Up on my soapbox today

Decided to update my blog since there's not much else I can do right now...  Yep, I'm sick, AGAIN.  I started feeling sick on Wednesday, and I still feel like total crap.  Sore/swollen throat, terrible cough, no voice, stuffy nose, and generally feeling really run down.  It's hard to sleep, and it didn't help that last night the gate alarm went off for around 2 hours in the middle of the night. (Since I live on a high school campus, the front gate is equipped with an extremely loud alarm,which apparently malfunctioned last night.  Lucky me that my bedroom window over looks the front entrance to the high school!  I thought I was going to go crazy last night before a technician showed up after almost 2 hours to turn it off.)

I had to call in sick to both my jobs today, and I'm putting myself on total rest and relaxation today and tomorrow, and trying to heal myself with tons of orange juice, fruits and veggies, and antibiotics.  I've heard from a lot of people that they were pretty much sick their entire first year living in Paris, especially first-year teachers (like me) who are exposed to new viruses every day when they go to school.  I can say from personal experience so far that at least 5 students in each of my classes are visibly enrhumee (sick with colds) to various degrees every day, some so severely so that I wonder why their parents send them to school at all!  Please, parents, keep your infectious children at home so I don't pick up every single one of their viruses!  I did get the flu shot back in September right before I left the states, thank god.

Anyway, hopefully after a ton of rest today and tomorrow, I'll be well enough to go into Paris on Sunday morning to work my 8+ hour serving shift, and then teach my last two days of classes on Monday and Tuesday before Christmas break.

In other boring life-news, I finally did my laundry yesterday!  (I'd been putting it off for upwards of a month...)  It's a 2+ hour process that involves loading up my suitcase with dirty clothes, lugging it down 2 flights of stairs, taking a bus to Le Pecq (because there's no self-service laundromat in St-Germain...) and then walking 10 minutes up-hill to a tiny laundromat called Laverie Impecq.  Once there, I fill up 3-4 washers (4 euro/wash), and then spend another 10 euro on the dryers, before folding everything, loading it back into my suitcase, and starting the trek to the bus stop.  Not so much fun, but I'm so happy with all my clean clothes now!  Small victories...

What else has been going on?  Went shopping with Jill at La Defense on Wednesday, and ate Sushi Shop for the first time.  Had salmon chirashi (sashimi on top of bowl of sticky rice) with avacado, cabbage salad, and miso soup.  Pretty good, but for around $17 (including a drink), it was pretty pricey.  Still, I have no problem paying for good sushi.  After lunch and a trip to H&M and Zara, we took the RER into Paris and went to a tiny music box store in the 1st arr. to look for a Christmas present for one of her friends, but unfortunately they didn't have the song she wanted to get him (La Boheme).  It was a clear, beautiful day, but absolutely FREEZING, so we found a Pain Quotidien and stopped in for a couple cafe allongees and a croissant for Jill.  I made a note to go back on a free day soon, because it's a great place to sit and do work on your laptop or read a good book, and the area is gorgeous.  They also have fantastic coffee and pastries!

After we finished our coffee, it was time for me to go to work for my usual Wednesday night 6pm-2am bartending shift at the Moose.  I starting feeling really sick that night, and by about halfway through my shift, I'd almost completely lost my voice, so I started sort of just nodding and grunting at customers.  (Good thing I was wearing a mustache t-shirt I'd bought at Zara that day that says "Ca va bien, et toi?" ;))

What else can I talk about?  I've been making a big effort to eat healthier lately, and even though I'm sick at the moment, I can tell that my body appreciates all the fresh fruit and veggies I've been feeding it!  I don't feel tired or sluggish after I eat, I have more stable energy throughout the day, and the less processed sugar and junk food I eat, the less I crave it.  If I get hungry between meals, I've started snacking on nuts, dried fruit, or low-sugar, whole-grain granola instead of sweets/salty snacks.  For the most part, I've completely cut animal products out of my diet, as well as processed junk food, simple carbohydrates, and sweets.  I've been eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain granola/cereal, raw nuts, beans, seeds, dried fruit, couscous, rice noodles, hummus, etc.  I will occasionally eat chicken or fish, but not more than once/day, and usually not even that often.  I also haven't been able to give up milk in my cereal in the mornings, but I'm going to see if I can find soy/almond milk at the grocery store next time I go shopping.

I've been doing a lot of research into veganism, and the more I learn, the more I like the idea of a vegan diet, as much for environmental and political reasons as for my health.  The impact of the Western diet on the planet, especially the cattle industry, is incredibly destructive and completely unsustainable in the long term.  If the world moved towards a whole foods, plant-based diet (veganism, as laid out in the documentary Forks Over Knives), we could solve starvation and malnutrition, and make great strides in reducing the production of greenhouse gases.  In addition, we could solve many health problems caused by the Western diet/animal products, including the prevalence of many types of cancer and obesity.  We could drastically reduce health care costs in this country, which would be good for small businesses and corporations alike, as well as for the average American tax-payer, of course.  In terms of politics, we could wrest the government/FDA from the control of the corn, dairy, and meat producers in America, and provide incentives for fruit/vegetable farmers to be able to grow their operations in order to meet the new demand for local, fresh produce.  Veganism is better for the planet, better for our health, and even better for democracy. What are we waiting for?

