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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Tiny Dancer

Today I went to la Porte Ouverte for Raphy's classique dance class (Open House).  It was ridiculously cute.  Not only are little French kids the cutest dressed kids in the world but they are also little ballerinas in the making.  They were accompanied by both a percussion player and a pianist which cracked me up.  Who would have thought that nine 8 year old girls would get accompaniments for ballet. The whole time that I was there, two of the little ballerinas little sisters were there, trying to imitate their big sisters, it was possibly the cutest thing that ever happened.  

     
Practicing graceful arms and confident eyes , as they say in French




I have decided that if and when I do have children, they should be adorable little french ballerinas.  (Note: there 
was one boy in the class and the instructor called him the chef (chief) of the class, being the chef makes it a bit more manly, I suppose)  But if you are French, I don't necessarily think manhood is really an aspiration.  You don't know how many men I have seen in jeans tighter than mine.






                  

Raphy doing a "pose" for classique

    
 



Most of the class, the girls learn basics of ballet, combined with a bit of barroque.  Unlike the regimen of ballet, Baroque style dancing basically let's the girls do whatever they want, specifically run in circles.  So as I watched them react to different percussion instruments in the Baroque style I couldn't help but chuckle.  All of the girls are very very into the dance, they not only listen well to the teacher but they don't really complain.




        


 Dancing le serpentin (serpent) as per Madame's orders






The other funny part was after the girl's were done the Baroque response dance, the instructor made all of the audience members try it out. 

 So let's just say that for an hour today I ran around like a crazy person with no shoes on.







Cute little ballerinas (One's picking her butt)

Monday, February 11, 2008

The Monet, Degas and Pissaro of the 21st Century

Today, the girls and I painted Jazzy's bookshelf....it was pretty fun as it took them off Webkinz and involved messing around with paint!


Raphy and Jazzy painting the top parts of the bookshelp


Jazzy and I doing the bottom half.


Jardin du Luxembourg

I took some pictures for everyone to enjoy of the Jardin du Luxembourg...it was a beautiful day probably 50 degrees outside without a cloud in sight....ahhh


Le Senat (this is the building where the French Senate is housed)

This was a cute couple, casually affectionate not disgusting

The cute little boy next to me was sailing that boat...
The big building is the Senat again

First Day of School

Today, I had my first class with Sylvia.  She seems to be pretty cool and the course is rudimentary grammar but helas it is quite helpful.  I am basically the only American and there are no other english speakers.  Everyone else is either japanese, german or spanish... It's very interesting to be taught french without relying on your basic english knowledge.  We are not allowed to use dictionaries when we don't know a word but instead we have to try and describe the word in french.  It is actually quite helpful, I think.  I have to admit I have trouble understanding when some of the foreigners speak french as their accents are difficult.  But overall it was a good experience...and I hope I can learn a lot!  

The City of Too Much Love

Ok I know this is the city of Romance and Love and all of that stuff BUT making out while you are right next to me in a restaurant is just too much.  Seriously I do not want to see your tonsils while I am enjoying my fondue...


In the coming weeks I plan on documenting all the "loving" that is going on in Paris so people can understand. I walked around the Jardin du Luxembourg the other day and seriously everywhere you looked people were playing tonsil hockey, and not just young people, but people in their 70's too.  I mean I am all for a good kiss in Paris, but come on, at some point you have to draw a line and that line is the point where you should just get a room.