flat andrew's parisian adventures

at mark's prodding, i'm going to tell you all a little story about my week. while vacation started wednesday, i have to say it's been rather an eventful week. the events started monday, when Dina Powell, u.s. assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs came to my high school. i don't even normally teach on mondays, but this was clearly an exceptional case. madam powell oversees cultural exchange programs, including the Fulbright program, and wanted to see Fulbright at work. so somehow out of the 5 fulbright teaching assistants, my school was chosen.
anyways, this relatively important person came to Lycee Evariste Gallois to see me and to meet some students. and all the teachers at school were super excited and extremely nervous, and even more excited when they finally met her. one of the male english teachers said he was in love, and kept recounting how she told him to "call her dina".

then tuesday morning i went to unesco(united nations educational, scientific, and cultural organization) for a conference on global higher education. basically, fulbright chose a bunch of academics to be "new century scholars" and to study higher education with colleagues from all over the world. anyways, it was just fun to be included in the conference. i even chatted with stephen heyneman, a vanderbilt peabody professor. and i got introduced to people here and there. and i took a picture of flat stanley in the garden of unesco. and at the eiffel tower. and at notre dame.

the big week culminated tuesday evening with an invite to the american ambassador's home. it was rather ornate and elegant, and quite an enjoyable experience altogether. madam powell gave a little speech in which she recognized my school, my principal, and even me, and they made me go up to the front to stand by the podium as my principal gave a little speech. then there were pictures all around, including a picture of me with the ambassador and his mrs. as well as dina powell and mr. stanley.


following such an extraordinary evening in the presence of such stalwart republicans, everything else this week has been a let down. yesterday i got a cool new phone for 1€!!! and nearly lost my man purse with ipod and camera. and today i translated a bunch of letters from french child sponsors to the children they sponsor. and tonight i went to the eiffel tower to hang out with some assistants---it was bring your own bottle. and i left my nalgene and frisbee there, but fortunately someone grabbed the bottle. the frisbee, on the other hand, was last seen in the hands of a french girl. so they say.

this weekend i'm thinking to travel to lille where there's a big indian culture festival going on. i'll keep you posted.

Diplomatic Dabblings

anyone who travels knows what im talking about

the other night i had your cliche hostel experience. i came back to the hostel after another repetitive day of searching for apartments and the like, and had the inclination to relax a bit at a nearby bar. ive always noticed it to be somewhat charming, full of people at literally all hours. and the people themselves look interesting. as it was still before 8, i figured i could even have a beer cheaply, as happy hour goes from 5-8 at said bar. i had half a mind to go there alone, with simply a book and my pipe; i dont know if pipes are allowed, but as everyone in france smokes and/or breaks the law on regular occasion(neither of which are necessarily related, its just known that french people feel it their duty to obey as little of the law as possible, minus the biggies) i figured it`s my right to smoke a pipe where i darn well please. but instead i ventured to ask around at the hostel to see if anyone wanted to join me. the response, however, was why not bring wine back here. so thomas the american who has been away from home for 9 years, yuso the japanese guy here on business not speaking either english or french, and i went down the street and bought a bottle of wine each. when we got back we shared our wine with a german girl and an american girl and proceeded to picnic with some chocolate, cookies, bread, and cheese. the part that`s cliche is the part where we move to the kitchen, and one by one people begin to trickle in. the guys running the place who are from india brought their own liquids, while a canadian, a chilean and eventually the aussie joined later. so there we sat 8 english speakers, excluding yuso of course by our conversation in english. we naturally discussed america`s foreign policy errors, as well as education and what it should look like in developing countries, as well as a few anecdotes here and there including erica`s signing experience at gallaudet(children?).

in other news, im going to normandy this weekend for a retreat with a local church. it should be nice to get away and meet some new people, as well as to see the beach.

im still working on housing, and even turned down one option today that was mine for the taking. the problem was its size relative to two people of opposite sex and mostly unfamiliar with each other. one person would have had to walk through the other`s bedroom(actually the living room/2nd bedroom) to get to the kitchen, shower, toilet. but i came from visiting a great apartment on the southern periphery of Paris that isnt ideally located but has a fast train that permits easy access. im first on the list and hope that it will happen, but its a bit complicated as the owner is in cambodia and has to communicate through his friend. we shall see. keep your fingers crossed for me.

ciao ciao.

well all, welcome to paris. here you will see myself and the rogue traveler Wes Whitaker during his visit to the City of Light. he popped in for a brief two-day visit after touring around Greece and Turkey. we took advantage of many opportunities afforded to us, particularly eating crepes, waiting in line for 2 hours at the Eiffel Tower(he, not I), and being pestered by guys at Sacre-Coeur who detained us to tie bracelets around our arms only to then demand 10 euros a piece. we gave them 2 and have forevermore been marked as an idiot tourist. but honestly, i kept walking until the guy pointed out that wes had been successfully stopped and that i might as well also. actually, someone asked me last night if i'd spent much time around Sacre-Coeur lately. shucks.

i have been assortedly occupied of late, of course with the continual housing search, but also with church friday night and tonight, a prayer walk this morning, sangria with my german friend Sebastien, and Nuit de Blanche last night, a night of art and debauchery across the city.

anecdotally, here's a neat story. friday night i came back from post-church dinner around 1 and started talking with an egyptian guy staying in the hostel. we kept talking and eventually decided to take a little walk. this little walk took us at least 2 hours and took us to the Seine and back, a fair piece. but he was very interesting and just an enjoyable companion. you never know who you'll meet in these places.

i have a lead on an apartment and hope it will come through. it's about darn time!

here's a little toast to a couple of good friends of you and me: Neal Palmer and Suzanne Levine, who simultaneously celebrated their birthdays on October 5th. well actually, Neal was 12 time zones ahead of my mother. but i salute them nonetheless.

ciao, bisous, a bientot,
andrew