Francegiving
This is a term used by one of my students. She said she wish
France had Thanksgiving and that is should be called Francegiving. I think it
perfectly describes my Thanksgiving in France. Actual Thanksgiving was in my
previous post. However, on Saturday 28/11 I had a bunch of people over and we
celebrated Thanksgiving together. The celebration consisted of about 6
Americans and the rest were from other countries (mostly the UK and a couple
from India). It was so fun to share our celebration with others. We had chicken
(the store was out of turkey), mashed potatoes, homemade mac and cheese,
stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, baguette rolls, and homemade pumpkin
pie. It was all so good! I don’t think the non-Americans understood just how
much one eats at Thanksgiving. It was kind of sad we didn’t have a lot of food
for seconds…or leftovers. But at least they got to experience some of the fun
traditions involved with the holiday. We even watched the Charlie Brown
Thanksgiving episode (where they have toast and popcorn for dinner when
Peppermint Patty invites herself over for dinner), it is one of my favorite
Charlie Brown episodes. I loved being able to celebrate with these new friends!
Homemade Mac and Cheese, Stuffing, and Gravy...you know the important food of Thanksgiving
Pumpkin Pie!!
Sunday and Monday passed without incident. I just relaxed.
Monday I went to the store and got some stuff I needed and some stuff I didn’t
(story of my life). I just enjoyed the walk outside for the most part. Speaking
of walking outside…it has been like ridiculously nice weather here. There have
been a few cold rainy days; however the temperature has generally been in the 50s!
Tuesday 1/12: The high is supposed to be 55 F. Like what is
this? I am in disbelief that it is in the 50s on the first of December. It
should be much colder and there should have been at least one snow fall and
frost on the cars in the morning. I’ve only seen the frost a few
times…definitely not today. It has been a good day. I seem to have a group of
missing students though. I’m supposed to have a group of 5ème (like 7th
grade in the US) from 10-11 and they haven’t been coming! Their teacher and I
have been trying to come up with different ways to remind them to come. We will
have to try something new for next week. After school and before tutoring I met
with my new friend Cat (the Scott) at Chipotle at La Défense. We just chatted
for awhile while watching the Marche de Noël (Christmas Market) at La Défense. She
is so fun! I’m really glad that I got to meet her! After our Chipotle adventure
I headed over to Maxime’s for his lesson. He is such a ball of energy! I hope
he is learning from me! I think it is hard for him, because he doesn’t get
English every day, but he is slowly improving! When I got home I put the
Christmas tree up (there was one left behind) and put on the lights. No
decorations yet though. Oh and I found a little Nativity for myself!
A Donkey at La Defense
My little Nativiy
My Christmas Tree
Wednesday 2/12: Today I planned a lesson on the American
Dream for two of my classes and it actually went the way I wanted it to! I was
so excited. It is rare when lessons actually go the direction I want. The
students just started the American Dream and what it meant for immigrants and
Americans in the past. So I focused on what it means today. They were excited
about it; I was happy about that. The rest of the day was pretty calm. I went
for a walk around Montgeron when I got home and found a Hair salon for 30,50€
the cheapest one I’ve seen. Now I just need to build up the courage and find
the vocabulary I need to go get my haircut (it is becoming a thick mess). When
I got home I made tacos for dinner! I was pretty satisfied with them…I could
have used some black beans, corn, and rice…maybe next time.
Thursday 3/12: Today school went well. I did a discussion
with my prep-school students about the sports culture in the US. They were
pretty shocked about how much sports really influence life in the States, maybe
the week of the Super Bowl I will bring them some “Super Bowl Food.” After
school I met up with Cat (again) Kayla, and we headed to IKEA. I swear IKEA is
like my happy place. It is exactly like IKEAS in the US (except the French).
Sometimes while walking around in there I forget that I am in France until I
hear people talking! We ate some dinner at the restaurant (Swedish meatballs)
and then walked around. After we were finished at IKEA we stopped at a little
churro truck thing outside of the store, they were good! Then we checked out a
few of the other shops around IKEA. We spotted quite a few fun things. It makes
me wish I had money to buy all the fun things I see. After we finished at the
shops we all headed home. It is so great to spend time with these friends I’m
making. I love it.
