Making My Own Chocolate, SNCF Weekend Card & Finding Good Eats in Paris

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Learning French, McDo's and How the French Diet Turns US Advice on Its Head

My last two weeks of work have been busy with year-end and my weekends have been mostly spent doing highly exciting things, like assembling furniture and unpacking boxes.  The upside is that I have a complete living room, guest bath and kitchen now (pictures to come soon)!  The guest room is also usable, although the furniture isn't refinished yet.

Only a dining room set, coat closet, bedroom armoire, utility room stand, upstairs bathroom cabinet and office furniture to go! 😐  I finally caved and hired people with power tools to help with the kitchen because EVERY thing had to be assembled, including the drawers, and it both required power tools AND more than two hands.

Since there isn't a lot to report, I thought I'd share a few cultural gems with you!

Learning French
French culture comes through even in a textbook to learn French.  First, the list of annoyances, where a husband who is always absent AND an American boyfriend both make the list.  Why only have one man to annoy you when you can have two! 😂

Also, all nouns are either male or female in French, which I've been exposed to with Spanish, so it wasn't a big surprise for me.  I did find this example of "male" and "female" nouns funny though - remember folks, "the problem" is male and "the solution" is female!  I will say that I doubt I'll forget that "eme" is a male ending and "tion" is female now, so this was a clever choice!

While I really enjoy the text that I'm learning from, I'm glad that PB is supportive of me taking more actual French lessons because I find that I can read quite a bit of French, but I'm uncomfortable speaking French because I'm not quite sure on the pronunciation.  Of course, Alexis is back this weekend, so reading with him again will help, and I have a few new people I met through a conversation exchange site who are helping me with my French in exchange for help with English.  

There are varying degrees of help that you get through the conversational partners though.  Some of them seem content to only correct me if what I've said cannot be understood.  Most of them start off correcting everything, but as the conversation starts to flow, they switch to only asking or correcting when they don't understand.  I only have one person who has continued to correct everything, which is what I need!  There are seven total people that I started talking with, but the first woman only replies about once a week, which isn't enough for me to really build on my French.  One other woman and one of the men have sent a sentence here and there, also not really helpful.  I do have consistent daily conversations with four people now, who vary in age from 21 to 43; however, the consistent writers are all men.  One of them lets me use my very limited spoken French to practice speaking on calls and another leaves messages in slow French with the translation in English.  I then respond in as much French as I can, mixed with English when I don't know the word.  And he then replies with the correct French, so that's helping as well!  It seems like you could potentially make friends in this way, so it's a little disappointing that the women haven't been more responsive. 😩

McDo's

I discovered shortly after returning to France that it doesn't seem like I'm allergic to cow dairy anymore.  My docs had said it is an allergy that people can "grow out of," but I didn't have high hopes (even though I'm no longer allergic to eggs).  Since dairy is not a life-threatening allergy for me, I'd occasionally try something to see.  I tried something small here and nothing happened.  So, I tried something with a higher amount of dairy - nothing.  Time for a full-on dairy meal - cheese in salad, butter in potatoes and dessert was ice cream with whipped cream on top (and fruit).  Still absolutely nothing.  In the past, I would have felt like I had food poisoning.  I've cautiously eaten dairy since then with no issues still after several months.  Of course, after not eating it for so long, I no longer have a taste for many dairy products.  I prefer coconut milk, many types of chèvre and sorbet still (especially dark chocolate); however, I am thoroughly enjoying real French butter, soft mild cheeses (like brie) and cream-based sauces!

Given that I can eat cheese again, the other day I decided to eat something I haven't had in over 5 years - a BigMac.  While the McChicken tastes different here (better I think), the BigMac tastes the same as I remember.  I don't eat McDo's often - usually only a couple of times per month and primarily only when I get busy and realize I've missed the dedicated French lunch hour (good luck finding a restaurant that will serve you after 1-1:30 PM) or I have no food at home on a Sunday (when stores & normal restaurants are also closed).  I have occasionally stopped in there when I was feeling particularly challenged with French as well - even though I order from the French menu now, it's a touch screen and I don't have to speak French, just read it!

