Good Weekend

I had the pleasantest of weekends this time around.

Yesterday after tutoring, Rachael and I met up and took a long bus ride to Velizy. It's just a mall that we wanted to go to because they recently opened a Forever 21, but I think we were both surprisingly excited to be in such an American setting. It just felt good. At first I was kind of annoyed at how much trouble it took to get there, but then I instantly rescinded that thought, because it's actually better that Paris keeps its shopping malls away from Paris. I love days where I don't have any time constraints, and it felt so good to go shopping, get lunch, etc, on our own pace. And it felt SO GOOD to go shopping with money I had saved because I've been so incredibly stingy over the past few weeks! Shopping definitely feels better when it's money that you've made (but thank you, parents, for the adorable and inexpensive bunny ring you bought me from H&M and the delicious latte that I got yesterday)!

Today was equally as lovely. Sarah and I went back to the Musee L'Orangerie, this time armed with paper and pens so that we could write down the names of artists we wanted to remember. Again, I felt inspired. Then we got chai tea at our chai tea place, and then falafels! Mi Va Mi, the place that Mariene introduced me to, had finally re-opened, so I got to have my favorite falafel again. Also, I went to a Jewish bakery and bought a hamentashen -- it had hazelnut filling, how French!

Then we met up with Lindsay and her boyfriend Damien, and together we all walked across the river to the 5th, where we got good coffee for a euro in a cafe off of Rue Mouffetard (the same cafe that all of us got coffee in on my aunt/uncle/cousin's last night here). Then we went to the River Bar, two minutes away, where we had cheap pints of Leffe and watched the France/England rugby match. Poor France, it was close, but they lost. They're were English people all over the metro afterwards, but I stayed away from them, because Eric is always warning me to "be careful of UK people".

LOOK, IT'S ALMOST SPRING HERE!

I can't wait. 

Musee L'Orangerie

But first, the short exchange I just had with Lise as she walked up the stairs from my floor so that she could go get ready for bed:

Me: "Wait, Lise, you forgot your shoe!" (this was one of her sneakers that she had left down here in my room a few hours ago.

Lise: ::looks at me, then scrambles farther up the stairs instead of towards me and her shoe::

Me: "Wait! What am I going to do with one shoe?"

Lise: ::long pause:: "It's really comfortable." ::scrambles away and out the door::"

I don't really know that means.

Anyway, on a whim, my friends and I went to the Musee L'Orangerie today, which is located inside the Tuileries. I only decided to go because it's a museum, and because it has Monet's Waterlilies, so I guess why not go, right? I didn't really plan on loving what I saw, but in the end I was totally blown away, and left feeling completely inspired.

I've never truly been attracted to late 19th-Century art (except for my Kandinsky period in Elementary school), but kudos to the museum's curators (and especially to the people in charge of the Debussy: La Musiques et Les Arts exhibit), because I fell completely in love. I found that the flow of the museum really worked well with the paintings, and I'm officially a fan! Sarah and I made plans to come back on Sunday and stare extra hard at all of the paintings that we missed (actually, once we made this pact, we tried really hard not to concentrate too hard much on the paintings we walked by just so that we would have an excuse to come again). The Musee L'Orangerie is definitely one of my favorite places I've visited so far, and of course I highly recommend it.

I wasn't allowed to take my own photos, but I really liked this one especially. It's Maurice Denis' interpretation of the Muses.

I hadn't heard of Maurice Denis before, but I really like him, and it turns out that he even has is own museum in the outskirts of Paris. I also really liked Henri-Edmond Cross:

And there was another really great painting of the main entrance of the Tuileries (exactly where the museum is) at night, but I'll have to go back and see who painted that one. It feels so amazing to have a newfound appreciation of an entire art movement and era after a visit to one small museum! MORE, please!! 

Mecredi

Today was a nice day. Lindsay came back to hang out with the girls while she's still in town, and it was really nice to have company. Especially since she told me about all of things that she did as their au pair that annoyed them -- which happen to be the exact same things that I do to annoy the girls, and which they always compare me to Lindsay about ("Lindsay wouldn't have said no!", etc). So that was very satisfying!

Usually Wednesdays are hard because it's up to me to make the three kids' ever changing schedules fit in together like puzzle pieces, but today was nice and calm and everyone got along. Lise slept over an hour later than usual (less work for me), and didn't disagree when I told her that at one point we had to get dressed because her pajamas were falling down on the trampoline, and that it was too cold to jump outside whilst naked. All of us girls, including Juliette's friend, managed to time out lunch so that we could all eat at the table together before I took Lise to dance, and she changed into her dance clothes extra early and without our normal fight about it, and she did her homework extremely early, and she washed her hair without a question, and she voluntarily wanted to brush her teeth before dinner (the usual circumstances being that she never wants to brush her teeth at all), and she actually wanted to put on her robe, and she agreed that it was a good idea to put on her slippers, etc. So it was a very nice day.

In disappointing news, after spending a ridiculous amount of time and energy working towards things that would allow me to apply for San Francisco State's credential program, they finally told me that since I can't take the CSET test before the semester starts in August (since I am out of zee country), that I am not eligible for admission for this upcoming year. I'm upset because 90% of the energy I spent applying to all of my credential programs in total went to SF, so I find this annoying. I'm pretty sure that I spoke to someone in the office who told me that I would be able to take the test after I started the semester, but I could be imagining that, or even if I wrote down her name, I wrote it down on a piece of paper 6 months ago which is 10,000 miles away and which I don't know the location of anymore, so that sucks. I can't say that the in-classroom tutoring hours I racked up solely so that I would be able to apply to SF are worthless (quite the contrary, they confirmed to me that I want to be in a classroom, and I really enjoyed the experience and formed from great relationships with my master teachers), BUT I'm still annoyed, and sad because SF would have been really great. At least I guess that's one less decision I have to make about my whereabouts next year....

