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fun little story - those pictures of the department stores all lit up? the night we took those pictures, they found dynomite in printemps. so that's awesome. i guess we can laugh about it since we are safe and sound. although a bomb threat in paris is not funny. anyway, thought i'd share.
i'm HOME! just in time for a snow storm! :)
and my kitten, tux, is a total fatty.
this one goes out to amanda, andrew and their new baby, james!!!
this past week has been good times. there were festive parties, late night light hopping, christmas markets, decorating, warm spiced wine, disney land...i couldn't imagine a better last week before break. i've been teaching a lesson on the holidays in the us to my students. i start with what christmas is like for my family - for example, i tell them about the christmas carol sing which is next sunday and i CAN'T WAIT!!. also, in france they generally celebrate on christmas eve instead of in the morning. and they love our stockings. i've been playing them christmas songs like rudolf and santa claus is coming to town. they all know all the words to jingle bells and they taught me the french version of silent night (douce nuit). the best part is watching them work on the word search i give them. they love that stuff. as soon as i pass it out, they have like 14 different highlighters and markers out. they color it in and everything. hard. core.
thursday blew my lesson out of the water though. caitlin and i went out in the afternoon and got a bunch of decorations for the flat. we also got the ingredients we needed for our warm spiced wine recipe. when we got home, we decorated, made the wine and put out gingerbread cookies all while listening to christmas songs. our friends came over around 8 and we warmed up with the wine and treats before spending the rest of the night light hopping. we started at our metro stop, abbesses, which has a little christmas market. then we took the metro to the champs elysees. we started at the arc de triomphe and walked down to concorde, stopping at another christmas market to get some more warm wine. at the end of the champs elysees is the obelisk at concorde which has a huge feris wheel set up for christmas. from there we walked to place vendome - it's another obelisk but it has really crazy christmas trees all around it. then we walked down rivoli and past the louvre to hotel de ville where they are setting up an ice skating rink. too bad it's not open yet. from there we walked over to notre dame where there is a big christmas tree. then it was on to opera and madeleine by metro. finally, we walked to haussman and saw printemps and galeries lafayette which have world famous christmas displays. we were EXHAUSTED by the time we got back and totally freezing but it was all worth it. we thawed quickly.
friday was mellow. i went for a run and froze to death. it felt good though - my ankles have been really bothering me and i hadn't run in a week or so. it probably wasn't the best choice in the long run but since when have i ever respected the signs my body gives me? i run when i WANT!
so friday night was bradley's birthday and caitlin and i made a brief appearance. i'm glad we went - i hadn't seen jake and ben in a while and we spent the whole time laughing. oh, those crazy brits. after the party we came back to the flat to meet caitlin's friend from high school. lauren is studying in nantes which is about 2 or 3 hours south of paris. she brought her friend from the program, april. we chatted for a little while and went to bed around midnight because we had to get some decent sleep before our saturday at EURO DISNEY!
we got up early and made our way to the rer (kind of like the commuter train to boston). it took about 45 minutes to get there and when we left the rer station, there it was - the happiest place on earth! i was giddy - i hadn't been to disneyland since i was a kid. we used to go at least once a year since my mom grew up in california and my grandparents still lived in la. so, needless to say, i was super pumped to be there. i can't really remember what disneyland looks like except for what i can see in the pictures so i had no expectations of preconceptions of what it should be. and i was very pleased.
it's really strange to be in a place that you identify with your childhood as an adult. euro disney has sleeping beauty's castle just like disneyland. sleeping beauty is my alltime favorite disney movie - i LOVE tchaikovsky and i even want to walk out to aurora's theme at my wedding. i've had it planned since i was little.
it turns out that lauren is the most experienced disney-goer ever. she knew exactly what to do which made my life so easy. i didn't care what we did. i was just happy to be there. she was easy to see with her purple coat and the santa hat (caitlin and i got us all santa hats when we went decoration shopping on thursday) so we just followed her around. we started with star tours where a little french boy threw up all over his mom right before we got on the ride. poor little kid (i only say that because he didn't throw up on me). it was REALLY funny to hear c3po talk in french and once we got into the actual ride it was in franglais. parts were taken from the movie and other parts were dubbed. soooo weird.
