A little something extra for the holidays.

Christmas village for the kids!

Maybe it's because I'm feeling generous because it's the Christmas season, or maybe it's because I'm feeling lonely without my wonderful roommate and desperately need to kill time before my 10:30PM train to Paris (and Brussels!), but here's another blog post coming only two days after the last!

Yesterday I went to St. Andrew's for morning service and then after a little Christmas shopping returned at 4pm for their Christmas carols service. I haven't talked much about its appearance, but with crucifixes everywhere and the grid iron separation between the congregation and the altar the church has more of a Catholic than Protestant feel. Regardless, it's a beautiful little church and decarations of holly and ivy really set it off yesterday evening. The lights were turned off and they passed out candles to everyone. (Because of Pau's gray, disgusting weather it didn't matter that we were having a candlelight service at four in the afternoon.) The tiny church was absolutely packed, with English speakers as well as French attendees, which was cool for me. In between traditional religious carols different speakers read Bible passages (in French and in English!). Even though St. Andrew's leads their regular services in English, it was neat for me to see how they made the effort to make French speakers feel welcome as well. One of my favorite songs that we sang during the service was the French carol "Dans une étable obscure," (Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming).

Christmas cookies in our tiny toaster oven!

After the service members of the parish followed a British Christmas tradition and served everyone mulled wine and mince pies. Oh my goodness. Mince pies are absolutely delicious! I think next year when I'm back in the States I'm going to try my hand at making them for the holidays. Furthermore, I enjoy a glass of eggnog (preferably soynog) every holiday season, but really, this mulled wine can't be beat! This is another tradition I wouldn't mind bringing back with me to the States. I enjoyed my mulled wine and mince pie with a kind, middle-aged French woman named Claude. It was great chatting with her in "franglais" (she's also fluent in English!) about all kinds of topics. I enjoyed hearing about her son who married a Sénégalaise and hearing about the volunteer opportunities she is pursuing now that she is retired. I'm so glad that I ended up speaking with her, because she gave me the name and address of a social community center where I should be able to find an organization to volunteer with. The best connections I've made in Pau have been through meeting kind, random people like Claude (and first Fouzia) and I'm so grateful for them.

St. Nicholas Day surprise!

To close out this random post I'll leave you with a few pictures. I've forgotten to keep you all updated on pastry excursions with my friends, but just to sum it up, it's been going very well. The last pâtisserie we went to was Saint-André for a millefeuille, a tarte with grapefruit and pear and a vanilla macaroon with caramel and mango. Mmm this is the life.

Ohhh yes.

And in case you didn't believe me a few posts back, I really did cook a raw turkey, and here is the photo to prove it.

Yep, stuck my hand right up in there. No fear! (Okay, maybe just a little.)

                                 

 Joyeux Noël à tous et à toutes!

The inside of the goodie bag my roomie left me for St. Nicholas Day!

Christmastime in Pau

Decorated street downtown

First off, it's so hard for me to believe that December is already here. I've been in France for about three months and only have four more left. Here away from my family and friends it's even harder for me to believe that Christmastime is here. I miss everyone so much this time of year, but I feel so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to experience Christmas in Europe.

Pau has definitely changed for Christmas, but some of the changes that I've noticed are necessarily Christmas-y. For example, now when I walk around downtown I hear music from the radio blasting from speakers on the streets. Sometimes it's Christmas music (mostly English), sometimes it just random, regular music like a Death Cab for Cutie song here, a Michael Bublé song there, etc. Also, I'm used to a not very cold Christmas and no snow, but the weather here has been crazy. Super windy days and torrential rain? Not my kind of winter time. Give me a Florida winter any day, or even a cold snowy winter. This rainy, kind of cold winter is pretty gloomy. Other than that, Place Clémenceau and a plaza by the Boulevard des Pyrenées have a few food carts with cotton candy, crepes and of course carnival games. Because 'tis the season to play Whack-A-Mole and bumper cars, right?

Bumper cars and beignets

Lights!

Another thing I want to mention isn't limited to Pau I imagine, but deals with how people greet each other during this season. In the U.S. you see "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" cards among signs in stores and greeting cards, but for those who want "Merry Christmas" cards, you can just as easily if not more easily find those as well. Here in France it is nearly impossible to find a good selection of cards that say "Joyeux Noël." More often I've been finding cards that say "Bonne Année," (Happy New Year!), "Joyeuses Fêtes" and "Bonnes Fêtes" (like Season's Greetings/Happy Holidays). In a country which has no shortage of federal holidays with a religious leaning (like Ascension and Pentecost), as much as it declares itself as secular and embraces "laïcité," I must admit that I wasn't expecting to have so much trouble finding good "Merry Christmas" cards here.

