To ride...or not to ride...

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...promise.  My life has been a whirlwind of activity lately!  Monday I went to France Langue (my school) and re-registered for my classes.  When I was there before they told me I had to take the placement test again....so I walked in on Monday, grabbed a test, and waited in line for 2 hours to have it graded.  (No, they haven't figured out a better way to expedite that process yet...)  Of course I placed in the exact level that I left off (pretty self-explanatory, huh?) so will continue in my same book.  Yay! I don't have to fork out any money for a new book!  After I picked the class I wanted, trying to get into the same class with a girl who I started with there, I waited in yet another line for yet another hour to empty out my bank account in exchange for lovely French lessons.  

That evening was the first school day for Marie-Césare.  She told me they learned how to tie their shoes in class today.  I was very impressed and sort of confused that it was a skill they would have learned in school, but I looked down and realized it must have been a joke.  

Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early and met Taylor at the RER as he was coming in from the airport.  We took his hugely massive and super heavy bags to my apartment, slowly lugged them up the stairs, and I headed back down and left Taylor to catch up on his sleep.  

I went to meet Alison Filbin, a Pi Phi pledge sister of mine, for lunch.  We met at St. Michel and quickly found a good spot to nosh.  She was with her boyfriend, Casey, and they had come to Austria for a wedding and decided to spend a few days in Paris on their way back, lucky for me!!! I love seeing familiar faces.  We caught up with each other and it was so great to meet Casey.  I had heard about him as they have been together for a couple of years but never actually met him.  I happily walked with them down to their next tourist stop on their fun-filled vacation which was the Musée d'Orsay trying to squeeze in as much time as possible! 

Tuesday night Taylor and I met after I got off work for a little picnic and Eiffel Tower watching.  I kept looking over and thinking, "Wow, you are really here.  And you are not leaving in a couple of days after your vacation...you will be here for the next year."  Hooray!  It was so weird and surreal.  

Wednesday was just another day...except-

we had our first horseback riding lesson!! And yes, I say "we" because it takes just as much effort for me as it does her.  After we took 2 metros and a 15 minute walk we arrived at the equitation center at the Jardin d'Acclimitation.  Check out this professional grande cavalier.  

She had the outfit to play the part and the attitude to play the part.  She was so excited we were practically running to get there.  We walked over to the accueil hut and waited for them to call her name.  "Marie, Marie...MARRIIEEE??" I don't listen for "Marie" so it took me a little bit longer for me to come together and go, "Oh, Elle est là!"  Her teacher was a middle aged rough looking woman who looked as if she had been working with bratty little kids her entire life.  My assumption was about right.  The children were escorted back into the barn and the parents directed to the appropriate riding rings.  

I can tell you right now that my first year at Camp Merri-Mac I took horseback riding.  I was 8 years old and not so very independent.  All it took was one class to realize that horses were NOT for me.  They stunk, they were huge and dangerous, it was HOT, you had to wear jeans and close toed shoes, and you had to scoop horse poop.  Nuh-uh, not for me.  Those of you who remember Jan...she was my first instructor.  She was nice but firm and I guess you have to be since horses and little girls are a dangerous combination.  I could never heave my awkward self over the back of the massive animal and always felt like a baby needing help.  I always went back to my cabin stinking which in turn made my entire camp trunk reeeeek like horses.  You can imagine I was absolutely ecstatic when Chloé told me I would be taking Marie-Césare every week to riding lessons.  

There were 3 other little ones in her class who pranced their ponies right out into the ring.  They got the rules and regulations speech, proper etiquette, and care for the ponies.  After mounting one by one, we got going.  

About 5 minutes in I Marie-Césare looked at me and began to cry.  Oh no, this cannot be good.  I looked away and she quit but as soon as we made eye contact again she began to cry.  I went and hid behind the nearest tree thinking that if she doesn't see me she will buck up, and act like a big girl.  Well, not so much.  I walked back out and sort of did some hand motions and mouthed words to each other only to figure out that she didn't like her teacher.  I motioned for her to calm down and that there were only 30 minutes left in the class.  Eventually she did, but that's not to say she didn't despise her teacher along the way.  Her teacher was just rough, fair but tough, she knew what she was doing, but I think on the first day the kids needed someone to sort of....befriend them.  (That, and the fact that her teacher at the pony club in Maillane was super super nice.)  They learned several skills and then went to put the ponies up for the day.  She came back out of the barn and immediately ran into my arms, "I do not want to come back here! I am not coming back!"  It took forever to calm her down and decide what was really wrong. Her bombe was too tight on her head and she did not like the teacher.  I just went with it and told her that mom would decide whether or not she came back....ha!  

We left the park and she was tired and exhausted.  I brought a small bag of noisettes which I opened on our walk to the metro.  I gave them to her one by one and held them in my hand for her to come get or else we would have never made it back.  I felt like I was leading a squirrel into a trap or something.  Our haul back to rue Pierre Fontaine was brutal at 6:00 on the metro.  But we made it nonetheless.  We start dance classes next week in the morning and can honestly tell you that if she decided to quit horseback riding I would not be too disappointed.  

I finally copied the photos from my birthday dinner, the families pictures from Belgium, and some other photos from Provence from Chloé's camera and will share those with you soon!