More French and Seasonal Eating (aka 100 Varieties of Soup)!

So, learning French is hard.  Like, "my brain is going to explode" hard.  First, you have to get used to the fact that "the" is in front of everything.  As in, "I am studying the French" meaning the language and NOT the people.  Except, not always.  Because my colleagues don't speak "in the English" to me.  They just speak "in English."  Oh, and languages are not capitalized in "the French."

And, when you think you're managing to remember "le français" and you mention "le France," a polite French person tells you it's la France.  Because the country is female, but the language is male.  Clearly. 😨

I've realized that I have to keep studying daily though.  If you think you'll learn a language through osmosis by just living in the country, you're wrong.  You will pick up on things here and there, but it isn't super easy to meet French people (generally) and my co-workers speak English to me, so I'm only becoming really good at the things I have to do often, like order food, ask where something is, etc.  For those forced into using the language more often, I'm sure the learning comes more quickly.  I could be a little hard on myself though because the new French exchange people I've met have all been surprised that I've only lived here 6 months total with 15 hours of tutoring and my only other learning has been online . . . well, until they try my SPOKEN French.  Then, they realize that I write well because I have time to think about what I'm going to say and how to phrase it using words I know (and look up ones that I don't). 😀

Winter Soup
One of my absolute favorite things about France is that you never really have an opportunity to become bored with the menu options.  There are always two things and, outside of a restaurant where one of the two is always the same beef steak with fries & salad, I don't think I've had a full meal (starter and main dish or main dish and dessert) that was completely the same.  I don't eat out like I used to - when my co-worker mentioned having salad on Mondays, I'd made a face; however, the salads aren't basic.  There are a few with all lettuce, plenty of ham, peppers and mozzarella, etc, which I like, but my favorites are half lettuce and half pasta with either chicken and eggs or French ham and mozzarella.  There's  a tuna option and crab option, but I've taken a pass on those and any with a non-vinaigrette dressing - the French do a REALLY good vinaigrette!  I frequently have salad two to three days a week now, but always with either a starter (galette or quiche) or a dessert (apple crumble, rice pudding, etc) since lunch is my bigger meal.

Speaking of the variety of foods, one of the reasons is that they take full advantage of both what's in season and the time of year.  Winter is soup time!  And the sheer variety of soups is incredible (incroyable in French).  From a basic carrot soup (above) to a lentil soup served with a cold poached egg in the middle (didn't get a pic of that one), if it's growing this time of year, the French have probably made a soup out of it!

And the texture is completely varied.  You can have totally smooth soups (first one) or a soup that is a little more coarsely blended (second) with celery and carrots.  I also enjoy the veggies that aren't so common in the US.  We eat pumpkin pie, but the French have pumpkin soup!  I've already missed out on soup one day though because they have so many different words for it.  There's the basic "la soupe," but a thicker soup is "le potage."  The one that means a creamier soup (and I never remember is a soup) is "le velouté."

Soup is a big enough thing here that I think there are probably 3-4 other names for different TYPES of soup.  I am a little sad that chèvre chaud salad was EVERYWHERE in the spring, but doesn't seem to be as popular in the winter; however, this gives me something to look forward to come spring!  See, never a chance to get bored!  Of course, there are veggies that seem to be ubiquitous in French cuisine throughout the year and are used in 100 different ways, such as the leek.  There is even leek soup.

I have always been one of those people who hated vegetables and viewed it as a monumental sacrifice (that I made for my health) to force myself to eat them, but in France, they are served up in so many tasty different ways and varieties, that I find it easy to eat my veggies.  It's just one of many reasons that I love living in France!

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.

Joyeaux Nöel from Vienna (aka Wien)!

My job in France is incredibly challenging.  Partly because there are a lot of new things to learn, but partly because it's just a grind.  There's a lot to get caught up on (since there was no Controller for over a year) and a lot of things that people want . . . and they all want it NOW.  The issue is when local management, European HQ and US Global HQ all want something different and they all assume that you'll have time to do their one thing today (or this week or before your vacation . . . you get the point) because they know nothing about what the others have asked you for.  I've been working 10-12+ hour days pretty consistently since I arrived three months ago and, based on my 2017 schedule of work, I don't see that changing any time soon.😐😒😭  Getting off work between 8 and 9 PM most nights makes it challenging to find time for regular life - as I told my friend, I need a 1950's wife!

