Valentine's Day exchange

I am doing a Valentine's Day card exchange with a 4 classes from my very good friend Annie's little girl's school and 4 of my most advanced classes. My classes are writing cards to 4 different grades in her school. Emily's (Annie's daughter) 1st grade class is one of the classes, of course. One 1st grade class, one 2nd grade class and a 3rd & 4th grade class will be participating. All of the kids are writing:

• My name is _______
  
• I am ____ years old.
• I live in ____, France or _____, Michigan
• My favorite thing to do is ______

In addition, my kids are also writing a question for each American kid they get paired up with. These questions are the most entertaining part of this project.

This weekend, I spent a few hours translating the questions AND the 4th sentence: My favorite thing to do is _____. Unfortunately, most of the favorite things to do were not very entertaining. I like to play sports, I play soccer, etc. However, there were some really cute or funny ones as follows.

My favorite thing to do is:

• pet my little cats
• hold my baby sister
• hit my older brother
• bug my older brother and sister
• archery
• horseback riding

As I mentioned, the questions proved to be very interesting. The most common ones were:

• What sports do you play?
• Do you have any brothers and sisters?
• Do you like your new president?
• Do you have any pets?
• What's your favorite food?
  

The most entertaining ones were:

• Have you ever seen a snake?
• Do you like tomatoes?
• How much allowance do you get?
• Do you have a very big Thanksgiving dinner/party?
  
• How many hamburgers do you eat per week?
• Do you like U2?
  

I really enjoyed seeing the kids questions about American/kid life. Now, hopefully, the American kids will respond to these questions at some point and my kids can be excited. My other 4 classes are just going to do Valentine's day card exchanges between the other classes so they won't be totally left out but I'm not going to translate anything. That took way too much time and effort. I failed to mention that French kids do not exchange Valentine's Day cards here like they do at home. It's normally just for boyfriend/girlfriend love type stuff. So my kids were pretty surprised that we have Simpsons V-day cards and Shrek V-day cards, etc. I asked my mom to bring them with her when she gets here in February so I can show my kids what American kids do.

By the way, my mom is coming to visit me from Feb. 7-21. I can't wait!

Flea Market in Shadesville

I forgot to mention that on Sunday, Dawn, David and I took a little morning trip to the flea market at Mosson (which is the end of the tram line near my place). Mosson area is reputably a suspect, kind of shady area. I was told that this flea market was crap but I still wanted to see it. After frequenting a few flea markets pretty often in Los Angeles, I was interested in comparing them. Most definitely, many of the things we saw for sale were stolen. It seemed really odd that one stall was selling 20-30 used bikes or a whole stall was dedicated to headlights and taillights as seen in this pic:
I felt like I was at a cross between regular market, flea market and really bad garage sale. Many people were selling really well used shoes. Some stalls were devoted to only hair dye while other stalls had used clothing, random shoes and VHS tapes they couldn't even give away. There was even a food row where people were selling prepared foods including coffee, crepes, etc. but we weren't about to try anything from this flea market.

My favorite thing Dawn said was: "Please don't ever ask me to come back here." I think that sums up our experience at the flea market. However, if you ever have a missing headlight or taillight in Montpellier or need a used bike, you now know where to go.

Montpellier Beach!

On Saturday, a few of us went to the Montpellier beach which is actually in the city of Palavas Les Flots. I had to go and thankfully, we went on a wonderfully sunny day. The trek to the beach is a stretch but worth every minute of the hour long travel. You have to take a tram to a bus and then walk about 1 KM. It's great though. As you can see in the pictures, it's simply beautiful. There were almost no people there which made it an ideal day to walk really far down the beach. Dawn, David, Cathy and I really enjoyed ourselves. The wind was pretty much non-existent. I walked barefoot and noticed how soft the sand was.

We stopped for a little snack about halfway down the beach for wine and those Apple Raisin cookies that I mentioned that were supposed to be "American". They were fine but not American in anyway that I could figure and the wine is seen here in my portable Nalgene bottle. It was way easier than transporting a glass bottle with me.

And here I am. Though I may not look super happy, I really enjoyed myself.

After the beach, we went to a party at the Australian rugby player's house. Here's a few pictures from there below. It was great fun even though the "dj" was really 2 guys with mac computers attached to really, really horrible $2 computer speakers that were cracking ALL night. All they did was hook up their computers with their iTunes playing and think that was enough. The music was really pretty bad but we did get a lot of bonding done, as always and enjoyed some drinks until the wee hours of the morning. Cathy spent the night and apparently my pull out couch is more comfortable than her bed. So anyone wishing to come visit, I guess my pull out couch now gets a stamp of approval.

