3 Month Mark

It's official - I am a resident of France. I have officially been here longer than 3 months, the limit one can stay as a tourist without having to obtain a visa. I have a french bank account, a french social security number, a french phone number, and a french health insurance card! I live here. I live in France.

"What did you do after you graduated college?"

"Oh, I just lived in France for a while..."

I take the bus. I walk around the shops. I run errands. I talk to strangers in a foreign language and people ask me where my accent is from. I speak another language on a daily basis. I hang out with my amazing European friends. I much on cheese and eat baguettes every day. I wear stripes and a baret and smoke cigarettes (kidding about the last one, of course).

I live in France.

The past three months have been such an amazing adventure and experience. Being TRULY away from home for the first time in my life - living somewhere other than LA. Not being able to run home whenever I felt like it. I've definitely felt the repercussions of that in the form of homesickness, but I also now get to call France home as well.

If you haven't heard, I will be coming back to LA for 2 weeks in January to visit. Then I'll be going back to France. I'll be going home to France? LA is my vacation? It's a weird concept to wrap my mind around... but I can't wait.

When I first booked the ticket, I felt a huge relief. I will admit, I am homesick. But as the date approaches, I find myself realizing that I will miss France and all it comes with. Two weeks will be the perfect amount of time. A nice refresher to refuel on family time and feed on the familiar (literally feed, I am so sick of eating nothing but French food).

After a hard bought of homesickness around Thanksgiving, I'm finally falling into the groove of things here. Last weekend, for example, was amazing. After work Saturday, I spent a cozy night watching movies with friends. Sunday morning, Giulia, my Italian friend, picked me up and we picked up Steph - who lives in Le Beausset. It's a tiny village up in the mountains north of Toulon. It was such a gorgeous drive - total french country-side. From there, we went to go visit Mary, a fellow American, in her town of Belgentier. It was even farther and smaller than Steph's village, but well worth the trip. It was quaint and very French, which I was thankful for. It was my first time meeting Mary, who is from Boston, and it was SO nice having another American around!!! You would not believe how much trouble me and Steph have communicating some times haha British English and American English are two completely different languages. So it was fun to compare them both all afternoon. Mary showed us around for a bit:

Pretty river running under the bridge in town.

HILARIOUS cat that sat in a flower pot and stared at us the whole time we walked around town.

*Fun Fact: Behind the cat is a giant sequoia tree that some American came and planted. I forgot to take a picture of it though...

view of the quaint little streets

park.

After walking around a bit, Mary drove us up to Sollies - a town east of where we were that overlooked the villages below. Amazing views:

There was also some neat castle thing behind us:

Afterwards we went back into town and had a coffee at one of 2 bars in the village (both located right next to each other). We ended up staying and chatting for almost 3 hours, much to the entertainment of the rest of the patrons I can imagine. Before leaving a random BASEBALL TEAM walked in for drinks. Weird for several reasons. 1) Baseball is basically non-existant in France. 2) Of all cities to find baseball, why in a tiny town in the countryside?? Regardless, it was an entertaining way to end our evening :)

Instead of going home, I went over to Steph's house to hang out. I really missed that, just hanging out a friend's house. Since we all live with the families we work for, most of our free time is spent blowing off steam at a bar or restaurant...so it's rare to just hang out and watch TV - which is exactly what I did at Steph's. We ate cheese, and homemade bread, and salad, and fruit, and sweet potato while watching some hilarious British sitcoms courtesy of Steph :)

It was a perfectly simple weekend.

Now enjoy a video of the view pictured above. Soundtrack provided by the lovely Edith Piaf and cameo by the lovlier Steph Wood.

Lyon: Part Deux

Lyon last weekend was wonderful!! It was nice, because last time I went to visit Mallory in Lyon we saw all the tourist stuff...so this weekend was more laid back. My train was a bit delayed Saturday night and I was pretty hungry when I got there, so we went straight to McDonalds (known to the French as McDo - pronounced "mac-doe"). I know what you're thinking, but Mickey D's doesn't have the same bad reputation here as it does in the states. I was actually really curious to see what all the fuss is about...it's actually semi-respectable here. I guess more like a California Pizza Kitchen?? Hard to explain. Anyways, it was the only thing that was open and I was starving so we went in. In case you have never seen the movie Pulp Fiction, please watch the following clip (around the 1:00 mark) to guess what I ordered off the menu.

Yes, it is really called a Royale with Cheese. And yes, they really do eat everything with mayo. And no, it wasn't all that disgusting. Not my first choice, though...

