Its not as bad as I made it out to seem in my last posting. But I'm definitely in the midst of the 3rd-week-doldrums.
I discovered this last summer while living in New Zealand. By week 3, I was totally over it. I was over work, I was over the adventure, I was just done with it. And luckily I had 5 other Americans on my program with me in Auckland, so when we all met up for our weekly dinner at the fantastic Father Ted's pub, I discovered I wasn't alone. Every single other person was having a blah, ugh, ick, grumpy week. Three weeks is the magic timeframe. The glamour, the novelty is gone, and you're just left feeling frustrated, tired, and outcast. Its like that point in the vacation where you just want to go home so you can really RELAX because you know where everything is in your grocery store, you know the menu of your favorite takeout place, and you know exactly how much that ice cream scoop is going to cost at your favorite shop.
Well, I also know from last year that this feeling passes. (As too does my migraine, hopefully, and my twisted ankle from a run-in with wet cobblestones on Saturday.) And I have my support network. And I have my knitting. (And my honey should know how much I like him because I'm currently PURLING for him. Amy can explain how much I hate this act and how this means that I REALLY REALLY like him.)
Tomorrow I will watch the world cup, not on my computer, but in a place with other live people. This is my resolution.
On Wednesday I will go to my new knitting group. They are nice. I might buy yarn. That will probably make me feel better. Donations to my yarn fund can be mailed directly to Aimee the awesome owner of L'OisiveThe.
Thursday I will go to dinner with Sungyon and my former labmate Sofiene who I ran into on the train from the airport on the day I arrived in Paris.
It will be a good week.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Case of the Mondays & Pastry 5
Its Monday. Another day in lab. Another day done. (18 more to go.) I've been in sort of a funk, so tonight I microwaved myself a surprisingly good TV dinner and curled up watching YouTube. Pastry #5 was technically from yesterday, but whatever. It was a bread with chocolate chips in it. It was good, sweet but not unbearable. A very tasty brunch, courtesy of Sungyon!
Now for some of my fave YouTube links of the evening...
Watch this, then this, then this.
And a personal fave.
Now for some of my fave YouTube links of the evening...
Watch this, then this, then this.
And a personal fave.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy Birthday America!
When I started typing in the subject for this post, blogger auto-completed it for me. Just another reminder that this is the second year in a row that I haven't been in the States for the 4th of July. Its quite a shame really, since I do love the holiday. I think it ties for my favorite (Thanksgiving is pretty awesome too, I love cranberry sauce). And its great because it has no religious ties, so anyone and everyone who considers themselves an American can celebrate.
But instead of joining the MIT alum party in the south of the city, or going to an expat bar, I met up with my favorite American and didn't mention the holiday once. Instead we enjoyed all the things that Paris has to offer, including my first sighting this trip of another famous Parisian landmark (look in the background...)
And we found shady quiet fountains to admire.
As always, my Parisienne spiritual guide had found these places long ago, but luckily for me she loves sharing them with her bumbling American friend.
And she documented me for her blog. The two MIT girls, the two scientists (well, one still in training), the two amies.
And just to make sure to celebrate the 4th a little bit, I ate American for dinner.
Weirdly enough, McDonalds in New Zealand was way better than this McDonalds.
Happy 4th of July, America.
But instead of joining the MIT alum party in the south of the city, or going to an expat bar, I met up with my favorite American and didn't mention the holiday once. Instead we enjoyed all the things that Paris has to offer, including my first sighting this trip of another famous Parisian landmark (look in the background...)
And we found shady quiet fountains to admire.
As always, my Parisienne spiritual guide had found these places long ago, but luckily for me she loves sharing them with her bumbling American friend.
And she documented me for her blog. The two MIT girls, the two scientists (well, one still in training), the two amies.
And just to make sure to celebrate the 4th a little bit, I ate American for dinner.
Weirdly enough, McDonalds in New Zealand was way better than this McDonalds.
Happy 4th of July, America.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
A rainy day and Pastries 4 & 4.5
Today it rained. Not just a few drops, or a shower, but the most steady and dreary rain I've seen here yet. It lasted all morning. By 10am I was hungry and antsy so I headed out to find breakfast. Well, not so much luck. My favorite boulangerie/patisserie is closed on weekends for the summer (starting today) and my favorite crepe place hadn't opened yet. Between the soaking rain and the shuttered shops, it seemed like Paris was going to hide today.
