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So this afternoon I went to the bank, city hall, and the cell phone store, and was told, respectively, that I needed an appointment (I made one for Tuesday, they're not open on Monday), that I needed to go to the prefecture office, and that I needed to have a French bank account.

I'm batting about .500 with speaking and understanding French. That is, I've managed to communicate. But it's not pretty, I tell you. Still have to fend off the odd bit of Japanese.

After doing my errands, I've just been walking around. I took the metro into Paris (Natalya's place is just outside it) and walked from Saint-Lazare to where I am right now, just about at Republique. I stopped at a cafe for a croque-monsieur (ham and grilled cheese open sandwich...yum). It's really hot here, not perhaps by East Coast standards, but hot enough, and humid, so I've been trying to stay hydrated.

Stopped in a bookstore to look at the stationery...yes, you knew I would do that. It's funny how Europeans have so many kinds of plastic folders, some of which they call "chemises", which I find adorable.

I am very conscious of trying not to seem like a tourist, I really do need to relax about that. It's different from being in Japan because I don't automatically look out of place. But the moment I open my mouth...

I'll feel a lot better about French when I stop saying all the little words in Japanese. Bien sur (of course), not naruhodo. It's okay to say um, it's not okay to say anoo. Excusez-moi, not sumimasen. Actually, I've passed more than one Japanese speaker today, and cursed them inwardly. In French. Merde.

Anyway, this internet cafe is nice but I think I'll continue with my walk. I'm meeting a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend for dinner.