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

Drunk Pasta

A few months ago, I read a small reference to pasta risotto. The person linked to an article and video by Mark Bittman on how to prepare pasta like risotto. I had never heard of pasta risotto, but it intrigued me so I bookmarked it. Though it intrigued me, it was apparently not enough to ever get me watch the video. Yesterday, in trying to think of stovetop-only recipes, I recalled the article. I pulled it up and watched the video.

Let me tell you, this was the best idea I've had since deciding to apply for TAPIF. Everything about it made me feel wonderful. The scents recall long ago soups and Thanksgivings (granted, this greatly depends on what you put in the pasta risotto). I was so pleased with the result. From the first ingredients going into the pot, I could smell the deliciousness soaking in. Without further ado, here is the (very, very loose) recipe of my Drunk Pasta:

Loosely dice/chop:

• 2 white onions
• 4 stalks of celery (~1 cup, I would guess)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 tomato
• a few cloves of garlic

Heat a couple tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a wide, deep pot.

Add in the onions, celery and garlic.

Enjoy the aromas for three minutes.

Add a generous amount of white wine (hence, the drunk bit... I honestly can't say how much I put in, but at least a cup. This can be substituted with water.).

I will admit I used more wine than I might have in trying to take a picture of it. No regrets.

Add in your pasta (I used linguini, broken into short pieces).

Once the pasta is "glossy," add in the bell pepper and a half cup of chicken stock.

Continue to add in chicken stock little by little bit (allowing the pasta to soak in the liquids. I used 10 oz of chicken stock and could have used more or less).

Stir in spinach and chopped tomatoes.

Chop up chicken breasts (I used three).

Once the pasta is mostly soaked in, stir in the chopped chicken.

Cook (and stir) until no pink remains on the chicken.

Serve and enjoy.

Yum.

All gone.

Serves four generously. Leaves your home smelling like, well, home.

HON HON HON: or how I came to love French

Since my wee childom, I have loved languages. I will credit this with learning that my Great-Grandmother had been of Welch ancestry, but I suspect it began much earlier. I oft wished growing up that we went to the Greek Orthodox church across the street so I could learn Greek (what a great use of church! learning another language!). I had two Usborne First Thousand Words in [Language] books and I thought they were the best things ever. I had the German and the Spanish and loved looking through them for the little duck while "learning" German and Spanish. My mom quickly caught on that I was interested in languages and gave me possibly the best gift for a 90s child with a passion for languages: Rock 'n Learn French volume 1 (with cassette!). I tore through that shit and had the whole cassette memorized. "Hello. Bonjour! Hello Bonjour! How are you? Ça va?Fine, thank you. Bien, merci. What is your name? Comment t-appelles-tu? My name is Jean. Je m'appelle Jean." This tiny book ignited a love of the French language. Though the other books had helped me in my love of languages, it was probably hearing the French language (and on-command... all the time) that led to my particular admiration for French. (As a side note, I would make my mom read me Rottkäppchen in German a lot when I was a kid, but there's only so many times you can ask that of your mom. :) )

Ignoring an extended foray into Welsh (which included the creation of a website dedicated to learning Welsh which I can't link due to it having been on the now defunct geocities), I focused on French. Then, one day, fifth-grade-me got extraordinarily lucky. A new neighbor moved in... and she was French! and she taught French! So my mom's friend, my mom and I began to take group lessons in French from our neighbor (heretofore to be referred to as Madame. While there are sure to be many more Madames in this blog, she is and will always be my first Madame). I cannot express how lucky I was to learn from Madame at such an early age. Using le nouveau sans frontières series, we learned in a very oral-focused fashion. Writing and reading can be learned later with practice (and, trust me, I got my comeuppance later when I took my first French class in college and realized in Pre-Revolutionary French that I had never written an essay in French. Oy. I learned quickly), but learning early on that it is possible for you to communicate with a native speaker of your target language is incredibly empowering. I'm not going to pretend like I don't get really shy about speaking to French people (scratch that, new people), but my French beginnings definitely have kept me going where I might otherwise have stopped.

