Halloween French Style and Meet the Kiddos

Last weekend was Halloween (duh), and I was intrigued to see how the French celebrated. I already knew it wasn't nearly as big of a deal as it was in the U.S., but I still didn't know exactly what to expect.There were several bars and clubs advertising Halloween-themed events, some even went so far as to call is "American Halloween," and we decided to check out a couple that were close by and also free entry because why not?

I decided to keep my costume simple, and boy am I glad I did. I wore red pants, a striped shirt, my glasses, a beanie, and voila...where's Waldo? (Fact: My costume was inspired by the episode of Modern Family I watched the night before where Lily is Waldo.) We ventured around to several options that were awkwardly empty before ending up at a place on our street. At first glance you honestly wouldn't have had any idea it was Halloween. No tombstones, no spiderwebs, no Monster Mash, no candy, no witches, NOT EVEN A JACK-O-LANTERN. Once we got inside though, we had several costumed comrades. The reason I was relieved to have chosen my simple costume was that people seemed to have general half-tried like me, or gone all out. And the ones who committed hadn't gone for the cutesy costumes, either. I'm talking wigs and fake blood out the wahzoo.

When I got home that night, I naturally checked under my bed, in my closet, and kicked in my shower curtain to ensure that Michael Myers wasn't hiding in my apartment. Before going out, we had watched Halloween in my friend's room. I voted for Hocus Pocus, but I was sadly outnumbered. Needless to say I don't handle scary movies well.

Now onto this week... I'm officially a working girl! I'm after-school babysitting for a French-American family; the mom is from Paris and the Dad is from Washington D.C. They have 3 little boys: Ulysses is 6, Nelson is 4, and Salvador is 3. They're all blond-haired, blue-eyed, adorable little Frenchies. They're all learning English, but they (especially the younger 2) still feel more comfortable speaking to me in French. I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I'm able to communicate with them in French, but thank goodness Ulysses is there to act as a translator when necessary. One of the things I did understand was when Salvador said, "Est-ce que on peut aller chez toi aux États-Unis?"
He asked if we could go to my house in America :)

Here's Nelson! He usually holds domain over the stroller.

Salvador got a little cold, so he borrowed Ulysses' coat...

One day, the younger two were still on fall break so they were visiting their grandparents in the north of France, so it was just me and Ulysses. We went to the Parc des Buttes Chaumonts, which happens to be (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful parks in Paris, and incidentally one of my favorite places to run since it's almost exactly a mile and a half from my apartment. They do pony rides, and Ulysses decided that's how he wanted to spend our "activity money" his mom had given us.

He named his horse Duncan. He loved Duncan.

While I'm vaguely on the subject of horses, this chien de Paris was more like a cheval de Paris!

 Also going on this week was "Les Automnales de Saint Germain," a sidewalk craft/food fair a block away from the NYU building. They had everything from soap to nougat to jewelry to paella. And also "authentic American donuts," but I took a pass on those. I love all the random markets that seem to just spring up around Paris! Although I could do without the crowds that block the sidewalks, but oh well. C'est la vie.

On Thursday, I went out to dinner with Annie and her parents who were visiting. Our friends Melanie, Jaci, and Leah also went. They had used Airbnb, and we tried a restaurant that was highly recommended by the woman whose apartment they were staying in. I had beef bourgignon, which was delicious, and "tarte au tartiner du pomme" for dessert, which was basically a warm apple crumble.

Mmmmm.

Annie's parents were awesome! They were so happy to meet us and see who she's been bummin' around with in Paris, and they offered up a place to stay in San Francisco whenever we'd like, which I really hope was for real...

Yesterday, I had a Skype call with student government representatives from the groups of freshmen starting at the NYU London and NYU Florence campuses, the other two options for doing your first year abroad. We're planning to set up a weekend exchange among all three campuses so students can visit and have a place to stay and someone who knows the city to show them around, so it's looking like more weekend trips may be on the horizon! :) Speaking of trips, I leave tomorrow for Lyon, France's "second city" known for its gastronomy, so expect more food pictures to come :)

And one last picture to close on...

Look what I found at my favorite thrift shop! Almost bought it.