Well, it’s been quite a while –
sorry folks. I have lots to catch you up on, but rather than creating an
exorbitantly long post I will break it down into week long segments. This will
also take the pressure off of having to sit down and do it all at once (which
has been a bit of a hindrance in my motivation of getting it up). So, let’s put
this in chronological order, starting with mom coming…
Wednesday, March 12th
Didn’t sleep well last night –
not sure if it was stress about getting things in order before mom comes or excitement
about mom coming. Probably a bit of both. So before Mimi came to get me on her
way to the airport I bought some cheese, a baguette, croissants, and pain au chocolat to welcome her J.
After a short time at Mimi’s (at which time mom gave me Emma!!!!! – the BBC
version from 2009 – by far my favorite movie adaptation), we went for my second
MRI scan and stopped at the McDaniel’s so mom could meet them. I was quite
happy that worked out J. This evening we prepared everything for our trip to
Spain tomorrow, ate supper, called home and are now going to bed.
Thursday, March 13th
Leaving for Spain today! Mom isn’t
feeling well this morning – I hope she feels better by the time we leave…
Well, we arrived in Spain and mom
is feeling much better. I, on the other hand, had an interesting descent. I
have a bit of a cold and have been congested on my left side (opposite side to
the ear I’m having issues with), which resulted in intense pain in that ear.
Admittedly, I swore under my breath at one point because I thought my eardrum
had burst. I tried relieving the pressure so many different ways, but nothing
seemed to work. Talk about having a tender ear… the pain is gone, but don’t
want to do anything too close to my ear.
Once we got off the plane and
made our way to the taxis we discovered that they were on strike – starting that
day. So, we figured out the public transportation system and took two busses to
El Campello from Alicante. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but it was a
pleasant drive by the boardwalk, so we were able to see the ocean. After
getting to our apartment, we went for a walk on the boardwalk, bought some
groceries, ate a light supper and are getting ready for bed. At 9 o’clock.
Yeah, I know, early but… oh well.
The apartment
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| On the balcony |
Friday, March 14th
Having a leisurely morning – so nice.
Mom and I had talked for a bit before actually falling asleep last night (we’re
sharing a room) and it was pleasant to talk in person – not over the phone.
Mom and I walked through the town
a bit while Mimi spent some time with a friend. We took pictures, looked at the
architecture, walked along the coast a bit. Just meandering around, taking our
time and enjoying the view. We met up with Mimi and went out for lunch and then
did a bit of shopping (below is a picture of Annalea’s gift – wrapped of course
– on the balcony of our apartment. If you want to know what she got, you’ll
have to ask her). We then decided to take the Tram into Alicante for the
evening and walked down a street with an outdoor market-type thing – just clothing,
shoes, etc. no food products. I bought a lightweight windbreaker (red), which I
just happened to come across after say (earlier today) that I should probably
get something like that… Nice timing, eh. We walked down to the boardwalk and
tried to take some pictures of the moon – mostly unsuccessfully- before coming
back to the apartment. Again, we just grazed for dinner.
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| Tram |
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| Open and closed pine cones - haven't seen ones like these in real life before |
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| It's as tall as me!!! |
Pictures from our evening in Alicante
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| Yup - those are two metal rods holding up that branch |
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| And that's mom standing next to the tree - understandable why it needs those rods... |
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| My new red jacket!! |
Annalea's gift and a gorgeous sunrise
Saturday, March 15th
It was our last day here L.
Even though it’s a short period of time, I think it actually is a decent amount
of time – if it were warmer, having a beach day would be nice, but it would
also be very crowded, so… meh.
Mom and I went into Alicante this
morning while Mimi did some work on the balcony. There is this very old castle
– Castillo de Santa Barbara (the original parts date back to the 9th
century) that mom really wanted to visit (me too) as well as walking along the
boardwalk where the tile gives a wave effect. The castle had some spectacular
views and it was interesting to see the different sections of the castle – the
difference in architecture depending on the time period and into whose hands it
fell.
The boardwalk and castle
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| View from our balcony |
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| The steps leading up to our building |
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| See the wave effect? Pretty fun, isn't it :) |
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| Period ship |
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| The following are all from the castle - different sections and views |
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| Layout of the castle |
On returning to the apartment, all three of us went out for lunch (at nearly 4 o’clock) and did some more window shopping. Mom and I went for a walk before coming back, cleaning up a bit, starting to pack, and generally get things in order to leave tomorrow morning.
Yes, that is the moon...
