My pseudo-sister comes to visit!

My pseudo-sister came for a brief, yet intense, visit just after Christmas. Her family lives far away and she lives even further away so I was very thankful that she took the time to swing by here. We had a great time and were lucky enough to have some sunny days.

Peggy's Cove (the two pictures above, 'cause now I can put pictures up here) is THE toorist (My way of saying this word gets mocked frequently) site 'round these parts and sure enough, even on a cold day in December there were people there. You can see the plaque on the side of the lighthouse and the enlarged version.


We also went to Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home of the Bluenose. We managed to fit some shopping in too. The next day we played the tourists around here, taking the ferry across the harbour (aka the cruise ship for poor people)and breaking the law (third picture). I'm a rebel without a cause, what can I say.

It was hard to say good bye (especially since the flight was a red-eye and there were quite the family festivities the night before) but we're hoping to meet up in Turkey or Oman in the New Year!

I'll leave you with one last picture of my city. I love this place!

Happy Boxing Day!

I had a fantastic Christmas. All that white stuff got melted away just in time for the big day. It was a balmy 10 degrees yesterday with a big blue sky and tons of sun! Today, it's also sunny, however it went down about 20 degrees. I've gotta stop giving the weather reports.

Yesterday was low key, just the way I like it. Today is a little more happening, the extended family's coming over for the annual Boxing Day party which is always a good time and a good chance to see everyone. So without much further ado, here is (hopefully) some pictures taken with...my new digital camera! (Welcome to 2008 Steph, I know)

 

The weather is whack.

Because I say things like that now because I'm hip with the kids.

It's snowing. Again. But snow for Christmas, I can't complain. Although word on the Environment Canada street is that this beautiful white stuff will transform into its distant cousin known as RAIN before too long.

*tear*

Everyone likes a rainy Christmas too - it's just doesn't sound so good in a song. I did hear CBC reporting that they think Canada will have its first coast-to-coast White Christmas since, well, ever so I hope Halifax won't let down the team. A shout out to those in British Columbia, the one place in Canada which usually has "warm" weather. I've heard nasty stories of -20 degrees and the like. Is this Global Warming?

I love Christmas Eve, just as the sun sets - I always feel giddy and childlike again. I'll have you know I finished my Christmas shopping circa 10 am this morning (I like to be organized), so it'll be smooth sailing from here. Except I just remembered that my grandmother asked me to buy shrimp and I should get to the store before it closes (Everything closes early afternoon on Christmas Eve here).

Now some random discoveries since I was last home. Gas is now 75 cents a litre. It was never any where near that low when I had a car and had to drive 100 km a day. I'm just saying. As well, you can now buy lobster for 5 bucks a lb. 5 BUCKS A POUND?! Last time I checked it was approximately four times that. Granted this cheap lobster is coming out of the bed of shady pick-ups parked along the side of the road, but still.

Merry Christmas to everyone near and far!!!

The calm before the storm

This holiday season has been filled with traveling nightmares. I'm lucky I elected to come home early and surprise my family - the flight I was to have taken was canceled in New York. Ouch.

I'm enjoying Canada so much. Except for the cold weather. I mean I like -12 as much as the next guy, but why oh why when it is finally sunny does it have to be so cold? Alright all this weather talk is really just a space filler as I attempt to conjure up a funny story of something that has happened to me recently and, I must admit, I am failing quite miserably. Everything is good, seeing old friends, seeing family, 24 hour shopping, snow, so I will conclude this useless post here.

The End.

Vacation

And here I am, sitting in the kitchen, listening to Christmas music and enjoying being home!

After a good night's sleep last night, I am beginning to feel like my body and brain believe I'm in the right time zone. I'm still sick as a dog, but nothing a little bit of self-medication from my local self-serve drug store can't help. I ventured out today as I had a meeting at the University and enjoyed hearing English everywhere. Whenever I come back, it only ever lasts about a day but for one day I can't get over the fact that everyone in the stores, on the streets, on the , etc. speak English. It's as if they have created a whole country designed for English speakers, weird. Fortunatly my meeting was in French to assit me in easing into the change.

There's snow and sun and it's Christmas time!

I'm so happy!!

Now how it really went down.

I was worried my train to Charles de Gaulle would be late and somehow make me miss my plane. That was the least of my worries.

My ill-self made it to the airport with time to spare - and then I got flagged for security checks left right and centre. It's Ok though, I mean it's really a nice way to get to know each other. And then the fateful announcement "Steph's flight is delayed 4 hours".

:(

But I read my book quietly and time passed. Until I finished my book, and still had 4 hours of flight left. It's a really good book though, about time travel (yet not science fiction, I swear) called The Time Traveler's Wife. It was funny to read because when you fly from one place to another it always kind of feels like time travel to me. Something about going quickly to a place you aren't supossed to be. I don't know. In short: Read the book.

There was actually a later flight to my town out of New York (happy dance!) which turned out also to be delayed.........................and the size of a can of soup and in which we got to sped 3 hours on the group...so in the end, instead of getting home at 9:30 and dramatically surprising my family, I got home at 4 am and they all knew because I didn't want them to think there was some random chick breaking into their house.


But it was nice to wake up here this morning! And it's snowing!

T Minus 45 minutes

Until I'm out of town.

SO excited. I will publish this message tomorrow (inshallah) as my arrival this evening in Halifax is (hopefully) going to be a surprise for my family (minus my brother who knows because it's a pretty far walk from the airport to the city). It's funny to think I'm heading off to Paris, then stopping by New York before showing up at home. Traveling is so strange. As I was eating breakfast this morning, it occured to me that tonight, I'll be having dinner (more probably some wine) in the Hdot. Weird weird weird.

I am still ill, but some amount of excitement and copious amounts of tylenol will help me get through the day. I did actually sit down and figure out how often I can have tylenol without poisioning myself (it's complicated with all the time changes).

Wehehehehe. Did I mention I was excited?

I've attempted again to put a picture on this entry - if it shows up, it's a picture of the little Christmas tree that could. :)

The Plague

Once upon a time I woke up, got up, and then got back in bed because my legs couldn't hold myself up. I painfully managed to stumble to the doctor's office where he proceeded to prescribe me two days of bed rest (after telling me not to fall asleep in his office...but that solid oak desk looked so cozy).

I don't DO bed rest.

