Never Want to Leave...

Well, there's a first for everything, and today was my first time getting my haircut in another country.  It's one thing going to a new hairdresser, but it's a whole other thing when you don't speak the same language!  Somehow or another (through both of our pieced together efforts, and lots of hand gestures) I got my point across!  So he sits me down at the sink to wash my hair and I immediately think "great, how much is THIS going to cost me..." but I was stuck there, because I didn't know how to say I ONLY wanted a cut.  I am sooo glad I kept my mouth shut, because that wash was the best part of my day.  Apparently a wash is included with the haircut (amen!) and it is just a usual part of the whole experience.  Let me just say that I think everyone needs to get their haircut in France at some point in their lives, it is truly amazing.  The mere fact that I'm writing a blog about it tells you it was grand!  He washed, conditioned, and massaged my head for a good 10 minutes, all the while I was drooling.  Then while he was cutting my hair, even though we couldn't really communicate very well, he had a smile on his face the whole time.  Maybe I'm just used to my drab hairdresser at home who never speaks to me and seems like he hates his job every second.  This guy was so enthusiastic about cutting my hair!  Nodding to himself to pump himself up, smiling, essentially rocking out (to nothing) as he cut my hair, it was great!  Then he massaged AGAIN as he blow dried it (also for free).  He didn't style it however, so I left with essentially a mop on my head, but that didn't detract from the wonderful experience that I have dreaded for awhile a now.  While my hair is a bit shorter than I would have liked (at my shoulders!), it is healthy and ready to grow super super long now!

In other news, Lucien is home sick today, so it's been a movie marathon kinda day...hence the reason behind this random blog post :)

Veedeeo!!

I tried to put this video in my last blog, but it wouldn't work, so here it is!  This pretty much sums up our adventure...

By the way, Alice has NO idea who Kristi Yamaguchi or Michelle Kwan are, or what facebook is....

Ben-jammin was here!

So when I previously told you that my next blog would be about Ben's visit, apparently I neglected to mention that he had already come and gone at that point!  Ben arrived early (too early) Tuesday morning via overnight train from San Sebastian, Spain (no, he wasn't able to sleep either!) and left late Thursday night.  He just moved to Spain on the 15th of January to work in a school teaching English part time, and building robots, and he will be there until July of this year.  Two years ago when I lived in Spain, Ben was the lone soldier who accompanied me on my first trip to Paris.  Lucky for us, we worked well together, and were able to see ALL the major sites in Paris during that short weekend.  Unfortunately, that made my job this time around 10x harder.  I live here, I am supposed to have an itinerary of cool non-touristy things to see, I failed.  I had restaurants in mind, and a couple of neighborhoods, but not a list of things to do, sites to see, and bars to hit, that's just not my style.  But, with the faintest idea in my head, we set out early Tuesday to discover the unseen Paris.

A quick metro ride later and we find ourselves in the middle of the bustling Latin Quarter, Paris' "college town".  With universities such as the famed Sorbonne and the Pierre and Marie Curie University, this area is full of students, as well as restaurants and famous landmarks.  I chose this area because it is one that we didn't explore before, and one that I have yet to explore as well.  Our first stop (so American) was Starbucks.  Parisians just don't do coffee to go, and because it was an early, brisk morning, we decided to embrace our inner tourist and indulge a little.  With grande latte's in hand, we walked.  And walked.  And walked some more.  We strolled through a fun little market, explored a gorgeous, hole-in-the-wall church, posed by the Pantheon, and meandered through the Jardin du Luxembourg.  By this time, it was well past lunchtime, so we decided to make our way back to the right bank and into my favorite neighborhood, Le Marais, for some delicious falafels.  Let me just say that food like that tastes SO much better after a long walk.  At this point, we both realized that the inevitable was about to happen: shopping.  Now it is a well-known fact that computer engineers such as Ben have no fashion sense (I'm not even going to apologize for offending any readers, it's true).  Since I have known Ben (2+ years now), he has relied on me to do his shopping for him.  While I love the idea of spending someone else's money, shopping for Ben brings me even greater joy because I can literally put him in a pink tutu, tell him the ladies love it, and it's sold...but I'm not that mean, luckily.  We strolled through Zara, H&M, and a few others before deciding that we were just too tired to shop, so we headed home a little early to sneak in a nap before the kids came home.  After picking up Lucien an hour later, Ben decided to challenge him to a game of chess--both claim to be masters.  Unfortunately, Ben won, but it was a close one!  After work that night, I decided Ben needed to be introduced to the glory that is Refuge des Fondus, or for those of you who aren't familiar, the restaurant that serves wine in baby bottles.  My friends Ally, Jaimie, and Gianny met us there to partake in the festivities.  While the food is admittedly not great, the wine and atmosphere completely make up for it, and we had a great time.  In fact, after a couple bottles each, we were the last to leave, and had the pleasure of enjoying a hilarious metro ride home together to end the night.

