February 4th Monday

I got up at 8:45am. Adrienne was already in the shower. I made myself some cereal and some hot chocolate. Sometimes raining mornings just call for hot chocolate.

We arrived early in our class building so we made copies of our birth certificates and other forms. We found a way to get them translated into French for our Cartes de Séjour. We went to class and showed up on time. For a change, our professor showed up on time as well. We waited for some people to show up. Today was our first day of methodology (how to write essays) and I was sure some people would forget. Two people came late and one didn’t show.

Overall I’m very glad we have this class. I kind of wish it had started earlier because it’s helping us form research questions. I’d like to have already formed my question. It went much better than I’d thought it would. Mme Boussaguet was the one who seemed to be glaring at me when my eyes were closing at the EU workshop. She seemed very excited to be there teaching us. She’s around our age and just finished one of her studies. The class is very helpful. Plus, even though she also talks quickly, I can understand her. I find that it’s much easier for me to understand women in French than men.

After class, Adrienne and I ran to our bank BNP to drop off our forms from our landlord. Hopefully it will work. He didn’t want to fill out the bank’s form. We got those dropped off and then headed out toward home.

We arrived home and went online for a little to check emails. Then I wanted to go back to the Chinese Quarter to buy food for our party. We took the metro to Place d’Italie. There is a mall right there so we popped in to see how much microwaves cost. The landlord said that if we bought one he’d reimburse us. The cheapest ones were €52 and €62. Microwaves seem very expensive here.

We left and walked down Rue Choisy and Rue d’Ivry toward the Asian market. We looked at menus along the way because we wanted to get lunch as well. We ended up stopping in a restaurant that is right next to the market. It was called Heng-Lay. They didn’t have any set menus but their prices were good. Adrienne had rice with chicken and basil. It was very good. We both ordered hot tea to drink. I had a starter of various steamed dumplings and then sautéed noodles with “various meats.” When they said “various” meats they meant it. From sight, texture and taste I was able to determine that my plate had shrimp, squid, chicken, pork, seasoned pork, duck, some kind of bologna, liver, and greens and cabbage. It made for a very interesting dish. I was expecting chicken and beef. Some of it was a little weird for me. The bologna looked like bologna but didn’t taste like it.

We decided to go ahead and get dessert as well. Adrienne got little coconut tarts. I ordered “haricots blancs au lait de coco.” It was similar to my other dessert in the Chinese quarter. It had little tapioca noodles and coconut milk and was heated. The part that threw me for a moment was that there were little beans in it. They were white-ish with little black spots on them. I preferred the simple tapioca and coconut. The beans would have been nicer if there weren’t so many.

We finished our meal and paid for it before going next door in search of the market. Much to our dismay, we discovered that the market is closed on Monday! Fail. We decided not to let it get us down and went to various other stores in the area. We started with a nearby bakery/candy store. There were many interesting treats in there. We ended up buying litchi-flavored hard candies and two kinds of jelly-filled marshmallows. I was also intrigued by a large rice cake that was in the shape of a fish. It was glossy looking and had some colors brushed on it for detail. I considered it but decided that it wasn’t quite the kind of think that I was looking for. We moved on to the next bakery. Here I bought some candied melon. I also ended up buying a soy cake. It looked like compressed white powder that had the shape of a dragon on top. I asked the clerk if you just eat it like that, and they looked at me as if I was stupid and said yes. I was interested by it but slightly suspicious since it didn’t look like there was much to it.

Our next stop was into a frozen food store. It still specialized in Asian style foods but had only frozen things. Here we bought a large bag of chicken egg rolls and a bag of vegetable dumplings. We also got some dipping sauce.

The next place was an actual market that was smaller than the Tang Frères. Adrienne waited outside with our bags while I ran in to see what they had. I bought two bottles of rice wine and a little personal bottle of litchi drink. I rejoined Adrienne and we made our way to the metro to take it home.

Once we got home we put all of our frozen food in the freezer. I put up our decorations. We had to red paper decorations with gold glitter and designs on them.

