SIH

Salma is here!  

She arrived safely and soundly yesterday at 11:50 AM.  I was late (comme d'habitude) to pick her up.  It wasn't my fault though, first I got stopped by RATP security because I didn't buy the special ticket to go to Charles de Gaulle Airport.  I feigned innocence by speaking English (love that you can do that), apologized profusely and they let me go...granted, I smiled coyly and batted my eyelashes--that may have had something to do with it too :)  And then I was stuck at Gare de Nord for 15 minutes...mètro, tu me soulle, quoiiiiiiiii.

Anyway, we passed a lovely day.  OH OH.  I'm losing my English speaking skills.  I hang out with Marion so much that I've begun to say things that she would say....

"We passed a lovely day."  "On a passé une bonne journée" 

"Do you want to take a coffee?"  "Tu veux prendre un café" 

My English grammar is going down to the ground.  How irrelevant. 

So, we walked around; I took her to café Parvis (yas, love you, jaat khalli), and I made her ultra-tired so that she would sleep well that night.  On our way back home in the metro we had quite a scare when a drunk woman stumbled passed us and was waiting for the metro to arrive but right near the edge of the platform.  She couldn't stand up straight and she was freaking us out.  I thought, "this woman is going to fall down any second now and its going to be bye bye random French woman." 

I went up to her and asked her if she was alright.

yeah, yeah, I worked all day and now I am a little drunk

Madame, you should be a little more careful, do you want to sit down?  

That's nice of you, but I'm ok.  Where are you from?

The United States 

I am Moroccan but I've lived here all of my life.  Here in France, it is different than the United States, people can do things like this.  We drink.  No one asks us if we are alright or that we should be more careful.

Nervous smile...where is she going with this?

Thank you, it's very nice of you.  What are you doing in Paris?

Actually, I live here and study.

Where do you live?

The 13th.

Where in the 13th?

Near Place d'Italie.  

OHhhhhh, my best friend lives there.  I'm going to go visit her right now.  See, I have more wine in my purse.  But its very nice of you to ask me if I'm alright.  Very nice...

Metro arrives.

I like to say I saved her life.  Salma says, "Ranna, idiot, she was capable without you."  

Today we went my friend Courtney's house for brunch...OH, so we finally had daylight savings, only neither my phone or my television configured automatically, so I was late and we didnt wake up.  We started the day off late.  

But, we had french toast and strawberries.  And then we went to Montmartre and sat in at Mass at the Sacre Coeur.  

The coolest was that I understood the sermon.  I mean, I spent more time thinking about how it was cool that I understood to REALLY understand (you know what I'm saying?).  

I hope Salma hit it off with Courtney and Marion.  I hope she likes them because...well, she's going to be spending a lot of time with them.  She better like them, is all I'm saying.  :) 

Tonight we are having a "Welcome to Paris" party for her with pizza and birthday cake...because Marion wants to pretend its her birthday tonight.  I dont know...Oh man, I'm late.  I have to go order pizza.  And buy candles.  I hope people arrive later than I told them to arrive.  

WHATS WRONG WITH ME?  I'm always late these days. 

These blog posts are going downhill.  Maybe if I actually DID something....OK BYE. 

the one where ranna acts melancholy

i dont know why this is so hard.  the saying goodbye process.  its beginning.  once one person leaves, the others slowly follow suit.  we all knew it was going to arrive eventually.  just not this fast.  and no one expected for it to be this hard.  no one was supposed to get attached.  its a rule, i think.  it should be a rule.  there should be rules about these sorts of things.  rules so that we can live and love and let go.  and then do it all over again.  but as one person leaves, we lose a little bit of ourselves.  the dynamic is not the same.  there is an empty space where there was once an amazing being.  a silence where there was a laugh.  a void where there was once a friend.  we are here for a short time.  every second of every day counts.  and when every second of every day counts, we dont live half-assedly (made up word of the day).  we live with our all.  we put every strength that we have into all of our encounters, all of our experiences.  so no wonder when we are happy, we are the happiest people in the world.  and when we're sad, nothing can pacify our gloom.  no wonder. 

but, its a new day.  for goodness sake, its a new year (norooz mobarak)!  we take the bad just as much as we take the good and we learn and we grow.  

whaat? 

veejh

My friend Melody came to Paris this week for a visit.  it was her first time visiting the city so it was a good time showing her around, taking her to visit all the different areas.

I wanted to take her bike riding, but apparently Mel doesn't like two things: bikes and horses.  

Reflect 

So anway, what didnt we do?  Every day was fun-filled and fabulous.  oh la la.  

