what a lovely lilac bra you have

B and I did quite a lot of sitting in cafes and people watching while she was here, and I've got one thing to say - what is up with all the bra straps people??!?

I'm not talking about a bit of bra strap showing when wearing a tank top. I'm not even talking about straps showing because of wearing a spaghetti strap tank. I'm talking about
- people wearing racerback tanks, with a regular bra. hello, they sell racerback bras
- people wearing a halter top or similar with a regular bra. what are they thinking???
- people wearing a top with a back that goes low enough you see their entire back clasp of the bra.

what are these people thinking when they get dressed? why do they want everyone to see your underwear? is this the style now? did i miss the fashion memo??

Summer fun

Who would have thought you could see beach volleyball in Paris? A professional beach volleyball tour was held in Paris this past week, a portion of the Champ de Mars park was turned into sand courts, along with a bleacher stadium for the main court.

B and I saw the women's semifinals - 2 Brazilian teams in one semi, and another Brazilian team vs the Americans Misty May and Kerri Walsh (2004 Olympic Gold medalists). The all Brazilian game was fun to watch as the announcer seemed to be obsessed with one of them, named Shelda, he repeated her name quite often. "C'est magnifique, Shelda!" or "Calmez-vous, Shelda, calmez-vous" when Shelda, who seemed quite hot-tempered, got mad at the ref. Alas, it was not to be for Shelda, as her team lost a close one in the 3rd set.
The game with the Americans was not as close, May and Walsh were dominating.

I went to the women's finals as well - the photos is of that game vs Brazilians Larissa and Juliana (I've no idea why they go by their first names). Not so dominating for the Yanks this time, now they were the ones who lost a close match in the 3rd set. In so small part due to the play of Larissa (she's the one jumping up to unleash a 70+ km/h serve) she was amazing! She seemed a bit hot-tempered as well, she and Shelda better not ever be on the same team...

Hey, who turned out all the lights?

My friend B from the States has been staying with me since Saturday, so haven't had much time to post lately. We've been having a great time, lots of walking and sitting in cafes and people watching. This was our excitement last night -

I got home last night after work to see the front entrance of the building was propped open. No big deal, maybe someone is moving. Then after passing through the courtyard, I see that the electronic thingamabob that you wave a badge in front of to open the building door (the actual door to the building, not the first one from the street that only leads to the courtyard) was not working, the door opened without have to use it. Um, ok, i thought. Then i saw that the elevator floor number was not lit up. It dawned on me. Merde, qu'est-ce qui se passe? Blackout! I trudged up the stairs and B confirmed it, no electricity. And on a 95+ degree day!

We left to go to dinner and i took along my pocket flashlight just in case. Good thing I did, it was dark when we got back, still no lights. B needed more cigarettes so we took a walk to find an open tabac - along the way we could see windows thrown open, people hanging out on the balcanies. It was funny, my building was at the very edge of the affected area - to the right there was electrcity, but to the left, extending for blocks, none. And the buildings across the street from me had it! The blackout didn't start for another few bocks on the other side.

We also passed some EDF (Electricite de France) trucks and some EDF workers frantically digging in the street and as a crowd on onlookers gathered.

As we walked back from the tabac, winds started swirling and clouds started gathering. We got home just in time to avoid what turned out to be quite a thunder and lightening storm. At least it cooled things down! However, i still couldn't sleep that night without my fan, it was so hot, no air comes in from the courtyard window. So i moved into the living room and slept on the queen-sized sofa bed with B because it was so much cooler there. But then the problem was with the windows open and being right on the street it was noisy! I slept fitfully nonetheless and woke up to the beeping my landline phone makes when plugged back in. Hallelujah! Electricity! It was 5am.

All in all, not a bad blackout at all, not compared with what some residents of Queens and St. Louis are going through, with days or even over a week of a blackout, and during a heat wave. Do they even all have electric yet in Queens? Must check.

Now if this had been in NY, even just a one day blackout affecting one area, it still would have been all over the news. Here, just one sentence in the paper noting that about 6400 residents in the 15th arrondissement lost power due to heat damaged cables.

Stay cool, and make sure you keep a flashlight handy!

Turn off the TV and read

"I was looking for a quite place to die. Someone recommended Brooklyn, and so the next morning I travelled down there from Westchester to scope out the terrain".

