Fun with my French family

I love coming home to the Bay Area to see my family! We arrived yesterday and hit up Downtown Pleasanton to pick up our race packets at Fleet Feet, but also let little Woodstock wander around the streets for a little bit.

(Source)

When we finally made it to Alamo, my mom was just opening all of her cabinets and the fridge to assemble all the ingredients of a home-made salade niçoise!!! I know that I lived in the Nice academic region when I lived in France a few years back, but salade niçoise has been close to my heart nearly my whole life (see: my obsession with crêpes).

I love that my mom shares the same passion for French cuisine as I do.

Authentic French mustard for the vinaigrette:

Escargot for the appetizer... I really didn't mind the taste and enjoyed the pesto sauce, but I couldn't manage to get over the fact I was eating a snail. Then I started getting grossed out again. But at least I tried, right? I'm a terrible Frenchie ;)

There's nothing better than a glass of rosé on a hot summer spring night! The candlelight doesn't do much justice to the pink hue of our wine. And shhhhh, don't tell anyone that it's a bottle of SPANISH wine!

I would make a good sommelière, right?? No? Ok, I'll just stick to drinking it then.

My plate of salad topped with freshly-seared ahi tuna. Soooooo goooooooooood.

Finally for dessert, we each had tiny slices of chocolate lover's cake with blackberries. I went a little overboard with the plate decorations haha, awesome.

Then this morning we were all treated to very French breakfasts. Unfortunately, I can't handle a typical French breakfast. I think my cholesterol would skyrocket. So I cut my apple pastry in half, made a cup of blueberry Greek yogurt with granola, craisins and blackberries leftover from dessert, then washed it all down with a lowfat soy mocha latte.

J.D., my mom and I all went shopping earlier this morning to find fun things for our respective House Parties. J.D. and I scored a bunch of goodies -- can't wait for our game night -- and then my mom hit up Trader Joe's for her final groceries for tonight's Williams-Sonoma dinner party. While she was off, we stopped at Baja Fresh next door and shared a mini taco plate for a little lunch.

And now preparations for the party begin! I'm limiting myself to a half a glass of wine or less, since we'll be running 12 hours after the party kicks off. I hope to get to sleep early tonight and then away we'll go to Livermore for the 5K race!! When we get back, I'll post pictures of the party and the race if I ever bother to take any. Just don't hold your breath on that one.....

Hope everyone's enjoying their weekends! xx

Family

Yesterday, I took the day off to attend a memorial service.

It's been almost 10 years since I lost my grandparents, and since then, my dad's uncle Maurice sort of filled that void. Since our families lived only one city away, we saw him at every major event, and even minor ones.

I think that says a lot about my family and their ability and desire to make family a priority. Uncles, cousins, nieces, great aunts, it doesn't matter, they have a fondness in our lives. And as long as we're related, we make time to see each other! That is something I admire in my family, and have grown to cherish and am showing signs of inheriting myself. I don't think I have too many friends who see their other sides of the family at least monthly.

For me, I wouldn't have it any other way. The excitement of going to Uncle Mike and Aunt Michele's house has never worn as my youth disappears. First we had cooler, older cousins who could drive and introduced us to popular music. Then there was the huge backyard and pool. Then the cousins got married and brought their spouses. And now, babies are back in the picture.

Either way, I think the Moyal-Young families share a very special bond. That's why yesterday was kind of difficult. I've grown up a lot since the last family memorial service I attended. I've also learned a great deal more about our history, heritage and culture.

It's so upsetting to think that almost an entire generation is lost, as the younger ones cultivate and grow roots sprouting newer generations. My grandparents all came from Francophone countries and moved over here before my dad's birth. My great-uncle, too, traced those same steps and came to the U.S. from Morocco before anyone else did.

As a youngster, I never really heard the stories. Pictures aren't too numerous. All that I know about my grandparents and great aunts and uncles is from what I've heard their children tell. I seldom heard stories coated in a thick, French accent, and they were delightful.

I wish that people from the third generation could have more time with the "first."

And it still hasn't hit me yet. Except for the beautiful slide show, with its touching music. That was the first time I really cried about it. Other than that, it's still a feeling of shock, like he'll show up at the next family gathering. Or we'll start talking about how crappy the A's are once baseball season starts.

Or he'll ask me when I'm getting married next time...