The sad truth is that most people in America have an addiction to highly-pallatable, processed foods full of salt, fat, and sugar, most of which contain lots of animal products and corn (in one form or another, a popular one is high fructose corn syrup).  These foods are also usually cheaper than healthy foods, and so we have the added problem of poor people being the fattest and the most addicted, and the least healthy people in America.  They also don't have the option of making healthier choices sometimes because they actually can't afford to buy healthy foods, or they aren't available in their neighborhoods.  The food environment in America sets us up for failure, and virtually ensures that most poor people will be fat and unhealthy, and the average American will have to make a huge effort in order to educate themselves about food, and avoid all the unhealthy and dangerous choices advertised to us every day.

The amount of power that the corn, dairy, and meat industry has in Washington is terrifying, especially over the government organizations that are supposed to protect our health, like the FDA.  The nutrition guidelines provided by the FDA play directly into the hands of these industries, recommending far more dairy, meat, and grain than is actually needed in our daily diet, just to keep these industries' profits in the green.  Many of the people in the most powerful positions in public health in Washington have connections with the dairy, meat, or corn industry.  What's even scarier is that these industries are directly tied to the petroleum/natural gas industries, as of course these are fossil-fuel-intense products.  It really does seem like those of us who are actually concerned about the health of our population are fighting an impossible battle against those who hold the money, and therefore the power, in our country.  Once again, the forces of capitalism working to the detriment or our general well-being as humans.

By eating a mostly local, organic, and vegan diet, I can:

1. stop paying into corrupt agro-business (dairy, meat, corn industries), as well as companies like Mansanto
2. support local, organic fruit and vegetable farms,
3. make my body healthier by: greatly reducing my chances of getting cancer, reducing inflammation, getting more essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and water, and maintaining a healthy weight
4. stop supporting the inhumane raising and slaughter of farm animals
5. stop supporting unsustainable fishing practices
6. help protect the environment by reducing the impact of farm animals and mono-cropping
7. probably do lots of other things that I'm forgetting right now

When you look at the bigger picture, can you still say that going vegan is too hard because you enjoy the taste of animal products?  What are your priorities in life, and what things can you afford to miss in order to be good to yourself and the planet?  It's a pretty easy choice for me...  (but that doesn't mean that transitioning into veganism isn't difficult, because it is!)

I highly recommend the following documentaries:

1. Forks Over Knives
2. Simply Raw: Curing Diabetes in 30 Days
3. Food Matters
4. Supersize Me
5. Making the Connection
6. Food, Inc.

Time for an update!

My mother recently reminded me that I hadn't written a blog post for over a month, so here's an update on my life in France!

Over the past month, I've settled into living in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a picturesque town directly west of Paris.  I live in an apartment for teaching assistants at Lycee Jean d'Albret, a 10 minute walk from the RER station.  The apartment is on the 3rd floor of a large administrative building, and there are 5 of us on the floor -- 3 other teaching assistants (from Germany, Russia, and China!) and a teacher from the south of France who lives in a separate apartment at the other end of the hall.  We all share the same kitchen and bathroom facilities, but we are all so busy working and have different schedules, so we rarely see each other for more than a few minutes at a time!  We speak French with each other because it's the only language we have in common, which is actually pretty cool because it helps me practice my language skills even more.  I hope  we'll have more time to hang out together in the new year, because the other teaching assistants all seem great and I'd like to get to know them better!

My room looks remarkably like my freshman year college dorm room, but it's fairly large, warm, and well-equipped, and for 120 euro/month, I definitely can't complain!  The only thing I really don't like is that my window faces out onto the entrance of the high school/the road, so I tend to wake up every morning at 8am when the students arrive and smoke their morning cigarettes regardless of whether I have to get up or not!

At the beginning of November, I started working at a Canadian pub/grill/sports bar in Paris off bd. Saint-Germain in the 6th arrondissement, close to metro Odeon.  I work 3-4 days/week as a server or bartender, and so far it's been a lot of fun, even though the hours can be pretty long.  Nearly everyone who works there is American or Canadian (excluding Mexican and Italian bartenders, and one French waitress and another from Sweden!)  We all speak English at work and that environment, combined with American football/basketball on TV almost makes me feel like I'm at a sports bar back in California :)  Working there also gives me more opportunity to practice my French, as I'd say the clientele is split about 50-50 Anglophone - French.  I also enjoy working in Paris, because it gives me an excuse to be in the city 3-4 days/week and ensures that I won't just stay in my warm room in St-Germain!

