playing hooky

There is no school on Wednesdays in France.  This Wednesday, I decided to take Gaius into Paris for a little adventure.  I tried to think of all the things that could go wrong, and then plan for them.  I put my return train tickets in my back pocket with Christopher's phone numbers in case my purse got snatched. This way, no matter what, we'd still be able to get home.   I packed a spare pair of contact lenses in my bag in case I lost a lense.  I am blind as a bat without my lenses, and honestly, the only way Gaius would be able to guide us home on the train is if we lived in "TOY" or "BEN TEN."  And then, after putting my business card in Gaius' back pocket, I wrote my cell phone number on his stomach.  Just in case he got lost.

Gaius demonstrates what to do if he gets lost

I decided to take him to Luxembourg Gardens, which is a really great park in Paris.  The metro stop for Luxembourg is directly on the RER B line, which is an added bonus.  The first thing we did when we got to the park was to rent a little sail boat to push around the pond.  Gaius picked the one with the pirate design.

Next, we had a picnic lunch next to the tennis courts and then hit the sandbox and the playground.  It was a full day!

Gaius made friends with a couple of French kids who spoke English.  One of them let Gaius wear his Ben 10 Omnitrix!  The little boys name was Julian.  We're hoping to meet him at the park on Wednesdays in the future.

Overall, our outing was a big success.  I think next time we'll climb up Notre Dame together!

On Thursday this week, there was a strike.  No trains, no buses and the teachers were on strike too.  So, NO SCHOOL AGAIN!  And then this morning, Gaius woke up with a fever.  So, he's home from school AGAIN!  We are flying to Denmark tomorrow, and he'll miss school next week too.  If all goes according to plan, Gaius will be back in school next Thursday.  What a little truant!

à bientôt!

there's something about a train

Last weekend, in France they celebrated European Heritage Days, or Journées Européennes du Patrimoine.  On these days, sites all over France open up to the public for behind-the-scenes tours.  If you're lucky enough to be in Paris at this time, you can tour the Senate building, or go backstage at the Moulin Rouge.  Or, if you are like us, you can go to where they repair the RER trains and actually drive one, like Christopher did!

a dream come true

Christopher has ALWAYS told me that one of his dreams is to drive a train.  Et, voilà!  CLICK HERE for video of the great event!


In addition to Christopher driving  the train, we also got to tour the RER facilities for over three hours.  This is how dirty your kid can get at a train station in three hours:

it was much worse than it looks (that's grease)

Why oh why did I leave two spare pairs of these jeans back in Williamsburg?

this is AFTER wiping down his hands TWICE

Anyway, how can you stay mad at a cute face like this?

For more information about European Patrimony Days in Paris, go to 

http://goparis.about.com/od/events/a/EuropeanPatrimonyDaysinParis.htm

under a train

touching everything

this man's real name was FORTUNE EDDY

à bientôt!

there is no 911 in france

After dropping Gaius off at school today, upon returning home, I smelled smoke.  I looked around and noticed that all of the LEDs on our equipment were off.  Power Outage!  


First of all, this means that all of the French channels I so patiently waited for are now gone and have to be reprogrammed (again.) Ugh.  Secondly, no computer.  And thirdly, no hot cup of coffee.  Lack of power really cramps my style.


I'm pretty sure that the smoke is from our dishwasher.  It is an older machine, very loud and probably on its last legs.  I spoke to my neighbor Helene (she lives upstairs) and fortunately, her power was not out.  So then I called Mylene, our land lady.  According to her son Simon, Mylene is out until about 6 pm.  So, Simon came down to check out the situation.  He brought Elliot, which is the cute family dog.  After calling his dad Jean on the phone, he managed to restore power to our house.  Well, power to everything but the dishwasher and the stove.  It looks like the dishwasher knocked out the power.  And I'm really wishing very hard that they will find it necessary to replace it with a new one.