Like I said, still a little in disbelief. It's all I've been thinking about over the past three days. Moral of the story, learn everything you can from the generations who have come before you. If I could go back, I would try to every second I had available. And I know, that if I ever have children, I'm never going to grow tired of telling them family stories and making family a priority in their lives as well.

R.I.P. Great Uncle Maurice, Mémée and Pépé. Can't wait to have the chance to speak French with you some day in the future. (Now that my language skills have increased 1,000% in the last 10 years)

Goodbye January

I think I may have written a similar post in November.

Either way, today's the LAST day of January and I don't really have anything exciting to say other than I GO HOME IN TEN DAYS!!! That in itself is enough, I think. (For me, the writer at least). It'll have been FIVE months since the last time I was home, in California, the United States, so let's hope I don't get any reverse culture shock in there. Either way, I'm ecstatic about going home for over a week! Please come and visit me :)

Presumably, you, the reader, want more from my post than just that.

Well, then call me a push-over.

In preparation for the unit tests I'll be giving out this/next week, I'm going to post a complete list of everything I've taught my students thus far:

UNIT ONE (October, November):

-Cultural Activity: American names, U.S. geography
-My name is/What is your name?
-Where are you from?
-Family/"I have"
Cultural Activities: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas
-Pets
-Colors
-How are you
-Weather
-Days of the week


UNIT TWO (December, January):

-Body parts/Face
-Adjectives
-Numbers/How old are you?
-Months/When's your birthday?
-Verb Conjugations, yep I'm teaching them how to conjugate: Motion verbs to go with body parts (i.e., to clap, to jump, to touch which leads to a game of SIMON SAYS), to be, to have, to make
-Food/Verbs: to like, to love, to hate
-Clothes
-Cultural Activity: Movies/songs in English after the test
-Cultural Activity: Valentine's Day, though I think this will be for after the vacation, when I'll have conversation hearts from the United States to share in class!!

All things considered, I think the progress here is spectacular, considering how their last English assistant left the program quite a few months early and consequently canceled all English classes during the third and final trimester.

Whatever, it's almost the weekend and I'm going to Cannes to see Sweeny Todd in English! Wish me luck in my first cinematic experience in France :)

...TEN DAYS UNTIL CALIFORNIA!!!

Par-ee

I guess now's as good a time as ever to recount the details of mine and Aimee's whirlwind adventures in Paris.

...if you want to call it that.

DAY ONE/DEC. 30: We left Lyon early in the morning (i.e. hopped on the metro sometime around 7 a.m. to make it to the train station with plenty of time) and arrived in Paris around 10 a.m. In transit, I think it was the first time I was able to fully enjoy the ride. Maybe because I wasn't totally alone, I let myself drift in and out of sleep during those two hours. When I did wake up and peep out the window, I noticed really extraordinary winter colors. Somewhere in between Lyon and Paris, after coming out of a tunnel, I let my eyes wander over this beautiful blue lake and mountain backdrop. The water was sparkling and a very light haze drifted in and out of the frame. I don't know why I enjoyed it so much, but that was one of my favorite train landscapes thus far.

Upon arrival, we pretty much instantly figured out the metro, which is not as big and scary as I thought last year. (Excuse me, since this is now 2008, I guess that was two years ago). Basically, by 11:15, we made it to our hotel near Montparnasse and were able to check in early. Thank God, because our hands were beginning to blister from the combination of cold weather and miles carting our luggage around the city.

Turns out there's a free cemetery in the Montparnasse district, so Aimee and I passed a good hour there checking out graves of famous French artists, thinkers and authors. Me being the literature major I was, that was a huge (fun) nerdy moment. Whatever, Aimee was allowed hers at the Natural History museum, my turn!

In the evening, we decided to continue with the theme of things being free and walked along the Seine taking in all the beautiful infamous monuments that dot the Parisian skyline.

DAY TWO/DEC. 31: Happy New Year's Eve. The morning kind of started with a bit of a let-down, as the catacombs are closed for reconstruction until late Februrary-early March. That's the last thing I've yet to do in Paris that I still would like to someday see. However, since I've been four times now, I'd prefer not to go back to Paris until I've seen everything else in the world I want to see.

