Christmas in The Alps

We were able to make it out of Paris, despite the adverse weather conditions of last week. It was snowing pretty heavily the morning we left, but luckily we were taking the train and not driving. We arrived in Bourg Saint Maurice in the French Alps a little after 2pm. From the train station, we had to take a funicular up the mountain and then a shuttle bus to Les Arcs 1950. And I have to say, this place is pretty great, for what it is. And what it is, is a great big cruise ship in the sky with every convenience at your finger tips! We rented a condo in a little car free prefab village (think Main Street USA Disneyland, only french) with restaurants (again, think France, so replace Goofy's Burgers and Dogs with Pierre's Gooey Fonduey), ski shops, market, gaufre stand and sweet shoppe. It's ski in, ski out... no need to get in the car or shuttle bus or what have you, just slap on your skis and go! (I really believe now that the torture of getting your kids ready to ski and out the door is far beyond anything we were meant to endure as humans anyways, getting them onto transportation after that is just plain 'insupportable'! I mean, who came up with the term 'ski vacation', anyways? Haven't the jews suffered enough?) The kids are in ski school til noon, then we get them, have lunch (crepes, anyone?) and go out for a few more runs. And the best thing is, everyone is so exhausted by the end of the day, they pass out cold. We even got a little goyesha Charlie Brown Christmas tree for the room. I should also add, however, that we mistakenly used some chocolate ornaments to decorate it with (only the top branches) but when we came home from dinner one night, Chloe had helped herself to 4 of them. And didn't even knock the tree down. She's quite agile, the little bugger! Noa loved the ski school and really likes to go fast (surprise). She started doing this thing where she parallels her skis, bends at the knee, slaps both hands on her thighs and then jumps up. She says it makes her go faster. Lili wasn't too keen on ski school but she did a great job and warmed to the idea a little after the first 3 days. I skied some but I'm really a fair weather skier so today, as it was snowing, I bowed out. Ethan, the ski fanatic, decided to continue to ski and apparently held a huge yard sale right under one of the lifts, something worthy of a standing ovation, or a least a number of cheers from the chair above. Tonight we stood out in the cold for about an hour waiting for a torch lit ski descent and when they finally started coming down Noa says 'This isn't magical, this is boring!' Currently, the girls are trying to fall asleep so Santa can come. We'll spend Christmas day here and then back to Paris on Sunday. Happy Holidays! (This post was written on Christmas Eve, however, with the internet connection, we couldn't get it to download, hence, the time lag.)

So That Happened.

I am only able to write about this now, as it looks as if Lili has turned a corner. As you know, if you've been keeping up with the smelly blog, Lili got sick a little over a week ago. She has been home now for 10 days. Finally this afternoon, she seems to be a little better and the way I'm able to measure her progress is that she asked for some real food to eat... a tuna sandwich. I'll try to make the boring parts of this long story short and just get to the absolutely mortifying but definitely blog worthy part, asap. When Lili first got sick, way back when, we called SOS Medicin, who will come to your apartment and treat you at home. He prescribed a few things, that ultimately did nothing but I suppose there wasn't anything to treat really. She had a lot of stomach cramping and fatigue but not much else. After a few more days, she started complaining of a sore throat but said her stomach was feeling better. Even though her throat hurt she seemed to be in much better spirits and was even out of bed moving around the house. I decided to make an apt for her anyways with a doctor I had seen before to get a strep test because, she is constantly coming down with strep and this is usually accompanied by stomach pain. So, because she seemed to be feeling much better, I decide that we could just take the metro to the doctors office a few stops away. As we start going down the metro stairs, she sort of hunches over and says she is fine but has some gas (famous last words). We get to the platform and I can see she is slowly loosing color from her face and is getting increasingly uncomfortable. At this point, I think, what are my choices. I can take her back home but then we miss the doctor and we still have to walk back up the stairs, all the way to the apartment. If I can just get her on the train then all we have to do is walk the one block to the doctor's office and we can just take a cab home after that. I ask her a few times if she thinks she can get on the train. We miss the first one. The second one comes and she says she can get on, she'll be fine. We get to our stop and I have to help her off and lead her up the stairs. We get onto the street and start walking, she is looking increasingly pale and is leaning onto me more and more. Finally, she tells me she can't walk her stomach hurts too much, she says she doesn't know what's happening. We happen to be in front of a hotel, so I say do you have to go to the bathroom, there is a hotel right here and I can ask if we can use the bathroom. She says yes, she has to go. So we walk in and I say in my most polite french, excuse me, I don't mean to bother you but my daughter is sick and we are just on our way to the doctor's but she has to go to the bathroom, can she please use the toilet? Surprisingly (this is Paris, you know), he says, yes Madam, go ahead, it's downstairs. At this point Lili is moaning. I start to take her down the stairs and, horror of horrors, she starts to throw up. Just a little at first. On the stairs. Yes, of course, it's carpeted. The man at the front desk hears what's going on and pokes his head around the corner. "Putan!! Go down, go to the toilet, please, Madam!!" And I'm trying, really, I am but Lili won't move. She can't, she's in mid heave. And she throws up again. This time, though, it's not a little bit. "AAAWWW!! PUTAN!!!" Clearly, with a slap on the thigh accentuating the 'putaness' of it all. After that one, we got down the stairs where we had to find the hidden toilet door, which took, what seemed like a bloody eternity. Without getting too specific, Lili went in and dutifully used the facilities as she had originally intended. After that was done, how much did I not want to leave that bathroom? I mean really, to have to do the walk of shame up the soiled staircase, past the front desk and look at the man who was so nice in the beginning of our venture but who turned into a not very nice pissed off parisian. And I couldn't even blame him for being pissed. He was just trying to be nice and this is the thanks he gets? Granted, I'm sure he's not the one who has to do the clean up but no one wants that in their stairwell. We had to leave. So I gathered Lili up (who was feeling much better, by the way) and we climbed the stairs to the front desk. The man who let us in, wouldn't even look at me. So I apologized to his colleague, who responded with "Je vous en prie, madam" (essentially, 'you are very welcome') and we slunk out of there. When we got out I explained to Lili that it is perfectly acceptable to puke in the streets in Paris, people do it all the time. She said she didn't know she had to puke, just thought she had to go to the bathroom. OK, I won't bore you with the rest of the details of our doctors visit, then the visit to the lab and finally, the news that Lili does not have strep and she is actually feeling better today, which I believe is where I started this blog entry. Off to the Alps on Sunday, have a great holiday everyone!

Sick, soup, and tests!!

