January 28th Monday

I got up around 11:30am (*gasp* a.m. you say?) I had a typical breakfast of cereal and yogurt. Then I felt ambitious and decided to break out my new crêpe pan and have some fun. I mixed up a big bowl of batter from my crêpe mix. It takes a half liter of milk. That seemed like a lot to me. After the obligatory ugly first crêpe I got into it and made around 10 nice ones. Adrienne was not feeling well and was still in bed but Karuna and I enjoyed some. We put strawberry jam and Nutella on them. They weren’t quite the same as the ones hot off the griddle at the booths but they were pretty darn good.

I read a bit for the next day’s class. I stayed online in case anyone was available to talk. Karuna and I wanted to venture out into the city so we got our coats and started walking. Our first stop was the building that houses Air France because it also houses Delta. She had a question on a ticket.

We then went toward AUP (the American University of Paris) where Karuna attended undergraduate. There is a bulletin board that I might visit again for families that want English language babysitters. I think that for some extra money I’d love to watch a few French kids. We’ll see what my schedule is like when classes pick up more. I don’t want to agree to anything just yet.

On the way back we bought a baguette and a croissant at a boulangerie that Karuna likes. I was very hungry so I ate the croissant on the bus on the way back. It was buttery and delicious. I don’t know if it was the hunger but I might claim that as the best croissant I’ve tried.

We got home and made quick sandwiches out of the baguette and our ham. Karuna had to run and meet a friend. I needed something small to keep hunger at bay until dinner.

I got to talk to my mom a bit online. After, I decided to make dinner for Adrienne and me. I ran down to the 8 à Huit to grab some last minute ingredients. I made pasta and a tomato sauce with chicken, onion, and garlic powder. It turned out pretty good. I was glad I got the seasonings for the sauce. For dessert we ate some of the crêpes with sugar on them.

I ended up talking to lots of people online. I talked to at least four friends from home. It is such a help having internet at my house. I’m bad at sending emails but it’s easy to chat.

I drank some tea while I was on my computer and reading for class. At one point I smelled very strong cigarette smoke. I opened my door to see where it was coming from. The hallway reeked of it. I think someone was on another floor having a cigarette in the hallway. I’ve been pampered by the no-smoking law here. I was horrified to smell smoke in our building. I sprayed a little perfume to cover it and continued reading.

I finally got to bed and fell asleep around 3:00 or so. The reading was going slower than I thought it would.