France + Diet = Oxymoron

Hello everyone from sunny and warm Northern France! :) Ahh it is finally spring! Today I have the window wide open and am listening to the "Top Hits" songs from the TV across the street.  And, yesterday, for possibly the first time in about 3 years now, I have the slightest hint of a suntan! Yesterday was my roommate Miriam's last day in Douai.  Her sister was in town to drive her home, so yesterday the three of us spent last day together...at the beach! It was so wonderful! But before we went to the beach, we stopped in Bergues, France--a small town made famous by a French film.  We had lunch at a restaurant that came highly recommended to us, called "Le Bruegel."  All the waitresses wore traditional smocks and the food was regional specialties of the North of France. We opened up our menus, and soon realized it was impossible to order something that was not smothered in cheese.  Like I am talking the amount of cheese in this restaurant could cause the digestive systems of the entire population of Delaware to come to a complete halt.  It was absolutely unbelievable.  I could not even eat 1/3 of my meal ( a. because it was so unbelievable heavy, and b. because I was legitimately concerned about the health of my heart after eating 2 bites). 

Me with my hearty lunch.

At the beach (well...close to it at least.  It was way to cold and windy to actually sit on the beach, so we took refuge on some sand dunes next to the beach). 

Anyway, it was a really fun day, but the whole time I had that weird feeling in my stomach that I always get when times start to change.  Miriam is the second person to leave our apartment, and by Friday morning there will only be two of us left.  Last Thursday night, all of the English teachers in my high school took me out to dinner.  I was asked many times how I felt about leaving, if I was sad, if I was going to miss my new friends/students/etc.  I really struggled with how to answer this difficult question. My lifestyle these past 5-6 years has been rather transient, so this is certainly not the first time in my life that I have had to say goodbye to people and experiences that have truly meant something to me. So being asked this question several times has made me realize that no, I do not feel sad about leaving. Instead, I just feel really appreciative that I have had this opportunity to meet so many wonderful people and to have this experience abroad.
Ok..that and plus when I leave next Tuesday I am going to be going....

HERE (Ireland - 8 days)

 

Then HERE (Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia- 2 days) 

Then on to HERE (Hvar/Split, Croatia--4 days)

And finally, HERE (Dubrovnik, Croatia--4 days)

Then I will meet my parents in the French/Swiss Alps for some hiking, and then we will end in Paris.  Ahhhh.  So while in the above paragraphs I was trying to sound philosophical and regal about my life experiences teaching me to accept good things coming to an end...but let's be honest...this is really why I am not sad....

Anyway, I need to get outside and enjoy the sunshine.  I hope you all have a lovely Sunday!
I'll be back home from May 22nd--May 30th, and then I will be in Alaska from May 30--August-ish, so I look forward to seeing ya'll soon! :)

No, THIS is how you pronounce your name!

Hello everyone!
So its only been about 6 weeks since my last post!! Whoops! In my defense, I have been traveling for 5 out of those six weeks.  So as you can imagine, updating my blog was about the last thing on my mind whenever I had a free hour or two.  But, I have three more weeks here in Douai, and lots of glorious, glorious free time, so I will try to summarize my last 6 weeks as best as I can!

But in perhaps more important news--today I received the revolutionary news that for 24 years now, I have been mispronouncing my own name!! God, how foolish I feel! Thank the heavens for the incredibly sweet and kind woman who intervened and told me how my name should really be pronounced.  Ok...in case you haven't yet noticed, this is positively dripping with sarcasm.  I was doing something administrative, and the woman asked what my name was, so I told her. She stopped what she was doing, pointed her nose at me and peered at me in disgust over the top of her glasses.  "No," she replied, "you mean "Kree-steeein Ka (disgusting hissing noise that originated from all the phlegm residing at the back of her throat") -eeel."  Ok, I get it, I'm in France and yes, I know that French people will say my name with a French accent, just like no matter how hard I try, I will always say their names with a bit of an English accent.  But never once has the thought of correcting them on the pronunciation of their own name crossed my mind. Bitch puhlease. Normally I am a pretty cool and collected person, but I had to take two deep breaths before I trusted myself to open my mouth to respond. 

Okay, so its the little things like this that make me look forward to going back to the United States.  BUT...it is the huge things, like in the paragraphs below, that make me not quite ready to leave yet...

