Where Has the Time Gone?!

Hello friends! I have finally gotten to that point in my trip where I am looking back and wondering what in the heck I have been doing with my time here! Carpe diem and seize the day and all that, I hope and think that's what I have been doing. For one thing, I have to remind myself that just because I am in a foreign country doesn't automatically make it a vacation. I've had to work as well, to pay those annoying bills, and after working, one must rest! So, besides that, what have I been up to? Let's recap:

Last week:
Saw Happiness Therapy on Friday (lovely movie.)
Saw Life of Pi with Mia on Saturday at Les Halles (amazing and quite touching movie) which was followed by a short spot of shopping joined by Raven.
FINALLY saw Django on Sunday with Raven (LOVED IT!!!) as well as talked about details of a trip to Rome with some other girls (details of which I managed to screw up. Whoops! This now has me quite anxious >.<)

Week Before:
Went to a Salon des Masters with Goretti and picked up info about grad school programs here in France. It was quite overwhelming though. Think I'll stick to working on my degree in English when I get back home. Need to get experience volunteering/working in a social work field first though.
Saw Pas Très Normales Activités (Great movie!) with Lisa and Jaslina. (Painted their nails too! Finally bought new nail polish after weeks of saying I would!)

In January:
Started a new babysitting job (whoo whoo extra spending money!) with a très sympa family.
Visited the Museum of Eroticism (freakiness exists throughout history!).
Saw Paulette (Movie with a great plot!).
Went to an Italian restaurant (MUST return there before I leave! Down with lactose intolerance!)
Discovered cheesecake at Factory & Co. at Bercy Village with Wren when we saw Foxfire (a failure of a movie.)
The snowy weekend ruined plans to see Django/eat cheesecake.

But yeah, so those things happened. As well as life. Making the best of it to enjoy all my time here!

Hello again!

I am back, and I am going to make a real effort to update this blog more often! I sure have been updating my new blog quite frequently and hoping that other people have been finding it helpful. Only one person has commented on it, so I really can't tell what kind of an impact it is making, though it has gotten a lot of page views.

This past month, I began a new babysitting job, which is beaucoup plus sympa (a lot nicer) than the one I tried and left in January. I'm quite thankful to be working with a nicer family. My health has also been good, for the most part, though of course, there are always the ups and downs! I have thought about traveling to London possibly during the Spring break. We shall see how that goes, depending on my money situation. On the one hand, I don't want to spend money as if I don't need to think about the future, the months after I leave here, and how long it will take me to find a job back home. On the other hand, I do also want to enjoy myself and my time here. That, of course, is something I always make sure to do, whether it's visiting a museum which I did a few weeks ago with another assistant, or going to see a funny movie and hanging out with friends, which I did last night, seeing Pas Très Normales Activités (a spoof of Paranormal Activity), which was a pretty funny movie, that also had a nice story underneath the action. There was also a visit to Factory & Co. which followed, resulting in the consuming of some delicious cheesecake.

Tis the 3rd of this month, which means that I will be leaving in 3 months. I know the time will fly, so I am making the best of it while it is still here. I probably mentioned this before, but the novelty of living in France has long worn off for me. Not to say that I am unhappy, I just mean that it doesn't feel fascinating anymore. It just feels like life. What I need to do most is make sure I am keeping in touch with all my lovelies, far and near, and living a good, healthy, well-balanced life overall.

Updateisms, Bloggerithms

My vacation has been swell so far! My Christmas was quite lovely thanks to a select few wonderful people, and technology, and other things. It doesn't feel like it's only been a week, it feels like it's been longer, but that's a good sign, because it means I've been having fun. I went ice skating again on the Champs-Elysees, and though I fell once, it was quite enjoyable. Though it rained, the sun also shone, and it was a lovely experience (shared with lovely people!) New Year's was also lovely, went to a mass at Notre Dame, my first Catholic French service, and it was followed by a great dinner at a bar. Today, I finally sent the file for my book in to the US Copyright Office, and I hope it won't take long for them to approve it so I can send it over to createspace to be published. I'm a bit cranky today, but I blame it on the weather, and crappy French internet. I made it through my first four months here, and am feeling healthy thank God, and am starting a blog about my health to help others. Overall, I'm working on having a good outlook, and on loving myself, and on moving forward and meeting my goals! A good setup overall if I do say so myself :)

