Brittany kind of likes me

Hello everyone!

First off, I have uploaded pictures here.

Wednesday, C and I returned to the bank for my official appointment. The very sweet teller explained everything to me and I signed a lot of papers without reading them thoroughly (I went ahead and trusted the teller in what she told me they meant). I learned how to do a French deposit and about all the many coverages I get from the bank. If I lose my passport or keys (or something bank related, of course), they will cover the costs for me to get them replaced. Pretty nice, right? Sometime in the next eight days I will have to return to pick up my card and checkbook. The particular card I have (which is geared toward people my age in partnership with the television channel M6) allows me discounts at various stores (including the fast food restaurant Quick, as they were quick to point out to me.... everyone, absolutely everyone, is under the impression that I as an American adore fast food. Not so.). I actually do have to go back to the bank tomorrow (Thursday) as I was given back a paper that I was supposed to have left there. Whoops. No matter, I’ll either go on my way to the primary school or earlier in the day and pick up another baguette from across the street. The teller was incredibly helpful and stressed that if I ever had any questions I should either email her or call. Pas mal. (Even C was exclaiming over how nice she was, so she must have been particularly helpful even for typical French service.)

Then we went to the CTRL office so I could pick up a young person bus pass. CTRL is the local transport system. Once again, he took the time to explain everything. As I was getting a monthly pass, both he and C told me many times not to forget to buy a new pass at the starts of the month. I think I can handle that. He even gave me a clear little pouch to put it in. Youpi! The man even got me a giant map from the back (“to put on my wall”). It is, in fact, a very good map and tells the stops of all the different schools and pools and post offices, etc. and it marks where the Gare SNCF in Lorient is. Very useful.

As we were getting back into the car, C asked me if I’d like to see the sea. Mais bien sûr! So we drove to Guidel-plage where we stopped and walked around a bit. It is very beautiful. We stopped where a river flows out into the sea. On the other side of the river is the department Finistère (fin de terre, end of the world, we are in Morbihan which probablyyy means little sea in Breton. Bihan means little and mor I believe means sea -- armor means coast). It was very beautiful, apparently the sky is rarely this blue. “The weather must be this nice to welcome you.” So you see, even Brittany is giving me an amazing welcome. We stopped by the restaurant “Les Fauves” (the big cats -- like tigers and panthers and lions) and had ciders. Mine was apparently more sugary. Anyway, I liked it and it was very nice to look out on the sea sipping on a cider. Then we drove along the coast to the Fort Bloqué where we stopped so I could take non-blurry pictures. There were people out swimming and sunning on the beach. Like I said, the weather has been very beautiful and warm since my arrival. Pas mal for the end of September. She dropped me off around seven and I made some drunk pasta (only not so drunk as I haven’t bought any wine yet... I knowww don’t judge me). It turned out pleasingly well. Yay for bouillon cubes. The little pit of pasta I put in was practically bursting with flavor. Yumyum. It was less fun to clean out the pot this morning.

Already today, I ate lunch at the school. Let me put it this way, the French have no idea how lucky they are. For serious. Then there was a loooong series of meetings trying to figure out my schedule. It has not yet been figured. Instead I'll get a new one every week. That's okay though because it means I'll be working with more classes which hopefully means I can reuse more lessons. On va voir. In any case, I will have my Monday mornings and Friday afternoons free!

Still on the schedule for today:

- Another visit to the bank

- Meeting the elementary school people

- Sending papers to OFII by registered mail and buying stamps while I’m at it

- Going to Lorient (if there’s time) to get a 12-25 card

Also, I got up at 4am today and somehow managed to be busy the whole time until lunch. Comme c'est bizarre.

Bisous

MCJ

On dit toujours bonjour

Bonjour à tous!

My first day in France was really wonderful. Even with all the
difficulties from my bags (one
rolling suitcase, one carryon duffle and a backpack -- together they
did not appear to be
much but I apparently just have exceptionally heavy belongings), I
loved the traveling. In
the second train (from Le Mans to Lorient), there wasnʼt any space for
my luggage in my
coach and there was an older lady sitting in my seat. As the train was
about to start, I
decided to leave my bags in the entry way (outside of the path of
people) and sit in one of
the seats there (those have no reservation -- theyʼre really intended
for people who step
out to take phone calls and such). If there was a problem with this, I
knew that the
comptroller would tell me. After some time, a woman came and asked
what the number of
the coach was. I told her "20." Evidently, she had been looking for
her seat and it didnʼt
exist in that coach. So, she sat down with me and we began to talk. We
were there
together for two hours and we talked about politics (American and
French and EU),
traveling and many other things. I explained Ricky Perry to her
multiple times (we spoke a
lot about Texas, religion in the US and executions in the US, he just
naturally came up a
lot). She got off before me but perhaps I will see her again when I go
to her city.
When I got off, the other descenders began to ask me about myself and gave me a
"Breton welcome" (they carried my bags). My contact teacher, C, was
waiting on the
platform for me. Apparently I really looked beat because she suggested
we stop by a café
before heading to the collège. We both had Perriers, to my surprise I
actually enjoyed the
carbonated water. New things everyday!

