Amboise

Last weekend I went up to the Loire Valley again to hang with friends from the States. We started with a lovely dinner in Tours, and then made our way to our chateau for a good night's rest. Yes, you read that right. This is a reason I love traveling with parents, not mine only, but the family I was traveling with is close enough to family, that these parents count for their ability to spoil me rotten on a weekend with them. Our chateau was pretty cool and made me wonder who buys a chateau and turns it into a hotel. I mean it isn't like you just renovate a little bit. Chateaus are made of stone, this place was sheetrocked all over the place. It took some serious bills and some serious work, but the place was really cool.
We spent Saturday in a little town called Amboise. One of the great things about the day was that we had no "destination". We kind of just went with the flow of the day, which led us to have "the best hot chocolate ever" at 11am followed by eclairs all around. Fabulous way to start the day. We walked up to Da Vinci's house and just glimpsed at the outside before heading back for a mega-chocolate indulgence. We went to see how Bigot makes its chocolates, but didn't really get a demonstration of that, rather we ate 6 different kinds of chocolates and I was full to the brim of the stuff. It was all so yummy, but I had to take a little break on the chocolate for a while. We tasted some wines and decided they weren't to our liking, so we made our way to another little town to tour a cave and taste some more wines. It was all quite fun!

Back in Amboise for the evening, we grabbed a bottle of our wine and some bread and took a little break by the Loire and watched the sun lower in the sky while we enjoyed being in France. We had dinner at a great French place that had the biggest menu I have ever seen in France and also had the biggest bowl of chocolate mousse for dessert that I could possibly have desired. Get this. I didn't finish it. We made it back to the chateau early because Sunday was a travel day. We had to say good bye to a fellow traveler. I was dropped off in Clermont by the parents and left jealous that they had another week in the south of France.

Nice Kicks!

Here's your work update. I think my body is starting to revolt from all the sitting at a desk I have been doing. I'm not real good at sitting still for a long period of time. I have an office with two other women and they give me funny looks when I get up every 20 minutes or so to stretch of roll my head around to relieve the pressure in my neck. In short, I need a massage. Ha. Not the work update you were expecting huh?
I have gotten some funny looks on my way to and from work though for wearing tennis shoes with my work attire. The women in this country walk around in some dangerous shoes. Heels, weird shaped wedges and all kinds of different contraptions on their feet make me cringe. I have a 15-minute walk to and from work, which is a great way to get the blood flowing in the morning, or help the digestion process after lunch, but the road is uneven and cobblestoned, so I decided early on, for the love of my feet, to wear comfortable shoes. For the first few weeks I changed shoes before going into the office, but my permanent office is two doors from the main door, so now I just change when I get there. No one really cares. The women I work with laughed at me once, but then just disregarded me as American (not exactly a news flash) and we all went on with our days. Me with comfy feet.

Paris!

This past weekend I went up to Paris for a night to meet up with some people who have known me as long as anyone could. I thought that they were going to be late arriving to their hotel, so I took a nice, long, 45-min stroll from Gare de Lyon to their hotel by the Louvre, right by Notre-Dame. When I arrived I was surprised to see Blogger extraordinaire already there! She decided to peace out on her late-arriving parents so we could begin the fun. She had in her hot little hands a blog written by a Parisian chronicling what she would do with 12 hours in her own city. Sounds like a great way to start a trip to me! BE (blogger extraordinaire) and I headed to a great food street with markets and fun restaurants and found the first destination: Rose Bakery. A nice little hole in the wall that doesn't strike one as being touristy, but simply deliciously good. I had a foccacia with fig, feta and thyme on it. BE had eggs and smoked salmon. We wondered across the street for ice-cream at the recommended Caramella.
After meeting up with the parents, we headed off to the Eiffel Tower and decided to take the elevator to the top. The first time I visited the Tower I climbed to the second level. The second time there was no ascending involved and the third time, well it was a perfect day to conquer the summit. by elevator. in approximately 2 minutes. But whatever. It was cool to see Paris from so high up and now it is checked off the LBL (life bucket list). Notice the shadow of the tower in the picture.

