Stay Tuned!

I'm having some tecnical difficulties with my internet and haven't be able to be very prudent with updating this or my pictures. But with stolen moments online at school, at wi-fi spots, and at friends' I'll slowly but surely get y'all informed of my spring vacation adventures. I have some pictures loaded already but check back in soon for the rest of them and for my oh-so-witty captions.
I'm in the middle of my last week of teaching and things are busy, getting prepared to leave and trying to spend time with everyone before we part. CRAZY that this is almost all over...

04/28 UPDATE!!! ALL SPRING BREAK PICTURES POSTED: http://picasaweb.google.fr/connie.boudreaux

Accompanying words to come soon...

SPRING!

I’ve found that hand motions make teaching French children more effective and definitely more entertaining (for me, not necessarily the kids). Feelings, weather, animals, and with help from another assistant, I even have “gestes” for the seasons. Winter you shiver and go “brrrr,” summer I have them fan themselves, they like to pretend like they’re falling for fall, but spring definitely is the favorite. I taught them to shout “SPRING!” and kind of jump up in the air and pop out their hands (similar to the second verse of “Hey Fightin’ Tigers,” but with both hands and only once). They get excited about it, and rightly so. Living through an actual winter makes the fairer season all the more welcome. Especially when accompanied by the occasional sunshine, me being shockingly pale. At the first opportunity to bask in its radiation I happily laid out my towel in the exact same spot where we had built a snowman a week before. If interested, you can find a small collection of seasonal pictures here.

Spring brought out the forsythia that I've come to consider as Besançon’s version of Baton Rouge’s azaleas. (Confession: despite having a florist mother and horticulture professor father I only knew the plant's name after asking three different people and spending 30 minutes on Google trying to spell what I thought I heard.) Ubiquitous they are; planting the bright yellow forsythia and daffodils (jonquilles) seems to be some sort of city-wide residency requirement. Their brightness makes them stand out so much in the grayness that they look Photoshopped. The nice contrast almost makes me appreciate the monotone buildings for once. Oh, I’ve finally gotten to a cave! The Gouffre de Poudrey, known not for its formations or number of chambers but for its volume. Definitely no Carlsbad but what can you do? The National Park Service has me spoiled. A decent St. Patrick’s Day,a few cultural dinners and a carnival have also contributed to my spring as well as planning for the upcoming (and final) vacation, set to include many exciting southern cities each hosting many exciting opportunities. But for me, all that’s left to make this season complete is some boats. Because I love boats. ALL boats.

So basically, spring is off to a decent start. Too bad they were predicting snow for later this week...

Misc. #3

Nothing huge or exciting happening lately, just kind of steadily truckin’ along through what remains of my normal “French” life. I'm enjoying spending as much time as possible with the friends I've made here, they're pretty cool. (The picture is a few of us at our own little carnaval-esque costume party. It's a shame you can't see more of me as a pirate, I totally channeled Captain Jack.) But it felt time again for some bullets… which I always enjoy, almost as much as tables. Thought I’d share a few interesting things (or at least I think they might be interesting):

• Recently a staff member at my school left so I got to experience the traditional “Pot de Depart.” After he invited me I worried about not having something to contribute, naively assuming that the “pot” part might hint at “pot luck.” But no, silly American, at this French farewell party the person leaving is the one responsible for ALL of the food. And this guy definitely brought his A-game. Started with little veggies, dips, nuts, dried fruits and things, followed by those savory hors d’oeuvres where the French excel. I enjoyed those little cheesy pastries and my first taste of pâté en croûte. And THEN there was cake and desserts, so much food I didn’t need dinner that night. Surely they can’t expect that from me when I leave because I think they’ll be disappointed…
• On the way back from Beaune we got to experience what was previously thought to be oxymoronic: French work ethic and emergency response. We happened to sit in a car that had a spill of red wine (what else would it be?) that made our whole compartment smell delicious. After seeing the mess, the conductor delayed the train and after a few minutes four grown men came on with huge yellow haz-matty looking jackets, armed with spray bottles and fistfuls of bathroom paper towels they tossed on the ground in clumps. One of them took charge while all of them complained and they left the floor, though perhaps dry, still badly stained. Everything about that just seemed so… French. I wonder what the yellow haz-mat emergency men do when there aren’t puddles of wine to clean up?
• While teaching Valentine’s Day (and by “teaching” I mean making them draw valentines because I had nothing else planned) the students reminded me that the French have their own version of “He loves me/He loves me not.” Except while pulling the petals off their marguerites, they qualify it a little more, of which I approve. I also think it’s culturally telling that they switch the subject from “he” to “I.” I mean, a girl likes to have options and the French deliver: Je t’aime (I love you), un peu (a little), beaucoup (a lot), passionément (passionately), à la folie (I’m crazy about you), and pas du tout (not at all).
• I have four different currencies in my wallet right now. Kind of jet-set, right? Will have to sort them out soon, though. At first glance a British penny looks the same as five centimes and, except for being shinier, that Swiss 20 cent piece looks like kind of like a nickel. In general, I find European currency to be very heavy on the change. I miss the lightness of American bills and the near frivolity with which we can treat our little pieces of metal. You can just toss them into your pocket or purse willy-nilly because here, that little coin could be worth two Euros and not just a few cents.

