La Vie d'Emily

She's baaaaaack

2008-07-09T05:00:00.003+02:00

Guess what time zone I'm in!

Yes, that's right, good ol' ET. I made it here to NYC safe and sound today, thanks to Lufthansa, a most enjoyable international airline.

I am writing a quick note at 11:00pm ET while my body thinks it's 5:00am. That's what time I woke up this morning. In France. Which means I've pulled another all-nighter and I didn't sleep at all today. Things are getting a little hazy now and hallucinations might soon set in so I think it's best if I get to bed.

But I'm in New York. In my 'new apartment.' It is awesome. I went to Park Slope for the first time today and saw Rachel Paneth-Pollak! wtf? Awesome.

TIME FOR BED. Vive la France and vive mon retour!

In 24 hours I'll be sittin' at the airport

2008-07-07T08:31:00.003+02:00

It's my last day in France.

I'm sittin' in the Brasserie de Conservatoire, chattin' it up with my cafe man. Turns out he's done three (3) three-month tours of the South of the US. Whatthebananas! His favorite state? Arizona. His favorite city? New Orleans. He rocks. Also he just made me the most chocolatey hot chocolate I have ever tasted... I can't even finish it (THIS, we all know, is HUGE)

Moving on...

Yesterday I went to the Mediterranean one last time. Specifically, I hung out at the Calanques (remember? The place with all the rocks and the water is this beautiful blue-green and everyone gets naked? Yup. There). I decided on a day-trip to Marseille to visit Emilie (daughter of Francoise, sister of Sandy) and Robyn and Brian who were finishing up their bike-tour of Provence there. Emilie took me to the beach where we se bronzered and then Robyn/Brian/I said adieu from their hostel.

I'm no good at goodbyes and I have been doing them since May. It's so weird to hear "au revoir" instead of "a toute a l'heure" or "a bientot." Because, nope, I won't be seeing anyone later or "till next time." I'm bouncing out, peace-ing from la France and everyone's wishing me a "bon voyage" and a "bon retour."

Luckily, with a few people I've been able to say "quand tu viens aux Etats-Unis on va..." ("when you come to the US we will...") because, for them, a future trip (hopefully in the near-future) is possible and in the plans. Emilie wants to study for a year in the US and if she does, it would be GREAT if her mom and sister visited and I could see them again. One of my students is going to do a tour of the Northern states of the US but he has no idea if Michigan is in his plans. Everyone I've met here knows I'm moving to NYC so I think I'll be getting hit up with CouchSurfing requests pretty soon/often :)

It's been amazing. Tonight's my last Red Sky night and I hope to drop some new covers and to sing with my fave guitarist. Fingers crossed that Celine and I sing together and that it's a good time.

Ok, I'm going to go start crying my eyes out now (mind you, I'm still at the cafe... I'm so classy). Catch you latah.

C'est QUOI ca?

2008-07-05T23:57:00.005+02:00

It's midnight on Saturday. I'm not sure when was the last time I slept... Thursday night, I think?

Yup.

Why is it that, when you're just starting to wrap something up somewhere, things actually start going? C'est quoi ca?

First off, last weekend I went to Grenoble (a beautiful town surrounded by mountains). It was a beautiful and wonderful and super fun weekend and I'm glad I took a chance and went. It further confirms the fact that I have had the chance to meet some of the greatest people around.

Yesterday I went to a concert with a friend who was playing with his 20-piece orchestra at an outdoor concert/cookout thing.

This is the part where I tell you what we ate!
On the menu? Sardines, mussels, and french fries, natch.

The music? Medleys of everyone from Celine Dion to hard rock, music of Frank Sinatra to Michael Buble, Yannick Noa, Josh Groban, etc. It was an AWESOME concert and I didn't get back to Avignon till... 3 o'clock? At which point I did not sleep like normal people would. Instead, I made pancakes and walked around my lil' walled-city, waiting for it to wake up. I absolutely could not fall asleep after all of that so I've been fueled on adrenaline/caffeine the rest of the day.

I have just come from a Provencal BBQ at Francoise's house. Ahhhh I love that family. I keep meeting the most amazing people and then dang, I gotta bounce. Watched some "Prison Break" with French sous-titres and then sat down to a delicious meal.

