Really Good Chips

I suppose you could say that a lot has happened since that last incredibly moving entry, but mostly I've just been eating chips. They have these roast chicken-flavored chips here that are going to be the death of me. They're so good. I can't stop.

So that's why today I have to go jogging.

Friday I ended up at the gigantic agricultural salon/expo, and it was incredible. It's where all the farmers and food/cheese/meat/wine producers come to show off what they've made/grown/recently slaughtered. You pay six euros to get in, and then you basically just sample food and drink for hours on end. It was pretty great. We walked away with a couple of things - some bottles of this delicious berry/peach spritzer stuff that we figure we'll save for a spring day in a park, and we also got bullied into buying ten euro's worth of tapenade. Tasty stuff, so it's not such a waste really - plus, I think we're going to stuff it into a whole Bar and make a really good fish.

The one thing that I hate most about Paris is dealing with the coins. They're an unbelievable pain in the ass. First of all, everyone at every store expects you to have exact change for everything - something I never have. Then, when someone gives you change, they give you as many coins as possible. Yesterday, I needed 38 euros and 80 cents in change, and I got 8 euro 80 back in coins. What am I supposed to do with these? It's no wonder everyone who comes here is broke, because you walk around with 8 euros in coins and think, "Hey, this [whatever I'm about to buy] is only 2/4/5 euros!! I can just use coins!" And everything's great and easy until you realize you just spent 7 dollars on some thing you found on the street. It's an impressive scheme. So I've entered, as of Saturday, the no-spend zone. I'll see how long I can make it.

Last night, I ran into my host sister, Ann, on the very last metro from Opera. Which isn't really that weird, but the whole time I was waiting for it to come I was thinking, "Man, wouldn't it be weird if I ran into Ann sometime in the middle of the night on the metro?"