I see London, I see France...

It’s been awhile, but that’s because I’ve been traveling a bit. The title gives it away but read on if you’d like some details.

It’s February, and in France, for those who work in the academic system, that means yet another two week vacation. But I am no ordinary French employee… I am a language assistant with a lighter schedule than your average French teacher, who was also invited on a weeklong school trip to England before vacation started. The total of my working days spent in school this month is a whopping 3… and I’ve already worked one of those days.

This is not to say that the week I spent in England was not work. I’m sure you can imagine what chaperoning 42 French teenagers on the streets of London is like. Hint: it does not involve the enjoyment of English Pub Culture and Fish and Chips. But I got to see some wonderful sights, meet some wonderful people, and get just enough of a glimpse of England to make me eager to visit again someday.

Highlights included a short cruise on the Thames showcasing Big Ben and the London Eye, seeing the Rosetta Stone in The British Museum (a serious chunk of history and enough to make any language person gawk), visiting the Globe Theatre and the London Dungeon (kind of like an American Haunted House, but with some historical value and informational videos as well as some brief amusement-park style rides). I also got to visit Oxford, which truly made me feel like a Muggle who has never received an invitation to Hogwarts until then, and the Cotswalds, which had me glancing every which way for Mr. Darcy to appear out of a Jane Austen style cottage.



Oxford is magically beautiful



We visited a castle, Warwick Castle- which was a little too medieval times for my liking (although  I was deemed most magical of our group and chosen by a man in tights and medieval clothes to lead us on an adventure to speak with a dragon, booyah)… but back on track... I noticed some girls from our group had stopped and were looking into some surrounding trees, cooing about how “mignon” or cute this something was. Being an animal lover of all kinds, especially when I can see animals in natural environments, I asked the girls what they were looking at. It was a squirrel.Wait what? France, you need some wildlife… your people think that squirrels are cute and worth stopping to stare at.



Bourton on the Water, in the Cotswalds



The trend of many of my travels seems to be the enjoyment of connecting with different people, and relaxing at the dinner table with our host family was always a wonderful part of our day. The group of teachers was placed with a family whose hospitality and love of sharing and discovering new cultures seemed simply a way of life.

I was spoiled and got to speak English for four days… but the problem is that its second nature now, when speaking with strangers in restaurants, public places etc, to answer in French. Oh boy. So I said “Merci” in response to being told to mind my step when hopping onto the boat for our little cruise. I smiled and said “Bonjour” when a waiter appeared. I was listening and speaking French all day with the teachers and the students, but expected to speak English in public settings. It was mentally exhausting, but a delightful mélange.



All the coffee in France is little. You have no idea how wonderful it felt to actually hold a big cup of coffee again



 I took the greatest nap of my life when I finally returned home to my little room in the foyer.

Back in la France, my friends and I celebrated Love’s greatest holiday in style... crepes for lunch (pictured below is dessert- chestnut and whipped cream crepe) and later that evening some wine, heart shaped cheese and a French movie called “Les Petits Mouchoirs” literally translated: the little tissues.

And then I ventured to Paris. I’ve been to Paris… well, many times. I was invited to stay with a friend at her family friend’s apartment for a few days, making my only costs transportation and the cost of groceries instead of restaurants, so I figured why not? Plus, I live two hours away from Paris by train at the moment and I’m pretty sure that this will not be the case later on in life. And call me a snob, but I like to buy French perfume and what I like is sold in Paris… and I needed more of it.

 

It had to be done



Having visited Paris and many of the tourist sites multiple times, we decided that this time around we would focus on some of Paris’ lesser known gems. I finally got to see the Rodin Museum which has been on my list for quite awhile now. Unfortunately the permanent collection was closed, but the gardens were still open and we took advantage of the whole being under 26 free entry that was offered.

We also visited Pere LaChaise cemetery, historic, old, eerie, and beautiful in a quiet and odd kind of way. One can find the graves of many famous people here, ranging from Chopin to Jim Morrison. The cemetery features other graves with green ivy or moss covering the surfaces, making names unreadable, cracked and crumbling headstones… an interesting visual of the passing of time. I love the moss covered sculpture in the picture to your right.