Hi. I am sick ;(. This is gonna be a super quick post, I was just getting super bored. Anyways, we are having these things in school called controls, they are horrible. We haven't had them in math or French or English yet 'cause so many people have been absent!! We have done practice ones though, let me tell you, they aren't a picnic! We have been having so much snow (by Paris standards) ; a blizzard last week!! Nothing else is going on here, just counting down the days 'til we go skiing (7!), and doing h.w. I have to go, dad just got back with some chicken noodle soup (yum...)!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

PS: Have I already written about getting sick on the blog? I think I have, so this is the 2nd time I've gotten sick so far... UUGH! Bye !!!

Smells like Ikea

Yes, it smells like Ikea. You know what I'm talking about. It's not as nice as new car smell but it's close. As promised, here is the update on the kitchen. It’s fabulous! Having a real kitchen, like real human beings and not like college students, makes such a difference! I’ve posted some before and after photos so you can all see what I’m talking about. Isn’t it great! 100% Ikea. And the best thing about it is that I never even had to set foot in the Ikea store. I looked at the catalogue, tried to download the design feature but failed miserably. So I painstakingly used the cut and paste (I mean literally with scissors and glue, grid paper, you get the idea) model they had in the back of the catalogue to pick the cabinets and their correct sizes. I hired this polish guy, Stefan, gave him the item numbers and he went to Ikea to get everything. Then he brought them all back to the apartment, assembled and installed them in 2.5 days! There are a few minor issues but who cares! I have actual counter space and cabinets... imagine that! The biggest issue was that Stefan, who I thought was a charming eastern european with a funny accent turned out to be kind of psychotic. He refused to take any responsibility for any problems that occurred during the process. When the kitchen sink was leaking he said it couldn't possibly have been him. It was the dish washer, for sure, and he didn't touch that. Even though the kitchen was bone dry before he started work on it and I had certainly been using the dish washer. At some point, he must have cut his hand because he went down to get something from his truck and there was a bloody rag on the sink. When he came back up, his hand was all taped up with masking tape, smears of blood coming out the sides of it. Whenever I pointed something out that I didn't think was quite right he would look at me with this weird smile, like I was completely insane and life isn't perfect and I should try maybe to spend a winter in a Polish prison and then I would not be so concerned about the height of my stove or the flood under my sink. C'est normal. Non? Anyways, it's done, for now. We need to get some things for the walls and accessories for the counter. Oh, and we could use some new dishes that aren't all cracked (maybe I should send the old ones to the Polish holding cell block where they can appreciate them), perhaps some serving pieces. But the point is, I have a kitchen now and not a mini bar from the prison's isolation room.

It's the Cheese, of course!

I am now friends with my fromager. It's a total cliche, I know, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. We all like cheese but don't indulge on a regular basis. However, since our recent onslaught of visitors, I have had to make an unholy number of pilgrimages to the cheese shop in order to obtain the much desired and sought after "French" cheese! When I visit my cheese guy, I linger a bit too long to get a small french lesson in with my order. Might as well, lord knows the cheese costs enough! I think my cheese guy likes me too. I like him, not only because he holds the cheese but because I think he may be gay and I'm always looking for a new gay boyfriend. But, he may not be gay and that is perhaps why he likes me. Doesn't matter really, as long as he's willing to indulge my endless questions about firmness, texture, smell, taste and origin, it's all good. My last trip there, I decided to sample some butter. We've been here long enough that it was time to delve into something tastier than the supermarket brand. We're in France for crying out loud! Can you fault me for wanting to experience the sensuous world of farm fresh salted butter! On my way home I bought my new favorite food item, bread with dried fruit and nuts. Example: bread with almonds and apricots or raisins and hazelnuts. If there was a way to add more delicious carbs to a slice of bread, the French have figured it out and I have dutifully fallen in love with it. Honestly, one of the most beautiful things I have eaten here is a lightly toasted piece of fruited bread topped with the salted farm fresh butter. And if I'm feeling crazy, a dollop of black cherry jam. Really, just unreal. Fruited bread with goat cheese comes in at a close second. If you can, do it! Go now! Don't walk but run to your local farmer's market (or Whole Foods) and get some delicious bread, the more carbs the better, and some fresh butter with plenty of salt, get it home quickly and swiftly into the toaster, pop it out and watch the butter melt into the nooks and crannies of your toast (if you can wait that long) and then... enjoy!

Ode to Jellified Cranberry Meat

After Martha's departure (and I mean, the day after she left), we were greeted by our good old Madison friends, the McHughs! Erin and Lili got to spend some good quality time together and we all got to have a very special Thanksgiving together. It was mostly special for me because I didn't have to cook, just kidding! Wesleyan hosted an extremely nice dinner at a restaurant just outside of Paris, where we had a very lovely

thanksgiving style dinner. For starters, we were served a pumpkin soufle with sweet corn fritters. The main course was turkey breast stuffed with fois gras (as only the french would dare to do), lazily floating on some peppered gravy. There were also smashed sweet potatoes with some kind of sesame cookie topping. Most surprising is that there was actual cranberry sauce. Glaringly absent, however, was the can molded jellified cranberry meat that is apparently only available in the good ol' US of A. In it's place were cubes of jello with an indistinguishable flavor. Presumably it was supposed to be cranberry but I think the chef actually made it from scratch (and I don't mean adding water to some colored powdery stuff) with actual fruit, sugar and gelatin... huge mistake. You can only get that intense sweet flavor by mixing sugar with fake sugar, food coloring, food flavoring and ity-bity pieces of fruit that have been dehydrated and then rehydrated, just for some texture. And it has to be made with industrial size machines, canned and sold at a 300% mark up. I won't take it any other way! But the kids gobbled it up (no pun intended...OK, I'm lying, you caught me, but it's funny, right?). It was actually the only thing Noa ate. The desserts were great... a chocolate tart with pecans, a cheesecake tart and a pumpkin tart (those frenchies just love to tart things up, don't they?). And in true american fashion we were served a slice of all three! So I guess you could say the dinner was a success but I think I'm going to do my own version for New Years with my new Ikea kitchen that is being installed tomorrow (you heard it right and don't worry, I'll keep you all posted on that fiasco)! Anyways, we had all kinds of fun with the McHughs, I think the best day was when we trekked up to Montmartre, went to Sacre Coeur and on the little choo-choo tour of the area (yes, the red light district and Moulin Rouge is in the neighborhood but that's not what I meant by choo-choo... come on, we were with the kids for crying out loud!). I've attached a few photos of the McHugh children, Erin and Brendan and there is one there of Siobain in her natural habitat... Parisian cafe (notice the 'artists entrance' signage). That's all for now... until we meet again!

Sickie, Ickie, and School.

