Mmm, lovely weekend, lovely dinner, lovely life.

Some useless knowledge for your entertainment, because if it's cluttering up my brain, it might as well yours too.

~In French, the word for "lawyer" is the same as the word for "avocado." Discuss.
~I learned, in the last week, the word for the shine that comes off of oil paintings-- glacees. I also learned the word for a person who works at the fabric counter at a store like JoAnn's. I don't even know the word for that in English.
~Today was Beaujolais Day. I don't really know what that MEANS, except that for some reason ALL of this year's beaujolais wine is sent out on the same day and all the bars in France celebrate with some kind of weird beaujolais-drinking fete. LUCKILY I found this out just in time to participate.
~Last week I was walking through my neighborhood and noticed a store I had never been in was having a sale. I thought to myself, "Well, everything in my neighborhood is ridiculously expensive, but if it is on sale, how bad could it be?" so I went in. The first thing I picked up was a long-sleeved shirt. For 356Euros. I dropped it out of shock, picked it back up, acted like everything was normal as I re-folded it, then busted tail out of there.
~There is a Fiore in my neighborhood. This is a hip Parisian store... thus I have always avoided it. (See Above.) But they were going out of business (probably because everyone in my neighborhood is over 65 and doesn't really want the newest 20-something fashion statement), and since I hadn't learned from last week's foray into the world of Trendy Boutiques in the 16eme Arrondissement, I went in. Who am I, an American college student, to resist a 75% off sale? Good choice this time. I am now stocked on shirt-dresses and other things that can be worn with pants under them.
~If anyone knows a way to get a ticket to the Killers spring tour, I would be, basically, your slave for life.
~Other useless facts about me: I know how to say "not allowed" in 5 languages.
Prohibido
Vietato
Verboten
Interdite
Forbidden.
~Today the firefighters of Paris were on strike. When we asked my grammar prof what that meant for the city of Paris, she said, and this is a direct quote, translated carefully into English by me: "It means if you catch anything on fire today, you are SOL, my friend." Or, more definitively, apparently there were no backups who weren't on strike... I really don't know what happens if something starts burning on days like this.
~Madame told me at dinner on Monday-- Jessi wasn't there-- and she told me that I am getting better at speaking and she is "sure that I can understand better now than when I got here." (!!!!) Coming from her, this is big... I mean, granted, she got me at my worst when I first arrived, but for her to think I am getting better makes me think perhaps, just maybe, I AM learning this language... it seems so often that I am not-- that I know all these words like for the cracks in oil paintings, or the French translation of the latin "necropolis" or even "extincteur"-- fire extinguisher (which, really, would be a handy word on days like this if the city goes up in flames), and not USEFUL things like, "pass the flan." Or "Where do you want me to take my final exam?" or "Do you have these shoes in a size 39?"
~Also, I think Madame is the coolest person in the world, and if I could think of a way to tell her such without her thinking I was crazy, I totally would.
Probably, though, she already thinks I am crazy-- who leaves the US to move to a country with another language and dogs who roam restaurants and garbage men who go on strike and no cars and no ice and friendly bartenders and cheap croissants and too much quiche at the age of 20?
Really, though, in theory, how much crazier is that than wading through waist-deep mud in a valley on a mountain, playing tackle football in the middle of a torrential downpour in the southeastern corner of Kentucky?
I'm just saying. My life has never really resembled any sort of normalcy.
~blair, comme Tony.