mise à jour

A lot has happened in the last two weeks. I went back to school from the holidays, Chris Ramento came to visit for 10 days, and Nicole Serleto and Nathan Reim stayed with us while they were visiting from Florence. It was so great to have visitors--we miss our friends and family so much! Especially having Chris here so long was great because we already know him so well... he honestly felt like our fourth roommate! It was great just relaxing and living here with him. Come back from Scotland, Chris!!

Also, I have been getting more involved at the American Church in Paris, and I really like it! They have a great young adults group that meets weekly for discussion/bible study and I have met some really great people. They are also very service-minded. Becca and I went to a homeless shelter/soup kitchen last Saturday and it was a really great experience. It is run by the Missionary Sisters of Charity Roman Catholic order (founded by Mother Theresa), and all of the Sisters were so kind and committed to their mission. It was really neat to serve the homeless people (there were about 400 who came in that morning) and get to talk with them a little. I am amazed that they open the kitchen every day for such a large and extensive meal to so many people. I was really blessed to be a part of it and I hope I can go back soon.

Last Friday, Kara, Chris and I got to see Andrew Bird at the Casino de Paris. He is an incredibly talented one-man-band. He plays the violin, picks the violin strings, plays guitar, whistles, and has an amazing voice. He records all of the instruments while on stage first, then has them repeat so the song progresses. Beauty. Other than a weird, long intro and one of his guitars not being tuned properly before his first real song, it was a great show.

Me and Chris before the show

Did I mention New Moon (Twilight) comes out here TODAY??? Check out this larger than life metro ad. (Tentation is the French title for New Moon).

Andrew and friends come in 4 days!! I can't wait! Love you babe.

parlez-vous francais?

Initially when we moved to Paris, the adjustment and trying to find a place to live was enough to worry about. I was starting a new job (my FIRST real job, and in a foreign country!), homeless, jet-lagged, and starry-eyed.

Feeling more settled in now and realizing that I have already been here for 2 months (!), I am starting to reflect on all of the things I want to accomplish while I am here. I have a never-ending list that continues to grow of cafes, museums, parks, etc. that I really want to visit. Not-so-touristy things... my students helped give me a few ideas when I asked about their favorite things to do and see in the city. I want to really know this city because I already love it so much.

Beyond that, I have been starting to get serious about learning--really learning--French. Yes, I have taken it for 8 years already. Yes, I live in a French speaking country and can get around just fine with my French. BUT I teach entirely in English, and I now tutor a 6 year old boy as well in English. Not to mention that we speak English at our apartment (duh) and all of my friends here speak English. I am beginning to realize that unless I really try to put myself out there with speaking French, I could potentially leave here no better off with French than when I came. It's not as if I avoid French; I speak it in the street everyday, but that is much different than having a long meaningful conversation.

However, there are little victories here and there. I am getting better about understanding the mile-a-minute conversations at lunch with the other teachers I work with, so I am trying to encourage myself to stick my neck out a little more and speak! I think I have been too afraid of being wrong or of making a mistake so it has been easy to stick to situations where I can control my French. No more! I have been studying French and practicing on Rosetta Stone again in the evenings and am going to look for either lessons or a person that I can have a "conversation exchange" with. I am going to really make an effort to be bold and speak French everywhere I go (Emily and I had a long conversation about this last night and actually had a short conversation in French in the apartment!). Mark my words and hold me to them: I WILL BECOME FLUENT.

Halloween and All Saints Day

Haloween in Paris: First of all, let me point out that the holiday is not nearly as popular here as it is in America. We barely saw any kids dressed up, and we had to search for Halloween events to make sure we saw anyone in costume at all. Also, our options for buying costumes were slim; not very many purely Halloween stores here. We decided to make ours instead!

When we have seen certain Americans in Paris, presumably just visiting for a few days, we can spot them from a mile away. Cameras, weird screen printed shirts of cats or the American flag or something from the souvenir kiosk down the road, and of course, speaking English loudly. I realize this is the extreme stereotype, but we have seen many people just like this. I mean, we live 2 minutes from the Eiffel Tower, the mecca for all tourists! Being the "sophisticated," culturally sensitive, assimilated Americans in Paris we like to think we are, we think it so funny when we cross paths with these people. Alas, we chose to let down our guard for the night to be obnoxious American tourists!

Let me explain a few aspects of the costumes: jean vest over a horse t-shirt; tye dye; cameras flashing at every instant; running shoes with jeans; sweat pants; baseball hat; 50 cent t-shirt and a pink hearts Paris hat; and of course, the American flag. We acted out the part perfectly, being loud on the metro, taking thousands of pictures, speaking only English and acting surprised if anyone didn't immediately speak it right back to us... it was so fun! So many people would stare at us and turn their heads to watch as we walked by! It was more than just a costume. We owned it.

For the evening we went on a pub crawl organized by the lovely Sylvia (aka Lady Gaga). We found it on the internet under Paris meet up groups of course. We had a blast seeing other people dress up, moving around from pub to pub, dancing... and especially hearing people guess our costumes exactly. Success!

Being that the next day was All Saints Day, we decided to continue the celebrations. Naturally, we went to breakfast at a place called Breakfast in America (we waited over and hour an a half in line out the door to get in, it's that good). Pancakes, American coffee, bacon, eggs, hash browns, breakfast burritos! It was so good and worth the wait. Good news to the people still waiting outside while it was pouring rain!

After breakfast we went to the famous cemetery, Pere Lachaise. Here lies Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Balzac, Oscar Wilde, and the likes. We thought All Saints Day would be an appropriate day to visit since many other people would also be paying respects to their ancestors. It rained almost the whole time we were there and leaves were falling all over, adding to the fall/gloomy atmosphere. Quite an experience.

Das Rheinland

This past week I spent in Vallendar (Koblenz), Germany with Andrew's grandma, Yola. I had such a great time visiting with her and seeing the German countryside.

She drove us down the Rhine River one day to show me all of the historic small towns and castles (there are so many!). Another day, we went along the Mosel River to explore wine country. It was so beautiful -- they literally have vineyards on the sides of the mountains! The last day we met up with some of her friends for a tour of Koblenz. I learned a lot about the history of the city, which dates back to the time of the Romans. It was interesting also to hear about how WWII left much of the city destroyed... our guide Oscar used to be a city planner for Koblenz and showed us where old city walls and buildings were and where parts of them now have been replaced with newer, more modern buildings. I even have a picture, below, next to a part of the Berlin Wall (After its fall, many cities around Germany wanted a piece of it to remember the historic event).

Although I don't know any German, I did pick up a few words here and there. Yola helped me with that, especially in the food area. I can't remember the last time I ate so much: bratwurst, rouladen, knodel, federweisser (new, fermenting, sweet wine), zweibelkuchen... I can't even remember it all! I must say, you learn a lot about a country by eating its food.

Being in Germany and struggling to get around because I know no German whatsoever really made me appreciate my abilities in French. I often underestimate myself, but after being helpless in Germany, I now realize that I know a lot of French! Sometimes it is hard to feel at home in a place where you know you are a foreigner, but getting off the train in Paris and hearing French over the intercom gave me a feeling that I do, in fact, feel at home here.