Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! My kids (that I teach) are so excited about today. First of all because Thanksgiving is all that I have been talking about for the past three weeks. I am proud to say that eighty French school children now know the story of the pilgrims; they can tell you what sound a turkey makes in English (gobblegobble); and, most importantly of all, they can sing "Over the River and Through the Woods" in English and in French! And secondly, they are excited because they all know by now that I am bringing bonbons (candy) to my classes, in honor of the great meal that I'm missing today.
Alas, it is true. I eat no turkey this day. For the first Thanksgiving in my whole life I am eating quiche lorraine for lunch and powdered soup for dinner (just add water!). But do not pity me, my friends, because I am leaving in the morning for a weekend of shopping at Christmas markets in Munich! I probably won't eat turkey there either, but I will have lots of warm gingerbread and Glühwein and possibly apfelstrudel too.
Have fun with your families and friends (les familles et les amis) and enjoy the great food you are about to devour. I will be watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (on surfthechannel.com) and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (on youtube).
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Blue lights and wet feet
My chocolate-filled advent calendar is so tempting; so smug. Just sitting there, waiting to be opened on the first of December. Why is December taking so long anyway? "6 more days," it smirks. Sigh.
~~~
Leena and I had such a good time in Paris this past weekend. I arrived a few hours before she did on Friday afternoon; so I took a long walk around the islands, the Louvre and the Italian Quarter. I visited this month's Photography Exhibit and I took pictures of the city in all its autumnal splendor. Then I took the RER line B to the Charles de Gaulle airport and found Leena.
That night we ate galettes and crêpes and then walked home in a light rain. Saturday was extremely busy, with classic touristy stops on the agenda. We started by climbing the Eiffel Tower in the morning. Then we went straight to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysée. There was a small Christmas market just opening up at the end of the road so, of course, we had to take a look around. We bought piping hot cups of vin chaud, which is spiced Christmas wine, and sipped at them on our way to the Musée de l'Orangerie. Leena loved Monet's Nymphéas (who doesn't??). We caught a glance (and some photos, see left) of the Musée d'Orsay across the Seine, before heading up the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Louvre. We had to have a late afternoon tea at Mariage Frères, of course, no trip to Paris is complete without tea and scones.
That night, we bought 10 macarons and ate them en route to the Eiffel Tower's light show. Afterwards, we went back up to the Champs Elysée, to see it all lit up with blue Christmas lights. Blue seems to be the theme this year, in Paris. The Eiffel Tower's lights are now blue and the Rue Mouffetard has blue lights strung along it as well.
~~~
Leena and I had such a good time in Paris this past weekend. I arrived a few hours before she did on Friday afternoon; so I took a long walk around the islands, the Louvre and the Italian Quarter. I visited this month's Photography Exhibit and I took pictures of the city in all its autumnal splendor. Then I took the RER line B to the Charles de Gaulle airport and found Leena.
That night we ate galettes and crêpes and then walked home in a light rain. Saturday was extremely busy, with classic touristy stops on the agenda. We started by climbing the Eiffel Tower in the morning. Then we went straight to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs Elysée. There was a small Christmas market just opening up at the end of the road so, of course, we had to take a look around. We bought piping hot cups of vin chaud, which is spiced Christmas wine, and sipped at them on our way to the Musée de l'Orangerie. Leena loved Monet's Nymphéas (who doesn't??). We caught a glance (and some photos, see left) of the Musée d'Orsay across the Seine, before heading up the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Louvre. We had to have a late afternoon tea at Mariage Frères, of course, no trip to Paris is complete without tea and scones.
That night, we bought 10 macarons and ate them en route to the Eiffel Tower's light show. Afterwards, we went back up to the Champs Elysée, to see it all lit up with blue Christmas lights. Blue seems to be the theme this year, in Paris. The Eiffel Tower's lights are now blue and the Rue Mouffetard has blue lights strung along it as well.On Sunday morning we visited Paris' Notre Dame cathedral, where it began to snow! The snow kept up all morning, and was quite beautiful, but it managed to turn into a very cold rain right as we were waiting in a long line to get into the Musée d'Orsay. And so it was with wet feet and a soggy jacket that I later bid Leena goodbye and hopped on the metro that led to the Gare Montparnasse.
