another gymnatics competition in Paris!!

My girls had another gymnastics competition the other weekend. My girls did great and I am super proud of them. Both of my girls qualified for the next level which is the zones. Basically it is like provincials back home. It is all of Île-de-France. However, it was still a fairly stressful day. Things are a little different out here. All competitions are free to watch and the judges are provided by each club at no pay. However, if your judge isn’t there you must pay a fine on the spot. The same goes for any gymnasts who don’t show up, unless they have a medical certificate. And of course the registration fees for the club need to be paid on the spot or the athletes can’t compete. So with my luck, I was the only coach from our club there that day. This meant I had to pay all of the charges which included 1 judge fine, 2 gymnasts’ forfeits and the registration fees. Of course the club will reimburse me, eventually; it just sucked to have to pay the money up front myself. However the success of my girls makes it worth it!!

going to the dentist in Paris

So I had my first dental experience here in Paris today. I was babysitting the two little boys and one of them had to go get his retainer fixed at the orthodentist. So his brother and I accompanied him. We got to an apratment building, buzzed in, and then headed up to the 6th floor. We rang the door bell of a normal apartment door and the receptionist answered and let us in. The first odd thing, was that she complained that we were early and we were going to have to sit in the waiting room and wait. Obviously we were going to have to wait, but would she have rathered we were late instead of early. This being France, probably. Secondly, the fact that the dentists office was in an apartment. It literally had a bathroom, which was just off the waiting room (which is about the size of a large bedroom), the receptionists desk which would have probably been the old kitchen, and then the dentist' actual office which had a raised floor on half of the room which is where the dentist chair was and all the equipement. When the boy had to go in, his brother and I went with him and sat in chairs on the office side of the room. It was an odd experience. It is like the doctors offices out here, most of them are in apartments too. I guess in Paris that is the only real estate that is available. Oh well, there is always a first for everything, this was my first dental appointment, Parisien style!

it has been awhile - international competition in Paris

So I know it has been way too long since I last posted but my internet has been acting up lately and as much fun as it is to sit in an internet cafe, I prefer not to spend too much time there. So let's do some catchin up.

On the weekend I went to the 17th International Gymnastics World Cup competition held here in Paris. WOW is all I have to say. It was amazing. The level of some of the athletes was just incredible. It was pretty cool too that there was a Canadian competiting in the event finals. The competition was all weekend but my athletes and the other coaches I work with out here only went on the sunday for the event finals. It was long since it was the men and women but it was totally worth it. I mean we saw some of the best gymnasts in the world. Gymnasts that could possible be competiting in two years at the 2012 olympics in London, especially the little chinese girls who I swear weren't even 16 years old. It was really amazing to see the World Champion Elizabeth Tweedle on floor. There were a few injuries as usual, as well as some major wipe outs (mostly on bars and on vault). It was cool though. I even had my athletes cheer for the Canadian flag as they did the presentation of the 35 nations that competed. Of course it wasn't as loud of a cheer as for the French flag, but it was good all the same. I have to say as well that the French were very classy about the Polish tragedy. While they had all the flags run across the floor one at a time, the Polish flag was there but was wrapped around the stick. They then had the Polish athletes and the flag bearer stand in the corner of the floor and we stood for a moment of silence while they played the Polish national anthem. It was very touching and an important moment. I was very impressed with how they had handled it. There was one thing that I really noticed was a ittle different than back home though. The fact that the concession stands only sell snacks and drinks, there is no pizza, or nachos, or hot dogs, etc. Just chips, chocolate and chewy candies. I mean really people are there from 10am to 12pm (if you left the stadium between that time you could not get back in until the afternoon competition started, which was a little frustrating too. you also couldn't get in after 10:30am). So if you wanted to eat anything it had to be candy, as you in theory couldn't bring anything in either. Other than that it was a fantastic event and it was great for our athletes to get to see some of these athletes. Another fun event in Paris