Today was the day. I finally had Mexican food after months of deprivation. It sure was work getting there.
I woke up at 8:30 this morning and got myself to my desk by nine with a brown sugar pop tart and cup of coffee in hand. I started off with an article about the Spanish Civil War for my histories class. There is (was?) a big controversy in Spain over digging up the bodies of the victims of the Spanish Civil War. The article specifically focused on the exhumation of a famous Spanish poet, last name Lorca. I found it really interesting. His family opposed digging up his body, despite a government declaration that it would happen, because they said that exposing his body to more humiliation added nothing to history. The article also accidentally brought up a concept that we've been talking about in class. We've discussed the importance of monuments a lot, and I've found them more and more important. If there's no monument, even if the monument isn't interesting, then we're bound to forget history. The next article I had to read for histories was about a town in Spain called something to the extent of "Little Town of Jew Killers" and the controversy over changing its name. I actually agreed with the townspeople who opposed changing the name. Hear me out. The town was originally a haven for Jews, but the townspeople converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition instead of fleeing. They changed the name to be anti-Semitic to avoid being repressed. The article also brought up the position that, if the town changes its name, other Spanish towns might be pressed to change their names also (like Matamoros "moor killers"). My histories class has had fantastic readings lately.
Sadly, after that high, I had to finish the pop reading that I started yesterday. I'm so glad that this is the last week that I have to read for that class. The articles are always so convoluted that you can't figure out what they're trying to say. So annoying.
After that annoying blip in the road, I turned to writing down instructions for today's adventure. I wanted to rent a bike (the bike system in Paris is called the velib') as suggested by Mindy so that I could ride up and down the canal after getting my Mexican food fix at El Nopal. I ordered the bike online using my credit card (it wouldn't take my debit card) and wrote down all the information. Next I wrote down the metro directions. I was all ready to go. El Nopal doesn't open until one on Sundays, and it was about noon by this point, so I decided to study for French before leaving the house. I finished studying at 12:40 and then got myself dressed and ready to go. I encountered Kate in the elevator on my way out the door and we discussed my Mexican food adventure. She said that the complain of all of the California students at Accent is how much they miss Mexican food. What can I say, Mexican food is the God-given right of a California. Burritos, tu me manque.
I went to Gare de Lyon and walked through an open gate onto the metro. I had to take the one towards Château de Vincennes instead of my usual La Défense to go to Nation. I then took the two towards Place de Dauphine (that's the only direction available for the two at Nation; it's the end of the line) to Colonel something with an "f". I got off the metro in the sketchiest neighborhood imaginable. My directions said to walk north on Place de la Villette (ohmygod I was in the 19th! I hate the 19th!) and take the third exit at the roundabout. I saw a roundabout, but I got confused and walked away from it. Big mistake. I was walking and walking through the sketchy neighborhood filled with shady looking men and a strange Asian community. I finally decided to turn around, and hold on tightly to my purse, and go back to the metro station. When I got to the roundabout again, I was still confused, but I figured that I'd just walk around the roundabout until I found the stairs my directions talked about.
I found the stairs two streets up. They passed through a really cute little plaza with a large tin sculpture that had children playing with a soccer ball in it. The stairs led me through an adorable park; adorable, but still sketchy. It wasn't a good neighborhood. I followed the path down to a main road which happened to be the road I was looking for. The canal was right across the street. My directions said to take a right from the road that I first encountered, but there was no way to make a right. I crossed the street only to see a street sign saying that I was on a different road entirely. The directions said nothing about a different road. I chose to go back across the street and keep walking down the original street that I encountered. The area around the canal is totally bobo (French for hipster). There were groups of twenty-somethings sitting along the canal having lunch as well as tons of small (probably organic) cafés. I kept walking and walking but I couldn't find the street. I finally located a mairie map and found the street I was looking for; it was in the other direction.
I went back to the street that I came from and went further up the street hoping to find a right hand turn. It was up a large hill, and my already dead feet were starting to ache again. I crossed the street and went back towards the street I came from. I was pretty worked up by this point, but I knew I was somewhere nearby. I wasn't going to give up hope. I finally found the street and saw El Nopal! It was on the same street that I encountered when I first got to the main road. I'm so dumb.
El Nopal is literally a hole in the wall. There are no tables, just a small ledge where one or maybe two people can stand to eat. I already knew what I wanted. I was disappointed to find out that there were no carnitas as advertised on their own sign. Strike one. I ordered my burrito with chicken and spicy sauce and added guacamole to it; my total was 10,40. To add guacamole was 1,50 itself (more than I pay for a metro ticket). It had better be good. I stood there amongst the other English speaking patrons (literally all but like two patrons spoke English) and waited for my food. While waiting, the most stereotypical bobo I've ever seen came to order food. He had a big beard, had earrings, and was wearing a bonnet (a beanie for you English speakers). I had to laugh. The whole area is bobo heaven; it even has a small skate park.
I got my burrito a few minutes later and took it to the canal. Now the moment you've all been waiting for: my review of the burrito (called a "burrón" in french for only god knows what reason). It was a burrito. It tasted like Mexican food. It satisfied my Mexican food cravings for a good hour. I must say that it really did satisfy my cravings and did actually taste like the Mexican food that I'm used to. It wasn't perfect (or like the other burritos that I normally eat) but it was pretty good. On the down side, there was like no meat in the burrito and only like a tablespoon of guacamole. Not worth the 10,40 I paid for it, but it was still tasty. I could get something more filling and satisfying at a kebab stand (for way cheaper).
I finished my lunch and went in search of a velib station to get my bike. I walked back to where I had seen a station and followed the prompts on the machine to get a bike. I got the bike and started to ride it towards the big hill going towards the end of the canal, but immediately had to pull over because the seat was up way to high. I couldn't figure out how to fix it so I rode standing up for a few minutes. That got tiring quickly so I got off again and figured out how to lower the seat. I had to pull over one more time to lower the seat even further. Then I was off! I made a left towards El Nopal and raced down the street narrowly missing small children and pedestrians. Sadly I had to use the bike lane that was away from the canal, but I had already seen so much of it that I didn't mind. My next problem was trying to change gears. I figured out how and kept riding. The bike was hard to steer, but I managed.
I figured that I'd just ride the bike home. I was riding on the street next to cars (the bike lane had run out). The canal is way shorter than I thought it was, and I had ridden past the whole thing in a matter of minutes. I realized where I was and had pulled into the bike lane that had moved to the left hand side of the street. I had stopped at a red light when a biker pulled up next to me and was trying to tell me something in French. I told him that I didn't speak French. He then told me in English that something was wrong with the back tire of the bike. I asked him what I should do, and he said to exchange it for a new one; we were right in front of a velib station. I pulled over, pulled the bike into a station, and then tried to rent a new one. It turns out that you can't just go exchanging bikes when you have a one day pass. Lesson learned.
I was near Oberkampf which meant that I now had to walk for about 40 minutes to get home. My feet hurt, and the sun was going down, but I managed to walk home and collapse in bed. I ate some See's candy and watched some tv in bed to recuperate from my exhilarating adventure. Next up was working on my pop paper (it seems to be getting suckyer) before watching some more New Girl. I've run out of New Girl episodes. What shall I do?! What I'm actually doing is watching a documentary on Netflix about conjoined twins and returning to my Judge Judy watching ways. I tried to watch tv but my internet kept freezing. I took it as a sign to work on my synecdoche paper before watching some Judge Judy. I ate some ice cream and then worked on my histories monument paper. Next up was eating some refried beans with nacho cheese (don't forget a heavy sprinkle of garlic powder) and chips in bed while watching some more Judge Judy.
I've had a day.
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