pipe it into candied prunes and apricots. It tastes like fruit and meat butter...

I helped out with quite a bit of the other food items which I can't really remember the names of, much less spell correctly. I had to go get some tomatoes by myself, but the fruit vendor was this nice old man so it was all good.

LIFE LONG TRAVEL TIP: Learn how to say the word 'key' in every language you possibly can. Doors hate me so much....

Hmm... Don't have much else to report on today. Cooking takes alot of time, but I really do enjoy it, well, at least when it means hanging out with cool people while serving as a sous chef. I'm starting to think that most of the Americans in Paris are pretty... interesting. At least all the ones I've met so far are eccentric enough to fit my definition of 'interesting.'

Side note: Every one of those white boxes you see in that first pic is filled with wine or champagne for the wedding. I'm living in a winery storehouse.

Park Again

facepalm.jpg
BABY DUCKS
I don't think I've posted a picture of this gate yet... it's so pretty.
And because I'm a Russophile (if that is the correct term, if I said something strange and offensive, my apologies) I had to take a picture of the Russian Embassy that is almost right next to the park.

I should probably just take up residence in Parc Monceau at this rate. Srsly. I could be the duck keeper!

Anyway, today was busy. I woke up at a decent hour, and went to lunch with Kristen and a friend of hers from New York (I think) named Ruby. I've met quite a few people today acutally. I also met Karen and Fred, the soon-to-be-married couple. I met Ryan, the Courdon Bleu chef turned breakdancer, turned grafitti artist, who will be cooking dinner for the wedding. And I've met several other people who's names I cannot, at the moment, recall. There will be mushrooms and they will be wonderful, I'm sure.

I went to the park with Marshall, obviously, and we played Spy for a while. I had a woman ask me for... I think it was directions, I don't really have any idea for sure, but I told her "Je suis American" and, disappointed I think, she went off. I had my map with me at the time... I really should try harder if it happens again I guess. I take my map almost everywhere after all. According to Wii fit I've lost almost a Kilo since Friday! I'm really wanting a Wii now. Yoga is fun, and the digital British man that leads the examples has a rather soothing manner to him. That sounds so strange...

Well. I'm tired. I'll go check my other internet accounts, bathe, and then sleep. Possibly in that order, maybe not.

Oh! Quick side note... Alot of the grafitti in the park, all of it actually, was covered with brown paper or something today. I guess that they're going to clean the stonework or something soon. I hope so, there are some statues that I haven't taken pictures of yet because of the vandalism, but I'm sure they'll be gorgeous once they get refinished.

Coiffure?

This is a SmartCar. Behold it's adorable smallness and teenytinicity.
Japan? In my France? It's more likely than you'd think...
Sepia! This is the entrance to the park.
Black and White! I figured out the fancy settings on my camera.

Went out to the park again today, as you can see. I went there while Kristen was getting her hair done. I also talked to Madame Olivier who lives on the fourth floor of the Family's building. I didn't speak much French and she didn't speak much English, but somehow we managed to talk for a good 10 minutes or so. It was an entertaining random meeting. After I met back up with Kristen, we went to the Monoprix, which is sort of like... I dunno.. French Wal-Mart? It's a (compared to America) smallish department store and we got Nathan some shoes for the First Wedding there. (I'm going to attend and help out with 2 weddings while I'm here, ah, this is Spring.)

After we got home, I helped Marshall with his homework again (yes mom, we've been using the flashcards and letters that you sent). Then we played some more Wii Fit. It sort of makes me want to get a Wii just for that game... I mean, I did Yoga, and it was pretty easy. It measures your center of balance while you do stuff too, that's how you get points with the Yoga at least. Had dinner, I ate delicious European brocolli again. I started reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret to Marshall and he loves it! He wanted me to read 4 chapters but I made him settle for 2 since it was almost his bed time.

I really haven't gotten over my jetlag at all. I can't get to sleep until after midnight and I don't usually wake up until 11:00 or noon. So I usually sleep for around 10-12 hours. This isn't good. I need to figure out the alarm on the clock in this room.

A lovely trip to the park

im in ur Gualle, buildan mah columms
Graffiti... and the French!
I don't know what these are but they are pretty.
im still in ur Gualle, buildan mah columms

I went out all by myself today! For the first time. It really wasn't that hard. Luckily in cities people avoid talking to each other so that whole 'language barrier' thing didn't come up. I took a walk down to Parc Monceau, which is right at the end of the street (I can see the entrance from my balcony.) After passing the trial of the locked front door (the first of 3 locked door trials I have faced today) I made my way to the park. Apparently, street lights don't mean anything in Paris. The only thing I was afraid of was being bumped into by a SmartCar.

