cold cold cold

This morning it was a brisk 12 degrees Celsius. In the living room. Never mind that it was -10C last night outside; I'm holed up in the bedroom till it warms up again. We've got another cold snap this week, with the possibility for snow again on Wednesday. You know that last party guest that just doesn't know when it's time to go home? Yeah, that's Winter. No offense, Winter, please go home, and don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Saturday night we met three friends downtown for dinner at a small Sengalese restaurant. I've never had African food before, and I was pleasantly surprised. I had grilled chicken with onions with a spicy sauce called Yaffa, there were a couple of orders of Maffe, which was lamb cooked in a savory tomato based sauce, there was an order of grilled seafood, and an order of grilled ostrich. We all enjoyed the meal immensely. The only small thing was the main dishes in the menu were translated into bad English for tourists: cacahuètes (peanuts) were translated as "groundnuts," and mouton (lamb) was translated as "beef." The groundnuts thing doesn't bother me so much, but beef will never be lamb, as much as it tries. I hope some unsuspecting tourist doesn't lose their mind over their funny tasting beef.

The other funny thing (to me) is that yesterday Steph was complaining that a couple of things on their menu weren't available Saturday night. I don't remember which of the deserts it was, but his main complaint was that the grilled antilope wasn't available. I can't imagine why; it's not like the chef can run down to Carrefour to pick up some extra antilope when he runs out.

i heart the internet

Created here, thanks to Thomas.

book of questions: #35

Play along with Gary at matching tracksuits.

Would you give up half of what you own now for a pill that would permanently change you so that one hour of sleep each day would fully refresh you?

This is the kind of question that begs for clarification.

Click "Tell me more" to continue!

1. Since I had to go through all my things last year as I was preparing to move to France, most of what I own now is sentimental. Photo albums, baby stuff that my mom gave to me, books I love, etc. I'm sure there are things I could part with, but for the sake of argument, am I allowed to choose what I can get rid of? If yes, then I'll take the pill; if no, I won't.

2. As much as I could get done with 23 hours a day to work with, there is something to be said for occassionally lounging around in bed. And then there's the All Mighty Cuddle, and all that that entails. These are not things I am willing to give up. So I wonder if I'm allowed to choose when I want to take the pill, or if taking the pill means I am banished from the bed?

To tell you the truth, while it sounds enticing, and at the beginning I was inclined to say, "Yes, when can I start?", I think I'm going to have to say no to this one. Maybe I don't want to mess around with the natural order of things. Or maybe it's because at this point in my life, I'm not pulling my hair out over the lack of time during the day. Maybe in five years I'll be rethinking my decision, but for where I am right now, I'm good. Therefore, I pass. Anyone want my pill?

bird's eye view of troyes

I remembered to take my camera with me last night, and I got a couple of shots of town from the vantage of the eighth story apartment where I babysit. There are a couple more pictures on the photoblog.

my brain is full

Today was one of those rare busy days in which I'm so happy to come home and hear nothing but silence! Seems like in my former life I always had some kind of white noise going on the background (usually the tv) but today I had French Overload.

I had class this morning at 10:00. It was just me, the teacher, and a young woman from Iran whom I hadn't met before. Since there were only three of us, we had the opportunity to just have a small conversation for a little while before we dove into work. The bulk of today's class was spent on the grammar of pronouns (celui, celle-la, etc) which nearly went straight over my head. I've got a lot of work to do in this area. The teacher won't be in class next week, but I've got plenty of homework to keep me busy. I love how these two hour classes just seem to fly by!

I came home and had time to eat lunch and do some sparse cleaning (my routine is all out of whack and I'm really behind) before I headed out to pick up the kids from school. Tuesday they were nightmarish all the way home; at the time I was so glad that Monday will be my last day to babysit. Happily they were much better today. Then at 6:30 their father came home, giving me just enough time to hoof it over to the Conservatory for choir rehearsal. We're having a small concert in a couple of weeks, so I had to concentrate really hard to be sure I understood all the extra rehearsal times. The end of the day is the hardest time for me to get into French conversation, and by 8:30 I was hungry and my brain was fading.

Before my brain shuts completely down for the night, I'd like to send a shout out to Mizz Mary-Lynn, who made me an offer I couldn't refuse recently. She came to France for 10 days on vacation, and to make room in her suitcase for all her goodies, very kindly sent me her books and trashy magazines that she read on the way over and while she was here. Oooh, trashy magazines! It's been ages! Thank you so much Mary-Lynn, and I'm looking forward to reading about your adventures in Paris!

party people

Looks like I'm going to Paris sooner than I thought.

