The last week has been relatively uneventful, except for a couple of day trips I made.
Last Sunday, I finally got the chance to go to Reims. If you don't know about Reims, it's the capital of the Champagne region, a relatively large city, and an important college town. It's also where Benoît's parents live, so the perfect place for a grand family reunion and a chance "meet the American." There were tons of people there...somewhere around 20...sO it was quite the party! We ate delicious French food until we were sick (salmon patiné, pasta with meat, a full cheese tray, two desserts, and champagne), then decided to load most of the family up to go play laser tag. No that's not a mistake-laser tag. 13 of us played, from the youngest cousin and Nathan all the way up to 3 of the 4 grandparents. I came in 3rd thanks to my stereotypically-American shooting skills and mongoose-like reflexes. I would have won but I absentmindedly wore a white shirt...ok probably not but we'll pretend that's why I didn't win.
After our laser quest the Samsons went home, leavings with Camille and the grandparents for the rest of the evening. We went to the Reims cathedral to watch a laser-light show...it's hard to describe, but essentially they used the cathedral face as a projector screen for all sorts of lighting effects. It sounds weird but it was actually really cool...the building is beautiful, And with all the light effects it was even cooler.
I made it back to Soissons late that night and headed off to work the next day. I had the good fortune of having my Wednesday classes cancelled again, so on the spur of the moment I decided to go to Paris for the day. It was a typical day in Paris--I went to the Wine museum, which was kind of disappointing. The lack of organization and the blatant product placement at the end (Grand Marnier is not by any stretch of the imagination wine) overshadowed the few interesting artifacts. I was also frustrated by the cashier's refusal to speak French to me...I know I'm American, but if I'm speaking French I probably want to speak French. Oh well. The rest of my day was much better.
I got lost in the 2nd arrondissement for a while before I finally found what I was looking for: the Cabinet des Monnais. This was a real treat: it was free, and the collection of miscellaneous artifacts there was astounding. Highlights: some Byzantine ivory carvings, "Charlemagne's" chess set, and several nice Greek vases. Just like the old days :)
After that I made my way back to Gare du Nord to head home. The train was really full, and I got lucky with my seat mate--I made a new French friend! Speaking of French friends, one of my friends from Aix (where I studied abroad in 2009) now lives in Paris, and we're going to meet up soon after my vacation.
I've referred to my trip before--it finally started today! I'm currently in the airport in Vienna waiting for my friend from Vanderbilt Elena. I think her plane might be in too, so I should go; more info on my trip soon!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Hopping around Northwestern France
So, it seems like a long time since I've posted, when in fact it's only been a week. I'll start with a recap of my day in Amiens:
I managed to catch a bus to the place where my meeting was and got there quite early (and of course the orientation didn't start until 30 minutes late, so I could have taken the train that morning and saved my night in a sketchy hotel). The orientation was pretty typical, although there were a few surprises:
1. There were these amazing people who took care of all our complicated paperwork for us; I had no idea this was going to happen so I was shocked when I could weeks' worth of red tape cut in one sitting
2. Our free lunch was delicious! We got a three-plate sampler of a galette au four, some pain de viande, and something else really excellent (and I kind of made up the names of those dishes, but if you know French cuisine you'll get the idea). Throw in a tarte aux pommes and a cup of cider and altogether it was quite nice.
3. I got to visit the cathedral during our 2.5-hour lunch break. The cathedral at Amiens is really famous, and rightly so; it may be the prettiest church I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them. It's bigger than Notre Dame and much, much less somber. The stained-glass windows of the cathedrals in Picardy got bombed out over the course of the two world wars, so they were repaired with cheaper clear glass, and I think it's an improvement. You lose the symbolism in the windows, but I think the brightness compensates...there's plenty of other iconography inside to see without dark stained-glass windows. I even got to see a relic: the head of St. John the Baptist. Even if it's not actually his head, it's super important because in the Middle Ages people would come from all over Europe to revere it.
