BB – Packing for vacation

•December 26, 2009 • Leave a Comment

So today wasn’t a huge day – in comparison to the rest of this week. Lesley and I slept in late. Anne, being a super morning person, went home early after waking up. Ate left over Christmas brunch stuff. Dowloaded pictures onto my computer. Received a text from a certain Frenchman I met the other night asking about how my first French Christmas was and if I enjoyed it or if it just made me homesick. (How sweet, huh?) Picked up a cool floor lamp from an American couple here in Lyon selling everything they own before moving back to the States. Packed for Switzerland. Watched “L’Auberge Espagnole”. That was my day. Super excited for the next three days in Bern and Geneva, Switzerland!!! Won’t be able to blog till I get back though, so don’t expect to hear anything new on here until at least Wednesday or so. Ok, off to bed – Lesley, Anne, and I have an early train to Geneva to catch!

Bonne nuit!

Noel en France!

•December 26, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Photo from Christmas Eve's eve that I forgot to put in Tuesday's blog.

Photo from Christmas Eve I forgot to add to yesterday's blog.

So Christmas morning, Lesley, Anne, and I woke up around 9 and got dressed and ready for church. We ate a quick yogurt, a clementine, and cup of MaryLou’s coffee (Boston’s own)! It was delicious. We left the house at 10 past 10 assuming the bus heading to church would be there at 10:20, but nope. Because it was Christmas the busses had new hours. Walking to the bus we passed a bakery which had a line going out the door. We assumed she must have posted she would only be open for an hour on Christmas, thus everyone in the neighborhood wanting bread had to be there at 10am or else! haha Anne took a picture because it was so funny. I’ll share it with you once I get it from her. Our bus didn’t pick us up till 10:30ish (when church was starting) making us arrive a little late at 10:45. It wasn’t a huge deal though cause when we walked in, everyone was in the middle of the ‘meet and greet’ so we slipped right in unnoticed. There was like no one in church – everyone (all the English ex-pats (as Anne likes to call them) headed home to the UK to be with their family.

Anne and Lesley are sad because we had to wait extra long for the bus.

After church we headed home to make monkey bread and cinnamon rolls. While they were cooking we opened the rest of our presents. Aka – the kid presents. Christmas Eve we did the presents from the adults, but Christmas morning we did the ones from each other. Anne and Lesley, and Guillaume, all seemed to like what I got them. And I loved everything I received, too. Guillaume got me a very preppy, yet still girly, Rugby shirt. It was so I wouldn’t forget my first ever Rugby match that I went to with him a few weeks back. Anne and Lesley, together, bought me a French cookbook. The thing is, it’s a specific book full of all Lyonnais specialties. It’s so great, I love it. I can’t wait to try out some of the recipes. Along with the cookbook they also bought me a fondue pot!!! YAY!!! (They originally wanted to buy a scale so I could weigh things in grams (like the recipes call for) and so that I’d have it to keep and bring home with me in May, but they were apparently really expensive. But who needs a practical scale when you could have a chocolate melter instead?!?!

Lesley's amazing cinnamon rolls! (made from scratch!)

Our very disheveled table after eating/opening presents!

My new cookbook!

After presents we ate our brunchish foods and watched “The Grinch”. We forced Guillaume (not really, but kind of) to watch all our American Christmas movies with us. It’s a cultural thing afterall. After “The Grinch” we watched “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

Watching Christmas movies on the computer!!!

Anne made eggnog and it was delicious!

By then it was way later in the day, so we started in on cooking dinner – Mexican! While waiting for black beans to cook (PS- it’s a huge deal that we found black beans here…they don’t exist!), Anne and Lesley Skyped with their families. It was fun to meet them and see a bunch of Americans on Christmas (even if it was via a computer screen)! I talked to my family on the phone, not Skype. They’re Skype-challenged. haha.

Me and Gui excited to eat some tacos!

We made homemade guacomole, ate tacos till we were stuffed, and had a very delicious apperatif that Lesley’s mum bought for her especially to have at Christmas. It was really good. After eating, and cleaning up, Guillaume called Antoine and invited him over to watch “Love Actually” with us. They boys, despite saying it was a chick-flic and not a Christmas movie, seemed to enjoy it. When it ended we had a group game of “smack that”. (It’s a card game that Guillaume knows, but since there’s no English name for it, he and I entitled it “smack that” because you’re constantly smacking the deck of cards like you would in “Spit”.) We played this game till about 2am and then all went to bed.