So I'm just going to start from the beginning, and I imagine it will take me a few posts to make it through all six weeks.  So here goes:

So six weeks ago, I met one of my best friends from home in Germany.  Perhaps one of the biggest highlights of the vacation was our day trip to Castle Neuschwanstein in Bavaria.  The bus dropped us off at the bottom of a hill in the town of Neuschwanstein.  The Castle itself was about 25-30 minute walk up a nearby hill.  The tour guide gave us all our tickets for the tour inside the castle, and then we all went our separate ways before meeting up for the tour later.  Kel and I made it to the top of the hill, and I showed her the bridge where we hiked to last time to get a better view of the castle.  So if you look closely at the picture below,

you can see a V-shaped gorge in the center--that is where the bridge is.  Unfortunately, the bridge was closed for the winter season due to all the snow.  Well, rebellious as we are, we decided to hop the fence and go anyway. So we ditched the tour and went hiking instead.  After walking a few minutes, we ran into an older couple who did the same thing we did, so we felt comforted and continued on.  The only trouble we encountered was a VERY steep part of the trail that was so icy that it was impossible (seriously--it was impossible to find enough traction to climb it), so we had to veer off the trail and climb some rocks.  The view from the bridge was so beautiful--especially with all the brand new snow that was falling.  We grabbed some pictures and then headed back down the hill--our tour bus was scheduled to depart in an hour.  So after a few wipe-outs we made it down the really steep part of the trail to the junction point where the trail branched off in 4 different directions.  We laughed at all the danger signs, and I had Kelly take my picture by one as I was pointing at it and laughing.  And here, ladies and gentlemen, is proof that karma exists.  Because that stupid gate was the trail we were supposed to take back to the castle. Instead, we continued down a different (wrong trail) that basically pointed 90 degrees downhill and took us ALL the way down the hill. 

Kelly climbing around the fence that closed off the trail to the bridge

Kel and I on the bridge, with Castle Neuschwanstein in the background!

My meeting with Karma.  This is me being dumb and laughing at the "Danger Ahead" sign.  Seconds later we miss our trail and take the black diamond ski slope down the entire freaking mountain instead of the easy winding road that everyone else took.

In the end though, we made it! This is the road we took down.  It doesn't look to bad, but pictures can be deceiving, ya'll.  Kel asked someone to take our picture by the sign where someone is wiping out....and as she was walking up to the sign she wiped out herself (probably the 89th wipeout of the day between the two of us).  Hahaha...sorry Kel but it was hilarious! :)

Ok, so that was the day we got disoriented in Bavaria.  The next day, I woke up with these itchy, huge red welts all over my face, arms, and ankles.  Kel and I (naively) hoped they might just be spider bites, so we went to the pharmacy to get some medicine to put on them.  The pharmacist took one look at the bites, started laughing, and said, "I think you have something in your bed." We went back to the hostel, went to the front desk, and I swept my hair back somewhat bashfully so they could see the welts. The guy took one look and said "oh that's nasty." (gee thanks, guy...I had to walk around for 4 days with those things on my face, thanks for boosting my confidence).  Anyway, he found the bedbugs dwelling in the wooden part of my bedframe, and he immediately refunded us our money, switched our rooms, and gave us tokens for the washing machines.  So we spent the whole day washing our clothes, disinfecting our suitcases (we didn't want those buggers traveling with us for the rest of our trip!), and showering (it just felt gross).  We decided to go to a beerhall that night with the refunded money we got for the bed bugs.  We walked in and were ushered by a round, sprightly waiter to a spot next to some older German men.  The waiter then asked us if we wanted one liter, two liters, or 5 liters of beer. We looked around and saw that everyone had the tall skinny glasses of beer, so we said 1 liter please, thinking that's what everyone else had.  The German guys started laughing and old us we had been tricked into ordering the biggest size beer they had.  Oh shucks...

Kel focusing on her Augustiner beer

My delicious dinner that one of the German guys recommended.  It was half a chicken, with a potato and cucumber salad.  While I was trying daintily cut into the chicken, the German guy told me, "You are supposed to just pick it up with your hands and eat it." So I did, and just then the waiter walked by and cried out in broken English, "she uses her hands to put it in her mouth! I like, I like!!"...

