Overload

August 19, 2013. 2:55pm.

I have been trying not to think about a comprehensive account of everything that's been going on in my life since I've essentially stopped blogging. Because then I feel like that will discourage me from starting again...but clearly just not thinking about it has not been motivating me to write. Which is unfortunate because oh so much has happened. So many feelings, so many changes, so much excitement and fun, and so much pain..oh boy.

So where do I start?

Kristen's Visit

Probably the best week of my summer. No Joke. For many reasons. I remember very vividly being at the train station in Vernon waiting for her to arrive. I was lying across a couple chairs, visualizing seeing her get off in my head, and tears already started welling in my eyes. So when she actually got off in real life a couple seconds later....oh my god it was one of the most excited I've felt  ever. So I sprinted over to her, probably crushed her with my hug, and let myself cry :)

It's hard to explain how incredible it was to see her...I've never had a more intense reunion with someone or more intense feelings of joy to see someone after a long time away. Because that happens every time I come back from a vacation, or someone else comes back from a vacation, or you come back to school, etc. But my goodness I just felt like I was going to explode.

Because really, it had been 5 weeks of nothing familiar. I had been conversing 98% of the time of a language I've been learning for only 7 months. I'd been living for the first time ever in a city outside of my hometown - let alone, a village in France. I'd been working 12 hours a day at an exceptional restaurant in a field I've never actually studied in a school (in a language I still don't really know). And through all of it, I'd been with exclusively people I've never met before. I hadn't seen any of my family, any friends, or anyone I had ever encountered before coming here. And although I had made friends, they were not friends in the way I'm used to it. Their friendships (even with their other friends) are just...different from mine at home. Less proximity, in any case.

So maybe now you can understand why seeing a smiling, beaming, English-speaking, familiar, beautiful, loving Kristen gave me the best feeling in the world.

Anyway, so we had our first encounter. We talked, we caught up, we touched on each other's adventures, and then I prepped her for meeting Thibaut (who was going to give us a ride back home on the way to the restaurant with him), for the party Jean-Ba was having that night, and for her stay with me.

Thibaut was quite well behaved in the car with her actually. We didn't talk a whole bunch (I mean the car ride was just a few minutes), but I think he already liked her anyway. I asked if he was going to the party that night. He said probably not. Earlier in the day I had asked him if he liked the people he worked with. He said yes, for work. I asked about why they never hung out outside of work - he said first of all he already saw everyone enough at work, but mostly he didn't want to talk about work more outside of work. And that's all they end up talking about. Lol. So in the car when he said he probably wouldn't go to the party I laughed and clarified if it was because he didn't want to talk about work. He said yeah, exactly. So I said - well Kristen's here, and she won't talk about work, which she confirmed. When he dropped us off and said bye, I said see you later today, and he said we'll see.

Well, Thibaut showed up at the party! It was me, Kristen, Jean-Ba, Yoan, Thibaut, Pauline, Baptiste, and some girl friend of Baptiste's, who left pretty early. The first hour or so was fine and nice but Kristen and I were both acknowledging to ourselves how little we were understanding and feeling I think a little underwhelmed by the realization that we weren't really going to be much a part of the night. Buuuut within an instant, everything changed. Kristen got up and went to the computer to start putting on some songs. And it was like an instant switch. Suddenly everyone was talking about the music, American vs French, interesting things, etc etc. And with us! For the rest of the night we each had individual conversations with one or two people at a time for the majority of the time, which was perfect because in that situation they slow down, help us understand, and have real conversations with us. I had a super intense conversation with Yoan which was so nice because he's like my favorite. It was sad though. It ended up with him telling me that he doens't have anyone anymore that he really trusts - his 1 1 /2 year old daughter it the one person he trusts most. Before there was his ex, but she's an ex. And the mother of his daughter. Now he says he has no one he's really close to. I kind of get the feeling they're all a little like that. It's kind of terriyfing to me. I can't imagine having no one that I totally trust. I have at least 10 people like. And I more than just trust all of them. I trust them with absolutely everything. People I would never doubt, question, hesitate to talk to or ask something...I just can't imagine not even having one person like that. I know I'm lucky. Extremely lucky. But I realize I also know how to form, develop, and sustain healthy, strong bonds and relationships. I'm starting to see that my friends here seem to have a bubble that they don't let people cross and that they won't cross for other people. There's a level of proximity and sincerity that they always stay behind. And I'm not used to that. In fact, I feel like I could break that, but it would take some time and it's much harder to when I don't speak French. With Yoan though, I had some deep conversations about things I didn't expect him to tell me. I feel like we're pretty close and could be very good friends with more time.

