Tirer Les Leçons

     Bonjour tout le monde! I had quite a Mary Poppins moment this week, but more on that in a bit.

Snow is gone! Blue sky's again,
but it's still cold.

     This week I started my private French lessons. The family I work for is amazing and as a Christmas present they got me a few lessons with a private tutor. It was a different experience for sure, and something that I really needed to go to. My teacher is so sweet. For most of the class she was trying to figure out what level I was on, so that made it really hard to prepare a lesson. She concluded that the reason I struggle so much is because I am thinking way too complicatedly (is that a word?). She would ask me a question, and I would understand what she was asking, but have NO idea how to respond because my brain is trying to translate this hard reply. I guess I keep forgetting that I am at a child's level in speaking French, so it's OK for my sentences to be simple. She kept saying "you are trying to say really difficult words!" She gave me a few things to work on, and I need to send her email updates throughout the week. Maybe, just maybe I will be able to learn this language. Anyone out there who has any tips, please send them my way.

     Well thanks to Daniel, I have mastered my French numbers. They are really hard! For anyone who doesn’t speak French let me explain how the numbers work. In English when we count, each number has its own sound, and when we get to the teens it’s basically the same idea but we add “teen” to the end of each number. Then when we get to the 20’s 30’s and so on… we add (more or less) “ty” to the end of the numbers. I know it’s more complicated than that, but compared to the French it’s easy. Well French numbers go like this: it’s fairly basic until 17, which is dix-sept or ten-seven, and this is the same for 18 and 19. Then it doesn’t get weird again until 70. 60 is soixante, and 70 is soixante-dix or sixty-ten. Which makes 71, soixante-et-onze or sixty-eleven, and so on for the rest of the 70s (sixty-twelve, sixty-thirteen). Now if that doesn’t confuse you, here is the best part. 80 is quatre-vingts which is better known as four times twenty. Making 90 quatre-vingt-dix or four times twenty plus ten, and, you guessed it, 91 is quatre-vingt-onze or four times twenty plus eleven. That is French! Once you understand it, it’s not too bad, but Daniel is having trouble understanding it. Join the club little man.

Did you know Notre Dame is 850 years old?

The United States is about 230 years old. 

Kinda puts that in perspective hu...  

   
    It was a very much needed calm week. Well up until Thursday. It all started with early morning class, which got canceled, after sitting in the room for about 20 minutes. There was a major accident on RER Line A, and everyone is pretty sure it was a suicide jump. So the teacher was on the train and therefore late. They scheduled the new class for after my second class. So even though I really only had two classes, it felt like three. In the make-up class I had a different teacher. She was amazing! I learned quite a bit from her, but the most interesting thing she taught us was the different sounds an animal makes in different languages. She then proceeded to ask each student what noise a rooster makes in their native tongue. Here are a few of the sounds (I had to look them up again):

Mandarin: gou gou  Danish: kykkeliky  Finnish: kukkokiekuu

French: cocorico  German: kickeriki  Italian: chicchirichí 

Japanese: (kokekokkō) Korean: kkokkiyo  Polish: kukuryku 

Russian: kukarekú  Spanish: quiquiriquí  Tagalog: kukaok

     But she saved the English for last, saying it was her favorite. After Emily and I sang our ““cock-a-doodle-doo,” the whole class laughed. Haha, bet you didn’t know that roosters speak different languages.

     I can't believe everything I am hearing about Utah. Well really the United States. Records are being broken all over the country. From what I can tell from all the comments on Facebook, Utah is getting hit with some really bad, cold weather. Too bad they aren’t giving snow days. The last time we had a snow day was the big "BLIZZARD of 2011!" Haha and everything closed down. Then all it did was sprinkle snow. Why is it that when really heavy weather comes nothing is closed?!

Notre Dame

     Now, to my wonderful Nanny moment, though I should explain what it is that I want to accomplish in teaching these kids. I want to teach them right from wrong or the basic of right and wrong since there are so many levels. My goal for these two years is to lead an example. I have categorized them into three lessons (oh how very Nanny McPhee of me), I want to teach them to forgive everyone, there are always good people/things, and nothing is impossible. Why these three? I don’t know. For some reason, I feel that these are the things I need to be teaching these kids.

     I think I’m finally getting through to them, because this week we addressed all three of these lessons.

