I see trees of green ... and blue, and white, and red?

On my way to babysitting the other day I was confronted by a strange sight...

Green trees? Check.
White trees? Well, not for nothing, but I do come from central New York. I know what snow is.
Red trees? Either it's the apocalypse and fire and brimstone is raining down on us, or we're reliving Pompeii. Neither sounds particularly seasonable. There were blue trees too, although I don't think I managed to get any in this picture. Some woman stared at me when I snapped this shot, clearly puzzled by my amusement. She needs to reassess her norms, if she thinks I'M the weird one.

I grinned at her walked away quickly (although it probably seemed more like a leer to her). Damn tourists :)



Which brings me to my next discussion of things foreign -- THANKSGIVING! In an almost absurd show of overcompensation, I celebrated Thanksgiving 2.5 times -- Thanksgiving dessert Thursday night with Betsey, Thanksgiving dinner/dessert with my former study abroad program director (Céline!) and Thanksgiving dinner/dessert with some assistants!

Well, at least I kept in line with the theme of gluttony. I mean, giving thanks...

This picture is from dinner at Céline's house. Everything wasn't out yet, and I didn't take a picture of the dessert table, but it was a force to be reckoned with. Last night was out of control, it was just like being at Thanksgiving for real in the US, and we had a blast (it was a mix of assistants and French friends). Really happy to have the friends I have here, it makes everything so much better!



When I was picking up the ingredients for a salad to take to dinner last night, the man that weighs all the produce in the Monoprix near my house looked at me and asked if I was American. I was instantly disappointed, because I do my best to disguise myself as nondescriptly as possible. Fail. Talked to him for a minute and asked how he could tell, to which he replied that I was friendly and talkative with him and that I smiled. Well, if THAT'S what gives me away, then I'm happy to be recognized as an American. What's the alternative?!

Which leads me to my recurring problem in Aubervilliers -- I mean, partly I think it's the fact that I'm a girl and the guys have no sense of SHAME, but I'm always peeved when I feel people staring at me or trying to get my attention. Couldn't figure out why until now, but I'm sure it's because I smile to myself all the time! I can't help it, I'm always thinking of things that I need to remember to share with all of you, or things I see remind me of funny memories ... everything cracks me up! Since I don't think I'm capable of keeping a straight face (particularly when I'm actively thinking about it), I need to expand my "Bugger off [to be less vulgar]" vocabulary, and I need to rehearse it until I erase all signs of foreign pronunciation. Must find a good teacher.

Finally, since I seem to be making a tradition of this, I thought I'd share some of my new walking theme music. This time I rediscovered the Pippi Longstocking theme song. Yup, I went there. One of these days I'm going to end up dancing down the street, I just know it.

In the words of Lewis Black, unbe****inlievable.

So I went today, ready to knock skulls to get my bankcard. Unnecessary. It was there, waiting for me for who knows how long.

Seriously?!

Anyway, I'm relieved that I finally have it. FINALLY.

Then I went grocery shopping and got my Monoprix shopper's club card. La classe. They were playing "Owner of a Lonely Heart" while I shopped, which I found inspirational.

To celebrate I bought a hair straightener and I'm going to get the heels repaired on some vintage shoes I bought a while back. I'm calling them Christmas presents (besides, I don't even get to enjoy Black Friday this year).

Babysitting this afternoon, so I might have more to report later :)

Trust me, guy, I will BREAK you.

Yesterday (Sunday) my friend Charlotte and I went to the open-house at Parc de la Villette, which I knew nothing about. Turns out it's a huge awesome park -- HUGE -- and it houses the CNSM (music school) as well as a really awesome science museum (think Strong Museum in Rochester crossed with the *MOST in Syracuse).

We went to the science museum. First of all, it's enormous. Like, mall-sized. There were lots of special shows since it was a special weekend event, so we saw a two-man comedy act first (hilarious), and then wandered a bit before seeing an acrobatic act (indoors, mind you). Then we checked out a really neat exhibit that played with shadows and headed out. There's a geodesic dome thing that seems sort of like someone crossed "The Bean" in Chicago with the geodesic dome in Epcot. As I understand it, there's an IMAX theater-type deal inside. Nice.



