Weekend

I made it through my long class day by doing the Valentine's lesson and asking the ice breaker questions--both activities the kids enjoy while they end up saying really funny things!

Caitlin and her friend Angela came to Rennes last night, and we had a delicious dinner at the Crêperie Ste Mélaine, which is the best in town, or so I hear. I believe it after tasting organic cider, a vegetarian galette, and a crepe with chocolate, coconut flakes, and coconut ice cream... Yum! We lingered there for over two hours--a perfect French evening. To cap off the night, we watched the Johnny Depp version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but the other two fell asleep within the first hour, so I'll have to finish it today.

Why did we go to bed before midnight on a Friday? Because we got up at 8am to visit the market! Well, it actually took us about an hour and a half to get up and drink coffee before we left... So at 9:30ish, we braved the drizzle to go shopping. Other times that I've visited the market, I've waited until 11ish, so the streets are packed with people. At nine and under a grey sky, there wasn't a crowd and I really enjoyed it! Angela was looking for Breton caramel, so we found some at a bakery stall. I spotted mini-muffins and had to have some--pistachio, caramel, chocolate, chocolate chip, and nut!

After that, I gave my usual walking tour of the old city, and we ended up at my place around 11. They just left to catch a bus to Mont St Michel for the afternoon, and I cooked myself lunch and got back into bed to finish the movie. I'm still sleepy from three mornings of getting up in the 8 o'clock hour--how am I going to readjust to having real classes or a real job?! France time is ruining me! Lol.

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^^

DISASTER!

After an extremely pleasant and relaxing Sunday with a delicious galette and crepe dinner, disaster struck my new home! I was in the shower when someone started banging on the apartment door. I had to answer it in a towel without my glasses on, so I couldn’t even see his face! It was the downstairs neighbor saying that my shower was leaking into his kitchen.

Luckily, Pierre-Antoine was over, so he talked to the neighbors while I got dressed. We went down and saw the damage—water was definitely coming from their ceiling and going across the counter. They said that it had never happened before but that the apartment had been empty for awhile so perhaps a pipe joint had come loose in that time.

It was late on a Sunday night, so I couldn’t do anything… First thing this morning I went to the agency for help. The woman called the owner (who lives in Andorra) and told him the problem. She gave him my number, so now I am just waiting for news or instructions or whatever. I suppose I should stay put in case a plumber is coming.

This is all very annoying! Luckily, Monday is my day off to take care of this… How lovely.

Evenings out and grad school applications done

Saturday evening was pleasant. In a group of about 15 English and Spanish assistants, I ate at Place Sainte Anne in the unusually warm evening. Crêpes and wine and meeting new people while getting to know “old” (meaning I’ve met them at least once before) people better. We then went to a nearby bar that has a laundromat in it—I guess that’s a good idea, but it was a funny setting for hanging out. More assistants joined us there, and we took up basically the entire patio. I kind of got stuck in an awkward corner so it was hard to follow conversations and such… I was also sleepy from the wine. I left before 11 to head back to the apartment.

None of the roommates were in, so I listened to my iTunes and found some college friends on facebook to catch up with, Lin Lin and Daniel. After they had to go study or eat dinner or whatever, I watched an episode of ER and finally made myself go to sleep.

Sunday morning I slept late, but then became very productive! I submitted one graduate school application to American University, and I finished the rest except for inputting the name of one recommender that I am waiting to hear from. I am applying to MA International Affairs/Relations/Studies programs at American, George Washington University, University of Chicago, and University of Denver for next year. Depending on which school I go to, I will be doing either US Foreign Policy or African studies! Hopefully, all four applications will be submitted in this next week, and I can stop fretting over it.

After that, I started working on a powerpoint about Tennessee and Knoxville to present to my students when I start my classes. If any of you have lesson plan ideas, please send them my way! I’m planning on covering holidays, the school system, music, anything I think of!

I’ve hit a block in working, so I’m going to take a break now. Sundays in France are so boring! No stores are open, not even grocery stores! Just some cafés and restaurants, but I don't want to spend money to be alone at them. Luckily, PA will be back from his Normandy trip at 7:30 tonight. And I don’t have work until Tuesday at 12:30, can you believe it? I need to find some hobbies, like a yoga studio, ASAP! Or if I had my apartment, I could be working on setting it up.

All in good time...

Solutions

Phew! What a nail-biting weekend!

