The metro and butter

Ok! Excitement! So we left off with me finally getting my apartment.
I have woken up at about noon both days in my new apartment. Getting out of bed is really hard because it's so cozy and jet lag is hitting me pretty hard. First thing I went down to see my Landlord, Bruno, and we  went over the contract blah blah blah. I was planning on paying my rent via online bank transfer but the fees are so outrageous at both ends that it made more sense to do it all in cash. Which, by the way, is a terrifying concept. Carrying that much cash around in an unfamiliar city (despite the safe neighborhood) is so nerve-wracking. Lucky for me there is a bank just about two blocks away. So, I walk in, chime, "Bonjour Mademoiselle" to the young lady at the desk, walk up to the machine, and it gives me a sad face when I try and withdraw cash. It's all in french, so I don't know what it's trying to say besides the sad face on the screen and the red X (I get a lot of these red X's it seems) with "Desole" -- that much I understand. So, I pace awkwardly in front of the machine, try it again for good measure, glance over at the lady at the desk -- who is staring at me -- and attempt to speak french.

"S'il vous plait, je suis Canadian, uh, uh, Je ne comprends pas! Parlez vous anglais?" I say.

"Something something something something VISA?" She says.

"OUI!" I exclaim, pulling out my Visa card.

"Something something something something something Visa something something?"

"Oui? Uh..." I have a face I make now when I don't understand what people are saying, and it's usually accompanied by awkward humming. This face happened here.

That's when the sign language kicked in. I pointed at the card and then at the machine and made a confused face. She pointed at the visa, said 25,000 french words in five seconds and pointed to the door. She repeatedly pointed at me, the card and door. I had no idea what she was saying but I said... "Oui! Merci Beaucoup!"

I was pretty sure she had just told me that my card and I were to leave, but turns out there is another machine outside the bank for withdrawals, and regardless of your card, that's where you do withdrawals!  I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with the Visa, cause there is no money to withdraw on there, so I stuck my debit card into the machine -- keeping a very calm demeanor as I was in public -- and prayed.

The screen started showing english on the screen! I was so overjoyed! I went through the necessary steps, put my amount in and -- I didn't have the funds? WHAT!? So I try again, a smaller amount. Success! It spits out the cash, charging me at least $5 for that transaction (On RBC's end, who knows what the euro-bank charged). So I stick my card back in and do a little more ... success! It's like a game! That costs $5! I try again and... denied. Turns out I still have a limit on my bank account for how much money I can use in a day. Seriously not fun when I have rent to pay. So I take my cash and receipts -- cash totaling about 3/4 or rent -- and walk back to the apartment. Luckily Bruno is super understanding and he says I can pay the next day.

So with that task done (for that day at least) I set off to get a transit pass. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing besides the info from a paragraph in a guidebook a friend gave me. The paragraph basically said, go to your local station and ask someone for one. So, I went to the closest station and walked up to the window. No one was there, but I still kind of hung around looking at all the signage to see if there was any info there. There was a sign for the Navigo pass (what I needed) detailing what I should do -- in french. As I'm trying to piece together the words I know, I hear "Bonjour Mademoiselle?" from behind me.

I freeze. How embarrassing.

"Bonjour?" the voice repeats.

I turn around and there are two very stylish french boys about my age, maybe a little older. They both look like they're at the brink of smiling, but not quite there yet. I awkwardly walk over, the metal bars of the metro gate between us. He starts saying stuff in french. I pull out my usual, "Je ne comprends pas, parlez vous anglais?"and he says, "Yes! Are you lost? Where are you from?"

And so the conversation goes, mostly in english, but I keep trying to use french because I feel bad -- which really does not speed the process along. I'm trying to explain I need a carte l'orange (which I now realize doesn't exist anymore -- replaced by the Navigo) and I'm butchering the language so bad all he hears is "carte" so he is like...

"Map? Here! Take my map!" and he gives me his own weathered metro map from his pocket.

I feign relief cause at this point I just feel so awkward I want to run away, but I say, "Merci!". I underestimate this guy's kindness 'cause he says,

"Where do you need to go? I can help you." So in an attempt to get away I study the map and, using my acting talents, look like I've discovered something, and say,

"Oh! I'm at the wrong station! Pah!" Which they nod understandingly to. Thank god. Then he says,

"Let me give you my phone number... in case you get lost!" So I accept, cause who doesn't want friends in an unfamiliar city? So I grab his number, and he asks, "What is your number?" Which is so awkward, because I don't have a phone number yet. I tell him this, which is true, but it seems like I'm trying to not give it to him! He doesn't have Facebook, so I give him my email. He said he'd email me when he got home (he didn't :( ), we exchange "au revoir" s and I practically book it out of the train station.

I find another metro station nearby with a person at the desk, learn that only the main stations along each line sell Navigo passes. So I walk around till I find one of the stations (the lady at the info booth gave me another metro map and circled the stations on it... I was tempted to tell her I already had a map from my french boy encounter earlier). I go in, it's super easy because I have a copy of my passport and my brand new address on me. Within a minute or two she's made my card (which is free because I have an address... huzzah!) and she sends me on my way. Success! For the rest of the day I walk around the neighborhood, scoping out the various Monoprix's (Clothing store version? AH!) and take note of the Fromagerie for later. I buy some groceries, and make this lovely meal ...

... which I am very proud of! It took me like... two hours to make a vegetable and rice soup but DANGIT it was good!