Beautiful church in the 5th Arrondissement

Ally, me, and Jaimie

Group shot dans le metro!

Wednesday was of course my full day with the kids, so after thinking long and hard of ways to get out of the house and do something fun WITH the kids, we finally had the solution...ice skating!  Luckily on Wednesdays I don't start till 11, so that gave me some time to sleep in, my favorite!  Valerie wasn't feeling too great, so she decided that instead of having me make lunch for everyone, she would treat us to Chinese!  Exciting, yes, but the Chinese food here is French-ified majorly, so I would prefer my Americanized Chinese food, thank you.  After lunch, we sent Lucien off to soccer for 3 hours, and Alice, Ben, and I hopped on the metro to try our hand at ice skating at Hotel de Ville.  10 euros was all it took to get us in their and get skates on our feet, pretty cheap, for Paris!  We took a few laps in the "kiddy rink" before setting out to conquer the main rink.  Now I've never been the most coordinated with skates on my feet...just ask Katie Scoville about our attempted rollerskating adventures, of which I always ruined with my klutziness.  Nonetheless, I got out there, and managed to skate barelyyyy better than Alice, or at least enough to not look like a complete fool.  Alice was a natural, all her rollerskating days clearly trained her well.  She did have a few minor spills and setbacks, but overall it was quite the successful adventure!

After ice skating, we treated Alice to her favorite, barbe a papa (in French: daddy's beard, in English: cotton candy).  We made a brief pit stop on our way to the metro to peek in a store, which I now regret doing.  Alice is ALWAYS talking about dogs and cats and wanting to be a veterinarian.  It is her dream to have any kind of pet, but living in the city, on the top floor of an apartment building, and taking month-long vacations every single summer are not conducive arrangements for pet-ownership.  So, we stopped at a few pet stores along the Seine so she could have a little look at all the puppies and kitties...worst.mistake.ever.  The whole time all we heard was "Cory, can we take one home?  Oh please please pleeeeeeease".  Note to self: never again.  I had to apologize to Val and Nico for this lapse in judgement, cuz she still won't shut up about it.  That night I took Ben to my favorite neighborhood bistro, les Deux Singes for a tres bon French meal.

Alice, Ben, and Barbe a Papa

Thursday started off with breakfast at the American Diner that Ally works at.  Jaimie met us there to surprise Ally, since she was stuck working all day.  After food and coffee all around, we were ready to begin our last day of adventures.  The 3 of us hopped on the metro to the other side of Paris, where we exited the metro below the Arc de Triomphe and began a stroll along the Champs Elysees.  This time, we were ready to shop, and shop we did...for Ben.  He came away with new jeans, new dress shirts, a new tie, and a new pair of shoes, all for less than 80 euros...I LOVE LES SOLDES!  We stopped into the famous Laduree to try some overly priced, but delicious macarons.  We made it all the way down to the Grand Palace, where we crossed the river towards Invalides.  We then made our way through the St. Germain area (fancy shmancy celeb spotting zone) partly because I had never really explored it, but also secretly because I heard Reese Witherspoon was in town and I am truly obsessed.  Alas, all we got out of that trip was a picture of yet another church and some really tired feet.  So, home we went to relax for a bit before a couple hours of work.  We ended Ben's trip that night with a lovely dinner at Pink Flamingo with Ally, where we dined on roasted eggplant and hummus pizza, and pork, parsley, and fried plantain banana pizza.  Then Ben was off to the train station, and I was off to bed for 11 hours straight :)

Okay, so I guess we got more than ONE good picture out of that adventure...