We picked up that day by heading out to the Champs Elysees, and much to our horror, at 5 p.m. all the big stores began closing and taking out huge boards of plywood to cover up the windows as precautionary measure for midnight riots. Yikes... The lights lining the street all the way down to the Arc de Triomphe were splendid and I kind of started to get that feeling like I was in a big, bustling city once more.

And as much as I consider myself a city person, Paris has now lost its sheen and magic to me. I've seen everything I've wanted to (except the catacombs) and the immigrant population is totally overwhelming. I don't think I'd ever have the energy to continually fight it off like I had to do all weekend. For all my friends who've lived in Paris, hat's off to you for surviving it.

With that, NYE 2008 was kind of a letdown. Four different groups of Northern Africans kept coming up to Aimee and me (on the Champ de Mars below the Eiffel Tower) as we were playing cards waiting for midnight to strike. Obviously, not looking up from our game means, "Get the hint jerks and leave us alone." But (excuse the over-generalized statement, which is semi-valid since I've now lived here for a total of five months over two years) displaced Muslim men being what they are in a Western culture, assumed that women don't have the necessary internal autonomy to say, "No thanks." So they kept pursuing us. And it got semi-violent.

After midnight, in the metro station, I ended up slapping a young boy for kissing me after repeatedly having to brush off boys/men all night long. Aimee followed suit and kicked the next guy who came her way, however, he wasn't as young as my "suitor." As a result, he began telling me that "my friend's a whore" in French and threw her to the ground. Reason enough for us not to want to return to Paris again. I didn't know how to respond, because it's extremely appalling that people in 2008 will act that way towards us. I'm still shocked by all their behavior. I'm proud she at least got in a good, swift kick... where it hurts if you know what I mean.

But the biggest letdown was the lack of fireworks or countdown to midnight. Dommage. We safely made our way back to the hotel and I think (hope) the only bruises Aimee suffered were ones to the ego. But she was walking fine the next day, so I think all was well.

DAY THREE/JAN. 1: This was supposed to be the day we went to Disneyland Paris, but I couldn't get up with my alarm at 7 a.m., since we had a bit to drink and went to bed after 3 a.m. the night before. So I slept without any agenda whatsoever.

Around lunchtime, we decided to climb up to the top of Montparnasse -- Paris' only skyscraper -- and check out the view of the city below. Not much to write home about because it was such a foggy day, but still impressive. And after pushing our way through thousands of people the day before, our 30-minute wait (maybe it was less) wasn't so bad.

Deciding to continue with the touristy theme, we made our way back to the Champs Elysees to purchase Disneyland tickets at the Disney store, but alas they were out. And the cheapest (decent) lunch we could find out there was at Planet Hollywood -- go figure. Bellies full, we decided it was time to head out to see Notre Dame and pay a little visit to the Latin Quarter, followed up by an evening view of the Moulin Rouge lit up at night and Sacre Coeur/Montmartre.

Bad idea, seeing as how we felt like cattle the entire time. But still, important to see, since Aimee'd never been to the Moulin Rouge. However, I was a bit bummed because the gift shop was closed for the holiday. It's a really neat building inside, but that's ok, we saved our money instead.

DAY FOUR/JAN. 2: DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS!!

We were able to get up early enough to catch the RER which got us into the park as soon as it opened at 10 a.m. Highlights include the on-going Christmas parades complete with fake snow down Mainstreet U.S.A. (In Paris, how exciting). We split the day between Disneyland and the Disney Studios, which are kind of like Universal Studios Hollywood. My favorite ride was the Tower of Terror... and probably the Aerosmith Soundcheck Rollercoaster, even though it did make me want to vomit all over the place.

At night, we enjoyed our last dinner together in the Disney Village, where we split a fixed-price menu at a Chicago-style restaurant. Very good, indeed.

DAY FIVE/JAN. 3: Aimee caught the AirFrance bus back to the airport and I had two hours to kill at the Gare de Lyon. So I finished my book, loved it by the way, and safely made it back to Annecy where I stayed with my parents until yesterday.

All-in-all, it was a very eventful vacation and I'm extremely sad to see it go.

But I was finally able to purchase a train ticket to Milan this weekend (I guess a seat opened up, it's not a full train after all!) where I'm going to meet up with my parents for the last time in Europe. Dad and I will remain here, but it's my mom's last weekend. The next time (after Italy) we'll all see each other will be back in California during the February vacation -- which is only a month away!!

