Highlight of the Day

At the end of the 2-hour lunch break I headed into the schoolyard to socialize with some of my students. The brave ones run up and grab my hand/arm/coat (usually the younger ones), while the older ones giggle and keep a safe distance. Usually they ask me questions which I respond to in English, prompting many a "QUOI? QU'EST-CE QU'ELLE A DIT? CA VEUT DIRE QUOI???" many laughs, and lots of blushing. Others run up and shout "ELLO WASS YOUR NAME?" and then run away cackling. Well, today, Lucas came up to me with a notebook and asked me to write any word in English for him. "Any word? No requests?" N'importe. Wanting to be careful and diplomatic and whatever, I wrote 'school,' which he read back to me, clearly understanding its meaning. I turned my attention back to the 6 year olds playing marbles (seems like they're 50 years late to the table, right?). A particular 6 year old showed me all the marbles he had won from a peer as if he was letting me in on some big secret and another said "Hannah, tell us how to say marbles in English again! Tell us!" Nobody can make you feel cooler than a 6 year old. It's official.

Anyway, a gaggle of 10 year old girls approached me - they never talk to me outside of class alone, who else would they laugh with when I speak English? - and asked, "Hannah, why did you write 'I love you, Lucas' in his notebook?" What?

First of all, how did they see the word 'school' and believe that it could possible say 4 words? I know they can read. And my American print handwriting, while different from the scarily universal French cursive, is hardly THAT illegible to them. Second of all, did Lucas really think that this would work? He was counting on a lot of things happening for that one to go off without a hitch. Unfortunately, he was right in assuming that they would believe him.

Socializing

Get ready for this shocking news: for the first time in Le Havre, I had a weekend filled with social activity with French people! Finally, after two months of being here, I feel like I'm starting to break in to some circles. Friday night, one of the teachers I work with invited me over for dinner. Two other teachers got invited as well, as did her son and some of his friends. It was really really lovely, and I felt so grateful to be let in. We had raclette and the host baked me a cheesecake because it comes from NY! So nice! Afterwards, I went out to a soirée with the son and his friends (which is when I ironically danced. That still burns).

Saturday night, the two other assistants from my circonscription and I got invited to a dinner party with the group that had first introduced me to raclette. This time, they made tacos. Definitely different from the ones you get in the "New World," but a nice reminder of home, nonetheless. I felt a little more awkward at this soirée, but I suppose that's normal. I really appreciated being included, I just wish I could express myself better!

But wait! The fun does not stop there: Sunday afternoon I was invited to attend a lunch at Nichole's house. Well, it's really the house of our inspectrice. There, I had foie gras, tried boudin noir (look it up...not really my thing, but interesting to taste), bread baked with chorizo bits in it, grilled goose, and homemade chocolate mousse. Oooh, listing everything I ate this weekend makes me really think I need to go on a long run or risk heart attack...yikes.

Oops

I accidentally ironically danced way too soon after meeting some people.

More on that story later...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday last week. No turkey and cranberries for me, but we made do with chicken and mashed potatoes.

This weekend I went to Paris with Nichole to take a small break from Le Havre. We stayed with Nichole's quasi-host sister in her apartment in the 11e arrondissement, right by the Bastille, which is, of course, home to the July Column. She was a super gracious and lovely host, and very ready to play tourist with us. Naturally, my first priority of the trip was food. Le Havre is fairly devoid of any and all ethnic food, at least in the neighborhood I live in. Evidently, there are some sushi places hidden around, but I haven't seen any Asian people, so I'm slightly skeptical. Saturday, I made sure to get my falafel in the Marais, and then left the rest of the planning of the afternoon up to Nichole and Giovanna. Other culinary hits of the weekend included Chinese food, pizza, challah bread, and sweet potatoes. Ok, so listed like that, it sounds like I'm just a college student, but doesn't the sheer fact that this food was made in France somehow make it more...gourmet? Eh? On a cultural note, we visited the Sacre Coeur and Pere Lachaise, and walked through a great deal of the city center. I'll never understand people who don't like Paris.

In weather news, it's officially winter here. We're talking below freezing and snowing. Yuck.

Finally, I have to stop and say RIP Leslie Nielsen. Heidi, my roommate, has never seen Airplane! so I'm making her watch that tonight as a way to honor his memory. In retrospect, when she told me that she'd never seen it, I should have said "Surely you must be joking!" instead of "WHAT?!" Ah, well.

Things that have recently happened to me

1) I moved! Freedom from the YMCA tastes sweet! And, it smells less like mildew, which is always a plus in my book. My friend Heidi found us a flat on the top floor of a really adorable old French couple's house (who call us 'eidi and 'annah). There is a garden and we have our own kitchen, and it's just really great. I've been really loving being able to cook in a clean and private space, not to mention the fact that I am now allowed to have wine! To take full advantage of this, my first night I cooked a wine-soaked meal: coq au vin, pears poached in red wine, and Heidi made vin chaud. Yum city.

2) I went to Etretat, which was breathtakingly beautiful. It used to be a fishing village, but I'm pretty sure tourism is the biggest industry now. However, it felt much more real to me than Honfleur did; I could believe that people actually lived in the town. Maybe it was because there was only one postcard shop and only one rack of key chains with names on them. Interestingly, Etretat was made famous by impressionist painters and writers, like Monet and Maupassant. Heidi and I walked around for a while, climbed to the top of the falaises, and had some delicious crepes, to boot. As Heidi put it, it almost made me want to learn about geology. But not quite.