Salut! C'est Lili, et je ne sais pas pourquoi j'ai ecrit en Francais.... ok, I'm in English again. Turned the French button off, that is how hard they work us at school. It is difficult, and every day, I wake up wanting to get sick. But, every day, I drag my butt to the city bus, to prepare for another day at the torture chamber. *sigh* One day, though, I got my wish. I woke up one Saturday morning, and my throat felt sore. I stayed in bed till dad took me to the doctor. The doc said I had strep throat. These were my thoughts: Well, I DID want to get sick.... But, you didn't want to get sick on a weekend! Another voice argued. I just better be un-sick-ified by the time Erin comes(I am better now, 2 days till she comes, thank you very much.) the other voice said. So, yes, I was sick all weekend, not to mention Monday. The next morning, Tuesday, I got up, and told mom I was feeling better, and went to school. However, I only got halfway through he school day without feeling sick. Mom took me home, and I rested. The next day, we had no school, so, I rested some more. The doctor had said that I couldn't go swimming, so as our class has swimming on Thursdays, I didn't go that morning either. Today, is still Thursday, and I have been in atelier. All in all, school is very difficult, and the only parts I like about it are the three recesses. If you didn't get the school blog address, its: adaptationeabjm.scolablog.net

A tout a l'heure!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!!

Almond Oil... yum!

Thanks to my good friend, Martha Maxwell, my most recent Paris adventure has been to a Hammam, otherwise known as a Turkish bath. As this was our first time, we asked many questions upon entry and were given very straight but thorough answers. The way it works is like this: Step 1: change into your bathing suit (this is France, bottoms will suffice) and robe in the tiny changing room. Step 2: go downstairs give your number to the attendant to be put in the queue for your scrubbing. Step 3: smear, smear, smear the slimy black soap all over your body. Step 4: alternate going between different rooms of varying heat and moisture until your number is called or your skin melts off. As it was sunday afternoon, we were bumper to bumper, sweating heavily through our surely clogged pores. Martha and I waited very patiently for our number to be called, trying to relax in the oasis of heat and half naked French ladies. And we waited. And waited. Two and a half hours later, our number was called and we met our fate. Two large Algerian women in bathing suits armed with a sandpaper glove and a smile. After feeling somewhat anxious about the "gommage", we were so relieved that we were finally called we stepped up to our tables in excited anticipation of the torture to come. You are first asked to lay down on the table, where they rinse you off with a hose like you're today's fresh catch. Then you are scrubbed, somewhat forcefully, all over your body to remove the dead layers of skin until they are satisfied you've reached a shiny finish. And actually, for all our worry, it felt great and was over all too quickly. Next we showered off and went upstairs where we were to get into another line and wait for our 20 minute massage. After having already been there for well over 3 hours, I couldn't see waiting any longer for a 20 minute massage (at least not from some random, middle aged Romanian woman). So after we has some sweet tea and middle eastern cookie (very poor substitute for lunch, although super delicious!) I went to talk to the boss lady. I calmly explained that we had no idea it would be so crowded and we couldn't possibly wait another hour for our massage. She took me into a back room and told me to bring my friend but to be very discrete because the clientele would not be happy. She put us in private rooms and scared up a few Romanians to give us our massages "tout de suite". The massages were, in fact, very relaxing with the most divine smelling almond oil ever, I was sniffing myself for days. I even got to hear about all the interworkings of the hammam, the algerian scrubbers vs. the romanian masseurs and the discontent about not being paid double on Sunday. While we were there, I also inquired about the waxing services, as I was intrigued by the menu. Wax bresilian and wax integral. I was curious and wanted to get to the bottom of it (yes, I said it). What I found out was this: integral is everything, nothing left, all gone, bye-bye. Bresilian is everything gone but a "petit ticket de metro". So for all you ladies (and some men, I suppose) who were wondering but afraid to ask... there you have it, "petit ticket de metro". Need I say more?

Smells like Tapas!

We have just returned from a week in Barcelona! The first day started a little rough with lunch at a restaurant where they didn't speak any english, and our Catalan is very rusty! I ended up ordering the Russian Salad, the waiter told me it was green (or so I thought, again, the Catalan is not so good) and something I thought was supposed to be a steak. As a public service for anyone planning on traveling to Barcelona soon, I'll give you all the translation to Russian Salad so you don't have to look it up in your travel dictionary: Mayonayse Salad. Under all the white stuff are some potatoes, carrots, hard boiled eggs and I think 2 or 3 green beans. But this is not a potato salad. When you call something potato salad, potatoes are the primary ingredient. Not the case with a Russian Salad. I don't care if you're talking about potato salad, egg salad, macaroni salad, ambrosia salad or any other kind of "salad" you find behind the deli counter at Stop and Shop, this amount of mayo puts america to shame. As I looked around the restaurant, I could tell this was a wildly popular dish and is offered at many restaurants around the city. My steak turned out to be some kind of mystery meat sausage. Aside from that, most other meals ranged from good to fabulous. One night we had an incredible tasting menu that mixed spanish tapas with japanese sushi. And I tried my first pair of frog's legs. They were fine but I don't need to have them again. The owner of that restaurant then asked if we could go downstairs to see his pet frogs (not to be confused with the ones in the kitchen). He so seldom has children customers that he wanted to show them off (the frogs to the kids not the other way around). Turns out he has 2 nice frogs and one mean one that he likes to poke with a stick. We also had an amazing dessert that was called Dracula. It was a type of parfait with frothy Coke on the top and if you dug down deep you were rewarded with strawberry flavored pop rocks. You heard it folks, Coke and Pop Rocks, it's a wonder we're still alive. Aside from the food, I would have to say the most amazing thing was the Casa Batllo by Gaudi, it's so fantastical, the girls really enjoyed it too. The weather was also warm enough that we got to spend an afternoon at the beach, the girls put their feet in the water and I got a 5 euro foot massage from one of the Chinese ladies roaming the beach, it wasn't too bad either. Sadly, I think that will be one of the last times we will see the open water in quite a while. We came back to Paris on friday, one day after they closed all the airports here because of another strike. Speaking of which, things are not as bad here as they seem on the news. At this point there is one more strike day scheduled and then hopefully we'll be done with this and we can just wait for the next opportunity the French feel like complaining about something.

EuroDisney or Bust!