It looks like salad for dinner is a good idea.  But, and even better idea would be for us to check out Cafe Madrid down the street.  They have been closed since August 28th (before we arrived) and are reopening tonight at 5 pm.  Sounds like kismet to me.

Simon & Elliot just after restoring my power!

à bientôt!

En Garde!

Gaius started fencing yesterday.  He got to wear the entire get-up, including sword and mask.  If you know Gaius, then you know how excited he is that this sport comes with a costume!

En Garde!

To see Gaius in action, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDWP_5s1NrU

He's the one on the far right wearing blue jeans.

Fencing class starts at 5:30 and goes until 6:15.  We had to take the bus there, since we have not gotten our car yet.  We didn't get home until 7:00, so it's a good thing I went to the farmer's market in Centre Ville yesterday.  It made putting dinner together pretty easy.

I finally mustered up my courage yesterday and payed a visit to the cheese guy.  I didn't have my camera, but I promise I will post a picture of all of the different cheeses they have when I go there next week.  It's just amazing.  I bought Cantal, which is a great starter cheese for those who are just getting their feet wet.  It's a lot like English cheddar.  Then, I dove right in and asked, "Avez-vous le fromage pas pasturizé?"  Which I think means "Do you have unpasturized cheese?"  This is something we've been told to try.  Well, it turns out that over half of the display case is unpasturized.  So, I picked out a pin cushion-sized round of artisinal cheese (not sure of the name, but it was a cow cheese).  It was delicious!

Christopher looking at the fish with the Cheese Guy in the background

I paid my regular visit to the fish guy.  He looks a lot like Jean Christophe Novelli from Bravo TV's Chef Academy.  Every week I go to him and buy a huge slab of saumon sauvage (wild salmon).  Last week I tried some squid too.  But yesterday it was just the salmon which we're having tonight.

Great news!  The fruit and vegetable guy doesn't mind if I pick out my own produce!  But, in truth, he has never sent me home with a bad apple.  Yesterday, I asked him to recommend a French fruit that I should try.  A woman in line overheard me and said, "Ahhh, Mirabelles!"

les mirabelles

These are delicious.  They have a pit like a cherry and taste like a combination of a plum, a cherry and an apricot.  I love these things.

Also for dinner were leftover haricot verts (green beans), cornichons (little pickles) a tomato (super delicious sliced with a sprinkle of sea salt), a baguette, and the most delicious dry cured black olives that are super super cheap here.  I got a whole bag for just €1!

I also bought a little chocolate ganache cake at the pastry stand.  Unfortunately, there is not enough left for me to photograph!  Honestly, it wasn't that great.  It was more like a fudgy brownie without nuts.  And I like my brownies cakey, with nuts.  Live and learn.

à bientôt!

p.s.- Mystery solved.  The smell in my fridge is coming from the camembert.

Vicks Vaporub Pommade

So, I had an encounter of my own at the pharmacy yesterday.  Gaius has a cough, and a couple of nights ago, we could have really used some Vick's Vaporub, which unfortunately is one of the things I did not pack.  So, I went to get interrogated at the pharmacy.  "Monsieur, mon petit fils a une tousse.  Aux Etas Unis, j'ai employé le Vicks Vaporub.  Avez-vous le Vicks?"  (Mister, my little boy has a cough.  In the States, I use Vicks Vaporub.  Do you have it?)  He asked me how old Gaius is.  I made the mistake of saying 5.  Well, apparently, you can only use Vicks legally if you are over 12 (actually the box says 6).  So, I said, "Mon mari, il tousse aussi.  Je vais acheter pour lui."  (My husband, he has a cough too.  I'll buy it for him.)  And that seemed to work.

poor little sickie w/ the medicine his mommy brought from virginia

I should mention that the Vicks came with a big plastic spoon and it's called a "pommade" here.  ????  I have no idea...

Also, it came with a serious childproof cap.