Stifles a giggle and jumps up and down with glee!

back to school

I had my first French class yesterday. I was told it started at ten, so I walked down the street in the snow to the AATM, where the classes are held. It's only a few blocks away, which is incredibly convenient. Apparently there was some confusion about when the class started, and the secretary kindly called all three teachers to find out the schedule. It starts at 2pm on Tuesdays, so she asked if I could come back. Of course it wasn't a problem, so I slipped and slid my way back home.

By the time I left again for class, all signs of snow were gone. It doesn't last too long in these parts (and of course by the time I got home and got my camera, there wasn't much to take pictures of). There were eight students including me, and our teacher, Mme M. I got really lucky here; Mme M is french and extremely patient. Everything is conducted in French, and she speaks slowly and gently but firmly corrects pronunciation.

Most of the students are Asian, though there is one Polish young woman and one American, who I didn't get the chance to talk to after class, but I hope to in the future. Most of the class was spent in reading out loud. We read the fable of the fox and the goose stork (*sigh*) and also another little story about someone writing letters about France to his sister back home. We go around the table and take turns reading sentences. It's challenging because I'm coming across words I've never seen before and guessing at the pronunciations.

I'm not sure exactly when this class started, but I'm a little behind and I have some homework to do before the next class tomorrow. It's mostly catching up on the story so far and some worksheets.

I'm glad I found this class when I did. Although I had a very little bit of French when I arrived six months ago, I don't think I would have been ready for this class then. I've had just enough time to let some vocabulary and grammar sink in, and now I'm ready to get to the meat of it.

pause for reflection

It's hard to believe we still live in a world where you can be thrown in jail for asserting a fundamental human right - to express yourself. Incredibly, it happens everyday all over the world.

Mojtaba and Arash are bloggers who are currently in jail in Iran for doing just that.

My problems are so so small compared to so many people in the world. I have a roof over my head, clothes to keep me warm, food on the table, and endless opportunities. If I am unsatisfied with my government, I have the freedom to say so. Brave men and women all over the world who do not have this freedom are standing up to say "This is wrong" and being punished for it.

I am not a brave person. I am not an activist. I only have a small voice, but I can use it to call attention to those who are braver than I am.

To read more, visit this BBC article and the Committee to Protect Bloggers.
Originally found chez Claypot.

As for me, it snowed today, my first class was moved to 2:00pm, and more of the usual blathering on tomorrow.

housework in france is weird

Found here.

I am the first to tell you that I not only hate housework with a passion, but I also suck at it. Back in my single days, I did the absolute bare minimum. I mean, I wasn't slovenly, but you know, dusting? It's only gonna get dusty again. Since I've lived alone most of the time since I graduated college (with the exception of one very very wacky roommate), I generally got motivated to do the housework once a month and furiously cleaned everything in one go.

Well, that won't fly here, as much as I've tried. One thing is that I've got The Inspector (my mother-in-law) who likes to make surprise visits, and while Steph will happily shove her out the door, she certainly keeps me on my toes. She once offered to do my ironing for me, when she saw the clothes waiting in the hamper for me to do them the next day. I was horrified.

While Steph and I laugh about The Inspector, the truth is housework is my only responsibility now, aside from learning French. Until I find a job, this is it. It's funny, when I was working, I was like a totally different person. My mother was so surprised when she visited my office once - she looked around at my clean, orderly, organized area and said, "This is your desk?" So really, I have no excuse.

The thing is, there are subtle differences in things I just took for granted back home. Things like...

Click "Tell me more" to continue!

The Laundry Marathon

Clearly, it could be worse.

Doing four loads of laundry literally takes me all day. It's not a big deal, as laundry is not exactly the back breaking work it was many moons ago, but I'm used to finishing a whole cycle of laundry in an hour and a half. Here, both the washer and dryer units are self-contained. This means if you want to wash your clothes in warm or hot water, the washer will warm up the water in the machine. One load of warm/hot laundry will take two hours in the washer. It's nice that I can take a hot shower at the same time, but that's about the only advantage I've found so far. Due to limited space, the washer is in the kitchen (and also serves as extra counter space) and the dryer is in the bedroom. Except for the noise factor, I kind of like it being in the bedroom, as I don't have far to carry around laundry once it's done, and it's an extra heat source in the winter.

This leads us to...

The Iron Housewife

Allez faire le repassage!

