Riding and Raclette

*Note: this blog entry was composed on Thursday, December 1, but for one reason or another I'm just getting around to posting it now.

So my riding lessons have been a bit of a grab-bag of late. My afternoon lesson last Friday was great! I rode at the usual time, and this time there were four of us total (me plus three adults). We got to ride outside in the stadium jumping arena with the beautiful jumps! I rode a horse named Kippa who was a bit of a handful, but who I enjoyed quite a bit. He wasn't mean, but as Beatrice explained in the beginning of the lesson, I had to pay attention because otherwise he would take advantage of my lapse in concentration, stick his head down, and buck. It was quite chilly here last Friday, but since we hadn't had any precipitation, it was alright to ride outside.

Lo and behold, our third or fourth time warming up over a vertical, I asked Kippa for a bigger-than-usual jump (I had a choice between a very short distance and a longer one and picked the longer one). My instinct was of course to push my hands forward, to give him a bit more room for the longer jump. In this case however, that was the wrong answer. Just like Beatrice told me he would, Kippa stuck his head down and I went tumbling off. I wasn't hurt at all, just a bit sandy. It actually felt sort of good to fall. I haven't fallen in a long time (not including the 3 years or so I haven't been riding regularly), and I'm a bit relieved to have it over with. The rest of the lesson was great -- we got to jump a lot, and I stayed on my horse.

Then I went again this past Monday to make up the lesson I missed the weekend of the tournament in Tongeren. As with the lesson I made up on a Saturday, Marie (the director) didn't mention anything about the class size. I arrived for my 19h00 lesson and discovered we would be 11! We rode in the same ring, which was quite large enough for all of us, but when it came to jumping it took forever for each of us to take our turn. I rode Kippa again, and he was quite sluggish and not much fun. I was quite disappointed, because my Friday lesson had been so positive. I found it a bit unprofessional for the management to allow the lessons to become so big -- if I had known we were going to be 11 people, I probably would have waited for a different time, or used my lesson for one of the two-hour weekend stages (seminars). Oh well. I'm not going this Friday either, because I'm leaving to go Bruges, Belgium with Brooke!

So recently I have started dating a guy named Colin, who I met through the Ultimate team. Unfortunately I do not have a good picture of the two of us yet, but those of you who are curious can look back through pictures from tournaments (he's next to me in the group picture from Tongeren). He's my age and in his second year of a masters program in computer science at the university here. He joined the Friz'Bisontins the same night I did, so we're both relatively new to the team. On Tuesday some of his friends from his promotion (university program) invited us over to their apartment for a raclette dinner! Raclette is quintessentially Franche-Comtois. It's both the name of the cheese and the name of the aparatus you use to heat it up... and the name of the event which is consumption of said cheese, using said aparatus. Here's a pic of the aparatus:

Each person has their own mini rimmed-spatula, upon which they place a slice of raclette cheese. Then they stick it under the heat to fond (melt). When it's appropriately gooey, you take a potato from the bowl sitting on the top tier (not pictured), place the potato on your plate, and pour the gooey cheese over it. See picture below:

The result was, predictably, delicious. There were also assorted charcuterie (red meats, as in sausage and ham) which we could grill on the top layer. And of course we washed it down with some blanc du Jura, white wine from the Jura region. The whole experience was quite convivial, not unlike fondue, another Franche-Comtois favorite. They're really into melted cheese and potatoes around here.

It was also neat to meet some of Colin's friends from the university, and their girlfriends/friends. In total we were 6, which was a manageable number for me. When the group gets bigger than that, sometimes it's hard for me to follow the conversation, or I feel like I get lost in the different conversations which start up. That's not always the case, but I feel more at ease in a smaller group.

What else is new? I got my hair cut today! I've been scouting around for the cheapest places, and I couldn't find any which could beat Salon Gomina's 20 euro shampooing-coupe-brushing. Plus it's located at Place Flore, a 5-minute walk from my apartment. I was a bit nervous about getting my hair cut, although I really only wanted a trim (how bad could it be?) But it seemed like a situation in which a language barrier could have serious consequences, so I did a little research beforehand -- i.e. I asked the other teachers at lunch today. Here's what I learned:

Trim = couper les pointes
Side bangs (diagonal bangs) = une frange coiffée à la côté
Part (as in, how you divide your hair) = la raie
Hair straightener = un lisseur

And here was the result:

It was exactly what I wanted! In this picture, my hair actually looks longer than it did before the trim because the stylist straightened it afterward.

