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| In case you can't tell, that's wine...from a box. |
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
L'amour
I have come to the conclusion that not only do I think I'll stay single this entire time I'm in France, but I seriously doubt that I'll find a boyfriend or romantic counterpart anytime in the near future. I know that love can sneak up on you, as evidenced by my own best friend, J Mills, but I really don't see this happening for me. This doesn't make me sad. It's just a stark realization that I've come to and I think making this realization might just help me to enjoy my time abroad.
Thanksgiving in France
Thursday was Thanksgiving back in the States, but here in France it was just another workday. I spent the day telling my classes all about the origins of Thanksgiving, why we don't call Native Americans "Indians," the types of typical American cuisine served on Thanksgiving, how we celebrate it, that it's not a religious holiday per se, and Black Friday. I spent 9.5 hours at my school in Beuvrages and spent 7 hours on repeat. It was really swell, but very tiring. Summary of my Thanksgiving lesson is this:
Now although Thanksgiving was on Thursday in the States, here in France we celebrated the Saturday before Thanksgiving (Nov 20). It was potluck so everyone had to bring something. David and I chipped in to make a big ole salad. In France they don't have any mega-sized serving bowls, so I bought a big blue bucket to serve it out of. It was so super yummy, but I forgot to take pictures of it. The party took place at Sara's, another American assistant, and she had prepared chickens because turkey is only eaten in France around Christmas. There was also green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, potatoes au gratin, mashed potatoes, quiche, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and apple crumble. The meal was so delicious and super filling.
We started the meal at 3pm and I started drinking wine with my meal. If you know anything about drinking that if you start drinking it pretty much means you have to keep drinking if you want to get drunk and keep your drunk. So I kept drinking. There was a big lull after the meal when a lot of the people from the meal left before the party started that evening. I wanted to nap, but knew that would have been a terrible idea. So instead we went on a hunt for large plastic cups and ping pong balls so that we could play beer pong. Success! I played my first game of beer pong in about 6 years, and it was also probably only the second time I've ever played. It was super fun and Shelby, and I didn't lose by too much.
Shortly thereafter there was more beer drinking, wine drinking, more food was served (as in the French tradition to continually serve food throughout a party). A bunch of us retreated up to Sara's room and chatted and had a mini dance party. We then decided we needed to bring the party downstairs. All of us in our American glory descended the stairs and entered the living room and turned what was a casual hang out into a dance party. Go us! We turned the lights off and the party was hopping.
The next several hours are very blurry, but I do know that I tried to play matchmaker for David and ended up spending a good long while talking to this girl in French about how nice David is and how she should be interested. Then there were fries. Then somehow I got into a deep conversation with the French girl about how Americans have a perception of how all French people are lovers and how Americans don't know anything because they are too culturally absorbed (present company excluded of course). That was a disaster of a conversation. Most people can speak French better the drunker they get. I think I discovered that the drunker I get, and the more I speak French, the more I use up the French in my head, and then by the end of the night I can barely form a sentence.
More beer and some dirty dancing later and somehow it was 4:30 in the morning and time to call it a night. But hot damn! That party was a freaking blast! I have to say my French Thanksgiving was pretty damn epic.
A few pictures courtesy of Sara:
- In 1620 the Pilgrims came from England to America on a ship called the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth. They came for religious freedom.
- They made friends with the Native Americans because they didn't know how to grow any crops and could not feed themselves because in 1620 there were no supermarkets or McDonald's.
- The Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to grow crops such as corn.
- The Pilgrims were so thankful that in 1621 they threw a big party to thank the Native Americans, but also God.
- Today we celebrate Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November.
- It is a holiday that is celebrated with your family, usually including extended family.
- We celebrate Thanksgiving by having a big feast that includes:
- Turkey (Dinde)
- Mashed Potatoes (Purée)
- Rice and Gravy (Riz et Jus de la Dinde)
- Corn (Maïz)
- Salad (Salade)
- Stuffing (Farce)
- Sweet Potatoes (Potates Douces)
- Cranberry Sauce (Sauce des Canneberges) - They don't have Cranberries in France so this was hard to explain
- Green Bean Casserole (Casserole des Haricots Verts)
- Apple Pie (Tarte aux Pommes)
- Pumpkin Pie (Tarte aux Citrouille)
- Pecan Pie (Tarte aux Noix de Pecan)
- In addition to the feast, families watch football games; both college and NFL. (Explaining the differences between the two was interesting as collège in French means middle school and football means soccer.)
