Madame

Despite my having told my students that my name is Rebecca (I like to save ‘Becky’ for my friends), I am being called, and more importantly, in class I am starting to answer to ‘Madame.’ This feels like some sort of milestone…

cutest picture ever?

coupez vos portables!

I believe the best translation for this sign, which I saw on the door of the restaurant I ate at last night with Doug and his dad would be: Fucking turn off your cellphones!

Paris weekend

Last weekend I spent in Paris with Helen, my wonderful Welsh friend. Here are a few of the photos I particularly liked:

My table as I planned what I would do that day.

An angle of Notre Dame I’d never photographed.

Men playing petanque in the Jardin des Tuilleries.

Woman sketching the trees in the Jardin du Palais Royal.

Me feeling quite happy to be standing where I was standing.

See all the photos I took last weekend on my flickr page!

A first

Today a woman in a hurry to get on a metro train basically hip checked me out of the way. As she was behind me, I suppose she thought that the only way to get on the train was to get me out of her way. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I knew the French were terrible at waiting in lines, and have a different mentality when it comes to getting on and off trains (i.e. why wait for people to get off the train when you can just push your way on before they get a chance to free up the space?), but this was a first. I made it onto the train as well, and quickly moved down the car so I wouldn’t have to stand next to such a rude person.

I just got my first newsy email from my parents who are in India! They just left Dehli where they report 14 million people live. I can only imagine what getting on a bus or train there might be like! I don’t want to think that everyone here (or in India) would have acted like this woman. They are now in Jaipur and are sound like they are having a wonderful time! I am so proud of them.

new apartment pics!

Welcome to my new apartment! This apartment is, apparently, in a bourgeois part of Lille. In fact, the apartment was listed as “Appt bourgeaois.” But, is something truly bourgeois if the word “bourgeaois” is misspelled? Hmm?

Other angle of living room:

My *big* room:

First pancakes in new apartment! Yum..

smoking stinks

The students at the school that I teach at in Lille seem not to have gotten the memo that standing directly in front of the entrance to a building in tightly crowded groups whose members are all smoking cigarettes is both gross and rude. Today they did themselves one better and actually stood inside the entrance way – I mean, it WAS raining – smoking away. The concept of requiring people to stand x number of meters away from the entrance of a building if one is going to smoke seems to have not occurred to the French quite yet. But giving dirty looks to the smoking students as you pass among them doesn’t have much effect as this type of behavior will, if anything, make you fit right in as they puff away landing dirty looks all over the place. Smoking and smiling just don’t go together, it seems. Yuck.

Busy time, lots happening

I have tried two times to write a post since I got back to France, to tell a little about getting the apartment in Lille (we got an apartment in Lille), to tell about getting another job (I got another job – 4 more hours a week) and to talk generally about what its like to be back. But, unfortunately, I have had very little time to reflect. Yet, I have been seeing lots of new things (a black cat running along a fence, for example), learning a lot (there are a lot of differences between students at a private communications school and those in a public engineering school, for example), and finding new places to get a good bite to eat (will post name of new little restaurant find when I remember it). I need to get the camera back out, to take pictures of the new apartment, and the new neighborhood. Life in a big city is very exciting. Once the gas gets turned on, and there is hot water, I’ll be at the new apartment full time and hopefully will have time to share some reflections.

How are you?

new theory

I am developing a new theory:  it is simply impossible to eat out at a Mexican restaurant and not leave feeling impossibly full. But the question remains: how does it happen? Is it the chips and salsa that I cannot resist because I am usually exceptionally hungry when I arrive at these Mexican restaurants? Tonight I think I can safely say that it was the lovely sopapilla that none of us could resist at the end of the meal. That and the pitcher of margaritas. Not to mention the fact that one is always given an inhuman amount of food in the first place.

Anyway, tonight we ate at El Jardin in north Denver (Commerce City, to be exact). It was so darn good, and I left feeling so full. But there are leftovers. Including sopapillas!

Infinite Summer

As some of my faithful readers know (because they are doing the same thing), I am spending the summer reading Infinite Jest, the David Foster Wallace thousand-page masterpiece. Someone, I’m not sure really who, decided that it would be a good idea to launch a group reading of I.J. this summer. See the blog about the effort: Infinite Summer blog.