after star tours we walked through sleeping beauty's castle. i was so happy! i skipped through the whole thing - even the dragon's dungeon (which was a little incorrect since the dragon happens to be maleficent so there couldn't be both at the same time but...poetic liscence i guess). after the castle we went on the pinnochio ride which was SO cute and then the pirates of the carribean (mom's favorite ride). then we grabbed lunch and payed a fortune for a burger and fries...BUT we did get to see a live performance of the lion king while we ate. in english. it started raining by the time we finished eating and it was, at that point, 28 degrees and wet. we were frozen - couldn't feel our fingers or feet at all. but we were still happy!
after lunch we headed over to the buzz lightyear ride which is crazy! you sit in this little space pod thing that has laser guns on the front. there's a joystick that turns your car all the way around like the teacups and you shoot bad guys to get points. it's so fun. i've never seen any of the pixar stuff since i was too old when they made all the rides.
after buzz we went to the haunted mansion. that was one of my favorites when i was little. it was just as cool as i remembered. although, the french crazied it up a little and it was longer...which was AWESOME! i love the way they let you into the ride in that room that sinks. so creative. after the haunted mansion we made our way to santa's christmas village. we took some pictures with jessie from toy story and then jack and sally from the nightmare before christmas. and last but not least, we got a photo shoot with pere noel. he was so cute! when we all sat around him he goes 'i don't know what to do with my hands!' so in the picture he's just sticking them out like he's asking a question. it was so cute to see all the little european kids talk to him. ugh, everything is cuter in an accent.
our next stop was the light show so we walked through aladin's palace (so cute) and back to main street. they call it main street usa in france which i thought was strange. the light show was so pretty. they lit up sleeping beauty's castle little by little and in sync with the music. it looked like it had snow and diamonds all over it. and they lit up the big christmas tree and all the shops. so precious. it's funny because usually i think disney is kind of trite but now i get why people love it so much. i thought you had to be a kid to really appreciate it. WRONG!
when the light show was over we decided to go on the peter pan ride. totally awesome and adorable. you get on these little ships and sail over london and through neverland. there are stars all around you - it's totally trippy and awesome. after that, lauren and april didn't want to go on the indiana jones ride since it went outside and not only was the air freezing but the rain was as well and they didn't want to get pelted in the face. caitlin and i were hardcore though and the roller coaster turned out to be totally bitchin. except for one ice-in-the-eyeball incident, we didn't even notice the cold and rain. and we even had time to sprint over to space mountain which was the only ride i HAD to go on. it was my favorite when i was little and it is my favorite now. most trippy, crazy roller coaster ever. my favorite part is the black hole.
we were supposed to meet lauren and april before 9 to get a good spot for the candelibration parade and when we got off space mountain it was 9:02. we SPRINTED all the way to the castle and spotted the purple coat right away. the parade was so cute. i felt bad for the dancers though. they must have been freezing. i mean, i was numb all over and i was wearing about 3 more layers than them.
we finally got home around 12 and thawed out for about an hour before all passing out. lauren and april left early this morning and caitlin and i have hung around the apartment all day. we were all so sore from clenching and shivering all day yesterday (and from smiling :)!) anyway, i'm headed home on thursday for christmas. i couldn't possibly be more excited. i miss everyone so much. i will be happy to come back though. the past 3 months have been so perfect. this is the best thing i could have ever done for myself. i'm at the halfway point and if the next semester is even half as good as this one has been, i will be completely satisfied. happy holidays everyone! can't wait to see you when i get home! bonne nuit...
i have been to the holy land. i have smelled the sweet cocoa butter air. i have traveled the canals. i have seen the brothels and sniffed the cannabis. i shall call it...amsterdam.
holland is now up at the top of the list. i would say it's one of my new favorite places in the world. granted, i have only traveled a little bit when you think of all the wonderful places on this planet. i'm working on that though.
