I ate pig's foot last night

and meanwhile America was electrifying the world, voting in mobs to elect our new president Barack Obama. Given a choice between the two, I'd have to say I'd rather have been out there with everyone, standing in line, clustering in coffee shops for boisterous speculation and debate, taking advantage of all the free stuff - Ben and Jerry's, Krispy Kreme, Chipotle, tattoos, really? -then sitting at the dining table watching my blunt knife bounce off the gelatinous wad of pig parts on my plate. Out of the two, Obama's win of the presidency certainly left a better taste in my mouth.


Here's to America.

About the hiatus

Long time no post, I know. For almost 2 weeks now, my computer's been broken and waiting for maintenance at the one Apple boutique in Nantes. The whole computer isn't broken, thank goodness, it's only the keyboard that shorted out. But Apple, or rather this computer store that also carries Apple products, isn't as timely in their repairs as I would like. I should have my computer back next week at the latest

I hope.

The semester is now more than halfway over. I'm still alive. And I remember enough English to type this post. 4 weeks of courses, 1 week of exams, and then I'm home, just in time for Christmas.

And moreover, I'm smack dab in the middle of our vacation period! A 3-day weekend behind me and a 5-day weekend before. I have a couple of days in classes in between, which is a little bit odd, but I can't complain - I'm leaving for Rome Thursday night!

Here's to a swift reparation of my laptop. Then I'll be able to post the archive of photos that I've been building up and some notes of funny incidents here and there.

Taste-testing

One of my missions here has been to try every possible new food item I can get my hands on. I mean, who knows how delicious something could be if you never taste it? And happily, my efforts have proved fruitful. I have a new love.

It's called Gervita. Similar to yogurt, it's a whipped fromage blanc with a light, tart taste. My homestay family eats with sugar added in by the spoonful. Raw crunchy brown sugar is the best accompaniment, I've found. And of course, this treat is nowhere to be found in the U.S. I guess that means I have to eat as much of it as possible while I'm here... 

As for ice cream, France has not let me down with its selection of unusual flavors. Here's what I've been able to try so far.

In Vannes, I tried créole - the breton equivalent of rum raisin, I think. Good, but the raisins were a little cumbersome. Would've been better without the deluge of rain. Rating: 5 / 10

In St Malo, I had raspberry, tiramisu, and amour-de-glace. Amour-de-glace, the only new flavor, although not necessarily the most tasty, consisted of lots of caramel, praline, and deliciousness. All of the sun and the liveliness of the town helped make this an excellent selection. Rating: 9.6/10

Just outside of the gardens of château Villandry, I found the most eclectic collection of ice cream yet. Fruits and herbs, flowers and spices, normal flavors, too. Min Soo and I chose pamplemousse mélisse, coconut, and rose. I was intrigued at first by the pamplemousse mélisse because I just couldn't put my finger on the right word for the flavor. (Grapefruit and something tasting like thyme, maybe?) But the rose definitely tasted like soap right off the bat. After a few minutes the pamplemousse went that way, too. Maybe weirder isn't always better when it comes to ice cream. I fed the over-eager fish in the moat with what was left of the cone. They were grateful. Rating: 6.2/ 10

Any other foods any one suggests that I look for while I'm here? Frog legs are already on my list. I'm open to anything, almost.

Yes, this post wasn't about the châteaux or Munich. More on that later!

Catch up and Castles

So I've been busy lately -- surprise, surprise! I'm still lagging behind on sharing my Munich stories, but since I'm blogging between classes (and I still have so much to do today!), here's a brief post and some more pictures.

Point of interest #1

I went on an IES field trip this weekend to visit the Châteaux de la Loire. Five castles in less than two days, including Serrant, Azay-le-Rideau, Villandry, Amboise, and Chenonceau, all of them mostly magnificent. Those pictures can be found here.

Point of interest #2

Yesterday, I started my teaching internship at Chavagne Collège-Lycée, a private Catholic junior high and high school with kids from ages 11-18. I'll be teaching 4 classes of English Conversation every week, but rotate between a Week A and a Week B schedule - so that's 8 bunches of students in all. I'm so excited! Although most of the boys I'm teaching are a good foot and a half taller than me, the students aren't too intimidating. I'm almost disappointed that I have to wait a whole week before working with them again.

Point of interest #3

It was actually hot this weekend! Can you believe that?! It felt like home.

I hope to write again shortly,

Mimi

Flashbreak-- to Germany!

This past week has been crazy, so this morning is the first chance I've really had to update. Here's the rundown:

Tuesday night - Conversation Club (where local university students come to practice their English with us, and then help us practice our French. This time we ended up discussing French movies and frat parties.), then movie afterwards with friends and one of our teaching assistants. The good news is I got what was going on in the movie, even though some of the subtleties of conversation were definitely lost on me. A comédie dramatique with cool counterculture style and lots of teen angst.

