French Cuisine, Indian Food, & Gelato. Hello calories

We started off the morning by taking the metro to a french cooking class. My partner Mikayla, and I made puff pastries (choux) and a tapenade. Both of which were quite delightful! The main chef (and I believe owner of the establishment) was incredibly endearing and showed our group the wine cellar that he had in the basement. When everyone was done making their assigned dishes, we all sat down and enjoyed everyone's creations. It was a really great activity and the food was delicious! Afterward, I went to the MICEFA office to call a woman regarding a potential au pair position. I talked to the lady on the phone and she was the sweetest person ever! Her name is Beatrice Collet and she lives in the 7th arrondissement. In exchange for spending 12 hours a weeks with her children (which consists of hanging out with them and speaking in English to them), I get my own studio apartment in the same building as them for free! We set up a time to meet in person on Saturday at 12 pm. She said she really wants me to be like an older sister to her two kids, and I won't really have to take care of them because they are very self sufficient. I'm excited to take a look at the apartment and meet her in person! This opportunity seems almost too good to be true. I celebrated my triumph of finding this place by splurging and buying myself face wash. I know that sounds silly, but everything is expensive here, so I need to pick my battles. I only stopped at home for a little bit, and then I went down the street to buy some notebooks and across the street to le Jardin to write in my journal. There were a bunch of people, dressed in old-fashioned clothing, dancing on the stage in le Jardin, so I sat and watched for a while.

When I returned, a group of us decided to get take-out Indian food and take it up to the terrace to eat it. We enjoyed some good food and conversation and then we were back down the street to get gelato, which we can't get enough of.

 

 It was a very busy day, and I still get quite overwhelmed with some cultural differences. But I suppose culture shock is normal at this stage. I'm excited to finally get to the point where I am completely settled and feel 100% comfortable in this city.