Only in the Ghetto

The only hesitation I had when I decided to take this apartment was that the area isn`t exactly the best. My safety never feels compromised, but nonetheless, I do live in a shadier area of Paris. But in my few weeks here, I have slowly become enamored with my cute little ghetto. Every day I see people doing the strangest things that I have found I not only look for each day, but look forward to seeing.

Walking your dog seems like a normal task, people all over the world do it daily and there is absolutely nothing bizarre about it at all. But in my Ghetto people don`t just walk their dogs, I saw a man pulling his dog in a red wagon. And not just some simple, janky red wagon we all played with when we were kids, this dog had his own palace set up. The owner attached another handle to the back of the wagon to facilitate pulling his dog (which BTW was a big dog, a mutt no doubt but definitely bigger than KD), complete with cushions so the dog would be comfy and a blanket so he wouldn`t get cold. Doesn`t that completely defeat the purpose of walking your dog ? I thought the whole point was to give your dog exercise, not to put your dog`s bed on wheels.

I also once saw a man riding a tandem bicycle. It was cute actually, I`ve always wanted to ride one and riding a tandem bike in Paris just seems too cute and cliché to be real. But instead of having another person on his tandem bicycle, he was balancing a giant bag of flour. In Paris you don`t buy anything in bulk, so what was this man doing with such a vast amount of flour? Did he own a bakery ? Was he going to go home and bathe in it ? I have no idea, but nonetheless a man was riding a tandem bicycle with a bag of flour. Enough said.

My personal favorite I actually have the pleasure of seeing on a daily basis. Everyday on my way home from class when I leave the metro station I`m greeted by the wonderful aroma of freshly popped popcorn over an open fire. Only, there are no campfires in Paris, nor is anyone popping popcorn. But everyday a man stands outside the Barbès - Rouchechouart metro station barbecuing and I assume selling full ears of corn. And when I say barbecuing, I mean cooking ears of corn over an open flame in a shopping cart that he uses as a make-shift barbecue. It is the weirdest sight ever to see a man cooking corn on a street corner out of a shopping cart, but every day I can`t help but laugh to myself and think Ha, only in my ghetto.