On our way back through the park to the metro, we crossed over the canal on a neat bridge. Apparently I can't hold the camera still, but I still think it looks pretty. All those lights along the side are the pedestrian/biker/etc. path through the park. It's so calm and quiet, you'd never guess that you were anywhere near Paris!



Best part of yesterday's shenanigans was the fact that this creepy dude FOLLOWED us for what felt like close to half an hour. Everything we looked at, everywhere we wandered in the museum. I was ready to wheel around and tell him where to jump off in a stunning combination of French and English vulgarity, but Charlotte suggested ignoring him first. Eventually he went away, but I DON'T UNDERSTAND IT. What is it that I do that garners this creepy attention!? Last week a guy drove into the middle of the intersection on a red light to hit on me in Aubervilliers... I'm not sure this is flattering, it's more along the lines of MORTIFYING. I'm going to have to invest in a better disguise. Apparently I'm not stealthy enough.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

Oh wait, no, it's not. At all. Today was cloudy enough to be winter, but a cool 65-70 degrees probably isn't going to cut it. I'm not even kidding. We didn't even bring real jackets with us.

This morning Julien and I went grocery shopping together; I forgot how much better it is when you have company :) Anyway, I bought my first weird over-pasteurized milk ... you know, the ones that don't have to be in a refrigerator. I'll let you know how that works out. I've almost finished off my 750g jar of nutella [singlehandedly], but I'm trying to resist buying more of it for awhile. Then we made lunch and hung around watching TV for a bit, and I had my first Kinder Surprise (think Nestle chocolate ball that had a toy inside that I think I remember hearing had been banned recently or something).

Then Julien, Iris, Sydney and I went exploring. Not REALLY exploring, because we had a mission. We went to the Christmas market on the Champs Elysées, cut through the Tuileries, and then on to investigate the famous Christmas window dressings of the major department stores.

The first thing we found was cotton candy, aka, barbe-à-papa. I think Christmas market actually means candy festival. I haven't seen that much junk food in one place since the Fair. Iris was really excited, and demanded a pink one :)



Some smaller festival-ish rides ... There was also something that looked like it might have a Santa in it, but all I saw was pretend snow (felt spongey, which weirded me out) and pretend pine trees. I want REAL snow!!! This was fun, but slightly depressing ...



The markey stretched on and on. There was a whole ice sculpture exhibit, but it was 12 € to get in, and none of us are THAT diehard about big ice cubes.



Not sure this picture accurately conveys how huge this thing is ... no way was I getting on it. While they took their turn, I hung out in the Tuileries right behind it.



In the pond are tons of cymbals that look like lily pads. Everyone throws little rocks and tries to hit them, which is actually quite satisfying. Not unlike an enormous game of beer pong ... Yes, I really just made that analogy.



This is why I can't get into the Christmas spirit. Well, green leaves and the fact that I'm still waiting for Thanksgiving.



After cutting through the Tuileries and weaving back through streets I can't remember, we ended up near all of the grands magasins ... think of 5th Ave in NYC. I think this was one of the windows from Printemps? I wish this could show you, but everything was moving in these shop windows ... like little marionnettes. It was really cool!



Just pretty... Star Wars headdress, and a Russian egg base.



Wicked intense cloth horse, and two dresses that I can't even begin to describe.



After Printemps, we started off at Galeries LaFayette. This is the Galeries LaFayette across the street, it was really pretty.



Like a Teddy Bear Tea ... they were adorable!



Meg, Gennie, I'm pretty sure the little babies in this window were sisters of Sissy/Little Sissy, Snowflake, Sparkle and Ellen. If you look closely, they have really similar faces ... the Sissy smile even!



Enormous fountain filled with stuffed animals that were swimming around and such ... pretty awesome, really.



I took tons more pictures, but they're not THAT exciting, so this gives you an idea. It was mobbed, but it was fun to check all of it out!

First orchestra concert of the year, les Invalides

This past Thursday we had our first orchestra concert at Invalides. Yes, the one that has Napoleon's tomb. Classy.

