2, Boulevard de Clichy

I figured I would give you a little tour of my "home away from home" here in Paris. So...

Welcome to 2, Boulevard de Clichy! This lovely little building is my home for the next 4 1/2 months. The apartment is basically the entire 2nd floor (which is actually the 3rd floor if you count it how we do in the US).

Note the balcony that wraps around the building. An incredible feature that I am very much anticipating getting use out of once the weather decides to cooperate with me. The apartment is great. High ceilings, wood (creaky) floors, very spacious. I would give anything to have something this nice in NYC.

Here is the lovely kitchen, where I brew my morning coffee (mon café) and where M-N's delicious dinner creations are born. She is very into organic, healthy, well balanced food, something I certainly never get while I'm at school.

I can't even describe how incredible it is to have home cooked meals on a regular basis. The way the program works, I have dinner with the family three times per week, and am otherwise on my own. This pretty much means that, at some point, I'm going to have to venture into this lovely kitchen and attempt to produce something edible without the use of a microwave or toaster oven, both of which are absent from this typical Parisian kitchen.

Make an about face, and you'll find the family room. (The kitchen table is off to your left, but out of the frame). The Christmas tree (Le Sapin de Noël) is no longer with us, and the piano has taken it's place.

C and I have been having several jam sessions as of late in this lovely room. By jam session, I clearly mean me trying to have enough patience to teach C how to play "So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music, despite the fact that she is a typical ADHD-ridden 4-year-old "punk" as M-N calls her. As a matter of fact, C and I have been spending quite a bit of quality time together. (Is is sad that I'm probably learning the most French from a small child?) Just the other night, while M-N was cooking up dinner, C and I were dancing in her room. This is, of course, not unusual as I was the queen (la reine), she was the princess (la princesse), and we were enjoying ourselves at the ball.

Here, you can see the casualties of having a 4-year-old as your best friend. Ça va, I'm just happy we can successfully communicate!