Easter

Hello all.
Yes it has been a long time since I've written. I'm sorry. I have no excuse except that I work all the time and I have a very busy life here in the south of France. Just to give you an idea of what I have been up to:

After I got back from my February vacations to Malta, London, and Dublin, I returned to Montpellier for the month of March. I worked a little, playing English games with my kids such as scategories, which they loved and begged me to play two weeks in a row, survivor, in which they each had to make a speech as to why they should stay on the Island and then we voted someone off at the end of class, and the classic hangman.

This past month also the the opening of the new Lidl grocery store. Lidl is a German grocery store that offers all the same basics as the normal grocery store for centimes. For example, a kilo of pasta (about 2.2 pounds) is only 63 cents. Pasta sauce is 35-45 cents, 6 slices of ham a mere 2 euros, foie gras for 4 euros. I love Lidl. It has given me much more money to spend on traveling.

Last week my friend Wes and I went on a day trip to Pezenas, a small town about an hour from Montpellier. We walked around the little streets and peeked in all the courtyards which Pezenas was supposedly famous for. We also saw some hotel particuliers which are old house/palace places, the coolest one we saw was Hotel Lacoste. Louis XIV stayed there when he passed through Pezenas, and there was a very cool art exhibition going on there as well.

I have also booked my April vacation, which starts this coming Friday. Yes, another vacation for the French. This time I will head off to Ibiza with Alissa for a few days and hopefully see Anais who is doing an internship in Mallorca. Then after a few days in London for some grad school interviews, I will meet Alissa and Katie in Graz, Austria where we will visit our friend Susanna. From there we will head to Prague and Vienna. We will fly out of Bratislava, spend one day in Brussels and then head back to Montpellier. Once back in Montpellier I have a week left of my contract, which means about 2-3 days of work. Then I will head out on the road once more.

In May I will spent a few days in Paris before I fly to Tel Aviv to meet up with Gabby! It has been 6 months since I've seen her and I am so excited! Chloe will be there too doing birthright and I could not have asked for anything more than to be in Israel with these two girls! Gabby and I will travel around Israel and Sinai for about three weeks before flying to Kos, one of the Greek Islands near Turkey. We will travel around there for about a week. Then its off to two days in Milan, and finally flying back to Girona, Spain to get back for a summer in Montpellier.

In more recent news, Happy Pesach and Happy Easter! For Passover in Montpellier a few friends and I went to a seder hosted by the Liberal Jewish Community here. They were wonderful! All the Jewish mothers were concerned that we had enough to eat, passing us parsely when we had none to dip; The Jewish men were concerned that we had enough wine and that our cups were never empty. We met some wonderful people and exchanged contact information as well. Pictures to be posted soon on facebook!

Yesterday for Easter my friend Katie hosted a brunch, all of our friends came and we ate quiche, asparagus, scrambled eggs, frittata, pasta salad with cherry tomatoes and zucchini, ham, fruit salad, etc. We had a mini easter egg hunt and beer hunt. And we all wore colorful dresses, w nice change for France which prides itself on its shades of black. Later that same day we all gathered at our friends' Tom and Katie's for a barbeque. There we ate chicken, cheeseburgers, grilled veggies, french fries, baked potatoes, etc. It was delicious and got me excited for summer when bbqs will be frequent.

Today is Monday and France is closed. Yes, I know Easter was on a Sunday, but apparently one day for a holiday is never enough and we have Monday off as well. Life in France.

So I will try to update more frequently and keep you all updated on my travels/life in France. As always, photos will be posted soon on facebook!

Bisous de Montpellier

Vacances d'Hiver!

Yes folks, its that time of year again, time for the French to go on another vacation. I for one, have been working very hard, this month alone I have worked a whopping 15 hours due to class cancellations and my bus getting stuck on an icy road en route to Lodeve yesterday morning. So, with that behind me, it is now time to depart on our next vacation. This time my friends and I are going to Malta! Malta is a tiny island country in the middle of the Mediterranean not far from Sicily. Our journey begins today when eight of us will take the train down to Perpignan, then the exciting FrogBus will take us to the airport in Girona, Spain where we will begin our 8 hour wait for our 7am flight departure. At around 9 am on Saturday morning we will land in Malta where we will be greeted by Krista and Stefan our lovely Maltese hosts whom we spent four wonderful months with in Montpellier!
So I bid you all farewell, and I will try my very best to keep everyone updated on my wherabouts for the next two weeks!
Me and my Maltese friends!

CAF CAF CAF

One of the benefits of working in France is that on my measly assistants salary I am eligible to receive CAF. CAF stands for Caisse d'Allocations Familliales which means that I am eligible to receive government funding to help me pay for my rent each month. As an American, the fact that the government is going to pay for my anything is something close to a miracle. However, this is France, and nothing is ever accomplished quickly. My CAF experience began in mid November when i filled out and mailed in my forms. I had to have a signed form from my landlady as well as photocopies of my passport, a document stating I lived where I said I did, my bank information, etc. About three weeks later I received my first pay stub, so my friend Darcy and I went to bring our stubs to the CAF office. After waiting in line for about thirty minutes we finally made it up to the desk. (The lines were long because the CAF was closed on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesday afternoons or something absurd like that). After finally speaking with someone, I was informed that they did not in fact, need my pay stub. However, being experienced with French bureaucracy, I insisted that they take a copy of the form anyways. Two more weeks went by and I received a letter from CAF informing me that they needed a copy of my visa, something that they had not originally required. Fine. I mailed the visa and began to wait once more. I heard nothing for a month. Then Darcy decided that she was going to go to CAF one day and see what was going on. Her plan failed. CAF was on strike. Merci la France. Thankfully it was only a one day strike and Darcy was able to get her forms settled the next day. Just when I had resigned myself to having to pay a visit to the CAF offices once more I received a phone call. A very nice Monsieur called me and asked me how much rent I paid, I told him, even though that question is one of the first they ask you when you fill out your application. He thanked me and wished me a good day. When I told my friend Alissa of this encounter her reply was OMG! CAF actually exists?" Not only does CAF exist, they acknowledged my presence! Now here's hoping that the money eventually comes through!

