Belgium

Wow, it's been two whole weeks since I've last updated.  I think I was waiting to update until I had something big to update but now I realize that a lot of things have happened in the past two weeks.  Here is my attempt to summarize it.

I will start with my classes:  the bad ones are getting progressively worse and the good ones are becoming more and more fun.  Not sure how that works, but my really awful classes are getting to be almost unbearable.  I have to constantly tell the students to stop talking and we get very little done.  But my good classes are getting more and more interested in the topics we are talking about and it's a lot of fun.  Today was a good day because instead of class in the morning, all of the English classes were going to see this film at a nearby cinema.  I met them there, and went up to a group of my oldest students and started talking with them.  They were so shy and didn't really know what to talk about, so I finally started speaking in French and then they opened up a little bit.  They are closer to my age than any of the other classes so it was fun to talk to them for a bit.  The movie was "To Be or Not To Be", made in the 40s and in English (with French sub-titles of course).  It was way better than actually going to class.  And in my class this afternoon, we talked about French and American stereotypes.  I also showed them a short clip of NCIS.  That class is my favorite so it's very easy to talk with them.

But enough about that and on to the really fun part! This past weekend, I went on a last-minute adventure: Belgium!! I have been wanting to go, and even thought about going in 2008 when I was here so I was very happy the time had finally come!  I met with my friend Leah, who is living in Paris doing a fashion internship, at the train station on Friday and we went into Brussels. She got an amazing deal on a hotel but of course, it was pretty far away.

Had to add this pic because it was so funny!  Leah and I shared the bed while Lindsay took the bunk!

We managed to figure out there was a train, similar to a metro that went from the stop in our little part of town, into the center of town.  Of course, we didn't really know where that was.  So we wandered around and got lunch on the outskirts, not knowing it was the outskirts, and finally asked someone who pointed us in the right direction.  After about 3 hours in Belgium, we finally found the Grand Place and it was so worth it!

Walking into the square

Such beautiful architecture

Me in the square

After walking around for a bit, we definitely need to get inside and get a drink; it was absolutely frigid outside.  We picked this wonderful place, that was really really warm and got a seat right by the window.  And of course, we ordered our first Belgian beer of the trip. 

Raspberry beer...yummmm!

Leah and I with our Belgian beers

Leah's friend Lindsay met up with us at the bar because she got in later than we did.  After hanging out for awhile, we decided that we needed dinner and we wanted to find a couple of bars that people had said were really cool.  The square was lit up at night and absolutely awesome!  And so was our dinner.... :)

Square at night

So beautiful

Dinner!  Belgian Waffles! 

We found one of the bars we had heard about and no wonder it's famous.  It's three stories, huge, and absolutely packed with people at any given time of the day.  It was hard to move around but we found a table and stayed there for the night.  We tried all sorts of Belgian beers because the place, called the Delirium Bar, had over 50 beers just on tap!  We even met some new friends!  We had tons of fun and stayed out late.  Which was fine at the time, but the next morning....

We had to get up early on Saturday because we wanted to visit Bruges.  So many people had told me about what an amazing place this is so we decided it would be worth it to take a day trip there.  We had some trials in the morning such as working off five hours of sleep, missing not one but TWO trains into Brussels and finally just getting a taxi, and then taking lots of time to buy tickets in the super crowded station.  But once we made the hour long trek to Bruges, everything became worth it! the city was phenomenal with beautiful buildings and just a different feel than Brussels.  It was a gorgeous day to see all of the scenery! 

The clock tower

Bruges

Pretty

More of the canal

Lindsay and me

We walked around a lot in Bruges and of course participated in everything Belgian: bought more beer, had fries for lunch, and then got hot chocolate at a chocolaterie. It was a great little adventure and I'm so happy we were able to go!

