Aquarelle no.4 et le Rhum

L'éolienne

I think that this is my best watercolor yet. My lesson was in lighting, which my host-mom said I succeeded greatly in. I enjoyed painting this picture much more than my last one, which I wanted to tear in half; I was very relaxed while painting this time around.

In other news, I have finally caught the cold that has been haunting all of the other students for the past month. I caught it just in time for Carnaval, which consists of going out until 3AM-ish every other night... so I won't be getting better until after Mardi Gras, which is the grand finale of Carnaval (again, more on Carnaval once it's over). 

Bon Dimanche!

Au Fruit Défondu

Fondue in France is so interesting! They have the normal fondue where you dip your food in the cheese/chocolate/oil, but that is not what we did. Oh no. We were the only ones in the restaurant at first, and the owner (who I will speak more of later, because she was great), let us order and then brought out two huge wedges of cheese (the good, rich kind) and put them under a heater. The cheese started melting and a bit later, the owner came back and scraped off the top layer of melted cheese and poured it on my plate with my meat and potatoes. It tasted so heavenly!

Of course we had our wine with the meal:

Jurançon is, so far, my favorite wine that I've come across. It's very thick, and it can be very sweet "doux" but this bottle was dry "sec" and I preferred it to the sweeter, although both are very good.

I ate way too much throughout this meal, but it was just too good not to! And yes, I finished off that block of cheese with the help of one other girl. So much cheese! It took us about 2 hours to eat it all, and then we all split ice cream with hot fudge. 

Alright, now for the owner: first off, she was so friendly to us when we came in, which can sometimes be hit or miss once people hear us speaking broken French and lots of English, she was very bubbly and excited to have us eat her food. At one point, she came into the room and asked us if we smelt something burning; we had figured it was just the cheese and maybe something that was already on the heater. She comes over to one of the heaters and finds that it had been resting on a chair of the opposite table! We had burned one of her chairs! We felt so bad, but she just started laughing and said that it gave the chair more character and that anyone would be happy to sit in it (I should have taken a picture, but I didn't. I'm sorry). Throughout the night she continued to pour more cheese onto our plates even when we told her that our stomachs were bursting. She would just laugh and say that there is always more room for cheese. After dinner, we stepped into the hallway that connects the restaurant and the bar, and we saw the owner gesturing us into the bar. We were a bit confused at first, but then we followed her in, and she went behind the bar and pulled out 4 shot glasses saying, "It's for Carnaval!" So, despite our American-ness and burning one of her chairs, she offered us free drinks and made us feel more than welcome in France. 

It was a really fun night out with my girls. We plan on going back just for dessert because we did not have enough belly room for the full fondue experience this time around. 

Joyeux Saint Valentine!

For one of my classes today, all we did was sit in a circle and discuss our opinions on love and the importance of love. We also discussed our dreams and whether we would be able to give up our dreams for love. It was basically the best class ever. My professor (yes, the crazy one) was so incredibly cute when she started talking about her husband and how he sacrificed everything for her and how he treats her like a princess every day -- pretty much the cutest thing ever; as she spoke she became young again. She got very serious at one point and said, "Tomber amoreux de quelqu'un est facile, mais aimer quelqu'un est très dur," which means: To fall in love is easy, but to love someone is very difficult. It's a cliché, I know, but it sounded so wise when said in French.

After my class I walked to the store and treated myself to some chocolate; I may not have a Valentine, but I am very thankful for all of the love in my life that stretches all the way around the world. I hope that you all enjoy this day and appreciate the love that fills your lives.

Happy Valentine's Day!  

Samedi 11 Fevrier

Bonjour à tous! This last Saturday was rather enjoyable. In the morning I Skyped with my old roommate, which was great; I really enjoy catching up with people from back home. After that I made a cake for my host-dad as it was his birthday on Friday. I made a chocolate cake with my great-grandma Scrubby's fudge frosting recipe. It didn't come out exactly the same (translating the measurements was tricky), but it was still tasty; my host-family said that they enjoyed it (I hope they were telling this truth. I thought it was good). We had a big lunch for his birthday with scallops, white wine, halibut (I think), carrots, rice, salad, camembert, chocolate cake, and coffee. I love how the French eat lunch on the weekends: delicious. 


After that, my conversation partner picked me up and we went downtown for Carnaval: Carnaval is a huge, week-long festival, which I will have to explain in another post because it is a very interesting tradition of this region. Saturday was the opening day, which started with a parade; we met up with a few other American students, and my conversation partner was able to practice a bit of English; she spoke mainly in French though. It was a really cold afternoon/evening, but it was very entertaining (again, more on that later).

