Concerning Lips, Jazz & Korea

Rule #1 about surviving the Paris Ice Age: Don't Lick Your Lips. It's just not a risk you should be willing to take - what with the freezing arctic winds whistling around every corner. I'm not sure if people in SA can really fathom how cold it is here at the moment. This week has been all minus 0, all the time. The fact that it isn't snowing just makes you miserable that it's so effing icy all the time - some snow would at least make it pretty. No snow. Just cold. But despite that complaint, we haven't let it get to us. Basically, every square meter of Paris is either below zero (if you're outside) or over 30℃ (if you're inside). Sometimes it's so cold, you'll pop into a store (we usually pick a pharmacy - they're everywhere) and pretend to browse for 5 minutes while you thaw out. It's a good strategy, and we're sticking to it.

 

Yesterday was a blog-worthy day, so here's the breakdown. Tash has class on a Friday morning (there should be a blog about it soon, considering how she raved about it - check http://omelettedufromage.posterous.com/), so I took the metro at 12 to meet her. Listening to needtobreathe's 'the outsiders' made my journey seem so epic, and put a smile right on my face. RIGHT ON MY FACE! What a great way to start a day. Seriously, get that album.

 

Tash (also smiling) I met at our usual spot: UNESCO. There, Wendy The Wonderful Women Whom We Wuv, met us for a hand-packed-by-her-amazing-husband lunch. She really is like our Paris Mom. We really appreciate everything she does for us, and how she looks after us so well! Good to know someone would notice if we were sold into the European Sex Slave Trade. That was a joke. We're perfectly safe. Stop freaking out.

 

We decided to stop by Sacré Cœur on the way home. It was a freezing day, so we figured there'd be a severe lack of tourists. We were right! It's such a beautiful place - huge white domes overlook the city from the hill of Monmarte (yes, the dodgy suburb with all the sex shops). We climbed the hill and, panting, were rewarded with a terrifyingly beautiful view. What a place. What a great way to spend an afternoon. We went around to Place de Tertre, had a nuttela crêpe, and went on our merry way.

 

My dad had suggested that we go see this jazz musician, Robin McKelle, at a FNAC music store (they have these exibition spaces - so cool). Since it was only 3km away, we decided to walk. It was freezing, but it was so lovely. Paris really is a walking city. Apart from the icy wind and angry cyclists (we have blind spots when it comes to walking in bike lanes. what the hell are bike lanes?), we arrived at FNAC in time to see the wonderful Robin and her MORE THAN AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL band, The Flytones. The brass sections looked like they stepped out of a 90s sitcom - super quirky and loads of fun.

 

After THAT adventure, we decided to go find an Asian restaurant to eat at. Beacause I have two Asian History classes on a Thursday (Colonial India and Democratic Reform in China), we decided to make Thursdays (in this case, Friday) Asian Food Night. We ended up stepping into this tiny Korean restaurant down the road from us. What a place. No one spoke English (our waiter barely spoke French, and we DON'T speak French) and the menu was IN KOREAN. We were in for a treat. Tash ordered something with fish, and I ordered something with beef. After unexpected tofu soup (so yum), suddenly (and I mean suddenly - our waiter was like a ninja) half a dozen tiny bowls full of condiments, a beef stir fry, a grilled fish, and two pots of rice were before us. It was DELCIOUS. What a cool find.

 

That was Friday. Saturday consisted of cleaning, an epic adventure at the laundromat, and rasperries in Rose. Beautiful Paris is still wonderful. We're happy and rosey-cheeked (mostly because of the cold, but also beacause we're full of life).

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Concerning Mexicans, The Marais, and Hot Deliciousness

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Monday was a cool day. Tash had her first class (I don't have class on a Monday... Or Friday, for that matter) but I went with her because we South Africans stick together! SciencesPO is kinda like Wits: there are different buildings with many labelled rooms (sometimes arbitrary labels... As anyone who's ever had a class in John Moffat will agree). There's one difference though: SciencesPo's campus is a suburb, not a separated area. You walk to class down the street. It's pretty awesome, considering St-Germain is one of the most beautiful areas in the city. It's a crazy expensive shopping area (Ralph Lauren and Armani are just around the corner - not that Tash and I know anything about fashion) but it still reeks of old-world Paris.

Tash introduced me to Marco after class, her hot (I mean charming) Mexican friend. The exchange students are both friendly and easy to spot: confused, disorientated, complaining about the weather. Hopefully we'll soon begin to fit right in.

After meeting Marco we decided to walk around a really beautiful suburb called the Marais. It's got a really high Jewish population, which means that many of the shops are Kosher and there are very serious memorials to Jewish Holocaust victims dotted around. The streets are winding and cramped with bistro tables and pedestrians, but it's truly beautiful.

We accidentally stepped into a gallery (it was mainly to get out of the drizzle), but as with anything in the Marais, it became a mistake we would not regret. The gallery itself hosts 20 artists from around the world, and asks them to work in specific formats so people can easily buy the completely unique works. The girl who works in the store was so nice to us, and although she spoke English, she decided to explain the concept of the gallery to us in very slow French to help us build our vocab. We're definitely going back there to practice our French :)

After that Tash and I missioned to one of the most famous falafel places in the city, aptly named "La Falafel". A sign on the door says that Lenny Kravitz recommends it, and if that's not a great draw, I don't know what is :) after asking for a table for 2 (one of the only things we can ask for in French) we were led through the crowded joint to a tiny table in a room that had more Jewish nick-knacks and paraphernalia than we could count. Sharing delicious falafel and icy lemonade in that place was definitely a cool experience. Totally recommend a visit if you're ever in the area. After going shopping in a cute novelty store nearby, we headed home.

This is a really long post already, but just one more thing. Tuesday was great too. We did two exciting things: 1) went for hot chocolate at Café le Deux Magots, one of the most famous spots in the city. Around the corner from our varsity, it's super-fame comes from the fact that lots of famous people hung out there in the 1920s (Picasso, Satre, Hemingway). It's very Midnight-In-Paris, with red velvet curtains and crystal chandeliers. The hot chocolate itself was probably sourced from Willy Wonka's river (only that would explain its glorious flavour), and we had a great time even though the waiter "Englished" us (spike English to us when we spoke French to him). The number 2) exciting thing we did was go to our first philosophy class, but I should probably end here. I kinda have to run to a History lecture :)

Concerning Shopping and Portuguese Men

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Yesterday was eventful. Tash and I met up with Mikael - our philosophy friend from Wits who's currently on a Contiki tour around Europe. They had one day in Paris - how fun to spend it with us!

After meeting at Notre Dame, the locals (being us) took the tourists (being them) to Champs-Élysées on the metro - we bought them tickets and it was legal and everything! The five of us (Mik and his two Canadian buddies from the tour) walked up the beautiful touristy boulevard, bought ice-cream at Haagen-Daas, took touristy photos of the Arc and sang beautiful songs under it on the ukelele (a video will soon go viral of this wondrous event).

I bought a beautiful coat at H&M. The sale is OFF THE CHAIN, YO. So amazing, it makes you speak in rapper-talk. We spent a lot of time in Nike and Adidas stores because boys are stupid and are into sports and stuff. After a respite at our apartment, Tash & I joined them for drinks and embarrassing dancing at O'Sullivans, the club/cesspool next door to the Moulin Rouge. We walked home, and thanks to Tash's great sense of direction, made it back alive. No really. She kinda saved our lives.

Today was mainly spent recuperating and trying to remember what happened last night (we seriously just remembered something totally random and embarrassing). Good times with good friends. Here's to sticking together and being safe while still living life to max capacity. Woooooooooooooop!