Dennis & Aimee's Big Gay Paris Adventure

Yes, finally, it's Friday, and we're grateful for a quiet evening at home. I put in about 50 hours on this timesheet! Also, French lessons started this week, on Monday and Wednesday. The first lesson came after a full day of advanced Cartesis training, and my brain was FRIED. I did badly, but tried to make up for it by doing my homework and studying for the next lesson. The teacher is a young french girl who is charming, but not beautiful. (Whew! :) The classes are taught in the immersion style, and it's just me and Dennis, so there's a lot of giggling.

On Tuesday, our good friend Dave Champine was in town for one night on a business trip. We went out with him and his colleagues to dinner, and then to drinking. (They wer fun to hang out with.) We bought several boxes of French macarons (the best cookies ever made) at Laduree, and ate one box. The other boxes are being shipped home to family. They're expensive, but they're worth it. MMm! Dave stayed with us on the sofabed, and was treated to a particularly loud night (sorry Dave!) and headed to the airport in the morning. Dennis and I suffered through a second day of training. Thank god that's over.

Wednesday was French lessons again, and this time I was on the ball, and Dennis was slow. I think we're both very happy to start learning, and each day is a little easier as we start to pick up bits and pieces. (That said, the "Guardienne" at the apartment we're in asked me a question today, and all I had was the blank stare. I realized afterward that she was asking me about the heat in the apartment, which is too warm. Oh well. Maybe I'll write her a note.)

Thursday we worked late, came home, ate, and slept. Dennis made a FANTASTIC dinner -- we've been craving Mexican food, so he browned ground beef with onions and garlic and cumin and peppers and salsa. We ate it with cheese on lettuce wraps because we haven't found tortillas. Oh man what a taste of home. We kept saying "You just can't get this here!"

Which brings us to today. We made a lazy multi-course dinner that we prepared in between catching up on email. Foie gras on toast to start, followed by a ton of sauteed spinach with onions and garlic and lemon and pepper. Now we're making carmelized onions to go on our main course. Dennis is having a hamburger patty, and I'm having a BBQ chicken breast.

Also, our French maid came today. Well, ok, I don't know if she's French. In fact, we haven't even seen her. But it's fun to imagine. We have such challenging times with the washing machine/dryer combo. I've been trying to keep it full since the loads are so small, but it really has to be babysat to prevent our clothes from coming out a wrinkled mess. It dries and washes in the same box, so if I were to set it to do a load by itself without intervention, it would dry the clothes pretty much the way you pull them out of the washing machine -- intertwined and wrinkled. I have had success with the Calgon water softener additive and the new whitening cloth additive, but my attempt to purchase Static Guard yeilded stain remover instead.

Tomorrow I'll go Xmas shopping for presents. Dennis has a cold, so he'll probably stay warm and snug in bed. I'll be jealous, since it's raining and cold.

For Christmas we're taking the train to Stuttgart to visit Dennis' grandmother and other relatives. I'm looking forward to the train ride. And the first weekend in Feb, I'm off to Lisbon to attend my pal Stephanie Robesky's birthday party. It'll be a flat with five girls in it -- all of whom like to drink. I think it'll be a good time.

Ok. You're up to date now. I'll let y'all know what excellent presents I buy tomorrow, and I'll do my best not to buy anything for myself. The shops are *beautiful* with xmas lights -- I'll take the camera.

A bientôt!
--Aimee

p.s. I can't wait to get into our next apartment -- the one with a dishwasher. I have dishpan hands!