Wednesday night - We were required to go to a conference at a prestigious business school in town (Audencia) for my French Grammar course. The topic: "Is a citizen no more than a consumer in today's society?" Comprehension level: 50%

Thursday night - Hung out with French people! Some guys that I had met at a soirée for international students invited me over to one of their appartments to listen music, talk, and make galettes. Comprehension level: 86%   Fun level: 98%

And then, after deciding on the spur of the moment the day before, on Friday morning, I got on the TGV to Paris with two friends, and then flew to Munich! This was the last weekend of Oktoberfest, so we went to Germany for 47 hours, and it was worth every last-minute penny.

More details on that trip later. But for now, you can see the pictures here:

Auf Geht's...Oktoberfest!  and  Oktoberfest Continued

Until then, tschüss!

Mimi

Photo Update!

This weekend I went on an IES-sponsored field trip to Mont St-Michel and St. Malo. Of course, the views were awe-inspiring, and I had a really fun time exploring with the other people here. Go here to see the pictures, or you can always take a look at my photo albums on the little bar to the left called 'Snapshots of My Semester'.

Mont St-Michel & St. Malo - Castle in the Sea

Other interesting facts about this trip:

  1) There were absolutely TONS of Japanese people there! I can't tell you how surprised and excited I was when I first bumped into a couple and overheard them babbling in my other favorite language. Of course, I had to play the nincompoop and try to talk to the various Japanese people in the street. I think they were even more surprised to find a "French" person speaking Japanese than I was to run into a horde of Japanese people in France.

But seriously, there were several tour bus-loads of them there. At one point, while I was trying to find somewhere to get lunch, I was stuck against the side of the street because of an oncoming parade of tourists, cameras and lanyards slung around their necks, all demurely bantering in Japanese. 

After a few minutes of excited bouncing while watching them pass, I couldn't resist any longer. The best exchange I had with them went like this:

"Excuse me but-- are you folks Japanese?"

Stunned expressions followed by, "W-why yes, we are."

"That's awesome!"

More stunned but now smiling faces. "Thank you so much!"

And then they were gone up the inclining road.

   2) I ate the biggest helping of ice cream on a cone ever.

And of course, I received plenty of scowls from the people on the street passing by me, which really seemed interpretable as, "Oh God, not another fat American. Do they ever know when to stop?" I'll admit, it was excessive. Four scoops. And one of those scoops was definitely 2 and 1/2 scoops, so you can see where that led to. 

I wasn't alone however. Connor, my partner in ice-crime (groan, I know), helped me demolish the beast with all speed. Raspberry, tiramisu, and amour de glace. Such deliciousness man may never set eyes upon again.

    3) I think I've eaten too many crêpes. 

Is that possible? Does anyone know?

   4) Within a couple of miles of the beach, there is only one store that sells bathing suits. And you have to know the secret password, 'cause they keep them in the back. Honestly. And even then, those bathing suits are "one size fits all", which I'm not at all sure is even possible. So come prepared when you go to the beach at St. Malo.

So yeah, that's about it. Beach plus ice cream plus friends plus blue skies equals: an unequalled day. As perfect as they come, really.

If you enjoy the pictures, leave me a comment and let me know!

Growing Pains

Studies show that we learn language best as young children. (Now, don't ask me which studies because I don't have any in particular in mind, but I could find one if need be.) Maybe it's a good thing then that lately, I've been feeling more and more like a child as I wander through the neighborhoods of Nantes.

When we're born, we don't know how to speak, how to ask for the things we need, how to interact, or where to use the bathroom. Some times it's the same way with me here.

I find myself consistently sticking out in some way or another. There's something I'm missing. Is it in my posture, my expression, the length of my pants? I don't know yet. But something about me, or maybe everything about me, makes me stick out as a foreigner.  

Today, in salsa class, I couldn't speak two sentences, without dance partner asking, "Where are you from?" or rather, "Where is your accent from?". I'll admit an accent's not that bad when it comes to charm and individuality, but at this point, I miss interacting with people who are interested in me, and not so much my country.

Back to the child part. Although I know the words, I'm beginning to find that my powers of French speaking aren't always too strong. Fear can weaken them, and anxiety. Both of which I've started to encounter in meeting French students and teachers alone. 

Take my jazz dance class the other night: after bumbling back and forth across the wooden dance floor for an hour and a half, I plucked up the nerve to talk to the instructor, who had poked fun at me and my apparently odd approach to jumping, after the session had ended. I stammered out an explanation of my foreignness and below-average understanding of French, and of course, the instructor laughed at me. Brazenly. When I asked her for information about the class, she laughed again and told me I was asking for something that was my responsibility to find out. Why would she give me any information or help whatsoever?, she said.

And back I went to the first grade, when I had knocked over a glass of apple juice, and the Sunday school teacher and class laughed with abandon at the puddle at my feet oh-so-resembling pee. Needless to say, I was pretty crushed.

There are so many social procedures and magic passwords that I have yet to learn. My homestay family is continually correcting the way I help them with chores. I don't dry my hands off fast enough. Or I don't cut the bread from the right side. Or I don't wrap the leftover cheese properly. Little, little things.

Yet when not done properly, a big red warning light goes off in the heads of all the natives: FOREIGNER.  BE CAREFUL.

So that's where I am right now. Baby steps. Lots and lots of baby steps. But that's the only way to learn, right?