back to business

An absolutely unacceptable amount of time has passed since I've written anything, so here goes... and I really am resolved to be better about keeping in touch, even via blog. No news is good news really rings true with me right now, as nothing much has changed about my life in France, and thus everything is grand! 

I'm back to teaching after another two week vacation, and I should start planning some actual lessons before the teachers realize that we really only just play games and chat and laugh. (I really don't have a problem with it, and the students seem to have a lot of fun, like when they say, "Oh, c'est trop bien aujourd'hui!" But I'll plan a real lesson about St. Patrick's Day, and that'll have me covered for the next two weeks. During vacation I did a whole lot of nothing really. I babysat a lot on the edges, and in the middle I watched every movie known to man. It was relaxing and just what I needed, since I never seem to get completely rested over here in Europe. Maybe it's the water... 

Babysitting is going superbly! I feel like I get closer with the family each day, and I'm becoming more comfortable and confident in what I'm supposed to do and how to find the balance between authority and friend. The other day Paul (9) had been playing with this Love Calculator application on the computer, and the result when he put in our names was a measly 38%. When he put in my name and Georges', though, it was 63%, which made Little G so happy! We explained that it's out of 100, and he was still just as ecstatic about the 63, because for a 4-year-old who can only comfortably count to 23 (because that's my age, a very important number in his short life), 63 is a LOT. The next day, Ella (12), Georges (4), and I took Oona the Pomeranian for a walk, and Ella told me that G had made an announcement at breakfast that day: "I love Katie 100%!" 

What more could I ask for? 

G and K are 100% in love, and my heart is lighter for it. 

Here's Georges with his three magic wands and his lovely orange tutu:

I may have written about this before (who knows, it's been so long), but here's a funny Georges-ism for your reading pleasure. Imagine a little kiddo who can't quite say his R's (they come out sort of like W's, typical adorable little kid speech challenge)... He and I were walking home from school one afternoon, past the Starbucks and the candy store and all of the things that an enthusiastic kid loves. As we passed the gun and knife store (classy, eh?), Georges asked, "Katie, don't you hate that store? Don't you wanna set it on fire and watch it burn?" So matter-of-fact, earnest dislike for that store and sincerity in his desire for arson, this sweet little guy made me laugh so hard with absolutely no intention of doing so. The whole time that my family was visiting over Christmas vacation, we'd bust out with "Don't you just wanna watch it buhn?!" and pretty much die laughing. Oh man, I wish I had a tape-recorder to help me remember all the hilarious things that come out of G's mouth. When they went out of town for two weeks during vacation, he said, "Katie, you know I'm really gonna miss you... but I'll only be gone for four days, so I'll see you soon." Precious. His Advent calendar only had four days left on it until Christmas, so he thought that was all that was left for his vacation. Rude awakening fourTEEN days later when he still hadn't seen me again! His short life so far makes everything seem so much more intense, like when he talks about "a very long time ago, in 2008..." His thoughts are so refreshing! It's nice to have someone who always wants to hold my hand and randomly busts out with a sweet "I love you!" The icing on the cake of my Paris experience. 

Teaching is wonderful, but I'm thinking more and more that I don't want to be a teacher for "real." I absolutely adore my classes, and I wouldn't trade this year for anything. The challenge is that I have over 300 students, and I hate not knowing their names and only seeing them twice a month at most. I'd love to be able to really bond with them, but it's hard to connect with so many different kids all at the same time. Here's my latest life-plan: I want to get a Masters in Social Work and then be a child, family, and school social worker. I want to help families build happy homes and successful lives, and I want kids to have the love and hope they all deserve. I'm ready to be equipped to make a difference. 

Okay, I'll write more specifics about la vie en France verrrrry soon, t'inquiète. (Don't worry.) For now, enjoy the fact that life is so good I can't even stop to write about it. I don't want to miss a single moment...

peace love joy

I'm so bad at this blogging thing. Sorry! So here are some random thoughts that I've had since I last wrote...

French people smell. Really bad. Seriously. It is painful sometimes. We are so spoiled with delicious aromas in the Heartland. 

I love being early. It's so nice not to have to rush from one place to the next, getting all sweaty and stressed. I'm trying to be early as much as possible and allow plenty of extra time.

I am immensely grateful for websites that let me watch tv online. I feel connected thanks to watchtvsitcoms and surfthechannel, enabling me to stay up to date on The Office and Pushing Daisies and all my favorites. 

Friends are so cool. It's amazing to me that we can become close and care about one another so quickly, and I've seen just how easily those strong bonds are formed. 

