In which I eat couscous and describe a protest…

I know it’s been a little more than a week since my last e-mail. I’ve gotten so busy! But that, of course, means that I’ve got a lot of wonderful things to tell you about! To start, last Tuesday I attended a school-hosted couscous dinner where, in theory, we American students could make friends with some French students. Unfortunately, however, there was only one French student able to attend. And the funny thing was, she wasn’t actually French! She was a German student who had been studying in Paris for about four years. That didn’t faze any of us, however; we simply befriended her and spoke in French for the duration of the evening. The food was very good, but very different than most found in the US. The table was served a big bowl of couscous, a pot of vegetable stew, and huge platters of meat, from which everyone ate family style. Each person had a bowl, and the idea was to put couscous in the bottom of the bowl, top with veggies, and put the meat off to one side for cutting. The whole meal was excellent. We had baklava for dessert, and a delicious Arabian mint tea. The ambiance only added to the fun of the evening: The restaurant was set up with couches, instead of chairs, and very low tables. They’re really comfortable, and give you the urge to lounge for hours drinking tea (good marketing strategy!). We had a wonderful time (we had the entire downstairs of the restaurant to ourselves) until, as we were sitting around talking after our meal, a mouse popped out of one of the cushions. Fortunately, it was the one male in our group who saw it first and, being the collected guy he is, told the girls to move before we all started screaming. So, we were all safely away from the mouse before we had the urge to jump on chairs and shriek. Needless to say, we left the restaurant after that! But it was still a fun night, mouse and all.

Sunday, I went back to Versailles for my first day as a nanny! It went very well overall, though I did discover that it’s a challenge to nanny for children who don’t speak English. It didn’t matter very much with the ten-month-old, but I really had to focus to understand what the two-year-old was asking for. Excellent practice for me! Excellent practice for her, too, because the parents want me to speak English to the kids, so she had to try to understand what I was saying as well. I think my biggest accomplishment for the day was teaching her how to high-five. It was a long day for me (about 12 hours, nine of them nannying and three of them traveling to and from Versailles) but quite enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to going back this Sunday!

One final thing before I end. You may have heard about the protests going on in Paris right now against the CPE (an action affecting the 26-and-under workforce). The protest is actually a really neat thing, and a very historic event to be experiencing in Paris. The demonstrations are actually taking place all over France, but they’re centered in Paris and Lyon. Parisian universities have been shut down for almost a month now (this happens almost yearly when the students blockade the doors, refusing to let in teachers; however, this closure has lasted an unusually long time), and the Sorbonne is occupied for the first time since 1968. Last Saturday, there was a nation-wide protest involving one and a half million people, several thousand of whom were in Paris. These protests are usually very peaceful (at least until the sun goes down) and very exciting to watch. Prime Minister Villepin was given until 5 p.m. last Monday to withdraw the CPE, or all union workers (this includes transportation and post office workers) would go on strike to show solidarity with the students. Villepin refused, prompting more protests, with still more to follow this coming weekend. Next Tuesday, there will be a massive strike that will likely absolutely paralyze the city. Their planning to strike for just one day to shock the government into action.

What, you might wonder, does this mean for me? Well, actually, I’m not concerned. I’m rather excited. Everything I need next Tuesday is within walking distance, including my classes. Of course, if the strike is as big as expected, that will be a moot point, since none of my teachers will be able to get there to teach! The upshot is that it will be a really cool thing to tell my children about in 20 years (when they read about it in their history books—and judging from what I’m told, it will be in there), that I was in Paris when the CPE protest was going on. Plus, what’s the joy of being in Paris if you don’t get to experience one of their infamous strikes? I’ll keep you all posted on what ends up happening.

Until next time!