One of the most striking monuments, for the Jews killed of Auschwitz III



Do we do this in America?

There is a beautiful area devoted to the victims of concentration camps, with not just one monument for the camps in general, but separate monuments for each camp, with signs mentioning that below the stones lies an urn of ashes collected from each particular site. We also saw a lawn that was meant for cremated ashes with roses strewn sporadically throughout, and a small sign asking us not to step on the grass out of respect. I’d never seen anything like that before in my life… do we do that in America? 



 

So much American goodness



The next day I spent on my own as my friend wasn’t feeling very well. I had my first Hamburger since September at dinner the night before (Paris… big city. Big options.) and I decided that a day walking around a park was just what I wanted/needed. I spent the majority of the day walking around the most romantic park I have ever visited, with waterfalls, a grotto, a lake, an island. Les Buttes Chaumont was seriously a beaut to see, and I was seriously missing my own  cheri by the end of the afternoon.

   I ended my day alone waiting in line for 30 minutes at a pastry shop on the Champs Elysées to get my weekly Macaron fix. I enjoyed the most delicious, delicate, perfect macarons (pistachio- always a staple, chestnut and pear- to die for, and the valentine’s special grapefruit and vanilla). While walking down one of the world’s famous and expensive avenues, shamelessly eating some treats, a man approached me and asked if he could walk with me and talk to me. I’m not sure why French men see women alone and assume they want some company (as this is not the first time something like this has happened), perhaps they have seen too many movies where American girls swoon over their accents… I politely told him that non, I did not want to talk, as I was hoping to “profiter” from my macaron experience. He left, I checked to make sure he somehow had not stolen my wallet from my purse, and then I did profiter from my macarons.





You know that song that goes something like "love the one you're with"? I am having a serious foreign  love affair with the baked goods here.



And alas, I find myself back in Nantes, with yet another week of vacation time. I bought a baguette on my way home from the train station, and when the woman handed it to me I was pleasantly surprised to find it was fresh from the oven and still warm. This is the life, my friends. Utter contentment.





I couldn't give you a Paris post without her non?



Bisous,

Steph

Je vous souhaite un bon nouvel an!

Happy Happy New Year !! 

2011 was potentially one of the most action-packed wonderful years of my life. I got to go on some fun trips to visit friends to Baltimore and Charlotte. I got to live in Cincinnati for the entire summer, soaking up all the fun that is Avilla Pl, the Reds, The Haufbrauhaus, and the general joy of living in a close proximity to some best friends for the first time since college. I made the bold decision to apply for a new job and move to France for the year. Since being here I have traveled to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Spain. And of course, my love proposed to me here in Nantes to end out the year quite sweetly. 

I tried really hard to stay up until American New Year last night… which is 6am my time. It didn’t work.

Such an action packed year… that to me, it made sense to wrap it up fairly quietly. I did just that here in Nantes, spending the night at a friend’s apartment downtown, eating a wonderful meal together and learning how to crochet until the Champagne hindered my ability to fully understand any new instructions. The beginning of my “snood” (circle scarf) demonstrates this confusion… but it’s a first project and I am embracing the odd irregularities in my current crochet style. I’m quite excited about this new hobby as I’m sure it will make fall/winter Sunday afternoons on the couch in front of some sports game with Joseph all the more enjoyable. And it will be nice to be able to hopefully make my own cozy creations for those cold cold Cleveland winters.

New Years Day involved a special treat- peanut butter cookies for breakfast (peanut butter isn't popular at all here, is located in the foreign foods aisle and costs like a million euros), coffee from a real coffee pot (heaven after 3 months of boiling your own water for instant coffee), and more crocheting. A lovely day. It's the little things.

New Years is a favorite holiday of mine, second only to the 4^th of July. I really love the feel of New Years… it’s a sparkly holiday, with a lot of champagne, good friends, and a whole lot of hope for the upcoming year. I think it’s one of the most hopeful holidays we’ve got. After a 10 second countdown we all embrace the good and the bad of the previous year and look forward to the unknown the new one will bring. We kiss the one we love, we clink glasses and toast to those around us, and in general merriment we start something new. 