The kids at my high school are awesome. I love being greeted in the hall and chatting with them, and they even invite me to eat lunch and laugh together over funky cafeteria food. Being a teaching assistant is challenging sometimes, trying to balance the roles of mentor and friend,  

Things about America that I miss: free refills, clean free public toilets with seats, Dr. Pepper and Cherry Coke, driving in a car, flipping channels, English, Target, sale racks, things being open at night and on Sundays, people smiling and saying hello... 

Things about France that I love: public transportation, surprising people with a smile and getting a friend back, having bread and cheese and wine anytime at all, cobblestone, French, luxurious movie theaters, the Seine, brilliant sparkling Christmas decorations everywhere you go... 

 

I'm thrilled to spend Christmas with my family, and I can't wait for them to get here on Monday! Joy to the world, peace and love everybody!

thankful, even though there's no French word for it

Let's go back in time...

My 23rd birthday! I LOVE celebrating birthdays, and we do them big in the Wedemeyer/Yeaworth family, so we tried to recreate that joyous ongoing celebration even in France. On Saturday night (before my bday) my friends came over and we had Pizza Hut and coke and cider (all my favorites) and they made me a chocolate cake with chocolate bar and marshmallows melted on top! It was absolutely scrumptious and so much fun. Tuesday, my actual birthday, was chock full from beginning to end. I took the early train to school to pick up a form that I'd forgotten. Then I came back to the city and had eggs, pancakes, toast, oj, the whole shebang at Breakfast in America. So great. The day continued with shopping at H&M and then a visit to the Préfecture de Police to finish my application for my carte de séjour. Afterwards, I went thrift store shopping, and I found the same store that Kara and I browsed in for hours when we studied abroad years ago. It was such fun! That night I went out to a fancy Thanksgiving dinner with two of the English teachers from the lycée where I work. It was delish, and they even sang me Happy Birthday and put a candle in my lemon meringue pie! 

Thanksgiving is SO not the same in France. I tried to teach all my classes about it, but most were disinterested. I think the fact that there's really no word for "grateful" should have been a sign that a holiday based completely on that concept might not resonate well with French teens. Anyway, last Thursday I overslept, missed my 8am and 9am classes, and rushed right out so that I could at least be there for my 11am class. The Spanish teachers aren't usually at school on Thursdays, but I had the pleasant surprise of being able to chat with them (that helped turn my day around), and one even invited me to have tapas with them and all their friends! It's really exciting to start to have friends even outside of the other assistants, just so that I feel like a professional. ;) I had lunch at the KFC where I read some Harry Potter. (9-year-old Paul is lending me his HP books one by one since I've never read them. So far, I love them! I finished #2 today on the train home today, and I'm so excited to read the next one.) Then I had a new group of students in my atelier de la conversation at the collège, and they are so fun! Really interested in English and willing to talk. Perfect. I caught the early train home, and my friend Mary Beth texted me and we met up and had a delicious five-course Thanksgiving dinner at The American Dream! Yum. After a peaceful bubble bath, it was a magnificent Thanksgiving after all!

On Friday I woke up early so I got the train early so I got to school early. It was nice to have plenty of time to catch my breath instead of rushing off to class. My 9am group was wonderful! They're one of my favorites: so enthusiastic and friendly, really willing to speak English and learn the nuances of the language. It is so much fun! Then I had lunch with three of my students. I was walking with my tray to the faculty room, where I usually eat with all the teachers, and all of a sudden I heard, "Katie! Katie! Come eat with us!!" What a treat and a sweet invitation! And it was such fun to chat with them. They wanna make it a weekly date! I love having kids say hi and want to chat in the hall. What a unique and marvelous position it is to be a Teaching Assistant. I'm loving getting to know people at my schools and being someone they can come to when they need a friend or smile. 

This weekend I babysat a bunch, had delicious hot chocolate at yet another adorable café, went to Hillsong worship on Sunday morning, and then had a dinner party at James and Tom's where we made homemade pasta and watched 12 angry men. So fun! Yesterday we had Breakfast in America again, and then hung out at Starbucks for a while, journalling and chatting and relaxing. After babysitting, I met up with some friends for Music Quiz, a delightful trivia night at Longhop bar. We didn't make it to the semi-finals like we did last week, but it was still a blast! Today was a magnificent day, with no tardiness and little stress. All four of my classes were wonderful. We talked and laughed and sang and joked, and I even made new friends! It's really fun to see the differences between students that are 14, 16, and 18 years old. Younger ones love High School Musical, and say so proudly, and older ones smoke and try to act like they don't love anything. But I'm having fun drawing the silliness out of them, bit by bit. Laughter is amazingly powerful. 

