The coming of a new season.

I am just realizing that it's been a month since I've last updated... Sorry guys. I feel like I just updated last week! This scares me to think about how fast time is flying.

Well the french has come along quite nicely, even with out the Thursday course. I think after Christmas I will start up again at Alliance Francaise, and take professional courses there for 3 or 4 months on top of my course here in my town. I am still meeting too many people who speak english though..

How have I been keeping myself busy? The family and I have been to the theatre a few times, and we saw one really bizarre show that was very difficult to decipher, and a typical french mime show which was really hilarious. I've been to the Cinema a few times with some friends. I waaaas planning a trip to Vienna for New Years with a friend who I was going to met there... but I was to late to reserve train seats during this christmas season. So for the christmas holidays, I'll be here in Houilles. Which is still great! December season with rain is still weirding me out.. especially when I see christmas lights and fake snow on decorated buildings.

Planning/research on Universities for next year has been taking up a big chuck of my time. It's between Montreal and Manitoba at the moment...

On November 11, 2011 at 11:11:11 pm The family had a few friends over for a very nice evening of chit chat. Because I expressed how important this time was to me, they offered to pull out the champaign. btw's this date and time happens every century.. so if you miss it, time will never lead up to anything this brilliant again (unless you are lucky enough to live past one century). I tried taking a picture of the time ...I was a second early. AND on top of the amazing time, it was also 11 degrees outside. Too prefect.

Christine showed me these two really decked out places called "Printemps" and "Galleries Lafayette" which are apparently really worshiped in the fashion industry. The buildings were absolutely incredible, and everything was really expensive. I had to take pictures... I couldn't believe the prices. Here are some photos from that!

I went to the Louvre to finish up the left wing, here are a few photos from that too!

I will try to write again during the holidays.

Joyeux Noel!

Salut!

So basically the rest of my week off was great, I did everything that was on my to do list. I went to the neighbours to offer my working services (during a holiday...), but was declined and was invited over for supper instead! I thanked Karma, for that delicious meal.

My french course here in Houilles has been an adventure. I go to these classes two times per week. On the monday, the "teacher" is decent, but on the thursday I have a different "teacher" who is horrible. Us foreigners in the class of approx. 7, (who all have similarities and major cultural differences) have become a learning unit. We generally don't learn constructive french with the teacher on thursday, because of the material, the way she speaks and her teaching style. I think an obvious regulation for a french teacher is that you have to be able to speak french correctly. Those of us who can understand the type of material we are learning, are not happy. Philibert who is 9 years old can not understand what we are learning, and he is fluent in French. One of the ladies in my course is Portuguese, and communicates with very little french (in a hilarious accent) and with a lot of expression... Some of us in the class had talked on monday about how we need to change the material of the thursday course, and the plan was to talk to the thursday prof about it on thursday. On thursday, this old portuguese woman, reamed out the teacher which was not the plan.... "Trrrrop Difficilee!!!!!! Pas biieen!!"And this teacher who is very defensive retaliated "Tu peux met tes papiers dans la poubelle, avec moi!". It was half hilarious, half incredibly uncomfortable. I probably laughed more than I should have with out making any eye contact. She's a volunteer.. so we did feel a little bad for critiquing her when she didn't want to be critiqued. Well, I'm not going to the thursday course anymore, it's a waste of time.

Home life is wonderful as always. I hit a patch of sickness recently, with tonsil, fever, and headache issues.. but I'm feeling better now. Christine has a lot of knowledge on organic medication, so I haven't had a need to see a doctor yet!

This is the first remembrance day, (that I can remember) where I haven't been at a remembrance day service. I've been reading a french kids book about World War 2, it just feels necessary.

The pictures are from the Chateau de Versailles and the Musee de Quai Barly (museum of the first arts). The picture of the shutters with the yellow flowers; that is where Van Gogh lived with his brother for 4 years or so. It was a period in his life when he painted the most. Maybe he painted the "sunflowers in a vase" when he was there...

Busy bUSY BUSY and I like it.

I'm sorry to the few faithful readers that I have for the lack of posts! I've been meaning to write something for a long time now, lots has happened.

I'll start with a few weeks ago... I've been meeting some people in town which means actually having somewhat of a social life, and practicing my french in a different setting which is great!

Then last week Christine Agustin and I went to take a sunday stroll around the Cathedral de Notre Dame. The sunday before, Christine the boys and I relaxed in the

garden in front of the Louvre, along with visiting the Musee de l'Orangerie. Very interesting stuff it was, but both of those times we didn't have time to go in.

Now my family is away on vacation with extended family in Spain, so I have a holiday here with a house to myself! They left early in the morning on the day of my birthday, so we celebrated before. This last friday, the kids were sent to the grandparents, then Christine and Nicolas took me to this beautiful Brasserie/Restaurant in Paris. The entire interior decor is made of ceramics, and the restaurant was built between the first and second world wars. I ate escargot for the entrée, and duck with french fries for the plate principale! It was really typical french..

The next morning the kids came home and sang "Bonne Anniversaire" continually, which was really cute. They all made me little crafts, except for Honorine who gave me a painted cup which was a gift that she gave to her father last year... Nicolas told me he would like to keep that. For supper, I went to the Creperie with some friends who made me feel special also. In the evening I went to a birthday party for someone I've never met... so when mid-night hit, and they all said happy birthday to me... I felt a little guilty. On the day of my actual birthday, I went to church! But not just any church... Notre Dame! And I sat in on the very traditional service with French and Latin hymns. I would say this is probably the most unique birthday I've ever had...