My New Year’s resolution multiple years while I was in college was to learn how to wink. This I never accomplished. It’s an unfortunate genetic disability. I’ve got some more serious goals for 2012…

•   Better integrate into French culture. Yes, I live in France. Yes, I work in a French High School. But when it comes down to whom I spend the most time with here, it’s not the French. I’ve got this wonderful little group of assistant friends from 3 other countries other than my own… but I am going to try to consciously push myself even further from my comfort zone and do something that will help me meet more French people. I know I have gone to such cultural events here as Miss Nantes and the Bar Bar Music Festival, but I can do more :P Step one is getting a language tandem partner. I can sign up with an organization that will connect me with a French person who is looking to improve his/her English language skills. We’ll meet up once a week or so just to talk for awhile in English, and for awhile in French. I’m writing it on the blog so now you can hold me accountable!

• Following the improve my language skills theme... start reading in French. I always take the free newspaper when I see it, but I need to pick up some novels while I have the access to them.

•  Travel…seeing as this is probably the last time I will be in Europe for awhile, and definitely the last time I will live here (unless Joseph has a mid-life crisis someday and is overcome by a desire to learn French, which I will not discourage). I’ve started a word document “Travel Wants” on my desktop. Some are reaches, but most are doable.

• Stop drinking pop. It’s so bad for me. I was doing really well kicking the diet coke habit before I left, but I’m back to buying off-brand Jean’s Coca Light these days.

• Continue to cook. So far since moving to France my proudest cuisine accomplishment has been the mussels from the market. But I’ve also made some good soups, chili,  an excellent warm goat cheese salad, and duck, besides what I was already familiar with. I’d really like to find a class to learn how to make those delicious French macarons.

I’m not sure my 2011 can be beat, but 2012 will bring new travels to London and potentially to Eastern Europe, the big move home to America and then to Cleveland, and the search for a new job.  I am hoping for wonderful adventures, quality time with great people, and new lessons to be learned in the upcoming year.  Allez-y!

Bisous,

Steph

What’s more sparkly than all the Christmas Lights in Nantes, The Twinkling Eiffel Tower, and the Spanish Sunshine?

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but that’s not because I’ve had nothing to update about. It’s been an eventful couple of weeks… Foyer Christmas celebrations, Joseph’s visit, our vacation to Spain, and our engagement! 

 So grab half a baguette to snack on and a glass (or maybe a bottle) of your favorite wine, and read on. This may will take awhile. 

I considered smoking a cigarette in this, just to fulfill all the stereotypes

I’ll start by wishing you all a Joyeux Noël, a Feliz Navidad, a Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday was as beautiful as mine was. Cheers to the upcoming New Year! I apologize if you didn’t get this in your mailbox, or your email inbox, (as things were a little hectic) but I wish you all the best for the holiday season…

I know. You’re dying to hear engagement details. But let’s go through things chronologically and start with Foyer Christmas Celebrations.

My friends and I did our best to get into the Christmas spirit in this foreign environment, away from our own country and family traditions. School had a great Christmas lunch; the sea-scallops and the wine were delicious and a little fancier than what the cafeteria usually serves up. I spent a night making and decorating Christmas Cookies and watching Elf with other Americans… a far cry from the 8 hour day my mom, sister, aunt and I usually devote to this task, but a nice little piece of home-like Christmas preparations all the same. My good friends here did a small gift exchange with a 5-10 euro limit… this is what I received. A witty mug and a bank… giant, gold, and slightly obnoxious… it suits me. How these friends of mine have come to know me so well within such a short time is a little wild. 

Our Foyer also had a Christmas Party, with a huge spread of food and WINE, going against its own no-alcohol in the building policy (although whenever I make the trek to recycle my glass, suspiciously clanking through the lobby, no one ever says anything). Pere Noel was there, made out of a stool, a mannequin head, and a Santa suit. The whole event was loads of fun, but also a little confusing, as we weren’t sure if all the food first laid on the table (appetizers) was all the food we would get… it was not an easy decision when exactly to stop returning for seconds/thirds etc, and was the topic of more than one whispered conversation amongst the foreigners. There was also a band, not your typical holiday music, but reggae type music instead. I’m not sure why the French love this style of music so much, and whether any of the band members have any idea what they are singing about in English, but I’ve danced to more reggae music here than anywhere else in my life. 

