It is the rentrée in France this week: the rentrée scolaire, otherwise known as "back to school", or "real life". The summer holidays are officially over... I've even noticed it's already getting darker earlier. It's the same thing in the States where I'm from in the Northeast -- starting tomorrow and throughout the week, schools across New Jersey (and in many other states) will be bringing back their students and teachers (in some states, back-to-school starts before Labor Day so your kids might already be out of the house).
It was also my own rentrée on Saturday -- my re-entry into everyday (Paris) life after two weeks of trotting around some of Europe's finest cities on some of Europe's best rail systems. It's funny to realize that in coming home to Paris I am actually coming HOME, because this is no longer a vacation destination for me... it's where I've chosen to live. I solidified this commitment by informing my landlords on Saturday afternoon that I'd be very pleased to extend our current arrangement by a minimum of another six months if they were open to that. They were positively thrilled with my decision (it greatly simplifies their lives, plus they quite like me!) which made me very happy and relieved, as I want to stay in Paris but frankly right now I have too much on my plate to contemplate the thought of finding and outfitting an entire unfurnished Parisian apartment. No, best to stay put for a while longer (this "extension" takes me at least up to June 2008) even though this isn't my stuff and it's costing a bit more than I would like (and the exchange rate is killing me).
Making this decision -- do I want to stay, and if so how long -- was one of the things I wanted to consider while I was on the Grand Tour. I came up with a firm "Yes!" to the first part of that question, and an "indefinitely" to the second part, so I haven't got it all worked out yet. The reality is, I don't really need to decide "how long" right now. There's nothing pressuring me either way -- it's totally up to me. And right now there isn't anyplace I'd rather live more, than in Paris. So... I will stay a while longer. Until it either (a) stops being so much fun or (b) something even more compelling requires me to change addresses again. It's nice having that kind of freedom to really just CHOOSE where I want to be and how long I want to be there. Kind of like how I was able to plan and take this vacation.
Re-entry to "real life" on Saturday was not without its small bumps. For one thing, I had planned to stop in Reims for several hours on the way back to Paris from Strasbourg, so I could see the great cathédrale and do some champagne tastings at Veuve Cliquot and Mumm's, both of whom have tours and tastings right in the city (you don't need to go out into the surrounding champagne country to do this, although there are many more champagne producers located in the environs) Unfortunately when I got to the Reims train station, I discovered they offer neither luggage lockers nor baggage check facilities, and I had three pieces of luggage with me which were far too heavy to drag all over the city -- especially if I was going to be tasting champagne all afternoon! Since it's only 45 minutes away from Paris via TGV, I knew I could easily come back there again for a day trip, and promptly caught the next train back to town... eight hours earlier than expected.
Which meant I had to warn Kyliemac, who was apartment-sitting for me with a friend of hers who was visiting from out of town. This was an ideal arrangement for all of us... her apartment is a very small studio, and though mine is not large, it is more comfortable for two people for 10 days with both a bedroom and fold-out couch, which made it much nicer for them, and they really enjoyed staying here; and I had the security of knowing someone I trusted was looking after my stuff, since my landlords were also en vacance through most of August. I had told her I would text her when I knew what time I'd be arriving, so I sent a message to expect me around 11:30-ish on Saturday. Earlier than anticipated, but not TOO early.
Or so I thought. I got here and discovered they were still sleeping, the lazy bums! 11:45 on a Saturday in Paris with a whole city still to explore, and still sleeping! What's up with that! (Just kidding, Kylie...) But since I sort of sneaked up on them, I really wasn't surprised. I grabbed something to eat quickly, and grabbed the shopping cart to head for the supermarket to stock up on supplies, which gave them time to regain consciousness, eat breakfast, and finish packing up. I came back with my provisions, we had time to chat together for a little while, and then they departed.
Kylie also pointed out to me that the spot on my bedroom wall where I had suspected there was a plumbing leak from the upstairs apartment had, in fact, gotten MUCH worse while I was away. I should point out that there is a back-story here: there is a round vent in the upper corner of the wall, which you see here in the photo. These vents are commonplace in older Parisian apartments and date back to the days when gas was used for heating and even for lighting, because they had to make sure people wouldn't be accidentally asphyxiated in their homes. In this building, however, the stove is electric, and the heat is hot-water radiator heating, and the building was totally renovated within the past three years, so this vent is actually completely USELESS in terms of it being a life-saving thing for me.