This is the part where I tell you what we ate!

Whte rice, tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, onions
Grilled chicken (I gave up the vegetarianism for a night - didn't want to be rude and it was SO GOOD. I have a feeling this will have MAJORLY horrible consqeuences tomorrow)
ratatouille (vive les legumes!)
apricot sorbet (made from apricots from her friend's garden)

Francoise is an amazing cook.

It was all delicious, of course. What I loved was just sitting around with everyone, catching different conversations here and there (due partly to my questionable comprehension of spoken familial French and due to the fact that there was a lot going on), piping in when I had something to say, and watching the Provencal life roll on.

Tomorrow is a day-trip to Marseille. Monday is holycrapthedaybeforeileave Day. I shall spend it freaking out, closing my bank account, chanign money, packing, guitar, and Red Skying.

It's all ending. As sad as I am, I'm totally geeked for the return to the States!

I wish I had a food blog

2008-07-01T11:54:00.006+02:00

Not that this France blog isn't fun, it's just... 101cookbooks.com has stolen my heart! As has postpunkkitchen.com! And so many others!

This post's for Jenny Yee.

Since I've stopped working and I have mucho free time on my hands, I've been surfing the internet for recipes that look delicious/might be vegan (ok, stop freaking out, everyone - I'm not vegan, I just like toying with the idea.)

Anyway! I've been cookin'! And here's what I did the other day:

This would be my 1/2 and 1/2 pizza I made the other day for myself and Amy. Left side: black beans, corn, red onion, red pepper, cheese. Right side: the same but no cheese. The crust: homemade! It was DELICIOUS, even if I accidentally undercooked the crust a little bit.

Dough is hard to make

And then I just had to make M&M/oatmeal (nothing-vegan-about-em) cookies.

Ooh but the other day I made the greatest breakfast cookies: vegan oatmeal/almond cookies.

Countdown to the US: one week.

the French healthcare system

2008-06-26T01:35:00.003+02:00

I went to the doctor the other day (don't worry, it's all good in the hood) and I just got most of my money back. Deposited directly into my account. How's THAT for socialized medicine? Makes me feel pretty great about paying all these taxes!

Ah, question: should this blog end 1) when I return to the US - july 8th - or 2) when I return to Michigan - july 10th - ? You get to decide!!

Last day of school!

2008-06-24T18:09:00.005+02:00

Ok. I am now done with work here in France.

WHAT.

It is June 24th and I am finished teaching at Elsa Triolet and Mistral. I will no longer take the bus to Sorgues on Monday and Tuesday, with a stomach full of knots and butterflies, and I'll no longer wake up at 5am on those mornings, panicking about lessons.

I took pictures with my students. The teachers were so nice. I got so many bisous and lots of cards that say things like "emilieeeeee je t'aime." Email addresses were given to me, but without the names of the students attached, so I have no idea to whom I'll be writing. Oh, and these students are convinced we will talk on MSN.

It has been a crazy ride, this whole teaching experience. I'm so glad I did it. Et... voila.

Lyon, Toulouse, ferris wheel

2008-06-20T11:36:00.005+02:00

So I'm trying to carpe diem my remaining time here. It's june 20th... I'll be in Michigan in exactly three weeks from today!! As much as this excites me (and it definitely definitely does) I know there's tons here that I need to so/do so here goes...

This past weekend I went to Lyon (France's second largest city) for Gay Pride. I am bummed because I missed NY's and Chicago's and Paris's is next weekend but far too expensive for me to get to (Berlin's is next weekend, too, and I wish I could go there (it being my favorite European city and all)). So to Lyon's GP I went. I CouchSurfed with a Canadian, a German, and Robyn at the house of a really nice French engineer and her friend from Grenoble. Once again, CouchSurfing proves to be an amazing project, connecting us all for a weekend of sightseeing and fun. The gays in Lyon were having a great time but, I have to say, nothing quite matches NYC's. Ooooh and it was Brooklyn's GP the same day as Lyon's... wish i coulda been there. Hell, I wish I could have been all over the world this month, as it's Gay Pride month and everyone is going all out everywhere to have fantastic parades and parties and all of that.

