I put on for my city

I love it.  I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it.  

This is the first time since I have arrived in France that 1. I have had time to sit down and write 2. I have had any internet access.  It has been one thing after another and now most of the difficult tasks are completed.  I am proud to say that I am now a full-time resident of Paris, France.  Reppin' the 75013.  

What does that mean?  It means I have an address in the 13th arrondissement (district/neighborhood) of Paris.  There are 20 arrondissements in all, and they are arranged circularly (1eme being in the center and 2oeme being at the end).  I live in a fairly quiet area of the neighborhood.  Actually, it's near a little Chinatown...although, I would call it more of an Asiatown; the restaurants range from Chinese, to Vietnamese, to Korean.  So anytime I "havas," or crave some Pho, I can walk down my street, and VOILA! 

My apartment is to. die. for.  It's soooooooooooooooooooooo lovely and wonderful and I LOVE it.  It's tiny, tiny, tiny--a small bedroom, a little kitchenette, a washroom and a WC (toilet room).  BUT, my favorite part of the apartment are the sliding doors that lead me directly into the courtyard.  I'm obsessed.  My entire wall is basically made up of sliding doors so the space is filled with light.  

What else did we do?  Basically everything.  It's pretty funny because in order to get a long-stay residency card here, I first have to have a French bank account, live in a French residence, be enrolled in a French school, have a French telephone number...the list goes on.  So, Monsieur René and I worked tirelessly to get everything finished by today (because it's harvest season in Alsace and I'm dying to go wine tasting).  

The French system of doing anything is amazing.  Things that could have taken us one hour to finish in the US took us two days here.  I enjoy every second of it.  All you need is a little patience and the mind set that, "OK, its OK that it's taking this long, I can just sit here and drink a little café while I wait."  That's how everything is in Paris.

Parisians themselves are an oxymoron.  They walk and talk in jet speed, but then you notice they're walking fast to go to a brasserie (a little restaurant) for their two-hour lunch breaks.  In the hustle and bustle of the city, everything is just so f-ing relaxed.

Some other key things I would like to share: I'm immensely thankful that Monsieur René is here with me.  I would never have been able to finish everything so promptly without his help.  The language is so technical when you go to the bank, the mobile phone shops, or the consulate.  I would have been out of my league without him.

Also, yesterday I took the proficiency test at the Sorbonne.  I was pretty nervous beforehand because...well, I generally get a little nervous before tests.  But it ended up being pretty busy AND a man from Senegal blessed me right before the test...what now. 

I'll write back in a few days about our trip to Alsace.  Until then, cheeerrrrssss.