It was wonderful - pretty much dreamlike. We couldn't rehearse there before the day of the concert because of security concerns and such (it is one of their major military buildings and such, not to mention a historical symbol, so I guess that shouldn't be surprising). Basically, we played the concert twice; we had to be there at 530, we played through everything (including with the choir and soloists), went and changed into concert dress (cough BALL GOWNS cough) and then performed the concert.

I saw a girl taking pictures during the rehearsal, so when I hunt her down next rehearsal I'm going to ask if she can give them to me. I do have this one that Gabrielle and I took in the "ladies dressing room" they provided. You might get a feel for how RIDICULOUSLY intense the decor was from the background -- vases, chandeliers, the whole nine yards. Oh, and to the left of this picture, on the wall, is the official portrait of Sarkozy (complete with Presidential library and flags). Priceless.



It was also great that some of my friends were able (and willing!) to come to the concert -- Julien and Iris, as well as my friend Sydney were there, so it was nice to know I had a fan club :)

I forgot how much I love Beethoven (to refresh your memory, we played the 6th Symphony and the Fantasy for choir, piano, and orchestra) and it sounded pretty spectacular in Saint-Louis-des-Invalides, the cathedral.

Imperial Marching ... to the GRE.

This morning I took the GREs. It was ugly. However, now that I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm done with them and I can't do anything about it, I would like to permit myself some righteous indignation. They told us we have to be there at least a half hour early (test starts at 9am), or we might now be allowed to start the test ... THEY DIDN'T EVEN OPEN UP THIS STRANGE LITTLE BUILDING UNTIL 9H15!!! Talk about stress!

What's more, it was a bit sketch. Just saying. In the additional information section on my applications, I'm half tempted to write in, "Please excuse my poor showing on the GRE, they didn't let us into the crack den to take the test on time, thus magnifying my stress levels and making me thoroughly incompetent."

Anyway it's over, which is what actually counts. Also, the ETS can kiss my [insert creative bilingual string of expletives here].

Immediately after the test I headed to babysitting. I was with the baby for the first part of the afternoon while the other two were at sports practice, and then later on with alone the middle one for a bit while the baby FINALLY slept. I got to play with the middle and oldest one for a few hours before I left ... we had bathtime (shenanigans abounded), which included such epic tales of wonder as:

Me drinking a magic potion (and you thought it was bath water, HA!), being turned into a miniature "chevalier-cannard" (knight-duck) and doing battle with mean trees that wanted to eat me, and running between alligators to capture a magical treasure that would help me fight off the bad guys. Oh, I love kids!

Then they put on pirate costumes and made me their prisoner (since they informed me that I was Wendy, I'm going to presume this was loosely based on Peter Pan, although in the Disney version I saw, the pirates don't actually get around to murdering Wendy, and I was murdered several times). I had a lot of fun, which was excellent for canceling out post-GRE misery :)

To return to other things of interest, I saw THIS in the Aubervilliers metro on my way home Tuesday afternoon (poster below). I almost fell onto the track I got so excited. Looks like tickets don't get cheaper than 51€, but I intend to research other ways to get in. Like showing up in costume and saying I'm one of the extras or something. Or just bringing my violin and claiming that I'm in the orchestra?



Great view of the tower lit up from near Trocadero on my way home tonight.



Finally, this one is for the Clarks. I think Molly wanted to know whether Gusteau's, the restaurant in Ratatouille, was a real place. I said no, that it was probably based on a conglomeration of various places in Paris (my first thought was La Tour d'Argent because it's so famous). Well, I still think it isn't real, but I think I found what it's REALLY based on... I came out of the métro at Sèvres-Babylone and realized this is pretty close, all things considered - but look for yourself! This is the Lutetia, right near my house ... big, ritzy hotel - evidently all the famous people stay there when they visit Paris. Figures, I could walk by them and be none the wiser :) There's also a Brasserie on the ground floor which is probably equally well known, and perhaps part of the inspiration for Ratatouille?!