     This week Aimée had her worst fit with me yet. The biggest problem what that she wouldn't talk to me about it, so I don't know what happened to make her so mad. She was rude and disruptive. She got mad and dumped out one of Daniel's Toy bins, and then refused to clean it up. Ran every time I tried to talk to her, and wouldn’t take her shower but made sure to splash all the water out. I have never had to ask Cecile to intervene, but I was pushed to my limits. I just wasn't sure what approach to take with her. We talked for a few minutes before deciding that I would let Aimée know that she had until dinner to clean up her stuff before I involve her parents. We decided to not let her know that I had already spoken with her mom.

     I went and did just that, and the whole time I held onto Aimée she stared at me with a death glare. I knew how she felt. I understood her anger. I didn’t understand why she got angry to begin with, but I knew that this was only going to make her madder. She agreed to clean up her things and ignored me the rest of the night.

Me, Sara, and Gina outside Notre Dame

     Up until dinner, where she then skipped into the kitchen with a big smile on her face, and was cheerful the rest of the night. Here is where lesson one gets tricky for me. I have been trying to teach her to not be a grudge holder, and I lead by example, but that was the hardest thing I have ever had to do with her. Sit there and smile with her at dinner. I was so mad at the way she treated me, and the limits that she pushed me to. I didn't want to be nice to her. But I'm teaching her a lesson.

     She didn’t get away with it that easily, because the next afternoon Daniel was at a play date and I had her to myself the whole afternoon. So I talked, and talked, and talked. I can't remember exactly what I said. I know I talked about Ty and what it was like growing up with a brother like him. I talked about old friend and bullies from school when I was younger. Then I talked about a time when I was her age (nine years old) when I watch two planes fly into towers knowing that my mom, who is a flight attendant, was in the air for her job. I explained that there comes a time when we realize we can’t run from our problems. We need to stand and face them, and it makes it harder to care for things when you don't understand what is happening. It might have been a bit heavy and deep for her, but she listened the whole time, and asked questions occasionally.

     At the end I simply asked, "Can you explain to me what you were thinking yesterday?" I didn't ask her why, I didn't go over the things she did wrong. I just asked what she was thinking the whole time. She said that she really didn't know. She got mad and couldn't stop. Everything around her made her mad after that, everything annoyed her. She said she thinks it started with Daniel, but she understands now that he is just a little boy who doesn't understand that what he was saying was upsetting her. She apologized for being rude.

Sacré-Cœur

     Everything was good for the rest of the afternoon, and it wasn't until Daniel came home that she started acting weird again. She went right back into her bad mood from the night before, but at a more manageable level. I treated her as if nothing was wrong. I didn't baby her; I didn't force her to do anything. She did what she was supposed to do, then sulked in her room.

     During dinner the most amazing thing happened. She was late, again, and I just ignored her behavior. After a while she stopped and looked at me. "I would like to talk about what happened." she said. I was a bit surprised and asked if she would prefer to talk about it later. She said no, she wanted Daniel to hear. She went on to explain that when Daniel had come home they were jumping around and he had (accidently) pulled her hair. She didn't like that he hadn't apologized for what he had done, even though he knew she was hurt. Then she looked at me and said "I was mad at you because I thought you were on his side and defending him. I now realize that you were not, and I so I am sorry for the way I treated you. I didn't mean to thrash out at you." All I could think to say was "Apology accepted." Then little Daniel looked over at Aimée and said "Aimée I am sorry for pulling your hair." to which she responded with "Apology accepted." For the rest of the night the kids were happy and playing nice together.

     I was a bit in shock. I still don’t believe that it happened. Both kids handled the situation so well! Plus, they solved it on their own with no fighting. When I told Cecile about it later she didn't believe it either. All I gotta say is that it was nice to know that something I have been working with her has sunk in. Check! Helping the kids learn to forgive.

     Lesson two has become a really important lesson, even for me. Why? Well because of this quote by Mr. Rogers, and since I can’t remember if I put it on here yet I will put it again! 

At the Sacré-Cœur, a group of people stood with a guitar
asking if anyone who played would like to come perform
a song for everyone. The person got any tips the crowd gave. 

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world." -Mister Rogers 

     Lesson number two has given me the title of “CRAZY.” They don’t understand why I also walk around pointing out the people who are doing good things for others like holding doors open or giving bread to the homeless woman on the street. Then they started to do it too, and took it a step further by also helping other. When Daniel is scared I sit and show him how each of the shadows in his room has their own sweet fairy-tale story, Aimée has joined in and things have become a lot less scary. Or at least they are starting to see the bright side of a scary situation.

