l'Escalade !!

Meet Thaïs.  (Tah-ees)

She is one of my coworkers and she's the bomb.  She recently got into l'escalade (rock climbing) and is trying to get each of us to try it out.  Tuesday night was my turn.  

Let's get one thing clear: I'm not what you might call an "athletic" person.  I've played soccer a lot.  Volleyball.  Swimming.  I'll even play a little two on two basketball during family events, usually to the dismay of whoever ends up on my team.  In spite of knowing how to play all these sports and others (surprise, Michael knows how to play football and baseball too) I'm just not coordinated enough (or don't care enough) to spend tons of time perfecting technique. So you can imagine the terror going through my mind as I contemplated climbing a steep, artificial cliff with nothing but my own coordination and muscle power.

This is the exact image that ran through my head...but with rocks...

Needless to say, I was hesitant; but I was also excited to be hanging out with coworkers after work, cause that means I have friends, right? *cue needy, desperate Michael*

Well we got there and Tacy (this was when she was here) took lots of pictures of me learning how to tie the right knot and use the belay correctly, which were tasks I'd never performed in French, so I felt pretty conflicted about whether I'd understood everything the right way :/ 

We started on an easier wall (3's and 4's), and it turned out well.  In fact, Thaïs forbade me (her words, not mine) from using any 3's right after, cause they weren't "challenging" enough. (Never mind that I was sweating bullets and praying that my forearms wouldn't fall off)    

Butt shot

Well after a few goes on that easier wall, "we" decided to go try a harder wall, with 5a's and 6's...umm.  How did we jump from 3 to 6? *nervous laughter*

I feel like this sums it up nicely.

Thank goodness for belays, cause I definitely needed one.  Although, coupled with my fear of falling, and in contrast to the relief of having a belay, was the fact that Thaïs weighs like 20 pounds less than me, which means that my free falling could literally just pick her up and we'd crash in midair...except that she's ripped like nobody's business and could bench press me.



Overall, in spite of my bruised fingers, sore forearms, and broken spirits *violin music playing*, it was wonderful! And I enjoyed seeing a different side of Paris - the athletic, outdoorsy side that some Americans wouldn't think exists among the oh là-là's and the baguettes. 

I'll probably go again, even if it means falling a lot.  That's how we learn, I suppose.

Sister in the City

I meant to get a post up before the weekend, but then realized that there wasn't really anything for me to blog about.  So, as per the usual, all my blog-worthy exploits took place over the weekend.  Surprise!

First, I went to a JA activity on Friday (Jeunes adultes = Young single adults...also, in English we say 'single', which is whatever.  But in France, if they want to distinguish between young adults and young SINGLE adults, they say jeunes adultes seuls...'seul' means alone.  Young alone adults...young lonely adults.  This is depressing hahaha) We ate raclette, which is basically potatoes and various deli meats all covered in melted Swiss cheese (but good, actual Swiss cheeses, not "Swiss" cheese).  It's amazing.

Yay for one other person noticing my selfie

We also watched the CES devotional because we couldn't watch it live due to the time difference and language...but then, get this, we end up watching it in English anyway because almost all of the JA speak English and there's a girl here from the states who doesn't really speak French...so that was...a bonus? I'm still not sure how I feel on the matter...

This weekend also happened to be les journees du patrimoine. This is essentially European Heritage Day, but spread out over the weekend.  "What does this entail, Michael?" Well I will tell you.  Basically all the things are open.  ALL THE THINGS!!

        

This gif may have gotten a little out of hand.  Also, I finally discovered this "caption" thing.  Sweet.

All the sites that aren't usually open to the public (military bases, science places, something else that rhymes with -aces) are open for tours and general heritage-ness.  I visited the American cemetery of Suresnes (mostly soldiers from World War I) and an old fort that the Germans had occupied during WWII (Fort du Mont Valerien).

I can't really express what I felt here, so I won't try.

   
The fort was also really amazing; I learned about underground bunker/powder-storing areas, carrier pigeons, executions, and all sorts of military tech.  It was really eye-opening as far as what Europeans (especially the French, in this case) went through during those two wars.  

In the foreground is Antoine, my host dad.  Here we are in an underground "poudriere".  Literally a powder keg, but more likely a location for storing black powder.

  
Finally, my weekend closed with the arrival of my sister, Tacy, who's been traipsing around the Mediterranean basin (sort of) and decided to pay me a visit.

Yay for sibling time!

Can't wait for this week to really get started! Happy Monday, evil though it may be.

Food and Weekends

I love weekends.  I love food.  Why not devote a blog post to that?  

So this weekend was good. ^see above photo^ It was my first weekend after having started work, meaning the break was welcome :)

I woke up Saturday "morning" and decided I would actually do something with my day. To recap, I've been to Paris once before (last summer...for like a day and a half) and so I had already seen la tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, etc. etc.  But I didn't get to see some of the other sites that Paris has to offer.