This is not to say French was never uncontested for my admirations. Junior year, my high school offered the opportunity to take Chinese after school for college credit. Hello I was all over that, but my parents insisted I had to drop something from my schedule. The only thing that they would agree to was French. So for a year, I did not take French. BUT I wanted to go to Paris through a program that summer, so I studied on my own. That year, yeah, I learned some Chinese, but my French grew leaps and bounds. I bought a giant French workbook (that came with cassettes! Yeah!... in a weird way I think they make me more committed than CDs or mp3s). That year, I worked my way through the entire workbook, learning, finally, how to spell and write all the grammar I'd been hearing the past six years. For the first time ever, I began to really read in French. There were two books that were "breakthroughs" for me: Le petit Nicolas and La cantatrice chauve (suivi de La leçon). The first was my first "chapter book" I ever read the whole way through in French, the second (two plays by Ionesco) was the first real "adult" book I read the whole way through in French. That summer, I went to Paris for a month to study French and learned all my studying that year had payed off. It was an amazing experience. I still can't describe what it was to walk along the Seine and just be in France. I even got to see both La cantatrice chauve and La leçon at the famous Théatre de la Huchette (and then again two summers later). It was a summer I'll never forget. Now, though, it's time for me to get to know France beyond the Seine.

Yayyyyyy Me (left) and Ionesco (smiling, right), 2006.

Also, today I got a haircut so I'll look more professional (hah). Here are a couple pictures of me practicing teacher looks, too bad the glasses aren't real.

Nice teacher.

Not-as-nice teacher.

Please note the scary mound of packing behind my left shoulder. Aiyo. Gotta get to work.

And apparently I've reverted to 2006 me. I got the same haircut. Huh.

La Mer

Mary: star of the sea, dew of the sea, bitterness of the sea (depending on who you ask)

A painting of me playing in the Maine coast by my mother

Despite (or perhaps because of) growing up in a land-locked state, I have always loved the sea. During my childhood, my family visited the Maine coast every summer. We stayed in my grandmother's cottage by the sea and I would fall asleep to the sound of the waves breaking on the rocky shore. Through these summers, I learned to love the smell of salt water. This love and fascination was strong enough that I adored even the beaches of Galveston (a mere hour from my university). While a lot of my classmates had had great experience with California or nicer Gulf beaches and dismissed Galveston as dirty -- they're not wrong, it is dirty -- I still loved the feel of the sand and the taste of salt in the air.

Galveston does have its moments

While watching TF1 the other day, they started a report on les phares (the lighthouses) of Brittany. They now have automated lighthouses that don't require people to live in relative isolation. Unfortunately, these lighthouses are falling into disrepair. I've never been to Brittany, but the images I've seen of its coast line (particularly the Côtes d'Armor -- armor means coast in Breton and côte means coast in French) recall my wonderful summers in Maine. I can't wait to get there. Though I won't be living on the coast, I'll be less than an hour away and that's close enough for me.

Lighthouses in Cannes (2010), Marseille and the Chateau d'If (2008)

Nice at Night (2010)

By the way, my current background is a painting by Berthe Morisot of the Lorient harbor (Image source: wikipedia) in 1869.

My Future Students

Flash mob Collège Kerbellec 2011

I think my first lesson might be, "What is a flash mob?" Nevertheless, it's cute. I suspect it was their last day of class.

On a related note, if you can think of conversation topics for 11 to 14 year olds that speak only basic English (numbers, colors and shapes...), I am very open to suggestions! I will be working with the Collège students in groups of twelve to fourteen with conversation. I hope they like the Biebz.

For future assistants/people looking for French resources:

A live stream of the TF1 channel that works outside of France. (The same website has a lot of streaming content of French videos, they other night I found them streaming all of Kaamelott and Les Inconnus) I do not vouch for its legality, etc. etc. and from the TF1 website, the program schedule.

Project Cooking with only Hotplates

One of the many mini-challenges I will face this year is cooking with only hotplates. I consider myself an excellent baker and have a few entrée dishes in my repertoire. Unfortunately, they all involve some component of baking (ignoring, you know, basics like pasta). So in my last few weeks stateside, I'm trying out different recipes that only require a stovetop (or, as will be the case in France, hotplates). Tonight, I tried out my favorite cajun dish, chicken sauce piquant.

I adapted this recipe from Chef John Folse & Company.

