Paris Pictures and Video

This is the video right before the clock struck twelve in Paris. No fireworks just a light show but everyone else started setting off fireworks right in the middle of the crowd. We had two big ones go off right next to us.

Paris (New Years 09)

BONJOUR!

Clifton and I celebrated the New Year in Paris, France. We arrived on December 28th and stayed till January 2nd. We took the Eurostar from London to Paris which is a very stress free travel experience. It was a two hour train ride and we went through the chunnel and then we had views of France for the last hour we were on the train. Great way to travel!

When Clifton and I arrived we were completely overwhelmed by the beautiful architecture and sights of Paris. Of course the fascination with the city was interrupted a few times on the Taxi ride to the hotel because of the whiplash we received and the buzzing by of scooters that have no rules on the road in Paris. Seriously the people who drive the scooters have no fear and are crazy. In London the driving was safe, crosswalks were safe, and Paris not so much! Clifton and I definitely looked and acted like tourists in the taxis, immediately fastening our seat belts and then at the cross walks screeching as we ran across praying we weren't going to be killed by a taxi or scooter. Other than the fear of death by Taxi or scooter Paris was amazing. We stayed at a hotel right next to the Eiffel Tower and had a view of it from our window. Every morning we went to get breakfast at a brasserie. We would usually get cafe' a la creme (coffee with cream), a croissant, eggs, and orange juice. I will say there was not a lot of selection in the food. Every brasserie served pretty much the same stuff but I am not complaining because it was always good and cheap. That was one other thing we loved about Paris. The food is very affordable unlike London. Though there coffee was expensive but once you taste it you understand why. It is the best coffee I have ever had and everywhere the coffee was amazing not just one place. I have no clue what makes it so good but I would pay 4.50 euros every day to have that coffee. I loved the fact that people would just go sit outside at the brasserie and drink coffee, wine and eat baguettes even when it was 5 degrees Celsius. Paris was also very dog friendly. It was not unusual to see dogs sitting right next to their owners in chairs at the brasseries outside. They also have their dogs very trained. Almost every dog I saw did not have a leash and would follow behind the owners and on busy streets that were extremely crowded with people. It was amazing. A dislike both Clifton and I had about Paris was that they have very aggressive beggar's. They would come right up to you and beg for money and walk with you until you had to be rude to get them away from you. Definitely some con artists in that city. We have a few stories just about the beggar's. Clifton and I also got in a habit of going in the afternoon to a Patisserie (a French bakery) and getting an eclair and a coffee. We would just laugh about how many people would walk in and buy 3-5 baguettes and then leave. I am guessing it is very customary after work to stop in to the local bakery buy your baguettes for dinner and go home and you would see tons of people munching on their baguettes on the way home. So of course I had to do the same one night and yes I ate the whole thing by myself. Love those dang baguettes!

So onto the actual sightseeing of monuments and enough about Paris life that I noticed. Clifton and I actually went in Notre Dame and The Louvre. The lines in Paris are insane. We waited for 45 minutes at Notre Dame and that was just to go inside not to go up to the top which was a whole separate line. We waited for 45 minutes to go to the Louvre which is actually good because we got there 30 minutes before it opened. We tried to go up the Eiffel Tower a few times but every time we went by there was a two and a half hour wait and just to go to the second floor not to the top. Clifton and I felt it wasn't worth it. The Louvre was incredible though and would be worth the wait for anyone to see the amazing pieces of art they have. We were told you could actually spend two whole days going through The Louvre. It is huge and Clifton and I did not even see every wing. The ceilings, sculptures, and art was incredible and breathtaking. Notre Dame was also amazing. The architecture and detail of these buildings is a masterpiece. We are guessing due to the popular story of the hunchback of Notre Dame that was why there were so many disabled and disfigured beggars there. It was very disturbing the beggars we saw walking around the line begging for money and showing you their deformities. There was a disabled beggar at every entrance and exit. Crazy! We saw many other beautiful monuments, churches, and museums but didn't have the pleasure of going in each one but of course we took tons of pictures.

