Thanksgiving.

I will start this by saying that I had an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving.

Let me explain.

So, here in Beauvais we have a bunch of Americans and a bunch of British people.  Like a week early, we got a little message thread going for everyone to say what they would be bringing and to determine the time, place, etc.  I claimed carrots (my mom's style, YUM), cranberry sauce (which I was going to make from scratch- none of that funky circle shaped jelly stuff) and gravy (because it's not thanksgiving without it) .

Well, I was a little hesitant as to how things would turn out but OH man.  We had the full spread (besides stuffing. I got over it.)  and it was beautiful how things came together!  We slowly trickled in and the table got more and more crowded with dishes.  I was one of the first because it was taking place in the basement of my building where there is a big kitchen and common area with an enormous table to eat at.

At around eight thirty- all thirteen of us were there.  Lauren brought the handprint turkeys that she did in school with her 4 year olds, and I came up with the idea to use them as place-mats.

I set the table with paper plates and plastic forks and we opened a couple bottles of wine.  We went around the table and said what we were thankful for (a Peterson tradition) and then we started passing.  I said that I was thankful for France, people that I think are cool who are here with me, and my health.  There are of course many other things I am thankful for ---my mom, dad, character of a brother, kitty kats, friends at home, my mom's english tearoom, etc... but I thought it best to keep it short and sweet.

Well, the dinner was delicious.  There were quirky parts like garlic bread, cous-cous & sausages, but there were also really traditional parts like turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes & cranberry sauce , which turned out really awesome.  My secret ingredients were one clementine rind and cinnamon.

This was what I ate for dinner.

  And

This is what I ate for dessert.

That's right.  We had 4 pies- apple, pecan, sweet potato, and pumpkin.

We had the best night together.  I was totally smiling the entire time.

Here's all of us.

My Pad

Some people have expressed an interest in checking out what my French bachelorette pad looks like.
So, come onnnnnn in.

My door.

That tapestry is straight from New Hope, PA and was an obvious choice to make the trip with me.  To the left is my picture collection.  Family, friends, cats, Teaberry's and random pictures of my house at 11 Jocelyn Court.  

My desk.  So what do we have here? A basket with my jewelry & headbands. A crazy little photo thing with pictures of my family who i MISS.  An orange lamp that I got for 7 euros.  My teaching notebooks & supplies.  A bag with books from the library for English Assistants.  A bowl with halloween candy in it.  Underneath?  My ridiculous boot collection.  The wall is slowly getting to be decorated by me cutting out cool pictures from magazines/ putting up postcards that I buy from places & cards that people send me.

This is my little refrigerator, toaster, water heater, and food.  Oh, and my Gustav Klimt poster that I find to be very beautiful.

Inside my fridge: orange juice, peach tea, milk, half an avocado, yogurt, lettuce, mustard, a bag of brussels sprouts, butter, and some apples.

Exciting, right?

My bathroom!  

I love that lime green shower curtain.

Here's my view.  That tree used to be big, green & beautiful back in the day.  

....

So yes.  That's my place.  It's very cozy.

French Plumber

My toilet has been running lately.  When I asked Isabelle downstairs what to do, she came up and turned a random lever behind the toilet and acted like a hero.  That was Friday morning and when I went to brush my teeth later that day, there was no cold water and then the toilet wasn't flushing- and it hit me that I should probably pull that lever back to the right spot.   Well, Isabelle really messed with it because I tried but I couldn't do it (whatta weakling, I know).  So, I had to wait until Monday morning to get Isabelle to undo this little "favor".  Thank god for nice friends who let me shower at their place and for the fact that there are bathrooms downstairs in my building.

So, the plumber is actually in my room right now to fix this for real.  He is an older man with crazy teeth and his young helper.  They are so nice and jolly.  He just came out after 10 minutes and gave me the biggest "Bonne Journée Mademoiselle!" of my life.  Woah!


Two important sidenotes...