So periodically throughout the day I kept thinking I felt better, until I stood up, and then sat right back down.

Speaking of which....time to lay back down.

Potato Chip Cookies and other such nonesense

Potato Chip Cookies?

Yeah, that's how I felt when I first heard about them too. Apparently, it's an underground society, there are those that are in the potato chip cookie circle and then those of us on the outside just longing to be "in". I think I'm going to have to do it. I'm just going to have to whip up a batch of these bad boys this weekend. Although I might substitue the pecans for walnuts because my inside source claims it's walnuts or bust.

Christmas is drawing near and Monday night is my last Deutschkurz before the holidays. We are going to have a little Weihnachten celebration and I was nomiated to do something Canadian. I've been mulling (mmm...mulled wine....sorry I got distracted) this over, and quite frankly, what is more Christmas than cookies....of a Potato Chip variety? humm...it would seem everything is coming up Potato Chip Cookies tonight. Seriously though, the only thing that keeps going through my mind when evoking the Christmases of yore (Maybe I need to sleep?) ie my childhood, are those silly "Gingerbread" houses made with Graham crackers and mini-milk cartons. Maybe I teach my German class about those....

In other news, I managed to get myself to the gym TWICE so far this week and if everything proceeds according to my plans, I'll nip in for time number three tomorrow. Go team me! I guess I kind of let it slide there for a bit...."Who are you again? Are you suuurrrre you belong to THIS gym?" Which was followed by a "the only way we can suspend your gym membership while you are away is if you give us a photocopy of your grandmother's birth certificate and a blood sample". Maybe I'm over-exagerating a tad, but still, I paid to have a flexible gym membership and yet it remains so complicated. I'd hate to see what the less flexible options are like....

On the topic of helpful people, today, with my pal Susan we hit up the French Social Insurance Office to attempt to get her a SIN number. Not as easy as one may think. My last experience there was nothing but positive (very odd for a French government office). I had such a utopic vision of the place, I was actually nervous of returning for fear that my warm fuzzy feelings would vanish into thin air. Despite a rocky start involving "queue hopping", the chick was quite helpful and almost...understanding? Craziness I tell you.

Alright, off to start paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacccckkkkkkkkkkkiingggggggggg!!!!

I mean, it's not like I'm excited or anything.
You know, whatever.

PS. Nick have a safe trip!!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

I keep reading about all the snow that is plaguing my hometown in Canada. Oh snow, I beg you, please stick around until I get there! I'm coming as fast as I can!!

I'm overdue for an update, but I've been lacking inspiration recently. I'm getting ready for Christmas - the tree has been decorated. I'd post a picture, but I've come to accept that I'm never going to be able to post any pictures on this thing. But the little guy puts a smile on my face when I see him. I also have an advent wreath and something I'd never heard of before this year...an advent candle, which you can see in the picture above (It's the only picture I could find). Every day, instead of opening a little door and getting a chocolate, you get to light the candle and try to remember to put it out before it hits three days from now.

I'm going to a Christmas Party tonight (secret Santa and everything - although it is more of a challenge without Dollarama :) ) and yet again, I've been asked to make something festive and Canadian...so I'm making................Egg Nog.

Yes, Egg Nog can be home made. I made it once before in France, although I'm a bit skeptical with the raw eggs involved, I figure it can't be worse than Steak Tartar, can it?

I'm also going to make some Fruit Punch. I really want to make the ice ring with the red and green maraschino cherries in it, but my lack of freezer is just not going to allow for that.

Alright, off to find all the ingredients. Have a good one!

It's December!

...and so much is in the works. I'm cooking up quite the pot of excitement (this isn't an expression is it? I'm a little bit sick - it might be all the hardcore cough medicine) with a few interesting projects but I don't want to share any of them yet because I'm greedy. Or I don't want to get my hopes up :)

So instead, I'll share a great recipie I made the other day. I was asked to cook something "American"....I was trying to think of something kind of different that my European/African/Asian friends had never had...and so I made...Jambalaya I used that recipie as a base, but I doctored it up a bit to suit my fancy. It was really good.

Also, in my quest to make decent Chocolate Chip Cookies in this country, I tried a new recipie which worked out "quite well" - and I used Smarties instead of Chocolate Chips but if anyone has tried and true recipie I would love to have it. I never have a problem making cookies in Canada but for some reason everything I make here is a bit giant FAIL.

Ok, time to do the laundry that I've been avoiding for the past little while. Have a great day!

I miss Sunday shopping

It is so snowing here. How excited am I. At first, it was the giant snowflakes that any self-respecting Canadian knows will never amount to any snow on the ground. We then had the transition to light flurries and I think the precipitation now could even be described as light snow. Wehehehe.

Maybe I went outside and danced in the street.

Several times.

:)

It's hard to follow up such a stellar post, but I'll do my best :D
(I still haven't figured out what's wrong with my pictures, but I digress)

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. I was walking around yesterday minding my own business and what to my wondering eyes did appear - but a giant ferris wheel and a Christmas market. Yes, that's right folks, the cutesy Christmas market opened up for my shopping pleasure circa yesterday. Word on the street is that the early opening is to lure the English tourists in, apparently this weekend is the last weekend that they come to visit prior to the big day (Christmas). I usually hold out until December to meddle with deocrations and whatnot, but since I'm going home (IN ONE MONTH!!! You know, whatever) I want to cash in on the holiday goodness while I'm still here. My decorations are sitting in a little corner awaiting the first tree I can get my hands on. I don't know if I could really put one up in November though...but come December 1st, everything is fair game my friends.

Stockholm

Sverige

Let me take the time to tell you a little story. I was flying out of Beauvais (RyanAir's "Paris" Airport). To get there from my place involves taking the train to Paris, crossing Paris by subway and then getting a bus that goes directly to the airport. Being my anal self, I'd left a window of an hour and a half to get from Gare du Nord to Porte Maillot.