     Lastly, the first week I was here I asked Aimée about something she was doing for homework and she told me she couldn't do it because that was impossible. I told her nothing in impossible. Since then every time she would do something that was frustrating her I would look at her and say "Nothing is Impossible." This week I heard Daniel say something was impossible! And before I could respond Aimée came in from the other room and said "Nothing is Impossible." Check!

one of those wonderful friends celebrates her
birthday today, so Happy Birthday Brittany! :) 

     Even if the kids don't get very much out of my lessons now I want them too one day look back at my time here and think about all the things I tried to teach them. I want Aimée to look back and remember that I never lost my temper. I never held a grudge. I sat a listened to her stories, and helped her work through them. I want them to remember that I treated everyone fairly, and laughed as much as I could. That it was better to say I'm sorry then wait for an apology. Basically, I'm trying to teach them everything that I learned growing up with my wonderful parents and from so many other leaders. Lessons that made me into the person I am today.

     And you know what. In trying to be a good example for the kids, I feel so much better. It's hard to have a bad day when I spend so much of my time looking on the bright side and finding the good people throughout my day. And I have been lucky to have many of those good people as family and friends.

     I am really grateful for my life here. I have learned so much about who I am and the trials I can conquer. I love you all and I miss you! Oh and the title is Tirer les leçons, or Learing Lessons. 

Couvert de Neige à Paris

Some days I will be out running errands
with the kids and look up to see the
 Eiffel Tower. It is in those moments
that I remember how lucky I am to be
living in such a beautiful city. 

     Bonjour! This has been a crazy long week. I have been busy with one thing or another all week long. School has picked up, both French classes, and online classes with the university. Then of course both kids were home sick, and it SNOWED!

     Daniel was out of school for three days due to a fever. He slept for most of the day, then was calm a quiet at night, until he started feeling better. By the end of the three days he was driving Cecile and me insane! Running all over the house and yelling. In the end we were happy to see him go back to school. Aimée also “got sick,” although we still don’t know if she was actually sick or not. She slowed down and didn’t eat (which only happens when she is sick), but didn’t have a fever or anything. She stayed home on the short Wednesday, but that was it. It was nice when the kids went back to school.

Gotta love the Louvre

     I have been overwhelmed with work this week. Between taking care of the kids, homework for school and filling out paper work for the University, I am exhausted! It’s to be expected. It’s the beginning of a new year, so everything is fresh. I really enjoy my French classes this semester. I hope they will be more a challenge for me, and I will be able to understand more. The teachers I have are really good.

Virgin of the Rocks (Madonna of the Rocks)
is by Leonardo da Vinci and it hangs
around the corner from the Mona Lisa.
Yet most people walk past this to see her.
In my opinion this is more beautiful than the
Mona Lisa. Took my breath away when I saw it.  

     All week it has been FREEZING! Then on Friday it snowed, and hasn’t stopped since! It’s really quite funny. I am used to the snow since I grew up in Utah where it snowed even in the summer sometimes, but Parisians are NOT used to the snow. It has been very amusing to watch everyone buddle up in their thick coats, and raid the super markets as if this is their last chance to stock up on food. I will admit, it’s been very wet and cold, and it is not fun walking everywhere in the snow. The kids have enjoyed the snow. In fact everyone I have been with has enjoyed the snow. It is fun watching friends who rarely get to see snow running around and throwing it like children (which resulted in me falling on my face). It is almost like I am back at home.

     This week I watched the kids a lot during the night as the parents went out to dinner with friends and hosted potluck parties. One night, the kids and I were having dinner and there was music playing, the kids weren’t paying much attention until I started to dance to Low Rider. They were laughing so much! It wasn’t long before they had joined in, and that was how the dance party started. I now understand why parents sometimes make fools of themselves for their children. There is nothing better than watching a child laugh.

My Louvre buddies. Louis, Emily, and Joanna
after a very cold snowball fight .

     I have also been reading the Percy Jackson series with the kids. Daniel gets so much into it! He will ask me so many interesting questions about the story and about the Greek Gods (thank goodness I took that Mythology Class in College). It’s even better when they talk about it at the dinner table with their parents. Telling them about the various monsters and hero’s that I read to them.

