J'adore les enfants français parse qu'ils sont si mignons! :)

I know. It's been far too long since I last blogged.  But it has been a busy month!  Although I was very sad to miss out on being with friends and family for the holidays, I was lucky enough to spend them with my boyfriend's friends and family in lots of fun cities: Marseilles, Cassis, Paris and Cergy.

But before my vacations started, I spent lots of my free time volunteering in Hugo's "maternelle" class (the French equivalent of kindergarten).  As a teacher, this was particularly exciting for me!  I had asked multiple times if I was ever needed for help or anything like that, and his teacher finally had a job for me: help supervise the making of truffles ("truffe au chocolate") and share some American Christmas music and stories with the kids.

Before the week of helping out arrived, I felt very excited, but also a bit wary to be honest: it was almost like going back to my first day of student teaching when I had no idea what I was doing.  Except that this time, it was with 30 children who spoke a language I only had a basic grasp of (if that).

But when I entered the classroom, I instantly felt at home.  It looked a lot like an American kindergarten room, but with small changes.











Without further ado, the teacher took all 32 of us to the tiny kitchen and proceeded to explain the directions for the truffle recipe.  They were making them from scratch.  That was my first shock, as everyone knows that nothing is made from scratch in America (ok ok, almost nothing).  But a bigger shock came next: the teacher whipped out two hardcore knives and asked me to cut the vanilla stick and scrape it into the bowl... inches away from the kids.  As I did this, I almost had a panic attack as a massive group of 5-year-olds clustered around my elbow to watch.

But the surprises weren't over.  She then asked me to turn the stove on and heat the chocolate/milk/vanilla/butter mixture until it was very hot.  And she had Hugo be my helper.  In the United States, any knife that isn't plastic is essentially forbidden in a school.  Also, you would never have a stove burning chocolate for all the kids to help mix:

I love how bored the kid next to Hugo looks.  Hahaha!

After we had stirred the truffle chocolate mix enough, we put it into the fridge and it was my turn to take over the class.

 

It was a bit intimidating, to say the least!

I had found a book at the local International library.  The theme of this week was Noël (Christmas).  So I started reading this book about a postman delivering Christmas letters... It was in English, so everyone except Hugo was completely lost.  But they were still so captivated!  I find that children are much more frank with their fascination with my "strangeness" (I speak weirdly, after all).  They stare at me, they ask me to speak in English, they try to talk to me in French, they throw things at me, they laugh and make fun of me.  (Not all of it has been good, sadly).  But these kids were just so sweet and kind.

The next day we finished making the truffles.  The kids got insanely messy, and I got to know a bunch of them even more as I went around taking their picture:

After we finished with the truffles, I took over the class again.  This time I taught them "Jingle Bells", a song that they already know because there is a French version called "Vive Le Vent" (long live the wind) to the same melody.  I'm not sure how successful I was with the English version, as the kids seemed to be pronouncing the English words wrong, but it was very cute nonetheless!

It was an amazing week and I can't wait to return to help out again (hopefully that will be soon)!

À bientôt!! :)

J'ai cuisiné le dîner de Thanksgiving!

My title this week involves the passé composé, the tense in which you express an action that has been completed.  There are many different past tenses to choose from when speaking.  I'm still confused about which to use and when.  Perhaps I should have used the imparfait? Or the plus-que-parfait? Je ne sais pas! :P

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I cooked Thanksgiving dinner!  Two of them, in fact.  But the one that I'll be writing about is what I prepared for my own host family.

When I arrived at home, I found that the kids were VERY excited to eat the special dinner and have guests over (I invited Mathieu and my friend, Alison).   They even prepared a little store, as well as a "map" of where to go to eat the food.

                                                                     Happy Ivning!

After I investigated their shop, it was time to get down to business: FOOD.  First of all, I think I mentioned somewhere that I was having a very difficult time finding a turkey.  Well, guess what? I never found one.  Instead, I roasted two chickens.  I bought them at the grocery store and was surprised to see that they were very... fresh!  I even had to pluck a couple of feathers off!  With some help from some fabulous people (thanks mom, dad and Mathieu!) I was able to roast them successfully. 



I also made a stuffing:

It was originally much too salty and not nearly enough for all of us, but a second batch (without the salt) fixed things nicely.  I don't really know how this happened, but it took me 4 hours to make both batches!!!  Good thing I did the stuffing a couple of days before...

The dinner was very fun!!!

                                    Dinner with Alison, Mathieu, the kids and the mom, Amélie!

