Speaking other languages

Growing up, we kids heard my grandmother curse at us in Dutch when she was frustrated. We always asked her what the word or phrase meant. She said it was something like, "smarty pants, you think you know everything." Turns out what we thought was "bah-fur-dickey" is Potverdikke, which is a mild curse because it's a play on "God damn it," which is Gotverdomme.

I find this especially funny because my dad used to always yell, "God dammit!" followed by my mom: "Arnold!" While shopping today, I asked what the French name is for bok choy. It's basically "Shanghai cabbage," choux shanghai. LMAO. So far today, I've spoken with a Korean man, a Chinese woman, a Japanese woman, two Frenchmen, a British woman, and ended the night with a Dutchman (who answered the family cursing question) and his Romanian wife.

The good life!

On our way home, I spoke for about 10 minutes to a drunk Frenchman on the metro. [Meanwhile a young man was laughing at either my broken English or the drunken man's state--or both!] He missed his stop because we were talking, but he said it's just because he's been drinking too much. He ended by saying "Welcome to the good life in France!" and then we say our au revoirs.

Paris

Well, I started a blog post before we left, but I got pulled away so many times that I never finished it. Perhaps my words are still sitting open on my laptop. Sigh. Here's what I want for this blog. I plan on simply logging what I do, like a diary. I may think aloud from time to time, but I'm drafting quickly, revising little, and hoping I get some chronicle of the trip that makes sense.

Lufthansa

We flew Lufthansa for the first time. I have mixed reviews. The service was great. They gave us free beer and two meals. We're vegetarian. When booking the flight, I must have clicked something other than simply vegetarian because Terry and I got "Asian vegetarian," but Teagan got a regular vegetarian. What they mean by "Asian" is Indian, because so many fly from the US to India via Frankfurt, I'm guessing. The meal was one of the best I've had on an airline. The salad was garbanzo beans with a little onion, and then the main course was something like idli and chana masala. The bread was dry but it came with real butter. And did I mention free beer? Granted, it's not much of a step up from Bud. The breakfast was also "Asian," meaning something like the first but with more potatoes and tomato. The spice was just right. The bad part is typical for European flights--not much tolerance for carry-on bags. The airplane (Airbus 340) had very narrow seats, 17" compared to, say, 19" on Icelandair. I only just consulted this website for seat sizes. So, if you're skinning and hungry, fly Lufthansa. Ha! On the flight, we enjoyed listening to the toddler behind us. She was probably three years old and adorable! She spoke part German, part English. "Bitte, mama?" she'd said over and over. I peeked between the seats to wave and she smiled. We changed planes in Frankfurt and then T started feeling sick. She was able to keep it down on the plane, but once we got off and found a toilet (which is a L-O-T harder than it should be, CDG airport!), the poor thing ejected her normal vegetarian meals. We decided to splurge for a taxi instead of taking the train, so she (we) didn't have to lug her bags for her.

Politics already

I spoke a bit with the taxi driver. He complained about Macron for promising things to get elected and then not doing them once elected. In case you're unaware, there have been many anti-Macron protests. I agreed regarding Macron but then said at least he's better than "Monsieur Trump." He said Trump was "un catastrophe" and I added "pour tout le monde," for the entire world! I'm actually rather amazed that having not spoken French in quite some time I'm still somehow able to remember enough to get by.

The apartment

The apartment is in the 5th arrondisement, by the mosque and the Jardin des Plantes. It has two bedrooms, a reasonable (for Paris!) living space and a tiny kitchen with not much kitchenware. You'll probably laugh at this, but because of our last trip and living in seriously understocked kitchens, I actually packed a coffee press and a spatula. I didn't realize I needed kitchen towels, too! How do you wash dishes by hand if the only way to dry them is to just leave them out? I'm still trying to wrap my head around no kitchen towels. The place was advertised with AC; in fact, it was listed as one of the only places in the area with AC, but what did we get? hot and stuffy. There's technically a wall unit in one room, but the air is maybe a degree or two cooler than the surrounding air. A funny: Terry tripped on the way out because he forgot about the first/last step. Then the next time we left, he tripped again on the same step. And then the third time, he was holding the door and BAM! he tripped AGAIN. Teagan and I laughed. "You missed that last step again?" He says, "No, this one. I didn't think it was that small."

World cup! or Zzzz...

Last night, England played Belgium. Terry wanted to find a bar to watch the game, but he and the kids fell asleep. I managed to watch the whole game, which I found rather a snooze, and then passed out. I woke up maybe 90 minutes later, and then again at 3am. Terry was up at 7am and got croissants. Aaaah! Nothing better than fresh-baked butter croissants and a coffee.

Day one: walking

Today's only chore was to get a Paris pass. We went to Set in Paris to buy them, and ended up chatting with a young man from Korea! Funny how that always seems to happen to me. So we talked about Busan and Seoul and such until the owner returned to sell us the passes. After that, we walked to Notre Dame and visited that. I'll likely write about it again when we return to hike up to the top. Pont Neuf has changed--no more locks on the bridge! Shakespear and Company is the same old. I bought a book to read because I didn't want to carry one here. Plus then I get another stamp in a book. Ha! I have to cook dinner. Oh, thanks to the Korean man I shopped at the Asian markets (one Chinese and one Korean/Japanese) for soy sauce, tofu, veggies, and some coconut curry sauce. Easy meal. After this, we're meeting friends for drinks. Fun!