Coffee in bowls

je n'ai pas une photographe maintenant, mais je l'irai. (i don't have a picture now, but i will soon.)

Lately I've been having some more traditional french breakfasts. Though I'm not usually a breakfast person, I definitely have found a great liking to the french petit déjeuner. Pourquoi? Well for one, morning coffee or tea (whichever you prefer dans le matin) comes in a bowl!! no tiny little espresso cups that americans see and are baffeled by. no, we get giant soup bowls filled with coffee or tea! :) what a great way to start the morning, non?

definitely a good thing.

Chateau de Chantilly

First time I went to Chateau de Chantilly, it was a clear day, the chateau was covered in snow and absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home in a rush to catch the train.

So Take #2! It was gray and there was enough scaffolding to make another chateau, but I finally made it in and saw the chateau.

The chateau from a distance, on a cloudy, gray day.

Henri d'Orleans' acronym

à la chateaushutters in france are so cute, non?
hearts are just everywhere!and look! an american flag!

next on the schedule: Normandy, Mont St. Michel, Chateau Pierrefond, Amsterdam...

Two bikes, clear skies, and a camera

It’s the start of my winter vacation and I am glad to say that I spent it by the water. Not exactly the beach, but definitely a bigger body of water than the Oise River that runs through Creil. (While I’m at it, it’s really interesting to see people’s reactions when I say that I’m living in Creil. “Creil?” they usually repeat, making sure I said what I said with an astonished look on their faces. “Oui,” I say. “Creil, you say?” “Oui,” je dis encore. “Oh,” they say. It’s almost like saying I’m from East LA. Haha ok, maybe not that drastic, but definitely a surprise for them.)

Yesterday, I spent the day biking from Abbeville to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a decent twelve kilometer ride one way. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. In fact, I had actually thought my French friend and I were going to go to see a chateau (castle), but halfway there upon expressing my excitement for the chateau by the water, I was sorely disappointed when he said that there was no castle.
“But I thought we were going to see a castle…”
“You said you wanted to see the beach!” he says in his wonderful French accent.
“I thought the castle was on the beach.”
“What? No…”
“Oh… ok…”
“It’s ok?” (I love when the French say this. They don't say, "Is it ok?" but "It's ok?" hehe)
“Yes, ok, I haven’t seen anything bigger than my river in a while.”
Thus, no castle on the beach. Les chateaux and Mont St. Michel must wait for another outing.

One 45-minute train ride later and we’re biking our way along a beautiful tree-lined river (which seemed way too straight to be a natural river; it must have been man made). One thing I love about France is how their trees are all in order, perfectly spaced and quite uniform. The down side to that is however that the scenery didn’t quite change. There were some scattered houses along the way, a few bridges here and there, but aside from that, the trees were several meters apart and the river ran north to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.

After an hour and a half (ish) of biking along the countryside, my travel buddy and I finally see civilization in the shape of dozens of boats and we arrive in a beautiful town called Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. And goodness, am I happy! I haven’t ridden a bike for that long in ages! In fact, I’m not sure I have even ridden a bike for that long period! Anyhow, we lock up our bikes, and eat at a crêperie with a view of the water. After some yummy crêpes and delicious Earl Grey tea (yum yum!) we continue on to what is supposedly the place Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc) was held prisoner before her unfortunate fate at the stake.

Clear skies, slight breeze, and wonderful scenery. What could be better! And a nice warm 9C (48F) too! (yes, to me that is warm right now. This time last year I would have been very bitter about it being 9C/48F.)

Et maintenant, des photographs!

Pictures from the view for the 24km (round trip) we biked.

Moi!Finally! Civilization!
One of the many reasons I love France..
Nowadays almost all restaurants has climate control, but nevertheless they still label it.
The view from our table at the crêperie.
"Jeanne d'Arc: Prisoner came from Crotoy was driven to Saint Valery in December 1430."
Ma fleur, a staircase, et Guillaume.
Along the water
And lastly, perhaps my favorite picture of the trip. :)

Un coeur et un vélo dans le train.
(a heart and a bike in the train)
♥

On macarons and macaron tours

So today I decided with a bit of suggestions to do a macaron tour. If you don't know what macarons are, they're light fluffy pastries with a ganache filling sandwiched between. There's a simple almond base to the cookie itself, but creative patissiers have competed amongst each other to come up with more new and exotic macarons. Mind you, these macarons are not to be mixed up with macaroons. These two are very very different.