I went home with my conversation partner, who had invited me to dinner and then to stay the night at her place. Her boyfriend cooked us a dinner of ham, more scallops, and a banana mashed something, which was super tasty! He is a very good cook. They introduced me to Juracon, which is a very sweet, thick wine; oh man, it was good. We sat around and chatted for a really long time, which was very entertaining especially as I became tired and it got very difficult to understand French. They had fun laughing at/with me.

I stayed the night there, and in the morning we all ate breakfast together. They are so great and patient with me when I'm lost in translation (which is most all the time); I was very lucky to have met them.

It was a nice weekend filled with all-French-all-the-time, which I am just beginning to be equipped for, and I am completely exhausted now. I enjoy feeling myself progress in comprehension (and a little in speaking); it won't be too much longer until I'm comfortable with the language -- it's so exciting! I'm almost bi-lingual! Salut!

Aquarelle no. 3

I was about to rip this painting in half...

I'm coming to discover that learning to paint is a bit like learning how to speak French. There are moments when I can't make sense of what is coming out onto the page, and I have no idea where to start in regards to fixing it. I get frustrated and want to stop altogether, but that would waste all of the work I've already put into the picture. I have to continue what I've started, learn from mistakes, and correct myself as I go. It will get better with time and practice. 

Le Dîner et Le Cinéma

Friday night, I went out to dinner and a movie with some friends from my program and it was quite an experience. We had heard that this restaurant, Le Berry, was incredibly good, and I, with all my infinite wisdom, decided to order something completely new and completely unknown to me. I forgot that the French eat some very strange things. This is what appeared in front of me not long after ordering:

It looks delicious right? Well, if you look a little closer at that "meat" you will see that it is cow brain. Ooh my gosh. Of all the things that I could have ordered, I chose cow brain! We all tasted it, and it was the weirdest thing I have ever tried in my life. It tasted sort of fishy (that's the only way I can describe it because, in truth, it tasted like, well, brain) and the texture of it was simply not ok. After three small bites I had checked out and was not having it. We then proceeded to hide pieces of it under the lettuce on all of our plates because we didn't want to horrendously offend the cooks. After dinner, we had dessert, and...wow...just wow. They were so beautiful and delicious. I had creme de marron (chestnut) which has become one of my favorite things along with fromage blanc. All of the desserts had homemade, thick whipped cream. Ooooh so good:

 After dessert came our petit cafés (coffee is a final course in any meal, and it is always a tiny, tiny, saucer:

Despite my inability to eat my main dish, I was absolutely stuffed by the end of this meal (we all shared plates). It was my first full course meal at a French restaurant, and it may have scarred me forever...No, not really; it was incredibly amusing and I'm glad that I can say that I tried cow brain. Everything once, right?

After dinner we walked over to the independent movie theater and saw The Artist with Jean Dujardin, it just won a Golden Globe, so we figured we should go see it. It was absolutely wonderful!! I strongly recommend it; the ability to express so much emotion solely with music and body language is incredibly moving. Go watch it. 

From the movie, we went to Le Garage (the bar) where there was live music, and we watched the goings-on there for a while before calling it a night. I learned how expensive taxis are...never again. Anyway, it was an enjoyable night, and this morning it is snowing pretty significantly: perfect weather for homework.

Bon Journée! 

 

Ma Prof

I just really want to describe this professor to you all, because she is insane. My French prof is this tiny old woman with OCD (I diagnosed her). She barely comes up to my shoulder and, if you have ever watched "The Sword in the Stone", she is very similar, in looks and mannerisms, to Madam Mim:

The first day of class, she told us that we all had to buy a special pen for her class; it is a pen with four different colors in one, because she color-codes her notes. Alright, sounds good, she's organized, right? Well, within the first couple of days we all found out exactly how organized she is. Before each of her lectures, she tells us to write exactly what she writes up on the board. After writing her notes and giving her lecture, she proceeds to come around to each of our notebooks and inspects our notes to make sure that we have our notes according to her standards. Everything, from the tint of the colored pen to the size of our handwriting, must pass her inspection before she is content.

Another lovely habit of hers is to ask us to try to explain things and then scoff at us while we stumble over her language (yes, it's hers). When we stop to stare inquisitively at her or to ask for clarification, she tells us to continue trying on our own. She enjoys subtly belittling us and then walking away with a "N'ayez pas peur!" which means, "Don't be scared!"

I have never come across a professor with as many peculiarities as she has. However, as crazy as she is, she is a wonderful teacher, and I am learning a lot from her. I just find her quirks amusing and ridiculous, and I thought I would share.

Bon soirée!