theater production

Well Tuesday's production of A Streetcar Named Desire went fairly well in the end. Here is my class of Master 1 : English Lit. As you can see its a biiiiig class! I guess not many people are clammering to get into this department...

We did 2 different scenes, I was in Streetcar with Quentin (far right in the black wife-beater) and Vanessa (bottom right) and the others did a scene from The Bog of Cats by Marina Carr.

Remy (upper left) brought his digital camera so we have photographic evidence! I'm going to try and get some more pictures (I think there is one of me in my 'bath') and even video to post. I actually had a great time doing this little skit and getting to know my classmates a bit better.

I haven't done much so far on my vacation, Monday I caught a nasty cold so I've mostly been staying inside watching movies, knitting and taking care of myself. I think I can breathe enough today so I might go for a little swim, its been a while.

Bonnes Vacances!

comfortable

Like I said in my previous post I had to go practice a scene from A Streetcar Named Desire for my Masters class on Tuesday. There are 3 of us in the group and we met at Vanessa's apartment. When I arrived the other guy in the group had already arrived and there was also the roommate, her boyfriend and Vanessa's boyfriend.

Turns out I was the only one who had memorized my lines (I don't have thaaat many and its in English! easy!) so we sat around talking over a bottle of wine and little toasts with cheese.

I had the best time sitting around chatting about anything and everything and I never felt like the foreigner, like people were slowing down for me etc. I even cracked a joke!!! No, but seriously I have so many English-speaking friends sometimes I wonder if I could survive without that group. I've often told myself that my friends are my friends because I enjoy their company not just because they are English speakers.

Tonight confirmed that.

I felt so comfortable. I think if my safety-net of this English community were taken away from me I'd be just fine.

Here I am now, gossiping with other friends from my course over MSN just as I would with friends from home.

I have to admit, it feels good.

After 3 years it feels damn good.

beach, dvds, knitting and baking

I decided that even though I have a million and a half things to do, I need a break! So this weekend I dedicated to relaxing!

Saturday I slept in and then made myself a yummy breakfast before taking a little trip to the beach. It is amazing how just standing there listening to the waves can clear your mind, just a meditation... it was great. I realized something, things like that are all about quality and not quantity. I only stayed at the beach for 1 hour, took the first bus home but it was exactly what I needed.

I came back into town and after a quick chat with Natalie at Dolly's (and some scones for an afternoon tea) I came home and watched Shrek while fixing (and finishing) a neckwarmer that I had started a while back.

What do you think?













Then I met up with a friend to meet her new boyfriend (!!!) and then made a yummy stir-fry dinner with Natalie and Anne-Celine. Yum yum.

Today was another great day, I met up with my friend Shannan for a coffee at the market where the nice apple-dude chatted me up and gave me free pears when my friend Virginie called to say she was in town until early afternoon. So I did another tour of the market with her and her friend before heading over to the swimming pool.

I just got home and am making apple sauce (with those yummy market apples) to put into applesauce muffins all while watching The Neverending Story and blogging. I'm not sure if my vacation could get off to a better start! :)

Edit: Here are the beautiful muffins I made! I had to meet some classmates to practice a scene from Streetcar Named Desire (ou bien un tramway nomme desir si vous voulez...) for our theater class on Tuesday. I brought muffins to bring a bit of energy and they were a big hit :)

vacaaaation baby!

YES! Finally I'm DONE!

I'm on vacation from work for the next 2 weeks, count 'em - TWO! :-)

I'm mostly going to be sticking around town getting work done and most importantly - sleeping. But have plans to take off to Tours and Brittany, nothing set in stone yet though.

So I'm one happy bunny over here. Just thought I'd share that.

loooong day ahead

Ahoy matey!! I've got one LONNNNG day ahead of me!

Came to my oh-so-far-away school for class at 8am. Had class from 8-9 and then 9-10.

We worked on "Goodbye my lover" which pathetically enough totally depressed me but cracked me up when 30 electronics students busted it out to me in the courtyard during recess!

and now I have nada, nil, niet, nothing until 4:30pm!!!