*Note from Monday, December 5 -- this afternoon I got a compliment from a bashful, blushing 2nd grade boy in my last class of the day: "Teacher, tu as une belle coiffure" ("Teacher, your hair looks really beautiful"). Haha it made me smile!

Thanksgiving

So while Thanksgiving was actually 3 days ago, I celebrated it Friday and this afternoon, so I feel like this blog entry is still relevant. Although I miss my family and friends, I haven't really been homesick since I arrived in France about two and a half months ago. Until Thursday afternoon, when I was repeating "On my Thanksgiving plate, there's turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing..." for the hundreth time (not an exaggeration, the activity I was using was a version of "Johnny's got a ball, an apple, and a pencil, ... in his pocket" and therefore involved lots of reptition). The kids' attention was waning and all of a sudden I had this incredible longing to be home, in our family room, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in my pajamas with my mom and dad and Trey and Holly. Although, let's be real, if I was in Cincinnati I would have run the Turkey Trot 10K downtown and probably wouldn't get back in time to watch the Macy's parade. But still, that was the image my brain conjured in its moment of homesick longing. And the vocabulary flashcards with appetizing pictures of turkey and cranberry sauce weren't helping either!

Luckily I did get in some delicious Thanksgiving food, courtesy of a few other assistants and the Coudel family. On Friday Candice, Laurie, and Kati hosted a Thanksgiving soirée at their apartment. I volunteered to bring an apple pie, since I made one for my host family in Dijon and therefore knew all of the ingredients were readily available and, in theory, I could successfully reproduce a dessert typical of America and of Thanksgiving. I toyed with the idea of baking the pie on Thursday, but because of scheduling issues I ended up doing it Friday between my riding lesson and the party. This ended up being a bad call. The pie itself took longer to make than I expected (peeling and slicing the apples usually takes a lot less time because there are more hands to help). The timing was going to be tight, but I thought it would still work. Just as I was laying the top layer of pastry crust over the pie, Steph walked in and frantically indicated that I should stop -- that pie pan (le moule, for those of you eager to learn more French voab) doesn't fit in their oven. Uh oh.

But it was too late, and even if I hadn't laid down the pastry, the pie pan was already full of the bottom layer, plus all of the apples and the sugar mixture. In Steph and Charly's defense, the pie pan was quite large and I should have checked that it fit in the oven before I started the recipe. In my defense, it seemed entirely logical that a pan in their cupboard is there because it is regularly used in those household appliances which are found in that same kitchen. But, that is not the case here. So, what to do? Start knocking on the neighbors' doors. I went down level by level, without any success until I reached the first floor (rez-de-chaussée, here). Mr. Maillot seemed amused by my plight and graciously volunteered to let me use his oven. So, I dropped off the pie, and went back upstairs. Unfortunately, his oven must have been a bit cooler than average, because the pie took 45 minutes to bake instead of the expected 30, plus the time spent waiting for the oven to preheat, and the time for the pie to cool enough to carry. Plus I stayed for a drink (glass of juice) because it seemed rude to take my pie and dash off. So, I was a bit late for the party. But they were just beginning to serve the meal as I arrived, so my tardiness didn't end up being a huge problem.


Candice & co. had prepared quite a spread! Turkey, carrots and onions, mashed potatoes and real gravy, roasted sweet potatoes, rice and raisins (which apparently her family does instead of stuffing), and a pumpkin pie. Kirstie and Nicola brought a yummy fall salad and all of the rest brought wine (and a bottle of Champagne). Despite it's early setbacks, my pie turned out great. We even had whipped cream to put on top! It was a really wonderful evening, a mixture of English and French, and we ended it by singing Christmas carols and taking quite a few silly group photos.

