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!!!

Carrefour, canard et beaucoup du lait!

I know it's been awhile, but I promise I haven't forgotten about this blog!  It's difficult for me to get pictures uploaded (the camera I'm borrowing refused to let me operate it for awhile, but luckily it's all fixed now for next time!)

Meanwhile... I thought I might talk about random cultural differences here.  I'm talking very random!  This post won't really be as organized as my usual ones (HA!), but it's my blog and so I can do as I please. :)

Yesterday, I hung out with my "host" mom, Amélie for pretty much all day.  We went to pick her daughter, Salomé, up from a birthday party.  I got to go with Amélie into the host's apartment, where the party was taking place.  It was so strange... because it was exactly like birthday parties for 7-year-old girls in America!  The girls were running around in princess costumes, there were paper plates covered in the grease of leftover pizza on the dining room table, and everywhere you turned a balloon (or three) flung themselves into your face.  Reminds me of my childhood!

On the way back, we drove past the City Hall (on the right), where dozens of cars were driving and honking as loud and as often as possible.  Now, if I hadn't already experienced this bizarre situation with Mathieu a few weeks ago, I would have thought that there was some sort of riot going on.  The first time I thought that the cars were getting angry at pedestrians for crossing the street (something that could totally happen here).  But no.  These cars were honking like mad because they were part of a bridal party!  That is a tradition in France: when you drive to get married in City Hall (the only place that can legally marry you in France), everyone beeps and beeps nonstop... all the way there.  Certainly better than a riot (although, I must admit, I would kind of like to see one of those one day... from the safety of a car or building, of course).

Before we went home for dinner (it was about 5:45pm), we had to stop at the store for a few items.  As we went in, Amélie warned me that the big supermarket, Carrefour, is absolutely insane on a Saturday.  Now, I've been in crazy grocery stores before.  Carrefour is a bit like Costco here: they sell the same things, but "bulk" in France is like "normal" in America.  Lol.  Anyway, it was absolutely a mad house.  If I ever go to New York City, I imagine that those streets would be a little less crowded than the candy aisle of Carrefour on a Saturday evening.  Wow.  We spent half the time there (1.5 hours, to be exact) just trying to maneuver our shopping cart around people.  I didn't mind, though.  It was an adventure (plus, I didn't have to push the cart).  I don't normally like crowds, but it was just fascinating to see people buying tons and tons of food.  People literally had their entire shopping carts overflowing with food.  I asked Amélie why, and she said that a lot of people here have to all their shopping during the weekend because stores close at 7pm or so, and many families don't have time during the weekday to shop.  She said that it made it easier to buy everything because then you don't have to keep returning. 

She then picked up 8 cartons of milk (un-refridgerated) to put in her cart.  Like Spain, unopened milk is perfectly sanitary to keep in your pantry for weeks.  When I arrived here, I had a tour of the apartment, and when we got to the laundry room, I saw not just tons of toilet paper stored, but probably at least 20-25 cartons of milk just hanging out, not in the fridge at all.  Milk is very delicious here in France, and so I think we should adopt the same method of storing and consuming milk in America.  Who wants to buy milk all the time, anyway?  Come on, America!

Then, once we had arrived home at dinner (the City Hall was mostly empty by the time we drove past it again, so I suppose the wedding guests had dispersed onto their night of mayhem?), it was time to eat canned duck that is cooked in its own fat.  Yes, you read that right.  Now read this: IT WAS DELICIOUS.

I believe it's called "Canard Confit" or something like that (correct me if I'm wrong).  This was not the first time I ate this meal.  In July I ate some delicious duck in a small village outside of Limoges, and have been addicted ever since.  Ducks are cute in real life, sure, but they're even cuter when they're on my plate and ready to be eaten!   They taste like the ambrosia of the poultry world... chicken is just subpar when compared with their prettier cousins.  Yum!!!  I have also come to appreciate veal, especially since the cows are much older than "American veal" (which are still babies, if I'm correct).  Here, they are just young cows, maybe a few years old, that have spent their lives grazing grass by rivers and ponds (we won't think of the water pollution, but it's probably less than in America).

