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Here’s another story that doesn’t do anything for the Frenchmen’s image.

My boss is English Canadian and since he doesn’t speak French, I’ve been on a few fun trips with him, notably at the doctor’s office (and no, I was allowed to stay in the waiting room) and at the police precinct at La Defense. But by far, this has got to beat them all !!

My boss lives with his family in a rented 3-bedroom house in a posh area near Versailles. His landlord is a lawyer who lives next door with his family, practically owns the entire street, and also happens to be the #2 guy in his town.

Met him for the first time a couple of days ago when I went to my boss’s place to help him translate. My boss and his family are moving back to Canada and of course, being the genuinely nice person that I am, I am helping him out with this as well.

So the lawyer, we’ll call him *Paul*, happened to be there that first day and my boss *David* introduced us. Paul’s eyes widened when he saw me and he told my boss in broken English that he was quite lucky to have me as his assistant. Of course, David and I laughed about it and mused that Paul must have old French hags as assistants…

That night, I stayed at a hotel near my workplace as I needed to return to David’s place early the next morning to fill out the paperwork and to make sure the movers haven’t forgotten anything. I got there about 9:15am, opened the door for them and I was ready to head back to Paris when I ran into Paul. We made small talk and confirmed that I would be calling him to set up a rendez-vous with my boss and I to do a walk-through in the house to make sure that everything is in order so that there won’t be any issues with returning the security deposit.

Paul saw that I was on foot and offered to give me a lift to the train station. I told him that I was fine and it would just be a nice walk for me but since he insisted, I took him up on it. I got into his car, belted up, and we hadn’t even left the street when he turned to me and asked if I liked to cuddle. Excuse me, I said ? I thought maybe I had heard wrong or hadn’t understood him properly… He said, yeah you must like cuddles. You’re a very sensual woman, I can tell from your eyes. Honestly, I was so flabbergasted that my first reaction was to laugh, more in disbelief than in anything else.

He asked me if I had time to go for a drink but I told him that I had to get back to work. He then asked me if I like girls. Err, what do you mean, do I like girls ? So he tells me he’s got a gorgeous British friend who’s multi-orgasmic and pretty much right then and there in his Peugeot 307cc he asks if I’d like to be in a threesome with them !!  Err, thanks but no thanks !! He said, are you sure ? You don’t want to because you have never tried it is all ! Maybe you would like it if you gave it a try ? Honestly, what was this old fart thinking !?!?

What was my reaction ?  Well, I was clearly taken aback but I have to admit the whole thing was so unbelievable that I managed to keep a smile on my face the entire time. I mean, not only did I not think I was ever going to have such a conversation but with my boss’s landlord no less !!!

And you know what, it’s 1am and I’m too pooped to finish my story so I will finish up this story another time…

Til then…

Good nite all

Met up for tea and cake (cheesecake for me) at Cour St Emilion on Sunday with a friend of a friend whom I had met several times.  I don’t know him REAL well but we had always gotten along great and have had many interesting conversations. So, we had a great time even though he did go on and on about the Bush administration. Hey, I’m from NY so it’s not like we were on opposing sides but it certainly did make for some lively conversations !

So, here we are chatting away and basically just having a grand ol’ time. Towards the end of the evening, he drops me off on his scooter (probably not as exciting as a motorcycle, Betty but still cool nonetheless !) and as we’re standing around saying goodbye, he pulls the "I’ve got something to tell you". Uh oh, I start thinking… but then here’s the interesting part : he starts by telling me how much he appreciates me (that’s a French thing, they apparently like to say that word a lot) but how he’s recently started talking to an ex of his… What was my reaction ? "That’s great !" I exclaimed and then we both looked at each other surprised. I think he because of my reaction and I because I just then realized that uh oh, maybe this was supposed to be a date or something !?!?

How come I’m always the last one to find that out ??

But was it really one !?! Yeah, you can imagine my confusion now…  I mean, I really like the guy and I do find him attractive but even so, in my mind, this was just and only a hangout…

Is this a case of once naive, always naive !?!

Anyhow, I sent him an email yesterday telling him that I had a great time but apologized (even though I don’t think one was needed) for my reaction as he had truly caught me by surprise. Basically told him that I ALSO appreciate him a lot =o) (hey, two can play that game) and that I wish him the best of luck with his girl. Told him that I hope it won’t mean the end of our friendship as it has really just begun.

I guess we’ll see what life has in store for us…

…but…..  MEN !

No… not in NYC, on the blog… duh !

Here’s a scary thought, come May it will be 1 year since I would have moved back to Paris !! Since when did I fall into a time warp zone where every breathing second and minute has been accelerated ?!?

Cheery thought, come May it will be 4 months since I would have started working at RIM BlackBerry (yes, THE RIM BlackBerry that just paid out gazillion $ to settle NTP lawsuit).

So, how have I been, what have I been up to ? Does anyone even care ?

Let’s see, I came here in May 2005, had fun for like 4 months and travelled around and then I checked my bank account and thought uh oh ! maybe I should start looking for a job un de ces 4 (one of these days)…

Started looking around in October, had two job offers by December, which allowed me to fly back home for 2 1/2 weeks for the holidays even though I was pretty broke by then.

