Courtney in France

I love this city. This city frustrates me, stresses me out, and has even given me gray hair (no, I'm not kidding, I've plucked at least a dozen of those little buggers out of my scalp since the new year. They are all shorter than my normal hair, the exact length they should be if they started growing when I arrived in France in September), but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this city. I love how, depending on the day, I either feel like I live in a small town or one of the most miraculous cities on earth. When in the neighborhoods in which I live, work, and spend free time, I always see the same people, the same dogs, the same grocery store clerks, even the same homeless people. While the regularity is comforting, I enjoy that whenever I go outside of the places I know by heart I find the most fascinating things. For instance, last night I walked past an old 16th century hotel on my way to work, but I always see the same black woman on the subway singing "Heal the World" and "One Love". She wears huge silver hoop earrings. Maybe the next time I will give her some change because she actually sings pretty well, and I'm a tough critic.

I will have a break from the city during the first week of August, when I will go to Britany with one of the mom's I work for and her son (the one who understands English but only speaks French and looks like Dennis the Menace). They are taking me to their country home on the beach for the week. I get to see a part of France that I have never seen all the while being paid to do it. Fabulous!

So I'm happy that I could take a break from my new obsession, World Cup Football, to update my blog. The French team is a complete mess, and the U.S. got robbed by a horrid referee, but I'm having a blast watching!