After the beerhall, we went back to the bar at our hostel, which was actually really crowded and full of various characters.  Kel and I sidled up to the bar, and we started talking to the guys next to us who were from the US but have been teaching English in Munich for the past 5 years.  It turned out that I knew one of their cousins, who went to the University of Iowa.  Then, I turned to my right and started talking to a new group of people who just walked in.  They were a group of glaciologists from Vienna, and it turned out that we had all been in McCarthy, Alaska last summer and we had some mutual friends. So Bernie and I became great friends over this.  Anyway, Bernie and his friends were reallllllyyy drunk (and hilarious) and were thus causing a bit of a disturbance (see video above). And for those of you who know how Kel and I can get together...you know that we MAY have been contributing a bit to the overall atmosphere of partying.  Then, around midnight, this old German guy walks into the bar with a huge McDonald's sack.  He pulls out a cheeseburger from the bag, and gives one to the bartender, then walks over to Kelly and I and puts one between us.  Then he proceeds to pull out about 15 more cheeseburgers and starts throwing them to people around the bar.  It was rather ingenious and a very creative way of making friends. 
Anyway, shortly after that Bernie got kicked out of the bar, and Kel and I went to bed, as we were heading off to Rome the next day!

To be continued later...I'm afraid I'll get carpal tunnel if I type any longer...

Mrs.? Is That a Penis or a Map of Ireland?

Hello everyone!
I'm guessing most of you are getting ready to watch the Superbowl right now! I'm so jealous of all the good beer and appetizers/pizza/grilled food that is about to be consumed by ya'll in the next couple of hours.  Oh, what I wouldn't do for a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Fat Tire, or Blue Moon right about now.  So jealous.  Well, not THAT jealous...because this weekend I ate a "ficelle picarde" (huge burrito-like crepe stuffed with delicious cheese, mushrooms and ham) Friday night, then moved on to an absolutely divine pan of enchiladas followed by cupcakes, pudding, and candy Saturday night, and then more cupcakes and cookies today. And now my biggest problem is trying to decide if I should go to Istanbul or the Dalmation Coast in Croatia for the final summer holiday (any input or suggestions are welcome).  So there. 

Anyway, I haven't posted in over a week because not much has been going on since I got the good news last week (wow, was it only last week?!).  Last weekend I was looking through my calendar, and it really hit me that the rest of my time here is going to absolutely fly by.  Here is why:

-February 19th--March 7th I will be traveling with one of my best friends from home to Frankfort, Munich, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, and Paris. 
-March 9th--March 13th--traveling to California to check out UC Davis
-March 18th--21st--weekend in Amsterdam
-March 24--chaperoning a trip to London
-April 15--May 7th--summer holiday to either Croatia or Istanbul
-May 7th-May 21st--Ireland and Paris with the fam
May 21st--flight home

Um, holy crap. So while I can hardly contain my excitement about all this traveling coming my way, I also really want to make sure that I am enjoying my time in France and with all of my roommates and other assistants.  So...last weekend I went out in Lille with a bunch of other assistants. We took the last train to Lille around 10pm and headed to some bars in Vieux Lille (the old part of town), then around 2am headed to the Latina Cafe (since we were with a bunch of Spanish assistants).  When we got to the Latina Cafe I was in desperate need of a drink but was also in desperate need of conserving my money. So...I did what any other lady in my situation would do.  I spied some young guys at the bar with a few drinks in front of them, then sidled up next to them to buy a drink. And before I knew it I had a double shot of tequila in one hand, and a beer in the other, and my wallet remained unopened (ok, I'm sorry Mom if you are reading this...but I hope at least a part of you is proud of my frugality?!).   So after this little boost I was able to make it out til the first train back to Douai at 6:20am.  

On Monday morning I took on a new class with new students.  Their teacher wanted me to help them prepare for their test on the Troubles in Northern Ireland later that week. Trying to get them to talk was like pulling teeth, so I started with the absolute basics about Ireland.  I drew a very quick sketch of Ireland with Northern Ireland sectioned off, and then drew a line coming out of the top of Northern Ireland to label it.  As soon as I did this the kids burst out laughing, and one girl exclaimed, "Mrs! You draw a penis!" I stepped back to take a look, and sure enough I had. I couldn't help myself, I started laughing too, which probably says a lot about my maturity level.  I changed the map, but after that the students wouldn't take me seriously, and frankly I don't blame them. God knows what they wrote on their test later in the week...

