Crazy french things

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This weekend I went to an art opening in the Palais de Tokyo. This thing was huge, with each room representing a different theme. The exhibit didn't seem to have a cohesive theme in itself. One room was devoted to the Rolling Stones, one was devoted to paintings with glitter, one (huge) room contained a dimly lit Marilyn Manson-wannabe concert, and several other rooms were by invitation only. The sidewalk and road in front of the Palais de Tokyo was completely filled with peoples' scooters. It was crazy and fun.

After that, I went to a cafe in Montmartre with my American friend Mark and my French roommate Laetitia. It was so much fun - this cafe was very difficult to find. We had the address on the recommendation of some German friends, but the walk was worth it. It was such a cute little place, full of friendly people. We had such a good time.

Saturday and Sunday I spent resting and preparing myself for the week in my high school, with some exceptions. I had the opportunity to help a friend of a friend pick out a business suit. French people are obsessed with maps. You would think that if you lived in Paris, you wouldn't need to carry around a bunch of maps, but...these French men definitely had printed out mapquest maps just telling them how to arrive at a certain suit store. I understood when we arrived...it was on the second floor of a residential building, and it wasn't marked from the outside. We climbed up a staircase in an unmarked building, went in a door, and voila...there was a small room full of French men picking out fancy suits. I am happy to say that I think I helped this young man pick out a lovely suit, even though I didn't know the French word for "pinstripe".

Also, I found an Italian gelato store on my island that has Nutella ice cream. Nutella ice cream. I'm not sure if I have found anything quite so heavenly! I have not yet returned for more, but I can guarantee you it won't be long until that happens.

As for this week - the classes are going much better. The students have been very polite and, although they are chatty, and I know nothing about teaching, I thinks things are going quite well. They like it when I talk about George Bush, so today we went over his college education and family status in one class. I have yet to meet a Parisian who supports him, my students included. My students get a big kick out of me being at their school when I worked for a Democrat; I even passed Kathleen Sebelius' official picture around the room. They loved it once they figured out what a Democrat was!

Enjoy the pictures I have attached - finally some of my friends and myself!

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Photos

me with my roommie
at the crazy art opening!

close-up
our friend made us stand in front of a painting and took our picture because all the tourists do that at the louvre!

this was the glitter-paint room
at the crazy art opening.

nutella ice cream!
it exists!

bike race in the streets
the police here block the streets for random reasons - this one was a biking event, the police ride before and after like a funeral to block traffic, and there is always a bike with a boom box strapped on the back for music. one time i even saw the same thing going on (blocking traffic, boom box blaring) with a rollerblading group.

one of the famous art-deco metro signs
in montmartre

the eiffel tower at night
they turn on the blinking eiffel tower lights on at night sometimes.