Back in Action

After what seems like an eternity, I have finally decided to start writing in my blog again.

Woo hoo!

It seems all I needed was a swift kick in the hind region from a couple of good family and friends. According to said persons, I am a difficult person to keep up with and they miss reading about my crazy hi-jinks.

So I have made a mid-year resolution to bring you at least one up date a week. Be it travel high lights or just plain Paris ridiculous-ness.

Be warned, Jessie Love is BACK and in Paris.

Bisous!

Paris EXPOSed

I have decided that I should be cultured. Luckily I have a new buddy named Hannah, who like me wishes to partake in all that Paris has to offer. Thus she became my culture buddy. Every Thursday afternoon, the two of us meet up for a nice "cultural" experience. Since there's only been 2 Thursdays since the grand inauguration of culture buddies, we've only been to 2 cool expositions going on at the moment in Paris.

Our first foray into the world of artistic culture was the "Picasso and his Masters" exhibit. Despite the hour and a half wait, it was absolutely incredible. Luckily for us, it was a beautiful day outside, so we just stood and chatted to each other while we listened to the sounds of some man playing the clarinet. Before attending I never knew that Picasso took already famous classical works and would "chew it up and then spew something totally new out". What the exhibit did was place all of the classical works that inspired Picasso's paintings next to the actual Picasso painting. It was absolutely incredible. We also got to see some very interesting print work Picasso had done earlier in his career which was very different from what you think of when you think Picasso.

The next Thursday we headed over to the Musee du Luxembourg where they had a private collection of some Portuguese oil tycoon on display. It was quite small and ranged from the early 20th century to more modern artists. Some of the most interesting art I found to be some of the Pop Art. I think I personally enjoy the private art collections more than a museum because it gives you an interesting perspective on the reason why art is chosen. Often times even though art is not strike you as similar visually you can see a connecting theme in the emotions it makes you have.

So that's all us culture buddies have done so far, stay tuned for pictures from the exhibitions

I Want to Take You to a GAY Bar

My good friend in Paris, Steph invited me to come see this band perform up by Republique in one of Edith Piaf's old clubs. Sounds pretty cool to be checking out the Little Sparrow's old haunts, and it was. It was a dark club stained with years of cigarette smoke and spilled glasses of wine. The scene itself was pretty cool... well dressed women (very Parisian chic) gathered around sipping on their red wine or beer pints... very many women... in fact, no men. Other than my friend Steph's boyfriend we were all women there. So we're hanging out enjoying the cool indie scene and it suddenly dawns on Steph that this is in fact a lesbian bar. She took me to a lesbian bar. I have to say I've never been to a lasbian bar before but I think it was definitely way cooler scene-wise than any straight bar I've been to in a long time.

So Steph and I danced to the androgenous sounds of Patricia, a blond woman with a Beatles haircut in a nicely tailored grey pinstripe suit. Her voice was actually pretty incredible. When the two of us sat down to have a little conversation, some crazy man started to hit on us and Steph whispered under her breath "Grab my knee and start speaking really fast" as to prevent any unwanted advances. During our hour long conversation, this same man (the only other in the club) proceeded to attempt to hit on us at least 5 times. We continually dissuaded him with fast English and good ole fashion knee caresses.

Editor's note: Luke (Steph's boyfriend) had abandoned us for 2 hours at this point.

After the concert finished up and Steph and I got out all of our girly talk out we went in search of Luke, much to our dismay, not only was Luke talking to the man who hit on us 5 times but it appears he had made lifetime pals with him.

Overall my first lesbian bar was a success, thanks to androgynous musicians, knee caresses, Edith Piaf and some delicious red red wine.

Something Scary...

For the first time ever in Paris, I have been slightly scared walking on the streets. I was worried when I first came over because the man at customs asked me if I knew karate or judo for the area I was working in. Luckily for me, I find Les Lilas to be a nice quiet, clean suburbs and the kids to be generally nice and well behaved.

This is not the same case for Bondy, where my teacher training is. Bondy is like dirty, people push you off the bus, and everyone just looks plain mad. I took the bus from my school to Bondy and people actually got on a fight on the bus and they had to stop it.

The high school in Bondy has a locked gate which you need to get access to get in and get out. Children are basically held prisoners in the schools.

I guess it's not like walking through Grey's Ferry or Harlem or Compton (there are no guns here) but still it was a little bit scary...

Facial Oddities

My friends and I can sculpt our faces in bizarre ways.

Be very jealous of the following images, but DO NOT ATTEMPT THEM AT HOME for you may end up with that look permanently on your face*.

*This is actually how Lucy looks... she sacrificed alot to make this face