le blog McKeegan

Sorry! We just had to let Kevin glow in the light of the Giants win! Life does continue.... Since we last blogged we have done some touring, socializing, entertaining, walking, reading, and studying. It is different when you are here for 6 months compared to a two week vacation. We have enough time to see the sights slowly. We did take advantage of the first Sunday of each month being free admission to national museums and saw the Louvre (well some of it) on the third of February. We went early to try to avoid the biggest crowds. That was a good decision! We got off the subway and walked right in with very little wait for security. When you first arrive it is over whelming! There are three major directions that you can head. So far we have let Rick Steves be our tour guide in Paris (he writes a popular series of travel guides that like to show you the hidden parts of cities) so he said to start in the Denon Wing with the Antiquites Grecques (Greek Antiquities). This was where Kathleen got a detailed lesson on the male anatomy! There were many displays of beautiful greek bodies! Mostly male and rarely clad. Then there was one woman who seemed to have everyone's attention (no not Mona, she is a little later in our tour!) The Venus de Milo stood in the middle of a room and begged to be viewed slowly from every direction! This was accomplished relatively easily compared to the viewing of the other woman I mentioned earlier. I don't get it! You are walking through this incredible palace viewing these fabulous works of art and then you come to this room that is packed with people pushing forward with cameras held aloft attempting to get a snap shot, if not an actual glimpse of the the Mona Lisa. When I had last viewed the lovely lady I was with my mom and was impressed with the small size of the painting. I now realize how lucky we were to actually get up close and truly look at it. This time I actually backed out of the rush and just watched the crowds pushing forward for their glimpse. Kevin and Kathleen fought the crowd but Kevin refused to take a picture! Crazy! We saw many other works of art and left many more to be seen on our next visit!

After leaving the crowds behind and finding a little cafe to have lunch in we wandered back to the museum to enjoy a free side of the attraction... the Tuileries Garden. Fortunately, we will still be here in the spring because although it was impressive this time it will be beautiful when the garden is in bloom! It was a beautiful sunny yet crisp day and many Parisians were in the gardens enjoying the fresh air. My favoritepart was the first fountain we came to which had little sail boats in it. At first you think that they are motor controlled boats like I have seen in the States but they are simple sail boats with long ballasts to keep them upright. They go where the wind sends them. Then you notice several children skipping around the fountain with sticks about four feet long and tipped with rubber. They use these sticks to gently nudge the ships back into the fountain when they bump up against the sides. Cool! Kevin and Kathleen's favorite part of the garden was the birds that liked to perch upon the pates of the beautiful statues situated throughout the garden. Hopefully, Kevin will add some pictures to illustrate their fascination as I do not have the pictures on my laptop.

I mentioned that we entertained and it was our first California dinner guests this time. We had the pleasure of serving Kelsey Nolan and her friend Kate, also from UCSD, an American Sunday Dinner. Kelsey sounds like she is doing great and eager to start her regular classes at the University. Her house parent is an elderly French woman who does not speak English at all. This will help Kelsey adapt but it makes it really difficult to get things like the internet going in the apartment. She will figure it out but meanwhile will continue to check out the night scene for the twenty year old crowd. Kevin was taking notes (about bars) and I am not sure why? He said something about March Maddness and needing to watch basketball games. :)

We all agreed that it is possible to get by in Paris with out using much French by using key words and lots of pointing and s'il vous plaits! We decided that Kathleen is by far in the best position for actually learning and becoming somewhat fluent in the language. Even the college girls said that their classes have been taught in English. Kathleen gets French thrown at her during every class except English! It is challenging because she needs to be learning academic concepts as well as regular vocabulary. I have not worked with her on her homework like this since third or fourth grade! She is doing an awesome job! Next week they have "compos" which are like final exams. This would not normally be a problem for Kathleen except she wasn't here for half the lessons and IT'S ALL IN FRENCH!!!! Only her French teacher is not giving her (and three other students) the test. Instead she will meet with them for intensive French everyday for two hours!!!! In between all of that she will try to spend time with her cousins who arrive tomorrow. We are excited to welcome and entertain Kevin's sister, Kerry, and her three children for their winter break! After that Kathleen has her winter break and Danny comes to visit! Enough for now! Take care!