Filling in the gaps

Bonjour à tous,

It figures that the very same day Alex published his guest post, I finally have a spare evening to work on my blog. It's raining (as they say in Normandy, "il pleut comme vaches qui pissent" - I'll leave the translation to you), it's 4pm, and Alex won't be home until after 10pm tonight - all the makings for a cozy night of blog writing. Despite all his stories, I still have a lot of ground to cover, so I'm just going to jump right in:

1) We are always discovering little differences between France & Canada.  Last month, we went out a couple of times with colleagues from Alex's lab, and I started to notice a few things:

• Everyone smokes. Smoking is cool here. Everyone does it. The rich, the poor, the classy, the educated, the homeless. Plus, everyone rolls their own cigarettes (I think maybe because it's cheaper). You'll see people rolling their cigarettes on the tram, getting ready for the moment they step outside for that breath of (fresh??) air. At work, my (adult) students can't wait for their coffee (i.e., espresso) and cigarette break. I feel like a bit of a goodie two-shoes being a non-smoker here, but I value my health. So be it. 
• Everyone wears black. Always. On the tram, to school, at work, and especially at the bar. If they're not wearing black, they're wearing white, grey or tan. At one bar, I spotted exactly one girl wearing a blue shirt. As you can imagine, I stand out like a sore thumb with my fire engine red peacoat, but I don't mind one bit. I like colour. Wearing black all the time is so boring. However, I have to admit that I did wear all black (which I have never done before!) last time I went to the bar. I didn't want to stand out too much. Speaking of fashion...
• French girls do not dress like North American girls. Not only do they not wear much colour, but they also don't wear what we think of as "bar clothes" when they go out. In fact, everyone is pretty well all covered up. Tiny tops with tons of cleavage and tight skirts are not really a thing here. All the girls wear black sweaters and dangly earrings, wear their long hair down, and frankly, look cool as hell. I think maybe North Americans could take a page from their book (and just add a splash of colour here and there). 
• Everyone kisses everyone on both cheeks. This may be a stereotype, but it's true. It's not uncommon to be walking behind someone on the staircase at school, only to have them stop dead in their tracks to kiss a friend who they have run into -  in the middle of the staircase! I never know whether to go around them or wait for a kiss myself - after all, everyone kisses everyone. An example: when we met friends of Alex's colleagues at the bar (i.e., friends of acquaintances - the most distant possible relationship), every one of them kissed us on both cheeks when we were introduced, despite the fact that they never spoke to us again the whole night. What ever happened to a friendly handshake, or *gasp* a polite smile while keeping your hands in your pockets? I still get caught off guard when this happens - even though my Jewish relatives utilize the one-cheek kiss method. It's somehow different when it's someone your own age who you don't know. C'est la vie. 
• Everyone hangs out outside, even in though it's winter. It's not exactly freezing here, but when it's between 0-10°C, the last thing I want to do is "enjoy" a meal outside (is that even possible?). However, in Normandy, all the patios are open in the winter, and it's extremely common to eat a meal or have a beer on an outside patio in the middle of winter. When we met some of Alex's colleagues for beers a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find that they had willingly chosen an outside table, and were planning to stay there for the night. Alex says the eating/drinking outside occurs because everyone smokes, so they want to be able to do so at leisure (refer to bullet point #1). This is in stark contrast to the undergrads back in Canada who leave their coats at home, stand in line for the bar freezing, and then run into the bar in a tiny bar top and/or skirt in the middle of winter so that they don't have to pay for coat check. Good thing I grew up and brought my coat this time, because I never would have expected to spend an evening drinking outside in January!  
• Bars serve classy food. Like at home, most real "bars" (i.e., not pub-restaurants) don't serve much food, but they have to sell something to comply with the law. Usually they have pizza, chips, peanuts, or something cheap like that. In France that would hardly pass as real "food", and naturally they serve fancy cheese and charcuterie at bars that otherwise serve only alcohol. For about 5 or 6 ‎€, you can get a platter with sliced baguette and really nice French cheese (sometimes there's a whole selection) or fancy sausages. It's very classy, especially when you consider that it comes with a nice cheese knife; whereas, at home you'd be hard-pressed to get a cocktail in a real glass at certain bars (think: vodka and cranberry in a plastic cup). One bar we went to even served beer in wine glasses. The French really know how to party. Or do they...? (see next point).