I do something here that I never dreamed I'd do before: I iron bedsheets.

Just let that sink in for a sec.

There is an ungodly amount of calcium in the water here. (Does this make water hard or soft? Whatever it is, my hair is still a wreck.) It makes anything washed in it so stiff that in homes all over France, everything is ironed, down to the underwear.

Underwear, people! I have issues with this!

I am so lucky. I have managed to find the appropriate combination of fabric softener and ceremonial prayer dancing that I am assured that ironing the underwear is not necessary. Unfortunately, blue jeans and bedsheets do not pass the test. While I've never ironed my own blue jeans, Steph does insist on his being done. At least I don't put creases in. That would just be silly.

There are a couple of other things, but I'm going to save them for another post. Maybe my fellow ex-pats can think of other things that they found strange in their everyday routines?

back to the grind

Steph's two-week break is over and he's on his way to work. The first load of laundry is already in the wash. I've got to do a little shopping (perhaps for a GISBE package? Bwahahhaaha) and maybe mop and floor or two. This week I've got two choir rehearsals, two French lessons, and have to pick up the kids from school three evenings. It almost sounds busy, doesn't it?

I got a call from the kids' mom last night. They've decided to move the kids to a private school, and since they have to pay for tuition, they can't keep me on. This is fine with me, as I was only working three hours a week, the money wasn't exactly significant, but the mom was very worried that I would be upset which I thought was sweet. She said she wants to keep in touch, and I really hope she does, because not only are they a link to back home, I genuinely like them.

Right, I hope you all have a decent Monday (since I think that's the best one can hope for); I'm off to find the mop...

Book of Questions, #4

You can play along too with Gary at matching tracksuits.

If you could spend one year in perfect happiness but afterwards would remember nothing of the experience, would you do so? If not, why not? (Further question: Which is more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain when the experiences are over?)

I have to confess, this was an easy answer: not no, but hell no. What good is a year of perfect happiness if you don't have the memories to draw on?

The thing that interests me most about this question is the idea of "perfect happiness." I don't even know if I could explain what perfect happiness, for me, would be. I can tell you that I'm the happiest now than I've ever been. I'm in love (with someone who loves me back, even better), I'm happy now about who I am, I'm living this exciting adventure, I'm making new friends (online and otherwise), and I'm feeling very hopeful and excited about the future.

That being said, there are still things that are not perfect about my happiness: I'm far away from home, I miss my friends and family, I'm often frustrated about the language and the new culture, and other things that make me sad that I've chosen not to blog about. But generally, I'd say I'm happy.

I'm of the belief that a full range of emotion is necesary for living a full life. How can we know happiness if we don't know the contrary? If I'm sad or homesick or lonely or frustrated, I make no pains to hide it, but try not to wallow in it too much, which I think is the trick. The idea of perfect happiness frightens me more than the idea of experiencing it and not having the memory of it.

hooray for the internet!

A couple of days ago, Thomas blogged about SkypeOut, which allows you to call land lines from your computer for pennies per minute. I had to try it out, so yesterday I bought 10€ worth of credits and called up the folks. It was crystal clear and we talked for 45 minutes. Best of all, it only cost 75 cents!

Man, I heart the internet. If you want to chat with me on Skype, drop me a line and I'll tell you my user name.

happy dance!

I received a letter last week from the Association pour l'Aide aux Aines et Travailleurs Migrants, or AATM for short. They assist immigrants by being sure they have the paperwork they need and pointing them in the right direction if they have problems, etc. They invited me to call to make an appointment "so I could learn my rights," so I did. Their office is just down the street, though we'd never noticed it before, so we walked down this morning.

Since I already have my titre de sejour, there wasn't much info I didn't already know, but they asked if they could start a file on me anyway, and we agreed. It was just basic stuff - where we live, is it ok, what do I want to do, etc.

In the course of the conversation, I said that while I would like to teach English, I know that when my French is better I can look for more kinds of work like I did before I moved here. I was an administration manager, and I like to think I was pretty good at it. I'm one of those dorks who tries to streamline office procedures, and a few things I came up with are still in use in that office today. Also, I was the problem solver - if the customer had an issue with a sale from last year, I was your go-to gal. There's a certain satisfaction in that.

Whoa, tangent! Back to our story...

So, in the middle of this conversation, Mr. T told us that there is a woman who works in the association that teaches French twice a week for free. Would I be interested?

Are you freaking kidding me?