One of my other favorite things about Paris were the parks. They have beautiful fountains and statues and all of these lawn chairs to just sit in and enjoy the scenery. Most of the people who live in Paris do not have yards so this is where they come to enjoy the outdoors. There were tons of people reading books, playing with dogs, playing chess, eating lunch, and just kicking back.

On New Years Clifton and I celebrated under the Eiffel Tower. Every year they have a gigantic fireworks display but the one year Clifton and I get to celebrate in a major city Paris decided to go GREEN. Yes Green! They did not have fireworks and failed to tell anyone so everyone is waiting after the countdown for the fireworks and they just had a light show on the Eiffel tower that just lit up in different colors. HA! We had already seen it because they had been doing it late at night and we could see it from our hotel room. So it was a pretty big let down but the experience was still great to be under the Eiffel tower when the clock struck twelve.

After an 11 day vacation Clifton and I were very ready to get back home but we enjoyed every second of our wonderful European Vacation. Next trip is to Edinburgh, Scotland in February, I go back to Dallas for three weeks in March and then for my birthday Clifton and I are going to Amsterdam! WOOHOO!

Christmas in London 2009

Clifton and I had quite a stressful travel to London after they displayed our flight on the screen as already gone when we had waited for two hours to board and then found out it was delayed by an hour and the screen just had a typo. Then we arrive at Heathrow airport and wait for our luggage for 45 minutes at the baggage claim. After we get our luggage we take a 45 minute train ride to the hotel which decided to close for three days and failed to inform us. By this time it is 1:30am and we are exhausted but find out that our hotel that decided to close over Christmas is sending us to a five star hotel to stay for our entire trip. We also got upgraded to a King deluxe room. Let's just say there is no way Clifton and I could have afforded this room had the Radisson not had a slight oversight. Yeah for us! London started out with a bang.





Our first day in London was spent doing a little shopping, going to see Wicked the musical in the West End, and then of course Pub hopping. The streets were beautifully decorated for Christmas and there was so much to see. Clifton and I both loved Wicked. Yes Clifton loved the musical but I don't know if he really wanted me to put that statement in the blog. :) The Pubs in London are exactly the kind of atmosphere Clifton and I love. They all had great food, beer selections, and laid back environment that made you want to stay all day and night! That night we walked through Hyde Park where they were having a Winter Festival with rides, food, craft booths and much more. We of course fell in love with the Bailey's and hot chocolate drink on a cold Christmas Eve night that they were serving at the festival. On Christmas day we decided since everything was closed we would just do a walking tour of the whole city. We walked all over seeing Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square etc.... I would say we walked 10 miles that day. That is the best way to see the city. We also went to mass on Christmas day at St. Pauls Cathedral. It was very surreal and an amazing experience for both Clifton and I. On December 26th we walked through Hyde Park and stopped to feed a few squirrels some peanuts and then continued on to Notting Hill. Notting Hill was a very cute area and they had a massive street market on Portabella street. That night we went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour through the streets of London. Fascinating story about Jack the Ripper but would not recommend it to someone during December because it lasted two hours and we were frozen by the time we were through with it. Our tour guide was this adorable old man who seriously knew everything there is to know about all history not just London's. We seriously thought we were on the wrong tour for the first thirty minutes because of the tangents he went off on about London's history that had nothing to do with Jack the Ripper. Regardless, we did learn a lot about London history. The next day we went on a tour through the Tower of London and that night we ate dinner at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant MAZE. By the way the food and service stunk. Extremely disappointed and expected a lot more from Hell's Kitchen's chef.





All in all we fell in love with London and had an amazing Christmas. We definitely missed our families but we were kept busy with all the new sights to see.

December in Aberdeen

December in Aberdeen was very cold and Clifton and I were extremely anxious to go on our London and Paris Christmas trip. Here are a few pics in Aberdeen to show you how much it snowed. Now it is very hard snow that is not fun to walk in because it is super slippery.