Hello. It's me, Lili, as you can tell from the font, seeing as no one else writes like this. Aunt Jody, has just left, they were a lot of fun( I'll see if i can post some pics.). Now, Bobby Nancy and Mike are here, but I'm going in between all that, to disney. That's right, for my birthday, we succeeded in going to euro disney, we said we would do it, and we did it, boy was that fun. I'll try to list everything I went on, though I may not get everything. Let's see.... Big Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan, Pinochio, Haunted Mansion, Teacups, Alice's Curious Labyrinth, Star Tours, uuummm, there were these Dumbo like rocket ships. That's all I can think of. I obviously put Big Thunder Mountain first because it was my favorite, but there were also parades, and shows. More than usual, because they were doing a "Halloween Special" as Noa said. That was a lot of fun, and I can't express it in type, so I'll have to skype with those of you who have it, and call those of you who don't. It was amazing. I only have a couple minutes to write, because I have to cook my potatoes. I also wanted to say, I was just looking through some pictures of me with everyone, and I'll admit, I teared up a little. I will write more on Saturday ( or will try), but I just wanted to beat my mom to talking about Disneyland, even if it's only a little bit. I'll talk more about it now, if you like(I would). Well... there was Sleeping Beauty's castle, not Cinderella's, but at the top, there were stained glass windows telling the story of Sleeping Beauty. Downstairs, there was a glass blower, it was so pretty, and amazing watching him make a little rose. I'm gonna take 5 more minutes to write, so I'll make it snappy. Way below, in the dungeon, in fact, there was a sleeping dragon. My dad said he was going to go down, and told us to help him if he got in trouble. So far, we hadn't seen the dragon move, so we thought nothing would happen. But as soon as dad went down, the dragon lifted his head, opened his lowing red eyes, and growled. Dad came running up, and then the dragon took one last look around, and went back to sleep. We stayed from 9:30 am (the park doesn't even open till 10 am) to 6:00 pm, when the park closes. We each got to pick one thing from the shops. Noa got a Mike Wosowski (from Monsters i.n.c.) stuffed animal, and a notebook with him on it. I got a rockin' black sweatshirt, with a skull on it. Thats all!! Oh, one more thing, for those of you who don't know, to get to my class's blog, go to adaptationeabjm.scholablog.net and the "motte de passe" is pomme. I have to make potatoes!!!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

Metro Moment

Riding home on the metro friday, I had a little metro moment that I wanted to share with you all. It was the middle of the day and so not particularly crowded but every time we came to a stop at a new station there was some yelling and whooping coming from one of the other cars. Normally, the Paris metro is a very somber place. You know you are in the presence of a tourist if you see someone smiling on the metro, it just isn't done. Unless of course, it's very late at night and you are with a partner with whom you can nuzzle and whisper to, press up to very snugly, and generally do all kinds of things that would require the privacy of a residence or at the very least, the back seat of an automobile, anywhere in the United States. But I digress. So, there is this silliness going on at every stop as we're going along and then all of a sudden there is clicking on the loud speaker. This kind of clicking happens when someone is about to talk to give the passengers a message and it doesn't happen very often. But there was no message, there was music. I was trying to figure out what it was over the shrieking of the wheels against the rails when I finally realized it was the theme to The Love Boat. And then there was happiness. People were smiling in the metro. And it was funny. Soon the music stopped and it was time for me to get off. When I left the train, the source of the whooping was revealed. At every stop, there were some young kids jumping out of their car and mooning all of the other passengers as they entered and exited and they had their friends cheering them on. And that was funny too.

Birthday wishes, goose and fishes

Hello. As mom has said in the past blog, our entries are slowing because of school. "What's that Smell?" is also getting some competition... wait for it... waaait for it........ The SCHOOL BLOG! Thats right, my teacher decided to put up a blog on which all the students can write. I informed her I was already an expert blogger, but now I am working for not 1, but 2 blogs. I will tell you a little bit of each thing(or will try to) that has happened since the last blog. First, I am so, so, so, so angry at my mom for leaving out my birthday on the blog, but I guess as dad said, it wasn't a really important day for her, it meant a lot to dad, but for mom, it was like," Ow. My stomach, somethings in it, oh its Lili" (ha, ha). My birthday was a very happy day(despite the fact that in school we had to do some hard geography), but after school, I was greeted by mom, who was carrying a huge bouquet of flowers. At home, Noa really wanted me to see my cake, but I refused, I wanted it to be a surprise. I'm not going to explain everything, but I will put a pic of me on my b-day. Moving on. On Sunday, we went to Versailles, another thing that my dear, dear observant mother forgot to mention. It was beautiful, with the musical fountains, I loved it, and I think Noa did, too, though she claimed she didn't. We saw Marie Antoinette's village, it was very pretty. There were fish in a river in M.A's village, and that swan/goose is trying to peck the food out of their mouths. I don't want the blog to be to long, so I'm going to skip ahead, I actually might skip back, but... whatever. I'm going to skip back for a moment, rewind. We are at the scene of my b-day. I GOT AN IPAD! A 100$ GIFT CARD(to itunes) AND A BOOT SHOPPING TRIP, WITH A MOCHA FRAPACHINO INCLUDED!!!! Now, rewind even more, Aunt Jody has just arrived. Ayton is so cute, he says hot dog, challah (though he pronounces it "hawa"), and some other things, but I think the thing he says the most is "more". Now, we fast forward to today. I am thinking about the party I'm going to have on Sat. with my friends. Right now, I might have to vacuum (hey, even if mom's neck doesn't hurt, she can't completely stop enjoying the luxury of having me do household work). So until next blog!!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

Did you miss us?

As you all predicted, the blog entries are slowing down now that school is really underway. Lili is making a lot of progress and over the weekend she was shocked to learn that she actually understood what a little girl next to her has said while we were out. She has a lot of homework but she is motivated to get it done and is looking forward to really being able to break the french code! Noa claims she still doesn't understand anything. Says she has no idea what is going on in class but doesn't complain about going to school. She loves her english class (as do all the native english speakers), her teacher is a little whacky (which is a nice change of pace from the very strict french model). Both of the girls have many friends, which is really helping them keep a float. Ethan is working a lot trying to get his students enrolled in classes and settled with their host families. There have been some minor issues to deal with but Ethan explained to his students, in plain english, that he will not be the director with the easy going reputation but he will be the director that has no problem sending kids home, fast. We can only hope that once they get busy with school, they will have less time for whining (and wine-ing!). I am still working on the apartment furnishings and getting used to life in the big city...without my big car, big house and big washing machine (did I mention we have no dryer?, not that I'm complaining...). Jody, Kourosh and Ayton we here for a visit last week. I have obviously totally forgotten what it's like to have a toddler. I carefully explained to the girls that they needed to put all their small toys away, however, I neglected to move the open bag of nails, 2 screw drivers and hammer that were just sitting in the corner of the living room. Dog food was also an issue. As were all of our glasses and plates that sit on a low shelf due to the fact that I still have no cupboards in the kitchen. Eating out was also somewhat trying because most restaurants don't have high chairs. Despite all that, we had a great time with them. I'll leave you with that and save the purchasing of a phone plan ordeal til the next time!