Anyway, the party ended up being a blast. Super uber blast. At some point, Thibaud started dancing. But not dancing like teenage pop dancing...dancing like swing type style. First alone - really awkwardly and ridiculously, turning himself, etc. Then Pauline joined him. Yes. Pauline and Thibaut danced for...probably a good hour, swinging, her teaching him new moves, turning each other, etc etc. It was something else. And so great. I couldn't believe it, and I thought it was the coolest thing. Plus I thought to myself - wow, I guess their really gonna get along in Patisserie!!!! (Boy, what a misled thought that was...to put it mildly...)

We all danced a little, just messing around (not swinging). Then Jean-Ba did some cool very swag kind of dance moves/style, don't even know how to explain it. But it was the kind that's very rap/gangster-style-cool or something. Yeah I have no idea what I'm saying. But he looked kind of funny doing it. Lol. Anyway, everyone talked a little more, danced a little more, drank a little more - oh yeah, Thibaut was like...drunk. That's for sure.

And then Thibaut said something that touched the living daylight out of me. I heard him saying to whoever was right next to me, "Il faut pas dire ça à Monisha, mais..." which means, "Don't tell Monisha, but..." and then the rest I didn't catch. Which I was not going to sit with. So I insisted, "Il faut pas dire QUOI à Monisha?!?!!!" and to my pleasant surprise, Thibaut told me. He goes, "I said, 'It was a good time with you in Patisserie - I had fun.'" Then after a hesitation, "But I never said that, and fuck you!" Ohhhhh good old Thibaut. Yeah, maybe you don't know Thibaut, but that is a damn sincere confession of liking me. :) Happy happy Monisha.

(Continued)

August 24, 2013. 2:10am.

So then a little later on in the evening something kind of surprising happened. Jean-Ba laid down with his head in my lap. And that pretty much indicated the start of us dating. Yep. Before we'd never actually been public at all. But from then on we were...couple-y all the time. That night everyone spent the night at his place. He kicked everyone off his bed so us two could have it. Kristen and Baptiste slept in his cousin's bed. Don't worry that was NOT a thing at all - Baptiste was probably actually really into Kristen - but he has a girlfriend - but Kristen was not at all into him, fortunately, and so it was obviously just...sleeping in the same bed for space purposes. Just like Thibaut and Pauline sharing a (TWIN) bed was also just because...well everyone had to sleep. That ended up being hilarious because Thibaut really enjoyed going on about how he'd always wanted to sleep on boobs like hers. Jeezus. Yeah Thibaut is something else...but he was all fun, nice, and...crazy, but kind that night. It was pretty nice to see his soft side. Anyway, yeah we all stayed at Jean-Ba's that night and he tried to convince me to stay with him during the weekend as opposed to going to Paris with Kristen and Pauline. Haha. Fat chance. The weekend before he was doing absolutely nothing and didn't spend in with me because he had to sleep in til like 2 or 4 or whatever. And after I guess didn't care enough to try to contact me. So the one weekend I had with Kristen - I was spending with Kristen :) And it was fabulous going to Paris with her and Pauline! Pauline had her whole parent's house to herself - it was in an incredible location, just next to La Bastille, so super central. And me and Kristen went to one of her favorite Boulangeries with her, had coffee and breakfast form the Boulangerie at her place, and then explored a little on our own. We spend the night there, ate sushi with her in the evening, went to a café and chcolate shop in the morning, walked around the streets, talked, and explored, and then returned to Giverny.

I really could go on and on about how wonderful it was just to have Kristen around, spend time with her, and introduce her to my friends. And hopefully I will write more about it and about the two weeks since then in another post. But for now, at least I've written something :)

Yes, it's a while after that night by the way...lots and lots has happened.