Le Reveillon (Christmas Eve)

•December 25, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Alright where to start: Last night Anne, Lesley and I stayed out entirely too late, but we’re not complaining because once G left, we met really nice French guys that took an interest in us American girls. Go figure, huh? But let me restate the word “nice” because these guys were really nice…and so French..their names were Romain, Guillaume, and Valentin. My guy (goodness, I love how I just claimed possession over him), who I danced with all night, was Valentin. He was such a gentleman and even walked 45 minutes (in a completely different direction from where he lived) in the cold to make sure we made it home ok because it was really late/really early. That being said, as soon as we all got back to Anne’s we chitchatted about the boys we met (bien sur! nous sommes les filles!) and then went right to bed. I had to get up early (unfortunately) and rush home to make my Charlotte aux Framboises (Raspberry Charlotte) for tonight. This is what I was supposed to make:

French recipe I found too difficult to understand.

Practically the same recipe…but in English! I know, I\'m a cheater!

At some point while making it Guillaume woke up. He helped me a little with what I was supposed to do, because I seriously had never made anything like this before. When I finished it looked really pretty (granted it was upside down) but Guillaume made me feel better saying “well, even if you completely screwed it up and it tastes awful, at least it will still look pretty”. When I finished around noon, I went back to bed till 2. G’s mum came over to clean the apartment before all our guests arrived. We set the table together and prepared a little bit of the food for that evening.

Anne and Lesley came over around 6:30 with a shopping list to boot. They realized we needed a bunch of food for Christmas day (since they were spending the night and knew places wouldn’t be open on the 25th to buy things). We all headed off to the Super U down the road and stocked up before G’s mum arrived at 7:30ish. Guillaume’s mum and Thierry came over, soon followed by their friend, Xavier. When Xavier arrived he brought flowers for all 4 girls. It was super sweet.

Before eating Anne, G’s mum, begged us to open presents. In France, it depends on the family whether or not you open presents on the 24th or 25th. She bought a very pretty silver bracelet for me, as well as well as delicious smelling body lotions and body wash. She even bought Anne and Lesley a little something, too. After presents we moved onto food!

Our meal consisted of 8 courses beginning at 8pm and going till 1 in the morning. With each course came a different wine, but because we ate so slow/so much, no one really realized how much we had drunk. Here were our courses:

1. Pringles (French delicacy) with Champagne (Gaidoz-Forget) !
2. Mini quiches, sandwiches, bread h’or d’oeuvres with Greek liquor (Bapbatiannh – 1860)
3. Fruits de mer (seafood – fresh oysters and shrimp from Bretange!) with a Bordeaux – Baron Phillipe de Rothschild – 2001

Course #3 - Fresh oysters and shrimp from Bretagne!!

4. Foie gras (duck liver) on bread with Jurancon – Cuvee du Bapteme – 2008.
5. Main course – Beouf aux champignons (beef in a creamy mushroom sauce with green beans and potatos) with a Cote du Rhone (a wine from our region in France) – Trapidis – 2005.
6. Salad with cheese on baguettes. The cheeses were Camembert, St. Felicien, and Chaussee aux Moines.
7. La Charlotte aux framboises (Raspberry Charlotte) that I made. By dessert, we weren’t opening any more wines. By now, we were just finishing off the stuff already on the table, or drinking water. My Charlotte turned out fine. Guillaume even said, honestly I believe, “Erin, normally Charlottes are just ok in my opinion. Something I like but not anything really special. But, I really liked your Charlotte.”
YAY – I succeeded at my authentically-French dessert.

My Charlotte!

8. Our last course consisted of coffee (rather, espresso) and Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

Overall my Christmas Eve dinner was amazing. Anne and Lesley really enjoyed themselves and held their own not only speaking French, but doing so with complete adult strangers they had never met before. Because we had 3 Americans and 4 French, we had a lot of France v. American conversations. These topics consisted of views on the war, Obama’s health plan, accents thoughout the US and France, American/French Christmas traditions, debates on how to properly eat oysters, how to pick a good wine (an American v. French wine), TV shows we all love in common, favorite music from the 60’s, etc.

When dinner ended, Anne and Thierry and Xavier left all the “kids” to do the dishes. She Anne, for the most part, prepared everything, it was only fair for us to clean up. We ended up clearing the table, turning on the dishwasher, and loading all the other dirty stuff in the sink to wait for the next load in the morning. We blew up one of our air mattresses so that Anne, Lesley, and I could all sleep in the same room. We figured it would be more Christmasy to all wake up together. Before going to bed however, Lesley read aloud “The Night Before Christmas, with Anne and I chiming in when we could remember parts to it, for Guillame’s sake. He said it was the longest poem ever. We told him normally it’s in the form of a book, not in the form of lyrics on a webpage. By the time we went to bed it was 3am!

