Christmas time in Paris!

Agathe WOULD NOT pronounce "Christmas" correctly the other day. I think she was serious at first but then was only trying to be funny. "Chreeeessmees?" "No." I felt like this woman:

So Christmas time in Paris is expected to be glorious. I mean, it's pretty I guess.

           

Galaries Lafayette

Pretty decorations by a CHANEL store

Marche de Noel. Christmas Markets that you find everywhere.

Crepe please with hot Nutella.

The lights on the Champs-Elysees

Standing in the middle of the Champs-Elysees

                        

 
Theres lights down many streets like these.



I am currently in England for Christmas so a blog about that will come later. Before I left, I received a lovely box from my previous family I worked for, the Neffs, with so many thoughtful gifts. I was really shocked. One of those gifts were Christmas crackers, and that was very special because my host family has never seen them before. We had a blast opening them! Inside the crackers were whistles with numbers on them and instructions on how to play a song. It was kind of like handbells only with whistles. Loud whistles with small children...
The video shows the whistles and attempting to create songs, and it also shows how much English is used in the house. They are trying to get their kids to learn as much English as possible and throw in the easy English words instead of saying them in French.

Suffering of Children

America's news is always in the stoplight around the world. I've found out that from being here that America is the center of attention for some reason, or maybe France is just obsessed with America. Anyhow, I found out about the Connecticut school shooting through the internet first because Facebook tells all. It affected me pretty hard. I taught a kindergarten classroom for 2 years during my last two years of high school. I was the teacher for a classroom for an hour and a half every other day. I remembered my classroom, the teachers, and the children and could not imagine how my life would be right now if a shooting happend while I was there. I also can't imagine what the families and friends are going through. As president Obama said, after this hes going to "hug [his] children a little tighter". 

It was evening here in France when I heard about the shooting and the family I live with was getting ready for dinner. The oldest was at dance lessons, so the dad went to pick her up. For a second, I thought I was the only one home because it was so quiet and dark, but they were there sitting in the living room. The mom and two of the children were sitting in the dark enjoying the Christmas candles they found in a box. About 8 small candles were lit on the table. I sat down with them and for a few minutes. Nothing was said. I almost felt like this was God's way of showing me that while one part of the world is suffering, another part of the world will experience peace. One of my favorite verses says "be still and know that I am God" -Psalm 46:10. So that's what I did. I didn't mention the shooting to the parents till after dinner, but the whole time during dinner, I could only watch the children as they ate. They were joyful, comfortable, and safe. They were happy children as they scooped their pees on their forks. I just thanked God for the life that they have and that they are healthy and safe. I ask God to protect them as all children should be protected. 

Yesterday was a hard homework day. I got Agathe to start her homework as soon as she got home. It didn't look like she had a lot to do, but it turned out being a bunch. It also harder on her because she's a lefty and it takes her twice as long to write one word. And she had to write everything in cursive. I was having her write down all her spelling words, and there was one word she couldn't spell. It was a hard word, but for some reason, it really stressed her out that she couldn't spell it. Mentally, she started giving up, so I told her we will do the spelling later and we can just do the math. She was already frustrated and wouldn't move on from it, so when I asked her what her math homework was, she wouldn't tell me. She would mumble something, and I couldn't understand her. I think I pushed her over the edge by telling her that, but for real. It's hard enough for me as it is when she only speaks French and adding mumbling and whining means I can't make words out of what she says. She got up and went to the bathroom and just sat on the floor. Her older sister, sweetest girl on the planet, followed her and tried to see what was wrong. I let them talk for a little bit because I thought maybe Agathe would listen to her sister. She wasnt successful. I went in the bathroom and found her with tears under her eyes sitting behind the door. I kinda forcefully picked her up and sat her in my lap. I tried to encourage her with the very limited vocabulary that I have as I held on to her for a few minutes. I think she just needed a hug. 
Long story short, she finished her homework after that and was back to her normal self in 15 minutes. Talk about a quick turn around. American's would say she's bipolar, but the French just say she's a kid. 

So taking care of Agathe is my responsibility. Once before, I had to get her ready for school, and she would not get out of bed. We were almost late for school because she took 45 minutes just to get dressed. I asked her dad about that later on to see if that was normal, ask if theres something I should do, and kinda get him to get on to her for not listening to me. He returned by asking me "what do you think you should do?" So I learned right then that I need to figure that out on my own next time. 
This morning, I had to get her up for school again. Both of the parents were still at home to wake her up but then shortly left. As they were walking out of her bedroom, both of them told me "good luck". Really? Thanks parents. Agathe was already in a bad mood because the clothes her mom set out for her weren't clothes that she liked. This girl hates wearing blue jeans, but that's all that was clean. No worries though. I can handle this now. We made it downstairs for breakfast in record time and Agathe was in a great mood. How did I do it? I took all her stuffed animals and made a puppet show at the end of her bed. She was awake and sitting up after 10 seconds of starting my "spectacle"! Will I have to do that from now on when I wake her up? Probably. Is it worth it to start the day off in a fun way? Absolutely. It put both of us in a good mood. 
When I take her to school, I hold her hand the whole way down the street. We always either talk or sing on the way there, and we give each other two kisses on the cheek and say goodbye. She so sweet.



What I have noticed the past few days is that I really care about these children and this family. I feel like these kids are my little siblings. It happens though when you spend everyday with someone. It's harder getting to know someone with a language barrier, but children don't care.

I'm happy'er than a tornado in a trailer park!

You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girl. Europe knows that Texas is a big deal. We do have a lot of pride that shines around the world. And were a pretty big chuck of land.