That night when we got back to Brussels, we decided that we should probably eat an actual meal instead of the fries and waffles that we had been substituting as meals the last couple of days.  We found a nice Italian restaurant for some yummy pasta and wine.  Lidsay got the muscles which is another Belgian specialty and Leah and I both tried them.  After dinner, we visited a really famous fountain in Brussels called Mannekin Pis. It's a fountain of a little boy peeing.  There are many legends around the fountain but it's undoubtedly a treasured site of the city. 

The little inappropriate statue

And even though we didn't really need it, we decided to share a chocolate waffle. There were so many choices, but we were still stuffed from dinner!  I would have one of these every day if I could!

 

Waffle stand

The next morning was Sunday so we checked out of our hotel, made the train because we got the times right, and wandered around the city for a little while before our train back to Paris.  We went to that first place again and got one last Belgian beer and some cheese plate to go with it.  And with that, we were back to France, the land of chocolate croissants and wine.  We had a little time before my train to Caen so we went to Starbucks naturally.  Since I only can get my chai tea lattes when I am in Paris or in the states, I was a pretty happy camper.  

So although it was short, it was an amazing little trip to Belgium.  Really it was just what I needed.  Our next big vacation is not until the end of this month and I was already getting a little restless in Caen. Anytime I can do more exploring, I'm happy.  Time for me to end this super long post, hope you enjoyed it!  Until next time!

C'est la belle vie!

Day Adventures and Exploration Weekends

Now that I have finally gotten settled into the new year, I have time for one of my favorite things: exploring!  I feel that I have seen a lot of cool cities in France but there is always more to see.  During the Fall, someone recommended that I go see Deauville.  I had not heard of the city but this person told me that it is pretty famous and they have an American film festival here every year.  And it is only about 45 minutes away from Caen.  When Nadege finished her exams last week, she had some time off and suggested that we make a day trip to Deauville.  So on Friday, Nadege, Thinh and I hopped in the car and drove to Deauville for the day.

We got there around 10 in the morning and it was an absolutely beautiful day.  The sun was shining and it was not terribly cold.  We walked through a beautiful public garden to get to the center of town, where there were the most beautiful cobblestone streets and cute, chic shops in every direction.  We found the tourist office to get a map of the city and from there plotted out the route to the ocean.

First impression of Deauville

Middle of the City

City Hall of Deauville

Nadege and me in Deauville

We made our way to the ocean and walked along the promenade walk for awhile.  On the promenade, there are beach closets that you can buy to keep all of you beach gear in for the season.  Each small closet has dividers between them.  On all the dividers are the names of famous people and movie stars who have visited Deauville.  I thought that these people owned these specific spaces but they are just dedicated to them.  It was fun to see who had visited before and we saw some very famous names.  Then we decided to go out on the beach to the water.  It was nice because there were hardly any people out that day. 

Beach closets along the promenade

Promenade next to the beach

Me and the ocean

Horse racing on the beach, this is very common in Deauville

Thinh and me

After the beach, we walked over to the neighboring city of Trouville.  This city is also right on the water and very beautiful as well.  We ate lunch at a creperie here and walked around to see some of the sites of Trouville. 

Trouville sur-la-mer

Trouville and Me

Random Castle thing we found in Trouville, pretty cool

After walking back over to Deauville, it started to rain so we got some eclairs from a bakery and decided we were done for the day.  I am so happy that I visited these amazing cities and would like to see them again before I leave France in June. 

Saturday, Margaux and I wanted to hang out without going shopping and being tempted to buy more at the soldes, or spending more money on a coffee.  So we decided to wander around to see what we could find in Caen and thank goodness we did because we found some treasures.  By my house, there is a huge botanical garden with a green house and many exotic plants.  I had been here once before with Claire and I wanted to show Margaux.  However, on the way we found something that caught our eye: a cemetery.  Now for those of you who read my posts from Edinburgh, you know how much we like cemeteries after our tour through the cemeteries in Edinburgh.  So we went inside to check it out.  Where as the cemetery in Edinburgh was creepy, this cemetery was so beautiful is almost became eerie.  And naturally, Margaux and I have the tendency to play off of each other and totally freak out, so even though it was mid-afternoon, sun shining, we were walking around this graveyard as if anything could pop out at us at any given moment.  I think what is so amazing about this place is the fact it looks like a regular forest.  There are so many trees and coverings that graves are probably lost in the middle and no one knows.  Enough of my descriptions, see for yourself:

Lots of broken headstones 

Cemetery in the middle of a forest?

