Moved the French blog

http://derekandjeannie.wordpress.com/

Getting Euros

Puisque nous devons payer notre loyer dès que nous arriverons à Paris, nous devons avoir les euros prêts.  Nous sommes allés à notre banque les obtenirhier.  Ils nous ont chargé les honoraires de $15 pour obtenant eux, et en plus, un cours ridicule.  Il semble que le façon é conomique obtenir euros est utiliser votre carte de débit et utiliser un DAB, mais les cartes de crédit ne sont pas un mauvais option.  Je ne utiliserai plus la banque obtenir les euros!

Since we have to pay our rent as soon as we get to Paris, we need to have euros ready.  We went to our bank yesterday to get some.  It is a total rip-off.   They charged us a $15 fee for getting them, plus a ridiculous exchange rate.  It seems that the cheapest way to get currency is to use your debit card and withdrawl from an ATM, though credit cards are not a horrible option either.  I will not use a bank to get euros ever again!

Renting an apartment in Paris

Nous essayons louer un apartment à Paris pendant une semaine.  Nous avons trouvé un beau appartement dans la 4th arrondissement, Île Saint-Louis.  Il a une vue extrordinaire de la Seine, et aussi un bon endroit.  La proprietaire demands un dépot de garantie de $600.  Il m’inquiète puisque nous ne avons jamais vu l’appartement.  Je ne suis pas sûr quoi faire.  Je sais que la proprietaire doit se protéger, mais est-ce qu’il y a une façon qui est prudente pour tous le deux?

We are trying to rent an apartment in Paris for one week.  We have found a beautiful apartment in the 4th district, Île Saint-Louis.  It has a great view of the Seine and also a great location.  The owners asks for a security deposit of $600.  It worries me since we have never seen the apartment.  I am  not sure what to do.  I know that the owner must protect herself, but is there a way which is safe for both of us?

Le blog français

Je commence un blog que j’écris en français.  Ceci est parce-que je dois pratiquer mon français et aussi parce-que mon mari et moi allons en France pour cinq semaines, ainsi c’est approprié.  Nous partons le 28 juin and rentrons le 2 août.  Pendant la première semaine, nous serons à Paris, puis nous resterons à Les Houches pendant le reste du temps.  Allant à Paris est nos vacances.  Les Houches est pour le travaille.  Mon mari va à l’École de Physique pour un session mathématiques.  Moi, j’écrirai ma thèse.  J’espère que je le finirai tandis que je suis là!  C’est le parfait cadre pour écrire ma thèse.

N’hésitez pas à corriger mon français.  Merci!

I am starting a blog that I will write in French.  This is because I need to practice my French and also because my husband and I are going to France for five weeks, thus it’s appropriate.  We leave on June 28 and return on August 2.  For the first week, we will be in Paris, then we will stay in Les Houches for the rest of the time.    Going to Paris is our vacation.  Les Houches is for work.  My husband is going to The School of Physics for a math workshop.  I will be writing my thesis.  I hope that I will finish it while I am there.  It is the perfect setting to write my thesis.

How to make delicious (possibly low calorie) frothy drinks without a milk steamer

I love Starbucks.  Their chai tea latte is to die for.  Very few other places can even compete with it.  I’ve tried making it at home with the same mix they use, but it never tastes the same.  It’s all in the steamed milk…and I don’t have an espresso machine.  I don’t drink coffee, but I do have a french press for when guests come over;  I can at least attempt to make coffee for them.  Turns out the french press does a great job at frothing milk, and it’s really easy.

I start by heating some milk, just to the temperature right before it starts boiling.  Scalded milk tastes like butt.  Then I put the milk into the french press and plunge the press up and down.  It seriously makes foam like you have never seen before…foam as dense as a sponge.

I don’t have chai mix now, and plus it’s loaded with calories…so a lower calories alternative I have been making is with Bigelow Cinnamon stick or Constant comment tea.  I just use one tea bag and make a half a cup of tea.  Let it steep for a while so it’s strong.  Then I add 2 splenda, some cinnamon and pour the frothed milk on top.  It’s delicious and about 100 calories, with the benefits of both milk and tea.

I am convinced that you could make a regular latte or cappuccino with just a french press too.  You can make some hella strong coffee in french press, which may resemble espresso in dire situations…and then add the frothed milk.  I tried making a latte in this fashion for my mother in law once, but she seemed less than impressed.  I think it’s because she told me to make the milk hotter and it scalded, thus tasting like butt.  Now she won’t let me make her one anymore, and I don’t really do lattes.  Anyone want to be a guinea pig so I can perfect my latte?

Hearing things

I swear today I have been hearing things all day long…like whining, crying and banging.  It sounded like it was coming from my bathroom, but when I actually went out into the hall and listened for it, I never heard it.  I looked for all of the cats, and only found two, Stewie and Zoe sleeping on the couch.  Maggie is pretty elusive during the day, and Sweet Pea doesn’t like me, so she would run away if she heard me calling her name.  I let it go since Stewie was there (he’s always getting into trouble), but kept hearing it.  I searched high and low for the damn kitties.  I found Maggie, but still no Sweet Pea.  Then I decided to start being nosy and started looking in all of the crevaces in my roommates bedroom, under the bed, in the bathroom, and in the closet.   Bingo.  Poor Sweet Pea was trapped in there all day long.  I rescued her and she still won’t let me pet her.

