"Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved"

Update numéro deux.

The story about becoming regulars at a bar…

We have been set on becoming regulars at our ‘favorite’ (a.k.a; least sleazy) bar called Le Sully, and before we started going there we asked ourselves how it was possible, in the least apparent kind of way, to accomplish this… To Mel’s despite, I realized that you have got to find a bartender to victimize and flirt with. You’ve got to use what you’ve got, and in our case my innocence and my tendency to smile a lot was working in our favor, and in just a short matter of time we were well known and recognized.  We obtained free drinks in less than a week, and who was our poor victim you may ask? Well, he is a transformer-boy doppelganger who plays the whole Britney act, pretending to be good but actually is a douche deep down inside, at least according to Mel... I like him though, he protects us from creepers and he always shines up and talks to us whenever we go there. And now two weeks has passed and we have finally made our first French friend on account of our success – Jamel! He is an old, cheerful and utterly crazy man with no front teeth and no other skills than the ability to down alcohol like water with laugh cuter than a baby’s. Some would probably turn their heads twice seeing us enjoy the company of this fellow, but we love him and his companionship. He is a frequent costumer at Le Sully, even though he works at another bar, and he is friends with everybody and anybody who goes there. One of the main reasons for us loving him is the fact that he hasn’t hit on us once, and he is bursting of life more than anyone I’ve ever met before. To everyone else, our newfound friendship with this man may seem a little peculiar, but in just a few days Jamel has turned to be somewhat of a vivacious, adoring French grandpa to us. He tells us his life story in his rapid and tremendously hard to understand French, and he gladly answers every question we ask him.

But even if I wish it could be, life in Paris doesn’t only exist of drinking coffee and other more fun liquids at bars. On Wednesday I have an audition for a job at Disneyland Paris, and I am very nervous about that, even though I’m pretty set on going back to school to start learning French again. By coming here I have realized how hard the actual speaking-part still is. The need to be able to speak perfectly is very important and to be able to just communicate doesn’t quite cut it for me anymore.

I will start posting pictures soon, I’m just a little bit too lazy for that at the moment, but it’ll get better. I have a little fun fact about our 10^th arrondissment though, we read in a travel guide book that tourists should ‘avoid this area entirely’ since it’s famous for its multitude of prostitutes and pickpockets. But even though every French person we meet and tell where we're living to mostly laughs awkwardly and crinkles their nose, we still can’t help but feel completely safe here. It’s not like either one of us would want to walk around alone in the middle of the night, but this is home to us, and we love it here.

Can’t really write much longer, I have dishes to wash and a whole bundle of dirty laundry to sort out... What a vie au fromage, right? Not quite yet… I have yet to find my cheesy, Parisian life!

Bisous mes amis!

Frida