Auf Wiedersehen!

As of 4:15 pm today when I finished my last class-  I am on vacation until January 2nd.

Naturally, Cecilia and I have planned an awesome trip and this time we have taken on quite a bit.  The last break when we headed to Normany & Brittany was great but relatively simple.  This time, we are going the full two weeks and exploring Germany and Austria.  Neither of us speak a word of German so it's going to be interesting.  Oh wait sorry- thanks to Heidi Klum & Project Runway I know how to say goodbye, "auf Wiedersehen!".  Of course I had no idea how to spell it until I looked it up right now.  NOTHING like the way it sounds when she says it.  Great.
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Tomorrow we are staying the night in Paris because we have an early flight on Sunday.  From Paris we are headed to Berlin for 4 days.  Then we have a flight to Munich (our friend Lauren is joining us for this) to spend 4 days including Christmas & I am pretty excited because Christmas is huge over there.  After Germany- we are taking a train to Salzburg, Austria for 2 days and then to Vienna for 3 days to celebrate New Years.

I am only bringing my backpack.   I have to fit a fat Europe guide book,  Cecilia & Lauren's Christmas presents & for one flight I have to actually stuff my purse inside my backpack because of some annoying rule about literally ONE carry-on, not a carry-on and a purse. We are most definitely going to need to do laundry at some point- but that's ok.

So, yes.  I will be signed off from the internet world for two weeks.  But, I will pour out a tell-all when I get back.  I hope we meet some cool characters and discover some interesting places.  We are pretty good at it usually.

Cecilia and I have actually never hung out in the states together- but we have traveled a whole lot in Europe.  We sometimes (jokingly) wonder if we would get along at home because we are usually speaking French when we are out together and are often traveling.  It's kind of crazy actually.

Sidenote:
Today at one of my schools- I got a gift from each class.  The youngest ones each made me a card and gave me a bag of homemade brownies that they made together.  The seven year olds gave me a star ornament that they painted and put glitter on with the name of their school. & The eight year olds gave me little candies that they made with nuts and chocolate along with a card signed by all the kids and the teacher.

This makes me think two things.

First- I feel loved.

Second- I feel old.  I am getting TEACHER presents.  Geezzz.
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To everyone who reads this crazy little thing,
I hope you have a wonderful holiday and that 2011 brings you good health & TONS of love.

;o)

Christmas in the Classroom

So since we have two weeks off from school starting this Friday,  I am doing a Christmas theme this week.
We are learning "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"  half because it is classic and half because it repeats the same line three times in a row- speeds up the learning process.  So, first I sing the song and they listen and look completely BEWILDERED and kind of scared  Then, I have a cd with the song on it that one of the teachers made me and we listen to it on that.  After, we learn each line and sometimes we have two different "teams" to see that everyone is getting the words.  If it is so-so I say, "Can we sing better!?" and everyone says "YES!".  Better means (a little) louder and more correctly pronounced.  I had to make that distinctly clear when I first said "better" and everyone starting yelling the words incomprehensibly.  Sometimes, I sing it first and I put my hand like a microphone and then I turn the microphone to them when it is their turn.  They love when I do it.  Sometimes I put the microphone to someone and they sing louder.  It is brilliant.  This version of the song that I am using has a nifty little second part instead of that bizarre "now bring us some figgy pudding".  Instead we say, "Let's all do a little clapping (3 times) "and spread Christmas cheer".  Good stuff.

Then, we are making Christmas cards.  I printed big color pictures of a stocking, snowman, wreath and santa and they pick one and write it on the outside.  Then they draw it.  In the inside, they write To: and pick Mom, Dad, or Santa.  Then, Merry Christmas!  And then, From: with their name.

A couple of the cutest things I got asked / told (in French) today included: "Can we write it to Mom, Dad, Santa AND Grandma?" and "How do you write baby sister in English?".

During the card making we listen to some good solid Christmas music, with my favorite being the "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" song from the movie, Home Alone, that begins with "Ba doobie do buh buh buh ba duh".  Anyone?

THEN, at the end of class, I'm showing two pictures.  One of my house on Jocelyn Court all lit up with candles in the windows, a wreath on the door, and a tree in the window, which garnered a "Ahhh! la classe!"- which I appreciated.  And then the grand finale is this picture of me on Santa's lap taken two years ago.  I told my class of 7 year olds that it was "le vrai père noël" and they all were in awe.

Someone said that it wasn't the real one because the real one doesn't need glasses.
& one kid actually said that Santa didn't exist.

I stared him down and didn't let him kill the moment.

Random Facts #1

1.  The French don't know what splenda is, and I miss it.

2.  I met a German boy the other day who gave a new meaning to the word blonde.

3.  Sometimes my students try to hug & kiss me and I just smile, say hello and walk away.

4.  I skype with my mom every Monday and it usually takes us ten solid minutes to say goodbye.

5.  I sometimes eat at the cafeteria in my building for lunch and it is DELICIOUS.

6.  I am going on a two week trip to Germany and Austria starting next Sunday with Cecilia.  We can't wait.

7.  I take salsa classes every Tuesday with a group of other teaching assistants.

8.  This Saturday night I am staying over with my host mom, Armelle, who I lived with for 6 months in Paris in Spring 2009.  Excited doesn't quite describe it.

9.  French yogurt tastes better than yogurt from home.

Babysitting Gig

The secretary, Isabelle, downstairs in my building got a call from a lady who has 3 kids and is looking for an English speaking babysitter.  It was noted that the 10 year old girl is very shy and that she wants someone to bring her out of her shell.   I got a note from Isa that day in my mailbox about it - because she described me as "not at all introverted"- bahahaha.

I met the family last Wednesday for the first time.  They are all really nice and the house is so French that I can hardly stand it.  Dark wooden beams, crazy nooks & crannies, and millions of windows with intricate latches on them that look like they were made in the Middle Ages.  The kids are super cute- Emma is 10 years old, Nathan is 4 & David Alexander is 2.  The mom is stay at home and has her stuff together.  She quickly informed me of things like never giving medicine, never answering the door when I am alone with the kids, and to eat/ drink whatever I wanted comme chez moi.  They have an awesome dog who looks like a golden retriever with curlier hair and two cats (one is a persian, which melts my heart).

Saturday I watched the two older kids for a little under two hours.  It was super cool.  I showed them pictures from home and a map of the United States.  It actually took me a minute to point out where I lived exactly.  New Jersey is insanely small, I sometimes forget why no one in France even knows that it exists.  Then we played with the pets.  After that, we played foose ball, me vs. Nathan.  He was standing on a basket so he could reach the things and he could still really only man half the controls.  Emma kept score.  Then we played building blocks.  I built a tower that was enormous and Nathan knocked it down and laughed for about 5 minutes.  Later we watched that ridiculous Scooby Doo movie with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar.  I pointed out that they were married in real life and NO ONE cared.  Towards the end of the movie,  Nathan got Christmas books for me to read to him.  I read a couple of short ones, but he was looking at the movie the whole time.  I asked him if he was listening and he said "Well yeah, I'm doing both", and I promptly continued with story time.  Then he whipped out a French- English picture book with fruits and veggies and other vocab like that.  He loved hearing me say the words like watermelon, eggplant, etc.

Soon after, the parents got back with a bunch of really interesting looking antique furniture for the dad's computer room that they had bought at an auction.  Annnnnd she handed me 20 euros.