Christmas tree in front of IKEA
Friday 4/12: I went to my classes and headed home! I
sometimes treasure the days where I don’t do much. I feel like I’ve been really
social lately.
Saturday 5/12: Today I went and met with a family in Le
Vésinet (this is a city west of Paris, about a half hour-40 min from my school)
who is searching for a tutor for their 8 year old son in exchange for housing;
I know you see where this is going…anyway they were so nice and incredibly
welcoming, even on the first meeting. The family lived in the US for a couple
years before moving back to France, they want to help their son succeed in
English. They have a little pool house that they have converted into a studio
apartment. It has everything but a washer and dryer which are in the main
house. The city is so quiet and very safe. I really want this job! After I met
with the family I headed to La Défense to meet up with Amanda, Cat, and Kayla.
I met them at Chipotle (yes again) and we ate some food and then headed to walk
around the Marché de Noël. There were lots of fun little stalls and I even
found some Christmas gifts to get. When we finished at the market Kayla and
Amanda left for a dinner and Cat and I went into the mall at La Défense, 4
Temps. The mall was packed with Christmas shoppers, I thought that was only an
American thing…I was wrong. We made our way to Auchan where Cat bought an air
mattress. Then we headed to Cat’s apartment to dispose of the bed and so that I
could see it. She lives on the 6th floor with no elevator. It was a
long way up…besides that she has a cute little apartment that she lives in, in
exchange for babysitting. If it wasn’t the 6th floor I wouldn’t mind
living there. While we were at her apartment we decided we wanted to watch a
movie, however she has no internet, so we decided to go back to my apartment.
On the way we stopped at a little pizza place near her apartment for dinner. I
had a racqulette (cheese, potatoes, bacon) pizza. It was really good. Once we
got to my apartment we watched “Home Alone” then went to sleep, it was well
after midnight when we finished.
4 Temps Mall Christmas Decorations
La Defense Christmas Tree
Sunday 6/12: Cat and I slept in and then watched another movie,
“Lady and the Tramp.” Then we headed out. Cat wanted to go back to Auchan to
see how much peanut butter was there. So we headed to Paris. On the way we
stopped at a KFC (we were hungry and they were open). I’m not really a fan of
KFC in the US….but at least they have like mashed potatoes, mac and cheese,
biscuits etc. KFC here is basically the chicken and French fries…and desserts,
because this is France and they always have dessert. We got a bucket of chicken
tenders to share, some French fries and an Orangina each. After we finished we
spent a few minutes looking at bus tickets to Strasbourg for this coming
weekend. We found tickets for 8.50€ for Cat, Kayla, Amanda, and myself to go
for this coming Saturday. Now when I say 8.50€ I mean 8.50€ total for all of
us…that is 2.25€ for each of us. So we will be heading to Strasbourg at 7:15am
and leaving from there at 11:15pm. Busses can be so cheap here! I can’t wait!
After we booked our tickets we headed to La Défense back to the Auchan
there….and it was closed!! We were so sad. Their website said it would be open.
It was disappointing…so to drown our sorrows we got some ice cream at
McDonalds. When I finished my ice cream I had to head to Neuilly to tutor
Alexis. It was a good session. He is reading Pride and Prejudice, so we talked about where he was at and what he
was thinking of the book. I was surprised to hear he was reading that. It is
kind of a hard book for some English speakers, but for a French speaker it must
be more difficult to get through. I gave him some tips for reading a book in a
language not your own and we talked about the book. It was good a good hour.
After I finished with Alexis, I got a message from the family that I had met
with on Saturday, they wanted to Skype. Well I definitely did not want to wait
to get home. So I Skyped with them outside on a bench near the entrance to the
metro. They said that they really liked me and they offered the job to me! I
was so happy!! So I’m moving AGAIN! I know it’s only been a month since I moved
to Montgeron, but this will be better and closer to my school! I cannot wait to
move on the 19th of this month. It will be a great start to my
Christmas holiday!! After I Skyped with them, I immediately called my parents
and told them the news…so I just kept on Skyping on the streets of Neuilly.
Good thing it isn’t winter here yet, haha. Once I hung up with my parents I
headed home and went to sleep!
Monday 7/12: Today I spent the morning at home doing
laundry. In the afternoon I headed to La Défense (my new hangout I guess) to
meet Amanda. We decided to go to the cinema to see the “Hunger Games: Mocking
Jay Part 2.” The theater was at the top of the 4 Temps mall. Theaters here are
much the same as they are in the US. The biggest difference is the concessions.
