im just gonna put it out there: we FINALLY had a sunday that was so much fun, we didnt even realize it was sunday! yessss. long story short, this past weekend was "de ferme en ferme" - a program where farms in the Drome were open to the public with special activities and tours and product sampling and all that fin stuff. olivier, part of jessika's group of french friends that ive adopted, proposed going out to a few farms to check it out; the plan was to meet in town at 11am and hit up about 3 farms. of course french time is not always tres punctual, so we actually all rendez'ed vers 11:30 instead (me, mandy, jess, olivier, pierre, claire, and alex), loaded into 2 cars, and headed in the direction of Soau (sp?)/Crest, where we were going to have lunch first.
well we were nearly to Crest, singing and goofing around in alex's car, when pierre pulled over to pass along the message that the restaurant we'd be heading to was already fully reserved for the lunch hour. So we just drove to Crest to find something fast...riiiiight. lunch at a pizza place, after tromping around most of the town looking for something that was open, took almost 3 hours. but it was sunny and hot, so we got nice and pink and it was all good. however, after the lunch ordeal (the waiter was a real jerkface), we were too fatigued to do a bunch of farms. claire leafed through the program and noticed that there was an ostrich farm on the ride back to valence. yes my friends, ostriches. why the heck not? so we did that, learned about the elevage of these magnificent birds (FYI one ostrich egg = 24 reg eggs. grOSS), hung out in the campagne, then returned to valence. coffees at the PK to recharge and chat about maybe going to the beach once im back from istanbul, then off to a RUGBY GAME (bourg les valence v someone, dunno who) with pierre, olivier, another of pierre's friends, and the girls. i mean, suddenly it was 8pm and we were like dang! what a good day! sunburns, ostriches, rugby, french guys wearing man capris...all love
lundi 28 avril 2008
mercredi 23 avril 2008
taking it back to where it all began
got to play valence's finest tour guide yet again last week: my dad and bonne maman (g.parental) popped over to this side of the pond for a few days, and dad put it in his head that a visit to the bustling metropolis of valence was incontournable. Thus last monday i showed dad around my town - tasse (closed, bc mondays are almost as sad as sundays here), some church, shopping, the ardeche, etc. c'est a dire, pas grande chose. we had lunch at cafe victor hugo (awesome salads) and dinner with mandy at a creperie near the gym.
the next morning dad and i hopped the tgv - such vitesse, these trains! - up to paris. we stayed near the bastille...i hadnt really thought of the repercussions of staying in a neighborhood packed densely with bars, but we were able to sleep (relatively) well..eventually. regardless, we were in PARIS still all love on my part. we totally lucked out with the weather, it was sunshine all over the place and fairly warm, too. tuesday i successfully got us lost in the marais looking for this falafel place; after a solid 45minutes of wandering, i was forced to reconcile myself to the sad fact that my sense of direction in paris,after 3 years, has lost a bit of its edge. sad day. in any event, we wandered towards the centre popmpidou to get our modern art on, but of course it was closed on tuesdays. mince! so we grabbed crepes (sorry replacement for falafel, but pas mal quand meme.) and just spent the afternoon wandering around. my ideal afternoon, frankly. we had a dinner date with laurent and marie-astride david (fran's son) and their kids, Valentin, Alexandre and Capucin (sp?) out in the 'burbs, so we took the transilien train out to meet them at the end of the afternoon. they have an amaaaaazing house: luminous, surrounded by gnarly trees, sweet bright decorations, an enclosed patio where we ate...family dinner #1 down, soo many more to go, but it was a lot of fun.
wednesday we tried again to go to the museum. again we were defeated: after waiting in line for 20 minutes, there was an announcement that levels 4 &5 - aka permanent collection - were closed until further notice. so we moved outta there, grabbed a tea to go (ahhhhhhh), and decided to train it out to versailles to profite from the sun and loveliness. since ive toured the chateau before, i was content to wander the gardens, and dad wasnt terribly pro braving the ticket lines, so we just strolled about the town and along the gardens and the canal on the chateau grounds. i mean, the gardens are impressive on their own, what with the sculptures par tout and the intricately pruned shrubbery. intense. that evening we met antoine (of antoine and benedicte, marc, and maxime, dominique's daughter)at La Defense, a cold, soulless place where paris relegated all its modern buildings. first time ive been out there and i dont think ill make a point to go there again...in any event, dinner was tres fun once again. dom and francoise were there as well - i loooove these kids, they were so welcoming when i studied in paris and let me crash at theirs the summer i came over to talk to the fam for my capstone. whereas the night before my veggie habitudes caused a bit of a ruckus (marie astride was mortified that i just ate potatoes, cheese, salad, and dessert. clearly that was more than enough anyway!), the doms know tres bien about how i eat and they had veggie burgers waiting for me! ohh lovely day. we laughed a lot, as antoine practiced his english (where is brian??) and dom recounted tales of being arrested while roadtripping in the US.