I was going to write about the issues I am having with my refrigerator, but I'll save that for another time.  Let's just say that this morning, at the back of my fridge, I discovered a DIP STICK.  Am I supposed to check the oil on my refrigerator?  European friends, please chime in!  Also, what do people in Europe use instead of a box of baking soda in the fridge?  Thanks.

à bientot!

le dejeuner (lunch)

I took a peek at the cantine today.  It's all decked out like a wedding reception.  There are about 6 round tables, all set for 6-8 diners.  Each place setting has a knife and fork, as well as a water glass (glass, not plastic) and a white china plate.  There is a glass carafe at the center of each table along with a basket full of bread.  This is the cantine at Gaius' school, not the one where Christopher works.  AMAZING!


Here is a typical weekly menu at Gaius' school (click to enlarge):

Please note that everyday there is a cheese course!  Gaius will eat lunch in the cantine on Tuesday and Thursday of this week.  So, it's a double dose of turkey for him.  Do you think they feed the kids so much turkey to make them tired?  Just saying...


The cantine at CNRS where Christopher works is just as nice.  The cantine is located in a round building:

After lunch, you can sit outside and sip espresso at the outdoor café.

One nice thing about where Christopher works is that all of his co-workers eat lunch together in the cantine everyday.  It's especially great for Christopher, since he gets to practice speaking French with them.  

The food in the CNRS cantine is very good.  They serve about 4 different entrées everyday, one of which is usually a fish dish.  When I ate there last week, I had the Toulouse-style sausage kebab with roasted potatoes and green beans.  I also had an apple strip tart for dessert.  All this for €3,65, which is about half of what we pay for Gaius' lunch at school.  They sell wine at the cantine at Christopher's work.  I'm assuming they don't serve wine at Gaius' cantine.  But you never know!

Today, I picked up Gaius for lunch and we ate together at home.  We had one of our all time favorite dishes, fried rice with ham, egg and peas!

à bientôt!

le weekend

Today, we went to the Carousel du Louvre to visit the Apple Store.  While we were there, we had to use the facilities, and you would not believe the bathroom we found!  Point WC looked more like a popular night club when we got in line.  The woman who took our money was wearing one of those "operators are standing by" headsets.  For those in the know, Point WC is a very posh bathroom experience.  All for 1€.  Check it out:

http://www.meltyfashion.fr/les-espaces-point-wc-un-concept-ludique-actu36579.html

beautiful toilet paper

The Apple Store was pretty amazing too.  To get upstairs at the Apple Store, you walk up a glass spiral staircase.  Pretty cool!

We went to the Apple Store with hopes of buying a connecting cable so that we can watch all of our downloaded TV episodes by connecting the iPad to our big TV.  Unfortunately, (of course) we bought the wrong cables and so now we have to go back and try again.  Not such a bad thing, as the Carousel du Louvre is actually located in the ground floor of the Musée du Louvre (where the Mona Lisa is.)  Check it out.  You can see the Pyramide Inversée in the background behind the Apple logo.  According to Dan Brown, the bones of Mary Magdalene are buried beneath that point.

This weekend, we had our very first overnight guest!  Paul Daniels and Christopher used to be lifeguards together back in the mid-80's.  Paul lives in Japan now and actually hung out with us in Kyoto when we visited there last year.

We spent Saturday in Paris checking out the Jardins de Luxembourg.  It's a great park for kids and people watchers.

You can climb the "Eiffel Tower."

You can rent a toy sailboat.

You can cause an international incident by stealing a young Italian's pail and shovel.

I actually prefer the Jardin des Tuileries, where Gaius met and played with these two young ladies today.  They played with him for over an hour.

Overall it was a great weekend.  I love PARIS!

walking the walk...

Gaius tries escargot for the first time

these two guys could save your life

à bientôt!

on parle francais ici (they speak french here)

I'm not sure if you know this, but when we visited Paris two years ago, Christopher did not speak very much French at all.  At the patisserie, he would point at what he wanted and say, "Une," or "One."  Four  months ago, he started following the online Mango French lessons through our local library, and then he enrolled in two French classes through the College of William and Mary.  I am proud to say that he communicates quite well here now.


