Homesickness

As of late, I’ve become very very homesick. And for many many reasons. I love Europe, and Christmas here was amazing albeit not traditional, but there were so many instances in the past few days that made me really choke up. A good chunk of my family is at home, several people flew in from all over the place, while I’m here in Europe (ahem..). One of my best friends from high school came out to visit and her ability to be homesick after just a few days is infectious. On several occasions the subject of dimsum and Chinese food came up while eating some delicious Spanish food and suddenly my food wasn’t as interesting as perhaps xiao long baos or xiu mais. And I’ll reiterate, I love love love Europe. I loved my Spanish Christmas. I love that my high school friend flew out here to visit. I love the friends we made in our wonderful Spanish hostel. But I miss home.

I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss my old dog. I miss Californian weather. I miss driving whenever I want to rather than having to wait for the train or the bus. I miss hanging out at my auntie’s flower shop and having to fight for the little heaters she has. I miss her 7am calls to help her at her store. As much as I love Europe and the fact that I’m LIVING in Europe, I really do miss being home.

Only, I realize, once I leave here, I’ll really miss Europe too.

Winter break

Many apologies for not keeping up with my postings!

Just got back from Strasbourg and now I'm off to Barcelona, Spain in the morning!

I promise to update once I get back from all this traveling!

cold weather and thanksgiving

You know it's too cold for a southern californian when you can see your breath and there's dew on the cars and condensation on the windows. But when there's ice? Now that's just a new level of cold. When I was in the Bay Area it was past too cold when there was ice on my car. Now, well... let's just say it's cold.
On a lighter note, Thanksgiving came early for us expatriates here in France. Tuesday night we had a nice American Thanksgiving with some French influences (mainly bread and cheese and wine). Steph made a delicious turkey dish, some mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and carmelized apples. Yum yum! I contributed with a pumpkin pie that came out rather well without a measuring cup! I should have taken pictures of it prior to eating it, or even leaving to Steph's place, but I was in a rush. Things take a lot longer to get to when you have no car. Très triste, je pense. Aside from that, there was plenty of bread and cheese for all four of us, plenty of wine to keep us toasty, and plenty of food for seconds. And to think that for a moment I thought that there might not turkey on thanksgiving! What's thanksgiving without turkey and pumpkin pie?? And Charlie Brown too =)

I don't have the pre-dinner pictures, but here's some from after dinner, the food coma stage.

a peanuts thanksgiving didn't fully work so we resorted to the halloween and christmas peanuts specials insteadwhat was left of my pie after we all couldn't eat anymoreour obligatory family portrait

our less serious family portrait..splish splash..

and now for christmas decorations and christmas music!

On locals

The one thing that I love about meeting locals and having them show me around is that there are so many places that these locals have never been. Like the Eiffel Tower for one. And a boat tour on the Seine for another. Ok so I understand the boat tour one, that's rather touristy, but the Eiffel Tower? That's like never being to Hollywood, or across the Golden Gate Bridge, or seeing the Grand Canyon. hehe, I like to think that I'm helping these locals reconnect with this amazing city.

"How can you tell how good bread is without tasting it?"

"Not the smell, not the look, but the sound of the crust.

Listen.
[bread crackles]
Oh, symphony of crackle.
Only great bread sound this way."
~ Colette on breads in Disney's Ratatouille

I love buying bread from the bakeries. It's probably one of the simplest pleasures of French life. I'll walk into a boulangerie and ask for a baguette, most of the times just a demi-baguette parceque it'll just be for me and I can't finish a whole baguette myself before it loses its nice crunch crust and it's soft airy insides. With the dozens of loaves of breads standing against the wall with their deliciously warm scent, I order my bread. The person behind the counter then twists a piece of paper around my bread and I watch with anticipation. I pay and take my new purchase out into the streets and back home. Once out into the streets, I smile with my new delicious purchase. What’s the first thing I do? Even before taking a bite out of it for a tiny taste, or to stave off my hungry George till I get home, I give my bread a bit of a squeeze. Not too hard that I crush into the supple airy center, but just hard enough to hear that “symphony of crackle”. As I hear the beautiful sounds that come from my bread, I begin to snack on my bread as I continue my walk home with the nice soundtrack of my regular boulangerie adventure found in my lovely loaf of fresh French bread.

*edit: French baguettes are really meant to be eaten that day. In fact, the sooner the better. Day old baguettes really aren't as good. It's sadly an unfortunate 180 from what it was the day you bought it...

photojournal 3

what would normally be one of the highlights of my day cost me €4.50... *sigh*

new rice cooker!

Beat that silly little "Asian" stores in France! It's still over priced at €31,90, but new rice cooker for Jane Ann! =P

sigh.. €31,90 for a rice cooker that I could probably buy at 99 Ranch for $20....

Elections

How exciting it is to see that we are writing a new chapter in our history books. Today marks a change that has been decades in the making, and now finally, an African-American will become our nation's 44th president. How exciting! 85% of France said they'd have voted for Obama as well. Let the changes commence!

how sad..

