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| Michael went out in the snow to get this cool picture |
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| View from our living room |
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Our weekend
Friday
Friday Michael texted me to tell me he had a surprise for me:) He took Eden and I to...
.... Chipotle:) I was so happy! For those of you who may not know, in Illinois-we eat Chipotle 3 x a month if not more...so I had googled it before our trip...and he located it and surprised us! It was good-different than home, but it hit the spot!! We have been surviving on pasta and frozen pizza, because I haven't been able to cook. First because the kitchen was so filthy...and second because all that we have in our "furnished" apartment are 2 pots, 3 glass bowls, some spatulas and a colander...I tried to buy a cookie sheet, and couldn't find one, so I bought what looks kind of like a 9 x13 pan. I have also been unable to find any kind of measuring cups or spoons. Apparently everything here is measured by weight...I think I may have my mom ship some measuring cups/spoons to me!
Saturday
On Saturday we met up with Michael's host and her family. They have a daughter who is also an only child and is also 8!! How cool is that? Thankfully she is bilingual...so Eden made a fast friend:) We ate at a nice restaurant and then took the girls to the aquarium...it is small -but it was nice. I have some pictures from the aquarium, but I can't figure out how to get them to transfer to the blog...Anyhow, after the aquarium, Eden got to try her first crepe with Nutella:) She loved it! The aquarium is right by the Eiffel tower...
Sunday
Sunday was an interesting day...we go to the English speaking church service--which meets at night, so we have all day to explore. We decided to go to the American Library in Paris. Michael's contact for his grant suggested going there and joining it, both to check out English books and to meet other kids... It is bigger than I expected! For a fee, you can join for a year or 6 months. They also have a kids section that has quite a few books and some DVD's to check out --all in English:) (Our DVD's won't play on the DVD in the apt. because of a different international code...) Eden checked out several kids books, which is great because she has already read the books we brought about 5 times each!
As we tried to get back to the apartment, we encountered a problem...a large protest! Thousands of people and lots of police men/women. For an 8 year old raised in a small town, it was an interesting experience! Here you can see them from across the bridge...
Here is a picture of the participants marching in blue...we tried to avoid crossing them, but at one point we had to.
Here are some fun pictures from our walk home....
Sunday night, we had a potluck at church, so we tried to come up with something that we could: 1. Pack into a backpack easily and 2. Didn't really require "cooking". We came up with fruit salad, (we did have to buy a container to take it in:) Doritos, Pepsi and a cake that we bought. Good news, it was all completely gone! Turns out, the fruit salad was a hit!
Here is a picture of the outside of the building:
And we will have more coming soon!!
Friday Michael texted me to tell me he had a surprise for me:) He took Eden and I to...
.... Chipotle:) I was so happy! For those of you who may not know, in Illinois-we eat Chipotle 3 x a month if not more...so I had googled it before our trip...and he located it and surprised us! It was good-different than home, but it hit the spot!! We have been surviving on pasta and frozen pizza, because I haven't been able to cook. First because the kitchen was so filthy...and second because all that we have in our "furnished" apartment are 2 pots, 3 glass bowls, some spatulas and a colander...I tried to buy a cookie sheet, and couldn't find one, so I bought what looks kind of like a 9 x13 pan. I have also been unable to find any kind of measuring cups or spoons. Apparently everything here is measured by weight...I think I may have my mom ship some measuring cups/spoons to me!
Saturday
On Saturday we met up with Michael's host and her family. They have a daughter who is also an only child and is also 8!! How cool is that? Thankfully she is bilingual...so Eden made a fast friend:) We ate at a nice restaurant and then took the girls to the aquarium...it is small -but it was nice. I have some pictures from the aquarium, but I can't figure out how to get them to transfer to the blog...Anyhow, after the aquarium, Eden got to try her first crepe with Nutella:) She loved it! The aquarium is right by the Eiffel tower...
Sunday
Sunday was an interesting day...we go to the English speaking church service--which meets at night, so we have all day to explore. We decided to go to the American Library in Paris. Michael's contact for his grant suggested going there and joining it, both to check out English books and to meet other kids... It is bigger than I expected! For a fee, you can join for a year or 6 months. They also have a kids section that has quite a few books and some DVD's to check out --all in English:) (Our DVD's won't play on the DVD in the apt. because of a different international code...) Eden checked out several kids books, which is great because she has already read the books we brought about 5 times each!
As we tried to get back to the apartment, we encountered a problem...a large protest! Thousands of people and lots of police men/women. For an 8 year old raised in a small town, it was an interesting experience! Here you can see them from across the bridge...
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| From another bridge |
Here are some fun pictures from our walk home....
