Jump!

"C'est incroyable!!"

I can't tell you how many times this phrase has left Clemence's mouth since Sunday night. After watching Felix Baumgartner break the speed of sound in a 4 minute and 20 second freefall, Clemence's world was turned upside down. It was just past the kids bedtime by the time he FINALLY jumped out of the capsule (more than 2 hours after he took off). They were all in bed while the parents and I were standing around the TV watching. As soon as he stepped on to the platform outside the capsule, we couldn't contain our excitement and the kids came running in from their beds. We all stood there biting our nails, until he jumped and then cringing as he spun in circles through the air. Once he had safely touched down in New Mexico (and after I had tried to explain to the kids that New Mexico was a state within the United States), it was time for bed.
As I walked the girls to school the following morning, ALL we talked about was Felix's jump. You would have thought Clemence had just watched it happen based on her level of excitement. She kept talking about how incredible it was and how there is no oxygen in space and how he could have died. While those are all true statements, I refrained from telling her that there were just as true the first time she said them as they were the 17th time. But it was so cute to see her excitement about the whole thing.

Speaking of eventful walks to school, I had one of my own the next day. To get to school in la Defense, I take line 9 for a few stops and then transfer to line 1. Line 1 is busy to say the least. It runs right through all the major tourist areas as well as working areas of the city. Having been living here for about 6 weeks now, I've become more relaxed. For me this means not always being early to everything. So, on this particular morning, I left my apartment with the appropriate amount of time to arrive at school right when my class started. After speed walking through the Franklin Roosevelt station, I made it to line 1. About a minute later a train arrived and began spewing people. Literally. There was a steady stream of people coming off the train up until the door buzzer sounded (which means you have about 5 seconds before the doors are going to close). Feeling relaxed, I stepped on the train at the end of the buzzer. My backpack, however, did not make the buzzer and was now trapped between 2 closing metro doors. As I stand there panicked and paralyzed (literally and from embarrassment), 2 very kind individuals began pulling on the doors to pry them open. Thankfully, they opened just enough for me to get on to the train with my backpack. Now that the whole train was staring at me and my face was bright red, we could finally get on our way.

Note to self and to anyone traveling to Paris: Unlike the DC metro, the doors will not open if they hit something (like, say, a person). They will close. They do not care what appendage or personal belonging you have left in their way. They have no mercy. 

Like the metro doors, language is frustrating. One day you feel like you know French and the next day you feel like you know nothing. For me, the comprehension is 95% there and the speaking is sub-par. I generally don't have an issue understanding what people are saying, but as soon as I try and respond, I feel like I'm chewing 5 pieces of bubbleicious (you know you tried to fit the whole pack in your mouth at some point during your childhood). It always sounds so good in my head and then comes out like pig latin. However, because it sounds good in my head and because I do know how to put a sentence together, I've decided it comes down to confidence. I just have to tell myself that what I am going to say will make sense and that I know how to speak French. It's a fake it til you make it mentality. The language barrier is frustrating too because I am a confident person, as long as I know what I'm doing. As soon as that unknown is thrown into the equation, I get flustered. So, fake the confidence, until that unknown becomes something familiar. I'm trying to let go of the "you should know this" mentality and embrace the "you will know this" hope.

So jump, Felix, so my kids can finally go to sleep. 
Jump, when boarding the metro, so you don't lose a backpack or an arm. 
And jump, when doing something that's uncomfortable, difficult, frustrating, or new. 
If you don't, you'll be stuck on the platform.