I have been doing a good bit of reading at a favorite coffeeshop here in Denver: St. Mark’s. This place really doesn’t hold a candle to my favorite coffeeshop in Minneapolis/St. Paul (Coffee News Cafe), but what are you gonna do, right? Its still pretty cool, and has great iced tea, which I discovered today after not being able to finish a whole iced cofffee a couple of days ago for fear that my heart would beat out of my chest. I am not used to drinking iced coffee.

Here is St. Mark’s:

So far the reading is right on schedule: I’m on page 294. But need to keep up the pace if I want to keep up with the schedule. I don’t think I’m able to actually comment about the book itself at this time. I mean, where does one begin? So for the moment I will just say this: I am reading it. You should too! Its not too late to catch up…

long time, no blog!

Hello faithful blog readers! Are there any of you left? Or has my long hiatus driven you to read more reliable blogs, like word-of-the-day? ( I could never compete with word-of-the-day.) Well, I am back to writing the blog, hopefully on a more regular basis. The last month has been very crazy, which has contributed to the blog slow down. Here are some of the things I have been doing.

Early June, I flew from France to Denver for my brother’s wedding. Ten days later, I flew back to France. Nine days later I flew to Minneapolis. Jet lag=blech.

While in France for the 10 days, I moved out of my apartment in Valenciennes (all my stuff is in a friends garage and apartment) in anticipation of moving to Lille when I return at the end of the summer. I also spent that time grading my students final exams, and taking care of any number of mind numbing tasks required of me by the French government and other sundry institutions and organizations.

I spent the next two weeks in Minneapolis! Visiting friends, and eating at all the great places that I don’t have access to in the north of France. It was great. I also took a short trip to Duluth to visit some young and old friends.

And now, I have just arrived in Denver where I’ll be until the end of August, when I make my triumphant return to Europe!

I’ll be trying to update more. Hopefully I’ll find things in my old hometown to write about that are as strange and interesting as the things I see in France. I hope you are all well and still out there! Comment? Tell me you are still reading?

Squirrel Video

These are the people in your neighborhood

This afternoon, as I was driving into Valenciennes, I passed a school that was just letting out. Here, the police man the crosswalks next to schools where there is a lot of traffic. As I approached the crosswalk, a policewoman had me stop and motioned for a big group of elementary school students to cross the street. Almost all of the kids that crossed the street insisted on shaking the policewoman’s hand as they passed her! There must have been like 20 kids. The policewoman had started with her arms stretched out parallel to the crosswalk to indicate that the cars were to stop, but this double arm gesture was reduced to a one arm one as she shook all the kids hands. It was great.

unbelievable

The CAF (Caisse Allocations Familials) is a government organization that helps people with their rent who don’t make very much money. I was told I should apply because you never know. I did apply…in October. After 9 months of calling and visiting, and asking them what’s going on, and their acting annoyed that I am asking them what they are doing with my dossier, and after their putting the amount that they were going to give me on their website…and then taking it down again. After all of this, I got a letter last week that officially telling me that I do not qualify for any aid. Great. Fine. Its over. Good riddance.

Today I see that they deposited 200 euros in my account.

Unbelievable!

I wonder if they are going to ask for it back…

escargots toboggan

I know there are some of you that read my blog that don’t regularly check out my flickr page. I already put this picture on said page, but don’t want you to miss out on it. It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Only in France (or in Belgium as the case may be, since that is where I took the picture…).

But “America”, as they call the U.S. here, isn’t left out of the fun!

Here is another shot that shows just how American this toboggan is:

But wait, toboggan is spelled differently at the top of the slide than it is on the trailer… T-o-b-o-g-a-n…isn’t that French for Toboggan? Hey…this isn’t an American toboggan at all!

stray dog

Yesterday a stray dog crossed the street with me. He waited until I was standing at the crosswalk. Came up beside me, and then walked me across.

moving

Here are the pictures I took of the apartment to use in an online posting to try to get someone to rent it. I am supposed to pay rent until the end of July, but if I can find someone to rent it, I will be able to stop paying rent when I leave the apartment at the end of June. Two people came to look at it yesterday (one of them one of my students!). Two more are coming today. Fingers crossed that someone wants it.

a race in Valenciennes

This morning, as I walked toward Place d’Armes, the main square in Valenciennes, I realized that there was a running race of some sort going on. It seemed like some local race to raise money or something. The finish line was there, in Place d’Armes. Here are a few things I noticed;

1) No one was clapping or cheering or doing anything really at all to support or acknowledge the runners. There were metal barracades lined with people, spectators, all of them silently staring at the runners as they passed. Actually, I did see a group of people clapping once, but I think they must have seen a member of their family who was in the race.