Chicken Sauce Piquant (serves 4 with leftovers)

- 2/3 chicken breasts

- 1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil... if you're a newb cooker, remember that you have to be very careful heating olive oil. If you feel you must use olive oil, try using a mixture of half olive half canola oil)

- 1/2 cup flour

- 3 oz tomato paste

- 5 oz Rotel tomatoes

- 8 oz whole tomatoes (if you don't have access to tomato paste/Rotel tomatoes/etc, you could probably use a combination of marinara sauce and some whole tomatoes. If you don't have Rotel tomatoes, add extra spices and finely diced chili peppers)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped celery

- 1/2 cup chopped onions (I used a yellow onion)

- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a green bell pepper)

- 1 to 2 tbsps diced garlic

- 15 oz chicken stock

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- black and cayenne pepper to taste

- cajun spice (if you have it)

- 1/4 tsp oregano

- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

- 1/4 sliced green onions (about 4 green onions)

- bay leaves (I used fresh, but dry would probably work as well)

Season the chicken breast with sea salt, black pepper and cajun spices. In a dutch oven or large sauce pan, heat up the oil on medium-heat. Once the oil is warmed, place in the chicken breasts. Allowing around 10 minutes for each side of the chicken breast, sauté the chicken until it seems cooked. Then remove the chicken breasts from the oil and keep them warm. Then, place in the flour and stir with a whisk or fork until you have achieved a brown roux (this takes... a while, don't forget to scrape the bottom). Add the tomato paste to the roux and stir for ~5 minutes. Add the celery, onions (NOT the green onions), bell peppers and garlic and sauté until they're wilted (~5 minutes). Add the tomatoes and chicken stock, blend it together. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the sugar, salt, black/cayenne pepper and cajun spices and the chicken. Then add the oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Let simmer for at least 45 minutes. [Optional: I used two forks to shred the chicken. The chicken sauce piquant can be served with whole chicken breast pieces or with the shreds. As the dish of chicken sauce piquant that inspired trying this had shredded chicken, that's my preference.] Just before serving mix in the green onions and bay leaves.

Serve on top of fresh white rice. (You'll want to start the rice about 25 minutes before serving.)

Also, I went to see Elle s'appelait Sarah (Sarah's Key) tonight. It was incredibly moving and I cannot recommend it enough. The movie concerns principally the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup in Paris, a subject of which I frankly knew nothing. Currently out in some US theatres, (it's been out for two years in France) it has enough English that non-Francophone friends shouldn't be too upset about subtitles. The book off which it is based was written by Tatiana de Rosnay. (A girl in the back of the theatre was urging her friend to the read the book as the credits rolled and liked both the book and the movie adaptation, though it apparently left out a lot.)

Trois Princes à Paris

Tidjani, Yadvendra and Luc just want to find luuuurve à Paris

Il était une fois... that the French channel TF1 put on a show called "Three Princes in Paris." Unsurprisingly, it follows three princes in Paris, but here's the catch (dun dun dun!) they are each searching for their princess in the city d'amour. Throughout the intro, they showed the three princes in their traditional dress (which can be seen above). The Polynesian in particular stands out given the fact that this was filmed in the winter and Polynesia doesn't really do winter. (They also show lots of video of him climbing trees super fast and hunting pigs, but that's not important here.) The three princes (for either bureaucratic or personal reasons) must find love, presumably there will also be "tasks" to drive on the show, probably experts in the art of amour will help them too. Most important, however, is the fact that they have to do it all without revealing they they are in fact princes (so you know it will be real amour and not just because there's a camera in the girl's face... obvis).

The three princes are:

Tidjani, 28, from Benin

Yadvendra, from India and

Luc, 21 , from French Polynesia

Perhaps the most sensational part of the show so far is the Polynesian prince running around Paris in his traditional garb. I assumed that that was just for the intro, but then he got on the plane in his giant headdress and grass leg/arm things. Understandably, when he got his luggage at the airport and said "Bonjour" to everyone he saw, people stared and smiled. It's nice to see the Parisians smile. Apparently Polynesian dude has not been around technology very much as he was absolutely shocked by the limousine. I can only imagine what the plane ride was like. "J'ai toujours vécu comme un sauvage dans la brousse." (I always lived like a savage in the brush/wild.)

The three are individually taken to some fancy room after the arrive and introduced. They make awkward chitchat in their respective accents, then they are set loose on Paris. Their first task? Mastering the métro. The most interesting part of this show is hearing their reactions to Paris culture (and seeing Parisians smile... all the time. Maybe it's because of the cameras constantly filming? or more likely the absurdity of seeing three men in three different radically different types of dress). Yadvendra, the Indian prince, remarked that when he got on the métro he thought that all the Parisians must be very sad because no one talked or smiled.

Pointing at the Arc de Triomphe, Luc the Polynesian asks, "C'est quoi ce truc-là?" What's that thing? They make their way underground and over to the monument where Luc finds the tomb of the unknown soldier which has an ever-burning flame. Luc, still in his traditional clothing intended for hot Polynesia, decides to warm his hands on the flames. Of course no one in the production of this could have stopped him (due to my general distrust of reality shows, I wouldn't be surprised if they encouraged him) and the police get involved. Luckily, the event is somewhat anticlimatic despite the producers' best attempts with dramatic music.