The Eve of Christmas Eve

•December 24, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Well, to start, I want to show you this picture. This is what my mum mailed me. :) Merry Christmas to me!!

Yay! I guess I was a good girl this year to receive all this!

Ok moving on. On Tuesday night, after grocery shopping with Anne, I went to Joelle’s apartment where other Anne (friend from VA) is staying over Christmas break. She’s house/plant sitting for Joelle while she’s back in Canada. Anywho, Anne and Lesley decided to make “White Trash” and “Christmas Cookies” and I was invited, but had to come late due to grocery shopping with Anne. When I arrived, Lesley was finishing up with the dough.

Lesley being Santa's elf working hard to make some Christmas cookies!

When we finished everything, Lesley and I headed home. We made plans to reconvene the following day at 3pm to actually make the cookies. So fast forward a day –> Ok, now it’s Wednesday. We all met back up at Anne’s (Joelle’s) to finish the cookies. Well, seeing as we had 8 batches of dough, we made a ton of cookies. We started out with snowman, then onto hearts, and finally shooting stars (those were the only cookie cutters we had). We also made some chocolate chip cookies, homemade frosting, and Anne made couscous for dinner.

My work station - I was in charge of cookie cutting.

Lesley working on making chocolate chips - I'm still cookie cutting! :)

We made roughly 150 cookies. Seriously!

Don't they look so good!?!?!

So more time passed, because we had to wait hours for everything to bake, and Guillaume called us. He wanted to know if we wanted to go out with him and Antoine (his friend). We of course said sure since we’re on vacation, and having listened to Chistmas music all day we were in the mood for dancing. When we decided we would actually meet up with the boys, Lesley decided to put on more upbeat music (no more Christmas stuff) to get pumped up. Mind you, we’d done nothing all day beside bake. So, Lesley decided to have a pre mini dance-party before the real dance-party. Here’s proof:

She's going to kill me for putting this on my blog!

and…

HAHA....She cracks me up!

Ok, so fast forwarding a few hours, we met up with the boys and danced the night away. Apparently we were having too much fun for the boys because they left before we did; but not before Guillaume took a picture for us. Voila!

We had a really fun time!

Mums are mums….no matter where!

•December 22, 2009 • 1 Comment

So today was a real vacation day – uneventful! Well, I did do stuff, just not much. I woke up at noon; that’s a first for this vaction break. I went to the post office and picked up a huge package from my mum! I also received Christmas cards from one set of aunt/uncle and my Grandmama. When I got home, I played Santa to Guillaume and Monika distributing their gifts that my mum sent for them from the States. Then Guillaume and I indulged ourselves in all-things-American (found in the package (I was having withdrawal, he was just hungry): peanut butter, Kraft mac and cheese, Junior Mints, Starbursts, tea, etc. Thanks mum!

The afternoon was spent putting the lights mailed from the States on the tree, only to see them burn out within a half an hour. :( I took my saddened mind off of it by creating a hand-made star to put on the top of the tree. The rest of the afternoon I read. I’m almost done with my book. I think I’ll read some more of it (hopefully finishing it) once I finish blogging right now. When 6:30 rolled around, Guillaume’s mum, Anne, picked me up to go grocery shopping! She wanted me to help get all the things we need for Christmas! (Oh, PS I think I forgot to mention: Anne and Lesley are now coming to our house for Christmas Eve. When Anne (G’s mum) found out that they were alone without real plans she made me invite them over. She said “Everyone’s welcome, the more the merrier!” She’s so sweet!) Anywho, so we went shopping. We left at 7 and despite her saying “Let’s try to be fast since there will be crazy lines cause it’s two days before Christmas”, we didn’t get home till 10pm!

Here’s a short list I’ve decided to compile showing the similarities between Anne and Marla (my mum). Aka – the similarities between a French mum and an American mum. Aka – the universal mum-things that are said or that happen while grocery shopping with their child.