I took 6 years of French in junior high and high school.  Madame Wendorff and Madame Picciotto were really great teachers!  Over the years, when I'd listen to music, I'd ofen translate the lyrics into French in my head as a way to maintain my proficiency.  I think it worked, because I remember a lot of my French and the daily practice here reinforces a lot of what I already know.


French Names.  Remember in school how you could pick your own French name for the rest of the year?  I spent a year as Lisette.  I was a Renée once.  I remember that Marie-Elise was a very popular name one year.  I toyed with the idea of picking a new French name for myself for the next 8 months.  What do you think of Sandrine?  Anyway, as it turns out, they pronounce the name Heather here so creatively that it almost feels as though I do have a new French name.  Christopher goes by "Christophe" here and if you want to say "Gaius" like a frenchman, you say "Guy-oose!"


When Christopher and I are out and about around town, we speak only French.  When people offer to speak English to Christopher, he always declines.  He's right when he says he will learn faster if he speaks only French.  I, on the other hand often take the helping hand and switch the conversation to English.  I guess I'm not so hard core.


As far as accents go, Christopher is "le roi" (king).  To my untrained ear, his accent sounds totally authentic.  I speak French with a totally American accent.  I actually feel kind of silly if I try to mimic the French accent.  It's okay though because I can get my point across.


Here are some fun facts about the French language and speaking in daily life:


Only say "bonjour" to a person the first time you see him/her during the day.  If you continue to say "bonjour" to them each time you pass them in the hallway (or on the street), it sounds (to them) kind of ridiculous.  What you can say, instead of "bonjour" when you see them the second or third time is, "Beaucoup" (a lot).  Brilliant!  (I got this factoid from Christopher.)


"Tout droit" and "à droit" mean two different things.  When asking for directions, keep this in mind.  One means go straight through, the other means turn right.


Not as life altering, but good to know in a dessert or jamba juice situation, "ananas" is pineapple and "banane" is banana.

Have a great weekend!

à bientôt!

random thoughts

You wouldn't believe the McDonald's here.  It's gorgeous.  They have ultra modern hardwood floors and super cute chairs and booths.  It feels like you are eating in an airport in Barcelona, rather than at the McDonald's down the street.  I think you have to pay for the ketchup, so I didn't ask for any.  I saw people dipping their fries in mayo.  And, I should mention that they serve two types of frites.  The regular kind, which we all know and love (except for maybe Christopher) and a french style, more like steak fries.

They even have the tiny toilet from "Despicable Me."

I should mention that "Despicable Me" is not called that here.  In fact, it is called, "Moi Moche et Méchant" or "Me, Ugly and Wicked" which I think is a great translation.

And while on the subject of movies, I should mention that at Ikea, they have a mini cinema where you can drop off your kids while you shop.  How cool is that?!

This post is a bit random, but it's what I've got today.  I hope you enjoyed it.  :)

à bientôt!

Chez Nous (Our House)

I'm feeling a little under the weather today.  It could be because it is raining.  I could have body aches from doing a pyramid of squats and push ups yesterday.  Or, I may have caught a cold from Christopher.  Anyway, I'm feeling a little run down.

If you get sick in France and need over the counter medication, you have to go to the pharmacy.  Once there, a pharmacist questions you about what is wrong, and then decides what type of medicine to give you.  I had read about this before packing for France.  Which is why I came prepared with Advil, Immodium, Neosporin, Children's Motrin, Benadryl, Triaminic, Pepto Bismol, etc. You can imagine what kind of situation I was trying to avoid.  I like to keep my symptoms on the DL.  One thing I failed to bring with me is Sudafed.  And a couple of days ago, Christopher was very congested.  So, he went to the pharmacy and discovered that all I had read about the pharmacy is true!  Luckily, he had studied a chapter on "les maladies" and was able to have a successful interaction with the pharmacist.  And I'm glad, because I happily popped a Sudafed last night without going through the third degree.

