Never a dull day in Paris. Literally never. Today was lively for all the wrong reasons, but Parisians are the nicest people in the world so it all worked out. The first thing that happened was that the internet went out. Seems dull and annoying. It was, but I got to meet my beyond sweet neighbors. First I read the internet connection manual which is no Dan Brown novel. Then I went to the store where the lady pleasantly told me that she was a saleswoman, not a technician and that I should call the help number. Well apparently to call the help number you need a landline and I only have a cell phone. So it was time to meet the neighbors. Luckily, they are awesome. Marie has a beautiful artsy-chic apartment and gorgeous fluffy grey cat named Isis that she plopped on her lap like one would a baby. She made me a café (espresso) and helped me call the number and figure out what they were saying. Parisian help lines are no faster than American ones and I was on the phone for 8 minutes waiting. Finally I was connected and we conversed in a mix of French and English. It turns out that the manual didn’t help because the problem was that the bill hadn’t been paid. So I emailed my mom’s friend (from whom I am renting the apartment) and tada the rest of that problem is up to her.
Never a dull day
July 11th, 2009 by Chelsea · No Comments
The second thing that happened today was kind of scary at first but looking back it’s pretty hilarious. Riding home on the metro, when we aren’t all jammed in like 10 Americans in a French elevator, the metro is very relaxing. I have my book, and there is the white noise of chatter in the back ground along with the relatively gentle sway of the train. So I was sitting there, absorbed in a really exciting part of my book where the couple is deciding whether to break up or not, and that’s when I heard manic screaming. Like someone was caught in the train doors screaming. I whipped my head around and saw a mother with children. She was screaming that he was in the train. So I assumed her child was physically caught in the train. I quickly got up and took a few steps. Luckily nothing so serious had occurred. One of her sons had just hopped aboard, but she was still on the platform with the other children. Luckily, the lady behind me yelled to the Mom that she would bring her son back to her. At the next stop she hopped off with the boy and they headed back. That little rascal scared the living daylights out of his mom. It made me laugh later when I realized it’s totally something I would have done as a child. Moral of the stories is: the generosity and kindness of strangers is unexpected and great.
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