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful.  I did get some more good news though.  UC Davis offered to fly me out (from France!) to check out their campus, meet the faculty and other grad students, etc.  So I am really excited to learn more about the programs and meet the profs.  I really hope that I like the town, although I haven't heard rave reviews about it...and it sounds awfully hot for my tastes (remember, this is coming from the girl who often complains that the "winter" in Northern France isn't cold or snowy enough...). 

Saturday night I hung out with my two German roommates. Together we made a huge pan of enchiladas and homemade guacamole, plus cupcakes and pudding for dessert.  Then we watched a French movie (there were no subtitles, so about every 10 minutes my lovely roommates explained what was happening, bless them).  Despite understanding very little of the dialogue, I actually really liked the movie.  Then tonight I got together for desserts with a couple other assistants.  Overall it was a very nice and very quiet weekend.  Like I said above, I can hardly stop myself from wetting my pants when I think of all the traveling and fun coming my way in just TWO WEEKS --(now actually only 11 days Kel!!), BUT...I hate the idea of wishing time away, and thus I plan on enjoying the next quiet, but nice, 11 days.

Anyway, I miss you all very much. I'm excited to see many of you this summer (I will be rooming with the 'rents and my cats in Nevada til August). So don't forget about me! :)

Oh! I was about to post this without talking about the most important thing that happened to me this week! Wtf! So last Tuesday night, I was at the gym waiting for a class to finish up before the step class started. I walked up to the class, and a couple of the guys who work at the gym said "Ah, l'americaine! Eh-low, oww are ewwwww?" (this is how I am known at the gym--as "l'americane." I have no name).  Anyway, a girl standing next to me said (in French): ah, you are American?" Me: "Yes" Her: "Where are you from in the US?" Me: "Iowa, a very small state next to Chicago." Her "What are you doing in France"....and so on. But my point is--I had a CONVERSATION in FRENCH with an actual French person...and it gets better...I UNDERSTOOD everything she was saying and SHE understood what I was saying too! It was a miracle beyond all other miracles!!! Anyway, I was quite pleased with myself :)  This is a bit of a milestone for me, because while I have had "conversations" with French strangers before, there is always the inevitable awkward part that comes when I don't understand what they said, so I just reply "Oui" with a dumb smile on my face and 5 seconds later realize that they didn't ask me a "yes/no" question, and they realize I don't understand them. But this was my first conversation where the dumb smile didn't make its dreaded appearance!!  Yesssss!!!!!

Anyway, take care everyone! Miss you (except if you are a Packers fan). 

Good Days Galore!

Hello everyone!

So I got some really good news this week! I was accepted into the PhD program at the University of California at Davis--my top choice!! I am so, so, sooo happy! Haha some of you have been witness to how nervous and stressed I was about this.  Whenever the subject would come up I would feel sick to my stomach and my blood pressure would skyrocket.  Shows how well I deal with stress.... ;)
Anyway, this whole week in general has been really good.  On Monday I received a book in the mail that I ordered from Amazon.fr.  It was just one of those that amazon recommends to you based on your previous purchases, and I got it because it was only 3 euros (including shipping/handling).  So I got it on a whim, but I am loving it--I am trying to put off finishing it because I don't want it to be over! Then, I had a really good workout Monday night. For a long time I have been wanting to add running to my workouts, but because of a bad experience involving trying to go for a run the morning after my senior party in high school, I have been hesitant to commit to running.  Anyway, I started to integrate the treadmills into my workout three weeks ago, and I was surprised at how much I have been enjoying it! On Monday night I managed to run about 7 miles at a fairly good clip, then went to a boxing class.  The 25 minute walk home was dreadful because I was so hungry and tired, but it felt pretty good overall. Then I got an e-mail from UC Davis saying that they were in the process of making a decision on my application, and I could view the application after 8am Pacific time (5pm my time!--yikes!) on FRIDAY.  Cue in the stomachaches, naseau, etc. I was already dreading all the anticipation of awaiting that decision...

I had high hopes for Tuesday, since 3 of my 6 classes were canceled (yeah, yeah, I know...I work too hard).  My second favorite step class is on Tuesday night from 7:15-8:15, and it was one of the best classes I have ever been to! The instructor had us doing some outrageous moves that involved dropping it low, then shimmying up rather ridiculously.  We were all cracking up the entire time--it was really fun!  When I got back to my apartment, I checked my e-mail and saw the word "congratulations" in the subject line of an e-mail from Davis and just freaked out like I have never freaked out before.  My roommates can attest to this....jumping, screaming, maybe even a tear or two, hugs, etc.  I was (and still am), so, so, soo happy!