So beautiful it's eerie

The outer wall of the cemetery

After the cemetery, we went over to the garden and walked around the grounds for awhile.  It was such a gorgeous day, yet no one was around, we suspect because of the soldes.  All of the French are too busy shopping to enjoy the gems of their city.  Well that is just fine with us, we liked having it to ourselves. 

Then, as we walked back into centre-ville we came across a jewel that I must have seen a hundred times before.  The back of a church, that looks as though it used to be the inside.  What we guessed is that, this church partially fell during World War II and after, they just made it smaller instead of building up the entire thing again.  I am awe-struck by this beautiful architecture.  The ivy, the stained glass, the colors, the stairs.  The thought crossed my mind that I might need to get married in France just so I could take pictures here.  Wishful thinking...

Breath-takingly beautiful

The back of the Church, we think all of this used to be the inside... this is where I would want to get married :)

The colors, the stained glass and the ivy...I'm in love with this place

So we were successful in our outing.  We had a great day walking around our city and finding some priceless treasures.  Going to class and teaching English is great, but it's adventures like these around Caen and into other cities that make my time here worthwhile.  And I already have planned adventures for the next two weekends:  Next weekend, the Caen assistants are off to Cherbourg to hang out with the Cherbourg assistants and celebrate some birthdays.  I have wanted to visit Cherbourg since I got here so it should be a fun trip.  Weekend after that, I am going to try to visit Paris for the weekend to spend some time with friends who live there and check out the soldes, Paris style.  The adventure continues!  

C'est la belle vie! :)

The New Year is here

Well here we are in a New Year and I am back in France where I will be for the next 5 months.  I didn't get a chance to update while I was in Sacramento because I was having too much fun spending time with my family and friends.  So for my first post of the New Year, here is an update of my amazing Christmas break!

My Christmas started in a truly wonderful, beautiful city: Paris!  Because my flight left so early in the morning on Saturday, I went to Paris on Friday and stayed with my friend Cory, who I have know since elementary school.  Cory is an au pair in Paris and her parents and brother were visiting for Christmas already so I hung out with them on Friday.  We went to the Champs-Elysees Christmas market which was absolutely amazing. We even went on the huge ferris wheel!  It was a lot of fun and a perfect way to start my break!

Cory and I at the Christmas Market

Eiffel Tower in the City of Lights

I was very nervous about the snow causing big delays for my flight but fortunately, I got out of there just in time.  My flight was only delayed about a half hour and soon I was on my way to Houston.  The flight was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be for an 11 hour flight.  Once I got to Houston, I had a long layover.  I was just getting dinner when I heard someone call my name and I saw Elle, another friend I have known since elementary school.  She was flying to Sacramento on an earlier flight and told me that I should try to fly stand-by so I could get home earlier.  Luckily, I was able to get on the plane and made it home 2 hours earlier than I would have.

From the very second I got home to when I left, I was so incredibly happy.  It was so nice to be around my family and my cats.  I was happy to be able to wear sweats and t-shirts and not have to get into jeans every single day.  I made sure to get all of the food I have missed and craved so much in France. And being able to hop in my car and drive was amazing!

The first week I was back, I had two very special visitors: Christy and Jessica.  They drove from San Francisco to hang out with me! It was so sweet of them to come.  We went to dinner as soon as they got here and watched the finale of the Sing-Off.  It was so nice to talk and catch up with them, especially since I haven't seen them since I left Eugene in August.  The next morning, we went out for breakfast at Sharis with two other mutual friends of ours. It was great seeing everyone!