2) I saw a guy who had just finished the race lighting a cigarette.

3) When I saw this, I was on my way to the track to have a run myself. I was wearing running clothes and running shoes. It was the first time I didn’t feel like a spectacle walking through town like that, as there were so many other people walking around wearing the same thing.

sunday morning pain perdu

This is what it takes:

to make this:

which also incidentally and accidentally looks like a butterfly!

some details from a North to South day

Today I spent four and a half hours on a bus, from Manchester to London, looking out at green green England. Tonight I spent 2 hours riding in underground trains through London (to and from the Lahori Kebab House for some amazing Pakistani food. Wow it was good.) Breakfast in Manchester, dinner in London. Pretty fun.

Tomorrow night I will go to a performance of Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I am very excited about this. Alas, the 700 standing tickets, which sell for £5, were sold out. While the website insists that these spots have the “best view of the stage” I wasn’t too sorry to miss standing (potentially in the rain) for a three hour play.

The morning is as of yet unplanned. Maybe I will dream of the perfect London morning tonight while I sleep. Sweet dreams.

I might have a new best friend

Tonight I went back to the home of the family I go and speak English with every friday evening. The youngest girl, the one that stands on my feet as I walk around the room, seems to be officially crazy about me. She made up the following rhyme. (btw, they call me Rebecca)

“Je ne partage pas Rebecca!”

Translation: I won’t share Rebecca!

What’s better than someone liking you so much that they refuse to share you? Not a lot.

too perfect

I had a health insurance card. It worked fine. I needed to go to the health insurance office for some reason, and when they put the card in their machine to access my dossier, they said that the card didn’t work and that they would have to issue me another one. “Strange,” I thought. “It worked fine until you used it…” So they gave me a stand-in piece of paper representing the fact that I have health insurance and I was told that in two weeks, my new card would be sent to me. About a week later I get two letters, in the same day, from their office. They have been sent by two different people. Both of them are asking for the same document. Apparently, before I can be reissued the card that I already had and that was working fine, I must supply them with a copy of this document. Weird. You guys gave me a card before, but now you can’t give it back to me without something you apparently didn’t need before.

Today, as I walked past the windows of the health insurance office on my way to deliver the necessary document, I saw something that explained so much. Through the window I could see a desk, and on the corner of the desk, right next to some plastic file organizers, was a trash can. On the desk. At least now I understand.

Cinema as travel

Saw “The Wrestler” tonight. For once I was able to totally ignore the subtitles so you can imagine my surprise to find myself back in Valenciennes when it ended. Really enjoyed the film, and the re-entry was surreal.

teaching english=having fun

Every Friday I go to the home of a family of a colleague to speak english with them, the parents and their two young girls. They live in the countryside and tonight I ran around the backyard with the youngest one. She showed me the chicks and chickens and the donkey named C.C. I taught her how to say the donkey was dirty. As the sun went down, I had coffee with the mom in the backyard and discussed the things they use the yard for in the summer. I told the youngest to count all the trees in the yard and tell me the final count in english. I swung on the swingset with the older one and taught her to say “I’m swinging!” When her dad came into the backyard, she shouted “I’m swinging!” I then taught “It’s raining!” when it started raining. They invited me to stay for dinner, when I start speaking french. After dinner, the youngest one stood on my feet as I walked around the living room with her. She asked me why I couldn’t just sleep there? It was a great night.

pizza, redux

This is my third attempt at making a pizza lately. The first two, I am ashamed to admit were made with a sort of premised dough that was not that good. This one was made from a pizza dough recipe from my friend Craig. (Thanks for the pizza dough recipe Craig!) It was a-MAZ-ing!

Ingredients include: sauce, red and yellow peppers, mushrooms, sliced garlic (this was key), chorizo, buffalo mozzarella and other mozzarella from a bag.

