So much to say, so much to do...

So I'm leaving Prague today. I've spent an amazing few days here and I'm sad to leave but happy to get back to Domi.

I have so many things to figure out, pictures to put up, papers to settle, presents to create, artistic things to do... and I'm a little emotional with all the change and the timing and the holidays and such.

It's also gloomy here in Prague. So maybe it's a good thing I'll be on a plane in a few short hours. Although Italy was pretty gloomy when I left...

I'd just like to, not that anyone reads this, but, I'd just like to say a big thank you to my friends here in Prague. I've had a crazy wonderful time.

All things must pass...

Transitions

I'm back in Paris for the next couple of days. I had to drive the rental truck back from Italy. It was a long and boring drive, but I did it and I returned the truck and drove a stick in Paris. Wee! Not just a stick, actually. It was a big van too. In PARIS!!!
I'm going back to Biella on Saturday and then next Wednesday I'm off to Prague for a week. I'm super excited about Prague, but then it will be good to get back and really unpack and find my place and start learning Italian. Hopefully my papers and stuff are getting taken care of. Domi's new company is supposedly asking for me in order to hustle along the process.
Our apartment is beautiful. I don't know when exactly we'll get to move in, but it's got a private patio, a front door with stained glass windows, a huge bedroom, an eat-in kitchen, a big oven, a half bathtub, a washing machine, and a huge living room. I love the furnishings and I love the colors. Not much of a view but I don't really care too much about that. I might even be able to have a little garden since our patio is so big.
I can't wait to settle in and start cooking and decorating... I'm excited.
I'm also supposed to contact the director of the English school with whom I've already spoken. She's very interested in me because they use the Montessori method to teach kids and I would be the only teacher with a Montessori diploma. They say they 'use' the method, but I'm taking that assessment with a grain of salt.
In any case, we'll have a car soon and we have an apartment and wee I'm just excited and happy to start getting settled.
Our city is nestled in the mountains and it's going to snow this winter. It's pretty. I hope people come to visit.

And they're off...

It's 1am. Domi and I are waking up at 6 to finish getting all of our stuff into the truck. Then we'll have the landlord come by and check out the apartment. Then we'll leave.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

That's not really a non-sequitor. I *am* going to have a happy Thanksgiving. I'm going to be with my love and we're going to begin our new life in Italy.

Once I have some more stability in Italy (once everything is settled and I've returned the truck and returned from my trip to Prague (yes, I'm going to Prague) and we have an apartment and internet) I'll get pics up and I'll send out contact info etc etc. I'll write more.

C'est promis.

I have to go now, though. I'm tired. I recorded my voice tonight, and although everyone said I was efficient, I still had to perform. Therefore it was somewhat draining. And I was already tired.

Voila, quoi. I'll see you in Italy.

So much stuff...

Spain was wonderful. For our last dinner in Spain my mom and I went to a really good and surprisingly inexpensive place called Ginger... if you're ever in Madrid, it is at metro Sol-ish. It had very cool interior decorating.
We got home late, around midnight and I didn't go to sleep until one... and then we had to wake up at 7am. We took a taxi and my mom's plane was at 11:30 so I dropped her off then went to find my check-in place. My plane wasn't until 13:30 so I had a couple of hours to wander the airport and make some key duty-free purchases. I was already tired at that point... but I knew that that evening was my big concert with my so-called band...
After the flight and struggling with the RER and lugging my dirty clothes home, I arrived to a dirty apartment and called my bandmate who said they were just then headed for the bar and when would I be there? I literally jumped in the shower, didn't even wash my hair and flew out the door. The order of the songs had been changed but that didn't matter so much as the fact that the second song was one I sang and didn't (and DON'T!) know the words to... It worked out, though. We had the words on a sheet of paper and I faked it pretty well.
The concert was really fun and there are amazing pictures by a friend on facebook. I'm very happy with it all.
I was, however, exhausted once the concert was over. I went home and slept.
I've been packing ever since.
Eep!

Sevilla. Ruins. Flamenco.

