I'm happy to report that I can knock a few items off of my "confessions" list, based on events from the last couple weeks:
1. I may have found a couple potential language partners through MESSAGE (the English-speaking mothers' group). One mom teaches English and forwarded me the names of three students (all adults) who are interested in doing an exchange. I will keep my fingers crossed that this works out!
2. I rode the bus! Emmett and I took the metro to a suburb of Paris to attend the MESSAGE (my English-speaking mothers' group) Fall Bring & Buy sale located at a Hotel Ibis in Neuilly-sur-Seine. It was great to meet the other mothers, especially those whose names I recognized from the online forums. I also picked up a couple secondhand items for Emmett and me.
But back to the bus: I got off the metro with Emmett in tow and walked too far in the wrong direction trying to get to Avenue Victor Hugo when in fact I needed to be on Blvd. Victor Hugo. When a kind gentleman pointed out my mistake, he suggested I take the bus across town-- and it was easy! We need to take it more often.
5. David and I finally had dinner out together alone and it was a relief to not have to worry about packing up baby food, disrupting other diners, or looking at our watches to make sure we weren't keeping Emmett out too late. Anabel came over to watch Emmett, and the two of us enjoyed a leisurely dinner at Les Olivades (see blog post).
7. Our cooking recently progressed beyond roasting, broiling, and searing. Our good friend Kyra's friend Lauren O'Hara has lived here in Paris for about nine years and she came over for dinner. The prospect of cooking for a Parisian was enough to jumpstart our culinary exploits. David made mussels and bought live scallops which he shucked and prepared himself.
6. I am the proud owner of two Parisian coats! My Aunt Ellen bought herself, Nancy, and me the same khaki-colored trench coat which I've already worn twice. It's exactly what I wanted. Last week, Scotia and I did some late-night (11:30 p.m.) shopping along the Champs-Elysees and I picked up a red pea coat. It's time to let go of my tired old coats from home.
8. We broke down and bought a microwave! It's an inexpensive one from our neighborhood supermarket Shopi (35€), and we debated about whether to do it ("We can do without a microwave for a few months, can't we?!"), but are we glad to have it. Meal prep for Emmett takes a few seconds, as opposed to a few minutes -- a big difference when everyone's hungry. Leftovers can be re-heated instantly, all on one plate, as opposed to one bowl at a time in the our steamer pot. Heating hot water for tea is a snap.
13. I have definitely eaten my fill of cheese, and then some, thanks to Scotia. In fact, I'm certain that I ate more cheese last week with her here than I did the entire month of September. I'm also getting lots of use out of my book of French Cheeses.
15. I didn't think I missed Asian food...until my Aunt Ellen and Uncle David from China Bee visited and cooked for us. They made us a pot of Chinese pork noodle soup with napa cabbage which was so comforting and nourishing. They also bought us a small bag of jasmine rice and some Asian vegetables from the Chinatown here in Paris. When they sauteed everything and plated it up, it was all delicious and I wasn't sure if I could have enough! We haven't purchased Chinese food here yet (I hear it's not good), but I did have a bowl of Vietnamese pho (for 8 Euros -- yikes!) which wasn't great, but wasn't bad.
17. I've made a friend, or at least Emmett has. Ella and her mom Nicole from MESSAGE came over to our house last week to talk about work (I have a temporary job -- more on that later). Nicole is from Wisconsin, but has lived in Paris for over 9 years, first as an au pair and later married to a Frenchman. Her 8-month old daughter Ella is a happy adorable little cherub, and she and Emmett enjoyed each other's company for the most part. I was a bit horrified when Emmett grabbed at something she was playing with (twice) and thought to myself, "I think it's time we joined a playgroup." We attend our first one later this week.
1. I may have found a couple potential language partners through MESSAGE (the English-speaking mothers' group). One mom teaches English and forwarded me the names of three students (all adults) who are interested in doing an exchange. I will keep my fingers crossed that this works out!
2. I rode the bus! Emmett and I took the metro to a suburb of Paris to attend the MESSAGE (my English-speaking mothers' group) Fall Bring & Buy sale located at a Hotel Ibis in Neuilly-sur-Seine. It was great to meet the other mothers, especially those whose names I recognized from the online forums. I also picked up a couple secondhand items for Emmett and me.
But back to the bus: I got off the metro with Emmett in tow and walked too far in the wrong direction trying to get to Avenue Victor Hugo when in fact I needed to be on Blvd. Victor Hugo. When a kind gentleman pointed out my mistake, he suggested I take the bus across town-- and it was easy! We need to take it more often.
5. David and I finally had dinner out together alone and it was a relief to not have to worry about packing up baby food, disrupting other diners, or looking at our watches to make sure we weren't keeping Emmett out too late. Anabel came over to watch Emmett, and the two of us enjoyed a leisurely dinner at Les Olivades (see blog post).
7. Our cooking recently progressed beyond roasting, broiling, and searing. Our good friend Kyra's friend Lauren O'Hara has lived here in Paris for about nine years and she came over for dinner. The prospect of cooking for a Parisian was enough to jumpstart our culinary exploits. David made mussels and bought live scallops which he shucked and prepared himself.
6. I am the proud owner of two Parisian coats! My Aunt Ellen bought herself, Nancy, and me the same khaki-colored trench coat which I've already worn twice. It's exactly what I wanted. Last week, Scotia and I did some late-night (11:30 p.m.) shopping along the Champs-Elysees and I picked up a red pea coat. It's time to let go of my tired old coats from home.
8. We broke down and bought a microwave! It's an inexpensive one from our neighborhood supermarket Shopi (35€), and we debated about whether to do it ("We can do without a microwave for a few months, can't we?!"), but are we glad to have it. Meal prep for Emmett takes a few seconds, as opposed to a few minutes -- a big difference when everyone's hungry. Leftovers can be re-heated instantly, all on one plate, as opposed to one bowl at a time in the our steamer pot. Heating hot water for tea is a snap.
13. I have definitely eaten my fill of cheese, and then some, thanks to Scotia. In fact, I'm certain that I ate more cheese last week with her here than I did the entire month of September. I'm also getting lots of use out of my book of French Cheeses.
15. I didn't think I missed Asian food...until my Aunt Ellen and Uncle David from China Bee visited and cooked for us. They made us a pot of Chinese pork noodle soup with napa cabbage which was so comforting and nourishing. They also bought us a small bag of jasmine rice and some Asian vegetables from the Chinatown here in Paris. When they sauteed everything and plated it up, it was all delicious and I wasn't sure if I could have enough! We haven't purchased Chinese food here yet (I hear it's not good), but I did have a bowl of Vietnamese pho (for 8 Euros -- yikes!) which wasn't great, but wasn't bad.
17. I've made a friend, or at least Emmett has. Ella and her mom Nicole from MESSAGE came over to our house last week to talk about work (I have a temporary job -- more on that later). Nicole is from Wisconsin, but has lived in Paris for over 9 years, first as an au pair and later married to a Frenchman. Her 8-month old daughter Ella is a happy adorable little cherub, and she and Emmett enjoyed each other's company for the most part. I was a bit horrified when Emmett grabbed at something she was playing with (twice) and thought to myself, "I think it's time we joined a playgroup." We attend our first one later this week.
posted by Lynna | 9:15 AM
1 Comments:
Wow! Scotia came to visit! I'm catching up on the happenings while I was away. So bad! I'm procrastinating as executive assistant for Yung Medical Consulting.
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