How we spent Christmas & Boxing Day

-in our pyjamas almost all day

-breakfast: homemade muffins and scrambled eggs with cheese.

-me: in bed all day reading my new novels (Christmas presents from home).

-Aston: playing on the computer and reorganizing all my music so I'll never have to use 'evil' Real Player again.

-Being so lazy and having such a good time.

-Otalia surprisingly stopped in between train transfers to Strasbourg and shared Christmas dinner with us: turkey breast (not for me obviously), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce (miracle find at Carrefour), carrots and brussel sprouts (Aston actually likes brussel sprouts!), salad, and rice stuffing. For dessert there was chocolate mousse but we were too full already. And wine, bien sur, which with our new wine knowledge, we decided was crap.

Today is the 28th and we ventured out into the sun and freezing cold wind and visited some ancient Roman sites in Narbonne which was v. cool and I also shared with Aston my favorite tea room and little veggie cafe.

Aston and I in a Bordeaux cafe:

Aston's guest spot

Jessica didn't mention how our little wine tasting lesson (what they called an "initiation") went. Well, as it turns out, the wine and cheese and choucrute (i.e. ham slices, or dead pig as I like to remind our vegetarian blogmistress) portion of the lesson was at none other than Baud & Millet, the restaurant at which we ate the night before. We had such a good experience there, though, that we didn't mind going back at all. This time around, we got to visit their underground lair where their lovely cheese buffet was kept. It was housed in a cold room, about 100 square feet, filled with 150 different types of cheeses... the smell is akin to feet, or, if you're Canadian, a hockey locker room.


=

Considering that they had 150 different types of cheese, you'd think they'd have an equally impressive selection of wine... alas, that was not the case. We were only offered a total of 3 different types of wine and were only offered one glass of each type, dashing my hopes of getting plastered that night. Still, I suppose the point of the initiation was to get a better understanding of wine, which we did... it was nice to be able to compare three distinctly unique types of wine to get a good feel for concepts such as cherry, blackcurrant, oak, tannins, and all that good pretentious stuff.

Here's a picture of me and Jess in the underground lair of Baud & Millet.

shhh...! It's still early

Merry Christmas!!! It's Christmas morning and here I am, far away from my family in Narbonne, France. It's their Christmas Eve party right now back in Victoria, BC, and I can just imagine the fun. In our family, the main Christmas dinner happens on the evening on the 25th. In the morning, brunch is eaten and presents opened, then people hang out and do various activities (go for a run for a few hours- my dad;) til dinner. But the big party...that happens on the 24th. My mom invites lots of people over; she plays the piano, and everyone sings Christmas carols and drinks whatever holiday punch or beer or eggnog is going. This year, my sister-in-law's whole family came up to Canada to celebrate with us. There are even 2 little (well not so little anymore) babies there too.
To Lucas and Savannah and everyone else: I miss you, I love you, have fun, Merry Christmas!!!

Do you love cheese?

If you do, you have to eat at Baud et Millet (website in french) in Bordeaux. Aston and I went there last night and it was amazing. The best meal we've eaten so far. It's a cheese and wine restaurant. Every dish on the menu features cheese, and for wine, you choose a bottle from the wall, where there's maybe a hundred on display. It was delicious although intensely cheesy and the service was really great, for a change. Paris certainly lives up to its rep for rudeness, and I speak French! We had a great last day in Paris. We went to Montmartre, and walked around, watching the artists work. Aston made a French friend on his plane over so we all met up and she drove us around Paris which was a great way to see some of the city. We went through a fancy part of town and saw the Ritz where Diana stayed and all the fancy stores, like Cartier, with a valet waiting to park your car. I really wanted to return to the Musée de l'Orangerie but it was closed for renovation. :(
In an hour, we are going for a 2 hour wine tasting lesson; they'll teach us how to properly taste wine and the lesson also includes cheese and choucroute (like ham slices- not for me of course). This morning we had breakfast in bed, so luxurious! This hotel is an older 3 star one, can't really recommend it as the bed is not very comfortable but lots of little extras make it nice. Tomorrow night is home to Narbonne....

Never enough time in Paris

Just checking in to say I'm in Paris; I got here ok, and Aston too, no problem. Our hotel is very nice and clean although not too fancy. Yesterday we went to the Louvre, the Champs Elysées, Notre Dame and walked and ate in the Latin Quartier. It's so wonderful to be together. One more day in Paris then we're off to Bordeaux.

