Vacation

I leave tomorrow for Portugal and Spain. 

Therefore, for your viewing pleasure:  Boots of Spanish Leather

25 Random Things

...about my life these days.  

(in honor of the newest facebook phenomenon)

1. I went to Dublin last week (photos posted here) 

2. I kind of love Irish people... and pubs.

3. While we were in Dublin, TRADFEST was going on, which means that all the pubs had live bands playing traditional Irish music.

4. Old Irish men jigging is a beautiful thing that everyone should see.

5. There was a bachelorette party at one of the pubs we went to and they hired a stripper dressed in an policeman uniform to dance. After fully exposing himself, he wrapped himself in an American flag and the hoard of drunk Irish women he was entertaining started chanting Obama's name. I felt oddly patriotic at the time.

6. While visiting Trinity College in Dublin my longing to return to a university seriously intensified. I thought I already knew this, but it turns out, I really can't wait to go back to school.

7. I had my first "waiting for answers from grad schools" nightmare last night even though I won't hear anything until mid-march. I have Megan's wonderful recent grad school success to thank for this, I think. 

8. I am doing a lesson this week on cheesy pick-up lines in honor of Valentine's Day... the dialogues they've performed make me laugh. 

9. My favorite pick up line on the list is: "baby, I'm like milk. I'll do your body good."

10. I spent today walking clear across Paris, from Montmartre back to my apartment near Montparnasse. 

11. It still surprises me on days like today that even after living here for over 6 months, Paris still manages to take my breath away a little bit. 

12. I have one more week of vacation and then 2 weeks of vacation at the end of the month. Turns out, working a lot in France doesn't happen that often. 

13. I'm going to Spain and Portugal for vacation with my roommate Sarah and friend Caitlin. We're visiting Lisbon, Lagos, Sevilla and Valencia--I'm REALLY excited. 

14. My favorite part of the days I teach is the train ride to my school... I always want it to last longer... especially when I have a book or my ipod. 

15. If the weather is clear enough, I can see the Eiffel Tower and sometimes even the Sacre Coeur from the train on the way to school. That might be why I love it so much.

16. I've often wondered if whether or not I see the Sacre Coeur on my way to school indicates how my classes day will go. I have not found a relationship between the two yet... 

17. I'm tutoring 2 little boys who go to an English bilingual school and constantly searching for more babysitting jobs.

18. The little one, Liam, is 7 and we read the Giving Tree together last week... it made me miss my momma a little bit and is still one of my favorite children's books. 

19. I went to a creperie this past week and tried a cinnamon kir (white wine with cinnamon liquor) it was amazing. 

20. My favorite night of the week is always Monday, when we all go to a pub for music quiz. We go every week and never win, so the bartenders have taken to giving us consolation shots every time. I love that.

21. I am only really teaching for 7 more weeks... and have 4 weeks of vacation time before I come home.

22. Predictably, this fact has made me very nostalgic and sad about the inevitable end of my time here

23. I've been reading a lot more lately, and fell deeply in love with Steinbeck's East of Eden

24. I also fell in love with Edward Cullen a bit while reading Twilight, but we won't talk about that...

25. I miss my friends from home a lot and have started dreaming up a wonderful summer emory reunion weekend at the beach... we'll chat about this soon. 

OK, that gets us to 25 things you may or may not want to know. Hope all is well and want to hear from you soon! 

all my love,

Betsy

Janvier, etc

Hello my dear ones,

It has been so long since I've updated, but luckily I have had the wonderful fortune to see many of you since my last post. Since I last wrote, I went to Strasbourg, back to the US for the holidays and have been back in Paris for about 2 weeks. 

The trip to Strasbourg was an adorably French day trip with my roommate, Sarah. We also met up with our Washingtonian friend, Anna, who was there for the weekend with her french roommate,

 Eva. We got to le Capital de Noel very early in the morning, having left Paris by train before sunrise. We went through the extensive Christmas markets, took photos, bought 

bretzels and vin chaud from little stands (shown left), and splurged on a traditional Alsatian lunch of spaetzel et poulet. We boarded the train back to Paris that night with frozen toes, full bellies and bags full of treats from the most festive place I've ever seen.

My trip home was a wonderful whirlwind two weeks. I got into JFK and was quickly scooped up by the glorious Maddy GG. We met up with some

 beloved Emory friends, Schmon & Claire for drinks that night--which was the perfect way to challenge the gods of jetlag. The next morning we took the 5 hour road trip to South Dartmouth where my family was preparing a Hannukah feast of crispy potato pancakes. The next morning, Christmas Eve, Maddy

 returned to New York, while my family got ready for Christmas. We saw lots of family and old friends and ate huge meals over the next three days, as the holidays should be. Finally, after running around Massachusetts over the next weekend, I went to Atlanta for New Years. I rang in 2009 with some wonderful friends and had a great few days relaxing and returning to my old favorite haunts. As thankful as I am to be in France, it was a completely necessary breath of fresh air to come home for just a little while. It's so easy to get wrapped up in this strange life I've constructed here, that coming home was a great reminder of the people I'll be returning to when all this is over.

Life has pretty quiet since my return to France. I was sick for the first 

week, so took that as an excuse to get a lot of the rest that my busy trip home did not include. I also had the extra time to finish submitting all my grad school applications in my week of being a recluse. However, being a hermit didn't last long, as we had a big party at my apartment this past weekend. 14 people squished into our tiny apartment for a Power Ballad Power Hour, which was probably one of the best ideas I've ever heard. It brought out the animal/performer in all of my friends. (exhibit a, shown right) 

My work schedule has changed, finally. I have been going to Sevres 5 days a week thus far--not really ideal with an hour commute each way... especially when I'm only teaching 12 hours a week. But through a good deal of persistence and quite a bit of charm, I managed to work out a schedule that gives me mondays and fridays off! So, get ready for lots more travel stories (first stop- DUBLIN!)

OK, I think I've rambled long enough. I miss you all terribly and hope all is well. 

All my love,

Betsy

ps- I've added more photos to my flickr site, for your viewing pleasure.