lots of random stories to tell now that i only blog twice a month

After raining for a straight week after I got back from Morocco, Paris made up for it with some sunny days, some rainbows, and even snow! Since I've been back in Paris, I've been constantly reminded of why I love it here...mostly whenever I do something they do in my favorite movie ever, Paris, Je T'aime. On a sunny day, I visited Père Lachaise Cemetery, which they visit in the movie and where many famous people are buried, including Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. There are also many Emilie's (spelled right, the French way!) and even a Weiller (with two l's, but it was the closest I found!) buried there. It is a beautiful cemetery, and I was more reminded more of life than I was of death. It made for a lovely day of walking down the cobblestone paths in the cemetery with some of my friends. The only problem is that I've had a sore throat and a cold ever since I kissed Oscar Wilde's grave. Hmm, probably not a good idea, but totally worth it! I also realized that I like the daily life in Paris as much as or more than I like the tourist attractions, and the things that make it the City of Lights and the City of Love. Like, please, Americans on the metro, please don't think you can pull off PDA like Parisians. You can't! Hahaha.

Speaking of Parisians, I went to see some very Parisian entertainment in the last few weeks, including a show called How to Become Parisian in One Hour, which was stand-up comedy by a guy named Olivier, which happens to be one of my favorite French names. I think everyone in the packed, 200-seat theater laughed for the entire hour! I can't give away the jokes, but let's just say I'll never think of my Navigo pass the same way again! I also went to the famous Parisian cabaret, Lapin Agile. It was not what I expected, but it was more than three hours of accordion-playing, piano-playing, guitar-playing, comedy, and singing along. I even understood some of the jokes, which included les jeux de mot (puns) en francais! We sang along to songs like "Sur le Pont d'Avignon" and "Alouette." I also made it to one of my favorite places in Paris for the first time on this trip--Centre Pompidou! The modern art, the building itself, and the view of Paris from the top floor still amaze me.

Even fire drills are better in France. I say this because they are very different than American fire drills and very entertaining to watch. The fire alarm went off about fifteen minutes before the end of one of my classes. Instead of getting up and out of the building as quickly as possible, as I have been taught to do ever since I was in kindergarten, we sat there for a while to make sure what we were hearing in our basement classroom was actually the fire alarm, were assigned our homework for the next class, packed up all of our things, and put on our coats and scarves before we walked at a normal or even slow pace up the stairs and out the door. Outside, French students on the sidewalk and in the street were talking, smoking, and having a good old time, all in very close proximity to the building, which could have been on fire for all we knew. It was just a drill, but there were real firemen there, and even they laughed as they announced on a loud speaker how long it took everyone to get out of the building. I left after a few minutes of standing outside and talking, but I wonder how long it went on like this and what would happen if there was a real fire. I'm guessing teachers wouldn't stay in the building, stick their heads out the third floor windows, and talk to the people standing in the street, but who knows?

It's starting to feel like the holiday season in Paris. It snowed on Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving (no signs of Black Friday shopping here!), and I've seen my first Christmas lights strung across the streets and Christmas trees for sale. In a country that has no reason to celebrate Thanksgiving, it was hard to resist skipping right to Christmas. But luckily, I was very patriotic and had not one but two Thanksgivings! I went out to dinner with ISA at a French restaurant that tried its best at cooking an American Thanksgiving dinner for all of us American students. They had turkey, which is very hard to find in France, and all the essentials like cranberries and green beans. The mashed potatoes were actually mashed sweet potatoes or yams (I still don't know the difference), and the lack of stuffing was very distressing for some people, but the worst part was probably that what we originally thought was stuffing--the mixture of gravy and turkey parts or giblets or something--is still unidentified. But still, it was a great substitute when we couldn't have Thanksgiving at home, complete with the closest thing I have to a family here. My second Thanksgiving was the next night when I attempted to cook, if you can call it that, Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Chelsea's apartment. We had a rotisserie chicken instead of turkey, boxed mashed potatoes (for the first time in my life so a learning experience and pretty good after all!), cranberries and gravy from the Thanksgiving store that was sold out of everything else on the day after Thanksgiving (makes sense!), green beans, risotto, apple pie, chocolate cake, and wine. Again, stuffing was nowhere to be found, but we decided that with a crusty baguette and the right spices, it could be possible in the future. So even if we didn't really "cook," we did the best we could with Chelsea's tiny, ovenless kitchen and a country full of people who cannot appreciate the concept of Thanksgiving ingredients. With another American, Vanessa, and Chelsea's French friends, Mickael and Elsa, we had a very multicultural Thanksgiving. We even went around the table (well, couch) and said what we are thankful for, probably my favorite part of Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for my host family. The Faures have been nothing but nice to me, if not in the sense of Minnesota nice. After not really doing anything for my birthday (I thought), they had a surprise for me one night about three weeks later after dinner. They turned out the lights, told me there was something more for dessert than just the usual yogurt/pudding/cheese, and came in with a cake with a singing candle and presents. They gave me two books from Fnac, one about famous people in French history and one about famous places in France--a very thoughtful gift for someone of my French reading level! And Arnaud was home for the weekend, so it was a family affair! Another weekend, I went with Madame, Laurene, and Victor to the movies to see Les Hommes et Les Dieux, a very serious movie that I could not have handled when I was nine like Laurene is now. It was in French (of course!) but not too hard to understand because there was just as much pausing and contemplative staring as there was dialogue. I recommend it, but it was very somber and disturbing. Good thing we went to MacDo (McDonald's for you non-Francophones), got takeout, and played with Laurene's Happy Meal toy after the movie!

I've also started to watch TV with the family sometimes. My new favorite show is probably the reality show where French kids compete to be the next Michael Jackson. If trying to find the next Michael Jackson on a reality show isn't funny enough, imagine French seven-year-olds singing his songs (not even in their first language!), moonwalking, dressing like him, and singing like him. It's adorable. I'm not even a big Michael Jackson fan, but I love this show. I've also heard Michael Jackson songs blasting from upstairs sometimes when I don't know who's up there. I'm starting to worry about how much this family actually loves Michael Jackson...

In other news, I successfully made my first phone call in French and typed so much on French keyboards that now I get confused when I try to type on American keyboards. That's progress, right? I also looked up so many words in my four-year-old French dictionary that I got for the first time I came to France that the spine is starting to rip. I almost cried. When I'm not studying hard (as hard as necessary for fake abroad school!), I'm finding all of the Christmas music on my computer and starting to listen to it. Easier said than done when I can't just go up to the attic at home and find the box of Christmas CDs. Is it weird that it wouldn't feel like Christmas to me without Trailer Trash?