~~~
~~~
Today I am back in Angers. I am getting ready to go to Munich this Friday, to visit the big Christmas market there. I never thought I would say this, but I may be a bit travelled out after this coming weekend. It is tiring to be constantly on the move, and never sleeping in your own bed. I also need to get cracking on some Christmas lessons for my students (and save up some grocery money!) so a few weeks' rest in Angers may be a good thing for me right now...After this glorious upcoming weekend, that is.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Catching up
It has been too long since my last entry, I know, but I have been busy decorating my room for Christmas. I have no buffer between Halloween and Christmas over here since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving (duh!) so I jumped right into Christmas last week. I already have Christmas lights, a tree, candles, an advent calender, and a Christmas chain made of red and green paper. I rip one link off every morning; there are now 37 days till Christmas! I am also listening to Christmas carols on iTunes Radio as I type. Speaking of which - I need to start teaching English carols to my classes. I am going to do four or five songs and, right now, I'm thinking Rudolph, We Wish you a Merry Christmas (repetition is good), and....???? Does anyone have any favorites that they think I should absolutely not forget?
~~~
Last Thursday Katrin and I went to the market at the Place LaFayette and bought half a pumpkin, potatos, carrots, and onions. We boiled the chopped veggies, including the pumpkin, for about 20 minutes. Then Katrin got out her magic wand - it is really called that in German, but I can't remember the exact word. A magic wand is white and about a foot long; it has blades on one end. "What do you do with a magic wand?", you may ask, and I shall tell you. You stick it in your cauldron of vegetables and it all turns into soup! It was very good soup too; I want a magic wand of my own now. Maybe Katrin will let me try it this Wednesday when we make soup again!
~~~
The day before we made the magic pumpkin soup, I went to the wrong French class. The municiple building here in Angers offers all kinds of free classes, including a French class for foreigners. Unfortunately, I went to the French class for French people! Think about us taking English, learning to write essays and such. I looked at the list of classes when I walked into the building and I saw the one labelled "French" so I went into the room. I thought the other English Assistants were going to the class too, but I didn't know anyone in the room so I just sat down. The teacher passed out an essay and told us all to write an introduction and conclusion to it. Hmm, this isn't exactly what I thought we would be doing here, I mused, but I wrote my intro and conclusion like everyone else. The teacher came over and asked me if it was my first day and I said yes. I told her I was there to practice French and she gave me a funny look before telling me that her class was for French people who wanted to improve their writing skills! After class I ran into 10 fellow assistants coming down the stairs from their class, the foreigners' class. "Laura, where were you?" They all demanded. And I showed them my essay. I'm going to try again this week, hopefully I won't end up in Italian class.
~~~
Then, just this past weekend, I took a quick trip to Nantes with two other assistants. Nantes is the capitol of this region and it is the 6th largest city in France. The castle there was home to many kings and queens of France; most old royal families lived in the Anjou region where I live today. This is very lucky for me because the accents in this region are the most pure, since the people here have been educated for hundreds of years. The southern French people speak very slowly and draw out their words in strange ways, I am told. But it isn't very encouraging to be told that these people, who I struggle to understand on a daily basis, are actually the easiest to understand.
We went on a tour of Saint Paul's and Peter's Cathedral in Nantes, with a funny guide who was also very nice. He kept quizzing the crowd for answers during the tour. Whenever this would happen, Katrin, Lee and I would shrink behind people, avoid eye contact, and pretend to be in the middle of deep conversations, so we wouldn't get called on. Afterwards the guide came up and asked us where we were from and we told him Germany, England and the US. He asked if he was talking slowly enough and we told him yes, we understood everything and it was very interesting. Then he told us that French people always speak very quickly (which we know from experience) except for when they eat. "French people are only silent when they eat," he laughed, and gestured towards a portly man who was on his way out of the cathedral!
That day we ate galettes and had pizza for dinner at a great little restaurant called Pinocchio.
