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!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Bec d'Allier, Cendrillon, and Thanksgiving
Dear friends,
I’ve had quite a great week since my last post – lots to talk about! To start with, I mentioned in my last post that a couple other assistants and I were going to take a walk to the Panorama du Bec d’Allier, the place where the Loire and Allier rivers meet, a little ways out of Nevers. We set off last Sunday afternoon for our weekly walk, knowing that this one would be a little longer than normal. When we left, the sky was blue and the weather was nice, just a little bit windy… After walking for about an hour and a half, we finally reached the Bec d’Allier, and I think we were all slightly underwhelmed, although we were glad it was another thing we could check off the list. About 5 minutes after we turned around to start back to Nevers, we started feeling light raindrops. We were all wearing scarves, so we wrapped them around our heads and continued walking – not too big of a deal yet! Over the next 45 minutes, however, the light rain turned into an icy, apocalyptic, torrential downpour that resulted in all 4 of us getting absolutely soaked to the bone and freezing. We were finally so miserable that we actually stopped at a random house (out in the middle of nowhere, of course) to ask them if we could come in and use their phone to call a taxi – mostly just because we wanted to get out of the rain! Of course, as soon as we stepped inside, the rain stopped and a double rainbow appeared – great. It ended up being an older couple living there, and the husband ended up driving us the rest of the way back to Nevers; it was so nice!! From the comfort of my warm and dry living room, our Bec d’Allier promenade was a hilarious adventure, but at the time it was pretty awful!
It turned out that my other Tuesday school wasn’t striking, so I still had to work, but at least I got an extra-long lunch break! On Tuesday night I went to Never’s Maison de la Culture with Lizzi and Tish, 2 other English assistants, to see Cendrillon (Cinderella). It was being performed by the Geneva Ballet, and I think it was the most interesting interpretation of Cinderella I’ve ever seen! Cinderella was an Asian woman, and instead of a Fairy Godmother she had 5 men wearing nothing but tighty-whities (with wings sequined across the butt), fluffy white socks, and glitter all over their chests…. It also ended with Cinderella topless on stage and the Prince wearing only a jock strap. Like I said, it was interesting! It was a much more modern interpretation than I was expecting, but I still really enjoyed it – and will be laughing about it for a long time!
I didn’t really do anything on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, but we did have a big Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment on Friday night for 11 people – all the Nevers assistants (as well as some out-of-town friends) – it was a smashing success! As I believe I mentioned in my last post, we had ordered a turkey from a butcher shop in town. I called them on Thursday afternoon to confirm that we still had a turkey and that we could pick it up on Friday morning. The man told me that yes, it would be ready for pickup on Friday morning, but that maybe it was a little bit bigger than what I had requested (I’d ordered one between 5 and 6 kilos, or about 12-13 pounds). Exactly how big was it, I asked. He told me they only had one turkey, but that it was 9 kilograms – almost 20 pounds!! (It was also going to cost €90 – that’s like a $130 turkey, as a reference point) Because we neither needed a turkey that enormous nor had €90 to spend on one, we decided to scrap the “turkey-as-the-main-dish” idea and get a chicken instead. We still had turkey – 2 turkey tenderloins – and all was well! We also had sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green salad, green beans, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and brownies. Everything was delicious, and it was really fun to share such a quintessential American holiday with our English, German, and Costa Rican friends.
Right now I’m looking forward to the next few weekends, as we have lots of fun things planned. Next weekend a few of us are off to Lyon for the weekend for the Fête des Lumières, then the Saturday after that we’re going to Orléans for the day, and then the next weekend our Christmas break starts! I’ll be spending Christmas with an aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins in Bedford, about an hour outside of London.
That’s really all the news I have for now, hope all is well avec vous!
