JamRocking in Paris II- wait, my weight?!

Wait a minute! I can't believe it! For the first time I have these words swung at me!"

I am 30 years old in September and for the first time someone expressed these 'foreign' words to me - hold on, wait a minute - now here it goes...ready?: "Madame, you have put on too much weight!!"

My family and friends, who've known me a long time, are now all bent over and dying with laughter! I know!! Yes, yes, I was told on Monday that I've put on a little too much weight too quickly!! The funny thing is that I can't see it at all. I still have chicken legs, small hips and thin arms. Yet, the scale at my Gynecologist/Obstetrician read 64kilos!!! Hold on, let me get that for the non-metric-ites- that is, 141lbs!! So basically, I went from 58kilos (127lbs) a month ago to 6kg (14lbs) more in a hop, skip and a jump!!! Should I then conclude that these pounds are stocked in my belly (which is now the size of a nice watermelon), my buttocks (hell no, I won’t give you a fruit) and my breasts (ditto)! Whichever the case, he warned me with a kind smile that the next time we see each other - June 22nd - I will have put on zero kilos more!!! Hahahaha!! Guillaume and I laughed as I strenuously tried to explain that I think his scale had gone completely cuckoo as this wasn't possible at all and he quietly told me that his €1,000 scale is used in high level competitions and of course Guillaume backed him up saying this was exactly the kind of scale he used to use during his Karate competitions!! Great!!

Yesterday, however, as my friend Adeomi and I went to the Champs Elysées to visit the new Gap maternity section, I couldn't resist the beckoning from the Haagen-Dazs sign visible from the other side of the busy avenue and between the passing limousines, motorcycles and Paris Tours buses. The fact of the matter is – I am happy with my weight. I cherish my new body full with life – in all the sense of the word. People seem so much nicer in the metro and the stores. Yes, I know this sounds almost unimaginable in Paris, but I swear that I have had people smile at me more than ever. They never smiled at me before - except for the random pervert on the metro! Before I stopped over in Gap, I popped by Sephora to get some face powder (yes, the joys of pregnancy also bring pimples and more gloss to an already oily skin) and the makeup lady came up to me to let me know that she loved seeing pregnant women and especially those who are proud to show it. And earlier in the metro, an older lady actually smiled with me. Wow!! This is what I call a change!!

So this is how one gets treated like a human being in Paris!!! No, seriously, all this to say that, I am not worried at all about this strange word- weight. I eat fruits, vegetables and try and get all the daily nutrients – without any excesses. Well, except for my ginger beer. I’ve got to have my Ole Jamaica Ginger Beer. Thank God for that Chinese store up at Strasbourg St Denis in the 18th district for selling ‘things Jamaican’. I mean, I don’t know what I'd do without plantain, salt fish and Ginger Beer.

So all I can say is: "you can just wait, my weight."


Arc de Triomphe behind, belly in front and cookies and cream in hand, hmmmm!



Caught in the act!

Very happy to be caught!

Glamour criminal!

Ohhhh, Champs Elysées!! Pa-dam-padam-pa!

JamRock in Paris, Part1- I prefer salt

"Oh, oh, I'm an alien, I'm a 'legal' alien, am a Ja-Mai-Can in Parissssssss." - Love this song!!

Yes, I've been in Paris going on 5 years now and I still don't eat croissants and pain au chocolat with Bonne Maman strawberry jam in the mornings. I still can't dunk my bagette overflowing with Nutella(yikes!!) into my BIG bowl of hot chocolate - somehow, I still need to eat salty in the morning with a nice cup of tea - with milk. In Jamaica our petit déjeuner is really a small breakfast. A small dose of what we have for lunch or even dinner, for example, ackee and saltfish with boiled green bananas or with fried dumplings. Hmmmmm! I can't help it it's inside of me. So what have I been eating for breakfast for the past 4 years and 8 months? Well - not much actually, now that I think about it: a cup of tea and a slice of toast once in a while. And sometimes, when my husband Guillaume gets up and goes to the boulangerie, I will take a bite or two of some of the sweet warm treats, don't get me wrong - they ARE delicious - but if it were up to me, I'd simply have salt.

So now that we have a little Frenchie-Jamaican on the way, I can just image our little one at the table in morning, sitting beside Papa, lifting a big (soup) bowl of hot chocolate and dipping croissants with nutella piled on top, while I sit beside them sipping a dainty cup of Lipton tea with milk and munching on toasts and omelette!!

Well, this is the richness and diversity of our couple: a weird mix of Jamaica and French. Can you imagine? Two strong cultures inculcated by two strong characters!!! Guillaume is a born leader, a lion in the Jungle. He is a businessman who can sell eyeglasses to a blind man as the saying goes. He's the sportsman, the ring leader of his group of friends, he was the tyrant of his brothers and sisters - the black sheep. I am hot headed, stubborn, spontaneous, patriotic, and the ring leader of my group of friends. So the little one will have it in double doses. A French-Maican wearing Black, Green and gold, singing No Woman no Cry, an intellectual, a fan of Baudelaire, Camus and Zinedine Zidane, a lover of political and philosophical debates, an aficionado of Rap and Beethoven, a connoisseur of Fried chicken, Jerk Pork, Camembert and Foi Gras aux truffes while sipping a cold Red Stripe followed by a nice bottle of Chinon. What a ting!! Our little French-Maican!! Poor thing!!lol

All I can hope for is that our little one will take the best of both of us and will be a proud invention of him or herself. Maybe our little one will love both sugar and salt in the morning - maybe none - peu importe - whatever! It's got a little over 5 months until its arrival and a couple of years after that to decide!! Bon appetit!!