Bonjour December!

It's December, which means Christmas, shopping, mulled wine, beautiful decorations, and a countdown to Joseph's visit. <3

A quick American moment: Did anyone else see Glee this week? I know that it’s been a little on the downer side, and definitely not as good as what it once was, but I am trying to keep up nonetheless. The Glee version of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun has got to be one of my favorite Glee moments ever.  Mmmmmm. 

Onto the French world:

This week I stepped in dog poop on the sidewalk. This is a monumental move in becoming a vraie Française, because unlike in America, people let their dogs poo all over the place here without cleaning it up. Dealing with dog shit everywhere is truly a part of living in France. So, after two months, and after being declared legally an immigrant here with an official looking stamp in my passport, I feel like I’m really a French citizen because of dog poop on my boots.

I miss Mabel the Dog. 

I played a whole lot of celebrity in my classes this week. Celebrity is a game well known and loved to my 2240 friends, but for the rest of you real quick- The game involved the students writing down two places/people/things that everyone in the classroom knows. The class was divided into teams, and students took turns coming up to draw from a pile of papers and using ENGLISH and gestures, had to get the other kids to guess what was written. They had 40 seconds to get as many as possible before the other team took its turn. There are other rounds that involve only using gestures (still ok for language development because kids are guessing in English) and one round where the student could only speak one word to describe what is on the paper.

We did final projects and I have a lot of grading to do now… so I gave myself a break by letting the kids play this wonderful game after we had finished recording their presentations. It actually turned out to be a really good exercise that the kids loved, and they were screaming guesses, IN ENGLISH, because I told them if they spoke in French the point wouldn’t count. Fun in an English class? C’est possible! 

I saw my very first movie in France. Despite this being my 4^th time here, my 2^nd time truly making a home for myself here, I had never been to the movies in France. My friends and I went to see “Intouchables” which I heard about in many of the “Hollywood” themed class presentations. We laughed. We cried. We understood what was going on without subtitles. I can’t help but be a little proud that I saw a French movie, in France, in French, with no subtitles, and I not only understood (most of) it, but loved it. If you get the chance at all to see it… please do. It treats the very serious subjects of racial and handicapped discrimination with an incredible sense of humor. And it demonstrates the utter beauty in the simple act of friendship. There is love and friendship and bad luck all over the world… no matter where you come from. If you need more convincing… the movie had been out for a month when we went to see it, and we had a hard time finding 5 seats together. 

On Friday I went to the market with my English friend, and, feeling courageous bought something from one of the seafood stands. As my friend said “well… Let’s go make a fool of ourselves, shall we?”  It’s easier to buy vegetables from the market, because you can say I want one aubergine, or 4 tomatoes, or 2 potatoes quite easily. When it comes to cheese, to olives (both of which I have conquered), or to meat/seafood it’s all so fresh you must specify by the gram. Thankfully I was with an English guy because I am nul with the metric system (thanks America).  I purchased all my vegetables for the week and then braved it and bought 500grams of Mussels. Let me remind you now that I live 30 minutes from the ocean… the seafood part of the market often features living creatures, fish with heads still attached on a bed of ice… I had to “profiter” from this closeness to the ocean. So fresh.  So awesome. So nothing I get to have in Ohio. Mussels are step one. Someday I hope to buy actual fish. Friday night I cleaned and “de-bearded” all my own mussels, steamed them in a concoction of garlic, shallots, white wine, and crème fraiche, and enjoyed with some baguette from the market’s local bread man. Mmmmmmm 

While my mussels were cooking, I took the time to decorate my Christmas Tree. If you didn’t know, I am here for Christmas… I don’t know yet when I am coming home, but I know it has to be before July 20^th (because that is when that tiny paper in my passport tells me I have to leave). I feel really good about dedicating this year to myself, about truly figuring out what it’s like to do just about everything, even the holidays, on my own. It was really nice decorating my small Christmas Tree alone. I smile every time I look at it. I bought a beautifully ugly sparkly bird to go on the top, some French red toadstool ornaments, some feather baubles, and a lovebird ornament to celebrate Joseph and I’s first Christmas together, just us. It’s lovely. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster, this adventure here. And while Thanksgiving was hard, and I know Christmas may be harder when it comes to homesickness, I am proud of my commitment to spend the year in France.

Chocolate Christmas Art

We have some really great activities at the foyer planned for the month- paired with Christmas shopping for family and new friends here, and the promise of the gift of Joseph’s presence in my favorite place in the world, I am anticipating un Joyeux Noel. 

Bises,

Steph