                         The whole table!  I can't take credit for how lovely it is; Amélie did it. :)

You might be able to tell that I don't have many pictures of the food or the process... this is because I started to go crazy while cooking and forgot about everything but the food in front of me.  The potatoes boiled over all over the stove; the mashed potatoes got stuck in the food processor; I couldn't figure out how to make my green bean casserole without evaporated milk (couldn't find it in France).  But all of these problems were solved with the help of Alison and Mathieu!  (And the dad, Jan, cleaned the potatoes off of the stove!) 

And that was my first Thanksgiving.  I still think it's a crack-up that this happened in France, and that I didn't even have a turkey or cranberry sauce (two staples for Thanksgiving)... but luckily Alison (as an American) was the only person who knew that this wasn't completely authentic or perfect, and that I left out dishes and made some more "French". 

I found that Americans have a different way of appreciating something that's been done for them.  Had I cooked this for my own family or another American family I'm close with, I would have gotten bushels of praise, no matter if I'd done extremely well or simply decently.  But as we sat down to dinner, I found it an interesting cultural difference that my "French family" simply started to eat and briefly mentioned, "Thanks for cooking, it's good" after their first couple of bites.  Then they went back to eating without another word about it!  So... I guess it was ok?  This is an example of one of the many subtle differences between Americans and the French.  I guess I'll just say it: I thought my food was pretty darn good for my first Thanksgiving effort! :)

À bientôt!

Je vais faire le dîner de Thanksgiving... en France??

Ouais, je vais cuisiner le dîner de Thanksgiving pour ma famille Français!  I have never cooked Thanksgiving dinner before all by myself in the U.S. even!  I suppose now is as good a time as any to start a new tradition. The only problem is that they don't seem to carry turkeys (dindes) in abundance here.  In the States, you can walk into a supermarket and buy a massive 20 lb (9 kg) turkey for like $30!  Wish me luck on finding a turkey at all here...!

In France, as in the United States, there are already decorations for Christmas (Noël) set up everywhere.  In store windows, and strung across the streets.  It makes for a beautiful setting, and reminds me of when I first arrived in Spain a few years ago to find decorative lights set up for the holidays.

Beautiful, no?  Many of the streets look like this!  So colorful, although it's strange to see blue and purple lights mixed in with the green.  I usually expect red, white and green for Christmas.  This is lovely, though.

This past weekend, I was walking through the city and passed by a fountain that was full to the brim with soap!  I thought it was so funny and so I took a picture:

I'm not sure if you can see, but there is soapy foam on the ground!  And if anyone reading this has ever played The Sims computer game, you might laugh a little harder with me! ;)

I know it's been so long since I posted!  Things are going well here, although I'm a bit stressed over this silly dinde/turkey.  We'll see how it goes.  I'll be sure to update with some fun pictures of my first attempt at Thanksgiving dinner!  Luckily my friend is bringing over desserts, because if you knew how bad I am at baking, you would not want to eat any of my pumpkin pies or apple crumbles!  Speaking of my poor skills in the kitchen, I tried making crêpes with Mathieu this past weekend, and mine were a disaster!  I couldn't get them smooth or pretty.  Hopefully this isn't a sign of how my Thanksgiving dinner will turn out...!  Luckily Mathieu is good at cooking/baking, and so the crêpes turned out delicious!  First "we" made ham, egg and cheese, then salmon with lemon, and finally lemon and sugar for dessert.  I ate so many but they were just soooo delicious!

À bientôt! :)

J'aime le 31 octobre… mais je ne sais pas si les Français aussi! :)

It's almost Halloween.  Every storefront is decked out with orange and black; people are choosing costumes from the various shops that have mysteriously cropped up out of nowhere; spooky things keep happening more often than you'd like.  This is the American Halloween we all know and love so much.  And honestly, who wouldn't enjoy a little extra consumerism (we all buy the costumes, candy and decorations, right)?  To put things into perspective: in France, you would almost not realize it's Halloween!  Sure, the kids dressed up at school.  But not so many people buy candy or get pumped like they do in the States (if my facebook feed is any indication, that is).  You might say: "Oh, that's a good thing!"  And it is.  Unless you're me, and you want to relive your childhood by eating too much chocolate and dressing up as your favorite Princess (I had a home-made Ariel costume as a kid once).

You can see by the picture above (and the ones below) that I stumbled upon a storefront decked out in full-on Halloween stuff.  And by stuff, I mean chocolate!!!

