And "Get Lost" I Did

Oh, be careful what you wish for. Especially in a city where you don't know the language and don't yet know the transit system.

Today I planned my day according to what I thought would be a balanced, well timed day. I planned it according to the way I might plan a day when I was back home, perhaps using a car.

I had another free day to fill and so, in addition to meeting Sarah for lunch, I decided that I would also pick up a few things for my little house. I needed toothpaste and hypoallergenic soap (How did so much Irish Spring end up in France?) and well, the hair dryer that's here had some dangerous electrical flaw, plus I needed coffee and cheese. So little sister decided to go to market.

Here they have a small Wal-mart "Equivalent" - with clothes and home goods and a grocery on the bottom level - called Monoprix. Also, today was marche day and I wanted the freshest cheese and the nice bread as well as some veggies to make salads for the family. I decided to wake up early and go to both, and then meet Sarah for coffee at her place before lunch in Paris, then home to make dinner.

To me, this sounded like a perfectly lovely day. The sun was out again - so warm that I left my jacket at home - and though I wasn't full of energy, I was ready to explore a bit on my own.

Then I got lost. I had been to the Monoprix with HD before but I still could not remember the way. I wandered for blocks until I accidentally stumbled onto it. I succeeded in purchasing the things I needed, took out the map HM had drawn for me and proceeded to get lost on the way to the marche.

Here I brutally embarrassed myself by my incompetence with French, the metric system and my knowledge of what each Euro coin looks like. I almost purchased twelve kilos of tomatoes (I think that's 26 pounds??) until I realized I wasn't even sure I wanted two and though I really wanted to buy some more interesting veggies, I couldn't speak with the poor attendant AT ALL. So I hung my head and shuffled out of the market with my bags full of too many vegetables.

And I got lost again. For those of you keeping score, that's three times that I was lost in one morning. I did not take this as a bad omen, and even though I was late to meet Sarah already, I decided to head out again, and promptly got on the bus going the wrong direction.

"Hmmm, we shouldn't be going through the forest", I thought. When I looked at the map detailing our route, sure enough, we were going the wrong way. No, the bus was going the right way. I was not.

Two and a half hours later I had been shuttled onto another bus and then told to get off and cross the bridge to get where I was going and I decided I was officially nowhere. Certainly not remotely close to where I needed to be. And, wonder of wonders, I had forgotten to write down Sarah's number. The only number I had with me, in fact, was the Frenchmans.

The very last thing I wanted to do was show any sign of weakness to him. But there I was, completely unable to communicate to anyone that I was totally and wholly lost and I was starving. I did my best to not cry and asked him for Sarah's number. No, you don't have it either? GREAT.

I wandered around her suburb for another ten minutes before calling him again. It seemed like eons, time passed like a snail on a log, probably because the precious minutes I used to call him were all on my American cell phone thus costing me about a million dollars for every wrong turn I made. He guided my from his laptop towards my supposed destination and I tried not to explode, or faint from hunger. I had not eaten a thing all day.

Then, the most amazing thing happened.

"Juliet!" Someone called from behind me. "Juliet! Hey!"

Someone here is calling my name?? I thought, and turned around.

There was Sarah's husband, manifested out of nowhere, stopping me as I walked. He had spoken to her and knew I hadn't shown, but both of us were terribly surprised to see eachother there on that street. He apparently rarely, if ever, is in this part of town on a weekday. Moreover, we had only met once previously, and so I was amazed that he recognized me. But there he was.

"Oh my god, it's Gui! Oh my god, he's standing right in front of me!" I shouted to the Frenchman. I was very nearly in tears and I hugged Gui fiercely.

After I hung up, one hundred percent stunned at fate, Gui guided me onto the metro to meet Sarah and I didn't even screw up the connection.

We ate falafel and wandered around La Marais before heading back to her hood where I was sent home in what had become a nice drizzle. And me without my jacket.

I guess there is some lesson here, but after walking for almost five hours today, I'm not gonna try to figure it out. Sleep will be welcome and tomorrow is the long day with the boys.

Sleep, oh yes. That's what I should be doing right now.