The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Notes from Haiti, #2

Just a few photos Georges was able to send from Haiti... These courageous and resilient young women are NURSING SCHOOL students at the Université de Notre Dame d'Haiti (UNDH). Their classrooms were destroyed but they are determined to finish their education any way possible. Classes like this -- outdoors with no shelter -- have been resuming at different universities around Port-au-Prince in recent weeks; they are setting up classes wherever they can manage to find space. Some schools that have (relatively) intact buildings are sharing space with other schools, for example the younger children attend school in the mornings and the older ones use the space in the afternoons. You can't even call this a tent city since they have no tents; blankets and sheets tied to sticks in a banana grove don't even qualify as shelter. Imagine this now that the rainy season is already beginning. Where the hell is the Red Cross and other aid organizations? How are they not shipping tents in there by the boat-load? Georges had a very surreal experience on his first full day in Haiti. This is him sitting in a salvaged arm-chair in the "garden" (note the lack of grass) of his... Read more →

Our Lady on a Spring Day

Instead of the usual shots of the majestic towers of Notre Dame, I thought I'd show off the rest of it's amazing gothic architecture -- and some of the spring flowers they've planted -- as I strolled alongside the church to the back gardens. I just love this cathedral. Read more →

Notes from Haiti, #1

So it was after 1am that I was lying in bed last night with two laptops: one was playing a DVD which I was sort of half-heartedly watching, and the other was tuned into Skype in the hopes that Georges would be able to come online and we could actually speak and see each other. I had a very rough day yesterday, where I had to go and get some routine lab work and an echocardiagram, and doing medical stuff in French is always stressful for me anyway, but it all went well. Still, by the end of the day I was wiped out and only had the energy to toss some frozen pizza in the oven for dinner. All I could really do was think about Georges, and wonder what was happening in Haiti. I knew he'd arrived safely. I knew that the auberge (small inn or guest house) was "bien" from his overnight email. Beyond that, I knew nothing about conditions there for him and his colleagues. So being able to see him when he "popped up" on the screen was exactly what I needed, despite the late hour. He looked very well, if a bit tired from... Read more →

I will miss the green space

Although I am not a gardener and contribute virtually nothing in the way of manual labor in our shared courtyard (although I'm always willing to help clean up dead leaves), I will really miss the beautiful plants and the greenery that is so lovingly cared for by our gardienne and a few of the neighbors. We'll have our loggia in the new apartment so I will get a few plants once we get back from the States. On second thought, after the summer holidays... we no longer have to worry about someone to feed the cat (who loves her new digs and has discovered the wonders of the back yard and TREES), but I'd hate to come home to a lot of dead houseplants. I'm glad we got to enjoy one more spring here, at least. Watching the first flowers bud and bloom saved my sanity after the long winter. Read more →

More reasons to love France

In the States, when I grab a quick lunch combo at the local deli, it's "Sandwich + Beverage + Dessert", and the dessert is usually a cookie or a brownie. Today in Paris, I grabbed a quick lunch combo at the Monoprix because they offered "Sandwich + Boisson + Flan". For just 5.90€. The sandwich was on a fresh baguette; not a dry hard roll. The drink, a normal all-American Coke. And I even got a choice of flan. It was the cherry flan that got my full attention. FLAN! For a cheap take-out lunch! How can you beat that? Read more →

Non-stop love

Non-stop love, waiting for me at the Indiana, Place de Clichy. And it's waiting for him here, when he comes home to me. Read more →

Giving

So about two weeks ago, Georges casually drops into the normal "Hi honey, how was your day?" after-work conversation, a small bomb-shell: He was going to Haiti, for a week (which turns out to be 9 days including travel days) for his job. When the earthquake first happened, I already knew that Georges' employer had some people based in Haiti. (He works for a non-profit agency that supports education initiatives in French-speaking countries or universities around the world, with over 700 member universities, many in developing countries. One example of the type of support they might provide is a program my husband developed for distance learning.) One of my first questions to Georges, after "Is everyone OK? And their families?" was: "Will YOU have to go there?" And he said no, he didn't think he would have any reason to go. But of course, Life has a sick sense of humor sometimes, and some business circumstances arose recently that require the presence of a higher-up, and as Georges' two bosses were unavailable to make this particular trip (one of them has already been to Haiti in the past month anyway), Georges was elected. At first, he wasn't entirely convinced himself... Read more →

Cracking with the packing

Yesterday, I dutifully and cheerfully phoned Mom to wish her a Happy Easter (had already called Sis the day before to catch up with her and her family). Mom asked what special thing WE had done that day for Easter, and I think I surprised her by saying: "Packing boxes!" We have a 3-day weekend, and yes, have spent nearly ALL of it making and packing boxes for Georges' super-giant library full of books. I packed my own books starting on Friday afternoon, and finished Saturday, and it took 8 small cartons -- more than I even thought I had here. Georges' library, by comparison is going to take more than 100 cartons, most of which will end up in storage for the next couple of years. The house here has a giant library space up on the mezzanine, and every square centimeter is filled with bookshelves overflowing with books Georges has collected during his lifetime. A true lover of books, he finds it very difficult to part with a book once he's bought it. Which is why I am totally impressed with my husband, who has in fact set aside a decent-sized pile of books to give away, and... Read more →

Got any spare change?

Having my writing plans for today unexpectedly change just proves my point about change being pretty much the one thing you can always count on. How kind of the Universe to give me a real-life reminder TODAY of the very thing I was writing about YESTERDAY. Now, it's up to ME whether I decide to go ahead and write anyway. I know what I SHOULD do: write. I know what I WANT to do: SLEEP, then PLAY GAMES, READ EMAIL, TWITTER AND FACEBOOK... and then and ONLY then, WRITE. If I have any time left after that grueling agenda. Is there anything really wrong with that latter one? Probably not, not in the sense of it being morally or empirically wrong. It's not like I'm a member of Congress and voted AGAINST health care reform or anything, right? Except for one thing: which option will make me feel better about myself? Which option will get me closer to my goal of finishing my second book? Which option will not have me wanting to kick myself in the ass for the next three days? And last -- and for the moment, MOST importantly -- which option will get me OUT Of... Read more →