Did I mention you can also buy roasted chestnuts?

Other than some of those less Christmas-y aspects, I've been enjoying seeing downtown Pau lit up at night with lights everywhere. On every street there is a different design of lights, so it's fun to walk around and see the variety. Christmas markets are very popular here in Europe, and usually Pau has one. However, this year (I'm guessing because of budget cuts), there is no marché de Noël, but there are  little cute, cozy cabins set up in different plazas around downtown where you can buy vin chaud (mulled wine), hot chocolate and other Christmas goodies, as well as a few tents set up to buy gifts from local artisans like scarves and jewelry.

The first one with caramel that started it all

So, I feel like there is always a section of my blog devoted to food, and now that it's the holiday time, this section is absolutely crucial. Food is an essential part of Christmastime here, and boy have I been feeling it! Since the beginning of December I have eaten SO much chocolate, cookies, cake, etc. From chocolate left out in teacher's lounge, to German cookies that my roommate made, to rum cake that my wonderful, loving mother sent me, I feel like I can't escape. Now, this isn't a terrible problem to have, but surrounded by all of this, you have to learn how to limit yourself. One of the best things about Christmas here in Pau for me has been this wonderful hot chocolate to go that a specialty chocolatier makes here. It's only 2.50 euros and with this cup of hot chocolate you get a hefty piece of one of their chocolates of your choosing (like cinnamon, caramel, piment d'espelette (a type of pepper), almond, hazelnut, etc.) to dip in the hot chocolate as you drink. Needless to say, it was the most incredible to-go hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Because of that my friend Sarah and I just had to go the day immediately after trying it for the first time, to introduce our friend Andria to the marvel.

 

Me enjoying hot chocolate with a nice slice of white chocolate with cranberries and almonds.

When I did a Thanksgiving lesson with some of my students, they compared Americans' Thanksgiving meal to the meal that the French eat on Christmas day. At the schools here, each year the cafeteria plans a Christmas meal for the students, staff and faculty. After enjoying a Christmas meal at the school I can say that a French Christmas meal definitely rivals our Thanksgiving meal in terms of quantity. I went at the encouragement of a colleague and was so happy that I did. Looking back I cannot believe that I ate so much food. It was a full meal and what I chose was: foie gras and jambon de Bayonne (Serrano ham. Both are specialties of the region!) as an appetizer, magret de canard (filet of duck, another specialty!) with potatoes and a mushroom flan, cheese and a plate of a little chocolate mousse and raspberry pastry for dessert. Delicious. All of it. Sorry there are no pictures of this one! I didn't want to stick out too much as the dorky American assistant. It was great to get to taste some of the specialties in the region and enjoy a good meal with some of the other teachers at the high school. Usually I don't eat in the cantine (cafeteria) because I have a few hours break at lunch time and live very close, so I usually go home. Because of this, I was also surprised to see bottles of wine on all of the tables in the teacher's section of the cafeteria. Score. Only in France can teachers have a few glasses of wine with lunch in the middle of a school day. Love it.

Even with no snow, kids can still go sledding!

It's the first day of Christmas vacation and I'll be leaving Monday night to travel to Brussels and Bruges with my friend Ali, go with her to Paris to meet her brother and sister-in-law and another friend Andria and then head back to Pau and possibly go to Toulouse for New Year. I'm excited to have a bit more of Christmas here in Pau going to St. Andrew's Anglican Church's Christmas Carols service tomorrow afternoon and having mulled wine and mince pies. After that I'll be going to experience Christmas in other cities and I can't wait. When next we meet it will be after Christmas and maybe after the New Year, so to everyone reading, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year wherever you're celebrating and however you're celebrating!

The Pyrenees, Feuerzangenbowle and Thanksgiving à la française

Me in the Pyrenees, woot!

I love my life here. Really, I do. Every week has been eventful and full of new experiences and meeting new people. I love going to Super U to find something and asking friendly-looking older women for advice (as crazy as that may make me seem) or ending up having an interesting conversation with a Frenchman of Maghrebi descent, spurred by asking about a certain type of off-brand Nutella. I love discovering new pastries with my friends. I love comparing baguettes with my roommate as we "faire le tour" of the bakeries here in Pau. I love zooming down Rue Serviez on my bike on a beautiful Sunday morning when the road is clear and the city is quiet. I love the feeling when I have an absolutely perfect class with great students and a great lesson, when they listen to me and to each other, are interested and end the class understanding and using what I've taught. Anyway, the point is that even though the last week and a half has been quite eventful, I feel like every week here in Pau has its gems-- its special moments. I've really been blessed being placed in this particular corner of the Hexagon and while I'm here I'm trying to soak up all of the beauty and culture that I can.