The highs and lows of teaching

I know I don't have a lot of experience as a teacher. I'm the first to say it! Certainly no teaching diploma, just my degree and trial-by-fire training, in South Korea and little jobs in Canada. However, I've come to realize you can never go on cruise control as a teacher. Just when you think everything's pulled together, you have a really bad lesson. The discipline never stops....you're not their friend...you have to be in charge. On Thursday night, I was at one of my schools dropping off some grades for the teacher to put on their report cards, and I ran into two girls I teach and their mom. The mom stopped me and said, "You must be the English teacher, I've heard so much about you! We studied really hard on Jingle Bells. It was tricky but we had fun. The girls just love their English lessons!" It was so reassuring and nice to hear. Then, today, my last class before the holidays, a class that's usually very sweet was totally out of control. I had to give the whole class a punishment. A lame way to start off the holidays, but I don't read too much into it. They were overexcited from going ice skating in the morning. That's teaching...never a dull moment.

So, so windy

We just don't get wind like this in Victoria. It was so windy today and I can still hear the wind howling around the house. I felt like I was riding a motorcycle but without the motorcycle to keep me moving forward. The up side is it was beautifully sunny. Tonight I had my last adult beginners' class until after the holidays. We had a party and everyone brought cake or crepes or champagne. It was so nice; what a great group. Lovely chat w/ Aston. 4 more sleeps til we'll be together in Paris.

Christmas in Narbonne Part 2

Blogger didn't like to post all the pictures together so here is the second batch.

I believe that thing is for Santa to arrive in Narbonne, but really, I have no idea...




The big Christmas tree

I'm cold!
In the middle of the square, they set up a kid's train ride..v. cute.



The town hall, La maire.

It's me again. Otalia and I were having a tough time not taking blurry pictures. It was really windy, and I think all the flashing lights didn't help matters.

Boo! I have more but blogger says no more. Well, you get the idea in any case. Vacation starts in 4 days! yay!

Christmas in Narbonne!

Remember how it's a Canadian Christmas festival?? Well, that pretty much just translated to Canadian flags...no maple syrup or...er..caribou to be seen anywhere.



Look, it's Santa and his reindeer!

Little booths where you can buy the same touristy stuff anywhere in the world.

Look at our beautiful Christmas tree! It's tough for decorating since I won't be staying, so I can't keep the decorations....I solved the problem by buying chocolate decorations! They're cheaper; they're pretty; they're edible!!! ;)




How could I not post this picture?? It's too good....

Just to show her usual prettiness...Otalia

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

why?

1. Great classes today, singing Jingle Bells all day. The kids had so much fun and me too.

2. I actually got my work permit today. What a miracle! That only took 3 months.

3. I've finished my translation project and am turning it in tomorrow.

4. One more week til vacation.

5. I got highlights at the salon yesterday and I'm very happy with the result.

6. My toe is finally feeling well enough that I took my stretching class tonight.

7. I just feel good.

8. Otalia's friends are coming over tonight and we're eating cous cous.

9. Next Wednesday, in my adults beginners class we're having a Christmas party after the class.

10. The town is absolutely covered in Christmas decorations including Christmas trees everywhere and there is a Christmas in Canada festival starting on Saturday! (promise to post pictures soon)

yay! :)

So much fun in Montpellier

This weekend I had tons of marking to do, as well as my ongoing translation project. It was easily enough work to last the whole weekend. So, what did I do? Said screw it and went to Montpellier. I went with Rahel and Wilson and some other Spanish assistant friends of his. Saturday Rahel and I shopped like demons. Narbonne is a very cute little town but not much in the way of shopping. I finally found some lovely boots, and a couple skirts, a sweater and some lingerie. French lingerie really is way better than Canadian, there's just no getting around it. We all went to a great restaurant called La Tomate; I attempted to eat the largest salad I've ever seen (not much success although it was really good) and then Rahel and I went to Mitzi's, a friend who let us stay the night. I'm afraid I coped out at that point and went to bed since I'm still quite sick and was also really tired but the others went out to the bar.
Sunday there was only one thing on our minds: go see Harry Potter, v.o. That means, version originale, in English with French subtitles. I liked it....it was funny and scary and sad too but I wished I had watched or read the preceding films/novels beforehand. Of course I have read all the books and seen the films but it's been a while. I felt like it would have been more engaging that way. Also, I think it must have been the theatre but the picture seemed too dark the whole time and the sound quality was pretty low. So in other words, I want to see it again, when I'm more prepared, with better quality... Probably won't get the chance in the theatre.
I'm happy because in less than 2 weeks now Aston will be here for Christmas. yay!

Ok, I must leave the computer for a while. I decided (as much as I do love pink) I needed a change. Thus the new look..... I think it's better, no?
Meeting Stephanie and friends for a coffee at the Petit Moka, in the centre of downtown Narbonne, very small town chic.