j'ai gagne!

so a lot of things happened this week but definitely the most exciting thing is that i won a contest!!!! well it was really like one of those lunchables "instant-win-a-universal_studios_orlando*florida_ticket_instantlYjustpeelhere" sort-of things, except it was in front of the franprix (a "super market") near my french class, and this girlwoman handed me a flier, and i really didn't want it but i took it anyway because she looked around my age and i felt sort of bad for her, standing in front of franprix handing out fliers at 8:45 in the morning on a friday. anyway, so i took the flier and scratched off this little box and the bottom and it said "GAGNE!! 50 euros" which i am pretty sure means "WIN!! 50 moneys."

after class i went back and got 50 moneys worth of groceries for free. it was so cool!!!! hi mom!!!! that night, i had a dinner party with all the free food. we made fried goat cheese salad, steak with sauteed mushrooms, and wine-poached pears for dessert. yeah!!!

autrement,  i went to a bunch of artist ateliers on friday because they were "ouvert au public," which means you could wander around menilmontant and a little bit of belleville in the rain and then run into an atelier for shelter and there would be sometimes snacks and always art and artists drinking tea. my favorite find were park eun young's stuffed sculptures of hands, humans, and ropes. i think they "say a lot." (art!!!!!)

on saturday, i visited some more galleries in the marais with john. we got a little lost on rue turenne and ended up at republique, but it was nice because my mental map of paris is really starting to come together. i could walk "to the louvre from my apartment" if i wanted to~ though it would take an hour or two maybe. i don't know. galerie michel rein had an incredible jean-pascal flavien installation that i really enjoyed. it was about humans and homes and living and unliving. it was all red and blue and blocks. galerie maria lund was showing bente skjøttgaard's "dans les nuages", which were ceramic sculptures that made me think of painkillers and cotton candy. i don't know. i love my homework here.

oh, and i love the graffiti in this city. gentrification!!!!!!