Spring Fever

Well it's been a bit longer than I intended since I last wrote. Things have been quite busy since last week. We've also had gorgeous, warm, sunny weather, which doesn't really make a person inclined to stay inside and blog...

Last weekend I went to Paris to visit friends there. I had a marvelous weekend and got to see lots of people. I walked all over the Latin Quarter Saturday morning. It was overcast, but with a warm spring breeze that everyone was clearly enjoying! Then I had a lovely lunch with my former host family, which was really fun. Heading back at their home was a bit odd at first, but as soon as we were around the dining room table, it was as though I had never left! I met their current Skiddie, and another friend of mine (and another former host-student of the fam's) was there also. It was pretty wild to have 3 "generations" of Skidmore in Paris students around the table, and we had a really good time comparing stories and sharing memories.

Later in the afternoon (after an obligatory pitstop at the bookstore Gibert Jeune!) I met up with Sarah and had tea and wondeful conversation with her. After a quick costume change, Eva, with whom I was staying, and I "dropped in" on an art opening in a gallery in the Marais. The exhibition was of several paintings by contemporary artist, Ernest T, and you can see a couple of examples here and here. After a delicious falafel dinner (also obligatory for any trip to Paris!) and being caught in a huge downpour, we retired back to Eva's studio for tea and chatting.

I returned to Metz on Sunday afternoon and feel like I hit the ground running and didn't stop until Friday night. It was a very busy week both in school and out. Some of us from Wednesday night's adult advanced dance class are joining the Monday night adult beginner class to boost their numbers and morale in preparation for the June spectacle, so that started this week. Plus, the trimester is wrapping up and I had to plan, create and administer some evaluations to my students, then do grades and comments for their report cards. In addition, the 5th-grade English-language quasi-standardized testing started this week. And of course there are regular things like private lessons, grocery shopping, laundry... and it was a busy week.

But this week is a short week, due to having no school on Friday since it's vendredi de Pâques. And even more wonderfully, there's no school next Monday either, for lundi de Pâques! Yay for four-day weekends! And then before you know it, April vacation is here, and I can't wait to go play on the beaches of the southern coast!