La Rentrée

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I was surprised by how quickly I adjusted upon returning to Paris. Not so much to the time change, jet lag still takes its tole no matter how often I launch myself from one time zone to another, but to France and Paris. After over a year and a half of not speaking French, I was afraid that I had lost it and would be thrown back into the confusing, exhausting process of re-learning a language. In fact, Guillaume and I started speaking in French upon seeing each other at the airport and my first weekend was spent among his family, speaking only French, at the farm in St.-Michel-sur-Loire (See my blog "La France Profonde" for a description of the area). The language came back with unexpected ease, though I still feel the different texture of it in my mouth, and the words don't form as naturally as I would like. This all takes practice, and I'm sure if I keep talking and reading, the words and their proper pronunciations will come easier and easier.

My life here is rather simple for the time being. We have a lovely apartment, quite big by Parisian standards (57 square meters, or a little over 600 square feet) on the 3rd floor (2nd, if you count the French way). While not in Paris proper, we are just outside in Issy-les-Moulineaux, the city itself is very close and we have a metro stop only 2 blocks away. Actually, there is a tram, the metro and the RER all within a few blocks of the apartment, making our access to Paris extremely easy and fast. There are places within the city that aren't as easily accessed, so it's really quite nice. As it is a suburb, it is much calmer than living in Paris and we don't have to push through throngs of tourists to get home. The little street we live on is tranquil and lined with gardens and small houses and apartments. Our apartment is on the corner of this quiet ally and a larger, more busy street, located just above a florist shop and across the street from the bakery.

There is an entry code for the heavy green door that leads to a spiraling staircase up to our floor. The building and the apartment is old, so old that our living room ceiling has a fixture for hanging a candle chandelier and you can see where the electrical chords run as they were added well after everything was built. While hanging pictures by ribbons on our walls, I noticed that where the walls join at the corners isn't exactly straight and that none of the angles here would measure exactly 90 degrees. The floors are hardwood and a bit creaky, but the windows are new and everything is very well insulated so I think come winter we'll be fine. Our kitchen is delightfully big (by Parisian standards), and both of us can be in it at the same time and cook. There is a gas stove and oven, an almost full-size fridge (I guess for France, it's full-size), and a wonderfully large counter top with more cupboards than we can use and even our very own washing machine! We only lack the utensils. And food. But we've been slowly stocking up on that. We even have two bowls now and a real spoon, so I can eat cereal at the same time as Guillaume and don't need to wait for him to finish and wash the bowl first!

There are 3 large rooms, one we use as a living room, one soon-to-be guest bedroom (we're picking up a futon/couch for it today) and then our, slightly smaller, bedroom. The salon has a gas fireplace in the corner which is lovely with an ornate iron grill and marble mantle, a large house plant (house tree, really), two futon couches and some of the assorted stools and chairs Guillaume had with him when he moved in. The second room is the mess room for now with a large table "rescued" from the streets (most of our furnishings have been "rescued") and a large free-standing closet Guillaume purchased from Adil, the friend who lived here before and whose lease we are currently on, as he and his wife Salima moved to a larger house farther out where there is room for their children (a 2 year old and a newborn). Our bedroom has a bed and a newly-purchased IKEA lamp. It's so nice to finally have lamps! The first week and a half were dark, the only lights being those in the kitchen, bathroom and toilette. As Guillaume works late (coming home at 8pm is an early day for him, 9:30 is normal and he's had at least one day working until almost midnight), I was alone in the dark for about a week before we finally went out and bought a lamp for the mess room. At least, as it's summer and at a rather high latitude (about the same latitude as Vancouver, Canada, actually), the sun doesn't set until 9:30 and it's not dark until after 10, so it wasn't that bad. But now I can get back to my old habits and work into the wee-hours of the night!

So that is my life for the moment, getting set up here on the edge of Paris. As always, I will try and keep you all abreast of the developments and adventures as they happen!

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Photos

Sunrise
Sunrising over the earth.. and onto my new life as an expat.

Home
The door to our new apartment.

Hello Neighbors!
As seen from our living room.