Maybe I'll go out and explore this town that I've never seen. Usually I go straight to the school and home again, who knows maybe the downtown is cute?!?

counterclockwise

Someone wound my body clock up the wrong way... I was proud of myself for going to bed early last night as Thursday is my early day.

I woke up to a nightmare at 4:15 this morning! This when my alarm is supposed to go off at 5:30...! So of course I couldn't fall back asleep. Totally awake now but have a feeling I'm going to crash later this afternoon...

Grrrrr, someone wind me up the right way please!

happy valentine's day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Its been a pretty good day, beautiful and warm weather for a change! (good thing cause my coat is still looking sad...)

I taught the little kids today and explained that Valentine's Day in America is of course for couples but just as importantly for friends and family. We made the little Valentines cards that my mom sent, made some others with the little poem on them:

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Sugar is sweet

And so are you!**

and then tried some of the heart candy that mom had sent as well. The kids had a good time and loved making cards for their boyfriends and girlfriends (at 5 years old people! it starts young!). It was fun sharing something different about the same holiday and the kids were so cute. I had one little kindergartener tell me that after mommies and daddies get married they have babies, buuuut sometimes they can have babies before they get married! The shock!

Oh and good news! I got my first grade of the year, on the big presentation I gave in November! I'm pretty happy with my 15/20, its a good grade, I'd say about a B or B+ on the American scale and its good as the class average was 16.

**I couldn't help thinking in my head:

But the roses are wilted

The violets are dead

The sugar is lumpy

And so is your head!

Anyone remember that one??? ;)

redemption

Its all made up for, the whole coat story from earlier tonight (seems to be drying slowly but might be save-able).

I had decided to wash my sheets when I did my laundry. Mind you its not an easy feat, my bed is actually a loft. And a loft you cannot sit up in so I, erm, tend to not wash my sheets as often as I should...

But hey, I'm not dirty! I always go to bed all squeaky clean!

So in any case I just finished wrestling my sheets back into place, stuffing my duvet into its clean cover and will jump into bed asap!

Ahhhhh the delights of crisp, clean sheets... someone's gonna sleep good tonight! Sweeeet dreams!

wet

Whaaaa!!! Brouhou! I decided since the weather warmed up this week it'd be a good opportunity to wash my wonderful winter coat. My pride and joy since the January sales of 2004 when I decided that yes indeed I could be the Michelin Man.

So I carefully read the instructions, wash at maximum 30C, shake back into shape and let air dry.

So I did.

I put the washing machine on at 30C and went to tutor my Russian.

I came back and its SOPPING WET! I can feel the feathers inside and they feel like gooey oatmeal - yuck! I told the lady who works at the laundrymat but she said that that cycle never spins fully dry and I should have have put it on another cycle. Duh! Of course that makes sense! Grrrr....

It is now spread out on my drying rack and I can hear the pitter patter of, no not footsteps, but drops falling into the bowls I've placed on my floor.

So. Sad. Sniff.

weekend recap

I had a great but busy weekend. On Friday I had 30 minutes after class to throw together an over-night bag and then I went back up to the high school where I teach. I met up with a teacher that works there and he drove me back to his house in neighboring Bayeux.

He and his wife invited me for dinner, they were so nice and welcoming I had a great time. They have 3 boys who were all really sweet and after a nice - but relaxed - dinner we watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

I had a great time chatting with this teacher and his wife, they are so interesting having traveled all over the world. In fact they are currently applying to teach in the US next year, in cities where I've been or where I have family so I could talk a bit about that with them. They were also really interested in hearing about the educational system in the States, so I tried to explain as much as possible how things work, teaching style etc...

I think I spoke more French in those 24 hours then in the last month... I mean long complicated conversations, it had been a while! So since Bayeux is quite far I stayed over for the night and then after exploring the little farmers market in the morning I took the train back home at noon.

Last night the girls and I had a taco salad/Much Ado About Nothing evening. It was good fun and nice to relax a bit. Today I think I'll make some cookies to give to the teacher tomorrow as a thank you.

