Randomness

  This post is really just a mishmash of random things of daily life in France.  Sometimes these are my favorite posts and help me remember why 1)living in Paris is so cool   2) America is the greatest country on earth!  I know those two things don't really compliment each other but that is usually how I see my daily life here in Paris.

I go for a long walk/jog most days to a little island in the Seine close to my house called Ile de Puteaux.  It is mostly a sports complex with many, many, many tennis courts, a track, a few soccer fields and a little park.  Below is the park part where they had a recent children's fair the day before (hence all of the bunting.)

        This is how the French translate "The Smurfs"...funny, huh?

A few weeks ago we had a man come to clean all of our windows, particularly those that make up the little sun room.  I was so nervous he was going to fall right through.  I snuck his picture from the upstairs while he was leaning on the glass.  I wonder if they have worker's comp here in Paris?

One interesting thing is the amount of Pirates hats that I see around Paris.  Shocking isn't it? A lot of them are actual French people...well, let me take that back.  A lot of them live in France but are probably immigrants.  I took this on the metro last week.

There is a store here called Monoprix...it is basically the Target of France and I love it.  Their packaging is so much cuter than in the States.  Look at these cute baskets full of cherries, nectarines and peaches.

Last week Jeremy and I bought a grill.  When we asked the man at the store where to buy the propane and tank he said we could get it at any gas station.  Now there aren't gas stations here like there are in America...they are scarce.  We luckily have one about 1 mile away across the bridge in Puteaux. So...we got our trusty black cart and walked to the gas station to find out they didn't have it there and had no suggestions where we could find a propane tank.  Fun!  So we walked back home in the heat with our cart and no tank...essentially, he had been "French-fried" yet again.  We gave in and had to call and have one delivered to us, something we are beginning to do more often.  However, on our walk home that day we came across a school and they had these cute little kid "watch for kids" statues.  Sadly, they were as tall as I was, which isn't saying much I guess!

As some of you may know we have a very nice Filipino man that helps us with our garden.  His name is Rolly and his texts crack me up.  In one conversation he says "Madame" at least 4 times and it is no different in text messages...

I couldn't help but take a few pics of the cutest clothes ever at the Monoprix last week.  Even their low cost store has just adorable baby things!

A few weeks ago I got a message from a good friend Peter Steenblik.  He informed me that he was going to be here with the Utah Ambassadors of Music and some of my former students.  They did a concert in the Latin Quarter and I of course went to see everyone...it was nice to have a little bit of home for a few minutes.  Here are two of my former students, Elizabeth Mathis and Cami Nielsen.  I also got to see Lindy Green and some former colleagues Claudia Bigler and Lois Johnson.