April showers . . .
First of all, congrats to those of you who actually spied the "April fool's" tag on the last entry (ahem, all two of you). The rest of you, shame! While I do indeed want a French boyfriend/lover/sugar-daddy, I have not yet found him. Where the hell is he?! I'm leaving soon!
But, because sometimes wishing can make it so, I did take a ride on the back of a scooter with a zexy Frenchman yesterday. The hot pilot invited me for a tour of Paris, and we zipped around the Champs de Mars, les Invalides, Pont Alexandre III, Place de la Concorde, Place Vendome, Palais Royal, and la Madeleine. I was wearing a skirt, so he offered me his rain pants so that I wouldn't flash the rest of Paris. After it got a bit chilly he offered me his giant yellow windbreaker, and said "what do you call them, the men who go in space?" and I had to teach him "spacesuit" and "astronaut." Still, it was a lovely, lovely day that ended with hot chocolate in a cafe before tutoring Benjamin. He had stayed home sick, so I asked why he hadn't called to cancel and he said because it was the last time to see me before vacation and he didn't want to miss it. Aw. He then quizzed me on why I looked so nice and why I didn't kiss the man I was on the scooter with. When I said I don't think it's romantic, he said "you're a girl, you know if he likes you" and then "if you're interested you should have gotten close to him on the scooter and said 'I'm so scared!'" so I said, "but Benjamin, I wasn't scared!" and he rolled his eyes and told me that's not the point. Have I mentioned he's 15? It's like they're born with a completely different skill set.
This past week was very busy, as my last guest from the States was here. My Trinity friend Jaynemarie spent 6 days in Paris. We first met in 7th grade and lost touch after high school, so it was really nice to spend some time together. I also spent Friday, from 9:30 am to midnight, translating for one of the companies I tutor at. I have never worked such a long day. I decided that I'm going to use the money from that day (translating pays VERY well) to bankroll a trip to Croatia in May.
Sunday was my cousin Gerard's 55th birthday, and we had a delicious lunch at his house with an obscene amount of alcohol and the most delicious Scandinavian salmon ever. Here's his son, Martin, showing me how much he loves the birthday cake:
I've had to start saying goodbye to some of my classes. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate change and goodbyes and they're always really hard for me. Since my school works on an A-week/B-week schedule, this was my last B-week before my contract is up. Some of my students wrote me a card thanking me, others asked for my email, and others said "it's sad!" when I said we wouldn't have any more lessons. Granted there were several who didn't seem to care, but I'm definitely going to miss a lot of them.
Tonight Anna, Allen, and I had a little dinner party. Allen made daal, I provided the wine, and Anna brought dessert. I used a tablecloth and everything.
I leave on Sunday for 10 days in Italy, and am trying to read up on my destinations beforehand. I'll be in Tuscany (Florence, with day trips to Siena, San Gimignano, and Lucca) and Rome. Any tips?
Comments
And man, your cousin Gerard really looks French!