Week of November 11-16, 2013

Another week here in Paris! This week went faster than the others because I had classes and work to attend to however it was still very fun and interesting. My classes are going great! My phonetics teacher said I spoke French very well which is great because she doesn't give out complements that often. My grammar teacher is as funny as ever! She is so animated every class which is great because then we will never make the mistakes she is talking about since we associate them with a funny gesture she has done. So those two hours of the day go by very quickly. The kids I watch are slowly warming up to me, which is a longer process since we speak two different languages. The three year old I watch, Hugo, has been describing things to me in French because he assumes that since I don't speak much of it to him (since really I am not supposed to) that I don't know the language. So we've been exchanging languages. He will go around the house and be like this is a chair "une chaise" and I will say it in english "a chair" and he repeats the english. I'm not sure how much he is picking up on the language but its a fun exercise for me since I am picking up on French too. The two girls I watch on Fridays can understand English so I don't speak to them in French at all. Yet yesterday, 15 november, was interesting because their dad came to me and told me they were leaving to go see their grandparents and that I was going to leave early. I didn't have a problem leaving early but it would've been nice to know in advance. I am supposed to have 3 hours with them and do a lesson that Baby Langue sends out to all their 'teachers.' Yet yesterday I only had the girls for an hour and a half and we just started the lesson when he told me this information. I keep comparing American standards with French and I find it different that if I was with an American family they would've told me in advance if I was going to leave early but here it seems to be at the drop of a hat. My friend Katie, who also works for Baby Langue, told me her family is the same way and notifies her at the last minute. Well, I figure if it becomes a habitual thing then I will ask him or his wife to let me know if they are leaving early so the girls will get their "english time" as they call it. Last night though I went out with Katie and her boyfriend Martin to a French house party. It was a costume party that Martin's friends have apparently all the time but Katie invited me this time so I was like why not. Let me tell you…French house parties are a thing totally different than American ones. It was a small gathering like most house parties just inner circle of friends and their friends so there was maybe 15 of us. BUT we were in a tiny two room apartment. There was no space so everyone stood around with their beer (craft beer from Germany because apparently its the new thing now to drink German beer, but it was very good and this is coming from a non beer drinker) or wine. So we got there at 10ish (you don't arrive before then because that's too early apparently) and Katie and I stood around for a few hours talking with some of Martin's friends (speaking French of course! it was great and terrifying at the same time! they all knew we were americans since they know Katie so they talked slower and tried to keep us included which for one was nice but it was also a great way to use our French skills). Then all of a sudden the lights went out at like 1230/1am ish and then the dancing started. Katie and I looked at each other like what the heck just happened. I guess they have conversation time first then they just drink and dance for the rest of the night. It is very different than the house parties I've been to in the states. Most american teenage/20 somethings parties are all about drinking games and dancing right from the moment you arrive. There usually isn't a conversational time where everyone stands around and talks about everything under the sun. Like we talked about politics, cultural differences, school/university changes, the latest news stories, gossip within the group etc. Then all of sudden it was dance time and everyone danced, it was like they all knew talking time was over and it was dance time. Very very interesting from Katie and I's perspective. We stayed until 330ish and I stayed over Katie and Martin's place was close so we didn't have a long walk back. It seemed like Katie and I were accepted but who really knows. Katie said that she's been on outings with Martin's group of friends before and sometimes they are inviting and sometimes they are not so who really knows what they thought of us last night. I didn't dress up as anything since I had to go to school and watch the girls yesterday but Katie and Martin went as Homer and Marge Simpson. Some of the other people dressed up like two girls were cats, then there was another guy as homer and one as iron man and this couple with yellow and black stripped shirts on with painted on mustaches (i had no idea who they were supposed to be). Other than that no one else dressed up so I wasn't the only one out of costume. But over all it was a very fun night! 

Below are some random shots I took this week of the things only one can find in Paris!

This is one of the Metro lines I have to take but I found it funny that both the first train and the second train came in at the same time at this stop. It was even funnier before because the second train was at 2 minutes and the first train was at 3 but I wasn't fast enough to get that shot.

Me! Having a café creme and a pastry. It was like a pain au chocolate but with a cream in the middle, very very good.

It was study day last week Sunday with my friend Cristina and we took some "frenchy" pictures. It was a beautiful fall day and we both felt very French.

Obviously from this picture and the one below it, its been raining a lot here in Paris. SO much so that the Seine River is flooding. Its apparently a BIG problem and the mayor had to shut down some of the filtration and the other rivers that flow into the Seine because of it. I found out while in the Museum of the sewers of Paris that the Seine is constantly cleaned by guiding the water north to a couple filtration plants and then back through Paris. Over the hundreds of thousands of years, Parisians have dumped their sewer waste into the Seine (they don't now) so the water is constantly being filtered to get rid of the thousands of years of waste. 