thursday = third time's the charm = FINALLY got our culture on. thank goodness. i love pompidou. then we moved on out, up to le havre, where bonne maman had been chilling with her sibs. she was radiant, truly. i have to admit, i was a little nervous about seeing her for the first time since she got out of the hospital, but she looked like the trip was doing her good. i love spending time with my relatives over here - they are honestly some of the nicest people i know - and it was doubly awesome to see my grandma with them, too. and the french just flowed out of my mouth like it was nothing! i think dad got a little fatigued from the sudden language shift, but he def held his own throughout, and i was happy with myself that i kept it going from sunrise to sunset, you know, since most of my ppl in valence are parler-ing the (fr)anglais.
for our last evening in le havre, friday, dad and jean had collaborated to throw a cocktail party with all the david kids (minus dom and francoise) and laville cousins, as well as vero (dad's cousin) charlotte (dad's cousin nicolas' daughter, my age)...so we ran errands all morning, ate lunch chez vero with christophe, heloise and abel, then spent the afternoon prepping hors d'oeuvres and whatnot. i was in charge of veggies, grapes, hummus, olives...miam...the soiree porte-ouverte was super fun. there were 20-some attendees, the majority whom i didnt know. i mean, we're talking cousins that even my grandma hadnt seen in 15-some-odd years, so there was a lot of introductions, explanations of what im doing here, all that fun stuff. super hardcore french time. im quite glad that i was able to make it up to visit the fam in le havre with my dad and grandma, and it was a great experience to meet a bunch of random, outlying family members, too. by 21h most of the guests had left and jean's house was quiet once again. his cleaning lady had stayed on late to help serve food (she used to have a restaurant, so she's used to catering the party scene), so we helped her clean up, then sat around with mugs of tea and rehashed the night for a while, before retiring to our rooms. my train left le havre for paris at noon the following day, and then i changed gares and continued onto valence in FIRST CLASS (yaaay waiting til the derniere minute pour acheter les billets..ouch!).
voila les vacances!
the next morning dad and i hopped the tgv - such vitesse, these trains! - up to paris. we stayed near the bastille...i hadnt really thought of the repercussions of staying in a neighborhood packed densely with bars, but we were able to sleep (relatively) well..eventually. regardless, we were in PARIS still all love on my part. we totally lucked out with the weather, it was sunshine all over the place and fairly warm, too. tuesday i successfully got us lost in the marais looking for this falafel place; after a solid 45minutes of wandering, i was forced to reconcile myself to the sad fact that my sense of direction in paris,after 3 years, has lost a bit of its edge. sad day. in any event, we wandered towards the centre popmpidou to get our modern art on, but of course it was closed on tuesdays. mince! so we grabbed crepes (sorry replacement for falafel, but pas mal quand meme.) and just spent the afternoon wandering around. my ideal afternoon, frankly. we had a dinner date with laurent and marie-astride david (fran's son) and their kids, Valentin, Alexandre and Capucin (sp?) out in the 'burbs, so we took the transilien train out to meet them at the end of the afternoon. they have an amaaaaazing house: luminous, surrounded by gnarly trees, sweet bright decorations, an enclosed patio where we ate...family dinner #1 down, soo many more to go, but it was a lot of fun.
wednesday we tried again to go to the museum. again we were defeated: after waiting in line for 20 minutes, there was an announcement that levels 4 &5 - aka permanent collection - were closed until further notice. so we moved outta there, grabbed a tea to go (ahhhhhhh), and decided to train it out to versailles to profite from the sun and loveliness. since ive toured the chateau before, i was content to wander the gardens, and dad wasnt terribly pro braving the ticket lines, so we just strolled about the town and along the gardens and the canal on the chateau grounds. i mean, the gardens are impressive on their own, what with the sculptures par tout and the intricately pruned shrubbery. intense. that evening we met antoine (of antoine and benedicte, marc, and maxime, dominique's daughter)at La Defense, a cold, soulless place where paris relegated all its modern buildings. first time ive been out there and i dont think ill make a point to go there again...in any event, dinner was tres fun once again. dom and francoise were there as well - i loooove these kids, they were so welcoming when i studied in paris and let me crash at theirs the summer i came over to talk to the fam for my capstone. whereas the night before my veggie habitudes caused a bit of a ruckus (marie astride was mortified that i just ate potatoes, cheese, salad, and dessert. clearly that was more than enough anyway!), the doms know tres bien about how i eat and they had veggie burgers waiting for me! ohh lovely day. we laughed a lot, as antoine practiced his english (where is brian??) and dom recounted tales of being arrested while roadtripping in the US.
