baby, it's cold outside

Much to my surprise, someone actually responded to a flyer I put up, offering private English courses. I made the sign while waiting in line with Jacob for another attempt to secure his carte de sejour at the préfecture de la police. This particular entity is located in the basement of the International House of Paris' South University. Just before you go downstairs, there's about 15 feet of bulletin board, full of various announcements in varying languages. This was how we originally found Jacob work, editing academic economic papers. Each time we went to la préfecture, I'd stop by and read most of the ads about language teaching because I didn't know any of the vocabulary in French to offer my services. My ad was a summation of others I'd seen and I tried to use my fancy handmade fonts to catch someone's eye. And it did! Someone actually replied the same evening! Things never happen this quick in France, thus my surprise. The best thing about finding private tutoring (aside from seeing the student progress) is that it should cover the cost of groceries and restauranting each month since I'm able to charge 'professeur d'anglais' rates. Hooray!

Our good friend (and my favorite translation partner) Jen stayed with us for two days this week. She was hoping to find some english poetry while in Paris so we ventured out to hunt down the second-hand english book stores. For some reason, most are located in the VIeme arrondissement. We found the San Francisco Book Company, Berkeley Books of Paris, and Tea & Tattered Pages (which was indefinitely closed for the afternoon though the sign said the owner would be back at 2 p.m. and it was 2:30). The latter made me miss Novel Idea and 14th Street stores in Lincoln as there was a round orange tabby cat meowing at us as we peered into the darkened windows. There is a tiny tea house in the back for customers to enjoy their books; I will most definitely go back when they are open. Most of the stores have a trade-for-credit deal which is good news to us servants. I had to make the difficult decision between Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" and Barbara Ehrenreich's newest book, "This Land Is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation". I've become a groupie of each author, but the former won out this time since it was 2 euros cheaper. If I'm going to elect the man, I ought to read his books.

Fall is almost officially over in Paris. It was short, but sweet. There's still some green leaves hanging on for dear life, but it gets cold enough now to frost overnight and in the morning. The day we hunted for second-hand books, we stumbled through les Jardins de Luxembourg which was a spectacular sight: meticulously manicured lawns and flower beds, out of which sprung huge flowers displaying an array of brilliant colors. The chill seemed to make them sparkle. The cold, of course, is nothing compared to what I've heard has recently been dumped over Eastern Nebraska. It will be much more mild here the entire session though I've taken to wearing a layer of thermals and leaving the radiators on in both rooms.

French phrase of the day (courtesy of FUSAC, the best newsletter an anglophone could have in Paris): Copains quoi qu'il arrive = Friends through thick and thin.