feeling canadian

i am writing this post...from...paris. mon dieu. it's a french keyboard, so try to ignore my spelling. add to the french keyboard the fact that i currently have not slept in 30 hours; i am riding on a high of coffee, and more importantly, the high of having a joyous smiling katya to talk to after a year without her at mcgill - and the high of wandering endless winding ornate paris streets. i guess i must be pretty high, n'est-ce pas?

the flight over seemed surprisingly short. air france's food rivalled swiss air's food in quantity, tastiness and variety. i swear this airplane food is better than most restaurant food. the real pièce de resistance in this case was the appetizer: saffron couscous on romaine lettuce with curried beans and fresh salmon. and yes, that was the appetizer.

everything has been pretty surreal so far; i'm not even sure how to capture it. i was mentioning to katya as we were walking by the gargantuan sand-coloured sorbonne building that i'm so not aware of what's going on yet that my blog will be filled with sentences like 'it's strange.' 'everything is pretty.' and 'paris is interesting.'

the best part of the flight was the full moon over the clouds. i got to watch it travel all across the sky, then turn red and slowly descend - just as we were descending over paris. the sunrise literally began as our wheels hit the runway, and the sun became red on the horizon just as i walked into the airport.

i was just as impressed with french customs on this flight as i was when my mother and i flew to nice last year; i.e. everyone just walked out of the airport past the customs officials. no one asked me why i was there and when (or if) i was leaving, no one even checked to see if i had a passport. almost made up for the 45 minute wait to pick up my bags.

i feel very, very canadian. i'm polite, i apologize for everything, i'm stocky and built for peasant life and i don't know how to properly wear eyeliner. at the same time, i was also struck by how happy i feel to be canadian. travelling into paris from the airport i was struck by just how dense and involved a city it is. it feels as though everyone just carves out tiny individual pockets always moulding little niches into the endlessly diverse landscape of the city; the people and buildings are just endless. to a small-town toronto girl like myself, it's easy to imagine getting lost in living in paris, never knowing how your niche fits into the others, never feeling confident that you would cross paths with your best friend ever again if one of you happened to move or get a different job or something. that being said, it's also very pretty. and that being said, i've only been here for 7 hours.

not to keep rambling forever, i'll end thus: i look very forward to a week of wandering, and of basking in katya's sunny personality and artfully deocrated little parisian room. by the end of the week we will be much closer i'm sure, if only because her shower is in her room across from the bed and has a glass door. whatever comes after this week...still feels too big and surreal to even bring it to the level of unreality that i feel right now. with my dutifully awkward blogging, i'll try to document it as it unfolds.

by the way, thank you joanna for totally making my trip with your letter.

kisses to everyone, one per cheek. enjoy spring.