Il Pleut des cordes!

Walking home from English school Wednesday afternoon was quite the adventure (and laugh). It was super hot that day; sunny, a few clouds here and there.
Just as I had sat down to drink a ginger detox drink and some gluten-free speculoos cookies, it started sprinkling, then raining, then down pouring. Just my luck. No umbrella, a thin running jacket, and a very likely cranky 5 year old coming out.

As the class was letting out, thankfully the rain stopped. However, halfway up the hill, the rains came and then the pelting, giant-sized hail. It was crazy! Thankfully Alex and I were able to laugh while we ran for cover and had a fun time hiking up the hills that were beginning to resemble small waterfalls. Quite the odd Spring day.

Le Bapteme!

Before I had moved to Paris or even before I had accepted a family to work for, I would always ask if Sundays would be mine for attending church. I did not realize how much of an impact my weekly church attendance would make in the life of my family.

Pretty soon, Fred and Delphine decided that their "project" for the year would be to get their kids enrolled in Catholicism classes and get them baptized this year. Woo! Who cares what church they go to, my host kids now know Bible stories and who Jesus is. I was so excited to have set that example!! And now as of April 10th, my kids are baptized!

A huge family party followed the very traditional Catholic church service/baptism ceremony that morning in their local church. The water on the head, the oil on the forehead, the candle lighting, the whole enchilada. It was quite interesting to see! My 13 year old, Julie, was excited that she was clean from sin now and was almost perfected...(we may have differing views but I'll let her have that one for now:))

I was in charge of making "the really fluffy kind of frosting" for the cupcakes that were made while Delphine prepared a lot of other different types of foods and desserts. At the commencement of the party, it was the champagne that was brought out first in order to do the very traditional toasting and clinking with each glass. Once again, the round of questions came. "You don't drink anything, Julia?" "Do you want some sparkling water to pretend?" "Not even a little champagne?" "Woooow, elle est tres serieux!"

Yes, thank you. I'll be "serious" as long as I live. :)

Then some very traditional northern France thing happened: the kids stood together under a dishcloth while the adults sang some song. Then suddenly, they all took their champagne glasses and dumped them on the cloth which rained onto the kids! A champagne shower! Apparently it is done at any big events; weddings, baptisms, birthdays, anniversaries...

Next up- the food, the mingling (me trying and failing), the entertaining, the gift-giving from grandparents and God parents. It's a lot to handle with a bunch of family members who don't speak English! Traditional gifts that are given at baptisms are alarm clocks, watches, fancy pens, and a medallion necklace. Julia got a beautiful tree pendant, Alex has one with his name on it, and Malo opted for a bracelet with his name inscribed on the plate.

After the people had left and the food was cleaned up, everyone lounged outside in the hot sun and snoozed a bit. It was a beautiful day for baptizing!

Bon Anniversaire Malo!

From ten to eleven! Malo is a seriously cute kid with a big heart. Although he loves to torment his brother.... As the middle child, he often goes unnoticed when there is Julie's big personality and Alex's demanding attention to compete with. He is great at reading, we've been working on his writing, he has mastered the Rubiks cube (all the rage right now), continues to be the slowest eater and longest shower-taker in the house, and is an energetic athlete with a soft-spot for his little twin girl cousins.

We celebrated his birthday Friday night with hamburgers and gifts at home after I had spent 4 hours at the mall on Thursday trying to find an inexpensive gift idea. Luckily, I found a 10 euro set of shirt and shorts for the French soccer team in conjunction with the EuroCup. A big hit of a gift! Score!

Conférence Générale

My last General Conference in Europe. Actually kind of glad for that. Not only do we have to watch it at 6pm and 10 pm, I don't have the luxury of making my favorite Conference food to eat along with it. Nor do I have the luxury of inviting friends over to watch it with me. (Aggravating host-parent rules).

This particular Saturday, I bucked up and asked my host mom if Hannah could come over since 1) I wanted a freaking spiritual night with Mormon company and 2) they had technically already met her after the attacks happened.

We bought some food beforehand and snuck it up to my room to munch on while feeding our souls. One of our purchases was a little more difficult to get around....Mint Choc Chip ice cream. It is surprisingly hard to find here! And its not in all Carrefours! Hannah stumbled upon this gem while we spent what felt like an hour wandering my petit little grocery store. We snuck it into my freezer, and then after watching the first session of Conference, we went downstairs and managed to devour the entire carton of ice cream. It was so American I loved it.