With soft raindrops gently serenading me, I think I'll get rested up for the the days ahead: more time with my sweet b-sitting kids, my kind Assistant friends, and my lovely home away from home. Sacre bleu, there sure is a lot to be thankful for! 

Paris holds the key to your heart

It's so nice to be getting back in the swing of things around here! Vacation was such a lovely treat, but having so much free time makes it really easy to think about home, and all the people and places that I dreadfully miss. I'd rather be out of my mind with busy-ness than have so much spare time that I start to want to go home. So I've been making the most of my freedom and deliberately spending each moment, soaking up the nuances of this enchanting city. 

During this first vacation I spent time with a new crew, and had a blast listening to their melodic English accents and commiserating about the challenges of life abroad. My blond British boys are absolutely delightful: what a blessing to have two chivalrous, hilarious, beautiful young men to spend time with, as well as their charming group of friends. We frolicked up by Sacre Coeur, dancing and singing HSM3 tunes; we saw VickyCristinaBarcelona and Quantom of Solace (so cool); we ate Chinese food and pizza and Thai food and crêpes and quiches and croques and gelato and réligieuses and so much more; and we explored the meandering streets of this gigantic yet increasingly familiar city. A special treat was that I got to have dinner with Betsy and her parents who were in town. It's so nice to be around family for a while, even when it's not actually mine - good for the soul. It's amazing that in a metropolitan ville that's home to millions and millions of strangers, you can run into a friend just on the way to a café. That's the beauty of life here: this big city doesn't seem so huge anymore.

Speaking of what a small world it is, after all... I went to Disneyland!!! EuroDisney, right outside of Paris. On Halloween four other assistants and I went and played our little hearts out in the most magical place on earth (at least on this continent). We rode on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Teacups, the Haunted House (how brave am I?!), tons of other rides, and Space Mountain 2 twice - it actually goes upside-down! We had pizza-burgers for lunch, cool idea but not as delish as it sounds like it could be, and I got my favorite treat: cotton candy! Or as they say in England, candy floss, or in France, barbe à papa. Sweetness for the tummy and the soul. It was rainy and cold and could have been a miserable day, but since we were in the happiest place on earth, we had the happiest day - wahoo!

Teaching is going well. On Thursday and Friday I had the pleasure of my first train strike... fortunately, since they're scheduled grèves, you can usually track down the schedule and see what trains are running, when and where, but on Friday everything was conspiring against me. It was raining and I was an instant late each step of the way (I literally ran up just in time to watch my train pull away), which caused me to be thirty minutes late to school - eek! Thankfully I have such kinda teachers who gave me extra grace since the trains were wacky, and overall it ended up being a fine Friday. 

Babysitting's going wonderfully, as well. I am completely crazy about the kids that I take care of, and I think the feeling is mutual. :) Georges and I have the greatest conversations. I love the matter-of-fact way in which he sees life: everything is so simple and clear to him, even when it's not the same as the reality familiar to adults. It's refreshing for me to see how honest and earnest he is. When he's happy and he loves you, you absolutely know it. When he's unhappy or cross at all, you know it, too.  Fortunately, he's generally joyful, and his playful spirit reminds me so much of Hunter (my precious cousin and best friend for life) that it makes my heart soar! It's such a treat to have a little substitute to play with while I'm so far away from my actual family. Georges looks a lot like Luke, my other wonderful cousin, so I have sweet family coming from all sides to keep me company over here. 

This weekend I went to worship at Hillsong Church, a glorious and spirit-filled house where passion and love truly reign. I'm really excited about getting involved with that family, starting with the Welcome to Church party this Saturday night. One really cool thing about this church is that it's the same group as Hillsong United, one of my favorite worship groups, based in Australia. We've sung a few songs over the past couple weeks that I've loved, but when I googled the lyrics to try to download them, they're not even published yet! So we get to experience worship songs while they're still a work in progress. What a treat. It feels so earnest and heartfelt since it's not studio-censored or commercialized... just pure, joyful, singing love to God. 

Okay, that's all for now - time to go to sleep so that tomorrow morning can be productive with laundry and a visit to the préfecture... soon I'll be a legitimate, short-term French citizen! :) 

sunday in the park with georges (and paul)

It has been an unacceptable amount of time since I last wrote here, but that's a good sign! I've been insanely busy and having so much fun. Here's a quick update of how my life has been here. 