Here is the recipe for the dough – I made the by hand version. (Craig, I hope its ok that I reproduce the recipe here!)

Some Approximation of Simon Jacques Cousineau’s Pizza Dough
(Makes 3 medium or 2 large crusts)
I Package of dry Yeast
I ¼ Cup of tepid Water (110°)
4½ Cups All Purpose Flour
¼ Cup Semolina Flour (or Cornmeal)
1 TB of Olive Oil
½ tsp Salt
BY HAND
In a large mixing bowl, add dry yeast to the water and whisk together.  Let stand for 5 minutes and allow yeast to bloom.  Add flours, oil and salt.  Mix together in bowl until dough comes together and forms a ball.  Remove dough to a lightly floured surface and knead dough by hand for 3-5 minutes.  Place dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover in warm place for 45 minutes-1 hour until doubled in size. * (*If making dough for use later, do not place in bowl, Place in a greased Zip-lock bag and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.)
ELECTRIC MIXER
In bowl of mixer, add dry yeast to the water and whisk together.  Let stand for 5 minutes and allow yeast to bloom.  Add flours, oil and salt.  Mix on speed one (with dough hook) until a ball forms.  Switch to speed two and mix for about 3 minutes.  Place dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover.  Set in a warm place for 45 minutes-1 hour until doubled in size. * (*If making dough for use later, do not place in bowl, Place in a greased Zip-lock bag and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months.)

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin to fit size of desired pizza pan.  Lightly sprinkle the pan with corn meal and place rolled out dough onto prepared pan.  Dock dough with a fork and let rise for 20 minutes in a warm place (cover with a light towel or plastic wrap).  Then brush with olive oil and par-bake at 400° for 5-7 minutes.  Top pizza with your favorite toppings and bake for 5-10 minutes more (last 2 minutes on “Broil” to give a golden finish {if desired}).

New video from “The Website is Down”

My brother has finished his second hilarious website video: “The Website is Down: Excel Hell”

Send the link to your friends! Maybe he will get a million views of this one too!

http://www.thewebsiteisdown.com/

pizza

I made a pizza! While it tasted good, I know how I can make it better. But I don’t think I can make it look any better:

Florida trip, part 1

Since I got back to France from 10 days in Florida with my family, I have been trying to think of how to approach representing the trip on my blog. I took LOTS of photos, a very small selection of which I have put into a set on my flickr page, but I’m not sure what to do with the rest, or what to say about the trip. I had a very strong case of culture shock after almost 7 months in Europe, without having returned to the states. I mean, I got up one morning and saw this:

I sat on a plane for awhile, and just a few short hours later I was looking at this:

ordering from this:

and eating this:

(Conch chowder – which was followed by a perch sandwich, conch fritters, and key lime pie. The place is called Alabama Jack’s. When our waiter introduced himself as “Dog,” I knew I was a long way from Valenciennes.)

Just minutes down the road, we arrived at our resort on Key Largo. After we checked in, we were told how to find our cottage. I believe the directions were, “If you pass the Tyrannosaurus Rex you’ve gone too far”:

Here is a sign for our resort:

And here is the dinosaur:

Instead of doing this:

I was doing this:

and this:

while looking at this:

So this is a good representation of the first couple of hours and days of my holiday in the Keys and Miami. I’m still thinking of how to share some of the other experiences I had during my time in the states, and the unique impression they made on me considering the point of view have these days. Actually, I think the French perspective allowed me to truly appreciate the kitsch and the hokiness I found in Florida, rather than thinking it to be tacky or lame. Instead so much of it was really charming to me, and so quintessentially American. For example, get a load of the lamp that is in the cottage which is next to the T-rex:

Fantastic.

bagel

Found this photo in the New York Times. What I wouldn’t do for one of these some days. And its an everything too….

quick note from the keys

Hello from Key West where I am exloring the mane and myriad differences between the Florida Keys and northern France. Look for my resulting report to be published in the spring in respected academic journals everywhere!

So far it has been amazing. Fantastic to find myself looking at the ocean, teal and turquoise, eating a conch fritter (!) or a blackened mahi mahi samdwich, swimming in the salty water, looking at a Key deer (endangered and protected deer the size of a dog!) from about two feet away from the car window. The pictures will comw later, and they are gonna be worth the wait folks! I am also on an unofficial search for Americana, and OH BOY i have found it.

