Book Review - A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke

For anyone who has lived in France, visited France, or even has the slightest knowledge of stereotypical France, this book will not disappoint! A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke is a witty, hysterical travel narrative of a 20 something British guy who moves to France to open English Tea Rooms.  Naturally there are many bumps along the way that include but are not limited to French bureaucratic snafus, translation issues, and women (a whole lot of women).

The chapters are months of the year, starting in September because as Clarke  points out, the year begins in September when all French people return from their month long vacations and go back to work.  From there, the protagonist goes through all sorts of obstacles.  For one thing, he cannot understand half of the words that come out of his co-workers mouths.  Clarke does an amazing job with the phonetics of someone speaking English with a French accent.  Read those parts out loud to yourself, it's more fun! Besides his problems in comprehension, Paul has to find a place to live, work on getting a visa, defend the English people and their customs to every French person he meets, and figure a way out of buying a little cottage in Normandy.  All while meeting new people, and overcoming problems in translation along the way. 

This book had me laughing out loud at outrageous scenarios but more so at how perfectly Clarke describes living in France.  After living in France for a year myself, I completely understand what this poor guy is going through especially when it comes to bureaucratic nonsense and the French lifestyle of "ehh, it will get done."

Bravo, Stephen Clarke.  The outrageous and raunchy tales of an American living in France make this book too good to put down! 

*Picture from Wikipedia. Found here. 

Pirate Sighting - Ahoy Mateys!

Imagine my surprise when on a sunny Friday afternoon, as I am driving on the freeway, I glance over at the Sacramento River to my right and see a pirate ship? Yaarrr, a pirate ship!

My natural sense of adventure (HA! or my obsession with pirates) made me pull off the freeway at the next exit to follow my curiosity (aka the GIANT pirate ship floating down the Sacramento River).  The feeling of danger boiled up in my stomach as I inched forward, wondering what was ahead.  After climbing up the levee (in my car), I saw her in all of her majestic beauty, floating calmly down the river, not a care in the world.  I stayed out of sight in fear of the pirates aboard (*ahem* embarrassment), and what they might do if they caught me.  I followed her as far as my feet could take me (before people around me started questioning my sanity) and watched her off into the distance.  I'm not sure where they came from, or how long they will stay.  All I know is, my Friday became infinitely cooler when I spotted pirates in Sacramento.

Keep a weather eye friends.      

yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!

Boston Fall Wedding

After two years of anticipation for this happy occasion, the time finally came for Alyssa and Mike's wedding.  I had been excited for this day for literally two years!  And the weekend finally arrived when I took my flight to Boston to meet up with Jenny and Katelyn for the three of us to travel to Holyoke for this wonderful wedding.  Alyssa looked absolutely beautiful and the location was breathtaking.  And not to mention, it was amazing to be reunited with some of my best friends again!

Highlights of the trip:
-Frequently saying "OMG I can't believe they are getting married!"
-Seeing Alyssa when we first arrived at the location, as she snuck off to use the bathroom.
-Their adorable vows they wrote themselves, or improvised in Mike's case :)
-The beautiful setting, decor, and colors.
-Crying because we were so happy when we first got to talk to her after the ceremony.
-All of the older parents, neighbors, and friends who wanted to take our picture for their single sons.
-Dancing. Dancing. and more Dancing.
-Having our taxi driver take us through McDonalds.
-Walking all over Boston with Katelyn and Jenny the next day.
-Spending quality time with friends I have not seen in way too long.
-Laughter.  So much laughter.

We had just as much fun as I expected we would!  Here are some of my favorite photos from the night!

.hanging out before the wedding.

.being silly.

.here comes the bride.

.such a beautiful setting for a fall wedding. .love the colors.

.Mr. and Mrs. 

.best friends.

.so happy to finally be reunited with some of my favorite people.

.oregon crew. .go ducks.

.my favorite.

.singing PYT to alyssa. .obviously. 

.the happy couple.

.beautiful navy and orange.

.all smiles on such a happy occasion.

Congratulations Alyssa and Mike! So happy to have celebrated this special day with you! And looking forward to all of the good times to come!

C'est la belle vie! 

"EO, can I ask you a question?"

