Just When I Thought Life Was Going To Get A Little Easier....And I Was Still Able To Have A Nice Evening

29 Septembre 2007

I went to the school early this morning to check my email, and while I was away, my package (with my SIM card) came. Unfortunately, the facteur (mailperson) doesn’t check with the residence before leaving. Instead, they brought it to the school, where the gardien told them that he didn’t have permission to accept it! I about gave birth to a cow, because I was so distraught that I was going to have to wait longer to get my things from the States! The gardien suggested that I try at the post office and see if I could still get my package today. He also said he would call them on Monday to let them know that the facteur can leave any future packages with him. I went to post office and the woman behind the counter tried to explain to me that I couldn’t get my package today and that I would have to wait until re-delivery. Unfortunately, my French postal vocabulary is limited, so all I felt was frustrated and confused. Liz helped explain some of what she was saying but it still didn’t replace my anger over missing my package. In France, the facteur attempts to deliver your package up to two times. If you aren’t there the first time, he keeps it with him (where, I have no clue) and then attempts a redelivery. If you aren’t there the second time, he leaves a notice and you must take your ID to the post office, where it waits for you to pick it up. You might be asking yourself, why did the gardien know about the package? Or why did the facteur even take the package to the school? I think that the facteur took the package to the school because he/she knew that all the admins live in my building and I was receiving an international package. Disappointed, I returned home, where Liz wanted to go back to the Internet café we had visited yesterday. Mickel asked if he could join us and the three of us went to check our email. After checking emails, we returned to a station near our home (Porte de Vincennes), where we would meet with Marie to see the apartment. (Mickel decided he was also going to come too.) Just after 2, we meet a nice, young black girl named Naomi (Marie is her middle name) and she took us to her apartment, which happened to be just around the corner. The neighborhood was pretty nice as was the apartment, but it was also very small. There was only one bedroom to share, with a bed in one corner and a mattress in the other. After looking it over, Liz decided to accept the offer to share the apartment, because her options of finding somewhere to live were running out. She agreed to move in later that night. Since we didn’t have anything planned, I asked Mickel and Liz if they wanted to go with me back to Notre Dame, because the crypts of Paris were located there. They agreed and we went to a museum which is located underground, because it contains the original archaeological sites of the origin of Paris, which used to be called Lutèce, some of which date back to the 1st century and even before Christ was born! It wasn’t a very big museum and fortunately, it only cost us 3€ to get in. Liz asked if we could go back to Richelieu Drouot, so she could get some Starbucks. I initially wanted some ice cream from Haagen-Dazs, but once we got there, I felt so dizzy and a little shaky, so instead, I had some chicken nuggets and French fries (haha!) at my first French McDonald’s. Mickel ate some lunch with me, since he was hungry too. And too be honest, I’ve eaten at other international McDonald’s before, but this one was pretty close to what we expect from McDonald’s in the States. The only things different that they offer is that they have French fries (just called fries) and potato wedges, as well as different salads, like ones with salmon. We returned home so that Liz could pack up her few things and just rested until it was time to take her to her new “home”. Mickel and I packed some of our food for her, so she would have a few things to eat that evening. We dropped her off around 7:30. I was a little sad to have to her leave, but we agreed to meet up at her metro station the following day around 11 to go out and have some fun. Mickel and I returned to Vincennes, where we took a nice evening walk and talked about the “rules of the house” as well as about ourselves, our families, our histories. Basically, lots and lots of talking and agreeing on sharing things (like toilet paper, etc) in OUR apartment. It was getting late and we were getting hungry. Mickel really wanted pizza but since I had eaten that the night before, we looked around Vincennes to see if there was anything else to take. Ironically, most of the restaurants in Vincennes are Italian (in France?) and so he selected one that didn’t look too expensive. He treated me to pasta, which I choose Gorgonzola (very good), he took a four cheese pizza (also ironic??) and some red wine. With the ambience of the restaurant and all the surrounding couples, it honestly felt like I was on an awkward date. For dessert, he chose an ice cream plate, which had vanilla and coffee flavored ice creams that also came with a shot of amaretto. I ate the vanilla, he ate the coffee, and we shared the shot of amaretto. After having coffee, we returned home and watched a movie. Another nice evening, I must say.