Joseph arrived on a Friday, despite a hurricane-like storm that hit the French coast and cancelled all flights and trains the night before and the morning of. I have never been so addicted to the computer, constantly refreshing flight statuses. He had his own travel drama that involved sprinting through JFK as he was accidently in the wrong part of the airport relaxing and watching some football game… but all was well and he made it. Stephanie 1, Sports 0. 

I won’t go into too much detail here, because my approximate 7 readers consisting of: my mother, my aunts, my sister in law, my mine as well be mother Kelly, and some of my best friends, already know how we got engaged.

If you are a mystery reader who doesn’t comment on the blog, I will tell you that we got engaged in a quiet local Creperie in downtown Nantes, in an old pedestrian-only part of the city with tiny winding streets near the castle, over a pitcher of wine and a delicious regionally-traditional meal. It was absolutely perfect. We are so excited. 

I of course had no idea. When I questioned the boxy square size of his travel man-bag, and why he was even bringing it out with him to dinner in Nantes when he could leave it in my apartment, I accepted his answer that both his phones were in there, and he just wanted to have everything with him. 

I am also very thankful that we didn’t go to the pizza place I suggested as a quick and easy meal, knowing how tired Joe must have been from traveling. (As delicious as it is, it just doesn’t have the same ambiance).

That night was spent calling our immediate families and packing for Paris. I am so thankful to our families for keeping things quiet and off the social media network, because coming back home to Nantes and calling our dear friends, sending emails to those we couldn’t reach, and telling everyone ourselves was too much fun to miss out on. 

So we started our second European vacation as an engaged couple. It was actually pretty nice to be away from everything… cell phones, constant internet access, and instead just take a week to focus on us, with no outside interruption. 

Our trip began a little crazily, as we left for the train station in Nantes at about 5:30 am… making the 10 minute walk to my tram stop with our luggage before I realized I didn’t have my passport with me. It’s not something I carry around for my every day living here, and in my defense my mind was a little preoccupied by the giant sparkle sitting on my left hand. We made our train with 5 minutes to spare. 

Our vacation began with a day in Paris-  Joseph and I have already been to Paris, having spent a few days there summer 2010, so we weren’t on a strict itinerary to see and do a million things. We went ice skating by City Hall, visited the Christmas market at the Eiffel Tower, saw the Christmas tree at Notre Dame, put a lock on a Parisian bridge, and visited the Champs Elysees to see Paris’ most famous street all lit up for the holiday. Quite a relaxing start to our vacation… until jet-lag kicked in and Joseph spent most of the night watching Lord of the Rings in French while I peacefully slept.

I have wanted to visit Spain for some time now, I really felt like it was one of those places I had to visit while I was young. Spain was delightful. The food, the drinks, the colors, the sunshine… really lovely.

One of my biggest surprises concerning Spain was its aversion to speaking English. As a language person, and a fairly experienced traveler, I like to think that I can get myself around fairly well in a foreign environment, and that I tend to respect the language and cultural barriers that travel brings. However, knowing we were visiting two large cities, Madrid and Barcelona, I was expecting little to no difficulty communicating despite my lack of Spanish. 

Had it not been for Joseph and his high school + 1 UD semester of Spanish, I'm not sure I would have known what most of the menu said, would not have been able to order my coffee at breakfast, ask for directions etc. I was quite impressed with his Spanish skills!  

We're not married yet... but he already knows coffee is the necessary start to my day, even if he has to order in Spanish

I am American. I am a King/Queen of the world. Speak my language.

 Most of Europe has truly embraced the dominance of English- sometimes in large cities in France I will speak French and because of my accent the response will come in English. My Spanish friend here mentioned that she thinks that the Spanish, including herself, have a “block” when it comes to speaking English. She took classes in school, even at the university level, but the only time I have heard her try to really communicate in English was when she met Joe in our foyer. After a beer or two she once asked me why Americans think they are the kings of the world and that everyone should speak our language- ironically we were with an English friend who was not blamed for his native language’s dominance in world culture. The world has an interesting opinion of us… and I can only hope that I do not fulfill every American stereotype out there. I’m not saying that Spain’s aversion to using English is a good or a bad thing- it’s not like America goes out of our way to learn world languages to welcome people to our country and make their travels easier- I’m just commenting on my surprise in finding that even in the large cities language truly was a barrier.  