Cheers Mates!

More Updates to come soon!

Things are a little hectic with the return to work, etc. I am working on getting up new posts about the holidays as soon as possible! Sorry for the delay!

Bonnes Fetes a Tous!

Train leaving for Barcelona tomorrow, early morning, and family will be waiting.
Sixty degree weather, light jackets, Paella, Sangria, and Tapas...Christmas time in Barcelona.
No Chinese food and a movie this year!
Baby, It won't be cold outside. Not this year.

I want to be a Butcher when I grow up

No, but seriously.

Today I went to the marche at Les Halles Castelane in the center of Montpellier. After buying some vegetables for tonights dinner I decided to check out the butcher counter. I think it is so cool how in Europe, when you buy food, you can really see what you are going to be eating. For example, The chickens are fully intact, head, feet, and all. You have the option, of course, to ask to butcher to cut them off for you, or you can simply take it home and do it yourself.

I had my first of such experiences a few weeks ago when my cousin Jesse was here visiting with his friend Ben. Jesse went to culinary school and we decided, one night, to make a home cooked French dinner. We made Rabbit which we pan seared, covered in tarragon and chive and then baked in the oven. We served it with a red wine pineapple sauce with shallots and garlic. We also roasted two small quails which we covered in pancetta. The quails, as we realized once we brought them home, still had their heads. "I want to do it!" I yelled out. There was no opposition. And thus, I sucessfully, and beautifully, de-headed two quails.

But I digress, back to the butcher. Today, for the first time, I witnessed the butcher and his rooster. The rooster was gorgeous, all skinned and perfect with the head and feet and innards still intact. Along the head there was a gorgeous white plume. The butcher layed the bird on the cutting board and picked up what can only be referred to as a small hatchet. He saw me watching him, and began his show. A couple of eyebrow raising wacks later, the bird was headless, feetless, and ready for gutting.

I stood there watching the butcher, in complete awe for about ten minutes until my slightly grossed out friends dragged me away. It may not be for everyone, but man...so cool!

Brief Recap Continued

Gabby and I arrived in Montpellier on a Wednesday. We took the train down from Paris where it had been not exactly warm and slightly rainy. We arrived into a sunny 70 degree Montpellier afternoon. We were greeted on the platform by my parents friends' friends who had nicely agreed to host us for our first week in the city. The train stopped, and Gabby, myself, and 8000 pieces of broken luggage exploded onto the platform where we find an Albert Einstein look-alike staring at us clearly thinking, "they must be the Americans" as two seconds later he says "Are you Lisa Shames?" Luggage. Dead give away. Dad, please don't say I told you so.
Jean-Marie (Einstein) and Claire (his wife) were the coolest hosts ever! Gabby and I had our own separate little apartment. At dinner time, they invited us down, poured us delicious wine to welcome us to the city and immediately put on a Best of Woodstock vinyl. The next day Jean-Marie took us all over the city on a walking tour of all the best shops and cool things to see.
During our first week in Montpellier we explored the city. There was a honey festival with tons of tents sent up on the esplanade and you could buy and sample honey and honey products from all over the world. I, of course, fell in love with this hazelnut honey cream from Tuscany and went back to the stand twice before I decided to finally buy a jar. We went to the beach one day, wandered through the center place de la comedie, ate crepes and doner kebabs, and went to the cinema.

After a week Gabby left to go to her first farm. Jean-Marie and I took her to the train station and I hugged her goodbye for the first of many times in this city. And then I went on to set up my life here. Jean-Marie and Claire left for Egypt and I went and stayed with Erbin, a wonderful and generous guy I found on couchsurfing who agreed to host me at the last minute until I found an apartment. It was around this time that some of the other assistants started arriving. Darcy was first and we discovered this adorable little juice bar where the two young guys behind the counter peeled and squeezed the fruit right before your eyes. We proceeded to return there everyday, each day bringing whatever new friends we had made the night before.

One memorable night was when I went out with a few assistants and erasmus students to this australian bar. The bar itself was like a loud disco stuck in the early ninties but on the way I met this wonderful girl from Madrid named Nezha who happened to be leaving her apartment at the end of that week and she offered me her place. I moved in the following weekend. My room is long and narrow with a gorgeous, chocolate colored chest of drawers and matching armoire. There is a door that opens onto a small balcony that is just big enough for three or four chairs to sit outside in the sunshine. There is a view of the ancient Roman aquaduct and stone houses. To the left a giant tree rises from the garden below. The sun pours in around noon and fills the room with its warm yellow light. I decorated the walls with photos from home and the signs from my first ever hitchhiking experience.

The beginning of Montpellier was one giant fete, lazy end of summer days followed by endless summer nights that lasted till dawn. It was an infinity of new friends, foods, cultures, parties, pubs, days at the beach, sunsets, and walks through twisted, medieval streets.
Soon October drew near and the beginning of my new job as an assistante de langue.