So! Happy Dance! I've got free French classes that start next Tuesday!

our big night out

Monday night was our big Valentine's Day outting and we had a wonderful time, despite the bitterly cold and wet weather. We found ourselves downtown at the fabulous L'Illustre. It's located in the pedestrian shopping area and the facade is all half-timbered. It looks deceptively small, but inside are three floors of dining space! It's huge!

We were lead to a table in what was once a cave, or huge cellar. The walls are old stone and there are brick archways everywhere. In honor of Le Fete de Saint Valentin, the lights were very low, with candles and rose petals on every table.

The restaurant offered a special menu for the occassion, so instead of spending thirty minutes perusing the dinner menu, aperitif menu, dessert menu, etc., we chose the simple way out. We started with champagne aperitifs, and chose different entrees - Steph had the coquilles de St Jacques (scallops) and I had the foie gras. That was a first! It was served with spiced bread and was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

For the main course, we both chose the filet de boeuf, which was a delicious cut of beef with truffles and morille mushrooms, with potatoes au gratin and a baked tomato with herbs. Our menu came with a decent Bordeaux (I suppose if I think really hard I could tell you the name of it).

Dessert was a charlotte, which is a small cake with strawberries on top, then left in the freezer to chill for a few hours, and then surrounded with creme. Very very tasty but so huge I couldn't even finish it!

We really had a wonderful night and while it was a bit expensive, we don't go out so much so it was a really special treat.

cupid has terrible aim

Cupid came by last night, but I really think he could use a little target practice. At 3:30 this morning, I woke up with my stomach on fire.

I got up and rummaged around for something to take to alleviate the pain. We have some tea called "Nuit Tranquille," and though it didn't have the ingredients on the packet (I throw away the box and keep the packets in a tin), it smelled of peppermint, and I thought that would help.

Over the next two hours, I drank two cups of tea and read half a book. Around 6:15 I thought I'd take a stab at trying to sleep again, and I finally got up around 10ish. The stomach was still a little sore, but much better. Steph said he had a little stomach-ache yesterday afternoon too - I swear, the man never complains about anything! I guess if he can perform oral surgery on himself, a little tummy ache isn't going to be cause for complaint. I'm guessing it's something we ate for lunch at the in-laws, if we were similarly affected.

This is the second or third time this has happened since I've moved here. I'm guessing this is heartburn? The burning sensation just under your breastbone? It felt like lava bubbling in there. What does one take for heartburn in France, when Pepto just isn't available?

It's feeling much better now. I made a very mild salad with chicken and feta for lunch, and so far, so good. Only, I hope Cupid doesn't come around for seconds after we go out for dinner tonight!

GISBE update: take credit!

We've received a lot emails with the same question: Am I supposed to include a return address or take credit for this package?

The answer is an emphatic "Yes!"

If we do this again (and, I have to confess, everything seems to be going well enough that a second Exchange is looking more and more likely), we will open the game to anyone who wants to play, and rework the matches, so it is highly unlikely that you will have the same recipient a second time. Also, we are encouraging you to blog about your package, and perhaps thank your sender. If you don't have a blog, maybe you'd like to send an email of thanks to your sender.

So yes, include your info, of how you'd like to be known, your email address, even your blog address. Happy hunting!

the rock hunters

Last Wednesday, the last beautiful spring-like day before Winter came back and smacked us in the face, we went hunting for rocks. Not any old rocks, mind you, but dolmens.

"Do what?" I hear you all exclaim. I found a handy definition here:

dolmen
(French, from Breton tolmen "hole of stone") A megalithic (large-stone) tomb with one large flat stone laid on several upright stones. Dolmens were usually originally covered by an earthen hill or barrow.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I can show you the three dolmens we discovered.

Click "Tell me more" to continue!


I'm not going to go into great detail about where these are, as I'm just too lazy to go get the map, but they are all in the surrounding area of Troyes, and not more than 45 minutes away. If you would like to exactly where they are, please email me and I'll be happy to try to give you directions.

Luckily, the first one wasn't very difficult to find, as there was a very clear sign where we needed to turn off the road. The weird thing was that it pointed us in the direction of a huge tract of land. When we saw the stones, I was amazed to find that they were literally in the middle of the field. Here, I've crudely drawn an arrow so you can see it:


Why am I suddenly reminded of "Stonehedge" from Spinal Tap?

It's a good thing we came in winter - we never would have found it in the summer for all the wheat!


Rather impressive, eh?


Yep, that's our car.

There's only so much fun to be had looking at a dolmen in the middle of a field, so we hopped in the car and headed to the next one on the map.