Beer served with charcuterie and fromage

• Ambuscade/Embuscade is gross and should not pass as a cocktail. The Caennais (i.e. residents of Caen) drink a local cocktail called Ambruscade/Embruscade, which is a mixture of white wine, beer, calvados (the local apple brandy) and cassis (blackcurrant) syrup. The word "ambuscade" literally means "ambush", and it's clear where the name came from, because it's strong, sweet, and disgusting. And the students drink it by the pitcher. 
• Speaking of drinking, no one drinks water here. The university doesn't have water fountains, nor do malls or airports. Only the international students in my French class carry water bottles, and I've never seen a French person carry one, or drink more than a small juice glass-sized cup of water with lunch. Similarly, a travel mug is completely unheard of - probably because everyone drinks espresso. Apparently caffeine, rather than water, runs through the veins of the French...might make for an interesting research topic. By the way, I've started drinking espresso too. I've totally given up on trying to order coffee with milk. [Going to London this past weekend was such a treat: I had so many lattes. They were big. They were milky. And I got to sip them for more than 3 minutes. It was heaven.] Anyways, I'm staying hydrated and continue to carry my water bottle everywhere, despite how strange that makes me appear. Case in point: when I was teaching last week I took a sip from my water bottle and a student asked me what I was drinking (did he think I was sipping a bottle of liquor?? I'm not really sure...). Similarly, at the airport this weekend I had my bag searched due to the presence of my (empty) metal water bottle. Apparently it's a pretty suspicious thing around here!!

France being classy: the beer I ordered was served in a wine glass

France being unclassy: white wine in Tetra packs at the grocery store

Now that my post is already super long, it's time to fill you in on some of our other adventures over the last month or two. Here we go:

2) I discovered a botanical garden downtown Caen. It's about a 10 minute walk from the university, and it's really a little piece of heaven to step into the greenhouse and feel like you are in the tropics in the middle of winter. I plan to go back frequently in the spring and summer when all the flowers are blooming!

A mini waterfall at the botanical gardens in winter

Palm trees are a welcome sight in the winter!

Daffodils in the botanical garden (and all over the city!) in February

3) Valentine's Day baking is fun. I won't bore you with the details of our weekend, which involved shopping, relaxation, board games and mediocre crêpes (Valentine's Day menus are always a rip-off; when will I learn?). One amusing detail is that Alex and I both had the same idea to surprise each other with a Valentine's Day activity: cookie baking. [While writing, I actually just thought "la même idée" - I really am starting to think in French, little by little!] We went to two different grocery store chains on the same night, bought the same ingredients, and ended up with two identical bottles of vanilla. With all the boulangeries around here there is rarely a reason to bake, but I now have a lot of baking to do, as our double grocery shop resulted in quite a surplus of baking supplies! Although we only made simple sugar cookies, they were particularly delicious ones, and I'll be bookmarking the recipe. We still have a few in the freezer, because despite cutting the recipe in half we ended up with 60 cookies for two people. Yum!!

Valentine's Day sugar cookies

4) This weekend we went to London (and had a much-needed break from France). Although I love living in France, I have to admit that it was kind of nice to step onto the "tube" (i.e., subway) and hear people speaking English...and eating on the go...and wearing colours. Those things never happen in France. Alex and I both commented on how weird it was to be able to eavesdrop again (even accidentally!) after so many months in France. You really get used to tuning everything out and being in your own little world, so it was very weird to sit next to a businessman loudly speaking English on his cell phone, or to hear obnoxious English teenagers swearing at each other on the tube. On second thought, maybe living in France isn's so bad after all... ;)

Anyways, back to the point. We flew to London from the Caen airport, which was really convenient because the local city bus goes straight there. The airport is tiny (almost as small as the airport in Bathurst, NB) and has only one flight to London per day. Unfortunately, the small airline we flew with landed at an airport outside of London, and it was quite a trek to get to Jessie & Kevin's apartment in Northeast London on public transit. However, the view from the plane was worth it; although most people prefer taking the Chunnel (i.e., the train) to London, it was pretty cool to fly, because a) we got to see an aerial view of Caen when we took off, and b) at one point you could see the coasts of England and France at the same time (we made sure to sing "I see London, I see France..." at that moment). I wanted to take a picture, but unfortunately I had turned my phone off for the flight, so you'll have to imagine it!