Less than ten minutes into the train journey, there is an announcement; "Due to a technical problem, we're going to have to take the old route, at non-TGV speeds and will be 1.5 hours late". Our train that usually goes at superhuman speeds, slowed down to normal speed and meant : No bus! The next bus out of Porte Maillot was too late to catch our plane. After panicing a little bit, a Plan B was concocted. Take a train from Gare du Nord to Beauvais and then take a taxi to the airport. I have to admit, it was the first time I could truely appreciate the usefulness of internet on a cell phone. The timing was all very tight, the tickets for Beauvais would have to be bought on the train. The orginal train arrived a bit earlier than expected leaving enough time to buy the tickets and some crossword puzzles as I'd exhausted all my distractions during the 2.5 hour train trip. Upon arrival to Beauvais, I finally relaxed. There was more than enough time to make the 5 km trip to the airport. At the taxi stand there was no taxi to be had. Call the number on the sign "The next available taxi will be in 20 mins". Another taxi drives by. "Please take us, we beg you". Answer "Oh, no, I'm not allowed to take you to the airport, there's a white cab around that can do it". One taxi to the airport. Excellent. I checked the bus stop, the bus to the airport came at the same time as our train had arrived and the next one was in an hour and a half. Half an hour passed.

I saw a happening vacation in Beauvais.

By this time, we'd started chatting with another guy trying to get to the airport. He was heading to Poland to play a gig with his band. Nice guy. But was clearly stressed, especially noticable when he reached into his bag and pulled out a giant bottle of sweet wine and took a big swig. Classy. I almost grabbed that bottle out of his hands (he did offer), and then I saw it, a city bus going to the airport. We jumped on. It took the longest route possible, and only after circling the airport 5 times did it see fit to actually stop at the airport. But we made it. Just.

I couldn't believe it when I realised I was on the plane. But all the better as I am terrified of flying.

The trip was awesome. Go to Stockholm. Now. It's a really cool city.

I'll try and post some pictures later today.

Quantam Solace

Last night, I went to see my good friend 007. It was only as I was trying to find the name of the actor that I realised it was actually released here before in North America. Strange. Yesterday was a less than excellent day, so you can only imagine my delight when someone called inviting me out to play. Back to the movie. The Bond connaisseurs that I went with claimed that the film was much more complicated that they might have liked. Complicated, I don't know. The premise remains the same, get the bad guys, get the girls. Very complicated. The talk about Canada! Go team Canada!

My meeting went well. I walked in to meet with the nicest French civil servant I have ever met in my life. He talked to me like I was a human being. I'd even forgotten to fill out one paper and he gave me a pen and let me do it right then and there. Talk about the generosity. My favourite part of the whole meeting:

Him: "Donc, voilà, il faut mettre votre nom et prénom..." Alright, so just put your last name and first name here
Me: "D'accord" Ok
Him: "Et puis tu n'as qu'à signe...ahh...pardon *turning red*, vous n'avez qu'à signer là" And then you (informal you) just have to si...ahhh...sorry *turning red* ...you (formal you) just have to sign here

I was so pleased to have a native born French person working in the French administration mess up his "tu" and "vous". It made me feel better about myself.

Today I have the day off (I like having random Thursdays off) and I've got plans of studying German hardcore, reading my book Pourquoi ai-je dit oui si vite ?, maybe a bit of Christmas shopping and getting ready for the big trip this weekend. Wehehehehehe!!!

Today is the big day!

...I'm going to the préfecture for my meeting re: residency. I have 800 photocopies of everything they asked for and a few other things arranged alphabetically by date (is that possible?) Currently, I'm just sipping on some coffee trying to calm my nerves. Coffee is known for that, calming people down....

In other news, my über-Studiousness totally came through for the team. Last night at German Class, Teach was all "Steph, why don't you go first?" and I was all "Just watch me." It actually went own almost nothing like that. It as an awesome class. I really enjoy the people in that class and it's nice to be on equal footing with people, because either I'm struggling (French) or excelling (not-written English..my Grade 12 teacher wanted to fail me for my spelling, but I try so hard, I really do...I don't have English spell check...).

As well, over the weekend, I went to see a movie I quite liked. I'm not a cineophile by any means and in fact quite rarely catch something on the big screen. I wanted to go see a French movie about Education in the Suburbs of Pairs (Entre les murs), but then read the book and realised the film would probably anger me. Enough of the digressions, I ended up seeing The Visitor, in English of course. I'll let you read about the movie yourself, but basically it's a reaction to immigration laws in the USA. Being in a country that is currently reforming all of the immigration laws, it's an interesting watch. (Can I even say that?) The main actor is fantastic. All in all I left not angered by the ridculous price they charged me to go see it.

Ok, must go start putting on my face for the dreaded encounter with the authorities.

Happy Election Day to all you Americans out there!

I'm the worst student ever

For the past hour, I've been trying to do some of my German work for my class tomorrow. We didn't have class last week because it was school holidays in France, but it's back to the books on Monday. Naturally, I had this vision of becomming fluent in German last week which was about as successful as the Titanic. (Is that appropriate?) I just recieved my coursebook in the mail this week, so I thought if nothing else, I could read over the lesson for tomorrow so that I appear a little less clueless than usual (Although it might take away from some people's enjoyment of the class - look at Steph trying to figure all this stuff out.) Maybe it's where I sit in the class, but whenever I only half understand something, our instructor always turns to me and says "Why don't you begin?". I give it my best go to fail miserably much the the evident dismay of the instructor. I think she keeps hoping that if she asks me enough times, I might get it. hehe. She also likes to ask me translations of German words into English, but when I'm just barely keeping my head above water to understand the German and have French in my head, I'm hopeless to throw in a third language. "Steph, how do you say Buch in English?" "Uhhhhhh...." *in my head* It's not livre, It's not livre, What is the stupid word???

My good resolution for tomorrow then mainly involves prelearning a bunch of vocabulary. I'm sitting here with a mug of warm cofee, leo.org open on my web browser and have sucessfully looked up about 6 words. Wow. Model student here.

So to continue avoiding my Fertigkeitstraining, time to bring you up to date on the exciting happenings in my life over the past week.
.
.
.
.
Yup. All that

Nah, for Hallowe'en, I saw French Trick-or-Treaters for the first time. Granted they were not in the city, I was in the small little village and there were all these Ghost and Goblins running rampant. Actually they were all Vampires and Witches and they were walking quite calmly on the sidewalk. I was invited to my Polish friend's Friday night. I said "Ah great, a Hallowe'en party" She said "It's Halloween?". Oopps. So we had a Polish-Canadian-Mexican-French UnHallowe'en Party. (Like Alice in Wonderland...Happy UnBirthday?) Well there was some Vodka and Orange Juice, I guess that kind of fits into the general festive colour theme. I also broke out my Jack-O'Lantern socks. I like to walk on the wild side, what can I say?

