Falling in love...with Brussels

Two weeks ago I fell in love with Brussels! Katie and I went to Brussels and Lille (a city in Northern France) during our February Break. The first two nights we stayed with a fellow Luther alum, Blake, south of the city. He is living in Brussels for the year teaching at the International School. I really enjoyed spending some time with an old friend and it allowed Katie and I to get a very different view of Brussels. We went out the first night with some of his friends: American, Canadian and Flemish. Monday we went to school and watched two of his early childhood pyschomotricty classes. I was in heaven :-) I even took some notes!
Monday through Wednesday Katie and I stayed at a fabulous hostel (used to be a 3 star hotel) just a few seconds from Grand Place. The first time we stumbled into the Grand Place the look of awe on our faces must have been amusing to watch. There are huge, ornate buldings surrounding a large, open, cobblestone square.
I'm going to just give you a list of the sites we saw and the things I loved about Brussels:
1) Belgian Waffles (they just melt in your mouth and have crystals of sugar in the dough)
2) Belgian Beer (during the 5 days there I managed to sample 12 different beers)
3) Belgian Chocolate
4) Multilingualism; so impressive to watch one person go from French to Flemish to English without any hesitation
5) French is spoken more slowly and clearly than in France; I felt much more comfortable speaking here.
6) We visited the Musical Instrument Museum: AMAZING! It is housed in the Old England building (a former department store) which I thought was just the coolest looking place! They had a very comprehensive collection of instruments and provided you with headphones to hear how each sounds.
7) I wish I lived in Brussels: what a fantastic location from which to travel!
8) Brussels is culturally vibrant city. For example, there is live music everywhere you look. One night Katie and I went to a place called Music Village for dinner and drinks. That night they happened to have a Salsa band playing.
9) We also went to the Comic Book museum...unfortunately neither Katie or I could truly appreciate it. We did however get some Belgian comics (TinTin, Titeuf, and I almost got an Asterix comic).
10) We went to the Musée des Beaux-Arts as well. I was quite disappointed to find out that the Magritte exposition doesn't open until June 2009. Oh well....

Thursday we made the 40 min train ride to Lille. Wow. The architecture in this French city is breath-taking. It's almost overwhelming to have so much to look at! Lille's architecture is very much influenced by the Flemish style. There was red brick everywhere and each building had it's own unique character. Perhaps it was so impressive to us because we are used to Brest...every building looking more or less the same. Lille is home to the second largest book store in Europe. It's very very commercial and 5 stories...Katie and I didn't love it but figured we should probably go! We also went to the art museum as well as a museum focused on the local history of Lille.
We stayed with an older French couple in their home filled with antiques, paintings and local history. They were a very interesting and adorable couple. (Katie took a picture of them ...so I'll post those once she gets them off her camera.) They even invited us to dinner with them our last night. They recited poetry for us (that they've been working on together) and told us stories about their lives. For dessert we had a Merveilleux, type of cake with meringue, whip cream and chocolate mousse. Not my favorite...but I managed to eat the HUGE slice they gave me. This was served with champagne to celebrate having 2 Americans staying with them and Obama's election.
I'm really glad that we chose to go to these places for our February break. It was a great change of scenery.
After a week back in Brest and getting back into the routine of life here again I'm ready for the next little trip. This coming weekend Katie and I are going to Paris. The weekend after that I am going down to Quimper for the open house at the sister university there. Two more weeks after that and it will already be April. I can't believe how quickly time is flying by this semester...and I'm not going to complain! I'm nervous, but looking forward to applying for teaching jobs back in the states!

Snow, snow, snow!

Just a quick post with some very exciting news! It snowed in Brest this morning! I haven't seen snow in France at all this winter.
Here are some pictures for proof.


Notice the flowers in front of the house. They've been out all winter. There are hibiscus bushes in full bloom and palm trees randomly scattered about. Meanwhile the weather is gray and icky a lot of the time. I'm constantly confused by this climate.

