Due to Popular Demand...

Ok, really just Olya and my mom.
Here are some pictures from around my apparment etc. As I have previously mentioned, I don't know how to format these pictures in blogger and I am far to impatient to offer anything more than a token effort at figuring it out. Therefore, you'll just have to bear with me and try to figure out which picture corresponds to each comment. I think it should be fairly obvious. For example, if I'm talking about the view down my street and you see a kitchen utensil, you can assume that I'm not trying to be "deep," and that the image-text relation is merely coincidental. Try another photo. Or another comment. I'll leave the decision to you. Not that I could have much say, even if I wanted to. Note: all of the photos are backwards compared to the comments. Or the other way around.

Let's begin, shall we?

First: we've got a great little espresso maker in the appartment. It is a three-chambered wonder. One chamber short of the human heart. ...or the less rheotrically effective "cow heart." The device actually screws apart thirds of the way down (in this way the carafe is actually superior to the human heart that cannot easily be separated into pieces and put back together -- now wouldn't that facilitate open-heart surgery?). This unscrewing reveals a bottom chamber, which, should one choose to make some coffee, one would fill with water. Just above this chamber sits a small metal cup bespeckled with tiny holes. One fills this piece with coffee grounds. This, again, on the assumption that the particular "one" in question is trying to make some esspresso. Then one replaces the upper chamber and places the delightful little contraption over a burner. After some time one will hear a percolating sound. When this stops, ones espresso is ready. The water from the bottom chamber boils, passes up through the tiny holes into the grounds chamber, then up narrow sort of spout and into the upper chamber. One can pour oneself a cup of esspresso straight out the spout from this chamber. Yum-yum. Note that you can see my reflection in the espresso maker. For this reason, I entitle the photo Portrait No. 1. While I'm here, I'll also mention the stove that you can see in this photograph. Unlike the cooking facilities in so many Parisian appartments, we do not have some shitty two hot plate set-up. Certainly not. Instead we have a luxurious gas range complete with an oven. Gas stoves, by the way, really are great to cook on.

Next: 3 pictures of out kitchen. It's well equiped for pretty much any culinary situation. Juliette, one of my roommates, is a cook. Like, a real cook, who, after working as a chef and baker for a few years now, is studying pastry in France at some prestigious old-boys'-club school. So we eat well around here and the kitchen is an important place. Oh, by the way, I went to a local grocery store the day after I arrived here, and guess where I found the eggs? Hmm? In a refridgerated area? Hmmm? NO! ON THE SHELF at... at... at... ROOM TEMPERATURE! That's right. No one refridgerates their eggs around here. They just leave them hanging out on the counter. Blows my mind. Want to talk about culture shock? -- eggs on the counter. Ya. In other food-related news: cheese, beer and wine are all dirt cheap. In fact, including the cost of transportation, I'm sure a load of soil would be significantly more expensive. My roommates are good people: they understand the importance of having a good bottle of wine (y'know the €3 kind) with dinner.

The Library:

The dude (otherwise known as Dan) who we are subletting the appartment from is a PhD. Student in Compatative Lit. He has a lot of books. Most of these books are in english. He has given us permission to read his books. And I was sad about leaving so many of my books at home. Ha! This picture is of just one (admittedly the largest) of his shelves. I just finished Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar which I shall certainly rant about on another occasion.

We love our computers. And our cleverly place table that serves as a computer desk, dinner table, and food preparation space while creating the illusion that the kitchen is a separate room from the living room/my bedroom. Oh, how clever! How practical! How stylish!

Here are some pictures for my mom -- to prove I'm not a morbid creep who only takes picture of coffee makers and graveyards. Of course I am a morbid creep, but... look at the perdy flowers! All of these flower pictures were taken in a park near the Cinematheque Francaise. I had, of course, come to the area for the legendary Cinematheque. I wasn't particularly impressed with the area of town. Much of it seemed like part of a newer development. While I like parks a good deal, this particular park in which I took my photos seemed just a little too upkept. Corsetted, if you will. It needed some forrest paths, and tree forts. Anyway, the cinematheque was a bit overwhelming. I didn't understand much so I just wandered around. There were some areas that I wasn't quite sure I was allowed in, but nobody stopped me so I just kept on going. The cinematheque plays an utterly stupid number of movies. I plan to see quite a number of them.

This is the view down my street: Rue des Rigoles. I live very close to Belleville, as in The Triplettes of Belleville. My metro stop is actually on Rue Belleville. I also live close to Pere Lachaise cemetary and the Parc Butte Chaumant. Yes, I live near the top of a big ol' hill. This is a residential neighbourhood with a large number of North African immigrants living in it. It's a good neighbourhood to live in and quite close to Rue Oberkampf where one can find a great bar scene (so many scooters and bikes, non dieu!), and even better kosher pickles.

Just a few doors down from me, there exists a small restaurant/bar where live klezmer music is played every Wednesday night. I didn't go this Wednesday, although I could hear the music as I passed by on my way home from a movie. I plan to drag Juliette and Ryan out there a couple of Wednesdays from now. I plan to dance like a lunatic.

Well, my lovelies, I'm sure this update is full of errors of both the spelling and gramatical sort, but I'm about done with it for now and don't care to proof read. So until later it will just have to remain as is. So there.

Until next time,

Your only ErinCW