     Maybe the book isn’t a very good idea, because two nights in a row Daniel has woken up with nightmares. 11:00 PM, parents are out, *phone rings* it’s Aimée (keep in mind she is down the hall in her room). Me: “Yes? Why are you calling? What are you still doing awake?!” A: “Daniel is sad!” Me: “OK I will go talk to him.” I walk into his room to find him up and moving around while mumbling. I was only able to wake him after turning on all the lights and calling him name. To which he then said “Hello! Can I have a drink of water?” He was asleep as soon as he lay back down. I don’t think the book is the result of the nightmares though, because he really enjoys them.

Freezing my butt off at the
Eiffel Tower with Brittany/ 

     Something weird happened to me this weekend. Last night my elbow swelled up for no reason. My guess is that I was bit by a bug (thought I have no memory of this), so that has put a huge damper on my weekend since it is quite painful. I have taken care of myself for a long time, but there are still those times when I need to call home and ask for advice. Let’s hope that putting ice on it will do the trick.

     Here is another piece of knowledge you may or may not know. Last Friday France entered in war against rebel groups towards southern Mali at the request of the Malian authorities and the United Nations. Although nothing is expected to happen, security has been increased all over Paris. The family isn’t worried, so there is nothing to fear, but it is strange living is a city so close to war. Living in the United States is different during war (since it's so big) compared to France. I will keep you all posted on this. 

In Paris you don't make
snow men, you make Eiffel Towers.

     This week I was able to enjoy the company of lots of great friends. Lunch and dinner dates, random get-togethers and an amazing trip to the Louvre. I learned that with my student pass I have free access to many of the art museums, which is amazing! Especially since the Louvre is so big it’s impossible to see the whole thing it one day. I predict many visits in the near future. I am so lucky to have met some really amazing people while living here in Paris. Every single one of them has changed my life in one way or another, and it has made me into a better person. I don’t know what I would do without their love and support.

     Tomorrow I go to my first private French lesson, and this week I work hard on getting my school work under control. I guess some trips to the Louvre are going to need to wait. Oh, and the title this week “Couvert de Neige à Paris” basically means Snow covered Paris.

     Thank you all so much for reading my blog. I don’t know who is out there following every week, but I see that you are. This is my 30th post since moving to Paris, which means that I have been living in Paris for 30 weeks, which doesn’t seem like that long but it is! I am so lucky for this opportunity, and, despite the trials, it has been the greatest experience. Until next week!

Le Cercle De La Vie

     Ello! Welcome to my blog! This week I shall start off by apologizing for being a bit late with my post. It has been a long week, and my lateness is due to the fact that the internet was rejecting my computer last night. But don’t worry I used the time to practice my French (and *cough* organize my iTunes), and all that fun stuff. It seems like everything happened so long ago, but really it has only been a week. Hey, at least we are halfway through January, right? 

The inside of the Galeries Lafayette.
So this is what money shops in. 

     I started my new class schedule for this semester last week, and it is awesome! I have amazing teachers. I have decided to step up my game this semester and add another French class. I now have four French classes a week, and finally after so many years of attempting to learn French the language is finally starting to stick (at least I hope so). My teachers are much better at paying attention to what I am doing and what I need to learn. It has been really nice. I even had a test! Ahhh! In one of my classes the teacher is a woman who was the teacher for my mom and me when we came to Paris for a month last May. The amazing thing was that she remembered who I was and my name!

     My other class has very interesting circumstances. I am the only student. It was really funny watching the teacher walk in to the room and only finding me sitting there. After a short interdiction, he turned to the empty seat next to me and asked “et vous? Qu'est-ce que vous aimez?” (and you? What do you like?). So the rest of the class was him asking me questions and me answering them the best I could. He would help me with what I didn’t understand, and that was how the class went. Awesome! Private lessons! I do know that my friend is going to join the class, so it will be even better for us to study and practice together.

