I see London, I see France...

So, the family I work for went for a “holiday” to London in December, and I jumped at the chance to go along to babysit. We arrived Friday night by train. It was freezing cold! Standing in line for a funny looking British taxi was painful, it was so cold. I stayed with Lawrence in the room and they went for a drink, and then I brought him down the pub they were at so we could

all have dinner. It was weird because I came in holding his hand, and we found them. When the bartender came over to get our orders, he kept asking me questions for Lawrence, and I realized that he thought Lawrence was MY son, and they were his grandparents! It just kind of struck me. I have classmates from high school who have and are having kids, but that it could possibly happen to me in any realm of reality never really reached my consciousness until that moment. I am an adult human who could create life and presumably be responsible for it. Scary! Haha. After a great meal of “proper” fish and chips and an English Ale, I was off for the night.

I stayed with a couple, Helen and Chris, in West Ealing, and “commuted” to the hotel each day by tube (The London Underground). It really does look like a tube. Since I was in London for eight days last summer I had done most of the big stuff already, and just wanted to hang out with some locals and go to a pub, etc. Helen and Chris are one of the cutest couples ever. He is Australian, and she is British (but her family is from Spain originally). They were so

accommodating and sweet! Not to mention hilarious. We all had a lot in common and got along really well. Chris and I talked about Australia a lot, and I have to say he made me bump it up a few slots on my “Places to Visit” list. It sounds utterly amazing. On my last night they took me to a comedy show. Of course, I got picked on a lot for being American (all in good fun, of course) including getting serenaded Wham’s “Careless Whisper” by a chubby Brit wearing a spandex cat costume and one nipple tassel. But that’s another story. ;) I had a fabulous weekend filled with good conversations, lots of laughs, great food, a lot of tea, and wonderful people.

Unfortunately, it was also a weekend of extreme snow fall for London. When it was time for me to take my train back to Paris, all of the travel was extremely backed up. In fact, the headline of a newspaper that I picked up on the way TO THE TRAIN STATION read “You can’t even escape by train!” Lovely. And it was a good indicator of the rest of my day.

Since travel was so backed up, your ticket time didn’t matter, as long as you had one, you got in an extremely long line (or queue as the British say :-P). Then they just loaded trains on a first come first serve basis as fast as they could, which was not fast at all. After marching through snow to the very end of the line several blocks away, my socks were soaked. Then, I waited in the cold with wet feet for about three hours before even getting inside St. Pancras. The Salvation Army was there handing out coffee, tea, and some hot food like curry and even Domino’s brought pizza. News stations kept filming us and interviewing the people waiting. I waited for four more hours inside the train station before getting a ticket, and another hour and a half inside the lounge. Whew. It was an exhausting day.

When I finally made it back to Paris at midnight, I was ecstatic. I came into Gare du Nord, the same station as last summer when I arrived in Paris for the first time and completely alone because of a flight mix up. Back then I remember feeling so scared, alone, and confused. I had no idea where I was, how to get where I was going, and my French was pretty abysmal. This time, I knew exactly where I was, understood all of the announcements, and even asked the guy next to me if he’d prefer the window seat. It felt so…comfortable. Coming back to Paris was like coming home. I was so excited to be back I didn’t even take the bus the rest of the way with my suitcase, but just walked, soaking up the sights and smells of Paris again. J

Christmas Time in the City (of luurrrve)

After my last class before Christmas, during which I made my students sing Christmas carols, my premières (youngest grade in French high school) stopped me in the hallway. One girl asked me if I could stay for a minute. I was confused, but said sure. The next thing a knew, the rest of the class (it's split into two groups, and I see one group per week) congregated, and one particularly charming kid named Vincent came up with a big brightly colored bag. They all yelled "Merry Christmas!" and presented it to me. It was my first Christmas gift from students, and I was truly floored by their ability to coordinate and how much they must like me, because there were some NICE chocolates inside! Jeff de Bruges makes some goooood stuff, I'll tell you that.