Otherwise life is going pretty well here. This past weekend we organized a little soirée. We had a really great time. It was so nice to talk with other people...in French! I'm also in the process of planning a trip to Brussels for February break which is the week of the 16th. I'm really looking forward to a change of scenery.

Bonne Année

Once again I’ve ignored my ‘blogging duties’ for quite some time. Since Dec 8 so much has happened and most of which was fantastic, wonderful and awesome!
1) Paris for my birthday with Katie (and Kate)
2) Went to the States
a. First stop New York/Pennsylvania where I was surprised with a trip to the city. We had a delicious dinner at McCormick and Schmicks followed by a concert at Carnegie Hall!! He got us tickets for the New York Pops Orchestra with the King’s Singers and Marilyn Horne. They were incredible. It was an amazing Christmas present :-)

b. Back to Madison. Mom saved the tree decorating for me! So I listened to my favorite Christmas record and we decorated the tree. Matt, Mom, and I played/sang for both Christmas services and it turned out pretty well considering our prep time. Lots of down time and relaxing took place while at home. It was much needed…


c. Drove up to Door County to visit my Dad’s folks. Went for a hike through the knee-deep snow! Got my fill of snow while I was home.

d. Returned to PA for New Years with Derek. We went to Philly – did some sight-seeing during the day and then had dinner and played board games etc with Derek’s friends, Gordon and Jenine. We tried to play Music Catch Phrase but that didn’t last long as they quickly discovered that I know NOTHING about popular music…

3) Returned to France
a. I can’t begin to explain how difficult it was to leave the states again. I was a complete mess at the airport and throughout my long, long day back to Brest.
b. Supervised exams and am now in the process of grading them all.
c. Found a great, cute café on Rue de Siam that I plan to frequent often J Actually, graded some exams there yesterday with Katie.

I’ve made some goals (call them resolutions if you like) for the rest of my semester here. I am taking an active approach to improving my French. First I am jotting down words I see and here throughout the day that I don’t know and then looking them up and adding them to my pile of vocab notecards. Second Katie and I have made a pact to try to be more social and meet French people. Third I hope to go to more French films and do more reading of French newspapers and books.
I’m also going keep up my continuous music education. For starters I found a book that was recommended to me about music and the brain. I’m looking forward to starting that just as soon as I finish the David Sedaris book that I’m in the middle of reading!

Happy New Year!

A first time for everything...

The silly French administrative finally worked to my advantage! Against all odds I got my Carte de Sejour (residency visa). My two American Colleagues received a letter a couple weeks ago notifying them that their récépisé (temporary carte de séjour) was ready for them at the Mairie (city hall). I was rather worried that I hadn't received anything. Then last Friday I got a letter notifying me that my titre de séjour (same as carte de séjour) was ready to be picked up. Now knowing that things always take longer than expected and don't work out as usually anticipated I prepared myself for the possibility that this was a mistake. That someone had highlighted the wrong document.

NO!

I got to the Mairie this morning, showed them the paper and the lady came back with the card in hand. It doesn't make ANY sense that I've received my card before the other two girls...but I'm not going to complain :-)

The days are ticking by very quickly. Work has been busy as we prep for exams. This past weekend I had a concert in Lorient. We performed the Vivaldi Gloria and the Charpentier Te Deum. Katie and I also joined a gym right across the street from work. It's a really great way to decompress everyday and I really appreciate having something else to do. This coming weekend I'm going to Paris. Katie is coming with me and we're meeting up with Kate (I studied in Paris 2 and a half years ago with her) and a friend of mine from High school who is teaching in Paris. 11 days and I'll be back on American soil! (for two weeks anyway) It really helps having all these things to look forward to.


That's my news for today. A plus!