Gros bisous!

let’s not forget about cinnamon toast!

Nothing else quite cures what ails you like cinnamon toast – so comforting and indulgent. I only recently remembered cinnamon toast, and thought I’d remind you about it too. Let’s not forget about cinnamon toast!

day in paris, version feb.2009

I spent the day in Paris yesterday. I love that I can do that. I want to go to Paris more often this year, as I love love love being there, and don’t want going there to always be a big production. So going for the day is a good way to minimize the planning necessary to make it happen. It was a great day! Photos:

Cloudy day. Sacré Cœur:

I had the tartine (toasted baguette, butter, jam). Always very ecomonical.

The Catacombs! This was very interesting. A little creepy after a while, but an amazing space under the city. Quiet, humid, low ceiling dripping water, shoes have white mud marks on them after. Not a sad place, but if anywhere is going to make you contemplate your own mortality, this is it!

Notre Dame. Looking good now that the scaffolding is off. Looks clean.

Waiting for the train. Gare du Nord. What a great space.

looking forward to spring

About a week ago I had the following epiphany: it will be spring. It will be spring! I have really been in the winter mentality, the existential equivalent to putting up the collar of your coat, tucking your chin inside your scarf, and walking into a cold winter wind. But spring will come! I decided to give myself a preview:

just what you need. more email!

Upon inspiration from a friend, I have added a subscription feature on my blog!

If you scroll to the bottom of the right-hand column on my blog, you will see the following: “Subscribe to tobeckyw’s blog by Email.”

If you click on this link and follow the instructions, you will be able to receive an email when I write a new post! And don’t worry, at the rate I write posts, an email notification will barely make a dent on your inbox.

I hope alls well where you are. And people, don’t be afraid to comment! Its really fun for me to know that you are reading my blog.

In response to a few recent comments: I think that parsley is good for eating at Passover, dipped in salt water to represents the tears of the exiled Jews, but other than that, I’m not buying that it holds any medicinal or other properties…

cooking with a cold

I have a cold, but all the same, I made a great soup yesterday. I needed it to nourish me back to health! This is the third time I have made this particular soup: Spicy Sausage and Potato. Yum. I highly recommend it. I made it with smoked sausage, and left out the green onions, the parsley, and the herbs, because the onions are out of season, who needs parsley anyway, and herbs are too expensive. The soup is great even without that stuff.

While cooking:

If you are interested, here’s the recipe for Spicy Sausage and Potato Soup.

This morning, still cold-ridden, I decided to console myself with a little French Toast, or “Pain Perdu” (lost bread). It was the first batch of french toast I have made since my sojourn in France, if you can believe that. (Oh, la honte.)

It was great, but it wasn’t nearly as good as yours, Mom.

saturday night

Hockey game – Valenciennes vs. Dunkerque! 7-7 tie.
Frites and policroc in Belgium!
Saw a fox on the side of the road!
Saw a shooting star!

What a night.

a great morning

1. listening to the Australian Open, live

2. making pancakes

3. with bacon

4. and coffee

Brussels

I have recently decided that I want to explore more of the places that are quite close to where I live. Given that I don’t teach this week because my students have exams, today I decided to go to Brussels. I drove there by myself. I think I’ve already mentioned that of all the Europeans I have driven amongst, the Belgians are the worst. And indeed, this observation was, again, borne out today.

The day, with some photos:
I parked near a metro station and took the train into the city. When I write it like that, it sounds so simple. After getting off the highway and driving into a neighborhood (as directed by the lady I spoke to when I called the tourist office), it wasn’t that easy to find the metro stop, but a few helpful Belgians pointed me in the right direction.

Ate thai food for lunch – yum!

Grand Place

As I stood in the Grand Place a man approached me and asked if I spoke English. He was Irish and was looking for historical information about the Place. He was really nice and we chatted a bit. He decided to look in the museum that was on the place itself and off he went. About 30 seconds later I looked up and saw him running back toward me. “Congratulations on your new president!”, he cried as he hugged me. He just gave me a huge hug! He said, “I don’t know how you feel about him, but we are just so happy!” I assured him I was happy too. It was awesome.

Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert – wow. I bought a salted caramel filled truffle in here, and ate it as I strolled along.

Building under scaffolding.

Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. This is a great museum. And, get this, I saw the Queen of Belgium there! She was visiting the special exhibit. I was upstairs looking at some stuff when I noticed that everyone up there was looking down into the large, open main floor where there was a crowd of photographers and people holding huge microphones around a well-dressed older lady and some other folks. Later, I found out that it was the Queen! I took a picture too, down in the exhibit. She is the one in a skirt, sort of standing alone in front of that piece.

Me in the museum.

As I walked around, I was thinking about others who I know would love to have such a day in Brussels. Next time I go, I’ll visit the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée! – a museum dedicated to the comic strip!

FINALLY!

I think it was just after Bush got reelected, when I was so disappointed, that I actually took solace in the fact that it was a simple fact that one day he wouldn’t be my President. And today is that day! FINALLY!

I just spend the last 4 hours watching CNN coverage from my apartment here. An experience that I will never forget. Now I have turned to the French national news and am listening to how they are covering the big day.

It was a great afternoon. It was so nice to feel so connected to something that all of my friends and family (and the rest of the world!) were watching at the same time.

For a little comic relief, I offer you this short video from youtube. If you remember the “Wassup!” beer commercials from the late 90’s, you’ll enjoy this (thanks Jen for the link!):

Tonight, the “We Are One” concert is my lullaby

I was about to go to bed, and checked the NPR website to hear the hourly news update. I saw that NPR was broadcasting the “We Are One” concert from the Lincoln Memorial! So here I am in Valenciennes, France, sitting in bed, listening to what’s happening, live, in Washington D.C., 3,847 thousand miles away. Awesome.

To mark Barack Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday I changed my blog header to the New York Times headline from the day after the election, how I found out that he would be my president.

la vie quotidienne

I feel as if you, my devoted readers, have gotten a distorted view of what my life here is like. Probably because I usually include photos in my posts, and I’m usually only taking photos if on holiday, or some other contemplative walk, or exciting adventure. I also think I try not to complain. I don’t like to hear myself complain, and I don’t want you to have to read my complaints. But I realize that this may leave a lot out of what this experience really is. I am not necessarily writing about “ma vie quotidienne” (my daily life).

Since the end of my holiday I have been dealing with things that aren’t necessarily pleasant or easy to handle. Add the fact that these obstacles must be navigated in French and you have a few headaches, a few tears, and a few afternoons when I can’t really muster the motivation to do anything but stay inside and watch a movie. Here are a few details of my recent “vie quotidienne.”

Sewage problems at my apartment: I won’t go into more detail, and believe me, you don’t want me to. These problems have been fixed and the landlord has informed us that the cost of repairs will be passed on to the tenants. Charming.

No water in my apartment for 3 days: This was likely caused by the very unusual sub-zero temps we had here for about a week. Luckily I have access to a friends apartment where I was able to go to shower but this situation didn’t do much for making my place or myself feel clean (read: all dishes dirty).

Car problems: I found out yesterday that I need to replace the brakes on my car and that it would cost 400 euros. I have taken it to another garage who may be able to do it for less, but in any event, I have to do the repair if I want to keep using the car. I can’t imagine a situation more ripe for being taken advantage of: 1) I’m a woman, 2) who needs her car repaired in a garage, 3) and who isn’t a native speaker of the language in which the mechanic is explaining what’s wrong and how much it will cost. Hmmmm…

Health Insurance: Because I am a teacher, I can take part in a “mutuelle,” a program for which I must pay a small fee but one that dramatically reduces the cost of monthly perscription medication. Before the holidays, I called to see if I had been signed up for this program, and could I be sent a notice to that effect that I could show to the pharmacy. I was told no, I hadn’t been signed up, and to send a letter stating I want to be a “mutuelliste” and to include copies of my contract, my pay stubs, my social security number (the french one), and my new address. I called back today and was told that there was no such record of my having sent this letter. This is so incredibly typical of dealing with French institutions that I feel like I am stating the obvious when I say: nothing ever works. If it does work the way its supposed to, the first time, one feels real surprise.