It's been two weeks, but I'm back

And just like that, my winter travels have (almost) come to a close with 2007 now behind me.

It's a bit weird to be back. One, that means I have to return to work tomorrow morning and no one likes doing that. And two, I had to part ways with the family. Aimee's already back in Santa Barbara, probably dreading going back to class just as much as I'm not looking forward to my 8 a.m. classes either.

However, the plus side for both of us is that we are in warmer climates. It's nearly 60 degrees here in Antibes. It's also 5 p.m. and I think it should be mid-60s later on this week! But I said my winter travels are almost over because since this is my mom's last week here in Europe, we're all meeting up in Milano, Italy this weekend. That is, if I can get time off from work and purchase a train ticket. We'll see how that one goes...

And speaking of all this "international" travel, I took Easy Jet from Geneva (the nearest airport to my dad's house) to Nice this afternoon and it was so painless! I even got through the country's borders with an expired visa! So I guess all this dirty paperwork I'm missing doesn't really matter at all -- except for the fact that I need the official document in order to prove to the CAF that I need governmental assistance in paying my rent.... grrrr!

Either way, I'm back home. My house is clean again and the fridge is empty. But France being France, everything is closed on a Sunday evening. It's a wonder I was ever able to catch the buses back from Nice to Antibes. So I guess I'll have to settle with either something frozen or just heat up a bowl of oatmeal and enjoy some tap water for dinner. Really exciting, I know.

Here's to my "second year" living in Antibes. Trimester 2 begins now.

Nous sommes trois!

Now there are three people living in my barely-made-for-two apartment. If you were at all worried, you needn't be because Aimee has settled in with me just fine.

My classes were canceled Thursday and Friday we hung out for the morning in Juan-les-Pins in the morning until I had to go to work. Guess what we found there: F. Scott Fitzgerald's house! Finally, I've been looking for that thing for three months. The weather was beautiful, hot even, and as soon as I got off work, we jumped a train North to Lyon where we'd eventually meet up with my dad.

Lyon is still one of my favorite cities in France. I had a blast for my short stay with Mary back in March 2006, and I had just as good a time (if not better) this year! My only complaint is that it was much too short. So instead of really giving you a play-by-play of the weekend I'll just post some fun family pictures. I'll call it the Moyals do France 2007.

Oh yeah, it was really cold. In that last picture, you might as well call us "Rudolph," or something.

So now I just have ONE MORE WEEK left to teach. Well, technically only half a week, because the second half I'm having CHRISTMAS lessons :) I have a half-day on Tuesday when Aimee and I plan on making a day of lunch and shopping in Nice and Wednesday free, which means some exciting day trip on the train somewhere. Then Sunday we head off to Forcalqueiret for Christmas with the rest of the family, after we'll hit up Geneva, Lyon again and PARIS for New Year's.

I'm really looking forward to the next two weeks. Hooray for frequent school breaks! (Did I mention that exactly a month after Christmas break, I get a winter break?!)

16 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

9 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

Guess who's on a plane right now??

My mom and sister. They'll be here tomorrow, in less than 12 hours!!!

So in preparation for their arrival -- I figure they'll be pretty hungry when they finally get in -- I tried to make snickerdoodle cookies with whatever was in my cupboard. However, the French don't really have the same cookie ingredients as we do, so I kind of fudged the recipe. And I wanted to be more health-conscious (since I AM on a diet and all -- really? you'd never guess) so instead of loading them with butter, I put in some applesauce.

Anyways, they definitely didn't turn out like cookies should have. They look like cookies. But they have the consistency of a biscuit more than any cookies I've ever tasted. So they're like really hearty cookies I guess. Whatever, they're still good. I guess it just goes to show that you can't have healthy and (super) tasty at the same time. Oh and sorry Mom and Aimee, my roommate and I have probably already eaten six of them.... warm cookies fresh out of the oven are a shameful thing to waste. Especially when their scent's wafting through the apartment air...

But I figured I'd be able to make some goodies because I've lost about a kilo officially. Pas mal. I still feel a little soft around the edges and my clothes still feel sort of tight, but not as much as before. That's progress, right? But like I said before, my legs are starting to get muscles they've never had before and in certain light, they kind of look leaner than before. Yay! So I'll eat three cookies and gain it all back again, HA! I do have to say though, going to the gym for two hours a day on a daily basis does feel good. And I'm not laying around the house all day long either, which is good.