~~~
The next day we went on a search for the giant elephant, yes elephant, that walks the streets of Nantes! The enormous mobile robot is over 30 feet high and 42 people can ride it at once. We did not go for a ride but we did get sprayed by the very real blast of water that flows from its trunk (at the push of the driver's button). We followed the mechanical beast, mezmerized, for about half an hour. Then we headed off into the rain to an art show at the LU (Lieu Unique) cookie factory across the Loire River.
~~~
Last Thursday Katrin and I went to the market at the Place LaFayette and bought half a pumpkin, potatos, carrots, and onions. We boiled the chopped veggies, including the pumpkin, for about 20 minutes. Then Katrin got out her magic wand - it is really called that in German, but I can't remember the exact word. A magic wand is white and about a foot long; it has blades on one end. "What do you do with a magic wand?", you may ask, and I shall tell you. You stick it in your cauldron of vegetables and it all turns into soup! It was very good soup too; I want a magic wand of my own now. Maybe Katrin will let me try it this Wednesday when we make soup again!
~~~
The day before we made the magic pumpkin soup, I went to the wrong French class. The municiple building here in Angers offers all kinds of free classes, including a French class for foreigners. Unfortunately, I went to the French class for French people! Think about us taking English, learning to write essays and such. I looked at the list of classes when I walked into the building and I saw the one labelled "French" so I went into the room. I thought the other English Assistants were going to the class too, but I didn't know anyone in the room so I just sat down. The teacher passed out an essay and told us all to write an introduction and conclusion to it. Hmm, this isn't exactly what I thought we would be doing here, I mused, but I wrote my intro and conclusion like everyone else. The teacher came over and asked me if it was my first day and I said yes. I told her I was there to practice French and she gave me a funny look before telling me that her class was for French people who wanted to improve their writing skills! After class I ran into 10 fellow assistants coming down the stairs from their class, the foreigners' class. "Laura, where were you?" They all demanded. And I showed them my essay. I'm going to try again this week, hopefully I won't end up in Italian class.
~~~
Then, just this past weekend, I took a quick trip to Nantes with two other assistants. Nantes is the capitol of this region and it is the 6th largest city in France. The castle there was home to many kings and queens of France; most old royal families lived in the Anjou region where I live today. This is very lucky for me because the accents in this region are the most pure, since the people here have been educated for hundreds of years. The southern French people speak very slowly and draw out their words in strange ways, I am told. But it isn't very encouraging to be told that these people, who I struggle to understand on a daily basis, are actually the easiest to understand.
We went on a tour of Saint Paul's and Peter's Cathedral in Nantes, with a funny guide who was also very nice. He kept quizzing the crowd for answers during the tour. Whenever this would happen, Katrin, Lee and I would shrink behind people, avoid eye contact, and pretend to be in the middle of deep conversations, so we wouldn't get called on. Afterwards the guide came up and asked us where we were from and we told him Germany, England and the US. He asked if he was talking slowly enough and we told him yes, we understood everything and it was very interesting. Then he told us that French people always speak very quickly (which we know from experience) except for when they eat. "French people are only silent when they eat," he laughed, and gestured towards a portly man who was on his way out of the cathedral!
That day we ate galettes and had pizza for dinner at a great little restaurant called Pinocchio.
~~~
The next day we went on a search for the giant elephant, yes elephant, that walks the streets of Nantes! The enormous mobile robot is over 30 feet high and 42 people can ride it at once. We did not go for a ride but we did get sprayed by the very real blast of water that flows from its trunk (at the push of the driver's button). We followed the mechanical beast, mezmerized, for about half an hour. Then we headed off into the rain to an art show at the LU (Lieu Unique) cookie factory across the Loire River.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Christmas Markets
Today is a holiday in France (Armistice de 1918) so I am using the time to sit at home and research Christmas markets on the internet. I suppose, if I must be away from home during the Christmas season, Europe is the second best place to be. There are hundreds of Christmas markets all over the continent. Hot, mulled wine, warm gingerbread, and all sorts of holiday decorations and gifts are the signature specialties of these many petite winter wonderlands. The booths will be in the shape of minature chalets and they open during the first weekend of advent, which just so happens to be on Thanksgiving this year. I am trying to get to Munich the first market weekend - it is supposed to be one of the best and most beautiful of markets (pictured at left). If we can get there by Friday evening, the first night of the market, we will be just in time to see the lighting of the enormous tree at the center of the square. There are other markets that are also spectacular, but they are farther away and harder to get to. At least the fact that I can't make it to all of them gives me a reason to come back to Europe one Christmas!