After our orientation Alex, Hector (the Mexican assistant who lives with the other English assistants in the boarding school), and I made our way to the Gare, only to find that the trains were on strike because a conductor had gotten stabbed. After a shorter-than-expected delay of 30 minutes, we caught our first train, then our second, but the third had been cancelled. SNCF to the rescue! SNCF is the French rail company, and it is AWESOME. The trains are always clean, usually on time (barring a grève, i.e. a strike), and not too expensive. They also payed a cab for the three of us from Laon to Soissons, a cab which cost 90 Euros. Thanks nice man at the Laon station!
So that Saturday I set off with Benoît, Irène, and Camille to run some errands/do some sightseeing. First we went to one of the Parisian suburbs to drop off some packages for a lady to deliver to friends in Senegal (the customs department in Senegal is so corrupt that nothing valuable can get through the post, so everything has to be sent by a courrier). Next, we went to Vaux de Vicomtes, which is the castle that inspired Versailles. I'll bore you all with a quick history lesson (omit the bracketed part if you don't care):
[begin history lesson
So once upon a time there was this guy named Foucquet who built this uber-extravagant palace north of Paris. He was one of the finance ministers of France under Louis XIV, who was really jealous of this chateau (Vaux de Vicomtes). Another one of Louis's finance ministers (named Colbert, incidentally) made some really shady deals and got caught, but blamed it all on Foucquet. Louis was so jealous of his fancy house that he rigged the trial, stuck Foucquet in prison then exile, then built Versailles just to show him.
end history lesson]
After our little afternoon at the chateau (where Tony Parker and Eva Longoria got married, incidentally), Benoît asked me if I wanted to go to Paris for the evening to catch some sights. Of course I said yes, so we hopped on the freeway and soon were driving along the Seine. It was surreal to be in Paris like that; it's always such an ordeal to get there the other times I've been that just waltzing up casually was strange, but in a very good way. I grabbed a couple of pictures in front of the Eiffel tower, but other than that we never left the car. We stopped on the outskirts to have dinner in Bercy Village and found a very nice crêperie that served Alsacien cuisine, including both crêpes and their cousin, the pizza-like flammekuche (Alsace used to be part of Germany, if you didn't already guess from the word flammekuche). That was one of my favorite meals since I've been here, even though I was about to fall over from exhaustion.
Sunday, Katie and I went to the Protestant church in Soissons. There's only one, and it was TINY. There were somewhere around 10 people there, out of a city of 28,000, so a far cry from the packed-out cathedral last weekend. However the service was very nice, the pastor spoke very clear, comprehensible French, and there was actually a sermon instead of the mini-homily thing the bishop gave at the cathedral last week. The members were also very friendly and glad to see 2 young people; one nice gentleman even gave us his business card and said to call if we needed any help. He had his two adorable kids with him, and Katie wants to babysit them. It was a very nice, welcoming experience, and both Katie and I want to go back in two weeks (the pastor works in Soissons every other week, and goes to Laon on the other Sundays).
This week's teaching has gone really well; I even got to introduce one class to a Taylor Swift song ("Picture to Burn" for for my curious readers) and then guided them through translating it into French. Today I had to go to Laon, the capital of the départment (which is roughly equivalent to an American county), to have my immigration medical visit. At 9:15 am. Not counting travel time.
I met up with Marlene at the train station and we made our way to the city of Laon, just a 25 minute, 3.50 Euro jaunt down the track. We then realized that to get to the hospital, we had to climb to the top of the hill where the old city is. And when I say hill, I mean small mountain. I'll post a picture later, but suffice it to say it's enormous. Fortunately it was cool enough that I arrived not disgusting, but we were out of breath. The medical visit went really smoothly. The hospital was modern, well organized, and staffed with friendly people. It was a huge contrast from the time I went to the hospital in Greece. And of course I have to tell that story, but it's not that important so I'll put it in brackets again:
[start digression
When I was in Greece last summer studying, I accidentally took a dip wearing my insulin pump. A few days later, it died completely and I had to order a new one. The problem is, Greek customs officials are not exactly the most efficient in the world, so I had to get some long-acting insulin to fill in the gap. So Manuel, our fellow archaeologist/driver/translator, drove me to the hospital in new Corinth to begin our afternoon-long odyssey for long-acting insulin. Inside the hospital we didn't know where to go, so we wandered around aimlessly, occasionally asking for help, until we got to the wing we wanted. The hospital was very shabby, with equipment that looked straight out of the 1970's, faux-wood paneling and all. We sat down in the doctor's office to wait for him to come back from lunch or siesta or who-knows-what, and the grouchy charge nurse came in and started, quite literally, screaming at us. Manuel screamed back. I sat in terror. Even though I knew shouting is much more culturally acceptable in Greece, it still scared me a little. Eventually the doctor showed up, gave me a prescription but no instructions, and sent us on our way. The good part: we didn't pay a dime. Although maybe they could have used my dime to start updating their mustard yellow shag carpeting (forgive my exaggeration; of course they didn't really have carpet. But it would have gone well with the rest of the decor).