i left on thursday night with caitlin and emily. we caught a night bus at 11pm. that was an experience. i've been on red eyes and night trains but i have never slept (if you can call it that) on a bus for an entire night. we stopped a couple of times for bathroom and smoke breaks in the middle of the night and it's hard to fall back to sleep after going out into the freezing cold, getting attacked by flourescent lights, peeing, and then trying to sleep sitting up. so i think in total i slept about 3 hours. we were pretty groggy and goofy when we got into amsterdam but that wasn't going to stop us!
we walked to our hostel and dropped our stuff in the lockers at about 7am and looked around the hostel. it was a christian hostel so there were big paintings that said "god loves you" and "jesus is lord." there was even a series of framed drawings telling the story of the wemmicks. if you have never heard of eli and the wemmicks, check out 
this link. i found it on youtube when we got home and it's the exact same pictures they had on the wall. good message i guess but kind of creepy at the same time.
anyway, we left the hostel and went in search of breakfast. there were these little coupons for a place called "sara's pancakes" and that sounded so delicious to our tired, empty little tummies. we forgot that in europe, pancakes mean crepes. so i was disappointed when i saw my food but immediately changed my mind when i tasted it. it was delicious. and they had actual molases instead of syrup! it was crazy!
after breakfast it was finally a decent hour (a
bout 9am) and we headed over to the anne frank museum. let me tell ya, that is not a happy way to start your day. it was really cool and very moving but quite depressing. it is the actual house where the franks lived before being brought to the camps. more than any other emotion, i was totally awed. it is such an amazing piece of history and a famous work of literature. i felt almost star struck by the whole idea of being in her house. there were videos of people who knew the franks or who worked for otto frank and survived or were not jewish. there was even a video of otto frank speaking about his daughter's diary. that was the most emotional part of the tour. it was such a sincere commentary to anne's diary but at the same time it made you feel in a small way what it must be like to lose everyone you love. what it must be like to start over as a grown 
man and alone.
back to happy stories: we left the museum and got on the canal bus (which is a boat). there are man made canals all through amsterdam and they are cleaned 3 times a week. that's why the city smells and looks so much cleaner than paris. it was insane the way the boats navigated through the narrow, winding water. they had to reverse and turn all the time and we all thought we were going to crash into a bridge on a regular basis.
we took the boat to the rijksmuseum which is a classic art museum. it's beautiful from the outside - looks like a palace. the art was cool and there was a huge collection of rembrandt's work but i really enjoyed the exposition we 
went to. it was a contemporary piece by damien hirst called 'for the love of god' and it was a platinum cast of a real skull encrusted completely in diamonds. it was in a black box and it shined so beautifully. i even commented on it in the gift shop and they put it on the website! you can see it if you click on this link and hit 'normal: english' and then click on my floating head. crazy.
we also found the gay memorial that is this little marble triangle with flowers on it sticking out into one of the canals near the anne frank house. it's a monument to the gays who were persecuted, killed and tortured during WWII. pretty intense. it was very beautiful even in its ordinariness. that moved me more than the anne frank house i think - maybe due to the ongoing hatred and judging almost 70 years later.
we then went towards the gorgeous train station (amsterdam centraal which i think is a pretty name for whatever reason) and got some food. we found falafel - which i was SO in the mood for - and fries. they are big fry people just like the belgians. i warned emily that there is a serious and digestion related price to pay for the local favorite of fries doused in mayonnaise but she wanted to immerse and learned that lesson on her own. i just got my fries plain and took little tastes of her globs of mayo.
we walked through the christmas markets which consisted of ice skating rinks and festive food stands like proffertjes. i'm pretty sure that's what andrea's dad used to make us for breakfast when we were little. they were these balls of batter that were hollow in the middle and they covered them in butter and powdered sugar. david used to put butter and syrup INSIDE the balls but it tasted the same. anyway, it reminded me of the porters and how much i miss them!our next move was towards the red light district. i had heard so many stories about it that i had to see it for myself. so we bravely ventured into the brothel district. in general it's pretty tame but there is one stretch of 
alleyway that is lined with glass doors and half-naked/completely naked women and a bed behind them. YIKES! and if you are even making a camera hand gesture let alone holding a camera they will bang on the windows and yell dutch profanities at you. i took a picture of a really pretty church near one of the doors and one of the prostitutes yelled 'PUNTA' at me which is not a nice word at all.
