Learning Parisian Life...Sort Of

     I'm lying in bed while my aunt talks to her three Parisian friends in the living room. I have no clue what they're saying, obviously. I kind of sat awkwardly in the living room for a while before retreating back here with JP. When they came in they all greeted me in French and kissed me on both cheeks (something I don't understand and never do right. Like are you actually supposed to touch? You're just supposed to like rub your cheeks together right??? It's weird. I don't like it). JP just let out an ear piercing scream for no reason. Okay then. But yeah so my aunt's friends were all talking to me in French and I guess I did okay because one of them asked if I spoke French (I literally just said "bonsoir", "oui", and my name)...to which my aunt said no. Thank goodness. Now they won't try to talk to me haha. I set the table and it looks very...Parisian... if I do say so myself:

     So last night I didn't go to bed until 2AM and JP was still awake when I finally drifted off. He kept purposefully falling out of bed and yelling out "WOAH!" when he hit the ground to try to wake me up (little did he know I was very much awake and had no intention of "waking up" to ask if he was okay) (side note: this kid must be pyschic because he just fell out of bed as I was typing)). Anyway, after the third time his mother came in and asked what was going on and he was like "I just fell out of bed!! I was having a nice dream and I just rolled over and fell out! I didn't do it on purpose!" At some point he must've gotten in bed with his mom because he wasn't there when I woke up. 

     Because we all went to bed so late, we had a late start to our day. We got a baguette to share for "breakfast" (even though it was lunch time) and took a bus to the Musèe Rodin. JP ran away from us again in the gardens and then when we tried to get something to eat he kept saying that all he wanted was gelato and that he wasn't going to eat anything else and 'why can't you just buy me some gelato, mother' so my aunt took him out of the restaurant and told me to go ahead and look at the museum while she and JP sat on a bench. I didn't have to be told twice. I walked around the gardens and then into the--

PAUSE

I was going to report at the end of this post that I haven't cried or wanted to cry all day...and then I read my mom's emails and cried. Ughhhh I'm such a sensitive person. Sigh. But the homesickness is definitely getting better. This place is feeling more like "home" every new morning. 

PLAY

--house which had a bunch of sculptures in it. My aunt said to meet them back in 45 minutes or so but I felt bad for having time to myself so I didn't really stop to look at anything; just kind of walked through the house. I found the house itself more interesting than the art, to be honest. I like walking through and imagining myself living there back in the whatever-hundreds it was built. It was rather hot inside though so I didn't stay long. When I met my aunt and JP back at the eating area in the gardens JP had eaten gelato (surprise surprise) and they were ready to go into the house to look around. We just looked in the Camille Claudel room, because she's one of my aunt's favorite artisits. A brief history of Camille Claudel: Camille Claudel was the lover of Auguste Rodin, who was her teacher, and he became jealous of her because she was a better sculptor than he was. She eventually went crazy after having an abortion and destroyed a lot of her work. But the stuff that was saved is pretty cool. 

     After the museum, we walked to a pizza place for lunch and then to Le Bon Marché to get groceries. JP and I wandered the store looking for a dessert for tonight (the grocery store is like five floors (only the first two have food though; the others sell like household goods)) and then wandered the store looking for my aunt. We found her eventually and paid for the groceries. (The dessert itself was 29€!!! I would go broke within a week of living here). 

     After we paid for the groceries we took a taxi back to the apartment, dropped off the groceries, and took the taxi to Luxembourg Gardens which is soo pretty! JP rented a little sail boat to sail in the pond and broke it before he'd even put it in the water...I think the guy fixed it though. Everyone here is so nice. I made JP take a picture with Finkle (the traveling owl DL gave me and instructed me to take a picture of having an adventure. He's been with me everywhere because he resides in my purse. Finkle is a great traveling companion.) 

     After Luxembourg Gardens we walked back to the apartment and I helped my aunt get ready for her friends. She told me that she had told them to come at 8 but that if they were truly French they wouldn't be there until 8:30. I like French time. 

     The dinner my aunt cooked was good but was sooo long (like 2.5 hours. We started at 9PM and ended at 11:30). My aunt explained to me that in France you have your main meal, then you have your meats, then your cheese and salad, and then your dessert. And in between every course you talk for at least 15 minutes (this was observed by me, not stated as an official rule). I noticed also that everyone also just set their bread on the table...not on their plate. I thought that was weird. 

     This is unrelated to my aunt's friends but I've noticed that in Paris it's not uncommon for women to not wear bras...like obviously not wear bras. It's quite strange to me, but I mean, not really any of my business to judge. 

     Oh and you have to pay .50€ to use the public restroom. The heck. 

     Paris is one of the only place I've been where I've seen homeless mothers with their children. The only other place was in San Francisco. It's just so weird to see kids lying on blankets on the sidewalk with their moms. I guess because in the US kids are taken from their parents if their parents can't afford to care for them...

     I feel like I'm leaving stuff out (well I mean I know I am. That's writing) but it's almost 1AM here (again). My aunt's friends are still here. They were very nice. 

Quotes of the Day:

"You need to work on being nicer. You're the worst mother in the world."-JP

JP: "What's this?"

Me: "My shaving cream"

(Context: I was "drawing a bath" for JP while my aunt and her friends ate and JP was inspecting the bath products (when he wasn't turning the lights on and off, leaving us in pitch blackness and me in a sour mood)) 

JP: "What do you shave?? Your beard?"

Me: "Yeah."

Day 943 Song Recommendation: "I Love You" by Barney ft. Little Randos. Thank you to MF for the song rec. 

Day 944 Song Recommendation: "Hold Me Up" by Conrad Sewell. Thanks to DL for the song rec. 

-SE Wagner