The Fall

Ho ho ho! The countdown until Christmas has begun. That being said, I have to give you a quick glimpse at what we've accomplished (my 14 three year olds and I) so far this school year. Voilà!

In my classroom, the students have remarked at least 154 times over the past week that there is a stuffed Santa Claus hanging from our window (see last year's blog for France's bizarre suicide Santa decoration). They also love to remind me each and every day whether or not they stay for after care, whether or not they took a big poo earlier that morning, and that they will listen today because they want their frog moved up on the behavior chart (teacher's pets start early in private schools).

With the occasional potty accidents, pushing, and crying, I can say that my children are really growing on me. I have so much more patience now, especially when my children whine that they want their mommy/daddy ( since I feel the same way this fall. ) What amazes me the most is watching them develop their little habits. I'm often taken back to being little while watching my children try to put on their shoes , or try to re-button their pants, or wash their hands. i remember being such a nut about my socks. If the lines weren't perfectly lined up to the front of my toes, I'd flip out. Or worse yet, the tags on my shirts. I had to have my Mom cut them all off because they were so itchy that my little self couldn't handle it; it ruined my world. So while this job may not be the most stimulating for my brain, it definitely has provided me with an even further example of paying attention to the small things in life and appreciating the world day by day. For little children, time is so abstract. As soon as we clean up after free play, they think it's time to go eat at the cafeteria. Every little cut, push, painting activity, recess, toilet run, and minute of sleep during naptime makes a difference. But above all, the main question always seems to be: "Est-ce que t'es mon copain/ma copine?" (Are you my friend?)

Spider webs

Hey, I'm an apple.  

Apple tree

My classroom pre-chaos

Fingerprint trees

During the simplest paint projects, at least one child gets paint on his/her face.

Birdies!

Tweet, tweet

Making pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. I love the tongue-out, i'm so concentrated look.

So if you ever are having a bad day, just think back to being a child and SMILE.

Keep Your Head Up Girl!

Hello, hello!

Here's a quick update on my past two art-filled weeks. Last weekend, I took it pretty easy as I was still quite jet-lagged. Sunday was a fun day: I headed to the Art market ( where I found many possible Christmas presents, wink wink), stopped by Starbucks to show my English friend, Emily, what the American super café is all about, and then walked along the quai.

Marché de la Création on the Saône.

Apparently this is just a little bit of whipped cream in French.

The past two weeks have also (quite obviously how could they not be) full of cooking and baking. I decided to attack a Butternut squash for the first time. It wasn't so bad considering how I'm now a professional with pumpkins. (If you don't remember, France does not do canned pumpkin puree, or rather i've never seen it). Homemade is healthier anyways (or so I keep telling myself!)

Homemade Butternut Squash soup

Anna's amazing German biscuits

Like mother like daughter. I stole my mom's recipe for these rosemary and strawberry jam scones. Perfection in two bites!

Before

After

Friday was a national holiday here in France (Veteran's Day in America, Armistice Day in most of Europe). We all took advantage of sleeping in until noon. After baking, Anna and I decided to head over to the Sucrière to check out one of the current contemporary art exhibits. Apparently, the Biennale comes around to Lyon every two years. I've seen signs all over the place for it, but never thought to go until I was asked (since I'm not a HUGE contemporary art fan). I was quite impressed.

I finally had my camera after a year of trying to capture this sign!

I found these beautiful leaves outside the building. Oh fall foliage how you amaze me.

Contemporary Art Festival Poster

There are apparently 10 exhibits across the Lyon region. Here are my favorite findings from this visit. The first three pictures featured below are creations by the Argentinean artist, Marina de Caro. Her explication: "J'ai alors pensé qu'ils étaient des hommes graines- métaphores d'hommes nouveaux en pleine renaissance, qui réapparaîtraient avec de nouvelles façons de faire les choses. Tout commence par une naissance [...] C'est le mythe du possible: une nouvelle façon de voir les choses, qui, je le crois, permettrait de nouvelles utopies, ou au moins la création de nouveaux projets possibles."
I thought that they were "seed men"- metaphors for new men full of rebirth, who come back with a new way to do things. Everything starts by birth. [...] It's a myth full of the possible: A new way to see things, which I believe, allows utopias, or at least the creation of new, potential projects."