Thanksgiving in Brest

Well we did it! Katie, Sarah, David and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 16 people! We weren't sure if we'd pull it off but it turned out quite well and had a very enjoyable time. David made Corn Chowder and mussles for a starter and Sarah made a salad. The meal included an apple glazed chicken with apple/raisin stuffing, green bean casserole, orange glazed carrots, corn, homemade applesauce and cornbread (Katie and Idid most of that)and then for dessert I made an apple pie and a pumpkin pie (pureed the pumpkin myself); Sarah made Sweet Potato Pie (we had to search for quite some time to find Sweet Potatos) and Katie made pumpkin cookies. We also had a lemon cake and ice cream.
I had a great time with everyone. Our guests represented the following countries: Austria (1), China (2) France (2), Ireland (3), Tunisia (1), Spain (3) and the US (4). We of course had to speak French the whole evening since that was the only common language.
Our guests couldn't believe how much food there was. With every dish that was put on the table another person had a look of shock.
Although it wasn't exactly like Thanksgiving at home it was similar enough that I didn't spend too much of my day missing home. It was nice to share this meal with the closest thing to family that we can find here.

Well I'm off to clean up the mess and claim all our respective dishware from David's apartment!

Catch up

Catch up - one of the MANY phrasal verbs in the English language. This part of English grammar is so difficult. I had never realized how many and how often they are used! Sitting here making up a lesson on phrasal verbs I have thought of sooo many; put on, take off, look up, go on, come in, sit up, pay up, stress out etc...!

In any case that is just a random thought for the day. I am very much behind on my blogging. I had a wonderful visit with my Mom the second two weeks in November. I will try to get some stories and pics up of that soon. However, I am going to try to write more often and shorter posts. We'll see how I do...

This week is off to a pretty good start. We had a very successful turn out at the English Pub Trivia Night yesterday. Every few weeks the English lecteurs organize a trivia game night for the French English students. Great way for them to speak more English in an informal setting.
This afternoon Katie and I are going shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. We are going to do our best to create an authentic dinner. However...we can't get turkey so we are subsituting Chicken...and we aren't sure if we will find cranberries. We have invited Sarah's Chinese roommates, her French boyfriend, the two Irish lectures, the two Spanish Lectures and the Austrian German lectrice! I should be an interesting evening, if anything!
On Saturday and Sunday there is a Christmas "fair" at Place de la Libérté. I am looking forward to wandering around the different stalls and seeing what it is all about. Christmas decorations are slowly appearing. I am very much looking forward to spending Christmas back in the states but it will be interesting to experience the Holiday Season here in Brest.

Well hope that catch up was short enough... I'll keep 'working on' it. Ah phrasal verbs everywhere I look!

A bientot mes amis!

Good bread, good travels

So I have just discovered something wonderful: Le bon pain chaud (Good warm bread). Now of course all French bakeries are amazing things, however, I have never gotten a baguette soooo warm at 3:30 in the afternoon. It made my chilly, wet walk home so much better :-)

Bread, however, is not the subject of this blog post! I figured I'd better post a bit about my Fall break! Sorcha (co-worker), Katie (co-worker), Rob (Katie's friend from the states), and I rented a car and went on a Road Trip (in true American fashion!) around Bretagne.