The week before, I had found some cheap train tickets to Paris, and I had thought that this week would be really hard because of my anxiety about hearing back from Davis, so I went ahead and booked them for Wednesday.  So coincidentally, I was able to celebrate the news by going to Paris!! I had nothing planned for the visit and I was going by myself, so I decided I was just going to do whatever it was I felt like doing that day to celebrate.  

 I knew it was going to be a perfect day when a hot French businessman sat next to me on the train to Paris. But he spent the majority of his time on his cell phone, so unfortunately my friends I am still single. ;) I went to the Louvre in the morning because it was pouring outside. Since I am an "educator" in France, I was given a free pass to all the national museums and monuments in France....so I didn't feel THAT bad about only staying there for an hour and a half.... :) A highlight of this part of the day was seeing a guy wearing a "I <3 MILFS" sweatshirt inside the Louvre.  Hmmm...wonder where he might have been from?...

Next I walked around in search of the apartment that my family is renting for a week in May.  I wanted to check out the neighborhood to make sure it wasn't off the railroad tracks or above a brothel or anything.  It was actually in a really neat bustling neighborhood with lots of unique shops and tons of patisseries and fruit stands. Then, since this was a day of celebration, I went to the Latin Quarters to eat at my second-favorite kebab restaurant in the world (my favorite is in Florence, and I will be enjoying that in less than a month!).  It was freaking delicious and worth every one of its hundreds of calories.

A kebab from my second-favorite kebab place in the world

 Then I wandered over to Shakespeare and Company, a famous English bookstore across from the Notre Dome.  I think this is my favorite place in Paris.  I ended up spending 2 1/2 hours there.  The downstairs part of the bookstore is filled to the brim with new and used books for sale. Upstairs is like a library, there are thousands of books that aren't for sale and a few reading rooms and nooks.  Since it was drizzling a bit outside, I cuddled up in a corner and read for over 2 hours before glancing at my watch and realizing I needed to get a move on.  It was probably the best part of my day though...I miss going to bookstores.

A little corner in the upstairs part of Shakespeare and Company

The bookstore was pretty empty since there aren't many tourists this time of year.  But an awkward moment did pass when this self-conscious rigid-looking German guy started playing the piano (not very well) and kept awkwardly glancing at me to see my reaction. 
Finally, I went to Montmartre, an area of Paris that includes the Sacré Coeur and the Moulin Rouge.  There are a bunch of vintage and eclectic shops in this area that I wanted to check out.  I went into one of the vintage shops, and there was an American girl working at the store...so it was nice to be able to speak English (made me a bit home-sick!). 
Anyway, it was a wonderful day and a perfect way to celebrate the good news!  Today was also a really good day--I did another 7 miles on the treadmill and then went to a hip-hop dance class in which I probably looked ridiculous but eh, whatever. 
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! Thank you for all of your support and well-wishes, it means a lot! Miss you all very much! :)

Your French Disgusts Me

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend! I am jealous of everyone who can watch the football games today, although I guess I won't be jealous if the Bears end up losing horrifically.  The only Iowa football game I was able to watch in France was the Iowa vs. Northwestern game, which was the beginning of their downward spiral. So, as my Dad would say, perhaps I am unlucky for my teams this year ;)

So I ended my last blog post with the exciting news that for the first time in my entire life, my French was actually complimented by a real-life French person! Well, the confidence gained from that wonderful experience was quickly smashed to pieces the very next day. Well, sort of, because the other person involved is a (okay, I just opened up Microsoft Word to use the thesaurus to find an alternative to the phrase "nasty bitch," but "no results were found." Sorry (but not really)). Anyway, I put off and put off my encounter with this individual until I could no longer avoid it.  I practiced the necessary dialogue three or four times with my roommate, and then I set off to this ordeal over with.

I managed to get 4 or 5 words out of my mouth when I first noticed this person's face contorting into the first of many grimaces. But this is the problem with having to explain this experience in a blog rather than face to face, because the grimace conveyed so much. For example, this was not the same "grimace" that naturally and instinctively overcame me when a poor teenage boy's voice went from baritone to soprano while he was speaking in my class.  No, that was more of a surprised "oh my!" sort of grimace.  Instead, this other person's grimace was one that clearly conveyed  a pure form of disgust.  The sort of disgust that you would feel if your son brought home his new girlfriend and it turned out to be Snooki.  Or the sort of disgust you would feel as you were listening to a mass murderer talking about the enjoyment that was derived from killing children.