I teach three days a week in a small town at the end of the RER D line, so it takes me about an hour and a half each direction... I'm learning to love the commute, though, figuring out the trains and buses, and taking advantage of my time to read and rest instead of frantically driving through rush hour traffic. I babysit a whole bunch, and I'm starting to really develop relationships with the kids. Today Paul misled me as to what is allowed, and we made microwave popcorn (so delicious, by the way, and such a treat over here). Ella walked in and was shocked because they hardly ever have popcorn, so we had a long conversation about telling the whole truth and being a trustworthy friend. Bit by bit, the kids are learning that I love them and want them to be the best people they can, and I'm learning how exactly to that. Paul eventually cheered up out of his guilty pout when he, Georges, and I went and frolicked in the Tuileries! We made huge leaf piles and jumped in them, played hide and seek, and laughed our butts off! Apparently, playing in the leaves is not common practice in France... boy, are they missing out on a *lot* of joy over here! 

Now I'm officially on vacation, and I'm looking forward to a week of sleep and rest and exploration and free time with sweet France friends. Every so often, we'll be walking around the city, and someone will gasp and say, "We live in Paris!" It's good to be reminded of how thrilling is this life we lead.

Gros bisous, et à bientot!

kids say the darndest things

I wanted to write a little about the precious children that I spend time with in exchange for my home here in Paris. They are a franco-american family living one floor below me in a beautiful apartment building right in the heart of the city. The four children are Zoe (14), Ella (12), Paul (9), and Georges (4), and they are amazing. Zaza and Lala (as Georges calls them) are lovely, sophisticated, typically French young ladies with pizzazz and flare to go around, but they laugh and joke with their brothers and are generally pretty level-headed and kind. Paul and Georges are incredibly unique, and today I had the pleasure of walking around Paris with Paul, just the two of us. It was fantastic because it helped me to adore him, whereas before Georges required so much attention that Paul was just kind of in the way, unfortunately. Paul is so cool! I'm teaching him how to solve the Rubik's cube and today we played piano and Wii and Life and had such a blast. We made each other laugh so hard that it hurt, and I'm so happy to be bonding with him. Georges is such a charmer. He is very much a four-year-old, especially in that he shifts instantly from elated to enraged based on seemingly nothing at all. Yesterday we were playing and all of a sudden he frowned and shouted, "You huht me! I'm bweeding!" (which, of course, I didn't and he wasn't), and it took an intervention from his twelve-year-old sister for him to say "sorry" and for us to become friends again. :) Of course after about ten minutes I don't think he remembered it at all and he was back to being my best friend and clinging to my hand all the time. Love is a beautiful thing. The other night I was giving him a bath for the first time, and he wanted the independence of putting the shampoo in by himself. Of course he got too much in his hands which then went quickly into his eyes (by the way, all parents of toddlers should purchase kids' tear-free shampoo - gentle and wonderful), so I had him screaming bloody murder for a little while. If it wasn't the suds in his eyes, then it was the water being too cold and then too hot ("it buhns!"), and you know the drill. But finally I got him calmed down and we'd wait each time until the temperature felt just right (he'd let me know by the progression of, "too cold... too hot... nice" in a very gentle voice) and slowly but surely rinsed out all that silly shampoo. My heart melted and all the frustration was washed away in an instant when he gently said, "Katie? I love you." Sometimes love is all it takes to remind us that the buhns and the scwapes aren't so important in the end. 

crepes and cocktails

France is absolutely delicious! It's so fun to be able to walk down the street and have your choice of freshly baked pastries and crepes. Mmmm... Also, chocolat chaud is one of my favorite things about rainy days in Paris, like today. I think I'll go sip on one in a bit.

Yesterday we had our orientation day, where all 400 or so assistants from my académie met at a university an hour outside of the city. We listened to French people trying to explain complicated clerical processes in broken English, and it left us even more confused than before! But we ate a scrumptious free cafeteria meal and met in smaller groups in the afternoon to talk about life in the classroom. Then they helped us all open a bank account! Thank goodness, because it is insanely difficult for an American to do anything official and businessy here, there are so many documents and things required. 

I've been babysitting and living in this sweet studio apartment for a little over a week now, and it's wonderful! I have a mezzanine/loft place where my bed is, and I also have a living area with a sofa and even a little kitchen! A bunch of my assistant friends are still homeless and kind of desperately seeking a place to stay, so Chez Katie has been a popular place for people to crash for a night or two. This evening my girl Katie from Cali and I are gonna cook dinner for a little group at my apartment, and we'll watch Friends or some fun American movie to keep us laughing. Tomorrow is my first official day at school/work, and I have to get up pretty dang early to get there in time. It will be a Friday full of teenagers and school and then little kids and babysitting, but then it will be another weekend in PARIS! Life couldn't get any better.

Katie's home - time to have a snack and go window-shopping!