As far as our other opinions of Spain, Joseph preferred Madrid and I preferred Barcelona… although both were wonderful. In Madrid we went to a soccer game- a huge part of European culture that I would have missed out on had it not been for Joseph’s interest. It was so fun to be there, to see the waving scarves and hear the whistling boos when the hometeam did not perform as hoped. We acted as the locals, taking large lunches (usually involving wine), going home for an afternoon siesta, and eating dinner late, around 9 or 10pm. We drank a lot of sangria, ate a lot of paella, had a lot of ham or seafood tapas, tried churros con chocolate (delish). 

We also walked through the old medieval part of town, visited the Royal Palace (included a visit to the armory and the pharmacy), the Cathedral, and visited a bull-fighting themed bar, complete with taxidermy Bull Heads on the walls and graphic photos of gory bullfights. 

We like sportz and we don't care who knows

 

Barcelona brought on long walks on La Rambla (the most important of which was when we saw a bulldog), morning visits to the market for fresh fruit juices, more tapas and sangria late night, and a day dedicated to the architecture of Gaudi… something I’ve been wanting to see in person for years. I found a “Free”/pay what you think is appropriate at the end Gaudi tour… Joseph was a good sport and agreed to this… and we spent one of our mornings learning about the greatness of Antoni Gaudi’s works with 15 Asian tourists, some of which were studying accounting. Despite it taking a bit of time to get there, I think Park Guell was my favorite. I just really enjoyed the coloring and the mosaic works there. But Sagrada Familia was also completely overwhelmingly amazing. There are things I wish we would have had more time to see in Barcelona, and I wasn’t quite ready to leave when we did… but I tend to feel that way about a lot of Europe.

 

 Coming home to Nantes brought the fun of calling our good friends and giving them our engagement news. It was a special treat to call my college roommate in Morocco- I haven’t heard her voice in almost a year and I am so thankful we got to actually talk with her. Of course it was a little hard to understand her, as well as some of my other college roommates, over their excited high-pitched congratulations. Another favorite involved trying relentlessly to get a hold of my best friend from high school, finally calling her boyfriend who thankfully answered, and who she was with at the time. I demanded why she had not been answering her phone, she asked me what was wrong and if I was ok, and when I reassured her everything was fine she screamed “well then you’re engaged!” 

Looking like a native Frenchman

Our four days in Nantes were very relaxing…we did some city specific things like visit the castle and the machines gallery, but we also spent a lot of time going to the market, watching movies, playing bananagrams/cards/pingpong. Our Christmas this year was probably the most relaxing one we will ever have, as we had no where to go, and not much to do but skype our families, eat delicious food, and drink a little too much wine :)

I’m looking at a few lonely days here at the foyer, seeing as my good friends are European and not coming back to Nantes until work starts up after the New Year. The day Joseph left I did what any normal recently engaged girl would do in my situation… cried in bed for half the day, then decided to cook myself one of my favorite meals (duck Mmm), bought a bridal magazine, and attempted to make cookies in my toaster oven. The cookies could have been better, but they have mysteriously dwindled in number since yesterday nonetheless… 

Féliciations on making it to the end of this long long post. Did you figure out what was more sparkly than the Nantes Christmas lights, the Eiffel Tower, and the Spanish Sunshine?

My ring, duh.

Bises Bises,

Steph

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

Merci

I am a lucky lucky girl, with a lot to be thankful for. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving, which left me just a tad homesick here in lovely France, I thought I’d dedicate this post to all the things I have to be thankful for at the moment.

