It's really late, and yet again cold and gray in Paris, and since I don't have too much time to write, the time has come to list. So, things I've discovered so far:
1. French women DO get fat. Just not morbidly obese.
2. Starbucks has taken over the world, apparently. Even in the 13th, an "up and coming" arrondissement without the same level of affluence as other parts of the city, there's a stretch of yuppie chains just a ten-minute walk from my house. One of them is Starbucks. Clearly there is no escape from them. There is also no escaping Brigitte Bardot.
3. You know you're from Seattle when having a coffee maker in your apartment makes it feel approximately 1000 more times like home.
4. French kids are adorable. They also don't understand English, so when you introduce yourself to a classroom full of 8-year-olds in English, it's best to talk about your time with them in terms of years, not months.
5. On a similar note, the cutest thing I've seen so far was a little kid in the class I met today asking the teacher, " 'Seven,' c'est sept?"
6. The Luxembourg Gardens close at 7 in the evening. This means that if you try to go there in the early evening for a walk before dinner, you should probably reconcile yourself to wandering around the Latin Quarter.
7. ...which is not nearly as fun as wandering around the Marais.
8. Even though people don't greet each other on the street, everyone in my building says bonjour/soir if they run into each other in the hallway or the courtyard. I love this. It makes me feel like even though I live in a little tiny studio in a huge city by myself, I am still living in a community.
9. ...which is largely populated by people my age, and families with babies. There is also a man who walks his chihuahua at night.
10. The Paris in "Amelie" is a fairy tale Paris, but sometimes it still feels like I live in that world.
11. Everything here is named after famous people. The schools I work at are named after Denis Diderot and Yuri Gagarin, the park next to my apartment is named after Heloise and Abelard, the footbridge over the Seine is named after Simone de Beauvoir, and just a look at a Metro map is a bit like looking at the index of a history book.
12. It's funniest when these famous people clearly aren't French. I have so far encountered two Boulevards President John F. Kennedy.
13. The 13th is where I live. The more I see it, the more I like it. Although I'm still waiting for my apartment to feel like home.
But the coffee maker is helping.
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Regarding number 2: I'm always more sympathetic to Starbucks colonization, because we have one of those Magic Johnson Starbucks' places in my neighborhood. They actually set aside money for start-up franchises in troubled neighborhoods where they don't think a coffee shop can acutally make it, and it does some good: creates jobs, gives neighbors a place to meet, and encourages similar shops. But I can see how if you're from Starbucks' original spawning ground it can look awfully different. Take heart! They've been on the decline for a while now. Word is the ovverpopulation of shops, people cutting down on lattes, and the rise of competitors has taken a toll.
ReplyDeleteBrigitte Bardot suffers no such third-quarter problems though. She will appear in women's mag pieces about 'classic vintage looks' until the end of civilization.
Good to know, Pending! It was pretty shocking just because I'm in Paris, and I've only seen Starbucks in really touristy places here, but there is kind of a yuppie vibe in some parts of neighborhood, so maybe I shouldn't be too surprised...
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, the French LOVE Brigitte Bardot. She is actually everywhere.
It's good to hear from you!