Nom nom nom!  I didn't buy any, but I went crazy taking these pictures (and apparently, you can get in trouble for doing that because you might "copy" their products).  I guess Halloween this year will consist of me having a delicious glass of red wine (should I pretend it's blood?) and eating some good chocolate (perhaps chocolate ice cream).

Now for a completely different subject: street markets in France!  Everything in France is expensive, except for their wine and bread.  So when the street markets start up, the people flock to buy the cheap things.  I was passing through one of these over the weekend and had to stop to take this picture:

A bunch of low-cost bras that you can buy on the street?  Maybe it seemed weirder at the time, but I was quite intrigued that anyone would just want to stop and buy them.  I don't know...

To the left is a picture of a selection of typical French meet: saucisson!  This means dried sausage.  It's not refrigerated (nor are the legs of some unknown animal that are hanging to the right of the picture).  Saucisson is actually delicious, and I think the use of salt acts as a preservative for all this dried meat (correct me if I'm wrong).  So it's actually healthier for you than all those fake preservatives (except that salt is actually really bad for you... but every French person I know uses more salt on their food than any American I know, would you believe that!).  I can't bring myself to enter the actual fresh meat (or fresh fish) markets.  It just smells sooooo bad.  Maybe I will find the courage to venture into one so I can take some pictures.  Americans certainly clean the heck out of their food (to the point of unhealthiness, perhaps?), and so it makes the natural style of preparing and selling fresh meat very gross for us.  This is definitely a bad thing.  I wish I could handle the smell, but the few times I've tried, I've had to run out with my hand over my mouth.

À bientôt!

J'aime les pommes... américaines!

It's been another long period where I haven't written too much!!  Part of that has been due to the fact that I'm still getting over my sickness and am too lazy to take pictures.  Luckily, I just have a bit of a cough left now, so I'm mostly healed!

One interesting observation I've had about this cold/sickness is that the French attitude about health is slightly different from the one Americans have.  I've been told by numerous people (including the doctor I saw a couple of weeks ago) that my cold/cough/infection/pneumonia/sore throat/etc have all been caused by the change in temperature, and that I should wear more scarves.  At first I thought this was just a belief shared by a few people, but more and more people have told me that I'm not taking care of myself properly!  I don't know what to think; I've never heard of the notion that I should wear more clothing in cold weather, and that forgetting to wear a scarf might lead to a better chance at getting sick.  It's an interesting and prevalent notion here in France.

Another interesting and prevalent thing that happens in France is this: I get angry a lot at drivers when I try to cross the street.  This is, hands down, the most annoying thing I've encountered in France.  Drivers don't respect the crosswalk laws (nor do they respect the scoop laws regarding their dogs, but at least I'm not in danger of dying from that).  I can't tell you how many times I've tried to cross, anxious to catch my tram or bus, and had cars practically run me over.  It's a rare sight when a car actually stops to let you cross, even if you have the right of way.

Well, my anger must have gotten the better of me today.  As Salomé and I were crossing the busy intersection near our apartment, a car with 2 young women literally almost hit us.  They obviously saw us, but felt no need to slow down (or stop), despite the fact that there was a YOUNG CHILD with me.  I got so mad that I shook my fist at them (nothing inappropriate, as Salomé was with me).  Then, because they had to stop anyway for the stoplight, I stared them down and shook my fist again (yes, it was stupid, but I was upset).  Well, as we turned away to enter the apartment, they must have rolled down their window, because they started to yell and mock us.  Salomé told me that they were yelling, "What?! Is there a problem???!!!" over and over.  It was a bit alarming, especially knowing that they were at fault and that they still felt the need to yell even with a child present.  And that moment I decided that I would stop shaking my fist at drivers.  We were lucky they weren't more dangerous or crazy!

In another note, one of my daily rituals is to watch Salomé blow bubbles from her mouth... with her toothpaste.  She has gotten pretty good at it, and so I decided to take a picture (mostly because I have no other pictures to show, haha).

And finally, the meaning behind my blog post title: I love American apples.  Specifically: Washington apples.  Why is this relevant?  Well, I eat apples all the time... at least once a day (if I can).  It's only now that I realize just how spoiled I was when it came to a quality apple.  I have yet to find a good one here in France.  They are sort of brownish and sour on the inside here.  According to the sticker, they are "Pink Lady" brand, but imported from Chile.  Perhaps it's the Chilean soil's fault?  Who knows.  All I know is that les pommes de Washington sont les mieux! (and that my French is very bad...)