1. French toilets are twice as loud as American toilets when they run.
2. It is quite hilarious listening to two people work on a toilet while speaking in French.

Rainy Day

We just got over a 4 day rain spell here in Northern France, which is forecasted to pick back up tomorrow.  Seriously, the weather has been terrible.  Yesterday,  I got up and was talking to my friend Lauren, and I suggested that we should go to the movies.  She agreed.  We both had no school because of Armistice Day (the end of WWI).

So this was my rainy little day...

I hopped in the shower and left my place at around noon because we were grabbing lunch.  On my way, I saw a very elderly French lady battling her umbrella and just screaming as it went inside out and pulled her around.  It was kind of sad but funny.  I was going to help her but she figured it out.  No worries!

We got food at this adorable bakery/ lunch place.  I ate a salad with goat cheese and an onion quiche (because they were out of tuna quiche, which has become my favorite).  It was quite good!  Then Lauren , the queen of the sweet tooth, got a chocolate banana tart for us to share.  WOAH.  That thing was ridiculous.  It was hard chocolate topped with banana slices, with mashed banana in the middle.  ((Meanwhile, there was a HORRENDOUSLY awkward date going on right next to us.  We both agreed that we were so glad to not be a part of it.  They were barely talking, yiiikes.)
After lunch, we went to a bookstore to kill a little time and looked at travel books to Germany because we want to go there for Christmas.  Apparently, out of the top ten Christmas markets/festivals in Europe, about half of them are in Germany.
Then we got soaking wet as we trudged to the movie theatre.  This movie theatre is huge, I think they must play something like 18 movies at a time.  So we along with apparently everyone else that lives in Beauvais got in line.  We saw "Welcome to the Rileys", which was really quite good- thank god being that a ticket was 9 something euros.  It stars James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart, and it is almost a tearjerker.  It was in English with French subtitles, so there were only like 5 other people in the theatre with us.
It was the second time I have been to a movie theatre in France, the first time was to see "Slumdog Millionaire" in Paris.  I loved that movie, especially the end.  I actually wore a sweet Bollywood costume last year for Halloween that I think was subconsciously because of that movie.

Here is me and Lexy on that very night!  Two reasons I am posting this picture (aside from the fact that it rocks)...
1.  I miss Lexy a lot!  She sent me a wonderful package last week filled with things I love including trashy celebrity magazines, that I can't find here.  Also including a CD of her greatest hits from our radio show, "Petey & Lexy's Idea of Fun".  Greatest hit meaning either one of her favorite songs or one that we ROCKED out to in the studio.
2.  I didn't dress up this Halloween and it still is depressing me.

Ok, I am off to teach 3 classes.  Today we are learning the alphabet, and with my older kids I am going to introduce some classic American tongue twisters.   A little sally sells seashells by the seashore action.
Yup.

Bojangles

If you know me at all, you know that I have a cat named Bojangles.  You also know that I love her probably a little too much.

In 2002, my mom and I were driving on a winding country road near our house in New Jersey.  She told me that a few days ago she had seen a couple kittens in the area, but couldn't find them when she got out of the car.  Well, that day we spotted them and took them home with us because there was no mom in sight and they would've been hit by a car otherwise.  There were two little furball kittens with long beautiful hair and big golden eyes in my mom's light blue mini van (oh, the windstar days).  They were both girls, and we kept one and the other we gave to my mom's friend.  My brother came up with the name Bojangles, and we all thought it was perfect.  Soon though, she would come to have tons of nicknames including Baby, Bo, Mimi, Princess, Moomoo, Bebe, etc.

She is part Maine Coon so she has long hair and tufts coming out of her ears.  She also is part wild cat, which you are reminded of when you take her to the vet.

She sleeps with me every night at home and she is always hanging out in my room when I am around.  I feed her treats and give her spa treatments, which include a foam shampooing, brushing, and of course a gentle ear cleaning with qtips.  Basically, she's completely spoiled.

So, I miss my cat.  Plain and simple.