I got a kidney infection which subjected me to some of the worst few days of my life. I have to say, I'm spoiled with love and care and attention from my family when I'm sick at home. And here...well it was not quite the same, to put it in the mildest possible form. Nadia checked in on my via text and when I saw her in the evening when she got back - just asking how I'm doing. She was very kind, and that was nice. But still didn't actually...help/take care of me. Pauline also checked in on me and talked with me when she came back from work, which was nice. When Chef was back during the break, he asked how I was. So I answered not at all well, but told him I was on antibiotics and if the doctor was right should be better in 3 days and be able to work Saturday. He said okay. Other then that - no word from anyone, no sympathy, no...nothing. From my boyfriend, yes my boyfriend, officially - absolutely nothing. For 3 days. No visit, no call, no text. Yep. That was cool. Apparently (Pauline told me) he was going to visit one evening but my light was off so they thought I was asleep. He was planning on visiitng me the next afternoon but...I don't know. Then he finally actually texted me (in response to my sad face text, actually) and said he would try to see me the next afternoon during break. TRY I don't know why. But I asked if he could actually just pick me up because I had to go to Vernon anyway for something to eat. And when with me, he was very sweet, loving, helped me with my grocery shopping, etc. But still. My family talking with me over skype for hours and hours and hours on end gives you a taste of the kind of love I'm so freaking lucky to have from my family. And it was hard not having that here. Having them over skype was incredible - but not the same. It was also incredibly touching to hear from my mom that Arvind (my uncle) offered to drive 5 hours from Holland to come pick me up and take me there to take care of me. Like I said - incredible family. If I had known Monday that I would be sick until Saturday, and I had known of that offer then - I think I would've taken him up on it. The following few days were really misery. But I thought it would pass quickly, and didn't go to the doctor's until Wednesday, and when I heard about Arvind's offer on Thursday I was starting to feel better. However, it still meant the world to me that I have so many people who would do so much for me. So I went back to work Saturday evening, still with a little bit of a stomach ache and not 100% - still fatigued and not quite perfect, but well enough to work, and god I wanted to work. Things had just started getting really cool and excited in the kitchen, working with Yoan! Now it's...wow! Friday! Or technically Saturday, because it's 2:00am, I took my last antibiotic this evening, and I've felt 100% for several days now :)

Well, like I said, so much more has happened. But I will end this blog post now. Can't believe I have just a little more that a week left...it's unreal. But...I can't wait to see my parents :) I meet them in Paris next Monday....I love you guys!

PAYDAY!!!!!!

August 2, 2013. 4:07pm.

SHIT!! It's August 2!!! You know what that means? My internship is more than halfway done...wow...shit. Yeah, that makes me kind of scared. And sad.

ANYWAY, WOOT WOOT!!!! So today's not actually payday - they all had payday about a week ago I think...and no, I did not get paid. (Don't worry, I knew that already - this is an unpaid internship.) HOWEVER, today WAS tips day - as in she gave the tips to everyone who works at the restaurant - and YES, me included. Cool huh? But for me, she gave me dollars too...and I'm pretty sure it's not instead of euros, but in addition to. So I got...$75 and  110. That comes out to $220 total!!! NOT BAD RIGHT?! I did the math. I've worked around 310 hours. And now I got $220. SOooOOOoooOOo my wage is a WHOPPING....

$0.71 PER HOUR!!!! WHOOOOO!!! :)

But no, in all seriousness I'm excited about getting my share of the tips :P

And I think more than my share actually because I am pretty sure that on Tibo's envelope it said  50. Which is weird, because that's less than just the amount I got in euros. Maybe that wasn't accurate. But whatever. Cool. :) Payday. Sweet. And of course I've been getting all my meals at the restaurant. Which vary in deliciousness. But are USUALLY really, really good. Not like...fancy and beautiful, like what we serve to clients - it's not like we care about presentation for the staff. But the food is damn good! Again, usually. Sometimes it's just something like a salad - a bunch of cut up vegetables in rice, pasta and something. And it's almost always quite simple. But very good. Entrecote, steak, lamb, salmon, merlu, shepherd's pie, etc as the main dish. Mashed potatoes, eggplant, pasta, salad, etc on the side. Every Sunday afternoon is mussels and fries day. On my first Sunday here I discovered that I like mussels...haha. I didn't know before! But yeah - the meats are often with a very yummy sauce, things are prepared well, blah blah. So meals are cool. I also haven't paid Nadia yet for staying here - I'm supposed to pay  200 a month I think. But the first month just ended, so it's not like it's super late - I guess I should give it to her soon.

Anyway. On to updates, my life, etc.

'La nouvelle' is here! (The new girl). Which is really cool actually!! Okay. Her name is Pauline. She's not actually 18, like Chef told me. She's 23. She's from Paris/has lived there her whole life. She's been in culinary school for one year. (She went to communications school or something like that before, but decided she wants to be a Chef. She did a 3 month internship as part of her first year. This internship is 6 months for her. So she's paid (a more than two month internship has to be paid in France). And it also counts towards her second year of culinary school. She's actually quite overweight. Which makes me nervous because she's in the kitchen the first week, but she goes with Tibo starting Tuesday. And...well, need I say more? No, probably not, I think you get the point, but maybe not to the full extent. When I told Tibo last week I think he's going to miss me he laughed and said, I don't think so...in an 'I'm definitely not' sort of way. Then I asked him again (after Pauline had arrived), during the little break when several staff members were around, and he said that depends... I brought up later on with him that he had a sudden change of heart. And he said, more or less, "it's not YOU I'll miss...it's the space in the patisserie." Oh no. And that's just the beginning. I haven't even gotten started on all of his butchering of her to me....so yes, I'm a little nervous.

