March 8th Saturday

It was International Women’s Day today! Yay! Unfortunately I didn’t remember this until halfway through. I got up a little before 12. I ate three cheese crêpes for breakfast. They were yummy. I typed on my journal for a while and Adrienne and I talked for a long time.

For lunch I made myself some of the frozen Parisian mixture. It has green beans, bacon, potatoes, and mushrooms in it. After this I ran to the library at 5:30pm. I checked out some new books there. After that I headed outside to go to the bank. I ran into Alberto on the street. We talked for a minute and I went on my way. I called Heidi to see what she was up to. She wanted to go for a walk so we scheduled one together. I got to BNP and withdrew money from the ATM so that I could activate my card.

On my way back toward my place, I ran into Alberto again. He’d been having problems with his old apartment. He moved into a new one over break. Well he had one last electric bill to pay before he could be done with his old landlady forever. He hated going there and didn’t want to go alone. He asked if I could go with him. I told him that I could but that Heidi would have to come too because she was meeting me at my place. The two of us walked in the direction of my apartment.

We met up with Heidi and I told her about our little side trip to Montmartre to deal with the landlady. We took the metro to the Abbesses station. We climbed the various hills until we arrived at Alberto’s old apartment. We went in so that they could discuss the electric bill. It seemed like there was a miscommunication about the amount. I felt sorry for Alberto the minute I walked in. It was incredibly small. There was a small dog living there too. Perhaps “living” isn’t the right word. While we talked it hacked and struggled in its owner’s arms. For some reason, Alberto told the landlady that I was his girlfriend. I shot him a look but went along with it. I figured he had some reason for saying this. Alberto needed to get the cash to pay so we walked down to the ATM so that he could withdraw money. Then we walked back to the apartment.

The miscommunication about the amount that Alberto was supposed to pay continued. He thought he owed half what she was asking. Alberto put credit on his cell phone so that they could call the electric company and find out what the actual amount was that he owed. The bill had not arrived yet. Unfortunately, the call used up all of his credit right when the woman at the electric company was about to tell them the amount. Alberto wanted to get this over with but he didn’t want to overpay. The argument escalated until they were both talking about lawyers and yelling. It was like watching a slow train wreck. I had no idea how it had gotten to this level. Heidi and I took Alberto aside and convinced him to just pay the extra money. He told us that it felt wrong but we told him that it would be worth the money to just be done with this woman. He finally agreed and paid the woman. He didn’t have the extra money so I loaned it to him. The landlady insulted him as we all left the place. We’d just taught Alberto the phrase “cut your losses.”

We walked down the hill and all came down off of the adrenaline highs. Alberto stopped by an ATM so that he could pay me back. It had been a really scary situation. We all decided to go out and have a drink to calm down and celebrate Alberto’s liberation from the evil landlady.

We took the metro near the Louvre and went to a café called Le Fumoir. We ordered a bottle of the red wine of the month for €18 and split it. Alberto raised a toast to the women who had saved him for Women’s Day. We sat for a while and talked about crappy apartment situations that we’d all experienced.

Eventually, once the bottle had been drained, we realized that we were in need of food. I suggested the crêpe stand near my place and they agreed. We took the metro to Saint Germain des Près. I ordered a crêpe complète. It came complete with ham, cheese, and egg. I was so hungry that I devoured it. Then Heidi and I looked at each other contemplating another crêpe. It would seem weird to go back up to the window and ask for another. Oh what the heck. I went up and ordered a nutella crêpe. I tried to make a joke out of it to keep from embarrassing myself too much. I told the man at the stand that I was an addict. This caused us to chat a bit and we exchanged names. His name is Ronnie. The nutella crêpe was just as delicious as the other one. I was very happy I had ordered it.

We continued walking and talking for a bit. Then Heidi and Alberto broke off to go take the metro. I walked home. Once I got home I got to talk to Tom, Tyler, my dad, and my mom. I went to bed a little before 4:00am.