Sunday, March 16th
We had to get up early this
morning to finish cleaning and get everything in order. Mimi and I took a last
walk along the boardwalk and we took a taxi at about quarter to nine to the
airport. It was a much better trip (ear wise) for me. As soon as we got out of
the airport, we headed to market before it closed and had lunch at Mimi’s
before she brought us back here to Blanc-Mesnil. Mom and I are getting ready to
watch an episode of Emma before turning in for the night. Tomorrow – Paris!
Monday, March 17th
Mom and I went into Paris today.
First, we had a relaxed morning – got some groceries, went to the boulangerie, took showers…
Once we got in, we went to the
Notre Dame first and had a pleasant surprise – we got a private tour with a
volunteer. It was very interesting (though a bit difficult to reiterate). The
woman who gave us the tour is very well informed and really does it to help
people understand what they are seeing (it is a program provided) and it was
free. We could give money if we wanted, but it wasn’t asked for or even
expected. Afterwards, we walked around the Latin Quarter, ate some food and
then walked up to the Opera House. On the way we found a tourist information
place so I was able to get some better maps and other information for things I
can do with Michelle when she comes.
It was a bit chilly by that
point, so we ducked into the Galleries Lafayette to warm up and did some window
shopping – I can’t imagine buying anything so expensive as the prices in that
place. We were getting tired, so we came back to Blanc-Mesnil and now we’re
getting to watch episode two of Emma. Oh, and I just saw an email that I’m
going to be teaching next week. So, I know the classes, number of students and
the subjects I need to cover – and I have less than a week to come up with
lesson plans. Fun...
Paris!
Notre Dame
Tuesday, March 18th
Today was mom’s last full day
with me at Blanc-Mesnil. We had a pretty full day – but it was fun too. We left
for Paris a bit earlier and got on a Hop-on Hop-off tour bus. I know, touristy,
but it was totally worth it. The bus is a double-decker bus, and you get a
really different view of Paris from the top. Once you have a ticket for this
bus, you can get on and off as often as you want during the course of the day.
There are nine stops and the busses run every 10 to 15 minutes. Headphones were
provided to listen to the recorded commentary (in your language of choice –
well, out of 8 languages). After seeing Paris that way, we took the metro up to
Montmartre and walked around – looking for gifts, watching the artists, ate
some lunch. It was nice. When we got back to Notre Dame, we walked through the
flower market and then along the Seine, where I found the Chronicles of Narnia (all
7 in one book) in French for 10 Euros! hehe. I had been thinking about getting
that, but was going to wait till I got back to the States, as it’s so big. But
for 10 Euros, it was worth it.
As we walked along the Quai, we
called Grandma and Grandpa Witmer to say we almost gave them a wake-up call at
6am their time to say the little rabbits were under the Eiffel Tower waiting
for their ice cream…It only took a few seconds for them to realize what we were
referencing. Which, for those of you who don’t know, about 8 years ago all of
the families (the kids, spouses, and grandkids) went to France together and
grandpa got us all ice cream under the Eiffel Tower. When the vender found out
we were all one family (I don’t think he realized it was 3 generations, though)
he said “Oh, you don’t see families like this anymore. It’s like rabbits.”
Back at Blanc-Mesnil again and
settling in for the night – finishing the last two episodes of Emma J
Bus Route
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| Opera House |
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| In front of the Sacre Coeur |
Wednesday, March 19th
Mom and I packed this morning,
did some shopping here in Blanc-Mesnil (I got another jacket – trench style in
navy blue) and got some special treats at the patisserie to share with Mimi and
Edgard at dinner tonight. Last night I had read one chapter of Narnia aloud
before mom and I went to bed, and while we were waiting for Mimi to come pick
us up, mom and I took turns reading a chapter at a time aloud. I loved it –
haven’t done that with mom in a while. It was also really good for practicing
my pronunciation – mom would correct me and I would follow along as mom read.
After Mimi got us, we went for a
walk, got our stuff settled in, and prepared supper. Once Edgard got home, we
ate and then mom and I called home – turning in now.
Thursday, March 20th
Mom left today L
She had to be at the airport by 10:30. After we took her in and said goodbye
Mimi took me to the McDaniel’s. I surprised the kids when they woke up from their
naps J
And it helped distract me from mom leaving. I’ll spend the weekend here and go
to Tim and Clemence’s on Sunday so I can teach this week. Need to get working
on those lesson plans… really don’t know what I’m going to do. Oh, well. It
will come together, I hope.
I’ll talk about teaching in the
next segment (which will hopefully get put up sometime in the next couple of
days).
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