We even got sick together.  Thursday night when we got home from dinner I became feverish and ill and Mel couldn't stop coughing.  We spent the night practically dying together.  There were times when I would be like, "Mel, khoobi?  Hasti?"  and vice versa.  At one point she was like, "Ranna, berim."  "Koja berim, Melody?"  "Khooneh.  Mamanamo mikham."  "Midoonam.  Soon enough." 

Yeah, it was miserable.  Turns out I have strep throat and I'm pretty sure she'll get it sometime in the next few days.  

I told her it was mental, and that if she told herself she wasnt going to get sick she wouldnt get sick.  To which she replied,"

"Boro gom sho to-am ba een mental-et.  Hamechi mental-eh barat!"  that was funny.

Friday was spent with Melody and I in bed, until she (bless her heart) chose to play mommy and took care of me.  Her and Yasna.  Yasna brought soup and Mel shared her pharmaceutical knowledge with me and told me which pills to pop at what hour. 

I mean, considering I was practically dying and Melody had to stay home most of the day (until she went shopping for a few hours with Yasna) it was a pretty funny experience.  Mel looked at it from the positive angle...."How many times can you say we've been sick together in Paris."  haha....

We even had a doctor pay a house call at 11:3o pm.  That was kind of cool.  We just called this company and they sent over a doctor who checked out my throat and wrote me a prescription.  Granted, it was sort of expensive, since I'm the idiot who chose not to get insurance, but still, it's not something you see in the US.

So.  She ate what she had to eat.  She saw what she had to see.  But in the middle of all the generic things, we had some of the most bizarre, random, hilarious, experiences I've had in Paris.  I really hope she had fun.  

Love, Ranna 

PS. My sabzeh is officially NOT growing--chikar konam? 

Spring Cleaning

Dear friends and family,

Each morning when I wake up and raise my blinds, I am greeted by the strong sun beating down into my room.  It's not too warm, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket... and its not even April 17...

Everyone is out on the streets enjoying this while they can because who knows what the weather will be like tomorrow... Paris may pull a Virginia and go blizzard on us.  Omg I would be so depressed. 

Yesterday after class I was walking around the school area like a zombie and I stumbled across this amazing juice bar.  You choose any kind of fresh fruit or vegetable you want, and they juice it for you on the spot.  It's so tasty.  It boosted my energy level too... although, I'm pretty sure the lack of energy and the sudden onset of terrible stomachaches was coming from a lack of the B12 vitamin/folic acid, because of the changes in my diet.  No meat, dairy, etc...  don't worry, I went to the natural food store and stocked up on my vitamins.  Why are the tablets so big? 

So anyway, today I went to the juice bar again with Yasna and my friend Lulie, this ultra-cool Mexican-American who's lived in France for a while.  She's applying to law school here, and is so fluent in French, its not even funny.  As we were drinking our juice Lulie mentioned how it would be cool to ride the "Velibs" (Velo-libres AKA free bikes) from where we were to the Eiffel Tower, riding by the Seine.  

So basically heres the deal, the Velib stands are all over Paris, and you pick a bike up from one stand, ride around for as long as you want, they charge your credit card, but only for as long as you have the bike, other than that, its like 1euro an hour up to 4 hours, then it just stays at 4euro.  I never understood how they kept people from stealing bikes--but they basically keep a hold of 150euro until you give the bike back...but if someone really wanted a bike, I guess they could keep it.... eh, who does that? 

Anyway we started riding the bikes, and it was so much fun... I only almost died like 2 times... No, I joke, I joke.  But, you definitely have to be careful and completely aware of whats going on around you (sorry Salma, that means no bike for you) otherwise you will get run over by a car or a motorcycle.  But, I did notice how equipped Paris is for their bike transportation system.  The roads all have bike paths, and there are signs everywhere showing the bikers where to go.

Plus, all the bikes have bells and baskets.  It's so cute.  

Right now, I'm going to figure out what the easiest path is for me to ride from my house to school, or back, because it's such good exercise, plus, it's a lot of fun.  So much fun. 

My friend Melody is coming into town on Saturday, and if she's up for it, I'm thinking about showing her around the city via Velib.  She'll get to see so much.  Good idea, Ranna.  Thanks, Parsa.  

Alright, in other news, I spent all of Sunday heavily cleaning my apartment--I made poor Yasna help me out, haha.  But, you know, it was March 1, I needed to make my apartment clean for Norooz. 

I've started to set up a 7sin.  Well, I have sombol, seeb, serkeh, the beginnings of sabzeh (only, I have little faith that it will work).  I need to go to the Iranian grocery store, rather, I need to figure out if there is an Iranian grocery store, to go and by somakh and...what am I missing?  sombol, seeb, serkeh, sabzeh, somakh...oh, sekeh...and..is it called senjeh?  hmm, is that what its called?  

Well anyway, yeah, so 7sin in Paris, so ballin. 

Love, Ranna