Moving on...

Teaching this week was PHENOMENAL. I realize that it's been awhile since I last wrote about the actual teaching I do and here's this: thanks to Nicole's idea, I had the most successful song/learning session with most of my kids. We sang "Hello, Goodbye" and learned opposites! They are now all obsessed with the song and they now think it's hilarious to, when I say 'goodbye' as I leave the classroom, respond with 'hello!' So much laughter and enthusiasm and it was so encouraging. I'm here to give the end of my year a little boost and it's so good to know that, despite the occasional bad day, I've had a great time with (the majority of) my students and they've (actually!) learned.
Ooh I get to take my camera to school next week so I hope to get lots of video (don't you want to hear them sing 'The Weather Song'?) and cute pictures.

After Lyon and teaching I went to Toulouse (a big city west of me) and it was pretty good. I learned how to bake THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING IN THE WORLD and there will be a few lucky people in the States who will get to taste this fantastic creation when I get out the $$ for all the ingredients.

Upon my return from Toulouse, I hit up a picnic organized by the Anglaises who are all leaving quite soon (I cannot stand all these endings) and we all sat and ate overlooking the river. Oh MAN I'm going to miss the Jardins de Palais and all of that. Hell, I'm going to miss this whole city at sunset.

Annnnnnd so, the ferris wheel is GREAT and it's one of the cheaper things in this city! Only 5 euros!! Granted, for 5 euros you get to go on it for approximately 5 minutes (and at breakneck speed which was very curious) but we managed to convince the Roule Man to let us go on for longer.

Normandy, continued...

2008-06-13T19:29:00.006+02:00

Ok so I just got back from an incredibly stressful day of sitting at the local cafe, sipping on pacalo (that's lemon syrup and water... aka, lemonade but... better) and reading a new book.

Where were we?

Ah, the Pointe-du-Hoc. V. cool.

Next on the stop was Omaha Beach. My apologies, but I will now be lazy on all the history because I don't know it all well enough and I feel that you can go wikipedia it to get a better idea. I wouldn't want to misinform you or just copy and paste from that fave wiki of ours. So basically, Omaha Beach = v. important. The sea ran red. It's known as "Bloody Omaha." (to the left is the beach, to the right is the memorial sculpture)

Then Omaha Beach Museum
Aaaaaand next we hit up the Omaha Beach Museum which was very small but completely packed with replicas from the battle. That is, replicas of uniforms, replicas of machinery, replicas of newspaper articles/letters/etc. A lot of primary documents, too, which makes the history geek in me freak out a lot.
On a sidenote, I also got a deeeeeelicious vanilla coffee there which just made it a very good way to continue the afternoon. Oh how I love flavored coffee.

We ended with the American Cemetery. Just as you've seen it in the museums. Rows upon rows of white crosses. And white stars of David. Perfectly aligned. The white markers stood out on the fields of green, people milling about, placing flowers, taking pictures. It was every bit as moving as I expected it to be and I'm so glad I got an opportunity to see it up close and personal.

So that's that, my friends. Beauty, history history history, great day.

Ok Bayeux and Normandy with Mom and Dad for real

2008-06-13T10:37:00.007+02:00

I'm back!

I am on a huge internet kick this morning so I figure while the computer is burning my thighs, I can get away from the numerous blogs I read and I can post for you all. Y'all. So here I go.

Friday of last week was June 6th, 2008. June 6th, 2008 happens to be the 64th anniversary of D-Day (aka "Jour J" if you're francais) and guess what. I was on the Normandy beaches. This was an incredible experience for me - not just to be on the beaches themselves (Pointe-du-Hoc, Omaha) but on the 64th anniversary. The history geek in me was, for lack of better words, flipping out all afternoon, as our tour guide gave us an in-depth look at the day and I saw, first-hand, the destruction and reconstruction of the area. It was wonderful.

But first! Before we did our wonderful Normandy tour, we went to Bayeux, a town a few kilometers away from the beaches. Bayeux is famous for its tapestry which was made a gajillion years ago and explains the Norman invasion of England and the conquest of William the... Conquerer. It is extremely well-preserved and really interesting. I'm still surprised it wasn't destroyed in WWII but it made it out alive thanks to being hid in the basement of the Louvre (awesome).

