Dreaming of Butterflies

Well I'm sitting here trying to remember the things I have done since I last wrote, because I know there have been some interesting things, but I can only think of one or two at the moment. Two weekends ago I stayed with a friend, which was a rather shocking experience. My friend lives in Les Alluets le Roi, which is about 40 minutes by car from chez moi. I was interested to see another neat French house, with beautiful stonework and vines crawling up the side of the house. What a shock I got when I arrived!! Believe it or not, suburbia exists here in France as well. The neighborhood was a bunch of cookie cutter houses probably built in the last decade or so, the family had a monstrous car (ok, so monstrous by France's standards, which is still probably to say about the size of a BMW X5 or something of the sort. And then I arrived in the interior of the house and just had to laugh...it was outfitted with very modern appliances, cabinets, etc and probably had more decorations in English than in French! I had to ask my friend, "Es-tu sur que ta famille n'est pas américaine?" (Are you sure your family isn't American?). Fortunately, the place still had a real chimney (albeit with little 'light this packet', yes, in English, fire starters). Anyway, I'm going to do my best to avoid those types of encounters with things that remind me of the US and take a little away from my picturesque fairy-tale land France that I want to hold onto, haha.

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to the "Cirque de Plume", an experience that I found very French, although apparently this type of performance originated in Canada. Unfortunately, this is another one of those things that is a bit difficult to explain, but it was a really different/neat experience. Essentially, there are various "Cirques" in France, the most notable being the "Cirque de Soleil." It is a performance that mixes the circus, a play, and music all in one. Although there isn't always a coherent storyline, there is a fair amount of acting and the sets change like a play, etc. Anyway, I think what I thought was most French about the show was the humor. Although I haven't yet quite put my finger on what exactly it is about the French humor that is different, I have realized that French humor deals a lot with physical humor (weird faces or actions, etc). It takes a little bit of getting used to, but it's nice especially for foreigners if they don't speak the language because they can understand a lot easier. This "Cirque" was also in a neat place of Paris I had never been before, called the Parc de la Villette (literally, a park) where you can find a music museum, a science museum, and an exposition hall, among other buildings. Plus, the Seine runs right through the middle of the park, so that is pretty neat as well, especially at night.

This past weekend I was in Paris on Saturday, hanging out with some Colombian friends before going to a party at an acquaintance's apartment where the nationalities were too numerous to list :) The only bad part about this is generally English is the common language everyone speaks and that's just not very fun for me. Of course, it's probably a good thing in the end because I feel like every day I'm losing more and more of my vocabulary in English!! It's really mind-boggling, but there are times someone will ask me how to say something in English and it takes me a couple minutes to remember. And I thought it was bad when I started losing my Spanish...haha. Other than that, I really enjoy of course meeting people from all over the world. One thing that's pretty funny is the respect people have for "philosophers." I usually don't tell people I studied philosophy unless they ask, but it is incredible to see the change in people when they find out I studied philosophy. All of a sudden, they all want to talk to me, as if I know something they don't or I have the key to Pandora's Box or something. It's definitely a good conversation starter or continuer, but I have to admit most people are probably giving me too much credit.

I now have a trip planned with some Colombians for the end of the month to Mont-Saint-Michel, an old monastery off the coast of Normandy that I've wanted to visit for a long time. It's only a couple hours away, so it won't be too long of a trip, but it will be nice to get away because I haven't taken any trips since I've been here other than spending weekends in Paris. Other than that, the routine has returned this week after a week and a half of vacation for the kids. Of course, a full week might be a lot to handle, so a jour férié (holiday) is thrown in the middle of the week and everyone has off (even businesses) tomorrow for the anniversary of Armistice Day (I was shocked to discover there was actually a good reason!). Now when I say everyone, the Dad of the family still has to play tomorrow, so it's not a holiday for him, but that's the price one pays for being an artist I suppose.

Fall is in full swing now, with the temperatures in the upper 40s, lower 50s during the day and all the leaves changing and falling. I've found 2 especially beautiful vantage points to admire the fall colors, one in the village looking out across the valley and one in St Germain (where I have my French courses) looking down a tree-lined boulevard. Of course, the Champs-Elysées isn't bad either, ha! Hopefully my next update will come sooner than this one did, but that's an idea of what's happening on this side of the pond! Feel free to ask questions if you want me to write about something in particular...À bientôt!