Alex walking to our tiny plane on the tarmac

A fun anecdote from the plane: being a true French woman now (and since we had to be at the airport at 12:30pm and had both come straight from work), we packed a baguette and some camembert for lunch. This was smart planning, since the tiny airport didn't sell any food. However, I didn't think about the fact that we'd packed a butter knife in our carry-on luggage until the flight attendant approached me in the midst of pulling out my lunch ingredients. The dialogue went something like this:

British (Or Irish?) steward: "Um, you have a knife there, Missy".
Me: "Oh, oops. I didn't think about it... I just wanted to make lunch."
Steward: "Didn't you have your bags scanned?"
Me: "Yes...I guess they missed it." (Ironically, they had hand-searched my bag because of my metal water bottle, but left Alex's bag untouched even though he was the one carrying the knife.)
Steward: "Well, you're not allowed to have knives on airplanes, and I wouldn't be doing my job unless I took that away from you...but do you want to spread your cheese first?!"
Me: "Yes, please..."
Steward: "Ok, I'll be back. Save me some cheese."

I then proceeded to spread my smelly cheese in embarrassment, as other English-speaking passengers gaped at us. Couldn't that have at least happened in French, where I could've played it off like a clueless foreigner? (The steward later apologized for having taken a knife from our set, since he was forced to give the cheese-covered knife to airport security. I sometimes wonder what they do with all the stuff that gets confiscated...)

While in London, we had a great time visiting with Jessie & Kevin. Some highlights included:

• A long walk on Friday night along the Thames River (I got 24,000 steps that day!) to see all the big sights; the buildings were particularly beautiful as the sun began to set.
• Going to the Victoria & Albert Museum to admire fashion and jewellery, and the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaur exhibits (we could've spent approximately a hundred more hours in each of those museums, and they are only two of the many museums in the city!) Good thing the museums in London are free, because we definitely want to return next time we're there!
• Seeing a late-night screening of a quirky movie at an independent theatre where you could enjoy cake and cocktails in your armchair :)
• Chowing down on delicious pub food (we forgot how good fried chicken, real burgers and sweet potato fries were!), a true English breakfast, and amazing Mexican food - three types of cuisine that are truly hard to come by in France. [At the Mexican restaurant, Alex ordered an extra spicy habanero quesadilla, which lived up to its name. All three of us sampled it to make sure Alex wasn't exaggerating. He wasn't. He later said the heat had moved downwards from his mouth and that he felt like someone was punching him in in the stomach lining. Ouch.]

Alex grumbled about having to take this selfie as we arrived at Jessie & Kevin's street,
but I liked all the cute English row-houses!

A view of the bridge from the Thames River

Jessie & I and a pretty view of the Thames
(Please note the large lattes available in London - so unfair!)

A walk along the Thames River

Jessie, Alex & I in front of Big Ben at night (we forgot to take a picture with Kevin...oops!)

And of course, Buckingham Palace

5) Yesterday (March 8th) was Le Carnaval de Caen.  Every year, the city of Caen hosts a huge carnival with thousands of students. They all dress up as if it's Halloween and flock the university campus and downtown core (maybe because Halloween isn't a big thing in France, and every country needs an excuse to dress up on one day of the year!). For Alex and I, this mostly meant having to walk instead of taking the tram, as the students were blocking all the public transportation routes. However, it was fun to see all the French students dressed up in costume, drinking in the streets and having a good time. I've never seen so much colour or so many smiles among a group of French people...it was truly remarkable. Interestingly, there were security guards at the entrance of every building on campus, and signs on the cafeteria and student centre saying "no alcohol inside today"; since drinking open alcohol in public is legal in France, they needed to post these signs in order to tamper the drinking in certain areas of campus. (Since the French normally don't binge drink, the Carnaval results in a bit of a mess for the city, with ambulances being called, damage being done, drunk students causing disruptions to transit, and businesses being closed for the day. I heard that the first report of alcohol poisoning happened at 10am. I think the French would benefit from a trip across the pond to visit their British neighbours, who know how to handle their liquor.)

A line of students in costume, walking across campus

Costumed students frolicking in the field on campus

Trying to walk through a mob of costumed students

6) As for other life updates, as Alex mentioned, I got my wedding dress (and he's right, no details - sorry!) and we're doing some more wedding planning, so it's coming along slowly but surely. French class is going alright (some days are better than others, and although I'm still at the bottom of my class, I think I'm slowly improving), but I'm counting down the weeks until school is done. (I think maybe I'm just a little sick of being a student). I'm really enjoying work - it's fun to be the teacher instead of the student for two mornings a week, and since my students are motivated adults rather than bratty kids, teaching is pretty fun! Other than the adventures described above, we've been keeping busy with work and school, seeing movies (we may have snuck into a second movie one time when two movies were playing back-to-back in English...) and visiting the local market downtown on Sundays. This weekend our friends Jane & Joe are visiting from Strasbourg, and we're excited for some more local adventures!