Of course, the first, most important and probably gushiest I’ll get right now, I am thankful for my family. I think it was my greatest stroke of luck to be born a Wiezbenski, as I have wonderful parents, interesting and smart and unique siblings (and their significant others and children), extended family who send me texts and emails and cards and even have visited me over here… it was not easy to be away from everyone this past week. But I really need to give a shout out to my mother, who is a gem among gems, who mailed me Thanksgiving plates and napkins and surprise! the new Harry Potter DVD, who instinctively knew I would need a pick me up this past week, and who put up with a lot of complaining and a dramatic story & tears about my frustrations in finding a cookie sheet to fit my mini-oven here in France. Of course she realized that some of this frustration was certainly from France’s inability to provide me with this oven “truc”, but of course stemmed from other things, mainly homesickness. Thank you.

I am thankful for many many enthusiastic Americans who wanted to gather together and share this holiday with each other and with our many foreign friends. We had a turkey! I made green bean casserole, but couldn’t find canned Cream of Mushroom Soup or a bag of Fried Onions, so I did it all from scratch. God bless you Crème fraîche. I am really enjoying exploring cooking more, and getting creative when I don't have access to what I'm used to in America.  We had at least eight nationalities at our festivities… and that’s when I am just struck by how lucky I am to be here. To be living this experience. To be learning every day, from new people, from our world. It's hard for me to capture those kinds of feelings at home, isolated in our giant country.

I mentioned at the feast… I am so thankful to have great great people to share this with in France, but I am also thankful that I have so many really wonderful people at home to miss right now. You know who you are.

I am thankful that the process of legalizing my stay here is complete. I’m an immigrant! For the year. And to get away from all these emotional sentiments, I’ll share a bit of awkward with you. The process involved a lot of paperwork, some passport sized photos, and a medical appointment. The awkward parts were when they took a topless XRAY to test for Tuberculosis (I think it’s because they don’t want to deal with people coming back to their offices to get a skin test read), and they let you keep the XRAY to take with you on your tram ride home. This was only after the doctor analyzed it (no worries on the TB thing) and informed me that I need to eat a bigger breakfast because my stomach was looking a little empty. Medical Technology you are so weird. Language barriers can be interesting at the doctor’s office, and the one that made me blush the most was when the nurse said the standard “Condoms are the only protection against STDs” line except I did not understand her rapid-fire French, looked quite confused at this statement, and asked her to please repeat, like I had never heard this information before… once I got it, I awkwardly stated “Oh yea.. they teach us that in America too”.

I am thankful for The Hunger Games, which is the series of books I have been reading recently, and which is the cause of the delay in my normal Sunday blog posting. I am first to admit I am a giant book nerd and love reading in general… but these I cannot put down.

I am thankful for the interest of other teachers at school in who I am, and what I am doing here. I have rides organized for 2 of the 4 days of the week, when teachers go out of their way to bring me to and from school. This turns my hour long multiple public transport commute into a quick 15 minute car ride.  I have also been asked into and taught 2 geography classes, mainly just answering kids’ questions on the USA and showing pictures from my Roadtrip Vegas-Ohio last summer. The students had good and interesting questions and I took up their entire hour of class speaking with them. It was nice to have an entire class in French as well, as most of my classes are obviously in English. I am quite enjoying the majority of my students and teaching in general.

Because this is getting long, like normal, I am quickly but just as importantly thankful for:

the markets here (that constantly remind me of my sister in law, oh Hilary how you would enjoy shopping for food like this, actually making a relationship with your food and the people it comes from)

With the market comes Pastry Saturdays, my futile attempt to control my consumption of delicious French treats. This week,with nothing in my apartment for breakfast, I went for an apricot croissant from a baker at the market near médiathèque. I originally tried to photograph it for you, but it was so perfectly flaky and gooey at the same time that holding a camera and enjoying my weekly indulgence was just impossible.

that I live in Nantes, a big city with many social options each week. Like this past weekend, the national Festival de Bars Bars providing free local live music in almost every bar in the city and many other cities across the country. One of my English teachers at school is in a band that played and it was fun to go out and see her.

The Christmas market. And all that comes with it. Mulled wine, chis chis, carousels, beautiful Christmas trucs, and lights lights lights. Bliss. I’ll leave you with those beautiful images.

Mulled Wine. The only reason to like colder weather

 

Bises Bises Bises

Steph

Trop Contente

Bonjour Blog Readers are you out there? If you are, and you’ve been reading… send some comments my way. It brightens up my inbox! (Are my posts too long? I know I know. I write a lot…)

It’s been almost a month since the big Au Revoir and my dramatic entrance into France via 5 planes and at least 10 airport mental breakdowns. 

