French Feasts, Part Deux: La Brulerie

One of the assistants who was in Le Puy last year said that she hung out at this coffee shop all the time. I think I might be doing the same. It's just gorgeous there and such a nice atmosphere.

Table Setting: SUGARS!!

Sugars in closeup

We really liked them :)

3 cups of hot chocolate for 3 friends (Steph had Caramel hot chocolate, Andres Orange Hot Chocolate, and I had plain hot chocolate)

Photo Finish!

Food.

**This post is dedicated to Liv, who can truly understand where I'm coming from here**

So, every time a class asks me what the differences are between France and the United States, I always say the food. And I can never think of any other differences. Also, when they ask me a few minutes later what my favorite part about France is, I also say "the food". Which has led me to look like/feel like a glutton. But! I'm willing to own my love of French food and pay homage to it with the first installation of what will hopefully be a rich photo series titled "French Feasts".

About a week ago, Andres, Steph and I went to the Super U (the big supermarket close by) and bought stuff for dinner. Num. First we bought a "pick-your-own" cheese sample bag.

Before:

The Carnage During:

Andres and Steph!

Also, we bought lemon tarts: (dear god, I love France--and this was just out of a supermarket's bakery, not a specialized patisserie!)

The first dinner I made for myself: (some kind of alaskan fish in a butter sauce with green beans)

And then the dinner I made for myself last night. Not bad, eh? The salad has feta, hard-boiled eggs, vinagrette dressing, and lettuce and olives that came from the open-air market which occurs on Saturday mornings. Quite proud of me, if I do say so myself. And that wheel of Camembert only cost me 2 euro or under (maybe a euro 50; I don't remember, but suffice it to say it wasn't that expensive).

Also, I'm becoming much stupider in English. For example: today in class, my teacher asked me what the English word is for someone who makes sculptures...what did I say?? Sculpturer. Yeah, no, that's not a word in English, Meghan. I realized my mistake about 10 minutes later, and told her after class that I was wrong, that it's sculptor. God. It's really really difficult to try to make your mind flexible enough so that you understand their rough English, but also to remember what English should sound like. You think it would be easy, but it's actually quite the gymnastic feat of the mind. That teacher really puts me on the spot, though. She's very fast, and happy and go-get-em, so in the middle of class she'll turn to me without warning and ask "C'est quoi, le mot en anglais pour les rênes?" when I don't even know what "rênes" are, but sometimes I can figure it out (rênes=reins...lordy). But I really like her a lot; she used to be an archaeologist, and she spent some time teaching in the States, and she loves the United States because she thinks we're so positive and up-beat and can-do. She's quite cool...and she's invited me to some of her History/Geography classes that are taught only in French, so I can sit in and listen. :) Which I think I will take her up on. She's teaching about the Cold War in one of her classes, so she advised that I should come then because it might be interesting to hear their perspective on American history. :) Love my job.

Anyway! Other fun things I've done:

-last night, I tried "la Vervaine" which is the name of a specific liqueur made only in Le Puy...it's bright green and tastes like licorice and mint together, very strong, but tasty. Steph and I shared a tiny glass of it, so we just tasted it a little. It's actually good to soak a sugar cube in it and then eat the sugar cube. :)

-one guy we've met really likes American rap, so last night, we both took an earbud of his iPod, and I translated Beyonce, Britney, Akon, 50 cent, David Guetta (who's HUGE here in France, and whose songs we have, but I've never heard him cited as the artist, since he's the DJ, not the singer of the songs), Sean Paul, and a million other artists into French...I also taught him that usually "that thing" refers to your butt (i.e. "Shake that thing...work that thing") Bahha, so that was fun

Um, I did my laundry by hand yesterday, which is always fun. I do like it, though, because while I'm just taking care of my own laundry, it's much less hassle than walking 10-15 minutes into town with my laundry bag to sit at a laundry mat for hours. :)

So, life's pretty good. Also, I'm reading "Julie and Julia" in French, and I can understand it! So, that's also quite exciting.

Okay, that's all for now, I think!

Bisous!! ("kisses" in French...a common sign-off. It's in reference to "faire la bises", which is the phrase for the kisses they give each other in greeting)

OHMYGOSH

Greetings from Le Puy!

(pronounced: luh PWEE)

hehe, I know this is hokey, but after I was done writing, I wanted to add this picture, and it just added it at the beginning of everything, so excuse the cheese ;)

Okay, so I have a LOT to fill you in on, but that seems SO daunting that I might just do some highlights for now and then more details later?

Let's see:

1. Moved into the apartment with Andres, the Spanish assistant in my high school, who is from Columbia. I now have a kitchen, living room, and spare half bedroom (I say half because it's not separated by a full wall from the living room--but it has a spare bed!).