Top 10 things all mums (regardless of nationality) do in the grocery store:

1. The mum always starts off pushing the cart, but by the time she checks out, the child is pushing the cart.
2. The mum always say “Ok let’s not spend all day in here. Let’s get what we need and get out.”
3. When grocery shopping for a meal, the mum buys ingredients for something that the child assumes the mum will be making, but soon discovers that no, the ingredients are for something the child will be making. (PS I’ve been assigned to make a Raspberry Charlotte. I have no clue how to do it, so pray for me. It’s our French Christmas “Log” dessert.)
4. The mum always calls home to verify with someone at home if there’s still enough of a certain ingredient at the house. If there’s still some at the house, she doesn’t buy more at the grocery store.
5. When mum gets home to son (haha, this always happens with Eric (my brother) and did indeed happen tonight with Guillaume) and finds out whatever she called home to ask about isn’t really at the house, or that only a teaspoon of it remains, she becomes furious and yells at the son! haha
6. While standing in the checkout line and realizing she’s forgotten something, the mum, leaving the child with the groceries in the line, runs off to get to forgotten item.
7. When the mum returns from getting the forgotten item, she always comes back with something else as well.
8. When realizing that there’s no more of a certain item inside the store the mum sighs saying: “Oh I’ll just have to go to “Stop and Shop”, “Shaws”, “Publix”, “Ingles” (insert another grocery store name in the blank) tomorrow and get it.”
9. While shopping, the mum always sends the child off to get something, but once the child returns with something other than what the mum exactly wanted, she has to go back and exchange it, herself, for what she really wanted in the first place. (This happened to me tonight with the cheese. Hello, why are you going to put the little American in charge of picking out cheese (a subject she knows nothing about) in France!?)
10. Once outside in the parking lot the mum says “Run over there and put the cart back.” She never does this herself because by the time the child returns from putting the cart away, she’s got the car started and ready to leave.

Anywho, I don’t say any of these to say I was mistreated by Guillaume’s mum, because I wasn’t at all. I was treated as I always have been when inside a grocery store with a mother. Actually it made me feel, almost, like I was at home shopping with my mum. :) P.S. After spending so much time with Anne tonight, I’ve decided that she reminds me a lot of Natasha Richardson. So, if you’re trying to put a face to this woman I’m often talking about, just picture Natasha Richardson.

God touched my heart…

•December 21, 2009 • Leave a Comment

So tonight’s blog is going to be just a little different. I’m not going to tell you quite exactly about my day because all I did was finish Christmas shopping, wrapped all my presents, did laundry, finished the scarf I was knitting for G’s mum, and read.

With that being said, I want to tell you about something else. You see, back in May when I graduated, Felicia, my roommate, gave me a journal. There’s an inside joke to it: she loves to journal (and did so every night before bed in college) and I prefer to just talk (and did so every night before bed in college). Those winding-down minutes in our dorm room before bed were constantly filled with whispers from my bed to her loft about my day and despite that she’d always be writing in her journal (writing about her own day), her ears were always big enough to still listen to me. (God made women multitaskers…we all know this.) Well, back to graduation…Fife gave me a journal and said “I thought about all the stories you will have to tell me, but won’t be able to because of the time change (I know you have your blog, but the good juicy stories you don’t put in the blog.) So whenever you miss me/have a story for me, you can write it in your journal. It’s like taking a little piece of me with you. :) (minus the big ears.)” <– That's a direct quote from the front page of the journal.

Well, tonight, as I do every so often, I wrote an entry into Felicia's journal. After writing it, I felt it on my heart to share it with those of you who read my blog. I'm not sure why; maybe for your prayer, maybe to encourage you, maybe to just share a glimpse of God in my life, I don't know. But when I feel God nudge me to do something I know it's for a reason. So, voila, here's what I wrote:

Tonight God has touched my heart in various ways. I’ll tell you about each, but here’s just so I won’t forget: Guillaume, my book, Emily’s blog, song.

G -> Guillaume was working in the living room on his computer. I was on the couch reading. He had asked what I was reading so I told him about it – a fictional, yet Biblical book on Mary. I said it was appropriate for the week before Christmas. Without thinking a while later, out loud asked, “Did you know Jesus had 3 brothers and a sister?” He responded by telling me that’s probably a fictional part in the book, but then decided to look it up online. He soon recited all of what Wikipedia said. Time passed and he started to talk about the Crusades (les croisades) and religion in France. A conversation like this, just nonchalant, open talk about God, was a first. I thank God for it and pray for more. I pray for Guillaume’s salvation. He’s such a good guy, but a relationship with Christ would make him forever ‘good’ – sanctified, righteous, forgiven. Jesus, I pray for this in his life.

My book -> So I’m finally, after a couple of weeks, almost finished with ‘A Lineage of Grace’. I thank God for Francine Rivers, whom through her writing has drawn me the closest I’ve been to God since being in France. I’ve learned so much from the stories of Rahab, Ruth, Mary, Bathsheba, and Tamar’s lives. May their stories, lives, mistakes, trials, and faith forever remain in my heart and mind. Help me Lord to learn from these women.