All of this is to say that I was extremely stressed out by the time that I reached the airport for my vacation, which could explain why I literally cried when I found out my flight from Poitiers to Lyon was canceled.  And I LOATHE crying in public.  Though the crying could be why I wasn't required to call in to rearrange my plans, but rather a very nice British lady (who spoke fluent French) took care of it for me.  They could get me to Lyon that night, but not to Austria until the next day.

I thought I'd make the best of it by seeing Lyon for Christmas, but I was too tired by the time I actually made it there; however, it still turned out not to be so bad.  You'd think the "crying over a canceled flight" thing would scare anyone off, but instead a very nice Frenchman, who was in the same boat as me, helped me find the desk in Lyon to get my voucher and to locate the hotel.  Since we were at the same hotel with dinner vouchers, he invited me to dinner with him too (and lunch after we return to our home city).  And frankly, the hotel that the airline put us in was much nicer than the simple single room I'd booked for myself in Vienna . . . although, I again have to comment on how much I appreciate the ability to book a tiny "single" in Europe for a bargain price.  For me, as long as the place is clean, well-located and the bed is comfortable, I'm not really hanging out in my room, so I don't care!  Edit to comment that the bed in Vienna actually was NOT comfortable 😔

Left is a 4* hotel and right is a 3*

I finally made it to Vienna a little past noon on Christmas Eve.  Due to the location of my hotel, the bargain bus that went direct to the West Bahnhof (train station) was faster than the express train to the U-bahn (subway), so I bought the cheap 48 hour pass and took the bus.  Of course, when I understood that the bus driver was asking where I was from in German, I answered, "Étas Unis."  After he frowned at me, it occurred to me that I'd said it in French, so I corrected myself.  Yes, I'm now telling people that I'm from the US in French!

Since the main Christmas market was only open through Christmas Eve, I headed there once I arrived.  When I first entered, I noticed what appeared to be "beer punch."  Sorry, but hot beer punch just sounded gross to me, so I took a pass!  {My German friend, Tina, later clarified that "beeren" is berry, so hot berry punch (not beer) actually!}  Instead, I decided to try Weihnachtspunsch (Christmas punch), which I later learned is typically a mix of tea, sugar, spices, red wine and rum - sometimes with fresh oranges or lemons squeezed in.  I have a mild allergy to oranges and had an issue with one of the varieties of vin chaud I tried; pretty sure my punch here also had orange unfortunately, but it tasted good!

During a special occasion like this, I have no issue with exceeding my usual "one pineau per week" with an occasional glass of wine.  How often will I be at Austrian Christmas markets after all?  So, I also tried Glühwein, with the Glühwein having a much more "spiced" flavor and tasting more like vin chaud.  The cup at the markets here are actual porcelain cups and you pay a deposit, which is returned if you choose to return the cup.  I decided to keep this cute one!

There were some similarities to French Christmas markets, but some clear differences.  Not only were the drink offerings different, but the food!  My first impression was that it felt very "Germanic" - both in the food served (sauerkraut, sausages, etc) and the language here is also German.

On my way back from the market, I stopped in to see if I could figure out what this interesting building was, but I was tired and didn't make a very thorough investigation.  What I did discover was a free restroom though!  You begin to scout these out in Europe and it's a serious undertaking - I have paid between 0.50 and 1.50 just to use a toilet!  Sometimes this toilet will be lacking an actual seat even!  

So, I was very happy to find a free toilet . . . which brings me to the next topic.  As you start traveling the world, you realize that the standard US toilet, with a giant bowl full of water that empties each time, is NOT the norm.  In France, it's a much smaller amount of standing water, with a high-pressure gush from the front that flushes everything down.  In Vienna, all of the toilets I've seen so far have VERY little water in the front with a large platform that everything will just sit on until you flush (a large gush from the back in this case).  I admit that I find the platform thing a little weird, but at least it isn't a squatty potty!