Paris has six markets of its own (Place Saint-Sulpice market pictured at left) and I will be there for sure the weekend before Christmas, and maybe an additional weekend at the beginning of December. Marjerie is coming home to Angers for Christmas so she said I can stay at her apartment for free(!) from the 18th-22nd of December. That way I will be right there in Paris to catch my plane home, in the morning on the 22nd. I am so very excited to see the city of lights all decked out for Christmas; I can't wait to go to the French markets and buy gifts and ornaments for everyone back home! It will be nice if some other assistants are in Paris that weekend as well, to share all the fun and excitement with me. But even if I end up in Paris by myself I know I will have a marvelous time shopping and walking and seeing everything I can squeeze into two or three days time.Sunday, November 9, 2008
Christmas for Halloween
It was very nice and relaxing being in Imst; very vacation-y. Jonna had to go to school some mornings and, because her room has black-out blinds, I wouldn't wake up till about 11. I would wander into the kitchen and make some coffee and eat some gingerbread cookies (Austrian gingerbread cookings are so good). And then I would browse through her DVDs and generally watch the Office for three hours until she returned. Sometimes her roommates, Bernie and Chris, would come home and they would make me lunch or watch the Office with me.
Jonna was smart enough to bring CHRISTMAS DVDs from home and I have to admit, I got a little obsessed with holiday cheer. We watched Elf three times I think (but it's just so funny every time!). That was partly because we had no remote control for awhile, so if the movie stopped we had to watch the whole thing all over again to get back to the part we were at. Then we saw White Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. If not for the amazing Christmas Markets, and the fact that Jonna is lots of fun, I would go back to Imst next month to watch A Christmas Story, Muppet Christmas Carol, and Charlie Brown Christmas. (I told you, Jonna came very prepared.) We also made Christmas chains, with red and green paper, while I was there. So, just so you know, there are now 46 days till Christmas!
Imst was a very beautiful place in the Fall. Jonna has a view of five or six mountains out her kitchen window (pictured in photo) and it snowed one day so the peaks were snow-covered for a couple of days before it all melted. It will really start snowing there soon (and sticking!) which means that 1. It will be even more beautiful and 2. It will be even more treacherous to try and walk around a town built on the side of a mountain, in the four feet of snow they expect annually.
Jonna was smart enough to bring CHRISTMAS DVDs from home and I have to admit, I got a little obsessed with holiday cheer. We watched Elf three times I think (but it's just so funny every time!). That was partly because we had no remote control for awhile, so if the movie stopped we had to watch the whole thing all over again to get back to the part we were at. Then we saw White Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. If not for the amazing Christmas Markets, and the fact that Jonna is lots of fun, I would go back to Imst next month to watch A Christmas Story, Muppet Christmas Carol, and Charlie Brown Christmas. (I told you, Jonna came very prepared.) We also made Christmas chains, with red and green paper, while I was there. So, just so you know, there are now 46 days till Christmas!
Imst was a very beautiful place in the Fall. Jonna has a view of five or six mountains out her kitchen window (pictured in photo) and it snowed one day so the peaks were snow-covered for a couple of days before it all melted. It will really start snowing there soon (and sticking!) which means that 1. It will be even more beautiful and 2. It will be even more treacherous to try and walk around a town built on the side of a mountain, in the four feet of snow they expect annually.~~~
The Austrian pumpkins we found to carve on Halloween are not like American pumpkins. They are much harder to carve because they are shaped like thick frisbees, so there is only a good 4 inches or so to work on. I made a squished together vampire face and Jonna made a modern art pumpkin. We all added a little design to that one after her pumpkin's nose fell off - did I mention we were cutting these tiny faces with a butcher knife? We had smaller knives, but it turns out Austrian pumpkins have walls that are about three inches thick. The knives couldn't even make it all the way through!
