Even though I am on vacation and tell myself that I should be relaxed and stress-free all the time, it hit me yesterday that the fact is that stress is an integral part of the travel experience, particularly where you are trying to learn a foreign language and integrate into a foreign culture. Indeed, to an extent the stress and the difficulties are what make the experience interesting. Nevertheless, the […]
Another day, another afternoon at the Prefecture de Police in the 14th Arrondissement. We arrived at 1:45 p.m., took a number (184 with 158 being served when we arrived) and waited in the crowded room. More than a little ripe, the room was, being warm and humid and packed with lots of people whose situations in life seemed not to lend themselves to purchasing deodorant. Why no one opened the […]
I had another frustrating day today in Paris, although at the end of the day, we’d accomplished quite a bit…. The day began with our trip on the Tram to our language school. The Tram is much, much nicer than the Metro, because it is modern, air conditioned, and travels above-ground. Unfortunately it is not quite as fast for most folks, because it has to deal with traffic (although the […]
A little better day today after the experience yesterday, although the French language school still does not seem to comprehend the word “efficiency.” Today no one showed up to teach my class; we all sat there staring at each other for 30 minutes until someone finally showed up, apologized, and started teaching the class with almost no preparation. As it turned out, she was an excellent teacher, if a little […]
Up at 6 a.m. Coffee, cereal, shower. Wake up the kids. Nag the kids to get out of bed. Repeat. Repeat again. Reconfirm address of language school and reconfirm mode of transit (the new tram running east-west on the southern edge of Paris). Nag the kids to get dressed. Leave at 7:30 with the kids for the Tram. Get to Tram stop at Porte de Orleans. Wait. Get on Tram. […]
Steve, the boys and I got invited to a party by our neighbor directly above us. I happend to meet a friendly woman on the stairs who asked me if the elevator was working yet, and I was able to deliver the great news that the elevator was no longer “en panne.” She was thrilled as it had been out of service for a week and she was having a […]
Well, yes, laugh on, laugh on, but the fact is that tomorrow we start our French classes, and have to be at the school at 8:15, which means no more sleeping in, and using our brains, and doing homework. One of the most wonderful part of this trip has been getting all the sleep I want almost every day. I’ve been contemplating the effect on my body of the fact […]
Ugh. Here’s what the day consisted of today: Me vs. the Video Camera: After I made a trip to the FNAC store to buy a cable to hook up the video camera to the computer, the video camera broke. The tape came halfway out of the camera and would not come all the way out or go all the way in. It was stuck. I fiddled with it endlessly and […]
Four I forgot while blogging yesterday: (1) How to meet people in Paris: When we first came out of our apartment, we walked to the side and were looking all the way up at the top of our building to see our balcony and our windows. While we were gazing skyward, an elegant elderly woman came up to us and also started looking upwards (it reminded me of that game […]
We spent the 4th of July taking in a beautiful, sunny, mild, fresh day in Paris. We didn’t get out until noon, but got a lot accomplished. My first order of the day was to get a haircut, something I hadn’t had in too long a time. Right around the block we’d noticed a salon, so we went back there. Suzie has adopted a strategy of sometimes leaving me on […]