Money Down the Drain

I woke up Friday morning to SNOW everywhere… a good couple of inches. The boy ended up not having school, which made my life easier for the morning even though I still woke up and showered at 6:30am. I then accompanied the dad who to take the girl to school. The roads weren’t in amazing condition, so I am glad he drove. He explained the differences with driving in snow with a manual, so that was good advice. I had to stay home since the boy didn’t have school, and therefore skip my classes, but I am unsure why because the dad stayed home all day, so I technically didn’t need to? Whatever.

I just stayed in my room most of the time streaming some shows. Thank God Mary Kate told me that morning about an awesome website to stream, and it totally works and isn’t too sketchy, so that solves the problem of not being able to download here anymore.

I also went sledding with the boy, and the dad took pictures. It was fun, but there’s a lot of trees in the yard, so I was scared of running into a tree, so I didn’t go too fast. But then we went to the neighbor’s yard that didn’t have trees, and I went full speed. The sleds were cool because they had breaks and little steering handles on the side.

That afternoon I got to take an earlier train to Paris since I didn’t have to pick up the boy from the bus, so I got to Paris at like 6:15pm. That night, Jerome and I went on a date to a restaurant at the top of the Pompidou, an art museum near the center of the city, and it has amazing views at the top. The restaurant was really nice and modern, and it was nice seeing the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Montparnasse, etc. on the way up the escalators all lit up. We then got seated, and I was not happy with the seating arrangements at all. They crammed all the tables like inches apart, and I just felt like I didn’t have any person space. So we asked if we could move, and eventually we did. Jerome was surprised about that. Once we had moved we ordered wine, then some appetizers. I got escargots! Which was yummy with all the garlic and butter, and Jerome got chicken spring rolls basically, which were good too. Then for the main plates, I got jumbo shrimp with risotto and Jerome got “Le tigre que pleure,” the tiger that cries, which was a beef and rice dish. Mine ended up being better though :p

It was a very enjoyable meal until we had to pay. Jerome offered to pay, and I had actually intended paying for myself, but it was nice of him. However, the machine wouldn’t accept his cards. So he asked if we could use mine, and I had completely forgotten to bring them! I brought a different bag; it was an honest mistake. So we debated our options. My cards were at his apartment, so we thought maybe I can put my passport as collateral and come back the next day and pay, or I thought can we just type my card number in the machine and do it that way? (this is possible in the US, but not in France unfortunately).  We asked the manager what they do in these situations, but he said he had never dealt with that before (embarrassing!), so he then said he would accompany us to an ATM to withdraw cash.

So we had to take an elevator to get to the level of the street and walk in the rain to an ATM. We weren’t sure if the ATM would work because the card wouldn’t work before, but it did! So it all ended well at least. It is lucky the management was so nice about it because when in France don’t hold your breath about that kind of stuff, but we really lucked out on that one!

After dinner, we stopped by at a SKEMA student’s bday party. I saw some friends and chatted in English and French. One girl I chatted in French the whole time, and she told me I spoke French better than she spoke English! So not true, but it really made me happy to hear. So I felt like Friday was a good day overall. Snow, restaurant, and French speaking!

Next day

Wtf I am so mad right now. I was on Amazon UK today looking at presents for the kids, and I found a Trivial Pursuit game in English. I thought an English version would be nice since they have the French version. So I was researching, and I found one for 35 pounds, and when I finally figured out shipping costs it would have been $96 total, and I was like No Thank You. So I continued researching other options. Then I receive an email saying Thank You for you Order????!! Ahh why?? So I have now spent $96 on that stupid game. I had to chat Amazon bc my French phone can’t call the UK, and the person was like there is nothing we can do bc you have to contact the seller. So I have contacted them, and I hope they are nice and let me cancel the order/get my money back. This is so dumb!

Sometime later

So I received an email from Amazon telling me how to file a return claim, so I am hoping this whole fiasco will work out soon. I just don’t know if I should go ahead and buy the game on ebay for 40 US dollars because I want the present to get here on time, but if I end up having to pay for the $100 one, I don’t want to be stuck with the other one either. Decisions…

On Saturday, I saw the movie Argo with Meghan. It was a really good movie, but I kept falling asleep. I must not have gotten enough sleep the night before. Anyway I would recommend it! It was Vincent’s birthday that night, so two friends came to Paris to surprise him, so I hung out with them and Nico until Vincent got home. And then we were just eating a drinking till more people started showing up.

The apéro in France is just great. Basically a pre-game, but here you eat food along with drinking. I feel like Americans need to pick this up. We snacked on paté and bread, which I have grown to like. At first, I didn’t like it, but now I do! We also had bread with goat cheese and jelly… a weird, but good combination.  It was just so fancy compared to the American way, which usually doesn’t involve food, and if it does, it is chips or something. We did have Pringles along with this light and creamy cheese, kiri, SO GOOD AND YUMMY! Then they kept popping pizzas in the microwave oven for people to snack on.

After the apéro, we went to Memphis, which we have been to like 3 weeks in a row. I don’t mind bc it is always a good time, but I would like to explore other clubs and bars! I live in Paris, and I don’t know a lot about the night life. Anyway it was a lot of fun. The downstairs has oldy French music, which I don’t really know. But upstairs has electronic/rap music, so I asked if we could go up there at one point too, and we had a lot of fun up there dancing!

Well I just received a message from the seller from Amazon. I can get a refund, but not for the shipping, which was 22 pounds, like $40. But now I will have to ship it back to them, so I guess that will be another $40. So I am not really saving money. But I already bought a game from ebay, so I just dug myself a whole. Oh well L

On Sunday didn’t do a whole lot as usual. We went to the reptile store that I went to months ago with Vincent and Jerome, but we wanted to show the others. It was cool though seeing animals. We also then saw The Impossible, a movie about the tsunami in Thailand a few years back during Christmas. It was a very intense movie and very good as well. It was funny because Nico was crying the whole time; I got teary eyed once, but French men are much more emotional than Americans haha!

Today I stayed home. After taking the kids, I slept until noon and then did laundry all day, made grilled cheese, watched Teen Mom, wrote a French paper that I didn’t know was not due tomorrow but Friday, and then had the whole Amazon fiasco. Monday was hectic driving the kids, but it is all done now.

I asked the mom about my end date using the excuse of booking flights home, but it is a plausible question anyway. She said the latest would be July 26, but the grandma takes them for a week during July, so I could be done July 19. But I am wondering, if she takes them for another week in July, do I get a week of vaca? Bc I would totes be fine with that too!