The Wheel Continues Turning

       I think I am finally warming up to this program (or maybe not) and the thought of being here in France. Only four more months till I am back home. Being here has had its ups and downs, it's been a bit like an emotional roller coaster for me. Getting used to working and not being a student is a bit of an adjustment. Not necessarily a bad one, but it has its stressful points. I've been targeting the program with all of my emotional duress, which is not helping my feelings for it. But the truth is, I would no doubt be experiencing the same things if I were back home. The only difference is, I'm far from my friends and family. Thankfully I've found good company here. In any case, no matter where I am on this earth, life goes on. No use wallowing in the past. Now I'm realizing how much my decisions do matter and how much they will affect the direction in which my life goes. It's a bit scary. Mais (But), c'est la vie.
      Right now, I am pondering my next steps. The New Year is coming, and of course there are always the New Year's Resolutions. I need new life resolutions though. Life is a journey, that's for sure, and it's not one that I get to repeat. I don't want to waste time mulling over the past, which I cannot change. I must keep my focus forward. That being said, I'm looking forward to finally publishing my book, which will probably be delayed because I've neglected to look into getting a copyright, which should have been my very first step! No worries, it will happen! In due time. For now, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and if you aren't celebrating it, enjoy your vacation, and have a great New Year!

The Wheel Goes Round

             Finally, an update! In my time away, I finally went to Cité des Sciences to see the De Vinci exhibit, and I rather enjoyed it! I'm incredibly glad I went. There were interactive models of tools Leo had designed or drawn, and there were models that were realized as best as they could be by teams of people who had to interpret his drawings. Apparently some of his drawings did not include dimensions, which means that the teams who interpreted the drawings had to be very imaginative indeed! After seeing the exhibit, I went around the museum and saw another exhibit that had to do with transportation. It included the staggering numbers of people that are transported across the globe daily, and graphing images of what that transportation looks like over 24 (for air travel).  I found it all to be quite fascinating. It was a great investment of my time.
            Yesterday, I finally went to ride the Roue de Paris! I had some lovely company with me, another assistant and her friend, who were both from South Africa. The view from the wheel is quite pleasing. We went during the daytime, and I can only imagine what it looks like at night when the whole city is lit up! The Champs Elysees was the most crowded I've ever seen yesterday, what with Christmas being right around the corner! To finish off our afternoon, we headed, accompanied by yet another assistant (the more the merrier!), to the Petit Palais to have our fill of artwork. The Petit Palais is  quite a splendid little place and to make it even better, the visit was FREE! My pockets were dancing for joy at the thought of not having to become even lighter!
           Tonight for Christmas Eve, I'll be heading to the American Church in Paris for one of their evening Christmas services, and I'll have the company of my ferris wheel companions, which makes me even happier! It took a while, and maybe it's the season, but the thought of going to church actually doesn't seem so bad. A bit appealing now actually! The three of us from yesterday will be spending Christmas together tomorrow, which lifts my spirits because even though my family hasn't done much for Christmas the past few years, being away from home for the holidays REALLY STINKS! But having the company will make it all the better!

How to Speak French like a Real French Person 101

Add "quoi" and many "euh" interjections to your speech periodically. Listen to the way it is done naturally by watching reality TV in order to learn how to add them properly.

... and my kids catch me off guard....

by making me laugh out loud in class. If things continue this way, all my students will realize that it's almost easy to make me laugh and will maybe try to provoke it. So how'd they do it? It's no easy feat as I haven't laughed as much since I've been in France. (How shocking!) For the first incident, I had my students describing what their own country would be like if they had one, what kind of government they would have and such. One of my students declared that he would have a totalitarian regime and that he would tax his subjects 99% so that he could get all their money. I couldn't help but laugh at his cruelty towards his potential future subjects, and it didn't help that the students were so surprised by my reaction. The French do seem to laugh less than we Americans do! A student even offered me to stand by the window so I could get some air. The fact that they were commenting didn't help. It never does. Especially when people ask if I need air! The second incident happened only yesterday. I was encouraging one of my students to keep speaking English by going along with what he was telling me (that he'd written a book in one minute about how to solve the U.S.'s economic problems) and he decided to pick on his classmate, saying that since he was Russian, he was Borat's cousin. I couldn't help but laugh at his ridiculousness, and two of his other classmates, turning around and seeing that I was laughing, joined in teasing me, which made me laugh even harder. The life and times of my teaching experiences. Thankfully, overall, teaching has been going better since last week, which is rather encouraging for me. Incidents like these only make it more enjoyable.