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| We were really close to the tower again today |
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| From inside, underneath |
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| A pretty church we found on our walk home from the library |
Sunday night, we had a potluck at church, so we tried to come up with something that we could: 1. Pack into a backpack easily and 2. Didn't really require "cooking". We came up with fruit salad, (we did have to buy a container to take it in:) Doritos, Pepsi and a cake that we bought. Good news, it was all completely gone! Turns out, the fruit salad was a hit!
Here is a picture of the outside of the building:
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Views from our apartment
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| I think this is so pretty |
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| View from outside the living area window |
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| Looking down the stairs from our front door. |
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| Another view from outside the living room |
Wednesday's adventure:
Today Michael had to go to another meeting, so Eden and I ventured out on our own for the first time since our arrival...for those who know me well, this is big! I am very directionally challenged, so to make sure that I could get us out of the apartment to the intended store and back is an accomplishment! Good news! We are safe:) Our goal was to buy 2 baguettes and visit a chocolatier...(Michael found a boulangerie near our apt. and we have been passing a chocolatier every day...so of course, we made those two stops our goal)
So delicious! She and I decided that each week we would try a new chocolate...after eating this one, she suggested going twice a week:) I will be huge when we come back!!
Today Michael had to go to another meeting, so Eden and I ventured out on our own for the first time since our arrival...for those who know me well, this is big! I am very directionally challenged, so to make sure that I could get us out of the apartment to the intended store and back is an accomplishment! Good news! We are safe:) Our goal was to buy 2 baguettes and visit a chocolatier...(Michael found a boulangerie near our apt. and we have been passing a chocolatier every day...so of course, we made those two stops our goal)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Arc de Triomphe
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Yesterday was a successful day for us! We left the hotel, purchased a payable phone (we got a cheap Nokia, which is not really a step up from Michael's old phone:) but works, successfully rode the subway to an appt. at a bank, got an account set up (the lady was so nice and spoke fairly good English), saw the Eiffel tower from across the Seine (so beautiful), went up to the Arch de Triomphe, and visited the Monoprix twice. I had done research about the Monoprix (it is "similar" to a Target)...although it is situated in 4 levels...groceries in the basement, and clothes, cleaning stuff, and household items on the other 3 floors) We had to pay for our grocery bags, which I had read about...then we arrived at our apartment. It was so nasty that we weren't sure if we should even use the towels...so, we attempted to wash a few. Oh dear, it was a disaster...first of all it is a combo washer/dryer...but everything is in French-including the manual!! We went online and found an English one, but still couldn't wash the towels. We used Facetime to call Mom and Cal to beg for help:) We gave up after 3 washes and then Michael and I hand ringing 2 towels out in the bathtub at 11:30 p.m. It did provide a funny memory:) We were cracking up!
Our apartment is beyond disgusting! I didn't cry, but I almost did! My sweet husband helped me clean a few things, but we decided it was so gross that we needed to take pictures and contact the owner. We may show you some of the pictures when we come home!! At dinner, Eden said, "Well it is really bad, because I have never seen Dad react like this!!" Lol--what does that say about us? Just kidding-I already know:)
Michael sent quite a few pictures to the owner, with some funny captions...So now the owner is trying to have some things taken care of, and the cleaning lady is coming back today to "reclean"....So at this point, we are not able to unpack and get settled in...But hopefully soon!
(The cleaning lady has just arrived--and doesn't speak any English...so I am miming all of the concerns to her-- ) Wish us luck!
All in all, it is going well...we figured that we would have some things that would need to be worked out!
Thank you for all of the prayers!!! We appreciate them! Au Revoir!
Our apartment is beyond disgusting! I didn't cry, but I almost did! My sweet husband helped me clean a few things, but we decided it was so gross that we needed to take pictures and contact the owner. We may show you some of the pictures when we come home!! At dinner, Eden said, "Well it is really bad, because I have never seen Dad react like this!!" Lol--what does that say about us? Just kidding-I already know:)
Michael sent quite a few pictures to the owner, with some funny captions...So now the owner is trying to have some things taken care of, and the cleaning lady is coming back today to "reclean"....So at this point, we are not able to unpack and get settled in...But hopefully soon!
(The cleaning lady has just arrived--and doesn't speak any English...so I am miming all of the concerns to her-- ) Wish us luck!
All in all, it is going well...we figured that we would have some things that would need to be worked out!
Thank you for all of the prayers!!! We appreciate them! Au Revoir!
We spent the first night in our apartment last night...oh my goodness. We have a lot to share...it can best be described as absolutely disgusting!!! While I disinfected the washing machine, Michael was scrubbing one wall in the kitchen with Ajax...p.s. we were both wearing gloves!! On the bright side, although we can't touch any surface, it is bigger than we all expected. More to come!
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