Mont St. Michel

On..sdf

still working.

random rants n remarks

My cooking, apparently very yum
It turns out everyone loves my cooking! They are so nice. Everytime I make something, Gersende says, oo that smells good! Haha, I am loved here! Everything from my spaghetti to meatballs to chicken to even my scrambled eggs. I'm lovin' it.

Organizing my entries
Does this help you to read my entries if I bold a topic line? I think I write too much for you to read so maybe this'll help you skip past things you don't want to read.

BBQ
A couple weeks back I was stumbling through paris trying to get back to Republique from St. Michel and thought I could take a short cut through the marais. I tired and failed miserably. The marais is full of tiny narrow streets with tall buildings and I got pretty lost. Somehow I met a bunch of french kids and ended up having drinks with them that night/morning, and got invited to a bbq. (side note: I told Gersende about it and she was said, "you'd be a massive idiot if you didn't go!") She didn't mean the comment to be derrogatory, its just her way to talking. So tonight was the BBQ. Clement lives in the suburbs of paris. Note to self- I need to comment on the suburbs. I met Melanie and Saed at the metro and Clem came and picked us up. The whole situation was totally cool up until the point where I was sitting in the car and thought to myself, wow I have no idea who these people are. I couldn't really remember how good of a judge of character I was the night I met them, and here I was sitting in a car with 3 strangers going somewhere in the suburbs or paris. So I think my wall went up a bit. Anyhow Clem drove through this huge gate, which turned out to be his driveway. There were a handful of ppl there already, and I only knew 4 of them. But it made me feel better that everyone didn't know everyone and it was somewhat of a random bbq, just like all of our college parties.. random crowd. The bbq started pretty promptly after that, there was chicken and sausages (hot dogs) in baguettes (buns), ha! To my surprise, baguettes make pretty good buns.

More people showed up throughout the dinner, and then most of them left. By the end there was a handful of us again, and this time it was more fun because they were ppl I knew and were comfortable talking to. Melanie went off on Bush, HA and Clem got mad at Saed for certain reasons which I won't write about, etc. etc. It was cool to see how similar (and not so similar) the ppl in our countries are.

Clem had asked me to bring some whiskey, (Good bbq, Yeah!) and so I brought the jack I had bought in Berlin for cheap. MM I haven't had jack in sooo long. It totally reminded me of home. So many memories.. pause.. reminiscing moment... ok done. Anyway french ppl aren't really rowdy like the states. A few people got up to dance, but mostly everyone just sat at the table. And that's how they have their fetes. Ou sorties. I really felt like my french improved tonight, or at least I got used to listening and diffferentiating words, even though I didn't know what they meant. I got along pretty well tonight with my french, yay. And on top of that made a bunch of french friends who are my age (23). Yes, MY age. I said that to Gersende and Nada and they gave me attitude for saying that! (they are 26+). So I was shocked that they said that, because I didn't think it was a big deal and would mean anything. AnywaY, they've totally called me young and a baby, or made comments about our different ages. And I'm totally shocked again cuz obviously they do notice a difference in age! Bah!

So all in all the bbq was a success, and a good time. I'm glad to be hanging out with french kids cuz 1) it'll improve my french a lot (not just gramatically correct, but also how people really speak french), and 2) i get to learn more about french culture the way french ppl live. It's a super rad situation.

superman the movie
I saw superman the movie last night. I give it a good rating. The movie was well done (minus ALL the impossible things that happend. I might get into that more later). BUT did anyone else feel like something was missing? Or not supermanish? I felt that the love story was played on too much, and there wasn't enough tradgedy and sacrifice. In all other superman series and movies he has to give up something for his responsibility. Kinda like spiderman. The movie ends on a totally happy note.. he has a kid, and he's got Lois. Btw, whatever happened to clark kent? (what a good transition into the impossible things. Let's roll with it.) Also how the hell did he lift up the island made of kryptonite? That makes no sense whatsoever. Apparently kryptonite doesn't have a big effect on superman when he's lifting a frickin island and throwing it into space. And what the hell is Lois' husband going to do when he finds out his kid has superpowers? That'll be a sticky situation, better run now Lois. And why was superman so weak in the very beginning... did he hitch a ride on that meteor back to earth, and he couldn't jump off it before it hit the atmosphere? Also why couldn't the kid open the dang kitchen door, especially right after he pushed a grand piano into the henchman without even flinching. Bah. Other than all that, it was a good movie.

