Just Another Manic Monday

It was my first day of class today. I had to run because I was late (30 years old and still some things don't change).

I arrived sweaty, out of breath and wet from the rain. I took a seat and sat for a moment. I was supposed to have a "Madame H" but instead, there was a Jellineck look-alike who was even sweatier than I was. Wrong class! I swear this has happened on the first day of every stage of my education except that on the first day of high school, it is devastatingly embarassing. This time it was just mildly annoying (as I was haltingly able to express to the administrative office) as it was a mistake on their end and it meant lining up all morning instead of being in class. I pity the school administrator who must face my ill-pronounced wrath. I went easy on them because I knew that simply listening to my mangled French was punishment enough. Even for me.

The office ladies helped place me in the right class. I had to interrupt it in session. The prof was mad because her class is jam-packed (i.e., I had no desk) and also because my stammering about being a new student was indecipherable. In trying to come closer to hear me, she hit her head on the overhead TV stand. She hates me now. I approached her desk after class and while I was waiting, an American mom asked her if she could bring her a coffee at the start of class every morning. I was in awe of her confidence. I will always be the rain-soaked frantic person who causes others to have inadvertent head injuries, never the smooth-talking caffeine dealer.

After class, I bought my books and did my homework on the metro on my way to lunch with Nadia. She took me to the Passage Brady in the 10e arrondissement for Indian and told me about the NGO she is getting off the ground. I met Nadia at FICA in Brazil in June. She told me that Tabac, her doc, helped affect the public smoking ban in France and that she's working on anti-tobacco laws in Chad and other African countries. I asked her a few questions about making documentaries and she told me fascinating facts about bees. You know that Hot Docs promo they played this year, before every screening? The one about the crab cakes at the party? That's Nadia, except that she's a hot mama.

I finished up the day with a long meander around the Galeries Lafayette and les Printemps, ogling the Vanessa Bruno and Marni. That's the Galeries Lafayette in the photo. Imagine our malls looked like this?