They had popcorn, some candy (mostly M&Ms), coke products, ice cream, and a
coffee bar…that was it. We got popcorn, some soda, and crispy M&Ms to put
in our popcorn. The popcorn tasted more like it does at a dollar theater in the
US. Ah well. It was still good and the movie was really good too. After the
movie we met up with Cat (who found peanut butter for relatively cheap and got
me a jar, she is the best) to head for dinner. We wanted Mexican, but not
Chipotle again. Cat knew of a place in Le Marais, so we headed over there. The
metro was packed! It was standing room only and we were squished up against
each other…rush hour in France…after like 40 min or so we finally got to the Le
Marais and went to the restaurant. It was pretty good. I got a chicken quesadilla…it
had some kind of sweet sauce on top and was delicious. Then we walked around Le
Marais a little to see if there were any shops still open to find a dreidel…we
weren’t successful, (we are having a Chanukah party on Friday night at Cat’s –
we will sleep over so we can head to the bus stop Saturday morning together).
All of the shops were closed. So we all headed home.
A real breakfast of Brioche French Toast with Nutella and bananas
Candy Menorah for Hanukkah
Mexican food in Le Marais
Peanut Butter!!!
Tuesday 8/12: I really enjoy my Monday being free from
work…but it makes Tuesdays really hard to wake up. I got up this morning and headed
to work. Then worked on some planning/this blog for awhile before heading to meet
Cat at Pont de Neuilly; we met to find a dreidel in this area. We found the
dreidel and went to La Défense. I think it’s my new hangout. It was fun hanging
out with her there. Then I headed to tutor Maxime and then headed home. It was
a long but good day.
So French - Croissant and Chocolat Chaud
Christmas Tree in Puteaux - literally right outside of Maxime's window
Wednesday 9/12: I
just headed home after work today. I need more days like that.
Thursday 10/12: Another day where I headed home after work.
Friday 11/12: Today I woke up with really bad cramps. So I
canceled my classes for the day. So I slept in and then did my laundry. Tonight
we were having a Hanukkah Party. So I packed some overnight things then headed
to meet Cat in Le Marais to buy Challa bread and other supplies for dinner and
for the next day. Then we went to her apartment to wait for Amanda and Kayla.
While we were waiting Cat started some the process to make chicken curry; this
was a very multicultural night. Once Amanda arrived she made some latkes, from
scratch (she is so talented). Once the latkes were done Amanda said the Jewish
prayers (she is cool and knows them), then we ate our feast. Then Kayla arrived
and we ate some Bûche de Noël (like I said multicultural). We chatted the rest
of the evening, even though we had stuff for dreidel and headed to bed, we had
a long day ahead of us.
Bakery where we got the Challa Bread
Latkes, chicken and vegetable curry
Homemade Dreidel - this what happens when you forget the real dreidel at home...
Our Buche de Noel
Saturday 12/12: We got up at 5:30am to get ready to head out
to Strasbourg…it was a long day. We got to the bus station at about 6:50am and
waited a bit before we could get on the bus. Once on the bus we had to wait a
bit longer; our bus was supposed to leave at 7:15…it really left at 7:30. The
bus ride was only supposed to take about 5 ½ hours…it really took about 8 ½. First
the bus driver got lost, then our 10 min coffee break lasted a half hour, then
the bus driver switch took another half hour, and then we stopped for another
while with no explanation. Once we finally got to Strasbourg, the bus driver
turned onto the wrong street and while we were going back around to get to the
right street he hit a side mirror on a truck…that took another 45 min while
they exchanged information….So needless to say we were all hungry/tired/crabby
once we finally got off that bus. Once we got off we headed to the mall
straight across from the bus stop and found food. We ate at a pizza place then
we used the bathrooms then headed to the Christmas Market. It was so fun. We
stopped and got some hot drinks (vin chaud – hot wine for the girls, and jus de
pomme chaud – hot apple cider for me). They were so good. Then we wandered
around the market. We found lots of fun gifts for people and fought our way
through the crowds. When we were finished at the market we went and got drinks
at a bar that had a big area for sitting outside (with heaters), don’t worry I
had hot chocolate. After drinks we stopped at a little market and got snacks
for the ride home/the next morning. Since we still had two hours before our bus
left we headed to a restaurant for dinner. We took our time and enjoyed the
atmosphere. It was a much more German style restaurant; it was a nice change
from the French style ones here in Paris. At about 10:30 we started making our
way back to the bus stop. The bus was supposed to depart at 11:15pm…yeah that
didn’t happen. It didn’t show up until close to midnight, we were really cold
by this time. Once we were on the bus the bus driver informed us that he had to
take a mandatory 40 min break…so we finally left around 12:40pm. The ride home
was pretty calm…other then the fact that we got lost…again. This time I slept
for most of the ride; a very un-restful sleep…but at least I didn’t notice how
long it took until I saw the time…we arrived at about 8am…remember this drive
should have only taken 6 hours at the most…#france…
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg - You know how I love old churches...