paris and its suburbs (banlieues)
Paris is really enclosed. I compare it to the pentagon. Once your'e inside, you are sustained by anything you need. Post offices, restaurants, food, accomodations, etc. The pentagon is a self sustained city. So is paris. It is completely different than the outside. And the thing is, I only notice it when I take the train to outside of Paris. It's like a whole new world. Where did the tall buildings go? Did I just pass through a wall that surrounded paris? Those are the questions I ask myself everytime I leave the city. Paris and France are two totally separate things. It's not like the bay area (San Francisco) and it's suburbs where they are somewhat similar, or at least there's a medium (namely Oakland/Emeryville etc) between total metropolis (SF) and suburbia (um, how about Moraga).

But being in the suburbs really made me miss home and it reminded me of why I love the suburbs so much. I love sitting in my hot tub and staring into the sky, watching the stars, listening to the peaceful silence. vs. the city hearing motorcycles, and they are really really really loud ones, drive down the street at all hours, people walking under my window and me eavesdropping on them, insane unexpected parties down the road at club gibus, etc. I really do love living in this situation cuz well, I never have, but really having a taste of the suburbs again made me miss it a lot.

le quatorze julliet (bastille day)

so last night i saw hands down the most unreal fireworks show, ever. just imagine, sitting in front of the eiffel tower is just plain amazing as it is. put insane fireworks right in front of it, and a pretty sunset behind the tower. that's what it was last night.

everyone met up at champs de mars at 6 to try and get a good seat to watch the fireworks that started at 1030. it reminded me of the fourth of july in tahoe years ago when my family dropped maya and i off at the beach at 2pm to get a seat for the 8 o'clock show, except this time i didn't get an insane sunburn. kiyomi invited her friend annie who brought two other friends, francis and laura. so the show started a little bit after sunset at about 1030. classical music began to play from set up speakers all around the park, and the show was on.

this is a video clip of the fireworks... just imagine this 10 x more amazing.
if you hit the actual play button in the middle of the picture, it will play on the same page (not opening a new window taking you to youtube). also check out my flickr for more sweet pix.



after the fireworks we waited until the thousands of people left the park, and headed to the marais to go to a firemen's party. all the firehouses open up for the night before and of bastille day for a big party. we tried to catch the last metro but it was totally full and we couldn't get on... soo we ended up walking the whole way there.

here's more pix of the cool fireworks.

zizou

On the 3rd of July, i went to st. chapelle with jocelyn. it's possibly the oldest church/chapel in paris (it's even older than notre dame). it's smaller, but the stained glass is amazing!

The first picture is the best picture i could get of the whole room, and the second picture is a closer up of the glass. The windows depict each book in the Bible, starting with Genesis on the left back of the room, and ends with Revelatioin at the right back.

Outside on the balcony upstairs, they had carvings of biblical stories in the walls. i found those the most interesting because it made me feel like the stories were so true. If i had lived in the 13th century, I would have had no doubt believing the Bible. This is the only picture I got of the carvings, and I suppose it doesn't depict what I'm talking about all that well. sorry! Anyway, after that we went to Champs de mars with Chelsey and drank too much wine as usual. Um, yeah.

On the 5th, France played and beat Portugal. Here are some pics. We went to Bar Drop recommended by Rafael and Gersende. Awesome game! France's spirits are so high! Allez les bleus!