Pretty cool church

A Weekend in Toulouse

I have decided that there are just too many places in Europe that I need to see before my year is over.  Therefore, I suspect many more blog posts comme ça in the future!  Our weekend adventure began around 11 pm on Friday night, when we found ourselves frantically running around Gare Montparnasse trying to print out our tickets (all the windows were closed for the night)!  Eventually we made it on the train with just seconds to spare.  Unfortunately, our seats were not recliner seats, so we only managed about 1-2 hours of sleep for the entire 7 hour ride.  Arriving in Toulouse at 6 am, we picked up some coffee and breakfast at the train station and headed out to find our way to the place we were calling home for the weekend.  For those of you who don't know, I am a pretty big fan of the website couchsurfing.com.  It is a group of people, world travelers, do-gooders, if you will, who are dedicated to the "pay it forward" way of life.  By hosting people and allowing travelers to sleep on their couch, use their shower, etc, the only payment they receive is the company, the fellowship, and the idea that this person in turn will host others in his/her home.  I became a member of this site almost 3 years ago when I moved to Spain, and my friend Sarkis and I used it to find a place to stay in London.  We had such a wonderful experience that time, that I decided to give it another shot.  Amanda and I found a couchsurfer in Toulouse named Valerie (originally from Toronto) who agreed to host us for the night, and it was wonderful.  We arrived at her house bright and early at 8 am Saturday morning, where she greeted us, showed us our couch, mapped out places for us to see, and then turned us loose to wander while she went back to bed.  Unfortunately for us, being fairly close to the ocean, the whole city was covered in fog.  We expected the whether to be mid to high 50s, a warm change from Paris, but no, it was freezing, and we were surely not prepared.  After meandering through the streets to take a look at all that was circled, we found that we had literally seen the entire city (and eaten lunch, and shopped at Les Soldes) in just a few hours.  Perfect timing, though, because our lack of sleep had caught up with us, so we made our way back to Valerie's house and passed out for a few hours.  We woke up around 7 pm, just in time to catch Valerie and her roommate making dinner plans for the night, which we were then invited to!  Valerie is a teaching assistant, teaching English to junior highers in Toulouse.  She has 2 friends from the states who are there doing the same thing, and they invited us over to their house and made us a delicious dinner of yellow curry vegetables!  We had a great time talking and getting to know each other, and it was definitely another great couchsurfing experience!

Organic market in the Capitole in Toulouse

Toulouse is known as the "pink city" because of all the brick work like this!

Our couchsurfing dinner!  L to R: Valerie (Toronto), Mary Catherine (Atlanta), Amanda, me, Kinga (Budapest), and Sheryl (Irvine)

Amanda and I--I found the toy in the gallette des rois (king cake), so I was Queen for the night!

Sunday morning we woke up to realize there was nothing left for us to see or do in Toulouse, so we headed off to the train station to hop on a train to Carcassonne for the day.  Just one hour and 20 euros later, and we were in this old medieval town with a walled city and castle.  It was such a drastic change from Toulouse, and was one place I will never forget in all my European adventures.  We arrived right around lunch time, so we made our way to this cute little restaurant to indulge in one of the local specialties: cassoulet!  Cassoulet is sort of like a stew with white beans, sausage, and duck, and oh man was it good!  After this, we wandered around the walled city, exploring the castle, cathedral, and little side streets, before heading back to the train station.  

Amazing stained glass in the cathedral.

The castle and surrounding mote!

We arrived back in Toulouse just in time to pick up our backpack from Valerie's house and head back to the train station.  We ended up eating dinner at the train station because nothing else was open that late on a Sunday, so Quick Burger it was (yuck)!  Thinking our train left at 12:05 am, we settled onto a bench for a quick hour wait at 11 pm, only to soon find out that our train didn't leave till 12:50.  By the time it arrived, we were more than ready to hop on and pass out for the night!  Of course with our luck, sleeping was yet again impossible, as the lights in our cabin would not turn off!  So we arrived back in Paris at 7:30 am Monday, where I immediately crawled into bed until 4:30 when I had to pick up the kids!  Long, tiring weekend..not much to do, but enough to see..stories to tell, and new cities explored..I would say we had a very successful weekend!


Next blog post: Ben's visit!  Stay tuned!

Les Soldes Sont Arrivées!!!!!