However, she's really great! I like her a lot. OHH! PLUS she speaks English!! Like...really well!! Not fluently fluently...but really well, seriously. Like it's not hard at all to have conversations with her in English. I still try to speak mostly in French with her, but if I get caught on anything at all, it's not like our communication is blocked. And that's cool. Plus she can translate for me :) Teehee. We said we'd help each other learn French/English - because she wants to improve her English too.

Oh, I had a nice, long chat with Nadia last night after she got back from work. Like really nice and long. In English. It was my first time talking to long/much with her in English. Which was actually really good because I feel relieved to be able to be myself a little more - it's quite hard to be myself when I can't properly communicate. Although even to the others I think I've been much much more myself - I feel like everyone knows me a little better than before, and I'm more open than I was. Which is nice.

But my chat with Nadia: Well, I brought up how people don't hang out outside of work. And it turns out she really doesn't like that either! And it's not just me, it's not like everyone else does stuff and I'm not invited - the staff really just doesn't hang out together much. And that's NOT normal for a restaurant! Nadia was telling me at the other places she worked they always hung out after work on Friday and had drink together and talked. For a long time! Here...Saturday drinks after work is a thing I think...but it's for like 20 minutes! And as Nadia told me, the servers don't finish until a little later than the kitchen. And by the time they finish, the kitchen staff is all gone. They're always in such a rush to go, and exhausted my the day and not up for hanging out. Which she says is ridiculous because they're all young, they should have more energy! At her other restaurant she said they were open until later - they would close around 2am. And then everyone would hang out and have drinks until like 6am once a week!! And here - we get off before midnight on Saturdays, but everyone heads out within the half hour! UGH. She said it's really unfortunate that the scene here is so dead - there's one bar in Vernon that it all like 18 year old girls wearing barely anything, and there's another for 50 year olds basically. And both have shit music. So she says that definitely makes it less enticing for the staff to go out together. But she said they did once and it was a lot of fun - we agree, that if all the staff goes, it's us that can create the party/the atmosphere/the scene! But she said even then, people left much earlier than she thought they should have. So apparently there was a barbeque here at the house in June (before I came). (Nadia set it up, naturally.) It was fun and she said she hoped that people would then make more things like that happen. But nope. She said she's always telling the boys to go have fun, go drive to the beach (45 min-an hour away) for the weekend (our weekend: all Monday plus Tuesday until 6pm), but they rarely do anything - some of them finally went to the beach two weekends ago. But why not more often? Ugh. I would love to go to the beach with all of them!!

Anyway, like I said, Pauline is really nice! Aaaannnnndddd SHE'S from Paris, sooo...she 1) has interest in going back for weekends, 2) knows what to do in Paris, 3) has a flat with her parents, who are gone this week. Kristen is coming to visit me this Sunday for some amount of time (YAYYYYYYYY!!!!) and I wanted to go Paris with her already for my weekend...so I'm thinking now the three of us can go together, and Pauline said we can totally stay at her place!!!! This weekend is looking real promising :) The one annoying thing that worries me a little is transportation...getting to Paris from Vernon is easy - the train is just 45 minutes, and then once you get to Paris you can get EVERYWHERE by metro. Buuuut getting to Vernon is a pain. So we're going to have to get someone to drive us there...but it would be very much ideal to go in the morning, because...well, I want to spend a good amount of time in Paris! Hopefully Hallysone can drive us - the only thing is that she and Francesco tend to wake up really late... (Oh yeah, by they way, you remember Alison? She's the one who lives at the house and I was looking forward to being her friend at the beginning of my internship, and is dating Francesco. Well, her name is actually spelled Hallysone...yeah, weird huh??? Lol.)

Yoan is one of my favorite people at the restaurant. He's actually quite good at communicating with me and explaining things to me - one of the best. Even though he's the worst at English, was what he told me when I mentioned this to him today. Haha. Yeah, it's not like he translates things to English, he's just better at explaining, actually will slow down more to talk to me, knows how to use simpler words, etc. It actually reminds me of Taboo, when people try to explain things to me. And makes me realize that in fact I think they would all really suck at Taboo. I think that anyone in the family, for example, could explain everything they try to explain to me MUCH MUCH more effectively if you guys all spoke French. Or my friends for that matter. Honestly I think it's kind of an intelligence thing. Everyone in our family, and Adrienne and Julia are all really good at Taboo. Now that's not the only indicator of intelligence, I know, but it's definitely one kind of it, and the fact that we are very well educated definitely has added to that skillset I strongly believe. And I think that the people at the restaurant don't really have that skillset, and are probably not as highly educated in academic ways. Just a theory. But probably correct more or less.  