I’ve had quite a great week since my last post – lots to talk about! To start with, I mentioned in my last post that a couple other assistants and I were going to take a walk to the Panorama du Bec d’Allier, the place where the Loire and Allier rivers meet, a little ways out of Nevers. We set off last Sunday afternoon for our weekly walk, knowing that this one would be a little longer than normal. When we left, the sky was blue and the weather was nice, just a little bit windy… After walking for about an hour and a half, we finally reached the Bec d’Allier, and I think we were all slightly underwhelmed, although we were glad it was another thing we could check off the list. About 5 minutes after we turned around to start back to Nevers, we started feeling light raindrops. We were all wearing scarves, so we wrapped them around our heads and continued walking – not too big of a deal yet! Over the next 45 minutes, however, the light rain turned into an icy, apocalyptic, torrential downpour that resulted in all 4 of us getting absolutely soaked to the bone and freezing. We were finally so miserable that we actually stopped at a random house (out in the middle of nowhere, of course) to ask them if we could come in and use their phone to call a taxi – mostly just because we wanted to get out of the rain! Of course, as soon as we stepped inside, the rain stopped and a double rainbow appeared – great. It ended up being an older couple living there, and the husband ended up driving us the rest of the way back to Nevers; it was so nice!! From the comfort of my warm and dry living room, our Bec d’Allier promenade was a hilarious adventure, but at the time it was pretty awful!
It turned out that my other Tuesday school wasn’t striking, so I still had to work, but at least I got an extra-long lunch break! On Tuesday night I went to Never’s Maison de la Culture with Lizzi and Tish, 2 other English assistants, to see Cendrillon (Cinderella). It was being performed by the Geneva Ballet, and I think it was the most interesting interpretation of Cinderella I’ve ever seen! Cinderella was an Asian woman, and instead of a Fairy Godmother she had 5 men wearing nothing but tighty-whities (with wings sequined across the butt), fluffy white socks, and glitter all over their chests…. It also ended with Cinderella topless on stage and the Prince wearing only a jock strap. Like I said, it was interesting! It was a much more modern interpretation than I was expecting, but I still really enjoyed it – and will be laughing about it for a long time!
I didn’t really do anything on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, but we did have a big Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment on Friday night for 11 people – all the Nevers assistants (as well as some out-of-town friends) – it was a smashing success! As I believe I mentioned in my last post, we had ordered a turkey from a butcher shop in town. I called them on Thursday afternoon to confirm that we still had a turkey and that we could pick it up on Friday morning. The man told me that yes, it would be ready for pickup on Friday morning, but that maybe it was a little bit bigger than what I had requested (I’d ordered one between 5 and 6 kilos, or about 12-13 pounds). Exactly how big was it, I asked. He told me they only had one turkey, but that it was 9 kilograms – almost 20 pounds!! (It was also going to cost €90 – that’s like a $130 turkey, as a reference point) Because we neither needed a turkey that enormous nor had €90 to spend on one, we decided to scrap the “turkey-as-the-main-dish” idea and get a chicken instead. We still had turkey – 2 turkey tenderloins – and all was well! We also had sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green salad, green beans, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and brownies. Everything was delicious, and it was really fun to share such a quintessential American holiday with our English, German, and Costa Rican friends.
Right now I’m looking forward to the next few weekends, as we have lots of fun things planned. Next weekend a few of us are off to Lyon for the weekend for the Fête des Lumières, then the Saturday after that we’re going to Orléans for the day, and then the next weekend our Christmas break starts! I’ll be spending Christmas with an aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins in Bedford, about an hour outside of London.
That’s really all the news I have for now, hope all is well avec vous!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Medical visits, strikes, and turkeys
Bonjour mes amis,
Since my last post I’ve officially been medically cleared to stay in France for the entire duration of my visa, I’ve paid my first bills here, and helped cook an English Sunday roast with nothing more than one electric burner, two toaster ovens, and a microwave.