Les Soldes = the sales.

About.com defines this phenomenon in France as "one of the best aspects of a visit to France (at least for shopaholics comme moi).  This is an ideal time of year to visit if you love to shop. The government regulates sales, and there are just two times of year when you can get hot deals. Right now, the winter sale (which lasts six weeks), and the summer sale".

The sales have started, as of yesterday, and I am broke, as of today.  One quick peek into the always fabulous Zara set me back about...well...let's just say a lot!  However, it wasn't wasted money!  I got a new pair of (much needed) boots that were half off, as well as a dress, skirt, pair of corduroy trousers, and 2 shirts!  Too bad I promised Ally that tomorrow will be our big shopping day...I think I will "accidentally" forget my wallet at home, just to be safe.  After all, I do have many big trips planned for the coming months, so I need to save that money!

This week has definitely been the week of big purchases!  Early in the week, I discovered I have this next weekend off, so I decided to take full advantage and promptly booked a train ticket down to Toulouse for the weekend with my friend Amanda!  We leave Paris on Friday at 11 pm and arrive in Toulouse at 6:30 am on Saturday.  We will have all day Saturday and Sunday to tour around the city before we hop on another overnight train at midnight on Sunday, putting us back in Paris bright and early at 7 am Monday.  We will also be couchsurfing this weekend and have found a wonderful University student to host us for the night!  So, a blog all about our week will be written (hopefully) early next week!

So continuing on with the big purchases, Tuesday night one of my best friends from home, Kelsey Farwell, and I booked our big Italian excursion!  Kelsey is coming to visit me in February while I have time off, so we will spend about 4 days in Paris before we jet off to the land of pasta and pesto!  We fly into Rome on Saturday, Feb 19, spend about 4 days there, then hop on a train up to Florence on Tuesday, spend about 2 days in Florence, then take the train to Venice on Thursday, where we will remain until Monday morning!  Neither of us have ever been to Italy, so we are not only excited to see the big sights, but also to experience the culture, the food (screw gluten free this week), the people, and La Dolce Vita!  Arguably the best part of our trip is that we will be arriving in Venice just as the 2 week celebration, Carnival, will be commencing!  Yep, that's right, we will be in Venice for one of the most popular and well-known celebrations in the world!  While we won't be able to attend any of the actual masked balls (minimum 300 euros each), we will be able to partake in all the parades and parties taking place in the street, as well as see people in their full costumes!  Now the hunt for a fun little mask can begin!

Finally my last big expenditure this week is yet ANOTHER trip.  A group of us (me, Ally, Jaimie, Amanda, and possibly one more) will be partaking in the Saint Patrick's Day festivities in the only city that truly knows how to celebrate this peculiar holiday...Dublin, Ireland!  While we will miss St. Patty's Day itself (it's on a Thursday), we will arrive the following evening and stay until Monday morning, so we will have plenty of time to gain a true experience (let's face it, they're Irish, the party will be continuing even long after we're gone)!  That means I have just about 2 months to start liking beer, eeeeks!

So, busy busy schedule coming up, and this doesn't even count the other visitors I will be having in Paris!  Ben arrives next Tuesday for a quick trip to start his 6 month stay in San Sebastian, Spain.  Shannonononononon-my (tied for) favorite roommate ever(!)-arrives at the beginning of March with her boyfriend for a long and lovely 2 week stay!  The wonderful Ashley Whipple and Rachelle arrive soon after Shannon and Erik for a week long stay (aka split custody of Cory).  Then in April, neighbors/family friends Gretchen and Devyn Cotter arrive in Paris for Sprink Break!  Also around this time, I am looking into heading to Spain for Easter and part of Semana Santa, as it is the most largely celebrated holiday in this country and something that should be on EVERYONE'S to-do list in their lifetime...Seriously, google it.

Big plans, exciting plans, fast-approaching plans, and I couldn't be happier!  Otherwise, this week was just like the rest, with the addition of some fabulous superheroes!

