Barely a Night Out in Paris...and Climbing Gates

Well, Friday was another good day...I was very busy all day working (which is the best way to be when working). I taught English again to Tiphaine's class of 4 year olds...it's pretty funny...some kids understand the concept of another language and like to repeat the words I say or sing the songs with me...and ohters just stare in utter disbelief and confusion. We split the class into 2 groups, so it's 15 minutes with each group...so obviously this is not much time for the kids to 'learn' English, however at 4 years old it's a good idea for an introduction. The other day one mother came up to me and said (in English), are you Laura? Her son told her all about the young girl that came and sang songs in English and read books...she was really friendly and I think her name is Sylvia. We talked for a few minutes, so that was nice to meet someone. Tiphaine also likes to be my little helper during her 15 minutes of English...yesterday she was showing off a little bit, as she's one of the only kids who can really speak English...but she sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" REALLY fast, it was funny. Lunchtime with the kids went smoothly, and Matthieu was feeling much better and in a good happy mood. I "arranged" the kids' rooms, vacuumed quickly, did a load of laundry and put dishes away. I also went on my first liquor run! Haha...before getting the kids at the end of the day I stopped at Monoprix to pick up some Vodka, juice and soda....I haven't bought liquor or DRANK it since June...so that was a refreshing feeling to make a Friday night plan with Kirsty and prepare for it. After school we drove to Poney Club (I did it alone for hte first time, and it went well, no problems with directions). We were 5 minutes late to Tiphaine's lesson and the woman in charge was REALLY rude to me about being late...I just laughed and walked away with Matthieu. Haha. There is probably no way we will ever be early to Poney Club, so hopefully sometimes we'll be right on time...but likely late a lot. I told Virginie how rude she was and she said she was going to tell her that we'll be 5 minutes each time. Anyways....Virginie showed up to poney club and let me leave for the night.....and guess what?? She said she would like to buy me a ticket to see the musical "CABARET" in Paris! I am sooo excited...and it's so strange because I've been looking at the website the last couple weeks and talking about wanting to go, but never to her...I've just been waiting til when I want to go and to decide how much I want to spend on the ticket. So without her even realizing this she offered to get me 2 tickets, and just wants to do this for me! So I am taking Kirsty and I think we'll go on a Saturday night (hopefully), so we can dress up and make a night of it!

So the night didn't go quite as planned...haha. Kirsty didn't get done working til quite late and didn't get to my studio til about 9:00...I had NOTHING to wear, so was feeling kind of blah about my attire...but we made a few drinks, talked about our week, and then picked a destination. I wanted to check out this bar I read about called "Fu Bar" on Rue St. Sulpice. Basically we BARELY had any time to enjoy the bar...haha. The issue with going out for me is that I HAVE to be sure to make the train back home, and the last one leaves at about 1:00 a.m. But we have to plan how long it takes to get back to the train station St. Lazare, etc....so we ended up spending more time FINDING the bar, but thankfully it was in a cool neighborhood with lots of people. We didn't even get a drink at the bar because we'd had plenty of mixed drinks at my house and in our water bottles, lol. So we've decided we will spend a day scouting out places we want to go to on 'party' nights, and know exaclty how to get there ahead of time...and hopefully next time we'll be able to leave earlier in the night. Anyways, so when the night began we SPRINTED to the train station when we heard it pulling up but were not successful in catching it. So, we missed a train. Then we walked around looking for the bar and practically had to turn around to get back on the metro to head home...

THEN the most ridiculous "Laura is intoxicated" moment happened. We got back to my house after walking in heels and sooo incredibly tired. I had my keys out, put them in the small side gate door, and nothing....the door wouldn't open. I kept turning and turning and I just knew I was doing it right. There is a little trick to unlocking the door and I could have sworn I was doing it right, but it wouldn't open. I could not believe it. I don't have a main gate remote with me, because we just leave them in the cars. And my key didn't work, so at about 2 a.m. I was trying to figure out what to do. I didn't want to call the house and wake them up. I was determined to get in alone. Kirsty was with me, thank God. So we decided to climb the gate, which is probably 8-9 feet tall (I realy don't know how tall, this is a guess). So first Kirsty took her shoes off and I hoisted her up, and she pulled herself up and over....but when she got on the ohter side she couldn't open the gate either! Clearly in retrospect we were really drunk. So I was thinking...Okay, I can give her my keys and tell her how to get into my studio, walk up to the house and get the remote control for the big gate... but nooo she didn't want to go into the house, and I knew that'd be too difficult anyway. So somehow she climbed back up and over to my side....so now it was my turn to get inside. I took my heels off and when she tried to hoist me up, I just did NOT have the strength to pull myself up and over the rest of the way. I was exhausted and intoxicated. So we figured out a different way...there are a few boxes connected to the gates of the neighbors and ours that are connected (like the control box). So she helped me get up to the box then it was up to me to pull myself up the rest of the way...and I slid across the top of the gate to the pillar, where I nervously and slowly lowered myself down onto another box. I was scared out of my mind that I was going to fall...the gate is really big and tall and not at all easy to climb over. Anyways I made it over in a few minutes after sweating and a rapidly beating heart. I quickly ran up the driveway with my keys, let myself in and quietly went up to the house to grab the remote for the big gate....phew.......what a relief. I opened the gate and got Kirsty inside after our socks were soaking wet from the rainy driveway. So we made it safe inside.
THEN this morning when I woke up I heard the kids and Jerome in the garage and got up right away to tell him the story and to please check the gate so that I didn't get locked out again. Well, sure enough...the stupid door and key WORKED this morning. I felt like a total fool, laughing hysterically and Jerome said "did you have 10 drinks?" haha...he was laughing at me. I realized I must have been continuously turning the key the wrong way and not paying attention to the "trick" of how I usually open the door. Wow. I still don't know how I let it get that crazy...I thought I did it the right way, but clearly no...
Apparently this is what happens after you haven't consumed liquor in 3 months.

So today I went for my jog which felt really good. I was tired so had an uneventful day...tomorrow I am either going to a museum or Montmartre, depending on the weather. I'm sort of in the mood for a museum though...I'm thinking the museum of dolls, or the museum of fashion. Something fun and different....(those aren't the true names, but you get the drift)

Ok off to babysit for the night........