Sevilla is beautiful. I love the architecture here. Black metallic balconies... Spanish food is not overwhelmingly delicious and imaginative, but we´ve had some very good stuff.
For my mom´s birthday we went to Italica. Italica was an R and R site for Roman soldiers. Ancient Roman ruins...
...it was cool.
For her birthday night, we went to a Flamenco performance. No, I have to rephrase that - we went to THE Flamenco performance. I was paralyzed by their focus; literally, I was glued to my seat. Even the rudeness/loudness of a large group of American kids couldn´t ruin my high. There was a singer. I fell in love with him. There was a guitarist. I fell in love with him. There was a woman. I fell in love with her.
But the man...
I had never seen a male flamenco dancer before. I thought all his focus was on me. I felt like he was staring at me throughout his performance - that he was dancing for me.

It. Was. Amazing. I loved every second of it. My mom and I were singing and fake flamenco dancing all the way back to our hotel after it was over.

Flawless.

MaDRID!!!

I got here yesterday and my Mom and I wandered around a bit. She´s not feeling well, though, so I´ve mostly been on my own.

We got some tapas yesterday - gambas al ajillo y gambas a la plancha - along with the house´s sweet red wine. I probably mispelled the Spanish I wrote, but apparently I´m making myself understood when I fake it. And apparently they understand my Spanish (although I´ve never taken a Spanish class) better than my mom´s (even though she studied it at university, and again, recently).

I´ve gotten in touch with a couple of people we know here and hopefully will be hanging out with some of them tomorrow. It will be neat to see Madrid from the point of view of those who live here.

So far so good!

Happy Halloween... ?

I love Halloween. I love dressing up. Pretending to be something I'm not - hey, why do you think I did theater for so long?

But now that I live in France, Halloween isn't really what it used to be. So instead of moping on and on about how the French don't get it and don't celebrate it, I'm going to mention some favorite costumes of Halloweens past...

I was once...

Wonder Woman! My favorite costume ever, and if I were to go to an adult Halloween party I would try to find a Wonder Woman costume.

A black cat.

Cinderella.

A chocolate chip ice cream cone. That one was fun to make.

A hippy.

A lady from the 60s. Curled and teased my hair. I was lovely.

A witch. Many many times.

A pirate.

A fairy.

A can-can girl.

Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was obsessed with her.

I love Halloween. Today I am Clark Kent. I look conservative on the outside, but underneat I'm wearing my Superman costume. Mwahahahaha!
My Superman costume consists of Superman underwear. I love them.

Okay, here goes.

Here's a picture of my new favorite chair. I lurve it. Domi loves it too, so that's good. It will come to Italy with us, if I have anything to say about it.

Yes.

The first of my last adventures in Paris...

I had decided to go to the Jardin des Plantes today. I wrote it down in my notebook: I would go to the Jardin des Plantes and take pictures and look at the wonderful plants and then go see a movie.

I ended up going to the Natural History Museum. I've lived in Paris for 4 years and I'd never been. I haven't been all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower, either.
It took me 2 years to go *inside* Notre Dame.

What made me pay 6 euros to go, finally, was looking in the windows from the outside. I was taking pictures of the rain stains on the outside of the building, thinking, lovely, lovely... when I saw the bones in the windows. Hmmm... I wonder if there are... DINOSAURS in there...

And then the only thing I could think was:
I want to see the dinosaurs.

And so I did.

It seems silly in retrospect, but it was really cool and kind of scary. I kept imagining the skeletons suddenly coming to life and herding towards me. They're set up in rows on the first floor - animals living today - and so it's easy to imagine that sort of thing. I think.

Upstairs there were, indeed, some dinosaurs. I was very excited.

I was not as excited about the invertebrates, but that level offered a wonderful view of the dinosaurs who had just towered over me.

I also kept on imagining what the animals looked like with their clothes on. You know what I mean.

The last few weeks in Paris...

I've been doodling around for the past few weeks before my Domi and I move to Italy. I'm not motivated to do very much. So blogging will be, in a sort, my motivation.

I'm trying to write and express myself more, and I've actually been succeeding because I have so much time on my hands. I'm poor, unemployed, but have a roof, food, and the internet! Aha!

This is going to be a short post, this first one, because I need to get out of this apartment. I've spent too much time at home and I only have a few more weeks here so I MUST take advantage of it. I'm hoping to not only take advantage of Paris, but share it with whoever is interested... ie my computer.

I want to bring my camera out with me and hopefully take some lovely pictures I can put in here. I think that's something I can do on a blog...

So this is my plan/goal for the next 2 weeks. Then I'll be in Spain with my mom for her 60th birthday and I'll try to capture that as well.

Then will begin the adventures in Italy...