Holidays! Starting in St Malo!

Wow, a week to catch up on now! My last classes this term went well--we played a taboo-esque game that the kids enjoyed. It was kind of sad since I won't be working with these classes anymore--I have a whole new schedule for January and February. I just hope I did some good!

Then Friday was a bit of an adventure. I had to go to the immigration office for a medical exam so I could get my official residence permit. I ended up seeing five other assistants there at the same time! The process was very quick, one of the most efficient things I've seen in France or elsewhere: chest xray, immunization record, eye exam, height/weight, brief medical history, listen to lungs, check xray, blood pressure. All of this in three rooms in a hallway in under an hour! Bravo! I got my OFII sticker in my passport and immediately had a copy sent to the office for my housing assistance money. All paperwork taken care of, I'm legal!

So Katherine joined up with my afterwards and we headed to the train station to pick up Herbert, an assistant in Quimper who was coming in for an afternoon immigration appointment. He is from Louisianna, and I had talked to him on facebook before, so he asked me to be his Rennes tour guide for the day. For the morning, we walked all around the center city, ate tartines for lunch, and let him buy a jar of Mississippi Belle peanut butter at my grocery store--apparently, I'm lucky they stock it!

He headed off to his appointment, and I saw PA for a bit. When Herbert was done, it was snowing like crazy, so I took him to Le Haricot Rouge for hot chocolate and a few hours of warm, cozy conversation. They were even playing a Black Eyed Peas album, so we rocked out to that. The crowning moment of the day was the lights show at the mairie; Rennes literally projects lights onto the mayor's building in an awesome Disney-esque animation show! I'll film it sometime soon because it is every night until Janurary 2. Then poor Herbert had a 40 minute train delay! Still, he picked a good day to visit Rennes!

Saturday was a real French adventure! Katherine and I took the train to St. Malo, a walled coastal city. Even though we had slush under our feet and rain coming down on our heads, we trekked into the old city and took tons of pictures of the buildings, walls, beaches, sea! At one point, we realized that music was coming from speakers on every street corner--from Christmas carols to Rhianna! Cute or creepy? The jury is still out on that one...

Marina at the approach to the city gates.

Islands and swimming area off of St. Malo.

We had a delicious three course lunch of warm goat cheese salad, lamb and mashed potatos, and chocolate crepes. In the afternoon, the weather turned around and we had blue skies and beautiful light. We returned to the walls and walked around half the city on them, admiring the adorableness of it all. We also did a fair bit of shopping at the Christmas market (where I spent about 50 euros...) and in all the shops and enjoyed some warm, spiced wine.

Drinking warm wine!

St. Malo Christmas Market.

After a coffee and warmth break at a bar/cafe, we hit the streets again and saw a ton more people out! This led us to believe that the people of St Malo are vampires... ;) So more shopping, seeing the house of the Duchess of Anne, trying the Breton specialty butter cake, and walking the other half of the walls was on the late afternoon agenda. The lighting at the snowy beach was incredible! Just admire these photos below (and all of the ones in my Rennes Winter album) to get an idea.

We had a last cup of tea/chocolate in a classy salon du thé facing the cathedral before we had to trek back to the train station through the ice. It was a gorgeous day in a cute city full of lots of good food! A nice way to start off a holiday break.

Today I'm in the apartment resting, nursing my cold, maybe even cleaning a bit! Everyone is scattering for break, so I'll be entertaining myself for the most part. Skype me!

A cute festive touch at the St Malo market^^

Reflections

So I'm currently sick in bed (just sore throat and headache, nothing serious, Ma!), and thus I have been spending a lot of time thinking... Plus, the holidays are coming up, and this is the first year I'm not in Knoxville or Chicago with my family.

Copenhagen was a nice break from my life in France. It made me realize how settled I've become here in Rennes--the apartment is set up, I have people I like, my work schedule is normal, most of my bureaucratic duties are complete. From January until June, my life is going to be a breeze! Now I have to remind myself to make the most of it.

I really need to give kudos to EBrown, who is one of those people who can just make you think. We were talking about people who make you grow as a person, and that made me start mentally listing the family members, friends, aquaintances, professors, coworkers, etc. who have inspired and/or changed me in some way.