- There is a parade televised from New York called Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Macy's is the name of the store that sponsors the parade. The parade consists of giant balloons that resemble cartoon characters and floats. (Explaining floats was difficult but the French word for float is "char." Once I figured this out my lessons went much smoother.)
- Black Friday occurs on the day after Thanksgiving. It is a day of big sales (soldes) with huge discounts (remises). Stores open around 5 a.m. and lines form at 2 a.m. because the biggest discounts will only be given to the first 200 people.
Now although Thanksgiving was on Thursday in the States, here in France we celebrated the Saturday before Thanksgiving (Nov 20). It was potluck so everyone had to bring something. David and I chipped in to make a big ole salad. In France they don't have any mega-sized serving bowls, so I bought a big blue bucket to serve it out of. It was so super yummy, but I forgot to take pictures of it. The party took place at Sara's, another American assistant, and she had prepared chickens because turkey is only eaten in France around Christmas. There was also green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, potatoes au gratin, mashed potatoes, quiche, cheesecake, chocolate cake, and apple crumble. The meal was so delicious and super filling.
We started the meal at 3pm and I started drinking wine with my meal. If you know anything about drinking that if you start drinking it pretty much means you have to keep drinking if you want to get drunk and keep your drunk. So I kept drinking. There was a big lull after the meal when a lot of the people from the meal left before the party started that evening. I wanted to nap, but knew that would have been a terrible idea. So instead we went on a hunt for large plastic cups and ping pong balls so that we could play beer pong. Success! I played my first game of beer pong in about 6 years, and it was also probably only the second time I've ever played. It was super fun and Shelby, and I didn't lose by too much.
Shortly thereafter there was more beer drinking, wine drinking, more food was served (as in the French tradition to continually serve food throughout a party). A bunch of us retreated up to Sara's room and chatted and had a mini dance party. We then decided we needed to bring the party downstairs. All of us in our American glory descended the stairs and entered the living room and turned what was a casual hang out into a dance party. Go us! We turned the lights off and the party was hopping.
The next several hours are very blurry, but I do know that I tried to play matchmaker for David and ended up spending a good long while talking to this girl in French about how nice David is and how she should be interested. Then there were fries. Then somehow I got into a deep conversation with the French girl about how Americans have a perception of how all French people are lovers and how Americans don't know anything because they are too culturally absorbed (present company excluded of course). That was a disaster of a conversation. Most people can speak French better the drunker they get. I think I discovered that the drunker I get, and the more I speak French, the more I use up the French in my head, and then by the end of the night I can barely form a sentence.
More beer and some dirty dancing later and somehow it was 4:30 in the morning and time to call it a night. But hot damn! That party was a freaking blast! I have to say my French Thanksgiving was pretty damn epic.
A few pictures courtesy of Sara:
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| Allison, Tristen, Myself, Joey (over my shoulder), and David |
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| The Famed Beer Pong. Did I mention that Allison is a beer pong beast? Cuz she is. |
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| Sara, Myself, and BEER |
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| Dance party upstairs. Tristen, Shelby's back, Me (doing something me-like) |
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Turkeys, Teaching, and Thanksgiving
Update on life:
Really starting to get into the swing of things at school. So far I have taught about Halloween, Thanksgiving, the difference between American schools and French schools, Scotland (barely, mainly a review, but WTF right?), describing a person and what they are wearing, and I even taught/attempted to teach the 6e (sixième) or 6th graders (10-11) the hokey pokey (they had a LOT of fun with that). There were also a lot of question and answer periods, but those have for the most part dissipated with the exception of a Q&A I have with the 3e at Beuvrages tomorrow (3e or troisième are the equivalent of 9th graders). Tomorrow I only have to work 2 of my 6 hours at Beuvrages because two of the teachers have to train tomorrow and the other doesn't need me. This has let me stay up late talking to my mother and watch 4 episodes of Prison Break. I promised my darling brother Craig that if he would send me the DVDs I would watch them before I came home (originally scheduled for May). I am trying to appease him but also loving the storyline! Can't believe it has taken me this long to watch this show!