Fortunately, this potential exploitation of traditional customs stops and the three princes are given more "French" clothing. Then they have to shop, clean and even... work! This first episode shows them on their first shopping trip for food. This is spliced with shots of Luc and his fellow villagers chasing a wild pig, catching fish and cooking over a FIRE. Then, of course, he gets a frozen pizza (du jambon, bien sûr/ham, of course). They bought their baguette at the grocery store. I was disappointed in that. For shame. Get thee to a bakery, dear princes. What would your Parisian princess say if she saw you getting your baguette from the grocery store? I did enjoy the Tidjani getting excited about the "famous" Camembert at the cheese counter. So far, Tidjani has been far and away beating the other two princes. This is probably because he actually talks to women. There's a scene in which the three are at a bar and Tidjani goes and sit with two ladies in a booth while the other two sit together, uncomfortably, at the bar.

Prochainement... The show is canceled. Sadly, we will never find out if the princes found their luuuurve. Womp womp womp. I'm sad I'll have to miss out on an episode that was apparently the awkward princes feeling awkward about Moulin Rouge and the three princes fighting about who should do the washing. Apparently they also go to someplace snowy on a mountain (i.e. not Paris. The show title lied!) I'm sure the three have found their amours now that they have been revealed for their true princely selves. They probably should have made 3 Princes in New York instead... or New Jersey. I bet America would go for that. Or just 3 Princes and a village of rejected bachelorettes... in the dark. There we go. Winner!

In case you feel like checking out the failed show:

Le site officiel de 3 princes à Paris

For streaming of 3 princes à Paris, click here.

I should say that I only started watching this because it was the first show I saw on the TF1 site and thought it'd probably be beneficial to watch a "reality" show. Didn't really think about the fact that the main people would all have accents... oops. I'm pretending like that made it harder so I can feel really good about myself for understanding everything.

Lapin lapin lapin!

This morning when I got up I hopped around my room saying "rabbit" so you know this is going to be a lucky month. How can I be so sure it's going to be lucky month?

(1) I'm leaving for France this month.

(2) I woke up to an email from my contact person at the elementary school AND an email from the person in charge of my apartment at the middle school. It looks like I will be working with some of the best responders in all of France. I have never had to wait more than a day for a response to any of my queries. From the looks of things from the facebook TAPIF group, I win.

(3) My apartment will be furnished! I'll have a fridge! And a bed! With a mattress! And a microwave (?!??? I really was not expecting that). That is all definitely a relief. While I would prefer a real oven to a microwave, I'll take what I can get. (I will have hot plates... far more important.)

(4) The colder weather clothing I ordered arrived today and all fits perfectly. I got a jacket that looks nice and polished but is made with the lovely fuzzy sweatshirt fabric so I'll feel cozy and happy even when dressed not like a slob. I also now have more than one pair of jeans (including one of them "skinny" jeans that all the young'ns have been talking about).

and (5) I got a phone call from my best friend this morning and she's doing wonderfully in her new city. :)

The teacher from the elementary school asked me if I had found accommodation yet. Even though I'm really curious if there are other (better) options, I think I'll refrain, because I was really happy with my one and only option before and don't want to confuse myself and end up dissatisfied by having even more options. On a related note, I will be working in the Collège Kerbellec, marked below by the "A" on the map. You can see how close Lorient is! It's only a few kilometers away.

Vocab lesson:

la bouilloire -- (tea) kettle

les plaques electriques -- hot plates

Fear and Loafing in Lex Vegas

I just got back from a weeklong visit to the city of my alma mater. Two friends (to now be referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Curls) were getting married and I had the honor of being a bridesmaid. It was a beautiful wedding and a great trip. It was also my chance to say goodbye to a lot of friends. Now that it's less than a month until departure, things are becoming more and more real. Prior to leaving for the wedding, I read a post by another person accepted to the TAPIF program for the Brittany area. This person left for France early on a trip with her parents. After visiting her future home, she decided to quit the program. I'm not going to lie, that was pretty unnerving to read. It was the area that led her to this decision. She had previously studied in the south of France. My hope is that she was just expecting to find the south of France in Brittany and that's what caused her discontent, not the area itself. Brittany is not and should not be the south of France. I spoke with an alum of my school who taught in the same area. He said that Lorient was a little bit ugly, courtesy of WWII bombing, but had a thriving student population, courtesy of the university. Win.