In other news, my phone came in the mail today! The post and parcel services here are really punctual. They arrive at 9:45 on the dot every single day. Luckily for me, I didn't have class today so I could answer the door when my package came -- yaay!

Also good news, I have a plane ticket back to the U.S.! I fly from Nice to San Francisco on Saturday, February 10th and will be home until noon on Wednesday February 20th when I fly back to Geneva. Then I'll spend a long weekend with my dad and slowly make my way back to Nice for my sixth month of teaching.

So all of my holiday breaks are planned out except for the April vacation.... Anyone want to come travel somewhere in Europe with me from April 5th to 21st?! (And help me celebrate my 23rd birthday on April 6th??!) :)

20 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

13 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

Today, I got lucky.

Twice.

It seems as though there are going to be train strikes on Thursday -- the day my mom and sister get in to the Nice airport. So what does that mean? They'd probably have to either figure out the bus themselves (with all their luggage) or pay over 60 Euros for a taxi to Antibes.

But instead, my school is having an afternoon field trip for the CE2 classes to go the the movie theaters, while the CM1s are going to see The Golden Compass in the afternoon -- which, by the way, I totally pegged Nicole Kidman to play in when I read the book for my children's lit class three years ago. So, my afternoon classes are canceled! They offered to take me along and I really wanted to say yes (as well as the students, they really wanted me to say yes too) but then it occurred to me: I can go to Nice and meet my mom and sister at the airport!

Then we can all take the bus back and only spend about 8 Euros total. Plus, they'd have two more hands to help out with the luggage. Not a bad deal. AND I'm not working in the afternoon, so we get to hang out or I get to stay downtown while they sleep, or something like that.

It's also now occurring to me, if the CE2 classes are going in the morning, does that mean those classes might be canceled too? If so, then I get the entire day off! We'll have to see how it goes on Thursday...

Another way in which I struck gold today involves more American t.v. I guess after Grey's Anatomy put out its two-part series, it kind of stopped being available on Limewire. So Aimee sent me to this website that hosts hundreds and hundreds of t.v. shows in their entirety. The latest Grey's was finally released and I've been trying for days to download it. The other night it took me two hours to load about 30 percent of the episode. In short, I've probably watched Episode 10 in fragments about six times, but only about 75 percent of the episode.

So today it linked me to YouTube, where I found the very same episodes instantly! I didn't have to wait for them to load. Thus, I finally got to see the end of the most recent Grey's as well as the second-to-latest Private Practice.

There are some things being in France makes me miss :) Otherwise, once I start losing more weight (i.e. stop eating so much) I'll be perfectly content.

MY FAMILY'S COMING IN TWO DAYS!!!

I SUCK at life!!

Really, I do.

Oh man, my phone fell out of my purse in my dad's car back in Toulon. So that means, no morning alarm for me. My roommate really saved me on this one, as he called her from my phone and she came to pick my up from the train station and she's going to wake me up tomorrow, ha.

...Come to think of it, possibly Tuesday too.

I swear -- to use a totally over-used cliche -- I'd lose my head if it wasn't screwed on tight. But I see where I get it from. Dad and I got our hair cut together yesterday, total bonding moment, and my digital camera was tucked away in my jacket pocket -- or so I thought. When she put the drape over me, the hairdresser put my jacket and shopping bag in the closet. As we're leaving, I reached into my pocket, then my purse and started to freak out because of course, the camera wasn't in either place!!

Turns out it was instead under the seat in my dad's car. Gosh, I don't ever drop things down there. But point of my story, as we returned to Jean-Claude's house, my dad had the same mental lapse. He started freaking out looking for his camera because he too thought it was gone. I think his car is a kleptomaniac, because his camera had also fallen into its depths. That glovebox is pretty deep.

And again this morning, after he put the camera inside of his suitcase, he couldn't seem to find it. But alas, it was in that darn bag all along. We really do make a fine pair.

But what I REALLY want to write about in this blog entry has nothing to do with me (and my dad for that matter) being a total mess. Nope.

It's about Miss France. Mees Frawnce.

