Christmas!

December 6th - St. Nicolas!

St. Nicolas is big here in France, especially in the Lorraine region, apparently. In a nutshell, the good citizens of BLD spent the greater part of November stringing lights all over the town, and on December 6^th, they turn on all the lights, and there is a parade and fireworks. This is pretty similar to what most of the towns do for St. Nicolas, in this region at least. After the parade, we watched the fireworks, which weren’t bad.

Christmas Markets in Nancy

This past weekend, after a minor strike by SNCF (they like to strike during the holiday season, apparently) which led to us having to take a 2-hour bus ride instead of a 1-hour train ride, we made it to Nancy to go Christmas shopping. Thierry, Kat, and I have now figured out a bizarre method of conversing: us speaking to Thierry in French, and him speaking to us in English. It sounds strange to hear, but it is effective for all of us. We kept this up for almost the entire time we were in Nancy…where it was COLD. Below freezing temperatures and wind are not things that should go together, but thankfully there is ‘Vin Chaud’ (hot spiced wine) for sale on every street corner due to the abundant Christmas markets.

Field trip

Today instead of teaching my normal classes at l’école de Fains, I went with the entire school (mind you, this is the school with 4 classrooms) via charter bus to Commercy. (20 min by train or 40 min by bus East of BLD, only 7, 000 people live here. They are known for their delicious little cookie/cakes called Madeleines). It was a bouncy ride, and of course, a student vomited. Thankfully this was only 9 km outside of our destination. There we saw a one-man musical show. It was very impressive actually, just one man and about 12 instruments, which he combined in different ways to make humorous songs for the children. When it was over, I abandoned the teachers when they went back to BLD, so I could go sit in on one of Caitlin’s classes and then grab some lunch with her, and take the train back to BLD in time for my afternoon class. It was a lot of fun and I wish I saw her more often!

I go back to the states for Christmas break this Saturday. I happily learned that there is not going to be a strike on the day I leave (two of my friends work for SNCF, so they gave us a heads up about upcoming ones) so assuming all goes to plan, I should make it to the airport okay. I am really looking forward to seeing my family, friends, and animal buddies!

I forgot to mention...it snowed!!!

Boulevard de la Rochelle
Walking down the Boulevard...
Our town's Christmas tree!
THE FLOATS
Alice in WonderlandNo idea what this is.
Aladdin?

A Mississippi Paddleboat!!! Complete with entire jazz band on top, and smoke billowing from the 'engines'.
The bike-powered bubble machine!The bubble machine power source.


Snow white and 4 dwarves?

Kat and I!

St. NicolasThey are really into Christmas decorations here.
Hôtel de Ville


The gazebo at the parc de l'hôtel de ville

Some of the smaller fireworks...

NANCY!
The fountain at Place Stanislas

More fountain...
More fountain...

Place Stanislas

The Christmas tree at Place Stanislas...check out the last video to see it in action.Street decorations...

More decor...Okay, so this picture, is the end result of the following video. It was already taking place in the Place when we arrived...no idea.


What the...


Place Stanislas at Christmas!

My Birthday!

My birthday could not have been any better...seriously. Good friends, good food, good music, ninja sword fights, unexpected presents...what more could I ask for? (Okay, I wish Chris had been there. Stupid brother! Why are you in Seattle!?)

For the party, Hélène and Nicolas very graciously offered their house, and we all drove over in a caravan. Having attended Julie's birthday party the previous weekend (drinks and food at her place, then to the discothèque where we were kicked out at 4:30 am when it closed, and managed to make it in bed by 6 am), I had an idea of what to do for an ideal French birthday party. With the aide of Julie's car, Thierry to drive it, and Kat to help prepare all the food, the night before we made a run to the French equivalent of Wal-Mart - and it is just as terrifying - where the cheapest prices can be found without a doubt.

We took all the necessary items and with the aide of Julie and Thierry's kitchen (they have an oven AND a food processor!) Kat and I prepared all the food that had to be made the night before...i.e. the smoked salmon terrine (this is like salmon-flavored crack), and lots of crispy pancetta.

A couple hours before the party, Kat, being the good friend she is, continued to aide me with the preparation of the rest of the food: crispy pancetta topped with chevre, pear, and mint, melon wrapped with prosciutto, camembert with fig jelly, pâté en croute (I wish I could say I made this from scratch, but alas, it was store-bought), simple munchie snacks from the store, etc.

The party was great. Everyone loved the food (especially the smoked salmon terrine - thank you for this recipe, Dad! I have successfully translated it into French for Hélène because it was such a hit!) and there was, suprisingly, enough food for all 14 people who were there!

I got home around 4:30 and slept until 11. On weekends, my sleep pattern is a little screwy.

Here are the pictures from the party!

Kat, dutifully spreading chevre on crispy pancetta.
Almost all of the prepared food and alcohol that had to be transported to Hélène and Nico's.
Everyone patiently awaiting our service.
The girls of the party...
The boys of the party...
Florion, Olivier, and Scott
Chowin' down on the smoked salmon goodness.Kat and I slicing up the terrines.
Maxim, an expert in the exact science of face-making.

Happy birthday!
Maxim successfully thwarting evil ninja Nico...don't worry, they are not sharp whatsoever.
Thierry and I!
Amélie, Olivier, Fabrice, and Maxim
Maxim and Kat


Presents!A bottle of Mirabelle liquour...it will definitely warm you up.
This was my chorus of random songs while I opened my presents. The best was 'I Will Survive', where no one knew the lyrics because they were in English. I just wish it had been filmed!
My new awesome scarf from Kat!
Qu'est-ce que c'est?It is a music box that plays 'la Vie en Rose', which is one of the best French songs ever.
A box chock-full of goodies of the Lorraine. Just be wary of the candies that are filled with Mirabelle liquour jelly...even the candy burns!
My AWESOME birthday cake, bought from a local pâtisserie, it had a pistachio crust, with rasperry jelly on top, and vanilla nougat with mousse and raspberry jelly inside. There is no better place on earth to buy a cake than in France. I am still debating going to this pâtisserie to buy another one of these just for myself...so good!