I did manage to find a little store that was open. It was mostly a sandwich shop, but I wanted breakfast, so I picked this fruit rouge crumble for Pastry #4.
It was terrible. I don't think that "crumbles" are French and this one just wasn't tasty! The bottom crust was cake-like but hard and the topping tasted weird. I didn't even finish it.
So I waited, and three hours later I went out for my favorite crepe, at my favorite creperie.
Crepes here are sold from little windows overlooking the street. I have my favorite crepe guy. He's nice to me, asks me about how I'm doing, and he allows me to stumble along in my basic French. And then after he makes me my crepe, he wraps it up in a nice little to-go package and hands it over. Its not really a pastry, but I'm still going to count it as Pastry 4.5.
I have limited myself to one nutella crepe per week, but because I walk by the window on my way to and from work, I get to say hello daily.
I have to say, I think one thing that surprised me is how quickly I found "my" shops. For example, "my" grocery. "My" corner market. "My" pastry & bread shop. "My" crepe shop. People are surprisingly nice. And because stores are smaller and specialized, people really seem to take more pride in their work. Even within a store, I will have my favorite staffmember. Sungyon and I like the same creperie, but she's friends with the older guy and I'm friends with the younger one. In the pastry and bread store around the corner, the younger woman and I have a bond, and we'll both re-arrange ourselves in line to make sure that she'll serve me. (She is also very nice and puts up with my horrible French kindly because she doesn't speak English and sometimes she even teaches me new French words!) I find that I notice the tourists in stores easily because they don't go through the pleasantries that are common in French businesses. For example, when you enter, the store owner or salesperson will say "bonjour" or "bonsoir" and you are expected to respond. They will say goodbye to you too when you leave, and if you want to be really French you should say goodbye (au revoir) too, and maybe "see you tomorrow" (a bientot) if you'll be back for your baguette in the morning. Here businesses aren't about super-efficiencies and sterile shiny environments - they are about the people and the relationships. Its shocking and a bit jarring at first to an American. But somehow it feels more "at home" to me than almost anywhere I've ever been. I might not "belong", but at least people know I exist and genuinely smile when I enter and say "bonjour".
But don't worry, I haven't run off and turned French. My knitting is keeping me grounded and reminding me what (or who) I'm missing. Don't worry honey, I made sure this picture wouldn't give away any of the surprise!
I did manage to find a little store that was open. It was mostly a sandwich shop, but I wanted breakfast, so I picked this fruit rouge crumble for Pastry #4.
It was terrible. I don't think that "crumbles" are French and this one just wasn't tasty! The bottom crust was cake-like but hard and the topping tasted weird. I didn't even finish it.
So I waited, and three hours later I went out for my favorite crepe, at my favorite creperie.
Crepes here are sold from little windows overlooking the street. I have my favorite crepe guy. He's nice to me, asks me about how I'm doing, and he allows me to stumble along in my basic French. And then after he makes me my crepe, he wraps it up in a nice little to-go package and hands it over. Its not really a pastry, but I'm still going to count it as Pastry 4.5.
I have limited myself to one nutella crepe per week, but because I walk by the window on my way to and from work, I get to say hello daily.
I have to say, I think one thing that surprised me is how quickly I found "my" shops. For example, "my" grocery. "My" corner market. "My" pastry & bread shop. "My" crepe shop. People are surprisingly nice. And because stores are smaller and specialized, people really seem to take more pride in their work. Even within a store, I will have my favorite staffmember. Sungyon and I like the same creperie, but she's friends with the older guy and I'm friends with the younger one. In the pastry and bread store around the corner, the younger woman and I have a bond, and we'll both re-arrange ourselves in line to make sure that she'll serve me. (She is also very nice and puts up with my horrible French kindly because she doesn't speak English and sometimes she even teaches me new French words!) I find that I notice the tourists in stores easily because they don't go through the pleasantries that are common in French businesses. For example, when you enter, the store owner or salesperson will say "bonjour" or "bonsoir" and you are expected to respond. They will say goodbye to you too when you leave, and if you want to be really French you should say goodbye (au revoir) too, and maybe "see you tomorrow" (a bientot) if you'll be back for your baguette in the morning. Here businesses aren't about super-efficiencies and sterile shiny environments - they are about the people and the relationships. Its shocking and a bit jarring at first to an American. But somehow it feels more "at home" to me than almost anywhere I've ever been. I might not "belong", but at least people know I exist and genuinely smile when I enter and say "bonjour".
