crêpes chez Laetitia

Chez.

I love this word.

chez moi = my place/home/apartment/dwelling/etc.

chez toi = your place

chez mes parents = my parents'

chez le coiffeur = the hair salon

chez le boucher = the butcher shop

chez vous = where you are from, your city/country of origin

It doesn't necessarily indicate a physical place...

courant chez les personnes jeunes = common amongst young people

beaucoup admiré chez les Américains = much admired by Americans

faites come chez vous = make yourself at home

and the perhaps the more well known use of the word for us Californians: chez Panisse. I want to go to there.

So, anyways, tonight I went to chez Laetitia to eat some dinner and crêpes. While Laetitia was busy in the kitchen I creepily took photos of her childhood photos. He he he he. this is Laetitia's fridge. I love it. It is covered with magnets, it's wonderful.

this is her kitchen clock, I also like it a whole bunch.

This is her funny friend Aline. Aline claims that she is a 'kitchen watcher' and not a kitchen cook. She is there for team support. She also has a great sense of style.

prix d'amerique marionnaud

I've been spotting some curious advertisements throughout the metro stations lately.

"Navré, ce ne sera pas pour cette année." (ni pour les suivantes)

Sorry, it won't happen this year. (nor for the following years.)

"vous êtes taillée pour la course." (mais pas por celle-ci.)

You are cut out for the course. (just not this particular one.)

"C'est sûr, vous allez faire sensation." (mais pas sur l'hippodrome)

It is certain that you will be sensational. (but not on the hippodrome.)

Prix d'Amerique Marionnaud take place on the large cinder track in the Paris-Vincennes hippodrome, where the world’s best horses compete for one of the most sought-after titles – world harness race champion.

Americans in Paris

I just listened to Americans in Paris by Ira Glass and David Sedaris from This American Life. It's quite good, if you have some time, listen.

Here is the synopsis of the radio excerpt (taken from their website):

Many Americans have dreamy and romantic ideas about Paris, notions which probably trace back to the 1920s vision of Paris created by the expatriate Americans there. But what's actually like in Paris if you're an American, without rose-colored glasses?

Prologue: Host Ira Glass talks with writer David Sedaris at the Louvre in Paris. David's never set foot inside, though he lives just a few minutes away. He says most people go to Louvre because they think they should. Where he would take them if they wanted to see the city where he's lived for two years in very different.

Act I: David Sedaris takes Ira on a tour of his favorite spots in Paris. He moved to France with no special feelings for the place. His head wasn't full of Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein and Sartre and Proust; he was a blank slate. And so the places he's found as his favorites tend to the places where the people aren't mean to him when he speaks French, or places where very unusual and fasinating objects are sold, or place that are unlike anywhere in the States. David describes his struggles with daily life in France in his book Me Talk Pretty One Day.

Song: "Si Tu Dois Partir" - Lloyd Cole

Act II: We hear two Americans who live in Paris about what it is that draws the people who love France so much

Song: "Comment Allez-Vous?" - Blossom Dearie

Act III: In Paris still the racially tolerant place that Richard Wright and James Baldwin discovered in the 1940s? Janet McDonald talks about whether African-Americans are still welcomed in Paris so warmly, even after a half century of African migration to the city. Also: why it's sometimes better for her to put on a bad American accent. She's the author of the book Project Girl and has lived in Paris since 1995.

Song: "Paradisiaque" - MC Solaar and "Au Revoir Paris" - Andy Williams

a serious man

When Julie told me she wanted to se this movie today I was half-interested but decided to still go anyways. But now that I have seen the film, I highly recommend it! As a warning I don't think the trailer does the movie any justice:

The comedic timing is brilliant. The humor is dry, the situations are sarcastic, the dialogues are hopeless, everything is tied together really well, and in the end - well I don't want to give the ending away, so you should just see it...

musique!

What better place to have band practice (and earn some coins) than in front of the Académie Nationale de Musique also known as the Opera National de Paris.

Mambo #5....aaawwweesomeee:

maquillage

This Friday afternoon Diane did not have school so she invited her best friend Diane over. I was folding and putting away the children's clothes when I noticed the house was really quiet. Too quiet. I knew they were up to something. I investigated every room in the house and found them in their parent's bathroom, making their faces into masterpieces.

David Bowie-esque, if you will:

I've never seen anyone use so many sparkles, glitter and shimmer in my LIFE.

I have no idea what inspired her to put black rings around her eyes and mouth...

Oh no.

A bunch of hooligans/BFF:

It was so hard to take her seriously during goûter...

les nombres cardinaux

French numbers are the bane of my existence. Do you want to know why? Oh, boy...I'll tell you why.

1 : un

2: deux

3: trois

4: quatre

5: cinq

6: six

7: sept

8: huit

9: neuf

10: dix

11: onze

12: douze

13: treize

14: quatorze

15: quinze

16: seize

17: dix-sept

18: dix-huit

19: dix-neuf

20: vingt

Alright, so 1-20 are normal. Not bad at all.

Everything gets little complicated after twenty....

21: vingt et un (one must write out 'et' which means 'and' = twenty and one.)