Emily -> I haven’t talked to Emily Stirn since the summer. Tonight, having some free time (since being on vacation now), I read through her past blogs. She had a scripture that I just loved: “If we trust God, there is security in submitting to His leadership.” Exodus 15:13

Song -> Also, on Emily’s blog, I came across these lyrics. They’re from a song called “Beautiful, Scandalous Night”. “Go up on the mountain of mercy/ to the crimson, perpetual tide./Kneel down on the shore; be thirsty no more./ Go under and be purified.”

Twas the weekend before Christmas…

•December 20, 2009 • Leave a Comment

So this will be brief:

Saturday I had tea with Charlotte – girlfriend from England. Lesley was also invited and the three of us had a lovely time catching up. December’s been busy and we haven’t seen each other in a while. After tea, Lesley and I went to Anne’s to watch a movie. We watched ‘The Family Stone’ because it’s the week before Christmas. Anne made us dinner and we chitchatted about our trip to Switzerland that we’re going on next week! The girls complimented me on my new boots that I bought specifically for la Suisse but have been wearing this week to break them in. As Anne likes to say “Dressing equestrian is a style in France! You don’t look like a cowgirl – you look French!” Here’s a pic. haha.

Watching the movie! (Yes, I'm knitting...I have to finish Anne's scarf in 4 days!)

Who wants to go horseback riding?

When Lesley and I left Anne’s we headed to anoher girl’s birthday party. This particular girl is French so there were a lot of Frenchies there. It was great. I got to speak a ton of French. I even had a 20 minute conversation with a French guy about how useless the subjunctive tense is. It made my night that he was empathizing with me, the French learner. Having learned English himself, he made sure I knew that English was an easier language to learn than French and he commended me for sticking through with French for as long as I have and all the way to the level at which I am. He was so nice – his name was Florent.

Ok Sunday:
This morning I went to church. It was really nice. Pastor Chris talked about Mary. He talked about how important she was but focused in on how, unlike Catholics believe, Mary is not the one to be praised at Christmastime. It was a very nice, put together, sermon. After church Anne and I went to Joelle’s (friend from church) for waffles. Joelle made us Chai tea and I almost exploded of excitement! I love Chai tea and I haven’t had any in month! It was so delicious! After brunch, Anne and I met Lesley at Gare Part-Dieu and bought our train tickets (for a week from today!!!) to Geneva and back. We can’t buy out tickets from Geneva to Interlaken because that’ll be a Swiss train. I can’t believe we’re going to Switzerland. This is a dream come true for me. I’m so impatient for next Sunday. I think I might be more excited for Switzerland than I am for Christmas. :/ After the train station, we all came back to my place. We had bread and cheese and clementines and just ate and watched a movie all afternoon. It was nice and relaxing and it hit us that “on est en vacances!” (we’re on vacation!) Today we watched “The Holiday”. I think we’re going to watch a Christmas movie a day until Friday! (We’ve got nothing better to do! haha) Once the girls left, G and I hung out and he helped me finish Monika’s recipe box present. He made sure I gave her copies of all the recipes he loves that I make. It was sweet that he helped me. After that I chatted with Beranger (French friend from high school) online for a while. It was great to catch up with him. He’s home from college, in the country, and snowed in. I’m so jealous! We still have a little snow in Lyon, but it’s practically all melted. :( Anywho, now it’s late and I’m going to bed!

Bonne nuit! Trois jours jusqu’a Noel!

I’m on vacation!

•December 18, 2009 • Leave a Comment

So, if you’re anything like my mother, you’re aware (and perhaps worried) that I haven’t blogged since Monday. Well, like I told her: “I’m sorry, but it’s the week before Christmas and I’m super busy!”

Ok, so let me quickly wrap-up this past week. On Tuesday I didn’t work (because I never work Tuesdays) and instead attempted to get all my Christmas shopping done. Luckily for me I’m not going home, thus, I don’t need to get presents for family members, rather roommates and close friend et c’est tout (and that’s all). We moved Bible Study from Tuesday to Wednesday this week and because of this I was able to stay late at the mall. I couldn’t believe how many hours I spent at two different marches de noel (Christmas markets) and the mall.

