Wow. It has been forever since I have used that phrase. "y'all" doesn't exactly translate into French, such a pity. At the moment I feel a little bit like a couch potato ... and not in the good way. I actually got myself to fall asleep last night by thinking about talking a long walk in the huge beautiful park that is around the corner from my house. Yesterday was the start of two weeks of blessed vacation from school and I immediately snapped into the laziest person in the world. Not too good.
Fast forward a little bit. It is now the evening and no, I never did take that walk. Maybe, tomorrrow. :) I did however have my very first baking lesson in France! Yay! I made "Tarte au sucre". So good and it is exactly what it sounds like, a sugar tart. Who wouldn't love that.
Step 1: mix together 250 grams of flower, two tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt
Step 2: in a separate bowl beat together two eggs
Step 3: melt 75 grams of butter
step 4: heat up some milk and then mix in something or other to the milk that is supposed to help the pastry dough rise
step 5: (here is the very complicated part) add the eggs to the dry ingredients and mix with the hands, add the butter and continue to mix and clump, add the milk mixture and knead until everything is nice and together
step 6: spread with the palm of your hand (onto a round backing sheet covered with wax paper) the dough until it is fairly even and then let it rise for an hour ish
step 7: cover the entire thing in some kind of specialty sugar that is light brown and a really soft texture
step 8: bake for 10 minutes at 150 degrees
step 9: pour cream fresh on top of the sugar
step 10: ta da!!! tarte au sucre!
Now, I know, that is just a very, very complicated recipe, especially with my not knowing the exact measurements or amounts of time or you know, the names of certain ingredients, but hey I wanted to share :) And that is what happens when one is learning how to cook in a foreign language.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
qu'est-ce qui ya
I came to France to learn about the culture, the language, eat really yummy food all day long, make new friends, have wonderful (and plenty of difficult) experiences and everything in between. So far I think it's going pretty damn well. One of the things I wasn't expecting was to learn was so much about myself. But hey! That works too. For instance, I really, really enjoy being alone sometimes. I had no idea of this fact. My dad and I would always make fun of my mom when she would prefer to sit home and read a book by herself than come hang out with us. I mean honestly who wouldn't want to be around two very loud people, blasting the Glee soundtrack and trying to sing along for a whole day. But now, after living with a family with five other members, it is so rare to find a moment when I am actually alone. There's always someone else around, so now I appreciate those moments when the house empty and I can just sit down with a book and a stillness in the air.
This past week has been school, school, and more school. Spanish is improving, I am happy to say. My teacher didn't make me take a test that I would have completely bombed and he is helping me get some extra help during the school day, so that's really good. Grade wise, I received a 14/20 on my first math test and my first history test, both teachers were happily (I think) shocked, probably because I look completely lost during class, which most of the time I am, but throw some long hours with a lot of translating and memorization of sentences I don't understand and voila! 70% Haha not too bad, I hope the grades will continue to go up and not spiral down from there.
This afternoon I went to a fall festival with my family. For lunch I tried the different 'specialties'. Basically French food, but with a lot of ingredients substituted by pumpkin. Quite special indeed, but I am trying to be very brave in the food world. Ooo, speaking of which last week I started my favorite new thing. Ever. It's called trying a new pastry every day. :) I have always loved pain au chocolat so that's what I always get but a few weeks ago I realized how much I was missing, and decided I needed to do something about it, so new pastry every day it is. Works for me. Last night a baby sat a new family for the first time. Two little girls five and two and a half. Super adorable and couldn't stop laughing at me the entire time I was reading them their bed time story. Apparently my accent still has a long, long way to go.
AFS has planned on over night trip for the students in Paris at the end of the month. All fun touristy stuff, which I think I will be able to appreciate so much more now that I am older and well, really want to learn about it. And I get to see my AFS friends! That's about it for now. Bisous! Oh oh oh! I almost forgot, next weekend I am making my host family dinner. I'm thinking burritos, mostly just because I really miss them but I need some ideas for a yummy dessert!
This past week has been school, school, and more school. Spanish is improving, I am happy to say. My teacher didn't make me take a test that I would have completely bombed and he is helping me get some extra help during the school day, so that's really good. Grade wise, I received a 14/20 on my first math test and my first history test, both teachers were happily (I think) shocked, probably because I look completely lost during class, which most of the time I am, but throw some long hours with a lot of translating and memorization of sentences I don't understand and voila! 70% Haha not too bad, I hope the grades will continue to go up and not spiral down from there.
This afternoon I went to a fall festival with my family. For lunch I tried the different 'specialties'. Basically French food, but with a lot of ingredients substituted by pumpkin. Quite special indeed, but I am trying to be very brave in the food world. Ooo, speaking of which last week I started my favorite new thing. Ever. It's called trying a new pastry every day. :) I have always loved pain au chocolat so that's what I always get but a few weeks ago I realized how much I was missing, and decided I needed to do something about it, so new pastry every day it is. Works for me. Last night a baby sat a new family for the first time. Two little girls five and two and a half. Super adorable and couldn't stop laughing at me the entire time I was reading them their bed time story. Apparently my accent still has a long, long way to go.
AFS has planned on over night trip for the students in Paris at the end of the month. All fun touristy stuff, which I think I will be able to appreciate so much more now that I am older and well, really want to learn about it. And I get to see my AFS friends! That's about it for now. Bisous! Oh oh oh! I almost forgot, next weekend I am making my host family dinner. I'm thinking burritos, mostly just because I really miss them but I need some ideas for a yummy dessert!