22...29: vingt-deux...vingt-neuf (one must use a hyphen, not 'et')

30: trente

31: trente et un (one must write out 'et')

32...39: trente-deux...trente-neuf (one must use a hyphen, not 'et')

40: quarante

41: quarante et un (one must write out 'et')

42...49: quarante-deux...quarante-neuf (one must use a hyphen, not 'et')

50: cinquante

51: cinquante et un (one must write out 'et')

52...59: cinquante-deux...cinquante-neuf (one must use a hyphen, not 'et')

60: soixante

61: soixante et un (one must write out 'et')

62...69: soixante-deux...soixante-neuf (one must use a hyphen, not 'et')

Once you hit 70, you must do mental math.

70: soixante-dix (this translates to 60,10. So you must do the math in your head)

71: soixante et onze (oh, great, so 60+11= 71, again use 'et')

72....79: soixante-douze...soixante-dix-neuf (one must use a hyphen, not 'et')

Once you hit 80, you start to think that this is really some cruel joke.

80: quatre-vingts (this translates to 'four-twenties..and don't forget the 's' on the 'vingt')

81: quatre-vingt-un (no 'et', unlike other previous double digits that end in 1)

82...89: quatre-vingt-deux...quatre-vingt-neuf

Once you hit 90, you want to kill yourself:

90: quatre-vingt-dix (okay, so 4x20 + 10 = 90) (kill me)

91...99: quatre-vingt-onze....quatre-vingt-dix-neuf (99 is my personal hell, 4x20 + 19 = 99)

To matters more confusing, in Switerland and Belgium they say:

70 = septante

80 = octante or huitante

90 = nontante

BY WHY NOT FRANCE??!?!?

100: cent

101: cent un (no 'et')

200: deux cents (there is an 's')

201: deux cent un (there is no 's')

250: deux cent cinquante (there is no 'et')

300: trois cents (there is an 's')

320: trois cent vingt (there is no 'et')

etc.

4 digit numbers do not require a comma but instead a space.

1 000: mille

10 000: dix mille

100 000: cent mille

200 000: deux cent mille

1 000 000: un million

10 000 000: dix millions (there is an 's')

1 000 000 000: un milliard

10 000 000 000: dix milliards (there is an 's')

Their prices are written differently as well

$45.75 (our way) would be written one of two ways:

1) 45€75

2) 45,75 €

shakespeare & company

After going to San Francisco Book Co. I still had some books to trade/sell and some extra time so I headed over to Shakespeare and Company bookshop. Once I exited the metro I got really turned around and my handdrawn map was not helping at all. I asked several people on the street but since I was in a touristy area no one really knew where I was trying to go. I found this old man and asked him for directions. He was the nicest old French man of my life!!!! I asked if he knew where a certain street was and he said no but he helped me anyways. We entered a shop together and asked 3 different cashier people, we looked in 2 guidebooks of Paris, and then ultimately went down in the metro station to look at the plan du quartier (a map with the local streets/shops posted in every metro exit). Then he walked me to the bookshop! He was seriously the happiest most helpful person in the world. He was so friendly and even let me take a photo with him!

Here it is, my favorite English bookshop in Paris (thus far):

Cookie this reminded me of you:

nice quotes:

In the Spring I would like to sit here:

I stood on this ladder for quite some time browsing their selection:

It's packed with books in every nook and cranny:

books, books, and more books!

Wonderful.

Incredible.

Glorious.

bookcases within bookcases, yes please.

Look at the stacks of books!!!! SO GOOD!

The upstairs is strictly for browsing/reading, nothing is for sale but everyone is encouraged to look, sit and read. What a lovely concept.

Shakespeare himself.

There is even a piano to play...

the stairs and stacks of books:

there is even a little place with a typewriter, you are encouraged to type.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!

The reading room:

As you can see the bookshop is along the Seine across from Notre Dame.

I got 14€ in trade credit so I got Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, High Fidelty and About a Boy both by Nick Horby, and Fully Empowered by Pablo Neruda. I wanted to buy so many more but I narrowed it down to these four because of their length and size. The smaller the better because I can fit them in my purse and read them when I am on the go in the metro. Mmmm books.

san francisco book co.

Today I went to San Francisco Book Co. to sell/trade some books that were left in my room by previous au pairs. This little book shop is crammed floorboard to ceiling with books, it's pretty incredible!

books, books, and more books:

Lovely.

I asked the bookseller, "do you have any Sedaris?" "Why yes, we do, third shelf on the right....you know, he lives around the corner..." My mouth literally watered. When Alison studied abroad in Paris she went to a book reading by him! I would give my left arm to be in the same room as him, or Rory's left arm, or whatever.

I ended up getting 20€ in trade credit so I got A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, Barrel Fever by David Sedaris, and The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck (recommended by Cookie). I'm almost done with Omnivore's Dilemma a Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan and I'm very excited to read my new books!

l'œil / les yeux

l'œil /œj/ = (singular) eye

les yeux /jø/ = (plural) eyes

French, go figure.

Mon œil:

l'œil de Diane:

l'œil de Aude (total deer in the headlights):

Les yeux de Diane: