Photoshoot.

Thanksgiving at 21 bis.

Ruth et moi.

Family portrait.

Portrait # 2

"Thank you for all this wine"

Holiday drama

FUN.  Other things of note: I finally had my medical exam last week during which I was X-rayed in a van (traveling x-ray machine of some sort).  I passed!  So now I'm living here legally, thank goodness.  Also, I saw Harry Potter last weekend (in French, of course).  I forgot midway through that it was only the first half of the film, so I was expecting an ending. That was the fastest 2.5 hours of my life! And guess what. They sell kettle corn instead of salty popcorn. And the seats recline! And also, I understood most of the movie. 

Christmas is in full swing in Chauny.  State fair-esque stands are set up nightly selling barbe à papa (cotton candy, literally translated as father's beard).  I spotted one of those metal grabby hand machines that was filled with pairs of womens' underwear rather than stuffed animals.  Popular music blares on the street (although this is not a holiday special. It's all year round.) It's a good time.  Ruth and I went around on (a very cold) Saturday putting little slips of paper into cardboard boxes, hoping for a chance to win a bottle of champagne or a new watch or a 50 euro shopping spree at the grocery store. It's the Christmas Lotto!  I like Chauny more every day.

La neige, le dinde

Snow and turkey.  French people don't really eat turkey, I hear. But they can perfectly replicate the motion of stuffing one! (and then laugh their heads off like headless turkeys).  Plus the word "dinde" (pronounce it like "dande") is funny (to me).

I had a GOOOOOD T-giving.  I had four classes and then went home and began cooking. Cran-b sauce (from REAL cranberries, no can-shaped stuff), sweet potatoes with honey and cinnamon and ginger, a weird boxed turkey stuffed with morels and alcohol, mashed potatoes with cream, and stufffffing. I don't really like stuffing. But I made some and it was undoubtedly the best stuffing I have ever had and the first stuffing I have ever made. Norman gets props because he added some cream while it was baking. I used a day-old baguette, an apple, celery, an onion, and a bunch of herbs. asdfjkl;kjasdfkjl;.

Looks like those fake sugar-crusted berries!

Oh, the colors.

Patates doux

Turkey-in-oven photoshoot

Our beautiful Thanksgiving dinner

My gorgeous roommates

My roommates played along with my desire for an American T-giving (I think they enjoyed it very much).  We all dressed up and did a little photoshoot before dinner, then ate and drank by candlelight. It felt wrong without the Hanson brothers and Charlie Brown, so I pumped it up.

This weekend has been most enjoyable.  It's very Christmas-y here in Chauny (it snowed last night!) More on that soon!

Hauts et bas

Yo yo yo yo yo.  Today has been an up-and-down kind of Tuesday.

Le bon:

1.  My morning class was canceled.

2.  I did two lessons on text messaging ("is it acceptable to text your grandma on her birthday?", among other topics. Thanks to Amelia for this most brilliant lesson plan.)

3.  My last classes of the day were filled with giddy teenage laughter. I played the role of the client and the students were travel agents, trying to sell me trips to Venice and Dublin.  One guy started his speech by saying, "I would like to propose to you..." which had the class (including me and the professor) laughing until we cried (real tears). He looked just like Seann William Scott!  Thank goodness for false friends.

Le mal:

1. The mystical internet man called at 9:45 last night to tell us that we may not have service for another seven weeks.  Seriously.  I was also told nine days by a different internet man, so I really can't say. There ain't no use in thinking too hard about it.

2. I must rise during the 5 o'clock hour tomorrow to travel to Amiens.  It's finally time for my medical exam during which I will be tested for tuberculosis!

Look at that.  More bons than mals!

Oh, and I spent last weekend in Paris where I visited some very fine people and ate very well. On Saturday, I met up with a gal from my '06 Paris program and her French husband.  We sought out a real photobooth and ate homemade Chinese food (GREAT).  I stayed with Amelia that night in her cozy apartment and we fell asleep in the dark while Monsters Inc. played on her laptop. Parfait. Sunday afternoon was rainy and we found a little paper shop and did some vent posing (see below).  We made sweet salads for lunch (goat cheese, walnuts, carmelized onions, dates!) while listening to some soulful and funky tunes. I also spent a considerable chunk of the afternoon in the Centre Pompidou gift shop and later got completely turned around while looking for an H & M.

FOTOAUTOMAT

Takeoff!

Paris' weekend secrets: prostitutes in doorways at 5pm on a rainy Sunday.  A man driving with a black-and-white kitty on his shoulder. Three men carrying a couch through the metro. Typique.

Bonne nuit!

Le plus facile, EVER

I had to go to the doctor this week.  I'm running out of medication which is necessary to facilitate my breathing, so I couldn't put it off any longer. And I found out that visiting the doctor in France is like the easiest thing ever. 

I walked to the doctor's office (which is one block from my apartment, by the way) on Wednesday afternoon. I said to the receptionist, "Hello. I am the American assistant at the high school. Can I make a rendez-vous please with the doctor?" She replied, "Yes. Come back tomorrow at 11am." She gave me a slip of paper with the details and I left. No  "Do you have insurance?" or "Can I see your passport?" That part was bafflingly easy so I was afraid that the appointment itself would be complicated in some way. In fact, no. I went in the next morning, said my hello, and announced that I had an 11am rendez-vous. I sat in the waiting room for 10 minutes. A nice older man called my name (Madame Christian, pronounced the French way. Try it!) He shook my hand while guiding me into his office with the same hand.  It was weird and gentlemanly. I mentally photographed the room because it was the extreme opposite of an American doctor's office. Wood-paneled walls, plush leather exam bed, old-fashioned metal rotating fan, modern paintings hanging above the sink, and little silver dishes holding the cotton swabs. It was technically a really nice living room with a few pieces of medical equipment here and there.

We chatted, I told him what I needed, he looked up the medications in a big fancy book and typed some things into his computer.  He only spoke English once when I momentarily forgot what "toussez" meant. ("Could you cough please?") After a pleasant and cordial 15 minutes, I had my prescriptions (3 months worth!) and my papers to get reimbursed later on (technically I have insurance but no card yet).  Now this was the freakiest part: you pay the doctor. In cash, if you feel like it. I gave him a 50 and he dug around in his pockets and then a little white box of coins to find my change. I paid 23 euros. Most of which will be given right back to me later. He gave me change FROM HIS POCKET! 

I went to the pharmacie, got my stuff (you don't have to wait around for it; they just have everything in the back), and paid (a little more this time, but I'll be reimbursed for that, too).

And then I went home and treated myself to some brown food:

MMmmmMMMmm

Some salad dressing stuff waiting to be mixed

On Tuesday, the forecast was "fog". ALL DAY!

This weekend I am off to Paris for some Xmas shopping, meeting with a few nice people, and hopefully finding a few old-fashioned photobooths (right, sis?)

Goodnight goodnight!

Monies & H.P.

Today was a fine Monday.  I had three classes and all of them were enjoyable.  I'm getting to know my students better now, which is so fun.  One of the gals this morning described her favorite French dessert, which includes rice, milk, vanilla, and sugar.  She was all dreamy about it and said she would translate the recipe into English for me. Goodness, how sweet! We read a text together (supplied by the teacher) but ended up talking about food, traveling, snow, weight, height, and music.  One of my students looks eerily like Isaac Hanson.  Long hair, too.  And he plays guitar.  He told me today that he wants to be in a band but he can't find one, so he plays alone in his room.  I told him to put up some signs. Gotta advertise!

My second class was a group of Terminales, students who are preparing to take the Bac.  They are super English speakers.  I had a good time talking about segregation/desegregation/resegregation (I draw on the board to explain difficult concepts such as these). One of the chattier students spoke up right before the bell rang: "Zer can be black people and zer can be white people.  But zey are all Americans!" See? Smart kids.  He later saw me in the hallway and bellowed "HELLOOOO! Do you like 'arry Potter?"  I've read about this phenomenon before but I saw it for real today: French students tend to leave of Hs when Hs are needed and add Hs where there are no Hs.  So Harry is Arry and astronaut is hastronaut and so on.  Better practice that breathy H sound.

My third lesson was on British and American English differences.  One boy thought that elevator corresponded to "jumper" ("sweater" according to Brits) (cute and makes sense!).  It was so funny to see their guesses laid out on the table: couche is equal to diaper is equal to bloke.  Or pull is equal to sweater is equal to garbage can. It took me a year to cut all those paper strips but it was worth it.  I didn't think I would feel this way but I love my students! 

Other happy news:  I received a letter today from CAF which is an organization which subsidizes rent for poor people like me.  They take into account your rent, salary, and all that and then decide how much money to send you each month.  Currently I pay 272 euros per month for my apartment.  A good deal! However, with the CAF money, I'll be paying 152 euros.  Which is currently equivalent to two hundred and six dollars. YOW! My roommates are still waiting on their letters but people under 25 tend to get an even larger sum back.  Just one of those good things about this country.

And finally, our mysterious internet technician showed herself today.  (We had a party last night during which we crafted a few signs for the technician.  A previous technician had trouble finding our apartment, apparently, so we thought that a sign reading "NOUS SOMMES ICI!" [WE ARE HERE] could help.  We made another sign, just for us, that read "Sans internet, sans tele, les assistants perdent la tete" [Without internet, without telephone, the assistants lose their heads i.e. go crazy!!!!]) Anyway, she was cool: she called before coming, arrived mostly on time, and tried very hard to fix our problems.  However, there seems to be a very terrible issue with the actual phone line.  We now await France Telecom's help ("just another 5 days!!!!" is what we keep hearing).  So I'll be calling you in February.

Sign makin'

It's 10:00 pm on the dot (hour 22) and I best be finishing my lessons for tomorrow. XO!

Choco pillows and corn flakes

Your choice.

GIANT SALES!

Le poirier: pears and chocolate. ("Faire le poirier" 
means to do a headstand. Because you look like 
a pear when you're upside down, I guess?) 
Ruth, Norman and I ate this together
late one night. Earlier that day, I had talked 
about limiting my sugar intake. "If it's not in the 
house, I just won't eat it!"  I forget my resolutions 
pretty quickly.

 

Ruth and I visited Compiegne today where we 
happened upon a figurine museum (to be honest, we sneaked 
into the collection in search of a bathroom. 
But I thought the miniatures were worth mentioning.) 
Little Napoleon.

Portrait

It looks real.  Reminds me of that weird museum 
I visited with Katie and Aunt M in Florida.  Lots of tiny stuff.

La boucherie.  Meat and proud men.

Dude at the metro

Sweet shade of green

Poetic and a little too realistic

Compiegne in the rain

Not to gripe, but I got in trouble for not composting my train ticket this evening.  I had to pay a 10 euro fee because I am forgetful.  Then I left my favorite-special-strong-blue umbrella on the train.  Which is really too bad considering it rains here every day.  Time to use brain!

I discovered the French Amazon (not a jungle) this week which is similar to the US Amazon in that shipping is free if you spend a certain amount.  Soooo I ordered a fancy French-English dictionary, a book of French verb conjugations, and David Sedaris' latest publication.  I love mail and books and free shipping! And French and David Sedaris! and verbs.

My pal (and my sister's old buddy) Amelia came to Chauny this week from her home in Paris (we had no school on Thursday because of Armistice Day/ Veterans' Day).  She brought all her laundry because laundromats in Paris (and everywhere, maybe) are very very very pricey.  Like 8 euros per load, or more.  Totally nuts.  We had a nice lunch at a bar by my house, wandered around Chauny, ate ginger-carrot soup with my roommates (I made the soup and I will make it again soon with the remaining 2.5 kg of carrots; very tasty), played cardboard Scrabble by candlelight while it rained, and talked about old people from high school.   It was a good good time and I hope we can do it again soon. 

A happy thing: I have a class every other Friday of 5 students (although I've only ever had 3 show up).  These students are my preferred English-learners because they are chatty and not afraid to make mistakes.  They go along with my silly activities and they show genuine interest in English and in me. And yesterday, they wanted to stay after the bell had rung.  That's right.

On that fantastic note, goodnight!