We had dinner reservations for 9:30, but were a bit hungry around 7 when we were finished at the tower, so we wandered over to Rue Cler and found a place to partake in 2 bottles of wine and a mixed plate of cheese and charcuterie. We got a bit of a late start heading to dinner, but we had a reservation, we thought we were good. Lesson #1 in France, nothing goes as planned. After walking to the circle on the map, it was discovered that there were actually TWO circles on the map and we walked to the wrong one. Oops. We hopped in a cab and showed the cabbie the map. He had no clue where the street was. I told him to get us close and we'd find it. When we were closed I decided to call the restaurant to get more specific directions and was promptly told we no longer had a table. It was 9:50. Jerks.

We wandered for a bit and then decided to head over toward St. Germain des Pres. There are a lot of great little places over there. We walked around the block and saw one seafood place that looked promising, but overhearing some people on the street talking after they had left the restaurant, I realized they were American. I asked them how the dinner was and got "Overpriced" and "I wouldn't go there again" as responses. Enough info for me to keep on a walkin. After some hemming and hawing about the next restaurant we decided to go into a place that was packed with people. Usually a good choice. We got a table right away and the waitress came over and asked us how we liked our meat cooked. We all looked at each other funny and then I asked her to explain. They had no menu, the meal of the night was steak-frites. Take it or leave it. It being 10:30pm and us being hungry, we stayed and boy am I glad we did. I would have never ordered steak-frites on my own and it was delicious. A great, fresh salad. Slices of the leanest and tenderest steak I have ever had covered with a peppers sauce and yummy fries.
Of course a bottle of wine was casually enjoyed and dessert consisted of a meringue tower of goodness, profiteroles and a pastry cup with custard and fruit. Delightful.

Sunday we visited the Orangerie and Rodin before heading to the Rick Steve's promoted and BE's French-friend recommended La Fontaine de Mars. We started off with some snails drowned in butter and garlic and then moved on to two bottles of table white wine. I had earlier in the day told my visitors that they should try a fish called John Dory or St. Pierre while in France, that I loved it. The special of the day? John Dory. Nice. I had chicken though. Go figure. I left the fam at the Orsay and headed back to the hotel to grab my stuff before making the return 45-minute walk to the train station. What a great 2-days, 1-night in Paris.

UNO! Wizzzzzzzz

The other night my roommate and I went to a French friend's last night-in-town party. It was a pretty low-key affair, but we ended up in a room around a table with about 10 other French people our age. We played a game that is a variation of Uno. The cards are dealt like a normal Uno game, but there is a little wheel in the middle where the cards get played and if specific cards get played then there is a wheel that get spun. The wheel has different spaces on it that mean the person who spun gets to do different things. One space means you can discard all of your cards that are the same number, another all of your cards that are the same color. One space says discard all of your cards except for two, and one says draw until you get a blue card. Another space makes everyone at the table pass their cards to the person next to them, while another one is a "battle" where everyone has to lay down their highest cards and the person with the most high cards gets to discard all the cards that won for them. I really enjoyed the game and thought I should buy it when I get back to the US. So I came home and googled it and found out that it is called Uno Spin at home and that neither Target, Walmart nor ToysRUs carries it. WHAT?!?!?! How is that possible? I found it on Amazon, but it was $28! For a card game. I'm stunned. How is there a consumer good not available in the US? Mattel (game-maker) I'm ashamed of you.
On another note, it was the most ring around the rosey night of bisous (cheek kisses) ever. There were 12 people and each person had to greet each person when entering and leaving the party. I was in an awkward spot against a wall between other people sitting in chairs, so there was a lot of awkward leaning and turtle head movements going on. Ah the French. Fun night though, and a good way to get a little more culture.