Bayeux is a beautiful little town and, while we were walking around it, we encountered not just tourists, but WWII veterans of the English and French variety. Men and women in uniform, some with children and grandchildren, sitting in cafes, checking out postcards, sporting their medals. I felt so lucky to be around them and just be in their efforts and their history. (this picture is meant to show you all the flags that were flown all along the streets. sorry that it's bad picture)

After a stroll around the Bayeux cathedral and a lunch on the canal, we headed to Normandy with our tour group.

We did an afternoon tour: Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, Omaha Beach Memorial Museum, American Cemetery, German Cemetery. I will now describe the tour for you through pictures...

The German Cemetery was our first stop. There are over 20,000 German soldiers buried here.
I don't know why it was designed like this - to have 5 crosses grouped here and there among the headstones of the graves. Apparently German schoolchildren tend to the graves during the summer months, as work on the cemetery is voluntary.

Our next stop was a visit to Pointe-du-Hoc. This was the first point of attack by US Rangers whose attack did not go as originally planned - the soldiers initially landed on a different part of the Normandy beaches and were thus delayed 40 minutes for their attack. Interesting, eh? Anyway, Pointe-du-Hoc was really the beginning of D-Day.

This picture on the left shows craters where bombs fell. On the right we have the Pointe-du-Hoc.

I interrupt this blogpost to go to the gym. MORE LATER!!

Mom and Dad up North, Bayeux and Normandy... or not

2008-06-13T09:56:00.007+02:00

Hello!! Sorry it's taking me so long to update on the amazingness that was going up North with Mom and Dad. Life has gotten in the way. What has "life" consisted of? Well, you see, I got a haircut. And I saw the SATC movie. But, um, that was dubbed so it was all "VF" (version francaise) and so I didn't catch all of it. But I got most of it. And it was good. And last night there was a delicious dinner soiree at Celine's. And I have had to catch up on teh seasons of SATC before I could see the movie. And I had to teach. And on Wednesday I took a gorgeous walk to Villeneuve to check out a really old fort that's there (ok, who looks at a pile of rocks and says "Sweet. I'm going to move these rocks to the top of that hill there.") Avignon is getting more and more beautiful and so it's necessary to "profiter" and be outside as much as possible, whether that means walking to nearby towns or sitting at Red Sky, people watching, and pretend-flirting with the bartender (he's about 55 years old, very flirty with everyone and one time gave me medicine for my stomach which wasn't feeling too hot and he gave me a head massage. Rrrrrandom).

So there's been all of that.

Ooh! And on Wednesday night I went to a friend's house for a color and makeup consulting thing. Kinda like a tupperware party but not. Apparently I'm an "Autumn" who should wear "warm" colors and the white tank top I was wearing on Wednesday was "too white." So there's that. All year I've been annoying my friends (who are all very beautiful, of course) and asking them to "make me pretty" because I am verymuch lacking in the makeup department. On Wednesday I got a free consultation! On the left we have a picture of me with the pre-makeup, headband look.

And here I am getting my eyelashes curled. You cannot see the fear that was in my eyes but, believe me, it was there.

And the final look. Of course I cannot take a proper picture so I have to be all freaky looking. Apologies.

This post was meant to be an update on my parents' visit but I got distracted. I swear, I will get to that SOON. Embrace the day.

"We saw nothing, we ate everything."

2008-06-10T23:43:00.011+02:00

These are the words with which my mother, Nicola Jane Findley, ended our day in Brugges.

What are the four things you MUST HAVE while in Belgium? Waffle, Fries, Beer, Chocolate, of course. Not necessarily in that order. As much of each thing as you desire. The more, the better. The greater variety, the better. Think excess. That's the way to go in Belgium.

So let me tell you what the day was like...

Course one: Belgian waffle, natch. Mine was of the whipped cream and chocolate sauce variety

Mom's was whipped cream and strawberries. We combined ours to make plates of deliciousness.