Incidentally, I cracked myself up the other day when I used the NFL theme song as my walking music. Downright classy.

Le MEILLEUR de la musique. HA!

Saw this ad on my way to school Friday ... It says "The best of music," and do you know who that is, off on the right? GEORGE MICHAEL. What group was he a part of that I love? Oh, right, WHAM. No more comments about my musical taste, this ad vindicates me :)



Saturday was fun, if exhausting - three hours of orchestra rehearsal, then a lunch break (group of us went to a Japanese place, so that was fun), then another three hours of rehearsal, although I think we got out a tiny bit early? Then I went for a hot chocolate with Raphaele and Arthur at a cool place with metro inspired light fixtures nearby (kind of resembles Tiffany stuff, too).

Sunday morning was another three hour rehearsal, but I guess we did well, so he gave us a reprieve and canceled the afternoon rehearsal! So I came home, took a quick nap, and studied for the GRE, which I take on Wednesday. This is going to be such a crazy week:

Monday: teach 8h15-17h30, orchestra dress rehearsal at 20h
Tuesday: teach 8h15-17h30
Wednesday: GRE 9h-13h, babysitting afterward until 18h30
Thursday: Babysitting noon-16h30, concert call at 17h30, concert at 20h
Friday: teaching 13h30-17h30, mental breakdown.

Please excuse what I know is going to be a lack of posts this week. I'm not doing too much you'd want to hear about anyway ... but I will try to get pictures at the concert!

Here it goes again

I forgot how busy it gets when I have to ... you know, work! Classes on Monday and Tuesday went well, very busy as always.

If anyone can contribute songs I can teach the kids, I'd really appreciate it - they LOVE singing, but it has been a long time since I was learning songs in my normal classes (I'm not familiar with any songs that pertain to imperialism or campaign finance, at least).

On Wednesday I met with a family that I'm going to start babysitting for!!! They have three boys, 6, 5, and 5 months. They're very sweet, and it's fun to play with kids and not just have to teach them. Snapped this picture on the way home from their house (not too far from Trocadero). I guess it was pretty foggy that morning.



Wednesday is also a holiday in France (and much of Europe, actually) -- for them, though, it's just known as the "onze novembre" (November 11th), and it commemorates Armistice Day. No doubt that's what our Veteran's day was based on, but I'm not sure how many of us realized it.

Everything was closed. It was as bad as a Sunday. I hate the fact that the city just shuts down like that, it takes all the convenience out of being in a city!

There's a Gallimard Publishing bookstore near me though, and they were open, so I stopped in to wander for a bit. They have some fun folio editions that are out (ones like this, with crazy cases for the book), and I happened to spot this one. Our title is The Moveable Feast, interesting to see theirs. Also that the cover the selected was blue and glittering. I suppose zebra print was already taken?



Snapped a stealth shot of the homage to Obama table ...



Better shot from down the street when I went back to babysit ...



Anyway, I have a SUPER busy weekend to look forward to, more about that soon!

I get the feeling that I look absurd.

Today I went to my newest school acquisition, Babeuf. It's a little bit farther out than my other three, but it's only about 15 minutes on foot from Victor Hugo/Honoré de Balzac. The principal and other teachers seem very nice -- I'm going to be teaching an after-school program there three times a week.

This means that the official count is now: 13 sections across three schools, plus three more sections at a fourth school for the after-school programming.

Awesome. My life = awesome. Seriously, preps for everything else have got to be easier than this. As if covering kindergarten through fourth grade weren't tricky enough, the skill levels within each grade are so diverse that I have to make my lessons adaptable on a class by class basis.

It's the moments like this that fire up my sense of the absurd. I mean, really, how can I take anything seriously when I work in four schools and teach 16 different groups of kids? If I weren't laughing so hard, I'd probably be on a plane out of here :)

Fortunately, the kids are [mostly] wonderful, and at least for now, I'm still their hero. I can live with this.

I can't believe I have to do this all over again tomorrow.