School News

HI! I'm sorry it's been so long, so much has been happening, especially with school! I like my teacher, she's nice, and so are my English teacher, gym teacher, and art teacher. We had our first homework yesterday. For French we had to read something and understand the meaning, and memorize how to spell something(in French, of course). For English, we did spelling. So far, school is pretty easy, even if mostly everything is in French. The only thing I really hate, is the fact that every Thursday, we have to go to the swimming pool, most likely for swimming lessons. Other than that, it's pretty OK. Mom told you that we got roller blades, they're so much fun! We got bad news about the table we were going to order, it's not coming till December! Well, we weren't going to wait the long, so today we had to go looking for one. Surprisingly(more or less, cause we were desperate), we found one! It's glass, and it's black. I really like it! The only other news is that Aunt Jody, Kourosh, and Ayton are coming in one week(YAY), and so is my birthday! Wish me luck at school!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

The Return of The Father

Sounds serious, doesn't it? Ethan has finally rejoined us in Paris. The last 2 weeks have not been easy without him. If it was only me and the kids, things would have been fine but with my injured neck, 2 children and a badly behaving canine, things were not running smoothly. Poor Lili was like Cinderella, "Lili, could you load the dish washer? Lili, could you take Chloe out? Lili, could you hang the laundry? Lili, could you cook diner? Lili, could you go get Mommy a petit bottle of wine to wash down the pain killers? Life improved greatly after meeting some new friends and a session with my new osteopath. But everyone is very excited that daddy is finally home! Daddy is also very happy to be home, although he had to bid farewell to his new friends in Bordeaux, all of whom own eatery establishments, but were very welcoming to the lonely foreigner. The girls sort of started school on friday. Noa had a half day and Lili had a whopping 2 hours! But they both seemed to enjoy it, liked their teachers and everything was translated. I think that is just for the first day but I didn't mention that to them, why rain on their parade? Today we upgraded from scooters and got roller blades (with helmets and pads) and they seemed to like that. Also, sorry there haven't been any pictures lately but the little camera is not functioning properly and I have to go get it fixed. This week should be interesting, I'll keep you posted!

La Rentree!

I can almost taste it! I can definitely smell it! It's the moment we've all been waiting for! Drum roll, please... La Rentree! Loose translation: The end of summer vacation and the beginning of the new school year! We went to our welcome picnics on saturday and, mercifully, Lili found a friend. A very sweet girl from NYC, they will be in the same class and they have a lot in common. Not the least of which is that they are both desperate for some new friends, so they are pretty happy to have found each other. She will also only be here for the year so that will save us some tears in the future. Noa met a new friend at her picnic, who she ended the day with by wrestling to the ground and lying on top of him in the middle of the Champs de Mars. Ahh, Paree! We also visited the schools, which both seem very nice if not a little pretentious (and when I say a little, I don't actually mean a little). And schools are very strict in france. On friday we are expected to bring our children to the door, kiss them goodbye and send them on their way. None of this mamby-pamby take your kids inside, get them acclimated to the class and the teacher, then say you're going to quickly buy some gum and come back 6 hours later. Nope. The parents are never to go in the school unless specifically invited for an event. Drop off and pick up are outside the front door. School is from 8:45 to 4:15. Voila. I'm just happy that they each have at least one friend who will be in class with them and at this point all I can do is pray for an easy rentree.

I'm Ba-ack!

Hello. I'm really sorry that I haven't posted in a long time. It's just that I was behind, and there was so much going on, so I sorta hid from the blog. Anyway, since mom already told you about Bordeaux, I'm just going to tell you my favorite parts, and tell you what we have done so far in Paris. So... I guess one of my favorite things in Bordeaux was the opera museum. It was this place where they had operas, and there was an exhibit there, it had a lot of costumes, and how they do the lighting, sound, and the scenery. When we went into the room where they actually did the operas, there were recorded voices telling about the history of the place. That was one thing. My second favorite thing(s) were the cows. 58 of them. They all had really cool designs, and were placed in various places all over Bordeaux. We even got a book with all of them in it. We took the train( which, by the way, was awesome) back to Paris. Now, I'm not sure if mom mentioned this, but she hurt her neck really bad. When we got back, I had to do some of mom's chores( because dad is still in Bordeaux), such as: washing the dishes, taking Chloe when we walk, making dinner(for the most part of it), and sometimes helping Noa in her bath. It really wasn't surprising when mom told me at the pharmacy that she needed a neck brace. I feel like I'm missing a really important part of information, but I can't wrap my mind around it. Anyways, we're getting ready for school(it starts on Friday), and there's, like a picnic today, and we visit the school on Monday. Oh yeah! I remember now!! Mom is trying to teach us some " Basic French" so we're not completely lost. I barely know anything. The days of the week, how to count to thirty, the months, things like; I don't understand, Where are the bathrooms?, I have to use the bathroom, I am(insert age here), my name is(insert name here) What is your name?, my birthday is(insert birthdate here), but, that's pretty much it. Wish me luck for when school starts!!!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!!

Scooter MIA

Here's a funny Bordeaux story: We're staying at this hotel in the city center but our room is not in the main building, it's across the road and we have our own door code and key. The room is not huge, so we left the girls scooters right outside the door in the hallway. Our room is on the second floor. There is not a lot of traffic in the building, I think maybe just hotel guests. When we woke up yesterday morning and set out for breakfast, Lili's scooter was missing. Noa's was there, where we had left it. I couldn't believe a scooter had been picked, unbelievable! We tell Lili we'll get her another one. Then something strange happened in Ethan's brain and he started thinking like a college student. He says I'm just going to check on the other floors to see if it's there. What? Why? He goes upstairs. Yep, here it is. How did you know that? He said, well, there was a party up there last night (it was kind of loud) and if I was a kid going on a beer run, I'd borrow one of these scooters. They probably thought they belonged to the hotel. Or not. But, what's the harm? And then they just didn't bother to return it to the same floor. I guess that makes sense but weird that Ethan would think of it. I'm going to chalk it up to the fact the he's a professor and he's needs to be able to think like his students in order to stay one step ahead!

Smells like Ramen!

