Teacher Parties

At 23,

There are moments where I still feel like a teenager.

Then there are other moments where it hits me hard that I am a full on adult.

For instance, this week, I have three end of the year teacher parties.  Where everyone makes something and we talk about summer plans, how tiring the problem kids are, 

who is retiring next year, why Sarkozy is evil,  the humidity, who is a grandmother for the first time, poetry, gardens, the supermarket, etc.

!!!!!!!!

shocking.

Anyways, for one of these said parties I made a fantastic mango salsa.

one mango, two avocados, three tomatoes, some onion, some garlic, salt, & lime juice.

mmmm.

tasty american things & au revoir

It's the last week of school! Ahhhhh.
It is sad because even though my kids make a ton of noise, never stop playing with their rulers, always forget to put their little glasses on & still make fun of my accent- they're cuties.


Since I see each class twice a week- I planned a two part end of the year extravaganza.


The first class of the week, we are playing games like tic tac toe (with flashcards of course) which they ADORE, higher/lower with numbers (my oldest kids can count to 100!), and pictionary.  If they are good, I give out little stickers with english on them.  It is incredible how good a kid is when you say stickers are involved.


The second class of the week, we are doing a little United States geographical/culinary discovery.  peanut butter & maple syrup.  yes sir.
I prepared a little ditty.  First, I show a big world map with France and the US highlighted.  I tell them how it takes 8 hours in a plane from Paris to the airport closest to my house,  "WOOOOOOAAH!".  Then we remark about what there is between our two countries, "la mer!" (the sea).
Next, I show a map of the USofA.  We talk about how many states there are and the two stragglers- (Alaska & Hawaii, no offense).
Then I show little old New Jersey that I colored in my favorite gold pen and label it "chez moi" (my home).  
After that we talk about peanut butter.  I show Missouri highlighted on the map because it was there in the 1890s that there was a doctor who needed a protein substitute for his patients who had bad teeth and could no longer chew meat.  I then show Georgia and Texas highlighted because they are the two biggest peanut producers.  I then proceed to share some fun facts about PB like how January 24th is National Peanut Butter Day, how the average American child has eaten 1500 pb&j sandwiches by the time he/she graduates high school, and how every year we eat 500 million pounds as a country, enough to cover the floor of the Grand Canyon.
Next is maple syrup.  I point out Vermont, New York, and Maine on the map in highlighter (three biggest producers).  Then, fun facts of course.  Like how a tree must be at least 30 years old before being tapped for the sap,  how it takes around 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, and how instead of crepes- we do pancakes, and it's for breakfast- not dessert.

Then, I whip out my cut up baguettes that the nice bakery guy got ready for me and smear some pb on one slice and dribble some syrup on another for each kid.

I think I have heard a few "c'est dégueulasse!" (it's yucky!) 
But, overall, they are loving it.

Random Facts #8

1. I bought my ticket and I'm coming home (after a layover in Iceland- ha!) on July 19th.
2.  I am having to send numerous boxes home filled with my things.  This is what happens when you arrive with two full suitcases and buy things along the way. 
3.  This past Tuesday night, I went to Paris for la fête de la musique with Lauren and her adorable mom & sister.  We found the funkiest jazz band near Rue Mouffetard.  It was a lot of fun.  Litter everywhere though- pretty disgraceful.  There is a garbage can, I swear, every 30 feet in Paris, so I don't quite understand.  (Shout out to my environmentally friendly dad who taught me that it is disgusting to litter).  
4.  There is a teacher at school that had me over last Saturday.  She is fantastic!  She, her husband, and I (and their one year old daughter when she wasn't napping) spent 7. SEVEN. hours together.  We had a really intellectual discussion about the American and French education systems.  I think that they want to send the one year old to the US for school.  I warned them about frats & sororities.  Oh, and we drank some good 2005 wine (their favorite year for wine because there was gorgeous weather and the grapes were really sweet).
5.  I gave my older kids a test yesterday on the verbs "to be" and "to have"- some of them finished early and I told them they could do a drawing on the back of their tests until everyone finished.  Tao, one of my really smart ones, drew me, depicted with a dress, a scarf and big earrings.  So dead on.
6.  I am off to a music festival after school today in a forest outside of Paris for the weekend.  We are camping!  My ticket (60 something euros) goes to aids research, which I respect.  More on this little adventure later.  I am ill prepared to camp so it should be funny.

!! xoxo

Beauvais in Spring

I know that my town is no Paris.  I know that there are many other more magnificent parts of France.

But you know what?  I like my little town.  It's home and it's pretty, especially in Spring.  Plus, no one speaks English and I get to legitimately live my life in French- which sometimes gets a little frustrating but is usually rad.

Things I like about where I live...
1.  There is a really legit cathedral at the end of my street that has the highest gothic vault (arched ceiling) in all of the world.

2.  There are medieval looking buildings like this...

3. There are pretty gardens...

4.  that have lamp posts that look like this...

5.  There is a little restaurant that I go to sometimes with a bunch of the friendliest older ladies ever as waitresses.  I took my mom and aunt here when they were visiting and they were gems.  Plus, they have a huge area outside to sit (not to mention a killer chocolate banana tart).

6.  The fact that people's frontyards look like this...

23 years

On June 4th, 1988 at 12:03 pm my mom gave birth to a baby that weighed 7 pounds 7 ounces.  That baby was me.    To celebrate, I met my friend Lauren along with her brother in Milan, Italy.  It was a fantastic albeit rainy weekend.