During the second Saturday Afternoon session, I was unable to pay attention while all this engagement hoo-rah was going down though! Mom sent me a photo of a ring and a message saying "Can you keep a secret?"
Mom. You cannot start a conversation like that! I was freaking out. Jaycee was about to be engaged in T-minus 6 hours according to my calculations and only my mom and I knew! Well, Hannah too since she was sitting next to me and had to endure my shouts of "Ahhhhhhh!!!" and "Oh my goodness!!!". Ya, I may have to rewatch that session.

I set an alarm for 4 in the morning, an hour after I assumed Jaycee would be getting engaged, and then woke up to find her messages. Happiest moment ever! We talked and talked and I was so tired but so happy and I was even more happy that she wanted to tell ME about it all! This long-distance stuff sucks so this really made my year.

Aux Buttes-Chaumont

Yes, the same Parc as on the poster above Monica's TV in the hilarious and unfortunately-now-ended series 'Friends'.

Well, Conference Sunday and it is literally almost 20 degrees (I think in Celsius now for all you American friends) and there was no way I was about to skip out on a day in the sun. Plus I wanted to be as far from the house filled with crazy 10/11 year old boys since it was Malo's birthday party.

As an hommage to 'Friends' and as a place to check off my list of Paris sights, I met up with Aubrey and Hannah at this awesome park- as my host dad accurately described as "very underrated". This park was so cool! A suspension bridge, a mind boggling and optical allusional park with crazy levels of up and down. I wouldn't describe it as "hilly" because that implies a large space of rolling hills and I wouldn't use "mountainous" because that gives an image of ruggedness which does not exist anywhere on Ile-de-France. It is simply an average sized parc of green lawns, paved walking paths, a pond, a free public bathroom (brownie points here), and a lookout rock with a gazebo on top. The thing is though, when you are sitting down on the grass that runs right into the pond, you look up at the suspension bridge and another green lawn that is so high up and yet close and tilted towards you, that your mind cannot really process how its possible.

It was a beautiful place to lay out our blankets and lay in the sun while munching on some apples and peanut butter. Quite a popular running location as well as a family stroll kind of place, I was soaking in every ounce of soleil and relaxation that I could. Plus I brought along a book and my travel journal artifacts to work on if I felt like it. Sunday is surely meant for relaxing on God's beautiful earth.

Hannah left us and that left Aubrey and I to go find something else to see as we pleased. Coincidentally enough, she wanted to go find Rue Crimeux. Six months ago exactly on a Conference Sunday in the same tribal printed pants, Hannah and I had gone off to explore Rue Crimeux. I suppose when I lost my Conference breakfast and family traditions in America, I had gained a new Parisian tradition.

The hours and hours of sun left us totally exhausted (and me a little sun burnt, wooho!) that we had to literally drag ourselves around the city. Plus I had insanely painful blisters from my new shoes that I began walking like a flat-footed zombie. Rue Crimeux proved a little disappointing since it was full of a strange flash-mob dance group and a funny modeling photo shoot. Plus we were exhausted. But in an attempt to kill time, we decided to keep the parc-exploring going and we walked over to Jardin des Plantes. We were not in the plant-seeing or strolling mood. We found a bench and sat our butts on it for a bit while we debated what we wanted to eat and what we wanted to do. McDonalds french fries and an insane sardines-packed bus later, I was on my way home to finish up Conference.

The Paris Marathon happened to be that day so the crowds on all forms of transportation sucked. I do kind of regret not watching what I could of the marathon but with the appeal of sunshine, a grassy park, and thoughts of bombs+marathons floating through my mind, I decided against it. Nevertheless, it was a fabulous Sunday.

Rue Cler et L'Eclair

On Rue Cler- the street of cute cafes, picturesque flower shops, and quaint hotels. And unbeknownst to me, a fabulous antique market.

A brunch Saturday! Went with Emily and Aubrey to enjoy a nice day out in Paris and trying out a lovely new cafe. While Hannah had recommended this one over text, we unknowingly picked it as our place to dine (or in my case, to try a new hot cocoa) because it was so cute.

