Rue Tiquetonne

Bridgette cut her hair and she looks beautiful. Morning coffee shot, its sunny out.


Le passage


Hot man I want to marry you and we can furnish our place with everything you sell here.



I bought flowers at the flower shop in Faubourg-St Denis fro my Halloween costume, you'll see.. Hint: I will need lots of eyeliner but not necessarily for the eyes.

(EPISODE shop in the back is amazing, people in Paris, check it out)



Then I found CEM!


And also Cem-doodles!


Coffee stop before hitting the paper-writing desk at the house


No caption necessary (although I guess this is a caption).. I carry you in my heart Bouly.

Errands

Since I moved in, I became obsessed with getting a "kitchen bar" (una barra, como un desayunador o algo así) however that's called in English. IKEA made my dream come true, but then crashed it when Bridgette and I realized that we needed 4 tools to build our little kitchen piece, not cool...

Erick Johansson, check him out: www.alltelleringet.com

So wooden pieces of this unconstructed counter can be found all around our little place, and today I figured it was time to get this baby going and went out hardware shopping. I went up Faubourg-St Denis because while doing laundry we had seen a one of those shops that has absolutely everything (UBC Village Chinese store style). I wasn't cold earlier today, it was really nice, and though it was already around 11am, the street was very quiet; just a few people getting their fresh produce, buying flowers in the plant shop, having coffee and smokes outside, the usual...

This area is really interesting, from our metro station, depending which way you go you get completely different scenes, and I mean completely. Our corner is just sorrounded by kebabs, guys wanting to recruit you for hairdressing school and Asian ladies who offer their 'massage' services.. Oh yeah, and we found out tonight the nice lady who lives way down in the hall is actually one of them. She's so nice, definitely favorite neighbor (apart from the guy I spy from the window that occasionally smiles at me). So that's our corner, but if you go up Faubourg-St Denis you start getting real Indian family-run restaurants instead of KFC, the fresh produce market instead of the Monoprix and the Jewish bakery instead of... any other bakery around. This one is, superb (been wanting to use that word for a while), and the people that run it are so nice! I just stopped by after picking up the tool and got a big pain aux raisins, and it was so delicious to actually get a pain aux raisins instead of the beurre aux raisins aux raisins which are half the size and twice the price in $aint G€rmain.

But if you turn right and go down instead of taking Faubourg-St Denis, you'll get to Le Marais and all the fanciness that comes with it. The cool kids, the hipster, the wannabes, the gay strip, the pricey shops and the vintage stores... some more Jewish bakeries but with the inflated price that comes with the postal code difference. There's a lot of good stuff around there as well, but totally different.

Anyway, I shall continue with my journey. I went down the red light district because I wanted to go to the 2 for 15€ vintage shop to complete my Halloween costume. I needed a Mexican dress, a legit traditional one, but I had only found some averaging 50€, NO WAY! So I went in and the guy and I started rummaging through the dresses and shirts and in that period became BFFs. Amir, he's originally from Iran, about 50 I'd say, studied Informatique at the Sorbonne and styed in Paris. He's awesome! We found so much cool stuff together and he even wanted to give me a free chal because in the end but I politely refuse cause I don't neet it and honestly we have enough stuff in our clothing rack! He also said he liked the Costa Rican football team and he was not lying because he mentioned Wanchope. In the end, after he was referring to me as 'mon amie', he said I should come back so he could tell me when he would be singing in Iranian restaurants and that I should take my friends! I love you Amir, definitely coming back to you next month, when I get some money.

So yeah, I came out with a bag but not what I was looking for, so continued looking in shops around until it was time to meet Bridgette for hair extreme make-over. She cut off her hair! It looks great though, suits perfectly. Oh well in the end I did find the stuff that I needed, including some extra awesome scores, and now I'm sitting in the library thinking how great my morning was and that I should be outside. I'm planning a trip to Berlin next week so I have to start working on the paper season! Have 3 due in a month, and a 4th one due the week after. Like Annie would say, good timessssss.

Kitchen bar will be born tomorrow.

Manifestation

Heard them from my window, passing by my street, and marched down Les Grands Boulevards.

I was just talking about yesterday how I did not like the idea of street photography, but aren't we all full of contradictions, I tried to document today.

(I also do other things apart from drinking 1.39 Montparnasse wine, sometimes)


Right in fron of the building, Porte Saint Denis.



















Taxing robots!