I rounded out my Christmas Eve by sharing Indian food with friends, who were also in Vienna for the holidays.  This was my first time not spending the holidays with my family in the US and my menu was pretty eclectic as a result!  Christmas day I ordered the "classic" breakfast at my hotel, which had some aspects that were similar to France (bread and jam with similar deli meats to some French buffets), but some that I haven't really seen (wheat roll, veggies and hard cheese) . . . plus the coffee was not espresso, so it was HUGE compared to what I'm used to now.  

Around lunchtime, I had spätzle with bacon and leeks, plus tried out hot apple wine.  Sorry Swabian Germany and Alsace - this was the best spätzle I've had so far!  Whatever was on it (almost like a parmesan cheese) made it NOT bland at all.  When I met up with my friends they hadn't eaten lunch yet, so I ordered a child-size pork wiener schnitzel, which I always thought was German, but have now learned originated from Vienna.  "Wien" is actually the name of Vienna, so "Wiener" means Viennese!  My "child-size" pork and fries would be a full adult serving in France, so I ended up so full that I didn't eat dinner.  Now, THAT part felt like an American Christmas!

We were doing this eating on Christmas at Schloss Schönbrunn because, miraculously, it was open on Christmas.  Of course, it turned out that a lot of other people had the same idea.

To keep this post at a reasonable length, I'll stop here for now and post part 2 tomorrow about the fascinating lives of the occupants of Schloss Schönbrunn.

Christmas Time in Paris! And an impromptu visit to Musée d'Orsay.

Since L’américaine is getting ready to head back to the US and Alexis is gone virtually the whole month, I thought I'd head to Paris for the weekend to see the Christmas market.

Christmas in Paris!  How could you go wrong?  Well, you could end up leaving this:

For this:

Welcome to our future if we don't limit pollution - endless gray smog

Worse, it could be not fog, but RECORD POLLUTION.  There was an anticyclone over France, which caused high smog levels in cities - higher than in the past 10 years.  I'd read it was supposed to clear out with wind over the weekend - no luck on Saturday though.  Since I was already in Paris before I knew that it hadn't improved, I headed to the Champs-Élysées market, along with half of Europe!  So many people and so many languages!  I'd say that I'm not sure if many French people go here because I heard Brits talking much more often, but that could just be because Brits (and Americans) are much louder in general!

If you think this is crowded, try coming back at night!

I've never been in France during this time of year before, so one of the first things I noticed is that soup takes over!  I will have a blog post that returns to this point later; however, the other thing that becomes abundantly clear is that there are certain foods the French eat (and drink) almost exclusively in the winter.  I kept seeing "tartiflette" listed places (along with a dish "gratin dauphinois," with the last word being similar to the word for dolphin.  Given some of the things they eat here, I was reluctant to order something that could turn out to be cheese-covered dolphin!

I saw (and smelled) something delicious though and decided it was time to try tartiflette with reblochon cheese.  It's like a potato casserole with cheese, lardon (a type of bacon) and onions.  It was good, but I'm guessing there are better versions available.  This particular stand had a chicken and salmon variation, but they didn't seem to be selling quickly.

There was an endless variety of vin chaud available at the market as well - avec épices (hot wine with spices), which I'd had before, but there was also vin chaud with fruit (oranges and sometimes lemons) and cinnamon - not all booths specified what type they were serving though!  There were also several offering vin chaud blanc (white wine), but I didn't see anyone drinking it.  I should have tried it anyway, but I decided to stick with red!  TIP: The booths closest to the metro entrances had 30 mL servings for 6 Euro (and a small serving for 4 Euro), but many booths further in had small servings for 5 Euro, which were actually 30 mL also.  A large was also 8 Euro at entrances and 7 Euro further in, so wait a few minutes and get a better price!

It has not snowed since I've been here and I could probably count on one hand the number of days it has rained (especially ALL DAY - I'm not missing Portland weather AT ALL right now), but it has hovered near freezing a lot more than it usually does in Oregon . . . so I was loving it that France will allow you to wander freely with your vin chaud!  It kept my hands toasty warm!

