An Update of Sorts

Right after the break, Christine (an English teacher) invited Vir, Monika, and I over for a traditional Bouche de Noel

So I guess I've been pretty terrible about actually updating or sharing anything interesting about life here in France.  Maybe it was a mistake to keep the blog going, but I hope somewhere I can find something to write that others will find interesting (but then again, isn't that one of the "problems" with my generation...we all think that everyone should be interested in our lives?  I was on the national news once about this).  Then again, in many ways I feel like I don't have much "interesting" going on.  Yes, I live abroad--in FRANCE!--but I've lived abroad 31 of the last 36 months so the "abroad thing" is relatively normal for me (which I am very blessed with), though the plentiful wine and cheese is a nice change.  :)

Maybe it's a sort of writing stage fright.  Many of my friends, as well as my sister, have incredible, interesting, and creative blogs out there and every entry is packed full of insightful cultural exchanges, humorous anecdotes, and/or delicious recipes.  It's hard to compete with that.

There are definitely some cultural exchanges that can be strange or interesting here (strikes, bureaucracy, etc), but they don't necessarily merit blog entries.  The amount of ridiculous things that happen in my life (outside of the way my lycee functions) has decreased exponentially since leaving Senegal.  I don't feel the need to list what I do on a daily basis (wake up; eat breakfast, class, eat lunch, maybe more class or grocery store, workout, dinner, prep for class/waste time, bed) because I figure it's not that different from what (I imagine) life is like in the US.  I'm a coffee fan but not a foodie, so I don't normally have recipes or cooking adventures to share (though there may be a blog about this subject in the near-ish future).  Some of my silence has also come from some frustration with my job here, but that is the subject of a different post.  Needless to say, I don't feel like I have much to share, nor do I know if anyone outside of my family still reads this blog.

On the other hand, I acknowledge I am doing something that many people around me have never done and I have an obligation to let them live vicariously through some of the ridiculous things in my life.  I am trying to make a point to really experience life in Burgundy and take advantage of everything I can.  Sometimes I mentally write blog posts while on a walk or run and it disappears the minute I get to my computer.


Instead, I will focus on some of the highlights from January, because it was a pretty good month:

January 8: day trip into Paris with the other Semur girls.  Jie and I saw Harry Potter 7 (in English, finally) and the weather was nice.  I met up with Danielle, a friend from my AU/Modern Times days who is doing grad work in Paris, and we hit up a Zumba class, in French!  It was awesome and I really needed the chance to dance like a fool, Lord knows I don't get enough of that here!  After the class, we met up with some more AU peeps: Alex, who is an assistant in Lyon and applying for the Peace Corps, and Beth, my freshman year French prof who I'm close with because she loves West Africa and we even met up in Dakar and Thies a year ago!  The four of us grabbed coffees and hot chocolate, caught up, shared silly stories of cross-cultural adventures (and I shared quite a few adventures from my time in Senegal), and suddenly it was several hours later, rainy, and I had to meet the other assistants for the train back to Cote d'Or.  Sure, I didn't really do much of anything truly "Parisian" but it was day that was good for the soul.  I'll see the Pompidou next time :)

Jan 15-17: Three full days in a row of sunshine and warmish weather, started when I submitted my last grad school application!  I took a lot of walks outside, including an 8km hike around a man-made lake just outside of town.  I was in a great mood the entire weekend and tried to absorb as much natural sunlight as possible.  That weekend we also checked out the only bar in town on Friday night, went to a Beethoven/Brahams classical concert at the theater, and saw the showing of To Kill a Mockingbird at the movie theater.  I started the week asking all of the students what they did over the weekend, hoping for stories of outside adventures.  What did I hear instead?  "I stayed at home and played my XBox/game console/facebook/computer."  Gah!

Jan 20: I worked early and late, but finally made a morning stop to the Senegalese-owned cafe in Semur, called the Cafe des Arts.  I found it my first weekend in Semur but felt too poor to visit it the first few months.  I quickly made friends with the saisai Senegalese server and the owner, both of them finding it hysterical I gave them my Senegalese name instead of my American name and we chatted for a bit in French and Wolof.  The irony?  I forgot my wallet, haha!  They let me go on the promise I would be back again very soon (and I was within the week for attaaya and thiakry!).  My lycee pro kids sang happy birthday without my prompting and then after my step aerobics class, Monika and the other assistants had a somewhat surprise dinner party for me.  They invited a few of the teachers and made a delicious dinner (cheese pastries, schnitzel, two types of potato salad, and a chocolate hazelnut cake, plus plenty of Burgundy cremante and German white wine).  People shocked me with sweet gifts and sent me to bed feeling loved.

On the walk to Mont St Michel

Jan 27-30:  Monika, Vir, and I hopped a few trains to go north and spend the weekend in Normandy.  We stayed with Vir's friend and fellow Argentinian assistant, Sabrina in Cherbourg.  We didn't have time to visit the D-Day beaches in the area, or the museum in town (all were closed the month of January), but had the chance to explore the city and enjoy the gastronomic specialties of the area: crepes, gallettes (salty, similar to crepes), and cider.  We took one day to head to Mont St Michel (one of my goals for the year!) and were blessed with sun and minimal crowds (plus free entrance!).  There was a lot of train time, but with good company and a good book, we had a great weekend!

Monika blowing out the candles
 on her tiramisu

Jan 31: Monika's 23rd birthday.  I planned and cooked a Mexican fiesta with burritos and all the finishings (meat, beans, cheese, peppers, rice, guac, salsa, chips, etc) as well as margaritas!  Klara made a delicious tiramisu, Vir and Jie came, and our favorite teacher and his wife.  Monika was gifted with lots of cheese and chocolate :)


I finally gave in and purchased more storage for my Picasa albums.  I had been avoiding finding a new photo hosting site and trying to get a new Picasa one to work was also frustrating, but I feel bad not being able to share my pictures with people.  They aren't super amazing, but I'm trying to get better, even though my camera is still tired after two years in West Africa.

Ok, that's all I've got for you right now.  I'll try to get some more interesting posts up very soon!

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Note: I now see that I way overuse parentheses when writing these entries.  Sorry to all of the serious grammar people out there who find my little asides annoying and incorrect!