Dear friends,
Merry Christmas from England! I left Nevers on Saturday morning and luckily arrived here as scheduled! There was a TON of snow all throughout France and England (it was very pretty!), so there were all sorts of travel disruptions – a friend of mine who was supposed to fly out of Paris on Friday night didn’t end up getting home until Sunday afternoon. The Eurostar train – the one that goes under the English Channel – also stopped running for a few days after a couple trains got stuck in the Chunnel. I would have been SO terrified if I’d been there!
Christmas in England has been fun, but I never realized how many of their traditions are different from ours – my cousin and I went out to the pub last night (apparently Christmas Eve is a big going-out night), then we had turkey for Christmas dinner, pulled Christmas crackers, and ate Christmas Pudding! I spent Monday in London with 3 of my cousins, and it started snowing while we were walking through Camden Lock, a really cute area – it was so pretty, although very cold!
I haven’t done anything too terribly exciting since being in England, but it’s been very nice to relax and spend time with family. I’m looking forward to New Year’s Eve, when I’ll return to Paris and my friend is coming from the US to spend 2 weeks in France with me – we’re meeting at the airport, and I can’t wait!
I hope you’re all enjoying Christmas – I miss you all!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Orléans
Bonjour mes amis,
I’ve had another good week since my last post – it’s been busy and filled with Christmas spirit, of course! One of my classes was cancelled for a field trip on Tuesday – my longest workday of the week – so that was a nice surprise! I didn’t work on Wednesday, so I slept in very late and then tried to send a Christmas package home to my family. (Note the operative word there, “tried.”) I ended up going to La Poste twice on Wednesday and STILL ended up bringing the box home with me. I was just planning on buying one of the prepaid boxes at the post office, so the first time I showed up with a few wrapped presents and some packing material. Unfortunately the only option cost €35, which is about $50, which is more than the actual presents cost!! I left the post office, bought a box, packed the box, then went back to the post office to mail it. I didn’t have any packing tape, but I was sure they’d have some there that I could use to seal up the box (seriously, EVERY post office in the US has rolls and rolls of packing tape available for use). Unfortunately my assumption was unfounded and I was told that it wasn’t well sealed and that I’d have to leave and buy some tape to seal it up. It was super-frustrating to say the least, but I finally got the box sent on Thursday!
On Thursday night I went to the Maison de la Culture again to see “Tango Metropolis,” an Argentinian tango show. It was really different from Cendrillon, the only other show I’ve seen there, but I really enjoyed it! It was basically just 2 hours of short-ish tango routines, but there was also a live band – complete with a wonderful old man playing accordion – that added a lot to it.
Nevers had its Marché de Noël this past weekend, on Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. I went with a group of friends on Friday afternoon to have a look around – and enjoy some vin chaud, of course! It was much smaller than the ones in Lyon and Orléans, but I was pretty impressed. There were lots of artisanal stalls with mostly-useless-but-cool housewares – you know, the kinds of things you’d buy at craft fairs. There were also several vignerons (people who make wine) with stands selling wine, so one of my friends and I did a few tastings and ended up buying a bottle each.
On Saturday I got up WAY too early to take a day trip with 4 other assistants to Orléans. Our train left Nevers at 6:58, but it was definitely worth it, as we had a great – but FREEZING – day! We arrived in Orléans around 9 AM and spent a few hours wandering around the town – we visited the Hôtel Groslot, a gorgeous big house that was once the private residence of someone important and rich, and the Cathédrale Sainte Croix, the main cathedral in Orléans, where Joan of Arc attended Mass while she was in Orléans to liberated it from its siege during the Hundred Years’ War. Because she liberated the city from its siege by the English, Orléans loves Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) and there are statues of her all over the city – we even saw one of her naked?!?
We also visited the city’s art museum and then the Maison Jeanne d’Arc, the house where she stayed for a little while when she was in Orléans to liberate it. Like I said, it was absolutely freezing, so we spent much more time than necessary at every indoor attraction, meaning we were inside the 2-room Joan of Arc museum for about an hour, if not a bit longer… As Orléans is actually a city of some substance, there was also a lot more shopping than there is in Nevers, so that certainly gave us something to do for a few hours! We then went to explore the Christmas market, one of the main reasons we’d decided to go to Orléans in the first place. There were lots of stalls selling more cool-but-unnecessary things as well as food – so we ate dinner (and dessert!) at the market before finally heading back to the station to catch our train. Overall I really liked Orléans – it’s a very pleasant town, and it was decorated so nicely for Christmas!
