Happy Anniversary!

Today I have lived in Paris for one year. Can you believe it? How did it go so fast? How did it go so slow?

In January I put up my new calendar and took the old one down. As I always do, I glanced through the old one. Its a bit of a tradition, a look back on the old year, a kind of reckoning. The old calendar was amusing; before I left Ottawa the days looked like this: sell house! sell car! see all friends! put stuff in storage! call movers! finish work! figure out why I am doing this! After I moved to Paris, the calendar looked like this: . Big Fat Goose Egg. No wonder I had difficulty changing gears once I got here.

Greg asked me how I felt at my one year mark. I told him: 1. that my current life is completely unrecognizable from my old life 2. that I need to buckle down to doing the things I want to do here, like more travel and learning French, 'cause time is ticking down 3. One year of my 3 year jail term is over. God bless him, he laughed instead of whacking me over the head.

You've all heard me whinge about Paris. Its not been my favorite place in the world (the cottage is) and its been a ginourmous life change. But you know what? There are good things about being here too. I've come to appreciate -and probably will miss- certain aspects of life here.

Such as the completely awesome public transpo (didn't think I'd pick that one eh?) The Metro, bus and cycling systems are so cheap and efficient. For a euro or two I can take a long bus ride that wends past all the big monuments. For a euro! Compare that to Ottawa's bus that cost 3 bucks for a few blocks, comes twice per day and smells like a wet dog.

Another thing I've come to enjoy is the gentility with which people interact with each other. In a city of millions who are crammed into a teeny tiny space, interpersonal relations could quickly become very Lord of the Flies. But they don't(mostly) because (mostly) Parisians are very polite. Everyone is addressed as sir or madam even in a dispute; everyone even teenagers will greet you with a good day and hold the door for you. Watching two Parisians interact is a joy: they start out with the deux bisous then start an animated conversation peppered with 'je vous en prie' which loosely translates to 'I pray you will allow me'. Their language is lyrical, their expressions animated and the pleasure of conversation is apparent. A similar pleasure is taken in simple daily transactions at the pressing and boulangerie.

And I love that people don't rush. They walk briskly. They conduct themselves efficiantly. But that sense of 'hurry hurry' that permeates North America is absent here. Especially on the weekend. Especially over a meal. There is true enjoyment, a savoring of tastes and company.

And of course, it is a beautiful city. The creamy stone that informs architecture all over the city glows at sunset; monuments pop into view when you least expect them; the old is kept, and layered on the new. There are secret pockets of neighborhoods all over Paris just waiting to surprise you with their hidden charms. Becuase of this even in such a big city it is easy to have a private Paris, one consisting of your own favorite haunts and private places.

But like anywhere, Paris is made most special by the people in it. After all, it is the people that I miss most from home. And it is the people here that are making my time in Paris more enjoyable. Our neighbors are beginning to nod and smile in the elevator, and the florist knows my name. We have made truly wonderful new friends, and we are bound together by the common experience of expat life. It is with gratitude that I thank my new, and already very dear, friends for making Paris a happier place for me.

PS: picture is of my 'secret garden' part of my own private Paris....