All right, that's plenty for now.  There are so many other interesting things to talk about, and so once I have a more stable camera condition (don't worry, that will be soon!) I will be posting lots of pics.  I plan on spending tomorrow while the kids are at school walking around and taking pictures (when I'm not doing laundry, of course).  À bientôt!!

Comment utiliser une fourchette en France?

So you're probably wondering why I haven't written anything about being an au pair yet.  I mean, my blog title includes these words in it, for crying out loud! Well, you're quite right.  I really should have written about this sooner, but my excuse is that I've only just now gotten pictures of the two kids I'm working with.

Since I now have the pictures, voilà!  A blog post about the kiddos:

I was a substitute teacher for only a year, but I feel like I've seen my fair share of kids of every age, disposition and degree of "naughtiness" (or, in politically correct words, "behavior issue").  Even still, I found myself wondering several times a day before I arrived to this family's apartment about what the kids would be like.  Would they like me?  Would they be crazy and undisciplined?  As a substitute, I found that many kids take a little while to warm up to you, but most often do.

The kids are quite sweet.   Here we are playing "camping".

We went to Africa, took a safari and then drank chocolate milk for lunch.  Apparently on camping trips for these kids, all we ever do is plan our nap and sleeping schedules.  It's very cute. :)  The boy is named Hugo, and is 4 years old. One of my first experiences with him was that he thought that I didn't know how to use utensils in France.  I was waiting for everyone to be served dinner (as is especially customary in France, more than in America, I believe).  Well, Hugo must have thought that I was just confused by the silverware. He got out of his seat, stood next to me and handed me the fork.  And then he motioned eating with it.  I had to bite back a smile because it was very cute!

Here he is riding his bike in the park last week:

Salomé is also quite hilarious at times. She loves being in charge, and has spent this past weekend preparing me numerous "study guides" to learn French.  Quite helpful, actually, so I won't complain! :P She's 7 years old, but is already concerned with looking "cool" for the other kids.  I don't remember EVER having this concern as a kid (or even in high school, haha).  Often, she's been very helpful to me when Hugo has a tantrum.  The other day, she took me into her room and told me that she wasn't used to my rules yet, but that so far I was better than the au pair that gave her bedbugs (thank goodness for that, at least).  Trés amusant!

C'est trés écologique ici en Grenoble!!

There are so many wonderful things to talk about from my stay here! I'm tempted to talk about food all of the time (it's the best in the world, truly!), but I will speak about a different subject for now. :)

I have always been very into helping the environment (I embrace the name "tree hugger", thank you very much).  And so when I arrived in Grenoble, I was blown away by how eco-friendly the city is!  Most of Europe is quite savvy with public transportation, but Grenoble is also embracing eco-friendly buildings.  Just the other day, I decided to visit the "mall" (shopping area) near my house.  I wish I had had my camera (I really need to work on fixing this problem!), but it's such a cute place.  Lots of sportswear (we're on the cusp of the mountains, so lots of hiking and skiing here).  I went into a store that sells local, natural products and wanted to buy everything!

The tram here is unlike anything I've encountered in the U.S.  Here is a picture of it:

I totally took this picture (not).  The people in the trams are so interesting, too.  In America, often see many empty seats.  Here, the tram is crowded (especially during business hours!) and comes every 5 minutes!  Amusing story: When I first arrived, Mathieu and I rode a mostly empty tram, and so I sat down since I was tired of carrying my luggage. Then, these two old ladies boarded and went up to me.  They told me to let them sit down right where I was sitting (even though there were lots of other seats available, I was sitting in the front row).  Since they were elderly, I figured it was my duty to get up and give them my seat.  They kept saying something about "Pshhh, elle est une jeune fille! Ça va!" or something like that.  I guess I look young no matter where I go!  Mathieu later told me that I could have just said, "Non" to them because they were just taking advantage of me... whoops!  Next time, those old ladies won't know what hit them... "jeune fille" indeed! :)  I'll stand my ground (err, sit my ground? hmmm...)!

