Ça pue la mèrde…Paris! Sept 9th

A lil poem I made up while walking around my neighborhood.


Paris, tes coins puent la pisse…
Tes bâtiments sont tous vieux
Paris, tes clochards puent la pisse…
Tes places sont sales
Paris, tes pigeons puent la mèrde…
Tes trottoirs sont trop petits
Paris…tu pues la mèrde mais je t’aime quand même =)

Mon quartier (my neighborhood)
Ok, it’s sketchy…I have to tell it like it is. The northern part is a lil’ sketch but the southern part is ok. North of my street: full of whole sale shops/ small narrow streets. South of my street: cafés/shops/Centre Pompidou. I guess I won’t go anywhere North of my street! Ça craint! (it’s scary) I’m starting to have a better sense of direction around these streets. There are so many lil ones I get confused! Some buildings lean into the street because they’re so old. On others you see lil tunnels leading to another street, lil shortcuts.

I have to thank Jean-Marc for my Nano! =) It’s been such a blessing! I was able to record a tour of my place and listen to French radio. I have no TV so it’s great to still be up to date on music, news, and weather! I listened to the morning show and the DJ said « salut à tous, et à toi qui te poses des questions existentielles ce matin…arrête c’est pas la peine, tu vas métro, boulot, dodo, c’est fini, arrêt ! » (Loose translation : Hi everyone, and you who’s asking yourself existential questions this morning…stop, it’s not worth it, you’re going to the metro, work, and sleep, it’s over, stop!) LOL I dono, but when he said that I started cracking up! How often do we? Do I? Wake up in the morning asking ourselves random questions like: why am I here? What am I doing with my life? Why in Paris? LOL just let it go! And the fact that he poked fun at it (in French) made me chuckle! =)

I went to the bank and booked my appt to open an account apparently my banker’s last name is also Perez! Oh joy! >_> no BFD lady! <_< like there aren’t a billion million others out there with that name! My appt was in the early afternoon so I decided to head to MacDo for free wifi…a homeless guy sat next to me and mumbled something random. He was looking for a girl who lived in the suburbs and wanted me to use my internet to help him find her…uh…no…sorry. But I told him to wait until I finished. I was almost outta battery and wondered how I would get out of this…argh! He asked for a pen and I lied saying I didn’t have one. He wanted to write down her name for me. He went off asking everyone for a pen. I closed my netbook and ran off! LOL I’m sorry! I really didn’t want to deal with him, he was smelly, weird, mumbling, and wheezing…and I’m a busy bee my friend! LOL obviously today wasn’t the best day for Karma…tant pis (oh well)!

It being such a beautiful day I wandered around the Marais (gay neighborhood in Paris aka: my neighborhood). It was a warm 70degrees and the streets were full of people =) As I’m walking in my most confident posture ^^ a Frenchy checks out my shoes LOL eyeing me from top to bottom as we cross paths! LOL so funny…Parisian women do that sometimes. I can’t believe she was checking out my shoes LOL an old pair of Aldo boots I bought in the States. They are so worn out, but haven’t failed me yet! I wanted to sit in the sun and sat on a ledge next to Centre Pompidou. It was full of pigeon poop…>_< and dirty feathers. In the corner there was a small group of pigeons. I sat down and opened my netbook. I had a faint internet signal from the Centre and signed on to FB. There was a light breeze and then all I could smell was bird poop. Woof after woof…it was nauseating…I wanted to puke…I couldn’t take it…I was going to hurl. The heat from the sun, the breeze, and the group of pigeons hanging around made it impossible to stick around! I ran ran ran as fast and as far as I could…such a great location…it’s too bad! =/ damn pigeons!

This is the Paris I missed…Fall in the city, sunny streets, people watching, and sun bathing on benches. =) That afternoon at the bank: I can’t open a bank acct. without proof of residence…maybe Monday…ARGH

I met up with the family that I will nounou (babysit). We picked up the kids. I met the teachers. And it was pouring rain! The kids had scooters and were going super fast! I was afraid they would fall. We ended up going into a building and waiting out the rain a lil’.

We went to Denfert to pick up my blow dryer and straightener. It was an interesting afternoon, but I think I needed it. It was good. The night was still young so I headed to MacDo at Hotel de Ville for free wifi. When you sit in MacDo looking out at the Hotel de Ville…it is very surreal! I felt so lucky to be in Paris =) I ruined my dinner by ordering fries…I didn’t get home til 9:45pm and was too tired to cook. Walking through my neighborhood on Beaubourg it was a lil sketch, but once I got to Rambateau and turned onto Rue St Martin things were better. There were tons of people on the street. That’s what I love about Paris there are always people on the street. Then on my street there was a crowd of people lining up in front of a resto (slang for restaurant). It wasn’t quiet at all! I gotta get out more! Lol