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Living Local in Paris

Apartment view in Paris
Apartment view in Paris

My husband, six-year-old and I spent a month in Paris. The best part was learning to live what the French call a "quotidien" life (just the day-to-day goodies) in the City of Lights.

Since there was no washing machine in our Parisian apartment, we did laundry down the street. It was my husband's job. One day, I went to check on him, only to find him standing sheepishly in an inch of water.

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Somehow the machine he stuffed a week’s worth of clothes into wouldn’t open and had exploded water everywhere. Imagine that.

Added to the stress was the laundromat’s caretaker. He attempted to pry the machine open with a screwdriver while mumbling “mierda” and Spang-french, which nobody could understand. My hub fled the scene.

I thought I detected a bit of Spanish in his ramblings, so I asked where he was from. Spain. Of course. So I began my broken Spanish conversation and told him we were headed to Barcelona the following day. It’s our first time. It’s Dia de los Tres Reyes, no? That will be good for my son.

I could see his blood pressure dropping. Finally he got the machine open. By now he was feeling oh-so-courteous to me, so told me to wait rather than putting my soap-laden clothes in the dryer. I should wait to wash them again. Heck, he’d even pay since it was the machine’s fault (not his opinion just 20 minutes ago).

Finally, my clothes safe in another washer (stuffed by him, I might add. Clearly the stuffing of 47 articles of clothing was not the cause of the issue), I returned to our apartment. When I went back to collect our clothes, I brought him a bottle of wine.

Es para usted. Por su ayuda.

Like any polite Spaniard, he refused twice, then greedily took the bottle to his back room (did I hear a clink? Like there’s multiple bottles back there??) and came back to help me with my laundry.

Something told me I had a new friend and a great place to do laundry.

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Apartment view in Paris
Apartment view in Paris

My husband, six-year-old and I spent a month in Paris. The best part was learning to live what the French call a "quotidien" life (just the day-to-day goodies) in the City of Lights.

Since there was no washing machine in our Parisian apartment, we did laundry down the street. It was my husband's job. One day, I went to check on him, only to find him standing sheepishly in an inch of water.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Somehow the machine he stuffed a week’s worth of clothes into wouldn’t open and had exploded water everywhere. Imagine that.

Added to the stress was the laundromat’s caretaker. He attempted to pry the machine open with a screwdriver while mumbling “mierda” and Spang-french, which nobody could understand. My hub fled the scene.

I thought I detected a bit of Spanish in his ramblings, so I asked where he was from. Spain. Of course. So I began my broken Spanish conversation and told him we were headed to Barcelona the following day. It’s our first time. It’s Dia de los Tres Reyes, no? That will be good for my son.

I could see his blood pressure dropping. Finally he got the machine open. By now he was feeling oh-so-courteous to me, so told me to wait rather than putting my soap-laden clothes in the dryer. I should wait to wash them again. Heck, he’d even pay since it was the machine’s fault (not his opinion just 20 minutes ago).

Finally, my clothes safe in another washer (stuffed by him, I might add. Clearly the stuffing of 47 articles of clothing was not the cause of the issue), I returned to our apartment. When I went back to collect our clothes, I brought him a bottle of wine.

Es para usted. Por su ayuda.

Like any polite Spaniard, he refused twice, then greedily took the bottle to his back room (did I hear a clink? Like there’s multiple bottles back there??) and came back to help me with my laundry.

Something told me I had a new friend and a great place to do laundry.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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