On Wednesday the heat was working again, so I had clases – well, in theory I had classes. Because it’s the end of the semester, all students had government testing to assess what they’ve learned since the beginning of the year. I think it’s kind of funny my middle schoolers had the eqivalent of a midterm. Well, because they were being tested, all the grades got grouped together and placed in different places: cafeteria, gym, auditorium, etc. They were watched my the surveillants (surveyors/hall monitors) and real teachers (like me) didn’t have a real need to be there. With this being said, I was sent home – well, not sent home like on Monday, rather dismissed to go home unless I wanted to stay and work on lessons. Since I figured out all my Christmas lessons over the weekend, I went home. I baked Monkey Bread all afternoon – 5 batches of it – and then wrapped and neatly decorated the baggies. I made them for the 5 other English teachers on my team. I wrote them also a little card saying that Monkey Bread is often eaten on Christmas morning for breakfast and that I was thankful for them being so helpful and welcoming since my arrival because they have been nothing but wonderful colleagues. Wednsday night we had Bible Study. Our theme was “What Is Love Actually?”. We had a really great discussion about eros, phila, and agape love and then finished by watching the movie “Love Actually”. It was really fun because it was more like a mini Christmas party with a Christmas movie and Christmas themed food. :) Here are a couple pictures.

Me, Alexandra, Stephanie, and Ruthi!

Ok, onto Thursday: Yesterday I had three classes in the morning. This is abnormal, but my schedule is constantly changing on the dime, so I’ve learned to just say “Ok, c’est la vie!” After my three morning classes, and delivering the bags of Monkey Bread to all my fellow English department ladies, I headed home….to make more Monkey Bread! At my second school, I only have three other English colleagues (one of which happens to be on sick leave) so I only had to make two batches. The rest of the afternoon I cut out English words from magazines I brought over for a funny card to go along with my grab gift. For our faculty Christmas party, I bought a travel mug from Starbucks and tea to go with it. Everyone morning when I walk into the teacher’s lounge with my huge (American) travel mug, everyone gives me a raised eyebrow as if to say “I cannot believe you’re going to drink that much.” However, if they were to count up all the little coffees they drink on break in the lounge, it would probably total the size of my travel mug. But anywho, I decided to get one as my grab gift. My card, when I had finished said something along the lines of “Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” in English, followed by “There’s to reason to mock me for my big mug any longer because now you have your own!” in French. When 5 o’clock rolled around, I headed back to the burbs to my school for our party. The basement of one of the buildings was nicely decorated with enough tables to fit the 50 or so teachers that had RSVPed.

Fraenzi (German dept. assistant), Alejandro (Spanish dept. assistant), and me!

We had a huge buffet of French food, followed my more food, desserts, and of course tons of wine. We did our gift exchange in which the man that got my gift thought my card was so adorable that he passed it around for everyone to see. This is embarrased me a little thinking maybe I had made an error with what I had written in French, but then decided he probably was just fascinated with what I wrote in English. I hope.

One of the other English teachers crying/laughing over what her present was!

Well, ok this is where the story gets good. We went from mingling, to eating, to exchanging presents, to dancing. Yes, in the middle of an empty classroom in the basement of my middle school, the teachers had a dance party! It was the most hysterical thing ever. The best part was everyone participated – even the principal! In fact, it was the older teachers that were constantly trying to show us younger ones some new moves.

The lights got lowered and the music got raised! On est dance!

Around midnight, the principal finally told us (mind you, we started at 6pm) to go home, or if not going home, just go somewhere else. With there being so much wine and food left over, another teacher decided to just take it all and invite everyone to her apartment to continue to the dance party. One of the other English teachers had offered to drive me home, but since she wanted to go to this other teacher’s house, I had to go as well. I don’t say that in a “I didn’t want to go” attitude, because that wasn’t the case. J’avais tres envie d’y aller! (I was really interested in going.) So everyone packed up the food and drinks and headed to one of the math teacher’s apartments. When we got outside, we realized it had snowed about an inch! I was so cool. It’s snowed every day this week, but it had yet to stick. Finally, last night, it did! When we got to the math teacher’s apartment, there was about 15 of us. Everyone just chit chatted for a while, and some of the other teachers that didn’t know me well, just knew I was the American working with the English department this year, were flabbergasted to know I actually spoke French. Whenever they see me in the hall or passing by, I’m usually speaking English – to encourage the kids to speak English with me outside of class. Anywho, once they realized I spoke French, I had an entourage of people asking me dozens of questions about the States, what I think of France, why I came, etc. etc. etc. It’s amazing how much friendlier people get after having a glass or two of wine. At some point, Marie, the English teacher that was taking me home said at one point, I could just crash at her place (since we didn’t have to rush in the morning) but as the night wore on decided, if it was ok with me, to just crash at the math teacher’s house. Since that’s what the others had decided to do, I followed suit (not wanting to look like the party pooper and agreed). Sleepover with all the teachers! Because the majority of us didn’t have classes till the afternoon we stayed up late into the night just talking and playing games. The best game was “name that tune” in which someone manned the Itunes and shuffled through songs tallying up who knew the most. Despite being the foreigner, I knew quite a few French songs. Everyone was really impressed – especially since some of them only hours earlier didn’t even think I spoke French. hah. “Name that tune” wore us all out – rather mellowed us out (especially the boys), aiding us in heading to bed. When we did actually decided to go to bed, c’etait bordel! (It was a mess.) There were people sleeping with the hostess in her bed. Numerous people on a huge L shaped couch (including me), numerous people on the floor, and two people on an air mattress. Overall it was a wonderful night. Such great memories. Who knew teachers could be so cool?!?! My only rift with it was that I wished it had happened back in September. It’s a shame that I’m just now getting to meet all my other colleagues and realizing that they’re super nice, and that I have so much in common with so many of them. I’m looking forward to January when eating lunch in the teacher’s lounge will be way less awkward now – even if there isn’t another English teacher around.