This one was a little more difficult to find, as there was no sign on the road whatsoever that there could possibly be a dolmen anywhere to be found. What I thought was a town indicated on the map was actually a private residence behind a big gate and a guest house and what looked an awful lot like a guard house. We parked near the gate and continued down the path skirting the woods on foot. There was a small sign tacked up to a tree that pointed into the woods (and I wish I'd taken a picture of it!) and it wasn't far from the road at all.



This one seems way more natural, as though it were a cave leading into the ground instead of a man-made structure. Granted, it was likely put together 2500 years ago, but still, you know?

Finally, we went off on the most difficult search of all. This one was located in the middle of a forest. Once we drove into the forest, I caught out of the corner of my eye a sign next to a dirt road that was blocked by a metal gate. But sure enough, there was another dolmen sign, so we parked near the gate and headed down the dirt road.

We got all the way to a dead end with nary a sign or stone to lead us the way, which took us a good half an hour. We decided it wasn't really worth hiking off in the woods when we had no idea where the thing was, so we headed back. Well, wouldn't you know it, about halfway back, Steph caught something in the corner of his eye. We marched through the woods and there it was, in all its glory:



This one looks the most like your stereotypical dolmen that we saw, because it actually looked like a table:



We followed the path that lead up of the dolmen, and of course it led us back to the main dirt road, and there was no sign at all (we carefully looked, in case we'd missed it the first time!). About this time, the shadows were getting long, the air was really starting to cool off, and it was time to leave off searching for big rocks for another sunny spring day.

I have been tagged...

...by the lovely Miss Sarah of Bienvenue a mon monde.

1. Total amount of music files on your computer?

Since I'm not glorious enough for an iPod, I had to check out the media library in my Media Player. It says I have 764.94MB of music, or 219 songs, or nearly 14 hours of music. All of it was procured absolutely legally. Really. Why are you looking at me like that?

2. The last CD you bought was...

Just before I moved here, I bought a couple of CDs on Ebay. They were International Superhits by Green Day and Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt.

3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?

You know, it's funny... I used to always have music going - whether it be from the Media Player or a CD or internet radio. Now I more frequently listen to music when I'm alone, and now that Steph's home all the time on vacation, I don't listen to music much. Unless you count the sounds emitting from his computer, as he plays Dark Age of Camelot. So it's been a few days since I actually listened to a song.

4. Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.

• "Nightswimming" by REM because it reminds me of a friend who died years before her time
• "Carolina in My Mind" by James Taylor because it reminds me of home
• "Least Complicated" by the Indigo Girls because of more reasons than I can post here
• "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by TMBG because it makes my heart sing
• "Destiny" by Zero Seven because I just realized that I didn't include anything from this millenium and I swear I actually do listen to new music and also that is a kick ass gorgeous song

That list would be different every week, I think.

5. What 3 people are you going to pass this baton to and why?

This is hard. Ok ok ok ok ok ok .....

Katia, just because I like her and I think if we ever meet we will talk ourselves blue in the face

Daniel, because he's nice and clever and has a bizarrely intricate memory and writes beautiful stories about his past. I think if we met, we'd talk till we were blue in the face, too.

Karla, because I found her kind of recently and I have a little girl-crush on her. I know she's galavanting around Paris right now, but I hope she will do this when she gets back. Oh, and the blue-face thing? That too.

GISBE update: the emails are out!

Whew! It took me all afternoon, but all the emails are out! If you have any questions or concerns about the information you received, please send a reply to the email. I'd prefer to keep all correspondance going through the other email, so both Tracey and I can help you folks out.

Actually, today was the perfect day for it: it is terrible outside. It is dark, windy, and just plain miserable. So I was quite happy to have something to occupy me today. And really, if you ask me, Tracey had the really difficult part, which was assigning all the exchanges! As for me, I can't believe I used to do this for a living! Six months ago, I was the data entry Queen, I'm telling you.

Meanwhile, please go visit Tracey, as she's got a very interesting post about the statistics of the first ever GISBE. The numbers are quite surprising!

Now, it's off to go shopping! Have fun, everyone!

The Exchange is up and running!

It looks like The Great International Secret Blog Exchange is on its way! We have over 100 participants which outstanding. Thanks to everyone who has signed up!

We are in the final phase of matching people up, so please get those last emails in as soon as possible. I hope to send out emails with all the information tomorrow. Then the real fun begins!

If you have any questions or comments, please be sure to let us know!