Late hours

Photochronicle of Saturday night. By the way (ehem, MARIFER) The photos are meant to be clicked on if you want to see them full size. Haha.



Roommates, denim will never die!



Met up with the crew in a bar in the Oberkampf... very promising night when a bar has a piano.





The we discussed the second world, what was going on downstairs while we were drinking wine next to a piano... way more fun.





Kicked out? Well a guy outside the bar said he would host an after party at his place a couple of blocks away... Sam was very eager to attend this event, Bridgette knew this brother was trouble, but decided to tag along.




Sophie, as usual, stole someone's hat an sported it at the afterparty. The victim this time was Neaz.



But then again, Neaz hair is so awesome it was made to be displayed.




The guy's place was sweet, with a big terrace.




Bridge and I decided we would never buy toilet paper for our apartment, we refuse to pay money for it! So this one exposed now in our tiny bathroom is courtesy of that nice man. W e also have some from 6 blv St. Germain and 27 rue Saint Guillaume (one of the industrial big ones in public bathrooms...) I think we're good for a while.


arrivederci

Street Photography

A week ago, with my Photography class, we took a field trip to do some "street shots" since we've been looking at some street photographers. We met up at the Louvre and then went in pairs and just took pictures for two hours. I didn't feel like asking anyone if I could take a shot of them, I honestly hate that, so I looked at other things around.

Here's some classic, typical (postcard cliché) Parisian 'photographie de rue'.. Oh! The everyday Parisian, the city characters the photographer finds in hidden corners, those candid shots of that special moment...












Ah well, going back to my painful attempt to get the candid, documentary style shots, I just really have troubles with the concept of street photography, I appreciate a lot more other types of photographic work...

I specially don't like the idea of having a couple of hours to produce 'street photography', I enjoy more taking pictures for classes when there's time to conceptualize the work beforehand so you bring it to class to expose an idea and discuss it (rather than, oh I found a couple kissing in a bench, isn't that cute).

But again, in Sciences Po photo classes are merely electives so the future presidents can feel a little artsy from time to time, nobody takes them seriously. I'm thinking next week I'll present to the class a subtle critique, my idea of street photography, in a very literal sense:










And these are just fun, one because these people seem like they're making a Fascist salute (I don't know why that's fun, but... it is), and then these others just to show how nice it can be though were in complete winter weather now.

Walking with the Ghost

I have plenty weekend activities to comment on, starting with a walk around the cemetery where Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, and many others. Cemeteries are so beautiful, well no, I should rephrase: some cemeteries are so beautiful. There's just this calm feeling mixed with the silence of death that makes these places so creepy but awe inspiring at the same time... I kept telling myself, oh man there's a couple of dead bodies in each one of these tombs, I wonder how they look like/what's left of them right now. I have these morbid thoughts from time to time.. Then all these beautiful trance went away when we reached (after getting lost for about half an hour) Jim Morrison's tomb and there were about 30 crazy tourist clamped up trying to get a picture, like me.

Bridge and Jose

Before the cemetery I actually did something amazing: met up with Jose, a friend of Shehneen (a friend from Vancouver) and went to grab lunch at a Colombian restaurant. Jose is a circus artist, an acrobat to be exact, and he was in Paris between jobs (he left for a competition in China Monday, I hang out with the coolkidz as you can see).

I ate a tamal, no biggie (YES BIGGIE) and it was heaven in my mouth. Everyone knew each other and was speaking Spanish at the place, a piece of home, loved it!

Good Morning Paris

Woke up today to a knock on the door, the concierge had a package for me from Costa Rica... so much love in my heart, it was amazing. Mom even sent me a reproduction of the signature flag I've kept in my Vancouver dorms for two years, I allow myself to be a little bit of a nationalist when it comes to these things :)

To top things up, Bridgette climbed down and made morning coffee. Its so cold today, I think I'm gonna wear my winter coat for the first time. Openend up the window and my hands feel like its probably around 3 degrees out, so I wrapped up in the awesome scarf my mom knit me this summer (three turn y'all!). Again, so much love in my heart.

To top things out, I sat in the top of the couch to look at the window while eating my morning yogurt, and the guy from the building in front totally bonjoured me... First eye contact with the sinister neighbors we've been creeping on for weeks! This guy is 'ugly naked girl''s husband, they have a kid. The couple that lives right below them is young and they look cool. Maybe tonight I'll bonsoir them to keep up with the friendly connections across the street.