Family can go without saying--almost--because those are the people who always have your back. My family has been so nice in sending me letters, skyping me, facebooking me, and sending me care packages (thanks again mom and dad!) while I've been away, and it keeps me from feeling forgotten or alone. Being truly apart from them for this long makes me realize how much I take for granted every crazy holiday I usually spend with them. I miss the silliness! I miss being around people who are truly interested, invested, and involved in my life.

It also makes me think of friends who are more like family because they've been in my life so long--Jean and Danielle, I miss you so much! Life is not the same without lunch/dinner dates and movie nights with lots of laughs. Also in Knoxville, Helen and Deepa, my sworn enemies, will have no movie room and interesting conversation to entertain them this holiday. How boring for us all!

And on to my college friends... I have Marguerite, who is both hilarious and intelligent--you can laugh and philosophize with her anytime. Many an afternoon at Furman was spent wandering around the lake working through my life plans with her. Why she was able to listen to me whine that much, I'll never know, but I am eternally grateful.

Then, of course, I have my Africa group of professors and students I love dearly. These people were challenging, inspiring, silly, and serious all together, and I certainly miss that constant excitement of being in a group of caring people. Dr. Ching and Dr. Maher opened my eyes to a lot of things, and the students I was with helped me talk them out and relate them to my own life. Seeing EBrown and Lily this weekend really refreshed these feelings in me.

And this post would be amiss if I didn't mention Pierre-Antoine, the best friend I've ever had. He makes me want to go out in the world and have fun, see new places, learn new things. He's my living French dictionary and we get to teach each other about our cultures everyday--from him making his favorite tartiflette dish to me making him watch Zoolander for the first time. Every day is some little adventure that keeps me from taking life too seriously. I don't know what I would do without him.

So thanks to all of you! And to all the people I couldn't mention because I really need to go to sleep now... It's just one of those "It's A Wonderful Life" moments when you see what effect one person can have on so many--and all of you have had such a powerful effect on me.

Je vous aime ! I love you!

Adventures in Copenhagen with Lily and EBrown

Thursday through Sunday I was in Copenhagen, Denmark, to visit two of my Africa study abroad buddies, EBrown and Lily (who lives and studies there now).

Getting there was ok--bus to Rennes airport, plane to Paris, delay in Paris because of the previous day's snow, arrive in Copenhagen around 11pm. Lily picked me up there and we metroed to her place to drop off my stuff. It was cold, windy, snowy, snowing! We metroed to meet her boyfriend Martin at a main square and found a bar. Danes have an intense drinking culture, especially at "Christmas Parties" this season--even your work party is a drinking party from lunchtime until night! Tried the Christmas beer and chatted with Lily and Martin until a drunk Dane named Reuben came to hit on me. All Danes learn English from elementary school and speak pretty fluently. It was pretty easy to talk to people in shops, cafes, drunken bar settings ;)

Between metroing at night and walking back in the freezing cold, Lily and I weren't in bed until 3:30am that night, and we had to get up at 8am so that she could go to class. I got off to explore the shopping streets and the Christmas market on a canal for a few hours.

Lily and I finally got to meet EBrown at noon! We all headed to eat Chinese takeout and met up with EBrown's sister Brittany and her friend Caitlin to roam the streets. See photos in the Copenhagen album for an illustration of those chilly hours. Actually, the sun was out pretty much all weekend, and we had decent weather in general but for a few bouts of snow/rain/sleet. It's just always below freezing and the sun sets around 3pm.

Me, Lily, and EBrown

Lily headed to work at a restaurant, so EBrown and I went to Brittany's host family's home for dinner. The house was cool and the parents interesting world travelers. We helped make the delicious home-cooked meal of vegetable quiche/tart, salad, hamburgers with egg on top, potato salad, and South African wine. We also had these delicious ginger/honey cakes with chocolate on top that are a Danish Christmas treat. So good!

They lived about an hour outside the city between a train and walking in the cold. Around 10pm, we headed back downtown for a taste of nightlife. Brittany went with friends, and EBrown and I went to Lily's restaurant where we got free cocktails--mango for me and lemonade mojito for EBrown. When Lily was off, it was a quick Christmas beer before EBrown had to head back with her sister and Lily and I had to metro/walk home.

