Thanksgiving à la français

Though Thanksgiving this year may not have included the same traditions as back home, the sentiment of enjoying the company of others and recognizing all I have to be thankful for was certainly still there. Difference #1: As the French don't celebrate Thanksgiving there obviously wasn't any break from school or the usual daily grind. Instead of lounging around in PJs all morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with my sibings, I was up bright and early and headed off to my teaching internship. This internship is one experience that I feel truly blessed to have. Throughout the semester I have had mixed feelings about it- It's not something I dread going to, but I just haven't been super enthusiastic about the placement. Anyways, yesterday I had the perfect combo, one group of 7 students who were very attentive and most of them eager to participate, and the next class 29 unmotivated and talkative guys. Feeling slightly defeated afterwards, I was surprised when the teacher told me that I was very patient and passionate and that I would be a great teacher. Also in talking with the main teacher I work with, I realized how thankful I am for this experience, even if it doesn't seem like I am making a huge impact or getting too much out of it (besides a more confident, firm teacher voice haha. but seriosuly)

After teaching I went for a run along a creek, though the forest that's not far from my house. It is lovely and very peaceful. I haven't been able to run as much as I would have liked to because of lots of work, but a test and a bunch of papers were turned in earlier in the week so I have a bit more free time! (Complete tangent... a highlight from my translationn exam.. Lots of words I didn't know in one section where it was describing a city, but I thought I recognized the word "goffre" = waffle but in fact it was the word "gouffre" = abyss. So I'm certain that my prof got a good laugh out of me making comparisons of the layout of the city and waffle squares...)
Anyways, continuing with Thanksgiving, my school IES put on a thanksgiving dinner for us students, the professors, and our host parents. It was at a nice restaurant. Very classy with hors d'oeuvres, aperatifs, the whole deal. It was really fun to see everyone really dressed up and the ambiance of the whole soirée was really great. The food was not too bad, but not like back home. The most disappointing was the pumpkin pie (which doesn't typically exist here so I'm not sure what they used to try and replicate it) but luckily there was also a delicious chocolate cake to make up for it : ) During dessrt, there was a petit animation and some friends and I sang and played 2 songs for some entertainment. I played piano and sang. It may not have been perfect, but we had a ball. During the second piece, "Aux champs Elysées" we got everyone singing along with us during the chorus. It was super! So in conclusion: Soiréé in general= very classy and nice. Food- pretty good, just not thanksgiving. Performing- so fun.

My Thanksgiving didn't end there! I headed up to Brest in Bretagne to visit Sarah and Pete, 2 friends from Luther. Sarah and I made a full on Thanksgiving Dinner to serve to 14 of her friends. Terry the Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato purée, veggies, pumpkin and apple pie. In between cooking, Sarah took me to the coast (a 20 minute drive) to see the ocean and take a crèpe. It was incredible beautiful and cold, but sunny. : ) Saturday night it snowed! which is not to common around here. and even more crazy it was thundering and lightninging while snowing- something I have never withnessed before. Our dinner was a grand succès. The food turned out. We somehow weren't too stressed for time to get everything done. The French people enjoyed learning about the holiday and bravely trying everything we served them. Met lots of fun people and got to speak a LOT of French.

Though I am back to work again this week, I thoroughly enjoyed the various ways that I got to celebrate Thanksgiving. Yes, some of the traditions weren't present, but the sentiment and realisation of all I am thankful for is definitly still there.

A quick update

Hello hello hello! I'm sorry it has been quite a long time since I've written. My excuses: midterms and lots of papers, traveling around Europe, and as of 3 weeks ago a broken computer. Unfortunatley, because of the computer deal I am unable to post any more fabulous pictures (which are piling up on my camera!) until I get back to the States and with limited computer use at school and my host home I am not able to update this too ofthen.