I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but.....I'll be home for Christmas!! Yay!! I bought my ticket and mid-December I'm out of here. It's fun to think that next month, I'll be in Canada. I even have a new and exciting flight route. I'm used to flying through Montreal or Toronto, but this time I'm flying through New York. Too bad I won't have time to visit the city. But I'm excited! Before then though, ie. next week, I'm going to Sweden! Yay for adventure.

Ok. I'm really going to hit the books. For real this time.

Maybe.

There is that recipe I wanted to look up on Allrecipes.com...... :)

Back from the South...

This time yesterday, I was enjoying a drink on a patio in 20 some degree weather. Today it is cold and miserable. How appropriate. I was woken from of my deep sleep filled with pleasant dreams of bright blue skies and pink flamingos to a fierce downpour.

The south was fantastic. I felt as if I was transported into the carefree days of summer for 48 hours. I'd like to post some pictures of the Mediterranean (It's the second time I've seen it!) and what not, but I first have to find the cable for the camera that isn't even mine to begin with. We'll see what we can do...

I danced in the morning when the world had begun....

I am the Lord of the dance. Or I will be, this evening when I go Irish dancing (Side note: I'm typing with one hand as I dry my hair and my snail's pace is killing me). I'm hoping the festivities will measure up to a Cape Breton Square Dance. I alreay know the average age will be about 40 years younger...so that can't be bad. I also hope my enegy will hold up. It was a great feat to get out of bed this morning. Not even the annoying voices of the morning show were enough to get me up. I could have sworn that I was woken up with a voice saying "Win a free trip for two to Acadia". I guess I'm homesick, because they actually said, "Win a free trip for two to Ajadir". Not quite the same stellar location. I almost want to write to the radio station and complain, this morning they played the exact same song at the exact same time as yesterday. Granted, the radio station in question (the only one I can get clearly through my alarm clock) has a vast selection of about 5 songs. Still, changing it up a bit, say, one song per day, would that be so tough to manage?

Yesterday, during a sudden burst of house cleaning, I put up all my Hallowe'en decorations. I have a giant Frakenstein cut out, all cartoon-y and happy that I was going to put on my door, but I was afraid the neighbours might shun me more than they already do. I opted for Frankie on my living room wall and put a slightly more subdude hanging on my door. Hallowe'en is odd in France. It was artifically introduced as a Hallmark holiday like 5 or 6 years ago, it caught on for about 2 years and then died off again. You see the odd pumpkin or witch's broom, and there are a few costume parties (although the general theme is tradionally Hallowe'en gear; vampires, witches, monster, no so much the funny clever costumes I love). Anyways, I still like putting up decorations and eating candy, so if you are looking for a place to Trick-or-Treat, drop by chez moi.

Glück oder unglück ?

And here I am, ending my day just where I started it. Except this time instead of smelling coffee, it's an apple crisp, crisping right up.

I don't even know how to best write about my day. So here we go:

8:00 Leave house and go to do last minute photocopies, no problem.

8:12 Get on subway direction Préfecture, everything is perfect timing to get there for opening

8:14 The subway stops. It's not going anywhere. A helpful message is pumped through the car informing us it's not going anywhere.

8:24 The subway moves again. Horrah. It stops at the next station (one station before mine), the doors close, it pulls out and stops again. For another 10 minutes. boo.

I eventually arrive at the Préfecture, where there is a line out the door and around the corner filled with other first thing in the morning Monday go-getters like myself. Somehow, I managed to get to the front of it in time. Not quite sure how that happened. Everyone before me in line was told there were no openings until Jan 13th. One on Novemeber 4th surfaced for me. I took it and ran. She didn't even ask me for the paper they refused to give me an appointment over last time.

I had to rush back to the train station to get my train. Make it to the subway station, what luck, the subway is there. And it stays there. And is not moving, because now it's broken going the other direction. Great. Miss train. Run across town, catch next train.

Happily sitting in the train, have the beginnings of an asthma attack. (Perhaps stress related...) Puffer is most definitely in the box on the third shelf in the bathroom. People around me are starring at me. I consume about 25 ricolas hoping somehow they will make the coughing stop.

Late for work. Break the photocopier. Once I fix it, I run out of photocopying credits.

Miss train back home, which means I missed going to the gym. Get later train, back in town grab the subway back home only to hear the message "Effective immediately and until further notice there is no more service to the station you have to be at tomorrow morning at 8:30". Thanks jerkish subway. I'll just take my car. Oh wait, I don't have one. Jerk.

Get to my station only to be asked for my ticket which is at the bottom of my bag...but which one? (Bag, computer bag and gym bag). After pouring out half of my life onto the ground eventually find tiny little piece of paper necessary to get scary-looking Tranist official off my back.

Go to German class (am late, of course). The lights freakishly go out for no reason in the middle of class and we are left declining adjectives in the dark. The lights come back on and she announces the theme of the day...

Glück oder unglück ? (Good luck or bad luck?)

What a strange day!

A little blog entry before the craziness of the week catches up to me (and apparently before the sunrises! When does time change again?)

I had a good weekend. Saturday night, I had a meeting with some French friends. I remembered once again why I feel often so confused.

Friend 1: "I really think we should use the red seeing as how red really portrays the message we are trying to get across"
Friend 2: "I hear you. I ran into an old lady yesterday who was trying to make soup."
Friend 1: "That's very interesting that you bring that up because I bought a new shower curtain."
Friend 2: "It's so totally important to not forget that aspect of things which is why I'm going on holiday to Spain"

I guess the point of the matter is that despite the fact that I understood all the words, I had trouble with the thinking processes. Maybe one day, I'll get to throw in my own two cent...imes. I can only hope..

Before going to work this morning, I'm going to venture by everyone's favourite place. I'll give you a hint, it begins with a P and ends with a réfecture. One of the reasons for the bad mood at the end of last week, I stood in line during the only mutually convient slot of time I had in the next eight months and I got rejected....TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! Not that I'm bitter. Really, I'm dealing with it quite while. But after all the games I went through to get my visa in the first place, I'm just a little sensitive is all. So I have bout 35 minutes this morning and here's to hoping I might actually get something done. Before my visa runs out. But whatever...

Alright, I must go now to line up in front of that gate. Lates.