anyway, we got out of there and went to see some of the famous head shops and coffee shops. now, when i say coffee shop i do not mean a place where you can buy coffee. i mean a place where you buy weed. i don't even think they have coffee. it's a local phenomenon though and i have to admit, as someone who went to amsterdam for everything but the weed, it was a pretty cool approach to the sport of getting high. it's much less hyped and very relaxed. the locals are not all complete potheads like they are imagined to be. in fact, i'm sure there are plenty of people who live in amsterdam and don't smoke at all. there is very little smoking of tobacco and barely anyone smokes in the street. it is illegal to smoke weed outside in public but you very often catch a whiff of wacky tobacky while you're walking around outside. it's a much nicer smell than cigarettes though so none of us minded.
we walked around the shopping area a little more and saw some of the christmas lights at night. i was in the christmas spirit full force. at one point i started belting 'it's the most wonderful time of the year' as we walked past a local news station filming a street interview. i hope they put it on tv. i think i was running on pure sugar at that point. no sleep, no real food...
we got back on the canal boat (it was a hop on hop off for 24 hours...totally better than the metro) and proceeded to fall asleep for a half hour. we were so wiped. i was a little disappointed in myself for not paying attention to the tour guide and missing some history but there was nothing that could keep me awake at that point. we got off and 
went back to the hostel where we showered for the first time in 2 days and thawed out from the full day of 0 degree, windy, misty weather.
that night our friend, betsy, joined us at the hostel. she had to catch a later train on friday. we all passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow. i'm a pretty deep sleeper so i didn't move an inch until the next morning but i guess caitlin kept getting woken up by someone snoring. she thought it was betsy which was hilarious...it was the girl on the other side of the partition from betsy. that's probably not so funny to you but we thought it was wonderful.
breakfast was free which made it delicious. there was even a little kitty who lived there. emily and i fell in love with him and could barely focus on the food. i miss my cats so much. (9 more days!) after breakfast we walked to one of the famous dutch windmills. it was BEAUTIFUL! my mom loves windmills and i think it has rubbed off on me. it was about a 25 minute walk which felt really good to my aching muscles. we took some pictures and then found a cafe for our second breakfast (we ate a lot). it 
turned out to be the coolest cafe ever and the waitress was awesome. she taught us about sinterklaas and the celebration they have on december 5th. it's a bigger deal than christmas for them. once we knew this story, the little kids dressed up as bishops the day before made much more sense. she also gave us little round cinnamon biscuits and little candies that are sinterklaas tradition.
after breakfast number two, we walked back into town and did some souvenir shopping. we found a small flea market on one of the canals and looked at all the jewelry and crazy rasta clothes. i was proud of myself for not buying anything and we moved on to the free public library. the girls at the front desk of the hostel told us to check it out because the view from the top floo
r is really beautiful. they were right. the inside was totally awesome too. it's a new building and there are computers with free internet lining the walls.
that night after dropping our stuff off at the hostel we decided to go out for a round of drinks. caitlin had been to a bar she really liked the last time she was in amsterdam so we decided to go back. it was called bourbon street and there was live music and cheap drinks. perfect. we had a lot of fun dancing and singing along to the classic rock but we only stayed for a drink because we were tired. we headed back to the hostel, showered and thawed, and went to sleep.
we had to catch the bus back to paris at 11 so we grabbed breakfast at the hostel, went to a cafe for coffee and headed to the bus station. it was much nicer to make the trip during the day but my tailbone is still sore from all the sitting. we stopped a few times in holland and twice in brussels so the ride back took about 9 hours. it only took 7 on the way there. it was a long ride. we had fun though and made it back to paris at about 8 at which point i had to create a lesson plan for this week. guess i should have done that before we left. it's ok though - i am teaching them about american christmas so i get to listen to christmas carols and talk about rudolf all day. (9 more days!!!)
it's been requested that i list the funny moments that made us nearly wet ourselves this weekend. they may not make sense to you but...for the sake of memories:
leah: i gotta piss like a racehorse! AH! sorry jesus!
emily: did you just say sorry jesus for piss?
caitlin: racehorse?
leah: rape?
caitlin(6am): we were going balls to the wall into the red light district.
prostitute: *THUM*...PUNTA!emily: did she just say punta?!
betsy: check you later homes.
leah: lederhosen?
leah: you know him! he's a really well known scottish poet.
emily: maybe we don't know he's scottish?