Here are Cathy and Leymi.
And here are Dawn and David.

Scottish Misconceptions of Americans

Dawn's boyfriend, David, is in town for the next couple weeks for a little vacation and we have all met him now.

(Here we are at the bar meeting David.)

My favorite conversation topic with him has been teasing him about common Scottish stereotypes. To my surprise, he came back to me with common American stereotypes that I didn't really know. Some examples, said with humor, of course:

All Americans:

• Own guns
• Fire said guns into the air when excited
• Chew tobacco
• Eat "freedom fries" constantly
• Only eat at McDonald's
• Carry democracy in a box

(David and Dawn)

This is one of my favorite signs from France so far. This was on the bathroom door. Loosely translated it means "Evacuate your beer here."

American Week at Lidl

Lidl, one of the grocery stores in France, is currently running "American Week". Lidl is a German based company so their "American Week" is really the German interpretation of American items. So, in great excitement, I checked out the sales. The following items were on sale and apparently these items are what define American food.

• Dried cranberries
• Peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
  
• Microwave popcorn (butter or sweet)
• BBQ ketchup
• Thousand Island dressing
• Ranch dressing
• Caesar dressing
• Hamburger sauce (which after reading the ingredients is apparently a sauce made of tomatoes, mustard, onions, pickles and some other various ingredients)
• Brownie cookies (which were really just really chocolate cookies)
• Apple cookies (I haven't tasted them yet but they seem odd)
• Pancake mix
• Texas style chili potato chips
• Beef & chili potato chips
• Hot dogs (in a jar with some sort of liquid)
  

There were supposed to be bagels and to my dismay, they were nowhere to be found. Now, I am all stocked up on just a few of these items and happy to live in France with some "American" items.

Opera Number 2: Il Viaggio a Reims Ossia L’Albergo del Giglio d’Oro (Le Voyage à Reims ou l’Hôtel du Lys d’or)

(This is the poster for the Opera)

I forgot to post a little note on the latest Opera I saw in Montpellier on Dec. 28th. Il Viaggio a Reims was an awesome, actual opera. There was actually a set, costumes, characters and everything. This is a great improvement from Aida that I saw earlier this year. Below you will see some pictures of the inside of the theatre. I loved the show and I loved being inside this theatre. It was in the Comedie Opera which you have seen in other pictures, covered in lights at Christmas. Inside the Comedie Opera, there were amazing paintings, chandeliers, etc. I used my student rush pass again which is a great deal, if I haven't mentioned it before. For 15 Euros, I get to see 4 shows (symphony or Opera). This is such an amazing deal since the cheapest ticket for this opera started at 13 Euros. Anyway, with the pass, you don't get to choose your seat but no seat is really that bad. We were up in one of the boxes as you can probably tell in the picture of me. I love being in the boxes. It makes me feel royal and important.

(Here I am in the box!)

Some pictures of the inside of the Comedie Opera:
(This is inside the actual theatre space, above the audience)

(A view from the 2nd level balcony to the main lobby)

(The ceiling in the lobby)

Anyway, the show was great and long (as most operas are). There was only one 20-minute intermission but the first act was about 2 hours and the second act was about an hour and a half. The set moved with revolving doors, moving walls and a circular middle part of the floor which was used as a "train" and many processionals. The actors were all very good and projected well since no one was mic'd. There were mics above the stage thankfully but no one was mic'd individually. The supertitles were actually legible since during Aida, I had a really hard time reading them. The show did have a couple scenes in front of the grand curtain, which made the supertitles impossible to read because the curtain was in the way of the screen for the titles. I basically understood what was happening and hearing the Italian was really beautiful anyway. Italian is sort of easy to understand since it's close to French and Spanish (since it's a Latin based language). There are a bunch more Operas I plan on attending while in France and I can't wait to see how the sets are constructed and what it looks like. I am such a techie!

Snow in Southern France

You can kind of see the snow in my hair.

Yes, my friends. You read the title of the post correctly. It is SNOWING in Southern France. This afternoon is started flurrying and then actually snowing with decent sized flakes. As you can see in the photos, some has actually accumulated on the ground. It's too soon to see if it will stay overnight. I was told that it's not SUPER rare for it to snow here but it does only happen about every 4 years. It has been snowing off and on all evening. I am anxious to see if it continues.


