Gay Pareeeeee

I'm a ballerina!!!

I started taking ballet classes in November, and I LOVE it. I was just made for pink slippers and rooms with wooden floors and slow, plunky piano music. I am in a beginners' class (surprisingly!!! haha) with six other women who are très sypathiques, and who look to be between the ages of 35 and 50 (and who call me "la jeunesse"--the "youth"--of the class).

So this weekend, Becky and I went to Paris to see some REAL ballerinas! We went to l'Opéra Bastille to see Coppélia (don't ask me, I still don't think I quite understand the story, but I know it involved a slightly shady toymaker and a jealous boy and a doll that comes to life...) Watching the professional dancers made my little pliés and demi-pliés seem painfully basic. (But painful it is, actually; my muscles are NOT pulling their own weight yet.) After the ballet we wandered around Paris--shoving our way through the throngs of tourists--and enjoyed the Christmas lights on the Champs-Elysées and the Eiffel Tower.

J'adore Paris, but visiting the city for the weekend made me remember why I'm happy to be living Thionville: In Paris, there are so many tourists that almost everybody talks to you in English. Even if I order or ask something in French, they respond to me in English. Even if I continue to respond to their English questions in French, they still persist. At one restaurant, I actually had to ask the waiter to please speak to us in French, because we are trying to learn. I know people are trying to be helpful and show that they know some English, but it just ends up being frustrating--especially, for example, when you are waiting as the receptionist at the hotel struggles to communicate with you in English ("You have reserve until yesterday?") despite the fact that you just greeted him and explained your situation in (nearly) perfect French. I just wanted to say, "Look, buddy. It'll be better for both of us if you just say it in French. In fact, it is easier for me to understand you in French."

But I can't wait to be in Paris again in a few days for New Year's ... with my FAMILY!!!!