thursday = third time's the charm = FINALLY got our culture on. thank goodness. i love pompidou. then we moved on out, up to le havre, where bonne maman had been chilling with her sibs. she was radiant, truly. i have to admit, i was a little nervous about seeing her for the first time since she got out of the hospital, but she looked like the trip was doing her good. i love spending time with my relatives over here - they are honestly some of the nicest people i know - and it was doubly awesome to see my grandma with them, too. and the french just flowed out of my mouth like it was nothing! i think dad got a little fatigued from the sudden language shift, but he def held his own throughout, and i was happy with myself that i kept it going from sunrise to sunset, you know, since most of my ppl in valence are parler-ing the (fr)anglais.
for our last evening in le havre, friday, dad and jean had collaborated to throw a cocktail party with all the david kids (minus dom and francoise) and laville cousins, as well as vero (dad's cousin) charlotte (dad's cousin nicolas' daughter, my age)...so we ran errands all morning, ate lunch chez vero with christophe, heloise and abel, then spent the afternoon prepping hors d'oeuvres and whatnot. i was in charge of veggies, grapes, hummus, olives...miam...the soiree porte-ouverte was super fun. there were 20-some attendees, the majority whom i didnt know. i mean, we're talking cousins that even my grandma hadnt seen in 15-some-odd years, so there was a lot of introductions, explanations of what im doing here, all that fun stuff. super hardcore french time. im quite glad that i was able to make it up to visit the fam in le havre with my dad and grandma, and it was a great experience to meet a bunch of random, outlying family members, too. by 21h most of the guests had left and jean's house was quiet once again. his cleaning lady had stayed on late to help serve food (she used to have a restaurant, so she's used to catering the party scene), so we helped her clean up, then sat around with mugs of tea and rehashed the night for a while, before retiring to our rooms. my train left le havre for paris at noon the following day, and then i changed gares and continued onto valence in FIRST CLASS (yaaay waiting til the derniere minute pour acheter les billets..ouch!).
voila les vacances!
vendredi 11 avril 2008
our lives as assistants in moving pictures
Ryan, my ex-boss from modern times, sent me this months ago. im sure he had no idea that it would be the best thing in our lives. basically all year we've pranced around valence (and france in general) singing this song and every time we say "voila" it's followed by "mon passeport" under our breath...
apparently in france people learn english with this "where is brian" sketch. or at least they did back in the day, bc ive never heard any of my kids reference it, although that might just be bc theyre too dense to know whats going on ever. anywho, a bunch of the frenchies we know who are at least our age reference this sketch when they hear us speaking english...it's pretty much the best clip ever, and soo wonderful that we found it the other night. this french teaching story just feels so properly circular now.
Foux Fa Fa aka BEST THING EVER
Where is Brian?
***
apparently in france people learn english with this "where is brian" sketch. or at least they did back in the day, bc ive never heard any of my kids reference it, although that might just be bc theyre too dense to know whats going on ever. anywho, a bunch of the frenchies we know who are at least our age reference this sketch when they hear us speaking english...it's pretty much the best clip ever, and soo wonderful that we found it the other night. this french teaching story just feels so properly circular now.
Foux Fa Fa aka BEST THING EVER
Where is Brian?
***
lundi 7 avril 2008
indecision and dinner parties
im really not a fan of life right now. a grey drizzly chill has been hanging over valence all week, pretty much matching how my heart feels...(ohh emo, do you love it?) seriously though, technically im down to the last 4 weeks of my time here, and im having trouble wrapping my mind around coming back to the states. it's understandable - i mean, you remember all those times over vacation or at summer camp or whatnot, when time dragged in the middle of your visit and then BAM all kinds of fun, cool things happened at the end, and it's just like shooooot i cant leave now! well that's mas o menos the situation here. all of my teachers just shake their heads when i say im leaving on the 9th, since may/june is when france becomes vivacious and lovely once again. mandy'll be here teaching til mid-july, and she's sorta bummed out bc she's the only one with the 9-month contract, so she'll be here alone. BUT of course we've also made more local friends that she'll hang out with and i'll be jealous...