At the beginning of our break we took little day trips. Friday we weren't in the best of spirits - as a result of the rain I believe - but we made the most of it anyway. Bretagne is made up of a lot of small towns. Each town, more or less, has a small parish church (Enclos).
We went to Lampaul-guimilau first and saw the church there. It was so ornate that it looked more like a Greek Orthodox church than a simple country catholic parish. There was a big pipe organ in the back. And an ornate Baptistry to the left. Stations of the cross were carved and painted into a beam across the nave of the church. At each end of the beam were dragon mouths. On top of the beam was a crucifix and two women on either side of the cross. On the underside of the beam angels were carved - catching the blood of Jesus. The front alters had very detailed carvings as well - of course more bibical stories. We took our time to look carefully at all of this.
Then we went to Guimilau to see the Parish church there. We went through this one much more quickly - even though it was the larger of the two. Although some of the decorations were different this church was almost a carbon copy of the other one. Apparently if you see one you've seen them all.
We visited an old farm where I believe they harvested apples and made Cidre (famous in Brittany) back in the day. It was a neat place but since they are only open in the summer we didn't know exactly what we were looking at.
We also went to a bare 'mountain' (about 1800 feet altitude I think...they call it a mountain but it's just a big hill...) that had a single small church at the top. You can see a bit of an old stone foundation left over from other buildings. Again I don't know what these things were...I need to look it up. From the top of the 'mountain' was great views of 'one of the wildest parts of Brittany.' The landscape here was much different from the green wooden areas that we had been to earlier. The shift in landscape was very sudden and I'm not sure what causes it.

Saturday we went to a small town the west of Brest, Le Conquet. We had a picnic on the beach and watched the surfers! La Conquet is a cute little town and if I had a car I would live there and commute to Brest. In the off-season there is a farm house that you can rent. We are thinking about celebrating Christmas together there before we all head our separate ways for the holidays.

Sunday we headed off for the rest of the week. On our way to the western most point in France (Pointe du Raz) we passed through two charming towns. Chateaulin had a river running through it lined with trees dropping their gorgeous fall leaves. It was so nice to see the effects of Fall! Living in grey, cement covered Brest I have really been missing my favorite season! We also went to Locronan where I found some great beers and cidres made in Brest as well as an amazing bookstore. There was a book filled with Breton Folksongs (unfortunately I didn't buy it...). Pointe du Van and Pointe du Raz where very impressive. It was very windy and misting which was quite only added to the strength of the waves crashing against the rocks. At Pointe du Raz it started raining and by the time we got back to the car we were drenched. The whole time out there I was thinking that this was the closest I can get to the US for a while...




The rest of our trip included a visit to Quimper, Rennes (where we had the most delicious dinner of my life), Le Mont St Michel and St. Malo.

I'm really glad that we chose to travel within Brittany for this vacation. It was very interesting to see the Breton culture and learn more about the area where I am living. In Brest I feel pretty oblivious to the Breton spirit and cultural history. However, I am hoping to explore Brest more in the coming months and hopefully learn to appreciate this city more.

I'm already working on that... The day before we left for our trip I went for a morning run and stumbled into, what I'm going to call, "my magical world." To be a little nerdy, it was like I was in the Chronicles of Narnia and walked into a whole different world. Brest is all gray buildings, few trees, a few pretty gardens in the houses fortunate enough to have gardens. Brest is more industrial, commericialized and far from being quaint. I had found a road that was a little bit quieter to run down. Lots of trees with the leaves changing etc... In any case...while I was on the return route I noticed a little stone wall with a walk way around it. I thought "good place to stop and stretch quickly." While stretching I notice that this walkway turns into a path behind some apartment buildings.
Naturally, I abandon my planned route and follow this path. Perhaps it is just a sidewalk going down to the apartments. Looks a bit like a bike or walking trail and a potentially good place to run. Then a few meters later I'm in this old park! The paths diverge and wind around and go to little hidden staircases and ramps. There are a few playgrounds and of course benches all over the place. There are old fountains that I imagine haven't had water in them for a while. There is some graffiti but it only adds a bit of character :-) It's certainly a run down place but it is exactly what I've been looking for. I wonder if more people frequent this park on Sundays or in the afternoons.
The paths were covered in leaves and it is a bit slippery but I managed to stay on my feet... There were so many different paths that I'm not sure how I found my way out. I do know that I had come out at a different street i would have been completely lost. It was a bit creepy how deserted it was. I saw one lady walking her dog and she seemed to look at me a bit suspiciously. I thought for a moment that maybe it's a private park...but there were no signs indicating Private.

Hopefully the rain will stop long enough for me to go back there soon... ;-)