Things that make you go awww

1. The Little Old Woman and Her Not So Little Dog
I see a woman every morning on my route to school walking her dog. What makes this particular woman stand out from the other tens of thousands of dog owners in Brussels is that she is no more than four feet tall and owns a rottweiler that probably weighs more than she does. I'm intrigued by her height, intrigued by the disporportion of her to her dog, but mostly just happy that they have each other to keep each other company. I look forward to her wave and "Bonjour" every morning and maybe someday, when I've perfected my French (any day now), I will finally be filled in on the story of this seemingly unusual pair.

2. Fat Cat
There is a beauty salon on the route between my apartment and downtown Boitsfort (the commune in which I live). Just on the other side of the front window of the salon is a stool that has stood vacant since my arrival in August, that is until last week when I saw its occupant: a beige, cushion-sized cat. Honestly, if I were to meet it, I wouldn't know whether to pet it or to lay my head on it and use it for a pillow. I get excited walking past the salon now and peeking inside the window to glance at this animal wonder.

More to come later

Why walking is better

In my first email, I gave a list of things I had missed about living in Brussels. One of the items on the list was finding that I could walk most places. On Sunday, after spending the afternoon downtown (we took advantage of Megan's last Sunday here to do the touristy hop-on, hop-off bus tour of Brussels) I decided I wanted to try walking home from downtown (it's about 5-6 miles away). I probably walked four of the miles, taking the bus during a stretch in the middle, and found that I could experience some aspects of Brussels only by walking through it. Like the smells from the restaurants and patisseries (bakeries). Only if I was walking past them could I smell the delicious aroma settling near the Thai restaurant on the route or the fresh bread baking a few blocks down. Or the sound of the music playing from the houses or apartment buildings and reaching my ears down below. Or the nice grocer who greeted me as I walked past. Or the sweet old man standing on his porch who returned my wave with a broad smile. *Sigh. My feet may have been a little sore when I returned home, but I had never felt more refreshed.

Me, Brussels, and a cup of coffee (or six)

I'm sitting here struggling to sum up the highlights of this weekend in a way to do it justice. I had the most amazing weekend in Europe (including my time here last year) just by having a get-to-know you weekend with the city of Brussels. As cliche as it sounds, I almost had a mantra going through my head of "There is nowhere else I would rather be." Like when I was walking through downtown Brussels yesterday with another intern (Lauren) and stumbled upon some sort of heritage parade with fabulous costumes and music. Or at either of the cafe stops I had yesterday in the city. Or finding a group of breakdancers near the Grand Plaz. Or walking around the city today on the city streets in celebration of No Car Day. Or listening to live music while drinking coffee while basking in the sun. Or seeing hundreds of children outside playing or riding their bikes instead of being inside watching TV. Or reading leaning up against a tree located in a park across from the Belgian palace. I've never been more in love with a city, and I find myself just hoping that this blissfulness never wears off. How am I ever going to be able to live anywhere else?

Are you a swatter or a dancer?

Upon recalling the events from this weekend, I have decided to take on a new philosophy of life. Today at the market, there was a gypsy band playing fabulous music near the cafe at which I was drinking coffee. During their performance, a woman from the crowd moved closer to the band to start dancing to the music. She wasn't a part of the group, just a spectator moved by what she heard. She happened to be right in front of a bed of flowers being sold for the market and when she danced she would accidentally bump up against the flowers. Before long, an elderly woman (presumably the grower/seller of the flowers) started swatting her with one of the flags from the flower bed so she would stop dancing near her flowers. It was then I decided that in life, I could either be a swatter or a dancer. I could live life taking great care into what I was producing, focusing on the future (the future sale, the outcome of the situation) and probably get what I expected out of life, or I could be moved by what I felt, planned or unplanned, and occasionally bump up against some flowers.
Okay, so it's kind of a stretch. But I'm asking you to ask yourself: Today, am I going to swat? Or today, am I going to dance?

A slide show pour vous!

Perusing in Paris

Mmmm...

That's what I'll think when I think back to my weekend in Paris. It was blissful. The weather was beautiful. And I finally felt like a part of Paris instead of just a tourist.

We (Megan and I) arrived in Paris around 9 pm on Friday. We were greeted by a friend from home named Nico, who is actually from Paris, taken to the apartment in which we were going to be staying (just 3 blocks away from the Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees), and escorted to a quaint bistro for a Parisian-Italian dinner.