• 
  It’s still snowing… in March. And apparently this is normal. I just want to wear some skirts! But on the literal and figurative brightside the sun is making more appearances and I did finally build my first honest-to-goodness snowman. Life-sized, with a face and arms and everything! However, he did unfortunately live a rather sad and short and life…

Plans are in the works for Spring Break, Wooooo! I’m having almost as much fun planning it (since I decided to use tables) as I’m hoping to actually have on it.

Adventures #14 & #15: Day Tripping Colmar & Beaune

Colmar

OK, so Colmar was forever ago (pre-winter break) and I forgot to bring my camera, so there’s basically no reason to even write about it now. But I wanted to at least mention it on here since it got a butterfly and all. It was ADORABLE, timbered houses, cobblestoned streets, town squares, fountains, basically Belle’s town from Beauty and the Beast. And that’s Colmar. “A little town, just a quiet village” with sauerkraut and a museum with a display of altarpieces and sparkly bonnets…. and one of the best pastries I’ve had. The French version of a beignet, which is more like a big filled donut, I had chocolate. Also, the restaurant where we ate our lunch of the aforementioned sauerkraut played ABBA… exclusively.

Laura Rachal (our Lyon tour guide) had been in Besançon that weekend, which also happened to be when a friend of my fellow assistant Natalie visited. Made for a fun group and a fun day! Click here for Colmar’s tourism website to check out the sites I failed to capture pictorially.

Beaune

Fast-forward four weeks to this past Saturday for the second day trip of this post: the Burgundian town of Beaune. A cute town, not quite as cute as Colmar but there was wine to make up for that! We didn’t really think about planning our day until the train there, so mark another tally in the whim book. Lucking out, we got to walk around one of the prettiest French markets I’ve seen. Plenty of flowers, cheese, sausages, even strawberries are starting to make their appearance. We stocked up on some spoils for dinner, marveling at how very French it all was.

After walking around a bit more and eating some traditional French food served with traditional French attitude, we headed to taste some wine. For only 9,50€, we tried five different wines at Bouchard Ainé et Fils. Very fun and very different from the California wine tastings I did with mom on our San Francisco trip. At Bouchard, it was an entire interactive experience in which they attempted to connect each of the five senses to wine (I found “hearing” a bit of a stretch…) and talk you through the whole process of enjoying and evaluating your wine. Super enjoyable, though next time I’d really like to get outside see vineyards, maybe during spring break? I even ended up buying a bottle of a Burgundy Chardonnay (a white I actually really like) and will attempt to bring it home for a Boudreaux Sunday dinner. However, if suitcase space becomes too valuable I’ll just have to drink it myself and call it a packing party…

We chased the wine with a trip to Beaune’s most popular non-drinkable attraction, the Hotel de Dieu, a very old hospital known for its beautiful roofs. We complained a bit about the 4,80€ just to see some colored tiles but it was worth it, as was the entire enjoyable day. De plus, I even remembered my camera this time!

Love Train.

I like trains and as far as means of transportation, they are bested only by boats and driving my Ford Escape. (I miss driving and am worried that the five month absence has deteriorated the little talent I had for it.) Traveling France and Europe by train has been relatively easy and cheap, plus you get to appreciate the countryside, which I thought I'd share with you. Since the original background noise was just train talk, I took the liberty of breaking out my iMovie skills and laying down some tunes. Trying to avoid the obvious, I was torn between Beauty and the Beast or Josh Turner... eventually decided on this one though. Enjoy!

Top Eight Reasons Why I can Never be French.

I’ve never had the goal of completely assimilating into France. Nothing against them, I happen to think they do many things right, but I’m here to learn the language and appreciate the people, culture, and cheese (and I’m here because I didn’t have anything better to do and basically a seven-month vacation sounded good). I’ve very much enjoyed my time here so far and have been pleasantly surprised about many things. However, this sojourn also reinforces my suspicion that I’d never exactly feel or consider myself to “be” French and here’s why, David Letterman style:

1. Bises. OK, so I’m dealing with the kisses. I’ve gotten used to them and think it’s kind of cute and I don’t try to intercept them with a handshake anymore (though I still have my kids shake hands at the beginning of each class). I now expect and accept them and think it might even be a little strange to go back home and NOT get bised. But could I live without them? Most definitely.
2. I can never make it home from the bakery without tearing (literally) into my baguette. This is considered a bit of a faux-pas, to eat on the street outside of the sacred French ritual of the meal. Would be even worse if I just started gnawing on it; at least I break it off first.
3. I smile.
4. American television. I miss it and most on-line TV watching sites block international viewers. The King of Queens on YouTube and the shows that people have sent to me have been lifesavers. Special shout-outs to Drone for season five of The Hills and to mom for the DVR’d Project Runway! But popping a DVD into my laptop is just not the same as serendipitously catching an episode of The Golden Girls at midnight or an entire season of America’s Next Top Model on a Saturday.
5. I don’t like tiny, yippy dogs that the French carry around in their purses. They look like rats and I want to punt them.
6. I have naturally straight teeth (zing!). Actually, I haven’t met all that many French with bad teeth. Their healthcare is decent and I assume it includes dental. (Just realized how behind I am on my own professional teeth cleanings… might as well take advantage here!)
7. The French seem to have two extremes of thinking. In most situations they either respond with “c’est normal” or “ce n’est pas possible.” I tend to think things can exist in more categories than “normal/routine” or “impossible.” Because for Americans, NOTHING is impossible, right?
8. I don’t carry around a ruler… OK, this is probably one of the most hilarious things I’ve learned about the French. I first noticed it in my classes. The kids ALWAYS have a ruler… not for measuring, but for drawing lines. Even just to underline a one-word title, out come the rulers (when they aren’t using them as weapons or percussion instruments). A friend who works in a high school said her students whip them out for WORD SEARCHES. I’ve even heard that college-aged students can’t seem to take their notes without them. And GET THIS: while writing some prescriptions for a cold, my doctor pulled out his ruler to underline each medication… I about lost it.

Adventures #12 & #13: London & Lyon

So I’m being a bit lazy by combining these while also posting them kind of late, but I figure they can go together because I visited them one after the other and also because the city names have a little alliteration…

London

Hopping on a plane and meeting up with Caroline in London just sounded too fun and jet set to pass up! So glad she had the idea and included me in it. Though two-ish days proved to definitely not be enough to see and do everything, I think we did all right… we definitely SAW all we could even if we didn’t get the chance to necessarily DO it. There was a museum workers strike (guess the French aren’t the only Europeans good at striking) just on the day we wanted to do museums, which was a bummer because they looked pretty cool (as far as museums go) and were all free! But we saw the sights, from a bus AND from a boat: Big Ben (turns out, no so big), Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Parliament, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe, plus everything that an American would expect to see in London and thus delight in seeing: the double-decker buses, red telephone booths, palace guards with funny hats, black cabs, Top Shop (I missed out on Abbey Road though, whoops). See what I did manage to see here in my pictures.

However, after spending so many months surrounded by the French, London did not meet my hopeful expectation to bask in the capital of everything Anglophone. On my first tube ride (the London Underground whose branding you’ll definitely recognize, really genius for its consistency and versatility), I heard so many languages, including French (dammit) and all kinds of others for which I have no capacity to identify. Very international. And of the ones that did speak English, their accent kind of annoyed me… maybe I’m over the whole British-accents-are-awesome thing? At least I got a good fill of English-speaking television. Gilmore Girls, Friends, The Hills, but the icing had to be Ferris Bueller. London did definitely fulfill its stereotypes as far as weather goes. We got to experience the perfectly London-y clouds and rain.

I also found myself really loving the architecture and just walking around on the pavement (NOT sidewalk) and enjoying it. It’s kind of a “duh” moment, but I could really see how American cities like Boston, New York and even D.C. were influenced by “Old” England. The buildings actually varied, not like France’s one town, one look rule, and I like how they are prim and decorated, but not overly so. Usually, I evaluate cities I visit by whether or not I could or would live in them. For example, cities like Washington D.C., San Francisco and Boston all get “yeses,” whereas New York, Paris and Atlanta are more like “nos.” Obviously, two days are not enough to completely evaluate a city or its people, but London’s leaning towards a “yes.” I at least know I’d like to go back! Hopefully with someone else whose company is as lovely and enjoyable as Miss Caroline!

Lyon

I continued the SJA Class of 2005 Reunion by seeing Laura Rachal both before and after the London trip. She was so sweet to open up her apartment to not only me to catch my flight, but also three of my fellow Besançon assistants so we could tour Lyon, her current home. Her tour guiding skills and tips were fantastic and so above and beyond, if you read this, Laura, MERCI!

Lyon is either France’s second or third biggest city; they still seem to be arguing with Marseille about who gets the silver behind Paris (extra points for the timely Olympics reference?). But who cares, really? The buildings are so colorful! I know I’ve already complained about Besançon ’s monochromatic color scheme for awhile (or at least since November), but I never notice how much a difference it makes until I’m in a city with an actual color palette not involving 15 shades of gray. A small Lyon-Besançon connection? The Lumière Brothers, the inventors of movies, were born in my town and later made their cinematic success in Lyon. Another famous son of Besançon? Victor Hugo. So basically Besançon’s significance is birthing people who promptly left to make their successes elsewhere. Didn’t make it to the Lumière Brothers museum (not really my week for museums) but it worked out great that everything we did was free (except for eating and buying aviators at H&M). Mostly walking and sightseeing and searching for ice cream, all for which Lyon is a pretty good town. Including a National Tresure-esque walk through the traboules, passageways leftover from Lyon’s silk trading past. Pictures? Of course.

Other than the company, the food, and the colorful buildings, the best thing about Lyon was definitely the weather. I know the city and Laura Rachal didn’t actually bring the temperature up to a wonderful 15°C (about 60°F… basically perfect) or coax the sky into a gorgeously clear and perfect blue for most of the day, but I’ll always be very appreciative to them for it.