Saw another "demonstration," they are not called strikes here but demonstrations. This one was about the education of children under 6 and how it needs to be fixed since the parents and the teachers think the younger kids need to have more time off. In France, a child starts school between the ages of 2 and 3 and they go all day from 9am-430pm. Parents and teachers "demonstrated" last week that those younger kids should have shorter days or have classes only on certain days since by Wednesday they are tired and don't want to learn anymore. Seems fair, give the kids more time to be kids instead of drilling them with lessons at the age of 3.

The flooding is bad… there is a little green pole out in the water and it usually stands on a brick platform and is usually at least 4 feet out of the water. Well it seems from my perspective to be at least 2 feet under water. It will be very interesting to see if it gets any higher.

Now this school was a very very interesting thing to stumble upon. The sign says

 "To the memory of the deported children of this school from 1942-1944 because they were jewish, innocent victims of the Nazi cruelty with the compliance of the Vichy government. They (the children) were killed at concentration camps. We will never forget."

Halloween and some random stuff

So for Halloween in Paris I went out with a friend from school, Katie, and she was a rainbow and I was a rag doll. We meet up to make dinner at her place and had some wine with some French pastries and then went out on the town.  A couple things to note about French Halloween. 1) don't believe that they do not celebrate this holiday…they do. However they do not believe in fun/creative/happy costumes. Everyone was dressed as something dead, like zombies. Some even just had regular clothes on and had red paint just splattered on themselves to look like they were in some bloody battle or dying scene in a movie. So needless to say Katie and I were the only ones dressed in something colorful. We were going to go to this bar on the Seine that was celebrating Halloween. However the line to get onto this boat (which looked like a fishing boat not like a boat meant to have people on to dance the night away) was at least 100 people long so we went to option two which was another club that was celebrating Halloween. However this line was at least 50 people for what looked like a shoe box of a place. So we just went to a bar for drinks. It was ridiculously crazy for a city that many tourist books or even websites said never celebrated Halloween. It was interesting to see how they celebrated this holiday and then the next day (which is all saints day) was celebrated but much differently than in the states since we don't celebrate it at all. So November 1st aka all saints day is a day to celebrate if you yourself are named after a saint. So you go out with the family or go over a family members home and celebrate you. Then on November 2nd you go to the cemeteries and visit those in your family who have passed away. It was very interesting to see how the French celebrated these three days which are so different.

This is "Jardin de Luxembourg" aka the Luxembourg gardens that I get to walk through every wednesday on my run to class. I have to attend 2 lectures along with my grammar and phonetics classes for my program. However the lectures are offered at strange times. Like everyday there are some from 10am-12pm then 2pm-4pm then 430-630pm. Well, dilemma, I have phonetics from 1030am-1130am every day every other week, so I can't take any of the morning classes. Then I have grammar class from 12pm-2pm and there are no classes offered then anyway. So I am taking the 2-4 and 430-630 lectures on Wednesdays and I get to literally run through this beautiful garden at 2pm. Thankfully, I spoke to my lecture prof about how I will be late by about 10 minutes every class and she was like its not problem you won't miss much and she gives out a handout of her lectures. I am very lucky. I would've taken other classes at other times if I knew this information before I applied for jobs however I didn't and I found a job before the lectures started. I've noticed with this program they like to tell their students whats going on with their program two or three days in advance and not weeks before like in the states. For example, I found out what level I was at for my grammar class the day before classes started. I found out about the lectures the week before they started. In the states I would've known about my level and all the classes I needed to take in March and classes wouldn't start until September. So for this instance, I miss the states system of letting their students know things well in advance. Thankfully I haven't run into any problems here so all things have run very smoothly. 