75€ for a tiny little rice cooker???

:(

pantheon, some gelatto, fall, and a bench

Train station

"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence. "

~ Desiderata

Salsa dancing in Paris

It's been about a month since I've danced, and today I went to Barrio Latino in Paris by what used to be the Bastille and all I can say is wow.. What an amazing atmosphere that place had! There were lots of amazing dancers jiving to awesome music. Pretty awesome.. though the venue was rather small; tall though (four levels, but only the ground floor was open to dancing).

=)

And no, this isn't how it looked while I was there. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera out of my bag while dancing, so we all will have to make do with a picture I found online. So unfortunately, no pictures of the venue, no pictures of me, and no pictures of me and any friends I was able to make then.

All those fluffy seats in the center were moved aside and that entire area was open for dancing. It was actually rather spacious there had there been less people, but hey, business was good tonight. Isn't it such a pretty place though? I love love loved the staircase! It looked almost like the one from Titanic. Very fun. Come salsa with me! =D

Completely not french, but still yummy

that's right.
spam musubi.
mystery meat wrapped up with rice in seaweed.
yum yum yum...
so yummy that my monster danced to it. ;)

Photojournal 2: Sacre Coeur et le Tour Eiffel and a yummy glass of wine

^ at the entrance of the Sacre Coeur which, by French standards, isn't old at all.^ wandering the cobblestone roads of Montmartre.^ more weddings!^ in hopes of world peace^ yum...

Sabrina

"And another thing, never a briefcase in Paris and never an umbrella. There's a law."
~ Sabrina Fairchild

Not quite sure about Paris quite yet since it fortunately hasn't rained while I was actually in Paris, but it sure seems to be the case in Creil. Lots of people here just walk out in the rain, perhaps with a hood on, but for the most part, umbrella-less. And here I am in my coat and scarf and gloves and golf sized umbrella which I so happen to adore. Only French umbrellas are half the size of mines. And not to mention, their sidewalks are half the size of American sidewalks too! (ok, perhaps a gross exaggeration but they're definitely smaller.)

So to blend with the locals (as best a foreigner can) I should probably take Sabrina's words of wisdom right? I'll forgo the briefcase (backpack in my case) but I don't think I'll let go of the umbrella. brr..

Sundays

Sundays here are depressing.

barren streets

no one's outside

Creil is silent.

I should remember to go to Paris on Sundays now.

even then lots of things are closed.

so i ask, "what do people here do on sundays?"
the answer: smile, "you rest, of course"


good thing it's monday now



Onto week #3 of teaching and on the bright side, I have a break next week! A nice week and a half off. Though I'm not doing much as is, but it'll be a good time to see the rest of France and then the rest of Europe.

So far teaching hasn't been terribly disastrous. Most of the kids are eager to learn and participate. So much that they shout out answers often. As a teacher trying to get her point across, this comes as a dilemma. On one hand, it's great because they're smart, are eager to participate, and they know what the correct answer is. On the other hand, one at a time! Is that too hard?








< pixellated oscar the grouch on a parisian wall

Photojournal: Paris at Sunset and Night

Exciting finds in the city of Creil

What's interesting about French schools is that on top of their extensive list of holidays, there isn't school on Wednesdays. A student's dream right? I believe it's safe to say it's anyone's dream. Only, there really isn't much to do in this town. As close to Paris as I am, I don't particularly care to spend 20 euros round trip plus everything else I purchase there toooo often. So what then did I decide to do? Cook! :D And since my landlord isn't here yet, there really isn't much for me to do but cook for myself. (I still would have cooked for myself if she was here too, but hopefully when she arrives, it'll be more her teaching me to cook French cuisine.) So off to the market I go!

As small as my town is, I must give it some credit, there are a few "Chinese" restaurants. I walked into a tiny "Chinese" bakery/restaurant earlier during my stay and saw egg rolls, spring rolls (the Vietnamese kind), samosas, curries, and baguettes! There's also two "Chinese" restaurants that seem to serve everything under the sun. Apparently, to my tiny little city (or perhaps France in general -- I'll validate this claim later after some "research"), anything within the continent of Asia classifies as Chinese cooking. If not Chinese, then at least "exotic". haha

So today, off to the market I go, only this time I decide I'll stop by one of these "exotic" stores. You know, in the US "exotic stores" are sure to mean something else. Nevertheless, they seemed harmless enough. If worse comes to worse, I thought, I can easily feign foreigner ignorance right? Fortunately, it was indeed what I thought it to be and eagerly grabbed several useful reminders of home. Slightly absurd perhaps, but finding Shaioxing cooking wine and some oyster sauce among other things was definitely rather exciting. :)

And to top off my shopping trip..! I swung by a bakery nearby and bought myself a massive macaroon! mmm perhaps three inches in diameter? no matter, it was YUMMY!! A coffee flavored macaroon... deee-lish!