Paris je t'aime

Some highlights from a week in France, via point form and pictures.

-seeing John and Alexandrine. It had been 3 years since I'd seen Alex, and about 1.5 since I'd seen John. I hope to see much more of them now that we're on the same side of the world, in countries that share the Mediterranean sea.

-speaking lots of French, and learning new expressions. This includes getting my foot in my mouth more than once, but that's not always unique to the French language ...


-helping John show Paris to his family. I felt like a teacher again, but it was fun to be an expert.


-attending a three day, bilingual French/American wedding. I've not had so much champagne in such a short period before. But champagne helps me speak coherent French (or so it felt like at the time...)



-meeting John's friends, and recognizing that he still continues to choose his friends well :) (why yes, that is a backhanded compliment to myself!). It is fun to be able to invite people to visit me in Egypt, and also to receive invitations to return again to France.


-going off completely on my own for two days to Strasbourg. Believe it or not I've never traveled by myself, and I found I quite liked it. At the beginning of my séjour in Egypt, it was a good confidence-booster. Hopefully I'll travel some more.

-arriving "home" again in Cairo, and knowing exactly how to not get ripped off by a taxi driver, and being able to give directions to my apartment. It's amazing how far I've come in 4 weeks.

One last thing to add, which did not make me as happy. Upon returning I found out that they've delayed our start AGAIN, now for the 3rd of October (or maybe the 7th???). I really just want to work, that is what I came here to do, and I'm getting tired of waiting for something that may never happen. There are rumours of further dates, but I don't even want to name them at this point, that's how frustrating this is.