end digression]
Anyway, after a quick chest x-ray and interview with the doctor (Have you had your tetanus booster in last 10 years?--yes--Do you have proof?--no--Oh well, I'll sign anyway), I met up with Marlene again and we wandered back down to the bottom of the city to catch a train and made it back to Soissons without further adventure. One of my afternoon classes got cancelled (the third one this week), so all I have between me and my big weekend of concerts, champagne house tours, the discothèque, and a family dinner is 3 hours of work tomorrow.
But before I sign off, I need to throw in a couple of random points.
1. If you're tempted to eat at an American restaurant in France, just don't. The family has taken me to McDo's twice and Buffalo Grill once, and each time I have been disappointed. Buffalo Grill is a really kitschy French chain that serves hamburgers, steaks, salads, etc, trying to imitate an American steakhouse, but it really doesn't cut it. I ordered chicken, expecting to get a nice bird hot off the rotisserie (or maybe battered and friend in lard to its crispy golden perfection), but instead I got something in between. Clearly the man who invented Buffalo Grill has never eaten at Loveless Café, or KFC for that matter. There's too much delicious food floating around here in France to waste a meal on subpar American cuisine.
2. Vacation starts next Friday, and I've got a grand adventure in store! I don't really know the details yet, but I do know where I'm going and when. First I jet off to Vienna, where I'm meeting up with my friend Elena from Vanderbilt. We're seeing a bit of Vienna first, then going to Salzburg (I just really want Mozartkugeln), Munich, Prague, and finally Amsterdam before heading back to Paris and/or Soissons. It's gonna be quite the adventure, and I'm going to try to make the entire 2-week trip with only a carryon suitcase. Wish me luck.
3. We're already making epic plans for Thanksgiving dinner here at the house. We're going to do it the day after Thanksgiving, since obviously the French don't get the week off, and it going to be great. I've already started plotting how to get the North American ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and turkey. I'm inviting everyone I know, so it looks to be quite the evening. Also, if anyone knows how to pipe the Black Friday football games to France via the tubes (aka the internet), let me know.
4. I miss American football and all my favorite TV shows a lot. I'm about to cut loose and start buying them off iTunes because I can't seem to trick my computer into thinking I'm still in the US. But as Auburn isn't quite having a championship season (nor is Vandy, but then again I had no hopes for that), it hasn't been as painful as it could have been.
Anyway, why do I wait until 2 am to finish my blog? Probably because I'm less antisocial that way. Sleep is for weaklings anyway. I thiiinkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I managed to catch a bus to the place where my meeting was and got there quite early (and of course the orientation didn't start until 30 minutes late, so I could have taken the train that morning and saved my night in a sketchy hotel). The orientation was pretty typical, although there were a few surprises:
1. There were these amazing people who took care of all our complicated paperwork for us; I had no idea this was going to happen so I was shocked when I could weeks' worth of red tape cut in one sitting
2. Our free lunch was delicious! We got a three-plate sampler of a galette au four, some pain de viande, and something else really excellent (and I kind of made up the names of those dishes, but if you know French cuisine you'll get the idea). Throw in a tarte aux pommes and a cup of cider and altogether it was quite nice.