1 more week and then vacation here I come!!!!! Can't wait!!!

new discovery!

Well I'm here on my lunch break at my other high school and I'm one happy clam! I just discovered a computer that not only lets me check my Yahoo mail (the other computers block it grrrrr) but has MSN already on it!! Perfect for Fridays where I have 2 1-hour breaks! (insert Happy Dance here)

So I'm one happy camper sitting here surfing, catching up on email and chatting away - well would be chatting away but no one is online!! Anyway this is extremely useful knowledge for the future.

Now if only I had something to eat... my stomach is growling away and I won't have any time until 4pm today to eat... what a rough life.

Happy weekend everyone!

seduction à la française

So you know how we say the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach... well I found out that expression doesn't exist in French (which I find a bit odd due to the importance of food here but thats another story)

They do however have a different expression: Charmer une dame par le verbe.

Which I understood as charm a woman with verbs, so I had this mental image of a man whispering sweet verbs in a woman's ear...
je danse
tu danses
il danse
... etc...

How romantic is that? Lets conjugate verbs to seduce a woman, fabulous!!!

Then I learned that verbe is actually an old word for word. So I guess a better translation would end up charm a woman by whispering sweet nothings in her ear... maybe. But in the end it was worth the case of the giggles ;)

Anyway that's alllll folks!!!

waaa-ching!

So while making crepe batter yesterday I just about busted a gut when I heard:

"Its really too bad I don't have a whip this is really lumpy."

um....

About 10 minutes later I recovered from my hysterical laughing to reply:

"That would be a whisk"

singin'

The little kids I teach had a mini-concert on the playground yesterday morning. It was adorable! They had spent the week learning about "water" - don't ask, I don't really know why... And so they gave a little concert for the parents at 11am.

It was so cute! I dragged along Mystery Guest and when we arrived in the school I was mobbed by the little anklebiters who ran up saying "hello hello"! And then I could see those little fingers pointing at me while whispering to their parents, "C'est la prof d'anglais" like I was some sort of minor celebrity.

As the week was themed on water they sang several songs having to do with rain or water. Most of them I didn't recognize (except the French version of "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head")

But my pride and joy was when they all sang "Singin' in the rain". It was great! Seeing all of them up there (K-5) busting out an American song, if you closed your eyes you could almost imagine it was a group of American kids. We had been working on it for the last few weeks and it really paid off!

So cute :-)

cat nap

I don't remember the last time I had time to take a nap... but after two very long days of work I got home from swimming today and totally conked out on my lovely clic-clac for an hour....

boy is that great stuff!

:-)

inky

I always dread Thursdays as I'm stuck in a po-dunk town 45 minutes away with big chunks of time between classes (and freakishly old computers that take 20 minutes to load!)

However it's been a good day so far. I taught 2 classes with really fun kids and we talked about Groundhog Day and the superstition that goes behind it. Then I got them to tell me some French superstitions, one I've never heard of (and don't know if its a regional thing) is that you are supposed to put 7 stalks of wheat in your car so you won't have an accident!

Or if you run out of food then you just grind your own flour and bake a loaf of bread on your engine... hehe

Then I was invited to a collegue's house for lunch - some yummy Thai fish curry and she gave me a Chistmas present she's been meaning to bring to school. A really cool fountain pen with a retractable nib! How fun! I've gotten addicted to them and this one is really nice.

So now I've got 2 hours to kill before I can hitch a ride home... might make the most of the free time and work on my translation homework for next week... or I should anyway!

Edit: ended up getting off work early cause of strikes (God bless France!)

mini-lighthouse?

I just finished a private tutoring and while talking to her I remembered a funny story from yesterday...

Well funny for those of you who speak French (just to be warned)

My car vocab in English and esp in French is very weak... So while driving home last night I was asked how to say "high beams" in English, got me to thinking about the word for "headlights" in French.

