What do you mean I have to work?

Bonjour a tous! Its been a very long time since I wrote anything and I feel as though so much has happened! Last I had written was about all the strikes that were going on. Well they continued. The week after my students blocked the school, I decided to join the students in their striking (a cultural experience of course) and then the following Thursday the teachers again went on strike. After that Thursday, the Toussaint vacation started, the midterm week and a half fall vacation. Because I still hadn't been paid, I didn't have tons of money to spare. So I stuck round Blois for about a week and the following Thursday, went up to Paris with Harry and Sharae. We found a wonderful site called airbnb.com where you can rent couches, rooms, entire apartments, houses, and even (if your heart and wallet so desires) castles. From this site we were able to find Etienne's apartment to rent, a small studio on the 6th floor (no elevator of course) of a gorgeous building. However, we were staying in what we determined was the old servants quarters as we had to go through this door, through a courtyard to get to our backstairs that led to our lodging for 3 nights. However, we barely spent any time in the room and in addition to the amazing view from the roof of the building... the price was right.
I have spent several weekends in Paris in my roughly seven plus months I've spent in France, but this was one of the best by far. As a teacher in the public school systems, I am entitled to the "Passe Education" which allows me free entry into any of the national museums or monuments, basically anything I'd ever want to see in Paris. I'm not the biggest museum person, so I wasn't very into trying to cram a ton in so we just went to the Orangerie... an Impressionist art museum with Monet's waterlilies and other various impressionist art. Wow. I had no idea these water lilies were so enormous. They were unbelievable. And unlike the Louvre or the Musée d'Orsay (my other favorite), this museum was small, manageable, not incredibly overwhelming.  I loved it. Another highlight of my trip was being able to go to visit the IES center. My summer program in Arles is run by IES Abroad, who also have a program in Paris. Marie-Anne Devaux is the director at both Paris and in Arles and Bertrand is the student affairs coordinator (or something along those lines, sorry I don't know your exact title Bertrand!) so Sharae, Harry and I went to the IES center and then the three of us and Bertrand went to get a drink. I think you can tell when you make a real connection with someone when you can see them after a year and it feels like nothing has changed and that's exactly how it was with Bertrand. It makes me really happy to know that it was not my last trip to Paris and that I'll have the opportunity to come see them when I visit!
So after three days of being Parisian on my own, Mama and Papa Kean made their grand arrival in Paris. Luckily everything went very smoothly for them, no troubles with strikes, got to their hotel just fine, no lost or broken phones, cameras etc, and were even able to check in a little early so they could catch some zz's. That Saturday, the day before Halloween, I went over to their hotel in the afternoon (after a little light shopping at H&M of course) and together we walked from the Gare de Lyon over to the Latin Quarter for a little dinner. Following dinner, I walked them over to Pont de l'Alma for a ride on the Bateaux Mouches, my favorite favorite favorite thing to do in Paris. My number one tip to anyone traveling there, take a boat ride on the Seine at night. I've only done the Bateaux Mouches so I'm somewhat bias but whatever boat company that can take you down the river with the monuments glowing and the Eiffel Tower sparkling still makes me feel like I'm seeing everything for the first time. So do it!
That evening, Harry and I tried our hand at what would be Paris' attempt at Halloween. Well Paris, congratulations. You have not learned how to celebrate this holiday. I am not one to typically toot my own costume horn, but I had a pretty bad ass statue of liberty costume. I mean, rarely am I this excited about my costume, but I gotta say, I looked good. Harry who did not have anything prepared decided that we could just make his face white with eyeshadow, give him a black eye and scars and make his hair crazy and Harry became... something. 
The following day, my parents and I met to take the train to Caen, France, one of the cities in Normandy where they have a large memorial for the world wars and D-day or Jour-J as the french say. We got on the train no problem, however once we got to Caen it was a slightly different story. Like most cities, the train station is just a little outside of the centre-ville. The hotel had said, 10 minutes walk there. Cool. No problem. Well whats the first thing we unknowingly do? Walk the wrong direction. As we start to feel kind of lost, Im looking over this map and completely fall off the sidewalk busting open my knee. If I wasn't crabby already, this made me crabby now. Bleeding and continuing to walk in the wrong direction, we finally ask a man walking his two small dogs, "Où est la place de la republique?" or Where do we find this location? He said oh well, its the opposite way, you're very far. I didn't love this. We turned back around, planned to go back to the train station and get a taxi to our hotel. About a block down the street the man catches up to us again and says, would you like me to drive you? I would like to emphasize to those people who have seen Taken or various other films like that, Never ever ever would I get in the car with a stranger. However, I was with my parents and this man had dogs and not the kind of dogs that creepy homeless guys who drink beer on the streets have, so we accepted his very generous offer and were driven to this hotel. So we stuffed our luggage in the trunk and I climbed into the front seat so I could be the communicator as my parents climbed in the back with the little pooches. Did not ever see this moment coming. But we got to our hotel safe and sound. Whoever that man is will forever be an angel.
The next day we arose early and made our way to the bus station to head up to La Memorial de Caen where the museum and D-day beach tours were located. Because this is France and things are never easy, we encountered our first problem: It was All Saints Day and for the French that means holiday. Not realizing that although buses still run, they do not come to ever bus stop, we missed our first bus out to Caen... and the next one didn't come for another 40 minutes. We finally caught the next one and made it out to the museum. Problem number two: the tours were booked for that day. We had made all our plans around spending one full day in Caen to see the museum and take a tour and suddenly we were having problems. Luckily, the woman at the desk was just a wonderful woman who booked us for the next day and let us tour the museum right away for no additional charge (as well as being able to tour it the day after). Also, we lucked out that we gave ourselves an extra day to be back to Blois because had I started teaching Wednesday, I would have been in big trouble. For not too much more of a hassle, we exchanged our tickets for Wednesday instead of Tuesday evening and changed all the hotel reservations. Boom.
The following day we made it to the tour where we were joined by Maryline (our guide), Kitty and Bill from Southern California and Malcolm and someone else whose name I forget from Australia. Together we saw Gold Beach, German bunkers, Omaha Beach, and the American Cemetery. Learning about D-Day in a book does not compare to seeing it in person. It really opens your eyes up to how many lives were lost and just how important it was to our history. The American cemetery is especially moving. Very much resembling Arlington, it has become American land after all the lives that were lost and is very well maintained. And these are only the soldiers who's bodies were not shipped back to the US.
The following morning, we woke up early to catch our train to Blois. I had been gone for about a week at this point and was feel very antsy to get back to my little town that feels like home and all its quirky residents.

If you want to truly experience Blois, then you have to come to KARAOKE. Which is exactly what my parents and I did. Karaoke. There they were able to meet almost all of my friends from Blois as well my future husband Freddy. We all did our typical numbers, Raul who did an impressive MIKA impression singing Lollipop in a high pitched voice the entire time and Lucy who had the crowd on their feet for "Goodbye my Lover." Never did I think could that song be successfully karaoked... but Lucy proved otherwise. Finally. Larry Kean stepped up. and he KILLED IT.  Born to be Wild will never be sung the same again. The rest of the week we did a little Blois sightseeing, enjoyed some tea at Liber-thé and then it was time to say goodbye! It's always hard to say Goodbye but it was a great vacation and I'm glad they were here for it.
Which brings me back to the title.... Classes started last Thursday (which ended up only being one) and up again this morning. For someone as uninvolved in politics as I am, probably one of my best classes yet. Monday morning I teach a class with three boys, and they just rock. Okay. So back to work for me today... Miss and love you all!
Maura