Total joke. The best part about it was, actually there were two really good parts, French singer Johnny Hallyday's performance. I wish I could put into words what I saw. He's got to be in his 70s to start with and he's a total washup in my mind. Anyways, he actually sang during the performance but I swear to God, the man doesn't know how to play a guitar. He had three other people playing instruments with him, while he strummed his guitar -- infrequently. His left hand never once moved up or down, while with the pick in his right hand, he just kept going back and forth systematically. I'm pretty sure that was all for show.

The other amazing part of the night was the woman in charge of "cultivating" all the young competitors -- Geneviève de Fontenay.

Isn't she a looker?

Man I had nightmares from her. She only wears that hat and is completely plastered in make-up -- nay, face paint, like the stuff circus clowns put on. It seems as if she no longer has any hair, because it's pulled back so tightly as an alternative, or perhaps a supplement, to the years and years of Botox treatments this lady must be receiving. As a result of her hair like that, her eyes, mouth and cheeks are stretched very tightly to the sides and back of her face, like a circus clown's creepy smile once more. And because of all the stress she must be putting on her decrepit skin, her forehead has these terrible splotches all over the place.

I don't think I'd ever want, in my entire life, coaching lessons on how to win a BEAUTY pageant from this woman.

The best image I can conjure up would be just to leave you with one final question:

Have you ever seen the movie Death Becomes Her?

23 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

16 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

My DAD came to visit!!

And I had such a good time! It's been almost two months now since I've seen my family. Usually when I was in college, I'd go a few weeks or something like that. But I never went an entire quarter without at least seeing them once. But basically, I'm going to go that equivalent when my mom and sister fly out in December.

So that was good.

The worst part though -- and by worst I mean best -- was the eating. I have this problem which involves me going out and seeing decently-prices MULTI-course menus. And I order them, then feel obligated to eat it all. Of course at the end I must have my dessert. Yep, whether I can fit it in or not, I need to have it. And right now my stomach hurts so bad from the past three days, haha. But it was good. At least I don't go out to restaurants too often :)

Another neat thing about having my dad and his boss down here was the car! I've been to Antibes, Cannes and Monte-Carlo during this trip by bus and train, but it's been 99% walking for me. So having a car gave us more access to things than I'd have by just foot alone.

So yesterday we got to see Downtown Cannes, the chestnut and horse festival in Cagnes-sur-Mer (although, I didn't see one single horse) and Monte-Carlo in the evening. Maybe Dad will update his side of the story on his blog.... if he can figure it out ;)

I'll post all of the pictures on my PicasaWeb site soon, but until then here are some of my favorites:

November 16th: Dinner at Le Brulot in Old Antibes.

November 17th, The Ritz Carlton in Cannes.

November 17th, Chestnut Festival in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Nougat is probably my favorite candy here!
November 17th, The Casino in Monte-Carlo.

I definitely can't wait until next month (less than one month really!) when the whole family comes out here! It's going to be great :)

But until then, Thursday's Thanksgiving and I'm starting all the preparations for my nine-person dinner party I'm hosting in my little apartment! It's going to be three American girls, one English girl, a Swiss chick (I think), two French men and my French roommate. Come back for pictures and stories about that!

Oh how I hate the cold!

When I woke up this morning, I knew it was going to be a bad day because the sky was black. I actually wasn't sure whether it was morning or night and I did sleep in a little through my alarm. I think it's just one of those days that starts off not knowing which way's up or down.

But the GREAT thing about the impending winter -- nay, it's already here as it's only 9º Celsius and it's nearly 11 a.m. -- are the ways in which I choose to warm myself up! For example, I ran home and heated up some chestnuts then proceeded to devour the entire bag.... mmmm. Healthy, too. Now a pot of water is boiling on the stove, waiting for me to go turn it into a cup of minty tea goodness.

But at the grocery store yesterday, I really did get into the fall and winter festivities. This began by purchasing first and foremost some pumpkin soup! Actually, it was sparked by the spotting of OCEANSPRAY CRANBERRY SAUCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL AISLE!!!! For anyone who knows me, my favorite thing about Thanksgiving is hands down, the cranberry sauce. And the pumpkin pie. But mostly the sauce. I refrained from buying it, because the jar was about the same size as a jar of baby food and cost nearly 3 Euros. No thanks.

