Making myself at home - Month Two
I’ll try to let you know about fun places I find and good places to eat, and great places to shop and whatnot in my entries. Plus if you want to know something in particular – ask away. I’ll do my best to answer! If I get embarrassed, I’ll just pretend I didn’t get your email! Here, I’ll help you out: did I just ask my mother to send me tampons with plastic applicators! I can’t find them here! Yes I did! See, all better.
I have a few colleagues and know one or two people from my last trip, but basically, I don’t know anybody. I find the French more formal than Americans (which I love!) but it makes it a bit hard to find friends. And I have decided I want more than just American friends. I live in Paris; I want Parisian friends. But a lovely surprise. I am sitting in my little square near my apartment and a woman sits next to me. A man is walking up the hill, wearing ratty running shoes, eating a croissant and drinking a coke out of the can. At 7:30 in the morning. We both said at the same time: American. Looked at each other and started laughing. Turns out she went to Berkeley (where I’m doing my PhD) and lives in Santa Cruz, where I did my master’s, and she lives ½ block from me in Montmartre. Small world. My first friend in Paris. Yeah!
In keeping with my pledge to tell all, here’s my embarrassing story of the week: By now you’ve all seen Amelie (because I told you to!). Well, I shop at the grocery store in the film – it’s called Au Marché de la Butte (on 56, rue des Trois Frères) – and it is as lovely as it appears. The owners are such nice people and after a week of going in there everyday (it pays to be a regular in Paris…trust me) I am always greeted with a handshake, a smile, and great produce! Anyway, there is a famous French actor, named Dominique Pinon (was in Amelie, Delicatessen and Aliens: Resurrection to name but a few –oh, plus Diva, my all time favorite Paris film) and he lives in my neighborhood. I happened to see him getting out of a cab and apparently lost my mind. I wanted to say how much I love his films, that I’m a huge fan, etc. What came out was: Je t’aime beaucoup! I even forgot to use “vous.” He looked at me like I was insane and said very dryly: um, okay, thank you. I came home mortified and called my best friend, who made me feel better. Now I have to hope I never see him again, because I’ll just be the crazy American with no manners who loves him -- alot! Remember the pledges: know you’re gonna make mistakes and try to laugh at yourself. And it’s okay to avoid famous people who think you’re nuts.
I have a few colleagues and know one or two people from my last trip, but basically, I don’t know anybody. I find the French more formal than Americans (which I love!) but it makes it a bit hard to find friends. And I have decided I want more than just American friends. I live in Paris; I want Parisian friends. But a lovely surprise. I am sitting in my little square near my apartment and a woman sits next to me. A man is walking up the hill, wearing ratty running shoes, eating a croissant and drinking a coke out of the can. At 7:30 in the morning. We both said at the same time: American. Looked at each other and started laughing. Turns out she went to Berkeley (where I’m doing my PhD) and lives in Santa Cruz, where I did my master’s, and she lives ½ block from me in Montmartre. Small world. My first friend in Paris. Yeah!
In keeping with my pledge to tell all, here’s my embarrassing story of the week: By now you’ve all seen Amelie (because I told you to!). Well, I shop at the grocery store in the film – it’s called Au Marché de la Butte (on 56, rue des Trois Frères) – and it is as lovely as it appears. The owners are such nice people and after a week of going in there everyday (it pays to be a regular in Paris…trust me) I am always greeted with a handshake, a smile, and great produce! Anyway, there is a famous French actor, named Dominique Pinon (was in Amelie, Delicatessen and Aliens: Resurrection to name but a few –oh, plus Diva, my all time favorite Paris film) and he lives in my neighborhood. I happened to see him getting out of a cab and apparently lost my mind. I wanted to say how much I love his films, that I’m a huge fan, etc. What came out was: Je t’aime beaucoup! I even forgot to use “vous.” He looked at me like I was insane and said very dryly: um, okay, thank you. I came home mortified and called my best friend, who made me feel better. Now I have to hope I never see him again, because I’ll just be the crazy American with no manners who loves him -- alot! Remember the pledges: know you’re gonna make mistakes and try to laugh at yourself. And it’s okay to avoid famous people who think you’re nuts.
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