2. Went to training in Clermont-Ferrand (the main city in my region) and met LOADS of new people

3. Met some French people

They were friends with the assistants last year and want to be our friends this year, so they're trying to get to know us, and they're SUPER nice :)

4. Started School

5? Lots of other little stuff

First thing:

On Sunday, Stephanie (oh my gosh, whom I haven't even told you about, WOW, it HAS been a long time), who is the English assistant at three junior highs here, Andres (roommate) and I went walking up to La Vièrge. There's a big statue of the Virgin Mary on the highest peak in Le Puy, and so we went urban hiking up there. It was the perfect day for it, just gorgeous, and you could see for forever. :)

Here's a pic inside the statue. It's graffittied all over with prayers for the virgin to answer:

The view from up in the statue WOW.

The Virgin herself with child, and this other statue in front is of some guy who made pilgrimage to see her, and the statue is eternally kneeling and praying to her. I think it's kind of clever, actually, as these statues weren't built at the same time (I don't think).

A view of the town from the walk up. That cathedral is also very religiously important. There's a stone in there, I think it's volcanic rock (looks like it and all the hills around are sleeping volcanoes), and the story goes that a woman back in maybe the 6 century?? was sick and came to this rock and she was healed, so MANY people come here to touch the rock and be healed. I touched it, so here's hopin'. :)

Another view of Le Puy from the hike up.

And again (I like this one).

So, I went grocery shopping today. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SUCH BEAUTIFUL EGGS????? Well, and if you have, I'm sure these are like right up there in terms of beauty. Man. AND THERE'S EVEN A FEATHER ON THEM! CAN YOU SEE THAT!?! Goll-y.

Here's an update on "American TV shows dubbed in French that Meghan has seen":

• Desperate Housewives
• Malcolm in the Middle
• Bones
• Medium
• the old 50s zorro tv show
• Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman
• Gray's Anatomy
• Lost
• The Simpsons
• Flipper
• Prison Break
• NCIS
• Scrubs
• Hannah Montana
• Law and Order: SVU
• Cold Case
• Lassie
• 7th Heaven

Okay, that's all for now. I love you all and hope everything is going great for you!!!

Megs

Birthday Celebration!

Okay, so here we are, starting with the gorgeous desserts I bought myself for my birthday...I wanted to end with these because they're so fantastic, but the uploading process was a bit dodgy, so here it is:

Little Cake with Chantilly Cream and Raspberries

And this little guy:

Penguin made from Dark and White Chocolate, with a Cream Pastry on the inside to make his body, with a Cookie for Feet
I can't believe I can buy something this cute

Okay, so this picture is a bit bizarre, but it's me with the first baguette I've ever bought!

Robert, Dad and Matt, this is for you: I saw this funny fishing display on my way home from the restaurant:

And here's my birthday dinner: oh my god. I could barf just looking at it, it's so much food. Let's see, there's like a prawn or something on top, a big shrimp, a small salmon fillet, a small white fish fillet, some of ther seafood that I didn't know, and mussels all around the plate. There were also some boiled potatoes on there somewhere. This is one of the BEST meals I have EVER eaten! I ordered it not remembering what "choucroute" meant, and thank goodness I didn't remember, because if I had remembered it was sauerkraut, I probably wouldn't have ordered it and missed out! Well, I gots to go. I'll check in again soon.

Le Puy and some orchids

This first picture is for Olivia; its a picture i took through a window, so you can see the buildings behind me in the reflection, BUT, inside is an orchid shop! All orchids! I wrote down where it was in case you/me ever need to find it again, Liv, its really close to Notre Dame.

Below is a shot of the train I was in coming from Clermont Ferrand to Le Puy...this one was nice because there werent any stairs up into the car, so i didnt have to lift my almost 60 pound bag into the car and the aisles were bigger than the last train, so i could roll it down the middle of the aisle. Thank. God.




And here! Are pictures of my place! Sorry, the picture of the toilet is first--I couldn't see which pictures were which when i was dowloading them:





On the picture above: my desk is on the right, my bed is behind it with the plaid blanket, to the left is my wardrobe, and on the left in front is the back of my tv. Nice, huh?

Above: My windows; the one on the left is a set of French doors that opens out to a little balcony.


And here, above, is the piéce de résistance as they say here. On the top right is my shower, and that curtain pulls closed to section off that whole area, including the sink, so everything on my sink gets wet, and if youve noticed, the only counter space i have is the sink and the top of the toilet. Yup. Thats it. But I think I have it figured out for right now. Note to self: get a shower caddy. Also! And I think this is the most interesting part...the thing that turns the water on is a push...thing. Like in a stadium or aiport bath room, and you have to push the think in on the sink to make the water come out and its on a timer, so the water will stop on its own after a couple seconds? Yeah, thats my shower. This concludes my theory that the French have something against a good hot shower. Seriously, if you want further proof, ill show you pictures of some in homes that are a tub with a hose, and nothing gets warm. Anyway! At least I wont waste time in the shower (not that i do anyway; i hate standing for that long. jokes. but seriously.)

