Keepin' It Real - Part 3!

(This post was written last week.)

It seems lately all I am doing is updating you on our travels and guests, so I thought I would update you on just life here in Paris.

Homeschooling is going really well!  I keep a running count of how many days kids in Northfield have been in school and try to keep close to that.  I am looking forward to the next two days to get caught up, as Minnesota is on MEA break.  (Edy and Will were not happy to learn that they have school here in Paris, while Minnesota is on break.)  My favorite part of homeschooling is the book clubs the kids and I are doing together.  We are also trying to still keep school in the mornings so we can go out an explore.  More about those adventures below.

Speaking of schools, kids in Paris get two weeks off of school every six weeks.  We are heading into the first of those breaks next week.  It is called the Toussaint Break and everything stops for those breaks.  Theater camp, art classes, church activities, all stop with the break.  It also means that Paris will be busy again with tourists.  I expect we will see more lines again at the museums and top attractions.

The weather here has definitely turned cooler.  While we don't have snow flurries yet like in Minnesota, we have brought out the warmer layers.  One thing I am missing is the fall colors we get in Minnesota.  People in Paris comment about the leaves changing color here, but nothing compares to what we see in Minnesota.

It has also started to rain more.  I have to say, I don't mind this.  We know to just go out with our rain jackets or an umbrella.  In addition to rain, it has also started to get darker sooner.  I don't like that one bit!  In Paris, we are actually located at a higher longitude than Northfield.  We are actually perfectly aligned with where Minnesota meets Canada.  But we don't get the cold weather, because our weather comes up from Africa.

Edy is now comfortable taking the train by herself to the swimming pool.  She goes a few times a week to swim laps.  She says it is really boring, not swimming with a team.  She has expressed interest in asking around about a team at the pool.  We are going to leave that up to her.  She also loves her art class!  She has experimented with a variety of mediums already.  I think she likes the quiet, where she can be alone to create.  She continues to babysit regularly.  She added a second family to her client list.  Will is envious of all the money she is making.

This beauty at the American Church in Paris.

An artist at work!

Impressed!

Speaking of Will, his big news is that he was chosen as the Scarecrow for his theater group's production of the Wizard of Oz.  The best part of this is that he had to send in an audition tape from Mont Saint Michel.  We were on the island when he got a call back.  While Edy and Jeff listened to music on their headphones, in the hotel room, Will and I made audio recordings of himself signing and speaking lines from the script.  After I sent them on, we found out they needed video recordings as well.  So at the Gontier's new home, we made a second round of video recordings to send off.  All that hard work paid off!

He also recently shared his love of performing with the children at the American Church in Paris.  He and his friend, Jake, did a puppet show on a Bible story from Luke 16.  This is the story of Lazarus going to heaven and the rich man going to the "pit of fire below," as you can see from Will's backdrop.

Will and Jake performing a Bible story from Luke 16.

Speaking of friends, we feel so fortunate to have met a family from Alabama.  Kelli (mom), Carson (daughter), and Geer (son) are in Paris doing the same thing we are until November.  Like Edy and Will, Carson and Geer have homeschool in the mornings and then head out in the afternoons to explore.  We have started meeting up with them several times a week to explore Paris together.  I have LOVED connecting with another mom, and Edy and Will love socializing with someone other than their sibling.  I appreciate that they are just as adventurous as us.

Here are just a few things we have done together - the Jardin de Luxembourg, where we did a scavenger hunt; Le Zoo du Jardin des Plantes, where were visited with some friendly monkeys; finally seeing the Bastille before it rained; a free concert for breast cancer awareness month, where Dido sang while the Eiffel Tower turned pink; the Grevin Museum, where we say many famous people made out of wax; Longchamp Horse Races, where we saw the very famous Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe; Foundation of Louis Vuitton, where we saw a Charlotte Perriand exhibit and witnessed a type of Japanese dancing called Noh; Cite of Musique Museum, where we heard a harpist play; the Cognacq-Jay Museum, where we saw more women compact cases than we could count; as well as many gelato shops and parks.  

Love this family - even all the times we got caught in the rain!

Scavenger Hunt at the Jardin du Luxembourg - Carson, Edy, Geer and Will.

Le Zoo du Jardin des Plantes with Geer and Carson!

Finally, the Bastille!

We attended the "Heros" concert near the Eiffel Tower to hear Dido sing.
The Eiffel Tower then turned pink!

Before.

After!  Edy, Carson, Will, and Geer.

Geer, Kelli, and Carson

Edy, me, and Will

What a fun night out in the rain!

Look who Edy ran into! 

Can't remember who this is...

Famous actress - again, can't remember who this is. 

They were actually put right next to each other in this room!

Will and Napoleon!

Will reenacting one of this favorite moments in history, when Charles de Gaulle walked down
 the Champs Elysee on August 26, 1944.

Attending our first horse races at the Longchamp Hipodrome. 

They wouldn't let them in the real gates!

The inside of the race track was the best view area with Carson, Jeff, Will, and Geer.

In a flash they were gone!

Japanese dancing called Noh 

Will, Geer, Edy and Carson on the roof of the Foundation of Louis Vuitton.

At the Cite de Musique Museum listening to a harpist.

Jeff continues to balance work, life in Paris, and exploring his own passions on the side.  We enjoy seeing him so much during the day.  Of all of us, he is really mastering the French language.  It is fun to hear him tell jokes in French (at least act is what I think is happening when both he and the person he is talking to laugh).  Dinners last longer here because we aren't rushing off to the next activity or even to do homework, since it all got done in the morning.

To say we are loving it would be an understatement.  All four of us can’t imagine leaving and in fact don’t want to.  Before you get worried, we will be coming back to the United States, as planned, June 2020.  We also know that if we stay another year, it would be very different.  We wouldn’t be traveling nearly as much, doing as many new and exciting things, or even doing school at home.  All of the above, make it so magical, that it is easy to wonder if we could sustain this forever.

I think we all love it for different reasons.  But first and foremost, we all appreciate the time together as a family. I have always considered us close but this “forced” time together has made us even closer.  We have also learned how to better communicate our needs and feelings with each other.  We have grown in our relationships but also in our independence too.  We are exploring this city and this life with freedoms that we didn’t allow ourselves to participate in at home.  Whether it is going to see a museum on modern architecture in Paris or eating oysters on the beach, we are taking advantage of every minute and living it to the fullest.  We are appreciating the day-to-day, instead of just hurrying from one event to the next.  Never in a million years would I have anticipated the complete joy we all feel about this experience.

We also have come to appreciate living on less.  Our good friends are in Mexico, having a similar experience as us.  They commented in a recent blog about all the items they packed up and left at home in Northfield.  Like us, they just took what they thought they would need for the year.  We love living with less.  Not only in our clothes and possessions but also in our furnishings and space.  We really like living in an apartment.  We like how everything here is compact and functional.  Parisians don’t have kitchens packed with numerous gadgets and gizmos.  They have a few things that you can use a variety of ways.  There are no pantries, instead they shop for their food every day.  They drive smaller cars, preferring to walk most places.  The “bigger is better” mentality of the United States is replaced here with “do with less.”  A good visual for you is to think about the Ziplock bags at Target.  There they take up an aisle.  Here, just the bottom of a small shelf, amidst the trash bags.  Jeff and I are already looking forward to going home and paring down even more!

Ziplock bags and trash bags!

Thanks again for reading!  I will post again in a few days about our latest visitors, as well as how they celebrate Halloween here in Paris.

A bientôt!
Betsy