There were some SCENE (inside joke) kids blocking the entrance, which greatly amused me. I wish I'd gotten a picture of them, but by the time I noticed that they were in fact French Scene kids, taking pictures would have been awkward and slightly creepy. The park was beautiful, as you can see in the pictures. It was filled with hoardes of teeny tiny children. And the pigeons... in the way that the Valley back home has herds of livestock, Paris has pigeons. Docile, semi-feral creatures flourishing off of the scraps of humankind, with nothing but their dulled instinct and knowledge of city existance to sustain them. I want to catch one and keep it as a pet.

We had duck for dinner! This meat is magnificent! Why have I never eaten it before?! There must be something magical that they do to the vegetables here as well. I willingly ate brocolli AND enjoyed it. I had seconds in fact. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??

Now with photography!

Kristen and I on the metro coming back from the Airport.
This is the view from my balcony, looking west.
Nathan with Marshall (aka Snaggletooth) in a headlock.
Yeah... Told you so.

The family got back from cubscout camping today and we went to the flea market on Rue Courcelles. It was amazing! I ended up getting a Soviet Russia pin from a stall that was selling a ton of, I would have to say authentic, USSR memorabilia. I've also never seen so many diving helmets in my life. Like, the metal and glass victorian type. Diving helmets. Kristen said that every weekend there is the world's biggest flea market in the 16th Arrondisment (I think that was it) so we'll probably end up checking that out when her aunts and uncles come to visit in a few weeks.

Well, Blogger is being silly so I'll write some more while the pictures upload again. After we checked out the flea market we went to this Italian place called San Remo (I have the business cards, probably gonna make a scrapbook when I get home or something.) Instead of water they give you teeny tiny wine glasses before you order. It was a sweet white wine with a slight blush. I liked it. I got the spaghetti carbonara since I know what that is, but this is still France so it was served with a raw egg on top. Still probably the best carbonara I've ever had. Maybe it was the raw egg...

Speaking of that weird TV...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck14LKBI9GM
Uh... yeah. Only in France, right?

I've been taking pictures, but I didn't even think of asking Kristen how the SD slot on her computer works and I'm afraid to use it without knowing, AND since she has one, I don't want to install my camera drivers on here if it isn't necessary. So, there should be pictures up tommorow.

I'm starting to get over my jetlag a little, but I still keep feeling like I need a nap. Maybe I'll go ahead and take one. There goes one of the street sweepers. There's a flea market this weekend on Rue Corceilles which is just one street over, but I'm too much of a chicken to go and check it out by myself. I'll just play Wii and read House of Leaves and sleep, I think.

I'm not even sure if they left me a key to the apartment, actually....

I'm here!

Alright, I have computer access and the Family will be going camping tommorow which means that I will be left in the apartment alone to blog and get over my jetlag. The parents went to a Willy Nelson concert and I just put the kids to bed. The flight wasn't that bad, some turbulence and I had a little Chinese woman falling asleep on my shoulder, but it was all good. When I get my camera software installed on this tomorrow, I'll show you all the amazing SNES style remote/game controller that all the seats on the airplane had. It was quite amazing.

I still can't believe that I'm really here. And I keep thinking that it's Thrusday even though in less than 2 hours (local time) it will be Saturday. Timebuggary is the one thing I hate about international travel. Well, that and the teeny tiny seats in coach- er, that is to say, Tempo. I flew Air France. They had a lot of bread. A LOT.

I wish I had gotten a picture of that kid in the Misfits t-shirt who was on my flight.

TOMMOROW IS THE DAY

I have most everything packed now. Tomorrow, I depart.

Thankfully, they allow crochet hooks to be taken onto the plane. And I have House of Leaves to read. That is bound to keep me occupied for a while, I still have about 500 pages to go.

I know that I'll end up forgetting something, but I hope that it's nothing too important or vital. I have all my art supplies packed which consists of:

2 sketch books
1 moleskeine
2 conte crayons
1 pack of colored graphite pencils
1 tin of assorted drawing pencils
and a multitude of erasers.

Hopefully it's enough :D

Well

I really should be packing now but, obviously, am not. I've got my passport and all that cool jazz so I'm getting ready. I have to admit I'm feeling a bit anxious/excited about this trip. I mean, there's only one week to go now. Went shopping yesterday for soaps and lotions and that sort of thing that I'll need to take. I got my own camera as well, which I've been playing around with and trying to figure out. Good stuff. Gooooood stuff.

The begining

In less than 2 weeks I will be sent on a journy to the far east, the motherland, la terre de ma anceastors.... France. And, obviously,  I need to work on my language skills before I get there.

I have yet to see what wonders, misadventures, and experiences await me, but if the Paris I;m going to is anything like the Paris I've been to before, I'll have plenty of stories to tell, and I'll need lots of internets to tell them on.