My Baguette Belly :)

NOTE:  As of January 17, 2012, I have moved my blog to my new website:  www.onegirlsadventures.com

I will still be doing duplicate posts on this website for the next 6 months or so, but plan to close it down after that.  Please go to my new website and subscribe!!

MERCI BEAUCOUP!

****

Il fait chaud aujourd'hui...tres chaud! Today is the first day since I have been here that I have felt and experienced summer heat....in fact, as I sit her holed up in my little apartment, shutters shut tight blocking the sun's rays and my fan blasting on high, my iphone reads that the temp outside is a balmy 97 degrees (36 degrees Celsius, if you please!). Ah, swimsuit season has arrived which means my routine of consuming a baguette a day needs to gracefully and promptly come to a halt. I did order a demi-baguette today at my corner bakery as I don't think I can go cold turkey...the bread here is soooo good and I am becoming very French in the sense that the idea of a meal without the flaky, crusty staple seems incomprehensible. What will I eat all my fresh butter with!!!! :) I do lovingly refer to my growing ventre as my baguette belly...thank goodness I walk as much as I do otherwise I don't think I would find it as cute and novel :).

Yesterday in the Jardin des Tuileries the weather was perfect!

It is possible to rent little toy sailboats here! This little boy was trying to race his with his sister's...unfortunately it got stuck, but he worked hard to detangle it from the fountain plumbing :).

Just beyond this point the La Prefecture de Police de Paris orchestra was putting on an outside concert. So many people were out enjoying the weather and taking in the sun.....

Not only did the hot weather start today, but so did the 2nd half of my 8 week language class!  I am no longer a debutante - debutante, but have graduated to "false beginner"...yes, that is an actual term in the school.  My class largley consists of my classmates from last session (moins 3 who either went back to their country or are now taking some time to travel). We did add 2 girls from Venezuela (who made a very good first impression today by giving us venezuelan chocolat) and another women from the USA (who I can't see becoming a friend of mine anytime soon...I didn't understand the feet stomping when she couldn't get wifi access on her iphone at the school...really?...but hey, she could just be jet lagged.  I will remain open).

The best begginner French class dans le monde!

This picture was taken in our salon jaune last Friday on the last day of 4 week session and right before the school pique-nique.

Fabien, the homme standing, was our professor...he was incredible, funny and patient.

He is taking the next two months off to cook vegetarian food at a musique festival in Marseille and then he is headed to Senegal with his Senegalese girlfriend for a month visit and tour!

We will miss you Fabien!

I absolutely love learning French.  It is amazing the pleasure I get out of talking to my fromager or my Tunisian veggie vendor completely in French.  Of course, anything I say or ask isn't perfect....but I do create something comprehendible by putting together simple nouns and verbs. And when someone does what I ask, I just beam :).  "It works!" is usually the thought that goes through my mind when I am shown the section with the Sauvignon wines after asking for wines from the Loire Valley or the poissonier gives me the 10 shrimp I ask for after shelling one to make sure I will indeed like it. My growing confidence with the language must also be making me look more local. It is actually a phenomenon to me, but I usually get asked once a day for directions to someplace...in French, bien sur!  Perhaps it is the baguette that I usually have in hand that disguises me as an all knowing local....but the lost Frenchie is usually disappointed when I give them a sad face and "Désolé". My belly may be becoming French, but my tongue has a ways to catch-up :)...which is why I need to go do my homework now!

Before signing off...one more picture.....

Me in a stand-out chair in the lobby of  Hotel Meurice.

They serve the best bellini's in Paris (which are yummy), but for me the most delicious thing in the 5 star hotel was this chair!