DINDE!

Bonjour tout le monde, ou bonsoir pour moi. I just got back from Montpellier after a long, five day weekend. I was fortunately able to rearrange my schedule so that I could have Thursday off for turkey day. Being in France for my second favorite holiday (first one, 4th of July), made me a little homesick and sad to miss an authentic Thanksgiving, but as the big day approached, I realized us Americans in Montpellier were going to do it right, but let's start at the beginning.

I took my usual, 4.5 hour train ride south to the coast on Wednesday. Upon exiting the train station, I hear gun shots. Curious, I thought, this can't be good and/or safe. I look around to see droves of people with banners and signs. Ah oui. Une greve (a strike). France may be famous for its wine, cheese and bread, but number four is probably their strikes. Everyone in France strikes; for example: gynocologists, ski lift operators... this strike? The wine makers of Languedoc. So, the streets were FILLED with a mob of angry, striking wine makers. Riot police were everywhere... SDFs (refer to earlier post) were running around with flares and fireworks. Me? Where was I? Unable to take the tram to my friends place, I was stuck in the MIDDLE of this strike. There weren't actually guns, they were... cannons? Trash cans were on fire, people were chanting and I was carrying 30 lbs of groceries trying to get away. Someone even threw a flare at me. Quoi????

Well I made it safely a la maison and was eventually able to take the tram chez Darcy, who was hosting the grand Thanksgiving feast. There, Americans were whipping up all sorts of seasonal dishes: stuffing, sweet potato pie, the works. The next day, a friend and I spent the day cooking and preparing for the big event. We created a beautiful table scape of ginko leaves and hazelnuts and set up for our big ol' turkey. Oh. Except in France, people don't really eat turkey, the largest turkey we could get was 4 kilos. 8 pounds. There were 30 of us. Everyone arrived to Darcy's place with wine and food in hand. We had pumpkin pies, foie gras, Maltese dishes, Algerian dishes... too much food to even comprehend. It was really cool to share Thanksgiving with our friends who are from around the world. Countries represented were Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, England, Algeria, Greece, France, Jamaica and I'm sure I'm missing a few! It was a great success and will probably be one of my favorite Thanksgivings for the rest of life!

This weekend in Montpellier was also the Fete de Vignes... WINE FESTIVAL. Working at a wine shop for the past several years, I was obviously, for lack of better words, psyched! We all know Bordeaux and Burgundy wines, Champagne, etc, but my region, Languedoc has excellent wine as well! The usual mixture is of Syrah, Carignan, Grenache and Mourvedre, and like my wine shop boss, I love Syrah (Shiraz for you Aussie lovers). At each stand, I sought out their Syrah or their wine with the highest percentage of Syrah. I found one that smelled like my brothers hockey gloves... it was delicious. Well, we ended up tasting for about four hours because everyone was so friendly and interested in us Americans. I got to meet the winemakers of some wines that I sell in the US! It was great.

And now, I am back in Marvejols, doing my teaching thing. My kids are hilarious and obviously spend a lot of time on Google translate because the questions they come up with for me are absurd, inappropriate and amazing. It's almost December, which means it's almost vacation again. Oh la la. It is sad that I won't be with family during the holidays but I have some excellent plans with some friends from Hobart who are teaching lacrosse in England. I left the planning up to them, so I'm not too sure what's going to happen or where we are sleeping, but I trust them... I think. We are going to Amsterdam, somewhere in Germany, Edinburgh and Manchester then I'm heading down to London to catch my flight. My word.

L'internat

I went to Millau yesterday, a town about an hour south of Marvejols by train. Did a bit of shopping and spent half of my monthly rent!!! 30 euros... anyway, it was good to be in civilization! This past weekend I finally stayed in Marvejols for the weekend, but it seems I chose a not so good weekend. It rained and was cloudy and gross all weekend, so I barely got to leave my lovely middle school. Also, the cafeteria is closed on the weekends which means I have to fend for myself. Not a problem, except I don't have a kitchen, utensils, plates, microwave, really anything to help me survive. Fortunately there is a minifridge in the teachers room so I stocked it with things that required little preparation.
Things I learned:
-Salad in a bag in France, tastes like dirt
-The store brand I buy at the grocery store is Carrefour, sometimes they have items that are even cheaper called "Carrefour discount." These items are fine concerning cookies, soda, camembert cheese but NOT meat.
-One can survive on a steady diet of pears. Count for the weekend? 8.
-I really need a kitchen.