I would like to announce to you all that I once again have a home! I found a financial guarantor, and I will most likely get my keys by this weekend. The next challenge is buying a bed and getting it there… :/ Pictures ASAP! And visitors ALWAYS welcome!

This weekend was fun, showing Deepa around town in the constant rain of Brittany. We ate a lot of crepes and shopped. Last night we met Seth, Georgia (an assistant from London), Nicholas (asst. from NC), Megan (an au pair from Ohio), and Jackie (a Spanish asst. from Guatemala) for bar-hopping! Cool people, fun times! Possible yoga buddies if we can find a good studio in town.

Deepa just left to return to Rouen, and I’m waiting for PA to come back from Vitré—his basketball team won again against Fougères Saturday night! Tomorrow is my orientation day with all the assistants of all languages in this department of Ille-et-Vilaine (like a county). Then, I go into work at my school on Tuesday!

Crêpes, galettes and cider--recipe incuded!

Everyone knows crêpes as the delicious, thin sweet pancakes you can put fruit, chocolate, or anything in! They originate from this region of Brittany, so there are a ton of crêperies (crêpe restaurants) here—on every street and sometimes right next to each other. Their savory counterpart is the galette made with buckwheat flour and filled with ham, cheese, egg, salad, any vegetable or meat really. They are soooo good!

Example of a basic galette with ham, egg, and cheese.

Here is an authentic French crêpe recipe to try! (This is the one I use, so you know it’ll be good!)

2 cups flour
½ t salt
2 T oil
1 cup milk
1 cup water
3 eggs
3 T sugar

-Put the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center.
-Add half the liquid in the center, and slowly stir from the center out to avoid making lumps.
-When the liquid is well-incorporated, stir vigorously for a few minutes, preferably with an electric mixer.
-Add the beaten eggs, salt and sugar and mix well.
-Add the oil and the rest of the liquid, stirring all the time.
-Leave the batter to rest for at least a half hour.
-To cook, butter a skillet at medium heat and pour a thin layer over the pan. They should NOT be so thick that you have to flip them—crêpes cook all the way through on one side.
-Top with butter and sugar, melted chocolate, banana, ice cream, whipped cream, caramel, or whatever you can dream up!

The traditional drink to accompagny a galette-crêpe meal is hard cider served in a bowl. Both dry (brut) and sweet (doux), cider is made all over Brittany and Normandy.

Ces soirées-là (Oh What a Night)

Yesterday, PA went to Vitré for his basketball practice/game this weekend, and I stayed in Rennes to organize a soirée of assistants! Using facebook and texts on the phone I had just purchased, I invited everyone to meet at Place Sainte-Anne at 7. Five of us dined at Creperie Ste-Anne, and a sixth met us afterwards. We roamed the streets in search of a bar, and we even sampled some light French beer at the one we chose. Three people left by 11, so us three leftover night owls found a hookah bar to chat some more. I was home by 12:30 so that I wouldn’t miss the metro closing for the night at 12:45. The newbies I met were Katherine of Chicago, Caely of California, and Seth of DC/Montreal. Of course, we had to exchange basic info on our first meeting, but hopefully our conversations will warm up soon :)

I think I’m still rather stressed out here in general… Just having to deal in French. Like this morning I had to go to a laundromat where I had to decipher the machines and systems just to get my laundry done. I ended up jamming the payment machine with a 5 euro bill (which was recovered by a woman half an hour later who gave it back to me) and had to go to the Subway next door to beg for coins to use. I eventually asked some guys for help on how everything worked and that solved my problems.

I really do need to get better about using my French confidently and asking for help from strangers. One of the other assistants stopped to ask a woman for directions on the street yesterday and ended up with an apartment at a good price! Lucky break!

Today, I looked at more apartment announcements, but since it is the weekend, I cannot really contact anyone. I found a PERFECT place that the individual was selling herself (as opposed to an agency), so I did try to call and email her. I hope I can get it because it is gorgeous, furnished, and in a perfect location! *fingers crossed*

I was just invited to crepes for dinner made by Alexandre, but I am headed downtown again tonight after organizing another assistants’ night out via a massive facebook and text recruiting campaign. I have one confirmed for dinner, and three interested in drinks afterwards. I hope to convince everyone to go to O’Connells for Irish beer—oh, Smithicks/Kilkenny, how I miss you!

Until tomorrow my faithful followers!