i'm officially parisian.

i knew it was going to happen eventually. it was bound to. i consider it my rite of passage. today, at approximately 19:15, on my walk home from reid hall after having completed my semester, i stepped in a huge pile of shit. it had rained earlier, which made the sidewalks more slippery and the poo mushier.

but i'm okay about all of it. because i'm done with school. and relaxation is majorly in order.

i curse myself for not always carrying my camera.

today i saw a grandmother with her 3/4 year old grandchild, and she was helping the little one pee on the sidewalk! i guess the girl had to go really badly, but you'd think you could find a restaurant who would let her use the bathroom (because no one uses the gross-looking public toiletbooths you need to pay for). anyway it was quite a sight. very unfrench.

in today's inbox.

Date:	Mon, 12 Dec 2005 13:47:35 +0100
From:	"CitizenInfo, Paris "
Subject:	U.S. Embassy Warden Message -- Avian Flu Fact Sheet

uh oh. pray for me.

i may or may not be on the road to mercury poisoning.

i have a sandwich with salmon, smoked or otherwise, every day. that can't be healthy. but what can you do? there's literally nothing but paninis and crepes in the area. i've forgotten what else there is to eat in life, anyway.

tirez = pull. and other metro musings.

contrary to popular belief, the word tirez in french, written on the doors to the metros, actually means pull and not to push (poussez). the reason people get confused, though, is because all the doors on the metro are more easily pushed than pulled, despite the tirez command. so americans get confused.

in other metro related news, today i watched two boys, about 17, as one boy used cotton and scotch tape to make the other a white beard that he kept unsuccessfully attempting to attach to the other's face. i have no idea why. but it was pretty amusing to watch.

also, as i was walking in the champs elysées metro today, glancing at the violinist playing in the tunnel while turning my ipod volume up higher to hear the decemberists sing about the champs elysées, i thought about how ipods and tuning-outedness has affected those subway musicians' careers. i mean we've thought about the effect mp3's have had on the music industry, but what about street musicians who get ignored, and probably even get some nasty stares, as the metro walkers force the volume on the music in their earbuds higher to ignore the noise? what about them.

my dream.

last night i went to sleep to the sound of the pouring rain tapping against the two windows of my room. i'd been talking, over the past couple of days, with people from america who'd told me about the snow they'd had in philly, and boston, and new york. i guess that's why i dreamt that there was some sort of blizzard in paris. it wasn't a long dream or a particularly involved one, but i dreamt that i went to the window in my kitchen and saw tons of snow coming down. the dream was so mundane that when i woke up this morning i thought it just might be true. i stayed in bed for a bit hoping it was true, knowing it would be completely unlikely, since it hadn't even been quite as cold this week as it has been. when i finally got out of bed to look out my window, there was no snow, and i couldn't tell much else about the weather because the window overlooks my courtyard, which blocks all signs of sun or any other kind of weather besides rain.

i was bummed. i'd had visions of trudging in my ugly snow boots through the small streets of paris, the parisians having no idea what to do with themselves in such weather, dog shit everywhere, and cigarette butts mountaineously high. but then i walked outside to find that today, which, by the way, i'll be spending holed up in reid hall trying to work on 1 of my 3 oral presentations, is one of the most beautiful days we've had in a while. god i love paris.

i bought a big bag of clementines today.

and they all have seeds in them. multiple seeds per piece. goddamn french produce.

there seem to be a lot of old people here with faulty legs. and canes.

and i always seem to be walking behind them on my way to class.

i saw a french girl burp!

i did! she was about sixteen, impeccably dressed, and let out a burb--not a cute one--in front of her friends. wow, i have a whole new french view.

the events which have passed.

i'm getting bad at consistently writing in this sucker. spent a nice shabbat lunch, interesting chat/debate with my neighbor about politics, why america sucks, and israel, began starting to think about writing my 15 page paper due next week, and saw rufus wainwright in the casino de paris!

this last one needs at least one sentence. it was a nice theater and i went with rachel and this girl silvie who was also going. we had fairly good seats (no assigned seats), with plush velvet chairs (no i'm not writing a review), and rufus was oh so wonderful. this is after an hour of his whining sister, martha. anyway after he left in the middle of a song, he comes back on in a crazy robe with his band and they start this crazy dance and then strip him of his robe, so he's in this blue thing and he pretends to be jesus being crucified for two songs. it was sooo weird.

anyway, i'm enjoying the tinfoiled high so that'll be all.

sarah, does the amount of ( )s in here make you cringe?