After only one day in Bordeaux eating out every meal, we felt the need to switch to another food theme. It's kind of like weight lifting, 2 days on 1 day off. This was really a preemptive strike though because we know we're going to be eating out a lot in the next week. And in Bordeaux that means a lot of duck fat, cow fat, chicken fat and most of all, the lovely, endearing and ever so loyal pork fat. So tonight we had Ramen noodles at a very cool, tiny little place called Fufu where we sat at the bar, sweating just a little from the heat coming off the kitchen that was behind the bar, slurping our noodles and, yes, pork. Noa in particular loved the pork. I has to ask them for an extra serving for her. She especially liked the chewy parts. It's hard to escape the other white meat in France. Earlier today, in fact, we decided we wanted to have a lighter lunch after a somewhat disastrous dinner last night (not for everyone, just me) when I had the worst meat ever, so chewy and greasy but it was late and I decided I would eat what I could so as not to disturb the harmony of the meal. My stomach, however, was not in agreement with that decision. My body has been working really hard to digest that piece of rubber, keeping me up all night and I'm pretty sure it will take 5 to 7 years before I'm completely finished with that meal. Isn't that how long it takes to digest a piece of chewing gum? Anyways, back to our "light" lunch. We both got salads, his-greens with duck confit and a wedge of fois gras and hers-greens with ham, sheep's cheese, some red peppers and a couple different sauces, just for fun. They were both delicious and so light! As far as we can tell, all there is to do in Bordeaux is eat, drink and shop. Too bad for us that our kids are only fans of eating. The city center is made up of a labyrinth of small walking streets lined with thousands of restaurants and shops. Around every corner there is a Place and they are all packed with the one billion tourists that are in town. In other news, Noa got her staple out today, very easy, no drama, healing beautifully. We did go to the Mirror d'Eau which is an open area next to the river that is covered with about half an inch of water for kids and adults to splash around in. It looks as if you're walking on water and every 15 minutes or so the ground spits up more water and mist to keep the ground wet. Tomorrow, I think we'll hit a museum after a light breakfast of hot chocolate and croissants. And maybe if we're feeling lucky we'll take them to a wine bar for a tasting!

Trial and Error

I know you think that all we do since we've moved to Paris is wake up, start drinking coffee and eating croissants, then go to a museum, have a leisurely lunch, drink more coffee then go to a park and ride the carousel until dinner time at which point we start drinking wine and eating cheese with baguettes. This is not the case. Well, some of it is true, although we haven't been to a museum yet (I'm not counting Papillorama in Switzerland as a museum) and we haven't ridden any carousels yet. I admit to drinking and eating all aforementioned food and beverage items. However, this isn't all we've been up to, life in Paris for new arrivals isn't that easy! It seems that the most mundane tasks take incredible effort and even then you may not succeed at what you set out to accomplish. Here are some examples: #1. Because we only have an American credit card and not a euro one, sometimes it doesn't work, even at an establishment it previously worked at...and no one can tell you why. #2. Ethan rented a van to go to Ikea. We checked online to make sure Ikea Sud had the items we wanted. When he got there, not only could he not get the van into the parking lot (too big, he had to park with the 18 wheelers) but they actually had nothing we wanted! He had to drive to Ikea Nord to get the furniture. #3. We don't know how to pay our phone bill or change our cable plan. #4. I've been to a gym 3 times to try and join but keep having to bring more paperwork. I just want to workout! #5. I schlepped my kids on a 30 minute walk to the town hall to ask about a list of classes for adults because I couldn't find it online. When I got there the not too happy helper at the info desk said, yes they are online but was not really interested in telling me how to find them. So we turned around and went home (I didn't make them walk though, we took the bus).

Yesterday, I went to the pharmacy to get a Benadryl equivalent and some prescription medication. I came out with the antihistamine (for children and adults) and I was able to buy my medication over the counter that I need a script for in the states. I was so thrilled, I felt like I should open a bottle of champagne. But you need to understand, this was a huge victory. I only went out once and came back with what I wanted...brilliant. Unfortunately, to balance out the amazing success of the pharmacy, Noa bumped her head last night and got a little gash. In France, unless it's totally obvious, you always go to the pharmacy first where they can evaluate you and either give you what you need or send you to a doctor or hospital. Noa's diagnosis was for the hospital so they told us where the closest one was and sent us on our way. It was, in fact, close. However, they don't treat children at that hospital so we had to metro it to the children's hospital, 20 minutes away. You would think the local pharmacist would know this info but this is what happens when you aren't a local...everything is trial and error. Mostly error. Noa is fine, although she needed a staple in her head to seal herself up. The moral of the story is, you can't let it get to you, eventually things will work out, you will succeed. But until then, drink the wine, eat the bread, whatever you need to do to make it to the next challenge.

Ikeas of France

Ikea, that's not really the first place that comes to mind as "fun." Yet, that is what this post is about. The day started up bright and early, breakfast at about 7:00, normally on a school day, that's not unusual, but these days I've been lying in bed, reading from 6 to 9. At about 8:30, dad and I went to rent a truck. The truck was huge. The trunk was so large, it could have easily fit all the things we needed, and with room to spare! The front had three seats, so there was a seat for anything that might be to delicate to put in the back, or maybe just dad's backpack! So, it took us a while to get to the first Ikea, 15 minutes or so. We got there, and we looked all around for parking for big trucks, but the only place there was, was for 18 wheelers, delivery trucks for Ikea. We went around, and around, tried the normal garage, but our vehicle was to tall. Dad just decided to park in the back, and hope those gates were still open. We went inside and looked around the top floor, we were looking for one thing there, an egg chair, and they had it. We went downstairs to look for the other things we needed, we couldn't find them on our own, so we had to ask some people who worked there for help. Dad showed them the papers, and what we needed to find, they said they had none of it. "But we looked online, and they had it all!" Dad protested. The people said, "Nope, don't have it" (in French, of course.) They said they had it at Ikea Nord! Ok, so right about now, I think I'm missing a few things about the car ride, and some other things. I'm going to see if Dad will take the mic for a minute to fix things up, and to tell of the next car ride.