But anyways, here are a few highlights of the past month:

Music: I was missing listening and making music that is not at all hard to find in Jenson back at Luther. Luckily, some other music-deprived students in my program and I have gotten together at least once a week to jam. We will be playing a few songs for our Thanksgiving Dinner Soirée that my program is putting on. I also was invited by some French friends to a concert at a local bar a few weeks ago. It was really great! They're called Pushka- describe themeselves as punk, ska, jazz. It was your basic bass/ guitar/ drums/ vocals/ plus a trumpet and an accordian. Unique combo. VERY talented musicians. My friends assured me that they will be famous someday : )

London: Spent 5 days (over Halloween weekend) in London. It was a beautiful city. I see now why my sister Rene loves it so much! Some highlights: A free walking tour of the city centre area, Wimbeldon, a stroll through Hyde Park (my hostel was less than a block away!), an elaborate Indian dinner, and a day in Salisbury exploring the cathedral, Stonehenge, and Old Sarum.

Switzerland: I did a quick weekend trip to Geneva. Frist because we found a cheap filght and secondly, because my good friend from my program has some family friends there who we stayed with. The weather was incredible! Upper 60s and sunny, I was wearing a t-shirt in switwerland in November. It was a very peaceful relaxing weekend. We visited the cathedral, walked along the lake and through several parks, attempted to visit the UN office, found out that they aren't open on Saturdays, and decided to do a boat tour of Lake Geneva instead. Staying with the family was particularily nice. They made us fondue the first dinner, a classic swiss meal. Geneva is not the most hopping city, lots of banks, very expensive shops (in fact everything there is expensive,) international folks, and workers. After dinner each night, we talked with the family and then had time to read, catch up on homework, etc.

Well, it's time to go so I make it home in time for dinner. Though I won't be able to write to you often, know that I think of you often and hope you are all doing well as this fall is flying by§

Much love,
Hannah

Oh, how time flies!

I haven't given you an update in quite some time because I have been keeping SO busy here with many exciting things to do and see. I will give you a few highlights of the past couple of weeks.

1. I have finally started my teaching internship! It took a few weeks to get my placement (I was the last student in my class to get one) but I am very happy with the teachers and classes that I get to work with. I'm working with 3 differnet English teachers at a high school for students going into labratory/ compouters/ engineer sort of professions. The students are almost all boys (in the 5 classes I work with, there are only 2 girls!) It's sometimes tricky to think of topics for lessons that would be interesting to them, but in general they're a good bunch and are fairly motivatied. While I am teaching them about my culture, I am also learning more about French things.. it's a great exchange! There have been many entertainining comments/ questions in my classes. Example: In a lesson about Wisconsin, I had just finished explaining all of the professional WI sports teams (writing the sports and team names on the board, attempting to explain "Packers," "brewers" etc) when a boy asked me "so you play on these teams?" haha

2. Traveling! With my program IES I have gone on two "filed trips" in the past few weekends.

The first one was up north to Mont St. Michel (a very old, gorgeous abbey) and St. Malo (a lovely coastal town with very cool ramparts that you can walk around)

This past weekend I visited 5 castles in the Loire river valley. It had been chilly and rainy the week before, but the weather ended up being upper 70s and sunny. Add in the fall colors and some leaves starting to fall and it was absolutley gorgeous (not to mention the castles were great too.) I was blown away by the detail in all of the architecture, tapestires, and so many aspects of the castles. It is truly incredible that they are so old and that it must have taken people forever to make these things.

Travel plans for the next few weekends: Paris, London, Geneva (ufdah!) I'm envisioning it may be a bit crazy traveling so much but I'm nonetheless looking forward to it all.

3. General reflections: Today at my school (IES) we had a meeting to review goals we wrote for ourselves the first week we arrived here. It's hard to believe that it's already been over a month. This meeting got me thinking about what I've accomplished so far and what I would still like to work on over the next few months that I still have here. First of all I think my French has definitlly been improving, via speaking it of course, watching French tv and films, reading los of French lit (particularly for my classes) and asking questions. It took me a few weeks to figure out and become more confident in this one- asking questions (took awhile for me to figure this one out.) I have been meeting French people (goal #2) and have many acquaintances but have found it a bit difficult to get to know them better because I only see them once or twice a week; mainly in class, conversation club, AGAPE (christian program for students and young workers) and church. Many more goals on the list, but in general, I'm meeting them and trying the best I can to profit from my time here in France.