Another environmental aspect about France (Europe?) is that the washers take much longer than in the U.S.  Back home, everyone wants to get everything done in the quickest and easiest way possible, but that is usually not the best way (unless, say, you're visiting the dentist).  Since I'm in charge of my laundry and the kids' laundry as part of my job, I learned how to do the washing here.  You wash the clothes in very little water for TWO hours per load!  Then you hang the laundry to dry.  Very few people have dryers here (my host family does, but they only use it for about 5 minutes at the beginning).  So economical!

Anyway, that's the end of my post about how cool public transportation, eco-friendly buildings and laundry are here!  This is probably only interesting to me, but since this is my blog, you'll all have to endure my moments of nerdiness (which will be quite often, I assure you)!!

A bientôt!

p.s. (I still have yet to figure out how to do an accent mark over the "A" in this phrase... but that's what you get for having an English-language keyboard!)

J'aime le petit déjeuner français!

I hope that I said "I love French breakfast" in my title (is that even proper English grammar?), but I actually don't know if that's right. If you know French, feel free to correct me! :) I just had to express my affection for what I feel is truly lacking in America... good coffee + pastries.

Here is a picture of what might be a typical breakfast (but not all of those pastries at once...!)  Again, I don't have a camera, and so I just have to pretend that I took this picture.  Normally I have slices of baguette with jam, honey (or Nutella with my new family!), as well as some delicious coffee.  (Unfortunately, my cup has never had a pig on it like in this picture.) 

Now, one thing that I don't understand is why it's considered abnormal to eat cheese on my bread in the morning, but not in the afternoon.  When I did this before, I got a bit of a reaction (I won't say from whom... lol).  I mean, I love French breakfasts, and I love French cheese... why not combine the two?  I eat American cheese on my English muffins all the time back home.  Isn't that weirder?

(I hope no one is offended by my blog. I love both America and France, but I will warn you now: I will be making fun of both cultures because I find it funny to do so.  I have a twisted sense of humor sometimes...)

Anyway, back to French breakfasts... one thing I have yet to get used to is the fact that people drink their coffee out of bowls here, not cups.  Why? So they can dip their bread or croissant.  This might sound good to most people, but here are my thoughts about it: this only causes the perfectly-textured pastry to get soggy, and the perfectly-creamy coffee to get chunky.  Why do you do this, French friends?  I hope one of you can give me the answer...! ;)

On a more positive note about le petit déjeuner: I find it refreshing that the French eat their entire meal (not just breakfast, either) without getting up to do something.  I often have the urge to think of something I want to look up on my computer, or a task I need to do around the house... and I jump up to do it, even in the middle of my meal.  Not here.  In a sense, I've had to rethink the way my brain works, and just let things go until after the meal.  And really, when you're drinking a rich cup of coffee and nibbling on a freshly-baked croissant (without the bread-into-the-coffee dipping)... who would want to do anything else?

Je ne parle pas français...

I have a blank blog page in front of me, and fresh template for my life, and yet I have no idea how to start or what to say.

It might be a cliché, but what better place than to start at the beginning?

Here I am in Grenoble, France, a small city on the edge of the French Alps.  Or not... I created this blog title before I learned that I'm not actually in the Alps.  At least I got the au pair part right!  I find that I keep staring off into space, especially out the window at dramatic mountains that fill my vision, no matter where I look. 

This is a picture of me, at my desk.  Currently, I don't have a camera (I know, strange to travel to another country without one, huh?), but the plan is to steal my the pictures from my very talented boyfriend, Mathieu, and pretend that they're my own (just kidding, I will give him all the credit!!)

I only arrived to the family's apartment yesterday afternoon (so just over a day ago), but already I feel very welcome.  They have a very nice place, and they treat me very well.  Last night I was spoiled on a good 20-year-old wine, local cheese and real Belgium chocolate.  Gourmet, no?

As I stated in my title, I don't speak French.  I can put together a few phrases, sure, but I feel a little daft when someone tries to talk to me and I just stare at them, with a half smile on my face so I don't come across as mean as well as stupid.  No one has been rude to me about my heritage or language barrier; if anything, the French are more understanding of my differences than Americans are!

I'm excited to see what the week, month, season, year has in store for me!  It's just the beginning, and yet I already feel both settled and unsettled by what I've seen.  After this blog post, I'll focus more on specific topics... and believe me, I have plenty in store for you!

Au revoir, et a bientôt! :)