Adjusting

Moving, I've discovered, is like buying a new bra. You're not 100% comfortable in it till you've worn it for at least a couple of days.

I know I'm starting this a bit late, but I guess it's better later than never, right?

My family and I (mum, dad, 2 younger brothers who are 12 and 13) just arrived last Thursday in Paris, France. A couple of months back, we made the decision to change our lives and move here for half of a year (a longer stay will be determined later). We're super awesome at procrastinating, so like always, we left all the packing till the last minute. That resulted in my room still being half a mess and leaving behind half of my wardrobe because it didn't fit in the 2 suitcases I had to pack my stuff. We're keeping our house in Ottawa, Ontario Canada until we know we're staying longer in France.

Now, shopping is a hassle enough with 3 kids, even though they're at an age where they're SUPPOSED to be mature enough to not fight and handle themselves. Just imagine MOVING to another COUNTRY with 3 kids who can't live up to that! Anyhow, we manage. I try to be the best big sister I can be, even though my 12 year old brother has not spoken a word since halloween '08 to or around me. It's a mystery, to be honest. I've tried everything. But let's not worry about that right now. He can choose when he wants to speak to me.

Our hour at the airport was filled with happy goodbyes and good lucks on Wednesday Feb 11. Four of my mums friends came to say bye, our very helpful neighbour/family friend helped us with our 12 suitcases, so did my mums friend, as well as a taxi van. My grandma, her boyfriend and my uncle also came from Gananoque and Prescott. As I was eating my last burger in Canada, I began to feel my first emotion because I was leaving. Before, I didn't really care that I was moving to Paris. It didn't hit me. It didn't sink in that I was changing my life and possibly wouldn't live in Canada ever again (although I always say I'm coming back for university no matter what...). I kinda started to choke up and my dad noticed I was tearing up and started laughing at me...thanks dad. So anyway, we went through security, my crying was done, and we rushed to the gate.

The plane ride was pleasant, nonetheless. 26 minutes in the air! We rushed to the next gate in Montreal for our final plane ride to Paris. It was also a pleasant enough flight where I didn't have to have any panick attacks. Yay! I watched Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist (so cute =] ) and I browsed the planes entertainement system. I took pictures and videos of my brothers and I having fun on the plane (ok...me having fun..) and of High School Musical 3 I was enjoying on the screen (I took caps of shirtless Matt Prokop for Erica and Justine...but unfortch I was dumb and deleted everything sometime in the car on our way to our apartment).

So we land, and I notice that most of the men/boys seem significantly more attractive than the Canadian ones. Immediately I'm like, 'YES!'. Meeting our baggage was a breeze, thank god. We wait outside for our friend Fernando. Unfortch, he was stuck in traffic. My dad went to go look for him with Dani. All of a sudden, we saw some old man ask for a "Michael Bordt" so I went up to him to tell him he'd be back. Getting the luggage into ONE car was a hassle...but we got through it. Our apartment, when we got there, was a bit smaller and smellier that I expected, but it's all good now. We're only here for 17 days anyway until we find a new one for the rest of our stay.

Since we had to wait for our apartment to be cleaned, my family and I decided to hit up the cafe across the street. We had a couple plates of fries, a plate of yummy 'fillet du hareng' (well I liked it), some S. Pellegrino, cafes, and hot chocolates. My dad and I scoped out the street to see what our temporary neighbourhood was going to be like. We noticed a lot of skinny people and almost EVERYONE smokes. There were a lot of cute cafes and stores. We spotted a supermarket to buy our groceries at. I laughed at the similar stuff from Canada that they had. We headed back to the cafe where my mum and brothers were and I took my mum in the same tour my dad and I just finished doing. Our apartment was STILL not cleaned, so we headed in the direction of Etoile, where the Arc de Triomphe is. I was relieved we also had Starbucks, American Apparel, and (ready?) TEENY MAGAZINES! I could not be more relieved to see magazines with the Jonas Brothers in them, haha. There was even this one magazine I bought where it was all them and a GORGEOUS HUGE poster of them. I successfully asked the magazine stand lady if she had any english magazines. She told me I might find them at a bigger bookstore. 1 FRENCH COMMUNICATION POINT FOR MILA. So we keep walking, more teengers being skinny and smoking. At least they have a sense of fashion. We spot the Arc de Triomphe and I take a bunch of pictures of it. At this point, we're ready to go back home because I'm carrying a purse with crap in it AND a 17" laptop on my back. Let me tell you: that PLUS no sleep PLUS being...*ahem* a girl...it ain't cool. So we're trying to find a Metro stop at the end of Champs Elysees and we find one, and we go back, and TADA! Our apartments done! I immediately crash on the bed. I pretty much wake up at like 3 in the morning and I end up chatting with my friends online. I miss you guys :(. Erica sees my JB shirt via webcam, and she's telling me about the 3D movie standee and I'm sitting here being all, God DAMN I wish I was home! I have to see the 3D movie WAY later!