On another note, the huge Montpellier/France sales have begun. This is one of the 2 semi-annual sales in the country. All of the stores participate and some things are drastically reduced, most things are 30-75% off. I got some pants for 5 Euros each and Cathy got a really nice Minelli purse for 75% off. Shoes are ridiculously cheap and I have been trying to find a pair of boots that I liked and fit me. I have about 6 weeks to find boots on sale since that's how long the sale lasts in the city/country. Shopping on the first day of the sale is always great though since you get the first pick of the litter. By the afternoon, many of the stores were PACKED so we stopped shopping for awhile so I could pick up the 2nd part of my visa. I am now a legal foreigner living in France until June 30. After that, I become illegal again. :)

Paris

From Jan. 1st - 3rd, Will and I spent our remaining time together in Paris. He was flying home from Paris anyway, so we thought we would take that as an opportunity to visit the city. It was really nice to go back to a place that I actually recognized and had to many fond memories of 10 years ago when I lived there. The train trip from Montpellier to Paris is about 3 hours and 40 minutes straight north. If I could describe the trip to Paris in 2 words they would be: cold and full! We arrived in the early afternoon on Jan. 1st and immediately went to our buget hotel. I was a little worried about the budget hotel since it was a "budget" hotel and relatively cheap in the actual city of Paris. Never fear, the hotel was actually not bad at all. The elevator was MOST DEFINITELY the SMALLEST elevator I have EVER been in anywhere. There was honestly, room for 2 people in there. No luggage, no bags, no purse, no breathing room. You really have to like the person you're with when riding in that elevator! After dropping off our stuff, we hit the town. We went to the huge modern art museum, Georges Pompidou. This museum was immense. Now as I mentioned earlier, I always try to get the under 26 discount wherever I go since they never ask for ID. They often as for student ID but not age proof ID. Well at this museum, I said I was under 26 and she asked for my ID! I was like, oh crap! Well, I guess I have to pay full price for this museum. But I was really surprised that I actually had to show ID. What a jerk! I didn't get to save my 3 Euros on the entrance fee.

Anyway, the museum was really cool. It was mulitple levels with tons of stuff everywhere. What I found most amusing was that they had signs everywhere that said "Fragile Artwork, please do not touch" since everything was kind of out in the open and not roped off. However, while the signs were written in French, they were also translated right below in English. See if you can see the error in this picture:
All of the signs had this typo!!

After the museum, we went to the Champs Elysées. This is the really famous road, like Rodeo drive, that has the Arc de Triomphe on one end and the Louvre Ferris Wheel on the other end. We literally walked the whole road which was about 2 KM I think. I don't think I mentioned this before, but it was rather cold the entire time we were in Paris. I mean, we were in the north of France anyway, so it only stands to reason but I still feel the need to mention that it was COLD! After getting to the Arc De Triomphe, we found that a lot of it was blocked off. I guess they were doing some sort of ceremony for the first of the year. I actually think they were relighting the eternal flame though I'm not sure. We could still see the Arc and walk near most of it. It was great and magnificent as I remembered.

After the Arc de Triomphe, we walked to the Eiffel Tower which was lit up all pretty as shown below. There were hundreds of people there standing in line at the 3 entrances to get into and go on top of the Eiffel Tower, so we decided to wait until the next day to actually go up.

Unfortunately, it snowed the first night we were in Paris. See below pic:
And due to the snow and ice, the Eiffel tower was closed for the morning until things melted or warmed up. Then it was off to the Louvre for some more art. It was a beautiful day as seen here:
However, if you can see the huge throng of people in the picture, you will understand why I don't have any pictures of the INSIDE of the Louvre. Apparently, you need to buy your ticket into the Louvre in advance and not at the door. The line to just buy your ticket to get in was 2-3 hours long. The line to get in, once you had your ticket, was at least 45 minutes. Needless to say, we didn't waste our entire afternoon waiting to get into the museum. After walking around the outside of the Louvre and through their pretty gardens, we ended up at Notre Dame. Going up into Notre Dame costs money, if you want to get up close to the gargoyles and the line was insane. Instead, we just went inside and enjoyed the church/stained glass windows and huge amounts of people in there.

After Notre Dame, we enjoyed a lovely dinner at a Sushi restaurant near our hotel. It was actually really decently priced and tasty. At the end of the meal, our waitress offered us not one but two shots of Sake on the house! I think she just liked foreigners.

Paris was really fun and, if you don't want to actually go into many of the monuments, I think I proved that you can see almost all the really famous sites in about 48 hours.

I leave you with this really strange beastiality Orangina ad. There is another ad like this in existance only it has a female kangaroo in a bikini. Enjoy!