On another note, where I live in the school is called the Internat, aka the boarding part of the school. It's on the fifth floor, just above the science labs. Yes, I live with children. No, I do not hang out with them. We eat together, awkwardly, then I go to my room and listen to them run down the halls screaming until bedtime at 9:30. Sometimes, I stay in the computer lab late, skyping, updating this lovely blog, etc. Suddenly, and without warning, an alarm was installed on the door to the Internat. Me, being ignorant to this new development, waltzed into the Internat around 11pm to be greeted by a screeching alarm. Little boys came running out in their PJs to see who had tried to sneak out of the Internat. No, no. Just me, the awkward, random English assistant. Now I have a key to the elevator so I can outsmart the system. Moral of the story: I live in a cage.

This weekend, I'm heading down to Montpellier again, as usual. Perhaps a day trip is in order. OH! It's beaujolais today, which means the new vintage of wines has arrived!!!! I'm told there will be something going on in Montpellier to celebrate. On verra...

Vacances

Where to start. I just finished up my two week vacation on Sunday and I'm back in Marvejols teaching. I'll start from the beginning. Two fridays ago we celebrated Halloween early as many people were traveling for vacation and would not be able to participate. Being in France, I obviously didn't have a costume so I used the resources I had: black clothes. So, I was a funeral go-er, une funebre en francais, je crois. It worked alright but it definitely wasn't my finest costume. They next day there was a free Joan Baez concert in the main park in Montpellier. We brought a picnic and camped out early to get good seats. It was an amazing show! So epic to see such a legend, though we were probably the youngest people in the audience. The rest of that week was spent relaxing in Montpellier, saving what little money we all have left and singing in the streets. Yes, I sang in the streets with my friend Lisa. We made 15 euros! Enough for lunch and dinner, success!

One of Lisa's friends from home (Boston) is currently working on organic farms around Spain and France and had a plane disaster, so she joined us as well in Montpellier. We three decided to trek over to Barcelona for the weekend. What an incredible city! We stayed in three hostels trying to find the best deals and discover new parts of the city. We stayed right on the main strip of Barcelona, La Rambla for two nights. It was 75 degrees and sunny everyday! We did most of the tourist-y stuff, but we didn't have too much time! Sagrada Familia was indescribable, the Picasso Museum was fantastic and the tapas and sangria were delicious. We didn't have the classic "night out" in Barcelona where you stay up until 7am, we're too old to handle that. Instead we sat down by the port enjoying the weather and the water and chatting. I would definitely return to Barcelona to explore more.

The worst pickpocket on the planet: So, on our first day in Barcelona we were exploring the markets on la Rambla. While looking at bunnies, apparently some woman reached in my purse and took something. Don't worry, refer to the title of this sidenote. After gawking at the bunnies, I turned and saw a toothless woman standing next to me smiling. I looked down at her purse and I see my camera case hanging out of her purse. It's bright green and Vera Bradley, pretty obviously mine. She proceeds to just stand there looking at me so I snatched it back, grabbed her purse and checked that she hadn't taken anything else. Mind you, my camera wasn't even in the case. This means that this woman stole a $5 camera case with nothing in it and allowed herself to not only get caught but searched as well. No word for this idiocy.

We returned to Montpellier on Monday after a longgg day of traveling. The next day we participated in a pub quiz night where our team tied for first! Mind you the only thing I contributed related to economics and american football. Sweet. On Wednesday, I took a day trip to a BEAUTIFUL coastal town 20 minutes south of Montpellier called Sete; it was like a mediterranean Venice, but way cooler. The rest of the week I spent hanging out with my friends and enjoying the weather in Montpellier.

On Sunday, I made the five hour trek back to Marvejols where it has really turned into winter. Teaching is going well, though the kids can be real punks sometimes and they often don't understand a word I say. I'm planning on staying Marvejols this weekend, we'll see how that goes. Ahhh la Lozere.

note: I didn't spell check this. I'm too lazy right now.