For those of you who don't know, my volleyball nickname is EO (in case this isn't obvious, E and O are my initials).  My club volleyball coach created it in 8th grade when there were 2 of us Elizabeths on the team.  EO isn't just catchy, it's a perfect name to yell out on the court.  As someone pointed out to me recently, names in sports need to be 2 syllables.  Which sounds better on a football field when a teammate scores a touchdown, "BOB!" or "BOBBY!" 2 syllables.  It just works.  My problem was not too few syllables but two too many.  It isn't easy yelling out "Elizabeth go for the ball!" Instead, "EO! Go for the ball!" And so EO stuck.  10 years later, I still go by EO when it comes to the world of volleyball.  And now you know the background for every fantastic question/comment/quote I hear on a daily basis coaching volleyball, as all question/comments/quotes start with "EO...?"

"EO you have such a cool name."
Yes, this was the first year that a freshman actually thought my name was EO.  Not as a nickname but that was my name from birth.  EO.  Nothing else.  I do introduce myself as EO in any volleyball context but I feel like I normally explain they are my initials.  My only question to her would be, how do you think I spell my first name?  Eeyo?

"E-I-E-I-O"
Old McDonald had a farm?  This would be really funny, if my middle initial was I, but it's not.  It's an A.  E-A-E-A-O?  Doesn't work as well.

"EO what do you do?"
My favorite question.  How do I explain my array of odd jobs and my life story to a 15 year old.  I should just stick to one solid answer: "I coach you in volleyball."

I laugh at the end of each day about the things these girls say.  They keep me young and I love them for it! More good quotes and stories to come!

JV Volleyball relaxing during a break at a tournament (notice Anna and Megan in the background, making up a dance routine)

Blocking the sun from distracting the ref, such troopers

go troubies! 

In the last 365 days….

It seems fitting that I post this a year after the day I left for France.  I have been through a lot of changes in the last year. I didn’t realize how much until I started thinking about all these changes lately and how blessed I am.  I am really happy with the last year of my life.  I hope this upcoming year can be just as amazing, with new challenges, new faces, and a whole lot of fun! Taking nothing for granted and being thankful for my blessings every step of the way.

Here’s what I came up with:

4 months at home in Sacramento.

8 months living in France. 

4 plane rides across the Atlantic Ocean.

8 flights altogether (majority of the mileage over Europe).

1 contract that was incredibly late.

1 trip to the French Consulate in San Francisco.

Too many trains to count.

5 consecutive months of not driving (and being okay with that).

Trying beets for the first time (and liking them, a lot!)

 1 month (scattered throughout the year) with my best friend.

12 classes of French students between the ages of 10-26. 

1 class who threw paper airplanes at me out the window as I was leaving my very last day.

 >10 times watching the Eiffel Tower light up at night.

1 amazing castle covered in snow.

3 amazing friends who made my 23^rd birthday truly unforgettable.

5 language barriers (6 if count the unrecognizable Scottish English).

2 thoughtful couples who shared a little piece of their day and their life with me in Rome.

5 BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL cities of the Cinque Terre.

1000000 times I asked myself “Is this my life right now?”

15 other assistants who quickly became my friends. 

1 Papal Blessing in Vatican City.

1 very important football game watched at 2:30 in the morning on a 10 inch screen with headphones.

1 ferry ride across the English Channel.

3 weeks of constant strikes from the French.

6 other people I shared a home with for 8 months.

3 days I have played all-out volleyball.

1 month coaching volleyball camps and teams.

4 passport stamps I would have liked but no one cared whether or not I entered the country.

20 days spent in Oregon.

Multiple quiches.

1 trip to the Champs-Elysees Christmas Fair in the snow.

>50 metro rides.

2 beautiful weddings celebrated with good friends.

3 times I have driven from Eugene to Bend.

1 very fun tour of the Deschutes Brewery with my dad.

100 Nutella waffles at the Caen Christmas Fair in just 3 weeks.

3 trips to Angers to see my friends and family.

1 time staying out all night in Paris, waiting for the metro to re-open in the morning. 

1 chateau I passed or walked-through on a daily basis.

1 sleepover with some of my best friends.

1 night going out in San Francisco.

4 amazing friends meeting up in Santa Cruz for a much needed reunion.

7 baseball games with the Bend Elks.