Lundi

First Monday back after vacation! Mariene and I started the day early, and walked down the Canal St. Martin. Then I was absolutely STARVING so I stumbled home. Where I ate a lot of unnecessary things.

Nothing much to report. The toothpaste I'm currently using happens to have the exact same flavor of the Doublemint spearmint gum that I chew when I fly, so that my ears don't pop. The consequence of this is that every time I brush my teeth, multiple times a day, I ALWAYS feel as though I'm about to get on an airplane and have an adventure. But there are worse things for your mouth to taste like then travel, I guess.

Dimanche

Today was a nice day. Lindsay, the family's former au pair, came by today to surprise the girls since she's visiting France for the week. It was really nice to finally meet her, especially since talking to her is what made me decide to take this job in the first place (every nice thing she said was definitely true).

We all had lunch together, but before we had lunch, I had a lot of champagne forced upon me (a lot. More than I would ever usually drink). I kept saying no, but according to Eric, I had to drink a lot because "eet eez sunday and zere eez a rugby match!". Then, while I was still working on my champagne, we sat down to eat and the wine came out. Eric had gotten some rose, because that's what Lindsay likes, and some red for me, which I thought was really nice of him. Before long, my plate was surrounded by the champagne flute that I was still working on, my second glass of red wine, and a glass of water because I'm a super lightweight, so water is always a good thing. Eric's really funny, and I think he thinks that I can drink more than I actually should. There was a night a few weeks ago where I had eaten an early dinner at Mariene's (accompagnied by a lot of wine), and when I came home the family and some friends were just sitting down to dinner. I said my hellos and explained that I had already eaten and had had wine to drink and was about to leave and let them eat, and Eric goes, "Ah, but I know what you want!", and poured a glass of more wine before I could stop him. I'm hoping that all of this means that my tolerance will have improved greatly by the time I've left Chez Courteille.

Everyone was in a good mood at lunch, and was therefore being very silly (though, I know the wine helped, not that the kids drink it). Lise and Juliette put on music and were dancing while we ate, and at one point, Lise left and came back to the table in costume (aviator sunglasses and a silly blue glittery plastic party hat), in addition to a lei which she draped around Linsday and a purple feather boa which she wrapped around me. In addition to all of the dancing, at one point she also ended up going the splits on the kitchen counter. The kids also spent much of the meal telling Eric not to sing along with the music, and he was upset because apparently "Zee whole world tells me I am a singer!". Then (multiple times), he turned to me and told me how hard his life was in this house.

And then there was chocolate cake, mmm. I love silly days!

Chai Tea Lattes & The Louvre

Sarah and I celebrated the last weekend of February vacation by going to the Louvre today. Even though we came to the joint conclusion that we're tired of old stuff, we somehow ended up trapped in the Egyptian section...and couldn't find a way out until we had pretty much seen the ENTIRE Egyptian collection. And then, after deciding that we were definitely NOT going anywhere near the Ancient Greek stuff...that's exactly where we ended up, sigh. But we saw some other cool things too.

And then we got excellent chai tea in the Marais (I don't drink chai tea a lot, but I loooove it), along with a tarte tatin, which I tried for the first time and definitely plan on making when I get home to the states, mmmm. I seriously can't stop thinking about how good this tart was, 8 hours later.

(feel free to google it for more appealing photos). 

Then, when I was walking home in Clamart, I walked by the boulangerie and heard two little girls call my name...the kids were apparently back! They were with Eric picking up a cake to take to their grandma's new apartment, and it was nice to run into them unexpectedly, especially since they're always a 10 on the 1 to 10 scale of cuteness on the days they get back from vacation. Eric had bought Lise the movie Avatar over break, so we watched it together when they got home (I, too, feel nicer on the days that they get back from vacation!).

And in other exciting news, I got into UCI's credential program! And with a small scholarship too, which is less than they gave me for undergrad, but still definitely appreciated :) I don't know where I'll end up going yet, but at least this means that I'll be going somewhere :)

Home to Paris

We got back on Wednesday with absolutely ZERO travel problems. As in, our bus showed up right as we arrived, and we got to the airport with plenty of time. So that was nice.

I spent yesterday and today doing laundry and watching The Sopranos, but I'm definitely getting out tomorrow because I'm starting to feel cooped up. The plus side of being in my room is that I can't spend money on crepes or croissants. The downside is that I eat everything else in sight! It's a big struggle though.  Last time, I didn't have any money, so it didn't really matter how much I spent. This time, when I can see it and feel it in my hands, I can at least try and budget. I keep telling myself that if I just ate 10 less Nutella crepes over the course of my entire stay here (which really isn't a lot. And it's not like I eat them as much as I talk about them, in reality), then I could buy a cute pair of shoes or something! Or 4 scarves! But being in a city that's 1)full of delicious snacks, and 2)really exhausting, which means that one needs food all the time, is my problem. Stupid Paris! No, I take that back, I love you!

I finally figured out how to locate (relatively) cheap train tickets, to places in France and elsewhere. Why is Milan 8 hours away? It's a problem. Same with Barcelona. Perhaps I'll make it to Amsterdam though. OR MAYBE I'LL JUST EAT A LOT OF CREPES INSTEAD.