More Pyrenees

Going to the Pyrénées with two of my teachers, one of their families and some friends was an opportunity to experience some of the beauty. My friends and I took the train to Oloron Sainte-Marie on a Saturday morning where my teacher and her husband and son picked us up. From there we headed to the Vallée d'Ossau to go hiking. Honestly, on the way to our destination I sat in the car thinking that hiking would be absolutely impossible as we swiftly moved around the winding roads up the mountains. "Ça tourne, oui?," asked my teacher Hélène. Yes, oh yes it turns. It turned my stomach to the point where when the car stopped and we got out and got a whiff of the fresh mountain air I felt I had never experienced anything better. We didn't do intense hiking on this run. We hiked for maybe an hour or a bit more, stopped for lunch and then turned back. In the beginning, some of our cellphones started going off because technically we were entering Spain while on our hike, as we were right along the border. How cool is that?

And more of the Pyrenees!

On our way back to Oloron, we stopped in a small town for hot chocolate and then once we were back in Oloron we went to Lindt. Yes, Lindt has a factory in Oloron, only a 30-minute train ride from Pau, which is very dangerous for my wallet and waistline. The factory is great because there is a little museum and it is a LOT cheaper than buying Lindt in the supermarkets here. Even so, I was shocked to see people walk out of there spending two or three hundred euros on several boxes of chocolate.

Next up on this blog update involves German culture. I'm lucky enough to have a really cool, sweet, fun, laid-back roommate who has also been teaching me a bit of German. Last week we celebrated her birthday at our apartment. She invited over some friends, made some appetizers, I made an ice cream cake (If you're reading this, thanks for showing me that recipe Lisa. Everyone loved it!) and we had the coolest thing I've ever seen-- feuerzangenbowle. I suggest you do a Google search of this because I didn't take pictures and you have to see it to believe it. Even so, I'll try to describe. Feuerzangenbowle is mulled wine, but made in a way I've never seen. You heat up the wine with spices and oranges first, and then there's this contraption that you put above the bowl and on top of it you put a cone of sugar. You light the sugar on fire as you pour rum over the cone of sugar, so the cone is lit on fire and as it melts it looks like the mulled wine is on fire as the lit up drops of rum-infused sugar fall into the bowl. So in short, it was an incredible sight and delicious as well.

Madame la Dinde

Sarah and I with our masterpiece.

So while you all were enjoying your turkey-filled Thanksgiving last Thursday, I was at home eating pasta. However, it was okay, because Saturday I had Thanksgiving over here with friends and it was AMAZING. Seriously, this one is going down in the memory books. It was such a cool experience sharing an American tradition with French friends, British friends and German friends who all left that night quite appreciative of our holiday. Our Thanksgiving started on Saturday, two days after yours, when some of my other American friends and I who took the lead on organizing Thanksgiving, met up to start cooking. After we made chocolate bread pudding, green bean casserole (with homemade fried onions!) and sweet potato casserole (my dish!), my friend Sarah and I left to prepare the turkey at her teacher's house where we had our Thanksgiving celebration. Neither of us had ever made a turkey before and it actually turned out to be quite scrumptious, as terrified as we were at the beginning of our turkey in its bloody bag. The teachers at our Thanksgiving feast even complemented us (and you know when actual adults complement your cooking that it's actually good). We kept the turkey seasoning simple with just salt, pepper, butter and herbes de provence (so a turkey à la française), but it was perfectly cooked and really good. When all was said and done, we had about twenty people at our Thanksgiving, with almost as many bottles of wine as people, turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, carrots, corn, sweet potato casserole, semmelkloese (a German dish! Mmm.), bread, biscuits, pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate bread pudding and chocolate cake. It was such a great night of food and good time spent with friends.

No cranberry sauce, but mmm it was good!

In other news, I found an Anglican church over here that I've been to twice now. It's a nice, cozy little church with friendly parishioners. It's when I go to service there that I feel the most nostalgic and miss home the most. Funny, huh? I'm excited to go to their Christmas carol service before heading to Belgium and Paris for vacation, though I know that it's probably going to be a bit hard being away from family. Speaking of Christmas, only two weeks of work left before vacation! I can't wait to experience Christmastime here in Europe and look forward to sharing the season with new friends over here. Until next time! A+