Brrrr

Hello all! I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like because my computer screen is having issues. I'm FREAKING out about this, actually, because I'm starting to feel really cut off from the world without access to the web (I'm using the family's computer right now, because they're out of town, but it will be harder when they come back because the kids are on it TWENTY-FOUR/SEVEN). I got a library card to the local library, and while they don't have many TV shows on DVD to rent, I was absolutely amazed to find the one thing I was looking for in the whole entire world: "Sur Ecoute" (in English that's The Wire, Season 2!). Which is super exciting, but now I can only watch it in the living room when the kids aren't home, instead of tucked in to my warm bed downstairs, errrrrr. I'm trying to stay positive, though. And it's not so hard, because I feel little bursts of positivity when, for example, I realize that I can see the Eiffel Tower from my suburb, which is really surreal and wonderful.

I've been eating a lot of falafels with my friends, because they're sooo cheap and sooo goood and sooo filling. And the occaisonal kebab too. Yesterday, however, my friends Rachael and Mariene and I were in the mood for filling American food (well, Mariene probably didn't crave it as much as Rachael and I did, seeing as she's from Bristol), so we went to a restaurant called Breakfast in America in the Marais. This is obviously NOT the kind of place you'd want to go if you were only visiting Paris on vacation, but for those of us who are here for the year, Breakfast in America is really comforting. It's basically like any American diner (good breakfasts and good hamburgers), but it has a classy, non-touristy feel, and I definitely did not feel bad about eating there because it was FULL of French people. And it cost what eating the same food in America would cost, so that was an added bonus. Mmmm. My scrambled eggs and potatoes were really good.

Because of my coffee woes (I've been on a month-long quest to perfect the taste of my morning French press coffee with no luck so far because of the way they process milk in France, which deserves its own blog), I've definitely become more interested in espresso, which is progress for me. I still put a lot of sugar in it, but this is the first time I've actually looked forward to drinking it instead of filtered coffee, which makes me feel more Parisian! I'd prefer to be drinking noisettes (it's espresso with a little milk), but in France they charge about a euro more for these, so I've become happy with just plain espresso. At home, the family as a Nespresso machine, which they use ALL THE TIME (so happy I'm with a family who likes caffiene), so I make my own noisettes when I use that.

Falafels and Trivia night tonight at an English pub near the Pantheon. Yay for not having to be up at 8AM tomorrow! :)