~~ Various cat photos to follow ~~

Jessie's adorable cat, Minnie. She's quite skittish around visitors, but liked to spy around corners at us.

I miss Igor. Look how cute he was when he napped on the couch... 

...and on me. *Sniff*. 

But Huawei (aka Pretty Girl) is pretty cute, too...

...and she enjoys Igor's window perch!

À bientôt!

A Guest Post by Yours Truly (Month 4)

~ A guest post by Alex ~

Samantha and I have been one part busy, one part lazy over the last few weeks, so I decided to give her a hand and write a guest blog post. I hope I can provide at least half the humour Samantha seems to pack into these posts, so enjoy! 

Let’s begin by asking a simple question: How do you cover what we’ve done in the last month in a single post? You don’t! Hopefully this will motivate us to keep writing and fill in all the blanks with more stories.

Day-Trip to Bayeux/Landing Beaches

Oh boy do I not miss having to go on class trips. Upon embarking on the bus, we were introduced to our guide (read: chaperone) for the day: Pierette (daughter of Pierre). Here was a woman who is passionate about teaching people about both the language and history of Normandy on a bus of 50 twenty-something (actually, many were 18 and 19) non-native French speakers. I did not envy her. From what I overheard, most of the students had been out partying until anywhere from 4-6 am the night before, so I think Samantha and I were the only people actually excited about taking the trip.

In front of an old mill in Bayeux, excited for a day of sight-seeing!

Le Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux

Some beautiful stained-glass inside the cathedral

We started by going to Bayeux, where they have a world famous tapestry depicting the Norman conquest of England in the mid-11th century. It’s really a remarkable piece of work (and history) that was made in England in about 1070, just after William the Conqueror’s victory at the Battle of Hastings. It’s about 70 metres long (so ~3/4 the length of a football field) and was embroidered–which means it technically isn’t a tapestry, but it still goes by the much catchier name–by monks with 8 colours of thread. It was truly awesome to see this relic, and it’s amazing that they have been able to preserve it for nearly 1000 years. 

An omen in the form of Hayley's comet.

Guillaume's boat. Notice the fancy mast he's rocking!

We had an interesting adventure to start our trip, however, because Samantha and I weren’t content with just following the audio guide and quickly walking around the tapestry like most people, but wanted to go back to the beginning and look in more detail. Since we were the first people of the 50-person group to enter, we assumed we would have enough time to go back and catch up, but were we ever wrong. When we left the display, the tour group was nowhere to be seen. Generally, it’s hard to lose 48 people, so we quickly left the museum and went into the street to look for signs of them, to no avail. We went back to the museum and asked the security guard if he saw our group leave, to which he responded no, but did mention that there was an upstairs to the museum and that we may want to check there first…whoops. Anyway, after returning to the pack, we made sure to keep pace for the rest of the day. 

"Don't make me tell Miss Finster on you!"

The Doomsday Book. It sounds much cooler than it is, since it was basically just the first ever survey/census of the British empire.

After the museum, we had about an hour to grab lunch before we regrouped and moved on to the D-Day landing beaches. We went to this cute café with very eccentric decoration; it was a lucky find with great food! 

Chez Paulette; an eclectic café with delicious bagel-sandwiches (hard to come by in France!)

We were far too rushed all day, as we easily could have spent an entire day just roaming the narrow, historic streets of Bayeux checking out other museums, but we were herded onto our bus and moved to the next stop: the landing beaches. However, the pace didn’t let up at all and we went to 4 war-related stops in about 3.5 hours that afternoon, which isn’t nearly enough time to appreciate (let alone really see) where we were.

I won’t go into too much detail, but we saw a few bunkers, a few old anti-aircraft guns, and some memorial statues. We also came across some recruits in the French Army who were running some training exercises (jogging by us) so naturally most people had to capture the moment by trying to get a selfie. When they passed our group, many of the recruits smiled and/or waved, which irked some of the Americans who proudly boasted that their Marines were too cool/tough to smile to a group of tourists.

A war bunker and cannon

The third stop of the afternoon was an American War Museum. We learned a fun fact on our drive to the museum, namely that the French wanted to gift the Americans their section of the beaches as a sign of thanks for their war efforts but they weren’t permitted. It’s because the French constitution states that the République (de la France) is indivisible, so they had to settle with giving the Americans military authority. So, you know what that means: TSA-style security checks for all visitors! After going though security, we had a whopping 60 minutes to walk through the American War Museum, which obviously wasn’t nearly enough time. The plan was to meet back at the bus approximately an hour before the museum closed so we could return back to Caen (the planning and timing could have been better). Anyway, most of us followed the schedule and made it back to the bus on time, but ultimately we had to wait over 30 minutes for people who either lost track of time or, just frankly, didn’t care about when the bus was supposed to leave. It was rather frustrating, and several of the more obnoxious passengers decided to sneer and boo at the latecomers; I think everyone would have rather we all agreed to stay an extra 30 minutes as there was a lot more to see. 