4. Other random information:

*Friends from Winona were here a few weeks ago. I didn't get to see them too long but it was fun to show them a bit of Nantes and hear about their extraordinary travels throughout Europe.

*I've been Ice skating twice now at a rink here in Nantes. Disco lghts. Rockin' music. It's basically like going to the roller rink back in middle school. super fun!

*I ate cow tounge the other night. eek! Absolutley disgusting when you think about it or look at it, but when all cut up and mixed in with stew not too bad.

*My family roasts chestnuts in the fireplace! I sang them the christmas song that talks about chestnuts roasting on an open fire : )

*I just got a library card yesterday for the Nantes public library and am particularily taking advantage of the music section.. have already found some new French musicians to check out!

*Another goal: Try a new pastry each week. This week's: chausson aux pommes (flaky half circle-shaped pastry with apple sauce-like filling) Delicieuse!

My host dad just finished painting (he paints every night) and on his way to bed proposed a deal: he won't tell my host mom how late I was up if I don't say how late he was up. hehe

Getting into the swing of things

I'm now in my second week of classes and so far really enjoying them. They are much more independent and there are definitely less small assignments to turn in here. The professors are very nice but also less likely to come to you/ask if you need help as much as the professors back in the states. The University of Nantes is a very nice campus not far from my house. I really like the feel of it. It's not only in a new country, but it is also just a much bigger school than Lutehr. I'm taking French Grammar and Composition, French Writers and Foreign Nations (19th and 20th century,) Translation (at the University,) a teaching internship and a theatrical production. I also tried out a few History lecture courses at he University but happened to be in the ones with the professors who spoke extremely fast so I decided not to keep them in my schedule. Also, the teaching internship and theatre are going to take up a lot of time and I want to get started on some research for my senior project in the libraries here so I think a bit lighter semster as far as actual courses will suit me well. For the teaching internship I will spend 4 to 5 hours per week working with an English teacher as a teaching assistant. As I understand it I will be teaching lessons on different American cultural topics of my choosing. I do not have my placement and am not exactly sure what it will entail, but I'm really looking forward to it. The theatre course (aka French play rehearsals) looks lilke it is going to take a lot of time, but I think it will be a very good production in the end. The man directing it is a bit intense and expects a lot of us.. right away. It's good for me- causing me to break out of my shell a bit. The play is called Portrait de famille by Denise Bonal. It's a fairly recent play (written in the 90s, I believe) about a woman, abandoned by her husband, who has to deal with her 3 grown up children who don't really help out with anything or appreciate her (oldest son who is suicidal, younger son who is very into himself is in love with a young Kabyle woman, daughter is a bit of an airhead and (I think?) pregnant. There is also a neighbor who's black and with whom the kids have a lot of racial tension, but the mother kind of likes. Anyways, I don't completely understand the whole plot yet but there's a brief synopsis. My role is the mother (or one of them I should say) Because there are more people than characters in the play, most of the roles are at least doubled (some parts trippled or quadrupled) and there are going to be 2 identical stages that the focus will switch between throughout the play. I don't completely understand how that's going to work either, but it sounds very interesting, quite artistic how the director has split up the roles. I will keep you updated on how the play is coming together. We have rehearsal about 5 hours per week. The production is December 8th.
I am also getting used to the tram/bus system and can pretty much get around to anywhere I want/need to now(sometimes with the help of a map : ) I went to church this past Sunday in the very south part of Nantes (not technically Nantes anymore.. Reze) I have found that church services are different here than back in the states, but this one was pretty close to what I'm used to back in Winona. It was very lively; lots of people of/around my age; and a missionary family that my church in Winona sponsers goes there. I had lunch afterwards with this family. I plan to go back to Reze this Sunday!