Now that I'm back at home, I don't have too much to do aside from prepare for France. This involves a lot of reading former assistant blogs (that's productive, right?) and googling different locations. Today, I found this video made by young Quévenois shot in Quéven that (1) makes me feel better about the town and (2) reminds me that people are generally not so different across the world. Young people will always try to be "cool" and fail, adorably. It also made me feel both positive and scared about my French levels. Maybe it's just that I should watch more CSI-type shows in French haha. (Les Experts = CSI in French)

Now, back to fixing up my French and emailing my future coworkers. I'm not too anxious about my French right now because I know I will learn a lot of French on my arrival, but it's still intimidating to realize how many random words I don't know.

Je vous prie d'agréer l'expression de mes salutations distinguées.

MCJ

Books about living in France

This post is mostly intended for future TAPIF-ers or people moving to la belle France.

Aside from reading through pretty much any and every blog by a former TAPIF-er I could find, I have tried to read as many books about living in France as a foreigner as I could. Here are a few:

I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do) by Mark Greenside [This was decidedly my favorite memoir on living in France as an American. It didn't hurt that the writer was writing about living in Brittany. In this book, you see the true warmth and nature of French culture. It was a decidedly comforting read and highly amusing to boot.]

French or Foe by Polly Platt [This book was recommended to me before I spent a high school summer in Paris by my French teacher as a way to understand the differences between French and American culture. It is absolutely excellent. It same me up with a very positive view about French culture and helped me to avoid the frequent pitfalls of Americans in France (always say bonjour! people don't smile, etc). Thanks to this positive view and better understanding of the culture, I had an excellent time. Whereas some of my fellow Americans came away finding the French rude. As a disclaimer, I have not reread this book since high school and did not take all of the book as The Absolute Truth. There are a lot of great basics held within, however.]

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris [The second half of this book is loosely about Sedaris' attempts to learn French while living in Paris/a small French village. It doesn't offer that much about being an American living in France, but it is hilarious.]

Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard [This memoir is a charming account of an American who falls in love and moves to Paris and her struggles and triumphs with French culture. As a bonus, it contains many delicious recipes!]

French Toast: An American in Paris by Harriet Welty Rochefort [This didn't add very much to my understanding of French culture, but it might help someone else.]

Les plus beaux voyages se font par la fenêtre!

The most beautiful trips start with the window. (Le Roi de Cœur, 1966, one of my favorite movies in any language)

I took this picture on a 2008 trip to France. I had taken a course on Paris during the spring semester and the class took a trip to Paris that summer. A friend, Curls, and I decided to add on extra travel before and after the class trip. This picture was taken on the Île d'If (where the Chateau d'If is located... which is where the Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned). This trip was an exceptional introduction to France. Though I had spent a month in Paris in high school, it was the three weeks that summer that gave me a real taste for the country. From an early age I had felt drawn to French and had the good fortune to begin lessons with a French neighbor when I was ten. It's amazing the sheer diversity of France. For a comparatively geographically small country, it packs in so much history and so much culture.

Nearly nine months ago, I was trying to choose what three Academies to list as my preferences for teaching in France through TAPIF (Teaching Assistantship Program in France). Down to the last hour before the application was due I was still beset by uncertainty. And yet, despite days and days of research and confusion I kept the same three academies as my top three: Strasbourg, Rennes and Rouen. I wanted to be placed in a region with a distinct culture separate even from the French. This thought process motivated the first two, the third choice was the hometown of the woman who taught me French. Though I actually feel very drawn to the south of France (especially after spending four years in the sun in Texas), the added bonus of being in a linguistically diverse region was too much to pass up.

In April (after months of anticipation), I was accepted to the program and was delighted to find out I had been placed in the Rennes Academy! Rennes (and its Academy) is situated in Brittany. Some time after that, I received my placement in the commune of Quéven (or in Breton, Kewenn). I will be working in elementary and middle schools there. Lorient is known for its Festival Interceltique and I hope to gain plenty of exposure to the Breton language (and possibly take classes?). The Breton language has a particular draw to me as a Celtic language. My great grandmother was Welsh and her legacy instilled in me an interest in the Welsh language. Welsh and Breton are both Brythonic Celtic languages and share many features that I, as a Linguistics major, find really fascinating.

I'm happy to be taking this window of opportunity to learn more about another culture and more about myself.

Helpful links for the Lorient region:

Local Transportation around/in Lorient

BreizhGo (in English -- an itinerary planner for the whole of Brittany)