Getting in the Habit of Things

Wednesday was our first day of language classes, called propédeutiques. These are classes into which we were placed after taking a language exam. I'm pretty sure I'm in the second highest level, which is a preparation for traduction (translation). The propédeutiques we're in now are temporary- they end next Thursday. Then the REAL classes begin- language, subject and exterior classes. So far I think my classes will look like:
-Traduction
-Bandes-Dessinées et Société (Cartoons like TinTin and Astérix and how they relate to French society)
-Paris Francophone (How Paris is developing and dealing with the influx of immigrants)
-Cultural Geography (At the Sorbonne, why people decide to go one place over another)
-And I need to find some fifth class to replace what was going to be an internship seminar.

After going to the information session on les stages (internships), I learned that I would basically have to give up all of my Fridays while I'm here, plus lots of time during the week. While I really really want to have a cool job in France, I just don't think right now is the time. I want to be able to spend lots of time with my family and boyfriend when they come to visit, and I'll already have to be taking mid-terms while they're here. I had a lot of anxiety about this, so after talking to my mom for awhile about it, I decided not to do it. Soooo if anyone has internship ideas for the DFW area or Austin during the summer, let me know! :)

Let's see, what have I eaten since I last wrote... Wednesday night Fanou fed us left-overs that compromised a filet-mignon of porc, wrapped in bacon, and then covered in pâté, at least, Fanou said it was pâté, but it had more of a cornbread texture and taste to it than a veal, rabbit, or foie gras-with-other-unknown-ingredients flavor. I asked her for the recette (recipe) and she said that it was too complicated for the United States! She didn't mean to offend, she simply meant we didn't have the right ingredients here, so it wouldn't work. She spent some time that evening bashing pasteurization of cheese, because it ruins the flavor so much. She said her friend had sold "Camambert" in the U.S. but her friend said it tasted awful and nothing like the real stuff. I haven't eaten enough Camambert in my life to know the exact way it's supposed to taste, so I don't know if I can really be a judge of that.

Speaking of cheese, the other day (during la grève, the strike, which is another story) I walked into a fromagerie, a cheese store, thinking that it would be heavenly. Actually it was really overwhelming! I ended up walking out empty-handed because I had no idea where to start. There were cheeses from all over the place and I didn't have all the vocabulary to explain what I like and don't like. I'll have to work on that and soon, I'll go to a fromagerie and walk away with something wonderfully smelly and delicious!

Tonight for dinner, the Schumachers had a guest over- a friend of one of their children- so we had a really good meal. We had a ratatouille-type of things with aubergines (eggplants), tomates (tomatoes), pimenthes (red pepper), mozzarella, and some other things. It had to be vegetarian for Nicté to be able to eat it. The Schumachers (and I) really want Nicté to try some of the meat dishes, but we'll see if it actually happens. Nicté doesn't eat meat simply because that's how she was raised. I think that of any time in our lives, now is the time to branch out. We're in Paris!!! I promised myself I'd eat whatever was put in front of my or specifically recommended, which I've stuck to so far, and it has served me well. Anyway, we also had the usual salade, fromage, etc., but for dessert we had homemade crème renversée, which is like Mexican flan but without the farine (flour). It was incredible!!! Adding another thing to my list of recipes to bring home...

Another awesome thing I tried the other day, because Nicté bought it, was la galette des rois (King Cake). Unlike the green, yellow and purple cake of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, this is flat and flaky and normal-colored. It's like a twist on a crêpe, so you know it has to be good! In France, it's a tradition to eat galettes des rois on or right around Epiphany. Like the New Orleans King Cakes (which are based on these), these galettes also have a little porcelain or plastic figurine inside them, which is supposed to represent Jesus. The person who finds the figurine is crowned the roi (king) and gets the paper crown that comes with all of the cakes. The cakes are basically only sold in January, and since there is one more day in January, perhaps I can find one more to eat. I seriously could eat these all year- they're delicious!!!

Late in the afternoon today Nicté and I met some other girls at La Basilisque du Sacré-Coeur, at the Butte Montmartre- what a wonderful view of Paris! Nicté and I got off of the metro at the Anvers station, at the base of the butte, to find a really lively and kind of sketchy Montmartre. Montmartre is the traditional red light disctrict of Paris, where one can find the Moulin Rouge and other such cabarets. I'm not totally sure, but I don't think the whole red light thing really happens any more... We walked around Montmartre for a little bit, looking at all the touristy things and the colorful atmosphere. I'm definitely going to have to go back there just to get more of the feel of it.

So lastly, I'll talk about la grève (the strike). The strike took place on Thursday- six or eight syndicats (unions), decided to stop working for a day to protest the government for higher wages and better pensions and things like that. I don't want to make light of the plight of the workers of France, but honestly striking is the national sport. Workers get paid strike days!!! It happens all the time. My professor lives in the Banlieue (the outskirts of Paris, outside the Peripherique, the highway that separates Paris Proper from Greater Paris), and since she depends on the RER (the commuter train) and the metro to come to work, she moved Thursday's class to Friday. This meant a free day for me on Thursday! I slept till 1:30, then took my time taking a shower and getting ready for the day, then I went walking around the neighborhood for about two hours. I just took in all the shops- the patisseries (pastry shops), the boucheries (butchers), the epiceries (specialty grocers), etc, and bought a few things from the soldes (the massive sales that take place in January. It was the first beautiful day in Paris, without many clouds, but it was still 39 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a perfect day for a strike to happen, at least for me! It just turned out to be a nice, relaxing day- one that allowed me to do some catching up on sleep and rest and knowledge of my whereabouts.

I don't really have plans for the weekend- some friends and I might go to some flea markets (they started here, you know) or to some museums or to the movies. We'll see. But that's all for now!

Bonsoirée,
Ellie