So the next day was EIFFLE TOWER TIME! I actually went out with my dad that afternoon to scope out rue de Passy cause I wanted to check out the H&M. I only bought earrings and bobbi pins. I was in line and the dude asked me something in English so I was confused. Then I realized he was speaking English, so I said, "OH! You noticed we were speaking ENGLISH!" so he was cool about it. Surprisingly, people in this area are cool about speaking English. Before my walk with my dad, I went out with my mum. We went to this cute boutique across the street from our apartment. Everything was hella-expensive, but my mum ended up buying cute earrings and a necklace for 10 euros. The lady in the boutique was really nice and I tried to tell her that we were in France cause my dad got a job here. So we headed to the Indonesian embassy to let them know my mum had arrived (...she's Indonesian, if you haven't guessed already). Other than seeing teeny magazines, this, seeing people speakin Indonesian, was the next thing to relieve me. It was something else I was used to and made me think of home. So we head back and we bought some bread at the Patisserie or whatever the heck its called (the baguettes and croissants are AMAZING). So we rest a bit at the apartment before we decide to head out to see the good ol' Eiffel Tower!

I can't even beging to tell you how big it is! (Or how many pictures we took of it!). It was FREEZING still, so I was ready to go home. I knew we had a long time to do this again, so I was getting impatient. But the Eiffel Tower at night is beautiful! We crossed the street, avoided more souvenir sellers, bought some fries and crepes and coffee, crossed the bridge, took more pics, took even more pics, and uhm...took even more pics. I took a break from my impatientness to get my dad to take a picture of me infront of the ET to make it look like it was coming out of my mouth (inspiration? Joe Jonas. Not what you're thinking. There's a picture of him on a boat tour like that.) So we head to Trocadero, take more pics, I'm still getting more impatient. Taking more and more pictures. My dad finds out that it's pointless taking the metro back home, so we walk. At this point, I'm like struggling to move cause I'm so cold. We get to the apartment gates, and guess what? ITS LOCKED AND WE DONT KNOW THE CODE! So we had to wait for someone to come in (thank God there was someone!) and we all laughed. We immediately went to find the code and drilled into our heads.

The next day was valentines day. Oh wait, what's valentines day? Anyhow, I stayed in bed all day with a cold, sick with a headache too. Not too great. But the skipping valentines day, we get to Sunday!

My dad decided to take us to this awesome Marketplace just outside of Paris. It had a bunch of really cheap stuff. My mum bought cute boots for 5 euros and we made talk with a Moroccan French chick who was really nice and we were speaking with her in English. Everyones so nice in Paris so far! So we catch up with my dad and brothers, and I find that there are Wayfarers on sale. I decide to skip the barganing cause I'm not a pro yet. I bought the damn pair for 5 euros. Black. They look nice. My other ones from Manhattan broke. :(. So after all that excitement and pushing through the crowd, we head to this really awesome antique place. There was a bunch of really old looking chandeliers and all these furniture things. They were really awesome. I took a bunch of pics of all of them haha. The whole vintagey feel was sweet. So we head back, we buy some baguettes and crepes, and head back to the metro, struggling to find our way home. We wanted to stop by a Carrefour, so we tried to look for the nearest one. Unfortch, after a long time of confusion of directions and shtuff, and me complaining to go back cause I was cold and tired and still sick, and my brother jumping off of everything, we find it! But oh no. It was CLOSED. Great. All that for nothing. At least we found it for next time, right? We head back and I, again, immediately head to bed.

Now, I promise not all of my entries will be that long. Well...it depends how interesting of a day I have. I also promise to improve the interestingness of my writing hahah. I pretty much just sat around today because my dad started his job today. Dani and I went down to the market to buy milk and juice and cereal. I was a dumb and bought Elle magazine for 5.30 euros, we successfully bought baguettes and croissants and headed back. Now everyones still really tired and I'm typing this very sentence you're enjoying before you.

Anyhow, I'm sure a LOT is going to happen in the next 6 months. There's a Kings of Leon show this Friday and im PSYCHED and if I don't go I'll be pissed. Tix for now are 38 euros...whatever.

I gotta let my bro use this laptop cause I was out of luck and my laptop just kinda...died. I don't know what's wrong with it. Hopefully I'll hit up H&M later again to get a blazer orrrr a new coat! Woohoo =)

Peace for now.

Mila