Eurre and le bal folklorique

Today we were invited to this bal folklorique which involved dancing and live musicians. We went with my colleagues wife and two daughters. While they were a bit disappointed at the lack of princes and pretty dresses, Burt and I were loving the ambiance and the dancing. There was quite a variety and you can go to classes to really learning them and not look as foolish as we did.

Thanksgiving Feast - en France

In sharing my American heritage, it would only be right to introduce my new friends to the tradition of Thanksgiving. After a brief talk with a friend, one thing led to another and I was preparing to welcome  28 people for this ever-important feast! Whoa - where's my mom? While Burt and I have cooked turkeys together, I've never singlehandedly prepared the turkey, stuffing, and gravy....let alone for 28 people. First, I ordered the turkey from the local farm (yes, free range and on the small side from what I'd heard). Next, I bought one additional gourmet frozen turkey from my favorite frozen store, Picard, as well as two chickens just to make sure we'd have enough. No worries about the oven being too small, the 52€ turkey was under 11 pounds! It also came with a neck and head (but not feathers-phew!) making the Ferme des Blaches a priceless experience. Now all I had to do was pull off a brine and honey glaze with a perfect gravy and I think I actually did! Thankfully, the friends all contributed everything else (except the pie, I made that) which was a huge relief. More stress than actual work, we had a great time. My friend Thierry was so honored to be the designated turkey carver and made a really cute speech about how thankful he was to celebrate his first Thanksgiving with us. Explaining the history of Thanksgiving in French became much easier after enjoying the lovely wine that Corinne brought!

la dinde with neck and head

Carver Thierry

Fatima's amazing nut pie

I'm so thankful for all of my new friends in France. They all just think that being so kind and helpful is just normal but I happen to think that I've been extremely fortunate to have landed in Crest and among such wonderful and caring people.

Halloween in France

While Halloween isn't celebrated much in France, it's gained popularity in the last 5-10 years. That said, trick or treating happens in a different way. Kids beg for candy or cookies and wait for (nice) people to find something for them or get turned away. It's not part of the culture or a tradition. November 1st is their day for respecting the dead with flowers at the cemetery. A friend had organized a party so I offered to do some pumpkin carving with the kids at our house to start things off. None of them had done it before so it was lots of fun. Weren't we surprised when the pumpkins cost around 10€ at the store! We put together a little soup so as to not waste our precious pumpkins!

The gang does some carving. One boy wouldn't have anything to do with touching the inside of the pumpkin!

 Thinking out the plan and preparing the seeds for roasting.

 Corinne and Pascale put together ingredients for the soup.

 This escargot was attached to the pumpkin when we went to bring them home!

Voldemort and his mama

Fulbright orientation in Paris

This past week I went to Paris for meetings and informational sessions relating to the French educational system and the approach to language learning in general. We observed French teachers, something that is very difficult to arrange. The organizers explained that is was difficult to find teachers who would agree to having us, particularly so early in the school year. They have been working with this particular Collège (middle school/junior high) and Lycée (high school) for several years and they are welcoming and used to the whole idea. It was quite eye opening and great to have a sense of what French students are used to experiencing in class.

Our time there included one day with the Fulbright Scholars spending time in France as well as a lavish reciption welcoming us all to France. One night the teachers were invited to experience dinner served by high school students training to work in restaurants.
Here's the link:
High school (Lycée Professionelle) with restaurant program

Burt finally meets our new friends

So Burt finally made it back for ten days and had a chance to meet everybody. Up until now he really couldn't relate to what was going on in our world with all these new people. There was only one free weekend and we ended up with a great crowd at the house. Since I'm not know as an extraordinary hostess, I was comforted by the laid back ritual of our gatherings with friends. Everybody brings something and we share. We probably could have made some more food, but we're figuring it out...

This is Richard who should really be in Hollywood. It's incredible.

 Boys playing games in the street behind the house

 Nate took this one of Corto

Can anyone beat Thierry? Our ping pong tournament....

A change in the weather

Well, because of my crazy school schedule (classes from 8-11am and then 4-5pm on Mondays, for example) I'm at home on this rainy afternoon. Teachers in France prepare their lessons and have an office at home. (Yes, they purchase their own printers and ink and keep all their teaching books at home.) Sandrine, my exchange partner, tells me that mine is the worst schedule she's seen in her 15 years of teaching. Interesting. Well, I just have to make the most of it somehow but this class from 4-5 will be especially annoying on Fridays, I'm sure! Needless to say, last week was a lot of work with school. I have 4 different preps and because I use technology often normally this is (it seems) expected. However, my room has a chalkboard and separate devices for speakers and projecting (which I'm lucky to have) that I have to connect and plug in. Different teachers use the rooms which means I need to set up the stuff for each class (wasting our time, no doubt). So, is it worth it?

This weekend we've been going non-stop. We had two invitations for Saturday night so I had to turn one down. It was the celebration of the heritage of Crest so there was a lot going on in town. Nathan played in an all day soccer tournament on Saturday and brought home a trophy. That evening we went to a great birthday party with dancing and great food. Sunday, we ventured out to Aurel, where we were invited to lunch with a friend from school and her family. We enjoyed home-raised "mouton" and mushrooms that had been foraged in the surrounding hills. Fortunately, she has children and Nathan was happy to enjoy ravioli. I must say, though, Laurence's children do eat all these wonderful things! The meal was followed by a stroll around town which is known for it's vineyards for making 'Clairette de Die,' the delicious local sparkling wine. There is a even one room school house (still active with 12 students grades K-5)! The town is not so isolated (5k from next town) but lovely.

Lunch at Rosabla's (Italian teacher) on Wednesday 

Waiting around the stade (Can't wait for Burt to get here...can you see, this is what the guys do!)

The girls (Sarah, Mary, and Esther)

Pascale et Véro

Corine, Pascale et Claude

The boys (Nate's still at foot!)

Pete and Paul

Les Trois Becs-This was on the way to Aurel. I have plans to hike up there. There's a refuge but not "luxe" like the ones in the Vanoise. Luxe is a relative term here : ).

Note to self: Just ask people to pose for photos. I really am enjoying getting to know all these people, may as well have them look at the camera!

Aurel

Chateau du Piergros

One unhappy girl