On another random McDo's trip, I tried a chèvre burger because I find the local touches interesting (same reason I tried a McDos special in Switzerland, where you can design your own burger - bacon avocado in my case).  The chèvre burger  wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either.  The beef isn't greasy, like at home, nor is it drowning in sauce, so if the bread isn't "same day" fresh, the McDos burgers can be a little drier than I prefer.

In addition to the normal local offerings, McDos appears to experiment here more than I recall occurring in the US.  They temporarily replaced the potato wedges, that I love, with "New York style" chips shortly before I left France.  Right after I returned, the wedges were again replaced with thick herb fries, which I also liked.  I don't care for the regular fries here though - they aren't like the US.  It isn't just the potatoes they experiment with; currently, the special offer is a burger with ketchup and ranch or mustard and ranch or a fish sandwich with ketchup and ranch.  To the best of my knowledge, ranch is not popular in France, so this seems like a strange offering!

While I'm a little embarrassed that I eat McDos while living in France, it's clearly not hurting me (nor is my weekly pineau and random glass or two of wine) because I've lost 15 lbs in 3 1/2 months of living in France.  And that's with working 10-12 hour days nearly every Monday-Thursday (9ish hours on Fridays) and no real exercise, outside of walking on the weekends.

Update on the French Diet

It's interesting because the French diet throws everything you're taught in the US about "how to lose weight" out the window, yet I lose weight here without really trying and it was a constant struggle to avoid gaining weight during the three months that I was back in the US.

It really makes one question the wisdom of the US diet industry.  Whereas the current advice is to eat 5-6 small meals per day (for blood sugar, metabolism, etc), the French do not snack generally.  While this is not true of EVERYONE, the majority of the French that I know eat a small breakfast (piece of baguette with jam, croissant, pain au chocolat, etc) and/or fruit with coffee.  Lunch is a large meal with 2-3 courses, unless dinner is expected to be large, then the lunch and dinner meal will be switched.  If lunch is 3 courses, dinner will often be just soup or fruit or a similar small thing; however, I choose to do a 2 course lunch and have a 1 course "plat" (main dish) dinner at home.

The primary difference between how I was eating in the US and here ALSO goes against common diet advice in the US.  I consistently eat more carbs in France.  My breakfast is basically just carbs and fat, no protein (pain au chocolat or with raisins or a croissant with jam) and coffee, whereas I used to eat primarily protein (eggs).  My lunch is usually a slice or two of baguette with a starter that varies from veggie soup to quiche to a meat pâté or terrine - so, sometimes good protein and sometimes not.  The main dish is typically about half carbs (couscous, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc) with a small amount of salad (think 5 leaves of lettuce) in vinaigrette and the other half of the main dish is about half meat and half veggies, often with a sauce of some sort.  Again, less protein than my typical US lunch, although a lot more veggies (and carbs).  Along with less protein, the protein source is different because red meat is less common here and there are a lot more turkey, duck and rabbit dishes.  If you have dessert, it's also basically carbs and fat (usually with fruit), but lunch is always followed by hot coffee.  And most of my dinners have also evolved to about half carbs, half veggies & meat.  I still eat red meat at home with about the same frequency as in the US though.  In total, my lunches are bigger and my dinners smaller, but I was never super hungry between meals when I first moved here, so I've never had the feeling that I'm eating less.

The other change is one that I made in the US, then slacked off on, and have now re-established here.  I traded out artificial sweeteners for sugar in the US, yet I lost weight.  Again, contrary to the "more calories=more weight" mantra.  I continued to do so in France because artificial sweeteners are almost non-existent here, especially in restaurants.  More recently, I replaced all added sugar in my coffee and tea with honey at work and at home, so the only sugar cubes I'm using are 2-4 times per week when I have coffee at a restaurant.  The honey usage is a personal thing, not French, but again, they use sugar here, not artificial sweeteners.  

And while not all French people are thin, they have much lower rates of obesity than the US and the rest of the European Union.  It really makes you question the health advice in the US and what we've done to our food to make maintaining a healthy weight so challenging!  I just started an regular "30 minutes a day" exercise routine, so the contrast won't be as clear going forward.

Hosting My First French Dinner and Les Gastronomades (aka The Food Festival)

Hosting my First French Dinner
It's hard to believe that I've been in France for two months already!  It feels like the time has flown by, but in other ways, it feels like I've been gone a REALLY long time.  In part, that's because I've established more of a life here this time than I did before - last time, I lived like a long-term tourist!  Along those lines, last weekend I stayed in the local area again and had a lot of fun doing so!  The plans started with inviting L’Américaine to join me at a food festival in Angoulême on Saturday.  Of course, I also invited Alexis and he wanted to go as well.  For the Anglos out there, Alexis is not pronounced like in English (uh-lex-sus) but rather uh-lex-ee (hard e, "s" is silent).

Additionally, there was the issue of me reading my new French book, so Alexis suggested he would come over on Thursday to help.  I thought it was a good opportunity to return the favor and make him dinner, although I warned him that my work schedule was crazy enough that he might get an American classic - takeout pizza.  He actually said he thought pizza sounded good, so it became a hybrid meal of takeout pizza with a French appetizer and dessert!  Pizza here is not like at home though, as I've posted about in my early blogs.  More high-quality toppings and a LOT less cheese.

Not the same pizza that I ordered, but from the same place!  I was too busy trying to coordinate my first French-style dinner to take photos!

Alexis ended up needing to reschedule for Friday and a group of co-workers were going to the beer bar on Friday for an early birthday drink for L’Américaine, so I joined them and Alexis met up with us there.  It was fun to have a drink with everyone and see people outside of work a little.  A lot of the conversation was in French though, which is one of the things that makes it challenging for me to meet new friends here; however, it was still a fun way to spend an hour before Alexis and I headed out.

I've never been a super domestic person, so I was half convinced my appetizer would be a disaster, but Alexis thought it was good and I enjoyed it.  I'd stuck with simple tartines (baguette slices) with chèvre that I blended with fresh ground pepper and thyme.  Once they were toasted and the cheese melted a bit, I topped them with a mixed berry jam and a drizzle of honey.  The pineau that my French co-worker, CB (resident wine expert), suggested was a hit as well!  We'd tried to keep the pizza warm while we had the appetizer, but the temperature was a little too high, so it cooked the pizza a bit - not great, but we just laughed it off.  I had delicious little desserts from my favorite bakery to end the meal with.  It might not have been perfect, but overall, my first French dinner went pretty well.

Learning to Read in French
It was during my reading lesson that Alexis learned that I have a blog and that he's in it, which he found amusing, except he didn't like his fake name!  As it turns out, he's less concerned about his privacy than he is about being stuck with a name he doesn't like.  This is probably for the best because I found myself accidentally referring to him as Pierre in real life. 😂

My reading lesson was, well, less humiliating than it could have been.  I made it through a whole 14 pages before I couldn't take anymore.  It reminds me of being in first grade again, when you're still coming across a lot of new words to sound out or guess at.  To his credit, Alexis is a good teacher - he might have laughed a couple of times, but he's really patient and helpful with the pronunciation and ensuring that I understand what I've read.  The book is about a green 2CV, an old European car, and a father-son road trip . . . I'm not entirely sure if he picked this book because he thought I'd like it or because he thought HE would like it.😏  Here is a picture of a 2CV that I borrowed from the internet:

I have no idea how long it took me to read 14 pages, but it felt like two years!  Poor Alexis was yawning, even though he tried to tell me he wasn't tired - maybe just bored given I was reading at a pace of about one page per 10 minutes!  I'm not sure that he really understood what he was getting himself into when he volunteered to read the book with me - at this rate, he'll still be helping me read it when my residence card expires four years from now!

