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!!!

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!)