Well, on Monday when I was skyping with my mom, she whispered "You are never going to believe who just walked in the room".  Yup, Bojangles herself.
She closed the door and brought her up to the camera.  My mom held her furry body and Bojangles just stared at me for a minute.  It was the most adorable thing.

So, yes.  I would possibly fall under the stereotype of "crazy cat lady".

This is me and Bojangles the day before I left.  I think I woke her up for this.

And this is the cutest picture ever taken.

Me at the Market

So, there is a pretty cool market in Beauvais every Wednesday and Saturday from early morning until about 3.  I go often because it's fun and because I don't work on Wednesdays or Saturdays.  It is in a big square downtown, around a five minute walk from my building.  Half of the market is food goods and beautiful flowers and the other half is everything else including clothes, shoes, jewelry, kitchen utensils, doilies, etc.

In case you were wondering, this is me at the market:

I usually get there between late morning/ early afternoon.  I always start on the food side.  I like to go down the aisles and look at all the different stuff.  I check out the numerous fruit/veggie stands and sometimes I switch it up, but usually it is the same stand that I go to.  It is big & really clean and some of the fruits & veggies look fake because they are so perfect -- the cherry tomatoes I got there a few weeks ago were absolute ART.  Today, I got 7 clementines, some brussels sprouts that I am going to saute, maybe tomorrow?, an avocado and a nice looking zucchini.  Then, I asked the lady what this weird looking huge, light green vegetable was and she told me it was a hybrid cauliflower/broccoli.  Crazy!  So, then I usually continue on and go to the bread man, where I like to buy something whole wheat, sometimes with herbs de provence (fennel, basil, thyme, lavender, etc).  After that, I usually check out the cheese display cases, avoiding the raw meat display at all costs because it's frightening.  I usually get around 10 "Bonjour Mademoiselle!" 's during all of this.  Occasionally, I go to the stand where they roast chicken and potatoes and buy a piece to eat for lunch, because it's delicious and only 2 euros.  Then, I mull around the other half of the market, where I have bought random things like a bottle opener, bed sheets & earrings.  The best part of this side is this nice guy selling hair clips.  One of the first days I was here, a bunch of us American girls were together, and he picked up on it.  He said "Ohhhh, Americans- are you from New York?"  Then several times after that he would say "HELLLOOOoooo" to me, he clearly loves speaking English.  One day, I was looking at one sweet black hair clip and I asked him how much it was, he said "For you- free!".  I said thank you very much and said that he can practice his English with me a little every week from then on. :-)

I'm back and I'm smarter.

We got back from our week long vacation yesterday.  It was great because I had fun and I learned a lot- which means I have returned back to Picardie... a smarter person.

Feels good.

The train was actually running on Sunday to Bayeux in Normandy- so we got all set in our nook with some wine, snacks and a deck of cards.  Lauren taught me and Ceci how to play Rummy and we did that for a bit.  We got to Bayeux and met this man from I think New Zealand?, who was staying at the same hotel- so he showed us the way.  Then the next day we got coffee and breakfast and then went to the Tourist Office, where unbeknownst to us at the time- the nicest lady ever was about to misinform us left and right.  Swwweet.
That day we attempted to go the D-day beaches but the nice lady nicely lied to us about the bus times.  Instead, we went to the museum of the Normandy Battles in Bayeux, the cathedral and walked around the town which was very cute.  The museum was fine.  There was this one man in there who did every job, he was literally everywhere and the place wasn't small.
After that, we found a park to eat lunch in- which we quickly deemed our park and got sad when other people were there. haa.   It was sunny and perfect!  I ate pistachios and clementines and a weird, delicious little sandwich.  Then we went to see the tapestry that everyone is obsessed with- which actually was really interesting.  It depicted the Norman Conquest of 1066- so it is almost a thousand years old.  It came with an audio guide, which cleared a lot of things up for me historically.
That night we got dinner out and went to a bar called "Pub Fiction" that had swings for seats at a big table- awesome.  I also drank a desperado- awesome.  Anyone who doesn't know what a desperado is, let me enlighten you- it is a beer brewed in france that is flavored with tequila.  It's quite refreshing and always stylish. ;o)
The next day we went to Omaha beach and the American Cemetery and Museum there- which was terribly shocking but really, really amazing.  The museum was just a good museum all around especially because it focused on personal stories rather than trying to sum up everything... and walking along the beaches was really cool.  That afternoon we bought a feast for ourselves to take back to the hotel including Camembert and cider (both made in Normandy) and baguette.  We had a fun little night in the hotel that night including Dawson's Creek dubbed in French and more Rummy.