Okay, that might be a BIT dramatic, but still, he/she was cringing (physically cringing!!!) as I spoke to him/her.  And I couldn't help myself--I started laughing.  I mean, for God's sake how many times in your life does someone cringe while you are talking?! What kind of person does that?! Its not like I was telling him/her I just murdered 20 of my students.  Anyway, laughing didn't help the situation out because I immediately lost my place in the memorized dialogue, and had to start over.  Ahh...such enriching life experiences I am having! :)

Anyway, I have to hurry things up because I have to be at another assistant's house for dinner in 15 minutes.  So to quickly summarize--on Friday night I went out with some other assistant's to an electronic music festival in Roubaix (just outside of Lille).  It was a lot of fun and some of the DJs were actually really good (the exception being the drunken, drugged up one who kept trying to dance on top of his equipment while he was playing and while others were playing).  I didn't get back to Douai until 7:15am though, so I spent most of the day out of commission.  But it was definitely worth it!
I don't work on Wednesdays, and today I found some really cheap tickets to Paris.  So I am going to spend this Wednesday in Paris! I am so excited! I need to figure out what I want to do! The Louvre...hitting up the sales...walking around the Latin Quarters/Shakespeare and Co, etc.  I can't wait!

Have a good week everyone! Go Bears!! :)

I Found Hell Somewhere Over the Atlantic Ocean

Well, I am back in France again after taking a wonderful trip to Iowa! It was so nice to see all my friends and family again, I have missed you all so much!

Luckily I missed all of the snowstorms in both Europe and the United States, so I had no troubles at all in catching all of my planes (6 in total, whew).  My seat-neighbor on the overseas flight to France was, erm, interesting to say the least.  I think she was probably a very nice woman, but she did not speak a word of English and she spoke French with such a heavy accent that I couldn't understand that either.  I guess now I know how French people feel when they listen to me try to speak French. :) Anyway, this is probably rude and tactless to write about this in my blog...but whatever, I found the situation rather funny.  To be frank, this woman was huge--I'm talking anywhere from 375 lbs --425 lbs. The tray in front of her could only come down to a 45 degree angle.  And, I feel like a horrible person writing this, but she smelled like 2 week old Chinese food. So, there is me in the window seat and her in the aisle seat. Except this is inaccurate, because technically speaking she had about 1 2/5 of a seat, while I had about 3/5 of a seat.  I knew sleep was NOT happening, so I decided to just watch movies the whole time.  About that same time, she decided to open up her Bible for the remainder of the flight, which was fine except she held it in a way that covered up about 1/4 of my television screen. Can it get any worse than this?! Why yes, actually it can and it indeed did get worse. About a half an hour later, a baby started screaming about two rows behind me and did not stop for about 45 minutes.  (Btw, my sister always accuses me of not liking babies, but on 11 out of 14 overnight flights I have had a screaming baby within a 4 seat radius of me. I will not say if this accusation is true or not, but let's just say you won't see me with a baby anytime soon).  Anyway, at this point I wasn't even mad or upset, honestly I just thought it was funny.  I was sort of searching for the hidden cameras that would reveal that this was all a setup for a weird new European reality show. 

So after crossing Hell somewhere over the Atlantic, I arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport...or in another dimension, the suburbs of Hell (I was ALMOST out, but not quite). I arrived at passport control about the same time as 1,200 other people.  There was a tiny little gate (it reminded me those gates that cattle/pigs have to walk through to get on the trucks to the slaughterhouse after the 4-H fairs), that about 800 people were "lining up" at.  "Lining up" is used really, really, REALLY loosely here, because in reality it was a donnybrook (GRE vocab word that means "clusterfuck") of people trying to cut off the 500 people behind them who actually were trying to create order out of chaos by forming a sort of line.  I had to catch a train in 2 hours, and just as I was about ready to call to switch to a later time, an official yelled out "foreign passports follow me," so I moved faster than I have ever moved in my life to follow him to a new line that had just opened up, and within half an hour I left Hell and its suburbs and found myself back in France! Whew! Quite an adventure!

