First Oral Presentation

rainbow from my bedroom window

Le Sacre Coeur, which I can see the top of from my bedroom window

Steph and I went to an aquqrium--super sweet!

Find Nemo and Dory!
When we went to the aquarium, we were the oldest people there without kids, but we were still as excited as the 5 year olds to find "Nemo!!!"...I shared a special moment with a little French boy :o)

The Bois de Vincennes

Today I did my first oral presentation. The assignment was: “5-10 minutes on anything…absolutely anything.” So I talked about the Dutch population in South-Western Ontario :o) Represent. I talked about most of the stereo-types that a lot of us live up to, including the fact that many Dutch have married other Dutch people from the area. I said I was going to do the same, and everyone laughed, but when I showed them the ring and said “No really, I’m going to do the same, I’m engaged to a nice Dutch boy” everyone applauded. So now my knees have finally stopped shaking ‘cause I’ve finished my first presentation, and it went really, really well. Sweet.

We got really lucky with the weather for the couple months, but now Paris is living up to it’s rainy reputation. I won’t complain too much, because I hear most of you are under 3 feet of snow (although I’ll admit I’m kind of jealous—I LOVE snowstorms…and snowdays!). I’ve already somehow managed to destroy two umbrellas, so I’m grudgingly getting used to walking in the rain. I don’t mind the rain at all when I’m inside though—at nights it actually makes a really nice pitter-patter sound on the tin roof outside my window and puts me to sleep with a smile on my face. And the other day I saw a rainbow stretch across the top of all the apartments outside my window. I think this was one of the few times when being on the top floor was a bit of a blessing—not much of Paris could see that rainbow from the street.

There’s a lot of things I miss about home, and about Canada in general…I won’t go into detail ‘cause that would probably take up an hour of your reading time. But there are a few things I’ve discovered here that Canada doesn’t have, and that I really do like. For instance, the croissants—baked fresh every day, so that they’re still moist. I also like that fact that everyone—male and female, old and young—wears scarves everywhere. Now I do it too (so I can blend in, look Parisien) and I love feeling all snuggled into my coat with a warm scarf. One more thing I like about Paris is the gardens. The streets are all built close together here, and often at odd angles, so the buildings along the street form a perimeter around a garden that’s inside, like a courtyard. It’s neat to be walking through a building and look outside a window to see a little paradise hidden from the public inside stone walls. We have a very small one here at the Fondation—no garden, but a small stone patio with a few tables and chairs—so hopefully we can take advantage of that once the rain goes away and the weather gets warmer.

I find these things really awkward to end. So…The End. À bientôt! [See you later!]