Let's see, some highlights of this week:
+ The girls' cousins (ages 4 & 7) were in town, and even though I'm not on duty this week, I've still managed to spend some quality trampoline time with them, which has reminded me how quickly little kids are willing to act like they've been friends with you forever. During our trampoline session, any time when I tried to tell them that I had to leave, I would hear a chorus of "Noooo Amelie nooooooooooo (sad face)". Who can ignore that kind of attention? The little one and I became particularly good friends (I should add that they don't speak English, and trying to understand 4 & 7-year-old French is even harder than understanding normal person French, so this has been interesting). I keep running into the family around Clamart on my way into Paris as they've been coming back from their day in the city, and yesterday I happened to meet them while crossing the middle of a busy intersection, but that didn't stop the 4-year-old from gasping when she realized it was me whom she was seeing, stopping in the middle of the street while putting her arms around my waist as the cars in both directions were about to come at us. She's very cute but I had to extract her arms from around me and then run off so that I wouldn't miss my train and so that neither of us would be killed. They left this morning but hopefully I'll see them again.
+ Both of my au pair friends in Clamart are British, and they each had a British friend visiting Paris for the first time this weekend, so it's been a long few days that have included trying to see all the sights (very tiring). I've been the only American among the five of us, and they seem to like spending their time talking about cider and making fun of the way I pronounce "Halloween".
+I got home last night around midnight to find Anne and Eric and Anne's sister and brother-in-law still chatting around the kitchen table after dinner. They always ask me the same type of questions after I get home that my parents tend to ask me before I leave the house (where did you go, alone or with friends, etc). When Eric found out that I had spent the day with British people, he started lecturing me about how I have to be careful about "UK people" and something about "a lot of wars" and about how when France plays the England in the big rugby match in February I had better be rooting for the French team.
So it's been a good week. Super excited for my Genius Bar appointment tomorrow morning! Fingers crossed that it's an inexpensive diagnoses.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Toussaint Break
Seriously, my Sunday appointment at the Genius Bar cannot come soon enough. I'm on vacation, which means that I don't need to watch the kids because they're on break and they've been spending everyday with their family members who are visiting, but I still can't help but stay at home in order to take advantage of computer time when the family is out and about. Ahhhhhhhh.
The week has been eventful, though! Earlier, I had one of those nice days without an agenda in which Rachael and Mariene and I visited a cute little ribbon and button store at Les Halles, followed by trips to both the American AND British dry goods imports stores (Rachael and I can't help but split bags of candy corn whenever we go), ending with Stella Artois at one of the cafes near St. Michel (we specifically chose one with heating lamps because that was the day it was unbelieveably cold).
The next night, we met up for falafels in the Marais (I've tried three different falafel places so far) and then we went to trivia night at an English pub near the Pantheon. The questions were really hard and our team did really badly (i.e. assuming that the 200+ boxes that travelled on a specific French ship to America in 1885 were filled with camembert, when apparently they were actually filled with pieces of the future Statue of Liberty. Who knew?). But I did know who the title character in Crime and Punishment was, and that Charles I was the only English king to be beheaded, and that "Helter Skelter" inspired Charles Manson, so yeah!
Mariene and I went back to the vintage shops in the Marais, and this time I found a really nice black blazer from Zara ($$) that fits me perfectly for 1 euro, so that was really awesome. And last night, I met up with Rachael and her friend Haley who also went to the University of Georgia, and sat on the steps near (at?) Trocadero and watched the Eiffel Tower light up, while we took turns asking outloud if we were really living here. So that was nice.
Pictures when I have access to my computer again.
The week has been eventful, though! Earlier, I had one of those nice days without an agenda in which Rachael and Mariene and I visited a cute little ribbon and button store at Les Halles, followed by trips to both the American AND British dry goods imports stores (Rachael and I can't help but split bags of candy corn whenever we go), ending with Stella Artois at one of the cafes near St. Michel (we specifically chose one with heating lamps because that was the day it was unbelieveably cold).
The next night, we met up for falafels in the Marais (I've tried three different falafel places so far) and then we went to trivia night at an English pub near the Pantheon. The questions were really hard and our team did really badly (i.e. assuming that the 200+ boxes that travelled on a specific French ship to America in 1885 were filled with camembert, when apparently they were actually filled with pieces of the future Statue of Liberty. Who knew?). But I did know who the title character in Crime and Punishment was, and that Charles I was the only English king to be beheaded, and that "Helter Skelter" inspired Charles Manson, so yeah!
Mariene and I went back to the vintage shops in the Marais, and this time I found a really nice black blazer from Zara ($$) that fits me perfectly for 1 euro, so that was really awesome. And last night, I met up with Rachael and her friend Haley who also went to the University of Georgia, and sat on the steps near (at?) Trocadero and watched the Eiffel Tower light up, while we took turns asking outloud if we were really living here. So that was nice.
Pictures when I have access to my computer again.
