Extracurriculars

At the left, you will find the seldom consumed and even less-oft recommended kir vin rouge. Yup, a friend came over and as we were all out of white wine, we tucked into the red. Drinkable, I suppose, but not the way nature intended it. Below at the right, you will find a really cute picture of Winnie. No relation to the content, just me abusing my artistic control.

Now that classes have started, I have been on the lookout for things to do other than book-learnin'. It was my longtime plan to join a triathlon club here, in order to keep up with my training after last spring's first foray into the world of multisport. I was originally thinking I would join expaTRIés, an English-language expat tri club, but then reconsidered in favor of a more authentic, local experience...until I looked at the membership fees. A senior (adult) tri membership with Paris Sport Club costs 300 € for new members, and with Stade Français Triathlon it's 332.50 €, plus, if I understand correctly, another 100 € for first-timers, whereas a full membership with expaTRIés, complete with required tri license, costs 136.50 €. Not much of a comparison. I've been holding off on joining because they require a medical exam, and since getting my carte de séjour does as well, I thought I'd kill two bureaucratic birds with one socialized medical stone. But, if I'm being honest, the combination of regular walking and vélib'ing is pretty much taking care of my major fitness concerns. I haven't gone running since my goofy first outing, and although one of my classmates posted a terrific time and had a blast last Sunday in La Grande Classique (16km from Paris to Versailles), my knees and I aren't particularly missing it.

Hi, Mom and Dad. I feel as though this admission entitles you to a paragraph all your own. I know you spent an arm and a leg sending me my bike from the U.S. (which, if we're doing the conversion, means that I subsequently spent two of each getting it through Customs, blast them). If I end up not riding it while I'm here--which is to say, not doing any tri training, since it's not the sort of creature I'd tool along the cobblestones on--I will make it up to you somehow. And above all, thank you for going through the pain in the tuckus I know it was to send it. For what it's worth, it's not in the shipping box anymore; I took it out last night because the cleaning lady complained about there being too many boxes around the house. It's now in the closet, behind our coats, covered in trash bags to keep everything clean. Did I mention that I love you?

I figured that, if my tri-life was potentially going to be anglophone, I would search out a group of Frenchies to sing with. I basically wanted to sing with a group that was at a high enough level to require auditions, but I didn't necessarily want to have to audition myself. Tricky, that. Also wasn't sure whether I wanted to sing old stuff, as it's called in the trade. More or less forever in search of my college a cappella group is what it comes down to. I've come close since graduation, but never quite close enough. And given that graduation was nearly ten years ago, maybe my goals should grow up? I don't know, though...At any rate, a little research turned up the Chorale Pop and Soul, which "rehearses" on Wednesday evenings just a few métro stops away. The quotation marks owe to the fact that this isn't so much a singing group as a class, as it turns out, and the teacher charges 35 € a month, which, by the end of the school year, costs just as much as one of the pricey tri club memberships, but without the cardiovascular benefits. Hrmph. But the first class was free, and so I decided to go check it out.

The pluses:
+ Everyone seemed really nice, especially once they realized that I was American.
+ The night I was there, we were singing in English (Madonna's "Rain," if you must know), and so I got to enjoy a gentle sense of superiority, because I pronounce my "h's" without even thinking about it...until I started not to and felt silly.
+ The location is hard to beat.
+ No auditions!

The minuses:
- No auditions, and so the level was not especially advanced. That meant no sheet music, only words. I'm not a great sight-reader, but I'd like the chance to improve.
- Due to the above, the sound wasn't top-notch. Can't believe I'm about to do this, but if you want to listen, you can do so here.
- There was little to no specific instruction, and so the idea of its being a "class" felt semi-farcical.
- The price. Not worth it for me, although I considered signing up just to make some Frends, a word I just coined, meaning "French friends." It only works in writing.

And so back to the drawing board. I sent some more e-mails to other choral groups, received a couple replies, got one message bounced back to me twice (why did I try a second time?), and even made a phone call, which is usually not in my bag of tricks, but I got lucky and hit voice mail. Then a friend mentioned to me that our choral director from over the summer at Middlebury had a chorale here in Paris that he (friend) was joining. I got in touch with said director, she was game for another alto, and thus my second vocal adventure began. Best part: it's an audition-to-get-in group, but she said I didn't have to audition! Couldn't have designed it better myself. I went to my first rehearsal this past Monday night, and discovered a few things:

1. The whole thing is conducted in English.
2. The bulk of the repertoire is Negro Spirituals.
3. The group is quite good!

#1 is not entirely what I was going for. #2 is fine, musically speaking, and while I feel a little odd singing things like "Soon ah will be don' a-wid de troubles ob de worl'," I'm sure I'll get used to it. I'm just hoping that it isn't a religious group. I have no problem with Christian people (or people of any religion)--heaven knows I've been surrounded by 'em most of my life--but I'm a Jew, through and through. I'll sing pretty much anything, but I like to keep my social interactions as non-sectarian as possible, unless explicitly stated otherwise. #3 is, obviously, a plus. So for now, I'm spending my Monday evenings with Voices Choeur International.

And finally...a little income! I didn't come to Paris planning to work or take on an internship in addition to my studies; I thought I'd leave the baguette-winning to Nick. But I couldn't resist when the woman in charge of job opportunities and other day-to-day life stuff for Middlebury in Paris e-mailed us, saying that the Paris office of Camp Experts, a company that matches French kids with summer camps and programs in the U.S. and around Europe, was looking for a paid intern during the second semester. Are you kidding me? Camp is my thing--no, better still, my thang. You heard me right. This is mostly due to one camp in particular, Hidden Valley, where I spent some of the best summers of my life as a camper, counselor, and funny in-between creature called an AWAC--some part of 12 summers in all, if I'm counting correctly. Kid paradise itself. So this Camp Experts gig seemed right up my alley. I immediately sent a letter expressing my interest and my innate campiness, along with my CV, and soon heard back from Catherine, the boss lady, who wanted to speak on the phone. I called her, and everything went great. She told me that one of the major roles of her intern is to help out with the salons she hosts every year, in schools, among other places, where families meet camp representatives. Sure, I said, do you know yet what the dates are of those salons? She listed out several days in the beginning of February...which happens to be precisely when my nephew (first kid in the family--so excited!!) is expected to arrive, and when Nick and I are going back to New York to welcome him. General deflation of spirits, because Catherine, like me, felt that we were a perfect match, but couldn't envision hiring someone who wouldn't be around for the salons. We each understood where the other was coming from, but that didn't change the basics of the situation. And so we hung up, and each went on our way.

At the beginning of last week, she e-mailed me and said that, after thinking about it over the weekend, she was interested enough in my "profile" that she wanted to meet me anyway, in hopes that we could find a solution for the salons. And so I went to her house in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, a couple days later. She operates the business from home, and so this was also my potential workplace-to-be. And what a home it was! I asked the woman who met me at the door whether she was Catherine, and she said that no, Madame was upstairs. That sort of household--the kind with help. Looked huge and beautiful, although I didn't get the full tour. Anyway, we chatted, discussed possible salon solutions (isn't that a brand of shampoo?)--her scanning and e-mailing me new families' contact info to enter into the database from New York, for example--and she told me she was interviewing two more people and would get back to me at the end of this week.

And so I wait...