Ok Friday – So this morning when I woke up at 8, Marie brought me to the metro so I could go home and shower and change. Here’s a picure of her car – covered in snow!

Nelly and I ready and waiting in the car for Marie to finish clearing the snow.

Since I didn’t have class till 1:30, I got to fit in a two hour nap as well! Unfortunately for her, she went home, changed really fast, and headed back into school for her 10am class. When I got up for real at 11am, I got a move-on after seeing how much snow had since accumulated and worried that this will delay the busses a little. When I got to school I had three hours of 6emes (6th graders) and three hours of “Frosty the Snowman”. The kids loved the lesson. Loved figuring out the lyrics. Loved singing the song. (Got to love teaching little ones! We had a sing-a-long in each class.) And they loved that it was the last day before “holiday”! (It still cracks me up that my kids say “holiday” because they learned that and not “vacation”.) They also all told me “Happy Christmas” like the English would, when the bell rang. It was really sweet. I love my little ones. Eleven year olds are wonderful because they’re scared of you and they don’t smell yet… When school ended, a Physics teacher drove me home (well, to the tram right next to where I live) since no one seemed to trust taking a bus on these snowy roads. It was really sweet of her to think of me. When I got home I knitted for a while – I’m making Anne (landlady) a scarf for Christmas. Guillaume made vin chaud (spiced wine) because he said “il y a un tempest de neige!” (Cause we’re having a blizzard!)

Guillaume knows how to use a double-boiler better than I do!

We are NOT having a blizzard. Believe me, this Boston girl has seen snow in her lifetime, and this is not anything major. But because it rarely snows in Lyon, they freak out like all my SC friends used to in college when it would snow! Tonight, I had another Chrismas party to attend, but I declined. It’s freezing outside and I would rather stay indoors where it’s warm, with G’s vin chaud, my knittin, and perhaps watch a movie. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to watch a movie. Ok, I’ve decided – yes, I’m going to watch a movie. Ok, so I’m off. That’s been my past 4 days. Sorry I got behind (cough mum!).

Bonne nuit! Six jours jusqu’a Noel!

Pas de chauffage = pas d’ecole!

•December 14, 2009 • Leave a Comment

So today is Monday. It’s normally my longest day of teaching each week, but today there was a little surprise! I had a 9 o’clock class at my first school and didn’t have a second class till 11am, at my second school. During the 10 o’clock hour I made photocopies of “Frosty the Snowman” lyrics for my afternoon classes, and while online to access the document, I noticed I had a new e-mail. This e-mail was from one of my collegues at my second school saying “pas de chauffage = pas d’ecole!” (No heating = no school!)

Upon reading this message, I smiled big! I was done for the day and it was only 10:15. I stayed at my first school in the copy room and teacher’s lounge making sure I prepared everything I wanted to before heading home. On my way walking to the bus, I ran into some of my students. I verfied with the four girls that classes really had been canceled and they assured me ‘Oui, madame. Tout est annule! Vous pouvez aller chez vous!” (Yes, ma’am. Everything’s cancelled. You can go back to your house!)