3) I realized how ridiculous so many of my days are. Friday, for example, I spent close to 2 straight hours singing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." I was out of breath by the time lunch rolled around and quite red in the face. My strategy with these little ones was to use flashcards to teach them the parts of the body and then move on to singing. I quickly learned that this was not going to work. For some reason, any image I showed them prompted them to say "eye." No, Auguste, it's NOT an eye, it's an ARM. No, Céline, not an eye, a NOSE. When flashcards weren't working I thought maybe drawing would help, but I was wrong. "Draw an arm," I would say pointing to the picture and pointing to my own arm. "Do you understand?" Despite their cheerful "oui, 'annah!"s, I looked around to see them totally confused. "I think she want's us to draw an eye," I heard them saying to one another. "Oh, ok, yeah, that makes sense." One of the kids was deep into a cityscape that centered around an eye before I stopped them and told them to put everything away. One girl stood up to collect all the markers, prompting others to cry out against the grave injustice that had just been committed. "It's not her turn to collect the markers! It's his! It's his!" The class was descending into chaos, as some of them had started standing up to pull on my shirt in an effort to beg me to do something about the marker duty-thief. "I don't care!" I responded, "We're going to sing, and it's going to be FUN!"

In my next class of first-graders, I didn't even take anything out of my bag; I went straight for the song...and I got into it. When I jumped around, they did too, and believe it or not, they were able to learn the song. Well, the rhythm, at least. When their teacher came back, she joked that I was teaching gym class. Little does she know...

Next week, it's going to be all Hand Turkeys, all the time. Whether they like it or not. I was hoping I could combine my lessons on colors and parts of the body for this little project, but I'm less sure now. Only time will tell!

On food...

It certainly wouldn't be profound of me to pontificate about the delicious qualities of French food, but I've seen enough things here that just wouldn't fly in the States to make me want to blog about it. I started thinking about this on Wednesday, when I went with my friend Nichole to the French equivalent of a fondue party. There were about 10 of us who got together for a dinner party at this kid named Maxime's apartment. Upon arriving, we learned that we would be eating raclette, and that's where the adventure began.

Raclette is made with special "raclette machines," which are basically hot plates with little trays in them. Everyone takes a tray, puts a piece of "pungent" cheese in/on it, and then shoves the tray back into its slot. When the cheese is browned and bubbling, you take it and pour it on prosciutto, saucisson, potatoes, etc. I don't think I've ever consumed so much prosciutto in one sitting, but I'd like to try again. Amazingly, the French people ate nearly twice what Nichole and I could hold down. I don't get it! Consider me sold on raclette...

In other food news, I would like to describe what "school lunch" means to these people. No chicken nuggets, no hamburgers, no pizza - instead, we eat steak frites, moussaka, and cassoulet. Also the meal is served family style, and on real plates. To start, there is some kind of salad, and not iceberg with ranch dressing. Last Friday, it was beet salad. It's pretty amazing to watch what comes out of the kitchens there.

Also of note, you can buy a bag on individually wrapped crab legs, just for when you're on the go and can't do without seafood. It comes with a little tub of mayonnaise, too!

Ah, la belle France!

Espana! Home of the all ham diet!

Holy moly, it's been a really long time since I've updated this thing! The most notable event since my last posting was my first vacation. Yup, after working for three weeks, I got 10 days off for Toussaint - All Saints' Day. In total, I get 7.5 weeks off, thanks to the amazing school break calender here. Sorry to all my friends working 12 hour days at home who get only Christmas and New Year's Day! I'll be thinking of you!

I chose to spend this break in Spain, even though my Spanish knowledge is limited to "Si ves algo, di algo," from the subway posters. I flew into Barcelona for a few days of solo sightseeing. Barcelona was beautiful and warm, and the people were very friendly. I hit all the major touristy sites, including the Sagrada Familia, and Parc Guell. My greatest achievement was getting the EU discount at the Picasso Museum by speaking French to the guy at the welcome desk. Holla! The Gaudi architecture was really cool to see (obviously), and I was excited to see the sun and walk around in a t-shirt. I also ate many tapas, of course.

Next I took an overnight bus to Madrid to meet my friend Michael, who graduated with me from Wash U. He graciously agreed to host me for the weekend in his sweet apartment right off of Gran Via. There, I continued my strict regime of binge eating ham products. Delicious. Unlike in Barcelona, where I was alone, I went out to some clubs and "experienced nightlife" in Madrid. On Saturday we decided to celebrate Halloween and went out in costume until 8:30 am. Not too many others were dressed up, and Michael got called out on wearing green and gold. Who knew those didn't go together? The 8:30 am thing was tough for me - I won't lie. It was really fun to get to see friends from Wash U (additional shout out to Miranda for hosting me one night!), and of course, to take a break from my extremely strenuous work schedule.

Getting back to France, I had to go straight to my immigration appointments in Rouen, which involved a LOT of waiting. For some reason, something like 40 of us were scheduled for appointments at the same time and only one doctor was available to see us. What? Inefficiency in France? Quelle choque! Luckily, the doctor couldn't have been sweeter, which made up for the waiting. Also, I forced my friends to play lots of 20 questions with me while waiting, and it turns out that that game is still fun.







Back in Le Havre, back to work!