When I went to the small local market, I had originally expected something similar to Christmas markets at home, which tend to be filled with a lot of Christmas-themed stuff.  That isn't the case in France from what I've seen.  You will find a couple of booths with beautiful handmade ornaments or decorations, but most of it was handmade items that you might wish to give as a gift for Christmas.  My favorite thing about the offerings were the large number of brightly-colored booths!  I didn't buy it from this stand, but I have a lovely woven blue basket now, which can be used for shopping (there's no such thing as free bags at stores - you bring your own reusable bags) or a picnic.

This is all CHEESE - I'm not entirely certain how they get all of those colors!  And some of the apples below don't look edible - check out the black ones!

For more pictures of the market offerings, including my first frog legs, see my album here (no FB account required): Paris Album

I'd originally come to the markets to see all the Christmas lights, but it was a disappointment in that regard.  PB recommended that next year I should go to the Fête des Lumières in Lyon (which was this same weekend) if I want to see some really lovely lights, so that's on the agenda for early December 2017!  There were some nice lights on a nearby street, but the ones near my hotel were prettier.  It was lovely to be at the market right at the moment the lights turned on and started moving up the trees though!  I wouldn't come back to this market for the lights, but I found myself returning here three different times to look through all of the booths and to buy a couple of small gifts - certainly worth a visit just to see the variety of items on display!

I specifically reminded myself to bring my DSLR for this trip, but still forgot it!  Such a disappointment because, while the pollution had my chest feeling tight with exertion, it made for stunning photos with an eerie sky as backdrop.  Hey, if you're going to shorten your life by breathing in the polluted air, might as well make the best of it!

Fortunately, it rained overnight and it was clear blue skies on Sunday morning.

Musée d'Orsay
I decided I'd had enough market time on Saturday and I needed to decide how I wanted to spend Sunday.  The last time I was in Paris was May 2015 and I tried to go to the Musée d'Orsay, but the lines were crazy!  This time I purchased a ticket in advance on Digitick (skip the American-based sites with passes at 30+ Euro - my skip the line ticket was just 15.15 with service fee) and headed for entrance C - no line!  If you're interested in the museums of Europe, winter seems to be a great time to avoid crowds.

While the museum is known for it's impressionist paintings, I personally prefer brighter, bolder colors, so these were two of my favorites in the museum.  The museum had some great (and famous) impressionist works though and they WERE lovely; however, I think art is a very personal thing, so it is about what speaks to you personally (which can be different from day to day).

In fact, for a long time I didn't think that paintings really spoke to me at all, but then I realized that I just prefer paintings where people are not a primary focus or they're abstracted.  When it comes to depicting people, I prefer sculpture.  Although, this young lady appears to be taking an ancient selfie.

For me, I was able to visit the whole museum with starting after lunch, although I was there until closing and just barely finished the special exhibit.  I did not use the audio guide because I've learned that they just don't do it for me at art museums - I want to read the brief descriptions of what was changing in that era or why the art is remarkable, but mostly I just want to look at it and see what draws me in.  I don't want the audio guide telling me which art I should find most remarkable or all about the 5,893 brush strokes it took.  I understand that there are people who do, and for those people, the audioguides are currently 5 Euro!  Just to be contrary, I happen to love audio guides at cultural and historical museums and will listen to everything, even the bonus stuff.

I also enjoyed this edition of "translations gone wrong" - apparently, doing your laundry at the museum is now a "thing" . . . except "linge" is laundry and "langer" is changing, so NOT a laundry table after all!

I just learned today that poor Alexis dislocated his knee and won't be home until the end of January.  I'm the only person that he's become friends with who is currently in the area, so I will be making the hour trip to Poitiers to rescue his car from the train lot before it is towed!

I officially know who I'll be calling for that 2 AM ride to the hospital or "my car died in the middle of nowhere" incident now! 😈

Homesick and Co-hosting a Birthday Party in France

The last couple of weeks have been a little rough for me.  I missed my first major family holiday (Thanksgiving) and it was especially difficult to see the photos and realize that I'm missing out on all of these moments.  I'm also missing all of my niece's "firsts" since she was just one month old when I left.  I know my nephews and niece won't really remember these years when they're older, but could I really live here beyond 3 to 4 years?  Could I be happy as the aunt/sister/daughter/friend who only shows up once or twice a year?  I'm not sure I can answer that yet.