The next day Cecilia and I got an EARLY train to St. Malo in Brittany.  On one of the trains we sat across from a young French lady who looked like a little innocent elf until you heard her hard rock metal song through her headphones on repeat the entire way.
We walked to our hostel there, which was this crazy complex of buildings with tennis courts and a cafeteria and everything.  We couldn't get into our room until 4pm and we got there at 10 in the morning, so we put our stuff down and headed into the Old City.  This was the coolest.
First of all, you walk right along the beach to get to the walled in city and when you walk in you don't even think it's real. Everyone is beaming with happiness and there are just a million awesome restaurants and shops and little hole in the wall places to go to.  We were in heaven.  I really recommend this place to anyone who likes nice places in general- (this should be all of you).  It is what vacation towns should be.
We ate galettes for lunch, which are buckwheat pancakes filled with whatever you would like, a Breton specialty.   Actually come to think of it, we had two galette lunches that day,  and my second was one with scallops and mussels.  Happiness.
After that, we just strolled because it was a beautiful day.  Then, I discovered the most dangerously delicious pastry know to man- under the name of "Kouign Amann".

While walking back we decided to find an internet cafe to check the email situation, which is always good.  Then, we got lost.  We found a little supermarket and got cheese (always & forever), bread and apple sauce to eat for dinner.  We went to bed early.

The next day we went to Mont St. Michel, which was very cool.  As you drive up, there are open fields with tons of sheep!  Then, you see the village and abbey built on a mountain encircled by the Atlantic Ocean.
This was the view from the bus.

We spent the day strolling through the place, which is really like a maze.  We went into the church there, which was refreshingly different in style and ventured through a bunch of little nooks on the mount.  Then, the abbey sits atop the mountain, which is neat.  We didn't have time to wait for the English tour at 3 o'clock so we joined the French tour.  The witty little French tour guide asked us our nationality before we started and then of course singled us out during his talk a good solid couple of times.  Then we decided, hell with it- this guy is just cracking jokes and we want to just see the place ourselves.  So, we broke off from the Frenchies and breezed through.  The best part of this place was that it was constructed starting in the 11th century through the 18th century, so there are wild stories about conflicting styles and periods of thought (during the revolution, the abbey was used as a prison).
The last day in St. Malo- we walked all the way around the walled city on the ramparts.  There was a great photo exhibit at one of the points along the way, and we walked all the way out to this island where the French writer, Chateaubriand, is buried.  Cecilia and I went barefoot when the tide was still crashing a little bit over the footpath, which was kind of scary but fun.  We stayed up there for probably an hour, without even talking much, because it was just so crazy to look out.

That night, I will make a long story short.
We ate dinner at the hostel cafeteria and met a French gal, a French guy, and a Costa Rican guy.  They asked us if we wanted to hang out that night and we said sure.  We were in the mood to socialize and have a fun time, so we got a little dressed up and brought over a bottle of sweet white to the hang out.  There, we met an Austrian girl and another French boy named Ludo.  We then walked along the beach all the way to the old city and went to a very fun bar called "La Belle Epoque".  The night continued on and it was a good time.

The next day, Ceci and I had to ask if we could check out just a litttle bit later.

Now, I'm back in my little foyer common room saying "bonjour" to anyone at all who comes in, all the time, no matter what- which is what you do here- otherwise, you're rude.