People I meet in Paris hear that I'm from Texas and images like cowboys and guns instantly pop into their minds. Sometimes they are shocked by the way that I talk because I don't have a very thick accent like they expect a girl from Texas would have.  I also have only ridden a horse maybe 3 times in my life. So when it comes to Texas Stereotypes, I only fulfill like 2 of them. Im loud and I listen to Country  music. But just for the French, I fulfilled another stereotype.

I keep telling myself to not spend money unless I absolutely have to. I HAD TO. And I am beyond satisfied with my purchase. I try really hard to blend in the the Parisians because I don't want to stand out as the tourist or the American. That could be dangerous, but this was an exception. I found a vintage store called Tilt Vintage with a lot of reasonably priced stuff, and they had a bunch of cowboy boots! All of them were in pretty good shape and cheap. Heres the store:

 Paige trying on some shoes!

 and me trying on an AWESOME Christmas Unicorn sweater. And yeah, I ended up buying it. Also, Paige and I both bought ourselves real leather, great condition cowboy boots for dirt cheap. Mine for sure would cost around 200 to 300 in the states, so I felt obligated to buy them. I'm extremely satisfied with them too!

 

Yep, were awesome.

I got a lovely surprise on my way to church yesterday while I was wearing my new boots. A bunch of horses invaded the city! It was like a parade! they were advertising for the "Salon Du Cheval" starting in the beginning of December. It's a Trade show of horses from around the world. It was amazing seeing so many horses go by that for some reason I teared up. It was just so beautiful. (I know, I'm lame) It was a reminder that I'm in the beautiful city of Paris with Beautiful things happening all the time!

Heres a rather boring video of horses going by. But at lease you get to see the surrounding area of Paris and the Eiffel Tower. This if right down the street from the church I've been going to.

Thanksgiving with a new family. Thankful for what I get to experience.

I didn't think that missing Thanksgiving with my family would hit me very hard because I know it's just a day with good food and a house full of family members. No big deal, right? I can't decide what is worse. Celebrating Thanksgiving without my family or the feeling that my entire family and all my friends are celebrating without me. It wasn't till I woke up with a "It's Thanksgiving!" attitude and put a dress on that I realized it was a "get all dressed up with no place to go" situation. But thankfully, I did have a place to go. Us Americans stick together and eat together! So we skipped school (because hellooo its a holiday) and spent all morning cooking like normal Americans. My Thanksgiving turned out very warm and loving like all Thanksgivings are. I bundled up a few ingredients for cooking and went to a friends house. An American girl from class was given permission to bring friends over to her host families house for Thanksgiving lunch. Most host families don't want their au pair to bring guest over, but her host family is American. They understand the importance of Thanksgiving. It's just as important as Christmas. It's almost a religious holiday since we take it so seriously. The food is always the best, and I always said that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday.

We spent hours in the kitchen cooking, listening to music, and talking. We made turkey( just escalopes of turkey. we would have to hunt for our own turkey if we wanted a whole one), green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, and candied yams. I ate my plate full of food so fast and got seconds! Everyone agreed that the stuffing and the candied yams were the two best. They were all homemade and pretty dang good.

Cathy!!!

I love see people I know! Cathy, who is in Prague for the semester, came to Paris for a few days! She came in Thursday night and I just happen to not work that day, so I picked her up from the airport!

For dinner that night, We found a small restaurant at the Latin Quarter that was extremely good! 

 Found this picture online. It was called La Braserade.

Cathy, Me, and Cathy's friend Amanda ate Onion Soup first. It was very good and very French!

 I had Rotisserie Chicken with Green Beans! Cathy explained to me the typical food in Czech Republic. They hardly eat vegetables. She said "a side of green beans? what is that?" because people in czech eat very unhealthy. Good thing I didn't au pair there. I would come home with health problems. I like vegetables. 

 For dessert, I had THE BEST ice cream I have ever had. Like for real! it was to die for. 

 

The three of us exploring the Latin Quater!

I also got a chance to take them to see the Moulin Rouge and eat Creme Brulees at Cafe des deux Moulins. On the way there, we got on the metro with these guys. They were very entertaining.

The view of Paris from on top!

My big moment of going up the Eiffel tower was excepted to be less emotional than I had always anticipated it to be because the glamor of the tower has died down from seeing it almost every day. But I still cried once I got off the elevator.

 About to get on the elevator

Going up!

Almost there!

View from the middle of the eiffel tower

I was crying at this point. It hit me that I was on the eiffel tower.

La Seine

Trocadero

Champs de Mars

Looking up from where I was.

After that, we paid the extra few euros to go to the VERY TOP of the tower

Going up further!

It actually took forever to get up.

Champs de Mars again

There were many posters with history on them about the tower. Mr. Eiffel lived on the tower!

Trocadero again

Me and Molly!

So it was freezing cold and windy. That kind of made our trip short. I would have normally wanted to stay longer. I know for sure that I want to go again at night when it's not as cold. I feel that I need to see everything in Paris during the day and at night. Night time here is a whole new world.

Our next adventure was to climb the Notre Dame! that too had an amazing view.

 There were 400 stairs to climb. I could have died.

 My favorite gargoyle!

 Look an orbe! 

The famous bell! I touched it!

 looking to the east and you can see the Eiffel Tower

 So many tall building so you know that the Notre Dame is super tall

 so pretty!

The next adventure was on a feris wheel! There is a feris wheel for the holiday season at the end of the Champs- Elysees between Place de la Concorde and the Louvre Museum. This feris wheel is pretty much in the middle of all of Paris so you can see everything!

 From far away

Molly and I on the feris wheel!

La Champs-Elysees and l'Arc de Triomphe.

 La Tour Eiffel when it's foggy

 La madeline on the middle left, Opera toward the middle right, and Sacre-Coeur in the distance.