Johanna

I've spent the last two days with my sweet friend Johanna. For a while now we've talked about doing a photoshoot. She wanted some photos to give her family and also to mark her time here in Paris. We meant to get out earlier in the day and go to Luxembourg, but I was slow to get things done. By the time we met back up, we only had about an hour and a half of good sun. Luckily I've got some great places with good lighting near my building. I love to take some in the courtyard.After we took our fill of photos in the courtyard, we walked down the street to Les Invalides. The sun was shining pretty bright, so I played around with the lighting. I learned quite a bit, actually. I was able to get some really great shots of her. Honestly, it's hard to get a bad picture of her.I took a total of about 150 snaps and we narrowed them down to 80, and I had to narrow it down to a small bit for this post. There are more that are fantastic, but these are my favorites of this lovely Swede.

Quick Laugh

I picked up the kid from school I asked him how his day was. He told me this story:

Connie, there is this girl who is called Sarah and she is in love with me. During the birthday celebration, she was next to me. She said, "I want to have 10 childs" and I told her that 10 is a lot. Then she said that she would learn them French, like all the vocabulary. And I would learn them mathematics. Then I asked her "You know that you will have to make all of the 10 babies?". hahaha. She said "I know, of course."

The End.

Zac-ersations

This kid kills me sometimes. Today he had his class field trip to Chateau de Breteuil, which meant he needed to be at school 15 minutes early. I chose his outfit carefully. I've basically dressed the kid very American since I've been here. He was supposed to wear a hat today. He had two. One looked like it belonged to a five year old, and the other was a Harley Davidson one. He also has a Harley t-shirt. So I paired those with his new shorts and Birks. He looked cool. I shaped the hat and showed him how to wear it slightly sideways and also backwards. He did his best rapper imitation which was just too cool. When he showed his father, he stood up with Zac and danced like a rapper too.

When I picked him up from school, he had has hat backwards and the side rolled up a bit. I asked him why and he said "So I don't have Dumbo ears." I think they are cute, but maybe my opinion doesn't matter.We had to walk to Rue Cler to get some fruit and on the way back we stopped at Cafe Columbus to get him a chocolate donut. The conversation was making me laugh the entire time. I've realized that he's picked up on my vocabulary. Namely "like".

Conversation 1

Connie: Zac, tell me about the chateau you saw today.
Zac: Well we didn't see much of the chateau, but the bus was really fun.
Connie: OK. Um, did anyone get in trouble?
Zac: No, but a girl cried.
Connie: Why? Did she get hurt?
Zac: No it was so weird. A ver de terre got on her and she screamed and cried. And I was like, "Why are you crying?"
Connie: What is a ver de terre?
Zac: Um, well, it's uh on the ground and pink and um.
Connie: A worm?
Zac: Yeah, a wum! She cried Connie. That is so weird.

Conversation 2

Connie: Did you talk to Emma today?
Zac: A little, but not really.
Connie: What boys do the girls like?
Zac: Oh they LOVE Theophile and I don't know why.
Connie: Is he your friend?
Zac: Well it's like everyone thinks of him funny and it's like this girl Victoria will do something funny and then Theophile will do the same thing and they laugh. And I'm like "He is copying." So I just don't laugh.

Conversation 3

Zac: I am soooo happy right now!
Connie: Why?
Zac: Because I am with you and I haven't seen you all day!

Conversation 4

Zac: So like when you go back to Texas and I come to see you, you will have a baby.
Connie: .......
Zac: Maybe?
Connie: Zac that was random.
Zac: I was just thinking about it and thought I'd ask.

We sat at the cafe for a while and made up a game with a 2 centime piece. We thumped it across the table to try to make goals. We tied. Game over. He enjoyed the game more than me.It's sad that I don't get this kind of time with the other kids, but I do love having my 7 year old shadow with me at all times. He's the best company I could ask for.

Team Zaconnie Video

Yesterday wasn't the easiest day. I had many laughs, but they usually followed a series of sighs. It started off badly early in the morning. I usually always ask Zac if he would prefer a Tarama or a Tzatziki sandwich. He chose Tzatziki (which I LOVE). So as I put the knife in the container, I somehow managed to flip it which caused it to smear all over the front of my fleece and along the sleeve. About two seconds later I heard a loud noise that sounded like spilling liquid and breaking glass. I had just opened a new 1.5L of orange juice. Zac reached for it, but only pushed it onto a bowl full of cantaloupe, causing all of it to fall on the floor to spill and break. It was not fun to clean up. He was already running extremely late and I had to clean up all of it off of a black marble floor.

