This week marks 5 months since we arrived in France.  I can't believe how time is going by so quickly! This week I also finally resumed my French lessons.  I don't think a group class is helping me.  We have 8 students all from different countries.  I have a very difficult time understanding my peers with their native accents and I don't get too many opportunities to speak in class.  So I have decided to take a more intensive course with a private tutor starting in January.  I plan on taking 2 classes a week for 2 hours each.  She will be taking me around Paris while teaching me french!  I cant think of a better way than having someone go with me to the post office, boulangerie, etc to practice.

Wednesday, we had a guest speaker at the American School of Paris.   Melissa Bradford wrote "A Global Mom" detailing her life as an expatriate.  Within 20 years, she has had 16 addresses,  lived in 8 countries and 5 different languages.  Her children also attend ASP.  Although we are not expatriates by choice ( which is a very small number) her messages were very familiar.  She interviewed several people for her book and focused on one woman who had lived in 7 countries in 15 years.  Countries ranging from Brazil, Switzerland to Thailand.  I found it amusing, yet not surprising that she said the most difficult host country for her was France.  She found it the most difficult to be accepted and was quite uncomfortable for sometime.  It wasn't until she learned French that she gradually became more appreciative of what this country has  to offer.   Bradford's message was to learn to love and embrace the diversity of the world.  I really enjoyed the lecture and look forward to reading the book.

Thursday, Chris and I headed into Paris to the Musee Rodin.  I didn't know much about Rodin, other than he was a french sculpture who made the "The Thinker" and "The Kiss".  So just like all my museum visits, it was a very educational experience.  It is a beautiful museum and with the audio guide can be seen within 2 hours.   I would recommend a visit during the spring or summer as the gardens have a magnificent display of enlarged sculptures.   I learned that Rodin was rejected three times from the art school of Paris.  This did not deter him, but only made him take different angles to learning his craft. Most everything he did was criticized but he never stopped.  He eventually received attention for his work "The Age of Bronze" but was accused of molding the sculpture.  From that point, he would not scale his work to actual size. Finally in 1880 he won a commission to create a portal for a planned museum.  It was then that he spent the next 40 years creating the "Gates of Hell". The monument depicted scenes from Dante's Inferno.   Many of the monuments 186 figures became sculptures of their own....The Thinker and The Kiss included.

First piece he submitted:  The Man with the Broken Nose

The Age of Bronze was so realistic that people thought he sculpted the body with a mold

The Thinker .  The original size is 70cm

The Kiss

Ugolino

The original idea for the Gates of Hell

A bust made of Victor Hugo

The Three Shades enlarged sculptures in the Gardens of the Museum

The Gates of Hell. You can see the Three Shades at the top, and The Thinker just below it.  

The Thinker in the gardens

We then headed to La Grande Epicerie de Paris. It is a beautiful grocery store that sells over 30,000 gourmet products from all over the world.  We stocked up on a few items and had a lovely lunch of Spanish gourmet food.

Luciana has been having nightly coughs for weeks and it progressed to no sleeping and crying. At one point on Thursday evening, she looked at me and said, "Don't let me die".  It broke my heart as I took her to the doctor on Friday to find out she has bronchiolitis. She is being treated for asthma with an inhaler through the weekend.   I'll take her back on Monday for a follow-up.

Older kids got received their report cards as well.  I am so proud of them!  They both did outstanding and every teacher had positive comments.  Emilia is doing very well too!  Here is a picture of her schoolwork.  I love that she only knows how to write in cursive!

Emilia has been going to Alex's Saturday hockey practices because afterward they have a free skate hour.  This time, she came back all smiles.  She says she likes Alex's teammate Nicolas.  I said, "It's your first French crush".  She replied, "Its not a crush mom- he is my boyfriend because he likes me too". Apparently, Nicolas asked Chris about her and gave Emilia some candy.  Emilia said "I like him because I likes the way he skates so fast by crossing his legs in front of each other- and I have never seen him fall.  I hope he wears a leather jacket and rides a motorcycle when he is big.  I am going to write him a letter in cursive because cursive is the language of love."  Oh My Emilia!!

We had our first Galette des Rois here. Chris's mom has made something similar for the kids in the states.  It is a buttery puff pastry with almond filling.  Baked inside there is a a little surprise along with a paper crown,  After you slice the cake, you choose your piece and the one with the surprise is declared "king for the day"  Olivia choose the piece with a little parrot inside and is our queen for the moment.

Our queen of the day

We then went to see La Reine des Neiges (Disney movie -Frozen).  Our first experience in the cinema.  Same as we have- popcorn and candy but much more comfortable seating.  Lots of leg room and separated between rows so you wont have anyone blocking your view!  The girls enjoyed the movie and Emilia really understand most of it!  On Sunday- Chris headed back to the US.  He will have been traveling 20 out of the last 40 days!  Looking forward to the holidays when he can stay put for a while.