I arrived home promptly at noon, ate lunch, took a trip to the grocery store, made a handmade Christmas card (with French newspaper clippings) for someone I completely left off my Christmas card list, and read! This morning I was ending book 3 and now I’m going to bed having just started book 5. The book itself is just one book, however, it’s complied of 5 books within it. Today I finished “Ruth”, read all of “Bathsheba” and began “Mary”. If anyone is looking for a great Christmas present to give to a female, I recommend this book! I can’t say it enough. It is sooo moving! God is teaching me so much through it and it’s completely rocking my world. I seriously cannot put it down. I’m happy I have tomorrow off so I can finish it. However, I’ll be honest, it’s been tough to read such a Biblically focused book and still have a desire to read my Bible afterwards before going to bed. It’s like I almost want to replace the Bible with book and call it a night. But that’s wrong, because though this book is Biblical, it’s fiction. Oh, but it’s so wonderful of a book; it’s thought provoking, it’s encouraging, it’s gripping, it’s enlightening, and it’s so personal. Despite these stories having to do with 5 different women in the Bible, they’re so easy to relate to (ok not in all senses: obviously, I’m not a mother, or prostitute, or widow, or adultress) because like these women, I’m a girl. Just a plain old girl that loves God and yearns to please Him. A daughter of the King who, despite finding it difficult, only wants to bring honor to Him in my everyday life. Ok, I’ll stop ranting, just go read the book. It’ll be worth it.

My plans for tomorrow (my day off) include going Christmas shopping. I don’t think I’ve ever waited this long (Dec. 15th) to begin my shopping. Anywho, I have 7 gifts to buy (6 are for people and 1 is a grab gift for work). Anyone have any suggestions for my school’s faculty Christmas party grab gift?!?! (I’m open to any and all suggestions!!) I’m heading to the mall, and two Christmas markets hoping I can find everything I need to get. Wish me luck!

This weekend…

•December 13, 2009 • Leave a Comment

Ok sorry, it’s been days since I bloggd. Sorry. To recap this weekend, I’ll give you the highlights.

Friday:
– I didn’t have to teach because my one school was closed for the Swine Flu. (Please continue to pray that I won’t get sick. I’ve been fortunate so far.)
–My other school, where I don’t have classes on Fridays, had a grave incident happen. A few boys brutally beat another little boy during recess. I don’t want to give you any names of people, or which school was involved, but it’s been all over the news/newspapers this weekend. Pray for the one boy because he is currently in the hospital with serious damage, and also for the other boys because their punishment is coming from the police, not the principal.
– On a lighter note, Friday night I had my first of four Christmas parties. We had a lot of fun! Here’s a picture:

Katie, Berenice, Elizabeth, me, and Sarah

Saturday:
– Monika, Guillaume, and I stayed in pajamas until dinner. It was so fun. We all did homework/lesson plans all day.
–Guillaume took me to my first ever rugby match! He spent an hour that afternoon explaining the rules to me.
– The match was very fun – despite LOU (Lyon’s team) losing, and despite it rained the whole night. Pictures to follow:

Me and Gui (while still sitting under the awning)!

Sorry this is a little blurry.

I told you it rained! :( ...look how dirty those players are!

– Guillaume and I had a very delicious, very French dinner at is mum’s. We ate pumpkin soup, salad, tuna pie, cheese and bread, a Charlotte cake, and a Christmas log. Plus wine. Everything was so good. We didn’t leave till after 11pm. (We started eating at 8ish.)
–Anne, Guillaume’s mum, decided that she and G and his sister are no longer going north for Christmas. (1. because the train tickets are expensive and 2. so i can partake in a French family Christmas.) This is super sweet to think of me, since I’m staying, but puts me in a funny predicament because I already told two other American teachers they could come over for Christmas Eve and spend the night and then spend all day the 25th together. But now they can’t cause G and his mum and sister will all be here. Hmmm…don’t know what to do?!

Sunday:
– I went to church and sang as part of the choir. (There’s not normally a choir at church – but because we were doing all Christmas carols, today there was.) It’s been a while since I’ve been a part of a choir. It was very fun. I even got to do a solo intro with an alto for “Little town of Bethelem” and “It came upon a midnight clear”. Church was packed, also, because it was being recorded for Lyon’s Christian Radio Station.
– I spent the afternoon finishing lessons for the week and reading.
–I believe I’ve failed to mention I’m reading a new book. After being coerced by the other girls at Bible Study, I’ve begun to read “A Lineage of Grace” by Francine Rivers. It’s in English, and that’s the only problem I have with it. Other than that however, I can’t seem to put it down. I find myself praying to God to let my morning commute go as slow as possible just so I can read more. For any woman out there, Christian or not, you should all go read this book! It’s so englightening and without you even knowing it, it will bring you closer to God.