Things I am missing (besides your face)

Internet : This has been more frustrating than all the paperwork required to live in France. I’ve finally figured out my wifi in the lobby, but that’s only because I spent about 2 nights camped out in the lobby waiting for a computer guru to walk by. The problem was I knew what he looked like but did not know his name…

I have since purchased internet for my room. But I have to wait for at least 10 days to get my router/box technology thing. Unfortunately this box will probably come when I am on vacation with my family and I am afraid that if I don’t pick it up they will send it back.

I am also missing…

A kitchen that has more than 2 hot plates, 1 pot, 1 pan, 2 plates, 1 mug, and 2 bowls. I have mastered the art of making a pizza in a frying pan. And I’m eating like a college freshman again. Pasta Pasta Pasta. Lazy nights it’s just honey and baguette. I was planning on toughing it out and only using the hotplates for my time here, but I think I may make the big splurge on a toaster oven once the Department of Education fills up my French bank account a bit. I would really like to experiment a little with duck and also snails while I am here… maybe even rabbit if I can find something at the grocery that doesn’t actually look like a rabbit… 

Clothes Dryer. We have one at the foyer, but one of my friends used it and it worked for 2 hours and he thought his clothes were less dry afterwards. All of my clothes are currently spread on every possible surface of my room to “dry”. This makes things a bit uncomfortable when friends stop by- hey welcome to my room, there is no space to sit because my clothes are hanging off all the chairs and my desk and my kitchen table and every door handle… and yea, that’s a display of my underwear over there.

Things I am loving

The fact that my pants are feeling a little looser. Cheers to optimism and ignoring the fact that I haven’t put my jeans in a dryer for 3 weeks now. But the amount of walking I do over here is fantastic.

Kebabs and frites (gyros and fries) are the Cousin Vinny’s of France. There is a “restaurant” conveniently located at our tram stop and its open late night.

I have a lovely view of the field next to my building…. I tend to do a lot of watching out these windows. There’s a cat with no tail that frequents it quite often. There are a lot of bunnies that chase each other around. I see dogs and their owners and am jealous of them. We also had a homeless man for a brief spell of time and I could see his red tent in the woods next to the field (He has since packed up and moved away).

Canadian Thanksgiving. I celebrated the holiday for the first time here, and it was really one of my favorite nights thus far. We met up at another foyer and the Canadians prepared chicken (a turkey is hard to find and involves a lot of planning), taboulé (it’s kind of like stuffing right?), vegetables, mashed potatoes, salad, wine wine wine. I love Thanksgiving because its celebrations involve food and people you love… and this year I felt so grateful to be able to share this meal with people from all over the world (I think we had 6 different countries represented).  Community. I love it. The best part about Canadian Thanksgiving? We get to do the same thing all over again in 6 weeks for American Thanksgiving. The Americans are determined to have a turkey.

Free Fridays: I finally got my work schedule, and this girl has 3 day weekends every weekend. I am also finished teaching by 12 on Wednesdays.  But I have classes at 8am Mon/Wed/Thurs… and I have an hour commute. But I’m not complaining. I will teach for a week next week and then start our two week All Saints/Fall Vacation. 

And finally, I found this postcard to decorate my room: It’s a bulldog, with a glass of champagne tipped over, and the dog is wearing a sparkly red babyhat. I am warming up to the idea of a bulldog because Joseph is slightly obsessed, but I really do love this particular bulldog  because we both understand that every good party clearly needs a dog, some champagne, sparkles, and an amusingly small hat.

I shall leave you with that image. A Bientôt!

Bisous,

Stephanie

I wrote this post before leaving for the market this morning… I got home and almost deleted all of my “things I am missing” section. I forgot my camera this morning, so more on the market in a later post…

But this morning while shopping for fresh fruit and cheese and bread I said to my friend “Really, is there ANYTHING wrong with our lives right now? Because this is perfection”. Somehow no matter how many times I visit, France seems to recapture my heart in a new way. I’m quite Happy.