The melon and prosciutto! It is safe to say I have never had a better tasting melon before this night.
Good times!

Brussels, Amsterdam, Dad, Paris, and you're caught up finally!

Okay, I know it has been awhile since I last posted, but I have been feeling particularly lazy lately.

My trip to Brussels and Amsterdam was great! Here it is in a nutshell for your reading convenience:

BRUSSELS -
-Mussels
-Lots of GOOD beer!
-Chocolates
-Naked peeing boy (Manneken Pis)
-Waffles topped with chocolate
-Lots of hot chocolate (because it was freezing the whole time!)
-Delirium Tremens (the café - it holds the world record for numbers of beers available, which happens to be 2004 different beers!)
-Cinquantenaire - natural history museum
-Open-air bus tour (did I mention it was freezing?)
-Musical instrument museum
-Hotel complete with refrigerator (we put our food outside on the windowsill because it was THAT cold.)

AMSTERDAM -
-It was very rainy and very cold the first day, mostly rainy and still very cold the second day
-Rijksmuseum
-Dutch history museum
-Torture museum
-Anne Frank House
-Red light district
-Taking the tram too far and walking back into the city...several times.
-Really good french fries
-Everyone spoke English
-Hostel with never ending hallway (it was literally two city blocks once inside our hostel to get to the room)

Travel:
We took the train to Metz, missed the bus to Brussels (the bus left early, NEVER use Eurolines!!!), took the train to Brussels, the bus to Amsterdam (our EUROLINES bus was an hour late arriving in Brussels), then it was a grueling 10-hour bus ride from Amsterdam to Metz, - with a bus crew that spoke only Spanish because the bus was returning to Barcelona, and with an incredibly unsanitary bathroom (I have never seen so much urine at one time in my life) which made the ride quite unpleasant. Then we got into Metz an hour early (the bus immediately left after it dropped us off, so I hope no one in Metz had intended to go on to Barcelona that night - did I mention Eurolines sucks?). After that we took the train back to BLD.

And that was my vacation!

Here are the pictures:

We did go to Brussels first, not Amsterdam, but Blogspot and I don't always get along...
AMSTERDAM -
On the way to Amsterdam...In Dam Square, the Royal Palace
One of the many canals...
A very long stretch of road...this was on one of the several walks back into the city after overshooting our tram stop.
Amsterdam...
A windmill
Rijksmuseum, unfortunately this was the only sunny day and we spent the entire day inside this building. But at least now I know more about Dutch history!A photo of some pretty canal houses as evidence of the sun
BRUSSELS -


Parc van Brussel
Tin Tin saves the day!The Cinquantenaire Arch in Cinquantenaire Park

The Arch up close
Manneken Pis! ...it is a lot smaller than I expected.
Brussels from a distance...
The Atomium! ...it is HUGE.
The musical instrument museum! It is a little disappointing because the museum isn't set up very well.
Brussels...
One of many churches...
Concorde de Congrès
Delirium Tremens Café!
Julia, Scott, Scott's friend from university (in Canada, mind you) who we ran into while walking in the street in Brussels, and me in Delirium Tremens CaféLa Maison du Roi in the Grand Place
L'hôtel de ville in the Grand Place


The day after I returned, I had to go to the doctor, a mandatory step in gaining temporary French citizenship. I stupidly forgot to bring my passport, which turned out not to be a problem at all. After being asked virtually no questions regarding my health, I passed with flying colors and now I am officially a temporary French citizen!

After the break, Dad came to visit me! He rented a car and drove from Paris, which allowed us to go exploring through the countryside, which was both beautiful and fun. We ate the first night in the Ville Haute at a restaurant called La Grille de la Tour - it was here that Dad and I split a HUGE cut of beef, which they grilled over coals in the fireplace. Very good. The second day after I finished work, Dad and I drove to Paris, where we went to visit the Sainte Chapelle, ate great food, and found my birthday present - a very beautiful Waterman fountain pen. Thank you Mom and Dad! :)

Inside Sainte Chapelle
More Sainte Chapelle...More Sainte Chapelle...
Dad and I in front of Notre Dame de Paris

This last week, I went to visit my third school, which I start working in tomorrow. And I finally got my fourth school as well. This bumps me up to 10 hours a week! When people ask me what I do with my free time, I really have no answer...I guess I draw/paint and watch movies. Occasionally I read. It is really a life of excitement and danger - but at least it is in French. Today I did my laundry, which entails me paying WAY too much money to inhale second hand smoke while I wait. Exciting, I know.

This past weekend was fun, I went with Thierry and his friends to a karaoke bar, where I "sang" in French and English (Why yes I did sing bohemian rhapsody to the French public). Saturday night, was a crémaillère for Fabrice, a.k.a. a house-warming party. It was a lot of fun, with lots of pasta carbonara for dinner and an amazing apple tart made by Hélène for dessert. It went late into the night/morning, and I definitely took a nap yesterday.

Here are a few of the highlights:


Nicolas is proving to us that he is indeed French.
Thierry, making a funny face as instructed.
Maxim, Fabrice's son, taking a moment away from shooting nazis to demonstrate his face-making skills.
The crewEnter: the wig.
Fabrice
Julie
Thierry!


So that is what has been going on lately, I will try not to be as lazy and keep you better updated from now on!