there is NO way.....

.....that i'm going to be able to post a blog post every day.  or even every few days.  DEFINITELY not on tuesdays because i have back to back classes.

goodbyyeeeeee taco tuesdays.

SOME BRIEF THINGS:

-  i am incredibly busy and have no life

-  i don't mind being incredibly busy and having no life because i make jewelry

-  the food is really amazing here.  it makes everything better.  no matter how crazy things get the food will always be delicious.  this makes me hopeful for the future.

-  speaking of food, i had freshly baked pan du chocolate and the best nectarine ever this morning.  an excellent way to start the day!

-  i love french markets.  they're seasonal so i'm going crazy while i can.  i got this super bon scarf... the woman was so funny, she puts the scarves on your neck and is all "rose?  voila!  tres jolie, oui?" and holds up a giant framed mirror and you say "oui!  oui!  tres jolie, j'adore!" and it's a good time.

EXAMPLES OF FRENCH COMMUNICATION ATTEMPTS:

PHARMACIE

the corners of my mouth have been super chapped and dry and red and painful and wtf.  so i go into the pharmacie (because french pharmacists are the best and super smart), and find pharmacist blonde and i'm like "uhh bonjour.  je voudrais, vitamin B?  mon levres... chapped?  uhh.... hurt?  uhhhh........... vitamine B?  oui?"  and she's all "oui vitamin B.  blahblahblah french blah blah blahblah" and comes back with a thing of vitamin B.

confused looks were exchanged.  this is what i had wanted but kind of had a mutual feeling that this would not be helpful to my problem.

she's all "hmmm.... french french blahblahblah."  and i'm like "uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......" and another comes over and pharmacist blonde says to pharmacist short hair, "(this girl has chapped corners of her mouth) in french" and she goes "hmm hmm french french french" and they have a powwow (fun fact: powwow has not been spellchecked.  awesome.  oh but spellchecked has.) and deduce that i need "creme du vitamine A."  and i'm all "uhh..... sure.  oui."  and she's like "un creme?  du vitamin A?  blahblah (put this on your mouth.)"  and i'm like "OUI, oui, creme du vitamin A for my horrid corners of my mouth, oui."

my mouth feels way better.  french pharmacists are the shit.

SWATCH

i have a betsey johnson watch which is baby pink patent leather with a giant GIANT glass and shiny metal face.  it does not do well with running into walls and getting attacked by my jewelry tools.

i've been wanting a swatch for a while... i got one like 5 years ago but it is at home and dead and is a crazy cartoon safari face with a pink elephant band WHICH YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE because i have to wear every single watch ever on the smallest hole...

swatch has those shiny solid color watches.... i saw them online and was all "J'ADORE."  loved the red and the pink but figured i'd have to see them in real life.

i walked past this jewelry store and saw ALL OF THE SWATCHES in the window on a bottom shelf for 38 euro (which, even with the exchange rate, is WAY cheaper than they would be in the US, not even including shipping).  i had been planning on getting one in paris but they were RIGHT THERE staring at me with their beautiful swatch faces.

not sure if all jewelry stores in france are set up like this, but all of the jewelry is in window displays on the storefront, almost like display cases, and there is pretty much nothing inside except for a few pieces.  the shop person was helping a french couple with earrings or something so i hung around until a french lady showed up and was all "bonjour!"

i was really excited to be getting my swatch so i prepared myself for some french.

"BONJOUR!  je voudrais le swatch rouge, s'il vous plait!"

she leads me back outside to the window display, and the red swatch was ACTUALLY red red, not berry red, like the internet had led me to believe.

this threw me off my game.  i said "oh.... ehhmmmmmm....... pink?  rose?  rose.  le rose."  and she said "ahh oui.  le rose?"  and i said "oui le rose."

so we go back inside and she opens a drawer full of swatches (happy moment) and pulls out the pink one and she says, "rose?"  and i say "OUI!!!!"  and she said "blah french......." and points to a blue and says "bleu?"  and i'm like "oohhh jolie.  bleu."  and she grabs a handful of swatches and fans them out and goes "jaune..... violet...... rouge....... ORANGE, blanc"

"ORAANNNNNGGGEE!!!  OOOHH!  ohhhh le blanc!"

she saw i was excited, and possibly asked me which one i liked, so i said "blanc o rose (sometimes i incorporate minor spanish words into my french)..... rose.  oui rose.  j'adore rose."  and it was exciting.  she put old betsey in my swatch box and i got to wear my swatch out of the store and she set it for me and everything.

j'adore mon swatch.

HAIR SALON

exciting moment: finding out we have a flat iron for hair in our apartment.  i was going to get one that wouldn't fry a european outlet (weird?  you put "a" and not "an" in front of european.  grammaaaaarrrrrr!!!).... but then i found the one in our bathroom that my roommates said was free for use.  i have crazy curly hair so i was excited.

i flat ironed my hair before going to the market, and since then it has poofed and kinked and become a tumbleweed.  it's really dry here.  i'm having all kinds of problems.

so i needed a hair something to fix this problem.  i left all my hair products at home and i already had the adventure of finding shampoo and conditioner (coconut and vanilla for boucles... score).

i go into this hair salon and the woman is all "bonjour!  ahhblahblahblah french blah blah blah?"  and i go "...........uhm?  (pointing to wall of hair products)  mon pele..... est...... uhh....... DRY?  oui?  no?  no.  uhhmmmmm... mon pele..... FRIZZY (frazzeling motion with hands on head."

she got that.  she was like "AHHH oui, (pointing to two tubs of stuff) ah blahblahblah french blahblahblah..... ENGLISH ON THE BOTTLES."

she was actually really helpful.

there was some debacle because my carte du credit was not signed on the back... i considered attempting to explain to her how in america you don't sign the back of your credit card because it gets stolen like those identity theft commercials.  i showed her my driver's license (not saying my logic makes sense), but she was just like "ahh whatever." and sent me on my merry way with my hair product.

FABRIC

one thing i really need to learn how to say in french:

"no i'm just looking, i'm not ready to buy anything yet."

i go to a fabric tent to find fabric to make an apron with so i don't get dirty in the studio.  the other girls here and i decided to make aprons with pockets from all our different fabrics.  ahhwww so cute.

so i get into the tent, and am looking, and one of the fabric men comes up to me.  conversation:

"bonjour!"

"bonjour!!"

"BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHBLAH?  FRENCH FRENCH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH???"

"uhhhhh???????"  (i was totally caught off guard.)

"blah BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH?!"

"........quoi?"

"blah blah BLAH blah blah blah blah blah blah!!  french french french!"

"....uhhh???  uhhh..... uhmmm..... uh je ne se pas.  i'm LOOKING???  (some pointing)"

"quoi?  blahblah BLAH FRENCH BLAHBLAH?"

"je ne se pas?!"

"blahblahblah..... frennnch......blahblah" (walks away).

eventually after i was done looking i found a print that i liked and motioned him over to get a meter for me.... but oh god.  french people saying lots of things to you that you don't understand is just confuuuuuusing


UPDATE:

somehow while reading the packaging on my hair product i missed the part where it says "with natural myrrh extract" in giant letters and now my hair smells like old people.