Virtually Home

Apparently that tempest, which barely inconvenienced us in downtown Bordeaux, destroyed a lot of homes and lives and knocked out a lot of electricity elsewhere. Always important to look at things from other perspectives. Or maybe just read the news, which I am notoriously bad at. I just tend to really hate the news, though I occasionally do like to know what's going on. This is a really silly contradiction, but I live with it. Last night, one of our roommates moved out, and we spent the rest of the night cleaning up the apartment. I got my room organized and we bought a new shower curtain. I wish I had more interesting things to report on that front, but I really don't. Tonight, I must read The Illuminations in its entirety. I was supposed to have done this before, but it's daunting with all of its vocabulary I've never seen. I think I'm reading more of my translation dictionary than Rimbaud, at this point. I tell myself I'm learning things, but in reality i...

There were a lot of topics I was thinking about blogging about, and I realized they all had to do with cleanliness, mostly. So there's your theme. THEMED! Today, I waged war on the apartment, which, for some reason (either my particular landlady or the European custom) was not cleaned before I moved in. Until now I'd been sort of cleaning things as I could with whatever products and materials were available to me. Today, I went to Monoprix and went sort of crazy on the cleaning supplies. I got back and vacuumed with our strangely-shaped and relatively inefficient vacuum cleaner. Then I Swiffered. And then I Swiffered again. I cleaned the bathroom(s) and the kitchen, and every available surface, really. It made me feel a lot better about my life, but the apartment is still not up to my usual cleanliness standards. I'll continue the campaign tomorrow, maybe. Maria cooked some delicious risotto with sundried tomatoes and mushrooms and chicken, and made a salad with blueber...