au revoir andré.

so, this week was happy and sad...

on sunday, andre took me to this lebanese restaurant in the 15th call Al Wady. it was so good!

here is a little sampling of our mini-feast. started with olives, almonds and those pink things are pickled turnips dyed with beet sauce! we had mézzé, which had a bunch of stuff like hummus, an eggplant dip, a parsley and tomato salad, falafel and labné, which is kind of a cheese-yogurt hybrid...

we had a lentil soup, which you can tell was good, bc the bowl is empty! and also a plate of grilled meats. i was sooooo full!!!

andré and me. the restaurant man was very sweet and took not one, but three pictures of us.

so cute.

tuesday night, we had a little going-away party for andré. this is adorable madona.

action shot. a toast to andré's travels. it was such a nice night, so many people came!

the next day, i went with andré to the airport. this is quite possibly the saddest picture i have ever taken!!! i was not happy to see him go! these are the cool moving-walkway tubes that are at charles de gaulle. 

today was the last day of my french class at the sorbonne. it was a good class, but i still don't feel super-confident about speaking french, which is annoying... i must practice more!

ok, so that's about it for now...

oh! a congrats moo on your awesome thesis!!! i told you that you'd be great!!!

yessssssssss!!! :)

i don't know what to title this post...

hi! i haven't been very exciting lately... sorry.

i've been continuing with my french class at the sorbonne, which is going well. i am actually learning some good stuff, so hopefully i am improving...

other than that, i've just been hanging out, 

which doesn't really make for an interesting blog post...

this is pic is of moo and andre seen from the apt.

i just liked how they glowed in the bright sunlight, with moo's blonde hair and andre's bright white shirt.

i saw this cool old-fashioned rail car yesterday! i was totally jealous that it was going the other way! i wanted to ride it!!! :) apparently they use these when they are performing maintenance on the regular cars. and it's just cool.

i am baby-sitting now! fun! this is my little cutie-patootie ella!

yesterday, we went to luxembourg garden and had tons of fun. 

ella rode the horsies and then we went to the playground.

andre played with us too! ella loved it when i sat behind her on one side of the see-saw and andre was on the other side. she kept saying "faster! faster!" we got some air on that thing! :)

then we tried every slide available. i got on one too, which of course is comical bc i am 5'10" and those toys aren't exactly made for someone that size... but i had fun anyways. 

ella has such a fun laugh.

after we'd exhausted every game at the playground, we got in the poussette (stroller- i learned a new word!) and walked back out through the garden.

it was a really beautiful day: the flowers were in bloom, the sun was shining, a nice mild temperature. perfect park day.

we stopped to watch the boats for a little bit. ella wanted to do that too, but it was time to go.

so we walked home and she was fast asleep before we were half way there.

i met moo and madona for a juice since we hadn't hung out in a while. then just watched a movie and passed out. i was WORN OUT! haha, guess i played to hard at the park too...

american diner and bois de boulogne

hi all! i started my french class at the sorbonne last week. it was a HUGE hassle registering and taking multiple placement exams and whatnot. i also had to change courses, once bc they cancelled without letting me know and the second time bc the class that they put me in totally sucked. :) so now i am in a new class which will hopefully be just what i need!

so, as i was out and about i found this ridiculously cute kitty!!! she was just bounding around, chasing leaves, being a wild jungle animal. if i weren't allergic to most cats, i might have taken her home!!! i hope she has an owner... so cute!

in other animal news, i saw the most adorable woman and her dog on the metro. i tried to take a pic of her, but i was trying to be sly, so this one is the best i could do. tons of make-up and jewelry, big chiffon flower on her crocheted sweater, a big pink knitted headband. 

she was amazing. i kinda wanna be just like her when i am old.

and naturally, she carries her chien around in a basket, like dorothy from wizard of oz.

amazing...

so, as i was searching the fusac magazine for an apartment, what do i see but an ad for an american diner!!! and it is RIGHT down the street! it's called breakfast in america and it was started by a guy who used to work in hollywood, so a lot of the decor is movie memorabilia. 

it's very cute and very american. 

here is my hot chocolate with real whipped cream, straight from the can.

andre and i may have ordered too much, but it was amazing. blueberry pancakes, french toast and a cheddar omelet with home-style potatoes!

yessss!!!

andre about to experience his first american diner blueberry pancakes...

oh the anticipation... lol.

i am soooooo stoked! :)

we went back for dinner too (not on the same day... that would be excessive!) and it was also amazing. a real chocolate milkshake, grilled chicken sandwich, cheeseburger, and french fries... mmm... i am getting hungry just remembering it! i'd nearly forgotten what bbq sauce and ranch dressing taste like... heaven.

on saturday, i met up with natasha and her friends from school and we went to bois de boulogne. it's just a big, wooded park for those of you who don't know what a "bois" is (and why would you really?). it was a gorgeous day, so we trekked about to find a nice spot for our picnic!

this is natasha and me eating "porridge" as she says they call that flower in russia. they eat clovers too... weird. but not too bad. i mean, if i HAD to eat it...

julian was hiding from the tiniest raindrops you've ever seen. but it was cute and funny so we took a pic. :)

natasha communing with nature. she says she is always trying to find the source of waterfalls (note our waterfall in the pic) but she never finds it and always ends up back where she started. we think freud would have something to say about this... lol.

so yeah, it was a really great day and we had tons of laughs and if i tried to explain it to you, you'd think we were all certifiable... ;-p

another gorgeous sunset.

y'all know how i love clouds and pretty colors... 

yeah, so that is all for today. i hafta pack my stuff and also study!!!!!

also, remember september 11th and say a special prayer today.

xoxo