Monday, October 24, 2011
A Nice Break From H&M
(For the record, I still love the clothing store H&M).
Today, Mariene took me to a bunch of vintage stores in the Marais. Two in particular were good (most things that were interesting to me were only 5 or 10 euros). They were like American Way (our beloved thrift store in Burbank) in the sense that there was a LOT of stuff, good mixed in with crappy, BUT the difference was that there was wayyy too much stuff and wayyyy too many people for the tiny amount of available space. So it was hard to try anything on, but we're planning on going back tomorrow. Hopefully it will be less crowded!
I'm off of work this week. Things to look forward to: Chartres, Pere Lachaise on Halloween, and hopefully some pumpkin-flavored baked things (we Americans are horrified at the lack of this stuff, so we're going to have to make our own).
Also, Season Two of The Wire is so good! I'm 8 episodes through so far.
Today, Mariene took me to a bunch of vintage stores in the Marais. Two in particular were good (most things that were interesting to me were only 5 or 10 euros). They were like American Way (our beloved thrift store in Burbank) in the sense that there was a LOT of stuff, good mixed in with crappy, BUT the difference was that there was wayyy too much stuff and wayyyy too many people for the tiny amount of available space. So it was hard to try anything on, but we're planning on going back tomorrow. Hopefully it will be less crowded!
I'm off of work this week. Things to look forward to: Chartres, Pere Lachaise on Halloween, and hopefully some pumpkin-flavored baked things (we Americans are horrified at the lack of this stuff, so we're going to have to make our own).
Also, Season Two of The Wire is so good! I'm 8 episodes through so far.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Brrrr
Hello all! I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like because my computer screen is having issues. I'm FREAKING out about this, actually, because I'm starting to feel really cut off from the world without access to the web (I'm using the family's computer right now, because they're out of town, but it will be harder when they come back because the kids are on it TWENTY-FOUR/SEVEN). I got a library card to the local library, and while they don't have many TV shows on DVD to rent, I was absolutely amazed to find the one thing I was looking for in the whole entire world: "Sur Ecoute" (in English that's The Wire, Season 2!). Which is super exciting, but now I can only watch it in the living room when the kids aren't home, instead of tucked in to my warm bed downstairs, errrrrr. I'm trying to stay positive, though. And it's not so hard, because I feel little bursts of positivity when, for example, I realize that I can see the Eiffel Tower from my suburb, which is really surreal and wonderful.
I've been eating a lot of falafels with my friends, because they're sooo cheap and sooo goood and sooo filling. And the occaisonal kebab too. Yesterday, however, my friends Rachael and Mariene and I were in the mood for filling American food (well, Mariene probably didn't crave it as much as Rachael and I did, seeing as she's from Bristol), so we went to a restaurant called Breakfast in America in the Marais. This is obviously NOT the kind of place you'd want to go if you were only visiting Paris on vacation, but for those of us who are here for the year, Breakfast in America is really comforting. It's basically like any American diner (good breakfasts and good hamburgers), but it has a classy, non-touristy feel, and I definitely did not feel bad about eating there because it was FULL of French people. And it cost what eating the same food in America would cost, so that was an added bonus. Mmmm. My scrambled eggs and potatoes were really good.
Because of my coffee woes (I've been on a month-long quest to perfect the taste of my morning French press coffee with no luck so far because of the way they process milk in France, which deserves its own blog), I've definitely become more interested in espresso, which is progress for me. I still put a lot of sugar in it, but this is the first time I've actually looked forward to drinking it instead of filtered coffee, which makes me feel more Parisian! I'd prefer to be drinking noisettes (it's espresso with a little milk), but in France they charge about a euro more for these, so I've become happy with just plain espresso. At home, the family as a Nespresso machine, which they use ALL THE TIME (so happy I'm with a family who likes caffiene), so I make my own noisettes when I use that.
Falafels and Trivia night tonight at an English pub near the Pantheon. Yay for not having to be up at 8AM tomorrow! :)
I've been eating a lot of falafels with my friends, because they're sooo cheap and sooo goood and sooo filling. And the occaisonal kebab too. Yesterday, however, my friends Rachael and Mariene and I were in the mood for filling American food (well, Mariene probably didn't crave it as much as Rachael and I did, seeing as she's from Bristol), so we went to a restaurant called Breakfast in America in the Marais. This is obviously NOT the kind of place you'd want to go if you were only visiting Paris on vacation, but for those of us who are here for the year, Breakfast in America is really comforting. It's basically like any American diner (good breakfasts and good hamburgers), but it has a classy, non-touristy feel, and I definitely did not feel bad about eating there because it was FULL of French people. And it cost what eating the same food in America would cost, so that was an added bonus. Mmmm. My scrambled eggs and potatoes were really good.