Traveling Internationally: I recently got hassled at the UK border because, apparently, I couldn’t adequately prove that I have a legitimate job in France and the fact that it was my 4th visit to the UK in less than a year made the border patrol suspicious that I was secretly working there illegally. Never mind the fact that I could provide a document from the French government that is only obtainable if one has a legal job. Evidently, the documents required to enter England now include a passport, and a work contract.

Going to the doctor: You don’t have to make an appointment to go to the doctor. Instead, you just go when his office is open and you wait, and hope you don’t have to wait that long. You wait with a lot of miserable people. And then when you get in, your doctor might not give you the correct prescription for your medication, only allowing you to get enough for half of a month, after which you must go back, and wait, and hope you don’t have to wait that long, in order to rectify this mistake. I have to leave off here, because I have to go and wait at my doctor’s office.

I acknowledge that I have chosen to live here and therefore I have to accept the trials and tribulations that come with that choice. But it doesn’t mean life here isn’t complicated or annoying, and it doesn’t mean I won’t complain about it from time to time. I think that Americans, on the whole, have an overly romanticized idea of what living in France must be like. Well, let me tell you, living in France can be a real pain in the ass.

Lille Wheel

Get a hold of this enormous wheel in Lille! The day I took this picture it was seriously frigid out yet there was at least one person riding it. It was a lovely sunny day. I am trying to get to Lille more often this year. It is a great city.

The wheel is just amazingly big. From a couple streets over, you wonder how it can even fit in the “grande place”!

Holidays in England

Happy New Year all! I celebrated the end of 2008 in England with a some very special people who very generously welcomed me into their homes for the holidays. The trip included history seeking trips to Battle and York. Here are some of the best pictures. The rest are on my flickr page. I hope you all had a good holiday season and that 2009 is off to a good start for you! I hope to post many fun stories of my continued adventures this year. And I look forward to hear what you think about what I have to say and post!

Here’s a little of what I saw (and ate) over the holidays:

Dee-licious Ploughman’s lunch in Battle. Includes: Cheddar (yes, that slab at the back of the plate is cheese, amazing cheese), bread, butter, pickle (not what you think it is if you are American, read about what the English call pickle here), and a little salad with a pickled onion which was scary at first, but turned out to be fantastic.

The ruins of Battle Abbey. Battle, England. It was incredibly peaceful and calm here. We were the only people walking around the ruins at the time and it was silent and bewitching.

The York Minster looking spooky.

A cream scone I’ll not soon forget.

Me atop Clifford’s Tower, a fascinating place. On this site in 1190, members of the Jewish population of York sought refuge from a mob. They chose to die at each other’s hands rather than renounce their faith (more info about it here). It was very cold at the time this photo was taken. On the way down we saw two charming geese-like groundskeepers clipping the grass around the tower.

Litterbug sighting

Tuesday I was in my car, waiting to leave a crowded parking lot. In front of me, another car was waiting too. The kid in the front seat rolled down the window enough to get his arm out and let go of a plastic wrapper, dropping it on the ground. He rolled the window up. At this moment, I saw his dad turn toward him and talk to him. I thought, the cars aren’t moving at all, maybe the dad will make the kid get out and pick it up. The kid rolled down the window again and dropped more plastic out onto the ground.

I should make a seperate entry for the people who allow their dogs to shit on the sidewalk. How people think this is still acceptable, I have no idea. This morning, on my way to the mailbox, I had to avoid a big pile, which had been placed conveniently right in front of the entry to the sous-prefecture (government buliding, not unlike city hall). I’m looking for the word that adequately describes the sort of person allow their dog to do this. If I find it, I’ll add it here.

the bullseye project, continued, part 2

Yet more photos of the inverted bullseye. I have discovered that the true genius of this breakfast, for me, is that my oven/stove combo, being a sorry excuse for an oven or a stove, will only allow one or the other component to be operational at any given moment. That is to say, if I am making an egg on the stove, I can’t toast bread at the same time in the oven. Thus the additional genius of the bullseye (and its variations) for someone in a similar culinary predicament.

People who shouldn’t write but do anyway

I just read a good column in the New York Times about people that write books, who shouldn’t. Apparently “Joe the Plumber” has written a book. The author (of the column…) Timothy Egan, also quotes Palin, who is said to stand making up to $7 million if she writes a book. The quote from her is so painful to read, its words so utterly misused, that I was happy all over again, and for a different reason, that the election is over.