Speaking of warmth (or the lack there-of), it is officially winter in France.  It's cold -- much too cold for a California girl like me.  I have to do a lot of walking, which I'd normally enjoy, except now it tends to be a little less enjoyable given that my hands and face become icicles and my movement is usually hindered by the 120847234 layers I wear to keep from freezing!  The other teaching assistants who come from places like New York or Ohio like to make fun of me, but my body just isn't used to functioning in these temperatures!  Everything seems to take twice as much effort in the cold/rain -- I have to psych myself up just to go get groceries or walk to the bank!  My current struggle revolves around trying to convince myself to go do my laundry...  I've been desperately needing to do laundry for around 2 weeks now, but it's an ordeal that involves loading my dirty clothes in a suitcase, hauling it down 2 flights of stairs, walking 5 minutes to the bus stop, hauling it on the bus, riding the bus 10 minutes, hauling it off the bus, and walking 10 minutes to the laundromat.  Followed by paying exorbitant amounts of money to do numerous loads of laundry in the TINY washers (4 euro/load), drying everything, folding it, putting it back in my suitcase, walking 10 minutes back to the bus stop -- you get the picture.  It's just so not fun!!!  And yes, I know... #1stworldproblems...

ANYWAY.  Just to give you a mental picture of what a typical week for me looks like, here's my schedule:

Monday: Teach 10:30am-4:30pm
Tuesday: Teach 8:30am-3pm
Wednesday: Bartend 6pm-close (around 2am) at the Moose...  (Since the RER (train) stops running at 12:45am, the nights that I close the bar at the Moose, I have to take the night bus from the 6th arrondissement to Gare Saint-Lazare to catch another night bus for Saint-Germain-en-laye, which comes once/hour and takes about an hour to get to Saint-Germain.  As long as it's not too busy, I can generally make it to Saint-Lazare in time to get the 2:30am bus, which means I'm home by 3:30am, but if it's a busy night or I'm closing the bar on the weekend, I don't get back home until 4:30am, which is ROUGH.)
Thursday: Try to catch up on sleep, run errands and maybe do something fun in Paris :)  Prepare for classes...  Oh and it's my 23rd birthday!
Friday: Teach 8:30am-3pm.  This week I also work at the Moose serving from 8pm-midnight.
Saturday:  Usually I work during the day at the Moose (11am-7pm), but this week I have the day off, which I'm excited about because I get to celebrate my birthday with a fellow teaching assistant who turned 23 last week!
Sunday: Serve at the Moose noon - 7pm

Whew!  As you can see my schedule's pretty full, but I still have time to have some fun :)  The job at the Moose has allowed me to relax a little about finances, which is a big relief.

Teaching has been going pretty well lately!  I've started to relax about it a big as I've settled into my schedule and gotten to know the kids a little better at both my schools.  I've realized that if I relax and have fun with it (and make sure I'm prepared), the kids generally have a better time, too!  It helps that most of the kids I teach are unbelievably cute and excited to learn English!  While I do enjoy the job most of the time, this experience hasn't suddenly made me realize that I want a career as a teacher -- but it has made me realize that teaching really isn't that hard or scary!  At least in elementary school...

I've been so caught up in getting my life together here in France over the past few months that I must admit I lost sight of the big picture of my life altogether.  It's only been over the last couple weeks as I've been settling into a routine that I realized I should probably start thinking about what I want to do with my life next year!  Move back home to California and get a job/go to grad school?  Come back to Paris in the fall for a Masters program?  Travel the world?  I don't think I'd consider doing a second year of TAPIF because I feel like I'm getting what I should out of the program this year, and I want to move forward next year with the next phase of my life.

Anyway, I'm going back to the states in 15 days to spend Christmas with my grandparents and parents in Tennessee, so hopefully I'll have to time over break to consider my options for next summer/fall.

Right now I think I'll go back to trying to convince myself to go do my laundry before heading into Paris for work...  but doesn't buying new underwear just sound like an easier option??

Fun "apartment-warming" party at Olivia and Sam's place in the 18th!  All the people in the photo are teaching assistants.

Christmas tree in Galeries Lafayette!

Time for another Picturesque Parisian Park photo

Helping my friend Jill move out of her studio in the 18th into a cheaper, bigger apartment with another teaching assistant to the North-East of Paris, I discovered that she could see the top of Sacre Coeur from her balcony!  Awesome, but still not worth the price!

At Olivia's soiree, typical Parisians with our black & white stripes...

Christmas ornament one of the kids in my youngest level gave me!  I told him I'd take it back to America with me and put it on my Christmas tree, and I'm pretty sure I completely BLEW his mind.

Yummy apres-lunch dessert -- Chocolate hazelnut tartelette with fresh raspberries and (instant :/) coffee

Finally had the time/energy to go grocery shopping and made myself this delicious salad for lunch!  Spring greens, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, smoked salmon, and fresh baguette.

Chic hat in Galeries Lafayette

The Louvre by night

Pro-Palestine rally in front of the Opera building

Sooo muchhhh goood chocolateeee mmmmm