Long Overdue Life Update

July 30, 2013. 10:25am.

Well my dad's been writing me short emails with updates about home and the family. I love reading them and very much appreciate him sending them to me. In his last email he added that he's missing my blog. So how can I refuse to write a new post?

Well, as usual, I'm feeling lots of different things.

I'll start with happy. I just spent a wonderful evening/night with my friend Julie yesterday! She's the one I met at the café in Vernon several weeks ago and have been playing tennis and eating dinner with on Monday evenings. She's 29, speaks a fair bit of English, is super fun, enthusiastic, and energetic - likes to call herself a child, is more that willing to help me with my French/is very patient and eager about explaining French phrases, words, etc to me, and has been really wonderful to get to know! Unfortunately, she's only working in Vernon for a month...starting about a month ago - this Thursday is her last day. Since she works in the day until and I work from 6-11ish we haven't hung out any days except for Monday evening (my evening off), but we may hang out this Wednesday night since it's our last time to. I'm sad about her leaving. But anyway, like I said yesterday evening was really fun. Normally we play tennis and eat dinner but she was at a different hotel this time, which didn't have a tennis court. Sooo we ate dinner at her hotel. WHICH WAS DELICIOUS!! Her other hotel had pretty mediocre food which was a shame, but this was SO good. I got a fois gras salad :)  ohhhh fois gras...mmmmmmm it was my first time eating it in France so far - and damn. The salad also had smoked duck slices, lardons, pine nuts, and sundried tomatoes. It was really incredible. And then Julie's menu (paid for by her work) came with a café gourmand - a coffee with an assortment of desserts - she sweetly asked the waiter if he could put a little extra on for me to taste. And the waiter gave us a feast of desserts - we didn't eat all of everything, but damn - there was a cinnamon-y part flan-esque thing which was incredible, and the ice cream was topnotch. Then we carried out my idea - which was to go back to her room and drink wine and eat chocolate. I told her about how I used to do that with my friend when we went to Europe last year. She thought it was funny and was totally down. I bought white wine and cassis flavoring to add as well as two chocolate bars - organic 75% and 73% with a little chili on top - right beforehand. I had bought a kind of sweet white wine so with the cassis it was actually too sweet. But plain it was pretty good. Not my favorite.

However, I'll tell you very proudly that I've passed step one of becoming a true French woman/to becoming classy/to becoming...a grown-up? I actually enjoy wine. Like...honestly, it tastes good. Not all wines - in fact, the majority not. But good, slightly sweet white wines - delicious!

So I had a night in with Julie - and we drank wine, listened to music, ate some chocolate, and talking until...like 2am! Hahahahaa at which time I crashed at her place for the night. It was a great evening! This morning she dropped me off at Vernon where I left my bike yesterday. She had work at 9. I did some things around Vernon before biking back.

I stopped by a little fruit and veggie shop, looked around for a little, couldn't make a decision, so left without getting anything. Then I went to the fromagerie (which is actually where Le Jardin des Plumes buys our cheese!!!). I spent a long time deciding on what cheeses to get, talking with the lady who works there, etc, etc. I ended up getting a camembert, a little round of some mild cow milk cheese, little jars of plain yogurt, liquid cream, a little bucket of REAL fresh cream - it was off-color, and I was intrigued - she said THIS stuff is REAL! So of course I got some. And I got a buffalo mozzarella ball. Which of course brought me back to the fruit and vegetable store to get a tomato for a caprese salad. The people who worked there were amused. I also got a zucchini. Except I didn't realize you're supposed to tell them what you want and they pick it for you - so I just took them from the baskets myself (like you do in a grocery store) and she kind of came over to get it for me, but it was too late - oops. I apologized and it was no big deal. But the funny customs I don't know about! As I left the guy chuckled and said 'a tout a l'heure??' which is how you say bye if you're going to see them later the same day - like "see you in a few hours?" basically. Lol.....