(these pics were taken at Bastille)
On the 8th of July, joce and i went to l'arc de triomph and trocadero.


we then met Ana Luiza for Thai food at a Thai restaurant that my guide book recommended. The food portions were SMALL. but the price was alright i suppose. after dinner, ana left to a jazz concert at caveau d'oubliettes, but then nada came by with but of course, more wine. the night kind of goes into a blur. but i think we walked to montparnasse to try and go up the building but it got too dark, and then we stopped by the jazz concert, but that wasn't really happening, so we ended up at shywawa? Then yeah, haha.

The next day I went to Jocelyn's aunt's house for dinner. YUM. home cooked good food! it made me feel apart of the city... or some kind of homey feeling. we went back to drop and watched france LOSE. Zizou and Materazzi were both f'in immature and I blame them both. Good sportsmanship goes BOTH WAYS! But I feel like Zizou is the only one getting the heat. zidane this zidane that. he's an idiot and made a mistake, but c'mon give him a break, it's not like he's being violent to players intentionally. Anyway, it sucks that France came out on the losing side of the whole situation. Allez les bleus! Anyway at the moment that Italia scored it's fifth PK, I swear the entire country of France fell silent in disbelief and despair. Zizou is not just adored, but worshipped here in France (I've seen people bowing down to big posters (zoolander size) of him on buildings). So when les bleus lost, it was incredibly sad. And after about 15 seconds of silence, everyone gave applause to the teams, the games, and the WC. Everyone still felt the depression though. The city that night was pretty quiet and not that many people were in the streets. Sad day, yes it was. After the game, I needed something good to eat so I went to St. Michel and got a greek sandwich to cheer me up. ha!

ey! ey! qui ne saute pas n'est pas francais! ey!

boy did i come to france at the right f'in time! first was fete de la musique, then it's the WM then it's bastille day, then it's tour de france, etc. etc. etc! tonight france beat out portugal, bringing us straight to the wM finals. i've never been in a place where the whole city is cheering for the same thing!! right now, even as i am writing this, there are innumberable horns being blown, cheers being shouted and well you get the point. and that's just my street. i went to champs elysees two nights ago after france beat brazil, and it was just madness. people were climbing trees with no shoes, riding atop street lights, fireworks being shot into the trees and atop buildings and even into the crowd, it was defintely FUN (for the first hour). all until masses of people began running for no apparent reason towards me and nada who were sitting on the bench. deciding not to get stampeded, we ran also away from l'arc de triomph. there's a bunch more pictures on my flickr if you wish to see them. just click the pictures on the right, or the link that says, MY PICTUREs. oo here is a video i just uploaded onto youtube. hopefully it works.



so to catch up, i went to berlin two weekends ago to watch the Ukraine and tunisia game. with a less than stellar match, the atmosphere was truly incredible. the wm ticket was so official, it was heavy, thick cardboard paper, and it had a hologram on it. we got inside just as they were singing the ukrainina national anthem. the ukrainian side was going nuts, and afterward so was the tunisia side. i'd have to say though that ukraine definitely would have won in a cheer competition with tunisia side. anyway we had a blast at the game. i was really tired though from my last week of staying out too late and not sleeping. the night before we went to a club which i forget the name of it now, (EDIT: the name of it was Delicious Donuts!) but they woudln't let us in because they just opened (at 5am, crazy huh) and there were 15 guys inside. so they told us to go get some girls at this other club (which i forget the name of also now) and so we went and got half the girls in the club to come with us. impressive huh! well too bad there were only 2 girls in the entire club and one was with her bf. so we really only got one girl to come with us... and then we never made it back to the first club anyway.

the next night we went to some bars and i ended up tagging along on a mission to find a mural of joga bonito. we went through beach clubs, prostitute central, and everything else interesting in berlin's nightlife, including a free hoppin hip hoppity hop party which was tight until we realized the average age of the club was 16 and the music they played was back in the 90's which put me quinn mike christian and paul back into high school. anyway it was still a good time, and it was also christian's bday so we drank to that.