Pumpkin Soup Redux

Yesterday I tried to recreate the unbelievable pumpkin soup I made last week. Alas, it wasn’t quite as good as the first time, but still turned out delicious. I bought what the french call a “potiron” – according to wordreference.com, a potiron is what they call a pumpkin in the UK, and what those in the U.S. call a winter squash. Hmmm. The french have another word for that those in the U.S. call a pumpkin: “citroille”. I haven’t found, however, the UK word for what the U.S. calls a pumpkin…if indeed their pumpkin is our winter squash. (Question: why does is look perfectly fine for me to type “UK” without the periods, but strange {to me} to type “US” without the periods? And on the flip side, “U.K.” looks strange, but “U.S.” doesn’t. Anyone from the UK/U.K. or the U.S./US want to give it a try at explaining this one? If I bothered developing an in-house style sheet, I’d bring these into line however. Probably would go with periods throughout. Am I the only one who notices/thinks about this sort of thing?)

The potiron/citrouille/pumpkin I bought at the market. I will say it looks darker red than the pumpkin I know to be a pumpkin. I guess that is the winter squash in it. It cost about 5 euros which was a little more expensive than I anticipated, but I now have enough soup for many meals (see last photo).

Step one: clean the inside.

Step two: peel it with a big knife, preferably a sharp one. Don’t even think about trying this with a vegetable peeler.

All peeled. (I like this picture. They look like cartoon objects or something)

Step three: cut it up. (This could be a photo of cheese, except I know better!)

Step four: I started by sauteeing an onion, and last time I had a carrot at this point too. Try not to let the onion burn like I did. This photo was taken before the burning, and gives you a good look inside the amazing Creuset pot that I inherited from two legendary Valenciennes area assistants from last year, Kade and Caitlin. They bought the big orange pot for a song at a flea market, and I got it for even less (free!). It has helped create many a delicious meal. I hope to continue the tradition.

The inside of the pot is perfectly clean and smooth, contrary to the way it appears in this photo. I think it is just really old, which accounts for the blackening inside. But that doesn’t affect the way anything tastes.

Step five: I added two liters of chicken stock (made with bouillon, which seems to be the only way you can get ready-made stock where I shop). When that’s boiling I added the pumpkin and a zuchini I had lying around. Bring it back to a boil, and then simmer for about 30 minutes. During this time I added 2 tablespoons of unbelievable curry powder (this is the magic ingredient i think).

Step six: puree it. I borrowed an amazing little tool from Anne Laure to accomplish this task. Apparently, these things are very common here in France. I don’t know anyone in the states that has one, but everyone should. I pureed the whole batch at once, in the same pot I cooked it in. It was amazing. No trying to blend it in a blender in batches, which inevitably makes a huge mess.

Here is what I have left after already eating two huge bowls. one for lunch and one for dinner yesterday. I was guided and inspired by the utter simplicity of this recipe for pumpkin soup I found in the New York Times. Here, Mark Bittman puts forth a minimalist main recipe which he then elaborates on through suggested additions. For the record I basically doubled the amounts he suggests here to match the amount of potiron/citrouille/pumpkin I bought.

This soup is a lot of fun to make, yields a ton of food, tastes great, and is really easy (ok, given, more than half of the reason I say it was easy is because of the hand-held mixer Anne Laure lent me, but it was still really easy). I highly recommend it as a perfect winter meal!

explaining ice fishing

This afternoon I found myself in the personnel office submitting my tram pass receipt so I can get reimbursed, and I began talking about the weather with the ladies there. They were complaining about the cold, grey weather we have here in the North. I told them that where I used to live (Minnesota), it was much much colder. This was met with slight disbelief. I then told them that snow that falls in December might not melt until March. More disbelief, expressed wonderfully with really wide eyes, and a certain head gesture that is quite French. When I told them that it gets cold enough for long enough for people to drive on the lakes, and even set up little houses there to sit in while they ice fish, well, this was what earned me some dropped jaws. Fun.

apéro dinatoire

Photos from a recent little gathering I had chez moi. The guests have all asked to remain anonymous, except my wooly little friend Bé (pronounced Bey) here. He was a little drunk.

the bullseye project, continued

Here is a variation guided by bread shape.