Waking Up in France - 8/27/00

8/27/00

Today I had a wonderful French breakfast, and I met Solène, the Charron's granddaughter.  Nicole made me real hot chocolate this morning and I had croissants w/ butter and jam or hard honey.  Then Jean and I drove to a nearby town to buy bread for the day.  And pastries!  I would never be able to drive here.  Not only are the streets skinny and confusing, but the drivers are crazy and I don't understand any of the traffic lights or signs!

I still feel awkward trying to make conversation w/ Jean and Nicole.  I'd much rather read!  But I'm starting my last book.  I wish my alarm clock worked!  I (and Nicole and possibly Jean) missed church this morning.  I think it's about time for lunch.  Would it be rude if I brought my book down to read until then?

[Later that day]

It is difficult, after trying so hard to think in and speak French all the time, to come up here and write in English.  I find myself writing more formally...

Nicole is a good cook!  I like how, even with dinners at home, the French have four courses.  A salad or soup or vegetable, then meat with a few sides, then cheese, then dessert.  And bread throughout all!  The wrapper on the bread Jean bought this morning said (in French, of course), "A day without bread is a day without the sun!"  Je pense que c'est "Un jour sans pain c'est un jour sans soleil."  Much as I need practice thinking and writing in French, I think I'm going to try to keep this journal in English so it'll be easier for others to read.  Soon, Jean or Nicole will call up the stairs to tell me we're leaving for Sacre Coeur!

[Even later that day]

I've been thinking that I really ought to send a postcard to Jamie, but I can't.  I would never be able to fit everything in, and it's so far from what I really want that I can't bring myself to do it.  I need him here.  Actually writing a postcard makes me realize how far away he is.  We saw Sacre Coeur today, and a man that drummed and sang Louis Armstrong songs, and we drove to Versailles.  We drove through the Bois de Boulogne and I thought of Jamie and how much I'd like to walk through it with him.  Dinner time!  (There was a Ben & Jerry's in Paris!)

I miss you, Jamie.  [etc., etc.]  And, I saw the Eiffel Tower today!  (Guess what else?  I saw a midnight blue BMW Z3 convertible in Paris today.  How many more times in my life will I be able to say that?)

Seen walking to Sacre Coeur in Paris

Sacre Coeur, Paris

Sacre Coeur, Paris