Mallory's Thanksgiving package that her parents sent her didn't arrive until after Thanksgiving, so we had some extra supplies and decided to make another mini one - Thanksgiving Light, if you will. We went to a pretty open air market on the river to get fresh veggies and a roasted chicken (a well deserved short cut/alternative to the turkey). It was really cold, but super pretty. Even though it had stopped snowing the day before, everything was still snow capped. Everyone was bundled and there were christmas decorations everywhere. It was magical :)

Here are the very few pictures I managed to take before my fingers froze from taking my gloves off:

That last one is the view from Mallory's apartment window. After walking around the shop and making a pitstop at Starbucks to refuel, me, Mal, and her friend Jess went back to Mal's place and whipped up dinner. A couple friends came by, we ate and listened to music, and by the end everyone was really sleepy - that's how you know you did Thanksgiving right.

The next day, Mallory had work so I slept in. On her break we went to Starbucks yet again, and after I walked around Lyon for a bit while Mal went back to work. I finally got myself some warm and cozy winter clothes! Oh how sunshine-y LA jaded me into thinking temperatures below 50 don't really exist... That night Mal, Jess, and I got dinner at L'epicerie - a cozy little restaurant that serves a variety of tartines. Mine was brie with honey and almonds, yum. We also had the joy of drinking some vin chaud while we waited for our table. This translates literally as "hot wine", and is just that - with some mulled spices mixed in, like a combination of wine and hot apple cider. Surprisingly delicious :) After dinner, we grabbed a drink at the James - Mal's local spot - then headed home.

This week in Lyon was the Fête Des Lumières - basically a festival of lights once a year to thank Mary for protecting the city back in 1643 from the plague. The whole city is lit up and everyone puts candles in their windowsills. Unfortunately, I left the day before the festival started...BUT I did get a sneak peak of the cathedral at night before I left:

The week since then has been pretty mellow...just workin' and going to school. I'll keep you all posted if anything exciting happens, but do keep in mind that I spend most of my time in the house with the baby! I generally measure how well my day went based on how many diapers I had to change. Some days are magnificent, others are...well...shitty.

Happy Friday!

December

Happy December!!

I made it through Thanksgiving...barely haha Thursday I spent most of the day working and talking to friends and family. It was a bit rough knowing everyone was together and I was stuck on the other side of the world during a truly American holiday. I hit my homesickness peak, to say the least. That Sunday, however, I completed my first solo Thanksgiving dinner! I made everything on my list and finished it on time too! My friend Steph came over to help me with the preparations. I ended up having to make a chicken instead of a turkey...but other than that everything was delicious!! Apparently, the grocery stores here don't sell whole turkeys until Christmas time. I would have had to order one from the butcher about a week in advance, plus they're really expensive and I wasn't feeding that many people. But fear not - the chicken and stuffing was delicious! It was the first time me or Steph had stuffed anything...so it was quite the comical experience. Out of everything (chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce, bread, green bean casserole, peas, carrots, corn, garlic mashed potatoes, lemon pepper zucchini, and sweet potato fries) my one pride and joy was my homemade pumpkin pie! It was my first time making it, and I gotta say: it was way better than any store bought pie I've ever had. I made enough dough and filling for two, so we got to eat pumpkin pie for the rest of the week! No complaints here.

The dinner was well received, aside from the fact that some of the dishes got cold by the time I got around to putting everything on the table and getting everyone sat and organized. It was really interesting sharing Thanksgiving with people who have never experienced it before. Traditional dishes and all. And who says Americans have no culture? ;)

After Thanksgiving, I felt a lot better. Not only was it delicious, but it actually felt like a real Thanksgiving! Even if it was 3 days late. I don't think Christmas will be too bad either. Today I went to the little Christmas market in town they have set up in the plaza with the baby. Everything was red and white and green and best of all - they were playing Christmas carols in English! Feels just like Christmas at home.

In other news, it has been FREEZING over here!! Granted, I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California (aka the Sunshine State) - but still. This morning it was 33˚F and earlier this week IT SNOWED. SNOW!!!! ok ok...it was only for like 15 minutes in the early morning and it didn't stick or anything...but for me this is huge. I had to buy a turtleneck out of necessity yesterday.

Tonight after work I'll be hopping on the train to Lyon to visit Mallory again! It's been snowing over there all week so we shall see how I survive. Hopefully I can find a nice winter coat to buy, because lord knows I did not adequately pack for this kind of weather.

I'll let everyone know how my trip to Lyon goes on Tuesday when I come back!

In the meantime, be jealous of my delicious pumpkin pie...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

The happiest of Thankgivings to everyone out there!!! Words cannot express how homesick it makes me to be away for this holiday. I always figured it would be Christmas that got me, but Christmas exists here - so it's not so bad. But seeing everyone's status updates and pictures on facebook about Thanksgiving makes me miss the comforts of home so much!!!