Now, one more thing, and I have saved the best for last, so I hope you're still reading!  I found out this week that I am OFFICIALLY spending my last month in France on the island of Corsica!  My best-au pair friend Ally accompanied her host family to Corsica last year for the month of August, and they have asked her to extend her stay with their family to come with them again this year, and they extended the offer to me as well!  Her family, as well as 2 others, rent a HUGE house right on the beach every year for the entire month of August.  So, Ally and I will come along as the nannies, Ally for her 3 kids, and me for 2 other kids.  Here's the catch, they only speak French, so that gives me 6.5 months to become fluent...scary!  Needless to say, I am very excited to spend my summer on the beach, with Ally, while getting paid.  I'd call that an amazing end to what has been an amazing year!

À bientôt !

2 Blogs in 1 Day...Lucky You!

So Alice and I were sitting in the waiting room waiting for Lucien to be done with the speech doctor and decided to have some fun with my camera.  I told her to say "Hello, blog readers!  This is Alice"...clearly not what she said, but so cute!  This blog is just an update on life a few days before and after my parents visit.

Alice's preschool put on a Christmas Choir Show!

Last day of French classes with this group of girls :(  Yesterday I started again with a new teacher and mostly new girls.
The 2 girls on the left are from England, then we have a German, an Israeli, a Canadian, a Guatemalan, me, our teacher Sadmah, and an Australian.  Such a cultured class! 

Amity is visiting Paris from Spain!

For those of you who don't know, Amity Young is a friend from home.  She actually lives right down the street from us at home, but I met her through my youth group and high school.  She's currently living in Granada, Spain studying Spanish, and came to Paris for the week with friends during her Christmas break.  It's been so nice to see her and catch up with her while she's been here!!

Midnight, New Years Eve, at the Eiffel Tower....

....equals insane madness.  I was scared for my life a few times there, especially in the Metro.

Not much other than this has been going on, as I have been resting and recuperating from my parents' visit.  My long lost friend Ally returns to Paris today finally (she was home in Canada for almost 3 whole weeks!) and I can't wait to see her and have all my friends back in Paris!  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

When in France, do as the French do...

This was the motto coined by my dad that we lived by for the past 2 weeks while my parents were here in Paris.  While it was a great motivator to get them to do things out of the ordinary and truly immerse themselves in French culture, it was an excuse for them to have a glass of wine at 11 am and a pastry for breakfast every morning.  Sounds like quite the life, eh?  Too bad it's not nearly true about French people (they're all too skinny for this, as my parents quickly noticed).

The past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of activities, but something I will always remember.  It was the first time in my life that I witnessed my brother having an alcoholic beverage with dinner, my mom trying (and enjoying foie gras), and my dad staying up until 12 am and sleeping until 10 am (GASP)!  It was definitely a time of firsts for our family!  With so much to see and do, we were constantly on the go, so instead of boring you with paragraphs, I will tell you with pictures!

We braved the snow at the Christmas Market on the Champs Elysees.

We donned matching long johns to brave the frigid temperatures.

We visited the artist's square in Montmartre.

We view the (outside) of the Moulin Rouge.

We drooled over our first dinner together at the fabulous French restaurant, Les Deux Singes.

We took a night drive of Paris and made a pit stop at the Eiffel Tower.

We gorged ourselves on desserts and pastries.

We visited my favorite arrondissement, Le Marais, for a delicious falafel pita.

We took in the views of Paris from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

We visited another Christmas market at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

Ian and Alice became instant buddies.

We had a fabulous pre-Christmas dinner with the Chaudrons.  Foie Gras cooked 2 ways, venison, mashed chestnuts, creamed broccoli, vegetables, log cake, and LOTS of delicious wines!

We enjoyed a fun fondue dinner and drank wine out of baby bottles.

We went to Christmas Eve mass at Notre Dame.

We ate escargot (and almost died laughing at my dad trying it!)

We visited Jim Morrison's grave.

We took the train up to the coast to visit Mont Saint Michel.

We visited a chateau and tasted cider in Normandy.

We visited the beaches of Normandy.  This is Pointe du Hoc, with bomb craters and semi-destroyed underground bunkers.

We visited the WWII American Cemetery in Normandy.

  We did and saw so much and I am so thankful for the experiences that we shared.  I'm also thankful for my language classes, because this was my first true test to see how much I've learned, and it's more than I thought!!  Alice and Lucien ask about my family everyday now, and Alice always says "I love them".  So cute.  The Chaudrons now can't wait to visit us in the U.S. and I am so excited for that time to come!!