(It always sounds prettier in French.) Below are my interpretations of these "seed men."

"Ah, I'm squashed!!!"

"My what big hands you have!"

"I'll show you what a sucker punch is!"

The following artwork made me upset. Considering I've been literature geek since I could hold a book in my hands, the sight of destroyed documents made me livid! At the same time, the chaotic nature of it all is just beautiful. It made my ponder questions that normally come up in conversations with my little sister. What if I were a librarian or a publisher in the late 1800's and I came back to work to find this? What did someone do if there was a fire or robbery in their warehouse; did they give up their work forever or continue on? Furthermore, let's go way back...What if I were a scribe and these were all hand-written? 

I didn't understand this artist much but I do know that K is for Katie! 

French lesson #40313: Gauche= Left, Droite= Right. How to remember this amazing information? Droite and right have "r"'s in their spelling!


Life with my 14 children is going well since i came back (well besides their runny noses.)  I'll show you all of our artwork later this week! Until, enjoy this Adele song that should be overplayed rather than that sappy "Somebody Like You."

Oh and just a little shout out to my amazing cousin, Emily, and her new trophy farmer husband, Michael! Congratulations you two!

But Time Is On Your Side

That's what I have to keep repeating to myself these days. Two weeks and two days ago my life turned 180 degrees and I'm still dizzy from the effects. I still cannot grasp it. I tell people, I write about it, I think about it nonstop, but the thought of never getting a Mom-Mom hug ever again during this lifetime squeezes my heart harder than any forgotten, frayed, or undiscovered love. I'm dabbling in denial because the reality is a nightmare that won't seem to go away no matter how many times I wake up.

In reality, I started this blog for my Mom-Mom so that she would be able to follow my adventures.  The fact that I will no longer hear her ask me on the phone if I updated my blog is going to be brutal; however, as much as I want to quit and let it go unfinished, I hear her hollering at me (in that fish market tone of voice) to go wash my face, make a cup of tea, and "get going Kate!"

So as you may have assumed, rather than going to the local wine festival, working during the Toussaint Vacation, and having a Halloween party for my French friends, I headed home. During my stay I was able to witness the beautiful foliage (that just doesn't compare to anything here in France I've seen), the first snowfall, and of course Halloween. 

Here are some of my favorite Fall findings:

Caramel apples in Rehoboth Beach.

Too beautiful

Silver Lake

I love Rehoboth, and so did my Mom-mom.

Hopefully one day I can make cakes as beautifully as my Mom.

 Robbin's Park

While I was quite uncertain about this job in the beginning, I'm starting to realize that maybe it was a blessing in disguise. Although I have to occasionally deal with accidents and more often snotty noses and crying eyes, I have fourteen adorable children to give me hugs when I, myself, start to tear up. They've kept me occupied these past few days back (see below) and hopefully they will continue to bring me a bit happiness. 

Two of my students on the toilet during naptime:

I'm pooping, what are you doing?

I'm pooping too.

They giggle. Then, one of them looks up at me with a huge grin: Do you want to poop too, Katie?

Until next time, check out these two lovely songs by Bon Iver that I've been playing nonstop  and remember:

 "A relationship is not based on the time you've spent together, but the foundation you've built together." 

To my best friend, my grandmother, my hero, my advisor, my beautiful, sweet, loving Mom-Mom <3

"There You Go, Talking About Food Again."

So it's been quite a while, I apologize. While I've had plenty of time to write, I was sick for nearly two weeks so my oh so glorious life of eating French food and wiping snotty noses was quite uneventful. Plus you can only make so many jokes about French pharmacies and their ridiculous drugs.

Switching thoughts, there is a wonderful little restaurant in Rehoboth Beach called The Porcini House (or as my family calls it, The Mushroom Hut). They make delicious risotto (which I was craving) and  BAM! My recipe of the week. Tonight I tried the Roasted Red Pepper recipe from this lovely gal's amazing food blog. The perfect amount of delicious gooeyness for my food baby (who has officially been named Nelson).