It is so nice to be back in France! My first weekend back I manage to drag myself out of my jetlag stupor to go to another assistant's apartment for a "galette des rois."  This is a French cake that you share with friends or family, for l'Épiphanie, a Christian holiday on January 6th.  Inside the cake there is a tiny figurine of a king, and whoever finds the figurine gets to be king for a day! The cutting of the cake is done with a lot secrecy, either under the table, or in another room to prevent people from cheating.  While I was not the king that day, I did find a tiny figurine of a lamb in my cake... 

A "Galette des Rois"

Last Friday I went out with a friend and met some of his friends at an Irish pub in Douai, and he pointed out that this was my first time being out with only French people! Haha this was quite a milestone for me, as I am used to having at least one other native English speaker for support in social situations.  Anyway, it was a really fun night, and everyone was very nice. 

Finally, last Wednesday "les soldes" (the sales) started.  If I am understanding correctly, sales in Europe are regulated by the government.  So every winter, in the middle of January all of the stores have massive sales (think Black Friday in the U.S.). They continue for about 5-6 weeks.  Today I couldn't resist having a look, so I went to my favorite shop to have a look around.  My favorite shop is "Couleur Framboise," and it has sort of eclectic jewelry, accessories, and some clothing.  Unfortunately, it is on the route that I take to the grocery store each week, so the woman who owns the store knows me well :)  She asked me how my sister liked her earrings, and then she even complimented me on my French, and people this is HUGE!! My first compliment EVER on my French! Yay!! Anyway, to my surprise everything in the store was 30% off, so I got a few Christmas presents for next year, as well as a very beautiful turquoise and silver necklace and earring set for myself. :)

Anyway, love you all and miss you lots! Have a great weekend! Go Bears!! :) 

'Tis the Season! An Overwhelming Amount of Christmas Activities

Well, no one could possibly accuse me of being a Grinch this Christmas season.  Never in my life have I ever done so much shopping, baking and other holiday activities. As I do every year, I saved up all of my shopping for one day—and I spent EIGHT HOURS shopping on Saturday.  Part of the day was enjoyable because I met up with some other assistants for a failed attempt to go to an arts and crafts festival (it didn’t open until 7:00pm –wtf sort of arts/crafts festival starts that late?).  But otherwise the size of the crowds walking through the tiny streets of Veiux Lille was unbearable at times.  I did find some good presents though, and my shopping is DONE (apart from the things I will pick up right before I leave so they will stay fresh…hint hint ;). 

Then on Sunday I stayed in all day and baked for another EIGHT HOURS.  I couldn’t believe it when I glanced at the clock and it said it was already 4:00pm.  I made over 200 sugar cookies for my students (frosted, with sprinkles, and all individually bagged with ribbon), plus 40 bags of puppy chow haha.  And—last week I made over 100 cookies for the students that I only see once every other week.   Whew.  But I think (I hope!) that the students really liked trying the cookies—most of them had never tried a sugar cookie before. I have already had some students come up to me in between classes to tell me they really liked my “cakes,” and others have asked for the recipe, as long as it wasn’t a “secret” recipe.   

Then, in all of my classes last week and this week I have been doing Santa Clause activities with them.  Depending on their level of English, we either play a game about Santa’s “Naughty or Nice list,” a vocabulary unscramble worksheet + game, and/or I read “Twas the Night Before Christmas” out loud to them and make them identify the vocabulary words.  They really seem to like this—I have to read it with a lot of expressions and actions so they can understand the story. This has been the ONLY activity I have ever done with the kids where the whole class is listening and no one is talking (this is nothing short of a miracle).  In one class I actually started laughing when I looked up at the end because they were all so enthralled and some had big grins on their faces—it was really cute.  I have seven classes tomorrow though, so we shall see if this holds true (I wouldn’t bet on it).  

If all this Christmas stuff hasn’t grossed you out yet, then wait until you read this.  Last night (Sunday) was a big night for Santa Clause in Douai.  He did his annual descent from the belfry and then handed out presents to all the little kids.  It was actually really cool to see.  First a bunch of “toys” descended from the belfry, and while they were climbing down they bounced around and danced a bit.  Then the crowd had to chant “Papa Noel, Papa Noel..” for Santa Clause to begin his descent.  There were so many people there.  Laura and I were in the middle of the crowd, and when Santa began distributing the presents we were right in the middle of the chaos.  It was actually really hilarious because mothers were using their strollers to fight their way through the madness so their child could get a present.  I don’t know how many times my foot was run over by these crazy mothers. 