3. I got to visit the cathedral during our 2.5-hour lunch break. The cathedral at Amiens is really famous, and rightly so; it may be the prettiest church I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them. It's bigger than Notre Dame and much, much less somber. The stained-glass windows of the cathedrals in Picardy got bombed out over the course of the two world wars, so they were repaired with cheaper clear glass, and I think it's an improvement. You lose the symbolism in the windows, but I think the brightness compensates...there's plenty of other iconography inside to see without dark stained-glass windows. I even got to see a relic: the head of St. John the Baptist. Even if it's not actually his head, it's super important because in the Middle Ages people would come from all over Europe to revere it.
After our orientation Alex, Hector (the Mexican assistant who lives with the other English assistants in the boarding school), and I made our way to the Gare, only to find that the trains were on strike because a conductor had gotten stabbed. After a shorter-than-expected delay of 30 minutes, we caught our first train, then our second, but the third had been cancelled. SNCF to the rescue! SNCF is the French rail company, and it is AWESOME. The trains are always clean, usually on time (barring a grève, i.e. a strike), and not too expensive. They also payed a cab for the three of us from Laon to Soissons, a cab which cost 90 Euros. Thanks nice man at the Laon station!
So that Saturday I set off with Benoît, Irène, and Camille to run some errands/do some sightseeing. First we went to one of the Parisian suburbs to drop off some packages for a lady to deliver to friends in Senegal (the customs department in Senegal is so corrupt that nothing valuable can get through the post, so everything has to be sent by a courrier). Next, we went to Vaux de Vicomtes, which is the castle that inspired Versailles. I'll bore you all with a quick history lesson (omit the bracketed part if you don't care):
[begin history lesson
So once upon a time there was this guy named Foucquet who built this uber-extravagant palace north of Paris. He was one of the finance ministers of France under Louis XIV, who was really jealous of this chateau (Vaux de Vicomtes). Another one of Louis's finance ministers (named Colbert, incidentally) made some really shady deals and got caught, but blamed it all on Foucquet. Louis was so jealous of his fancy house that he rigged the trial, stuck Foucquet in prison then exile, then built Versailles just to show him.
end history lesson]
After our little afternoon at the chateau (where Tony Parker and Eva Longoria got married, incidentally), Benoît asked me if I wanted to go to Paris for the evening to catch some sights. Of course I said yes, so we hopped on the freeway and soon were driving along the Seine. It was surreal to be in Paris like that; it's always such an ordeal to get there the other times I've been that just waltzing up casually was strange, but in a very good way. I grabbed a couple of pictures in front of the Eiffel tower, but other than that we never left the car. We stopped on the outskirts to have dinner in Bercy Village and found a very nice crêperie that served Alsacien cuisine, including both crêpes and their cousin, the pizza-like flammekuche (Alsace used to be part of Germany, if you didn't already guess from the word flammekuche). That was one of my favorite meals since I've been here, even though I was about to fall over from exhaustion.
Sunday, Katie and I went to the Protestant church in Soissons. There's only one, and it was TINY. There were somewhere around 10 people there, out of a city of 28,000, so a far cry from the packed-out cathedral last weekend. However the service was very nice, the pastor spoke very clear, comprehensible French, and there was actually a sermon instead of the mini-homily thing the bishop gave at the cathedral last week. The members were also very friendly and glad to see 2 young people; one nice gentleman even gave us his business card and said to call if we needed any help. He had his two adorable kids with him, and Katie wants to babysit them. It was a very nice, welcoming experience, and both Katie and I want to go back in two weeks (the pastor works in Soissons every other week, and goes to Laon on the other Sundays).
This week's teaching has gone really well; I even got to introduce one class to a Taylor Swift song ("Picture to Burn" for for my curious readers) and then guided them through translating it into French. Today I had to go to Laon, the capital of the départment (which is roughly equivalent to an American county), to have my immigration medical visit. At 9:15 am. Not counting travel time.
