Frizzle my nizzle

Okay kids, it is starting to get cold. And I'm not talking "haha, it's 45 degrees at night" cold. I'm talking, it is 10:26 am at 37 degrees outside. Luckily it is a perfectly clear day. I think I can handle the cold as long as it's not raining. I can wear cute boots and coats and scarves but being wet and sludgy is crossing the line.

Yesterday, in the face of a strike at school and a strike on the metro, my History of Paris class s'est débrouillé (note: se débrouiller is a common French expression that literally means to de-fog yourself, but basically means to figure it out, work it out, or if you're my reporting teacher, POWER IT. I will use it often as it's a common theme in my life right now) and had a quasi-class anyway. We met in front of Paris 3, did a little walking through the Jardin des Plantes, but the intense cold got to be too much. I mean honestly when the wind blows, I think I might shrivel up and die. My new goal is to never spend that much time outdoors again for the next 4 or 5 months. Anyway, we couldn't take the cold anymore so we found a cafe and had class there, inside, with coffee. Niiiiice. Actually my teacher gave up on lecturing because she had plenty to say about the strikes. And blah blah we talked about some French politics and crap. The professor looks like an animated Disney character (one day I'll pinpoint whom exactly), but she's actually pretty cool.

I didn't really realize how long it's been since I last wrote. Well last Friday my Ikea dresser finally arrived. Bright and early, at 8:30 am, my buzzer startled me awake and I rushed to put on a sweatshirt and cover my head because the delivery man did not need to see me like that. After he dropped it off I tried to go back to bed, but then realized that I'd gone to sleep at 10:30 the night before and despite being rudely awakened, I had gotten plenty of sleep. So in the wee hours (haha), I made some coffee and watched Chocolat while I put together the dresser. I got as far as I could without only a flathead screwdriver, then took a break to go to MICEFA and the hardware store. I finally finished the dresser that night.

On Sunday I managed to get myself up pretty early and I hit up the farmer's markets. I ended up only getting lemons cuz the salmon I wanted was too expensive. Instead I went to good old Picard and bought some different extravagant salmon but ya know, that's life. I also gave in and bought a coffee thermos. I've been looking for just a tumbler so I can save some time in the morning before work but I don't think they really exist in France. So I bought a well-priced thermos and a good tupperware thingy to bring my lunch in.

Monday went off almost without a hitch. Finally a day when almost everything worked. I emphasize the word almost. The morning was like a well-coordinated relay race. Get up, get dressed, make coffee, pack lunch, pack bag, out the door, line 7, line 14, and BOOM -- at St. Lazare with five minutes to spare. I drank my coffee on the train, it arrived in Marly on time, voila. Of course once I got to work I realized that my period had started and then later one of the worksheets I made for class that day wouldn't print. But I was semi-prepared for the first issue and ended up improvising on the second, which turned out better than my original plan. During my lunch break I went to Champion to buy "supplies" and ended up getting some other fun things, like socks and Disney princess tissues. I don't even really use tissues but I suppose they could come in handy. Oh and of course one of my students came strolling by with her mother while I was picking out tampons.

Oh here's a little side note about Champion. This one in Marly is heaven. Almost Target-like in its divinity. First of all, it's totally Americanized, down to the in-house butcher and bakery, and a little club card for your keychain. Unfortunately they're still not open on Sundays. Anyway, you know how the Ralph's bakery has little packaged cookies and donuts in stuff? In France, the pre-packaged baked goods include religieuses and macarons. Fucking incredible. They're probably not that good but hey, how novel. Also, when I was looking at band-aids and other things to fix sore feet, I realized the condoms and lube were right there next to them. Another novelty. Not hidden next to the Vagisil, or in locked in a case like the fascist Walgreens on West Portal (that place just pisses me off). Also Champion has colored toilet paper with scents like lilac, jasmine, clementine. That's a little excessive, I think.

The rest of this week has kind of been marred by French unrest. Everything is on strike. It might have been feasible for me to get to work today as two of my three required modes of transport are supposed to be working, and I was just going to take a bus to replace my first metro ride (but even the buses are only running at 30%). When the alarm went off at 6 I just said "fuck it" cuz they're not expecting me anyway. And this way I know I'll be on time for my class this evening, which is being held at MICEFA because the Sorbonne is still trippin'. So today I'll finish up my homework, attempt to go to the gym, and go to class finally. Hopefully I can catch a metro or bus to the gym. I thought about using the Velib' yesterday but quite frankly I'm terrified of riding a bike in Paris. Apparently it's not acceptable to drive on the sidewalk like back in the CV. Uh oh.

Other small spot of news its that mumsy called the other day and announced that she'd like to take a day trip while she's visiting (she comes two weeks from tomorrow) and she had settled on Bruges. So I'm going to skip school for two days and we'll take the train to Belgium right after I get my carte de sejour on the 4th. Life is pretty good.