Novembre

Well, November has just slipped by!  I’ve had some really great times with the kids and my assistant friends here. 

First off, a couple weeks ago I went to Lyon with some other assistants: Maura, Harry and Raul.  They stayed there for three nights but I was only there for two of them because I work Fridays but they don’t.  I loved Lyon!  It was such a great city and it was so nice to be in a big town again!  Ah, I even had a white mocha from this little local bagel shop.  We were lucky that the Saturday we were there happened to be one the nicest days in November.  It was barely even jacket weather.  We ended up drinking our coffee by the Saône (one of the two rivers that cuts through Lyon) and it was so relaxing.  Lyon is old and very authentically French.  It was like Paris in that there were tons of people but it was better because it was more spread out and instead of being really international, I only heard French the entire time I was there.  It wasn’t just an international touristy town; it’s where the French go on vacation. 

The view of Lyon from the top of this HUGE hill we had to climb.

 

Me, Raul, Harry, and Maura.

 We went out both nights in Lyon and it was so great to be places with so many young people again!  On the second night, we met up with a French guy that Maura knew from when she studied abroad in Montpellier.  He showed us around with his friends and showed us these night clubs that are on docked ships on the Rhône River.  We were a little too exhausted to go on them by the time we got around to seeing them but it’s a really cool idea.  So, nobody was exactly thrilled to come back to Blois on Sunday where the city sleeps by 9pm every night.

Thanksgiving was a total success in that we made an “American Week” out of it.  Each day this week has been some sort of event leading up to the dinner on Thursday. 

oooh  baby.

I ended up making cookies, a sweet potato dish that my mom always makes, and a pumpkin pie.  It took most of the afternoon on Wednesday to make everything but I got to hang out with Valérie and her kids while I was cooking.  They were very happy about the cookies (which I gave them half the batch) and not so impressed by the idea of either sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie.  They never have them in sweet sugary dishes so I think they were a little grossed out by the idea of that.  Regardless, they were a hit at our dinner for assistants and my sweet potatoes were gone pretttty fast.  Everyone brought different dishes which was cool because then we got to try everyone’s family favorites.  Mac & Cheese now needs to be an official Thanksgiving dish because I had the best ever made by Sharae.  We were anxious about if we could find turkeys here but we found them a little outside the city at a huge supermarket.  We ended up with two turkeys: one spicy Cajun and one with French seasoning.  Definitely had a food coma.

It snowed a little on Thanksgiving and melted before noon but my students were still really stirred up by it.  It was a horrible day teaching because they were impossible to rein in which was great timing because I was already not feeling great about missing home.  Fortunately, the great dinner and time I had later with my Blois family really helped me not feel so homesick.

Teaching Thanksgiving to my students was really enjoyable actually.  It was very humorous in the beginning because they all thought that Thanksgiving was just another Christmas and that we give gifts, eat, and dance!  I had to be the bearer of bad news and say that it’s mainly just a meal and a sentiment of feeling thankful.  They got the gist of it and were very sweet about asking if I’d miss it this year.

I start my winter holiday/Christmas unit on Monday and I’m excited for the next three weeks.  As soon as I was done working on Friday, I went to the French equivalent of a Target and bought a little tree for my desk with ornaments and other things I was swayed to buy.  Of course, I played the Carpenters Christmas album and trimmed the tree.  I am now officially ready to start thinking Christmas.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just want to say to everyone reading this how thankful I am for all of you.  Even in spite of the distance where we are very far apart, you make it seem not so far.  I couldn’t and wouldn’t be here without you.  Thank you so much!

‘Ap-ee Sanks-geev-eeng!  (as the French would say)

Bisous,

Em

Les Vacances

Alright, so I have finally returned back “home” in Blois and am back in the rhythm of teaching again.  It’s amazing how within one month, a new place can feel like home already.  After being away on vacation for ten days, constantly moving, it was so nice to finally return and settle.  I had a great vacation though!

The strikes kind of messed with my plans on the day I left for London.  My train to Paris was cancelled so I got on a later train which therefore made me miss my Eurostar to London.  I had bought a non-reimbursable ticket so I just accepted the fact that I would have to buy a whole other ticket to London once I got to Paris Gare du Nord.  Turns out though, that the word “grève / strike” is the keyword of understanding with customer service people.  As soon as I said that my train was cancelled “à cause de la grève” they were super nice and put me on the next train for no extra cost.  I got into London an hour and a half later than expected but I was greeted by the best hug and excitement from Katrina, my old roommate and great friend from Linfield!!  Ah, it was so nice to talk talk talk talk, drink white mochas from Starbucks, shop, and just have someone there who knew me so well.  In Blois, I have friends but there’s nothing like seeing someone who you’ve known for a long time and experienced so much with.  It was very therapeutic to see her and we’re hoping to meet up again in Paris sometime soon!