We sat in the covered outdoor section under the striped awning and packed into the corner with a window view of the neighboring flower shop. We ordered in French, and despite our mishap over some particularly hard French words, the waiter (not bad on the eyes, mind you) kept responding in French. Youpi!

My chocolat chaud came as a steaming little pitcher of milk and a Banania tin! I loved it! A French staple since 1914, Banania is a chocolate powder with a controversial African guy as the logo. My host fam has a tin in their kitchen and I love it!

Ems and Aubs ordered the cheapest food on the menu which I actually might have to go back for- a wooden plank with toast covered in scrambled eggs and diced bacon. Yum! 9 euros and really yummy! I hate being a cheap-skate when really, I could be out dining like this every once in a while. Some things gotta give :)

Eventually, our terrace filled up with some good-looking men and then a smoker so we asked for l'addition and left. What a fabulous Parisian Samedi.

Ladurée

*Said in a French Accent...swoon

The outlandish prices are crazy but actually almost worth it. The world-famous Macarons? 2.10Euros each. One bit. 2 Euros. Ughhhhh. But so good.

After having had one Pierre Hermes macaron, Hannah talked me into stopping by Laduree and getting another one. I had a pistache macaron. When they are made right, oh my gosh they are perfect. Plus, they are made from almond flour! Score.  It was the best 5-minute party my mouth had had in a long time. So sad when it's all over.

Teacher Strikes

The French honestly always find something to go on strike about. Whether it be the train workers (for the hundred-millionth time this year) or taxi drivers or students (once again, for the hundred-millionth time) or the police force, this unfortunate Thursday was the teachers at my five-year old's school. What my host mom laughed about was the fact that they didn't actually give a public reason or disclose why they were striking. It was just a free day off for them to me. And the lunch staff decided to strike too so I had the rest of the kids home for lunch too.

Weeks of vacation where I am working is (really honestly terribly) bad enough but a day in the week where I could be out in Paris, or more importantly, in my bed doing nothing!? I had to entertain a five-year old for too many hours that day. I don't know how I survived that.

Most of the time, he wanted to play Princess. I painted his nails, put him in a dress, and tied a bow around his head. The whole time I was thinking, "Why me...why....me....."

Monday Mouse Mischief

Hannah woke up to a mouse running through her bedroom, donc, she called me that morning to see if I could come help her clean and get rid of the little vermin. Of course I would! It was the start of my week of sickness and led to more concerning back problems but sometimes I just don't know when to say "no" to helping out a friend.

We scrubbed out her apartment room and found the place of entry of that little rat. While we stopped by every grocery store around her house, we could not find anywhere to buy a mouse trap or poison or "Souris-cide". Thus began our voyage over to the BHV and the famous rat-trap store in Paris: Destruction des Animaux Nuisibles. Interestingly enough, the store in which Ratatouille was inspired from and the store in which you can go see dead rats hanging in the window. A Paris landmark, if you will.

We went in and I just blurted out "elle a trouvé une souris dans sa chambre"... This got us rolling in the right direction. We decided not to drop a small fortune on the traps in this place and instead went to the BHV and picked up a nice, discreet rat trap and went on our way.

The thing still hasn't returned to Hannah's room but that may be a good thing...

Poisson d'Avril

April Fool's Day!
The tradition in France is not only to play jokes on your friends, family, teachers, and colleagues, but to try and tape a paper fish onto the back of someone without them noticing!

As soon as our house was awake, the fish-taping began. First on the coat and shirt of Fred, their dad, and then of course, onto me. I may or may not have noticed as Malo and Alex each took turns "sneaking" fish onto me. While I walked them to school, the garbage man on the road stopped to warn me of the fish on my back and then a trail of giggles and snickers followed me the rest of the way home while the entire French community laughed at my pretended misfortune.

The funniest part was that not a single person I passed on the way to school, in the school, and on the way home from school, had a fish on their backs. While my house may have been the only ones to remember or the only ones keeping the French tradition alive, I didn't mind pretending for the kids' sake. It was fun!

And Fred was a good sport, too. He reapplied the fish onto his back before walking into the house that night so Alex, Malo, and Julie got a big kick out of it. Ah, the French and their weird traditions!

Après la Pluie

A Sunday night walk in the rain soaked city of Paris with friends is sometimes exactly what the soul needs. Life gives us so much to be grateful for.