Renovations

Well, we've been in the apartment for almost 9 months now so I guess it was time for some sprucing up. It all started with the refridgerator. A few months into living here I noticed that our fridge was gathering some sticky liquid at the bottom of it. It took me quite a while and lots of trips back and forth to to the sink with a sponge, but I got all the gross stuff cleaned up. It happened again about a month later and I did it again. The third time I happened I told my roommate to tell the landlords because I wasn't doing it again. They had someone come over and unblock the drainage hose. They also deposited a different fridge in front of our door, so we had that as a welcome mat for a few months. Well, about 3 weeks ago I noticed the liquidy concoction at the bottom of the fridge again. There was no way I was cleaning it again, so I told my roommate to tell the landlords again. (note: I could have talked to the landlords myself, but he talks to them more) The next day I came home from work to a fridge in the middle of the kitchen and a new (to us) fridge in the old one's place. I proceeded to empty out the old fridge into the new (to us) fridge. Whew.

Last Friday I came home for lunch like I always do and went to get my leftovers out of the fridge. I pulled out the tupperware and was looking for something else when I grabbed a tonic water can to move it (you know what that goes with!). I moved the can and grabbed what I wanted and closed the door. Then my brain caught up with my actions. Why wasn't the can cold? I opened the freezer door. Melted ice. Not a good sign. So, I ventured over to the landlords to tell them our fridge was broken. He sent someone right over who promptly declared the appliance dead. Right. I gathered the important stuff (cheese, sour cream, butter) and headed back over to put it in the landlords fridge. Upon returning from work we once again had one fridge in the middle of the kitchen and one where the old one used to be. I was hoping for a fridge made in the last two decades, but I was denied. We now have another new (to us) fridge.

In the process of all of this, our landlords either decided to clean out their house or decided to renovate the apartment to charge more for rent to the next inhabitants, because our landlord came over and told us he was installing a dish washer and a clothes washer and raising the rent 100 euro. Interesting developments. I would have voted for an oven above both of those things, but turns out that I'm only gonna be here for 3 more months, so do what you will.

Apparently that was only the tip of the iceberg. Yesterday while walking up the stairs, I saw through a door that is never open a small desk. I went over and asked if I could move the desk up to my room. My chambermate and I have been "sharing" a desk for the entire time. I decided maybe it'd be fun to have my own! Yay! New space for me on my side of the room. But, that little did I know that we'd have more furniture additions. I came home from work today and we had a new couch, a new dining room table and two new tables in our room. We went from very little furniture to awkwardly placed furniture, so we had to do some rearranging. We took the table that was on my side of the room and put it in the kitchen so now we have a little table for two in the kitchen, which is awesome because previously there was nowhere to eat in the kitchen. This posed a problem when people in both big rooms were sleeping and one person wanted to eat. I had to eat standing at the counter many a times. We moved our buffet like thing to the living room because it just fit better there. I'm quite happy with the new place, we'll see how getting a washer and dishwasher goes. I'll keep you updated.