     Ever since the family asked to extend my contract and have me stay another year and I accepted the family has been REALLY excited. I had a few questioned about Alain’s personality from my last blog. Alain is a very mellow person. He plays with the kids, makes a few jokes ever now and again, but is mostly a calm relaxed guy. So his reaction to me staying another year (jumping up and down) was a complete surprise for me! I have never seen him react to anything that way, and I take it as a wonderful complement. Both Cecile and Alain have been talking about what I could do for school next year. I think they feel a bit bad that I would be staying another year away from school. Alain has been talking to his internships on what I should do for school. It's really funny how excited and involved they are. I'm still trying to decide for myself what I would like to do with school. I know that will still continue to do online classes with the University of Utah, and I don't think my French is anywhere ready to jump into a French University. Plus I don't mind the online classes. 

     Did you know there is a holiday here in France called Epiphany – Fête des Rois. It commemorates principally (but not solely) the visit of the Magi to the Baby Jesus, and thus Jesus' physical manifestation to the Gentiles. They eat a cake or a gâteau des Rois (made of brioche) or the galette des Rois (puff pastry with almond cream), which has a little toy or figure in it. Then the person that gets it in their slice of cake is crowned king (or queen) for the day. My family did it twice this week. Cecile is tricky and wanted to give each child a chance to be king. She is very sly. All the bakeries have the gâteau des Rois in their shops and they even come with a paper crown. Very fun!

     For Christmas my parents got the Percy Jackson books for the kids. Well I started reading the first one to Daniel on Thursday of last week, and we are now on chapter 15. He LOVES the books. I have lost my voice by the end of the night several times in a row now, but it is worth it. The only problem is that Aimée doesn’t really like me reading to Tommaso. I still haven’t quite figured out why, but my best guess would be that she doesn’t like that he is enjoying a story that she hasn’t read yet. Bizarre, I know.

    Aimée's meltdowns are getting fewer and fewer now that I am learning how to handle them. I know what the signs look like before she blows up, and I help her before she loses her temper.

     This weekend Alain and Cecile went to London and Milan for three days. Alain's mom came to help with the kids, and it was a bit odd. It’s a bit hard to figure her out. She is very sweet with me, but sort of hard on the kids. It creates thing never ending circle. Aimée doesn't listen to her because she doesn't like her much, so then the grandma gets mad and says things to Aimée that make her not like her. Bad circle.

So turns out, they aren't really horses, just ponies. :) 

     The other wonderful trial of the week was…. HEAD LICE! Yay!! They think Aimée originally got them from the helmet she was wearing while skiing a few weeks ago. We thought we had gotten rid of them. The school called and said that they found more head lice in her hair, so we needed to keep working at getting them out. All this happened the day Alain and Cecile left on their trip. It was a PAIN. Lucky, she was the only person in the family to get them, and they are gone now.

     Here is how my weekend went with Aimée, Daniel, and Grandma:

6:30 AM: *Knock Knock

Daniel: "Olivia can I have your iPad to play a game?"

Me: "...What? Daniel? What time is it?"

D: "Can I see your iPad?"

Me: "Yes Daniel... it's by the door." (He had asked me if he could play with it the next morning the night before, this is a special treat).

D: ".... I can't find it."

* I get up and find it by the door.

Me: "Daniel it is right here."

D: "Oh... Thanks!" (He runs off).

7:00 AM: *Knock Knock

D: "The game isn't working Olivia..."

Me: "Here you didn't push the right button."

D: "Oh right thanks!"

7:30 AM: *Door busts open

Aimée: "OLIVIA! are you awake?"

Me: "No....."

A: "OK!" (Door closes)

8:00 AM: * Door busts in

A: "What are you still doing in BED?"

M: "Aimée! It's Saturday! Please can I sleep?"

     Basically every Saturday, even Cecile and Alain sleep in until 9:30. I'm usually up between 8:30 and 9. And the kids never bug me. This week was not the case for some reason. Sunday started even earlier. Sorry kids, no more playing on my iPad during the weekends.

     Saturday, Aimée was a NIGHTMARE!

     As I said before, Aimée and her Grandma do not get along. I think it's because they both like to be in charge, and so they have a power struggle. Plus, I think the grandma is impatient with her. I tried to help, but usually it's all in French and my French isn't that good yet.

     Aimée has horseback riding lessons on Saturday, and the plan was that her grandma was going to take her and I was going to watch Daniel . This is a normal Saturday for me. Well Aimée refused to go because her grandma was taking her. It got to the point where her Grandma was calling Cecile, who then yelled at her to go.

     At this point Grandma was done, she had had enough. She didn't want to go anymore and that I needed to take her. Great. Well I have never been to the horseback lessons before. The plan was to take a taxi there and then walk home. That would be fine if we were in the city, but we were on the edge where basically we are in a giant park with no Metro stops.

