Free, Fun, and Fabulous

So I battled the artichoke and the artichoke won. I made a chicken, roasted red pepper, and eggplant white pizza. It was pretty tasty (minus the crust that France still has NO clue how to make; another goal in the making...homemade pizza dough). Anyways, back to my ultimate consensus on artichokes: They take forever to boil, even longer to peel, and then the fuzzy things you have to take off before you get to the heart... forgetaboutit! Too much hassle for an even more mediocre taste. I'm assuming it's just one of those vegetables you have to be forced to eat as a child to even mildly enjoy as an adult. Despite this kitchen flop, my carrot crumble turned out to be delicious. Easy and tasty= Success!

Looks like pita bread, I know. Thanks France!

YUM

Moving onto last weekend's activities. Despite the chilly rain, I decided to venture out into Lyon. It was the annual weekend of journées européenes du patrimoine (aka free open houses for everything in the city). Saturday I decided to check out areas I haven't really explored yet. So I headed up to the funiculaire St. Just. I wandered up the hill, checked out the decrepit St. Just Church, and then randomly came upon my first free exhibit on the way down. They were displaying the old and new buses of Lyon. When I took the funiculaire, they also had a small exhibit on the train that used to connect from St. Just out into the countryside. I just love looking at old pictures of random people and things; my imagination takes over and questions what a regular day in the life (of those people smiling up at you) was like in comparison to my own. I then went down to Vieux Lyon and stumbled upon my second yard sale of the day. I am proud to say I didn't let my inner materialistic animal come out and clean up the random trinkets I was eying. I also headed into St. Jean to check out the clergy wardrobe exhibit.

I had such perfect timing that day! The bus pulled up just as I walked up the hill!

 I want this house.

Classic

Those priests were BALLIN in those robes!

Sunday I headed out pretty early to Hôtel de Ville. We were able to enter the building fairly quickly, no lines or security. (That's one thing I will never get used to in France; they don't have scanners and bag checks whenever you go into government buildings as we do in the USA. I'm becoming more and more convinced that we are the most paranoid country in the world.) The building was constructed in 1646, but with fires, bombings, and other minor disasters, the building has transformed a bit since its original walls were put up.  We entered the monstrous building and immediately headed up the Grand Staircase; its wall murals are based on the famous Lyon fire of 64 AD). We then moved through the Red Rooms, the Louis XIII Room (which is designated for honorary consulates and decorated with "L" wallpaper -> for Lyon, not Louis), the Justin Godart Room (which has been the main ballroom since the 17th century), the Henry IV Room, the Arms Room, the Consulate Room, and the Ancient Archives Room. I was so excited to be able to walk through the place; my appetite for gaudy things has been fulfilled for a bit (or at least until I go the Loire Valley).

One of the meeting rooms

Opera in the background

Red Room

Justin Godart Room

I wouldn't mind this being my office, would you?

Unfortunately the line to get into the Opera House was out the door and snaked around the metro stop, so we moved onto the Musée Lumière to learn about the famous brothers. I've always been a fan of French cinematography after a wonderful course at JMU, but I just simply never wandered out to this villa turned museum. I also never realized how long it takes for people to create a successful invention. There were dozens of various film and photography tools every where you turned. I also wasn't aware of how scientific it all was. Most of the men involved in the Lumière Brothers group had studied Physics or Mathematics. The annual Lumière Festival is coming up next month, so a large portion of the museum was closed for set-up. I can't wait to go back and learn more in October!

We trudged onto one more event before heading home. My new roommate, Anna, suggested taking a tour of Croix-Rousse. I don't get to head up there too often since it's the opposite end of town for me so it sounded like a perfect idea. We had a graduate student as our guide who was just flowing with information. I'm pretty sure there were at least 60 people walking around with us, so props to him! First of all, the people of Croix-Rousse and the Lyonnais were not fond of one another. Lyon was a taxed city, whereas Croix-Rousse was not. The Lyonnais would come up to Croix-Rousse to take advantage of the more steady flow of beer, which caused a lot of brawls. (Fun fact: An average French citizen back then downed 2 L of alcohol a day!)  The saying in Lyon goes something like this: "Croix-Rousse: La colline qui travaille; Fourvière: La colline qui prie." What I discovered was that it was quite the opposite when the city started to develop. Croix-Rousse is actually named after a red cross Christians put in the ground in the 16th century. There were more priests than workers. At the end of the 18th century, the silk workers (canuts in Lyonnais lingo) moved up the hill to expand. Our guide pointed out that the 16th & 17th century buildings are typically one or two stories tall, whereas the Canut buildings are much taller with large windows (to let in as much sunlight as possible) and high ceilings (for the looms). Furthermore, back in the golden days, doctors would prescribe walks up to Croix-Rousse to the Lyonnais who were feeling sick (it is quite a climb; a quick and free way to define those buns and thighs!) I also discovered a Trompe l'oeil (optical illusion) that I never saw/noticed; unfortunately because of the increase in exhaust from all of the cars and buses, the paint has really started to crack and they are unsure whether or not to update the painting next year like the typically do.

Fourvière from Croix-Rousse

It was a wonderful, long Sunday full of free lessons and free fun! I'm so glad I took advantage of it all since last year I was still in the USA. Plus, it really shows that you never really know everything about anything!