One night of bowling and sleeping in until 10:30 (!!!!) makes the world seem a lot better. Especially since there is coffee and fresh croissants in the immediate future.

I'm fed up.

I'm in a really bad mood. This past week has been spent fighting with 109372389752 different people to try and get anything done.

I'm sick of it.

Maybe I should go get some sleep....

Insomnia strikes again

so I'm doing what anyone else would do. I'm watching that minute hand on the clock slowly tick and mentally counting how many less minutes of sleep I'm getting tonight. Ok, that may be a lie. I'm actually making a cake. Well, muffins really. I got these cool silicon muffin cups for my birthday and haven't had a chance to use them so I thought the inagural muffin making should take place on a Tuesday night. They smell pretty good...coconut....and I figure, nothing like a warm muffin and some herbal tea to send me off to sleep.

One of the reasons I'm WIDE awake it because I have so many exciting things coming up. In a mere two weeks, I'm heading to Montpellier (circa this evening)! I haven't been to the South of France since maybe 2003? I've heard good things about the city and am looking forward to seeing it and meeting up with some people there. Two weeks following that is my trip northward to Stockholm and it is being rounded off in December by a trip home for the holidays (which has just been booked). Pair all of that off with some other fun things happening here in the city over the next little while and I'd just go so far as to say things are looking good!

Hello from Sunny (!!) Normandy

I'm in Normandy this weekend to enjoy the sun. Perhaps that wasn't the principle reason for my trip but it is quite enjoyable all the same.

In order to venture to this neck of the woods, Friday night, following work, I grabbed a train to Paris. Man, I admire all the people who live in Paris...there are TOO many people for me. Just after getting off the train I was overwhelmed by the crowds of people rushing every where. I had ample time to get to where I needed to be and yet I was filled with this sense of urgency and despite my best efforts began panicing, so much so, that I almost got on the Metro going the wrong way. Despite my little mishap, I got to the second train station with time to spare, so what did I do? Like everyone who lives outside of Paris and only rarely visits the capital, I went to Starbucks. I was weak. It's over priced. But their sweet nectar can sooth a homesick soul like it's nobody's buisness. I saw something funny at Starbucks and felt very alone, perhaps because I was chuckling to myself and all the fancy Parisians were looking at me "Oh la la she iz a littel craz-ee". Starbucks prides itself not only on selling espresso based beverages (although many French people go there for the petit cafes) but also on their American treats. Amongst the muffins, giant cookies, chesse cake and scones were....pancakes. In the refrigerator case. All lined up, just like cookies. Ready "to go". Typically American. I know I go to Starbucks to get my pancake fix. :)

Tuesday is a Federal Election in Canada. This is clearly big international news since no one I've talked to knew...heck, no one could even name the current Prime Minister of Canada. I mean he's such a looker and everything how could he go un noticed! One person claims to have heard the election mentioned as an after thought on the news one Thursday afternoon at about 3 pm. So maybe there is this giant international economic crisis going on, but who knows, Canada just might be hiding the answer and no one would ever know....

It's Tuesday already? How did that happen?

I'm looking forward to tomorrow night. I'm putting on my dancing shoes and painting this town red thanks to a jive dance class/evening. I've been working on my moves all day. I just don't understand why everyone in the street was looking at me so funny!

I made my maple roast turkey from a few posts ago for dinner on Sunday. It was fab and will hopefully blow my dinner guests away this weekend. I also made a fantastic tiramisu for dessert which involved hand whipping eggs whites and was great for the workout alone. What's that? You'd like a copy of the recipe? Not a problem!


Tiramisu....Ch'ti

250 g Marscapone
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp of sugar

Mix together.

Beat 3 egg whites until peaks form and gently stir the egg white into the first mixture.

Line a dish with one layer Speculoos cookies (or Gingersnaps), followed by a layer of the cream, followed by a layer of Speculoos followed by a layer of cream. Let it sit overnight. Enjoy.


Mmmm.....I'm going to need to do A LOT of dancing.

What a fantastic week - I was right to be excited about it on Monday. I finished it off by a great night out last night. I finally feel like I'm beginning to find my place in this city and it's a great feeling. I guess it's the longest I've been in one situation (city, apartment, job, etc) for quite a while and there is something to be said about a little bit of stability. :D

Alright, off to the gym and to find a cute outfit for next weekend's Thanksgiving celebrations.

And now it's October...

I've spent a lot of time on the subway/train/tram recently which gives me tons of time for people watching. What I've noticed is some very luscious locks. My attention was drawn yesterday to this gorgeous black hair, perfectly coloured, perfectly straightened with not even one tiny little fly away. I saw nicely manicured hands brushing the hair off the owner's face. I was so taken with the hair that I didn't pay any attention to its owner.

It was a guy. Guys are not supposed to have nicer hair than me.

In other news, I'm (still) TB free since '83! I had a medical appointment yeterday with the French goverment to prove my TB free status and I passed the test. Granted, I was quite concerned seeing as how I have done 3 TB tests in the past 2 years. I'm one step closer now to getting my Residency Permit which will be nice. When I first came I was exempted from getting one which was short term gain for long term pain. Soon it will be cleared up though. It's always fun going to these places though. You get a very serious looking letter (usually one day before you are expected to be there) with an address and a time and a very clear message "DO NOT BE LATE. LATENESS WILL NOT BE EXCUSED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE". This scares the beejesus out of a lot of people so yesterday for instance, for an appointment at 1:30 pm, everyone was there by 1:10 pm. The lateness message does not concern the people that work there. Around 1:45 pm they meander over to the door (oh, we are all huddled outside in the cold) and consider opening it. It's not like my time matters or anything.

Now, I just have to sit and wait for my next letter. It's kind of like being 007 or something, I'm ready to go at a moment's notice just awaiting my next mission.

Maybe I need some sleep :D

Just grabbing a few podcasts for my iPod

I don't know if I mentioned my iPod before. I resisted. I really resisted. As a gift, I got a discman in 2001. I refused to let go of it, despite all the mocking. It wouldn't break and I didn't want to replace something that worked perfectly fine. Until the day someone wanted to give me an iPod for free. Not only is the iPod approximately 1/10th of the size of my discman but it weighs about 1/25th of what the discman weighed. I converted. What can I say? I'm a slave to society.

It's 6:30 am and I'm very pumped for this week. I can't quite remember the last time I woke up on a Monday morning just excited for the week. I've got lots of interesting things going on, beginning of course with Deutsch heute Abend. I even did my homework like a good student.

