In which I ask myself a question and then answer it

Man I miss my blackberry...

Halloweeen

Things that I liked about Halloween this year:

1. Disneyland went crazy and throughout the week there were giant magical scary mythical creatures parading/leaping around in the dark on stilts with magic atmospheric lighting and drumming. I kept trying to talk about that part in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe when the White Witch summons her minotaurs and spectres and boggles to be in her army, but no one here has read that so never mind. Still pretty amazing.
2. There were pumpkins everywhere and everyone in the kitchen was given one and told to carve it. My friend Papa-D (whose real name I can't spell or pronounce so Papa-D will have to do for now) said "Sara - do mine for me?" SO I GOT TO CARVE A PUMPKIN! Which was partly gross but mostly AWESOME! I made mine with the silhouette of a ghost. THEN, it turned out it was a competition, and I won second place! Hooray!
3. Riikka, Rachael and I decorated our apartment in proper Halloween style. This was one of my favourite parts - especially my Halloween mobile that I made by tying household items to bits of string and hanging them from the ceiling. I found the forks and spoons the most frightening.
4. People came to our apartment for drinksandlols after work on the 30th which was funny.. as no one dressed up except for Riikka, Rachael and I.. But that's fine. I was a cat. It was lovely and relaxed and we drank, but not too much, and laughed and laughed and that was fun.
5. At work on the 31st, Disney had brought in these professional make up artists who were there specifically to paint the faces of Disney employees. HOW GREAT. So that was sick. I was a cat (again) and prowled around the restaurant. Throughout the entire evening customers would miaow and purr at me and I loved it. I lost count of the number of tables. And sometimes I'd forget about my feline face and be really confused... That was really fun I have to admit. There was this table of little Spanish kids who shrieked and wooped every single time I walked past "Gato Gato Gato". Purrrrfect.
6. That evening we heard talk of this soiree that someone from the Boiserie was putting on. Riikka, Danielle and I decided to give it a go. It was in this sort of Party Hall place with a DJ and lights and cobwebs everywhere. Slightly weird evening though - Very frightening considering the number of skeletons and zombies who were creeping around.. (not to mention the European boys - who in my opinion can be just as creepy) But it was fab and I had a lot of fun dancing and 'pretending' to be a cat. (I was a cat)

I was a cat.

BEST DAY

James and I met Mickey and it was too cool

James and mum came to visit me! It was so lovely. SO lovely. Unfortunately Dad couldn't be there too, but it's so great that I've been able to show all three of them my life here.

Living away from my family for the first time has really made me realise how munch they mean to me and how much I enjoy spending time with them. Literally, I would say that the day I spent exploring Paris with Dad and my day at Disney Land with Mum and James were two of the best days of my life.

Mum and I with a height difference and a coffee

Wednesday - I went to the station to pick them up (and I wore my parisian beret-style-hat so that I looked the part.. it was great) and then after dropping things off at my apartment and chatting on the bus we went straight to Annette's so I could show them where I've been working. It was so fantastic how normal it felt to be on the bus at Disney Land chatting about Poppy's eating habits and exam revision techniques. Really lovely. And it was great at work too, James and Mum really enjoyed the restaurant (even at lunch time) and everyone came over to shake hands and say "enchanté" and it was just perfect.

Merch

Thursday - We decided to go and see how much it would cost for the three of us to go into the park with my cast member discount.. The answer - NOTHING. The three of us stumbled into the park in a kind of giddy "omg.. we just got into Disney Land Paris for FREE" haze and it was absolutely brilliant. Highlight of my time here I think. PLUS, Everything that we bought there, or in Disney Village, we got a 25% discount. Another great thing was that at the entrances to the rides I managed to blag us a fast entry through the back or fast track entrance by pleading in French and showing my I.D. It was amazing. I felt like a celebrity. James and I went on all of the rides (Including Space Mountain - which we LOVED, and also the horrible horrible Tower of Terror.. Which I hated once again) AND THEN we persuaded Mum to come on some of the "not scary" rides... WHICH WERE DEFINITELY SCARY! And it was absolutely hilarious. Mum screamed in a really really high-pitched way throughout, while James and I spent the duration laughing and laughing. My favourite was Big Thunder Mountain. It was the perfect day and I was SO pleased that James and Mum were able to appreciate why people love places like Disney Land. Mum kept remarking that the park looks just like it does in the adverts - especially in the evening when the castle was lit up and the lights went on - "it really is just a DREAM isn't it". We finished off the day with another trip to Annette's - this time with Show Time included.. And I got pulled up to dance along with mum. It was fantastic!

Disney Castle Disney Castle (twice because it's magical)

Friday - To Paris! James and Mum had to leave at 5 that afternoon, so the three of us got up early and got the train into the city. After a coffee in a particularly French cafe, we went to take a look at the Pompidou Centre. It was amazing. I'll probably write a whole post about that (if I get round to it) because it is somewhere that everyone should visit if they get the chance. The building itself is a work of art for goodness sake. But yes we had a look at the modern/contemporary kooky art pieces on the 4th floor and also some more by people like Picasso and Matisse (who I liked a lot) and also Dado (whose paintings were scary cool).

Dado - Struwwelpeter and Reminiscence, after Luca Signorelli, 1956 at the Centre Pompidou

(His paintings remind me of scary mythical creatures. It's like he can see the things in the world that we've all forgotten how to see)

Henri Matisse - Portrait of Auguste Pellerin (II), 1917

I like this one.

Then they went home which was sad, but also happy because the three days that they were here were SO good.