I've made a deal with myself that I'll spread the touristy stuff out and that I'll try to do more of it later, when the tourists have vacated. P.S. Parisians are notorious for their rude, dislike of tourists.  Well, imagine having 27 million visitors in your town every year (44 million if you count the metropolitan area)...That's the entire state of California, plus Utah, coming to visit one city and its suburbs.  And they're loud.  No joke.  Even when talking at generally appropriate levels, something about tourist languages sticks out and makes them seem louder.  Parisians are actually quite wonderful when you make an attempt to appreciate the culture and language (and when you're not wearing a missionary tag...oh, sad.)

Anyway, so I got to my first destination, le Moulin Rouge (not pronounced mulan...I know disappointing.  It's more like moo-land, but without the 'd'...or the 'n', for that matter)

      

Well, there were soooo many people, and none of them were Nicole Kidman, nor Ewan McGregor - Kim and Tacy :( - so I took a few shots and left that one to the tourists. (I do realize that I'm basically a glorified tourist; no judging)

My next stop, almost literally, I think, the next stop on that metro line, was le Sacre Coeur (pronounced sa-cray cur [yes, cur as in pirate-talk]...accents are not my friend on this platform)
  

I climbed a whole lot of stairs, and it was definitely worth it.  It is gorgeous.

They said no pictures on the inside (though there were peeps doing just that) so I took this one of the central door.  The Latin inscription says "SACRATISSIMO CORDI JESU" which, unsurprisingly, means "The most sacred heart of Jesus," or something along those lines.  Once in there, I just took the tour around and then sat in a pew and thought.  It was really beautiful and peaceful. I stayed for mass (led by an actual cardinal of the Catholic church - cool) and then went home. 

Sunday I went to church at the Versailles ward which was also wonderful and that basically concluded my weekend.  Church twice and le Moulin Rouge.  Oh, and food!!
 

This is not necessarily a picture of my meal Sunday night, though it is a good representative sample.  I love eating in France.  It's so simple, but so good.  For example, on a different night, my host family made a salad with just roughly chopped tomatoes, feta, and some sort of balsamic. I could've eaten the entire bowl. "Manners?" Psh.

A note on music. And transit, I suppose

Um, last night I was at choir practice (we'll get to that later) and I was seriously nodding off...I haven't felt this tired in a while. I think it's a combination of jet lag and having to get up inordinately early to go to work.  Let me explain.

I work at 9:30 am.  I know. "Michael, stop complaining.  That's not early.  You're a giant baby.  Go cry on your wee pillo' " (OK, that one required an accent...) 

Here's the thing, though.  To get to work I have to take two tramways and a metro.  Paris has incredible public transit, don't get me wrong.  A tram every two minutes, a metro practically every minute...it's incredible.  And the system is dense, meaning you can literally go anywhere using it.  The problem is that there are so many stops and my route is not direct.   I go around the periphery of the city then cut up into it.  So it takes me about an hour to commute, oh let's say, 8 miles.  "Get a bike Michael"

 

That, to me, is crazy.  Anyway, so this makes me tired because I have to get up earlier than I would like.

Back to what I know you're all dying to know...choir practice.  Yes.  I am such a nerd that I even do choir in France.  During an internship. When I could be visiting Paris.  Judge away.  My host family is very musical and they are a part of a larger choir (which we attended on Monday night...yay FHE!) and a smaller choral ensemble that sings crazy-a music...in Greek...

I have never seen music like this...ever.  And this is one movement out of like eight.  And this is probably one of the calmer pieces. Dissonance doesn't begin to describe this music.  It should be interesting 

Well...I'm in Paris

It still seems slightly crazy to me that I'm doing this internship.  I have to say, in the days leading up to my departure, and even when I arrived at the Charles de Gaulle airport, I was like "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!" But once I got settled in with my host family (who are amazing...there'll be, I'm sure, many a post about them) and met my co-workers at Sport Sans Frontières, I started feeling better.  Mind you, I'm still freaking out nearly everyday, but it's gotten better.

I suppose some background would be nice, right? As you might find out (though I can't guarantee that anything I write will make you want to continue reading) I'm not the most organized of people, so when I say "background" (picture the air quotes to go along with that*) it might not actually have anything to do with preceding events that help the reader to understand what's going on...instead, it might simply be my way of introducing a tangent...which I do.  A lot.

*When I use quotation marks, unless it's in reference to something someone said, or is actually following "standard formatting rules" for using quotation marks, I'm always doing it with air quotes, just sayin. 

So, Sport Sans Frontieres (there's an accent grave [`] on that first 'e', but I'm just not even going to worry about it) is an NGO based in Paris that does work in many developing nations, such as Burundi, Haiti (yay!), and Kosovo.  They partner with other NGOs to do work in other countries as well.  They even have projects in more developed nations (like France...surprise).  They advocate the use of sports and physical activity in education through a methodology called Playdagogy (I honestly love this jeu de mots).  Anyway, this isn't an ad for Sport Sans Frontieres...I'm just explaining the NGO because before I left, everyone was all, "What is your internship for?" and my response was "uuuh...let me get back to you on that..." So, this is me getting back to them on that.  

Other than the freaking out and the complete lack of knowing what I was going to be doing, I'm feeling great! This country is beautiful.  Paris is a vibrant city.  The people are warm and kind (suck on that, stereotypes) and I plan on enjoying most everything this place has to offer...except for rush hour...I can't bring myself to enjoy that one.