...moment of silence...
leah: WILLARD SCOTT!
(the an
swer, ladies and gents, is sir walter scott. sigh.)
leah: you can't smoke in front of hellen keller's house!
betsy: anne frank?
emily: *aaaaachoo!* OOP! i just peed a little.
...girl snoring...
emily: is that betsy snoring like a sea beast?
caitlin: my hips are loose. they do what they want.
(referring to flexibility and not...)
bus driver: la toilette est ouverte mais uh...juste pipi, ok?
...2 minutes later...
bus driver: seulement pipi!
this link. i found it on youtube when we got home and it's the exact same pictures they had on the wall. good message i guess but kind of creepy at the same time.
bout 9am) and we headed over to the anne frank museum. let me tell ya, that is not a happy way to start your day. it was really cool and very moving but quite depressing. it is the actual house where the franks lived before being brought to the camps. more than any other emotion, i was totally awed. it is such an amazing piece of history and a famous work of literature. i felt almost star struck by the whole idea of being in her house. there were videos of people who knew the franks or who worked for otto frank and survived or were not jewish. there was even a video of otto frank speaking about his daughter's diary. that was the most emotional part of the tour. it was such a sincere commentary to anne's diary but at the same time it made you feel in a small way what it must be like to lose everyone you love. what it must be like to start over as a grown 
man and alone.
went to. it was a contemporary piece by damien hirst called 'for the love of god' and it was a platinum cast of a real skull encrusted completely in diamonds. it was in a black box and it shined so beautifully. i even commented on it in the gift shop and they put it on the website! you can see it if you click on this link and hit 'normal: english' and then click on my floating head. crazy.
we then went towards the gorgeous train station (amsterdam centraal which i think is a pretty name for whatever reason) and got some food. we found falafel - which i was SO in the mood for - and fries. they are big fry people just like the belgians. i warned emily that there is a serious and digestion related price to pay for the local favorite of fries doused in mayonnaise but she wanted to immerse and learned that lesson on her own. i just got my fries plain and took little tastes of her globs of mayo.
alleyway that is lined with glass doors and half-naked/completely naked women and a bed behind them. YIKES! and if you are even making a camera hand gesture let alone holding a camera they will bang on the windows and yell dutch profanities at you. i took a picture of a really pretty church near one of the doors and one of the prostitutes yelled 'PUNTA' at me which is not a nice word at all.
went back to the hostel where we showered for the first time in 2 days and thawed out from the full day of 0 degree, windy, misty weather.
turned out to be the coolest cafe ever and the waitress was awesome. she taught us about sinterklaas and the celebration they have on december 5th. it's a bigger deal than christmas for them. once we knew this story, the little kids dressed up as bishops the day before made much more sense. she also gave us little round cinnamon biscuits and little candies that are sinterklaas tradition.
r is really beautiful. they were right. the inside was totally awesome too. it's a new building and there are computers with free internet lining the walls.
we had to catch the bus back to paris at 11 so we grabbed breakfast at the hostel, went to a cafe for coffee and headed to the bus station. it was much nicer to make the trip during the day but my tailbone is still sore from all the sitting. we stopped a few times in holland and twice in brussels so the ride back took about 9 hours. it only took 7 on the way there. it was a long ride. we had fun though and made it back to paris at about 8 at which point i had to create a lesson plan for this week. guess i should have done that before we left. it's ok though - i am teaching them about american christmas so i get to listen to christmas carols and talk about rudolf all day. (9 more days!!!)
swer, ladies and gents, is sir walter scott. sigh.)
