NB: This is a few days old. I’m just getting a chance to post now.

I’m going to Paris today! As soon as I’m done with work. “Working” right now consists of waiting for the people who are eating breakfast now to finish so that I can wash their dishes. My aunt and my cousins are in Paris, so the pretext is that I’m going to visit them. And it will be nice to see them. As children we didn’t get along terribly well, my cousins and I. They’re nice churchgoing Midwestern girls and I’m everything that’s wrong with America. But now we’re older and they’ve started to think for themselves, so we’re doing better.

But the other reasons I’m going to Paris: let my mosquito bites heal, sleep on a comfortable bed, and mix up my diet a little (I haven’t been eating anything besides bread, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers and the occasional frites with curry ketchup since I came to Namur). Plus once I cross the border into France I can put money on my phone and it will once again function as more than an alarm clock. The internet is still my main means of communication, it being free and all. Still it’s nice to know that I could use my cell phone even if I’m generally too cheap to. And in Paris I can use my library card and get some fresh reading materials. There is literally not a single English bookstore or even section of English books in any bookstore in Namur. Or non-leather white sandals, but that’s another story. I also need to buy a father’s day present. Oh, and I need to see Ader. Not only because I miss him like crazy already but because he’s a good shopping buddy and I need a new watch.

I come back to Namur Thursday night. Then the following Wednesday morning I head to Calais to meet Ader. After extensive searching we found a city that wasn’t too far for either of us with a hotel that wasn’t too expensive. That was the only criteria. For previous trips I tried to pick scenic cities with lots of things to do. But the reality is that we’re going to spend our long weekend like this: stay in bed until hunger overcomes sloth, eat, walk around because we ate too much, repeat. Any city that allows us to do this will suffice. A beach is nice too. After Calais I come back and work three days and then go to Paris and I get to stay for a whole month. So yeah, life is good.