American Woman in Paris

American Woman in Paris

This is about my unique view of a unique city and from a unique life perspective. To see more of my photos go to www.flickr.com/photos/81362812@N00

Sunday, April 08, 2007

And then, while I was still struggling to find a way to heal my foot and was still wandering around on crutches my roommate came to my door. She stood in the doorframe and said, "We need to talk". My heart immediately picked up speed as that is never a good beginning. She proceeded to speak to me in very fast French, which is how she always spoke when she was nervous, and the red mounted in her cheeks. She told me that she was turning in the notice on the apartment and that we would have to be out at the end of three months. I am pretty sure that I just sat there staring at her. I am not really sure that I was breathing much either. She babbled a little and I just said okay as I didn't really have much say so. She and her father were the lease holders.
After she left, I settled down a little and told myself that worst case scenario, I had another month to heal and then 2 months to find work and an apartment. It wouldn't be easy but it would be doable. So by the next day I was feeling not quite so desparate. I still didn't feel great but thought that maybe I could survive.
The relaxation was short lived as the next day she arrived in my doorframe again. She said that she thought she had told me the month of June when in fact she had meant the end of May. Then she went on to tell me that in fact in may not be three months. It depended on when she found something that she liked. It could be only 2 months but it probably wouldn't be by the first of March. This time I know that I stopped breathing. I asked her to repeat three times what she said because I wanted to make sure that I was clear. She also stated that there were people who were interested in the apartment. I knew that that was the reason that she could leave at any time. I then repeated back to her what she had said but in English to make sure I had heard correctly and she confirmed that I had it right. My vision started to fade.

I wrote an email to A* and she wrote me back completely insensed saying that I was leaving that weekend and would come and camp out at her place. I decided to follow her advice and accept her offer because I was utterly terrified. I had no way of knowing when the other shoe was going to drop and apparently my roommate didn't mind that I was currently handicapped.

I began the process of packing for that weekend. This was a rather interesting procedure as I couldn't walk so there I was scooting around on my butt in my room arranging what I could and piling things in preparation for the boxes that A* was bringing in a couple of days.

The next day was March 1st and my roommate stopped me as I crutched past her room to show me the paper that declared the rent. She showed me that the rent was increased the first of March and therefore my rent would be 15 euros more as of the 1st of March. I just said okay because by this point I had no intention of paying for March at all. I was leaving in 3 days and "asta la vista baby!"

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