The email that didn't have a title.

Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006

That's riiight every body... it's your favorite time of the week (or so)... email update!
yyyyaaaay and the crowd goes wild.

So Thanksgiving dinner on the Eiffel Tower. Well for starters, Thanksgiving doesn't quite feel the same without the whole 'family affair' (isn't that a disco-era song?), but you got to give up something to get good food, charming waiters and a dinner in one of the world's most well-known monuments, right?

So food. My favorite. Oh the dinner… We noshed on pumpkin soup deliciously loaded with creme fresh and served Native American style right in the gourd itself. (I don't actually think that's Native American style, but we're going to pretend we ate our pumpkin soup just like people did back in the days of headresses and wigwams.) Following that was a plate of green beans, mashed potatoes (not your traditional potatoes, but A+ to France for the effort) and turkey "farci". The turkey stuffing was, unfortunately, traditionally French: a lovely concoction of "la viande" or "meat". It was a protein lover’s paradise. A scrumptious chocolate mousse and raspberry sauce tart that even Emeril would have drooled over rounded off the feast as dessert. A nice bottle of tasty Bordeaux was served to quench the palates of your here “gourmandise”.

The waiters were as I said, charming, always cracking jokes and flirting with theee laaaaadies in a good-humored way. One even presented me with a platinum and diamond ring – clearly a engagement ring bound for some lucky lady dining that night. (Unlike the S&M party mentioned in the Amsterdam update, this really happened). The waiter informed me that no, I should go out with his co-waiter, but should instead choose him. I recalled the sagacious words of the Steve Miller Band – “Woah, take the money and run.” – and I was all set to take the ring and run off with the waiter like a mad girl in Vegas. Well, things didn’t work out. Guess that ring ended up on the finger of the lucky dame it was really destined for. Damn.

Sunday, I had the pleasure of seeing an event at the Louvre. For my 3 Euro 50 centime ticket, I saw soulful videos of Nina Simone, and a spine tingling clip of a Sweet Honey in the Rock Concert. Before closing out with more spunky Nina Simone footage, there was a middle section consisting of an interview with Toni Morrison. Not bad for 5 dollars, eh?

Tuesday night I went to a student's night at a bar. Tuesday night!? A school night!? Don't tell my mom and dad (too bad they’re already on this mailing list). I tell you, I'm turning into a true "fêtarde" (French equivalent of party animal) here in Paris. Listen to me roar RAR. Or perhaps COCKADOODLEDOO. Or even better, AAHHHWEEEEOOOUUUU (that’s a whale).

Fêtarde... “Fête” means “party” is French. I wonder it follows that if you ad "ard(e)" on the to end of a word, you get a noun meaning person who is extreme about the verb/noun you add it to. For example could you have a mangetard (someone who loves to "manger" or eat)? Or, could there exist a “en retardard” (some one who loves to be "en retard" or late)?

But I digress like Polonious does so much in Hamlet. Where were we in the lovely one-sided chat of my recount? Ah yes, Tuesday. So, Tuesday at the bar was pretty fun. Mostly excitingly, I ended up talking with ebullient French girl named, "Fouzia". It was her birthday and she was out with her friends (all guys, but hey no matter!) and I found her quite fun. We all had a good time. HOPEFULLY I'll see them all again. That would really make me happy. But going on the stellar record I've got as per the French people I've met (excepting Jeanne-Faustine who I met at the Louvre)… Well, I’ve found that the ‘locals’ I’ve met will seem really excited to meet me, may even see you once more, then poof there's some Merlin the Magician who abracadabras them away, never to be heard from again. Perhaps I’m making some horrible “faux pas”. Do you think that wandering around with no pants on might be it? Good, because I don’t do that.

My parents are coming tomorrow. YAY! I'm really excited to see them and (hopefully) travel to Leipzig with them. We'll see how that works out with REALLY last minute booking. Did I tell you I got me some winter break plans? I picked them out of my computer window, shiny and new as a silver dollar. It’s even better than a new, red bike with streamers on the handlebars. For break, I'll be joining a friend from Elmira (Lisa S…. if you wanted to know) in Berlin for 3 days before going back to Prague with her to check check check it out. If I don't go to Leipzig next weekend, I'll stop there in between. I might also try to take a day trip to Tachau were my paternal roots come from.

I kind of wish I could go back to the US for a few days just to see some of y'all, but that's not only expensive, but additionally, I don't think good mentally nor French linguistically. It would be better if I could just bring all 100 of you here for a visit, eh? Cause ‘ All I want for Christmas is yoooouuuu baby.’ Too bad I don’t celebrate Christmas.

Wishing you all a bonne soiree as I depart for l'Urgence: a bar rumored to be medical-themed that serves its ER-named cocktails in test tubes. That’s creativity for you

I hope your days in the coming weeks are filled with as many crazy French people , flans and baguette sandwiches as may be possible in the US (or abroad wherever you are).

Je voooous embrasse forte!
Hannah