Well then I went to the charcuterie. Yes, I love little french food shops. A lot. And I got a slice of...shit I forget. Two pâté-ish things. Oh one was pâté de fois I think...which I guess is like a pâté with liver? i don't know how that's different from fois gras...but anyway, I got some of that and some of...something de campagne. I told the lady I'm American, love all the things like pâté, fois gras, terrine, and just want to try some delicious French thing that's very good. And she suggested those, so I said great :)

I then stopped by a café to drink a café au lait. This morning I actually had a bite of a croissant and a pain au chocolate that came for Julie in her breakfast. Damn they were good. I've eaten a couple pastries. Chef brough in some pains au chocolat and croissants one day, so I had a pain au chocolat. I've had some bites of the croissants Tibo and I make. And Tibo made a pastry with the same dough but with chocolate and a cream inside also - I don't remember what he called it, but he said it's called a different thing at different places. It was delicious anyway. All of the pastries were. Like really. The French know how to do their croissants and pains au chocolat..though I've actually now made the pain au chocolat and croissants also :) I make the dough most of the time, and I did the whole process for the last batch. Make the dough and form it into a rectangle to refrigerate. Flatten a fat stick of butter into a rectangle to go inside. Roll out the dough a little to fold the butter inside of it. Roll it out longer. Make a double fold. Roll it out again until it's the right thickness. Then..

for croissants: Cut it into triangles. Take each triangle,  stretch it a little, and roll it up into a little croissant. Brush them with egg and bake!

for pains au chocolat: Cut into rectangles. Put a stick of chocolate down, fold it in, put another stick of chocolate, fold it in, and voila. Again, brush with egg and bake!

So yeah that's cool!

I made a pâte à choux the other day which Tibo made into the choux pastry - it's really cool actually, you put down a really small circle of totally flattened/rolled out dough - and it puffs out into this hollow ball!! Which you can then fill with whatever you want! He filled it with peanut butter chocolate and sesame chocolate. The first time he makes something new (I mean he's made these things before, but as a new thing in this patisserie, with this specific recipe, or whatever) he makes it for the personnel and/or his girlfriend. So he made this batch for the personnel, but he said the next he's making for his girlfriend. It makes me happy that he's nice to someone. I said that to him and he said yeah, she's the only person. -.- Charming.

On Sunday - I ended lunch shift around 4 and Chef gave me Sunday evening off, as usual. As usual, I wasn't as excited as one might expect to have a long weekend. It actually made me really sad. I wanted so badly to stay for that night shift. Especially since it was Ollivier's last day. I didn't even get to say goodbye. They all had a drink together after work at around midnight (I talked to Nadia a little when she got back). I don't even know what he did after that but he didn't come back until even a little later than Nadia. I would have liked to have a drink with all of them! I don't understand why they don't do more hanging out hanging out. It's sad and annoying. But anyway, I had the evening off, so I went to Hotel Baudy (the restaurant I think Nadia is going to take me to next week) and has a yummy duck salad. And a glass of wine. Mmmmmhm! See now THAT wine a truly enjoyed! And loved every bit of the fact that I was enjoying it! As I was leaving it started to pour. Shit. Lol. I was walking back to the house (about 10 minutes away). And I realized Le Jardin des Plumes was about 1 minute away. So I ran there and Quentin let me stay in a nice, cute little room next to the kitchen where I've seen Nadia and Joackim sitting and talking before work sometimes. Which means I didn't actually see any of the staff (except Nadia and Quentin). Until Yoan was getting coffee, literally right next to me on the other side of the window...he didn't see me for like 3 minutes, and when he finally looked up I totally startled him and he jumped back. It was quite funny. But I didn't got and talk to or see anyone. Which is what I would have liked to do. I actually fell asleep at like 9 and woke back up at like 10:30 when Quentin came in and told me it stopped raining. Nice little nap :) But still sucks not to be able to really hang out with all the staff. They're weird. I wish I could be better friends with them. None of them hang out with anyone as much as I would like to hang out with them. Except Yoan and Jena-Ba together maybe.

Anyway,. I was talking with mom after work Sunday and we talked about ideas for my weekend. She told me to spend a wonderful time in Paris and treat myself to a fabulous nice meal. So yesterday I went to Paris. I had looked up a couple restaurants beforehand and took a picture of the names and strees addresses of a list of other nice restaurants in the 16th Arrondisement because I decided to go to Musée Guinet, and that's where it is. I got to Paris around 2:30. I found the first restaurant I had looked up and it was all shut down with construction inside. Damn it. I just happened to come across another retaurant on the list right around the corner - it was closed (probably closed at 2:30). I looked on a map for the street names and walked about 10 minutes down one street to find another restaurant on the list. The cuisine was closed there too. I asked him if all the cuisines would be closed probably. He said no and pointed to some brasseries right around us. I asked him which is good - I said I want really good food - and he said oh, that one is good (right across the street), that one, just okay, the one down there is good too. I asked if the one across the street was truly good and he said yes. So I went there and god a black angus steak with green beans instead of the fries (I ordered a French onion soup but they were out :/ ). It was tasty - it came with a nice onion sauce too. But not INCREDIBLE. I mean, it was good! But yeah, sorry mom, it wasn't a crazy nice incredible restaurant. I need to find a gastronimique restaurant, not a brasserie to have a really high class meal. But I got an aperitif called Kir - white wine with cassis flavoring - and it. was. SO GOOD. That's what made me really excited about liking wine, because it really was delicious. And that's what inspired me to buy the white wine and cassis flavoring to drink with Julie! (I was a little disappointed when it didn't live up to the Kir I had at the restaurant).