At the collège, I met a lot a lot a lot of people. I donʼt remember
many of the names, but
luckily I do remember those of the principal, vice principal (he and
his wife are my
neighbors!) and gestionnaire (who is in charge of my apartment). We
collected the key
from the gestionnaire and headed over. So... my room! It is on the
small side, but not
claustrophobic. Furniture-wise, thereʼs a bed (with sheets and
pillow), giant shelves,
cushioned chair, desk and desk chair, food cabinet (with all the
utensils and fooood), dish
cabinet (complete with dishes and pots and pans), fridge, microwave
and hotplates. The
studio has its own bathroom (with a bath, not a shower) and a hot
water closet (with
cleaning products which I have actually used. yay!). It is a very
comfortable room and now
that Iʼve organized my things in it and put up pictures, Iʼm very happy with it.
So at this point I had not eaten since the plane. Whoops. Luckily the
collège had left me
with food (they are some of the greatest people). Iʼm not going to
lie, my first meal in
France was not particularly glamorous and it was suspiciously like my
last meal in the
states... a sandwich. Ah well, I was tired and hungry. Then I
apparently passed out while
writing an email.

Today (being Tuesday), C and I went to the bank to open an account. I
decided to try
Crédit Agricole first. The teller we met with was so nice and helpful
and I have my official
appointment to open an account with her on Wednesday. In an unexpected
way, I am looking forward to it. Following that, she kindly took me
shopping so I could buy heavy things. Most importantly, so I could buy
my 2 liter water bottles. It would seem in France one doesn't drink
tap water even at home. Luckily because of this six packs of 2L water
bottles are fairly cheap. Then we went to the boulangerie so I could
finally get my French baguette. I got a demi of the house speciality
(the something Gana), that is made completely by hand. It was very
good with hummus later.

Earlier that day, three workers came by to bring me a microwave, a
wash basin for the dishes and dish towels. I managed to embarass
myself by taking a few dozen tries to open the door. They didn't laugh
at me. Such nice people. They only asked if the dish towels were okay.
I really can't get over how incredibly nice and welcoming everyone has
been.

As I don't start work until Monday I am "en vacances." There was a
teacher strike yesterday (Tuesday) and some of the teachers were
amused when I came to the school when I am not even working yet; How
very French, they said, to come when not working to school during a
strike. And yes, I know you were wondering, the middle school students
do also go on strike.

I seem to be having trouble in uploading my pics so those might have
to wait until I have internet on my phone. Tant pis.

For today: setting up the bank account, buying a bus pass, figuring
out the busses to Lorient and taking pictures of Quéven. Also,
mastering the French keyboard. Tomorrow: figuring out my schedule at
the collège, finally hearing what they expect of me and meeting
someone from the elementary school.

à plus tard

MCJ

Bienvenue!

Just a quick post to say I arrived and am having an amazing time. Everyone is so nice! A nice long post has been written with photos of my room (I have failed to take any others whoops).

Things I have done:

• had a two hour long dnc style conversation covering such topics as the death penalty, Perry, the EU and even Boehner.
• bought a demi baguette at a boulangerie
• started a French bank account
• met lots and lots of teachers
• passed out a couple times
• faire d la bise
• drank Perrier and liked it

General takeaways

• everyone is insanely nice
• QUEVEN is very charming. :)

Bisous

MCJ

Bon voyage!

Boarding is imminent. :) Gumby and his arch nemesis are ready to goooo!

Out the door and on my way

In classic MCJ style I was packing until the last. Also am desperately hoping that no one weighs my carry on and "personal item."

Later, USA!

MCJ

faire ses choux gras

faire ses choux gras is a French idiom meaning to profit or take advantage (of a situation). According to my handy book La puce à l'oreille which is full of the histories and meanings of French idioms, this originated in the middle ages when the poor only had vegetables -- more or less -- to eat. The idiom literally means make one's cabbages fatty. The cabbages (choux) were quite common in idioms originating during that time due to their prevalence in the poor's cuisine (thanks to their ability to survive all sorts of weather). When one was doing well, they were able to fatten their choux, hence faire ses choux gras meaning to do well.

