For whom the bell tolls ...

I started freaking out a little because I don't have a contract for next year, and I'd like to at least feel roughly secure in my planning for next year.

So yesterday Nicole (one of my principals) and I call up the bigwigs at one of the twelve thousand levels of French hierarchy to ratchet up the pressure a bit. Instead of reassuring me that of course I'll have my job next year, don't you worry, I hear :

"Not only are old assistants not priority because we want to give new people a chance, this year has an unusually high number of applications, so we won't know whether or not we're taking any old assistants until after we have responses from the new people ... it will probably late in the summer, possibly even in September."

So much for reassuring words.

Now I'm looking at jobs in private schools and internships, and really anything else I can find. It kills me though, because I work in impoverished schools with kids that have very little going for them, and I want to stay ... but the Education Nationale can't get their act together.

Thank you, bureaucracy.

Now I just have to keep breathing, since the sudden stress of this announcement has sent me into stress overdrive.

The dark ages.

Not having internet is upsetting.

Stuff and Bother

Since the other day, the internet at my house has totally crapped out. Not sure what the deal is, but it's not even broadcasting a Wifi signal, although the modem box is lit up like Christmas and everything seems to be fine.

Gah. On the other hand, I have just under a month left, and I have a lot of books to finish ... Maybe it's for the best? We'll see. Thank GOODNESS I bought my Blackberry, it's already saving the day.

Anyway, this one's for you Gennie. Saw it and it made me laugh. It's a fashiony clothes and shoes store. Go figure.

Rainbow ones in the Marais!

Use the force?

This statue is of Henri IV, and it's on the Pont Neuf. I might add that originally he wasn't holding a light saber.

Not sure why we gave him one, but it's AWESOME. It's blue, in case you wondered.

Uniforms -- Yeah cool, but is he holding a violin?

Last night, I got home from school, picked up a few things from the store, and plopped down in front of my computer for a relaxing night of lazy inefficaciousness.

In the course of a quick Facebook tour, I saw that my friend had posted about having extra tickets for a concert of the Garde Républicaine (The French army band/orchestra). That night. In an hour and a half. I quick sent him a message to which he replied "Hurry!"

So I went. So cool. Not only was it fancy (I love playing dress-up), it was in the fancy military closed courtyard and buildings. Huge. Old school.

The best part was their program. The first half was the concert band playing Bernstein, Gershwin and Respighi (the Calvary band made a guest appearance on the Respighi and I was like 5 yards from them). The Entre acte had a surprise performance of Django Reinhardt by some of the orchestra and three guitarists. I think I drooled. Hearing the Marseillaise improv'ed upon, in the by the French army orchestra in Paris? I can probably die happy now. The second part was music I know better -- Berstein, the Carousel Waltz, My Fair Lady, Hello, Dolly! and an arrangement of West Side Story.

On a funny note, the irony of a French chorus (of men only, mind you) singing America from West Side Story (you know, the one where typically Americans pretend to have a Puerto Rican accent), about wanting to 'be in America,' was not lost on me. Also, hearing them sing 'I Feel Pretty.' BAHAHAHAHAA.

Anyway, the other cool thing was that we were seated in a sort of balcony behind the orchestra (which, given the number of brass instruments on stage, was totally cool with me). We could see the conductor and everything, which made for a funny change. The other night I went to see the opera (in concert format) Genoveva at the Salle Pleyel, which has seating behind the orchestra, and I thought about how much I'd like to try it sometime. Done. Things work out :)

Next thing is to get my subscription for next year's concerts taken care of - if you want to have advance tickets for them you have to book now. Hillary Hahn is coming ...

Benjamin Franklin was ahead of his time.

Just wanted to share this ... It says that Benjamin Franklin just activated his Facebook. Then it offers a link to write on his wall.

Awesome.

Sandbox

Yesterday Charlotte and I went from orchestra rehearsal to the Luxembourg gardens, and we stayed there all afternoon.

We ended up hiding in the shade between the tennis courts and the playground, on the edge of the sandbox. So we made a Barbapapa, a French cartoon character.

This is the second sand-Barbapapa we've made, we call them our children.

We tried to take a family photo, but missed. After we got out of the sandbox some little brat came and wrecked him. Next time I think I'll plop a towel down in the middle and pretend I'm at the beach.

Mozart, Kodaly, Liszt : May 26th Concert

So Gabrielle sent me her pictures from the concert, and I ganked the official photos from the Mondial Assistance website. These pictures are all from the concert on the 26th, which was a private concert for our sponsors (the 27th was public).

If you want to see more pictures, or the video of the concert, go here to their website!

Here is Charlotte (it's her fault I have trouble smiling normally in pictures now), Gabrielle, and yours truly. Welcome to backstage.

Inter-sectional cooperation. This is Bastien.

I've known Arthur since I did orchestra in 2008 ... We consider him the unofficial leader of the second violins.

The second violins are definitely the tightest of all the sections. At least, we're up there. Magali, Anne-Sophie, Charlotte, and Elodie.

This is what I see from on stage ... The Grand Amphithéâtre de la Sorbonne. The picture doesn't do its size justice ... those illuminated squares across the middle of the back wall, for example, are the back-lit, larger-than-life statues of famous French thinkers.

Mozart, with solo flute!

Perhaps Kodaly?

And Liszt?

Final bows.

Les Frigos

From an e-mail listserv I'm on, I found out about the free admission to Les Frigos last weekend. According to the information posted therein:

This building was constructed in 1921, and was built by the Paris-Orléans train company as a giant refrigeration unit into which trains could enter. This use ended in the 1960s.

In the 1980s, SNCF (the modern French train company), as proprietor of the building, decided to rent it out to artists and artisans to give them a workspace that inspired creativity and production. Since 2004, the City of Paris has been the proprietor.

It's completely covered in graffiti and drawings.

The circular hallway/turret that contains the old freight elevator is completely covered in writing. It looks really cool.

There are enormous, old doors that have been painted to match each artist's style, and the whole converted industial space gives a really cool ambiance.

You can tell the refrigerators of the time meant business.

This was in one workshop -- art for the hood of your car? The motorcycle made me laugh.

This was one of the hallways.

I didn't get to wander a lot more than this one wing because I went to see the Youngblood Brass band in concert that night, so I had to get going (if you don't know them, check out this video, they're great), but the building is enormous.

French Food

You don't say.

You'll never look at a salad the same way.

This is the 'foreign food' shelf of my local Monoprix. This must be British, because I can't see anyone trying to market 'salad cream' to Americans.

Groooooooooooooooooss.

This box baffles me - it's some sort of weird Franglais. King and home, but with the French partitive article, and if you pronounce it the French way it sounds like kingdom.

McDonalds of the FUTURE

You can pre-order on this futuristic looking device. This has nothing in common with McDonalds in the US. This is why Europeans think we're terrible, they don't understand what McDonalds is to Americans.

At ALL.

Seine-ic overlook.

A week or so ago, when the weather was nice instead of crappy, my friend Anna and I went lounging by the Seine.

I painted my toenails.

We tried to get Berthillion, the famous ice cream, on Ile Saint Louis -- but the lines were crazy.

So instead we bought a box of delicious ice cream bars. Mmmm.

We ended up near Pont Neuf in my usual haunt on the tip of Ile de la Cité. Anna takes prettier pictures than I do.

This is at around 8.30pm or so. The weirdest thing is how late the light stays. Even at 10.30pm it's still not all the way dark.