Slept in a bit before meeting up for walking and a long cafe break where plenty of girltalk ensued. That afternoon we met up with Martin. Firstly, I grabbed an authentic Danish hot dog with mustard, ketchup, fried onions, We climbed up this church spire for a scary but lovely view of Copenhagen, which is actually some islands off of the Denmark peninsula. You could even see Sweden and the bridge to get there--only 30 minutes away!

View of the city from the spire.

The power of the wind and the cold had us down before too long, and we headed to Freetown Christiania. This place used to be a military base that fell into disuse, so hippie-squatters moved in and made it a mini-society with its own hippie laws, common property, and lots of pot. The police come to clean out the weed every once and awhile, but the people of Copenhagen cherish it and consider it an important city landmark. It has a "downtown" area with an art gallery, cafes, pot stands, etc., and then there are really neat houses built of odds and ends where people actually live around the lakes--they just have permission to do so rather than actually owning it. Martin showed us around, and then we warmed up with coffee at a cafe there.

It was nearing 6pm when we left again, Lily to work and EBrown and me to Brittany's host home for a candy making party. First of all, the 20 minute walk after the train ride took about an hour because we got lost. Imagine forty or so Danes, adults and children, plus five American girls in a marzipan and nougat sculpting/candy-making competition! I just made myself one little treat to eat, but EBrown made a bunch of grapes and there were animals and traditional candies too. Towards the end, there was a big pot of soup, bread, and cheese to eat. I headed to Lily's alone and made it back safely.

Sunday I really slept in while Lily went to church. EBrown and I met at 11 and went hunting for those honey-ginger cakes which we ate with tea at Lily's apartment while we chatted. All three of us gathered at the metro at one to take me to the airport. So fun to see them, the first old, friendly faces I've seen since September!

I got to Paris just fine, but then my flight to Rennes was cancelled. AirFrance bused us all to the train station and someone went to get our tickets. We waited as a group for half an hour--the train was going to leave in five minutes and we still didn't have tickets in our hand. A search for the AirFrance official failed, and we headed down to the platform where the train was sitting. Some people just got on and said they would get reimboursed by the company for the tickets later... but I was afraid of getting a fine! With only two minutes before departure, the AirFrance lady shows up with a stack of tickets--I grabbed one from her hand and jumped on! So instead of getting back around 9:30, I wasn't in my apartment until 12:30! Oh, well...

It was back to work today for a Taboo-esque game of describing random people, places, and things in English for the other students to guess. Seems to be going pretty well! I also finished Pierre-Antoine's Christmas gifts, so I'm on to some for his family.

Please, check out all of my Copenhagen pictures in the album too!

Still alive :)

Hello all!

This has been a rather productive week so far. All Christmas cards mailed, lessons finished for this and next week, and the last grad school applications submitted to Columbia and Tufts! I'm just trying to get everything in order since I will be in Copenhagen from Thursday to late Sunday night.

This week I'm doing a lesson on music from Tennessee because even our state quarter celebrates it! The kids listen to blues, Elvis, Paramore, country, rap, and Justin Timberlake--all from TN. We do a fill-in-the-missing-words game with "Blue Suede Shoes" and then play a game where they listen for certain words in Taylor Swift's "Love Story" and grab the card of the word when they hear it--the winner is the one with the most cards at the end. The latter gets rather competitive/violent!

TN state quarter

Othewise, it's life as usual here in Rennes. The snow has turned back into rain, but it is still super cold. I still have two paperwork snafus to sort out before the holidays, but life is good :)

Paris in the snow!

Snow all Thursday and Friday--so much that kids decided to cut class! Fools!

Now, I must define what will now be known as "pulling a Pierre-Antoine": one lets one's friend get on the metro and chooses not to get on with said friend when the noise sounds and the doors close, so the friend rides alone without saying a proper goodbye. Used in a sentence: "Pierre-Antoine pulled a Pierre-Antoine on me Friday afternoon." Tsss...

Apart from that on Friday, I didn't do much except enjoy the snow and meet some assistants for drinks--British, Spanish, Guatemalan, and Mexican. I tried a beer with flavored syrup in it, choosing kiwi over banana, peach, passion fruit, violet, and more.Good but too sugary to drink a whole pint of it.

