Parlez-vous Français?

I have discovered that I never eat at French restaurants because…. I can’t afford it.

But this week I was on the hunt for one and found a nice cafe where I got to ask our waiter how to say… “I want the croque mosieur” in French (which, let’s face it- was a ham and cheese sandwich).

{Le Menu}

{Not how your mother makes them.  (unless your mother is French)}

The French continued with a brisk walk to Broadway- weaving tourists and dodging stop lights like the pros we are- for second row seats to Les Miserables.  $45 teacher discounts are SUCH a win!

{Only some of my very favorite people.}

And that was my fun French night.  My other French nights haven’t been that fun.  You see, I’m taking this online class because… I mean, French is cool…. and I’m only 3 credits from moving up the pay scale (wah wah).  But.  Let. me. tell. you. Learning languages from the internet is just… ridiculous. I CAN’T READ THIS LANGUAGE!  How am I going to LEARN it without a teacher?!?!?!? So puzzling.  I mean. I guess – according to my French quiz/game website homework I now know 8% of the language… which seems pretty accurate.  Even if I can’t speak or understand a lick.

I mean.

/komo ale vu/ is spelled  “Comment allez-vous.”  So yeah.  Me reading French actually is me 1. listening to google translate, 2. writing it phonetically like a nerd, 3. and reading that.

So… this summer online class is ganna be great.  I can tell already.  (But- win for living in a city that allows me to do my ‘cultural homework assignment’ by writing a 2 page paper about an event I was ALREADY planning on going to.)

Also this week. I took a selfie with a dog while snacking on a blanket listening to the NY Philharmonic in Brooklyn with new friends and old.  See, she looks JUST like our childhood dog!

Which leads us to…. summer.  Which officially started today according to the Earth’s rotation around the sun… but starts for me on Friday.  Oh so soon. Horrah Horray!

Post Hipster Takeover

June has included, for me, several visits to Williamsburg, Brooklyn- where hipsters dwell and bike and chat by with their mustache faces.

But, even if they all wear stinky deodorant (or whatever my co-workers rant about these ‘down to earth’ people) their gentrification of Williamsburg has formed a very interesting little sub-town.

You see, once upon a time Williamsburg used to be the ‘ghetto’ or something like that.  And.  It’s still full of great graffiti and under-developed parks and the like.  But now it also has places to eat with funny names like “Pies-n-Thighs” and, well, more graffiti.  It also is separated by the Williamsburg Bridge to the villages in Manhattan.  So convenient.

So. I went with a friend to Pies-n-Thighs.  We walked around and enjoyed the general randomness that gentrification brings.  And had fun.

Then I went again.  After crepes in the village.  We were celebrating my roomie’s completion of the school year (yay Erleen for surviving!) and instead of going home we decided to find a place with a view.

We started by walking the bridge.

It doesn’t really have a view.

Although it’s interesting in its own right.

{Unexplained lines taunted Erleen for miles— errr- feet}

{There’s a perfect place for everything I guess??}

{So much graffiti. Lots of things for literate people to do on this bridge.  But.  It was mostly just people’s names. Not that cool or anything.}

   

The quest for a view continued as we wove through Williamsburg and found our way to a tiny pier full of almost exclusively Jewish women.  Regardless of the sideways glancing, it was a spectacular sunset viewing local.

{Me and Erleen.  She survived her 10th year of teaching the rugrats of Brooklyn. She’s happy to be alive and I’m happy she can stay out late and not grade homework. Also. I’m happy we’re friends.}

And the sun set on the city that never sleeps as we walked home.

May Dayz

May is spring and testing days in school and weather that makes us all smile.  This May also meant a trip home for a wedding and a trip to the city to watch the sunset.  Photos to follow.

Wedding

So. I have this friend Stephanie.  Who married this friend David.  And I got to go to their wedding.  And run the photo-booth camera. So much winning.  Not to mention – this was my first trip home since Christmas.

The journey started with an all night drive with my roomie.  It actually worked out well since I have the power to stay up late and she has the superpower of getting up early.  With that mix, we made it home in 13 hours.  But not without a traffic hold up in the city.

It was decided that IF you are going to get stopped for an hour in traffic, SOHO, Manhattan is the place to do it.  So much great people watching to do.  (not to mention a street truck selling JUST socks.  not tacos.  or ice cream.  just socks.)

So.  Like I said.  I went to this wedding.  David and Stephanie.

Well.  Stephanie and I?  We go way back.  But I actually met David first.  And once upon a time we all worked together in my mother’s cafe.  Life has changed much since then, but it was fun to be at their wedding after knowing them through the whole journey.  The wedding was incredibly sweet as they included a lot of personal touches that traditional ‘menno’ weddings don’t have- like writing their own vows and singing songs for each other. 🙂  Plus, they were both so happy.  Which makes everyone else happy too, of course.

{The Mr. and Mrs.}

{At the reception.}

{Stephanie and I aren’t used to taking selfies with David.  Sorry for squishing you out man.}

{Some photo booth fun}

{This is, oddly enough, not the first time I’ve posed with mustaches with Stephanie.}  

{4 years ago.  See?  (why yes, we believe in being totally proactive in planning roadtrip entertainment.  Don’t judge.)}

{my parents!}

{My seesters and me}

{my mom and me (yes, it was very nice to have people I know walking through my photo booth line)}

My trip home ended with, two days back to back with my Esther, lots of family time, and another loong drive back to my city, with no traffic delays on the George Washington Bridge- a miracle!

          

The Sunset

This weekend was ‘Manhattanhedge.’  Manhattanhedge is the name for when the sun lines up perfectly with the east-west streets of Manhattan as it sets.  Malinda and I went to Long Island City to watch.  It was gorgeous until the clouds got in the way.  But we liked it anyways.

And that was May.  Now it’s June.  Only 25 days to my last day of school and this face says it all (can you believe it? I’ve almost survived my first year of teaching!)