With the family being in Spain, I now have holidays also! And I've found lots of things to do to keep myself busy. Yesterday I spent the day in the Louvre and really enjoyed myself. I think I got through 2/3 of it! I'm proud of that. Today, I went on an english walking tour through the Marais which is an old historic central area in Paris. The guide was very knowledgable, and we toured and learn't a lot about the history of the buildings and churches. I will admit, after living in the french culture for two months, it felt a little uncomfortable being within a group of 60 year old american tourists, but it was worth participating in. I will being going on another tour tomorrow morning.

For the rest of the week, here are some plans that I have:

-Spend a day in Versaille

-Get my tragus pierced

-Chill with some new friends

-possibly finish my Louvre adventures.

-Musee d'Orsay

This is considering I don't spend a few days filling in for the neighbours sick nanny... I'm crossing my fingers!

La Braderie de Houilles 2011

It's been two weeks since the last post, but I probably only have half a weeks worth of things to say... so I'll talk about one of these days!

Last week-end, I witnessed the most incredible steroid injected garage sale EVER. Well, not ever, it's the second biggest in France. It's called a Braderie, which is a day where people can buy spots on the side of the road from the town, to display all their old toys or treasures for sale. So, within a 1 or 2 km rage, the streets were blocked and filled with bargainers of all sorts. There were stands that sold Hibou candy, posters, hand bags, crepes, and expensive watches. Some of the stands were actual businesses and others were people who go around to other Braderies, search for cool cheap treasures, and then they form a super stand that makes more money than others. The majority of the stands were just everyday people getting rid of old junk. The Braderie is a one day event, and because this one is soooo popular in france, the streets were packed with people. I didn't know what to expect when Christine and Nicolas were explaining it to me, but when I saw in the morning that our street had cars parking on the sidewalks, and then when I walked to the end of the road where all the madness began, I realized that there was no way I could have imagined what it would be like. I ended up buying a nice old bag for 2 euros, some candy and a crepe. Not much, but I didn't have much in mind that I wanted. ooh, and I didn't take any pictures... but these are from google images of Houilles Braderie 2011!

It's been over a month and that means I only have 9 more months to learn french!

Recent happenings:

1. -This is the fourth and final week that I am to take french courses at Alliance Francaise. It's too expensive for me, and I'm taking much more personal, though less professional courses here in Houilles.
2. 
   
3. -I went to visit the basilica de Sacré Coeur. The church is on top of this huge hill that over looks most of the city... it was beautiful. While touring that beautiful district called Montmartre, I also came across the Moulin Rouge! I hope to go see a show there one day. This end of Paris is a lot more lively, and full of character, ... one of my favourite parts of Paris so far.
4. 
   
5. -Original plan: Spend a unusually hot sunday after noon in the Chateau de Versille gardens, play soccer, relax. Changed plan: Spent and hour finding a parking spot, boiled in the sun, decided against seeing the gardens in the blistering heat, I snapped a few pictures, and then we spent the evening at the cousins house who live in the town of Versaille.

Great week once again. Insanely busy week once again.

Museums!

Time for another update!

Two weeks of french class has gone by, and I am really enjoying them! Most of the others in the class are over 30, and falling asleep.. but thats okay, because I get extra help! There is always homework, and Christine is always willing to help me with it, so french has been on my mind a lot lately. After four weeks (which is what I've payed for) I might stop and take up some other classes that Christine has found here in town. The options that the town offers are run by volunteers and are much cheaper. I'm told everyone gets a lot of individual attention, so it sounds very progressive. I will decide once I start these other classes where I want to stay.

I went to see the Eiffel tower not too long after my last update! It was nice.

This past week has been very busy with the starting of all the kids activities, so I haven't had much free time, and today is Philiberts birthday, so there has been party planning, and family visits! This weekend was a weekend where most museums and exhibits are free. It is not prime touristy season, so the free weekend is geared towards the residents of france. The family and I (minus Honorine) went to see the House and Garden of Claude Monet. He's the one who painted those famous water lilies with the bridge. The pond, was probably my favourite part of the yard. There were not many flowers in bloom, with it being fall and all... but it was all still very enjoyable. The museum of his house had everything just as it was when he was living there, and it was filled with replicas of his paintings.

Yesterday, we had Christines brothers family over, along with the Grandparents to celebrate Philibert's birthday. After the cake and some macarons, we went to the town next to us to visit the Carriers sur Seine (tunnels under the Seine), which was also once again very interesting! These were caves that had been mined for the stone. With the stone, they built many popular touristy churches in Paris, like the Sacré Coeur basilica. This place was privately owned, so Christine and I were surprised when we found out that the driveway that we drive by on bike, and where I've ran by, lead to tunnels!

Guess what Honorines first English words are! "Oh my God"... I can explain... the boys asked me what Oh mon Dieu was in English, so I told them. Naturally Honorine, copies everything the boys do. Oh mon Dieu is not used in any negative religious context here in France, even the priests will say this. Nicolas tells me it comes from a "God save" expression, that isn't, and never has been offensive. I explained to them that if the 2 and a half year old Honorine were to walk around Altona yelling OH MY GOD, a large number of people would stop in their tracks.

Nicolas is gone to India for the week on a business trip, and so with Honorine having caught a cold, this could be another busy week. No big deal, Christine and I have this house under control!

Never a dull moment,

Au Revoir