I realized that I learned the word for headlights in French (les phares) not that long ago and that when I learned it I had a mental picture of a car with two big lighthouses on the front (its the same word in French, lighthouse and headlights)... Isn't that mental picture funny? Or is it just me? Anyway I got the giggles yesterday thinking about that and then again today while telling the story. Need to photoshop that, a car with 2 lighthouses on the front tee hee

'Course as it was pointed out to me, lighthouses on the front of your car wouldn't be all that practical as the lights spin so would make driving a little disco-y... hehehe I'm still giggling all alone! :)

tangled

When I was young I remember the big difference between mom's house and dad's. At mom's, you'd take the remote, press on and bingo!

At dad's you practically needed a manual in order to turn on the tv, something else for the cable, and if you wanted to watch a movie - brain surgery!

I'm sad to say that it seems as though my tv unit now is moving in the direction of dad's. When I was in college I had a TV/VCR combo, DVDs were just starting and there were no wires to connect, just a pair of bunny ears atop the tv that needed adjusting every once in a while. And if something didn't work, there was the traditional means of fixing it, just hit it and it will start working again.

But now, this has to be on in order for that to work. This other thingy has to be unplugged for that other thingy to work and so on... I've got it mostly figured out.... ;)

but it frightens me - what am I turning into??? In the words of Richard Simmons: Stop the madness!

too close for comfort....

There is one English prof I'm always avoiding in the staff room at the high school. She's nice enough but there are a few things that I can't stand -

1. She's a close-talker!

I swear today we literally crossed the entire room! She kept coming closer and I kept backing up. Must have looked hilarious! (remember that Seinfeld episode?? hehe)

2. I swear she dosn't listen to what I have to say! She assumes she understands and then makes up her mind about whatever I'm talking about without actually listening to what I'm saying! Today she was convienced that I'm doing a Masters in French when I told her its English Lit about 10 times... Drives me nuts, if it had been my first year here I would have thought it was me but no she's just a bit looney!

I'm taking tonight off. I need a break, been too busy the last few days and am very much looking forward to a relaxing weekend! :)

how do i take it?

So I just got out of my translation class. The one where the prof scares the beejeezers out of me... its English to French. Not my forte.

Yes, I've lived here for 3 years now but I havn't written in French since I got my B.A. in 2003 so I have a lot of relearning as far as grammar and stuff goes. Plus all those words I've learned in the last 3 years? Yeah, NO idea how to spell them!

So today she calls on me. First time I've offered my translation. Did 3 sentences (which is a lot!) then she says:
"What is your mother tongue?"
- "English"
"Oh really? Thats suprising"

Uh... surprising how? Surprising good? Surprising bad?

This lady has no facial expressions, she's one tough cookie so to speak. Not that I'm caught up in what she thinks of me or my work but still it was so neutral... could have gone either way.

brokeback mountain

Brokeback Mountain. Wow.

Well it has absolutly met my expectations! When I had heard there was a new movie with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal that was enough to catch my eye - er, attention. But after I heard about all the awards it was winning (and that its playing in English at Cafe des Images) I decided it was a must-see.

I was right. Amazing! Beautiful cinematography, a fantastic love story and unbelieveable actors. Although at times I was amazed that this was released and well received stateside with some of the scenes. Never phased the French audience though.

I feel like I should start a movie review blog... hardy har har

Nothing much going on otherwise, very happy that my classes tomorrow are canceled so I can have a grasse matinee and perhaps hit the swimming pool before work at 2:30.

Oh and a congrats out to Benette who got her internship for the spring semester! Cheers! :)

Edit : this article's funny :)

road trippin'

After a very stressfull and busy week the weekend finally came and I was invited by mystery guest to take a day trip to la Manche.

The weather was absolutly stunning, it was one of those crystal-clear winter days that you don't get very often in Normandy. On the road we could see dark clouds in the distance but by the time we arrived, there was not a cloud to be seen.

First stop was a cute little town, St Vaast La Hougue where we headed straight to a shop that apparently has the best confiture de lait. Sadly the shop was closed for part of January so we continued on our merry way.

Then we stopped at a beautiful viewpoint, la Pernelle, were you can see all of the northeast penninsula of La Manche.