Anyway! Heres some pictures of the town that I took today as i was walking around:

Oh! This is a view from my balcony:

Another picture around town:And the view from my balcony facing the other way; on the left is the school:


Okay! And last but not least: Heres what I bought myself for my birthday at the French answer to Aldis:

The list includes:

• a bag of potato chips
• box of tissues
• 2 bars of soap
• Pantene volumizing shampoo
• hairspray
• body wash (smells yummy)
• face lotion
  
• strawberry jam
• chocolate biscuits
• fruit and yogurt cereal bars (8 pack)
• 2 cans of sardines in oil
• body lotion
• orange juice
• 2 nectarines
• 2 pears
• and a reusable shopping bag!
  

Also, for those of you who are keeping up with the "American TV shows dubbed in French that Meghan has seen" list that Im starting now... heres whats going on:

1. Desperate Housewives
2. Malcolm in the Middle
3. Bones
4. Medium
5. the old 50s zorro tv show
6. and...Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman

Theres a lot more going on, but I think thatll do for now! Thanks, loyal listeners, and always remember to drink your Ovaltine!

Bon Courage!
Meghan

Les Tuileries

Here are some photos I took while roaming around the Tuileries, the gardens right outside the Louvre, where I spent the majority of my day reading "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown. (...also, I'm having a really hard time formatting my pictures with my blog--they will go in weird places and chop up the text weirdly..can anyone help?!) Thanks! Meg

Bonjour tout le monde!

Hey everyone,

I've been in France for

a few days now; I just got to a city in the middle of France called Clermont-Ferrand yesterday via train. I stayed with the family that hosted me last time I was in France for a few days in Paris before venturing out into the rest of France by myself.

The first day I was in Paris, I read a lot; I actually finished Dan Brown's

new book "The Lost Symbol" which Robert and I both bought in Chicago the day it came out (it was pretty good--not as good as "DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons in my opinion, though). I mostly just went to gardens and read that day. I also went to see if the Comedie-Francaise was playing anything that night (this is France's state theatre) and sadly, their season opened

the very next night, after I would already be gone. And! They would be opening with Moliere's "The Miser" which I would have liked to see. :( Oh well.

Uhm, since I've been in Clermont-Ferrand, I've mostly stayed in my room. Especially since today is Sunday and virtually nothing is open AND I'm worried about getting lost and not being able to get back to the hotel. however, last night, I found this awesome restaurant on my street that specializes in regional cuisine and I ate orange duckand had a glass of wine. It was delightful. Although I will say that eating at a restaurant alone is not all that fun, even if you have sudoku to keep you company. I'm pretty lonely right now for some company, and I miss all of you back home terribly, but I know that this is all a part of the acclimation process and that I will get over it soon.

I will tell you though, that I am not looking forward to taking the train to my final destination where I will be teaching with this bag I have (note to self: baggage in America is NOT the same size as baggage in France). Some man made a comment on the last train that my bag is big enough for two girls. I was quite embarrassed. And I think I even packed pretty well! I managed to fit everything I need for eight months into one bag and one backpack. What can you do...

Oh! And if some of you are wondering, I did not take a TGV (train à grand vitesse--one of the really fast trains in France); I don't know why, but my train just wasn't one of them. I have so much more to tell you (p.s. hulu doesn't work on French internet...it says it won't work outside of the US... :(, but I did find a website where I got caught up on "Project Runway" and now I have "The Office" too, if I want to watch something familiar and in my own language). Anyway! Wish me luck; I'll write again soon!

Bisou!

Meghan

Lycée Simone Weil

Here's some pictures of the school where I'll be teaching!

And a letter from one of the English teachers at the school:

You'll be working with small groups of students from various classes, their ages range from 14 to 20 as we've post-bac students in BTS (technicians studies, 2 years after the baccalauréat) and you'll be working with 2 history and geography teachers who are teaching their subject in English with what we call "European classes".

You will do mainly oral work and if you have documents (short texts, short stories, CDs or any other materials) feel free to bring them along.

On your first week, you'll be invited in various classes to meet the students and get an idea of the work and you'll start on your own only on the following week. Don't worry, each of us will help you.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Enjoy your holidays.

All the very best.

Véronique

Bonjour!

Hi everyone! I'm setting up this beautiful blog so that we can still keep in touch while I'm in France. I figure I'd like to hear what you all are up to if you went overseas to live, so if you'd like to be updated check this out!

Love you all!