Yesterday we had a Christmas party and my and Sarah’s apartment – it was a wonderful success! We started by making cookies for a few hours in the afternoon, then took a break to go to the Christmas market again, then came back and decorated cookies, made spiced wine, ate dinner and cookies, and watched Love Actually! We also did Secret Santa, which was lots of fun. It was my first time making Christmas cookies solo, and it was pretty hard without a pastry cloth or a rolling pin! (I ended up using an empty wine bottle…) I think they turned out all right, and it was fun anyways!
I can’t believe it’s my last week of work before vacation – I’m leaving on Saturday to spend Christmas in England with some family, which I’m looking forward to! My favorite school is putting on its own Christmas market tomorrow night, so I’m going with a few friends – I think it’ll be cute!
That’s all for now, I hope all is well with all of you!
I’ve had another good week since my last post – it’s been busy and filled with Christmas spirit, of course! One of my classes was cancelled for a field trip on Tuesday – my longest workday of the week – so that was a nice surprise! I didn’t work on Wednesday, so I slept in very late and then tried to send a Christmas package home to my family. (Note the operative word there, “tried.”) I ended up going to La Poste twice on Wednesday and STILL ended up bringing the box home with me. I was just planning on buying one of the prepaid boxes at the post office, so the first time I showed up with a few wrapped presents and some packing material. Unfortunately the only option cost €35, which is about $50, which is more than the actual presents cost!! I left the post office, bought a box, packed the box, then went back to the post office to mail it. I didn’t have any packing tape, but I was sure they’d have some there that I could use to seal up the box (seriously, EVERY post office in the US has rolls and rolls of packing tape available for use). Unfortunately my assumption was unfounded and I was told that it wasn’t well sealed and that I’d have to leave and buy some tape to seal it up. It was super-frustrating to say the least, but I finally got the box sent on Thursday!
On Thursday night I went to the Maison de la Culture again to see “Tango Metropolis,” an Argentinian tango show. It was really different from Cendrillon, the only other show I’ve seen there, but I really enjoyed it! It was basically just 2 hours of short-ish tango routines, but there was also a live band – complete with a wonderful old man playing accordion – that added a lot to it.
Nevers had its Marché de Noël this past weekend, on Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. I went with a group of friends on Friday afternoon to have a look around – and enjoy some vin chaud, of course! It was much smaller than the ones in Lyon and Orléans, but I was pretty impressed. There were lots of artisanal stalls with mostly-useless-but-cool housewares – you know, the kinds of things you’d buy at craft fairs. There were also several vignerons (people who make wine) with stands selling wine, so one of my friends and I did a few tastings and ended up buying a bottle each.
On Saturday I got up WAY too early to take a day trip with 4 other assistants to Orléans. Our train left Nevers at 6:58, but it was definitely worth it, as we had a great – but FREEZING – day! We arrived in Orléans around 9 AM and spent a few hours wandering around the town – we visited the Hôtel Groslot, a gorgeous big house that was once the private residence of someone important and rich, and the Cathédrale Sainte Croix, the main cathedral in Orléans, where Joan of Arc attended Mass while she was in Orléans to liberated it from its siege during the Hundred Years’ War. Because she liberated the city from its siege by the English, Orléans loves Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) and there are statues of her all over the city – we even saw one of her naked?!?
We also visited the city’s art museum and then the Maison Jeanne d’Arc, the house where she stayed for a little while when she was in Orléans to liberate it. Like I said, it was absolutely freezing, so we spent much more time than necessary at every indoor attraction, meaning we were inside the 2-room Joan of Arc museum for about an hour, if not a bit longer… As Orléans is actually a city of some substance, there was also a lot more shopping than there is in Nevers, so that certainly gave us something to do for a few hours! We then went to explore the Christmas market, one of the main reasons we’d decided to go to Orléans in the first place. There were lots of stalls selling more cool-but-unnecessary things as well as food – so we ate dinner (and dessert!) at the market before finally heading back to the station to catch our train. Overall I really liked Orléans – it’s a very pleasant town, and it was decorated so nicely for Christmas!
Yesterday we had a Christmas party and my and Sarah’s apartment – it was a wonderful success! We started by making cookies for a few hours in the afternoon, then took a break to go to the Christmas market again, then came back and decorated cookies, made spiced wine, ate dinner and cookies, and watched Love Actually! We also did Secret Santa, which was lots of fun. It was my first time making Christmas cookies solo, and it was pretty hard without a pastry cloth or a rolling pin! (I ended up using an empty wine bottle…) I think they turned out all right, and it was fun anyways!