So, now I’m working at an int’l company in Paris which is great I tell ya… but here’s a funny thing that I’ve noticed. When I get up in the morning, my thoughts are in English but by the time I get off work, I think in French. Now, come see me after a few drinks and unless you’re fluent in both languages, you probably won’t understand me much. Funny thing this gray mushy matter of ours .

It seems like a lot of people I know back home are going through a "restless, there’s gotta be more to life than this" phase. As someone who went through it 2 years ago and moved to Paris as a result of it in order to feel alive again, well, I’m sorry but I don’t have the answer for you. I don’t even know if what I did is a good thing. After all, if there are going to be repercussions, I won’t know until later on, right ? But one thing I do know is that I don’t have that feeling anymore. I’m not saying it was a piece of cake my experience here but right now, I am exactly where I want to be. And you know what, that’s what’s great about adulthood ! Take yourself wherever you want to be… because you can !

I didn’t mean for this to turn into a sermon because after all, it could come back to bite me in the arse, right ? Say, I’m having so much fun but yet I’m not getting any younger and before I know it, the boat would have sailed on… well, all I gotta say to that, is certs, I don’t got Cameron Diaz’s salary but… she seems to be doing fine holding on to her youth.

Oh, and I’m now open to the idea of dating : hot French single guys need apply only… so, if you know of any, send them my way !  =o)  But knowing how difficult I am, you may have to stay tuned for a really long time before you hear anything exciting happening on that front. LOL

So, here’s to a great year 2006 !

Wish you all LOADS of HAPPINESS !

And hope to be back more often for more blog writings !

Cadbury girl (I’ll explain that one next time)

I became an aunt for the first time on August 12th. Her name is Zoe and she weighed 5.5 lbs at birth.

Today, I’m learning to make a charlotte (french cake), I’m hoping it won’t kill anyone…
I made a mustard rabbit during the week and a yogurt cake.

Tonight it’s off to moroccan restaurant with Betty. No wonder i’ve gained weight.

First off, thanks for the comments. Even though I haven’t replied to anyone yet, know that it’s greatly appreciated. Second, I should be uploading pictures soon of my new life in Paris. When I arrived here, the lock on my luggage was broken into and there was no note left at the airport saying that a search was done. Everything seemed to be present except that I haven’t been able to find my charger for my digital camera. Strange…

So, I recently bought one on Ebay-France and I need to go to the post office to pick it up.  I am crossing my fingers that it’ll work with my camera (no reason why it shouldn’t but we’ll see.)

A friend of mine is coming to visit me, she’s arriving on Sunday at 6am (ugh) but regardless I am very excited and I can’t wait to see her !

Good news : I’ve finally picked up running and I’m enjoying running on the Seine for about an hour or so (well, it’s more like jogging but hey, I ran the entire album of G Unit).

Bad  news : I’ve been stuffing my face with baguettes and saucissons for the past 3 months and I’ve gained about 5 lbs since I’ve arrived.. ugh ! Hopefully, the running will help in reversing the damage the baguettes have done.

I went away for the 14th of July (french independence day) and I came back with the thought in mind of stopping the blogs but heck, I came back to 7 comments from 7 different people !!  Wow, this constitutes an actual audience !!  Musn’t disappoint them now…

So, my first french holiday was spent à la campagne in Belleme (in the countryside).  Citygirl me was thinking farms and cows but it ended up being a nice big ol’ house with bbq in the yard everyday but since we were 10, we ended up setting up tents in the backyard so 1/2 ended up inside the house and the other 1/2 outside.  Of course, I couldn’t settle for one so I had the downstairs suite to myself for 2 nights and I finagled 2 nights outside in a tent.  My friend though conveniently forgot to tell me that the tent faced the sunrise so I was baked around 8AM.  But I got smart and for my second night, although I didn’t move the tent, I did barter myself a nice inflatable mattress and man, did it make a difference ! 

Oh well, since I’ve gotten one encouragement (apparently one sufficed (thanks ed)), my quest for a job continues to be… hmm, honestly, what quest ?

Rather let’s backtrack and figure out what prompted this sudden(?) move to Paris…

Perhaps it all started on my 26th birthday when I had a flash-forward and a panick attack.  At the time, the thought of having been with only one man and possibly staying with him the rest of my life struck me as a punishment somehow.  Not that I didn’t love the guy (u still the best tootsie) but I needed and still need to feel ALIVE !  I felt like I was missing out on life.  Then my brother up and gets married without breathing a word to anyone, I lose my job and feel utterly lost in NY, a pregnancy looms in the horizon (not mine, my sister-in-law) and so I figured, shit, what have I got to lose…

I know, I’m commitment phobic you may think… well, know that you are right.  And perhaps it seems like I was running away but I also know what I was running into.. apparently the France that I had left 16 years ago started experiencing a fascination with the Asian culture and notably with Asian chicks….  *wink* *wink*

Reste à savoir si…

Ok, seeing how I’ve taken the leap and moved one ocean and one continent away to gay paree, why not continue the trend and start a blog.  Of course I should perhaps utilize my precious moment online to look for a job rather than to post pieces of me that will most likely end up unread or unappreciated.

What can I say, there’s always been a hidden wannabe writer inside of me….