Anyway, the restaurant didn't blow my mind, but it was good (though the green beans were really nothing special). And then I went to Musée Guinet, which was wonderful! I really did enjoy it! Though Mom told me it's where she took the photo of the Cambodian Bhoddi Satva figure that we show in the course - so I was really excited to find it, but I'm pretty sure it's not there anymore!! Because I looked very thoroughly for it! Oh well. It was still really cool to see the museum.

I walked along the Seine a little, saw the Eiffel tower, etc. Then went back to the train station and caught a direct train to Vernon. Which made me really, really happy after the train being late/Mante La Jolie hour long wait/encounter with the drug dealer/really late night return last time...ugh. Having Julie pick me up from the Monoprix in Vernon at 9 and spending a fabulous night with her suited me much, much better :) Oh boy, I'm really sad she's leaving...she is definitely the closest friend I've made here, and we got along so well! She's someone I feel like I am comfortable being myself around, and I think have been able to convey who I am a little more effectively with her than with anyone else - I think she's the closest person here to knowing a little about who I am as a person. But she's leaving and I may not see her again :/

I decided I'm not very good at traveling alone. I didn't get the same skillset that serves mom so well in her travels. She always knows who and how to ask for advice, where to find adventure and fun, how to look for good quality, how to...speak the language. Ha. I just feel kind of unsure of how to go about...exploring! I thought I would be better at that. I kind of thought it would be easer to meet people/make friends. It really does make it harder that I don't speak. But still. Finding Julie was a gem. But other than that it's hard. When I go to Paris, I do enjoy myself, but I feel a little lost and like I spend way too much time trying to figure out what to do, and not even time...doing anything. I feel like if mom were here she'd quickly find some cool gathering of interesting people or some dance or some neat market, and come lunchtime she'd know where to go or know who to ask for the best recommendation. Asking for advice has not worked very well for me here...when I ask for restaurant advice I'm pretty sure people tell me to go to whatever restaurant is closest, regardless of how good it is. And they just say it's good. When I ask for menu advice I think they're not at all used to it - no one ask for recommendations on what to eat. And often when they realize what I'm asking for they give me some recommendation I don't want. And then it's awkward when I get something else. Sometimes I think they try to suggest something that resembles American food. Why don't they understand that's NOT what I'm in France for?? But Julie is very good at asking for things. She asked the waiter if he could throw a little extra fois gras into the salad because I'm American and love eating that here. He did :) And like I said she asked the other waiter for a little extra dessert for me and he gave us a feast of sweets...oh boy.

I have started eating more bad stuff. I've been having too many tastes of stuff in the patisserie, more rice than necessary with dinner, a little bread with meals that turns into more than just a bite, and...ice cream sometimes. So my diet has not been ideal, and I'm quite sure I've put on a few pounds. Which makes me more unhappy that Tibo told me I'm going to return to the US as a big whale...and then fit in perfectly. Ugh. So I need to be better. I'm returning to the kitchen...maybe tonight? And that should stop my patisserie tastings. I'll be better though. It's more outside of the patisserie that I've been having non-paleo stuff.

I miss home. I miss you famfam and George. I miss all my friends. I'm still loving it here, don't worry. I really am. Like I've said, I am always sad when I leave work. And I just had a really nice last night. But I do miss you all.

So much love,

Monisha

Not Sure How Much is Going to Be Revealed in This Post

July 25, 2013. 2:25pm.

Alright. I haven't been writing for too many days to actually catch up...sorry. Which means I'm not going to try to give an account of every event, but rather just write whatever comes to mind and we'll see where I go. Except with some censoring. Sorry. Because in fact, I'm quite confident when I start writing about whatever comes to mind the subject will land pretty quickly on...yeah, yeah, okay, okay, the moment you've all being waiting for...my little fling / French romance... ;)

Like I said, the censoring begins. So I'm not going to write much about this. Probably. Maybe. I haven't even said anything really and I'm pretty sure I already embarrassed myself. Well, lol. First thing's first, don't worry, I'm not getting caught up in some fantasy of marrying a French man from here. I'm living by myself in France, I have a little over one more month, I think he's kinda cute, he thinks I'm cute too, soooo why not have some fun with a French boy while I'm here??