Les Gastronomades
The next day, one of our other French co-workers, YV, joined us on our trip to the food festival.  The festival was a lot bigger than I'd been expecting and had a really good attendance, meaning it was a bit crowded.  There was a good selection of foods and wines to sample though and I left with a really lovely pineau rosé, which I've never seen before - I'm all set for future French dinner parties now!  I'm not a fan of tomatoes, but I purchased a tomato tapenade that was delicious and perfect for using up my remaining chèvre and bread slices.  Everyone purchased a few food or drink items, but most of the day was spent wandering around sampling everything!  We did stop off for a small lunch in an area that smelled like barbecue.  It wasn't, of course, but it was still delicious and quite different from anything I've eaten so far in France.

One of the other highlights of the day was trying the "Beaujolais nouveau."  I had seen the signs for it, but had no idea what the big deal was.  L’Américaine said it's an acquired taste and she didn't like it, but I did.  I've since learned that it is a very young wine, bottled right after harvest.  This leads to more fruity flavor and less tannin, which could be why I like it since I've already noticed that red wines mentioning "tannin" as a dominate flavor are ones that I usually don't like.  The young man is laughing in the photo below because the crazy American ladies told him that we wanted to take his photo to document our first tasting of this wine and that I planned to include it in my blog.  I really do prefer candid photos of people over staged smiles!

Apparently, taking photos of random smiling strangers is not common here because Alexis was teasing me about having found myself a new boyfriend!  Of course, my new "boyfriend" also looks like he's in his early 20s, which is a little on the young side for me!  I am beginning to think that French men grow up a little more quickly than American men though because it's rare that Alexis does or says something that reminds me that he's in his early 20s.  In contrast, some of the American men I know in their late 20s still do and say many things that remind me that they are younger and not really my "peer" in terms of life experience.

Sadly, we did learn that Alexis is not willing to carry all of our purchases for us 😢, but he does still live up to the reputation of French men being thoughtful.  He pointed out that we should take a short walk around the market area so that we had a view of the city.  Since it was my first time in the city, I enjoyed getting to see it.  I was pretty tired by the end of the day, so he also offered to drive, but I'd quit sampling any wine or alcohol several hours before we were going to leave, so it was logical that I'd remain the driver (I thought so anyway).😊

Since it was L’Américaine's birthday this week, and Alexis and I spend the most time with her, we decided that we should have a dinner for her on her actual birthday.  Monday's blog will be all about co-hosting my first French birthday dinner!

A Night on the Town in Civray and A Visit to My French Friend in La Rochelle

A Night on the Town in Civray
My American co-worker and I decided to see if there was really a nightlife in Civray.  First, we were surprised to see a little brocante shop (that she's never seen open) was open on Friday evening, so we stopped in.  The proprietor was very nice and I plan to go back now that I will have a French home to decorate.

We then headed to the beer bar for a pre-dinner drink.  There were a few people in there, but when we returned after dinner, there were several groups both inside and out.  As the evening went on a number of people came and went, with many groups still lingering when we went home after 11:00 pm.  It seems that you can go out on a weekend night and have a decent chance of socializing, although it mostly appeared to be boys barely of drinking age (18) and both men and women around retirement age.  There seems to be a limited number of people in their 30's and 40's who were out, despite being able to bring children into the bar (at all hours, regardless of food service).

La Rochelle
The next day I was off to visit my first French friend, Rita, in La Rochelle.  We wandered around the area with shops, had lunch and chatted about what was going on in our lives.  We shared some comparisons of life in the US vs France and she told me funny stories about her classmates in her training program - she's becoming a customs enforcement manager!  Part of this involves learning how to use a gun, which is a very odd thing for French people since they only own hunting rifles (if they hunt), but no other guns.  While I would have enjoyed working with her, one of the advantages to her leaving the company is that I'm not her boss, so we can be friends instead!

I had such a good time with Rita that I forgot to take any photos!  So, I will instead share a picture of my Sunday drive to one of my favorite restaurants, L'Argentor (yes, I stopped fully to take them).  The roads here are crazy narrow considering they're for two-way traffic doing 90 km/hr; I have no idea what you do if you come across a giant tractor going the opposite direction!  As you can see, it would be a challenge to get around it!

