Pikachu at the Eiffel Tower

August 28^th, 2007

I have heard many people say that French people are not so accepting of foreigners, even from neighboring countries. I am so lucky because of my circumstance – I’m traveling alone so every country I visit, people assume I am a local. I also dress somewhat nice – therefore people always speak to me in their native language. I have actually received much kindness in France from both men and women – and it helps that I can say a couple words in French. A man came up to me on the street yesterday and spoke French to me – he was shocked when I told him je ne comprend pas Francais, he said “You look so French! You have such a skinny face – aren’t all American girls Fat?” So funny what we all think about eachother.

My Roomate at the hostel is from Taiwan and though we can barely sommunicate, I understood she is alone here in France for a few weeks and does not speak anything but Taiwanese. We went together to the Eiffel tower and took photos of eachother. Trying to make conversation – I mentioned Pikachu and a couple words I know in Chinese. She followed me to a hidden street market that I learned about from Rick Steves. While I was pretending tI speak French and tasting the perfect cheeses – my friend I think did not know what to do with herself. I believe she must be very shocked culturally. A cheese that tasted like manna from heaven to me – was completely repulsive to her. After another hour of this I felt bad for dragging her around with me, so we separated – I hope I did not hurt her feelings. Sometimes I feel like the Universe and its people are so generous to me – and I don’t give anything back. I want to share and help more. I made 3 canadian friends and we all went to a Parisian café late at night. I love this so much – sitting and talking. One girl Marilyn told us all the story of how she lived homeless on the streets in the Canadian winter for 3 months. This was a captivating story – too long to re-tell. I have become so relaxed on my trip – nothing is really a problem – I just know how things ebb and flow and how they always get better after being bad.