First Impressions

Sylvain took me to meet his friend Maxim last night. Maxim lives with Bertrand and Bertrand's girlfriend Amandine joined the party as well. Neuilly was a little nicer than our arrondissement, Sarkozy used to be the Mayor of Neuilly. Their apartment had two big bedrooms and a living room- the layout made no sense similar to most of the flats I've seen in London - it seemed like their kitchen was sort of part of the hallway. We listened to Brit pop and drank wine while we nibbled on cheese. Could we have had more of a "french" evening? I think not.

This week I had one job interview, it went well but I ultimately came in #2 (according to dad who interviewed me). Kids don't have school on Wed in France and so this family was looking for someone to look after their two boys in English. They lived in New York for 10 years but the youngest only spent a short time there before moving back to Paris and the father wanted both sons to attend Ecole Bilingue, only the older one had been accepted. In no way was this my dream job- I love being a teacher, but I've never taken to being a babysitter. I could be wrong but the father's tone changed in the interview after money was discussed- he asked how much I'd like to get paid- I said between 20 and 30euro but he had thought 13 euro was appropriate. I didn't mind at all, but the post was listed as an English tutor and until we discussed the position I hadn't realized it would be more than a few hours after school so I was going by the standard rate for English tutoring. I had no idea what babysitters made and so I just stuck with the tutoring rate. I told him 13 would be fine, but I think he thought I was crazy to suggest that kind of money and soured on me.

Some initial blatant generalizations from my first week in Paris:
1. 99% of the women are skinny chicken legged sticks
2. 95% of the men are skinny and chicken legged as well
3. Everything is crazy expensive even as the dollar closes in on the euro: see $10 laundry
4. Paris reminds me distinctly of London except that wine is significantly cheaper
5. The produce markets are just as I imagined they would be
6. Both French Men and Women are far more likely to be attractive than anywhere else I've ever been
7. It's far less stigmatized (blatantly or concealed) to have mixed race friendships or romantic relationships - the sort of "guess whose coming to dinner" awkwardness just wouldn't happen

This photo of Jules Joffrin Metro entrance is one of our two metro stops in the 18th.