Momma Blanca sent me an AMAZING Thanksgiving care package, so everyone cross your fingers that I don't botch Thanksgiving dinner when I try this weekend. I will keep you posted!

Thankful for every single one of my friends and family :)

French Kissing

Bizou = kiss; little kiss, kisses

The concept of the kiss in french is a bit strange for me to grasp. Mostly in terms of vocabulary, but also in practice (I mean in a friendly way, so relax all male relatives out there...ahem...dad).

I cannot seem to get a hang of this one-kiss-per-cheek-when-saying-hello thing in France. It's not the kissing total strangers on the cheek thing that's weird...after all I come from a big Mexican family where a kiss on the cheek is how we say hello. It's the TWO kisses that gets me. Personally, I'm a hugger. I go in for a friendly hug. If I don't know you that well, you might get the one-armed hug. But in general, I go straight for the hug. Big mistake here. Why? Because while I'm going in for a hug out of habit, a french person is going for a kiss on the cheek...so by the time I realize my mistake and try to correct myself, the french person is now fumbling to hug me back to be polite...which results in an awkward dance that nobody enjoys. What's even worse, is that even when I do remember to go for the kiss on the cheek, I always hesitate because I never know which side to start out on. Even BIGGER mistake. Why? Because if the other person is going for the same side, I end up kissing someone (sometimes a person I am meeting for the first time) right on the mouth. This almost happened to me twice today alone (luckily it was while saying goodbye to my friends). This is why I prefer the far less complicated one-kiss-on-only-one-cheek that I am accustomed to.

I'm used to kissing family members and relatives, sometimes close friends, on the cheek when saying hello or goodbye. But here is customary to do it (one per cheek) to everyone - friends, relatives, family, even people you are introduced to for the first time (unless it's in a business setting, I would assume). This is SUPER strange for me to see out and about. Coming from an American "macho man" culture, it is totally bizarre to be walking through the mall and see two manly 20-something-year-old guys run into each other and give "bizous" on the cheek instead of the classic "what's up man" head nod, a high five, or informal handshake to maintain personal space. Totally blew my mind the first time I saw it. If you saw two American guys, who weren't related, come up to each other and give a kiss on each cheek in LA, it's probably because you're in West Hollywood.

The other concept that's difficult for me to completely understand is the vocabulary of the word "kiss" itself. Bizou is the familiar word for "kiss" or "little kiss". It's what you say when you hang up the phone or end a text...like saying "kisses!". However, the actual word for a kiss as a noun is baiser. BUT, beware, because the second you use baiser as a verb and conjugate it as an action, it takes on the meaning "to fuck" (pardon my french...hahahahaha). The correct word for the VERB of kissing, or "to kiss" is embrasser. This is confusing for us English speakers because it sounds like our word for "embrace" - as in to hug. Well that is because it does, as well, mean "to hug" - further complicating things. So in a conversation, if worded the wrong way, you could say that you f*cked your neighbor instead of kissed...or accidentally ask someone for a kiss instead of a hug. I guess the safest route would be to use the phrase donner un baiser à... which means "to give a kiss to..." But still, the whole thing confuses me.

I remember when I first got here my host mom, totally amused by the English term "French Kissing" asked me at the dinner table "if I had every french kissed before, but REALLY french kissed, as in with tongue" (which she then acted out for me, in case I didn't know what she was talking about). Her husband, clearly mortified, told her to stop - that of course I knew what french kissing was. She responded with "Well how am I supposed to know???". I just about died laughing.

So...in case you had any trouble visualizing my awkwardness in cheek kissing vs. hugging situations, please enjoy the following clip from Just Friends starring Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart:

Biz!!

New Country, New Hair

Bangs.

Turkey Day

I have yet again fallen behind on telling you all about my fun weekend I mentioned a few posts back, but I have been very busy planning what I'm going to do for Thanksgiving dinner!! My momma has been nice enough to offer to send me a care package of ingredients that won't be available to me over here.

Here is the menu I have planned so far:

-Turkey and stuffing (of course)

-Mashed potatoes and gravy

-Green bean casserole

-Cranberry sauce

-Sweet potato fries

-Lemon pepper zucchini

-Deviled eggs

-Bread Rolls

-Corn Bread

-Pumpkin pie

-Apple cider

Now I need your help: AM I FORGETTING ANYTHING???

If you see that I'm forgetting something crucial or painfully obvious from the traditional Thanksgiving meal, please let me know in the comments section! :)

Thanks in advance!!