Principals Try to Poison You.

This past weekend (the weekend of the 21st) I had 3 'French' meals. One Friday, one Saturday, one Sunday. They were all with other people from my school and they all happened to fall on the same weekend. Let me explain what a French meal is. Going along with my normal habit of description through pictures, here is a picture of each part of a French meal:

Step One:


Some pre-dinner snacks. This is either served with water, juice, wine or champagne (the latter two for most).

Step Two:
L'entree (appetizer). This can pretty much comprise of anything. On Sunday I had something that was similar to this (except more salad). We'll get back to this one.

Step Three:

The real deal. The main plate which is normally some sort of meat and one (maximum 2) other thing.

Step 4:

Le fromage. It wouldn't be France if there were not cheeses. There is normally a selection of cheeses to pick from.

Step 5:

Dessert. In this case, the traditional "January" dessert is Galette des Rois. It is a delicious pastry with almond filling. Inside there is a little 'feve' or toy. The person that happens upon the toy gets to wear the crown!

Step 6:
Coffee (or tea) with a piece of chocolate.

Now, mind you, there is bread served with every part of the meal. Likewise, there is a different type of alcohol (my word, the alcohol!) served with every plate. Start with champagne, then red wine with the appetizer and meal, a different kind of red for the cheese, a sweet white for dessert and a little bit of brandy for a 'digestif.'

All of this to say, I have been sick since Sunday night. I don't think my body could handle that much food! Seriously, I always hear about how much Americans eat, but never in my life have I seen people eat so much food.

The other assistant and I think we got food poisoning at the Principal's meal on Sunday. Refer to step 2 for what we ate. Point in case: don't agree to go to 3 'French meals' in one weekend and don't eat French delicatessen. Your stomach will hate you.

P.S. Good job to most everyone - most French students take 7 years of English before college. Most of them take it in college as well (so another 3 years).

Brooke Shaden

I have a friend who dared to move to LA a little over a year ago to pursue her dream of becoming known for film production. Her short films that I saw were absolutely incredible and were well-liked at the film festivals she entered them into. I figured that she would go to LA, work for a few years trying to break into the industry, finally do it, and then slowly work her way up....maybe taking 15 or so years getting known in the field. Well, I was totally wrong. What has taken me by surprise, is how much that path changed. A little over a year ago she decided to start playing with photography. Now she is known as "a new, poetic fine art photographer who has just been added to an international list of the top 30 most influential female photographers under 30." Impressive, huh? Her photos will blow you out of this world. Sometimes they can be a little creepy. Sometimes you just can't figure out how she did it. Other times you can hardly believe it's a photo.

Small tidbit: it is almost always her in the photos.

A few photos to wet your appetite:

http://shadenproductions.com/blog/ - her blog
http://shadenproductions.com/ - her online gallery








Check her out if you get a chance! Or rather, force yourself to take some time. It's worth it, I promise!

The Cat Jumped Over the Moon....

Before I came to France, I really saw no point in cats. They don't listen. They don't know their names (most of them). They don't play fetch. How boring, right?

Well, I am very thankful that there is an animal around...even if she is a cat. Chaterton is 15 (the same age as Kaya, my Jack Russell at home :( ) but acts as if she is much younger. She has no problems what-so-ever with her health. She still plays, whether that be with her toy fish, my feet when I'm asleep (that one is kinda annoying...), or a ball of aluminum foil. She can even open doors (sometimes she is incredibly lazy and just meows loudly until either I or Pascale get up to open the door). And boy does she meow. She makes tons of funny noises but her meow....as loud as a dog's bark when he sees a cat!

Overall, I now see the benefit of having a cat. We never have to 'take her out,' her food and water last for 3 days, and she doesn't beg at the table. Cats are perfect for busy people who live in apartments and don't have enough space for a Saint Bernard.

Some pictures of Chaterton:


She does whatever she can to be scratched as much as possible. This includes my bed.


Now she wants me to pet her. She'll sit and meow at me until I oblige and pet her.



She can be pretty funny. She likes to just sit and stare at the wall. Interesting, huh?


Curled up to her pet fish on my desk. She is currently in the process of trying to rip both of the eyeballs out. Charming!

Cloudy, With a Chance of Snow

Once again. Went to school today and ended up turning right around and going home. And why? Because there is the *possibility* of snow in the afternoon. Did we have any snow? Of course not. Sometimes France...I think you just search for reasons to work even less of your 39 hour work week than you already do...

How can the gap be this large?

A group of terminale (seniors) had an exam this past Tuesday and for part of it they had to write an essay in response to this question: <> They had to write it in class (about 30 minutes) without dictionaries etc. Here are three essays - the best, an average essay, and the worst. I will let them speak for themselves. I typed them exactly as they were written. Some write in British English, others in American.

The star student:
I not completely agree about that. Parents shouldn't give total freedom to their children. It doesn't mean they have to watch up on them as if they were in jail. But, you know, it's the parents job to watch and make sure their children don't do any mistakes. If all children could do all they want it will be a mess. For example, most of them stop to go to school for playing with their friends. Plus, if parents quite this 'job' I think children won't respect their parents anymore, they'll dare to do all what they've always dreamed because they know they are free. So, in my mind, it's so not a good idea giving total freedom. Instead of that, parents should give some responsabilities to make sure they'll have the best behaviour possible in the future. Well, I'm not a parent right now so I can't really know how it is but I guess I'll try to be this kind of mum, not paranoid about the danger of life but not uninterested neither about my children's life.

Average:
I'm not agree parents have to give some limits in them children because some situations require the presence of the parents, exemple when a child swim, parents have to watch them. The children can increase in dangerous environment. The total freedom is not a solution for educate correctly children, because when we are a child, we need a model, and rultes to live in the middle. Exemple parents can let their child be use drugs and he can become an homeless or a junky. For me the total freedom, not give a good education for child, because they are not learn the respect and this is a thing important for live in society. If child not learn respect another, nobody respect them they can become bad.....

Worst:
I thinks that the parents who should give total freedom to their children are iresponsable because the life is very dangerous if the childrens have no rules So, The chickers have not parents stricts, they shoose that for them and no other children, parents, people.


Oh, the laughs I get sometimes....

Happy New Years!

Well, this is my first blog update in the year 2010 (which grammatically is said twenty-ten for those who haven't heard that already. I've taught that to every class of mine thus far), so Joyeux Novel An to you all.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to post about what's been going on in my life in the past few weeks, since it has been pretty quiet. Marco and I had New Year's plans but he ended up coming down with the flu the morning of the 31st, so I spent a quiet night in taking care of him.

One thing that has been somewhat funny, is that every French person I have seen since the New Year has wished me a "Bonne Annee et Bonne Sante!" This means Happy New Year and Good Health. It seems as though it is the polite thing today. I still had people saying that to me today! Just a small cultural tid-bit.

This big 'soldes' (aka 'sales') started in France on Wednesday. Marco and I met up at 8am (when the first stores open) to go find him new jeans and shoes. It was like Black Friday. People everywhere and amazing sales. He paid 30-70% less for everything he bought - Even a silk tie for 2 euro! Marco tried to convince me to buy new jeans but I decided to save that money for traveling instead. Who needs more jeans when you could see a new city or country!?

Bon week-end a vous tous! (Have a good weekend!)

P.S. Vote if you read this! I am curious how many people read this and if it might just be easier to send out personal emails, if it's only for a hand-full of people.