Anyways, that night it took me a long long long time to fall asleep because my two neighbors' doors are right beside my door so when they unlock their doors it sounds like my door is being unlocked. For a good hour I'd almost be asleep and then BAH! Panic, and then realization, and repeat. Once I did fall asleep I was good till noon the next day. 

Wednesday, I completed all my bank stuff, got my rent to my landlord, and met one of my neighbors! This neighbor is the important neighbor because we share a bathroom. My 'apartment' is something called a 'chambre de bonne', which I access via service elevator. It's a little studio room -- bed, shower, kitchenette -- and I love it. Anyways, my next door neighbor is a swedish boy about my age who has been here for three months and is leaving around the same time as me. He seems very nice and he helped me when I accidentally blew a fuse from moving appliances around. We share use and cleaning duties of the bathroom. So far he seems clean and I like him. We might hang out this weekend because he works in the week. The rest of Wednesday I rearranged my apartment so it was pretty and I cleaned the floors and appliances so I KNOW they're clean now. I then made this ...

... which was amazing. That's a turkey cutlet with fancy (not fancy) white wine sauce (buttery wine wine reduction thingy) all over it. And blue cheese. So, everything doesn't just taste like butter, but butter and cheese. Butter mmm...

Similar sleeping style last night, and today I panicked about money, skyped a friend in Austraila (holy time difference) and ate 'yogurt'. EW so gross, the 'activia yogurt' here is like... watery AND chunky... NO! I also bought a dozen little cartons so I have to eat them. Mmm probiotics... 

I discovered that the Navigo pass itself is free, but that gets you nothing but a plastic card with your picture on it. You charge the card at these machines, which I did today. I happened to be charging my card at the same time as a local man beside me. He saw I was struggling, as I was giggling, and offered to help. He also knew english and taught me step by step how to do this charging thing! He was so nice, and it was super easy! It was something like 65 Euro for a month unlimited pass, but I used it three times today so I'd say it will be worth it. 

What did I do today with my new metro pass, you ask? WELL! Let me tell you! I SAW THE EIFFEL TOWER! BAH! I took the metro up to Trocadero and I knew you could see the Tower from near by, but I didn't realize it would be so... well... big! I rounded the corner of this street and BAM! EIFFEL TOWER! I had to keep from running towards the viewing platform. Once I got there, I sat down for a second to collect myself (and take this picture).

I couldn't even wait for the people to get out of the picture, I was too excited. I then ran up to the edge of the viewing point and, seeing a bunch of other tourists doing the same, took this picture of myself.

This is my 'excited' face. I couldn't even smile, because that risked squeeling (again...). So, anyways, as I'm standing around looking excited, this french man (not boy, man) comes up to me and starts speaking french at me. I have the general confused expression, and I say my usual, "Je ne comprends pas" thing and he says something like, "Je ne parlez pas anglais", and I say, "Je ne parles pas francais! Ah!" and we both laugh and then he still keeps speaking french at a crazy rate so I just keep making him repeat himself. I somehow understand enough to answer some questions, but when he asks if I want to walk the Champs Elysees with him (twice, he asks!) I say, "Non, merci". He asks, "Pourquoi?" to which I have no answer, because I can't speak french. So I just point in the opposite direction, look at my non-existent watch and say, "I have to go! Au revoir!" He looks pissed, so I walk with purpose. It is worth noting that at one point in this conversation he asked if I was polish! Do I look polish? I don't know, but the fact he assumed I was european is kind of cool. It must have been the scarf.

I sneak away and take this picture by the river. I look less crazy.

I walk around without purpose for a while, get excited when I see this cafe ...

DO RE MI! ... but I don't go in because I haven't mustered up the courage to go into a cafe yet. I'm determined I will speak french in a cafe one day, and I won't look like a moron! I walked around for a while, took a random train to see the Arc du Triomphe, freaked out, frantically paced around aimlessly trying to figure out what to do with myself until decided to sit down and take this picture.

I didn't end up getting any closer because I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to cross that street without dying. I walked around for a good hour looking for a metro stop, taking a couple of trains that got me farther away from home. I walked around in a fancy-pants rich-people park and ended up right back around the Arc du Triomphe area. I spotted a bus stop with the same name as the bus that runs directly in front of my apartment, so I hopped on (because, you can just hop on busses with these Navigo things... awesome!). The bus ended up going by both the Arc and the Tour, which I found funny considering how much wandering I did and how little distance I covered. I ended up back home, and cooked this dinner...

I realize, this looks like prison or airplane food in this photo, but I swear it was delicious. I wish I had taken a less crap photo. There were also glazed carrots, but I ate them before I had even plated the turkey... That chunk of stuff is cheese. There will ALWAYS be cheese. And butter. 

I would like to point out that pepper is really expensive here. Or maybe it's always been expensive, but I can't find any for less than 4 euro for a little container. I can get a bottle or wine for cheaper than that... something is wrong. ... I DID get a bottle of wine for cheaper than that. 

Off topic thing: Someone asked me for directions yesterday. They were french, and I didn't know how to tell them anything so I just waved my arms and pointed a lot. I DID know where the metro station they were looking for was, I just didn't know how to say "two blocks that way". Oh well! My interpretive dance skills are growing.

Ok, this is the longest blog entry in existence, so I'm going to stop now. But! Everyone is now up to date, and Bradon is visiting starting tonight in like half an hour HURRAY!