We had this elaborate plan to roast all of the pumpkin seeds and eat them while watching a Halloween movie. The problem is, Austian pumpkins have hardly any seeds to start with, and what seeds they do have are hidden in all the pulp so you really have to dig to get them out. We spent half an hour doing this, only to burn the tiny batch we uncovered to a crisp, by forgetting them in the oven, so the seed thing didn't quite work out. We weren't too bothered though because we mainly just wanted Bernie, who is Austrian, to see what Halloween was all about. I think he understands now.
Halloween is about finding the best pumpkin out there for three euro, and getting your hands messy in the squishy, orange pulp, and designing the perfect jack-o-lantern face, and getting creative when your perfect face turns out a little different than you thought. Halloween is about appreciating the simple things in life - like candy, 10 hour candles, and Charlie Brown movies.
~~~
So here I am, back in Angers, back to work, and back to learning French! I am getting more determined than ever to speak French was more fluence, so I can understand what the natives are saying more than half the time. Alors, I am going to start going to the free French class that is taught every Wednesday evening in town. And I will watch more French entertainment and read more French books. Hmmm, I may need to wait until November 26th to fulfill that last part - that's the day my three English library books are due to the American Library. But after that it's French Harry Potter and French news and French...well maybe I'll read one English book a month, for a little breather...but then, it's back to French!
The Austrian pumpkins we found to carve on Halloween are not like American pumpkins. They are much harder to carve because they are shaped like thick frisbees, so there is only a good 4 inches or so to work on. I made a squished together vampire face and Jonna made a modern art pumpkin. We all added a little design to that one after her pumpkin's nose fell off - did I mention we were cutting these tiny faces with a butcher knife? We had smaller knives, but it turns out Austrian pumpkins have walls that are about three inches thick. The knives couldn't even make it all the way through!
We had this elaborate plan to roast all of the pumpkin seeds and eat them while watching a Halloween movie. The problem is, Austian pumpkins have hardly any seeds to start with, and what seeds they do have are hidden in all the pulp so you really have to dig to get them out. We spent half an hour doing this, only to burn the tiny batch we uncovered to a crisp, by forgetting them in the oven, so the seed thing didn't quite work out. We weren't too bothered though because we mainly just wanted Bernie, who is Austrian, to see what Halloween was all about. I think he understands now.
Halloween is about finding the best pumpkin out there for three euro, and getting your hands messy in the squishy, orange pulp, and designing the perfect jack-o-lantern face, and getting creative when your perfect face turns out a little different than you thought. Halloween is about appreciating the simple things in life - like candy, 10 hour candles, and Charlie Brown movies.
~~~
So here I am, back in Angers, back to work, and back to learning French! I am getting more determined than ever to speak French was more fluence, so I can understand what the natives are saying more than half the time. Alors, I am going to start going to the free French class that is taught every Wednesday evening in town. And I will watch more French entertainment and read more French books. Hmmm, I may need to wait until November 26th to fulfill that last part - that's the day my three English library books are due to the American Library. But after that it's French Harry Potter and French news and French...well maybe I'll read one English book a month, for a little breather...but then, it's back to French!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Salzburg
Salzburg was a lovely city - just as lovely as I expected it to be from years of watching The Sound of Music. We happened to go see it over the All Saint's Day weekend which meant every shop in town was closed from the moment we got there to the moment we left. This actually turned out to be a good thing because it forced us to see more of the city and its monuments. I got to see Mozart's house and the church where he was baptized. He was also the organist at the same church for a period of time. On Saturday, we climbed the side of a very steep hill for half an hour, looking for Salzburg's fortress castle, only to find that you have to pay to get into the fortress these days. So we looked at the view for a minute, took a few pictures, then turned around and walked right back down the hill.