     Aimée was so excited! I was not. There was so much tension in the air from her grandma. I had basically 3 minutes from the moment I was told I was going until I was in the taxi. I had no idea where we were going or how to get home, but how do you explain that in French. I had my map with me, and that was the best I could do.

Aimée and her pony. 

     Aimée then got a headache during her lesson, and before I knew it, she was off the horse, and the trainers came to put it away. What now? No one even tried to talk to me about it. At this point I have given up. I was done with Aimée and her awful behavior towards her grandma.

     We just start walking. I chose a direction that seems logical (it was the wrong way, but whatever). The whole time I am explaining to her the best that I can how disrespectful she has been, and how I am disappointed in her behavior. It was a long walk, and even after we figured out that we needed to turn around and go the other direction we were still very lost. It's a giant park so none of the roads have signs on them. Eventually we made it to the road that we knew, but still needed to take a metro home. Turns out it should have been a straight shot, but I had NO IDEA!!

     She was good for the rest of the night, well until Daniel said something that made her mad. Then she wanted the Percy Jackson book back, claiming it was hers. Ugh. So then I go through this whole thing with her where I explain that yes they are her books, but it is something that we are all doing together so she can't use that as a threat. It doesn't work that way. She made me miserable the rest of the night. I have had enough of it. She had been doing this all weekend to her grandma, and now she was doing it to me. To put it in Cecile's words "The nine year old is the one who has been in control."

     I gave her one last warning, she either gets her act together or I turn into mean nanny. She didn't. For the rest of the nightly clean up I treated her exactly the way she was treating me. I did everything that I am required to do. I showered her, dried her hair, and got her in her pj's. But I was more aggressive. I didn't let go of her the whole time so she wouldn't run off, all the while not saying a word. As soon as I was finished she ran off, and I was done for the night.

     The only good thing that came from the whole night was that she was a lot nicer to her grandma. She had me as an enemy, and so she could enjoy her grandma. That's a good way to end the grandma's visit. I think during dinner she realized her mistake, because after she apologized. She was much better after that. It's been a process, but I think I'm getting through to her. I just might be able to help her out of this teenage phase. Maybe.

Why! Is this a style right now?
I'm all for rain protection,
but this just looks like a garbage bag
was sewn into a jacket.  

     Paris had these big sales. Apparently France will only let them do two big sales a year. So when things go on sale, they are REALLY on sale. It's nice. I’m not a big shopper, but I got myself a sweater and new pair of boots since I needed both of these. I might go out and see if I can score a good pair of jeans before it’s over, but I might have missed my chance. Oh well. So, for future reference, if you want to come to Paris for good shopping, look up when the big sales are. There is one usually in January and one in June.

     The last trial of my week came from home. Good ‘old Salt Lake City. I got news that my brother’s rage had passed into an overwhelming limit for my family. I feel guilty. Guilty for moving here, for planning to stay another year, and frustrated that there is nothing I can do to help them from so far away. It was during this time that my dad sent me an email; he talked about many wonderful things. 

     “We have to trust and have faith and hope that we will overcome the trials in our life through God's help and not just leave it to our own understanding. There is so much that makes life complicated and it is way beyond us to understand it all. We must have compassion for those we come in contact with, because we have no idea what sort of problems they have to deal with” 

     He explained that I shouldn’t feel bad about not being at home to help, and this was a trail that I didn’t need to face. There were so many things that I needed to learn and grow from during my adventure here. I am so lucky to have two of the most wonderful parents, who are so encouraging of everything that I do.

     On that note, I would like to end by thanking everything for following my blog this whole time. You don’t know how happy it makes me when I hear that others are enjoying my adventure with me. Oh and... the title for the week Le Cercle De La Vie, means The Circle of Life, which refers to the endless battle of power between Aimée and her Grandma. It also refers to my guilt over leaving my family, that no matter what I chose, life will go on. Until next time then!

Je Resterai à Paris

Bonjour All!

     Happy New Year! Bonne Année. So if you have been following my blog, you would have noticed that both my family and French family left for home or vacation last week. Which makes this week very slow and simple, and I had a lot of time to myself. So what did I do? I went to movies, practiced my writing, and worked on my French. By the time the family came back I was so excited to see them, and despite the lack of adventures, I still have a lot of stories. 