Driving along the coast we took a little walk along the seaside where I happily offered to put my feet in the water. (Yes, it's January but I can't help it! Everytime I go to the beach it's just something I gotta do!)

After driving through Cherbourg we went out to the western coast (click on Galerie Photos)where I swear we stepped back in time. There were no people about, hardly a car on the road, felt lost in time. Plus we arrived on the beach just in time for the sunset, stunning!

We drove back to Cherbourg to do what we had come to do: eat sushi! And boy did we scarf that down, sooooo yummy! I haven't had sushi that good since Ichikawa! Yum Yum! Then we caught a movie at the cinaplex across the street, Lord of War. I was surprised at how much I liked it, not at all what I expected, if you have a chance I'd highly recommend it.

In fact, if you have a chance to repeat my Saturday I'd highly recommend it! :)

xmas photo

My broken camera has been on the back burner for a while now, I havn't traveled or had really important occations to use it. Or the time to fill in all the international warrenty claims forms... Plus everyone else has digital cameras so its easy to get copies.

But it can take a while... ;)

So thanks to the mystery guest for giving me this picture (and others) taken on Christmas day in La Manche. I told you I'd post it ;)

change of pace

This morning is for sure a change of routine. I woke up early (9am on a Sunday!) to get some work done before going swimming with a friend.
My usual morning routine (pretty much every day of the week) is:

-wake up (hit snooze once or twice)

-turn on the TV or radio

-pop in the shower

-check email while drinking my moka coffee and eating my yogurt & honey

However this morning as I'm going swimming I decided to nix the shower and it has thrown me all off! The tv is not on, nor is the radio and I can hear the pigeons cooing outside my window. But what surprised me is that it is not only the pigeons that I hear but some other random songbird as well. I don't know what it is, all I know is that it sounds exactly the same as those summer mornings I used to spend at my grandparent's house in Southern California.

It is amazing how a little thing as a bird's song can transport you back to your childhood, to a specific time, place and even feeling. The feeling of lying in bed with the covers thrown off as its already gotten too warm at 8am. Hearing people downstairs starting to mill about, the oranges from the backyard being freshly squeezed and the smell of bacon wafting all the way upstairs.

Maybe I should change my routine more often.

broken

I'm writing this post from my school. Ended up getting stuck here allllll day. Came for my 8am class (as this school is 45 minutes out of town I was no the bus at 6:45am!) then found out that all the other teachers I usually work with are home sick.

Except of course, for the one teacher I work with from 4:30 to 5:30. So I'm stuck here all day. Won't get home until 6:30 or 7 tonight. Well I've got homework (and internet thats finally working!!!) to keep me occupied.

But I had so much fun at lunch, ate with other profs and they are so funny. They get along really well with eachother, there is a nice atmosphere and they actually aknowledge my presence!

At one point someone said that one of the profs will be leaving next year as she is moving to Washington with her husband.

The P.E. teacher replies: "Washington, in America?"

I couldn't help it, I had to chirp in, "No, Washington in France".

Ok, very lame joke, not that exciting but everyone was cracking up. I think mainly the fact that the foreigner made a joke ;-) He was cassé (literally broken... shot down if you will)

So maybe its not such a bad day afterall, although a few more than 5 hours of sleep would have been nice...

left rabbit

I recently got a new job teaching English. To make a long story short I was supposed to meet up with my new boss tonight to plan out lessons for a seminar I'll be teaching next week and to sign my contract.

He said he'd call between 6 and 6:30.

It is now 19:27.

Thats just annoying. I hate it when people stand me up. You plan your day, evening, weekend around something specific and then to get stood up is obnoxious and frusterating.

I feel like when I'm waiting for a phone call or to meet someone then I can't start something new (like cook dinner - I'm hungry!) until I know whats going on.

Granted I wouldn't be doing much tonight (can we say veggin in front of the TV?) but still it is frusterating...

