June

These last months have been filled with a lot of lasts. Last piano lesson, end of school concert, last day of school, last good-byes with extended family and friends, last day of work.... At the moment, I’m here in Stella Plage (https://maps.google.fr/maps?hl=fr) at the sea with the grandparents and the kids. School has been finished since the 5th of July, and the summer vacations started asap. 

But before the summer vacation started, I’ve taken as much from Paris as possible.  

Solidays happened. Solidays is Paris’s biggest music festival, with Rock artists, and DJ’s at night, and a large variety of artists during the day.  I went during the night with three friends, and was lucky enough to see The Kills!! This was my summer festival replacement. This festival is not near as great as the Winnipeg Folk Festival... but I had a great time nun the less.

Gay Pride happened. The parade was gigantic, and much more progressive than I expected. Thousands of people from the LGBTT community walked the route proudly in support of LGBTT issues in their own personal style. For example: depression, marriage rights, aids, homophobia, same sex adoption. My best friends birthday happened to fall on this week-end, so we went out to celebrate and had a ball for my last week-end in Paris.  

The «Thé Nouveau» happened. The ‘new tea’ is a big extended family reunion/event that takes place once a year. This year, we went to a modern quarter in Paris where there are many universities and schools. We started with a modern church tour, and then we walked to a library consisting of 4 towers with halls connecting them under the ground level.  Placed in the centre of these four towers is a forest that has been planted very diligently. Hundreds of species of snails, and insects inhabit this mini paradise giving a peaceful view for the hard workers on the inside. 

Here in Stella, the new au pair has arrived (my replacement). He and the family takes off for vacations on the 21st of July and then I will have some time to get my things together between then and the 25th. I’ll have a little party to see some of my friends for the last time then I’m off. 

I think I’ll try and debrief my year in a different blog, because until I actually hop onto the plane, I won’t believe that my france adventure is actually ending... 

See you all soon! 

p.s. this blog was supposed to be posted a week ago...

Avril, et Mai

Hello again,

Two months have pasted since I last wrote, so I will try and reflect back accurately to my latest adventures.

I have had two more fellow canadians step foot on Paris terrain. Julie  came in early April just after my parents, and Talitha came mid May.
Being a good canadian host that I am, one evening I took Julie and an american friend to a restaurant that has been calling me since the first day I came to France. The "Canadian Corner". We sat down to a classic canadian meal of roast beaf in bbq sauce with fries.... ignoring our uncanadian baguette and wine.
The restaurant was decorated very tightly and the room did not lack character ...or open wall, roof, or floor space. There were items canadian, and items not at all canadian. There were licences plates from Quebec, but then also from Alaska... There were road crossing signs for bears, but then also for camels. There was a giant stuffed Moose head, but then also a stuffed cheetah head. So.... when I questioned the actual knowledge of the owners perception on Canada, he just let me know that the mixed theme was for the ambiance only. Apparently Canadian Corner used to be a chain of three in Paris. Now, they are sadly the last ones standing.
With the friendly service and friendly friends, I give this restaurant a 4.26 star rating.

Augustin, the now 8 year old boy, had a grand birthday party here at the house with 16 kids. Christine and I had large afternoon. This clever kid realized the more friends you invite, the more presents  you get... so he definitely profited from his day. Lego Star-wars is all that I have been dreaming about lately.

In the beginning of May, I enjoyed a little vacation for 5 days at the Cote d'Azur.  My wonderful host mother Christine put this trip together for me and sent me off to her aunt and uncles house with her cousin/godson. Louis who lives in Paris, is who I joined by plane to the south where we stayed in his families house in Vence.  https://maps.google.fr/maps?hl=fr&q=Vence&ie=UTF-8

This was a perfect vacation, because I really had nothing planned and still got too see the entire Cote d'Azure with a welcoming, warm french family. Their house was gorgeous with a swimming pool on the veranda that looks over a green valley, and leads your vision to the sea.