I love Italy.  The people are happy there and enjoy themselves.  Plus, it's so pretty.  I chose our hotel's area because it was supposed to be nice and it was.  Little leather shops, and pastry shops and people walking their tiny dogs and everyone eating gelato, and people saying ciao 8 times when they hang up their phone.  Plus, on the bus on the way to the hotel I heard the most authentic "ciao bella" of my life and I loved it.

Milan kind of has a bad rap as being the financial center of Italy.  I had just spent one night there before this weekend about two years ago and I too wasn't impressed.  But this time, I did some research and we found some great spots.

We spent some time at the Duomo...

which has a gorgeous exterior and also apparently a brilliant tiled floor.

After that, we strolled through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, which is a really beautiful glass covered double arcade with a lot of cafes & shops, named after the first king of united Italy.  Opened in 1867, its designer, Giuseppe Mengoni, created an incredible place filled with mosaics and murals.  I read somewhere that this place has actually come to be known as "il salotto di milano" - Milan's living room. We stopped for some chilled white wine in here (it was 80 degrees out) and got down to some serious people watching.

That night, we headed to eat in Corso Como,  a quaint pedestrian area in the northern part of the city.  Afterwards we got gelato (passionfruit & lemon for me- mmmm).  I believe we strolled through china town afterwards- slightly odd but interesting all the same.

The next day we headed out pretty early to Lake Como, even further north.  This is where George Clooney calls home and rightfully so because it is a great place.

We stared at the water for a while before it poured and then walked all through the streets of the town.  We listened to accordions and shopped a little.  Then we stopped by the cathedral to eat lunch where we had a FANTASTIC view.  We ate pizza, obviously.

On the train home, I was listening to all the buzzing Italian going on and thinking 1. wow, i understand nothing and 2. it's like music.

We relaxed at the hotel a bit and I skyped my dad and then we went out.  We got aperitivo at a fish market (best thing Italy ever did, happy hour where buying one drink = a bunch of great food).  The place was called Da Claudio and it was quite posh.  We each had a glass of prosecco with our sushi and it was delicious.

After dinner, we headed to Brera, an artsy area which surrounds one of the main art collections in Milan, Pinacoteca Brera.  Minus all of the guys trying to sell knock off handbags (WHO BUYS THOSE !?!), it was really pretty.  Lots of gorgeous boutiques and classy apartments with flowers overflowing off of the balconies.

To put the icing on the cake, Lauren gave me my first official piece of real art as a birthday gift.  A gorgeous painting of roses all the colors of the rainbow that she bought in Croatia. (love you!)

Mmm, yes. 23.  It feels different.  In a good way.

Oh, and Milan had some great street art.  I took a tour in Berlin and every since I have been super aware of it every place I go.  I really enjoy it when it is well done.

Cafeteria / La Cantine

Hello Everyone!  First of all, this entry is a little bit different because I am also writing it in French.  I will explain.  So, in the building that I live in, there is a cafeteria (sometimes referred to as a "self" meaning a self-service restaurant) that feeds all of the people who work for the city of Beauvais.   This is a common thing in France, where employees have somewhere to eat a hot, sit-down meal over the lunch hour (incredible, huh?).   I eat there every week, not everyday but fairly often.  First of all, it is downstairs so it is obviously really convenient.  Second of all, the ladies that work there are really nice and patient with me as I figure out what I am about to eat.  Third and most importantly,  the food is awesome for the price.   So, this week I ate at the cafeteria on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and I snapped some pictures.  I think you are all going to be impressed at what this "cafeteria" serves.   Oh, and the reason for translating this into French is for the aforementioned nice cafeteria ladies who know what I am doing and want to check it out! :o)

Bonjour à tous! D’abord, cette note est un peu différente parce que je vais l’écrire aussi en français.  Je vous expliquerai.  Donc, dans mon immeuble,  il y a une cantine (parfois on dit « un self » - qui veut dire un restaurant en libre-service) pour tous les gens qui travaillent pour la ville de Beauvais.  En France, il y a souvent un endroit comme ça où les salariés peuvent manger un repas complet et s’asseoir pendant la pause déjeuner (incroyable, non ?).  J’y mange toutes les semaines, pas tous les jours mais assez souvent.  Tout d’abord, la cantine est située tout près (au rez-de-chaussée).  Deuxièmement, les dames qui travaillent au self sont super sympathiques et patientes quand je suis en train d’essayer de comprendre ce que je vais manger.  Troisièmement et la chose la plus importante, les repas sont géniaux pour leurs prix.  Donc, j’ai mangé au self lundi, mardi, et mercredi de cette semaine et j’ai pris des photos.  Je pense que vous serez impressionné par cette « cantine ».   Oh ! et la raison pour laquelle je traduis en français est parce que les dames susmentionnées de la cantine savent ce que je fais et elles veulent regarder mon blog !

Monday

herbed filet mignon of pork, spinach, potatoes au gratin & baguette

Lundi

filet mignon de porc aux aromates, épinards au beurre, gratin dauphinois & de la baguette  

Total cost/Au total: 3 euros / 4.33 dollars

Tuesday

spanish paella, apple rhubarb tarte & fresh baguette

Mardi

Paella  à l'espagnole, tarte pomme rhubarbe & de la baguette
Total cost/Au total: 3.75 euros / 5.38 dollars

Wednesday
leg of duck in a raisin sauce, spaghetti, swiss chard au gratin with fresh parsley, pont l'évêque cheese & baguette
Mercredi
cuisse de canette aux raisins, spaghettis, côtes de blettes au gratin, du fromage pont l'évêque & de la baguette

Total cost/Au total: 3.50 euros / 5.02 dollars

J'adore!