 Mushroom risotto

Last weekend was full of crappy weather but fun company. I met up with some fellow Americans to introduce them to their new best friend, Le Petit Paumé. This free guide book to Lyon is just another reason why my current city reigns supreme. Local Lyonnais go around the city grading everything from restaurants and bars to hair salons to tattoo parlors to lingerie shops. They include everything you could possible want/need to know: the price range, hours, location, and furthermore their experience. Over 4 million copies were distributed out on Saturday!

Et les français disent que c'est nous, les américains, qui abusent!

Camels at Bellecour for the distribution of Le Petit Paumé

After wandering around town under the gloomy gray skies, I made it over to Vieux Lyon. Lo and behold my happy findings!

After one year of cleaning and renovations, St. Jean is as beautiful as ever (and free of scaffolding).

Last week's favorite pastry find = An almond pain au chocolat

Since I was still feeling a bit ill earlier in the week, I decided to procrastinate going to the Lumière Film Festival. For once in my life, procrastination seems to have been my best decision. In the morning I went to see Le Quai des Brumes which was one of the featured restaured films in black and white. I was quite surprised to see how much I understood considering the difference in lingo (1939 vs 2011).  Then, in the afternoon I was able to see this year's Prize winner, Gérard Depardieu! It was my very first celebrity sighting! A friend of mine was so kind to give me her tickets to the closing ceremony/movie, Cyrano de Bergerac.  All I kept thinking of was my high school French class and our Depardieu jokes. A lovely man who seemed just as thrilled to see all of the people giving him a standing ovation as they were to applaud his amazing contribution to French cinema.

:)

This weekend, my roommate Anna and I participated in Table Swapping with Erasmus.  For those that don't know, Table Swapping is when you switch apartments/houses for each course. For example, we cooked a delicious carrot curry soup for the entrée (appetizer in American terms). Two groups came to our apartment and then we all split off into different directions to eat the plat (entrée). You meet two new groups at each course and then at the end of the night you meet up at a bar to have the opportunity to keep chatting with those you already met (or introduce yourself to others you didn't bump into earlier in the night). A ton of fun despite not being able to find our dinner host!

Saturday we woke up a bit late (too late in fact) to make it in time for the famous Croix-Rousse market. Although this particular market is held every day from 9-13, I never get the chance to go because of work. Despite our disappointment in our lazy selves, we did come across other great finds: a fall carnival and a little outdoor book market. I don't know how I missed this last year! I actually can find some of my favorite fall things to do here in France!

Fall Festival at Croix-Rousse

I love Lyonnais graffiti

After a late morning on the hill, we wandered down to Hôtel de Ville for the Beaujolais Festival. Attention! This is not the same as the Beaujolais Nouveau! In fact, I was quite confused when I saw this poster on the metro. Lyon decided to have free dégustations (tasting) of previous Beaujolais vintages (mostly 2008 and 2009). Each arrondissement (borough/district) promoted a different cru (type of wine). For those of you who already consider me a wine snob, let me tell you something, you can never truly understand it all! The varieties of Beaujolais alone are so diverse. Furthermore, looking at the map makes it all seem even more complicated since each grape really does give a different flavor, smell, and color (yet they're all so close in proximity to one another). I'll have to really research my wine before the Vignerons Independents come around here again later this fall!

Always follow the yellow brick road of wine.

Then you can listen to free bands

Eat free grapes

And walk home feeling happy in the sun!

On our way back, we discovered my new favorite bakery, La Rose de Tunisie. Honey and almonds and pistachios and oh my goodness why is everything calling my name. I will never be able to get off the Saxe-Gambetta stop without passing by to get a mini bite of heaven. *cue heavy sigh* I just don't know how this pastry obsession started; I was not like this last year, was I?

Hopefully dancing around to Mika (who never seems to get out of my head nor off the radio) will balance out my pastry intake!