Breakfast at Sharis crew

Christmas Eve day we went to the Cowards' for Christmas brunch like we have for the past couple of years.  This is one of my favorite parts about Christmas.  We always have a great meal and we get to spend time with some of our closest family friends.

Sibling picture with Justine and Zac

All of our wonderful parents

Besties

That afternoon, we went to Mass at Holy Spirit with Grannie and Aunt Mary Ann.  After, we went back to Grannie's for Christmas Eve dinner.  There were a lot of us this year!  I couldn't be happier being around my family!  Christmas Day was at our house and just as much fun as Christmas Eve.  The best part was definitely the entire family glued to the TV when we watched Elf and Despicable Me.

The Ostapecks

Cousin picture, love this

Stephen and I with Grannie

Grannie and her kids

Aunt Steph and me

The day after Christmas we had a 5 year anniversary of when we won State.  So the whole volleyball team and our parents gathered at St. Francis where we played volleyball for about an hour and a half. It was probably the sloppiest volleyball we have ever played but we got out there and had fun!  After that, we went to one of our coach's houses for dinner.  We couldn't believe it had been five years since we had all been together.  It was great to see all of these girls and remember all of the good times we had together!

Volleyball State Champs 5 years later

The rest of break went by really fast.  I went out to a few dinners with my group of friends from high school and spent a lot of time with my family.  I didn't do much but that is exactly what I wanted from my vacation.  It was nice to just sit and watch TV with Stephen and the cats or just go out to coffee and talk for awhile.

I was supposed to leave for France on New Year's Day but after some flight delays in Sacramento that would make me miss my flight from Houston to Paris, I just decided to move everything back a day.  Luckily, this was not a problem.  So 4 hours after my parents dropped me off, they came back to get me and the four of us went out to a wonderful breakfast.  Then the rest of the day we watched football and sat around the house.  It was only one more day with them but it was one of the best days.  I started off the  New Year with my family and football, what more could I want?

And finally, I made it back to France and to my home in Caen.  I am still getting over the jetlag and have been sleeping a lot.  I have a feeling it will be a very low-key weekend for me.  Classes have just started up but so far they have been going well.  Next on my list will be to decide where to go for the next holiday.  I am also hoping to make some weekend trips to Paris in the near future.  Life is good.  Which coincidentally is the name of this blog!

Happy New Year everyone! :)

oh, and GO DUCKS!

Merry Christmas France, see you next year

Well, today is like no other start to Christmas vacation I have ever had.  In high school, I would hop in my car, listen to Christmas carols and drive the 20 minutes home.  In college, I would finish finals, pack enough for 3 weeks and make the 8 hour drive the next day with my roommates.  This year, I am in a foreign country.  I finished today (and not a moment too soon!), and tomorrow I take the train to Paris.  I will stay in Paris one night and then take the metro to the airport early on Saturday morning.  From there, I fly to Houston, 11 hours if you were wondering.  When I get to Houston, I get a lovely 4-5 hour layover that I do not want or need.  And the final leg of my trip is a 4 hour flight straight to Sacramento.  As I said, unlike any other start to Christmas break.

But I wouldn't change this experience for the world and 2 and a half days of traveling is not going to keep me from coming back in January.  I have met some amazing people here and I am looking forward to spending the first 5 months of the New Year in this wonderful town I call home.

My last classes went well today.  I got a word search from the internet to share with my kids which they enjoyed.  However, I think they really liked the Christmas pictures of Stephen and me I brought from when I was about 10-12.  I had them find objects in the background such as reindeer, Santa hats, candles, tinsel, etc. It kept them occupied and it was a great last lesson to give.

Last night, was the Aumonerie's Christmas Mass at St. Pierre.  It was a wonderful mass and after, I got something that I have been wanting for a couple of months: a roommate photo.  So here they are.

Merry Christmas!

The girls

I missed the memo that this was a serious picture...but it's the best one!

The boys!