Then this afternoon I went to the Coudel's for a Thanksgiving meal with their family. I got a ride from their family friends: Annick and her daughters Michaëla and Gaël. Their story is in the inverse of the Coudels': she's French and he's American. Her husband was actually on his way back from celebrating Thanksgiving with his family in the U.S., and didn't make it back in time to join us. We had a really lovely afternoon and a delicious repas (meal), but unfortunately without turkey. Susan ordered one from a butcher well in advance, but when she went to pick it up yesterday he told her he wouldn't find one, and had two chickens instead! She was understandably annoyed -- a whole turkey is certainly unusual in France, but not impossible to find. If he had told her earlier, she could have just ordered one from another butcher. But we had tasty stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans, spiced apples, and chestnuts to go with our chicken, so I really can't complain. And we had homemade pumpkin pie for dessert, made with the enormous pumpkins that grow in their garden. The Coudels are really wonderful and Annick and her daughters were equally friendly and warm. All in all, a very pleasant day.

As part of this Thanksgiving entry, I would like to mention a couple of the things I am particularly thankful for this year. My supportive family and wonderful friends from home and Wake are always at the top of the list, but I think this year I have some new reasons to be extra thankful.

This experience has been exactly what I had hoped for so far, and I would like to detail exactly how:

1) I have a really pleasant living environment -- Steph and Charly are very friendly and eager to help me with whatever I need. They are clean, respectful and generous. We have shared many meals (and the "Friday evening beer") together and they don't mind that I often wake up early and come back late. I feel really lucky that I found this accomodation that fits in my budget, is in a very central location and that I share with such agreeable people.

2) I like my job -- I'm not even sure 12 hours per weeks qualifies as a job, but since it's what I'm getting paid to do, we'll call it that. There are definitely challenging moments -- like when the kids do not listen, or I get to the end of a lesson and none of the kids remember the vocab they "learned" during that session, but it's really rewarding when I see they're enjoying the song/game/activity I picked and when they retain the information from one class to the next. And sometimes they're just too darn cute. And the other teachers at my schools have been very nice to me, especially those at École Champagne.

3) Les Friz'Bistonins -- Ultimate Frisbee has become the bad penny in my life... it keeps turning up no matter where I go. But luckily for me, it always seems to bring fun people along with it. In this case, about 12 or so people who make up the core of the team and with whom I have spent countless hours with since joined the team a few weeks after I arrived. Playing Ultimate can be really fun, like practice last Monday when the "regional" team really established a rhythm and had some great points together. But I also appreciate how much time we spend together off the field too. I feel really lucky to have found such a vibrant and welcoming group.

4) French bread -- Okay, this one is a bit silly. In fact, I might list it under both the positives and negatives of France. How is it negative? Do you have any idea how easy it is to eat an entire baguette in one day? The day I learned you can request a half-baguette was a very healthful one indeed... But seriously, there's something undeniably pleasant about living in a country where fresh bread is available every 500m or so. And I've had fun exploring all of the different varities. There are at least five boulangeries within a ten-minute walk of my apartment, so that makes for lots of options. I can't say I've found a favorite yet, but I'm eager to keep tasting.

5) I feel at home in Besançon -- Again, this one might seem too vague. Although Besançon can get a bad rep for being quite "provincial," I absolutely adore its "small-town" feel. I love how the centre-ville is surrounded by the Doubs, and is therefore densely packed with shops, apartment, and cute little squares. I love how the city is surrounded by seven huge hills, one of which is topped with the citadelle and many of which still have walls lining them. I love how verdant the city is, and how even in the fall (and now winter) there are still lots of plants and vines. I like how people are generally friendly and eager to help. They just put up Christmas lights all over the centre-ville, an extravagant quantity of lightbulbs I wouldn't normally associate with eco-sensitive France and the streets look really lovely. The Christmas market (marché de Noël) is set up in the Place de La Révolution, along with a giant illuminated ferris wheel. Besançon was my third choice city, behind Aix-en-Provence and Strasbourg, but I am quite content to have been assigned here. I think it's exactly where I am supposed to be.

6) I have a wonderful support network -- to you, faithful blog reader, who have made it this far in my entry, and to all of the others back in the States who continue to stay in touch despite the time difference, their own hectic schedules and mine, I really appreciate you. Thank you for being so great!

And now, bed time, a new week awaits bright and early tomorrow morning! Bisous!