To make up for it, I hosted a catnip party with Sweet Pea as the special guest.

Like kitty cocaine

update.

I feel fat and need to lose like 10 pounds.  That is all.

OK.  It’s not all.  My ballet class ended two weeks ago.  I have been practicing at home, but not enough I guess.  I feel disgusting.  I’ll be starting up again after I get back from Tucson.  This time, with crazy Russian ballet.

I also need to learn to stand up straight.

A mom bra

If you have ever gone bra shopping with your mom as a child, you know the brand Maidenform. It’s a brand that your mom thinks is a high quality purchase, meanwhile you are horrified that someday you will have to wear something so drab…you know one of the bras you can only buy in a department store of medium quality that has no color, no decoration, nothing.

Traumatized by boring bra shopping as a child, when I got my boobs at the tender age of 15, I became a Victoria’s Secret bra snob…I think every bra I have ever owned was from there.  They are pretty and colorful, even if not always practical, but not being practical is a small price to pay for not having to wear the seemingly asexual mom bra.

After having boobs for 11 years now, it turns out that I finally need something practical.  The strapless bridesmaid’s dress I have to wear in two days is a little too big, so I cannot go braless, which is pretty much what I always do…I even did it at my own wedding.  The strapless bra that I own does not stay up very well (but it is fucking adorable).  I don’t want to be that super classy bridesmaid that is chewing gum during the ceremony and pulling up  my hot pink strapless bra, so I took the mom bra plunge.  It was an economical choice, only $18, as well as being the best strapless bra I have owned to date.  I’ve been giving it a test run all morning, and haven’t had to adjust once.  Since the color of the bra is the most boring color on earth, body beige, which seems to be a weighted average of all possibly skin tones by population, it’s a practical as it gets…I am wearing it underneath a semi-see through white shirt.

The model makes the bra look sexier than it acutally is.

A milestone in ballet

When I started intermediate ballet in February, I felt in way over my head.  For example, during our barre stretch, we end with what the teacher calls “the power move”.

In the barre stretch, you are standing on one leg, facing the barre with the other leg up on the barre.  You do the stretch routine, yada yada yada, and at the end, you’re supposed to bend your standing leg, lift the leg off of the barre, hold it up  and slowly lower it down while straightening the standing leg.  See Figure 2.

Usually, I grip the barre (which is a no-no in ballet), lean over (also a no-no) and plop my leg down on the ground.  It is ugly.  In Figure 1, notice the bent leg on the barre and the red clenching for life arms.

However, today, after taking 5 hours of ballet a week for 14 weeks, I did it.  I held my straight leg suspended above the barre and slowly lowered it down to the ground.  Booyah!  See Figure 2 again.

No power here

The power move

Yes, I really am this skinny.

Hi, I’m 26 and I have bunions

Yep, I am officially outing my bunions.  I don’t want to hide them anymore.  OK, I’ve only realized I’ve had bunions in the last month since I’ve been doing more ballet and living with someone else who has bunions.

They don’t really look all that bad, they’ve always been there since I can remember, I just never thought anything of them.  But they have been sore lately.  The soreness probably started when I got my first pair of demi-pointe shoes a few weeks ago and have been working on my tip-toes in ballet more.  I went to a store with a fitting specialist and she helped me get another pair of demi-pointes that should help out a little with the soreness.

As we speak, I am icing my pussy-itis…which in this household is known as something that hurts, but isn’t really that bad, but you still complain about it.  I’m not just mad that they are sore, but as a budding ballerina with desires to go en pointe, I don’t want something stupid like bunions to get in my way.

I’ve done some research on bunions, and here is what I have come up with.

What is a bunion?:

It’s not as gross as it sounds.  It’s when the bone in your foot that connects the ankle to your big toe drifts outwards and your toe drifts inwards creating a bony bump on the outside of your foot.

Bad stuff:

Bunions are sort of inherited because your foot shape determines whether or not you will have bunions, and of course, you inherit your foot shape.

If you are pre-disposed to bunions, you will probably get them just from walking around, though things like wearing ill-fitting shoes, high heels or ballet dancing will hasten there appearence, which is why women have more problems with them.  What woman hasn’t jammed their foot into a shoes that’s a 1/2 size too small?

You can’t make them go away.  Only surgery can make them go away.

“Good” things:

They don’t necessarily hurt.

You can slow or halt their formation by wearing properly fitting shoes or my wearing toe spacers while doing ballet.

Some people think that bunions create a more beautiful line while dancing en pointe.

Weird thing:

Some blame bunions on evolution.  Humans and apes have a common ancestor, which likely had a thumb on their foot.  As humans evolved and began walking upright, the thumbs on our foot turned into our big toes to facilitate walking.  Getting a bunion is kind of like having your big toe go back to a thumb because of a non-perfectly evolved foot.  Awesome.

So I guess, if I going en pointe causes my bunions to get so bad that I have a thumb on my foot, I can always learn how to hold a pencil with my big toe, draw pictures of dead presidents and join the circus.