Saturday I took a day trip into Paris to meet Caitlin who was there to visit Versailles with her students on Sunday. My main wish was some Christmas shopping, but there was no time!!! Let me start from the beginning...

I caught the 9am TGV (fast, direct train) from Rennes to Paris, supposedly arriving at 11:10. My train was late because of snow, Caitlin was late meeting me, then the quickest metro to the museum where we were meeting another Paris assistant was shut down so we had to take another and then walk. We arrived at almost one!

In the meantime, we walked though the falling snow from the edge of the Louvre to the museum--really super snowy! We saw a Chrisrmas market on Champs Élysées as we hurried past. The museum, Palais de la découverte, was ok. It is a science musum with exhibits from the human body to magnets, but I've seen better presentations. We did see the planetarium show and a show on training rats in mazes which were interesting. And at the fencing exhibit, you could try different moves in a box with an electronic target! Afterwards, we walked back through les Tuileries (gardens at the Louvre) to the Starbucks across the street from the Louvre. Caitlin and I sat there for an hour to warm up and eat since we had not gotten lunch. Then, it was past 6 and time to head back to the train station. My train left at 7:30 and I was back in my apartment by 10. I'll go back to Paris 18-22 for shopping and enjoying, I think. Maybe Disneyland too.

Me and Caitlin in the Tuileries gardens.

I was so glad to get away for the day. I was getting to the point when I feel like my life is the whole world... so it's nice to get away and get perspective that my little 'problems' amount to nothing in the grand scheme of things! It makes them seem smaller and more manageable. And despite the annoyances of time lost and a mediocre museum, I was so happy just to do something different and have a little adventure. The Starbucks Caramel Noisette Latte was also super delicious with a blueberry muffin ;)

I was too wound up to sleep after a fun-filled day. First, I took some pictures of the Christmas lights in Rennes, which have officially been turned on! I found some people at bar Angélus, a classy wine place at the Mairie, and had a kir and conversation. Then, on the way home, I grabbed a kebab to nourish my tired body. It was a satisfying day.

Lights on Rue le Bastard, a shopping street behind my apartment.

Today's plan is to finish my music lesson for the week, write Christmas cards, and watch Into the Wild so I can return the dvd to the prof tomorrow. A hard life, I know ;)

A few more pictures are in my Winter album, link on the sidebar to the right!

LA NEIGE!

La neige is snow, some of which is drifting past my window at the moment :)

What a way to kick off December in Rennes! For a place where it never snows, according to Pierre-Antoine, we've had three flurries in the last week. I went running in the park this morning, and it was completely frosted! Pretty in some ways, but I sure miss the flowers...

I also took time to make up a soup with the stuff I had lying around--beef, chicken broth, potatos, spinach, italian seasoning. Somewhat bland, so I'm going to add tomato sauce when I warm up the leftovers. I just have so much time! I guess Wednesdays are my favorite days with this work schedule. Monday and Tuesday start so early, and then Wednesday I can sleep in, run, relax, have a leisurely lunch, and then head to work two decent classes from 3 to 5:30.

Speaking of class, on the texting lingo worksheet that I'm using this week there is an entry of "143." I had no idea what that meant, but Caitlin informed me that it is from a rap song and means "I love you"--the numbers stand for the letters in each word, 1 for I, 4 for L-O-V-E, and 3 for Y-O-U. Kind of cute, but the kids like to be smart and point out that it could stand for any words, including "I hate you!" Well, I just wanted to inform you all of a little cultural exchange; now you'll know what I mean when I say 143! I may have started a new trend in France of kids texting 143 to each other, or maybe they'll adapt it to French's "Je t'aime" and send 214 instead!

I'll get back to my Christmas music and decorating now. Ma sent me some of her trademark snowflakes for hanging in the window... :)

Thanksgiving dinner photos!

Hey! I forgot to take pictures myself, so I've stolen some Thanksgiving photos from Caely and put them in my Autumn album: click here!

I forgot to mention that Caitlin and I were the official turkey carvers! What an honor ;)

Caitlin and me carving!