Yes, this is a 90 km/hr road

L'Argentor is popular with both the English in the area and the French.  Due to this, it can be quite busy and you may have a bit of a wait; however, it's well worth it!  The food here is exceptional every time (ok, my toast was a little burnt this time) and they cook many of the meats on the open fire.  When they are very busy though, expect to take your time - I arrived at 1 pm and wasn't ready for my café until shortly before 2:30 pm.  This was not because I'm an American either, the French weren't leaving any faster than I was!

A delicious salad, but I liked their old vegetarian version with a grain patty better

The burger appears small because it is - I ordered the "petite"

I really believe there is a reason that many cultures in the world drink a hot beverage after a meal (mint tea, green tea, coffee, etc) because one of my favorite habits in France is an espresso after a meal (decaf after dinner).  Food just seems to settle better with a nice hot drink after!

Ma visite à La Ville Rose (My Visit to the Rose City - Toulouse)

First off, my last week at work (second week) was dreadful!  While I had a good experience with my French coworkers before, there is one person who is now quite awful.  I've decided to edit this to remove the specifics for now, but suffice it to say that it was incredibly stressful ("not being able to sleep well past 1 AM" levels of stress) and I'm glad it is over!

I really needed a reminder that there were reasons I wanted to live in France, so I went to Toulouse.  I spent the weekend soaking up French culture, speaking only French and eating delicious French food.  Each region has slight differences, like I've seen no chèvre salad on the menu in Toulouse, but I had a dish Sunday that was new for me (pancetta that was like a big ham steak).  To illustrate my point about the little salad with nearly every meal, here is dinner and lunch from the weekend.  I will also note that PB (the GM) thought that Americans calling pomme frites "French fries" was rather funny and yet they serve them with EVERYTHING - burgers to fancy dinners.

I also partake of a local wine once a day when traveling on the weekends.  I had two good, lightly sweet whites this weekend.  The nice thing with a sweet white is it serves as an apéritif, goes with many dinners and is good with dessert!  I can just slowly enjoy the one glass, which suits me better than an apéritif, wine with dinner and wine with dessert (not uncommon here).

It was a sunny, gorgeous day in Toulouse when I arrived.  The city is called the rose city, presumably because of all of the brick?  And maybe the roof colors?  Or the pink columns?  Or pink stone roads?

I headed to see the Basilica of St. Sernin, but it was closed ,either due to the hour or signs about the restoration.  Either way, I saw a street that had shops and cafes, so I headed in that direction.

The thing to understand about French cities is that the walkable shopping area appears to be the social center of every French town I've been to.  Sure, you'll find some overpriced restaurants and other places near tourist sites, but the shopping area is where you'll find the local French in droves on Saturday!  While I've never been a big shopper, I've learned to head to these areas for the social aspect alone.  Here are some scenes from this part of Toulouse on Saturday:

Despite being the second most secular (non-religious) nation in the world, virtually everything is closed on Sunday.  They may not believe in God, but they believe in a day of rest!  Here is the same shopping area on Sunday just before noon:

I have very good luck with festivals when I visit cities; similar to the festival last week in Poitiers, there was an event at the Capitole this weekend in Toulouse!  These appear to be one of the rare times that the French will talk to strangers or share a laugh.  I had a couple of brief exchanges and could have had a French male companion, but I'm not accustomed to how forward they are yet.  Once you're here for some time, you get used to it, but from an American perspective, it's overwhelming.  There's no "playing it cool" in the Frenchman's playbook - it's a full court press!

One of the most intriguing things about France is seeing really old things that only partially survived, but were just incorporated into the new.  I love that these little pieces of history are kept alive, even if the original purpose has been lost.

Since Sundays can be a little dead, I visited the Musée des Augustins.  It was a convent in its former life, yet another example of the French reinventing a space!  I found this sculpture of the woman's face with a veil interesting given France's hard line stance against face coverings now.

I was pleasantly surprised the museum was free since it isn't the first Sunday of the month (when they're virtually all free), but this first view of the cloister gardens was my favorite part!