Last night my friend Anna came over for girl talk, conspiring, and general ridiculousness. Made Dave's epic chocolate sauce and we put in a little ice cream for show. Followed this with general silliness, which included our consensus that the true French immigration plot involves involves preying on our non-Gallic genes (Anna is British) ... And thus rendering us bald (we both seem to have sudden onset hair loss), fat (damn pastries and cheese), and wrinkled (the stress is unbelievable).

To round things out, we watched part of Airplane! before remembering how early we would be waking up today.

Saturday I had dinner with my friend Fanny, which was a lot of fun. She had an apparatus for making raclettes (think of a less messy version of fondue) and it was delicious. We also watched Crocodile Dundee, which is stunning in its display of late 80s/early 90s fashion, although it does slip in a few good lines.

I'm so tired, I'm not sure I can climb up into bed yet. Perhaps some chocolate sauce on a spoon will restore me ...

Must. Press. On.

There is absolutely nothing to report, because I have worked on nothing but grad school applications for the last two days. Not. Fun. At. All.

At least I feel productive.

Two nights ago I had dinner at my friend Raphaële's -- it was a big group, seven of us! But it was a lot of fun, my friends Arthur and Amélie from orchestra were there too.

Last night I had dinner with Julien and his friend Camille, then we watched a movie called "J'irai dormir chez vous, Hollywood." Part of a series where this French documentary guy, Antoine de Maximy, goes to a country and films himself trying to get to know people. It was a little surreal to see him wandering the US. Lots of poignant moments though, like his trip through the Hurricane Katrina ravaged parts of New Orleans, or talking to a man who is now homeless, and lives on the beach in LA.

It's raining today - I could almost be back in Binghamton! I'm settled in with my applications (er, laptop) and tea for the afternoon.

Orchestra tonight. Concert coming up soon, here's the flyer they sent us:

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

Sunday I took the suburban train out to the town nearest my friend and former pen pal, Emma, and spent the afternoon at her house! She and her parents are really sweet, and they always crack me up. Emma and I ended up going to see Le Petit Nicolas (they just made a movie out of the classic books). It was hysterical.

During one of my transfers in Chatelet, I discovered that there is a Rue de Lingerie. There would be. Not sure I want to go out that way. Ever.



Yesterday I spent the day pretending to work on grad school applications, and around 4pm decided I needed to do something more worthwhile. So I went to the Louvre. I started in Italian sculpture (Denon wing) and saw Michelangelo's slaves, moved to Etruscan burials, ambled back through Roman sculpture (shown here), and cut over to ...



The Venus de Milo. She's temporarily relocated while they do some sort of work on the big room she's normally in (in fact, I think the whole Greek sculpture room is closed right now).



Wandered back a different way, and came upon the Sphinx.



Found an exhibit in the Medieval part of the Louvre (AWESOME. Smells like the basement under the porch on the big house of Lake George a little bit) that involved lots of sentences about walls in neon affixed to the medieval walls of the original Louvre castle. It looked really cool, although it's a bit difficult to capture the effect in pictures.



After I came home and hung out for a few hours, I got settled, and almost didn't go to meet Sydney and her friends at a karaoke bar in the red light district (Pigalle). Good thing she guilted me -- I think that was the first night out that went for par with a night at Tom and Marty's with everybody :) Highlights included Africa, Take on Me, Britney Spears, and I sang No Scrubs. WIN. This might be my new favorite bar, and I'm going to drag everyone there regularly! Don't worry Kim and Josh, I'm counting the LCC as my favorite "café."

'Appy 'Alloween!

As previously mentioned, I had thought my costume would be strictly hypothetical -- at least, I did until Kim and Mariam invited me to join their Halloween shindig.

I ended up going as Audrey Hepburn circa Breakfast at Tiffany's ... somehow, I had the necessary ingredients among the relatively normal things I packed for France! Can't see all of the jewels in this picture, but you get the idea.



Kim dressed up as Hello Kitty (cue lewd remarks from French guys in the street ... ), and Mariam was a cheerleader (French people call them Pom Pom Girls).



After we hung out there with some of their friends, we headed to a club for dancing (but I ended up bailing and going home, since I had to be up relatively early the next day). So happy I got to have a dress-up Halloween!!!