Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was a good one for me this year, I hope for all of you too! Thursday I was in school all day and didn't even get to eat any turkey, but I did go to a meeting about my trip to the country of Turkey!  That counts as my share of Turkey for the day I guess.  That night I skyped with the whole clan-everyone who was at Great Grandma's house for lunch (7 hour time difference) and that was really cool.  When I got off the phone with them, it had started to snow!  It was perfect:  Thanksgiving day over, onward towards winter! 

Friday I had school, but I managed to enjoy black Friday a teeeny bit by going shopping in the afternoon with some friends.  It counts as black Friday, since it was morning in the US, right?  :)  Speaking of school friends, everyone was fascinated and greatly amused by the tradition of the US president pardonning a turkey. 

Saturday was a long day.  I got up early to go ice skating with friends, but the rink ended up being closed.  We walked around in the snowyness for a while and got hot chocolate instead.  That afternoon, from after lunch until around 6 or 7 at night, I cooked and cooked..  Some of the time was spent on the phone coordinating the arrival of the stuffing for the turkey though, which was stressful.. Long story!  Anyways, in the course of the afternoon I made eggplant casserole, homemade (actual pumpkin, not from a can!) pumpkin pie and homemade rolls.  That evening I went with my hostfamily to an exposition (exhibit hall with vendors) on.. food!  Specialty food, like fancy wines, cheeses, desserts, spices, etc.  When we came home, I stuffed the turkey which was much less complicated in the end than anyone expected.  The big surprise was when I took the turkey out of the fridge, not having seen it yet, and.. a turkey head was staring back at me!  Definitely didn't see that one coming.  Imagine, if you will.. a turkey, ready to go in the pan.. with it's head.  According to my host mom (who cut the poor turkey's head off before cooking it), the head is a mark of freshness of the turkey we bought. Hmm.

The next morning, spent lots of time in the kitchen again-doubled the recipe of the eggplant since it's generally loved by all here (here that, those who believe eggplant causes deadly diseases??)  and made mashed potatoes, which took a very long time to peel and then mash.  Let's just say we might have overestimated the necessary amount of potates purée that the French would want when confronted with all the other Thanksgiving stuff!  Set the table, cleaned up, and the moment arrived!

My American friend and her host mom were the first to arrive, and my host mom had to help her with her vegetables that didn't cook right.  She brought sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar stuff, and brussel sprouts in addition to making the stuffing.  Then came the other family who ate with us: parents and 2 kids.  We had an apéro, which is a sort of snack before the meal that's basically the first course, but around a different table and much less formal, while being more formal than the carrots we munch on before big meals in the US.  After a long apéro, we ate!  It was good; the hard work paid off! 

Thanksgiving was a good one, and I'm glad I got to share it with my host family and friends.  There's a good bit of leftovers, which is part of the tradition.  The whole weekend was definitely very educational for everyone involved, me included!

November - 3 Month mark!

Wow.. In finding a title for this post I realized it's been nearly 3 months.  I had to open a calendar and check to make sure, and sure enough, Thursday is my 3 month mark.  Wow.  Does it seem that long for you guys?  Or that short, depending on your perspective?  Three months.  Unreal.  That means I have seven left..  Here's what's coming up the next 7 months:  Around December 18th (a few weeks from now) Christmas break starts, and we go to Paris and then to visit host family's family for Christmas.  By New Year's we'll be back in town.  A few weeks later I'll have my 'half-way' orientation with the other exchange students.  A month later, I go to Turkey on a school trip :D  and then there will be a 2 week school vacation, leading into March.. then another 2 weeks of vacation in April.. and after June, I come home.  Not bad, huh?

Anyways, let's see.. what are some things that I've done this month?  I've been reading a lot, and watching TV slightly more than before the vacation because somehow, I can understand a lot lot more!  I've been to church, to cafés with people (very French, right?), cooking with friends and with my host family, and generally staying busy.  Friday night I went to the theater (the live kind) to see two plays by George Feydeau.  The actors spoke really fast (like Robby racing fast!) so I didn't really understand all that much, just the main idea of what was happening, but it was still cool.  Last weekend I bought some boots, so now I'm slightly less of an unstylish American alternating between Ugg boots and tennis shoes every day for school!  It's also handy because it's been raining a lot, so the boots are much more practical.  It still hasn't snowed here yet, though!  Today it was nice so this afternoon we went for a long walk in the mountain area.  It was nice!

That's all for now, sorry if I'm all over the place with my writing!

Edited to add:  If anyone wants to send me anything by mail, the address should have my host family's name in the top line ("Chez Mr. et Me. LAST NAME first name) Otherwise it might not get to me or get sent back to you!  If you don't know the name, you can email me or ask my mom..  :) 

Corisica Vacation

Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed the vacation.. oh wait, you're probably in the US, where there is not a ten day vacation at the end of October! Sorry to rub it in.. Anyways, yes, the French get a week and a half of vacation at this time of the year. It was great! I spent the vacation in Corsica, a French island south of France, with my host family.  In Corsica, we visited little towns, the coast (beaches and also giant rocks) and also spent some time relaxing.. playing Mario Kart on the Wii, playing Rummikub or cards, reading, etc.  The weather was mostly really good, but it rained a few of the days.  It was really pretty there, but I won't waste time trying to describe it.. here's some pictures!