And that's pretty much the story of my French romance...with Jean-Ba :)

Hahaha I guess I haven't actually written that much about each of my coworkers - except about Tibot and Chef probably I've written a lot. But anyway, I think I did write about thinking it would be fun to date him for a little while I'm here. Aaaand here I am...lololol. Anyway I don't really know what we are...it doesn't really matter. It's not like either one of us wants anything serious. But we spend some breaks together/hang out between work shifts...etc.

The worst is all the shit everyone gives us now. Yeah, people suspected/figured out something's going on between us...for some reason/s I'll leave out. Which means now everyone knows. Which means the jokes never...ever...stop. Most of the time, like always, I don't quite understand even though I know they're making fun of me and Jean-Ba. Sometimes I do understand. Like when we were eating lunch....and it was pig, and Tibo said, "ahh, tu aimes les cochons, eh?", or "you like pigs, do you?", then nodded towards Jean-Baptiste. And like today when he said something about Jean-Baptiste needing to wash his hands because he doesn't know which orifices he's been touching..... -.- Too much? Yeah I agree. They like to ask if I'm tired/slept well, with mischievous grins on. And just generally talk about me being in love with him...or tell me he said he's in love with me. Or inform me that Jean-Ba likes girls who burp when I said gross to Tibo for burping loudly. They go on and on. But honestly I just think it's funny. I asked Jean-Ba - because I couldn't tell what he thought about everyone knowing we're kind of a thing and joking about it - and he said he doesn't give a shit. So that's good. I just which I could come up with good comebacks...but it's hard enough for me to say comebacks in the first place, even harder when I have to say the comeback in French, and harder still when I don't even understand the joke or whatever in the first place.. Damn.

Oops, off to Jean-Ba's with Ollivier to watch a movie and have a beer... :)  

Lunch :) and RAIN

July 23, 2013. 1:25pm.

MY GOODNESS THE WEATHER CHANGES FAST HERE!!! It actually hasn't really rained much at all since I came. A tiny bit here and there, but pretty much not. Until RIGHT NOW. I'm at a restaurant right now. I was sitting outside (along with everyone else eating here), and I had just told the waiter my order. He started to walk away, then told me...you might want to move outside, I thin it's going to start raining in just a minute... Within 10 seconds, a few drops come down. And within another 10, it starts raining harder. I laugh, follow him inside, and sit down. It's about two minutes later, I'm looking out the windown, and....it. is. POURING. Like...POURING. It's like a storm here. (Speaking of which, there was tons of lightning last night and the night before. Not really much thunder at least that I heard...but lightning aplenty! It wasn't just like...one or two bolts, it was continuous! Cool. Les eclaires are strokes of lightning, les tonneres is thunder. (sp?)

Well anyway, I'm at this really cute restaurant rigth now. Waiting for my fresh appetizer - some feta cheese entrée. I ordered the menu :) Mom told me she wants me to splurge a little on good French cuisine - this is one of the best restaurants in Giverny - I think the second bets after Le Jardin des Plumes. ;) But actually. Anyway, it's my first time here, buuuuut I think I'm going to come back in two weeks with Nadia!! :) Nadia is so wonderful. We actually chat pretty regularly in the evening when she gets back, and last night we talked some. She was talking about work and her dinner break, and I asked where she eats on the kitchen staff's day off (normally kitchen staff makes food for all the personnel). She said there's this nice restaurant nearby - I'm pretty sure it's the one I'm at now. And she invited me to eat with her next week!! (Then remembered her parents are coming next week, so changed it to the week after.) Of course I said I would love to!! She's so so great, really. At the beginning I was a little scared of her because I met her in the house, I think after a really hard day at work, and she just wasn't super bubbly friendly or anything. Which is fine, but I was just a little nervous she wouldn't be super warm with me or what not. In any case, I didn't expect to become close with her. But she calls me things like "ma petite", and "ma belle", which is like my little one, or my pretty, or my lovely, or my beautiful. Basically kind of cute, I think loving terms for someone younger. So I love when she calls me those things :) Also, I just have a lot of respect for her. I was coming to realize myself that she was a really stellar patron and very well-loved by all her customers (though I don't actually see her interact with most - I had read reviews online though, and seen her with some customers who come to the back, etc). And then when four of us were drinking together at Jean-Ba's place, they were talking about the restaurant, and got to going on about how incredible Nadia is. 'Nadia est top' means she's like...topnotch. They went on for a little though, about how no one could say anything bad about Nadia, and she's just so incredible. That's cool. I have a lot of respect for her. She does a very impressive job of staying in a good, positive mood and keeping the atmosphere in the restaurant suitable.

I got cut off in this blog post because all my delicious food kept arriving XP sorry!!! :P