Weekend fun
As the weather has improved, so has our energy to go out and enjoy doing things in Paris. On Saturday morning, we attended the family services at the synaggoue. After some fun Passover related projects, the rabbi led a brief service - in French, English, and Hebrew. At one point, he taught a series of hand signs to accompany the Sh'ma (a prayer that says that God is one). The sign for "one" posed some problem. For those who are primarily anglophone, "one" is indicated by putting up your index finger, for those who are primarily francophone, "one" is indicated by putting up your thumb. The Rabbi suggested that those who are bilingual could put up their little finger in a sort of cultural compromise. Because the organizers had not gotten any challah, we made motzi over two baguettes at the end of services.
After lunch, Jonah tried to take a nap, but he was too excited about his afternoon playdate with Louise to possibly sleep. I took him up Montmartre to her house, where a gouter fit for a king (or a prince and princess) was waiting. Louise, her parents, her grandmother, her sister, and the neighbor boy (a sweet, Leave it to Beaver type kid who is deeply obsessed by the Moulin Rouge) were there. Louise's mom had baked a cake, put out ice cream, chocolate drink, nuts, and an assortment of other goodies that they insisted I try ("from the best patisserie in Paris" that sort of thing). Jonah and Louise were not the slightest bit interested in the snack, and just wanted to play. Jonah had brought his Cinderella dress and Louise immediately put it on (in fact, at the end of the playdate, she didn't want to take it off, causing Jonah to look at me sadly and announce, "Mommy, I am not her prince anymore."). They painted, played hide and seek, played with Louise's pretend kitchen, and had a great time.
On Sunday, the Davises came over for brunch and an outing to the park (which was coincidentally where every other human being in Paris also decided to pass their Sunday afternoon).
Tomorrow (major strike day #2 - which they are already calling Black Tuesday), the plan is to keep Jonah home from school. Most of the teachers at Ella's school are also striking, but Ella's teacher is not (as far as we can tell she doesn't strike on philosophical grounds, since she doesn't think the children should be hurt by these issues that are not their fault). So, we'll bring her (I'm pretty sure we won't bump into any demonstrations between here and the other side of the street!), with the understanding that we could always bring her right back home if things are not functionning normally (e.g., if lots of other kids are brought to school despite the strike and Mme Dedeban and the one other teacher there end up with 100 kids).
Finally, this doesn't fall under the heading of weekend fun, but I also wanted to record Abe's adventure on Friday. It was the carte de sejour all over again! He had to get fingerprinted for the day care business, and so he went down to the Marie to ask them to do it. They sent him to another office, who sent him to another office, etc., etc., etc. He finally ended up getting it done at the general police headquarters - which is, you may have guessed if you know anything about the French art of the run-around, right across the street from the Marie. His French savy is clearly improving, though, because he ended up accomplishing this task in under 8 hours (when we first got here, this would clearly have been a 2 week task). I sense the concept for the next reality TV program - 10 Americans are dropped off in Paris and have to be the first to take care of various paperwork tasks without going completely crazy. I think we'd be pretty tough competition!
After lunch, Jonah tried to take a nap, but he was too excited about his afternoon playdate with Louise to possibly sleep. I took him up Montmartre to her house, where a gouter fit for a king (or a prince and princess) was waiting. Louise, her parents, her grandmother, her sister, and the neighbor boy (a sweet, Leave it to Beaver type kid who is deeply obsessed by the Moulin Rouge) were there. Louise's mom had baked a cake, put out ice cream, chocolate drink, nuts, and an assortment of other goodies that they insisted I try ("from the best patisserie in Paris" that sort of thing). Jonah and Louise were not the slightest bit interested in the snack, and just wanted to play. Jonah had brought his Cinderella dress and Louise immediately put it on (in fact, at the end of the playdate, she didn't want to take it off, causing Jonah to look at me sadly and announce, "Mommy, I am not her prince anymore."). They painted, played hide and seek, played with Louise's pretend kitchen, and had a great time.
On Sunday, the Davises came over for brunch and an outing to the park (which was coincidentally where every other human being in Paris also decided to pass their Sunday afternoon).
Tomorrow (major strike day #2 - which they are already calling Black Tuesday), the plan is to keep Jonah home from school. Most of the teachers at Ella's school are also striking, but Ella's teacher is not (as far as we can tell she doesn't strike on philosophical grounds, since she doesn't think the children should be hurt by these issues that are not their fault). So, we'll bring her (I'm pretty sure we won't bump into any demonstrations between here and the other side of the street!), with the understanding that we could always bring her right back home if things are not functionning normally (e.g., if lots of other kids are brought to school despite the strike and Mme Dedeban and the one other teacher there end up with 100 kids).
Finally, this doesn't fall under the heading of weekend fun, but I also wanted to record Abe's adventure on Friday. It was the carte de sejour all over again! He had to get fingerprinted for the day care business, and so he went down to the Marie to ask them to do it. They sent him to another office, who sent him to another office, etc., etc., etc. He finally ended up getting it done at the general police headquarters - which is, you may have guessed if you know anything about the French art of the run-around, right across the street from the Marie. His French savy is clearly improving, though, because he ended up accomplishing this task in under 8 hours (when we first got here, this would clearly have been a 2 week task). I sense the concept for the next reality TV program - 10 Americans are dropped off in Paris and have to be the first to take care of various paperwork tasks without going completely crazy. I think we'd be pretty tough competition!
posted by M-E Family at 8:19 PM
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