the French healthcare system

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!

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

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...

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

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

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."

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

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

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!

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.