Success: in the form of Belgian beer and Belgian fries at the restaurant where we ate our lunch. I tried to have something balanced, as I ordered a salad with tuna but they basically piled enough fish on the plate to give me the world's highest mercury levels on the planet.

Alas, my friends, I have no pictures of the chocolates we ate, of the enormous plate of fries we ordered, of the other chocolates we inhaled. Forgive mem but their deliciousness was just too tempting and so the chocolates and fries were devoured hastily, lovingly, with no thought to photos for the kiddies.

Please take a moment to reflect on the wonder that is amazing food. Specifically of the dark chocolate and fried goodness kind.

The rest of Brugges was really good, too! Turns out that it's a beautiful town, even in the rain and, despite our misgivings after stepping off the train, we ended up having a lovely day there! I climbed the 366 steps to the top of the town's towery thing (I no longer remember what it's called) and felt all "little town, little quiet village" (name that song!) as I wandered through with M & D.

I definitely think that Saturday was a great day in Brugges to "see nothing and eat everything." This might become quite the motto for me.

Mom and Dad wrapping it up in Provence

2008-06-10T15:40:00.005+02:00

For our last few days together in Provence, Mom and Dad and I kept it low-key chill. Ok, barring my insane nervousness about having the Towers watch me teach, everything was very chill post-weekend. On Sunday night, after an extremely lazy day (um, hi, I took a NAP. I cannot remember the last time I successfully napped) we set out in the evening for a vehicle 'stroll' through the Luberon region. Right through the mountains. Beautiful, natch, and we hit on Bonnieux and Lacoste, to name a few of the villages. Dad has the photos because I got reallllly lazy with my camera at this point but I can tell you: all very pretty. We happened upon a castle (of course, there's a billion here) with a wine degustation place inside it and, as tempted as I was to say "pop open that Chateauneuf du Pape!" we left it to go mange our picnic under a tree on the side of the road. And that rocked, too.

On Monday, as you all know, I played "Take Your Parents to Work Day" and it was wondefully spledidly successful. My kids were obsessed with my parents ("ooh la la! la reine anglaise! le roi americain!") and my parents were willing and great participants in class as we reviewed the thrilling subject matter of clothing. Yannick, my directrice, spoke with them (she lived in Chicago and in Hawaii!) and was so nice and welcoming. My parents also met Francoise, a woman with whom I'm friends and so it all rocked. To top off my amazing class that they witnessed, Mom later got to see my littlest kids, the kindergarteners, sing two songs! "The Rainbow Song" and "The Weather Song" (we sure are original with our titles). It was so cute.

And in the afternoon after I was done teaching? We went to Orange, a pretty large town that's not too far from Sorgues. What's the big deal about Orange? Well, Wikipedia tells me that it was once the capital of the northern part of Provence. It has the oldest and best preserved Roman theater in all of Western Europe and it is now a World Heritage Site. Very cool. Dad and I went in and felt all Gladiator-like as Dad got pictures and we trembled at the mightiness of it all.

Tuesday was my parents' last day in Avignon. They spent the day wandering around the city while I taught. But then I got off work early! So I went and ran errands and chilled and did some other wrapping-up-type stuff here in the city. I then went to Micaela's for dinner. Chez Micaela.

And oh man, what a dinner.

This is the part where I tell you what we ate!!
Or I might just put it for you in easy, picture form...
On the left... a zoom-in of: lima beans, grean beans, magret de canard (duck breast) and vegetarian pate!
On the right... the table. Witness the French-style taboule, the eighteen pounds of bread, the red wine (of course), and the radishes. Delish.

Here I am with the chef, herself:

The food was stunning and I have to say, I'm impressed - my parents rock at being social. It was 11 o'clock and I was falling asleep into my amazing mousse au chocolat and strawberry shortcake (sorry, no pictures... ate 'em too fast) and they were sharing stories with Micaela and Philip (the other dinner guest for the evening) back and forth. Fabulous.

Wednesday morning we set out for Paris, the three of us. I do believe M & D had a good time at Micaela's and I've got a picture right here...

Red Sky yeah buddy

2008-06-03T00:44:00.005+02:00

I wish I weren't in the same room as my shoes right now.