As I believe I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I had to go to Dijon on Monday for my visite medicale, a pretty important part of the process that allowed me to get my titre de séjour, a yellow sticker with my numéro étranger (basically like a resident alien number) that’s now stuck inside my passport. The OFII (l’Office Française de l’Immigration et Intégration), which handles the legal aspects of immigration into France, had set aside two days for all of the language assistants in the Académie de Dijon to have their medical visits and to get their titres de séjour, so half of the assistants went when I did, while the other half went the week before. I got the day off work because the visit is mandatory, so I took a morning train to Dijon, arriving there around noon for my 1:30 appointment. Once I got called in, the visit just consisted of a chest and lung xray (which had to be done torse nu, or topless), an eye exam, and then checking blood pressure and breathing. It was easier than I was expecting it to be, and I now have my very own xray of my chest and lungs, which is pretty cool!
On Wednesday night I ventured back to the Foyer Les Loges, where I lived for my first month and a half in Nevers, for a Repas Anglais. The Foyer organizes activities for its residents, and once a month they do a big group meal – each month is a different type of cuisine, and an individual resident organizes the menus for these meals. I have a English friend still living in the Foyer (her schools are only five minutes à pied from there, lucky thing!), and she somehow got roped into organizing an English meal for 20 people. Although I had hoped to never need to return to the Foyer again, I went with 5 other assistants, both as a sign of solidarity and to help with the preparation for the meal. As Lizzi, Mari, and I were waiting at the train station to meet another assistant to walk to the Foyer together, we received a phone call from Tish (the English girl organizing the meal), who shared the news that the oven and four burners weren’t working on the gas stove and that we would have to cook for 20 people using only two toaster ovens and one electric hot plate. While it took 3.5 hours to prepare the meal, it went better than I was expecting, and it ended up being pretty tasty as well!
My students still constantly amuse me with the hilarious things children say and do, and I laugh every time I swap stories with my fellow assistants about things that have happened in their classes. On Friday morning, for example, I was working on animals with my CM2 class (they’re about 10 years old). We were working on spelling English words, so I would say an animal and then they would have to write it on their little whiteboard and then hold it up for me to check. The first few went fine and most of the students got them right, but then we came to ‘polar bear.’ Out of about 24 students, no one got it right, but I was trying VERY hard to keep from cracking up – one kid had written ‘polar beer,’ but my favorite was the boy who wrote ‘paul webber.’ Close, kid.
The weather has been oddly and surprisingly nice here for the past few days, so this afternoon we’ve planned a walk along the path beside the Loire River, which, if you follow it for long enough, leads to the meeting point of the Loire and Allier rivers – it’s supposed to be very pretty.
I might get to become officially French on Tuesday! There’s a strike scheduled, and I already know that one of my schools will be closed because the teachers there will be en grève (on strike). Tuesdays are my long days, and I’m really hoping that my other Tuesday school, where I have 3 classes, will also be en grève.
As I’m sure you can imagine, France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so all the American assistants are a little bit sad that we have to work on Thanksgiving, for the first time in our lives! We’re planning a big meal though, and will be introducing the holiday to our English, German, and Costa Rican friends. They don’t sell frozen turkeys in the stores here, and the French really only eat turkey at Christmas, so even the first butcher shop I visited told me it would be impossible to get one for November 27. Luckily we found another, more accommodating butcher shop, and have ordered a turkey. I’m a little nervous, however, that we might just get a turkey with its head, feet, and feathers still on – I hope it’s at least beheaded and plucked!
That’s really all my news for now, j’espère que tout va bien avec vous!
Since my last post I’ve officially been medically cleared to stay in France for the entire duration of my visa, I’ve paid my first bills here, and helped cook an English Sunday roast with nothing more than one electric burner, two toaster ovens, and a microwave.
