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!