After I picked him up from school I took him to the park. At one point I was cleaning out my bag and when I looked up I couldn't find him. My heart stopped, then started beating REALLY fast. I had no idea where he was. I ran around the playground and the field. After about five minutes of frantic searching, I saw him hunched near a fence watching the high school kids spray water on each other, which also got him soaked. I almost burst into tears because I was so scared that I wouldn't find him.

More happened, but that was the jist of it. The kid is great and provides me with much entertainment. He had about ten minutes before bedtime, so we decided to make some videos. The first two were less than mediocre as my head was cut off and he just made noises. This video is long and gives you a good idea of his cute accent that I love so much. He acts a bit squirrely too and I don't have any excuses for that. He can be bizarre at times. I hope you enjoy!

Officially one year closer to the Dreaded Teens

So today my gal turned twelve. I'll be a week away from moving back to America when she hits thirteen. And I'll be hitting the ground running. She has already finished school and I knew she would want to be out and about on her birthday. I felt pressure. Lunch was a must and she mentioned that she wanted Subway. Zac is always talking about it and Verena loves anything American, so that's where we went. But first we had some time to spare.

I asked if she would want to come to my flat to watch an American movie since my DVD player can play all zone discs (yes I'm a hacker). She jumped on it and was at my place is five minutes. She chose The Devil Wears Prada. I do love that movie! During the movie, there is a scene that takes place just two streets down from Subway so I told her to remember that scene.

We caught the 63 bus to Dante, then walked a short bit to Subway. It was so incredibly full of Americans. They spoke to Verena in English and it shocked her. She wanted to speak French, but it seemed almost impossible. The place was so full of Americans that we decided to leave. It just didn't seem right. Incredibly bizarre. We walked across the street to Notre Dame to find a place to park it for a bit. She loved Subway. I've got two kids down as converts now.After she ate, we crossed back over the river for a quick trip to the street from Devil Wears Prada. She didn't recognize it. Then I walked her to the pole and that's when she got it. "That's so cooool!" were her words. Just for the sake of keeping a fun memory, we got a pic of her swinging like Anne Hathaway did.We walked back over the river and through the tourist area to Hotel de Ville so that we could catch line 1 to the Champs Elysees. I had a surprise for her, but just kept her in suspense the whole time. At Hotel de Ville, they have set up a temorary garden with an outlandish about of species of plants. There is are ponds even! Yes, usually it is all concrete in front. At Christmas there is an ice skating rink, and now look, a full garden with ponds!Verena kept saying, "Oooh, can I take a cool pic?" any time she wanted to take one. Cool pic, cool pic. She was so proud of this picture that she took. But I guess it is nice to have photos with Paris in the background.
My surprise was taking her to the Virgin Music Megastore for her to pick out a cd. She was so excited, but asked if she could buy singles instead. I said yes but told her that she will only get 5 songs instead of a full 12 or so. Whatever. She could buy them for 0,99 centimes on iTunes, but she reminded me, "Connie, it's my birthday right?" I meant to take some pictures of us while we were there, but I only remembered when we were in the metro. I was shocked at how grown-up she looks in this picture. Almost like 12 going on 18, yikes.

The lighting is always so perfect at the entrance of the couryard of our building, so I figured that would be a great place to take some official "Verena is 12" photos. She has no qualms about being my model. I was able to experiment a little, too! There are some things I liked and some I didn't, but at least I we got some great ones.

Posing with her new music.Behind the Big Blue Door.
TWELVE!
We got home at 3:00 so that her friends could surprise her. She knew they were coming but pretended she didn't. Later in the night she arrived home and showed me the presents they gave her. I was SHOCKED! They chipped in and bought her a Giorgio Armani phone which looks like something from the year 2023, a pair of headphones that cost more than my weekly salary, and a nice Swatch watch. Can you believe that? Verena is an incredible generous girl though. She LOVES to give. She thinks for months about what to buy for friends for their birthdays. One of the most thoughtful girls I've known. I love her!

It was a fun day with this girl. She and I have a good time when the boys aren't around. We don't normally get this much time together and it was honestly a fantastic day.

"TONIGH...."

Tonigh...Alright, so that's an inside joke, but it was also the most overused work of the night. It is also supposed to be used in an Australian accent (which is why I didn't type the "t"). It was the Fete de la Musique, the celebration of summer solstice. Music played all around the city and the whole town is out on the streets.

