Le Penseur

I started coming down with a cold a few days ago, nicely timed to line up with the rainy weather. And I didn't get the sexy voice. No, I got the "I have emphysema and smoke through a hole in my throat" voice. So just imagine what that was like when I was trying to communicate with a makeup salesperson this afternoon. Bad French coming from an American who sounds like she's on her deathbed. Luckily, a British guy was there with his girlfriend and he helped translate a question for me.

A group of us planned to go to the Rodin museum yesterday morning. It just so happened that yesterday was the rainiest day of them all. So I probably exacerbated the cold by going to a museum that's half-outdoors on a rainy day. But I actually enjoyed seeing it in the rain.

The first sculpture we saw is also the most famous, "The Thinker."


This is a view of the Église du Dôme at Les Invalides from the Rodin museum garden. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing this because I did a report on it back at BYU.


On Thursday, Janna and I went on a mission to find a few stores that Mme Michel said were close to our apartment. We began wandering a bit and ended up on a dead end little road. I was shocked when I looked up and saw that we were walking right by the Sudanese and Indian embassies. How often do you stumble upon an embassy of one of the most hated governments in the world? The Sudanese embassy had red paint from paintballs splattered on it (I wonder why)...

The world can seem so small at times.

"mmmm .........
........ crisp French air ....


I mean....crisp FALL air...."


Janna: Well, I guess it is French...

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Rainy days are perfect for hot chocolate, sweaters, and reading in bed. Well, I've done the first (twice), am wearing the second, and have already read the only non-academic English book I have. Which is why I'm writing this.

Right now I'm sitting at the little kindergarten desk in my room, facing my window which looks out on the courtyard of my building. I was sitting on the bed just a minute ago, but realized that wasn't really the best for view purposes. This building was built in 1870 and it is beautiful. The sides facing the courtyard have simple brick facades, but the part facing the street has stone decorations and is gorgeous. When Janna and I got out of the taxi the first day, our jaws dropped. The place definitely has class.

At the door to our apartment building
We both have our own rooms and live with Madame Michel, a widow. She has a daughter who lives around the corner with her husband and (adorable) three kids. It's kind of funny because we've been here for almost three weeks and we still don't know if we're allowed to go in the living room. All our time is spent in our bedrooms, the kitchen, and the dining room (twice). It's a shame because Mme Michel has a beautiful piano and both Janna and I love to play. We tried to hint at the possibility of being able to play it once, but I don't think she understood. Oh well.

I love my room because it's apparently used as a playroom for Mme Michel's grandchildren. It reminded me a bit of my little siblings (although I guess since two are teenagers, they're hardly little anymore). Anyway, it is really warm and inviting. The shelves are full of cute books and toys and there are a couple of alphabet hangings on the walls. One of them has pictures of animals, which is actually a great study tool for someone like me.

For example, the L to the right displays a 'lapin' by a 'lampe' underneath the 'lune.'

It just threw me for a second when I first looked at it.





A boy across the courtyard is working on his homework and he seems to be enjoying it as much as I will enjoy my (not very) "Concise History of France" reading in a moment. Well... Such is life.

Check this out!

I was browsing through pictures I've had Janna take so far (love camera difficulties) and found this one. It looks like I'm pointing to the guards, eh?

"And over here, you can see our very well-disciplined members of the French military as they keep the peace at the Louvre. Now isn't that great?"
SO funny.

Parlez-vous Français?

It can be almost too easy to go throughout the days here without speaking very much French. On school days, I wake up, take the metro with Janna to the institute, and a few "pardon"s and "merci"s later, we're at school. Classes are all in English: I have European politics, French politics, history of Christianity, and art history. After class, we usually head home to do our readings. So, all in all, not a whole lot of exposure.
Ai-yi-yi. (or however that's spelled.)

Janna and I talked about how much French we'd practice once we were here, but it can be difficult to carry on an interesting conversation. And there is a HUGE difference between learning a language in the classroom and practicing it with native speakers. At least I know enough to get by in most encounters: it's fairly simple to pay at the register, ask where something is, and greet someone. But I'd like to move beyond that. Once I get my French book back from Russ, I'm all over it. It will be like 201 all over again.

Tonight we ate with Madame Michel and her grandson François-Xavier (8). François-Xavier is fluent in English, a result of having English-speaking nannies and having spent much time in London. At dinner we spoke mostly in English (unfortunately), but I noticed that when François-Xavier got really excited about something, a gush of French would come out directed at his grandmother. He said that he prefers reading in English to French and his little sister (4) received better marks in English at school! Is it bad that I'm jealous of these kids' linguistic abilities? At least this reconfirms my thoughts on teaching a foreign language to children. The monolingual American madness must end somewhere!