Friday, October 1, 2010
Coucou!
I have not written on the blog for a few weeks, which I apologize for, but I think that's a good sign. I was using the blog as an outlet, a way for me to rant and rave, and communicate all the things I'm feeling that I don't know how to say in French yet. Therefore, me not writing on the blog means me not having a lot to complain about.
Things are still hard, but they are definitely looking up. I am slowly catching onto the language, there are things that now come to me as a reflex, no translating before in my head first, which I find really exciting. I have never realized how much time I spend only half listening to people, and when they are speaking in English, I still understand. Here I have to focus extremely hard, my brain needs to be 100% on during class and even just at the dinner table, which is new for me. My French teacher is putting a lot of time and energy into helping me learn French quickly. Instead of listening to the lectures during class, which I understand absolutely none of, he gives me elementary exercises to help with my vocabulary and grammar. So I sit through French class spending an hour with my little pocket dictionary as my right hand man working on exercises that the other kids could finish in five minutes, but hey they have already spent multiple years being drilled on their verb conjugations. I am still failing school, which is frustrating for me, but I just have to remind myself that I am here to learn about the culture and the language, not pass physics.
About a week ago, I was very close to breaking down, but just in time AFS put together a meeting for the exchange students living in the Centre Ville. We all met up in a little town named Orleans. They put together a scavenger hunt and we were separated into groups and had to go to different historical monuments and take pictures to find the next hint. It was amazingly fun and reminded me why I am doing this. It reminded me how much I love France, the culture, the language, and just the feeling in the air. One of the places on the list, was an old classic hotel. At the time, there were three weddings going on outside of it. All different stages, one just about to begin and the other almost over. It was so beautiful to see. I just wanted to walk around with a classic black and white camera and take pictures. Unfortunately, that would have been a little awkward, considering I was neither attending the weddings nor was I the photographer. I tried to sneak in a few, but they didn't show up as well as I'd hoped.
Across the street from the hotel was a very huge, beautiful church. It was so French. Every little corner perfectly sculpted and the steps designed with all the right angles. The windows were beyond beautiful. And then you bring your head down and there are all these French teenagers skateboarding, doing bike tricks, and spray painting sheets of wood at the base of the church. It was actually really cool to watch, as oxy-moronic as it was. The town was beautiful and had so many French stores, I was beside myself with sadness that we couldn't go into them, but friends and I made pact to meet up there sometime in the next few months and go on a shopping spree together, which will be fun. halfway through the scavenger hunt, my group (which consisted of my family and a friend) got tired and cold, so we got a bunch of tourist pamphlets on the town and went into a cafe to drink hot chocolate, which was just what I needed :)
I will try to write more often. It's nice to look back and reflect on whats happening. :) Tonight I am watching some French movie and baby sitting my sisters, but I am making friends and meeting new people everyday, which I love. Bisous!
Things are still hard, but they are definitely looking up. I am slowly catching onto the language, there are things that now come to me as a reflex, no translating before in my head first, which I find really exciting. I have never realized how much time I spend only half listening to people, and when they are speaking in English, I still understand. Here I have to focus extremely hard, my brain needs to be 100% on during class and even just at the dinner table, which is new for me. My French teacher is putting a lot of time and energy into helping me learn French quickly. Instead of listening to the lectures during class, which I understand absolutely none of, he gives me elementary exercises to help with my vocabulary and grammar. So I sit through French class spending an hour with my little pocket dictionary as my right hand man working on exercises that the other kids could finish in five minutes, but hey they have already spent multiple years being drilled on their verb conjugations. I am still failing school, which is frustrating for me, but I just have to remind myself that I am here to learn about the culture and the language, not pass physics.
About a week ago, I was very close to breaking down, but just in time AFS put together a meeting for the exchange students living in the Centre Ville. We all met up in a little town named Orleans. They put together a scavenger hunt and we were separated into groups and had to go to different historical monuments and take pictures to find the next hint. It was amazingly fun and reminded me why I am doing this. It reminded me how much I love France, the culture, the language, and just the feeling in the air. One of the places on the list, was an old classic hotel. At the time, there were three weddings going on outside of it. All different stages, one just about to begin and the other almost over. It was so beautiful to see. I just wanted to walk around with a classic black and white camera and take pictures. Unfortunately, that would have been a little awkward, considering I was neither attending the weddings nor was I the photographer. I tried to sneak in a few, but they didn't show up as well as I'd hoped.
Across the street from the hotel was a very huge, beautiful church. It was so French. Every little corner perfectly sculpted and the steps designed with all the right angles. The windows were beyond beautiful. And then you bring your head down and there are all these French teenagers skateboarding, doing bike tricks, and spray painting sheets of wood at the base of the church. It was actually really cool to watch, as oxy-moronic as it was. The town was beautiful and had so many French stores, I was beside myself with sadness that we couldn't go into them, but friends and I made pact to meet up there sometime in the next few months and go on a shopping spree together, which will be fun. halfway through the scavenger hunt, my group (which consisted of my family and a friend) got tired and cold, so we got a bunch of tourist pamphlets on the town and went into a cafe to drink hot chocolate, which was just what I needed :)
I will try to write more often. It's nice to look back and reflect on whats happening. :) Tonight I am watching some French movie and baby sitting my sisters, but I am making friends and meeting new people everyday, which I love. Bisous!
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