The banks of Pointe du Hoc. 

One American was very proud of the fact that we were visiting Pointe du Hoc, a site dedicated to a group of Texas Rangers who faced a nearly impossible, albeit crucial, mission to destroy some 155 mm guns overlooking the landing beaches. She displayed her pride in the most American (obnoxious?) way she knew, by repeatedly chanting “USA!” and cheering every time the word “Texas” was mentioned by Pierette. Apparently, however, she wasn’t much of a fan of baseball because when I made a few comments about the superiority of the Jays she just stared blankly at me. So much for trying to land a joke…

More than anything it just whet our appetite and made us want to return–perhaps on a less windy day–to Bayeux and the Courseulles-sur-mer area. 

Visiting with Far-Away Friends

We went to Paris to visit with some of my longtime friends Patrick and Angela who were taking a trip to Europe during their holidays for Chinese New Year. They had been travelling for about 7 days before we met up with them, and being on the last leg of their journey we kept things fairly low-key. Our reunion was short-lived, only about 40 hours in total, but as always we made the most of it. We made sure to highlight the best qualities of living in France: great (and cheap!) wine, cheese, and bread; by the end of the visit we had consumed about 8 bottles of wine. It was great to catch up with the two of them, and to do a bit more sightseeing in Paris. I know Samantha has seen nearly every attraction and museum in the city, but I’ve only spent a few days total in Paris, so it was great to check out the art in the Musée d’Orsay. 

Musée d'Orsay is one of the best art museums I've ever visited, and it's housed in an old train station!

Alex, Angela, Sam & Patrick at Musée d'Orsay

The Sacré-Cœur Basilica, located way on the top of a hill in Montmartre. Just around the corner is a very cute artist's village.

You can see the entire Parisian landscape from the hill (the Eiffel Tower can't be seen, but is to the right) and it's a great view!

And Samantha got to meet up with her oldest friend Jessie (who lives in London and Sam hasn't been able to see for the past few years), who was in Paris for some meetings. They went wedding dress shopping, but I wasn’t invited. If you want more details, don’t even bother. I’m marrying Samantha and she won’t tell me anything, so what luck do any of you have? ;)

Sam & Jessie returned to Caen for the weekend after dress shopping in Paris; here's a windy selfie they took by the Chateau de Caen. They were looking for les moutons, but sadly found none this time around.

It was so great seeing such old friends in Paris, and we can't wait until the next time we see you all!

Out with the old, in with the new

Our foster kitty Igor was adopted on February 6th and it was surprisingly hard to give him up. We had Igor for about 4 weeks before he got adopted, and that little ball of fur left a pretty big impression on us. As sad as it was to see him go, we’re glad he went to a nice forever home, and were looking forward to a pet-free home for a few weeks…but that didn’t last too long. Igor was adopted, and a few days later we went to Paris, and the following Wednesday we welcomed Huawei (the French word for Hawaii, the verdict is still out for how to actually pronounce it, something like “eye-why,” but we just stick to calling her “you” or “chaton”) to our humble abode. She’s nearly 2 years old, and has a very different personality than Igor. First of all, she is the most low-maintenance cat I’ve every met. Her life consists of deciding where to nap: will it be in the shoebox we put out in the corner, on a chair, on our laps, or (her personal favourite) on top of all our shoes? Other than that, she enjoys a little cuddling, but doesn’t need constant attention. The only problem is that she sheds. Like a lot. One of her frequent napping spots is on my pillow on the bed. As you can see, after one nap she’s left her mark. So, we’ve had to start vacuuming much more frequently, but it’s worth it for such a cutie. Hopefully she’ll be able to find a permanent home in a few weeks, because that’s what makes the fostering worth it! 

Meet Huawei. Who-way? Way-wee? Hwa-why? Samantha prefers "pretty girl".

Basking in the sun

Sleeping on a pair of my shoes with her head in another (what a comfy way to nap!)

After laying on the pillow for 30 seconds, she's forever left her mark. Here's to doing laundry & vacuuming more frequently!