So this is Ethan (Dad) and I'm going to try to set the story straight.... I mean Lili got it right for the most part but there are subtle nuances....like the fact that I asked for a small delivery truck and got an enormous van, or that the frickin' Ikea didn't have a parking lot for anything bigger than a Honda Accord. Honestly, I don't know how anyone got anything home from that Ikea! Then again, since they don't actually carry any of the products they advertise I guess it isn't really an issue. I'm starting to think that the Ikea in the south of Paris is a front for the Swedish mafia. But the point is that after we said goodbye to the truckers parked next to us we took off for an Ikea on the completely other side of Paris. This is where Mabel comes into the story (you remember Mabel? our GPS from the trip to Switzerland and Italy). So we asked Mabel to get us to Ikea Nord and because she has a sense of humor she decided to take us through several small suburbs outside Paris before putting us back on the highway. I mention this because she took us through the center of these small towns and down all sorts of windy roads that definitely were NOT designed for a big honkin' van like the one we were driving! If that wasn't enough, Lili was starting to fade as it was getting close to lunch. She did not look good and to top it all off Mabel decided to do this weird thing where her screen would go dark until somebody touched it...talk about starved for attention. Well finally we found the autoroute and Mabel and I got our bearings. Ikea was in sight and I knew that this one had an outside parking lot that could accommodate our van. I got Lili into the store and as quick as I could into the cafe: "one order of salmon and another of Swedish meatballs STAT! Oh and a soda too, and some fries!". Once we had eaten things started to pick up. We got the egg chair, found the furniture and made it out alive. We even got Lili a really cool lamp but I'll let her elaborate on that. Now we just had to get back to the apartment which we managed in no time and then it was just a matter of getting the 400 Ikea boxes up to the apartment. I'll save the long story of assembly for another day........ I guess that does it. Did I forget anything Lili?

Not much Dad. I can describe the rooms after the furniture was put in. So, Noa's room is really, bursting with color. It's very, woodland fairy-like, just the sort of thing Noa loves. Can't tell you much about Mom and Dad's room, except that they got a dresser very much like the one at home. My room, is very cool, it's pretty much all black and white, except for sometimes when my sheets are green. I have this really cool dresser, that's black, and the drawers are like white, but a little see through. The lamp Dad was describing looks like a fortune ball, which goes perfectly with the dresser. Since it took me a couple days to actually get to doing this blog, more has happened which you'll hear about in my next blog. Please, please, please comment.

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

At The Carnival!

Yesterday was quite a blur! We went to a temporary, mini carnival! It was so much fun!! We all split up, I went with dad, Noa with mom. Me and dad went to the carnival, Noa and mom went to the trampolines and the playground. First, dad and I went on the air swings! They were so much fun!!!!!!!!!! We could see evereything, the Eiffel Tower, the d'Orsay, Invalides, and even the hot-air-balloon near our house!!! After we were done, dad was feeling a bit wobbly, but not much. We went on "The Rainbow Ride", it wasn't very rainbow-y, it was like a boat with an arm that put you around in a circle, then dropped you to the ground. Dad was feeling really pukey, and we started calling it "Barforama". So after that, dad was not feeling to good, he wouldn't be going on any rides any time soon! That meant I had to go on the water ride by myself. I was starting to worry, 'cause I couldn't speak French, I thought I might have to say something. I was wrong. They just put me in the car, and were like,'Off you go.' And these car things didn't even have seat-belts, just two handles on either side. The first fall wasn't that bad, though I did get pretty wet. The second one, well let's just say I was thinking,"I wish dad were here, but it's to late to go back now." And this fall was really steep, so I was holding on tight, and bracing myself for it. I went down, and slid so far down the car, I was practically bending my knees. I got to the bottom and SPLASH! So, I got really soaked, and I was shaking, dad says mom was so scared because I practically fell out of the car! I didn't have a bathing suit, or a change of clothes, or a towel! So I had to go to the bookstore wet, and cold. I got three books (yes!), and then we went back home. After we got home, me and Noa watched a movie, and Skyped with Aunt Jody. That's all of it, so until the next blog!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

Vacation Daze

Hi! Wow, it's been a long week. Mom has told you all the basic stuff, so I'll explain all the details. Firstly, mom left out one minor detail. Okay, forget about what I said about it being "minor", it's a major detail! Our friends, the Maxwells accompanied us, for the first 3 days anyway! It was so much fun!!!!!!! When we were exploring, my dad found a bunny hutch! The rabbits were so cute! We fed them pieces of grass and pet them. Dad also found that right next to the rabbits, was where they fed the cows, and milked them (we think)! After that, we walked, and found ourselves facing about a dozen baby cows! they were adorable!!! We pet them on the head, though we didn't feed them anything(none of us were really willing to get slobbered on by cows). In the first hotel we stayed in in the Swiss, was really cool! The first night Noa and I were in one room, Mom and Dad in another! The next 2 nights we stayed in a suite! It had two stories, just one room each(except for the bathroom), but still, it was pretty darn cool! The next hotel, wasn't quite as fancy, but the food was SO GOOD. I am not kidding, we had breakfast there the first day, and I was like, this is(as quoted above) SO GOOD. So that covers the food part of it. The room though... let's just say it was small and slanted. The manager(also the chef, I think) was really nice, he even did a couple fireworks for us! They rocked, it was like looking at a fountain made of fire! The only problem: Mom's eye got stung by a bee. Long story short: Mom took a nap, left window open, bee flew in, major owie. I put some pictures up of her eye. When we decided we'd had enough of Switzerland, we headed off to Italy! The condo was awesome, me and Noa liked playing at the pool, plus, we met some nice American girls who were about our ages(more or less, one was 7, the other 8), so it worked out. The food there was delicious! Pasta, pizza, gelato,fresh fish, bread, cheese, chocolate filled bread, milk candies! It was all amazing, until one day I ate to much and... well, it wasn't pretty. The next day we started home. Want to know my definition of "not fun"? A 9 hour car trip with Noa, Mom, Dad, and Chloe. The 9 hour car ride, was not my idea, we were going to stay at a hotel on the way back, but mom decided against it. It was pretty and all, but who wants to be stuck in a car with practically no entertainment(except for a couple books you've read 1000 times, and ipods with low battery), and their sister randomly growling, due to her games, and saying random comments from TV shows on the ipods. Well, it was finally over, and now we're back.

Apartment, sweet apartment.