Upcoming things I'm looking forward to:
1. Tonight the first dinnner/meeting of AGAPE- a christian "Campus pour Christ" organization at the University
2. weekend trip to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo this Saturday
3. 3 friends from Winona, who are traveling Europe for 2 months, will be in Nantes in about a week.
4. Just booked flights for a weekend in November in Geneva

Sorry if this post is a bit sporadic or doesn't make sense... I'm finding that forming sentances in English is a bit more difficult when my brain is in French mode so much of the day.

Update on Photo situation

Some of you have been asking about seeing my photos. I have found it difficult to add a multitude of photos directly on the blog so I started a photobucket account and will post the links on the sidebar of this blog when I add new pictures. Enjoy! : )

Orientation, Croisic, and a Perfect Sunday

After a very full week of orientation, I was glad to see the weekend come. All of the information sessions and tours of the city were very useful and interesting, but sometimes long and a little bit overwhelming. Friday afternoon I walked around Nantes with a few friends and ended up hanging out by the castle (Chateau des ducs de Bretagne) until the restaurants started serving dinner (not until 7:30.. getting used to the later meals here) We ate in Quartier Boufay- a neighborhood full of restaurants, cafes, and bars containing foods from a variety of countries.

Saturday, I went to the coast with my host family. Croisic is a absolutely beautiful little town where my host mom's parrent's live. We went the their home for Lunch. I got to meet some relatives and speak a lot French. Host Ma, Host Pa, and I spent the afternoon walking around the city. The battery in my camera died the first time I tried to take a picture : ( so my host dad offered to take pictures for me. What I didn't realize right off the bat was that he would take well over 100 pictures and insist that I be in all of them! haha It was quite funny- I felt like a celebrity. Host Pa, being an artist, would sometimes place Host Ma and I depending on the sunlight and the view in the background etc. It was grand. Check out the pictures on the side!

Sunday morning I went to church with 2 firends. My friend Lindsay knows someone who has connections with a missionary family here in Nantes so we went to their church. It was very small- maybe 20-30 people at the service. The service was in some ways very similar and in others very different to what I'm used to back in the states. It was much longer (about 2 hours!) The music was pretty contemporary and easy to catch on to. We sang "Shout to the Lord" and "More Love, More Power" (in French of course.) Singing these simple, familiar songs, turned into a really powerful experience. The realization of how universal God is kept swimming through my head. It was like God's funny way of saying "Hey there! Welcome to France- Don't forget I'm still here for ya." It was a really cool moment I will likely never forget. Later Sunday afternoon, I went to a wine tasting festival with several IES students. Then we walked along the Erdre River and ended up sitting, feet dangling over the water, just people watching and enjoying the beautiful weather. It jsut felt like a Sunday afternoon- the perfect way to prepare for starting my classes this week. : )

4 days in Bretagne

Oh la la! What a whilrwind my first several days in France have been. After many many hours of travel by plane, train, and taxi I arrived in Nantes at the IES building. I spent the first night with my host family, the Olliviers. They live in a charming little house in a neighborhood about 10 minute bus ride from my school. Elisabeth, my host mom, stays at home so I have gotten to know her best so far. She is so sweet and very patient with my French- all of the family speaks slower for me and tries to explain something if I don't understand. They're so thoughtful. I do have to say I was pleasantly surpised by the amount of French that I could understand and speak that first day... more than I was expecting.



The next morning, I left for 4 days of offsite orientation with all of the other IES students and faculty. We stayed in a hotel in Vannes and traveled to other places around Brittany each day. The first day was spent at l"Ile aux Moines. We rented bikes and explored the island and ate a picnic lunch. The rest of the weekend included visits to several little cities with ports, a very old, beautiful fortress (La fortresse de Largoet) and a creperie. I have many photos from this excursion, but am having difficutlites uploading them. Once I can get them I will add them to the blog so you can see how incredible Bretagne. Really I haven't found one place in France yet that does not have beautiful buildings and charming character.

There are so many new things that I'm learning and experiencing- my head is spinning right now trying to decide what else to tell you (it also could be because it's getting late... I was planning on blogging earlieri but alas, I ended up watching the match au foot insteed and France actually won!) I am going to call it a night and write more very soon. Bonsoir!