Because of my coffee woes (I've been on a month-long quest to perfect the taste of my morning French press coffee with no luck so far because of the way they process milk in France, which deserves its own blog), I've definitely become more interested in espresso, which is progress for me. I still put a lot of sugar in it, but this is the first time I've actually looked forward to drinking it instead of filtered coffee, which makes me feel more Parisian! I'd prefer to be drinking noisettes (it's espresso with a little milk), but in France they charge about a euro more for these, so I've become happy with just plain espresso. At home, the family as a Nespresso machine, which they use ALL THE TIME (so happy I'm with a family who likes caffiene), so I make my own noisettes when I use that.
Falafels and Trivia night tonight at an English pub near the Pantheon. Yay for not having to be up at 8AM tomorrow! :)
Monday, October 17, 2011
One Month!
I've been here for over a month now! Time flies. I can't believe my stay in Paris is 10 percent over. I'm sad that I only have 9 months left here.
AMAZING 2 euro tarte aux pommes in celebration! Actually, this was just for fun. Rachael and I actually had falafels and wine by the river to celebrate. Mmmmmm.
AMAZING 2 euro tarte aux pommes in celebration! Actually, this was just for fun. Rachael and I actually had falafels and wine by the river to celebrate. Mmmmmm.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
First French Test of the Year
Yeah! I like French tests when I feel confidant about them. Except, that I have to remember all of these CUH-RAZY rules, including:
1. The verb avoir, in the past tense, only agrees with the direct object if the direct object comes BEFORE the verb.
J'ai acheté cette veste. (acheter only has one "e" because, while "cette veste" is feminine, it comes after the verb).
versus
La veste que j'ai achetée est suberbe! (acheter has two "e"s because it agrees with "cette veste", which is feminine and because it comes BEFORE the verb. Yeah!
2. Sometimes, the passé composé is only correct if you're talking about things in succession:
J'ai acheté un livre que je l'ai offert. (I bought a book that I offered to him....both verbs are in the passé composé because I wrote them in the real order that they happened).
J'ai offert à mon ami un livre que j'avais acheté. (I offered my friend a book that I had previously bought...the second part has to be in the plus-que-parfait because it happened before the first action)!
3. You can visit something (visiter quelque chose) but if you're talking about visiting a person, you have to rendre visiter à quelqu'un.
4. On the same subject, if you're going to visiter quelque chose ("something"), you use que when you're combining sentences, because that quelque chose is a direct object. However, the verb aller takes quelque part ("somewhere") in place of a direct object, so if you're using a relative pronoun, you use où instead of que.
Awesome! I really can't imagine that my little grammar lessons are that interesting, but typing them out actually helps me study A LOT, and it proves that my grammar skills are improving, so I'll definitely be continuing.
The great thing about being in my situation in Paris is that everyone else is in the same situation, which means that everyone wants English speaking friends. I've been making plans with friends and then bringing other friends along, and suddenly my two three groups of friends are combining, and it's really cool (though, hard for me to keep track of who knows who). ALSO, it turns out that our favorite cafe has a live-in cat!! Life is so great!
1. The verb avoir, in the past tense, only agrees with the direct object if the direct object comes BEFORE the verb.
J'ai acheté cette veste. (acheter only has one "e" because, while "cette veste" is feminine, it comes after the verb).
versus
La veste que j'ai achetée est suberbe! (acheter has two "e"s because it agrees with "cette veste", which is feminine and because it comes BEFORE the verb. Yeah!
2. Sometimes, the passé composé is only correct if you're talking about things in succession:
J'ai acheté un livre que je l'ai offert. (I bought a book that I offered to him....both verbs are in the passé composé because I wrote them in the real order that they happened).
J'ai offert à mon ami un livre que j'avais acheté. (I offered my friend a book that I had previously bought...the second part has to be in the plus-que-parfait because it happened before the first action)!
3. You can visit something (visiter quelque chose) but if you're talking about visiting a person, you have to rendre visiter à quelqu'un.
4. On the same subject, if you're going to visiter quelque chose ("something"), you use que when you're combining sentences, because that quelque chose is a direct object. However, the verb aller takes quelque part ("somewhere") in place of a direct object, so if you're using a relative pronoun, you use où instead of que.
Awesome! I really can't imagine that my little grammar lessons are that interesting, but typing them out actually helps me study A LOT, and it proves that my grammar skills are improving, so I'll definitely be continuing.
The great thing about being in my situation in Paris is that everyone else is in the same situation, which means that everyone wants English speaking friends. I've been making plans with friends and then bringing other friends along, and suddenly my two three groups of friends are combining, and it's really cool (though, hard for me to keep track of who knows who). ALSO, it turns out that our favorite cafe has a live-in cat!! Life is so great!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
The French Way
You know how French people stereotypically get upset and protest a lot? Apparently last year, my host mom and a bunch of other parents slept in the middle school cafeteria for 7 nights in a row because they didn't like how things were going (whatever that means).
Falafels and gelato in the Marais today with au pair friends, mmm!
Falafels and gelato in the Marais today with au pair friends, mmm!
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