I've had a lot of coffee so bear with me and my obsessive organization skills this post! First up, vacation recap! Second, general life. Third, shout outs, stomping songs, and other snazzy stuff!
So, Tuesday morning I woke up early and headed off to the French Alps with the Parmentier gang: Nawel, Audrey, Brice, Lionnel, Marjo, and Emelien For once, both Nawel and I were on time and not twenty minutes late. It must have been all the energy that comes out during vacation! Whoopeee! We drove past Annecy and then headed up the mountains to La Clusaz. After such a tiring drive, we pigged out on Audrey and Brice's homemade quiches and beer. Although it had just recently snowed, we were able to take off our ski coats and tan because the sunshine was so nice and warm. Later we headed off to sled. Sled you say? Yes, a group of 6 twentysomethings went sledding just like the children they teach. And boy did we have fun. We headed back to our spot from last year. Unfortunately, the locals put up a cross country skiing path. Of course, that didn't stop us! We used it as a ramp (well once we patted down a path long enough to make it down the hill). It was so wonderful this year to see fresh snow and not that icy slush. It came up to my knees (which doesn't say much, but you catch my drift I hope). That night we made a big spaghetti dinner, played board games, and laughed about how big our bruises were from sledding!
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| The caterpillar aka when you link sleds and hope for the best. |
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| Elo scooting on down the hill to flatten our path |
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| Here I go! |
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| Nawel and Elo |
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| Caterpillar part deux |
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| What happens to the caterpillar? He gets squished of course! |
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| Can you find the crazy skiers (aka little dots?) |
The next morning we feasted on brioche and headed off to the slopes! I pondered taking a class but at a rate of 40 euros an hour, the possibility quickly left my mind. Instead, I hopped on the ski lifts way up high into the Alps with Elodie. She taught me how to get off the lift (issue #1), how to stop (issue #2), and how to get up after falling down ( at a rate of 156x/hour). Of course the pine trees to my left and the black diamond slope exit to my right drained my energy and concentration awfully fast. Fortunately, I did not make any physical contact with either (although I did take Elodie out a few times trying to get back up). The second time down the slopes I had Audrey help me (as her boyfriend Brice was going slowly but surely down since he hadn't skied since he was a teenager). After a while, Audrey realized that I only fell when I was trying to turn left.
"Kate, are you making yourself fall down?"
"I think so."
"Does it have anything to do with the trees over there?"
"Uhhhhhh, yep."
"Ok."
Then for the next half an hour, Audrey yelled "NO, KATE, DON'T FALL! NO, NO NO!" everytime I turned left. Worked like magic.
After a full day of skiing, I was exhasuted, as well as emotionally overwhelemd. I learned how to downhill ski in the motherflippin' Alps. And no, not on the baby hills, but here! (right click). At the Cret du Loup!
Later, we ate the traditional winter feast, raclette (which I blogged about in November 2010). So much cheese, so much lunch meat, so much deliciousness. Afterwards we could barely breathe. How do you make an already full stomach hurt even more? Play board games like Cranium, Pictionary, and Jungle Speed.
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| YUM |
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| Apparently they do make things in XL sizes ;) |
The next morning I cooked everyone pancakes. It was hysterical because my friends had no idea what to do with them. Two of my friends bent the pancakes like crepes, another put jam on top, and still others ate them plain. They were amazed to see how much syrup I slathered on top of my batch of pancakes! Nonetheless, the pancakes were a hit since my mix was completely gone between us all! Late that morning we headed off to the official sledding slope. There are two major difference between American sledding and French sledding. First of all, they have brakes on their sleds! Second, they only come in the traditional rectangular form. There are also those sleds you sit on that have ski looking bottoms (where you are lifted off the ground if you will), but I won't count those as real sleds. Thus, no circular sleds to twirl around and get dizzy from spinning! Nonetheless a few of us turned backwards and flipped! So much for those safety brakes!
Later that afternoon, we packed up and headed back to Lyon. While I certainly wanted to stay longer, the clouds had taken over the skies so I wasn't too upset to head back. Once we made it home, we couldn't resist the smell of pizza down below Elodie's apartment. This pizzeria (in Oullins) makes the biggest pizza I have ever seen and it was for once in my French life, amazing and cheap! 16 euros for a 25 inch! Humungo! I was glad we decided to extend our time together; Otherwise, I would not have been able to receive my special ski pin. Apparently, if you go to the EFS (French Ski School), you receive a different pin each time you pass a course. My children at school all received the first pin (a bear) this year. I was so kindly given an aluminum paper snowflake by my fellow teachers. I still feel so proud!
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| Ready, Set, Go! |
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| The climb back up the hill started the creation of a new dance move, the Camel. |
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| What happens when you break? |
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| Tu tombes! |
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| Uh-oh! |
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| BAM! Wipe out! |
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| Pinning Ceremony |
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| We are professionals now ;) |
That weekend I could barely feel my legs I was so sore! I went around Lyon doing things I normally don't have time (or money) to do! I got my haircut after 8 months of growing it out (and did not leave with a crazy, hard to handle, À la mode doo), bought new art supplies, saw the 5 Oscar award winning movie, The Artist, and hung out with my new super cool roommate, Doriane!
The past two weeks at school have gone fairly well. My babies didn't have a hard time readjusting after having two weeks off and they all have an amazing energy which changes things for the better! We've been working on dinosaurs the last two weeks. They LOVE it! Every one of them sings, stomps, and growls around the classroom. One little girl in particular is convinced that they are still alive and that she can hear them upstairs when we have nap time. I will be sure to upload pictures later this weekend with our activities and crafts. Next week we will start on the circus since we have our second annual field trip as a school to the local circus in town. Some of the older classes have already begun this theme and cannot stop talking about it so I'm excited to see what happens in my class!
In other news and events, I had a fun first week back since I was able to see Trombone Shorty in concert last Tuesday. Another reason why I love Ninkasi! They host amazing artists like Ben Howard and Trombone Shorty for not so hard to afford prices. By far the best 14 euros I've spent in a while that didn't have to do with food. On Friday, Emily and I headed out to the peniches and ended up staying late until the wee hours with her friend Christophe. Saturday afternoon, I headed out to the Parc de la Tête D'or with Doriane. It was warm, sunny, and Saturday! A lovely time and a nice break from the freezing temperatures and windy days. And that pretty much leads us up to today. This week has gone by very quiclky and I have the feeling that the weekend will go by even faster! In my bellydancing class, we have already started our choreography for the gala in June. Tank tops and bikinis are already out in the shop windows. Before I know it, I will be on a plane back to the USA!
So for tonight, I leave you with three songs: two French, one English.
I'm not usually a big fan of Sexion D'Assaut but I LOVE the lyrics to the song (click for the link). Love your momma!
I watched this movie a while back but I've always loved this song. It makes me want to stomp around in my high heels like they do in the video.
Finally, an all time favorite with a kick ass new single. Cannot wait for her new album and I sure as hell hope I can see her live again. The one and only Norah Jones!
Oh and for all my ladies, HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!
XOXO,
La petite pamplemousse
PS. The lovely pictures in this post come from the very talented Brice LeClert. Check out his website (here) or on Facebook (Dream-Up Light).
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