London or Bust

I was thinking that what this blog really needs is the story of some torrid romance between me and a Frenchie. But that would be difficult I have no one to blog about in that area at least no one I'm willing to blog about at this time. There are also some French boys out there that I would like to officially put on notice via my blog but I'm going to hold off for the time being, "Mr. I have a 2 week mission in Italy" you're off the hook for now.

So instead I'm taking off to London for the weekend to change things up a bit. I don't really have a plan except how to get from the train station to my hotel. Other than that I plan to play it by ear. I plan to meet up with some friends while I'm there and no matter what I do I to expect to have a good time. Who knows maybe I'll meet a cute Brit that I can blog about when I get back.

Spontaneity

I am extremely grateful for the friends that I've made here in Paris. My social life in general is more active than it's been than my days living in New York. I go to Friday night drinks with the expat gang most Fridays, I go to the jazz jam sessions on most Sunday evenings in between my week is filled with movie dates, dinners and dancing and I really enjoy it. However, most of those activities are usually planned and there's nothing wrong with that but I feel like my friendships here in Paris are missing a bit of spontaneity.

In NYC, I would call up my friends Dave or Robin and ask them if they'd like to join me for brunch and in an hour or two we'd be at our favorite brunch place in Manhattan taking in the scene, enjoying the food and each other's company. I mention all of this because I'm planning a brunch next Sunday which I'm certain will be a great time but it just got me thinking about how I used to do brunch in the past.

Former Language Assistants This One's For You

I just received the following job posting in my inbox for any former language assistants out there currently living in the DC area (or willing to move there):

Le service culturel de l'Ambassade de France à Washington recrute un assistant pour la Coopération éducative.

Cette personne aura la charge du programme des assistants de langue américains en France et assistera l'Attachée de Coopération éducative dans des tâches ayant trait à la promotion du français.

Le poste est à pourvoir immédiatement. Après une période d'essai de 3 mois, un contrat d'un an pourrait être proposé.

L'assistant devra être bilingue français/anglais. Le fait d'avoir participé récemment au programme des assistants en France est un plus, de même que toute expérience d'enseignement.

Merci de m'adresser par email votre CV ainsi qu'une lettre de motivation en français.

Catherine PETILLON

Attachée de Coopération Educative

Ambassade de France aux Etats-Unis

www.theworldspeaksfrench.org

4101 Reservoir Road, NW

Washington, DC 20007

Tél / Phone : (1) 202 944 6031

Fax : (1) 202 944 6268

Bon Courage!!

Why I Won't Be Shopping Tomorrow

Les soldes start tomorrow, the twice a year extravaganza when the French government permits stores to markdown their inventories usually from 30-70%. This year I had every intention of playing hooky, I mean using an RTT day, and checking out the scene with some friends. That is until I got sick however, all hope wasn't lost but I'm still just a little too American for my own good.

You see I went to the doctor yesterday and she basically told me to sleep off my angine. This would have been perfectly sound advice had I not traveled 40 minutes on the metro and paid 70 euros for her to tell me to continue doing what I had been doing for the past 3 days. Moving on, since I didn't go to work on Monday she wrote me the French equivalent of a doctor's note. In the process of filling out the form she asked me if I wanted to take off on Tuesday and Wednesday to give myself enough time to rest. Initially I thought "cha-ching, soldes here I come" but then my conscience got the better of me and I told her that 2 days (Monday and Tuesday) would be just fine and I should be feeling better enough by Wednesday to go to work.

And that my friends is how I shot myself in the foot and am too American for my own good. No soldes for me, at least not on the first day.

Les Suppositoires

Today I feel like I swallowed a box of razor blades and they are stuck in the back of my throat. Most of the day I've been tending to my ills by taking some throat lozenges, Advil, emergen-c, zicam and oscillococcinum. By this evening I wasn't feeling much better and decided to take a trip to my local pharmacy to see if there was anything stronger that they could recommend as I didn't want another sleepless night. I enlisted the help of a French speaking friend because of my past experiences at the pharmacy.

I wasn't paying much attention to what the pharmacist was saying because my head was pounding and my throat was aching and I figured that my friend had the situation under control. But then the pharmacist said something that made me perk up and pay attention. He said "suppositoire" which is the French for suppository and that was my cue chime in and I began to shake my head adamantly in disagreement. Apparently, the pain medication in suppository form is a lot more effective than the tablets. But the way I see it, I've been sick all day, the ineffective pills have got to be better than nothing right? Just say no to unnecessary suppositories.