Ca Va

A former colleague of mine used to complain about the greeting system that many of our other colleagues would use when approaching one another. She felt the casual, "how's it going" or "what's up" were always insincere. When she would stop what she was doing and respond to the question, her inquirer would be on his/her way without even the slightest pause to hear what she had to say, leaving her feeling quite foolish and annoyed. Why ask the question, she would complain, if you really don't care what my response is going to be. She would rather we all give a nod or a smile and continue on our way. (or just drop your head and act as if you don't even see each other...it's not rude, she'd much rather prefer it!) She had to train herself to respond to people's casual inquisitions with a null response and continue on with her own business.

I appreciated what she had to say but also had to tease her about her high level of sensitivity over the issue. It's just the way things go on campus, and in life. You give the nod, the "what's up", and you're off. No one is interested in what you have to say, we're all just being polite and acknowledging your existence at that moment in our lives. No harm, no foul. My friend felt otherwise and after a while, I guess I came to appreciate her observation and trained myself, in her honor, to greet others with a quick good morning/afternoon. I eventually dropped all questions directed to colleagues when I knew I didn't care what they were going to say in return. I'm all for trying new things and I gotta say, it really helped eliminate any unwanted conversations that might have arose had I asked how one was doing.

Here in Paris I have gone back to my old ways and I love it. The proper greeting here among my peeps, (Ceasar, cleaning crew, the guy I pay my rent to, you know, all my good buddies!) at the Cite is a quick, "Ca va?" or if you want to get fancy, "Ca va bien?". What I love about it is the response, "Oui" or "Oui ca va". You answer a ca va with a ca va and can even follow up with a question, "Ca va?". Not only do I love the simplicity, I love that it is my way of really fitting in here in Paris. It may be the only solid french I know and I'm running with it. So when I see Ceasar, the man who runs the DDLM, (our little village of the Cite), I always throw out a ca va and I'm suddenly feeling Parisian and fluent. Our conversations, (and they can sometimes be two to three times a day), go fabulously like this:

Me: Ca va bien? (here I'm feeling fancy)

Ceasar: Oui, ca va. Ca va?

Me: Oui.

It doesn't get old, never gets awkward, and I believe both parties feel satisfied. (This is my fabulously blissful interpretation...not sure how Ceasar really feels about it but in my world, he also loves our daily encounters!) Seriously, we can have this 11-second conversation at least twice in one day. Isn't it nice that Ceasar is always doing so well? Oui, ca va, (I'm good, things are good, it's going well...)

Even my old colleague has to love it. You get out a proper greeting and listen for the response because it's so quick and easy. Now granted, I may one day get nailed and Ceasar will respond with a "non..." and go on to tell me the woos of his life. But then I simply follow up with a good ol' french shrug, my sweet smile, and a "Je ne comprends pas".

So I Suck

...let's just get that out there. I am the worst blogger in the world! I know it's been a long time since my last entry and the time between these pathetic entries is growing. But what can I say? It's spring! I'm in Paris, (not much longer I might add....), and I just can't justify sitting inside in front of the computer when I need to be out there where's it's sunny and glorious! I'm like a caged animal that was just set free! You can't hold me down.

But today is a Monday. I'm working on some laundry before heading off to the Carefour for groceries before heading off to the creche to faire la garde. I'm going to squeeze in a thought or two before I go.

So, March. What a month. I know I was just saying the other day how quickly February went by and now here we are at the end of March (BTW, March Madness! How great is this! No Number 1 seeds! I love it! And thanks to cbssports.com, my new favorite TV station and website, we've been able to catch quite a few games. It's such a nice treat!) I am a bit relieved that I'm not the only one who's feeling that time has been bumped up to some crazy time warp speed. I was chatting with some friends the other day who, like me, are super stoked at how fast the winter went by but still can't believe it's going to be April this week! We're all freaking out becuase there's vacance to be planned! Where are we going to go next? (I know, really hard life. School is out every seven weeks for two week breaks. You have to plan a holiday somewhere out there! It's not an easy task!)

But anyway, let's get focused here. March! What a month!

...Celia got her face painted:

We went to London:

(a real quick London summary: super fun and cool city. We stayed with friends which made it really easy and they were fabulous tour guides. Museums are free and kid friendly so that was super awesome. We checked out the Tate and the British Muesum and both were fabulous and I highly recommend. Especially the view from the 3rd/4th floor cafe of the Tate. We had fabulously uncharacteristically warm, sunny weather and took advantage of that as we explored the city and all the sites! We ate lots of fish and chips, Indian food, and drank warm beer in a few different British Pubs. It was great!)

Brian and Elise in front of the Parthenon Frieze (forgot whether it's really considered a freize or not but one of Brian's favorites!) We joked that we shouldn't have climbed the Parthenon in Athens last summer in 100 degree heat and blazing sun. We could have just gone to the British Museum. They had the most amazing collection of the Parthenon.

The ladies being mummies

Other March highlights...

Our old Cite neighbors from Sweden came back to visit. Linnea is a couple weeks younger than Celia and it was so great to have our old playmate back. It was so wonderful to spend time with Susannah again too. Their family lived on the top floor of our building and we used to spend hours together roaming the Cite when the weather permitted or hours playing with each others toys. They are really great friends and it was so fabulous to have them back for a visit!

The ladies are kicking butt in school and loving it. They are still super happy and doing so very well with their friends and playing! Celia is doing well with her animals and colors in French. The lady will never be potty trained, (I'm afraid this one is pretty stubborn), and she's going to go to prom in diapers, but she'll be there with her French boyfriend dancing the night away! I guess I have to give her credit for that!

Elise amazes me every day with her wonderful observations and brilliant outlook on life. That lady is so smart and loving every minute of life. She really just brightens my world!

I'm not making much progress on French but am making progress in seeing this fabulous city under the sun. It really is a grand site: the cafes are spilling out into the sidewalks and people are just out soaking up the glorious sun. Every green space in Paris is covered with picnic-ers and it's just great to hear the sounds of spring!

Life is pretty good. After about 10 days of illness, coughing, and sleepless nights, we are back on track and off to Rome this week. What better way to end a great month? (too bad you won't hear about it until the end of April...)

Oh, and let's not forget our biggest news: Brian got an awesome job and we have a new home! We are off to Seattle this fall when Brian begins his tenure track position at Seattle University! The payoff is here and we are so very excited to start the next chapter of our lives, perhaps the last chapter of changing cities! It is a great great position for Brian and I am so very proud of him. Things are really coming together!

And lastly, anyone else jumping on the VCU bandwagon? :)