Yesteday, I cooked a "practice" turkey dinner composed of roasted chicken, garlic mashed spuds, stuffing, veg, cranberries and mustard pickles (Yes, I realise a key element of turkey dinner is missing). I'm cooking "real" (as opposed to practice) turkey dinner for Thanksgiving in two weeks. It was pretty good if I do say so myself, and next week, I'm going to try Maple Roast Turkey for the Canadian touch.

Also this weekend I booked tickets for a trip to......SWEDEN! I'm excited. We're going in Novemeber (nothing like Sweden in the winter, that's what I say). I'm very attracted to everything in the north of Europe. Maybe it's just because a winter without snow isn't a winter to me? I don't know.

Time to head out. Take care.

Le whoops.

I kinda fell off the face of the earth this week. It was a busy week doing busy things...but it's the weekend and it's SUNNY!! (It's rarely sunny in this neck of the woods) so I'm not going to spend any more time writing this because I'm going outside.

Mooooooooooooooontag!

It's Monday! The sun isn't even up yet. jerk. I thought this dark morning buisness didn't start until November. Oh well.

I had a fantastic weekend. It was "European Heritage Days" something I've heard lots about but have never actually been in France for. A bunch of historic and cultural monuments are open to the public for free. Somethings, such as L'Elysée in Paris, are opened especially for these days and some other things have special things happening such as photo exhibitions and what not. I checked out the Fine Arts Museum here in town which I was afraid I just might never ever get around to going to (I had planned to go about 2342 times over the summer and never quite pulled through for the team). The art was great but the building itself was gorgeous! I also admired all the giant paintings (ie. a entire wall) and for the first time ever wondered about the logistics of painting such big paintings. There were even a few Monets hidden in there. :)

Yesterday, I went to the Mosque down the road. It was really nice inside - it used to be a church and then had been renovated but some of the orginal windows were still there. Afterwards, it was time for the Buddist Temple where we met with some Tibetan Buddist monks and had the oppurtunity to take part in a meditation. I wanted to visit the synagogue as well - it wasn't touched during the war so it has all its original furnishings inside - however you needed to have tickets and I didn't realise this until it was too late to get tickets. Another time.

Now it's time to get to work ;)

La foire aux vins 2008!

Back to school in France also means time for the wine fair! Basically, all of the big supermarkets bring in extra and different wines and everything is sold by the case instead of the bottle (well, you can buy it by the bottle if you want to be looked down at). In some places, tents are set up outside (Move over garden centre) in order to display all the winey-goodness. If you have a wine cellar it is the time of year to stock up.

My favourite part of the whole thing is the flyers. They give you very specific suggestions of how to best consume these wines. For example;

This fruity red wine is ready to drink right away but, for those able to wait a few years, it will develop a more complex and elegant taste. In fact, it would be wise to have enough in your wine cellar to take advantage of its present taste as well as slowly follow the evolution of the wine! Serve it with grilled beef or a strawberry soup. Quite specific.

This is a thirst-quenching dry white wine which you can feel free to break open for a before dinner drink. If there is any left, serve it with ravioli or lasagna. This is one of the rare wines able to hold its own against artichokes. Those spiteful artichokes, always trying to boss wine around...

A few non-French wines made the cut believe it or not! Everyone's favourite Yellow Tail is in there too....

Let's make the effort to discover how wine is made elsewhere. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon, the same grape found in the Médoc region but planted on the other side of the world. Only the final taste of orange reveals that it is not a French wine, or from a particularly good year.... Ouch.

However, the author does suggest trying it because "curiosity is not a bad thing". That's a pretty big step. Understandably so, the French are fairly territorial about wine - and with reason - their wine is fantastic. I do wonder however if the author of all the blurbs wrote them after tasting them all.... :)

I heart languages.

I've decided to take a language class this year as a "fun activity". I mean, I already have my 4 daily sudokus from the free newspapers (ie. metro, etc) but I'd like to get out there and meet some new people and whanot. I'm kind of sad that there aren't as many available "Rec Centre" activities because everything I've found is pretty pricy. The rec centre in my neighbourhood does offer a few classes but they are mainly aimed towards people who don't work in the afternoon.

So anyways, for me to pick a language to study is like asking a French person to pick their favourite type of cheese. Chinese? Polish? Spanish? Continue with Russian? Dutch? (Belgium is not far!) German? Panic sets in.

German kind of stuck out for me. I've studied German in the past so it would be the least frustrating (probably). I also have some German friends I would like to visit in Germany. For the German class you had to take an evaluation test to see which level class you should take. So my ability to take the class sort of depended on my ability in German because certain days work better for me. I showed up and asked about the evaluation. The lady sat me down with a bunch of other people doing a test (it was written, I had assumed it would be a spoked test...oops) and hands me one. I look down....it was in English. As much as my ego would have liked to have rocked that test, I asked her for the German one. When I went to get my results she asked me how I found the Spanish test. Part of my desire to take the class is to meet people. Am I the only person in this city who wants to speak German?!

Sure, following my visit to the Hofbraühaus in Munich (Where beer is exclusively sold by the litre) I was convinced I spoke fluent German (liquid dictionary), however it turns out I remember a lot more German than I thought! I'm so psyched, but I have to work pretty hard because I'm going into a level slightly higher than I am, but I'm sure it will come back.

At least I get to ease myself into this working lifestyle...

I have today off :) Yesterday was more about photocopying papers, signing papers and generally proving my existence; less about working. You don't hear me complaining.

I bought an agenda to help organize my time off...err..my life. One thing I found interesting was the section to write addresses/phone numbers. A different importance is attributed to letters than I would have given them. For example, in Halifax, you need to have a big "M" section for all the various "Mac"s and "Mc"s. In another area of Canada I've lived in, you need a giant "V" section for all the "Van"s. In my agenda "MN" has a dismal little page as does "UV" however "L" has all the place in the world. Too bad I only know ONE person with an L last name (who happens to be French...)

Alright, it's a beautiful sunny day out there. Time to wrap myself up in a winter coat, scarf, hat and mitts (Yes, I've seen hat and mits!!) to be sufficently prepared for this chilly 18 degree weather.