The SAD Light

So for those that do not know what a SAD light is it stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder. Many people have these lights due to the lack of sun. We heard about these from some friends who had them and so when my mother asked what we wanted for Christmas we said a SAD light. They have tons to choose from on the UK Amazon website. Who knew??? The human body uses light cues, such as those provided by the sun, to time certain internal functions. Properly timed rhythms regulate mood, sleep, energy, appetite and digestion. These daily internal cycles, called circadian rhythms, sometimes fall out of sync, resulting in an unregulated body clock. Very scientific huh? So you are supposed to do a 15 to 30 minute cycle in front of the SAD light every day which Clifton and I have been doing everyday since it got here. Honestly the lack of sun does mess with you. For example, you want to go to bed at like 6 or 7 because by that point it has already been dark for a few hours. Clifton and I also get very hungry around 430 or 5 so we have started having a small snack to hold us over till a better dinner time so we aren't starving around 9. The picture above shows my two favorite things right now. The SAD light and my personal heater that I put right in front of me because it is so ridiculously cold in our flat all the time. Clifton hates my heater because it is loud and gets him hot but I love it and we will never part!

Scotland Week 4

Spending December in Scotland is extremely cold but also beautiful. My only complaint is the fact that the sun doesn't come up till around 9:30 and it goes down at 330-4 everyday. Honestly, there are very few days where you can actually see the sun through the clouds. The pictures above show some of the sights around the area.

Their Santa set up in the malls out do ours by a ton considering they have real reindeer. You don't find that in Texas! The picture at the table is at Clifton's Christmas party for the sales team. We had a very good time that night. The picture of the can of IRN BRU is Scotland's big soda here. It seriously tastes like you are drinking sweet tarts! Amazing!

I also got involved with the American Women's Association this last week. I went to Inverurie which is a small town outside of Aberdeen that is where you can find some of the most beautiful scenery! I met 10 women who also have husbands that all work in the oil and gas industry. We had a great time eating lunch and looking at different Scottish made crafts. I am going to the Christmas luncheon with 50 of the AWA members on Wednesday. Here in Aberdeen there are a lot of Americans due to the Oil and Gas industry so it is really nice to get together with these women to talk about their experiences in living here and moving overseas. You would never know this until you have experienced it but once you are in a place where you do not here the American accent everyday and you are the odd ball it is wonderful to hear an American talking again! So I am looking forward to being in a room with 50 American accents tomorrow!

I Quit Before I Started!

If you have read the previous posts you would have read all about The Hamilton School interview that I had on Thanksgiving Day. All of the excitement and newness of this school led to a very impulsive decision to take a full time teaching position of 3 and 4 year olds. What was I thinking?? Last Monday I was offered the job and I came in on Tuesday to follow another teacher for a couple of hours and fill out some paperwork. You can see my hot uniform in the picture above. Oh yes we had to wear a navy blue suit everyday. Let me tell you even though that suit is ugly that is the best one out of three that I found in Aberdeen. I look like I should be working for American Airlines!!

As I walked in to the classroom I was greeted by a little Nigerian boy who gave me a big hug and then handed me a kleenex to wipe the drooling snot from his nose and in only a couple of hours I did that for him three more times. Come to find out these children are taught to get a kleenex and bring it to the teacher to wipe their noses. Here's an idea why hasn't someone thought of teaching them independence to wipe their own dang noses! UGH! After my greeting of hugs and snot I was instructed to go sit at a table and help these children with a math activity. I must say they were cute but after I heard myself say in a strange high pitched voice good job, way to go, that is great, and you are so smart over and over for an hour I figured out this might not be the job for me. Then I sat down with another teacher during the kids french lesson to go over lesson plans and the schedule. This is when it hit me that I had made the most impulsive and stupid decision ever to take this job. I was informed that the 3 and 4 year old teachers get no break, eat lunch with the kids and work from 8 to 5. Yes that is a normal work schedule but not when you have to be with 15 three and four year olds every minute of your working day. After seeing the lesson plans I then also realized these would take a couple of hours to make for every week and I was told that they do there lesson plans at home. Lastly I was informed there is no summer break for the 3 and 4 year olds which means I don't get a break. So I came in on Thursday at 8 to quit and hand in my curriculum binder. I was then offered another job by the principal to teach the older kids which I did not accept. I have a feeling they are pretty desperate for teachers.

So on Wednesday I had another interview at the International School of Aberdeen and I was put on the substitute list which may lead to a full time position next year. I also may be able to coach at the international school which would be great. So my quiting before I started all worked out for the best!!