Pas vraiment le week-end

Tuesday = Friday.  Here is some food I've been eating!

Lunch! (I eat a lot of salami and cucumbers) (I also ate potato chips with this, not pictured)

Dinner! (this was excellent, so good that I forgot to eat bread with it. A melange of lettuces, carrot matchsticks, cucumber chunks, corn, a hardboiled egg, and homemade dressing [olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, strong Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, and herbes de Provence]). The corn made it extra special.

I gasped when I saw this on the shelf!  Lavender honey.

Rock pile (for you, Ma).  When we first moved in, we were promised shower curtains.  Five weeks later, they were delivered to us. I came home from class and Ruth came out of her room and said, "Hey guess what... Papa Noel was here!" Someone from the school had come into our kitchen and left brand new and still wrapped pots, pans, and dishes, plus one wooden spoon and three rock pile shower curtains on the table.  It was super weird especially considering that our kitchen is already fully stocked and we all have clearly been showering since we moved in.  I like of like the new look, though. French spa.

 

In other news, we still await internet and telephone.  I still sit at my windowsill each day, crossing my fingers that the Wifi signal will be strong enough to load my email.  It has been five weeks of waiting now.  I'm trying not to whine but the customer service makes me crazy! (Kevin, if you're reading- you would hate it!) We have had numerous rendez-vous with internet technicians (including one who called to say "I'm on my way! Be there tout-suite!" and never arrived). Tomorrow though, between 13h30 and 16h00, we might just get lucky. Croisez les doigts! 

XO

Non non non!

I don't want to go to schooooool tomorrow.  It's not even going to be hard, I just don't want to go.  I have five classes, which is my max for one day.  However, I successfully integrated both Queen and Curtis Mayfield into my lessons today, so I do have hope.

A peek at the homemade Scrabble board (zoom in to see all the French words, many of which are also English words, and also two letters, which would never fly at home):

It is sooooo cool.  See the jewels? And the unripe avocado that I cut into too soon? And the blackened candle holder and German-French dictionary?  And the cool marble table?

I bought a fall coat the other day for 10€.  It is quite warm for being so inexpensive, and cute, too.  The tag baffled me, though:  

Just put your important company slogans into an online translator!  That is just shameful!

Off to bed now.  Only five classes tomorrow, then I'm FREE Wednesday and Thursday (Amelia's coming to visit!), and one class on Friday.  Why am I even complaining?

XO

Samedi

Saturday: shopping et walking.  Ruth and I took the train to Saint-Quentin yesterday afternoon to escape Chauny for awhile (I had been to St-Q once before).  We visited a gorgeous cathedral which seemed even more magical the second time (vraiment magical, filled with ghosts I assume).  It smelled good, too, but not like flowers this time.  More like old wood and dusty air.

Cadorama! <3 I liked this GB or 96 or decorative loop.

Cadorama display.   I am going to assume that Cadorama means 
"Gift-a-rama!!!" (Cadeau = gift), or maybe a bunch of junk for sale.  
Either way!

The toy store was super expensive but I took this free photo

Ruth & coffee

Café crème, €1,40

I liked the olive green gate (probably my favorite color 
plus I don'tmind rust) and yellow leaves together.  
Fall here is comparable to fall in MN, minus the apple 
orchards, apple pie, apple cider, candy consumption, 
Halloween, and bonfires.  The trees look the same, anyway

P'tit coeur and a nude

No pastries bein' sold here.  I love old crappy paint!

A bit clowny, but I liked the bobblies.  French toes!

Today, Sunday: prepare some activities/lessons for my students (I have studentsss!), play homemade Scrabble (Norman is busy creating Scrabble from cardboard and tape: my genius idea), stay up late because I don't have class until 11 tomorrow!  I was thinking- maybe I should do some private English lessons? teaching 12 hours per week is great and all but I'm just a little bit bored. I don't want to be an all-day netsurfer like I was at home, so it's time to find some other outlets... creative ones. And moneymaking ones.

Norman just finished the board and showed it to me- it's framed with tons of little plastic jewels.  He said, "it's for divas! Like us." I said it was perfect.  My roommates are truly cool.