As I believe I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I had to go to Dijon on Monday for my visite medicale, a pretty important part of the process that allowed me to get my titre de séjour, a yellow sticker with my numéro étranger (basically like a resident alien number) that’s now stuck inside my passport. The OFII (l’Office Française de l’Immigration et Intégration), which handles the legal aspects of immigration into France, had set aside two days for all of the language assistants in the Académie de Dijon to have their medical visits and to get their titres de séjour, so half of the assistants went when I did, while the other half went the week before. I got the day off work because the visit is mandatory, so I took a morning train to Dijon, arriving there around noon for my 1:30 appointment. Once I got called in, the visit just consisted of a chest and lung xray (which had to be done torse nu, or topless), an eye exam, and then checking blood pressure and breathing. It was easier than I was expecting it to be, and I now have my very own xray of my chest and lungs, which is pretty cool!
On Wednesday night I ventured back to the Foyer Les Loges, where I lived for my first month and a half in Nevers, for a Repas Anglais. The Foyer organizes activities for its residents, and once a month they do a big group meal – each month is a different type of cuisine, and an individual resident organizes the menus for these meals. I have a English friend still living in the Foyer (her schools are only five minutes à pied from there, lucky thing!), and she somehow got roped into organizing an English meal for 20 people. Although I had hoped to never need to return to the Foyer again, I went with 5 other assistants, both as a sign of solidarity and to help with the preparation for the meal. As Lizzi, Mari, and I were waiting at the train station to meet another assistant to walk to the Foyer together, we received a phone call from Tish (the English girl organizing the meal), who shared the news that the oven and four burners weren’t working on the gas stove and that we would have to cook for 20 people using only two toaster ovens and one electric hot plate. While it took 3.5 hours to prepare the meal, it went better than I was expecting, and it ended up being pretty tasty as well!
My students still constantly amuse me with the hilarious things children say and do, and I laugh every time I swap stories with my fellow assistants about things that have happened in their classes. On Friday morning, for example, I was working on animals with my CM2 class (they’re about 10 years old). We were working on spelling English words, so I would say an animal and then they would have to write it on their little whiteboard and then hold it up for me to check. The first few went fine and most of the students got them right, but then we came to ‘polar bear.’ Out of about 24 students, no one got it right, but I was trying VERY hard to keep from cracking up – one kid had written ‘polar beer,’ but my favorite was the boy who wrote ‘paul webber.’ Close, kid.
The weather has been oddly and surprisingly nice here for the past few days, so this afternoon we’ve planned a walk along the path beside the Loire River, which, if you follow it for long enough, leads to the meeting point of the Loire and Allier rivers – it’s supposed to be very pretty.
I might get to become officially French on Tuesday! There’s a strike scheduled, and I already know that one of my schools will be closed because the teachers there will be en grève (on strike). Tuesdays are my long days, and I’m really hoping that my other Tuesday school, where I have 3 classes, will also be en grève.
As I’m sure you can imagine, France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so all the American assistants are a little bit sad that we have to work on Thanksgiving, for the first time in our lives! We’re planning a big meal though, and will be introducing the holiday to our English, German, and Costa Rican friends. They don’t sell frozen turkeys in the stores here, and the French really only eat turkey at Christmas, so even the first butcher shop I visited told me it would be impossible to get one for November 27. Luckily we found another, more accommodating butcher shop, and have ordered a turkey. I’m a little nervous, however, that we might just get a turkey with its head, feet, and feathers still on – I hope it’s at least beheaded and plucked!
That’s really all my news for now, j’espère que tout va bien avec vous!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
A day in Beaune
Dear friends,
A group of 7 other assistants and I went to Beaune today, and it was amazing! 4 of us left Nevers at 7:23 this morning (it was a long day) and met the other 3 in Beaune. As I explained in my previous post, Beaune is already famous for wine, and every year it has a wine auction at the Hospices de Beaune, a really cool old building that was built in 1443 to serve as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the Hundred Years’ War. That wine auction is taking place this weekend, so tout le monde s’occupe du vin (everyone is all about wine)! We spent about an hour and a half exploring the quaint centre ville of Beaune before trekking 25 minutes through the rain to the Fete des Grands Vins de Bourgogne, a big wine exposition and tasting event (if that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is). For €24, we received a commemorative wine glass, a book with a list of all the wines to be found at the event, and unlimited tastings of any wine in the exposition – and there were over 3,000 different types of wine! It was in a big hall, and there were 14 different circular booths, each of which had many different wines, grouped by the communes in which the domaines (the wine houses, like the name on the label) are found. While I certainly didn’t love all the wines I tasted, I did find a few I really liked and would definitely consider buying at some point. We ended up staying for a few hours, and it was a wonderful way to pass a rainy Saturday afternoon!