I met up with Marlene at the train station and we made our way to the city of Laon, just a 25 minute, 3.50 Euro jaunt down the track. We then realized that to get to the hospital, we had to climb to the top of the hill where the old city is. And when I say hill, I mean small mountain. I'll post a picture later, but suffice it to say it's enormous. Fortunately it was cool enough that I arrived not disgusting, but we were out of breath. The medical visit went really smoothly. The hospital was modern, well organized, and staffed with friendly people. It was a huge contrast from the time I went to the hospital in Greece. And of course I have to tell that story, but it's not that important so I'll put it in brackets again:
[start digression
When I was in Greece last summer studying, I accidentally took a dip wearing my insulin pump. A few days later, it died completely and I had to order a new one. The problem is, Greek customs officials are not exactly the most efficient in the world, so I had to get some long-acting insulin to fill in the gap. So Manuel, our fellow archaeologist/driver/translator, drove me to the hospital in new Corinth to begin our afternoon-long odyssey for long-acting insulin. Inside the hospital we didn't know where to go, so we wandered around aimlessly, occasionally asking for help, until we got to the wing we wanted. The hospital was very shabby, with equipment that looked straight out of the 1970's, faux-wood paneling and all. We sat down in the doctor's office to wait for him to come back from lunch or siesta or who-knows-what, and the grouchy charge nurse came in and started, quite literally, screaming at us. Manuel screamed back. I sat in terror. Even though I knew shouting is much more culturally acceptable in Greece, it still scared me a little. Eventually the doctor showed up, gave me a prescription but no instructions, and sent us on our way. The good part: we didn't pay a dime. Although maybe they could have used my dime to start updating their mustard yellow shag carpeting (forgive my exaggeration; of course they didn't really have carpet. But it would have gone well with the rest of the decor).
end digression]
Anyway, after a quick chest x-ray and interview with the doctor (Have you had your tetanus booster in last 10 years?--yes--Do you have proof?--no--Oh well, I'll sign anyway), I met up with Marlene again and we wandered back down to the bottom of the city to catch a train and made it back to Soissons without further adventure. One of my afternoon classes got cancelled (the third one this week), so all I have between me and my big weekend of concerts, champagne house tours, the discothèque, and a family dinner is 3 hours of work tomorrow.
But before I sign off, I need to throw in a couple of random points.
1. If you're tempted to eat at an American restaurant in France, just don't. The family has taken me to McDo's twice and Buffalo Grill once, and each time I have been disappointed. Buffalo Grill is a really kitschy French chain that serves hamburgers, steaks, salads, etc, trying to imitate an American steakhouse, but it really doesn't cut it. I ordered chicken, expecting to get a nice bird hot off the rotisserie (or maybe battered and friend in lard to its crispy golden perfection), but instead I got something in between. Clearly the man who invented Buffalo Grill has never eaten at Loveless Café, or KFC for that matter. There's too much delicious food floating around here in France to waste a meal on subpar American cuisine.
2. Vacation starts next Friday, and I've got a grand adventure in store! I don't really know the details yet, but I do know where I'm going and when. First I jet off to Vienna, where I'm meeting up with my friend Elena from Vanderbilt. We're seeing a bit of Vienna first, then going to Salzburg (I just really want Mozartkugeln), Munich, Prague, and finally Amsterdam before heading back to Paris and/or Soissons. It's gonna be quite the adventure, and I'm going to try to make the entire 2-week trip with only a carryon suitcase. Wish me luck.
3. We're already making epic plans for Thanksgiving dinner here at the house. We're going to do it the day after Thanksgiving, since obviously the French don't get the week off, and it going to be great. I've already started plotting how to get the North American ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and turkey. I'm inviting everyone I know, so it looks to be quite the evening. Also, if anyone knows how to pipe the Black Friday football games to France via the tubes (aka the internet), let me know.
4. I miss American football and all my favorite TV shows a lot. I'm about to cut loose and start buying them off iTunes because I can't seem to trick my computer into thinking I'm still in the US. But as Auburn isn't quite having a championship season (nor is Vandy, but then again I had no hopes for that), it hasn't been as painful as it could have been.