The middle of Corsica

In the North, near where we stayed

There were lots of towns with fortresses (citadels) like that.

Giant rocks.. pretty and fun to walk on!

In the South



On the way home in France, pretty fall colors!



Grève!

Since last week, there's been a huge stike (grève) in the whole country of France.  It's about the retirement/social security reform.. The government's changing the retirement age from 60 to 62, and people are just not happy at all.  The manisfestations (demonstrations, basically) are not every day, but there's been about 3 or 4 of them.  Here's what happens:  the bus system is all out of whack, as in less buses than usual and at random times.  Also, there's a big march/parade in the afternoon through downtown, with people yelling things and carrying signs and all.  Other consequences of the strike: the Cité des Arts where I take an art class on Friday evenings is closed, the city library is closed (both of which annoy me very much!) and there's a higher likelihood of vandalism and general craziness in town.  For example, today when I was coming home from school, I had to avoid the staute of elephants (right in the center of downtown pretty much) because there were people all over and we could smell the remains of some gas, I think tear gas, in that area.  Don't worry everyone, I was safe and all!  I was with a boy from my class, and we avoided the big mess.  Also, I go to a pretty boring private schoo:  In front of the public schools, there are riots a lot during the strike, where the kids use the strike as an excuse to light trash on fire in the street, and generally do bad things.  There's police teams with helmets and shields!  Public school teachers also go on strike, so they don't have school usually when this is going on.  Remember though:  that's not where I go to school, it's a ways away.  In my school, we don't even hear the parade when the manifestation starts.  Pretty peaceful, as far as high schools go.  

Hope everyone had a good homecoming week/is enjoying the football season!
 

Eggplant!

Hello!  I just had to pop in and let the world know.. I made eggplant casserole last night!  With my American measuring cups that I got in my package!  They measure things in grams or liters here..  But anyways, I made eggplant casserole!  I know my family at least is appreciating this fact..  It turned out good, not exactly like normal (a different cheese), but good.  It only cooked about 20 minutes in our oven.  And between 6 people, (host grandparents are visiting) we ate the whole thing!  They liked it. 

In equally exciting (but in a different way) news, last weekend I had a YFU weekend with the other exchange students in this region.  It was really great to see everyone again!  We spent most of the time just talking to each other, which I liked.  We were there Saturday overnight til Sunday, and Sunday we ate the desserts with our lunch-everyone had brought a dessert from their home country.  I brought scotcheroos!  The desserts were so good, but I think everyone ate too much.. too much sugar, but sooo good!

St. Gervais and the Markets

Hello everyone!  It's been a busy week.  Last Thursday through Friday I went to St. Gervais with my class for a philosophy seminar.  The guest philosophy speaker was probably really intellectual about philosophy, but I hardly understood anything he said.  It was a good time to be with my classmates though and get to know people better.  We also saw some cool Baroque churches from the 1700s and a newer church that was full of artsy stuff.  I gave an oral report about the history of stained glass, which I think people understood.  St. Gervais is known for being really close to Mont Blanc, which is the highest mountain in Europe and covered in snow all year.  Blanc=white, it's very logical!  So anyways we got to see the really pretty mountain.  We also visited a place where 'sisters' (the religious kind) live and people can go there to relax, go to religious sessions led by the sisters, etc.  We had a few hours of Q&A with the sisters about their beliefs and life, then ate supper.  Supper was really good, and lots of food!  First course was a soup, like chicken noodle but without chicken or noodles.  That leaves basically broth and veggies.  Next we had spaghetti and lettuce salad, which was awesome.  Spaghetti, I missed you!  Then we had cheese or yogurt, then a fruit mix (like fruity applesauce).  It was delicious!
 
Last weekend, I went to two markets: the normal one on Saturday morning to buy fruit, veggies, cheese, and meat; and the Braderie to buy..anything!  The market was cool to see all the different types of fresh food-very cultural as well!  The Braderie was awesome.  Think of it like a high class flea market that happens twice a year, that is with actually good, new things that you would want to buy, all over downtown.  We're talking about LOTS of vendors!  Clothes, purses, shoes, books, jewelery, makeup, pretty much anything, and for a good price.  I got some clothes :)  And there was lots of cool food too.  There's 'barbe à papa', which means Dad's Beard, which is..cotton candy! I had a kebab, which in French means a bread shell filled with rotisseried meat mixed with onions or something.  It was pretty good but hard to eat! 
 
Au revoir!

Continued!

Bet you didn't think there'd be pictures, huh?  Well, here they are!  These go with the post before this one.

Who new that the sound of the mountain was actually cowbells??

That's my city, obviously.  And it was a game day, obviously!



This is that spinning bouncy house thing at the fair.