How's that for the opening of a book? When buying the finally-out-in-paperback 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' at an English bookstore, I came across the book with the above opening, Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster. It just totally grabbed me and I had to buy it.
I read the book in 2 days, on the train to and from London this week (business trip) and yippee I liked it, which means a new author to read! I always get excited when I find new authors. Now i'm reading another book by him which I found in the English section of the local library.
Don't worry I buy, borrow, and read books in French too!

By the way, I was disappointd with the latest Harry Potter installment. Much shorter than the 5th book, even shorter than the 4th. Not as much happened. And what did the Half-Blood Prince's book have to do with the plot?

Back to life

It has been a week since my week-long illness, and i'm feeling 100% better, thank you. Still have not managed to find Gatorade or Powerade, but did find a boisson d'effort (sports drink) called Hydra at the sporting goods store Decathlon.
I did go there solely to look for sports drink, but hey asking me to go into a sporting goods store and leave empty-handed is like telling Dubya not to smirk when he speaks. However, it is Soldes season, so i spent very little money!
Soldes means sales, and here in France, sales are regulated by the government. Imagine how that would go over in the US, hah! There are sales twice a year, for about 5 weeks at a time, once in winter, once in summer. It's a huge deal when they begin, almost like a holiday. I remember everyone left work early when they started, including me!
I've been good though, I bought a cute pair on white summer shoes, and a fantastic white and beige skirt (which actually wasn't on sale, but it's fantastic so who cares).
And that was it until I went to Decathlon. In addition to several bottles of Hydra, i got a moisture-wicking running top for 7 euros (um, these tops can be $30!), moisture-wicking running capri tights for 15 euros, and 3 pairs of running socks for 3 euro total. All right!

Malade

I was sick all last week. Not just miss a day or 2 of work sick. I missed the whole week! Fever, chills, diarreha, body aches and pain. The only saving grace was i wasn't vomiting, though if i had ate something maybe i would have.
Not to mention there was a heat wave in the beginning of the week, and i had no fans!! So that certainly didn't speed recovery.

I felt like i lost all contact with things French. Other than calling the office, i spoke no French, not even to my doctor, she's Canadian and speaks English. I read books in English and watched Seinfeld DVDs. I could have been sick in the US, except no Gatorade!! Believe me, when you're dehydrated, and have that gross coating on the tongue that happens when you're sick, and even water disgusts you, there's nothing more you want than Gatorade! How could the French not have it? What do their endurace athletes drink?? As soon as I'm back from a business trip to London Mon and Tues, i will start a hunt.

Being sick sucks on so many levels.
1) It sucks. Who wants to be feverish and so weak a trip to the bathroom is a monumental event requiring about an hour of gathering your forces?

2) I'm finding my 4th month here harder than the 1st three. I'm frustrated my French hasn't improved more, wondering how i'm going to make friends outside of work. So this week of isolation has not helped.

3) I finally felt I had resumed some semblance of a workout routine, and was running regularly, first time since hurting my knee way back in Sept. Then I tripped and banged up that same knee. Barely started to run again after that, than this!! Argh!!! I'm not asking to run a marthon, i just want to go out and run 4-5 miles a couple times a week without my knee hurting. Oh ok. I do want to run a marathon, just one, sometime in my life. New York. I still dream.......

Adios Brésil

C'est fini! La France a gagné!! Horns are blaring, people are yelling in the streets, it's fantastic!

Oh, and the Mets beat the Yankees too!!

I took a little video with my camera of all the noise and commotion. I wanted to put it on this blog, but don't know how, it only lets me post photos. Maybe there's a way to do it, I just don't know how.
my sister suggested this

Allez les Bleus

Big game tonight. World Cup quarterfinals, France vs Brazil. Brazil wants revenge for the 3 -0 drubbing France gave then in the finals in 1998, the only world cup game they've lost since 1986 (i think).
The game hasn't even started yet, and people all aready honking their horns, yelling in the street!

Right now i'm listening to the FAN online, Mets vs Yankees. 2-0 Mets but the d@mn yankees have the bases loaded.
But at 8:50 paris time, even my beloved Mets will have to take a backseat to le foot, ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!