I've had some requests to post pictures of our house.  Here you go:

Here is our house!  We live on Rue de la Gruerie.  I couldn't find the word "gruerie" in the dictionary.  I did find the word "grue" which means "crane."   I think I may have read that a lot of stone was quarried from this area, with the use of cranes.  Is it possible that our street is where they built the cranes?  That's my guess.  Anyway, we live on the rez de chaussée, or ground level.

Here is Gaius in the yard outside his bedroom.

French Doors off of the dining area lead to our bedroom.

 

Christopher uses that little desk.  And no, those are not all of the shoes that I packed.

I like our bathroom.  Our toilet has two different flushing options.

Gaius has his own little yard outside his bedroom door.  

Here is our living room with the kitchen in the background.  Our bedroom is through those French doors.  And I sit at the dining room table when I write my blog.

Here is my little kitchen.  I love it!

I'm amazed that we have a full sized refrigerator!  The picture on the bottom is of me on my birthday at the Eiffel Tower.  Gaius said that he is sorry he drew my orange hands so big.

Here is our dining patio right outside the kitchen.  Gaius eats lunch out there on sunny days and has his after school snack (pain au chocolate) out there too.

I hope you enjoyed viewing our new home.  Vous êtes les bienvenus chez nous! (You are welcome at our house!)

à bientôt!

Q&A

I thought you might enjoy reading about some of the differences here in France.

What?  I have to bring my own bags and bag my own groceries?
Answer: But of course.

Where is the half and half?  Where is the chicken stock sold in the box?  Where is the ground turkey?
Answer:  In America.

Shit  Is that a dragonfly in the house?
Answer: Yes.

How do I turn on the washing machine?
answer: Turn on the water supply and then turn the dial on the machine to 400.  WHY 400?????  Then wait 20 seconds.

Is the washing machine supposed to take 2 1/2 hours to complete a load?
answer: I suppose so, since it does.

How come the clothes dryer didn't dry the clothes?
answer:  You have to depress the button, thereby selecting the picture of a full sun rather than leaving the button up and selecting a 1/2 sun.  One day, this will all make sense.  In the meantime, use the clothesline.

Why is there no hot water?
answer: If you go for a few hours without using hot water, the hot water heater turns off automatically.  When you want hot water, you have to turn on the hot water heater.  This means you have to get Christopher to turn on the hot water heater for you in the morning so you can take a hot shower.  (or not so hot shower.)

Why is the shower not getting hot?
answer: The knob on the left controls the flow.  the knob on the right controls the temperature.  turning the knob on the left all the way doesn't make it hotter, it just makes the flow more intense.

Why is the light on the stovetop not going out even though I turned off the burner?
answer:  To indicate that the burner is still hot.

How do I dial the US?
answer: Dial 001

Where are all the shopping carts?
answer: In the parking lot.  you have to either insert a coin or a token to get a cart.  When you return the cart, your coin/token pops back out.

Do I have to weigh this lettuce and put the price tag on the bag?
answer: No, not if it's sold by the piece.  In the produce department, you have to weigh all of your produce that is sold by the pound and print out a price tag which you stick on the bag.  You also have to bag all of your groceries by yourself at the checkout, in bags that you bring to the store yourself or purchase there.

Why can't I pick out my own fruit at the fruit stand?
answer:  That's just how they do it.  they pick out the fruit for you.  Very egalitarian, if you ask me.

At what point in the day do I switch from saying "Bonjour" to "Bon Soir"?
answer: 4 p.m.
updated answer: When it starts getting dark.  (Thanks, Jean.)

It's Monday.  Where the heck is everybody?
Answer:  Who knows.  Many stores are closed on Sunday and many stores are closed on Monday.  During the lunch hour (which is actually TWO hours) many stores, like the Home Depot type store by my house, close at 12 and re-open at 2.