In the family there is Genvieve and Denis the parents,  Louis and Julie the "big kids".  In their car  we visited, Antibes, Cannes, St. Paul de Vence, Vence, Nice, Cagnes-sur-mer, Monaco, and few others. I was very happy to have my own tour guides. Louis even arranged with some friends to go out one evening, which gave me the chance to see Nice at night.
On the Sunday was an election day. We all went down to the school gym to vote (except the canadian), and then we had a late easter egg hunt at the house with Louis and Julie! It was 4 weeks after easter and these "big kids" were not willing to let the tradition die, so I got the honour of searching for chocolate eggs with them in the South of France. It was one of those moments when you ask yourself how you got there.  That same evening, with a satisfied stomach, we watched the television to find out that a new president has been elected. Nicolas Sarkozy is out and François Holland is in. BIG changes happening in France.

These are still only a few days that I've written about, and in 2 months clearly a lot can happen. My social life is still there, I just wont write about it here :)

Less than two months to go. I'll see if I can sneak one last post in around the beginning of July.

Adios

The dreaded countdown has begun.... Instead of telling people how long I’ve been here, I’ve switched to telling people how much time I have left. LESS THAN 4 MONTHS! And I’m not even going to see it pass... There are too many events distracting me from the time that is ticking.

Not too long ago I met my family in Rome which is something I never thought I would say... and we toured Rome for 3 days, Pompei for 1 day and then Venice for a day. I really enjoyed our time exploring Italy together. One day while we were touring the coloseum in rome... I saw a familiar face with some strangers... JULIE Giesbrecht ! We had known that we would be in Italy at the same time... but we didn’t think that meeting up would be possible! This was soo lucky... and I was shaking like a leaf. Excited clearly! It was no biggy saying good-bye though, because she will be coming up here to Paris soon. It was just an early surprise, thats all.

After Italy we all came up here to Paris where I got to show my family my world. I enjoyed running the show for the most part, and with Paris being my recent home, there was a lot less confusion when it came to transporation and figuring out the city. This created for a more relaxed portion of the trip. Never, though, have I felt so canadian as I did while touring, talking, and eating with my family. Thinking of my family having been in Paris with me, still amazes me.

For the Easter week-end, the family and I went to Liseux Normandie, where we rented a cabin in a zoo. This was clearly no ordinary zoo... Our porch looked out into a field with rihnos, monkeys, and gazelles. Then in the enclosed area where the cabins were, there were kangaroos and deer. The tropical atmosphere conflicted slightly with the low temperatures... but it was a great week-end non the less.

Spring time is here. Flowers are blooming, the bees are buzzing and the parisians have put on their spring attitudes. I don’t think I’ll be getting tired of France anytime soon...

This one is called 'Claudia'

Bonjour à tous!

The month of February has been just delightful. It has been filled with friends and french families.

February seems to be the month filled with birthdays which means that I've had my fair share of cake... and good times.

Honorine turned 3, and now that she is old enough to understand birthdays and sing happy birthday like a pro, she was able to really enjoy the glory of her day. We wanted her to go for a walk that she didn't want to take because we said we were making a surprise for her, and then she decided that she hated surprises... But we pushed her out the door with papa anyways! Then when they came back she was happy to see the decorations. Then we prepared a little cake also, and that didn't go too well with the surprise aspect either... The thought of eating cake trumps any other thoughts... understandable.

The house has been StarWars themed for about the entire month.... The boys play, discuss, and dream of StarWars. At the moment the film marathon has slowed down... and I still have no interest in it.

CLAUDIA CAME!!! and oh how it was glorious.

We did everything touristic under the sun. She definitely made me realize the kind of touristic environment that exists around me, and that brought back memories to all my first feelings and emotions when arriving in France. The week was very physical, but relaxed at the same time. We walked around castles, walked around museums, and we walked because we were lost at 1 in the morning... but with out any real set schedule. This allowed for no pressure. With Claudia being a european citizen and I with my france residency, all museums and most attractions were free for us! We definitely profited from this advantage by dining out often. It was a week I will always remember...

