Quasiment Decembre...

HELLO!

I haven't been updating as much as I would like. This isn't because life isn't interesting, it's because life is tiring. Working 12 hours last week was just about enough to put me over the edge!

I know it sounds ridiculous, but I really do mean it. Working 12 hours sounds like nothing. However, when you take into account that it takes me around an hour to and hour and a half one way to get to my school, it becomes much more. PLUS we had some major floods in the region when I was in Italy so now it seems like all I do is wait for trains. I mean, there's around one train an hour. Normally there are at least 3. This is a VERY busy line between Saint Etienne and Lyon, and people like me are NOT happy at all. Plus, to make matters worse, I saw someone puke on the train last week.

My job is treating me alright, aside from the commute that would even be ridiculous in Atlanta or Los Angeles. Most of the teachers just let me do my own thing, which is nice. This way I can to TRY to get the students to loosen up a bit. Keep in mind, these are students who have penmanship practice sheets ripped up in front of them at the age of 6. These are students I can only, in the kindest way, refer to as SERIOUS perfectionists. They are afraid to guess. They are afraid to speak. Of course, because of all I've learned about the communicative approach to teach a language, this is all I want them to do. We've had our differences, but the students are coming around. The problem is that, with a few exceptions, I see the students for 25 minutes every two weeks. This means that I'm not really their teacher as much as I am a living breathing REAL American for them to gawk at. I don't know the students, and they only know me as 'Ohhhh il y a KIM!' Strange to say the least!

Anyway, aside from that, Thanksgiving is on the way! Thanksgiving in France may not sound interesting to you, but to me, it will be one of my biggest challenges to date. Turns out, when Mathilde heard about Thanksgiving, she decided that she wanted to celebrate! A small celebration chez nous has now turned into a fullout dinner party of 15-18 people. Save me. Not to mention the fact that traditional Thanksgiving items such as cranberries, pumpkin pie, and stuffing don't exist here. AT ALL. Another major hurdle: turkey is eaten only for Christmas. ALSO, my oven is not exactly equipped for cooking a turkey (meaning, it probably heats to a total of 250 degrees and barely fits a pizza). This means that I had the pleasure of visiting around eight butchers, trying to trick them into not only selling me a turkey, but also cooking it for me on Thanksgiving Day. Each of these butchers felt it necessary to tell me first, that 'it's too early for turkey!' and then, that it is simply 'pas possible' for them to cook one for me anyway. After I had all but given up on the idea that a butcher could see past my broken French and cook me a turkey for my hypocritical American holiday, one of my colleagues suggested I try one more butcher.

It was then that I restored my faith in humanity. This butcher, who with a face like that should have no other job, saved the day. He started by giving me the same strange look as all the others and then said 'pas de probleme.' To which I responded, wide eyed, 'REALLY???? NO PROBLEM!?!' He simply shrugged and asked whether I needed it for lunch or dinner. I responded, and he wrote something down on his calendar for Tuesday. He explained that he would need to let the farmers know that day that he would need a turkey, since the turkey, of course is still alive and well as I write this. As Tuesday grows closer and closer, I am starting to get a feeling of impending doom for the poor turkey that is living his last days on earth. What an ultimate insult for a French turkey to be eaten for Thanksgiving.

I will be sure you keep you posted on further happenings involving Thanksgiving and the infamous turkey.

In other news, this weekend was spent 'en famille' in a town about 30 minutes outside of Saint Etienne in Feurs. I went, apparently, for the birthday of the son of the friend of Marie Lou (my host mom in Paris). Complicated, I know. Christiane, Marie Lou's friend, helped me open my bank account in September. And then she decided that it would be interesting for everyone if I came to their house for a weekend. Interesting it was! Everyone was very, very nice. The people in attendance included Christiane and her chatty (to put it mildly) husband Claude, their two sons, Germain (birthday boy) and Valentin, and their girlfriends, the grandmother who honestly believes that cowboys exist in America and believes EVERYTHING she hears on TV, the parents of Germain's girlfriend, a sassy aunt, the boys' old nanny and her husband, and me, the token American. I arrived to a strong apero before we were all seated 'a table' for lunch. This was the longest lunch I could have ever imagined and literally lasted until it was pitch black outside. When nobody could eat a bite more, we watched Germain open some gifts. Then it was announced that dinner would be served shortly. I waited for the others to laugh at the joke, but it turned out it wasn't a joke at all. We were then all invited to be seated 'a table' until nearly 11pm. All of this table time, inevitably, led to the French doing what they do best: discussing things. So, eat and discuss we did. A table. All day. Don't get me wrong, it was really lovely, the food was really good, and the conversation was really interesting, it was just the most entirely exhausting day I've had in a long time.

Today was no different really, although it started with me literally drinking tea out of a bowl like it's normal (here it is normal). It progressed even more strangely with a tour of the town given specially to me by no other than Claude. He whisked me around, showing me where the town was flooded, where he killed thousands of chickens throughout his life, and where the boys went to school. He ended the tour with a stop at the 'Christmas Market' at what I can only describe as the French Stein's Gardens and Gifts. And boy was he proud! And then, we were seated 'a table' until dusk once more. But really it was all very charming, and I feel really lucky that they even bothered inviting me for one meal, let alone an entire weekend and a tour of Feurs!! It felt good to spend time with a real family, especially since I'll be missing that aspect of Thanksgiving this year.

This week will be an interesting one. I work three hours tomorrow, and two hours Tuesday, and then am off until the following Tuesday for no reason other than that my schedule is amazing and I begged off work for Thanksgiving. Wednesday and Thursday will be consumed with Thanksgiving preparations. Saturday I'll spend the whole day wishing I were in Georgia, and hopefully visiting the Marche de Noel in Saint Etienne that opens that day.

And then it will be December.