Imagine this:
Stepping outside after class, the iPod playing The Nutcracker, and a light snow is falling from the sky. You turn the corner and the street has Christmas lights hanging from the tops of buildings. And as you stand in line at the grocery store, you watch and listen as two women talk about the trials and tribulations of motherhood, as the woman in line looks at her rambunctious 3 year old.
How life can sometimes feel unreal! But it's been magical watching Paris welcome the Christmas season.
And as magical as it is, I find it to always have a tinge of sadness, but especially now with the economic crisis, seeing people sleeping on the street. I just read in the Globe about people who will be loosing unemployment benefits on Christmas.
It's absolutely tragic, and it's anathema to the pictures of people shopping on Black Friday, or seeing giant groups of people walking down the Champs-Elysees with shopping bags.
I think this is the drawback of living in a major city. You see extremes: from economic status to belief systems. Most of the time, it's exhilarating, eye opening and incredible. But other times, like now, it's incredibly sad, gut wrenching, and humbling.
Being here in Paris, just being here abroad, has been one of the best things I could ever do for myself. How lucky am I to be here. And it only gets better with Sarah coming this weekend, and some fun excursions for my last 2 weeks in Paris. Let's roll out of here with a bang!
Laissez les bon temps rouler!!
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