But don't worry, I haven't run off and turned French. My knitting is keeping me grounded and reminding me what (or who) I'm missing. Don't worry honey, I made sure this picture wouldn't give away any of the surprise!
As I mentioned yesterday, Bryan is visiting for a few days.
He was in Spain at a robotics conference, so he swung through France on his way home.
I haven't really done much sightseeing so far in Paris (I feel like I got it "out of the way" when I visited a few years ago), but here's a nice Paris landmark that I have seen a few times since arriving:
Bryan and I had dinner on Ile Saint Louis. Walking back to the Metro, we got some lovely views of the Seine.
Ah, sunset in ma chere ville!
He was in Spain at a robotics conference, so he swung through France on his way home.
I haven't really done much sightseeing so far in Paris (I feel like I got it "out of the way" when I visited a few years ago), but here's a nice Paris landmark that I have seen a few times since arriving:
Bryan and I had dinner on Ile Saint Louis. Walking back to the Metro, we got some lovely views of the Seine.
Ah, sunset in ma chere ville!
Friday, July 2, 2010
Pastry 3
Today I ate my pastry without taking a picture. Give me a break, it was 94 degrees and I was tired. :-P Anyways, I ate an Escargot au chocolat, which is basically a cinnamon roll but filled with chocolate chunks instead. It was good. Not amazing. Not unbelievable. But tasty. It might have also helped if it wasn't so hot out. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't going to love anything that wasn't gelato today.
Thunderstorms already started rolling through, so at least its down into the 80s now. Ugh. I think I need a cold shower.
In better news, only 20 days left of lab! And yay weekend!!! :-D
Thunderstorms already started rolling through, so at least its down into the 80s now. Ugh. I think I need a cold shower.
In better news, only 20 days left of lab! And yay weekend!!! :-D
Thursday, July 1, 2010
a personal challenge: Pastries 1 & 2
Today there was a BBQ at ESPCI.
I didn't want to be too weird, so I only took one photo. The food was both usual and unusual. There were plenty of normal side dishes: potato chips, couscous salad, carrot slaw, tomato salad. But the meats were different from American fare: lots of sausages and kebabs (and not a hotdog or hamburger in sight!). Also, there were the requirements of all good French meals: baguettes, wine, and three cheese rounds larger than American-size dinner plates. YUM!!!
In other news, I have decided that my blog is turning into the daily adventures of my inanimate objects, so I decided to institute a personal challenge: In the month of July, I will try to eat 30 different pastries and blog about them. So here we go...
Pastries one and two:
An eclair, and something else that we couldn't figure out the name of but got by pointing a lot.
The eclair was pretty standard for anyone who's ever eaten at Mike's Pastries in the North End of Boston. It was smaller than Mike's, and filled with a chocolate hazelnut cream, but other than that, pretty normal. The other thing was AMAZING. (Really should figure out what its called). Its a meringue shell filled with a light, sweet cream. After a HOT day, it was the perfect, light, sweet, and delicious ending.
There are two pastries because my friend Bryan is in town, so he helped me pick them out. :-) He also took me to a lovely dinner on rue Mouffetard, yum yum!
I didn't want to be too weird, so I only took one photo. The food was both usual and unusual. There were plenty of normal side dishes: potato chips, couscous salad, carrot slaw, tomato salad. But the meats were different from American fare: lots of sausages and kebabs (and not a hotdog or hamburger in sight!). Also, there were the requirements of all good French meals: baguettes, wine, and three cheese rounds larger than American-size dinner plates. YUM!!!
In other news, I have decided that my blog is turning into the daily adventures of my inanimate objects, so I decided to institute a personal challenge: In the month of July, I will try to eat 30 different pastries and blog about them. So here we go...
Pastries one and two:
An eclair, and something else that we couldn't figure out the name of but got by pointing a lot.
The eclair was pretty standard for anyone who's ever eaten at Mike's Pastries in the North End of Boston. It was smaller than Mike's, and filled with a chocolate hazelnut cream, but other than that, pretty normal. The other thing was AMAZING. (Really should figure out what its called). Its a meringue shell filled with a light, sweet cream. After a HOT day, it was the perfect, light, sweet, and delicious ending.
There are two pastries because my friend Bryan is in town, so he helped me pick them out. :-) He also took me to a lovely dinner on rue Mouffetard, yum yum!
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