Then my cart and I continued throughout the store picking up fun seasonal treats. The best part? My 1,25 Euro Mickey and Minnie Mouse advent calendar! Bring on December and the rain!! I don't really mind that my shoes, pants, airing laundry on the balcony are soaked because it means I get to start making some yummy warm things to fill my belly. Now I'm just waiting on my French Press and then I can go looking for Peppermint Schnapps to add into a cup of coffee or hot chocolate ;) Or, if I'm feeling non-alcoholic, I need to find hard peppermints or candy canes to dissolve in cups of warm drinks.

Oh yeah, my other really exciting piece of news is:

I GET TO SEE MY DAD TOMORROW!!! Really, really excited about that -- can you tell?

He called me from France last night and after notifying him that I used his credit card to purchase my groceries -- I hope said card isn't canceled now ;) -- do you know what his first words to me were? (And I'm putting this in here because he, sarcastically, told me to. See, I'm an obedient daughter).

"You bitch!!!"

After laughing quite a bit, my response was, wait for it...

"Dad, have you been drinking tonight?"

Affirmative. Haha, I love you. Can't wait for this weekend!!!!

Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you're curious about how my diet's been going over the past week, I've already lost between 3-4 lbs! However, I've been cheating pretty badly on the weekends and it looks like this week will be no exception. So that just means I'll stick with it a little longer than normally anticipated to compensate for my days off in between :) My overall number is still up from when I first came here, so let's just say I can drop 2-3 more kilos (about 5ish lbs.) then I'm back at what I started :)

Un dimanche à la campagne

Hands down, this past weekend was my best in France -- ok vacation in Tours was great, but this was different and more special.

After already speaking in French and eating food immensely yesterday, today continued on that same theme. But this time I hopped on the train to Toulon where some friends of family friends (confusing, huh?) drove me 30 minutes into the Provence countryside in a little village called Forcalqueiret. There, said family friends have a large eight-bedroom house that's been converted into a hotel. The second Sunday of every month, they invite all their friends over for an insanely large meal, with the principle of bringing friends together to enjoy French culture, gastronomie (of course!), and philosophy.

They'd invited me to the Galère in October, but I was too busy with moving in and sorting my life out to attend. So I picked November to come and I'm really glad I decided to. Interestingly enough, the guest speaker this month -- the philosophy part of the meeting -- was a fairly well-known and published lecturer on the degradation of the French language. Figures that his assigned seat was directly across from mine. A subtle hint on Jean-Claude's part?? But before I ever opened my mouth, he started talking about how foreign words were infiltrating the French language, mainly from the Internet and English vocabulary. I don't think he intended it in a rude way, then again he's French so he probably did, but he's very proud of his country and language and holds firmly to the old-school thought that it's necessary to preserve one's history through language. He actually took to me quite quickly the more I spoke because he's fluent in English, though not a single word was exchanged in English the entire day -- aside from his examples of words infiltrating the language.

One of his friends also latched onto my conversation very quickly because he had plenty of questions about the United States and my opinions on the comparisons between France and the U.S. Oh yeah, did I mention that the age of this group ranged from 55 to 98? So hence a lot of the very proud opinions on display in that room. Again though, they fondly labeled me "la petite Américaine," from which I could detect a hint of compassion in their voices.

Where I'm getting with this though, is the 98 year-old -- my great-aunt Yvonne. This is the fifth time I've visited her in France, however it was the first time I'd seen her in a wheel chair. She was another example of the elder French generation that I remember so vividly who was very proud of herself and her autonomy.

Me and my great-aunt, just after having stuffed our faces with white cake filled with fruit chunks and frosted with a maple-chocolate glaze, mmmmm. The cake was for another member's 80th birthday. To which Jean-Claude joked, "No one is allowed to die until after April 2009" (Yvonne's 100th birthday).

Every time I have to reintroduce myself to her, because she has a hard time remembering my family. She takes to my dad quickly because he's usually the one taking care of her and speaking to her the most. But today was my turn; I looked after her during lunch and tried to get her to speak a little bit when everyone else started having their own side conversations amongst themselves. Yvonne also is a regular attendee at these gatherings and supposedly she'd been a little down over the last few months. When I was leaving, they told me that she looked the happiest since her recent "pouty-period" and when I left to catch my train, she kept looking for me. That's really touching.