Here are some pictures from last night (taken by Laura since I still don’t have a camera :(.

Walking through Douai to see Santa's descent from the belfry

The belfry in Douai

The "toys" descending from the belfry

And finally....PAPA NOEL!!

Let’s see…what else? Last week was a bit of a blur because on Wednesday night I went out in Lille for another assistant’s birthday party.  We went to a bar with some live music—the group was a Brazilian/French band, so it was a lot of fun.  Then we had a big slumber party in Lille because we all had our final day of training on Thursday.  I shared an air mattress with two other girls…and we literally had to huddle together for warmth because it was so damn cold.  Needless to say, eight hours of training after going out/not sleeping well was brutal, but well worth it.  That night was a lot of fun!

Also, on Friday night I went to my favorite step class at the gym. It is an advanced class, and the same people always show up so it’s always a lot of fun, plus a really good workout.  This time we did a “partner” workout where you use both your step and the step of the person next to you.  I have seen this done, and being a total step junkie I have always wanted to try it, so I was soooo excited! It was really fun—it required so much concentration and attention that you totally forgot that you were working out! I loved it and I can’t wait to do it again. Then afterward I went to a friend's place for dinner, and two people from Spain cooked a freaking delicious dinner for us.  We had a Spanish omelet and a quiche, as well as a few other things that I forget the name of.  Then we all played a board game--it was a really fun night!

Tonight my roommates and I got together for a “tea time” (we usually try to have a tea time and/or a dinner together once a week).  Today we also had a gift exchange for Christmas.  Again, today made me realize how lucky I am to have such wonderful roommates.  They gave such thoughtful gifts accompanied with really sweet cards.  I know I have said this before, but I often get the feeling that someday I am going to look back on this particular time of my life with a lot of happiness. I am learning so much being surrounded by people from all over the world.  It makes it even better that we are all learning about the French way of life (and education system!) together, and I cannot even begin to describe how much my roommates have helped me out here (as I speak the least amount of French in the group).  

My roommate and I went to a boxing class at our gym tonight, and I am proud to say that we have now graduated to the level of exchanging “bisous” (the kisses on the cheek) with the instructor—we have become “regulars” I guess).  Haha although I am still referred to as “l’americaine” by the staff members (in a nice way though--at least I think) and on Friday one of the the step instructors flat out asked me if I was French.  I replied “non,”and then she just walked away.  Now, two months ago I would have been offended and pissed off about this—what the hell does that mean?!  I have quickly realized that it seems at first that many French people have sort of abrasive personalities, but they are really nice people once you get to know them.  Actually I really like this woman.  She is really abrasive in her classes and will yell at you with a really serious look on her face, but then once everyone turns back around she smiles and winks at you and it’s actually really funny.  But anyway—back to my story about tonight—on the walk home, my roommate and I were talking about how some French people can be really hard on people who speak with an accent.  Because I have a rather thick American accent when I speak, some people don’t bother trying to understand what I am saying. It’s really frustrating.  But even worse, some people have flat you said things like, “I will try to understand what you are saying despite your horrible accent” or “you don’t speak French very well, do you?”  Well no shit, Sherlock.  That’s why I’m here.  This is something that really surprised me about France.   Whenever I hear someone with a thick accent or am interacting with someone who can't speak English very well, I always do my best to understand them and make them feel comfortable.  Saying “well your English really sucks, in fact it sucks so much that I’m not going to bother trying to understand you” would NEVER cross my mind!  I think the actual problem is that people who live in Douai and other small towns just don’t interact with many foreigners or with people who speak French as a foreign language.  In fact, today my Indian roommate was telling me how sometimes she feels like she is on display at a zoo because many people here have never met anyone from India.  It’s frustrating, but I feel like this is going to be an important life lesson for when I return to the States—I am going to freaking bend over backwards to help foreigners feel welcome and not embarrassed about their English skills.

Ok, I am starting to ramble and it is past my bedtime. I have to wake up at 6:45am for my classes, and as my Italian roommate would say, “oh the horror” (she also hates early mornings). 

I can’t wait to see many of you soon! I will be back from December 17^th through January 7^th! See you soon!!!  Much love to you all!!! :)