I can’t believe it’s my last week of work before vacation – I’m leaving on Saturday to spend Christmas in England with some family, which I’m looking forward to! My favorite school is putting on its own Christmas market tomorrow night, so I’m going with a few friends – I think it’ll be cute!
That’s all for now, I hope all is well with all of you!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tea Salons and the Fete des Lumieres in Lyon
Dear friends,
I’ve had a wonderful week since my last post, so it might be a long one – brace yourselves! I finally got my checkbook from my bank on Tuesday, a whole 18 days after I ordered it (they told me it would be “une dixaine de jours,” or 10 days). I should have known it would have taken forever, but ce n’est pas grave now that I have it and can officially pay rent!
Two of the assistants had their boyfriends in town last weekend and for the beginning of the week, so we had a dinner party on Tuesday night so we could all meet them. It was really fun, but kind of challenging linguistically. For the most part, all the assistants speak English (and French, obviously) except for one, the Spanish assistant from Costa Rica. Sarah’s boyfriend is Austrian and speaks German and English, and Tish’s boyfriend is English and speaks English and a little French. We ultimately decided to speak in English for the night, but there were lots of little side translations into French and German going on!
My classes have been going really well, and I think the kids are really excited now that we’ve started working on Christmas vocabulary! We’ve also been practicing a simplified version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in a lot of my classes, as that school puts on a Christmas Market. The kids have been working on making Christmas crafts to sell there (they’ll also have hot chocolate, coffee, and vin chaud being sold on school grounds, which I’m pretty sure would NEVER fly in the US!) and they’ll be singing Christmas carols. I plan on going and bringing some of the other assistants with me, and I’m quite excited – I think it’ll be really cute!
On Friday afternoon I went with my fellow assistants Sarah, Mari, Lizzi, and Tish to Nevers’ cutest (and possibly only) salon du thé, En Apar’thé. It’s about the girliest place I’ve ever seen in my life, but it was a wonderful way to spend a cold December afternoon – it was all decorated for Christmas with a beautiful tree, and we all ordered the same tea, the Esprit de Noël. They also have lots of delicious little desserts that are served on beautiful china – we definitely plan on going back!
This weekend I went to Lyon with 5 other assistants for the Fête des Lumières, which is held there every year. It’s a big festival in which there are really cool light shows and light installations all around the city, and I really enjoyed it, even if it was SUPER crowded! We arrived in Lyon around noon and spent a few hours exploring the city – we saw the Place Bellecour, which is one of the biggest public squares in Europe, and climbed up the (VERY steep) Fourvière hill to visit the Basilique de Notre Dame de Fourvière, a beautiful basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In fact, the entire Fête des Lumières is in honor of the Virgin Mary, as she saved Lyon twice from terrible fates – once in the 1500s from the plague, and once in the 1800s from German invaders during the Franco-Prussian War.
On Saturday night we went into the very crowded centre ville to see some of the installations of the Fête des Lumières. The Fête’s theme this year was “Playing with Weather and Time,” so most of the shows/installations dealt with that in some way. One of my favorite installations were at the Hôtel de Ville, where lights shining on the façade produced the effect of the building being subjected to all 4 seasons in rapid succession – it froze, then cracked and fell apart, then there spring raindrops and flowers, then summer heat and fire… It’s kind of hard to explain it, but it was amazing to see! The other installation I really liked was the one at the Cathédrale Saint Jean, where the title was “La Construction de la Cathédrale.” The lights projected onto the façade first showed an architect’s hand sketching the plans, and then we watched it “being built.” All in all, it was just a wonderful festival, and I’m so glad I got to see it!
(You can read a little bit more about it and see some awesome pictures here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8401011.stm)
Lyon is a beautiful and lively city with a lot going on – it used to produce a lot of silk, so it has some neat covered passageways called traboules that were used to transport the silk between buildings without exposing it to the elements. These same traboules also came in handy for the Résistance during WWII, as they could be used to smuggle people between buildings. On Sunday afternoon we visited the Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation, an interesting museum dedicated to, oddly enough, the French Resistance during the German occupation of France during WWII and the deportation of Jews from France.
We were all also very glad to see that there was quite a sizeable Christmas Market, so we did a bit of wandering through there and I managed to buy some spices to make vin chaud, I think I’ll use them as a Christmas present!
I’m looking forward to this week and weekend, as I’m going back to the Maison de la Culture (where I saw Cendrillon) on Thursday night to see a show called “Tango Metropolis;” hopefully it’ll be good! Nevers’ Marché de Noël (which sadly only lasts 3 days) is this weekend, so I’m planning on going on both Friday and Sunday afternoons. Even if it’s not very big, it’ll be good to get me in the Christmas spirit! A group of us is going to Orléans for a day trip on Saturday, I’ll let you know how it goes!
