Converse All Stars are in

Saturday, November 21, 2009
Pretty lazy Saturday, woke up late and worked on a few final medical school essay questions. I’m really frustrated because I’ve been in contact with a teacher from UW-Madison who was going to write me a letter of recommendation (I could use another one on top of the three I already have), but he never got back to me. I guess it should be expected, I tried to get in touch with him three times this summer before I left Madison, and the first time he responded to me was a few weeks ago (so, 3 months after I wrote him). Obviously I was already here in Paris and couldn’t set up a meeting with him. So I emailed back with all my relevant information, such as resumé, student record, personal statement, whatnot to see if he’d still be interested in writing a letter, and told him I could call over Skype if he wanted to discuss anything. That was 10 days ago, and I haven’t heard back from him. I really wanted his letter before December 1, but looks like I won’t get it at all. So. Extremely. Frustrating.
I just cooked stir fry for dinner, fun learning experience. Actually, I didn’t do too poorly because the chicken wasn’t too tough, and the carrots and green peppers really added flavor to the rice and chicken. I cheated on the rice- they have individual packets of rice in plastic bags that you just toss into boiling water and let sit for ten minutes, giving you nicely cooked rice, no mess to clean out of the pan. Ingenious. Do these magical rice bags exist in the US? Let me know, I’ll definitely buy them when I get back. And it’s not even considered cheating here in France because Dorothée (my au pair mom) even uses the rice bags to cook. I went jogging on Wednesday for the first time in this area, there’s a nice park a few blocks away. One lap around the park is about .6 miles, so I didn’t do anything drastic, just 4 laps. I think the hardest part was the 7 flights of stairs to get up to my room at the end (I chose to skip the elevator). Felt good on Wednesday and I was exhausted by bedtime, and then the muscle aches hit me Thursday. Luckily I don’t have to climb many stairs when I’m teaching! But now that I know the park is there and I checked it out, hopefully I’ll start running more frequently. Unfortunately I discovered the easiest way to get unwanted attention from French men- run with shorts on. Of the six other runners I saw at the park, three were women and all had pants and long sleeve shirts on. It’s still about 55 deg here during the day, so perfect running weather, and not nearly cold enough to wear sweats while working out! Next time I’ll wear my iPod and just ignore any comments. Some of the days I really can’t run because I leave for work around 7am, teach until 4pm, and then spend time with the au pair kids until 8pm. Since the sun sets at 5pm, I don’t want to go running at 8pm in the dark. So, I have to be on the ball on my days off and actually motivate myself to get out the door and run.
I had a funny fashion lesson last night from Thibault, the 13 year old son. I was at the apartment with the two boys, Thibault and Antoine, and they were leaving soon to meet up with the rest of the family for dinner that night. It was just me and the boys, and when the 10 year old Antoine walked out wearing jeans and a tshirt, I thought he looked fine. The tshirt was plain, no video game jargon or sports slogans, so I thought he looked ready to go to a family dinner. Then Thibault yelled at him to dress up. Ok, so Antoine puts on a nicer white dress shirt, skinny jeans (yes, they are just as popular with men here as with women), and some snazzy silver fashion sneakers. I thought he looked very handsome for a ten year old. A few minutes later I walk into his room to see Antoine changing shoes into black canvas Converse high tops. I asked him why he was changing; personally, I think the silver fashion sneakers he started with went WAY better with the outfit (umm, aren’t Converse All Stars pretty laid back, casual shoes?) According to Thibault (who obviously knows everything at the age of 13, just like I did), the silver shoes don’t go with skinny jeans. I decided to trust his fashion judgment because he was standing there wearing a very fashionable button up, dark skinny jeans, smelled like Armani cologne, and finished the whole ensemble with black, suede, pointy-toe men’s dress shoes. Très chic. I wouldn’t be able to pay a 13 year old American boy to dress that way. So Antoine wore his high-top Converses with his nice outfit and they left for the dinner. Initially I was supposed to go with them on the métro to make sure they made it ok (they really don’t take the métro much because their family has a car), but Thibault complained to his mom that he is too old for a babysitter. So their mom agreed and said I didn’t have to take them. After hearing Thibault’s fashion advice to Antoine, I can’t even imagine what he thinks when he sees me wearing my silver Skechers, wider leg jeans, and t-shirts. Guess I’ll never be cool enough for him. But I’m not complaining about French fashion, it’s just a foreign concept to think the men care about how they look and take their time getting ready just as much as women do! Maybe I’ll have to ask Thibault how my outfit looks the next time I go out with friends :)