Although I don't have to work tomorrow, I do have a lot to get accomplished. I have to try to prepare my answers for my students and ready some visuals if possible. Also I need to shower as I did not take one today. I also need to go to school early to talk to the principal about getting the Thursday before the break off so that I can leave December 15 instead of December 17 to come home. As soon as I buy my ticket, I will let everyone know! I am very excited to get to go home and spend the holidays with family and friends. I think this holiday season will be pretty special.
Other things happening in my life...we had a holiday last Thursday so I had a five day weekend because I work neither Wednesdays or Fridays. I drank a bottle of wine plus every night. It was drunken bliss with minimal hangovers. Also we tried to go to football (soccer) match here in Valenciennes, but it got rained out (womp womp). Instead had a homemade meal courtesy of Allison and we hung out until about midnight when we met up with a bunch of British assistants. New friends! It was a drunken but fun night and we got to go out dancing (whoop whoop!). Today I got sushi with Shelby. It wasn't as good as the other place, but it was still yummy. I cannot wait to mange on an Ichiban roll when I get home.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Comments
PLEASE I beg of thee! Leave me some comments! I've made it so that anyone, including anonymous people, may leave comments on my blog. This basically means that if you don't have an account, no biggie. Just leave your little ole comment. Thanks friends.
I'll be home for Christmas...
Oh, and in case you haven't heard, I do believe I'll be making the treacherous flight home to Louisiana for the Christmas holidays. The best part about this is that I will get to see the people who I miss and who miss me the most. Also, in fact, I will get to see people who I didn't get to see before I left (i.e. Chassidy and Michelle). Everyone is important to see but at the top of my list are my darling nephew Kenny and my darling niece Emma Jane. I love those little babes so much! I am learning how to love children again. When I went to college I removed myself from knowing little children and got really weird around kids. I attribute this to my education. The more I learned, the more independent I became, and the more independent I became, the less babies sounded like a good idea to me. Needy little things that whine and cry a lot and grow inside you like an alien are are carriers of disease. I'm pretty sure working in the food service industry didn't help because of the bad parents who would let their children do anything including put things in their mouths, run around screaming, and not pick up after these messy brats. In the last few years I've regained my senses to realize that children can be very wonderful with the right parent(s). I absolutely adore both Emma Jane and Kenny and I wouldn't want to live without them in my life. This does not mean I've decided to have any babes of my own, but playing with other people's kids is down right okay with me.
I talked to Ashley yesterday (Emma Jane's mommy) and she told me that Emma Jane drew me a picture and wrote me a letter! She then tried to shove it out the mail slot on the door assuming that would work. Ashley had to explain that it needed an envelope and a stamp to make it to me. Apparently little Miss Emma Jane also put her raincoat and rainboots on and said she was going to France to find me. I just love her! Kenny doesn't know who I am really and he can't talk either, so I don't expect to be hearing from him anytime soon, but maybe I'll be able to skype him soon!
Other things I'm looking forward to: Seeing my parents, seeing my grandma, seeing my brothers, seeing my pups, seeing my friends, late night fast food, Chimes, Cane's, peanut butter and jelly, American junk food, movies in English, Christmas dinner/breakfast/foods, drinking wine with my dad, bickering with my mom, calling my mom "mom," hugging my brother while he looks at me with disgust, using my iPhone to make phone calls...and the list goes on. One surprising thing that I'm actually looking forward to is listening to Christmas music. Normally I hate it, but I cannot wait to go over to my dad's house and have that place lit up like nothing you've seen before with 7 dogs running around under my feet and Christmas music blaring. It'll be fantastic. It's funny how sometimes you miss the most simple of things. Example: I talk to my mother almost everyday on FB chat, but I always call her "Maman" or "Mommy" or "Mother" or something like that, but when I'm at home I almost always call her "Mom." I just miss being able to call her mom. Also, I def plan on bringing back lots of American junk food to share with my fellow assistants. Score.
I talked to Ashley yesterday (Emma Jane's mommy) and she told me that Emma Jane drew me a picture and wrote me a letter! She then tried to shove it out the mail slot on the door assuming that would work. Ashley had to explain that it needed an envelope and a stamp to make it to me. Apparently little Miss Emma Jane also put her raincoat and rainboots on and said she was going to France to find me. I just love her! Kenny doesn't know who I am really and he can't talk either, so I don't expect to be hearing from him anytime soon, but maybe I'll be able to skype him soon!