Red Sky was brilliant tonight - it was great to have my parents/friends meet again, it was great to sit around and socialize, the musicians were great, the songs were great, everything was just... great.

Oh, and the bartender and I happen to be in <3 and that is cool.

"Killing Me Softly," as suggested to me by Sessily, is a HUGE hit and there shall be a repeat performance of it at sometime.
When Dad and I are back on the musical scene together you know it'll be "Old Love" sung like whoa from the mountaintops. I'm just sayin'

C'est fini!

2008-06-02T18:10:00.004+02:00

My mother, the Professor of Education, watched me teach this morning.

I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my entire life.

It was like eighteen hundred piano exams all rolled into one on top of the SAT, a job phone interview, AND approaching a girl and asking her to dance.

My mother's assessment of my teaching? She says, and I quote, "Emily, you're a natural!"

I just about died and went to heaven. Seriously. If I hadn't had to teach right after that, I think I would have burst into tears. Eight months of stress and confusion, frustration and nervousness... gone. My parents both thought I did a great job (thanks, Celine! (yeah, I used part of her lesson plan)) and they were both really impressed.

This means so much to me. I could get hit by a bus (as I almost am every single day) and I would die happy.

More on this later. I'm going to go to the gym to work off the cookies I had post-work and all the stress and nervousness that I've let built up.

Mom and Dad roadtrip, 3

2008-05-31T23:57:00.009+02:00

So last night Mom and Dad went to l'Opera, a fancy shmancy restaurant here in Avignon and I'm going to admit it - I'm a lil' jealous. I mean, it's really great that I stayed in and organized/cleaned/packed up my life but dang, they had a really great meal at a restaurant that people I know have recommended. Ohhhhh well it's all good. I'm glad they had a nice (romantic?) birthday dinner for Mom and that I got a chance to start wrapping up my life here at 5 rue Saint Thomas d'Aquin.

Today we went to Cassis! Every time I've called home in the past month and asked my parents the question "So what do you want to DO in Provence?" my mother has responded with "Well, your dad just wants to go to the beach. Get him to the sea." And today... mission accomplished. We hit up both Cassis and Marseille, basking in the sun (ahemgettingsunburnedahem) and chilling, eating picnics and pastries, having a wonderful Saturday on the water.

In fact, I don't have too many pictures from today because we spent 3 hours lying on the beach in Cassis and then we went and pastry-ed ourselves in Marseille. Not too much picture-worthy but it was relaxing and a perfect way to pass our time together, I feel. Tonight I showed the 'rents Place Pie which was, as usual, hoppin with life and then I went to the Bal de Teinturiers (a street here in the 'non) that had free music, cheap beers, and a ton of dancing. And! The dancing! Was done in an emptied-out pool! Like in "It's a Wonderful Life." Raise your hand if you think that's cool!

So tomorrow I reveal to them the glories of Les Halles and we'll pick up and send ourselves somewhere else, somewhere new. Guaranteed to be a good time. M & D are coming with me on Monday to school which, although it shouldn't't, is kinda stressing me out (hi, whose mom is a professor of education? and, hello, teaching in front of my parents) but it's going to be good and Mom's offered to 'be used' during class time with the kids so that I feel no pressure and she can participate and the kids can hear her speak. It'll be good.

Mom and Dad roadtrips, 1 and 2

2008-05-30T19:02:00.009+02:00

But first things first:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Here we have my ridiculously good-looking parents in a town called Roussillon, which we visited yesterday. I love 'em.

So far we've had 2 roadtrip days! I don't know why, but the Rain Gods are making their presence known here in Provence and it has poured, off and on, since my parents got here. Where's the Provencal weather everyone raves about? We're expecting sun, blue skies, beautiful fields, windows down in the car, and smooth travels. Instead it's been, mostly, rain rain rain rain, grey skies, thunder, lightning, puddles, and nastiness. What the bleep.

But hey, that's ok! Because we're still "profiter-ing" and it's been wonderful. Yesterday we headed east to some little towns, at my suggestion. The itinerary? L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Fontaine de Vaucluse, Roussillon, and Gordes. Roussillon was new to me and it is as gorgeous as everyone says it is. Et voila. It's nice, eh? That's ochre... reminds us all of Colorado, I think. It is amazing to think that, down the road from where I live (ahemcitywithapalaceahem) there are these colors! My eyes exploded and it was all very nice.

