It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

From Lyon's Fête des Lumières to wandering the streets of Romans in the snow, the Christmas feeling has definitely begun to settle in (even though none of the "snow" we had in Romans the last couple of days stuck...it ended up being that wet snow that has all of the annoying attributes of rain once it hits the ground). The weekend and included some time spent in Valence, a wine tasting in Cornas, just outside of Valence (some of the most consistently good wine I have ever tasted...the cheapest bottle we tried was around 15 euros), and trips to Lyon on both Monday and Tuesday (Monday for the famous Fête des Lumières, an incredible collection of light shows and displays around the city, and Tuesday for a mandatory foreigner Medical Visit).

I have new pictures up that include all of these events, so see the "photo links" section on the right if you want to see them. To give an idea of what the Fête des Lumières was like, here's a picture of the Hôtel de Ville area:

I feel the need to elaborate on the medical visit due to some of its peculiarities compared to doctor's appointments back home. There were four assistants from the region at the visit: Patrick, Eric, Sean and myself. They called us back one at a time to go through what felt like an assembly line of nurses, first for eye checks, next for weight/height and a couple questions, and lastly for an x-ray. For the x-ray, they put you in a changing room from one side, close the door behind you, and tell you to get undressed from the waist up and wait for the door on the other side to open. So, there I am, shirtless, waiting for someone to let me into the room. She finally does, then presses me up against a board that who knows how many people have been pressed up against in the past, and takes a quick x-ray. I'm then told to get dressed again and given no further direction. After standing in the hall for a little while, I decide just to go back to the waiting room (apparently it was the right decision)...the others came out, one at a time, looking just as confused as I was. Then the doctor's visit...my favorite part was that, when the doctor was asking me questions, she got to the following:
"Do you smoke?"
"No."
"Do you drink some wine, some beer?"
"Yes."
I was ready to answer the typical question that would come after that in the states..."How much and how often?", but that question never came. Instead, she nodded approvingly and gave the impression that, had I responded no, she would have told me to start consuming wine and beer immediately.

So, finishing the medical visit means two things: (1) I am done with all of the required administrative tasks of being here, and (2) I now have an x-ray that I get to keep...what to do with something like that is beyond me.

Anecdotally, I have noticed that myself and other assistants have started using some typical French expressions...if that's what you can call random noises that you make combined with a very specific facial expression. There's one in particular that I don't even know how to accurately describe, but it's a combination of letting air out your mouth while making a sound and puffing your lips a little...it can be translated as, "I don't know/don't really care that much." I've apparently seen way to many of my students do it toward me (as have the others), because it's become a regular part of our conversations.

In other news, I saw "Burn after Reading" last night (it came out yesterday in France...a little behind the times). I have to say, I don't understand why it got such bad reviews in the US...I thought it was great! Have the French translation at the bottom was entertaining; it showed that there are some (typically vulgar/insulting) American phrases that just can't be translated. Funny to see the attempts, though!

I better go finish preparing my lessons for this afternoon...I'm using the first 10 minutes of the original animated version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and making the students fill in the blanks in the text version of it as they watch it. Lessons have become really fun to plan now that I've sort of figured out what works and what doesn't...I even had a teacher today tell me I would make a good teacher! How about that?!

One week and two days until I leave for the US...getting excited!

Thanksgiving weekend, France-style

Last week, while you were all enjoying a traditional Thanksgiving meal…I was, too! The assistants in Valence hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the American assistants (and some British, Mexican, and Spanish folks) that included everything from turkey to pumpkin pie. The only thing lacking was the canned cranberry sauce, which I plan on making up for at Christmas (right, Lindz?!). The food was delicious, the company was great, and the wine lasted us through the night. Patrick used my camera to get some great pictures, so check them out at the link to the right…they tell the stories better that I possibly could.

Friday morning, I left Valence with Molly and Patrick and we made our way to Geneva, where Grace met up with us. The four of us proceeded to have a great 4-day weekend in the city of the UN (European branch), Red Cross, fondue, banking and chocolate. Geneva’s a great city – you can walk down one street and hear four languages and see some of the most chic, cosmopolitan people in the world. You can also pay 4.50 CHF (Swiss Francs, close enough to a US dollar) for a cup of Starbucks drip coffee that you actually end up buying, just because it’s been way too long since you’ve seen, much less drank, Starbuck’s coffee…and, you’ve been dreaming about the red, “It only happens once a year” Christmas cups. Yeah, the city’s expensive. But, luckily Patrick was smart enough to find us an “apartment-hotel” that was about a 20 minute tram ride from the city center for about 15 euros/person/night. We basically outsmarted Geneva with this one…we paid very little for a great place to stay, didn’t even have to search for the place as it was directly in front of us when we got off the tram, and didn’t end up having to pay for many meals in town since we could cook at home for dinner and bring picnics with us for lunch. We did, however, enjoy one fantastic fondue dinner on Saturday night, followed by beers at the bar across the street from our apartment: total dive bar, but we enjoyed it! The people were great there, as was the beer and the prices.

Now, back to "reality". I've actually described this week to multiple people as "busy," which is a little sad when you work 12 hours. But, I am babysitting for a professor this weekend, so I have to go to dinner at the woman's house on Thursday night so that I can meet her daughter before I babysit her (apparently they don't trust strangers as easily here as we do in the States). I'm also going to Chambéry tomorrow night for one of Grace's roommate's birthdays, then back on Thursday morning to teach. Friday, I'm heading to Lyon with Patrick and Molly for the Fête des Lumières, which is a huge festival where they light the city of Lyon for Christmas -- people put candles in their windows and everything, which sounds just magical. Sunday, I believe that there is another wine tasting in Valence, so I'll probably be going to that...I'm starting to consider wine tastings like school lessons; I learn a lot at them!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to you all...I'm excited to be back on American soil (and even see some of you) in less than 3 weeks!