After dinner, Megan wasn't feeling well so she went home to sleep. Nico and I decided to attend a going away party for one of his friends, with the promise that we were just going to drop by so he could say goodbye. Three hours later, we were walking back to where we were staying...

I was so grateful for the experience of a Parisian party. Everyone I met was so fantastic and so excited to practice their English (far superior to my French). One of my favorite parts of the night was meeting people with kisses on the cheek. One of the guys I met said "You can practice your French kissing" and then restated "I mean our French kissing, not your French kissing." We had some good laughs, drank some cheap wine, danced to French music, and then left after repeating the whole "French" french kissing system again to say goodbye. I had a great time.

Sunday after returning from Marseille, Megan, Nico and I spent the whole day just walking around Paris, soaking in the sun, seeing (but not waiting in line for) some sights, drinking coffee at French cafes, and eating delicious French food. We got to take a boat tour down the Seine, explored the Latin Quarter and its many cute shops and cafes, and ended our evening near the Sacre Coeur, my favorite spot from Paris last year. All in all...the perfect visit. No lines, just Paris.

Finagling in France

This last weekend I was able to visit two cities in France, Paris and Marseille. Both were completely distinct, and both felt like two different trips, so I feel it necessary to write two different blogs to detail my journey. Since my trip to Marseille was shorter, I will start with that.
I've been told that one shouldn't judge a city based on just spending several hours there, and I tried not to during my time in Marseille, but I can say with much confidence that I will probably not be making any more trips there in the near future. I left for Marseille from Paris on Saturday morning with a friend from back home visiting France for the weekend and his friend. We walked out of the train station directly into the slums of Marseille, where even my two male companions were scared to be out walking. Once we got into the city, it got nicer (the weather was incredible, about 80 degrees and nothing but sun sun sun). The pride of the city is its Old Port, located right on the Mediterranean Sea(into which I got to dip my feet!). I can pretty much sum up the rest of my day-long trip with the following bullet points:
-My lunch was a 7 euro salad served to me in a plastic container with plastic silverwear
-The purpose of traveling to Marseille was to see a Pearl Jam concert at le Dome, which took us two hours walking to find (in flip flops and a skirt...agh...)
-The concert was the CRAZIEST thing I've ever seen. I guess I was expecting it to be wild, but this was ridiculous. I found myself in the middle of a mosh pit about 30 feet from the band, since the group I went with were die-hard fans. I ended up barely escaping and spending most of the concert watching from behind the pit of moshing.
-It took us an hour and a half to find our hotel after the concert, which we found out was booked once we got there (not by us, mind you). We called several others, and they were all either booked or out of our price range. We ended up staying up all night, driving, searching, and homeless.
-I saw my first prostitutes. Most were women; two were transvestites.
-I ate my dinner at 3 am.
-We caught the 6:30 am train back to Brussels.

There were parts of Marseille that I loved. How some of the buildings were built right into the hills. How I could smell the sea as soon as I stepped off the train. How there were friteries open at 3 am. But I think it is just one of those places I will be content with only visiting once. :)

First graders say the darndest things

Of all the things going on this week, the most exciting part for me was finally getting to meet the first graders with whom I will be working this year. I am fortunate enough to get to work with four different classes, which means I'll get to observe four different teaching styles and be the only member of the first grade team who knows the names of all 80 first graders (I think I'm already 3/4 of the way there!) I've gotten to sit in on three classrooms so far, and can't wait until I've met all of the students.
Working with such a young age group has many benefits: their enthusiasm for learning, their love of their teachers, their impressionability. My favorite part about working with such age groups is listening to what they have to say, whether to me, another adult, or other children. Here are some of the things they've said so far:
-"Teaching the teacher...that's quite silly!"-When told that she would get to teach the teacher about hamsters
-"I take voice lessons too! Do you sing the song 'Do re mi fa so la ti do?'"
-"Can you imagine if the sky was purple?"
-"Who's the boss? You or Miss Byrne?" -asked to me by a student in Miss B.'s class

It's only been three days. I adore the first grade team (we had a group hug on Friday!). I keep hearing that this class is especially exceptional in behavior and academics. Is this too good to be true? All I know is, I'm going to enjoy it while I can. I can't wait to hear more first grader ideas and observations!