"Back To School, Back To School
To Prove To Dad That I'm Not A Fool,
I've Got My Lunch Packed Up, My Boots Tied Tight,
I Hope I Don't Get In A Fight"

So you think French is hard... (it is!)

Bonjour!

I know I'm overdue for a blog post, so here it is. I have quite a bit to update you on, so I've tried to organize my writing into subheadings...

1) I'm a full-time university student again. 

You might be asking...

How did this happen?? It honestly was by accident. The only French courses I could find in a small French-speaking town (i.e., a town where no one needs to learn French) were offered by the university, and they didn't start until the winter semester. So I signed up, and waited. Turns out I have 18 hours of class per week, and 7 different classes, including things like art history in French. I have assignments, group projects and exams. Yes, that's right, I have to write exams again. More of them than I did in undergrad. At least it's only one semester. I need to keep reminding myself that. I even have a student card again (which I made sure to load up with € to buy meals at the cafeteria). Yes, I eat lunch in a cafeteria, with trays and all! I didn't even do that in high school... Speaking of which, the French love their long, sit-down lunches. No one has class over the lunch hour, so we all eat together at the huge cafeteria. It's very social. And packed. For about 3-4 € ($5-6 Canadian), you get a main course (typically some sort of meat or fish) plus a starch like rice or potatoes, plus vegetables, sides or appetizers, a bread roll with butter and dessert/fruit/yogurt. They even have stone oven pizza. It's very affordable, and semi-palatable. The desserts are good though, so you can always count on ending your meal on a high note. I'm slowly getting used to the French way of eating a gigantic meal for lunch and then not even needing to snack until we have dinner at 8-9pm. It's weird.

How is it going? The first week of class was overwhelming, to say the least. When I realized I was taking courses such as art history and analyzing literary texts (all in French, with no English instruction whatsoever) and taking notes from powerpoint presentations, I kind of wanted to drop out. Except that I knew that the tuition was non-refundable. And that I needed to learn French, so I could answer the phone or buy something at a store without repeating myself three times. And that I really couldn't get away with sitting at home planning our wedding and watching Netflix for any more months (or could I??). So I sucked it up...and talked to the administration about switching my classes. Naturally, I heard "Mais, ce n'est pas possible!" several times. However, once I had spoken to three different people and explained in French that I just wanted to learn French for fun (and so that I could communicate in this country), and stressed that I really didn't need the Diploma in French Studies that you receive after finishing the semester, they allowed me to switch two of my courses. (It's France, so obviously we had no say in picking our courses, and if I make any changes at all to my schedule, I can't receive the diploma, even though I'm still doing the same number of hours of class per week.) Anyways, at the beginning of this week, I decided that I wasn't in it for the diploma, got rid of two courses on analyzing French literature, and added a phonetics class twice a week, and now I'm feeling a lot better. Phonetics is pretty cool. We get to wear headphones and take dictations and repeat after the teacher in unison like a group of kindergarten students. Naturally, it's my favourite class. Arts is my least favourite - but only because the course is really more about history than art (I think they called it "Arts" to disguise the fact that we're really learning about the French revolution) and I'm sick of learning about Napoleon. (Did you know there were like five Napoleons? At least I think there were, because the professor mentioned at least three of them in the first lecture. No wonder "he" was so prolific.) I've also met some nice people in my classes - there's quite a few nice Australian and American girls in my class, and although I'm almost a full decade older than all of my new friends, I'm trying to blend in. Plus, I'm enjoying having a routine again. Except for the early morning wake-ups.

A well-needed drink after the first day of school

As for my job, they were waiting to get me started until after I had my French class schedule, so I'm not starting until next Friday. I'll be leading two 3-hour English conversation classes per week, with a beginner and an intermediate group of adults. It should be fun (and somewhat challenging, until I get the hang of speaking slowly and meeting the students' level of English). I'm anxious to get started!

Here's a snapshot of what my schedule will look like once I start work. It's still technically fewer hours than a full-time job, but I actually have a decent amount of homework and assignments to do after class every day (Ugh!), so it's pretty busy, and a big change from the completely open schedule I had in Nov-Dec. I'm glad I got a lot of our wedding planning done before Christmas because I'm totally braindead when I come home at the end of every day! Turns out translating French in your head all day is mentally exhausting. Speaking of which, did any of you have to read that poem in French class in elementary school entitled "So you think French is hard?" If not, check it out here. My response: French is hard! Alex and I spent three hours yesterday going over my phonetics homework, and that's after I spent two hours on it on Friday afternoon. Turns out there are sounds that we don't have in English that I physically can't pronounce (or was never trained to do so in the wonderful "core French" classes I took in high school). For all of you who keep telling me I'll be fluent after this semester, please lower your expectations. My updated goal is to be able to answer a French phone call. Please don't expect me to be able to converse flawlessly in French...yet.