Welcome to France.

Sunday in Paris

Yesterday we took the train into Paris and visited Notre Dame and the Tuileries Gardens.  It takes us about 10 minutes to walk to the RER station from our house.  And then it's just a 30 minute train ride into the city, et Voilà!


First stop, a French vending machine!

We didn't climb up to the top of Notre Dame this time, but of course we will next time.  It wouldn't be a trip to Notre Dame without pictures of the stained glass windows, gargoyles, and flying buttresses.  So, here you go...

Beautiful stained glass windows

Flying buttress action

Gargoyles.  Did you know that they are called gargoyles because when rainwater drains through them, it makes a gargling sound?

Bonus: Beautiful statue of Jean d'Arc (Joan of Arc)

Also, in case you did not know, they began constuction of Notre Dame in 1160, which makes it 850 years old.  To learn more, you go here:

http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/-English-

I'm pretty sure I caught the main priest walking in.  At least, I assume it's the man in charge.  Why else would he be wearing such a large white hat?

Look in the doorway in the bottom center of this picture and you will see him.

One thing I remembered and was looking forward to was the crèpes that they sell across from Notre Dame.  Gaius and I split one filled with nutella.

Notice I am wearing shorts in this picture.  On my birthday, I noticed that the only person wearing short shorts was a woman from Italy.  All of the French wear long shorts.  The men wear mainly knee length shorts, but I have seen them wear even longer "shorts."  It kind of looks like they are wearing capris, which in my opinion looks ridiculous.  But what do I know?  I am only a short-term visitor in the Fashion Capital of the World.  Anyway, since Fall is fast approaching, I figured I'd wear my favorite shorts to the city while the weather is still nice.  The worst that could happen is that I'd be mistaken for an Italian.

After Notre Dame, we headed over the the Tuileries Gardens.  We heard there was a really good playground there.  Gaius loved it!

We met a nice family there from Alexandria, VA.  The dad was holding a rugby ball and he was clearly from New Zealand.  I talked to them about "Invictus" and how intimidating the New Zealand rugby team was in that movie.  Little did I know that the husband was actually a former player and is currently the owner of a business that makes tasty New Zealand-style pies sold at Whole Foods.  I found this information about his company online after we got home.  Funny, I typed in "New Zealand Rugby Player in Alexandria, VA" in google and his picture came right up.  Who knew there was only one!  http://www.kiwikuisine.com/

Update:

After speaking to our landlord, Jean about the cost of leasing a car for 8 months, he explained to us that we would get a much better deal if we just purchased a car.  To complicate matters, I am insisting on getting an automatic.  I have driven stick shift before, but really, with all these round-abouts and new rules of the road, I'd be less of a hazard to others if I could just concentrate on the roads and not on my driving.  Apparently, only "les vieux" (senior citizens) drive automatique here.  And, actually, when our new friend Janine drove us home the other day from the expo, her car was an automatique.  So, the fact that I want an automatic increases the price of the car and also makes it more difficult to find one.  BUT, Jean emailed us ads for 3 automatique cars yesterday, all reasonably priced.  One is a VW golf, and I kind of like it.  So, now we just have to wait for our bank transfer to go through and hopefully, this will put us on wheels.

Also, while we were visiting with Jean, he hooked us up to satellite tv, so now, in addition to all of the French channels, we also receive CNN, CNBC, BBC, something called Luxe TV (sounds promising) and for some reason we also get GERMAN QVC.  Update:  the power went out a few hours ago for about 5 minutes.  Just long enough for me to lose all of the French channels AGAIN.

Today is Christopher's first day at work.  I just spoke to him and apparently the cantine at CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique) rivals that of Ikea.  For €3, he got a terrific piece of fish that actually looked like a fish (whatever that means).  And yes, they serve wine there.

More tomorrow.  À bientôt!