Other things I'm looking forward to: Seeing my parents, seeing my grandma, seeing my brothers, seeing my pups, seeing my friends, late night fast food, Chimes, Cane's, peanut butter and jelly, American junk food, movies in English, Christmas dinner/breakfast/foods, drinking wine with my dad, bickering with my mom, calling my mom "mom," hugging my brother while he looks at me with disgust, using my iPhone to make phone calls...and the list goes on. One surprising thing that I'm actually looking forward to is listening to Christmas music. Normally I hate it, but I cannot wait to go over to my dad's house and have that place lit up like nothing you've seen before with 7 dogs running around under my feet and Christmas music blaring. It'll be fantastic. It's funny how sometimes you miss the most simple of things. Example: I talk to my mother almost everyday on FB chat, but I always call her "Maman" or "Mommy" or "Mother" or something like that, but when I'm at home I almost always call her "Mom." I just miss being able to call her mom. Also, I def plan on bringing back lots of American junk food to share with my fellow assistants. Score.
Colds Are No Good When You Have to Go to School
After reading my darling friend Allison's blog, I've decided I need to be more proactive about posting things. Just things from my day to day. So here it goes. Today, I am sick. I have a bit of a cold. Being sick in France is not fun, but amongst other things it is also difficult to remedy. Why you may ask? Walgreens and CVS don't exist here, but there are Pharmacies that are indicated with a lovely bright green neon cross. Before I ever came to France I was warned about these mythical places. Basically most American medicines cannot be found at these places and you have to know what you're asking for to ask the pharmacist. That can be very difficult if you don't know what "I have a runny nose and I'm congested" is in French. Well the other day it wasn't that bad, just a sore throat. I braved the pharmacy and told the pharmacist that I wanted to buy some vitamin C and I had a sore throat. She gave me some vitamin C instructing me to take one in the morning and some lozenges and told me they had vitamin C in them and to take 4 a day. So that seemed easy enough, yes? Well the vitamin C has to be dissolved in a glass of water so I have yet to try those and I didn't necessarily want lozenges, but they worked better than any that I've tried in the US. Since I've become more sick I haven't been out of the house long enough to go back and the walk is not a short one from my house. To get to the nearest pharmacy I have to walk at least 30 minutes just one way. Sometimes I miss my car and the convenience of it. Sheesh. Luckily though Annabelle gave me some saline nose spray which seems to be working. At least i can breathe out of my nose again.
Today was a hard day because I had to work at 7:50 this morning. Working at 7:50 in Trith St Leger requires me to arise at 5:45am to get dressed and ready myself. This sounds awful, which it is, but it's worse because when I have to wake up this early, my body doesn't let me sleep straight through the night. So sick little ole me woke up at 2 and 3:30 and 5 thinking it was time to wake up. I also had a dream that I had flown home instead of going to school and had to explain to my teacher why it was impossible to show up for school today. Anyway, so I woke up and got out to the bus stop in the frigid cold. It was 41ºF this morning (and no I still haven't adapted to Celsius) and the wind was a-blowin'! It was colder than the day when it was 32ºF outside! So then I waited, got on the bus, rode the bus for 50 minutes, and then had to wait another 5 for someone to let me into the school. Another 15 minutes of waiting for class to start. Then I get my little students who are quatrieme or 4th which is the equivalent to 8th graders in the US. They didn't seem to understand a thing I said to them in English or French for that matter and they generally refused to talk. I tried to play a game with them. Nothing. I also tried to be silly and get them to laugh, but they were impossible! Then the bell rang and I went to wait for the bus to ride the 50 minutes and walk the 10 minutes home.
Now I've had a nap and feel more refreshed but still sick. I didn't feel like eating a sandwich for lunch and I remembered that I had a bag of popcorn! It may be French popcorn, but man oh man is it good! Just what I needed today! Salty popcorn and coke. Oh, and the French prefer sugared popcorn. So when I found salted popcorn I was overcome with excitement and now I've found the perfect day to eat it. So I guess today isn't a total loss!
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