Days 27-32

Wooow...I'm slipping on this daily blogging thing, but as I'm settling in, there's not as much to notice that's new & different.

Another list of things that have happened since my last post:

• I've met with fellow knitters at a tiny little tea house (quite a wonderful morning)
• I went to Pizza Night Bible Study at the American Church in Paris
• I went to see my first movie in a French cinema (Despicable Me), even if it was in English
• I had raclette for the first time, and it was delicious
• I was invited to a wonderful dinner at the home of someone I met at the American Church in Paris
• I survived another week of French classes
• I met the 3 university students staying in the apartment across the hallway from the one I'm in
• I had a bagel sandwich for lunch with a friend (it totally hit the spot!)
• I found a recipe I want to try, especially since the weather's getting cooler...
• I finally made it to the Eiffel Tower
• I finally had my first crepe in Paris
• Eldest told me that he loved me, which just about melted my heart...he's adorable when he's in a good mood :] (it did catch me a little off guard, but I think that's a good sign, don't you?)
  

Things I'm excited about:

• My dad arrives for a visit this coming Friday!
• The kids go on break, which means I get time off
• The host parents are going on vacation, which means a calm, quiet apartment :]
  
• After my dad leaves, it's only another 2 weeks until my mom comes to visit!
• Thanksgiving!
• Christmas break
  

Things I'm not excited about:

• The cold
• The wind
• The rain
• The lack of sunshine that apparently comes with wintertime in Paris
• Missing Halloween
• Missing fall football
  

Day 13

I guess I've got to get used to this whole colder weather thing. It's not easy, coming from the South, where it's still really warm (and sunshiney too, but I'm not going there), to here, where the high today was 59. I'm a mild weather person; not cold (I'm terrible at layering), not hot (though my thin-blooded Southern-ness has allowed me to adapt to the heat).

Language school #1 was full for my French level, so I spent today researching other options here in the city. I've got a short list of about 4 schools, though they're all pretty far out from the apartment. Is that a price I have to pay? Well, yes. Do I want to pay that price? If I want to stay in Paris, I sure do; otherwise, not really. On the bright side, the reduced-hour au pair programs run a lot cheaper per term than their normal x-hours-per-week courses, and the hours are in the morning, which leaves afternoons/evenings free for au pair duties.

Eldest has joined what I've gathered is some sort of chess club at his school, so I picked up Youngest from her class, and we went to the Gardens, even though it was pretty chilly, so that she could play for a bit before we went to pick up her brother. Eldest was slightly sad that he didn't have time to play in the park, but this chess thing is just once a week, so he'll get plenty of playtime the rest of the week.

I mentioned earlier that Eldest is into collecting Pokemon cards. Today, he gave me two more: Ponyta & Dark Raichu. So now, I've got those two, and a Kingler. He's given these to me because they're in English- problem is, I can't decide if he's trying to maintain the purity of his French card collection, or if he's just being genuinely sweet. I find myself hoping that it's the second, though part of me knows that in reality, it's probably the first.

Dinner tonight for the kids was left0ver pasta (w/ ketchup & cheese for Eldest, just cheese for Youngest), more blanched zucchini (still can't figure that one out), & tomato slices, and I had ham tortellini & tomato slices since there wasn't enough leftover pasta for me too. Dessert was vanilla applesauce, and then the kids had cheese as a final course.

Day 10

Today, I ventured out into the big (albeit rather chilly) city, in search of a French language course to enroll in. I had the address for one place, so I set out on my adventure for the day. Soon after I had started, someone had actually stopped to as me directions to a different street. I was surprised, and actually kind of complimented! Thankfully, an old man overheard her request & helped her, so I headed on my way and made it successfully to my target. I took a placement test, but they didn't have any openings for the level I placed in, so I'm back to the drawing board, but with several other locations to try on Monday. It wasn't a total loss, though, b/c on the way back to the metro station, I somehow overshot it, and eventually wound up staring at the signage outside of a concert venue. None other than the head Parrot himself, Jimmy Buffett, is playing tonight here in Paris! That's going to be a fun concert :)

I turned myself around, got on the metro, switched lines, and got off at the stop for one of Paris' few HUGE stores, BHV (short for Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville, which makes sense, given that it's right across the street from, well, the Hôtel de Ville, which is like Paris' city hall). It's like someone took a Bed, Bath & Beyond, stacked a Best Buy on top of it, with a make-up section beneath that would take up an entire department store on the first floor. My description doesn't do it any justice...the place is friggin ginormous. (That's right. I maybe just made up a word.) The alarm clock I purchased yesterday needed batteries, and anywhere you go in Paris, batteries are going to be ridiculously expensive, but at least at BHV, I'd be able to get a slightly better deal than if I'd have bought just 4 for about the same price that I got 15 (I think) today. I did well to find the batteries, then wandered aimlessly around the store for what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only about 2 hours. Needless to say, I'll be going back there to explore more.

I ate a late lunch today, grabbing a bagel-sandwich from a shop in my arrondissement called Bagels & Brownies. They've got all sorts of bagel-sandwich options named after well-known American cities, though there's seemingly no relation between the city the sandwich was named after & the contents of said sandwich. (I think the Atlanta had pastrami on it...) I wound up ordering the Las Vegas- two thick layers of cream cheese, tuna salad, tomato slices & cheddar cheese. It was actually really good, and I might wind up going back there again for a different bagel-sandwich.

After my sandwich, I almost took a nap, but instead wandered the streets around the apartment a bit before picking up the kiddos from school. Before I headed out, the secretary downstairs handed me a letter from one of my church members back home. It was a sweet note, and reminded me that though I might feel alone over here, I've got so much support coming from my home church.

It was cloudy again today, and it decided to rain, but (thankfully) only while I was inside eating my sandwich. This did make the temperature drop, however, so I made sure the kids had their jackets before we went to Luxembourg Gardens again today. I think I'm finally starting to get into the swing of things (at least when it comes to the kids), and that's helping a lot. Eldest collects Pokemon cards, and today he gave me one that was in English, a gesture I didn't expect, but really appreciated. I think we're starting to get along better & figure each other out. Though, I don't know quite yet what I'm going to do when the Garden's hours change, because it'll be closed before the kids get out from school...that's going to take some serious creativity on my part. That should get interesting, to say the very least.

The mother of the family came home early today, and even made dinner, which was delicious. It was homemade pizza! One part had pesto, cherry tomatoes, & mozzarella, one part had red sauce, sliced roma tomatoes, mozzarella, & black olives, and the other part had red sauce, feta cheese, & more black olives. I used to dislike olives, but lately I've come around to them. It's been a slow process, though. And again, there was music during dinner, because someone had rented the sanctuary to hold a concert. Tonight, it was piano & a female singer. Still, very beautiful music.