Nadege, Marthe, and Me

And now it is dinnertime and I can hear people getting ready downstairs.  Leftovers from dinner last night is on the menu tonight.  Salmon, ham, cheese and bread, and hopefully some dessert!

Next time I write, I will be in Sacramento!  I am so excited for these next two weeks with family and friends! I can't wait!  Until next time, loved ones! Merry Christmas!

C'est la bonne vie!

French Food, Christmas Food

It seems to me that during the last week, my mind has only been processing a couple of different thoughts: my journey home in less than a week, and food.  It's not that I consciously have been trying to think about only food, but somehow that is all that has been on my mind.  I will explain.

This last week, I tried to finish all of my Christmas shopping (and succeeded in that, thank you very much).  I find Christmas shopping hard enough as it is, without having the daunting task of getting something special from France.  I have gone over and over in my head about what I can bring back for people that will be something they cannot find in the United States.  I am not going to give anything away since people who will be getting said presents are going to be reading this, but it does have a little to do with food.  So this had me on a wild goose hunt throughout centre-ville of Caen to find the best that I could.  I wandered into a lot of different French shops that sold all different types of food.  I feel as though I added all of the calories by simply walking into these stores.

Then, I have adopted Tuesday night as my night to cook for my house.  It started about 3 weeks ago when all of my roommates gagned up against Pierre, one of our other roommates who doesn't cook often, and told him he had to make dinner.  I offered to help because, let's be honest, I really don't help with the cooking all that often.  So almost 3 weeks ago, Pierre and I made dinner on a Tuesday night for everyone.  And then it just worked out that same way the next Tuesday night.  This last week, Pierre didn't eat at home for dinner on Tuesday so I took it upon myself to cook for my roomies.  I decided to make a quiche, because a. it's pretty easy and b. we didn't have that many options.  So I got out the dough for the crust, and started cutting up onions.  I grilled the onions with lardons, small pieces of ham, while I made the egg mixture.  Mixed it all together, poured it in the pan with the crust, and got it into the oven.  Of course, I watched it like a hawk for the full 20 minutes it cooked because I wanted it to be perfect!  And it was absolutely delicious.  I need to thank Nadege for suggesting the garnish on top because it definitely added to the look.

My quiche!  I was so proud!

Wednesday I had a very productive day, so I gave myself a reward of a coffee, and a nutella waffle.  I am trying to cut back on these but they are honestly so good and it's only a Christmas market thing so I think it's okay if I have a couple more this week before I leave.  I am sure going to miss the Christmas market when I come back to Caen and it's not here anymore.  Luckily we have plenty of markets around town on any given day and I can get great food at all of those places as well!

Thursday, it was my turn to do the food shopping for the house with one of my roommates.  So we went to the giant supermarket and picked up all sorts of goodies and things we needed for the house.  The first items in our basket were chocolate, cereal (with chocolate), and nutella.  Yeah, we have our priorities straight.  We ended up spending 132 euro on all of our food for just one week! But we also bought a lot of things that can stay good for a long time.  I don't think anyone will have to go this week, especially since we are all leaving for home this weekend.  That night, I think I had like 3 pieces of bread with nutella on it.  Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to buy it for the house...

The next morning, probably half of the nutella was gone between the 7 roommates.  It was only then that I decided to check for the grams of sugar in a serving.  In 100 grams of nutella, there are 55 grams of sugar.  Yikes!  We checked to see how much 100 grams is and it's about one spoonful in a soup spoon.  Well, as long as I don't eat that much at a time, I should be good! Besides, the nutella is almost gone in the house already so we won't have to worry about it anymore!

Saturday I went to a different creperie with Whitney and Josh, an assistant in Cherbourg.  I had a wonderful galette with egg, cheese, and onion.  And of course, a dessert crepe with butter and sugar.