What it is, is a damned nuisance, because SOMEONE else in the building has apparently routed their kitchen hood vent into this air shaft. So what is supposed to draw stale air OUT of my apartment, now forces smelly cooking odors INTO my bedroom! And whoever is doing the cooking (I suspect its the tenants directly above me as I think their kitchen is above my bedroom) tends to do it rather late in the evening, Paris style, i.e. after 9pm and sometimes after 10pm. This is annoying to have your bedroom smelling like cooking lamb or pork or chicken when you are trying to relax and read in bed.
I had spoken to my very nice landlords about it but at the time they didn't know what they could really do about it, and they didn't know any way to cover it up. So I did what I thought was the only sensible thing; I scotch-taped a piece of plastic over the vent to prevent the smells from coming in. And it worked.
I didn't realize there was also STEAM coming in through that vent, as well as a load of DUST. The plastic trapped the moisture and after a few months I noticed one day that there was a lot of discoloration and a bit of bubbling around the plastic. Ooops. I removed it, and a bunch of paint came off with the scotch tape. Merde!
I dutifully confessed to my landlords what had happened, and of course offered to pay to repaint and repair around the damage, which at the time was localized to within an inch or two of the actual vent. We agreed to put off the repairs until after the summer holidays, and that I would have to live with the cooking odors since clearly, covering the vent with plastic had been a bad idea. The vent remained open. My landlords left for their six week French-style holidays in mid-July and I did not expect to see or speak to them again until September.
A week before I left for my own vacation, I looked at the wall and noticed that something bad was happening. There were bigger bubbles along the wall between the window frame and the vent... and worse yet, there were now bubbles long the adjacent right-hand wall as well. And a long dark stained streak running down the wall from where the original paint damage was done. This had to be a plumbing leak from upstairs - in no way could that much condensation be coming in from the neighbors venting steam from a boiling pot of water. I thought, "Well, THIS will be a nice surprise for the landlords when we all meet again in September!"
When I came back on Saturday, it had gotten drastically worse -- see for yourself. Now the paint all along the window was bubbled, and slightly damp. More water streaks appeared on the wall. The bubbling was showing up ceiling to floor, from the cornice above the window curtain rods all the to the floor-boards, which appeared to have gotten soaked and on which the paint was now peeling and more wall bubbling appeared. Stains were on the wood floors, too. And the bubbles on the right-hand wall had gotten worse, too.
I called the landlords immediately. They came over to gawk with me at the walls, and agreed this was far bigger than the original problem I had caused with my little piece of plastic and tape. This was either a plumbing leak or perhaps even the result of some recent torrential rains and water coming in from outside -- which in fact had happened in THEIR apartment as well, on the same exterior wall (they live next door, same floor). We did have quite a bit of rain in the past month. They called the building's owner, and he came in to inspect, make lots of typical French gestures and say things like: oh, la, la! He agreed with us all, that this was some sort of leakage problem. I had fun trying to follow their conversation in French, and could make out the word assurance meaning "insurance". They discussed whether this might be from Monsieur and Madame's kitchen above, or something else -- I never did quite get which the owner thought it might be.
To make a long story in no way shorter, as annoying as it was to come home to a leakage problem, there is a huge silver lining in this for me; TWO silver linings in fact. (1) Since the leakage, wherever it's from, far exceeds the original damage I did, the landlord's insurance will cover all the repairs since it's all in the same place, so I'm off the hook for the repairs altogether! And (2), the building owner agrees this stupid vent thing is totally pas nécessaire, and HE is going to arrange for it to be removed and the hole covered up -- so no more nasty cooking smells in my apartment! I just have to wait for all the repairs to be made (being that it's France, no telling when that might actually BE), but once again, being a renter has some distinct advantages. It is now someone else's problem to solve, and at someone else's expense. Vive la France!
I spent the rest of the balance of my pre-rentrée weekend relaxing, doing laundry, catching up with friends and family back home, sleeping a lot and watching DVDs, and in general milking the concept of "vacation" to the Nth degree. I thought I might go out yesterday to a museum, since on the first Sunday of every month, most of them offer free admission to all, but opted for the lazier choice of merely walking down the street right here in my neighborhood and checking out what is new in the local Sunday market... and I noticed that sweaters and scarves are back on the menu, now that the fall weather is approaching.
Now, it is Monday. In the States, today is "Labor Day" which ironically is a national holiday where no one labors except retailers offering sales; the last big fling before back-to-school, with barbecues galore. In France, it is just another work day. I've kind of eased into my morning here, but now am going to put the wheels in motion to get back to work. I've got a short "to do" list already written out, to keep me on track and focused -- something that's hard to do when your brain is still feeling lazy.
After all, I've got to make sure there's plenty of money in the coffers now that I've committed myself to this apartment through next June!
Let the rentrée begin!