Now back to the job, I wasn't planning on finding one here however an opportunity arose and I took it. Also, even though I have classes, They get out at 2pm and I was kinda bored from then until I went to bed. I've already seen much of what Paris has to offer and I will continue to see it during the weekends but the weekdays were getting long without something to actually do besides spend money. So Katie (the one I went out with on Halloween) told me about her jobs and she works with a company called Baby Langue which hires native English speakers to go into French family's homes and teach their young ones English. So when I researched the company I found they only work their 'teachers' for less than 25 hours a week and are very flexible. So I applied. Not even 2 minutes after I sent my application online I got a call back from them setting up an interview. I went in two days latter and was hired. So I am pretty much a glorified babysitter. I watch the kids and teach them english at the same time. But its only during the week for like 2 or 3 hours a night and I don't work weekends. I got the job before I found out about the lectures so thats why I have to run on Wednesdays since thats the only day I am not working with Baby Langue. The company pays well and they also pay for holidays so if the school has a holiday and you don't work with the family you still get paid so its pretty cool. I work with one family Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays watching Hugo who is 3 years old from 430pm-7pm. According to the Baby Langue training session we had (which was 4 hours long of how we should go about being babysitters and teachers at the same time, boring yet very informational) we as the teachers are supposed to speak only English and no French what-so-ever. Well… I've already broke that rule. Here in France, children start school at 3 with what we would consider pre-k but its much more structured and he is in school from 9-430 like the other students. So he is much more matured than any other 3 year old I've meet in the states. He knows I speak English and very little French and for the most part I don't speak French to him and we play games and watch movies in English. However this was my first week with him and he was a little on the fence with me which is normal and asked on the second night when his mom was coming home. Thats when I broke the "golden" rule and spoke French to him. I could tell him 5 different ways in English his mom was coming home in a half hour but he wouldn't understand. So I told him in French to avoid any tears or miscommunications. So far we've been having fun but its only been the first week and we shall see how the rest of my time with him goes. I also have a family on Fridays with two girls who are 8 and 6. They have had a Baby Langue instructor before and their parents speak English as a second language so I won't be breaking the "golden" rule with them. I had my first lesson with them this week and they were very shy so it may be a slow process to get them to open up to me but I think we should have fun since they seem generally interested in the English language. 

Another beautiful fall day on the street where my classes are held. 

I just love watching the colors change here! So pretty!

A beautiful night, oh the lights!

St Eustache 

Apparently in the 1970s there was some food journey or escape from Paris? I'm not sure if I read the plaque right but the little artistic creation to commemorate it was cool.

So now my time will be juggled between my classes and work like usual for me however the weekends are mine to explore! So my posts my be spacious but they will be filled with lots of pics of the fun and exciting things I will continue to see here in Paris! :)

Museum of Modern Art and a Demonstration

October 20th:

I went out with a friend and her boyfriend to the Museum of Modern Art. It was an unusual museum but it was fun!

This was outside the museum: its an exact replica of the flame the statue of liberty holds in New York. It was created to commemorate the friendship between the two countries.  

the floors of the museum of modern art

what most of the exhibits looked like, lots of white walls 

"Symphony of color" 1915-1917 by Robert Delaunay

same artist but I didnt catch what it was called

Just some random modern art 

"Colloque ethnographique" by Victor Brauner 1956: I have no idea but this painting had me staring at it for like 15 minutes. No clue as to why or for what reason I found it so interesting but I did. 

I found this painting so funny! Minus the fact that its an odd black and white painting, its the same time period that I dressed in while working at the village. I can honestly say now that I loved my outfit and I am so glad that I didn't have to wear that drabby stuff.

Its the sea!! I love paintings with the sea and boats in them.

I used for the first time my panoramic mode on my Ipod and I think it turned out pretty well. This is a full shot of the room of electricity. They had a room dedicated to those who made an impact in the finding and creation of electricity. So of course there was Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin. However there were mostly what I assumed were European thinkers on the subject but it was a huge paining and I got a shot of the whole room! The following pics are better shots of what the painting looked like frame by frame.

Thomas Edison was is in this spot.

Of course the Eiffel Tower could be seen outside the musuem!

Then, in true French fashion, I stumbled upon a demonstration. It was a Catholic organized demonstration that called for a king to come back to France, Catholicism to stay the national religion and marriage between a man and a woman. I followed it for a little bit and took some pictures because it was the first one I've seen while I've been here.

 Then I went to church because it was a Sunday and went to St Michael's.

My First French Art Class!

October 19th

I decided while in Paris I should try to do something super Parisian, so I found an art class! It was taught by a native Parisian, Pauline Fraisse, who has studied at the art schools here and also has showcased her pieces in some museums. Since everyone wants to be an artist in Paris she isn't famous or well known at all however she was an excellent teacher. I found her website online and she teaches her classes in English and in French so it was a plus for me since she could explain things in both languages. The class was an outdoors class, we had it at the Jardin des Plantes. It was 40 euros however the class was 4 hours long and I personally thought for a one time thing it was worth it. Now however, I really want to take another class with her but maybe in the spring. We did everything in watercolor which I am not familiar with but I got complemented a few times by Pauline so I figured she liked whatever I was doing. Overall it was a great way to spend a fall afternoon in Paris.

Pauline took some photos of us painting in the park and there I am!

It was a group of all women, some were here on vacation, one was a native Parisian and one was here for a few months so it was a nice mix of women. We all spoke English though so no French was spoken.

The Jardin des Plantes