I am hoping this year to faire mes choux gras. I leave on Sunday and am getting pretty nervous (still excited, of course). Even though I spent the past four years away from home, this is entirely new adventure. This is the first time I'll truly be on my own. Luckily, my contact teacher has been excessively kind and it seems like she's really preparing things for me (asking me about preferred foods, allergies, etc).  It's going to be strange to be at the mercy of other people's kindness and patience, it will be humbling, it will be a great experience. As someone that wants to work in an occupation of helping others to regain (or improve) their language abilities, it will be very good to put myself into a situation where I won't always be fully able to articulate my needs and confusions. It is good to be humbled.

Additionally, I will have limited access to the internet this coming year (don't worry! I'll have enough to update my blog regularly, it just may be that the photos come in sporadically). This will make the challenge of figuring out how to contact home/skype particularly interesting. This, too, is a good thing. I need to learn how to keep in contact with friends and family. My family can easily attest to the fact that I'm terrible about calling home or writing. This year will have to be different. Without 24 hour access to the internet, too, I won't be able to spend all day on the internet. This, too, is a very good thing. I'm not going to France to facebook, I'm going to experience France.

All the fears I have (meeting people, opening a bank account..., not committing too many social gaffes and so on) will ultimately strengthen me as a person IF I force myself to overcome them. As I see it, there is no other option than to ignore my fears and stride boldly on. In that vein, I have a few goals for myself:

1. Couchsurf at least once when traveling
2. Attend some sort of meet up with mostly French people soon after arrival
3. Strike up a DNC-style conversation on a train (my favorite French professor with whom I traveled twice to France, DNC, had an amazing knack at conversing with anyone and everyone, I hope to be fearless like her)
4. Learn how to eat seafood. Despite spending many summers in Maine, I never learned how to eat oysters or lobster or anything beyond fish, kind of. I'm sure I eat boned fish wrong. In any case, as I will be on the Breton coast this next year, I should become better acquainted with seafood. I hear it's exceptionally exquisite.

This is an incomplete list, certainly, but one to get me going so that I can faire mes choux gras. Bonne chance à moi!

Peach Chicken Tacos

I've been slowly preparing for my move to France. I've been going through my things, trying to get a few more key cold-weather pieces and staring confusedly at my suitcase. It's smaller than I remember, a lot smaller. Luckily, I enjoy the challenge of packing lightly. Two of the big things I've been thinking about is also: what to introduce my students to about my two home states of Kentucky and Texas and what to give to my contact teachers as representation of these places. With that in mind, it's quite understandable that I would be craving some Tex-Mex. It also just so happens that a lot of Tex-Mex can be made with just a stovetop... or hotplates.

So today, I attempted making tacos (including the tortillas) from scratch. Due to not wanting to buy new groceries, they were somewhat non-traditional but delicious nonetheless. Aside from skimping a bit on the flour for the tortilla dough, they were a success. They also could have used rice to cut through the sweetness of the peaches and tomatoes. Next time....

I used the following two recipes as a basis for this meal:
Flour Tortillas from the Homesick Texan (I followed this recipe exactly, aside from halving it and making smaller tortillas.)
Shredded Chicken for Tacos by Mark Bittman (He has quite a few more taco filling recipes here.)

Peach Chicken Tacos

Yields 2 smaller servings (I would recommend making rice if you're serving this to others)

(I'm not posting a recipe list as this is very open-ended to what you're craving/have on hand. For recommendations to get you started, check out the links above). [Now with suggested changes from 14 Sept.]

1. Slice up one peach. 

2. Season a chicken breast with cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper, cajun seasoning and sea salt. 

3. Place chicken breast and peaches in a plastic bag or aluminum foil, seal up and place in fridge. 

4. Prepare tortilla dough. See recipe. My only note on this is, if after kneading it seems too sticky, you need more dough. [A 2:1 ratio of white:whole wheat turns out well.]

5. Chop up yellow onion, garlic, tomato [green and red bell pepper] and chili pepper (to the amounts you desire, I used 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic and ~6 oz of canned tomato and chili pepper... didn't have enough fresh tomatoes on hand). 

6. In a medium-sized sauce pan, sautée onions and garlic in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. [Shortly after, add in bell peppers.]

7. Form tortilla dough into small balls. See recipe. 

8. Add in tomato, chili pepper, chicken breast and peaches into the sauce pan.  Add water so that the chicken is barely submerged. Top with bay leaves. 

9. Bring mixture to a boil then let simmer. 

10. Roll out tortilla dough and cook in dry skillet. See recipe. 

11. After ~30 minutes once the chicken is tender, use two forks to shred the chicken. 

12. Turn off the heat and drain out most of the liquid. 

13. Place the peach chicken filling on the tortilla and enjoy!

Also thinking of Texas as another fire has broken out, this time right outside of Houston: http://www.click2houston.com/news/29173094/detail.html