For dinner we ended up making spaghetti with tomato sauce and chicken meatballs. The meatballs were actually pretty good. After dinner I went on my computer. I was talking with Tom and he told me that it was possible for me to vote in the democratic primary for Super Tuesday. If I went to the American Church of Paris with my passport and proof of French residence, I could vote. I got really excited because I’d assumed I wouldn’t be able to vote in a primary. I called my parents and talked to them on the phone for almost 50 minutes about the possibility, among other things. I spent most of my night researching the candidates to make sure I knew who to vote for. I also read for the next day’s class and didn’t go to bed until around 2:30am.

January 26th Saturday

I slept in until about 12:00. My breakfast consisted of peach yogurt. I’m still chipping away at my huge amount of yogurts that I bought.

Our plan for the day is to go out to the Chinese Quarter of Paris. While I showered and got ready, Karuna called people to set up our outing.

We took the RER and the metro out to Place d’Italie. We took the 5 line which is above ground part of the way. I wish they all were. It makes for a much prettier ride. We waited for everyone at the Place d’Italie. While we were waiting we were (wow. Lots of Ws) entertained by an older man who was dancing to music in hopes of earning some change. His moves were pretty basic but it still made me smile. I debated paying him some money to have pictures taken of the two of us dancing. Ah well. Maybe next time. According to Amanda he’s there all the time. We finally had all of us gathered. We had Amanda, Heidi, Adrienne, Karuna, her friend Tao, and me. We set off down the street to end at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was called Pho Bánh Cuón 14. We had pho soup for lunch. The one I ordered had beef broth and rice noodles with rare steak. We could also add bean sprouts, lemon, some very spicy red chilies, basil, cilantro, and sauces. I added all of the ingredients at some point. It was very good and similar to the pho in the US with minor differences. I cleaned out my whole bowl. I even broke the French etiquette and picked my bowl up to drink the broth. The price of the soup was also delicious at around €6 for a small.

Then I ordered dessert. I ordered the house dessert with bananas. It was very delicious. Unlike my friends’ desserts, mine was served warm. It was an interesting combination of coconut milk, tapioca balls, and bananas. It was like a Vietnamese banana pudding.

After our bellies were full of pho some broke off to go home while the rest of us continued toward the Asian market. The entrance looked like we were turning into a parking garage until we saw the bright red and gold of the entrance. There was a tented entrance where New Year decorations and candies were being sold. I grabbed some decorations and little stuffed rats. I was born in the year of the rat so I’m excited to celebrate this year. I bought candies that look like golden boats full of coins. We also went into the main part of the market. It was very busy and crowded. I was excited about the prospect of celebrating the New Year so I had to call my parents to check if it had passed yet. After I found out that it was still to come I decided we should have a party at my apartment.

I bought random fun food in the market. I got a can of bubble tea, some wafer cookies, and other snacks. I was glad that I didn’t let myself get anything too heavy. Finally it was just Amanda and me. Everyone else had gone home. We took our big bags with us toward the metro. We had to try many different entrances because I needed to buy a ticket at the window and they only had the turnstiles. On our way from one entrance to another, we smelled this heavenly sweet aroma. We came around the corner of this tent and found two men selling different candy by weight. I couldn’t resist and got myself a small bag of some random things. The most interesting was the candy the size of my fist that looked like a giant strawberry. We collected the things and found an entrance for the metro.

While we were riding toward our different connections, Amanda was guarding her new addition to the household. She bought an orchid at the market for half the price of the others she saw in Paris. She had to keep it from getting crushed.

I finally got home and was able to deposit all my large bags. I snacked on some candy and random food while we discussed and made dinner. Karuna, Adrienne and I made a dinner out of beef patties, rice, and salad.

After dinner Karuna realized that she was supposed to meet up with a friend and had forgotten. She wanted to go visit her. Adrienne and I were interested in meeting her friend and seeing more parts of Paris so we tagged along. We took the RER and the metro out to her friend’s apartment. Her friend is an American named Natalie who’s lived in France since she was young. She is with a French boyfriend named Thibaud. I had to ask how to spell it because it’s pronounced “tee-bo.” The conversation was in French which was a good change of pace. Lots of the students here speak English so I find myself slipping into the more comfortable language. We had a nice conversation and broke into a French bottle of wine that we’d brought with us. It was really nice.

We had to make sure we left with enough time to catch the metro. We left a little after 1:00am. We caught the last train for both legs of our journey. Yay!

When we got home I had a pain au chocolat to tide me over before going to bed. Karuna had a very early flight the next day and packed a bit before going to bed.