Upon reaching the trainstation en route to Paris, I brilliantly notice that my Paris map -- along with my list of macaron patissiers and the directions to get there -- are still sitting on my bed (right next to my water bottle though not as important as the map and directions). Fortunately two of them were rather easy to remember so macaron tour is still safe.

First stop: Dalloyau 6ème Arrondissement, Paris
Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures of their product in the store, but they did have this amazing Mandarin Tea Macaron, and they were very close to le Jardin du Luxembourg so I forgave them. I can't remember all the flavors, but they had mostly the regulars: strawberry, cafe, chocolate, pralines, vanilla. They had some interesting ones too, including mandarin tea and orange flower

Second stop: Ladurée Champs Elysée, Paris
One, this place is absolutely beautiful inside! Think French chateaux while you're waiting in line and staring at beautiful pastries of all kinds! Even croissants and chocolates. Their store was far more crowded than Dalloyau but it's because there's space to sit and enjoy your macaroon and other foods along with a bar to enjoy some champagne and alochol with your desserts. Very beautiful and very delicious. Exactly what you'd expect from a restaurant on Avenue des Champs Elysée right? Yum yum!

There would have been a third and a fourth stop, perhaps even a fifth, but unfortunuate for me (and those who read this) I forgot my map thus forgetting my list of the places. If only my memory was better! Wouldn't it be great to have photographic memory?? haha. Oh well, the other three will have to wait for my Macaron Tour Part 2!

Please remind me to bring some of these back! And also remind me not to eat them on the flight! =)

happy valentine's day

with love
from france

=)





and i know, i should be going to paris for this romantic holiday, but alas, i'm off to amiens! home of the largest and tallest gothic church of france

x

and also, i cannot take credit for these beautiful pictures. both can be found on flickr though!

Le jour avant mon aniversaire

parce que c'est difficile de célébrer bien le jour avant les travails

On weather and teaching

So it turns out that this winter here is one of the worst in a while. France isn’t usually a country known for it’s harsh winters and yet the temperature has been hovering around 5C and under for the majority of winter with predictions of more snow in the coming days. And to think that Thomas said that it usually doesn’t snow here. Lucky me!

Though I must say, as pretty as snow can be, it sure is annoying at times! Especially old snow turned to ice. Eesh, talk about difficult to walk in!

So school. Or rather schools. There was one teacher earlier who irked me because she couldn’t really control her kids. She was rather young, had a very boisterous group of kids, and it didn’t seem like anything was getting done. It annoyed me endlessly when the students got up to ask her a question while I was talking and continually said “maîtresse, maîtresse” tout le temps when their hand (or rather, finger) was already up. Why, why, why must you keep calling even though your hand is already up? It doesn’t make sense to me. And yes I’ve heard the previous five times you called me, but since I’m talking to someone right now, you’ll just have to wait. And stop calling me. Especially from a foot away.

Unfortunately for her, or maybe fortunately I’m not actually sure where she is now, hopefully to a better class, she isn’t at the school anymore and is now replaced with another teacher which seems to have a better grasp over the kids. They’re a bit calmer, but still as… lively.

I like to think that after being at Challenger for two years that I have a pretty decent hold over my class. True, three-quarters of those two years was with another teacher in the room while they still had double-teacher classrooms, but the last quarter was on my own and the students that came out of that quarter was a lot better behaved than when I entered the classroom. Albeit there was a fair share of drama amongst the parents, the school, and me we made it to the end with a good deal of improvement.

But here in one of my classes, the ten/eleven year old kiddies seem to want to drive me crazy. My little kids are great more or less; at least with them I have a grasp of the classroom and they listen to me. There will always be those students that give up half way through my directions and pout and fold their arms and repeat “je pas compris!” over and over and over again without any attempt to try to understand what I’m saying. What’s worse is that I’m already incorporating French into my lessons which I was told not to. So then here are my eighteen ten to eleven year old kiddies that insist on talking when I’m talking, won’t shut up except for the ten seconds after I or their regular teacher scolds them, snicker and giggle, and ultimately annoy the hell out of me. I’ve tried kicking the troublemakers outside, only to have them goof off in the hallways. I’ve tried writing their names down on the board for punishment during récré, ultimately to little avail. I tell them that we can have fun after they figure some of this stuff out. Is it that difficult? Or do they just want to drive me over the edge?

I think I’ve become that teacher. The one where the kids have already seen is frustrated, and now they are having their fun. Must regain control.


Sigh. So frustrated.