This last weekend for the second week of the school vacation, I went with the family again up to Stella on the English Chanel. Wonderfully relaxing.

There were maybe two weeks of snow on the ground here... Not out of the ordinary according to the weather trends. The easiest shortest winter I've ever experienced... I don't even think winter is worthy of being called 'winter' here. Spring is on its way though, I can smell it. I have mourned for the effects of climate change in southern manitoba btw. RIP.

Guess what?! Im going to Italy in a few weeks! I'll meet my family (sauf Tracey) in Rome and then I will spend 5 days in Italy before bringing my family up here to Paris where I will show them around. This will be a great trip that has been highly anticipated!

Quick up date.

This will be just a quick overview of my January.

Just after the vacation I returned to Alliance Français (professional french school) for 4 weeks... all I can afford. Now I'm finished and not very disappointed about being finished because I find that the course didn't move forward very fast.

This past month I've been noticing how many english people I'm hanging out with (with out language or culture barriers the english seem to stick together) , and I think my new goal will be to spend more time with my french buddies.

For christmas, I received fine french cuisine courses from the parents. So christine and I found and booked a 'How to make macarons' workshop which I thoroughly profited from... Macarons are the 'in' dessert at the moment, and for a good reason... they are full of colour, and the most delicious things that could ever touch your taste pallets. Christine and I have made them twice now... (it's a two person job) and exhausted our creative energies in trying to figure out why they look soo terrible! They haven't turned out yet... but at least they still taste like the real thing, so we will persevere.

I've hit the half way point here, and I can't say its really affecting me. I feel like I've really learn't the culture, and this next 5 months will be way to fast considering all the big events that are to come. In 10 days my best friend Claudia will be here to experience this wonderful city with me, a month after that I will be in Italy with my family, after that my friend Julie will be spending some time here in Paris and I'll take a trip to england to see her too, then before I know it, its July! The last month! Maybe this is beginning to hit me...

Pictures: -The inside of the café from the famous french film "Amélie Poulain"

- Honorine trying to grab the red spot from my camera on the wall, showing off her hair-doo

-The first snow fall! I didn't think it was coming this year... my friend and I ran out-side in our pyjamas to see the light snowfall.

-An english carrot cake I felt was necessary.

-What macarons are supposed to look like...

Bonne Nouvelle Année!

So, here is my holiday post.

Christmas eve was pretty interesting. The family and I went to the catholic church here in town, which is much much different traditionally than what I am accustomed to. Lots of monotone chanting and smoke blessings. A good christmas church band (with too many flutes)that doesn't really sound like they practiced brought back some good memories though.

Christmas day was great! Different traditionally again.. but great. Christmas started at lunch when we went to the grandparents. Christine's brother and sister and their families came shortly after. We opened presents all together, then sat down to a nice meal of Foie Gras. Foie Gras is a liver meat type thing that is really fatty.. It's made by shoving food down a goose or a ducks throat until it is about to explode. Then its liver become extra tender. This is a traditional meal for the holidays in France.. so I had participate. I wont lie, it was delicious.. but my conscience tells me never again. The lack of christmas music was starting to drive me crazy.. so the grandparents put on a old record of french christmas hymns for me! I only knew like three songs.

(Boxing day doesn't exist)

The next day I left with the grandparents for Stella Plage where they have a second vacation house on the sea. The sea was soo beautiful. The whole town was on sand, and there were lots of dunes to go hiking through! The grandparents took me to the town of Montreuil which is incredibly old and charming. There is a wall that was built all around the town (for protection from the english) and the grandparents and I took a nice stroll along the border which was always a beautiful view.

The week consisted of relaxing by the fire, knitting, practicing french, visiting surrounding towns, and going to France's largest Aquarium. It was a great holiday.

New years I went to a party with some friends. New years in France is pretty cool, because everybody says happy new year to every one for the month of January.. and people call distant family members to reconnect and say happy new year. They don't send christmas cards but they send new years cards.

Now we are back to work and today I went to re-register at Alliance français.

Sad to see the grand vacation over.

I hope all of you had good holidays too!