Happy weekend

Last night I met K and P, my loud American friends, at l'Amuse-Gueule. They hadn't been able to make the St. Moppety's Day outing the night before (it had ended up being just me and A and Js for a drink) because K had been under the weather. But we had a fun time. I like l'Amuse-Gueule...but I like it less now because now that I think about it, they made it more expensive for us than it should have been. And to think I thought I was their friend! Tsk tsk. My gueule is not amused.

Anyway, sure enough, they asked K and P to quiet down. It partly cracks me up that this is so routine with them, but partly it's embarrassingly stupid-American. Gf, the guy who had helped me the most with the electricity thing, was also amused enough by our asking for ketchup with our frites (and using about half the bottle) that he wrote on the check, "Et vive le ketchup!"

Ah well. We had a good time regardless.

Yesterday I went to the new office for the first time. It's a new building, and we have less space, but the layout is a lot friendlier than the layout at Catu, where C was way down the hall. It's only slightly warmer than Catu...but the bathrooms are closer, and there's already internet, and there's a screened-in terrace for when it gets warmer, so I'll be able to do some reading outside.

When it gets warmer...it was cold enough for a few flakes of snow yesterday.

Inappropriately enough, on my first day there, we went back across town to Le Coq Hardi for the Friday couscous. Talk about your long lunch breaks. But it was worth it. I've talked about couscous before, haven't I? It's more than what we think of as couscous. It's that, plus a lovely vegetable stew, plus your choice of meat. Truly divine on a cold winter's day.

Speaking of divinity, we -- well, I didn't participate all that much -- had a discussion with Md, my no-longer-officemate Berber-speaking phonologist friend, about the cartoons that are causing so much trouble in the Muslim world. The highlight was that he made some point about Napoleon, which got Sv, our resident Corsican, up in arms. :) I tried to follow the conversation, but it was hard to do more than identify the topic. Some things are getting clearer, but in complicated discussions, it's still very trying on what I like to call my "French brain." (As in, "my French brain is broken, could you say that again in English?")

My commute now involves three métro lines. It could involve two, but I think the route with three is faster; must check that. It takes about 50 minutes, which is a bit longer than my average commute before, but it's at least more reliable than the RER, where one can wait 20 minutes for a train. I have plans to start listening to my favorite podcasts on the trip: French language learning materials and dharma talks. Oh, and my commute also involves two (chain) bakeries, damn them. But actually one of them is a Paul, like the one at the Tower of London, and they make good bread, so there's the agreeable possibility of getting bread on my commute home.

And now it's the weekend! I've been having a good week working, despite my tiredness from my eyes and my neck, finally finally settling into a groove of working for a bit each day on several different projects. For the weekend, one of my dates had to cancel but Sn from London is in town, also a new date tomorrow. I may try to get to some museum or another, but I think I may leave it at cleaning house, relaxing, and hitting the market on Sunday.