Plus now if he calls its going to be late, and I don't want to be up late. I've got my ultra-long day tomorrow where I leave my house at 6:15am to catch the bus out to my school and won't get home until 6:30 or 7pm. Grrr...

back in the real world

Yup after a brief hiatus I'm back in the swing of things! Get your groove thaaang on baby cause we are alive and kickin'! We gots me some super-duper fast internet, xtra-fabulous tv channels and - drumroll please - FREE international calls!

Can life get any better?

Can it? huh? I doubt it!

Yeah baby, we're a dancin' and a groovin' over here in Caen and luuuuvin' every minute of it ;)

So brief little funny (well I think funny) story from today...

Went to work at the lycee today and met a new group of kids (they were on a stage - work experience, training thingy in December) and the teacher wanted me to take 3 of them and practice conversation. I recognized some faces in the class, I thought probably from seeing them around the school, but I didn't know any names.

These 3 students had been in England for 6 weeks in the spring doing a stage and living with host families. They are by no means fluent, but very nice and not afraid (anymore) to talk. We had a good time chatting about their time in England, movies, music etc... At the end of the hour one of the girls asked me if I remember her. I said, no but you look familiar.

Turns out when I was having all my trouble mailing presents home in December she was doing her stage at the post office and had been the one helping me!

It is a small world.

away...

ummm I decided to switch internet companies because I found out that with the Freebox international calls are free!!! so my line has been cut for the time being and I'm waiting for it to get reconnected...
its really hard going cold turkey!!! no internet! no phone! eegad!!!
so no, I have not been eaten by wolves, I'm alive and well and be back soon :)

predictions

I love how in France you can predict everything; not only the weather but traffic jams and the flu.

Yes, the flu. Tonight on the news they showed a map (Normandy not included if you were curious) of how this gastro is swiftly attacking France and when it is expected to hit full force.

Uh oh people, watch out! The flu is coming!

cracks me up...

back to the grind

It was ridiculously hard to go back to the real world today. Not only does the sun come up really late but it was so grey outside that it felt like it never came up at all.

I made it up to uni today for my theater class and we couldn't believe how long it draaaaaaged on, not only that but I swear it was colder inside than outside! Someone needs to turn the heat on people! Popsicles do not study well! (although they fall asleep less...)

Good news is that we figured out that as we don't have exams in the Masters level we don't have class when the rest of the students have revision week, and we don't have class during the exams! So basically I think I'm free from the 16th of January to the 5th of February, then class until the 25th then another week of vacation with everyone else! Too good! But that does mean I'll have to crank on my currently-non-existant-thesis... ick.

After theater class we made it downstairs for the next class and waited, waited, waited. Finally after 20 minutes decided that the prof was a no show so we all left. It was so nice to have the time to come home, do some email, relax and eat a normally paced lunch before it was off to work.

Work went really well, the kids are just so cute and they remembered things from before break so that was fun. The thing I'm realizing though is that kindergarteners are just too little to learn a language, especially when I'm trying to run a class with 20 kids who just sit still. I wish I could break it up and take half the kids, then the other half. The other kids (1st and 2nd graders) are fun and a lot easier to manage. I walked in the door and they all shouted "HELLLLO!" and "Bonne Annee!" Very cute.

Now if only my high schools would do that... hummm...

ps. I did a search for an image for this blog, typed in "back to work" and this came up! Was too funny not to use it ;) Hiho, hiho, its off to work we go...

bonne annee!

Happy New Years 2006!

My best wishes to everyone out there.

We rang in the New Year in class, style and lots of Dirty Dancing music :)

Hopefully some pictures to come, but as my camera's flash is on the blink (yes, I know, horrible pun hehe) it might be a while.

snow days

Ever since yesterday morning it has been snowing mostly non-stop! Big thick fluffy flakes coming down all over town, it got up to about 4 or 5 inches today! In the past few years that I've lived here I've never seen this much snow!

So of course I've been holed up at home drinking tea and hot chocolate and procrastinating my work because hey, I'm on vacation! But this afternoon the sun came out a bit and so I walked around town taking pictures of the town under a blanket of white.

Otherwise nothing exciting going on, with none of the roads salted there are very few cars and the public transport is barely running so its good to just hang out.

