so..chillin in paris. every day is a little cracked out since the second hostel we ended up in (auberge internationale des jeunes)has lockout from 10 to 3, and v and i seem incapable of (or disinterested in?) getting to bed in time to sleep for more than like four or five hours. so then we pass out in a parc somewhere for an hour or two in the afternoon. yesterday we were in the uh the big graveyard that has edith piaf in it and we were trying to sleep by this tree that had swallowed one grave (you could see the stone sticking out of one part) and was in the process of taking over another. the roots had crept in and cracked open the grave. i looked inside but it was deep so the light didnt penetrate far enough for me to see the bottom. i wished id had a flashlight.
anyway so then the parc police came and told us we had to get up; we later found some grassy bench area with other people sleeping. apparently sleeping is only designated in certain spaces. i kind of forgot about really pointless rules that are maybe good because they give someone a job to do, but no cop in senegal is ever going to tell you you are loitering unless maybe it was near a government building.
also yesterday some kids were in the park with (well when i say kids i mean like high school) their dog and playing soccer. after a bit four cops came to get rid of the dog, and then literally ten more came, then later two more on bikes. they were all searched and the soccer ball stolen and everyone had to leave except like two people. i asked why the cops stole their ball and what all that crap was about (they werent obviously doing anything wrong other than looking a little "alternative") and the guy was just like, they didnt steal our ball and acted kind of snotty. i told him it was called solidarity and we walked away.
so far when people stop us they invite us to drink or smoke with them, ask us if we are both english and lesbians, and of course the underlying invitation for getting it on it pretty apparent. we have taken to the system of just taking their phone number and telling them we are staying at the first hostel we found. thus far no one has really been interesting enough to spend any time with, so we havent bothered to collect on our free intoxicants. of course its a little complicated because i dont like hash and v doesnt like wine, also most people only speak a tiny bit of english so that leaves v out of a lot of the conversation (which im not sure she minds since they have all been pretty inane)
so i was craving some music and tried to look up oriental rap, but couldnt find any anywhere so then i downloaded some radio station thing (see address below) and under their categories i found international: asian, irish, latin, and world. how does one omit an entire continent (that would be africa) from a playlist but have one tiny fucking country as a viable option?
ok, things that i have remarked:
* when there is liquid streaming out of gutters here, it is this clear thing i would call water that maybe i could even drink. that would be far different from the opaque green/grey raw sewage i am used to.
*people are like automatons. when i say anything beyond hello (bonsoir, ca va?) they get this frown on their faces. like they are confused or annoyed that i would dare say hi, howsitgoin? they do not respond and instead just wait for me to get to whatever question it is i need to ask or whatever demand for purchase i will make. i feel sad that people are in this state of machinelike functioning in so much of the world..i miss saying asalaam malekuum to people. it breaks the ice in a way people here arent interested in or familiar with..
*i see people wearing boubous frequently. i want to reach out and say hi, but i also dont want to make assumptions about them. i could say asalaam malekuum; but i feel strange doing it in this context. i saw a baay fall the other day, i wanted to be like, touba! or something, but i just watched him walk by instead.
*i really enjoy the paris metro system. its the only metro system ive ever used in my life, so i dont know how it compares to anything but bus systems. anyway its really easy to use and i really dont ever feel in danger of getting lost. also paris is HUGE, everywhere we go is dense city, at least six story buildings and shops and some kind of monument every bloody ten blocks. it makes me wonder about living here at some point, though quite expensive.
*speaking just french throws me a bit,certain things are just easier in wolof than french. plus the parisian accents make it hard for me to understand responses. im getting used to it and im sure id get more used to it after a short time
*thinking about activism and conceptualizing world problems in a manner particular to crusties and such is new again, people i talked to in senegal dont think about those things in the same way. mostly they are uninformed on neocolonial practices and reserve their resentments for the french, whose influences are far more obvious.
each night i miss ponge and the crew a little more, i think the first couple days i was a little too..disoriented to really pay attention to what was missing; in addition to confronting lingering sentiments for v. it must be worse for them, since my life is missing some things but has gained others while i just left and their lives are the same. not much changes day to day in medina.
someone in this cyber is using the cologne ponge used, it smells nice.