Anyway, why do I wait until 2 am to finish my blog? Probably because I'm less antisocial that way. Sleep is for weaklings anyway. I thiiinkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Photo Update
So just a little update on pictures:
First Album
Second Album
Third Album
There will be more, don't worry! Enjoy!
First Album
Second Album
Third Album
There will be more, don't worry! Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
En route to Amiens
A trembling American empties his pockets into the hands of a large Russian man in front of him, while a gang of foreigners looks on. Sound like the opening of a mob movie? In fact, this happened to me tonight. But I’ll explain later in this post (in journalism, this is what is called a “hook.”)
I really should be sleeping right now but I just had one of those days, so I have to put down my thoughts now. First of all, a recap of my last couple of days is in order. I started teaching Monday, and it’s been going quite well! On the whole the students are well-behaved, and some of them are even interested in what I have to say. This week has been a series of introductions to the various classes, so I’ve gotten to show them pictures of my friends, family, hometown, etc., all the while highlighting differences between France and the US. Of all the classes I’ve had so far (7 in total), I’ve only had one student who’s ever been to the US, which kind of surprised me.
I already have favorite students, too. One of them was a delightful young lady who sat on the front row in a class of 10th graders. She smiled a lot, was well-behaved, and asked good questions, and when her turn came to answer my query (What is your favorite hobby?) she rattled off a paragraph-long sentence in nearly perfect English describing a swim competition two years ago. The craziest thing: she didn’t have a French accent. She was far above any of the other students I’ve met, of any level. I found out later that she was a German exchange student. But never fear, I also had a very strong native French girl in the BTS class I taught today. The BTS is the rough equivalent of an Associate’s degree in the US; these students are learning about management, etc. They’re a little older and more mature, and this girl was quite strong in English, too. Overall, I think I’m really going to like teaching these classes.
Earlier this evening I left Soissons to make my journey to Amiens for the district-wide orientation. I caught a train with Alex, one of the English assistants in town, and everything went smoothly. Until our train stopped in the middle of the track in some small town. I didn’t catch much of what the conductor said, but Alex thought he said something about running over a drunk person with the train. I wasn’t sure if she was right until we went down the tracks a bit and the conductor hopped out, joined a group of policemen, and sprinted back to where we’d just been stopped. I didn’t see anything, but I can’t think of any other explanation. Odd.
So anyway, we finally arrived at Amiens and were immediately met by a crew of men who started scrubbing guts off the front of our train (okay, I might have made that last part up). I caught a cab to my hotel, about 15 minutes outside the city center, and went to the automatic cashier machine that takes the place of the reception desk after hours. I had no problem finding my reservation, but I met another problem: my American card wouldn’t work in the machine. European bank cards have a microchip in them that American cards don’t, and this has started causing me problems (and my French card doesn’t get in for another few days). So here I am stranded in the suburbs of Amiens, France, 15 minutes and 15 Euros away from anyone I know, with no access to my hotel room. Fortunately, there was a man standing next to me who was having his own problems with the machine. He had a large beard and wasn’t wearing deodorant, which screams “Russian” louder than a can of caviar. He agreed to pay for my room on his card, and I payed him cash, hence me handing over money. The foreigners: other people waiting for the machine. Why was I trembling, you might ask, if I wasn’t being mugged? My blood sugar was low. So, all-in-all, my evening was a lot less exciting but a lot less dangerous than a mob movie.
In other news, Camille found me on Facebook and has started reading this blog (Hi Camille!). I also cooked an American meal for the family yesterday (turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and sautéed zucchini), and it went over very well. Kudos to my wonderful mother for the recipes! Everything is going swimmingly. But I must head off, a long day of orientation tomorrow. And I think I left my iPhone at home, so no Angry Birds to distract me.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Voilà Notre Américain!
So I'm going to start with the bad and move on to the good.
Bad: I came in 3rd in a bicycle race today. Oh, and I broke the bell on my rental bike.
Good: I've had two of the most interesting days of my life.
Want more detail? Well, I think I explained the "Bad" category adequately, so let's move on to the good.