Wearing white after labour day and other such follies

I'm trying to do a good solid cleaning of the appartment. Not that I live in squalor, or anything but you know, those boxes of things that I haven't looked at since I moved but yet managed to take up clutter place in my brain. It is September after all, prime time for resolutions, especially since I'm beginning a new job on Monday. Not only am I going to have a spic and span place, but I'm also going to eat nothing but fresh fruit and vegetables, live at the gym, and generally be a superhuman.

Or not :)

Today, I went for coffee. I went to the place across from the "usual" spot. You know, for a change. It was so strange...EVERYONE was speaking English. A boisterous group of native English speaking exchange students, an English girl with a Dutch guy. The only people not speaking English were speaking German. Where am I again?

I felt much less special :)

Grocery shopping

This time difference stuff is making no sense to me. I was wide awake at 7 am this morning...which is 2 am at home which in theory means I should have been really really tired, no? Especially since I went to bed around 3 am. Or was it 4 ?

Anyhow, this morning, I decided to head over to my grocery store to do my week's shopping. I did my best to fit right in with my attire (I was wearing jogging pants. In France. Sometimes I foget about these things) and my Compliments reusable shopping bag. There was something wrong in the grocery store. There were all these extra people. 4 foot 7 and under. Hummm...then I remembered! Beginning this year, the wee ones no longer go to school on Saturday mornings (which always seemed like cruel and unusual punishment to me). There were all thess distressed parents with kids running rampant. It was quite the sight.

I love the autumn...

..when it begins. Which this year is, according to a random internet site is September 22nd. France apparently didn't get the memo.

Let me set the scene...

Having just returned to France and feeling pretty out of sorts, on the advice of a good friend, I get my act together to go for a walk. It was pouring rain this morning, but this afternoon Mr. Sun came out. I checked Yahoo Météo! and the weather informed me that it was 18 degrees so I dressed accordingly...............if I were in Halifax. I forgot that summer is cancelled the minute school goes back. So me, wandering around with my brightly coloured summer clothes was in vast contrast to the shades of grey, coats and SCARVES that everyone else was wearing.

This is what happens when you are from a place that milks summer for all it is worth.

In other news, I will return to being a productive memeber of society on Monday. I wonder if I remember how? :) Don't worry, I'll be on vacation soon enough...

The girl is back in towwwwwwwwn...

I made it back last night at about 4 pm, after a mad dash between lightining bolts and crazy rain to my place. My flights were more or less uneventful except landing in Paris when one of the overhead bins flew open and everyone screamed. No one was injured thankfully.

The most difficult of all was getting back to my city. I had to go from the airport into Paris because my keys were in Paris. I rendez-voused with my keys and then hiked back across the city to my train station. Naturally only 1 out of every 5 automatic ticket machines were working and the train ticket prices kept changing. Oh the SNCF...

I couldn't fall asleep last night, so now it's 12, feels like the middle of the night and I have stuff I was supossed to do this morning. Ooops :)

Ok, off to making myself useful.

My bags are packed for real this time.

I'm leaving in a mere four hours. Instead of taking care of those last few things, I'm writing a blog message. This is called procrastination, my friends.

Yesterday, I finally got to see where my father works. They recently built a new building and I'd never been around at the right time to see it. Dad was very pleased to go back to work after hours, I could tell :) It was super impressive though, like any new building is. It's on the other side of the harbour, right near the ferry terminal. The whole thing was designed to be a) environmentally friendly and b) look cool. It's very open and as part of the green aspect of things they attempted to maximize natural light. Granted, I was there at night, so the naturally light was kept to a minimum.... One entire side of the building is windows, facing the city and even at night it is such a gorgeous view! There is a little bit of wind off the water but it is also refreshing..? Perhaps a little less so in the winter.

During my trip to my grandmother's last week, I also came home with roughly 1000 lbs of plums. I made plum jam. You couldn't even tell I had touched them, that's how little the dent in them was. Last night, I made Plum Pie. I've never had a plum pie before....isn't there something about Little Jack Horner, sitting the corner eating his curds and whey...I mean Plum Pie :) or is it Christmas Pie? All I know is there is a pie with plums in that rhyme somewhere! And yet, there still seems to be just as many plums left....

Ok, next stop, France! :)

And then vacation was over....

This morning, my passport returned to me in the mail. Then my plane ticket got itself booked (well, perhaps I was instrumental in that...). I'm leaving on Wednesday, with a small little FIVE HOUR stop over in Montreal. But whatever. I knew my sojourn at my parents house would come to as abrupt a stop as it began and yet it still took me by surprise.

In an attempt to calm my nerves a bit, I got my hair cut. I was in bad need of an update to the 'doo. However, in my weakness I agreed to all sorts of crazy things including bangs. I haven't been a part of the bang scene since I was roughly 7 years old. I like the look however I can already foresee the upkeep all of this will require. Why is there no gain without pain? Why? :)

Alright, off to pack my bags (why does it feel like I just did that about 10 seconds ago?) before everyone's favourite event.....Chocolate Milk Monday! ;)

Still no papers.....but I have a 10lb zucchini!

The biggest zucchini I've ever seen. I took a picture of it on my old school camera but as I don't have a digital camera I can't share it with cyberspace yet. Out at my Grandmother's it was prime produce season, the summer's weather having somehow made everything late. I couldn't get over the size of the zucchini and ended up being sent home with it. I also returned with enough plums to feed a small army. I made my first ever batch of jam today, I'm excited to see how it will turn out! The anticipation is killing me.

Must go watch some chick flick. ;)

Super Trooper beams are going to blind me...

Oh yes I did. I went to Mamma Mia.....sing-a-long edition. In my typical popular culture lacking ways, I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen (although perhaps "happen" is a big word) but it was great! How can Abba make you sad? How can people dressing in Abba-styled clothes make you sad? It can't!!!

Besides that, I made the cake my brother asked me too. However he kept calling it Torte when a more apt description would be CHEESECAKE!! Yummy. I'm pick when it comes to cheesecake (I don't like it too dense, but too gelatinous is no good either)

Here's my version of the recipe.

"Torte"
Heat the oven to 450.
You can use a springform pan if you are fancy, if you are like moi, knock yourself out with a pie plate.

1/2 c. butter
3 times 1/3c. sugar
1 c. flour
250 g Cream cheese
1 egg
vanilla to taste
cinnamon to taste
4-5 sliced apples
sliced almonds

1. Beat butter, 1/3 c. sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour, mix well and spread into the bottom of the pan.