The work on the church and convent started in 1309 (continuing into the 16th century) and it was clearly impressive in its prime, but you can see signs of the neglect that many religious buildings suffered after the revolution.

One section of the museum incorporated modern art with ancient art in a way that was actually complementary - not the norm here!  The color and presentation were designed by Jorge Pardo, formerly of Cuba (now working in Mexico).

I've realized that I am interested in visiting cities in a different way than before.  There aren't a lot of tourist sites here, but I've instead enjoyed the normal pace of life - walking around and seeing what the city has to offer.  Despite the capitole square being fairly empty, I discovered that the French are not hiding at home on Sunday, but appear to congregate at local parks.  Despite the weather being much drearier than the day before, the French are still outside!

I did notice heavily armed military and police in unusual places until I realized they were near churches.  It's a sad commentary on recent events in France that churches are guarded with heavy weapons during Sunday service.

Wandering down a different street, I came upon the Couvent des Jacobins.  Unlike a " convent," this was for priests.  Nuns seem to have been at abbeys in France.  This place was like many in France, where you appear to be on a normal city street, turn the corner and BAM! historical site just sort of tucked into the block.  In the center photo, you can see original decoration that they uncovered, which shows the sign for alpha and omega on the bricks.  It's rather incredible that anything survived considering Napoleon quartered his soldiers here by adding a floor midway up.

As I explored the free front area, I was horrified to learn that the SKULL of St Thomas Aquinas used to sit in this box.  It's now neatly encased in a golden box where the skull is not out for your viewing "pleasure."

I wrapped up my Sunday with the realization that all roads seem to lead to the Capitole since I kept walking down random roads in different directions, yet found myself back at the Capitole again and again!  The upside was that I noticed people walking inside and went to see for myself.  The capital buildings in France are often historic buildings that retain the beauty and character of a different era, but are usually called the "Hôtel de Ville."  I also read that the building sits where it does because it was the middle of two different parts of the city, as a reminder to its leaders that they equally represented both sections.

I also had to get a quick shot of these mirrors!  They were used in the Stuttgart palace as well - two identical mirrors directly across from each other that give the impression that they continue indefinitely, incidentally making the space appear larger as well.  I tried to get myself out of the picture at first, then gave up - I like how my outfit came together today anyway!  I'm actually loving the whole scarf thing now - the right scarf can take a blah outfit and make it look really lovely.

While I like Civray now and have committed to a 3-5 year role at the plant, I can easily see myself in a city like Toulouse someday.  It doesn't feel as hectic and tense as some French cities I've visited.  I also think it's the right size for me - big enough for a metro, small enough that you don't really need the metro if you don't mind a 15 minute walk.  I like the idea of exploring normal French weekend life in different places and finding the one that suits me best - so far Toulouse is the first where I took this approach, so we'll see what the final conclusion is!  I have plenty of time to decide!

While I did like Toulouse, it won't be *the* city because it's FIVE hours away from Paris by train - I need to be closer to a major International airport, not further away.  Speaking of trains, it is common that a 1st class ticket may be available for just 3-4€ more than 2nd class, so I tried one.  Much bigger seats (since one side is singles), electric outlets at each seat (not common in 2nd class on the TGVs) - my phone was almost dead, so it was worth the price for the power outlet alone!  Unfortunately, after the 2nd stop I had a seat mate with terrible breath who kept yawning - eek!  That is one of the two things that will make dating in France a challenge - there are many more people here who have bad oral hygiene.  The other challenge is that so many of them smoke!

First class seats - I could get used to this

And one last picture for your viewing pleasure - the French will truly put chèvre in nearly anything - including a McDo's (yep, that's what they call it here) wrap.  Admittedly, the curry shrimp one sounds kind of good, but we don't have it locally in the Poitiers area!

Village Life in Genouillé, Shopping in Poitiers et J'adore Chèvre !

When I moved back to Civray, I mistakenly thought the ad for my house meant it was 5 minutes outside of Civray, not 5 minutes outside of a village that is a 10 minute drive from Civray.  While the commute to work is fantastic still, I really preferred living somewhere walking distance from all of the shops and restaurants of Civray.