I met up with Johanna (Swede) and Ellie (Australian) and we walked around together. We battled the crowds and had some great conversation along the way. I'd describe it all, but there is too much. Lots of alcohol and lots of cigarettes everywhere. Everywhere. We couldn't dodge the smoke. Ellie got coffee and Johanna got a baguette sandwich, but that was all for us. We had talks about summer travels. I have tons of places that I want to go, but nothing is set in stone yet. Ellie mentioned that she wants to hike and I almost tripped because I was so excited that I found a girl that wants to go. I've been dying to go on a hiking trip since I was in Greece a year ago. It was just a big tease to drive around the old Byzantine ruins and not be able to hike them. So since then I've been hoping to find someone that would want to go with me. We are thinking about going on a four or five day trip to Chemonix in August and just roughing it. I'll keep you posted on if it all pans out.

This was just on the side of the Louvre. We heard this horrible music beat and assumed it was coming from across the river, but NO, it was from the backs of three guys. They were each playing an instrument and had a Bose attached to them.After an hour or so of walking around, we went down tot he river to sit and talk and let our legs hang off the bank. I am so upset because my camera batter died less than halfway through the night. The river was calm, except for after a boat passed. When that happened, water would splash up and get me and Johanna wet. Twice we thought our purses were about to fall in. My phone came very close to taking the plunge. We were there for about an hour, but we basically forced to leave by the heavy smokers that took up residence next to us. We left and all felt as if we smoked ourselves. We could taste it on our tongues. Disgusting.Look at all the people on the river banks. We ended up sitting on the oppostie side later on in the night. It was already about 10:30pm as this time and look how much light we still have!Crowds at Saint MichelIn front of Notre DameMore crowdsI love when the sky is this blue at night. At this point it was about 11:00pm.I am so sad that Spring is over, but hopefully Summer won't be too brutal. I'm already remembering how wonderful it used to be to have air-conditioning. Windows are great, but when there's no breeze, they serve no purpose.

Happy Birthday Johanna!

It was a great Friday night. While I was at work I made rice and the Tian de Legumes dish that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. Then I took it home for my friend Johanna and I to eat for dinner. I've never had it with rice, but it was fantastic! She lives in Neuilly so I suggested that she just stay the night with me. EuroDisney was the Saturday destination.After eating, we just played. We listened to music on her favorite site, we read some cool studies and discussed them, and we ate. We actually went through a whole bottle of orange juice. Tropicana sans pulpe takes juice to a whole different level. I learned a little bit of Swedish as well. Johanna has Finnish parents, but grew up in Stockholm. So yes, she speaks English, Finnish, Swedish, and she's learning French. Impressive. She was trying to ask me about a few verses, but the translation was coming out so odd that I couldn't tell her where they were. Instead, she found them in her Swedish bible and then we corresponded it to my English one. I just love seeing the bible in different languages.Skatter i himlen = Treasures in heaven
Den kristna familjen = The Christian family
She showed me this site called Deezer where you can listen to music without downloading it. She played for me some really good Swedish music and even some fun Swedish rap on You Tube.With all the reading and laughing we were doing, we were building up an appetite. We munched the whole night. She had a banana and I had my favorite snack, Pink Lady apple with peanuts. This has been my favorite snack for years, however I used to eat Granny Smith's but I'm a recent Pink Lady convert and might never go back.The big festivity for the morning was to celebrate Johanna's 20th birthday! I was so honored that I could be the first one to wish her a happy birthday. We snoozed for a really long time before actually waking up. Once we did, we stumbled down all the stairs to the boulangerie to get a baguette de tradition (the best). When we got back, Johanna took out a piece of cake that she baked yesterday and we lit a candle and I sang the Happy Birthday song in a varied fashion of operatic, soft and acoustic, and baritone. And she blew out her candle to ring in the end of her teens. To fully paradoxically celebrate her adulthood, she decided to go to EuroDisney. I would have loved to go, but I cannot, absolutely cannot, handle rollercoasters. If you want to kill me, just put me on one. I plan to meet up at the end of the night to join in on the festivities. So I sent her off on her way to see Minnie and Mickey and all the gang. At least now you can see what my stairwell looks like. Happy Birthday Johanna. I love you friend! I will miss you more than you know when you move back to Suede.Oh and it happens to be Fete de la Musique all day today as well. I can hear music now just pouring through my windows. The festival is celebrating the first day of Summer!