School is still slowly starting to become normal. I've gotten quite used to the snotty noses already and am starting to realize that a three year old will eat ANYTHING. I'm off, but before I go here's my favorite quotation for this week (*name changed):
"What'd you do yesterday, Danny*? Did you have a fun day at home?"
"I took a poo."
"That's really uh good Danny. Good job buddy."

I've Got A Rumblin' In My Belly

Kids songs have gotten the best of me. I was about to write "Hello, Hellooooo" and then the Dragon Tales song I've been using in class for the past week popped into my head. I guess I'll just have to omit any sort of English greeting for a while.

Life is starting to get a bit organized here ( although I'm not sure if making habits is a good or bad thing still). I rejoined my gym from last year, met up with a bunch of my coworkers from last year, and walked around town all weekend. I discovered my second favorite ice cream spot in the world (Sundaes Best still remains #1) with my new roommate, Anna. I also stumbled upon a paddle-board ("stand up surf" in French) competition on the Rhône Saturday afternoon (which I ended up watching for three hours. This may or may not have been because there were so many good-looking, half-naked French men in one spot. Where did they hide all of last year?!)


Moving on, I headed to the local market on Monday and spent more than I ever have in the past year. You would have thought I never ate all weekend. I decided to try to make my own pesto last night. A huge success although I had to peel a cup of almonds since I didn't have pine nuts at hand. It took longer to do that than make the actual pesto, my dinner, and today's lunch. The next goal? Artichokes! I'll let you know how my battle goes next week!

YUM!

My spinach, Portobello mushroom, and roasted red pepper panini with pesto and mozzarella cheese on fresh baguette!

Spinach Pesto

Enjoy the rest of your week! I'll leave you with my favorite conversation thus far:
"Here you go" (handing me a plate of plastic toy food)
"Thank you! Is this for me?"
"Well yeah! It's your birthday! Your Mommy is going to be so proud."

Back To Square One

I've been in some sort of denial in terms of starting a chapter two for this blog. I'm not sure if it's because I left it all off on such a low note, or if I'm not really fond of sharing everything with the world anymore, or maybe I've noticed that it takes up a ton of time since I tend to edit and re-edit before I post (and then I kick myself for wasting time being a perfectionist and getting lost in the cyberspace countryside when I could have been out exploring new places and seeing new faces).

I already have this feeling that this year will be somewhat equivalent to the second Harry Potter. It keeps the ball rolling but isn't necessarily as exciting as the first. We shall see though, it's only the first full week back after all. I'll be decisive for once and say that there goes my fear again, living in a foreign country. Even after a year of this, I'm still not as confident as I pretend to be. And no, I'm still not 100% fluent!

So what am I doing this year? Well, I'm still teaching English, but this year it's a much younger crowd (3-4 year olds) as well as a private international school. I have my own classroom, my own students, and my own supplies. In comparison to last year, it's a much teacher to student ratio (15 vs 28); however, on the other hand, they're spoiled. A direct 180 degree turn in terms of who I'm dealing with and what they're capable of doing. This was something I told myself to expect but it's just such an intense change: I went from having students tell me about how horrible their home life was to now having students throw a tantrum because they can't get their way for once. I'll hold my opinions to myself for now since it is quite early to make a final decision about whether or not teaching is really my « calling » in this thing called life. After all, last year I did often complain on here about how frustrating teaching was but then again I also cried my eyes out (along with my students) on the last day of school.

Not sure if everyone goes throw this 2 year post graduation slump or if it's just me. I thought moving to a different country would help me figure everything out so the future would seem clearer.  In a way, my idea to move here for a year made things a bit more complicated and I feel even more unsure of my future. I'm hoping this is all just a brief home/Rehoboth/JMU/sickness/self-doubt/scaredy cat phase (as it tends to be for those who really know me).

Looking back on the past year (and thanks to Facebook, my status updates of 2010), I realize that I did indeed develop a new part of my individual being. My sense of time has slowed down (and then it sped back up when I returned to the States). I now subconsciously pick neutral colors over neon green in clothing stores. I feel even more disgusting if I eat fast food or processed foods rather than raw fruits and vegetables. American coffee does absolutely nothing to my energy level anymore; I NEED espresso! Furthermore, as much as I used to love driving (especially on long road trips or through the Blue Ridge Mountains), I now get antsy if I don't walk everywhere. I went on long walks every night at home because my body just felt so out of it otherwise. But, bref (anyways), there is a lot more I want to accomplish for myself over the next year. I hope you join along for a second go at this rollercoaster of a thing called « la vie en France. »

And if I didn't grab your attention with my sappy writing, please do fall victim to my music bait!

I listened to this song over and over again while waiting in front of the prefecture to renew my visa. We arrived at 2 am....they don't open the doors until 9 am. It was the 4th and final chance/time I went to stand in line since I had a plane to catch at 8 am the following morning.

There are artists I go through like a bottle of red wine, and then there are those who come out from the iTunes filing cabinet every year during a particular season. The summer to fall shift always brings this wonderful man back into my life.

And a final push for all of us to take a minute and think about our lives, our dreams, and our futures. "All this time you were chasing dreams, without knowing what you wanted them to mean." Here's to making this year a purposeful one, for me and for all of you out there doing what you do best (and hopefully with a smile on your face).

Bisous! Hugs and kisses!