Being American

Spending an entire year in another country has made me think about certain aspects of life somewhat differently than I did before. Thank goodness, because that was the point, right? One of those things is what it means to be an American. I can compare it somewhat to those times you meet someone from your home town and they ask you what high school you went to, and as soon as you say where, they put a label on you. It is a natural thing of course, we try to associate people with certain characteristics so we can try to get know them faster and either have something in common, or so many things not in common, that we can further continue the conversation.
Here the question inevitably (especially after hearing me speak French) is where am I from? The answer brings a cocophany of different responses depending on who the questioner is, but the revelation is usually quickly followed by questions about the questioner's perception of America. The other day I met some people and told them where I was from. The discussion then proceeded to the question whether everyone carries a gun all the time and did I have a gun. Now, I get it, I really do, there is only so much of the mainstream media that flows around the world, and the stories that get the most attention are usually the most shocking ones. There are as many perceptions of America as there are people in the world, and I knew that Europeans see America differently than Americans, just as Americans see Europe differently than Europeans. I get asked questions all the time about Obama and health care. My roommate has gotten grilled on the FDA and Obama's position at the G8 summit.
The realization is that some people we meet here will never meet another American again. They'll see them on TV and in the news. They'll pass them while window shopping in Paris. They'll travel to the States and go to Disneyland, but they'll never REALLY talk to another American. In a big way this puts pressure on us to represent not only our selves well, but also our country, our ideals, our standards, and our fellow Americans. We aren't defending America on battlefields or with strategic political actions, but we certainly are defending America with our responses to curious questions. After being frustrated by this for a few months I realized that it is not just up to soldiers to defend our country, it is up to all of us to defend, and promote, the greatness of where we come from. I whole-heartedly believe that each person should have to defend their country, and sometimes their fellow countrymen, at some point in their lives, and not necessarily with weapons. I think in defending the ideals by which we live, I've come to appreciate more those ideals and miss them when they don't align with the culture in which I'm living. It is a realization which I'm not sure everyone wants to, or believes they shoud, make, and I think sometimes it leads to choices that are self-serving or perjudiced. This doesn't mean I accept the actions of all Americans, but I do fully believe in a country that gives people the freedom to make their own (right or wrong depending on my own opinion) choices.
Current religious and political debates going on in America, some of which have reached world news outlets, are frustrating, as are any actions that create a perception of a place, or religion, that isn't exactly true. America truly is a great place to live freely. Many world citizens don't understand the liberty given to Americans. The government cannot intervene whenever something doesn't meet popular opinion, it just isn't the way we work. But, the actions make me wonder if everyone involved in these debates realizes that their actions are making defending America more difficult. That the ramifications spread throughout the world, whether in perception or fact.
We, as Americans, need to defend and protect our country, not necessarily with soldiers and fighter jets, but with kinder words, meaningful actions and the practice of mutual respect.

bye! later! see ya! peace out dude!

One of the things that I noticed right off the bat here in France is that when saying goodbye to someone, tons of people use a word from a different language. Italian! Forget saying au revoir, that's only for someone you don't know or have only just met. Everyone else uses Ciao. That is, until the other day in the office I heard the German guy talking on the phone (in German), his parting salutation? Cheers! I don't know why I was so stunned when he said it. Maybe because literally the whole converstaion had been in a language that I don't understand and then all of a sudden, ding! A word I know. But British English to end a German conversation? Italian to end a French one? I got to thinking that it is maybe because the French don't really have a off-kilter slang word for See ya! I mean, I'm sure the young, hip and with-it have their own saying, just like we all have our sayings with friends, but even walking on the street, the overwhelming favorite here is Ciao. It isn't just the French either, the word is used pretty much all over to familiarly say later dude. Just thought I'd keep you up with the hip and happening. Capishe?

Construction

About 4 months ago, while walking to school I noticed that right across the street from the school parking lot there were some people clearing land in what looked like an attempt to begin construction. I curiously wondered what they could be putting up. It isn't a busy corner for traffice, but there are certainly a lot of people that walk by there on a daily basis. Shortly after I saw the first signs of movement, I found out that they were building a gym. I cannot tell you how excited I got. You know about the gym that I belonged to earlier in the year. It wasn't exactly meeting my exercise needs. Aside from the fact that it has very strange hours, is 1.5 miles from my place and full of old equipment, I just didn't make it over there as much as I'd have liked. So, when I thought I was leaving Clermont in June, I cancelled my membership. Once I found out I was staying in Clermont, I pondered getting the membership again, but decided I'd wait out the summer in hopes the new gym would be ready. It isn't. I walk by there every day on the way to work and things have come to a screeching halt. All the walls and windows are up, but the oustide is still concrete and the roof is still wooden. This week I saw a few guys walking around there looking like they were doing something, but no signs of progress.
In the meantime, I walked by the old gym this past weekend. The front was missing. They are doing a 1 million euro renovation to the gym, I'm sure in anticipation of compeition from the new one. I can't believe it. The place looks amazing. New equipment, clean rooms, etc... In fact, I think it might actually be done here in the near future, so I may have to look into joining back up for the 2 months I'll still be here when it finally opens. The whole running outside thing just isn't working and once it gets cold there's no chance.
Or, I just chalk everything up to an unhealthy year of eating cheese and bread and drinking wine. I'll keep you posted.