After the weekend with Katrina, I boarded the train for my adventure in the north.  I made it to Sheffield, Manchester, and Liverpool (Beatles museum, walked down Penny Lane!) to see some friends I worked with from camp in NY last summer.  It was nice to see other parts of England besides touristy London which was packed with people!  I liked seeing the more normal part of student life and talking to people about cultural differences.

Throughout this time though, I was still dealing with the fact that I was speaking all in English – all the time!  When I first bumped into someone on the street I said “pardon” as I would in France and it took me a while to get in the habit of saying “sorry” or “excuse me” again.  It’s crazy how only after a month, it can feel unnatural to speak your own language.

After my jaunt around the north, I was ready to head to a world full of chocolate, beer, and “bonjour”.  I took the train from London to Brussels and then Brussels to Namur (about an hour away).  My friend Hannah who I studied abroad with in Aix two years ago and fellow Linfield alumna is au pairing in Namur, Belgium.  It was really therapeutic to see Hannah as well and speak in French together again!  I LOVED Belgium!  It has all the frenchiness while being more Germanic/almost American.  The people are more openly friendly, they wear more colors, they eat in the streets as they walk, and everything is on time.  Also, Belgian Waffles are amazing!! They aren’t like the waffles we have that we put with maple syrup.  They are made from sweet bread dough and have this sugar glaze on it that caramelizes when it’s put in the griddle.  I had about three total while I was there and am currently trying to find a place here in Blois that makes them.

It was interesting though because they use different vocabulary than the French.  “Tantôt” is the equivalent of “bientôt” meaning “see you later”.  When people hold the door open for you or when store clerks hand you your bag, they say “s’il vous plait” meaning “if it pleases you” or just the English equivalent of “please”.  In France, they will just say “tenez / here you go” or “voilà / here it is”.  It was interesting to see these differences because Belgium is such a mix of cultures.  It’s interesting because Hannah and I both got used to the culture of southern France/Provence and now we are both much more north.  The south is a strong culture and now we know that we got to know a region, not a country.  I feel the same way about the States, of course.  I only know the West coast region well and everything else has been in small doses.  It’s just amazing to me though that France is smaller than Texas and they have as much diversity in culture across its nation as we do in the States and we are massive.  I hope that I can see more of France while I’m here for the next six months so I can continue to learn about the country as a whole, as well as my region here in the Centre.

Unfortunately, I didn’t dress up for Halloween for this year but a lot of things are different this year.  I’m finally in a place where I’ve stopped comparing my other experiences with this one.  I had a great one in Aix and it’s the reason I wanted to return to France but it’s not the same experience.  It took me a month to accept that but I’m finally at ease here and I’m a lot happier.

In other news:

• The Christmas lights are all up around Blois but haven’t been light up yet.  They have huge rope-light banner type things that are hung between almost every main road so it’s going to be so pretty!
• I lasted 3 weeks without peanut butter.  I finally had to crack the jar open the week before vacation.  I needed some incentive to get through the week.
• I’m addicted to going to my local favorite bakery “Le Théâtre du Pain / The Bread Theatre” where no other baguette compares!
• I have realized how much I love certain words in French that don’t have a direct translation like “profiter” and “gourmande”.  My landlady always tells me to “profite de la France!” (Basically, profit from being in France.  A profit here doesn’t always mean financial which is a sweet thought.)  And “gourmande” is someone who enjoys eating great food or sweets = moi.
• Going along with this, remembering which words are masculine and feminine is a never ending process but I think some words have accurate correlations.  My favorite being: “nuit / night”.  There’s something comforting and motherly about the nighttime being feminine.
• I just agreed to be a chaperone for my 5^th graders on a week-long ski/camp/school outing in the Alps this January.  They needed another female to go and they asked me!  It’s all expenses paid and I get free time to ski when the kids are in class most afternoons.  It’s basically going to be like summer camp for a week, in French, in the Alps.  So excited.

So, now I’m on to another week of teaching.  This Thursday, the 11st, is celebrating Armistice so there is no school!  That’s one less lesson to plan which is nice because today I need to plan out my units all the way up to Christmas break.  I will be starting my Thanksgiving unit next week so I’m very excited to enlighten the kids about that.  After Thanksgiving passes, it’s going to be a quick couple weeks and then my family arrives!  I’m really looking forward to spending Christmas break with them in Switzerland and France! 

Love and miss you all from across the Atlantic!

Tantôt,

Em