Hope you all are doing well. I leave you with 2 pictures from town, the chateau and the view from my window :) Enjoy!

christmas weekend

Well I know my faithful readers (all 2 or 3 of you....) are dying to hear about my Christmas weekend so here's my little recap for your reading pleasure ;)

On Saturday afternoon I took the bumpy little TER train out to La Manche where I spent Christmas Eve with a wonderfully welcoming French family.

After a champagne apero we started on dinner... let me tell you, what a dinner!

Started off with:
*Oysters on the halfshell (for those who liked them) or a little puffpastry filled with cheese and ham.
*Then another appetizer of fried fois gras with sauteed apples (yum yum!) served with Sauternes
*A trou normand
*Main dish: Ostrich, little bundles of green beans and sweet potatoes (besides the green beans not a typical french dish!)
*Dessert: cookies I had brought (thanks Gwenn for your amazing Chocolate-Chocolate-Craisin recipe!) and a homemade pear/chocolate Bûche de Noël

Then presents were opened around 11pm when a webcam/MSN conversation was set up with the oldest brother who is off in South America.

Christmas carols were sung at midnight and then too beat after that excellent dinner everyone was up in bed by 1am (not that late for a Christmas Eve).

I had to catch my train at noon on the 25th so I could be back in Caen to celebrate Christmas Day with Jen and her family who was visiting from the States. After some fantastic French toast, scrambled eggs (with lardons of course!) and lots of o.j. I rolled on home to open my loot!

I'm one spoiled kid! I got tons of fun stuff from home, I especially liked the 4 pounds of coffee and tons of skiens of yarn, great for cold winter days. While watching my new DVD (Phantom of the Opera) I got a chance to talk to almost everyone at home which was really nice. Then I rejoined (does that exist in English?) Jen, her family and Natalie for a yummy stir-fry dinner.

A big warm hug and thank you to everyone that I could share Christmas with, and to everyone at home who thought about me during the weekend. I couldn't have had a better time over here.

gros bisous a tous

seasons greetings

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays and Peace on Earth.

Hugs.

clear

For the second time this week I've gone down to the public pool to swim laps with a friend.

I love it. It is so relaxing and unwinding to swim laps back and forth. I don't know why I'd never gone to check out the public pool before, it is right next to my house, only 1.55E for students and open even on Sundays!

But now I've been and it is fantastic. Both days we swam 1km of laps (each lap being 50m). It reminds me of summers playing in the pool, my sister and I racing, doing laps as fast as possible. It is the first time that I've used an outdoor pool in France and it is great, the pool is heated and each time I pop my head up to breathe I get the crisp refreshness of a December day.

The only trouble is I hate wearing a bathing cap, how annoying! I look like a Smurf with Dumbo ears!

Oh well, a small price to pay for an hour of clearheaded, weightless swimming.

I think I'll stop in tomorrow morning before Xmas Eve festivities (yes, now I do have plans).

coupe de blues

Don't freak out, not manic depressive or anything but just got a bit homesick tonight. The longer I'm gone the easier it gets, and believe me after the last 3 years I've been doing pretty good. But the holidays are never an easy time. I'm very thankful to have a wonderful family to share Christmas Day with but when I realized tonight that I'd be alone Christmas Eve it hit me hard...

...alone...

it just sounds so - alone.

Maybe I'll just spend the day pampering myself, hot cocoa, movies and knitting. Buy some yummy pastery and try not to think about it being Christmas Eve, afterall it would technically only be the 23rd in the States! Or maybe I'll brighten up the day but opening my presents early, afterall I'm not going to lug them over to our xmas brunch just to open them in front of people that didn't give them to me, that way I can get those stateside to call me while I open them and pretend I'm home.

**update: the box I sent home THREE weeks ago finally arrived today! Mom just called and she got it at the post office and was pulling out the goodies as we were speaking. I was going to go down to the post office and ring someone's neck but it came in the nick of time. (My sister is leaving tomorrow so its good she gets her presents before leaving!)