1 inspiring café where the life of a boy wizard was created.

2 jobs in two very different fields.

There’s so much more but here are some highlights.  It’s been an amazing year and I’m looking forward to the next one!

C’est la belle vie!  

Anything Goes

I recently went to see the musical Anything Goes with my mom and grandma.  The next day, I wrote this letter to the Music Circus to compliment them on a fabulous production as well as kindly put in a suggestion for next year!  

Dear Music Circus Associate:  

First of all, I would like to thank you for providing entertainment and musical education to my life for the past 18 years.  Your shows are not only clever interpretations and enthusiastic performances of some of the classics, but provide life lessons and education in musical theater.  I have always enjoyed my time spent at the Music Circus and will continue attending productions whenever I am able to do so. 

   

I first attended the music circus in 1994 when I was just six years old.  My parents took me to see The Secret Garden.  I absolutely loved it.  From the story of Mary Lennox, to the songs, to the flawless perfection of the performance, I just couldn’t get enough.  We sat on the edge of one of the ramps so I was able to experience it all up close.  After seeing my first musical, I was hooked.  I have seen at least one musical a year since.  Some of my favorite productions at the Music Circus include The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Hello, Dolly!, 42^nd Street, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and most recently Anything Goes.  Some of them I have even seen twice over the years.  I have also seen musicals at the Convention Center with the Broadway series, on Broadway in New York, and at the Hult Conventional Center in Eugene, Oregon.     

The one musical I would love to see again that hasn’t come back to the Music Circus since 1999 is The Secret Garden.  Every year I wait for the new shows and every year I feel a small twinge of disappointment that The Secret Garden is not on the list.  I have very much enjoyed every production I have seen in the last 17 years yet I would still love to see The Secret Garden again.  I was thrilled to see it was listed on the survey this year.  I feel this musical has a little something for everyone.  When I was most recently at the Music Circus, I asked a crew member why this loveable production has not been in the musical line-up recently.  She explained to me this musical used to be one for the children before Music Circus decided it was a little too dark for a children’s musical.  While that is certainly understandable, I do not see why this fantastic musical hasn’t been brought back at all since 1999. 

When I explained this to my mom and grandmother during intermission at Anything Goes, my mom agreed the story line of The Secret Garden is a little too mature for young kids.  She went on to tell me that she felt Kiss Me Kate was a little too risqué for my brother and I when we went as a family to the production on Broadway.  At the time, I was twelve and my brother was eight.  I asked why she thought this, especially since we had seen The Phantom of the Opera the night before.  “Phantom was just scary”, she said, “in Kiss Me Kate, she sings ‘I’m always true to you, darling, in my fashion’, goes on to sing about 100 different guys, all while wearing a blue negligee.”  That’s a good point, I guess.  “But Mom,” I said, “I would rather learn about the world from a Broadway musical than from some of the music, television shows, and movies out there today.”  In a world that can’t have a single caption on a television or movie screen for more than 4 seconds, where eight year olds have cell phones, and where humans are being replaced with computers, I believe musical theater is something to be appreciated and cherished.  It’s true that some musicals are for a more mature audience than others, but the importance is in the art.  The Music Circus has been captivating audiences for 61 years.  They have kept the art alive through fantastic productions.  Even in our economic climate today, I was surprised to see an almost full house at Anything Goes.   But then I realized that the Music Circus has affected numerous people.  Everyone at that performance has a story like mine; a story of how the Music Circus has impacted their life in some way. 

This started off as a letter to convince you to put The Secret Garden into the 2012 Music Circus line-up.  And while I would still love for that to happen, I know I will not be disappointed with the shows you end up choosing.  In closing, I would just like to say thank you: thank you for a summer tradition with my family, thank you for the entertainment, and thank you for keeping musical theater alive in Sacramento. 

With kindest regards,

                                                                                                      

Elizabeth A. Ostapeck  

Summer Days!

Well today was the day.  What happened, you might ask?  Nothing terribly special, in fact it was an ordinary Saturday in Sacramento but indeed, something happened.  I went shopping with my mom in the morning, found some good deals, had a terrific lunch, and went to Starbucks to work for awhile.  And then, it happened.  What I had been putting off.  What I had put on the back-burner. What I didn't want to think about.

