WTF Paris

THIS is what I was greeted with as I descended the stairs of the métro near my apartment yesterday.









I decided to stand around for a bit to see what was about to go down. I called my friend Amy to get her advice as to whether she thought it safe for me to stay in the area considering the po po were dressed like American Gladiators and all of the nearby cafés had brought their chairs and tables inside and the eyeglasses store decided to close up shop and lock the doors. I stuck around for a bit but nothing went down while I was there.

Just for the record, in all my years of living in New York City I have never come into such close contact with police in riot gear, EVER.

Saturday Was Mon Anniversaire

I'm not usually one to make a big deal out of my birthday or force my birthday celebration onto other people. I guess the reluctance to celebrate stems from two other girls in grade school sharing the same birthday as me. Because I wasn't the most popular girl in school the other students usually decided to attend one of the other birthday parties instead of mine.

So when my friends here in Paris found out that it was my birthday they insisted that it was a day to be celebrated. After some debate I stubbornly agreed solely because the selected location was Favela Chic. Favela Chic is a Brazilian restaurant turned dance club which has some of the best music and the best vibes of any dancing establishment that I've visited in Paris. The place was full of energy and almost every in the place dances which is rare for this city. It turns out that the food there is pretty good as well. So needless to say we ate and then danced our butts off for the entire night and I had the best time. Thanks Amy, Lillian, Opal, YM, Tatyana and Theresa for making my birthday one that I will never forget.

As if that wasn't enough, my friend Chi invited me over for dinner on Sunday because she couldn't make it out on Saturday night. As a special treat she baked me cupcakes using the recipe from Billy's Bakery in NYC and they tasted delicious. It was like a little touch of home all these miles away in Paris.

Montmartre Boys Dancing Le Tecktonik

Last week while I was doing my typical "Amelie's Paris" tour of Montmartre with my current visitors I came across these guys practicing their dance moves. I found it so cute I just couldn't resist the urge to ask them for a personal performance. After about 5 minutes of debating which song to pick and who should dance first and so on they finally came up with the following Tecktonik masterpiece.

And So It Is

As of Wednesday my 7 month teaching contract has unofficially come to an end. Technically my contract is valid until April 30 but next week my schools will be testing thus no classes for me and after that is spring break. My last day was as uneventful as my first but I did have to fight back some tears as I left because believe it or not I really grew to like most of my students and I will miss them.

In other news the maternal unit is arriving in exactly 2 weeks and I'm not prepared at all for that visit. She'll be here for several weeks and I need to find creative ways to entertain her. If anyone has any suggestions on places we should visit in France or Europe please drop them in my comments box. Also, if anyone is willing to entertain her for me for a few days as well that would be greatly appreciated as well (I'd even be willing to pay a small fee). *

*Mom, I'm just kidding I would never pawn you off on the highest bidder. Actually, it depends on the price especially since my income was so low for the past 7 months.

Working 9 to 5

I should be getting ready for work but I'm going to post a little tidbit for ya'll. It's looking like I might be staying in France afterall. You see so far I managed to pull off the impossible. I found a French company that is willing to hire me, give me a CDI contract and pay me well above the minimum wage. Oh and did I mention that when I was offered this job in February I actually turned it down because I'm a little not right in the head? Last week I went "groveling" back to them with my tail between my legs and to my surprise they were still willing to hire me. Lastly, the job doesn't require me to speak a lick of French.

So now, I just have make my way through the immigration/visa process once more to get things finalized and I should be on my way to becoming a consumer once again. Did I mention that I have a mound of paperwork to fill out and that I need to translate my resume into French for the OMI even though I didn't need a French resume when I applied for the job? Anyway, wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed for me.

One last thing, I'm currently entertaining some guests and the maternal unit is arriving shortly which is why I haven't posted in a while.