To better acquaint myself with my new village, I took a walk in the opposite direction towards the town.  It is quite common to see people walking into town, so I wasn't out of place on the country roads.  It is incredible to see the old buildings that are here, like this old farming structure that appears to possibly be in use today?

As it turns out, my current village does not have trash pick up at your house, you have to take it to the communal drop off, which is here.  The yellow bins are for recycling . . . and by the end of the week, the black bins are QUITE full.  The whole trash thing was the moment when I determined that my permanent residence would be IN Civray and not a neighboring community!  Hauling my trash to a central repository is just a big NO for me.

I did manage to find the infamous "dépôt de pain," which serves as the local bakery since there isn't one.  I've read that the pastries are so good they sell out in the morning, but you can reserve one for pick-up on your way to work, which might be my plan for the next few months!  Fresh pastry always beats day-old pastry!  I also like the idea here that a standard store wasn't feasible, but adding a little building onto a large empty parking lot suited the size of the town and made for a convenient location.

During my walk into town, in search of the one restaurant that was listed (never found it and may not exist now), I saw that a "brocante" was in Civray on one of the signs and, let's face it, there's really NOTHING happening on Sundays in rural France normally.  I headed on down and my American co-worker joined me.  It was a fun few hours looking at antiques, decorative items and junk that people were trying to sell, plus some rather nice collections of antiques for viewing.

While enjoying a coffee after, the mayor of Civray dropped by our table since he's aware of the invading Americans working in his region.  We had a nice chat and, despite not normally giving the bisou (cheek kiss) to strangers, we kissed the mayor!  The older French ladies were quite shocked!  I'm not sure they were as shocked as us Americans were at this antique French lighter though - yes, the flame comes out exactly where it appears it does, along with little red blinking lights on the ta-tas.

If you were ever curious what happens on a Sunday in a sleepy French country town, here's a peak at the collections that were on display.  First, some older clothing with some truly impressive headgear!

 And a lovely display of antique hats!  There were many other collections, in addition to the brocante area where you could buy things.

My co-worker is also convinced that I'm going to have good luck in France because she's been looking for this antique cat box she saw in a perfume store (which she showed me the day before), then I found one at the brocante!  I told her I'm more convinced that perhaps I've brought HER good luck by coming to France. :-)

I believe the best part of these little village events is the chance to greet your neighbors and have a quick chat.  It seemed many people were socializing, not just shopping.  When we took a quick walk around the rest of Civray, I was very happy to find a kebab shop that is open Sundays for dinner (!) and to learn that the beer bar is not only open on Sunday evenings, but open until 2 du matin (!!!) (aka AM) on Friday and Saturday - could it be that Civray actually has a weekend nightlife?!?  We've decided that a mission to the beer bar is in order!

The day before all of these local adventures, I went up to Poitiers to do a little shopping because I was in serious need of a fall/spring coat.  I found one that I loved, but one thing that I had read online (and witnessed for myself) is that French women show much less cleavage, but a visible bra is not an issue - like "black bra under a white shirt" visible.  What I was NOT aware of was that "headlights" are potentially also a "thing."  It appears they may not only be acceptable, but desirable enough that you can purchase a bra that will provide them for you!  I'm really not quite sure what to think here!

Lastly, I return to my love of chèvre.  This is a cheese so versatile that it featured prominently in both my dinner AND my dessert.  First, a chèvre lasagna (with eggplant and pesto) that was quite good and then chèvre with fruit, nuts, salt, pepper and honey for dessert . . . I know, it sounds weird to an American palette, but it was DEVINE.  I really cannot get enough of French cuisine!  Even better, I can somehow eat like this over here and actually lose weight.

And while I really only went to buy a coat and new jeans, I ended up with a new skirt and sweater . . . and a matching scarf, of course!  It's almost impossible not to find gorgeous, well-cut clothing here.  If I can limit myself to one new outfit per month, I think I can avoid going broke!