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+