I hope all is well with you, à bientôt!
I’ve had a wonderful week since my last post, so it might be a long one – brace yourselves! I finally got my checkbook from my bank on Tuesday, a whole 18 days after I ordered it (they told me it would be “une dixaine de jours,” or 10 days). I should have known it would have taken forever, but ce n’est pas grave now that I have it and can officially pay rent!
Two of the assistants had their boyfriends in town last weekend and for the beginning of the week, so we had a dinner party on Tuesday night so we could all meet them. It was really fun, but kind of challenging linguistically. For the most part, all the assistants speak English (and French, obviously) except for one, the Spanish assistant from Costa Rica. Sarah’s boyfriend is Austrian and speaks German and English, and Tish’s boyfriend is English and speaks English and a little French. We ultimately decided to speak in English for the night, but there were lots of little side translations into French and German going on!
My classes have been going really well, and I think the kids are really excited now that we’ve started working on Christmas vocabulary! We’ve also been practicing a simplified version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in a lot of my classes, as that school puts on a Christmas Market. The kids have been working on making Christmas crafts to sell there (they’ll also have hot chocolate, coffee, and vin chaud being sold on school grounds, which I’m pretty sure would NEVER fly in the US!) and they’ll be singing Christmas carols. I plan on going and bringing some of the other assistants with me, and I’m quite excited – I think it’ll be really cute!
On Friday afternoon I went with my fellow assistants Sarah, Mari, Lizzi, and Tish to Nevers’ cutest (and possibly only) salon du thé, En Apar’thé. It’s about the girliest place I’ve ever seen in my life, but it was a wonderful way to spend a cold December afternoon – it was all decorated for Christmas with a beautiful tree, and we all ordered the same tea, the Esprit de Noël. They also have lots of delicious little desserts that are served on beautiful china – we definitely plan on going back!
This weekend I went to Lyon with 5 other assistants for the Fête des Lumières, which is held there every year. It’s a big festival in which there are really cool light shows and light installations all around the city, and I really enjoyed it, even if it was SUPER crowded! We arrived in Lyon around noon and spent a few hours exploring the city – we saw the Place Bellecour, which is one of the biggest public squares in Europe, and climbed up the (VERY steep) Fourvière hill to visit the Basilique de Notre Dame de Fourvière, a beautiful basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In fact, the entire Fête des Lumières is in honor of the Virgin Mary, as she saved Lyon twice from terrible fates – once in the 1500s from the plague, and once in the 1800s from German invaders during the Franco-Prussian War.
On Saturday night we went into the very crowded centre ville to see some of the installations of the Fête des Lumières. The Fête’s theme this year was “Playing with Weather and Time,” so most of the shows/installations dealt with that in some way. One of my favorite installations were at the Hôtel de Ville, where lights shining on the façade produced the effect of the building being subjected to all 4 seasons in rapid succession – it froze, then cracked and fell apart, then there spring raindrops and flowers, then summer heat and fire… It’s kind of hard to explain it, but it was amazing to see! The other installation I really liked was the one at the Cathédrale Saint Jean, where the title was “La Construction de la Cathédrale.” The lights projected onto the façade first showed an architect’s hand sketching the plans, and then we watched it “being built.” All in all, it was just a wonderful festival, and I’m so glad I got to see it!
(You can read a little bit more about it and see some awesome pictures here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8401011.stm)
Lyon is a beautiful and lively city with a lot going on – it used to produce a lot of silk, so it has some neat covered passageways called traboules that were used to transport the silk between buildings without exposing it to the elements. These same traboules also came in handy for the Résistance during WWII, as they could be used to smuggle people between buildings. On Sunday afternoon we visited the Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation, an interesting museum dedicated to, oddly enough, the French Resistance during the German occupation of France during WWII and the deportation of Jews from France.
We were all also very glad to see that there was quite a sizeable Christmas Market, so we did a bit of wandering through there and I managed to buy some spices to make vin chaud, I think I’ll use them as a Christmas present!
I’m looking forward to this week and weekend, as I’m going back to the Maison de la Culture (where I saw Cendrillon) on Thursday night to see a show called “Tango Metropolis;” hopefully it’ll be good! Nevers’ Marché de Noël (which sadly only lasts 3 days) is this weekend, so I’m planning on going on both Friday and Sunday afternoons. Even if it’s not very big, it’ll be good to get me in the Christmas spirit! A group of us is going to Orléans for a day trip on Saturday, I’ll let you know how it goes!
I hope all is well with you, à bientôt!
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