oh, also that night i went with quinn to rent a car at tegel airport. we had a shitty map so we ended up on the right direction but lost in the small streets of berlin. we decided to stop and eat at some restaurant we found. i had bbq ribs in the name of nostalgia (of home), and quinn and a typical german dinner, a snitzel. i think that's what they were called. once we got back to near our hostel we found a cafe and drank some beer and watched france KICK ASS. got back to the Circus hostel afterwards, met up with the rest of the guys and went out (see above paragraph). quinn christian and paul drove to munich after we got back that night, which i thoguht was totally crazy! but they made it to munich safely.

the next couple of nights i spent by myself but met some english guys whose names i completely also forgot. there were four of them, all really nice guys but one smelled incredibly bad. i learnt "i think he's fallen down the loo" haha. on sunday i took a half day walking tour... it was absolutely the best. i learned so much about the history of berlin and how much it sucked. i could really never live in that city because there is just too much sad history there and i don't think i could live with seeing things that reminded me of that every day.

the rest of that week wasn't very exciting. i finished my last day of school that friday, and got to watch france win some good matches. met kiyomi, who is a nyu'er who is also friends with nick and gang. she's gonna be in paris for a while. i also went to ayumi's dinner on the last day of school. gersende told me i could walk to her place so i did, except smart me decided to walk with 4 bottles of 75 cl beer ( a little less than a 40) and 2 bottles of coke PLUS 3 more bottles of 75 cl beer cuz nada said they didn't have any. the original 15 minute walk ended up with a sweaty shirt and 45 minutes later.

ayumi cooked curry and it was good! nada brought a roasted chicken and since nobody was eating the last of it, i went ahead and demolished it, licking the entire chicken carcass including the bones clean. i think i get that from my dad. after dinner we went to bateau far (sp i know it) and danced somewhat the night away to the illest techno music i'd ever heard. and when i say illest i mean i almost felt ill after listening to it. j/k. i just ended up spending most of the time outside the boat cuz the music was too weird. and it was yet another late night, i mean early morning for us.

next night france beat brazil. nada and i went to (side note, i mention nada a lot huh! i guess we hang out a lot here) champs elysees after the game ended. the metro ride was fine over there, but once we got out, there were TONS and THOUSANDS of ppl crowded to get out of the damn metro. i felt like i was going to die in there. i coudln't move, the station was 90 degrees F, and everyone kept touching me with their sweaty arms. however by the grace of some miracle, we actually made it out of the metro and walked with the huge parade along champs elysees. people were lighting flares, waving them around, climbing trees and street lights, and even shooting fireworks in random directions (some landed in trees and some atop buildings... good firehazards, no?). we made it all the way down to l'arc de triomph and sat on a bench for a while, just chillin. when all of a sudden masses and masses of people started running towards us... ( OK i just realized i already wrote about this night in the first paragraph. go reread that instead!)

the next day we had a picnic on canal st. martin. this was gustav's 3rd last day or something because his flight kept getting overbooked and he kept getting paid to stay an extra day. in all i think he made 1,000 € to stay an extra two nights. i sure hope i get paid that much bank to stay in paris, sheesh! so we had this picnic and chilled for like 5 hours. and guess who stopped by to have a picnic too? fleur de la coeur from Harry potter 4. she sat like 20 feet away from us. i asked her out to the upcoming hogwarts winter ball but she rudely said NO. gosh, what a meanie.

PS! Thanks for all the comments you guys have left. i really appreciate reading them! Sorry that i don't write back to you guys who comment as it would be nice of me to do that, but im really bad at this blogging thing and just writing entries is hard enough for me ;) anyhow if you get a chance, leave a comment or shoot me an email, jonwongathan@gmail.com and i'll get back to you as best i can. a bientot-

jonathanwon blog update

hey all,

check out my flickr site. it's taken me forever to upload pics so i hope you like them. to see them, either click a picture on the right side of my blog, which will take you to that individual picture, or if you want to see all my albums (or sets) click the "My Pictures" link in the links section.

-jon