Today we went to La Camargue! National park hollah! Flamingos, bulls, rice patties, oh my. So here are some pics:

Looks boring? Definitely not!

Ok so maybe I fell asleep a little. But that was ok because this was followed by flamingo-watching. Flamingos. In southern France?

Yes, flamingos. Flamingi?

And we took a nap at the Mediterranean. Oh man.

They're here!

2008-05-29T05:54:00.004+02:00

Hullo.
My parents are here!

I'm so excited about it that I can't sleep! Ok, well, it's 6:00 am and it's pouring with rain and the wind is crazy and so I'm just up and (almost) ready for the day. The plan is to pick up the rental car and do a tour of Provence over the next few days but OY rain is expected for the next few days so... what are we going to do? Me? I'm just happy to get in a car and go places, I hope that's cool with M & D. They're staying chez Micaela and I'm still with la vieille dame. We'll meet up for breakfast and start our day and who knows what'll happen?

But the part where we were reunited? At the train station? I felt like Micaela and I were one minute late and I'd told Dad I was going to meet them on the platform at the train station so they would have nothing to worry about. I ran out of Micaela's car, I ran into the station, and I started running to the TV screens to watch for their arrival but I heard Mom's voice. I looked up, saw her and Dad at the top of the stairs, and bolted straight for them. Eighteen minutes later, our hugging was done and we were downstairs with Micaela, riding to Avignon.

Basically, I am so so happy right now.

(if you could all make a plea to the weathergods to make this rain go away, I would really appreciate it. I mean, teaching "It's raining, it's pouring" to the kids at school is fun, but I don't need an example at the moment!

This one's from December

2008-05-23T18:37:00.002+02:00

I love my family a LOT.

And we love the silly hats.

Merry Christmas!

This is what I did in Germany

2008-05-23T09:59:00.001+02:00

In Munich, we put on some music and I DANCED...

Enjoy!

Today I swam in the Mediterranean

2008-05-22T00:38:00.004+02:00

wonderful.

not gonna lie

2008-05-20T23:07:00.003+02:00

yesterday was a bad day.

but today was SO GOOD!

It comes down to two things

1: I tried giving three fifteen year-old girls English lessons to help them review for their exam tomorrow. Turns out I learned probably as much as they did (you know, what verb tenses we have and all of that) but I think I explained what they needed pretty well so *phew* am not total failure in my own language.

2: I saw my kids perform in their "conte musical" ce soir (after five minutes of not remember what we call that in English, it was pointed out to me that a 'conte musical' is, indeed, a musical). These kids have been working on this shindig for TWO YEARS, writing the story, the lyrics, the instrumental parts. Their music teacher wrote the accompaniment and the kids just sang with such gusto. I, of course, understood not a word because hi, sung French? Really hard to understand. Mumbly sung little-kid French? Even harder. And yeah, my comprehension isn't where it needs to be. But that's ok! Because it was all just so cute! I knew every single kid on the stage - I have interacted with each and every one of them. I know I have gotten at least one smile out of each student. As insane as they are, they're also eager little kids who just want to play and have fun and make their parents proud and joke around with each other.

That was great.

Tomorrow? Road trip!!

Community Events

2008-05-18T17:50:00.002+02:00

What up, what up!
It's May 18th. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.
Hours till I wake up: 12.
Hours till I start teaching: 15.
Hours I'll stay awake tonight thinking about how I have to teach in the morning: 3.
Hours of sleep I'll get: 4?
Days till my parents get here: 10!
Days my parents are visiting: 14!

