Leçons

Photo by Ashley Miller

Leçons (Fr.)/ Lessons (Eng.) Noun

• A useful piece of practical wisdom acquired by exerience or study. 
• An instructive example
• A section into which a course of study is divided, especially a single, continuous session or formal instruction in a subject.

It's official, I live in Paris, if only for a year. Although it has only been seven days, 4 of which have been spent in bed battling a cold, and 2 spent babysitting a 3-year-old French boy, and one at the Pompidou Museum,  I have already acquired some indispensible lessons.

Leçons: part une

• Babysitting multiple 3-year-olds in an English speaking environment is considerably easier than babysitting one 3-year-old in a French speaking country.
• Weigh your produce and print out their respective barcode stickers PRIOR to getting into the check out line at the market.
• Never cross the crosswalk when the "petite homme rouge" is still lit.
• Don't wait until your funeral to find out what people thought about you, just move to France.
• No matter how uncomfortable a situation is, it will always get better.
• Practice kindness whenever possible, it is always possible.
• The best way to prevent facial wrinkles from deepening, is to practice smiling with your forehead.
• Vous-vous the grouchy neighbor, tu will only make it worse.
• Charm trumps intelligence.