In other news, Sarah and I had been having a lot of problems with our wifi in our apartment – it was going either really slowly or not at all, so I had to call the technical support line. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the technician, which was immensely more challenging en francais than it ever would have been in English! Luckily he was super-patient and even went through the process twice with us – once for my Mac, once for her PC. It all worked out well though, and now our wireless works perfectly! (Knock on wood for me, would you?!?)
I don’t have much other news à ce moment, I hope you all are well!
A group of 7 other assistants and I went to Beaune today, and it was amazing! 4 of us left Nevers at 7:23 this morning (it was a long day) and met the other 3 in Beaune. As I explained in my previous post, Beaune is already famous for wine, and every year it has a wine auction at the Hospices de Beaune, a really cool old building that was built in 1443 to serve as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the Hundred Years’ War. That wine auction is taking place this weekend, so tout le monde s’occupe du vin (everyone is all about wine)! We spent about an hour and a half exploring the quaint centre ville of Beaune before trekking 25 minutes through the rain to the Fete des Grands Vins de Bourgogne, a big wine exposition and tasting event (if that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is). For €24, we received a commemorative wine glass, a book with a list of all the wines to be found at the event, and unlimited tastings of any wine in the exposition – and there were over 3,000 different types of wine! It was in a big hall, and there were 14 different circular booths, each of which had many different wines, grouped by the communes in which the domaines (the wine houses, like the name on the label) are found. While I certainly didn’t love all the wines I tasted, I did find a few I really liked and would definitely consider buying at some point. We ended up staying for a few hours, and it was a wonderful way to pass a rainy Saturday afternoon!
In other news, Sarah and I had been having a lot of problems with our wifi in our apartment – it was going either really slowly or not at all, so I had to call the technical support line. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the technician, which was immensely more challenging en francais than it ever would have been in English! Luckily he was super-patient and even went through the process twice with us – once for my Mac, once for her PC. It all worked out well though, and now our wireless works perfectly! (Knock on wood for me, would you?!?)
I don’t have much other news à ce moment, I hope you all are well!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Armistice Day and 22 :)
Bonjour mes amis,
I have now been living in my wonderful 1970s apartment for over a full week, and I’m so happy to call it home! We’ve already taken advantage of the fully equipped kitchen to do some cooking and to host a dinner party, and we’re already planning our big Thanksgiving meal…
I haven’t done too terribly much since returning to Nevers from Liverpool; I’ve worked a few days, gone for a few runs, and turned 22! Two other assistants and I went to a Festival du Chocolat on Saturday afternoon (yes, it was as good as it sounds!), where we saw chocolatiers making chocolate and got to taste about 8 or 9 different chocolates… for free! There were also several chocolate sculptures, as well as a man who was painting white chocolate plates with different-colored chocolate “inks” – very neat. I also finally got around to watching Hiroshima Mon Amour this weekend – it’s a 1959 French film based on a novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras. It’s a rather bizarre film, but the main character in the movie is a French woman from Nevers (of all places!), so it was interesting to watch it and look for familiar places…
As you may have figured out from this blog, France is all about les jours fériés (national holidays, days when no one works and most things are closed)… Armistice Day (November 11) is a jour férié, so none of the assistants worked. This worked out rather well, as my 22nd birthday was on Tuesday, so we were able to have a big party in our apartment that night! We had a few assistant friends come from other towns and spend the night in Nevers, which wouldn’t have been possible if schools had been open as scheduled on Wednesday. It was a great birthday, and it was wonderful to get everyone together and celebrate.