Ok so.
In the past few days I have been ALL UP in various communities. What, pray tell, does that mean? Well, Friday night, my Dad managed to Skype me into the All Saints May Coffeehouse that he organized... It was AWESOME. At 1:30 am I signed online, it was 7:30 their time, I was able to see my church family via computer and they all saw me on the GIANT SCREEN Dad apparently put up in the undercroft. I'm imagining Star Trek and being beamed in, are you?
So I said hello to all my church family that I've been missing since I've been here and then I sang for them. How sweet is that? Three years ago? Not possible. Today? Totally possible. I sang for them my new song and then Dad turned the camera on him and I got to hear him and Lisa sing some Van Morrison and it was, all around, so very cool. Made me even more excited to go home and see everyone. It was also just sweet to participate in the first international All Saints Coffeehouse. Hurrah technology!
That was Friday.
Last night (Saturday) was La Nuit des Musees here in Avignon: many Avignonnaise museums were open to the public for free/reduced rates from 8pm-midnight. How cool is that!? This little city was hoppin' and boppin' and everyone (gmas and lil' kids alike) were rollin' around town checking out old stuff. I went into la Musee Lapidinaire and saw hierorglypics. Raise your hand if you can spell that word on the first try! Anyone? Anyone?
But I'd only gotten 4 hours of sleep on Friday night so I didn't make it to any other museum. But what a cool community event!
Today was one of the cooler things I've done in Avignon: free kayak/canoe thing on Le Rhone! All of Avignon was invited! All we had to do was get ourselves to the island, get a life jacket and get into a kayak! Robyn and I double-kayaked our way back and forth between the two bridges for an hour and it was awesome on multiple levels. Awesome for the tan, awesome for the arms, awesome for the community.

It's stuff like this that makes me really happy - people being out and about, doing (free) stuff that benefits everyone and it's all just for the experience. No profit, nothing really to gain except a good time.

Hurrah!

And on the sixth day, I ate snails.

2008-05-15T17:30:00.003+02:00

Plural. More than one snail.

So I don't think I mentioned that last week Alice was here visiting! It was a grand time. Somehow, someway, the two of us manage to meet, literally, all over the world. Last summer it was D.C. when I was living in New York and this year it's been Cannes in January, when she first got here, then Paris, when I was visiting with the Yee, and then last week, Alice made it down to Avignon for some R&R and a LOT of lying around. On the bank. Of the river. Checking out Avignon.

This is what Avignon looks like from the island (you go sit on the island to check out the city in all its splendor. Minus Celine's head. Not that her head isn't splendid but... right):

ANYYYYYYWAY Alice and I did a lot of tanning and staring at Avignon and all of that. It was blissful. But after two days of that, the plan was to go to Aix-en-Provence because Friend Kylie sings nothing but its praises and hey, two days in Avignon? Ca suffit. So we bouged our way to Aix.

While in line at the TGV station, we met two New Yorkers. Of course I went off on my "Holy whoa, I'm moving to NYC in August!" spiel which turned into them telling us that they have no idea what to see in Aix which turned into me telling them that I can show them how to get around the city etc. which turned into them inviting us to lunch.

So at noon on Saturday, Alice and I sat down with two very nice people that we had just met at Les Deux Garcons and we ate snails. And oysters. And I had an enormous steak de thon with some peppers on the side. It was fantastic and random and bling bling and a lot of fun. Oh MAN the things that happen when you travel.

currently thinking...

2008-05-15T01:05:00.003+02:00

current thoughts on life here in france?
Seriously, who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?
And that's good.

For instance, last night I had no idea that this afternoon I'd be walking around in grottes (big rock cave-y things) that were lived in up until 1580. Or that I'd be driving through Les Alpilles. Or that Robyn would provide me with some fantastico bean/rice burgers for dinner.

On Friday night I had no idea that on Saturday I'd be eating a ridiculously expensive meal with two strangers and Alice.*

Tuesday night of last week I had no idea that the English Challenge on Wednesday would go so well for my little kids. I'm so proud of them! They stepped up to the plate and remembered words like "Halloween" and "witch" and "sister" and "brother!" I think I've taught them a little something!

So that's my attempt at a mini-update right now. Carpe the diem out of this place because, when I return, it's: "Find a freaking job!" time and, well, that's a lot to handle.

I'm wishing you all giggles and cheese,
emfin

*remind me to expand on that

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-12T00:04:00.002+02:00

K, so I'm posting this at 12:05 on Monday morning... but in the US it is still Sunday! so...

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!