2) Travel

We're finally starting to make some travel plans. Last weekend we took a day trip to Rouen (which, as it turns out, is not pronounced "Roo-en", as I thought, but more like "Rhon". Since I'm learning phonetics, the phonetic pronunciation is: [ʁwɑ̃]. Yeah, you try to decipher that). We got there via BlaBlaCar, an international ride-sharing service that one of my classmates told me about. Basically you just hitch a ride with someone who's already planning to go where you're going, and you pay them ahead of time online to cover your share of gas money and tolls (French highways have so many tolls!). To go to Rouen, which was about 1.5 hours away from Caen, it cost us each 16 € for a round-trip, versus the 55 € each we would've paid to take the train. Plus, we got to go directly in a car instead of stopping in a bunch of cities like you would on the train or bus. (For another city we want to visit, it's only 1 € each way on BlaBlaCar.) We carpooled with different drivers to and from Rouen in the same day, and had a great experience. I'm not sure I'd do it alone in a foreign country, but it was totally fine since it was two of us and I think we'll definitely use it again!
 A quick recap of our day:

• We had a delicious Normandy-style lunch at a restaurant that uses all local ingredients, called Le Mouton Noir (The Black Sheep). For about 35 € for the two of us, we each had their lunch menu which included a delicious galette (what they call savoury crêpes in Normandy), which was oeuf, fromage et jambon, naturally, plus a salad, a glass of cider (a regional drink here), and a dessert crêpe made with homemade honey-butter-caramel. Yum! I felt like a true Norman. [Side note: I learned in class this week that in France, "French food" is not a concept. There are regional cuisines, so you might speak of typical dishes from Normandy, Brittany or Provence, but you wouldn't speak of "French food". Apparently in North America we just smash them all together and call it "French". Just a little tid-bit of knowledge for you.] 
• We visited the huge Cathedral de Notre-Dame de Rouen, which was constructed starting in like the 1100s, a concept that's hard to conceive of in Canada. 
• We spent a few hours in the Musée des Beaux-Arts (what they call almost every art gallery in France), and saw some beautiful paintings, including a few works by famous artists such as Monet that we hadn't seen before in other galleries in Europe. 
• We walked around the downtown, and admired the half-timbered houses as well as the Vieille Marché (old marketplace). 
• Fun fact: Rouen is the capital of Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy), and Caen is the capital of Basse-Normandie (Lower Normandy). However, the two halves of Normandy merged in the past few weeks, which means that it will all be called "Normandie" with no upper and lower halves, and Caen will no longer be a capital city. It also means a bunch of administrative and economic changes - most of which I will probably not be privy to - but interesting nonetheless.
• Some photos from the day:

Us in one of the old downtown streets

Famous horloge (clock) downtown

Cathédral de Notre Dame de Rouen in the fog

Beautiful stained-glass in the cathedral

Sculptures of saints in the cathedral

Half-timbered buildings downtown Rouen

The Vielle Marché downtown

More half-timbered buildings, turned into shops & restaurants

I made Alex pay 10 € so we could ride the ferris wheel and get a nighttime view of Rouen

As for travel, we've also booked trips to:

•  Paris in February - to visit with Patrick & Angela who are visiting from China - woo! I'm also meeting up with Jessie, who is coming in from London to go wedding dress shopping with me, and to meet with clients (because she's a fashion photographer and does fancy things like meet models in Paris). I have a school break that week in Feb, so it worked out really well that I'll be able to spend the week in Paris with friends!
• London in March - to visit Jessie & Kevin at their new apartment - yay!
• Copenhagen in April - I recently finished reading The Danish Girl [Side note: it's a really great book, and we're planning to see the movie tomorrow night because it's playing in ENGLISH at the big movie theatre in Caen - the one with sweet and salty self-serve popcorn that I posted pictures of a while back. Remember? Yay!] Sorry, I got distracted. Anyways, the book is set in Copenhagen, Denmark, which really made me want to go there. I told Alex that we should go somewhere we've never thought of, like Copenhagen, and we did some research and found cheap tickets during one of my school breaks in April. [Another side note: I get three weeks of vacation during my one semester of school: one in February, and two consecutive weeks in April. Only the French...] So anyways, we're taking a long-weekend in April and flying there for only 142 € (round-trip for two people - gotta love Europe). I'm pretty excited! And no, I don't know Danish. But I think they speak English pretty much everywhere... except Caen.

