Monday, November 9, 2009

The Paris episodes: If you have built Castles in the air ..







... Your work may not be lost; that is where they should be.




Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau




My Monday posts from now on will be dedicated to my Australian friend Julie, and her alter ego Ruby (Amelia Earheart).  For the real-life adventures she lives every day...

The Paris Episodes start in March 1995, 6  months before the public transport strikes that brought the country to a halt, when a dreamy eyed Kiwi/Aussie girl who had clicked her Ru(g)by shoes finally landed on the other side of that well sung about Rainbow ... in Paris, France (not Texas, and not Kansas either ;-).  WOW! A dream come true.

This random phrase from an old school friend still on the Sunshine Coast, Australia, is what first got me thinking:
'You live in PARIS? How GLAMOUROUS!' It must be sooooo much more exciting than HERE! You've really MADE IT!"
To some extent, she was right - but not for the reasons she imagined!

Julie, along with Les Champs Elysées at christmas time, drinking the world's best hot chocolate at Angelina's, the glittering Eiffel tower and afternoons on the Ile St Louis eating icecream from Berthillon, what made Paris such an adventure, is all that I could never have imagined:
The Grind!
 Yup! The frustrating, every day, not-on-holiday-but-living-here Grind (and no I'm not talking about some exotic French horizontal dance)!

- Tiny, run-down, expensive, bedsits with no kitchen, not even a shower curtain...
"That's IT? The WHOLE apartment? Wow! They never showed those in the movies I saw!"

- Dealing with feelings of powerlessness at not being able to help so many homeless people eg: the time I offered, in frustration, a guy the carrot I was going to eat instead of money, and the shock I  received back when he flashed a 'frustrated' toothless grimace!

- Coping with going to work on the metro in the dark and coming home in the dark
(Metro Boulot Dodo, as we say in French)

- Dog poo! 'O Merde!' They made a film about this, do you remember?

- Conflicting cultural definitions of the words 'impossible,' 'efficiency, and 'today.'

- Confrontations and helplessness before that great mastodon which is the French Administration (which started with getting the visa in Sydney for that matter...)

- Being 8 months pregnant, dying for a pee, and never being able to find a public toilet I could 'fit' into!!!

Wouldn't have traded 'the Grind' for all the macarons in Ladurée... It's how I found myself! It's how I learned, thank heavens, that life is not a magic carpet...  but a much richer tapestry with all the little plain threads holding those few silver and gold ones into place.

So RdV every Monday for the Paris Episodes and a wee giggle; 'cause, in spite of what my darling adoptive France mistakenly believes, you can laugh and work at the same time!

A Julie et tous, I hope this will entertain you and inspire you and even bring forth a few of your own tales... for where ever we go in the world, what ever 'exotic' country we live in, we can't escape from ourselves!

See you tomorrow for a cuppa with Silken Purse and hopefully a new piece of wooden inspiration if I can only get off this keyboard ...




17 comments:

  1. I MUST come here more often. I Looooove your way of feeling and telling things (if it's a correct sentence in english :-) ). On a envie d'en savoir toujours plus...
    Bizzzzzzz
    Cécile

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  2. Please, can I have some more! I'm greedy for more Monday episodes :-)

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  3. Wow! I'm already looking forward to next Monday! Thanks for the encouragement ;-)

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  4. delightful!

    i see these episodes as illustrations - along the lines of Bemelmans' Madeline crossed with something contemporary and edgy...

    this is much the way i often feel about living in new york...although i do love autumn here ... and christmas is unbeatable...

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  5. ~Ah, what witty commentaire you have just given us!~ Really, I doubt I can add any further comment, that can hold a candle to your "whitticisms" my dear!~ Yet, I must tell you that I was held captive by your every delicious morsel of well "curated" epilogue! Your fascinating; "window" on the day-to-day living within the, ever so romantisized and storied Paris,and France of the collective imagination. A long held notion, dearly regarded by many around the globe!~(Dare I also mention; a world that is also quite frankly in dire need of looking at itself through fresh eyes as well)!..,CAN'T WAIT 'TILL NEXT MONDAY!

    I would be delighted to have you partake IN tomorrow's, TUESDAY TEA FOR TWO!

    ~ SIMPLY POST WHATEVER YOUR HEART DESIRES TOMORROW REFERENCE OUR,TUESDAY TEA FOR TWO,THEME.., I'LL POP BY TO PICK UP A SMALL PORTION OF A "SCREEN SHOT" OF YOUR POST TO SHARE WITH MY READERS AND TO WHET THEIR APPETITE TO POP OVER TO YOUR LOVLY AND INTRIQUING BLOG SITE.~ I WILL THEN INCLUDE YOU AS A PARTICIPANT,( ON MY BLOG LIST OF PARTICIPANTS), WITH A LINK TO YOUR BLOG SITE..,

    VOILA!~THERE YOU HAVE IT!

    ~I'LL VERY MUCH LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT YOU'VE POSTED!..,

    I FEEL PRIVILEDGED HAVE YOU JOIN US !

    CHEERS FROM SILKEN PURSE

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  6. Ange, love that part about not fitting into any of the toilets. On one of my house huting trips I stayed in a hotel in Nice and the bathroom was tiny. The shower cubical was 70 x 70 which I now know after living in France is the norm. Now we know why french people stay small, if they grew larger they could not fit anywhere :-)

    Bisous, L

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  7. J - I LOVE Madeline (and L'Ile d'Yeu, it is Bemelman that inspired me to go there). Will finish the episodes and then it might be a fun idea to take you up on!

    L- yes - the joys of French bathrooms and toilets is likely to be a regular in the Paris Episodes, it still bemuses me (now the frustration has waned) after all these years...

    Silken Purse - see you later today then, put the billy on!

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  8. This will be so fun to follow...delightful!
    I love your comment about life not being a magic carpet ride....have a daughter who is discovering that right now...not such an easy lesson! Will look forward to next Monday and hearing more of your story!
    Take care, Laura

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  9. I like your place I must go there more often. Tt is interesting and insipiring here. And I have award for you on my blog!:) have a nice day!

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  10. Fabulously french , I love your comment and I know now why I am small. ;-)

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  11. Em-Lili,, Thank you for thinking of me and I will pop over again and see you!
    Cecile, Small? I get the seaking suspicion that you are familiar to me??

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  12. I cannot wait to hear more Ange! Beautifully written, and I'm not sure I can wait a whole week for the next installment!

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  13. Laura - They're tough lessons to learn now, but they make fabulous memories later. My kids are never going to want to hear that from me. I never believed my own mother ;-)

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  15. Dear Ange
    You are the sweetest!!
    It's funny how we connect with people we have never met and that we inspire each other to find what makes us truly happy

    You've been a wonderful inspiration to me in the short time I have known you and so happy to call you friend..!!!

    Have a fab weekend xxx Julie

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  16. I lived abroad in Asia so I can totally relate to this post. There is such a difference between what people believe living in a certain location is like versus the actual reality of living there.

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Can't think of a famous quote that says 'communication makes the world go round' so you 'll just have to get my clumsy way of putting it instead ;-) Your comments are precious. Thanks for dropping by!