29 for the first time

I'm officially a year away from 30. My birthday consisted of a whole bunch of activities around Clermont. We began the day with French toast courtesy of my roommate. Yum. Then we were off to the market to get some provisions for this week's meals. I love the market and every time I go there I see different things and sometimes I just don't know what it is! One of my favorite things lately is that they have different colored cauliflower. I have never in my life seen purple or orange cauliflower, but they have it. One of these days I'm going to buy some and try it. We did end up buying two of these little fruits that we'd never seen before. They are called quetsche. After I looked them up in the dictionary we determined that they are really just plums, but they looked different. Still sweet and juicy though!

After the market we walked around Clermont for a while doing some errands. We stopped for an ice-cream cone before lunch, but I can do that because it was my birthday. Later in the afternoon we sat out in front of one of our favorite bars and had an afternoon beverage before coming home to rest up for the evening. That's when my roommate came home with a cake from the corner patisserie. It was strawberry and said "Joyeux Anniversaire Kate" on the top! Yay!

My birthday dinner was at a place called Cassoulette, which makes these amazing potato concoctions. Think scalloped potatoes, but for a mina dish so there are ones that have ham or tomatoes or beef. Mine had onions, mushrooms, lardons (chopped ham) and lots of cream and cheese because we are, of course, in France. I guess the tradition at this restaurant is to bring a bottle of Calvados after the meal and the table can drink as much as they want for free. This only works because the drink is really, really strong. I found mixing it with water made way more sense. At the moment anyway. The night only progressed into craziness from there. I won't recount the ensuing madness, but I will tell you that I woke up this morning and didn't exactly feel like doing jumping jacks.

A University Town

This week something crazy happened in Clermont: All the people reappeared! For the past 3 months or so, life has been pretty slow around these parts. I live in a town heavily populated by schools. I think there are 3 high schools, four upper echelon universities/colleges, and 3 elementary age schools within a 10 block radius of my place. In the summer I can walk down the middle of the street and not be bothered. I can go to the grocery store at 6pm and wait in line behind one person, and I can walk to and from work without having to wait at crosswalks and I can walk home for lunch breathing nice fresh air. Now? Pandimonium has hit. I have to dodge slow walkers and texters while walking down the street, the grocery store was SLAMMED at 6pm. We're talking all lanes open with 6 people in each line. I have to stop at all the crosswalks and make sure no crazies on motor bikes are flying around the corners and lunchtime? Might as well light up a cigarette for the whole walk home because there are people everywhere smoking, while walking to lunch or sitting on the terrance eating lunch. Yuck. I have to admit it is nice to have people back and the energy back into the city. It is also nice to have restaurants and bars open again, the choices abound. The nicer weather allows us to be outside more and being eaten by fewer bugs and the festivals in Clermont return. There are perks to living in a town full of students, but I have to get back into the zone for the craziness that come with them.

Chivalry

One thing I have noticed more while working at a real company is that the men that I work with are really mindful of their manners. I'm sure some of this has to do with the fact that I've only been working there a week, some probably has to do with the fact that 3/4ths of the time I don't know what is going on and some is probably just they are trying to be nice, but I'll give it to them, they do pay attention. When I'm in a group and someone else enters, I'm always the first one to get greeted with a handshake. When walking back to the office they all purposefully slow down to make sure I'm the first one to get through the door and they always hold the door for me and thank me if I happen to hold it for them. They are just generally very agreeable and hospitable folks.
The interesting thing about this is that most French are like this when they are in their comfort zone or surrounded by their friends or co-workers. In my experience with French people they are as cordial and out of their way nice as possible when you meet them in a setting that is familiar to them and safe. Walking down the street you'd never know that the person that just walked by you without even bothering to move over 6 inches so you can pass as well, is the same person who will be profusely nice to you in your work department. It is true that the French can be very standoffish and cold when you don't know them, or have any association with them, but they also can be very cordial and engaging when they want.