Two nights ago I met up with the three other English assistants who were here. It was really funny to hear so much English! They all three live together at a high school. I found out that two of them sing, so we're going to look for a choir together! I'm going to church with Katie (one of the three) tomorrow, too; I hope my two years of Episcopal church will help me navigate the liturgy in French. But in any case the big guy upstairs understands English.
Yesterday was scary but exciting. I went to the high school to meet my colleagues/get my work schedule/etc. I only work 12 hours each week, so I get to start late every day :) For Monday, I'm preparing a presentation for my 3 classes on myself, my city, my state, American culture, etc. I can't wait to talk about how awesome Florence and Nashville are. There are 9 English teachers, 8 of which I'm working with, and all of which seem very nice. One of the younger ones invited me out for drinks after school! The place we ended up going was closed, though, so it got postponed. Instead I went home and played some more Monopoly. I love making Monopoly jokes about the American mortgaging his property (hypothèquer). But fortunately for me, my housing bubble didn't burst and I won.
Today is when things get really fun. The family decided to spend the day riding bikes and touring the city of Compiègne. We drove to Pierrefonds, where Irène's parents live, and headed off to the bike path (piste cycable) along with Grandma, but not before noticing the enormous castle that overlooks the town. I'll post a picture later when my internet connection is better. We then proceeded to bike a leisurely 13 km, finally arriving in the picturesque city of Compiègne. I've never seen such pretty houses; we must have come in from the nice part of town, because everywhere we looked there were enormous 19th-century villas overlooking the broad tree-lined boulevard. But we weren't there to look at houses; we were on a mission to eat.
The restaurant we went to was one-of-a-kind. Not because of our main dish--it was really good, but not as exciting as dessert. Today was the day I learned what à la volonté means. It's the French version of "all-you-can-eat," and it's almost unheard of. But at this little bistro in this smallish city, you can order profiteroles à la volonté. All-you-can-eat puff-pastry-thingies with vanilla ice cream in the middle, smothered with melted chocolate. You'll be happy to hear I stopped myself at 4.
After lunch we visited the centerpiece of the city, the chateau. It was built by Napoleon, but it reminded me a lot of Versailles, except not quite so extravagant. But still pretty dang over-the-top. Seriously Josephine, you need golden angels to hold up your bed curtains? No. You don't really even need bed curtains.
We'd noticed a rather oddly-dressed girl walking around the chateau while we were inside and I had tried in vain to snap a picture from a distance, but I didn't succeed. At least not until we caught her at the gate and, in a flurry of French I didn't quite understand, was told to stand beside her for a picture. Then we danced a waltz with no music. It was very nice but very odd, until I realized why. Bachelorette parties in France aren't like those in the US. Instead of going to Chippendale shows, the brides-to-be go to public places and do silly things, like dress in period clothes and dance with strangers at castles. I knew this from my study-abroad program in Aix, where I'd been snatched from the doorway of the cell phone store, stuck on a scale, and kissed by a bride-to-be on a quest to kiss 1000 kilograms of men, but this time I was thrown off by the location and the period costume. Glad I figured it out eventually.
After the chateau, we went back home on the bike trail, this time riding as fast as possible. I was tired by the time we got back to the car, but in a good way. After a quick drive home and a much-deserved shower, I went off with Camille, Orso, and two friends to grab dinner at a kebab shop. The rest of the family had gone to a party (of course I was invited), but I wanted to stay close to home. After dinner, I ended up jamming with Benjamin and Orso. I was in high demand as a singer (since I know English and half the songs they like are in English), but I also played guitar for the first time in a while. Of course the first song I teach them is "Sweet Home Alabama." It turns out we're going to play it at an open mic night somewhere down the line!
In other news, I finally got my French phone in the mail this morning. The mail lady had asked for a "Madame Ray," which confused Camille, but I fortunately caught her before she left with my package. I've been playing with it some, and it seems nice, but it's no iPhone. But that's okay, because who needs an iPhone when you have a 1400-year-old country to explore out your back door?
Bad: I came in 3rd in a bicycle race today. Oh, and I broke the bell on my rental bike.
Good: I've had two of the most interesting days of my life.