There is a great story about that fortress. Salzburg was under seige at one point so the citizens all retreated into their massive fortress. They were running very low on supplies but they knew that their enemies were low as well. So the Salzburgers painted their very last bull a different color every day and walked him back and forth across the fortress wall, where their enemies would be sure to see. Their attackers saw the seemingly endless number of bulls and figured there was no use holding the seige if the Salzburgers had so much livestock left; so they gave up and went home and Salzburg was freed!
We also visited the Mirabella Gardens, where most of the song Do-Re-Mi was filmed in The Sound of Music. It was so much fun to be there in person and see the fountains, stairs, and paths that I know from one of my all time favorite movies. We looked everywhere for the cemetery that was used as a model for the last scene in the movie, with the tombs behind bars. But it was not until we climbed the mountain to the fortress and looked down the other side that we finally saw the famous graveyard. It was nestled in a corner of the city, up against the old city wall, behind a small chapel. I took pictures of everything and it was a beautiful day - 75 degrees the first weekend in November! I loved the short trip and I want to go back someday to take the real Sound of Music tour, to see the houses and abbeys from the film. I did get some great souvenirs on Sunday too; mittens with Edelweiss on them, a new apron, cheerful things like that. Then it was back to Imst for a day and Tuesday was my loooong trip home. I took the train all the way back to Angers, a 12 hour journey!
~~~
I finally got paid today for the three hours I worked in the market that Wednesday a few weeks back, and I got my first pay check deposited into my account for teaching. The only problem is, my bank is giving me lots of trouble about paperwork; I still don't have my debit card and it's been a month since I opened the account. They keep telling me to come back in one week and then I just got a letter in the mail saying they will close my account if I don't bring proof of residency in. It has been very frustrating but everything else is running pretty smoothly so I'm trying not to stress out too much. I want to start planning my next trip and I am getting excited for all the Christmas markets that will be opening up soon. I'll have to tell you all about them when I finally get to experience one for myself. I am thinking about going to a German or Austrian market one weekend with Jonna. But I will definitely hit up the Paris markets and, of course, the one in Angers.
There is a great story about that fortress. Salzburg was under seige at one point so the citizens all retreated into their massive fortress. They were running very low on supplies but they knew that their enemies were low as well. So the Salzburgers painted their very last bull a different color every day and walked him back and forth across the fortress wall, where their enemies would be sure to see. Their attackers saw the seemingly endless number of bulls and figured there was no use holding the seige if the Salzburgers had so much livestock left; so they gave up and went home and Salzburg was freed!
We also visited the Mirabella Gardens, where most of the song Do-Re-Mi was filmed in The Sound of Music. It was so much fun to be there in person and see the fountains, stairs, and paths that I know from one of my all time favorite movies. We looked everywhere for the cemetery that was used as a model for the last scene in the movie, with the tombs behind bars. But it was not until we climbed the mountain to the fortress and looked down the other side that we finally saw the famous graveyard. It was nestled in a corner of the city, up against the old city wall, behind a small chapel. I took pictures of everything and it was a beautiful day - 75 degrees the first weekend in November! I loved the short trip and I want to go back someday to take the real Sound of Music tour, to see the houses and abbeys from the film. I did get some great souvenirs on Sunday too; mittens with Edelweiss on them, a new apron, cheerful things like that. Then it was back to Imst for a day and Tuesday was my loooong trip home. I took the train all the way back to Angers, a 12 hour journey!
~~~
I finally got paid today for the three hours I worked in the market that Wednesday a few weeks back, and I got my first pay check deposited into my account for teaching. The only problem is, my bank is giving me lots of trouble about paperwork; I still don't have my debit card and it's been a month since I opened the account. They keep telling me to come back in one week and then I just got a letter in the mail saying they will close my account if I don't bring proof of residency in. It has been very frustrating but everything else is running pretty smoothly so I'm trying not to stress out too much. I want to start planning my next trip and I am getting excited for all the Christmas markets that will be opening up soon. I'll have to tell you all about them when I finally get to experience one for myself. I am thinking about going to a German or Austrian market one weekend with Jonna. But I will definitely hit up the Paris markets and, of course, the one in Angers.
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