Now, that being said, almost every other type of food is better here (I think in a future post, I will make a list of all the delicious food I eat here).  I suppose this post was kind of an obnoxious one where I complain and vent a lot.  Maybe it's my culture shock emerging?  I haven't really felt much "culture shock" yet (except when I have plumes of smoke billowing into my face when I'm trying to enjoy a good meal in the summer air... or almost getting run over as I cross the street).  So maybe this is a weird way of coping with any little annoyances I might have?

I promise: next post will be happy, optimistic, and full of top-notch humor, like usual!!  ;)

À bientôt, mes amis!

Mon apartement ici est grand et joli!

I know it's been some time since my last entry, but my reason for that is that I've been sick the past week.  What started out as a cold last week turned into a 3 hour trip to the doctor's office and one diagnosis of a lung infection... and lots of penicillin.

Now I am feeling better (no more high fever, hooray!), except for a bad cough.  Last year I had a very similar cough at this time, and I remember spraining a muscle in my ribs which hurt very bad.  Let's hope my French sickness is kinder to me than my American one!

Over the weekend, when I was feeling well enough to walk around, I emerged from my bedroom... only to find the apartment empty.  "What great news!" I thought to myself, "I can finally snap some photos of the apartment to put on my blog!"  Yes, I actually thought something like that.  I think I was still hazy from a fever, because I know that that is really cheesy.

So, without further ado, here are some pictures of my apartment:

 Here is the bathroom that I share with the kids. You'll see that the bidet is filled with children's bath toys, rather than it's actual purpose (which I still don't really understand...)  I love how huge the bathroom is.

 This is the living room.  It's actually even bigger than this (and at the time, there was a huge cardboard box lying on the floor that had been cut up completely... I missed a lot of crazy things while I was napping, I guess!)

 This is the dining room.  We've only ever used it once (when my host family had Mathieu over for dinner).  Normally it's more of a craft table where the kids play or do homework.

Here is the kitchen!  I sit in the seat closest to the door/windows. 












And the only thing I did last week (besides sleep, lol) was... visit the Notre Dame church (there is more than one in France, which I didn't actually realize until I got here, haha):

The second picture shows an altar that was pretty much located inside a cave, which the photo doesn't truly do justice.

Ok, I'm off to make some tea and soothe this cough of mine! :)  À bientôt!

J'ai mangé des escargots!!!

My camera situation has been fixed (thank you very much, Mom and Dad!!), so now I have some pictures to post!  I already put some of these up on facebook, but I'll post them here anyway. :)

Last week, Mathieu and I took a walk through Grenoble.  He brought his very nice camera, so the pictures were bound to be quality!  I explored the inside of a church, where a cherub statue was crying.  I don't know why, but I thought it was beautiful.

We walked along the river, where my host parents and Mathieu had all told me (on separate occasions) that there are dozens of Pizzerias that are legitimately owned by the Italian mafia (Grenoble is the closest and largest French city to Italy).  The restaurants are functional, but they are quite unappealing from the outside and are just a front to the actual Italian Mob that runs behind the scenes.  It was quite thrilling to just meander down the street and discreetly snap pictures!

Then we walked near the river (not sure of the name, though).  It was lovely and so pleasant out for a walk!!!  We asked an elderly woman and her daughter to take some photos of us, and I think they turned out quite well!

Now, it is a lazy Sunday afternoon here in Grenoble. When I say "lazy", that is because the family I live with invited me to a restaurant 40 minutes into the mountains, where we gorged on a delicious 5 course meal, and I drank enough wine to make me very sleepy.  My host parents, Jan and Amélie, encouraged me to get the full 5 courses so that I could try escargot.  I was a bit alarmed to try snails (especially since my last memory of them is of my mom squishing one on her garden patio, lol).  But I was also curious, so I decided to do it!

They look pretty good, huh?  They were baked in an oven with a garlic/parsley/butter sauce, so that was very tasty!  I guess it's customary to eat the remaining sauce with your bread, which I have sitting nearby on my plate. :)

Then after my snails, salad and lots of bread, it was time for the 3rd and 4th courses, which arrived at the same time.  One was roast duck, and the other was some kind of creamy, cheesy potato dish.  I really love the duck here.  While the potatoes were good, I was really starting to get full when I ate them, lol.

So that was my past week!  I know this post doesn't really have a theme (like last week's post), but I just wanted to talk about topics that revolved around the pictures I took with my new camera!!!  Hooray!

À bientôt, mes amies!!! bisous!!!