New Year's Eve and beforehand

After Carcassonne, the plan was to visit Arles. Arles is the really famous city where Van Gogh painted his famous cafe street scene and got a lot of inpsiration from. Unfortunately, after a day in the rain in Carcassonne, we didn't have the energy to take another day in the rain. Long before our train was even supposed to leave Montpellier, we decided against going out and surviving the rain and instead, stayed in town. Will got to experience my favorite tea place in Montpellier that has a huge selection of loose leaf tea combinations. We cruised the Christmas markets again and had a relaxing day.

Since my landlords left a few days before, they said that the washing machine was out of order. This proved to be very inconvenient as Will really needed to wash some clothes before the week was out. There is a laudromat near my house, by the tram station, so after lunch, we ventured out only to find that the laundromat had decided to only be open for like 3 hours on New Year's Eve. This sucked because then we had to figure out where a laundromat even WAS, near my place. Luckily, I remembered seeing one about 5 stops from my tram stop and we went there. It was really such a pain to not have a working washing machine or even have a laundromat nearby since we had to spend the better part of an afternoon shlepping to the laundromat and back. It turns out that the washing machine wasn't broken at all. They just needed to clean the filter and didn't do it before they went on their week vacation. How nice, huh?

After the laundry, we took a walk around the Jardin des Plantes that I have previously mentioned in this blog. Unfortunately, since it's so cold and dreary, many of the plants were either dead or on their way to their death. We walked around nonetheless and enjoyed an afternoon in the park. Now I always feel a sort of pressure to do something really cool for New Year's Eve and I was getting really worried that Will wanted to do something fun or go out or be in a club or whatever. Never to fear, he is/was very low-key.

Dinner was at home, some wonderful salmon again, but not as good as the Christmas dish that I made. We decided to stay in for New Year's Eve and just watch French TV and see how they do their New Year's countdown. In 2 words: disappointing and weird. Disappointing because there really wasn't a show devoted to the New Year's countdown or anything. There was this weird program where a bunch of people (I would assume famous French people but I didn't know who they were) were sitting around a big table talking. They were all dressed nice but it wasn't a "show". I felt like I was just watching a discussion panel on what their resolutions were and any other boring crap they wanted to mention. Weird because on 2 other channels, they kept showing these little vignettes of random performances. It was like watching Cirque du Soleil only was less talented people. We saw jugglers, singers, gymnasts and some musical revues (some of the revues were topless and/or scantily clad though!). The countdown for midnight was so lame. It was just some guy putting cards on the table from 10 to 0. One of the guys got up from the table at midnight, wished us all a Happy New Year and began to sing. He was not very talented, in my opinion. They had some sort of lame musical revue on that station once the guy got up to sing. We saw a live feed of fireworks in Germany and that was about it.

So, Happy 2009!! The French don't even come close to partying like the Americans!

The French and "Bonne Année"

I am a little backlogged on blogging but I had to write about this because it made me giggle. Today was back to school day and I had to teach 3 classes. I actually really like my Monday classes for 2 reasons. One: I don't have to get up early since I don't start until 2pm. Two: Most of my kids are well-behaved and bright. You have no idea how tired I get just from trying to keep some kids in my other classes on other days in line. I waste/spend so much time in class trying to calm kids down that I lose energy for actually teaching.

This week's lesson is about telling time in English. They get to learn about AM, PM and the fact that we don't run on military time as they do in France. 2PM is 14:00 in France. Try getting used to that as an American! We learned how to say "morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night and midnight". It reminded me of the Truman show when I said "afternoon, evening and night" about 7 times in a row. It reminded me of how Truman says: "In case I don't see you: "Good afternoon, Good evening and Good night!" My favorite part of the lesson was having the kids figure out how to say "night" by only reading it and not hearing me say it beforehand. I get a little sadistic satisfaction from watching them struggle with silent letters in English. We also learned how to say "two thousand nine".

Anyway, what I wanted most to comment on was the fact that the French and even my kids, love saying "Bonne Anneé" which means "Happy New Year!" I had kids run up to me on the playground before class and during recess to say "Bonne Année" to me. How odd is that? I explained to the kids that though we do say "Happy New Year", it's more of a phrase we only really say on the night of New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. It's not like a phrase we go out of our way to say to each other. After explaining that to the first class of the day and seeing their really disappointed faces, I decided to bite my tongue and just teach them the English phrase and be done with it. They loved learning the phrase and then repeating it to each other.

Unfortunately, I don't have any British word lessons of the day since I haven't seen Dawn in 2 weeks but I promise new lessons to follow in the future. :)