That put a smile on my face.

city of lights

I havn't been writing much (as Benette pointed out) as there hasn't been that many exciting things going on. My free time, and thoughts, have been occupied by the Boy but I don't feel comfortable putting that online. Lets just say things are going well.

Back to other things, on Saturday I made a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants decision to go to Paris for the day on Sunday. Some friends of mine had been planning on going to spend a couple days in the capital but I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend that much money.

So Saturday afternoon I decided to go just for the day, we left early in the morning and had a wonderful time. It had been since August that I was in Paris and it was great to be back, especially with a fantastic Christmas atmosphere!

We arrived at 10am and I meet up with Virginie at her place for a coffee and chat. Then hooked up with the Caen girls and had a lovely lunch in a funky cafe in Montmartre. We made our way down to the Marais to check out all the great boutiques they have there, then walked down to Bastille for a coffee. I had picked up the FUSAC and found out about an American church putting on Christmas Carols. Was going to go but I was way too tired after the long day so I decided to head back to Caen.

Side note: A friend of mine and her fiancee went to Germany for break so I've been cat-sitting. I have to remind myself to stop by everyday to feed them, so what do I do last night? I get all the way back home and realized that I forgot the kitties! So I had to go back outside and feed the little fuzz-balls. But they are oh so cute! Its nice to have a warm welcome when you walk in the door, coming up and purring around your legs. Course they know that I bring the chow but hey, still love it!

Things are quiet around here but I like it. Its nice to take a break, be on vacation and veg in front of the tv. So if there aren't many posts thats cause I'm too lazy to post... but I'm around! I promise I'm alive over here, drooling over the lovely presents that arrived in the mail today. But no touchie until the 25th! :)

cast your votes!

A few years back people told me I looked like Kate Winslet. But more recently I've gotten Cameron Diaz...

Don't get me wrong, they are both very nice compliments! Both very beautiful women, but honestly I don't see either at all when I look in the mirror.

So cast your votes, don't be shy!

Let me know, I'm really curious!

party

I've had a great day so far, even if it entailed waking up at the buttcrack of dawn to haul out to my 2nd school where I teach. But the kids were great, I had a group of 6 girls that were actually interested in trying to communicate and made me feel worthwhile. Then the best news came, I didn't have to stay until 5:30 as my last class was canceled, that means I was on the bus home at 3:00! Yipppee!

So what did I do when I came home? I baked of course!

I was invited by a girl in my Masters program to a housewarming/christmas party! First time I'm going to ever see my classmates outside of class! This girl is very nice, in fact when she said she was going to Dublin 2 weeks ago and I said that I missed Philadelphia Cream Cheese she brought back two ginormous tubs! So when she asked me to bring something to the party - Cheesecake!

I finally could make a normal cheesecake! Its too hard finding good substitutes in France... So I found a yummy sounding recipe on the internet - Sinful White Chocolate Cheesecake! It is sitting in the oven resting so in the meantime I made a quick cranberry sauce to put on top. How good does that sound? Yum Yum.

So I'm hoping that the other conversions worked out ok. Thats the problem with cakes and such, you can't try it before serving it... just a wee bit too obvious if there is a slice missing... but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it turned out normal.

I'll post a picture tomorrow of the Sinful White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake in all its glory!

fashion

When I lived in America I was never one for fashion statements. I just wore jeans and semi-nice tops, nothing to write home about (so to speak hehe).

I came to France to study abroad in the fall of 2001 and my concept of fashion was given a jump start (grâce à Air France) when my luggage didn't turn up and I had to buy all new clothes.

I even dared to buy things I never would have worn before: tight-ass-french-pants! scarves!

My world did indeed change, but I still never thought of myself as having amazing fashion sense.

This changed this week. This week I was complimented on my clothes three times! Yes, count them 3 times! All by frenchies!! Those pigs have flown!

Granted like all stereotypes the French are not all pefectly in tune with fashion, there are some horrible trends out there, but the 3 people that complimented me are all people that I look at as having really nice clothes and unique styles.

*smiles*