It's a Beautiful Day

This morning was our first day of school. My class was so hard being that the first 20 minutes were dedicated to listening to a cd with dialogue on it. The damned French speak so fast and don't pronounce half of their letters. My class of 7 is all pretty smart and I'm the only American in the class (there's one german, 2 new zealanders, 1 japanese, 1 russian, and I can't remember the last) so it is quite a challenge. Aaron's class is super small (only 1 other student) and he's the only one that can keep a conversation of sorts. So proud of him for studying. After class, I ran to the dance school to start up "claquettes" or tap class. It was the most magical run I've ever done. Picture this...

It's raining lightly and you have 15 minutes to run there. It's Paris and spring, warm, but the droplets hit your face and skin which is cold. As you run, you're looking at the street signs, blue and plastered to the sides of the buildings. The cobblestones are wet and of course, you're wearing run down Toms which are extra slippery and not meant to be worn for very long. You come across the Pompidou museum, a beautiful building with all the pipe works on the exterior. 

That was my afternoon. Well, my 10 minute run at least. It just felt like a movie moment. I couldn't believe I was having it. I got to dance and the teacher said that I'd be bored, it being a beginner's class (they did their first ever running flaps today) She didn't even make me pay. I'll try her advanced class on Friday then.

 While walking Trixie today (after it stopped raining and the sun came out) we came across the most beautiful pivoines (peonies) OMG pink flowers! Aaron and I went to dinner in the 5 eme where the university is near so it was crazy busy. We got Moroccan food and then stopped and got some macarons (which Aaron accidentally crushed and I repeatedly said 'this is why we can't have nice things' over and over again) before heading to Notre Dame for an Organ Recital.

The whole church was packed. We were lucky enough to get seats and sit for an entire 45 minutes. It's magical how loud a pipe organ can get and how devious it can sound when played at full volume with its big booming notes. There was a screen at the front where you could see what the organist was doing and it kept going between close ups on his hands and his feet. While I hate feet and don't find dock martins particularly fashionable, it was astounding to see the footwork for the pedals. It was almost more impressive than the fingers.