American Alien In Paris

Got asked to do a few things (cleaning, etc) since I had asked for instructions to help earlier, so I ended up staying here a bit longer. I was also asked to go on an archeological thing with Marine's father, so I happily agreed. Meanwhile, they've got two kids visiting... 10 year old girl and a little boy who is 5. They're quiet and polite.

The boy's never met anyone other than French people before. I assume this because after he heard me talking he asked why I didn't speak French and if I were an alien. As in, an ET alien. That was funny and cute, but I wish he'd stop staring at me suspiciously at the dinner table. Ain't no alien gonna travel a million light years to hang out and eat crêpes!

Although he's right in every other sense, I am from another world and have no idea what the hell is going on.

Still searching for a state of grace...

Spent most of the day doing just this



Smoking and sitting on the bed staring at a church. Listening to Street Dogs.

Feeling like you've over stayed your welcome isn't a good feeling, although it is becoming a more common and common experience for me. Guess that shows what point in life I've come to. It's hard explaining to the wife why I haven't yet found a place to volunteer at for sure, because nothing sounds good. Which isn't the point, it isn't supposed to be good, I guess, just work and a roof over your head. But how do you spend 100 Euros to fly to Ireland if you don't have it and how do you work in southern france when you have a hard time with the language? Either way, I try and not let any discouragement show. Gotta be the strong one.

It helps nothing to admit you've made a mistake either, although I'm not sure what the right course of action ever would have been. I'm not saying I'm giving up or that my plans are going to fail, it's just not easy and you can't admit that to someone who is already worrying themselves to death over other things. Gotta stay positive and "in the present" as a friend told me. Maybe I'll find something tonight. I hope so, because it's Friday and I planned on leaving this weekend. C'est la vie.

Here, have a Street Dogs song:

Power Converters and Electric Wizardy

I was kinda worried about finding a decent and inexpensive power converter once I got over here, cause I brought my Eee PC and wanted to be able to stay in touch with people. So I went to this big supermarket they have over here called Carrefour, which is kind of like a Wal-Mart... except it has two floors, it's in a shopping mall, and some sections are pretty gigantic, especially the grocery area. Why we Americans don't have more of that going on, I don't know, cause we're supposed to be the consumer whores. Anyway, you can buy anything you want, really. A baguette or four, some pâté, two bottles of Johnnie Walker Red, some lubricant, a Twilight dvd, whatever, just have a blast.




I, however, went there for a power converter and after standing around for 15 minutes waiting for a service rep to become available (one of the small annoyances about living over here after being in America), we finally got directions to a power adapter that didn't cost 60 god damn Euros. In fact it was like 8 Euros and it was universal. I hadn't seen those before so I was amazed. European jacks to American, vice versa, and everything else. It's like the swiss army knife of power adapters and if you're traveling anywhere I recommend you get one. Saves you from having to buy a new adapter for each country. Also don't fry your shit - my laptop was apparently made to withstand the conversion of power, I don't know if everything else can.

Onward

So today I've done a whole lot of nothing; past few days I've been helping out with whatever needed to be done. I glued some broken furniture back together with some Sader glue (whatever the hell that stuff is, it's powerful). Climb ladders, put in light bulbs, whatever.

Other than that, I should be looking for a place to go on Help Exchange, but I've been postponing it because I haven't felt like I'm ready to go volunteer and work my ass off. For anybody who doesn't know, it's just an organization that helps you find room and board, in exchange you work for a set amount of hours - whatever it is the host requests. Some have photos of their land and detailed info on what their project is; renovating an old building in Ireland to create a coffee shop, renovating a giant French château, cleaning up pig shit. The world is yours! Of course the options aren't always great and it requires money to travel to the places, some which are pretty rural, even if you're already on the continent. There are some sweet deals though, like helping maintain a hostel in exchange for some $ once the backpacking season starts up. Or getting 50 euro a week for groceries.. still haven't figured that one out.

I've found a few places I'd like to go but it would mean taking a plane or a long train and both are expensive right now for some reason. I might be leaving this weekend 'cause I feel I've overstayed my my welcome, helping or not. So that's a short amount of time to pick a location, contact them and wait for a response. Here's hoping I manage it.

"But wherever I have gone, I was sure to find myself there"

Obvious to all, obvious to me, but I will reiterate:

You are who you are wherever you are.