I’ve started doing tutoring sessions with Guillaume, the 16-year old high school student whose mother teaches at one of my schools. It’s not too much work – he mostly wants to focus on improving his spoken English, so we just chat for an hour, which I enjoy.
A big group of assistants is going to Beaune, a town about 2 hours away from Nevers by train, on Saturday. The town is famous for wine and its annual wine auction, held in November at the Hospices de Beaune. Luckily for us, the auction this year is this coming weekend, and the town becomes all about wine for the weekend. We’re going to spend the morning exploring the centre ville before heading to an exposition du vin, which features tastings of more than 3,000 wines! Even though I’ve already been to Beaune twice before, I’m really looking forward to Saturday – it’s always fun to visit places when they’re doing what they do best, which, in the case of Beaune, is wine!
I have to go to Dijon on Monday for my mandatory medical exam, which all non-EU citizens must have in order to get our carte de séjour, which allows us to legally stay in France for periods longer than a few months. It’s rather inconvenient that we have to go all the way to Dijon (which is 2-3 hours away from Nevers, depending on which train you get) on our own dollar (or euro) WHILE missing work, but I guess it’s just what has to be done.
I hope you all are well, à bientôt!
I have now been living in my wonderful 1970s apartment for over a full week, and I’m so happy to call it home! We’ve already taken advantage of the fully equipped kitchen to do some cooking and to host a dinner party, and we’re already planning our big Thanksgiving meal…
I haven’t done too terribly much since returning to Nevers from Liverpool; I’ve worked a few days, gone for a few runs, and turned 22! Two other assistants and I went to a Festival du Chocolat on Saturday afternoon (yes, it was as good as it sounds!), where we saw chocolatiers making chocolate and got to taste about 8 or 9 different chocolates… for free! There were also several chocolate sculptures, as well as a man who was painting white chocolate plates with different-colored chocolate “inks” – very neat. I also finally got around to watching Hiroshima Mon Amour this weekend – it’s a 1959 French film based on a novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras. It’s a rather bizarre film, but the main character in the movie is a French woman from Nevers (of all places!), so it was interesting to watch it and look for familiar places…
As you may have figured out from this blog, France is all about les jours fériés (national holidays, days when no one works and most things are closed)… Armistice Day (November 11) is a jour férié, so none of the assistants worked. This worked out rather well, as my 22nd birthday was on Tuesday, so we were able to have a big party in our apartment that night! We had a few assistant friends come from other towns and spend the night in Nevers, which wouldn’t have been possible if schools had been open as scheduled on Wednesday. It was a great birthday, and it was wonderful to get everyone together and celebrate.
I’ve started doing tutoring sessions with Guillaume, the 16-year old high school student whose mother teaches at one of my schools. It’s not too much work – he mostly wants to focus on improving his spoken English, so we just chat for an hour, which I enjoy.
A big group of assistants is going to Beaune, a town about 2 hours away from Nevers by train, on Saturday. The town is famous for wine and its annual wine auction, held in November at the Hospices de Beaune. Luckily for us, the auction this year is this coming weekend, and the town becomes all about wine for the weekend. We’re going to spend the morning exploring the centre ville before heading to an exposition du vin, which features tastings of more than 3,000 wines! Even though I’ve already been to Beaune twice before, I’m really looking forward to Saturday – it’s always fun to visit places when they’re doing what they do best, which, in the case of Beaune, is wine!
I have to go to Dijon on Monday for my mandatory medical exam, which all non-EU citizens must have in order to get our carte de séjour, which allows us to legally stay in France for periods longer than a few months. It’s rather inconvenient that we have to go all the way to Dijon (which is 2-3 hours away from Nevers, depending on which train you get) on our own dollar (or euro) WHILE missing work, but I guess it’s just what has to be done.
I hope you all are well, à bientôt!
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