Fall is here

 

Fall has finally come to Paris. That means crisper mornings, sidewalks littered with chestnuts, crazy wine sales at the grocery store, potimarrons (a type of pumpkin) everywhere and adorable little French kids in their adorable little French sweaters. I feel like people always swoon over Paris in the spring, but honestly, the fall has a magical charm rivaling even the best spring day. There is so much about Paris that naturally just feels autumnal and cozy. The dreamy streetlamps reflecting on fresh rain puddles, the early morning shutters still waiting to be opened, the smell of buttery croissants wafting from every corner bakery… ahh… there is just something splendid about it all.

Isn’t changing seasons magical? It happens every year, and yet somehow it comes as a surprise. Somehow, I get so comfortable and complacent in my summer regimen that I start to question whether fall will really come. But, sure enough year after year it really does come.

Anyway, this week was pretty good. On Wednesday we went to the Petit Palais (a building built for the 1900 World’s fair that is now a free art museum.) It was FABULOUS. The building itself is just gorgeous and the upstairs courtyard was a prefect place for the boys to take a break from looking at art and get wiggles out. The best part though was how much Gideon got into it. I started telling him some stories about some of the artists/techniques (stuff that I had learned in my high school art history class) And he just ate it up. He asked great questions about why one side of a man’s face was dark and the other wasn’t and that lead to conversations about light sources and looking at where the windows are located. As we moved along Gideon just kept asking me, “ok so, mommy what should we know about this painting?” haha. It was fantastic. 

But eventually Pierce had had ENOUGH, so we got back on the metro and rode to meet up with Daddy for a fancy lunch date at a restaurant near his work. It was a place that he has been to a number of times for work events. And it TOTALLY lived up to his high praise! It was the perfect Parisian mix of classy and casual. It was not at all stuffy or snooty, but the food was in my book 5-star quality. We loved the classic French café tradition of having a “plat du jour” where you basically just take whatever the chef wants to give you. Contrary to the American view that the consumer knows what they want and that the customer is always right, the French approach seems to prioritize the training of the chef. The chef has spent years learning about cooking. So, he is the expert. He knows better than you do about what you will enjoy. And it was just delightful to sit back and relax and try the food brought before me.

On Friday we went to Euro-Disney just to walk around. We brought a picnic dinner and walked through the shops outside the actual park. It was funny to me that it felt like a reverse Epcot with America on display. They had Tex mex and Chicago beef, a humongous McDonalds and Lego store and of course tons of Disney. It was amazing how familiar it all felt.

 On Saturday Saint Mande closed down the Mainstreet (the one we live on) for an autumn festival. They had people teaching kids to press apple cider, carriage rides, horse drawn apple carts, kids storytelling, and a huge old wooden carousel ship thing with minstrels. The restaurants brought their tables outside so there were lots of people just eating right in the street. And neighbors up and down the street brought out their used items for a gigantic garage sale. My favorite part was that everyone got to make their own floral arrangement from flower clippings that came fresh from the jardin in front of the Mari.

Additionally, Saturday I was able to attend a Relief Society activity and Benjin took the boys to a tour of his company’s drug production facility.

On Sunday we rode to church where Gideon got to say the prayer in Primary and I got to give the sharing time lesson. We were both pretty nervous, but it helped when all 20 of the Primary kids cheered and banged on their tables when it was announced that we would be participating in the day’s program. I felt like I had won the academy awards and Gideon was beaming ear to ear. I taught the kids about adverbs and had them act out giving a piece of candy in different ways (angrily, silently, loudly, quickly, joyfully, etc) The crowd favorite was one kid’s version of giving the candy “nervously.” It was hilarious. We then read in 2 Corinthians about being a cheerful giver.

After church we road a bus to a family in the ward’s house. They were super kind and the food was delicious. The wife is from La Reunion, so the food was food from the island. I was scared to try and carry the conversation in French. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but we were able to manage ----- something I find miraculous.  

This week we’ve had plenty of rough moments, like the day I misunderstood what Gideon’s teacher told me about lunch pickup and got a phone call telling me I was late. So, I had to run the normally 15 min walk, pushing Pierce through the rain. Additionally, later that day I arrived at the school only to be greeted by a sign on Gideon’s classroom door that taught me a new word, “Les Poux” (lice). So, I have spent the week checking Gideon’s head like a paranoid crazy person.

However, this week has also offered the first few signs that change is coming. Gideon cried significantly less this week during drop off, actually referred to some of the kids as his friends and informed me, “mommy, did you know that in French when kids don’t know what someone said they say, “comment?” Additionally, this week I will be finishing the Book of Mormon in French and was somehow able to teach a primary lesson (albeit super basic). Benjin has officially started a few of his own experiments at work and was able to meet up with some coworkers to watch a French rugby match. And Pierce is one week closer to going to nursery…

Just like with the seasons it is easy to feel like change is never going to happen. It’s never going to get better/I’m never going to speak French/we’re never going to have friends, etc. But, then one day the mornings start to get crisper, the leaves start to get crunchy and the next thing you know, fall is here!!

Bisous!

La famille Facer