au revoir

I think maybe this blog has run out of steam, or at any rate I’m not feeling particularly inspired lately. It’s not because I’m back in Bethlehem. It’s something I’ve felt for a while now. I don’t know what is worth writing about anymore.

I binged more than usual my last week in Paris; on three or four occasions I won beer chugging contests, and I now have a new found confidence in this department. On Tuesday night Dave and I, after drinking heavily, insulted a group of people that claimed to be Spaniards, but sounded and looked like Americans to me. I asked them if there were any bars open, and they gestured in a couple directions and I said thanks. Then they said, ‘yeah, thanks for everything.’ It seemed to me that they were implying that I had been useless to them, as if they had asked for something and I didn’t have an answer. I told them that I was the one who asked if there was a bar open nearby (and they didn’t really tell me anything useful) so their sarcastic reply didn’t make any sense. I don’t remember how they responded, but in any case I told them they should go suck a dick, and Dave yelled insults at them in Spanish. Then Maddie tried to ask a French couple in a roundabout way the same question about open bars, and I interjected and said, ‘franchement, on cherche de la bière.’ It seems to me like more amusing things happened that night, but I don’t remember very well, and like I said I’m not sure if any of it is worth recounting.

Katrin accompanied me to the RER station Thursday morning. We didn’t say very much. She tried to calm me down a little. I find flying stressful. I was reminded of a scene at the Philadelphia airport when I was catching my flight to Paris in January. An eastern European family was going through the security checkpoint leaving the rest of their family behind. One of them was a young girl with tears swelling up in her eyes as they said their final goodbyes. The whole thing seemed very final, like they were never going to see each other again. My family was there too of course and my mother and sister were crying, but I just paid attention to this little girl.