Speaking of touching, it really hurt to reintroduce myself this time because after Patrick seemed to have exhausted every connection between us, he finally remembered to tell her that I'm the granddaughter of her sister, Thérèse. Then Yvonne looked a little upset in that older-sister way I know all too well and asked, "How is she? She hasn't written me in a very long time."

I looked at Patrick blankly and was at a loss for words. We've told her time and time again that she passed away but it's a concept that she just hasn't been able to grasp. He could tell that I was kind of shocked by the question and quickly picked up the ball saying, "She's well," looking at me to follow suit. Feebly I replied, "She says to tell you 'hi.'"

And that was it. I even felt my eyes start to sting and well up a little bit during that moment. Even as they're starting to now.

But it was a great time and I can't stress enough how glad I was to have been invited. It's just really making me realize how much I miss my family.

Diet continues...

This is that sweet website I was talking about last time, MapMyRun.com's "My Training" section. Since I've been back (I'm not even going to GUESS how much I walked/hiked on vacation) I've run 3.89 miles over the past two days. HOPEFULLY I'M GOING TO GET BACK IN SHAPE!

I'm also getting back on Phase I of the South Beach Diet, however with a little bit of a French flare, because if I'm gaining weight, I know my (already, normally high) blood sugar and cholesterol levels are screaming for help. And since I don't have medical insurance over here yet, I can't actually go to a doctor and verify whether or not that is the case.

I have been cheating a bit though, by eating bran flakes for breakfast either in non-fat milk or non-fat, no sugar added yogurt. I still have about six containers left and need to finish them before the expiration date. In theory, if you stick to the diet completely you should lose about 8-12 pounds in the first week alone. I just want 6-7!!

But I've been making lots of meat and salads, omelets, and tonight I'm excited about whipping up a tofu and lentil soup. Don't judge me, this is just for a few weeks until I get my health back on track to where it should be. Then I'll slowly re-introduce breads, sugars, and fruits into my diet. I'm making a promise though, NOT to go overboard ever again. I think the initial shock of being around so much good food ALL THE TIME really got to me. Kind of like, I need to eat it all before it disappears! Such will NEVER be the case. And all my daily runs/walks are helping a bit too.

In other news, my dad did in fact get the job in France near the Swiss border! That means he'll be six hours away from me until May AND his company will pay to fly my mom out here once a month. Yay visitors! I'll be able to take more trips -- hopefully on his company's dime -- AND be with my family. Those are both really exciting prospects. Now I need to quickly improve my speaking so I can impress him when he gets here.... haha.

Les Séducteurs

Pictured: Olivier Martinez -- the Frenchman in the movie Unfaithful. This will be relevant I promise.

What is it with you people?!

Whenever anyone finds out I'm moving to France, they always tell me to beware of French men and that I can't fall in love over there, because I'll never come home. Perhaps this is a result of all the literature and propaganda American and English women are putting out telling about how they went to study abroad and came back... well didn't come back really, after getting PACSed -- a civil union to stay with their sweeties in the country.

I've been given all kinds of "advice" from -- my doctor's suggestion of all people -- "You know how those French are more liberal, they're very promiscuous so be careful," to "Your mom will be so sad to lose you to a French man!"

And we're all forgetting some minor details here:

a.) I went away to school for FOUR years. I didn't run away with a boy, or a man for that matter, and I didn't move to Southern California or even out of the state to live with someone I've fallen madly in love with.

b.) I lived in France before and hardly met anyone then!

It's not like I'm some mindless girl who falls for any and everyone. I mean, who doesn't like being in love? But you can't just say "yes" to everyone who shows some minor interest. And do I really strike you people as the kind of girl guys throw themselves at? I didn't think so.

Now that I've vented a little bit, let's just say that if my past is any indicator, you don't have to worry about losing me to any sweet-talking French man.

So stop bugging me about it already!!

...5 jours!!! I'm getting so excited/anxious/nervous that I can't even sleep anymore because I'm thinking about everything that could possibly happen. I think today I'll finally put all my clothing into my suitcase, but I've been so afraid it won't actually fit.

Oh, and, I have my first real story from this journey to share another day after I figure out more about who to contact. But I got through to La Directrice on the phone, who, if I managed to understand correctly, no longer works in the Antibes school district. So I'm going to play some more phone tag with people I don't know and hopefully figure it out!