Let's not drive together, thank you very much

The other day, I saw a "Don't Mess With Texas!" sticker on the back of a moped. What?? Even in Paris you can't escape the Texans. Crazy. Speaking of crazy, I love the mopeds with tops that look like they drove right out of a new age sci-fi film. And the smart cars- it's great that they're trying to conserve energy, but the cars are ridiculously small. They're adorable. I just had to laugh when I first saw a large man fold up to get inside one. (But I don't think he appreciated that...)

Look at the pictures I found!

The new age moped- which seems to be used mostly by older men and men in business suits.


The smart car- looking especially tiny next to a very tall man.


Look at this! Who wouldn't want a car that could do that??

Commuter Music

It's always an adventure. Yesterday, we accidentally came out of the metro at what seemed to be the precise ending of the annual midday techno rave (as well as the rugby game broadcast). If ever I needed validation that I am indeed in Europe, there it is! It was interesting, to say the least. There was confetti, smashed glass, litter, and fresh cigarette butts all over the streets, and all sorts of characters still hanging out in town. We went to the institute building, which is pretty much the only spot in Paris with a guaranteed *free* clean bathroom. And since drinking fountains don't exist, the sink also serves as a great watering hole. Right after we came out, one of the missionaries locked up because one of the ravers tried to pee on the church....the downside to it being in the center of the city. Oh, the joys of needing a restroom in the city.

I love the metro. There are street performers that have laid claim to several of the halls, and it has already gotten to the point where I recognize their acts. Down one hall, there is a man who performs oboe solos after flipping on his boombox with the backup orchestra (I love it!). The first song I heard from him was the love theme from the 60's version of Romeo and Juliet- it warmed me up to him immediately. Then there are the performers who play instruments from their home countries/cultures, like a Native American guy (random), and some with different kinds of Asian instruments.

And the traveling performers. They typically have accordions and apparently ride in different cars all day, trying to collect money from all the passengers. Today, one man performed for us, but got up at the stop and moved on to the next car because I was the only one paying him any attention- and I didn't even contribute. But I am a poor college student.

Rugby and Moulin Rouge

Today was yet another beautiful day in Paris. We went into Notre Dame, stopped by the memorial by the Seine river for the 200,000 French Jews sent to concentration camps, and saw the Palais de Justice. Oh, and the Pompidou Center as well. And probably something else.

But yesterday was truly a great day. After we visited Sacré Coeur (with a BRILLIANT view of the city), we saw the Place du Tertre (where a lot of artists paint), the Opera house, and ended up in the major shopping district.

Sacré Coeur

We went to the Hôtel de Ville that afternoon to watch the U.S. play Tonga in the Rugby World Cup. It was great- a few hundred of us sat on turf watching a huge screen placed in front of the building. Even the statues on either side of the screen were dressed to support France in the cup! The U.S. lost, of course (For heaven's sakes, they were playing Tonga!), but at least they tried.

me, Becca, Janna, and Russ

I couldn't help but laugh at the contrast between

the majestic building and the gigantic screen.

Anyway, back to today. After our walk with Prof. Fry, we went off to see the Moulin Rouge. I know many girls love that movie, but I still haven't seen three-quarters of it, and thus was not nearly as excited as the others about seeing it this afternoon. But it was nice, I suppose. I met this nice girl who asked me to take her picture with the Moulin Rouge sign. I ran into her again in the metro below, and we realized we were going in the same direction. She is a Ph.D. student studying electrical engineering in China, spending the few weeks she has off traveling around Europe. Wow. I would love to have that kind of direction in my life.

Après cinq jours à Paris

I have now spent five days in Paris and I haven't gotten sick of it yet! There is never any time for boredom when you're here, and especially not with these walking tours we've been doing. This week, Professor Fry has been taking us up and down Paris, pointing out numerous sites we need to go back to visit on our own. I've come home the past two nights exhausted from the several miles that we've walked. Today we saw St. Germain des Prés, St. Sulpice (a Da Vinci Code site!), Jardin du Luxembourg (60 acres of gorgeous gardens), the outside of Palais du Luxembourg (where the French Senate meets), the outsides of Panthéon, Sorbonne, Musée de Cluny, St. Severin, and finally the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. I browsed a bit in the bookstore at the end, but wasn't able to fully enjoy it because my feet felt like they would break in two.

Pictures!

I love this statue of Mary and baby Jesus in St. Sulpice. It was hard to take your eyes off of it once you were there. This was actually very high, near the ceiling, so I had to gaze up at it. It's as if they are descending from the heavens above.



This picture actually shows the grand scale of the statue's placement in the cathedral.



At St. Germain, I found this little painting propped up on the floor in one of the alcoves on the side.

Rebecca and me at the Sorbonne.



Shakespeare and Company Bookstore!