Strasbourg
Cat and Kayla
Strasbourg
Strasbourg - Chocolat Chaud
Strasbourg
Sunday 13/12: When we finally arrived back in Paris; we made
our way back to Cat’s apartment. On our way from the metro we stopped at
McDonald’s for breakfast. I had an egg and cheese mcmuffin…I miss McDonalds
breakfast in the US…France doesn’t have hash browns...I was sad. Once we got
back to Cat’s we took a much needed nap. At 12:30 we got back up and headed out
to meet with some of our other friends or our Secret Santa exchange (oh yeah I
did a Secret Santa this year). We met them at a British Pub. I had Toad in a
Hole (sausages, gravy, and Yorkshire pudding served with veggies and mashed
potatoes) and crème brulée. I got my Secret Santa a cute little tea candle
holder from the Strasbourg Christmas Market. I still don’t know what my Secret
Santa (Amanda) got for me. She ordered it off of Amazon and it hasn’t arrived
yet, and she won’t tell me what it is…but she did get me a cute card while I
wait. After the get together I headed home. I was tired. Once home I showered
(I needed it), did a little packing, and headed to bed.
Toad in a Hole + one roasted potato
Monday 14/12: Today I moved!!! On Friday evening Laure (the
mother of the young boy I will be tutoring/babysitting) messaged me and asked
if I could move in early; their previous person had to leave early. I of course
obliged and packed all my stuff up this morning and Amanda and I moved my
stuff, hopefully for the last time. It was quiet the adventure. We had to catch
a bus to Villeneuve-Saint-George; while there we had to take my stuff down some
stairs then back up some stairs….luckily on the way up the stairs and abundance
of people helped us take everything up the stairs. We were so grateful for
their random acts of kindness. They helped us catch the train that was at the
station. It was seriously the nicest thing ever. Once the train arrived in
Paris we switched to the one that headed out to Le Vésinet, my new home. We
were hoping to catch a bus from the station, but there was road construction
that put the bus somewhere else, so we started walking…while walking the wheels
on the back of my suitcase decided to break. So Amanda was dragging the
suitcase…the wheels are gone. I’m upset about the suitcase. I got it
specifically for France…obnoxious. I’m hoping there is a way I can fix them…or
find new wheels to replace them. Anyway…once we finally got all my stuff here.
We headed to find something to eat for lunch. Now being American we often
forget that restaurants here close for several hours in the afternoon…so we
went to Monoprix and got some bread and a few other things for a makeshift
lunch. We ate our little lunch in front of the church in town. I then dropped
her off at the station and headed back to my new place. I then unpacked a
little, then went and tutored Grégoire. We went over his homework then played
games. We played hide and seek, a game with his soccer ball (I made him list
vocabulary words for different topics) and we played tag…in the dark…with light
sabers. He had fun which is good. Grégoire is bilingual, so speaking in English
comes easy to him – his parents just want him to keep it up. After I was
finished I came back out to my little house thing and unpacked some more, made
some dinner (by the way I have an oven now!!) and am now finishing up this blog
post, while watching Netflix. I will get pictures once I am all the way
unpacked. I’m really looking forward to working with the Chatin’s (the name of
the family) especially Greg. They are very kind people. Here is to new
adventures in France!
P.S. Things I wish I could get in France: Midol (yes I said Midol)
and big bottles of Advil/Tylenol…if you want to send me some or all of these I
would love you forever!