Which brings us to Sunday, where I sit and write this post while keeping an eye on the cookies I have baking for my roommates.  They love the homemade cookies I make and have been wanting me to make them again ever since the first time I made them.  And I have to say they are turning out better than before as well.  Finally getting the hang of this French cooking thing.  And, I am very very excited to come home in less than a week and have all of the wonderful meals that come with the holiday season.  

Bon Appetit! 

C'est la bonne vie!

Baby, it's cold outside.

It is officially the most wonderful time of the year and I am enjoying every second of it!  Christmas carols are playing, it has been snowing, and exactly two weeks from today, I AM GOING HOME!!  Needless to say, I am sure you can tell from the capital letters that I am excited about this.  Nothing beats hanging out with your family at Christmas time.  I can't wait, it's going to be awesome.

But as I am trying to live in the moment, here is what is happening in France...

I named this post, creatively I would like to think, "Baby, it's cold outside".  Now when I say that, not only am I talking about one of my favorite carols, I literally mean it's the North Pole out there.  For the last week, the temperature has rarely been above 0 degrees Celsius (freezing point) and frequently been between -5 and -2 with wind chill.  It is cold.  I listen to these Christmas Carols saying "Let is snow" and "It's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together" and what I am doing?  Trekking through the snow, and more common, the ice, to teach French kids who don't care about anything BUT the snow when it's completely white outside.  This week, teachers have been late to school, my bus has made me get off and walk the other half, and I try every second of the day to not fall on my face and make an idiot out of myself.  But honestly, although the snow and cold have caused a little speed bump in my normal week, it is just a small price to pay for a lovely Christmas season in France.

School report: I had problems this week (and most weeks) with getting my kids to speak English to me.  I have a couple of classes with very low levels of English and they often do not understand what I talk about during the lessons.  What I have learned is, I have to do activities to get them to speak.  It doesn't matter what we do, but they have to speak with each other.  I found a couple of different methods this week that work great: playing hangman and 20 questions.  Hangman is fun for vocabulary that they do not know.  If they guess letters in French, I often count that as a missed letter.  It was good to see some of my classes stopping and actually thinking what the word could be, only knowing a few letters.  And 20 questions is great to get the students to formulate and ask questions.  I tried this with one class this week and it went really well.  They did great at persons and places but figuring out things was a little harder for them.  They were discussing with each other what the answer could be and it made the class go by really fast.  I plan on using both of these activities in my classes the next two weeks.  And of course, teach them about American family traditions at Christmas.

This week I also started a very important part to the Christmas season: shopping! I went shopping for myself to get more sweaters and warm clothes.  I am very happy with my purchases and I can already say that I am warmer going out and about the town.  I also started Christmas shopping for loved ones.  I have a pretty good idea of what to buy for people, but I'm still in the process of scoping everything out.

As I said last time, here are pictures of the Christmas market and of the streets at Christmas time.  I unfortunately did not get many good ones, because I did not want to look like the classic tourist taking pictures up and down the market.  I have been having too much fun enjoying it (as well as the Nutella waffle stand that I am addicted to).

Welcome to the Christmas Market

Part of the market, it's a lot bigger than this

Street in Caen complete with lights and small Christmas trees

Over the last week or so, I have been feeling a lot of motivation and creativity.  I haven't been doing a lot while I have been here besides teaching, going to Aumonerie events, and hanging out with other assistants.  I think when I get back for the New Year, I am going to have to find some form of outlet.  Whether it is joining a yoga class, writing, or taking up painting again, I know that I need to do something.  I am also thinking about my future after France, because although I have 5 more months until I am back for good, I know that it is going to go really fast and as soon as I know it, I will be back in the states in June.  I do have an idea of what I would like to do when I get back, so I will be actively pursuing my options come spring time.

Until then, I am enjoying the winter immensely.  Things I am looking forward to the most at Christmas time in Sacramento: driving, a grande chai tea latte from Starbucks and a Noah's Bagels breakfast sandwich, and most importantly: spending time with my family and friends.  Two weeks everyone.  Love to you all!  

C'est la bonne vie pour moi! :)