musings

All of a sudden, I'm down to one week.  Where did the time go?  I have had such a wonderful time here that I'm not quite ready to leave...but at the same time, I'm so ready to explore Ethiopia. Tomorrow is my last day with Carmen and Erin, since I'm leaving for the weekend and they leave for their semester in Rennes while I'm gone.

Even though I know I could never live in a big city, I've really enjoyed my time here.  I have the routine down - breakfast, class, visitesvisitesvisites, nap, supper, homework, bed - and it's comfortable.  I can walk into Monoprix and know where the mangoes and bread and chocolate are, I know my way around our neighborhood, I can get anywhere I want to go on the Metro with just a quick glance at the map, and I can interact with French people.  When I was here last time, I hoped I would someday be able to speak French well enough to blend in.  Here I am.
 
We're kind of at the end of our visites obligatoires for class - there are only a few left on my list (which is good, because I only have a few days left!).  So instead of running around Paris, I've been frantically writing postcards, shopping, and working on my final project.  The assignment is to give a fifteen-minute oral presentation on a subject that a) has to do with Paris, and b) is interesting.  I'm throwing myself into the issue of immigration - the problems it creates for children who have to live in two worlds, and the children's literature that helps them cope.  Although there are immigrants here from all over the world, I'm focusing on African immigrants from the former French colonies.  The topic is absolutely fascinating to me!

I bought myself some little pink roses yesterday.  They're sitting on my bedside table in a plastic cup, next to my mile-high stack of books, making me happy.

Friday morning, I take the Metro to the train station and the train to Lyon.  Noellie will be waiting for me on the platform.  For those of you who didn't get to meet her, Noellie stayed with us for a month during the summer of 2005; when I went to France in 2006, I prolonged my trip to spend two weeks with her and her family.  I haven't seen her since.  My French wasn't exactly proficient then (neither was her English), but we managed, and we bonded despite the language barrier.  I can't wait to see what happens now that we can actually speak to each other!  We'll be staying with her parents, so I'll get to see them again, too.

I know I've been awful at updating, but I'm so much busier than I thought I would be!  I haven't even had a chance to finish the Agatha Christie novel I brought with me.  :)

More pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070404&id=1278330038&l=f8563a04d8 (random visits)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071220&id=1278330038&l=f55236b812 (mostly Versailles)

Love you all!
Ellen