What's been happening

Hello everyone,

So it's been a while since I last posted, so I'll just skip a lot of the details and go bullet point-style through what I've been up to:

•I've started teaching. I have a lot of classes and work with many different teachers, and I'm expected to do different things in every class. I'm working with several different age groups and level's. And boy oh boy are the teachers hesitant to speak English. The suggestion that we have English conversations over lunch once a week was met with eyes turned down to shuffling feet, and then almost an immediate change of subject. If nothing else, my french is improving a lot, and the kids are all really great.

•Like I told everyone, I have been trying to move. I have found something, but not without being, well, screwed out of money by the lady I was living with (I always knew she was crazy!)–basically, when she said that a verbal warning of my leaving was enough for her, I thought she was telling the truth. That, however, was not the case, and she gladly informed me that, due to some very subtle technical language in French contracts, she didn't have to return my deposit because my warning wasn't official. Basically, even though I was polite enough to give her adequate time to find another person for the room, she invoked the law in order to take my money, and there's about nothing I can do: "¡¡¡Initiate revenge sequence!!! No....calm down, don't make this worse–There must be some kind of metaphysical justice–Yes, her conscience will kick in right at the moment when she can do nothing to relieve it–Bottomless fire-lake of regret–I'm controlling the currents from somewhere much higher-up–from some apartment, yes, in Paris..."

•Here's something I found on the street, which I like very much:

But it seemed more like the cat found me. Stumbling upon this made me feel like I had all along been on a sort of scavenger hunt without knowing it. Chris Marker, one of my favorite film directors, made a documentary called 'The Case of the Grinning Cat', about graffiti-images of smiling cats which began to appear on famous walls all over Paris, the artist and her intention unknown. I like his films so much because they take their direction from things on which light is thrown only for an instant, long enough to be shaken by their enigma but never to know their cause. The Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (hence comes the title of Marker's movie) disappears into the sky and leaves only the outline of a grin whose origin lies out of reach. This little porcelain kitty is clearly smiling, and it's wry look to the side is to what's off-screen...

•I've found an apartment, thank goodness, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a neighborhood barely outside of Paris and still on the metro lines. Apparently Marcel Proust was born here, so yeah, its very bourgeois. I need to do some exploring, but so far, it seems like a pretty great place to live. It's a little studio, about like an old-school maid's quarters, but big enough for me. There's a kitchen, a leaky shower, and a window with a nice view. Also, I will spend two nights per week tutoring the children of some people who live here for 10 euros an hour, making around 30 euros a week. So I will make up my losses from the other place in about two months. With government aid for housing, I will be a lot better off financially in this new place, and of course I am basically in Paris now.

That's about it for now, folks. I have a week long vacation starting at the end of this week. It seems undeserved, but I'll take it, and it will be nice to have time off to celebrate my birthday. Stay tuned...