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

A Road Trip Through The Alps

If there's one thing we learned on our trip, it's that the French have some tough competition with the Swiss when it comes to eating cheese. Our first night in Switzerland we were guests at our friend Sandrine's home with her family in Dombresson, a small farming village near Neuchatel. We had fondu. It was very melty and cheesy. And there are rules. #1. Do not drink any cold liquid with cheese fondu (wine is exempt because they also like wine) or the melted cheese will form a gelatinous ball in your stomach, becoming very difficult to digest. #2. Do drink hot sweet tea, helps the medicine go down. #3. Do dip your bread in some Kirsch before dunking and swirling in the cheese, also helps the medicine go down. #4. If you drop a piece of bread in the fondu pot you drink a bottle of wine as punishment. Now, the first 3 or 4 bites of fondu are delicious but after that one starts to wonder about a meal that has so many rules and regulations for safe consumption. While in La Suisse, we did not go a day or dare I say, a meal without cheese. We also saw our fair share of cows. And with the cows, come the flies. A small price to pay for all the lovely dairy products, depending on how you look at things. We went on some beautiful drives through the countryside, hiked in the local hills, had some great meals (did I mention the cheese?), saw some fireworks (it was Switzerland's National Day last week and there are a lot of festivities and free white sausage, the "other" national food) and spent time with friends. The one road bump on the trip was that I got stung by a bee, on my right eyelid (I meant big road bump). Ouch! For those of you that know me, you can only imagine, it wasn't pretty. Long story short, eye swells shut, go see local doc, get meds, all better. Then we were off to Italy! We had a beautiful drive through the Alps, stopping at Chillon Castle (very cool) in Montreux (yes, smoke on the water) finally arriving at our borrowed condo on Lago Maggiore. Side note on the Alps, they make the Santa Monica mountains look like the hills of Madison, CT. Really breathtaking! The lake in Italy was stunning. The girls loved hanging out at the pool, which was also special...fully tiled, lounge chairs, grass, warm showers and plenty of wealthy italians on vacation. If we didn't get our fill of dairy in Switzerland (HA), we made up for it in pizza and gelato. Note to any other travelers: food is much more affordable in Italy than in switzerland and it's not too hard to find good food! in case you were wondering, Chloe got to enjoy it all with us and she was a very good girl! (Note: The children in the above photo are Camilla and Max Yust, daughter and son of Alex Yust and Sandrine Junod. The photo was taken at Saut du Doubs.) Stay tuned for more stories from The Road Trip and more photos!

Doggie Passport? Mais oui!

Yes, I said it... doggie passport. As of yesterday, Chloe is the proud owner of an EU Pet Passport. And no, her picture is not in it but there is a spot for one should you want to attach it. Tomorrow we begin our vacation to Switzerland and Northern Italy. We're driving so this should be interesting. Before we left, we purchased a Gamin, which is one of those navigation devices you use in your car. Since we have owned it we notice that sometimes it gets confused. In areas that we are somewhat familiar with, it's not really a problem. But here it will be different. So we're going to print the google directions and use the Gamin (my question is: why did we get the Gamin if we have to print directions? Who do we trust if there is a difference of opinion?). I'm pretty sure we're just asking for trouble. Let's be honest, when we decided to get our dog a passport, we were asking for trouble. I'll be sure to let you know how things pan out, provided the Gamin doesn't lead us astray and have us turn left in 50 feet, right into a lake.

A vacation will be nice since we are all tired and a little fragile. We aren't used to so much walking and so many stairs. The girls don't like walking, and have decided they hate the metro but will tolerate the bus. It's all just going to take a little getting used to, I think. And even though we're adjusted to the time change now, it stays light until about 10:30 so it's hard to sleep much earlier. Noa had a spill off her scooter yesterday but was quickly attended to by someone who was quicker than me and then a shop keeper came out of his store to ask if we needed antiseptic (maybe the French aren't so bad?). She's fine, just a couple of scraped elbows.

Lili and I picked up their school supplies yesterday to the tune of about $400. There are pens and pencils, colored pens, markers, glue sticks, erasers, rulers, several writing journals, page protectors, hundreds of folders (or what seems like anyways), books, workbooks and even an Oxford dictionary (english only, not a small one either). Everything must be labeled with their full name, down to the last pencil... everything! It will be nice for school to start so the kids can meet some people and get out of each other's face for a bit. Well, I must go pack now... cool in La Suisse, hot in Italia... what to bring?...a bientot!

Water slides and School Supplies

Sorry I haven't written in awhile, it has been busy here!!! On thursday, we went to Aqua Boulevard! That's the water park I was telling you about in an earlier blog! The water slides are so cool, the one's I went on were called Aqua Pouf, Aqua Splash, Aqua Makazi,and there was another one that I forgot, oh, and there was Aqua Looping( that was scary, it practically stopped my heart!)! There is also a wave generator, so you can body surf! In other words, it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't really been keeping track of the days and what day I did what, so I'm just going to tell you what we did. We got sushi, it was o.k, mom and dad said they thought it was frozen! We just got a new couch today! It is really cool, and I picked it! It also turns into a bed,and the bed is really soft! If you're coming to visit, you are lucky you get to sleep there! Ummmm, not much else is going on here. Right now, I'm getting ready to go to the car rental shop with dad, so until next blog!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS!

PS: We also had to go shopping for school supplies, and let me tell you, the list is super (emphasis on "super") long, plus, you have to have your name on every little thing. Paris is starting to get rough. Oy vey!

Paris: The Good, The Bad, and The Normal!

What's up? Nothing is going on here except for furniture shopping. I mean, really? BO-RING! Yesterday, we had to go furniture shopping (or looking) and the whole time mom was all," Oh, do you like this with this... blah blah blah" All me and Noa could do was sit in the chairs, couches and beds. Believe me, I have spent more than enough time with Noa since we got here, whenever we're walking she says," Oh! (insert color here) one, no punch-backs!" I can't believe I introduced that game to her! That was pretty much it for yesterday, so I'll go back to Monday. The morning started out, as usual, with me reading then Noa taking my book away, and a lot of threatening to kick, slap, kill each other etc. Then we went to look at an awesome water park, it was the coolest thing I've seen since the Santa Monica Pier! There's water slides, wave makers, plain pools, a beach area, and a gym! It is near a mall type thing, and Noa and I got scooters! I don't really have any thing else to report here, so until next time!

Lili(an) Belle in PARIS

Camping in Paris

The charm of living in an apartment without any furniture is starting to wear thin a mere 5 days after landing. Much faster than I'd anticipated. It turns out, however, that I don't like to live like a struggling college student. If you didn't know better, you would think that it would be fairly easy to furnish an apartment in a place like Paris, with thousands of stores to choose from. There are a few things though that make it quite difficult. #1. Not having a car. Not having a car means you have to carry everything back to your place...by foot...on public transport...with your kids in tow because they have no place else to go and who are literally threatening to kill eachother because they have spent too much time together since the end of school in June and have moved twice in the span of 2.5 months. #2. Getting things delivered takes a very long time in France. I'm not sure why this is and no one I've spoken to has a reasonable explanation but that's how it is around here bubbe. We did order a table and chairs yesterday and with any luck they will arrive by the end of August. After hearing how long other things would take, we considered that reasonable. Sounds crazy, right? But when in France...For your entertainment, I've attached a few photos of said apartment. I've used Ethan as a measuring tool so you can tell the actual size of the kitchen. Notice also that there are no cabinets in the kitchen. The little round circle on the right is some kind of substitute for a washing machine, and no, we don't have a dryer. Not that I'm complaining! I know, it's Paris, I'm not looking for sympathy, I'm just telling it how it is.