The Arc de Triomphe was very
protected on New Years

     Let’s start with New Years! Sara and I gathered some snacks and met up for some pre New Year chatting. Sorry no big exciting parties for me, I’m not exactly the big party type. Though I did want to see some fireworks! Our plan was to walk to the Eiffel Tower right before midnight, but everything online said that there would be no events there and when it started to rain we decided against it. We rang in the New Year with a whistle out the window and a firework show on my computer. Outside there were no sounds. We got one person who yelled “Bonne Année” when Sara whistled, but that was it. Eventually, we thought that there was no way that Paris had no events going on, and decided to venture out into the rain.

     Ten minutes later, and two train stops away, we were at the Champs-Elysees. It was very festive, but very crazy!! My goodness there were so many people there they closed down the whole street! There were police EVERYWHERE. They were protecting the Arc de Triomphe very carefully, and they had reason too. The people were so drunk and it felt very close to what a riot would be. We didn't stay long. There were a lot of men there, and we tried to stay close to other women when we would see them because the men very very friendly. Overall it was a fun experience! 

     I learned a great deal about myself this week. I struggled with a few things, and the lesson that I learned was how important my Patriarchal Blessing is to me. I read through it several times looking for answers to my prayers, and I found what I needed to know. It is rare that I pull out my Blessing, but every time that I do I am happy that I did.

The Star, after I trimmed the sides.  

     My week got much better when the family came home, and Saturday was the most fun I have ever had with the kids. Aimée got this cooking tool kit for Christmas, and she has been dying to use it. That was how we ended up with star shaped fried eggs for lunch. Basically it’s a cookie cutter with a handle on it that is placed on the pan, but they don’t really work. No matter what we did to prevent it, the eggs still ran out under the tool. Oh well. All that matters is that Aimée had a good time.

     After lunch I took the kids to the park, and played there for a while. Daniel was able to meet up with another little boy who ran around with him while they kicked a soccer ball around. Sadly, it was a bit drizzly, and of course he fell right into a muddy puddle. Seeing the mud made me miss mud volleyball with the ward. 

     Following that, we came home and Aimée wanted to play with her cooking kit again. Since Cecile said it was ok, we made a dessert. She chose to make these gummy things. They were easy, weird, and didn't taste very good. But she enjoyed them, so I guess that was nice.

     My brother Geoff showed me this app where you can make little movies and trailer for movies. I did that with the kids for the rest of the night. We made two trailers. One was for a train movie for Daniel, and one was for a spy movie for Aimée. I love making movies, and will spend HOURS working to get them just right. The nice thing about this app is that it sets everything up for you and all I needed to do was drop a few video clips in. Having two impatient hanging on your arm ready to watch their finished video made this feature work even better! The whole family LOVED it. Sadly, I still need to figure out how to put them on the computer. Turns out it was harder than I was expecting. I will try to put one on sometime.

Chandler in the fancy restaurant

    The family ended the day by going out to dinner. The restaurant was the nicest place I have ever seen! It was like walking onto a set of a movie. The whole place was black and white with gold decorations. The GIANT chandler was above the striking white couches. It was an Asian restaurant named Bon. It was SO nice and SO expensive. I order one of the cheapest things on the menu, but wow! The food was really good, and the environment was friendly. It was a great way to end the week.

     Today I let the family know that I would be delighted in staying with them for another year. Their reaction was not what I was expecting. Cecile turned to look at me with the biggest smile on her face saying “that is good news!” Alain JUMPED into the air yelling “YESS!” He started talking about all my options for school next year. Haha, good that they are excited. I am happy as well.  

This is what I see walking to Church. 

    I have had a request to translate my titles and explain why I chose them. Je resterai à Paris, means I will stay in Paris. I think the title is self explanatory for today's events.

     The kids were also excited, but they were a bit distracted by the spinach soup they were trying to eat. Not to mention that I had already discussed it with Aimée a bit. It was during this dinner that Aimée lost her temper because she thought the family was making fun of her for not wanting to eat her soup. My new goal: To help Aimée understand simple teasing without getting mad. Oh, and while I’m teaching lessons, I’m going to work on the kids sarcasm. They don’t understand sarcasm either.

     Tomorrow I go back to school, and I might start French tutoring. Maybe I can learn this language after all. Until next week!