the job search in DC is pretty much shite at the moment, so if this summer im going to be working just to be working, aka n'importe quel type of job, why not stay in france for a little bit longer? soo im half-heartedly looking at au pair jobs or volunteering on a farm; changing my ticket wouldnt be too cher, so even just staying instead until the end of may is a possibility. i mean, i dont have an apt or job to go back to, and i feel like im happier here than i would be in dc, soo....and i really need to stop looking at dc as the only city to go back to, too..time to change it up.
annnyway. so i cant decide if i should stay or go. i want to stay. but i want a real job in dc, too...so for the moment im living it up as if im peacing out as planned, which means that i have very little time chez moi to look for jobs here or in the district, buuuut im ok with that. mandy, jessika and i have been having little dinner parties and theres been lots of just chilling entre assistants. last night was the "last supper" - we dressed up and went out to dinner at Bistrot des Clercs (faaancy) together for the last time before everyone splits off for vacation and heading off for the summer. it was pretty surreal. of course there are some tensions between certain people, the unfortunate side effect of spending soo much time with the same people, but i think i'll miss just about everyone.
ive started saying goodbye to my classes already. yesterday at Valery the teachers had an apero at lunch to thank me and Rebeka, the german assistant. i had 5 hours of class there, too, and it felt soo goood to leave and know that i just have one hour there this afternoon and then im finished with that school. for good. that being said, i will miss the teachers there. josette made me promise to keep in touch, esp if i stay in france a bit longer, since we didn't really have time to hangout outside of school. i spent 3 hours in class with olivier, who's probably my favorite teacher/friend, and we just mostly hung out chatting about briticims (i cant be bothered!) vs american phrases, while the kids played word games that i brought. it's funny, his classes have thought all year that im his girlfriend, ooh lord, noooo. today im meeting a class - probably the ONLY class that i havent worked with - just so they can see me and be sad that they didnt get to work with me (kidding, more like bc they dont have class the days that i was usually there, but are apparently good and cute, so they're going to interview me) and then it's vaaacaaaation AGAIN, then 3 days of teaching and thats all. shoot.
i was gonna write about why this was a good experience for me even if im leaving here without references and just generally stressed about what to do next, but i have to go profiter from yet another rainy day. i'll post again, dont fret, in between the gym and a teacher dinner and hanging out with the girls and Julien (french friend!! woohoo)...
the job search in DC is pretty much shite at the moment, so if this summer im going to be working just to be working, aka n'importe quel type of job, why not stay in france for a little bit longer? soo im half-heartedly looking at au pair jobs or volunteering on a farm; changing my ticket wouldnt be too cher, so even just staying instead until the end of may is a possibility. i mean, i dont have an apt or job to go back to, and i feel like im happier here than i would be in dc, soo....and i really need to stop looking at dc as the only city to go back to, too..time to change it up.
annnyway. so i cant decide if i should stay or go. i want to stay. but i want a real job in dc, too...so for the moment im living it up as if im peacing out as planned, which means that i have very little time chez moi to look for jobs here or in the district, buuuut im ok with that. mandy, jessika and i have been having little dinner parties and theres been lots of just chilling entre assistants. last night was the "last supper" - we dressed up and went out to dinner at Bistrot des Clercs (faaancy) together for the last time before everyone splits off for vacation and heading off for the summer. it was pretty surreal. of course there are some tensions between certain people, the unfortunate side effect of spending soo much time with the same people, but i think i'll miss just about everyone.
ive started saying goodbye to my classes already. yesterday at Valery the teachers had an apero at lunch to thank me and Rebeka, the german assistant. i had 5 hours of class there, too, and it felt soo goood to leave and know that i just have one hour there this afternoon and then im finished with that school. for good. that being said, i will miss the teachers there. josette made me promise to keep in touch, esp if i stay in france a bit longer, since we didn't really have time to hangout outside of school. i spent 3 hours in class with olivier, who's probably my favorite teacher/friend, and we just mostly hung out chatting about briticims (i cant be bothered!) vs american phrases, while the kids played word games that i brought. it's funny, his classes have thought all year that im his girlfriend, ooh lord, noooo. today im meeting a class - probably the ONLY class that i havent worked with - just so they can see me and be sad that they didnt get to work with me (kidding, more like bc they dont have class the days that i was usually there, but are apparently good and cute, so they're going to interview me) and then it's vaaacaaaation AGAIN, then 3 days of teaching and thats all. shoot.
i was gonna write about why this was a good experience for me even if im leaving here without references and just generally stressed about what to do next, but i have to go profiter from yet another rainy day. i'll post again, dont fret, in between the gym and a teacher dinner and hanging out with the girls and Julien (french friend!! woohoo)...
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