"i think morty's gonna like ya, brooke"

so. my dear friend karen was here to visit over her reading week. she arrived to amazing weather. i'm not sure where it came from, but here in paris we were experiencing what was seemingly endless sunshine. it lasted for at least two weeks. of course today, it's raining like a bitch outside, but we had a nice run. good for karen anyway.

so she arrived friday in the morning. i was at work, so missy was kind enough to meet her on the metro platform. i arrived home a couple of hours later and after rousing a groggy, slow-moving karen, we did a bit of the tourist thing. we saw notre dame as it's close and walkable. that night, being the nice host i am, i dragged my sleep-deprived friend out to one of our haunts here, the gent. she managed to stay awake and make several friends at the bar. it was here she created the now beloved 'morty', her italian cousin from new york. he stuck around throughout the entire trip. just to reiterate, morty is not a real person.

saturday we made our way up to montmartre with kevin and his friend alessandra, who was visiting for the weekend. we got to see moulin rouge as well. that night we stayed in and also did some drinking. we managed to thoroughly destroy ourselves that night and most of the next day. we did manage to find it in ourselves to lay in front of the eiffel tower for a couple of hours and wander around the champs elysee as well. antonin was kind enough to invite us all for dinner at his place and we got to check out his new room. it was quite nice.

monday, i had to work in the afternoon, so karen went to the louvre. she seemed quite content when she came home, so i was quite pleased. she was supposed to go skiing these two days, but it didn't work out. i think she made up for it quite nicely.

i had to work all day tuesday, so i suggested to karen that she take a trip out to the chateau versailles for the day. to say she had a good time would be to grossly underestimate her feelings about the trip. she told me it's a 'must see' but that i should wait for spring to 'see the gardens'.

i was off from work wednesday and thursday, so karen had my full attention. kevin was kind enough to guide us in a tour around Pere Lachaise cemetery. he really is the unofficial tour guide. he's been there a lot for various reasons/visitors. after we had gelato, which was magnificent. we also went out for dinner for a pre-valentine's day meal.

thursday we did some serious shopping. karen bought some presents for her parents and herself. we actually spent most of the day shopping, which i found surprising. karen also treated me to lunch. she was quite the enjoyable guest. we also ended up at the louvre somehow, so we wandered around there for a little bit outside.

friday it was back to work for me (well i had to go to school. some teachers were on strike, so they closed the school for students. unfortunately the staff who weren't on strike still had to go. so i sat around and played sudoku.) Karen went to the eiffel tower to go up it. unfortunately for her, it was the shittiest day of her visit (shittiest meaning no sun and some fog), but it wasn't bad. we went out again that night. we tried to do it proper parisian style, aka going out at 12 and catching the first metro back at 530 am. needless to say, i was feeling quite tired by the end of it. i was up at 7 friday morning, so it was a solid 24 hours for me. we went up in the north of paris though, to go out (around moulin rouge) which was new for me, so that was good. and it was a fun night.

eventually on saturday, after we got up, karen and I went to montparnesse tower, which gives you a great view of the city, including the eiffel tower. it was sunny as well, so we were able to take some nice pictures. we went to my friends that night to watch a film. it was papillon. it was a solid two and half hours and i think all of us were overtired, so the length was a bit painful, but it was a good film.

sunday was sadly karen's last day in paris. we went to luxembourg gardens and met up with missy for a coffee later in the afternoon. she left early monday morning.

so that was my past week in a nutshell. i think karen had a good time. i will post pictures at some point. most likely it will be after i get back from my trip, so i'll put up a bunch then. i have to go to school now and then a concert afterwards. i have one more day of work and then i leave on saturday!

talk soon

xo

post no.1 of a million

well that is clearly an exaggeration but this month has been insane already and we're only half way through it. here i was before, limping along doing the sh*t i do, content in my routine. and then BAM! Attack of Interesting Things. Mainly it is these five things

1) it's back to just missy and i in the flat again
2) i started class
3) KAREN came to visit
4) visitors a plenty this week
5) i'm going to AFRICA on saturday

phew. no big deal or anything, but i'm tad overwhelmed.

so i'll just concentrate on the class. it in itself would have just been its own post, so i'll keep it that way.

so i started french lessons. it's taught entirely in french because there are nationalities from all over there, so really, the only common language is french. we didn't do much today, just talked a bit and she explained the course to us. i think i'll like it. i may even learn something new! i seem to always find myself in french class relearning the same damn things (aka in Quebec). so i'm excited to tackle new french grammar topics. that might possibly be the coolest sentence anyone has ever uttered.

the school itself is located around pere lachaise, which may sound familiar to some as a parisian landmark. that is indeed the cemetery where mister jim morrison (among others)is buried. so i give my respects to jim with a quick wave, and then i make my way to get my learnin on. it is truly magical.

missy's parents are up this week, and one of our friends here has some people over. my dear friend karen just left, but that will be at least one post in itself. (most likely just one post due to the laziness/busy-ness of this week).

that's it for now. i didn't get much sleep this week so i might head to bed early. got a big day of laundry coming up. try not to be too jealous.

xo

update 2

so here is a quick update.

1) I've signed up for French lessons. They start next week. Well, I have to take a test to see what level I'm at, but I'm pretty excited. Missy is also taking them, but on a different day. Silly schedule conflicts. Kevin is not taking them because he is pretty much captain french already.

2) The French government is still requiring me do a bunch of paperwork so that I can qualify for them to give me money. Honestly, by the time I'm finished with all the bureaucratic paper shuffling I will be back in Canada.

3) My friend Mauricio (the crazy Mexican) is getting married in July! And then moving to Canada for a Masters! What that means for you lovely people is that you'll be seeing my ugly mug, at the latest, in early July. Permanently after mid July. Or at least until I decide to bugger off again somewhere. I may also be home in June. We shall have to see. So I guess in early summer, prepare yourself for The Return.

4) My dear friend Karen is coming to visit Friday. It will be my first time being a proper tour guide in this fair city, so I'm pretty stoked. Should be an excellent time.

5) I did another photo update. It's of buildings again. When I get friends, I may post up some pictures of them. Kidding. I'll never have friends.

Here is a preview:


6) That's all for now. I'll check in later.

7) ciao

8) p.s. Sarkozy married his oppurtunist of a girlfriend. Is this news there? What a guy. Knocking up supermodels within a month of meeting them. Such a rockstar.