Want more detail? Well, I think I explained the "Bad" category adequately, so let's move on to the good.
Two nights ago I met up with the three other English assistants who were here. It was really funny to hear so much English! They all three live together at a high school. I found out that two of them sing, so we're going to look for a choir together! I'm going to church with Katie (one of the three) tomorrow, too; I hope my two years of Episcopal church will help me navigate the liturgy in French. But in any case the big guy upstairs understands English.
Yesterday was scary but exciting. I went to the high school to meet my colleagues/get my work schedule/etc. I only work 12 hours each week, so I get to start late every day :) For Monday, I'm preparing a presentation for my 3 classes on myself, my city, my state, American culture, etc. I can't wait to talk about how awesome Florence and Nashville are. There are 9 English teachers, 8 of which I'm working with, and all of which seem very nice. One of the younger ones invited me out for drinks after school! The place we ended up going was closed, though, so it got postponed. Instead I went home and played some more Monopoly. I love making Monopoly jokes about the American mortgaging his property (hypothèquer). But fortunately for me, my housing bubble didn't burst and I won.
Today is when things get really fun. The family decided to spend the day riding bikes and touring the city of Compiègne. We drove to Pierrefonds, where Irène's parents live, and headed off to the bike path (piste cycable) along with Grandma, but not before noticing the enormous castle that overlooks the town. I'll post a picture later when my internet connection is better. We then proceeded to bike a leisurely 13 km, finally arriving in the picturesque city of Compiègne. I've never seen such pretty houses; we must have come in from the nice part of town, because everywhere we looked there were enormous 19th-century villas overlooking the broad tree-lined boulevard. But we weren't there to look at houses; we were on a mission to eat.
The restaurant we went to was one-of-a-kind. Not because of our main dish--it was really good, but not as exciting as dessert. Today was the day I learned what à la volonté means. It's the French version of "all-you-can-eat," and it's almost unheard of. But at this little bistro in this smallish city, you can order profiteroles à la volonté. All-you-can-eat puff-pastry-thingies with vanilla ice cream in the middle, smothered with melted chocolate. You'll be happy to hear I stopped myself at 4.
After lunch we visited the centerpiece of the city, the chateau. It was built by Napoleon, but it reminded me a lot of Versailles, except not quite so extravagant. But still pretty dang over-the-top. Seriously Josephine, you need golden angels to hold up your bed curtains? No. You don't really even need bed curtains.
We'd noticed a rather oddly-dressed girl walking around the chateau while we were inside and I had tried in vain to snap a picture from a distance, but I didn't succeed. At least not until we caught her at the gate and, in a flurry of French I didn't quite understand, was told to stand beside her for a picture. Then we danced a waltz with no music. It was very nice but very odd, until I realized why. Bachelorette parties in France aren't like those in the US. Instead of going to Chippendale shows, the brides-to-be go to public places and do silly things, like dress in period clothes and dance with strangers at castles. I knew this from my study-abroad program in Aix, where I'd been snatched from the doorway of the cell phone store, stuck on a scale, and kissed by a bride-to-be on a quest to kiss 1000 kilograms of men, but this time I was thrown off by the location and the period costume. Glad I figured it out eventually.
After the chateau, we went back home on the bike trail, this time riding as fast as possible. I was tired by the time we got back to the car, but in a good way. After a quick drive home and a much-deserved shower, I went off with Camille, Orso, and two friends to grab dinner at a kebab shop. The rest of the family had gone to a party (of course I was invited), but I wanted to stay close to home. After dinner, I ended up jamming with Benjamin and Orso. I was in high demand as a singer (since I know English and half the songs they like are in English), but I also played guitar for the first time in a while. Of course the first song I teach them is "Sweet Home Alabama." It turns out we're going to play it at an open mic night somewhere down the line!
In other news, I finally got my French phone in the mail this morning. The mail lady had asked for a "Madame Ray," which confused Camille, but I fortunately caught her before she left with my package. I've been playing with it some, and it seems nice, but it's no iPhone. But that's okay, because who needs an iPhone when you have a 1400-year-old country to explore out your back door?
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