What made it worse was having PB tell me that I always have to be here for year-end inventory and I won't ever get to go home for Christmas (before I arrived, I'd been told I always had to take the week of Christmas off for the plant shutdown, so this was an unpleasant surprise).😢  Fortunately, he reversed course a little when he realized that I was upset about this - while I do need to be here for the year-end inventory, in 2017 I could still fly out on Saturday, the 23rd, and be home for Christmas.  The same would be true in other years as well, so he told me that he's certain that we can work something out.

The other thing that suddenly started bothering me was just acknowledging that I'm living in a country where I have no family and no long-term, really close friends.  I have friends here now, but I think it would feel like more of an obligation if I needed their help with something serious (say, a 2 AM hospital visit), whereas I have friends in the US who would WANT to be there if I really needed them (and I'd similarly want to be there for them).  In other words, I have friends here who'd help me move, but not help me move bodies. 😉

I know my blog probably seems mostly positive because I truly do love France, but I've come across a few ex-pat blogs now and it's pretty consistent that we all have tough times.  

I've been lucky to avoid the bureaucratic issues mostly, although nobody seems to be able to figure out HOW to get me a social number.  I've also been fortunate to make a few friends quickly, but you just don't replace friendships of years, or decades, so easily.  Given that, I view occasional homesickness as normal . . . but I'm glad it passed again for now!

Co-Hosting a French Birthday Party
On another topic, Alexis and I had a tough time trying to decide what to do for L’américaine's birthday.  Should we bring flowers, a good cheese and champagne to the festival?  But then what would she do with them all day?  Maybe we could buy her something at the festival?  We wandered off alone a couple of times to look around, but we couldn't decide on anything specific to buy for her since everyone pretty much bought what they really wanted on the spot.

We finally decided that we should host a dinner party for her (and I requested the same main dish he'd made for me).  Since L’américaine and Alexis are neighbors, it was more convenient to have it at his house.  With the long hours that I often work, we decided that it made more sense for him to do the main dish.  He also wanted to do the apéritif, which I thought just meant alcohol, so I offered to manage the entrée, dessert and flowers.  It turns out an apéritif can be more than just a few chips or peanuts with your drink, it can be a lot of small bread pieces with different toppings, so we skipped a separate entrée.  With just dessert and flowers, I felt like I was getting off pretty easy, especially since the birthday celebration had been my idea, but Alexis insisted that it was "his pleasure."

I showed up 30 minutes early to help get everything ready and had a minor moment of embarrassment because I was showing Alexis my temporary Carte de Sejour and he immediately noticed and asked about my "divorced" status.  I hadn't really thought about it being on my card when I showed it to him nor had I realized that he didn't already know I'm divorced.  I wasn't quite sure what to say about it other than to confirm that yes, I am indeed a divorcée.  Fortunately, L’américaine showed up then and I was spared having to decide if I was required to provide any further explanation.

Overall, the dinner went well, although with champagne to start and pineau with dinner (which is stronger than wine), the conversation became rather lively as the evening went on!  It also went a little late for a work night, but I didn't realize until the following day that I'd left Alexis with all of the cleaning as well!  😔  

It is funny that there are so many things about French culture that seem foreign to us that L’Américaine and I still ask some of the same questions of new French people, like, "Is it really true that if a guy smiles at you and you smile back, he will assume you're interested?"  The answer has consistently been "yes," but as Americans, we smile back just to be polite.  It's a real learning curve to discover that simple things like this can lead to a misunderstanding!  It's so unbelievable for us that we've had to ask four different French people if this is ACTUALLY true.

It's also entertaining to watch a French person's reaction to learning that it is perfectly acceptable in the US to go on a first date on Friday night, kiss the guy, and go out with a different guy on Saturday and kiss him too . . . and neither guy would assume he was your boyfriend!  Not that all US guys would like this or all women do it, but if you want to watch a French person's eyebrows raise up nearly into their hairline, explain this little bit of American dating etiquette to them. 😂  Or that you can do whatever you want with other people until you actually discuss your dating status.  There's nothing so simple as "we kissed, so we're exclusive" in the US!

Sadly, Alexis is now gone for the next couple of weeks, so I was "forced" to expand my social circle even more by meeting up with EX-PATS!  More on this in my next blog.

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!