3) Igor

Our foster kitty is being adopted in just over a week! We're going to miss him. He's always cuddling and being cute. One of the funniest things about him is that he loves to sleep on you, so if you're sitting on the couch or at the table working at your laptop, even if your arms are in the air typing, he'll get on your lap and reach his head up and put it on your arm and sleep like that, even though you're typing and he can't possibly be comfortable with his neck extended like that. He also likes to climb onto your neck if you turn onto your back in the night, so that you get woken up with him nuzzling across your neck like a heavy scarf. The only thing is, he was sick the first week we had him, so he slept and cuddled pretty much all day, everyday, and we got used to that. Now that he's no longer sick, he's a bit of a little devil. If I'm not playing with him, he's always biting at my ankles trying to get my attention, and running around chasing his own tail. If you're home alone and leave the bathroom door open, he runs and jumps on your lap immediately...and his claws are really sharp even though I cut them like a week and a half ago. It's kind of ridiculous how much attention he needs. Alex got me flowers on Friday night and Igor woke us up early yesterday morning by knocking the vase on the floor and getting water everywhere. So, at least that's going to make it a little easier to give him up next week. However, I think after all our travels in Feb/March, we'll likely get another foster kitty. I do love having a kitty around, even if it means a few scratches here and there.

Igor cuddling Alex while he works on his laptop

Believe it or not, I have lots more to say, but I'll save that for next week's post. Bon dimanche à tous!

Bonne année!

Two episodes of TV down, I was looking for something I could do without disturbing the sleeping kitten on my lap. So here it is, my next blog post.

1) Yes, I finally got a foster kitten! He is really sweet. His name is Igor. No, I didn't name him. He is smokey gray and loves attention and cuddles. Like more than any cat ever.

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Igor. Je parle français.

J'aime les gros ours en peluche.

... like, a lot

I like sleeping on laps

I will have him until he gets adopted, and in the meantime, I have a new cuddle buddy! 

Speaking of animals, these guys are back!

This time I gathered up the courage to pet them, and it made my day. I look for them every time I go for a walk now. They just hang out on the first floor windowsill with no leashes, and no apparent attempts to jump down. Their owner is never anywhere in sight, but I imagine there must be an old woman spying on me from inside the apartment.

2) I had a great Christmas vacation filled with family and friends. It was pretty hectic trying to see everyone in Ontario and New Brunswick for the 10 days were were home; however, it was worth it. Plus, we had a lovely New Years eve 'in' at our apartment in Caen, followed by three days of relaxation before Alex went back to work, which was very much needed. 

A Christmas pic: my cousin's 9 month old Bernese Mountain dog puppy.
He still thinks he is small enough to sit on my lap. He's right!

Lazy new years day in France. I only took this on SnapChat, so please excuse my failed attempt to add a caption.
Yes, it says "matching jammies". We are nerds. We have PhDs. It's no surprise. No need to remind us.

 3) I finally got a new cell phone! Huzzah! It is very much like my last one, except a different brand, and it actually works. Now I have a French phone number - hurray! Also, my plan is 0 Euros a month with no contract. And I bought the phone outright. Yep, you read that right. France is awesome...when it wants to be.

4) I went to my first yoga class this week. It is right across the street from my apartment in the top of a hair salon. It's actually a really nice yoga space, and the classes are really small (the class I went to only had 4 students including myself), which means the yoga instructor has plenty of time to suggest adjustments to each student. Maybe too much time in fact...the class was a little slow, as the instructor insisted on correcting our every move, but I'm hoping he picks up the pace at the next class tonight.

5) I start French classes at the University of Caen next Wednesday, and will start my new job as soon as I am given my French class timetable. In the meantime, I am getting a little bored of Duolingo and ready to get started with real lessons (although this kitty on my lap is a new excuse not to do anything all day)! I know what you're thinking; there is plenty to do in Europe. Well, we did book two upcoming trips; one to visit with friends who are coming to Paris in Feb, and another to visit my friend in London, England in March. Yay!

6) In the meantime, I have a new hobby. It's colouring. Don't laugh. I got two "adult colouring books" for Christmas, from two different people. Hmm...not sure what that means. Anyways, it's very relaxing and a good alternative to knitting when I am not currently working on a project.

One of my many artistic "creations" since Christmas.

That's all for now! Will send more updates once I have started my new endeavours in the coming weeks. Happy new year!