So, apologies as always, its been a month since my last post. With exams last week and saying good bye to all the fall semester students, I barely noticed how fast time flew by. Now it's Christmas, and I'm left scratching my head wondering where December went.
I guess I should do a quick recap of this past month:
1. Waffle houses. I wanted to do some festive holiday things with the kids in my host family, since I love Christmas and everything. I thought to myself, well gingerbread houses, thats a GREAT idea. Upon quickly realizing I would have to make gingerbread myself and after having messed up plain old sugar cookies (they turned into a giant mass of melted butter in the oven...), I changed my idea to graham cracker houses. Oh wait, small issue, they don't have graham crackers in France.....
Some fast problem solving at the supermarché led to Leah and I buying lots and lots of waffles and lots and lots of candy. The kids all invited some friends over and they got to make their own creations, and eat lots of sugar. The Gingerbread houses à la française weren't quite as pretty as the ones we make at home, but they definitely had their charm. Most impressive was Louis' friend Guillaume who managed to eat 6 waffles.
2. SNOW!!!!!!!!! It snowed for the first time in 3 years here in Rennes, all 2 inches worth. I'd like to say it was all because of me, I brought it from Wisconsin, but who knows. All I know is that it was wonderful! Agathe woke me up last Friday and said, "Hurry and see the snow before it melts!" I helped Agathe make her very first ever snowman, a slightly crooked, cute little guy with almonds for eyes. Sadly, he toppled shortly after. France in general is not well equipped for snow, and even though with my Wisconsin vision, it looked like nothing, French people all over were terrified. The buses stopped running, schools closed, people walked hesitantly on the sidewalks, bundled up for the frozen tundra. Par contre, Leah and I made snowballs. The next day, Leah, Lucile, and I had great big snowfight. Lucile really loves the snow, and she keeps telling me she wants to come to Wisconsin to see all of it.
3. Haircut! Nothing much to say, I went and got my haircut at Stephanie's host dad's salon. I was really scared because I didn't know any of the vocab and I didn't want to end up with a super short bob/faux hawk haircut and purple highlights or something. Thankfully, Steph's père was great, and he gave me a good haircut with bangs (!). He cut Leah's hair the other day and she loved it too. We survived our first French haircuts!
4. CIREFE end of the year party/Depart of the semester. So, last week was a pretty chaotic time. It was the last week of classes, which meant everyone headed home before Christmas. CIREFE (the university) held a big end of the year party at a discothèque. It was a lot of fun, very eventful (people got kicked out!). But, most importantly, Leah, Larissa, and I sandwiched Daniel Audaz, our program director (Madison alum, and possibly the cutest Frenchman on the planet). On Thursday, a bunch of us went out for last galettes at Creperie St. Anne, which were delicious, and then went to O'Connell's Irish Pub to say goodbye to all the people who were leaving. It turned into a giant American dance party, and we got free Guiness shirts and man thongs (hey, it was a Christmas party after all). It was a lot of fun, and a good way to say goodbye to all the CIEE kids. Its weird to think that most of my friends here are back in the states. Saddest of all was saying bye to Larissa. Friday night her family had Leah, Yoann, and I over for a dinner of raclette and afterwards we helped pack her stuff. Well, Leah packed her stuff, Larissa and I pretended to help. The next morning (as in 6:30 am...), the four of us, plus Larissa's host parents walked her and her heavy suitcases to the train station. Georges (her père) insisted on walking because of icy roads (obviously George has never been to WI). It was a quick, unorganized goodbye at the gare due to frozen doors on the train. She ended up having a lot of travel problems (snow in Paris) but is now safely back in the US! Leah and I are a little lost without her :(
5. Wine with Guillaume Marbot. For our last class of civilisation, our professor taught us how to taste wine. So, at 10:30am, we all had a little wine and discussed its many fine qualities with my favorite Frenchy ever, Guillaume Marbot. I learned that you should open red wine at least half an hour before you drink it, and that the more alcoholic a wine is, the more larmes it leaves on the glass when you swirl it. He scoffed at Sarkozy and Mitterand, who, as he told us, don't drink wine. "A French president who doesn't like wine?!?!?" ....I love this man. I actually did learn a lot from this dégustation, and the wine he picked was delicious. After the class, he let us take the left over wine, so, thanks to Monsieur Marbot, I have wine in my closet. Only in France.
Other honorable mentions: the mairie all lit up with a Christmas spectacle, chichis from the Christmas market, almost having a heart attack before my arhitecture oral exam and then somehow surviving, trying to call the French government and no one answering..., endless episodes of How I Met Your Mother, helping Sophie out with the inventory at the pharmacy, movie night at Yoann's consisting of white russians made with bailey's and Elf dubbed over in French, helping Lucile leave out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer....
Christmas deserves its own paragraph. The most obvious differences between the holiday here and in the US is the lack of decorations (at least for me). You walk around the neighboorhoods and no one has lights up outside. Most homes have a tree and a manger set, but thats about it. Not too many put lights all over the outside of their houses, or put up endless amounts of decorations on the inside. There is also a distinct lack of singing. They don't have very many songs for Noël. No Frosty, no Rudolph, no Rockin Around the Christmas Tree. While the Christmas Market and the lights in town do add to the festiveness, its a little hard to feel like its really Christmas. To help celebrate, Hugue's parents came over. In comparison with my family in the states, it was a lot more tame. No buffet style munchies, no cousins and aunts and uncles. It was weird to not be with everyone back home and to not have snow. At first, when I woke up, I was kinda sad about it all, and I wasn't sure I was going to have a good day. Luckily the day was full of things to do, so it kept my mind off all the people I miss.
Last night, we all placed our shoes under the tree, and this morning we found chocolate stuffed inside them and little piles of presents. I will say, at least in my host family, there were a lot less presents than back home. I guess it proves the whole "US = consume consume consume EXCESS!" idea. For example, Agathe got pens and a board game. She seemed a little disappointed nonetheless...Lucile was so happy with Père Noël's present of a barbie camera, she pretty much forgot the rest of her loot. Lunch was very structured, multiple courses, Agathe had planned entertainment in between. I ate foie gras for the first time, and I actually liked it, even though I felt bad for the little geese. We also ate fish, which they told me isn't typical. In France, its usually a turkey for Christmas. Agathe made a bûche de noël that was AWESOME! In between the main course and dessert, the kids put on a little Christmas spectacle. Agathe read a story out loud, and I helped Louis and Lucile make the sound effects. I think everyone liked it :)
Lunch took a good 3 hours, and afterwards all I wanted to do was sleep. I took a skype break and talked to my Mom. After that, I went back up and joined the family for a stressful game of Jenga. I forgot how nerve wracking that game can be. Hugue's dad is this funny little old man who is super interested in English pronunciations. He asked me to repeat the name Julia Roberts at least five times so he could try and get it right. Jooola Bovers. Jula Roset. He just couldn't get it. Dan Rather was a toughy too. The French and those darn -th- sounds.
I'll try and get some pics up on this tomorrow.
Now its after midnight and I am going to try and watch a little bit of "A Christmas Story" online before I head to sleep, visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. I hope everyone back home had a wonderful Christmas, full of family and food. Joyeux Noël!
Love lots,
Katie