I finally finished unpacking from France.

It was difficult but with all of my effort, I hoisted my suitcase up and dumped it's contents (skirts, shirts, scarves, glow sticks, papers, maps, public transportation tickets, 1 chest x-ray and more) onto my bed, zipped up the suitcase took it out of my room and began the dreadful process.  And hour and a half later it was done.  There were no signs of France in my room.  All of my French clothes hung up or shoved in draws, all of my maps and souvenirs neatly put away with my books, and the last of my euro stowed away in a coin pouch.

It's a sad day my friends.

But nevertheless, it needed to happen and now it's time to move on.  And I have been moving on, which is why it took me so long to complete this task in the first place.  I have been all over the place, Oregon, Sacramento, the bay area and have spent all of my free time with friends, family, or searching for that next step in my life.  And what fun it has been!

Since I wrote last, I have been up to Bend, Oregon one more time. We watched Stephen START in a game last Thursday.  That's right, he is a starter now.  So proud!  The Bend Elks did great last weekend and we had so much fun as always (even with a rain delay)!

Double Rainbow

Storm clouds moving away

San Diego chicken was the entertainment of the night

And this week, Sarah and I had our fun at the California State Fair!  Along with her roommate, we had a day of fun in the sun, walking around the exhibits, seeing the hypnotist, and visiting the midway at night!  And no trip to the fair would be complete without outrageous fair food!  And we definitely had our share!

Have to take a picture with the Golden Bear

Love this pic by the frog fountain!

Another Golden Bear!

Floriculture exhibition complete with live parrot

Deep fried twinkie. That was lame compared to...

Chocolate Covered Bacon!! Yummy!

Midway at night

Parting view

Add in a few bike rides, lunches with friends, a lot of job hunting, and way too many TV marathons and there goes my month of July.  Summer is going by fast and I cannot believe I have been home for almost 2 months. Life isn't going to slow up anytime soon either! And I wouldn't have it any other way!

C'est la belle vie!

End of Oregon Trip

Wow, that was fast!  I went up to Oregon for two weeks and now I have been home for almost a week.  Time is not slowing down and neither am I.

For my last weekend in Oregon, I went to Becca and Bryan's wedding, one of the main reasons why I was back in Oregon.  It was a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful reception.  So much fun spending time with many of my wonderful friends!  Can't wait to see them all again! Congrats Becca and Bryan!

Steph and Me

Reception at Sweet Cheeks Winery

Kyle and Me

The Newlyweds

Dancing Queen

With the ever-entertaining Father Dave

Kyle being MJ

Cutting the Cake

After seeing everyone again the next morning at brunch, I drove over to Bend where Mom and Dad were waiting to watch Stephen play.  It was also the 4th of July so the whole team wore camo uniforms that they would auction off to support our troops.  They played great and won 12-2!  There were also fireworks after the game, set off from Pilot's Butte, the tallest point in Bend.  We hung out with Stephen's host family after the game and we all went out for a late dinner and dessert.  It was a great 4th of July being with family. 

Stephen signing autographs before the game

Family - Go Elks!

Sibling picture! Love this!

The team

The next day, it was time to go home for Mom, Dad, and me.  It was by far the longest amount of time it has ever taken me to drive home from Oregon.  10 hours later and safely in Sacramento, it was bedtime to prepare for the St. Francis Volleyball camp the next day.  And these days were longer than last time because we missed a day of the week with the 4th of July on Monday.  But it went by fast, and now the 2nd camp is over and it's on to my next exciting adventure, whatever that may be.  

C'est la belle vie! 

Go Ducks!

Since I left Oregon last August, there have been a lot of changes to the school specifically in our sports department.  Instead of the ducks playing at Mac Court like they used to, they now play here:

Matthew Knight Arena

I really wanted to see the inside so I took a tour and it was amazing.  Check this place out!

Duck Store (1 of 2)

Walking into the seating

Donor's Club

Another view of Donor's Club

Founder's Club

Hallway to Locker rooms

Where the teams gather before they charge the court

Courtside

Check out that awesome floor

Inside corridor 

I'm just upset that they finished this the year after I graduated.  I can't wait to catch some volleyball games here in the fall!

GO DUCKS!