Who needs a Tide stick?

 

I suppose you could say that I finally got used to walking along the Seine and passing Notre Dame everyday and that's when, while heading to grammar class one afternoon, I finally noticed something on the street that I simply had not noticed before...a street vendor that sold crêpes.  How had I missed this?!  If you've ever been to New York, Boston, Philadelphia or any big city, then you know about street vendors who sell pretzels, hot dogs, and perhaps roasted chestnuts.   In Paris, they sell crêpes!  And so, after a particularly difficult grammar class at which my professor kept telling me to grab my cheeks and squish my mouth towards the middle of my face so that I could make the "eu" sound,  I figured that squished mouth of mine deserved a break and I went to the vendor near Notre Dame and ordered a nutella crêpe.  The vendor cooked it in no time flat and then folded it and put it in paper!  What?  Pas d'assiette?  Pas de fourchette?  No plate?  No fork?  How was this going to work?  For this uncoordinated girl it didn't work so well, but wow,  was it "délicieux"!  Nutella was all down the front of me by the time I got to the metro station, but it was very much worth it and guess what?  I became quite experienced at eating those crêpes and only ruined two or three more shirts in the process.  Eating crepes on the streets of Paris while walking along the Seine with a stain on my shirt?  To me, that shows a sign of living the good life.  C'est la vie, non?

If you haven't already done so, please click on the video above to see how quickly they make these amazing treats!

Grammaire et Gargouilles (Grammar and Gargoyles)

I must clarify something about my grammar class because so many of you were very concerned about my "faceless teacher"!  I did, in fact, have "une prof" that would discuss grammar and work on writing skills with us, but then there was a separate part of the class at which time we would all put on headphones and listen to recordings and then repeat after the person on the tape.  This was to practice our pronunciation and if we didn't say something correctly or if we missed a section, all of a sudden a voice would appear in our ears telling us to "essayez autre fois" (try again).  I did not know that I was "attached" to another person, so the first time I heard someone all of a sudden speaking in my ears, I jumped!  I eventually got used to the routine, but it was a bit odd at the beginning, for sure.  Perhaps I should try that with you sometime?  We could all put headphones on and then I could go to another room while you repeat after a tape.  Would you jump, too, if all of a sudden you heard my voice but didn't see me?

Having someone that I couldn't see speak to me through headphones was odd, for sure, but walking along the Seine past Notre Dame everyday was even MORE of an out-of-body experience!  Here is a brief video of Notre Dame for you to learn just a bit more.  The stained glass windows are gorgeous and I was fortunate because I never had to stand in lines -- perhaps that's because I lived there and could visit anytime I felt like it!  Lucky me! And listen carefully for the part about the gargoyles...



In my next post, you will see that walking past Notre Dame was not the only bonus of heading to a grammar class at 5:00 everyday.  I also passed a patisserie.  Do you know what that is?  You will soon learn...and I know you will like it!

Que pensez-vous maintenant de ma classe de grammaire et de Notre Dame?  Et que pensez-vous des gargouilles (gargoyles)?

On my way to grammar class

I can see that we will be working on our map skills!  I will help you use my Plan de Paris this quarter and you will see how simple it is to use!  I believe in ALL of you and KNOW that you can get around a big city, no matter where it is located in the world!  We now know that an arrondisement is a section of Paris and that the Quartier latin is its' student/university section.  Some of you found out that it is called the Quartier latin because students used to only speak Latin when going to school -- remember, my university was founded in the twelth century!  Some of you also found out that "la Rive Gauche" means the Left Bank, but do you know what that means?  You're about to find out...

As I mentioned in my last post, I not only took classes at the Sorbonne, but also had a grammar class in another section of Paris found on "la Rive Gauche".  Paris is divided into two parts --  "la Rive Gauche" and "la Rive Droite" -- and this simply means "the Left Bank" and "the Right Bank" of the Seine River that flows through the city.  Fortunately for me, my grammar class was right around the corner from the Seine on la Rive Gauche.  I walked along the Seine everyday and everyday, it took me past Notre Dame.  Can you believe that?!  I walked past Notre Dame EVERYDAY.  Oui, tous les jours -- c'est vrai!  To me, I couldn't have felt more Parisien than this!

So, while I did not always enjoy my grammar class (we had to wear headphones and I never saw the face of the person who spoke to me), I always made sure to go to this class because I could walk along the Seine and see Notre Dame and well, there was that patisserie...stay tuned...

PS - Poisson d'avril!  If you haven't taped a fish to the back of a friend or a loved one yet, you still have time!  :-)