Here is a picture of the chocolate:

However, the best part was the card they made. It cracked me up so much.

Apparently Santa does "all imaginable" badass things in France...

Dave read this and said "Until our spaceship sends us away from Earth which will be the end of relationship." Hahahahaha.

And, of course, a Star Wars reference.

These are the kinds of things that make me love teaching, and motivate me to work harder for my students. :) It really set the tone for Christmas break.

So this is Christmas

Paris cannot handle snow. It snowed about ten centimeters, or a little less than four inches, today and traffic is at a standstill. Apparently it is the most snow Paris has had since 1987. Horns honk impatiently, the distinct “EEE OOO” sound of the sirens of emergency vehicles wails as they try to maneuver through the blocked streets, and the traffic lights cycle through red and green with no movement of traffic because this much snow is incomprehensible. They even shut down the Eiffel tower. Man, these parisiens would HATE Grand Rapids.

I spent the day inside, playing “snowball fight” with Lawrence as fat snowflakes drifted down outside, and we listened to Christmas music on my laptop. I put his coat and gloves on him and took him out on the balcony to experience the snow. He mostly just made snow balls and then sucked on them like they were some kind of candy, but to each his own. Recently Maja told me that her mom said something about how it just isn’t Christmas without children. I have always been rather indifferent to the idea of having children, but that point stuck with me. I can’t imagine the holidays having that “magic” without children to enjoy it and to bring it to life for everyone else. I am sitting in the tiny French café on the corner by my house. I like it because it is so authentically French. It hasn’t been updated since the 70’s it seems like, and it’s always the same barman working, and there is always a crowd of regulars (crusty old French people who speak no English and have been coming here forever). I think the barman thinks I’m nuts for coming in despite old French men hitting on me, but there is something truly charming and extremely French about this place. That being said, the older men are harmless and it gives me a chance to speak French. It is definitely not a place for tourists. Plus, they have a room that consists entirely of windows so I can sit and watch people pass by on the street while I drink my chocolat chaud.

With the winter weather and December sneaking up on me, I’ve been thinking about Christmas a lot recently. It is going to be my first Christmas away from my family. Ever. I keep going around in my head about it. I got invited to join my host family from last summer in Nice, and to see my Sicilian family who I have never met, but I plan to while I’m here. Neither of those worked out, too expensive. I got offered babysitting on Christmas day, and with that in mind, I have decided to stay in Paris. I want to at least spend it with some children. Sandra and Andre are going to London for a weekend during my break, and today they told me that they would pay for me to come if I can babysit when they go out. It would be a fun Christmasy trip. I realized that besides not seeing my family and Dave, it shouldn’t be that bad to be here for Christmas. I mean I’m in Paris for God’s sake. There are lights strung up over the roads, festive markets hawk Christmas items and delicious hot food, snow is falling, and I caught the fresh scent of pine from the fresh pine trees at the stores (45 euro for a tree! That’s like 60 dollars! I guess I’ve never bought a tree but it seems a bit steep!). The best part of Christmas is and always has been the anticipation; hearing Christmas songs, making cookies, playing in the snow. Christmas day I always feel a little deflated, like the fun is over. I had a snowball fight with the other kids I babysit for this week. I had so much fun chasing the boys and dodging the (somewhat pathetic…I am from Michigan after all) cold fluffy balls of snow while Parisiens reluctantly smiled as they passed. It definitely got me in the Christmas spirit. I am just going to try and have as many Christmasy moments as I can. I had my students sing "Jingle Bells" yesterday, and they loved it. They cracked up when I added the "HA HA HA" after "laughing all the way." I asked a student how Christmas is different here. He said, “I sink eet ees ze same as America, just weeth…euh…less decorating.” I laughed. I’m sure he’s seen Christmas Vacation and thinks that all Americans are like that.

So, I’m going to have a French Christmas. I hope to Skype with my family though. I miss them. J

Here is my Christmas playlist if you're looking for something Christmasy too. ;)

Discover the playlist Christmas with John Williams