2. Beat cream cheese, 1/3 c. sugar until blended. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Spread over the bottom layer.

3. Combine 1/3 c. sugar and cinnamon, toss with apples. Place apples on top and sprinkle with sliced almonds.

4. Bake for 10 mins, reduce temperature to 375 and continue baking for about 1/2 hour. Let cool a few hours before serving, store in the refrigerator.


Next time I make this, I'd make double the cream cheese layer, half the bottom layer, add more apples and use brown sugar instead of white on the top layer. But it is good as is. :)

Alright, today I'm off to see my Grandmother out in the country. It's a beautiful day today (which will not last as a Hurricane is most definitely in our future...). Where's my Abba CD...I'll need that for the ride ;)

Team Food Network.

Still in Hali. Still waiting....but I've been having a gourmet experience. :)

I've neglected to put up some recipes here for awhile, so let me share a few.

When my family came over the other night, we had my favourite (and simple...I like simple) Sangria which we served in a lovely punch bowl. It's easy as pie but usually goes over fairly well.

I was in charge of dessert, so I made Clafoutis, a French dessert (I must live vicariously through my food at this point). Usually it is made with fresh cherries, however I subbed in about a cup of blueberries that were laying around and some fresh sweet delicious peaches (I cut up about 5 small peaches).

There are several ways of making this, but again, I went for simple...

Clafoutis (All of this is approximate):

1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/3 cup (or so...to taste really) granulated white sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
some random amount of vanilla extract that looks about right.

Preheat the oven to 375. The fruit goes on the bottom of a pie pan, mix all of the above ingredients and pour it over the fruit. Stick it in the oven and after ten minutes turn it down to 350. Cook until ready (And I just don't understand why people don't like my directions...:) About half an hour more). It should be puffed up souffle style and slightly browned. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes to set. Delish.

There are schools of Clafoutis thought that enjoy layering the fruit and sprinkling some sugar right on the top (and sometimes another layer in the middle), but this is what works for me. I find French desserts in general are a lot less sugar-y than their Canadian counterparts. So it depends what you are in the mood for :)

Last night, I was invited for some pulled-pork quesadillas. I did actually acquire the recipe for the fabulous pulled-pork that starred in our entree however I neglected to get quite so far as to bring it home. Ok, so I secretly want to be invited back for left-overs. I admit it. We also had fantastic Carrot Cake...cream cheese icing...mmmmmm....that was made with Apple Sauce(the cake not the cream cheese icing...I got distracted by the icing....). I've always been hesitant about the low-fat substitution of apple sauce in oil cakes, however, I'm going to look into it a little bit more. We even watched a food-themed show, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. It's this crazy British chef who goes into restaurants, berates the chefs/kitchen staff for their less-than-par effort and then attempts to aid them in transforming their joint. I can see more of this in my future.

In continuing with the foody theme, today I went out for lunch at Jane's on the Common. I've always wanted to go there and I was so happy I painfully got out of bed this morning (I slept in, I NEVER sleep in) to make it there for lunch. Mmmm...

For the record, I followed lunch by the gym ;) I'm trying hard to be virtuous!! :)

Alright, time to go bake a cake. Wait, that's hardly virtuous. My younger brother however greeted me home with a recipe in hand saying "I hear this isn't too hard to make...". I can't let down the team :)

Where in the world is Carmen Sandieago?

And now here I am at my parents' house. I flew in last night (dodging lightning bolts as we landed). My family was actually there to greet me, very uncharacteristic of them however greatly appreciated.

One downside of being home. Whenever we go out, I must make the effort to look good because people I have not seen for 5 years can pop out from behind any door, grocery store aisle, potted plant....

Case in point: Today, Mom and I go down the road to pick up a few odds and ends for our soiree this evening. As we are debating over peaches and plums out of nowhere a little voice "Stephanie?". It was my childhood best friend's mother. I don't think I've seen her for well over 10 years. Well let me tell you, I was happy that I had decided to brush my hair before heading down to the Farmers' Market (Ok...maybe my definition of "making an effort" is slightly different from other people's...*g*)

Today's been a pretty relaxed day what with being a holiday and all. My cousin and her Dutch boyfriend (who we visited in Holland a few months back) are moving to town today so post ditching the U-Haul they are coming over here for a party...in the kitchen...a bit of a Kitchen Party if you will ;) I'm looking forward to seeing them and reminiscing about that time that I had a fixed address....

In other news, my mother just shared a Sangria-induced philosophic outlook with me "Steph....your life will never feel like everything is in place". My mother was never one to sugar coat anything... ;)

Last day in Upper Canada

My bags are packed and I'm ready to go back to France.

Yeah, right :P

Yesterday, after waking up at the crack of dawn (I always wake up at the crack of dawn...), we piled in the car and drove up to Toronto. Our first stop was my old stomping ground where we had a great lunch with my ex-Roomie. It was great to see her and to see the city again. A calvalcade of emotions. It was funny to do the rest of the drive up here, a drive I know well...back when I owned a car...sigh...

Just before meeting up with my amiga, my brother wanted to check something out. We got all excited, managed to find the store only to discover it was closed. Ouch.

Last night, we went Cosmic/Disco/Whatever you want to call it Bowling. My bro was here and it was great because he could vouch for me and the difference in our bowling back home. The difference being of course between the giant bowling balls and the candle pin bowling we grew up with. Let's face it however, regardless of these differences, I'm still a pretty bad bowler ;) Once things got a little too happening there (it was a pretty sweet cosmic atomosphere with the black lights and smoke and music and whanot) we hit up a local pub for karaoke night. All in all a good solid night.

Today's another beautiful sunny day...who knows what adventures it will bring!

Carpe Diem...

I'm going to begin by saying Thank you God that I went on my spiritual retreat a few weeks back. I would have not made it through the past week without it.

Now, down to the details. I arrived to Toronto on August 23rd just in time for a fantastic BBQ. I hung around the city for the weekend with my good friend A, checked out the Ex, got over jet lag, met up with a friend from down home for a day all the while getting mentally prepared for my visit to the French authorities on Tuesday morning.

Put it this way: I had prepared for the worst case scenario. And then it got worse. Maybe I'm being a bit mellow dramatic here but, I have a plane ticket to go back on Monday and my job is starting on Tuesday and...................I have no certain idea how long I will be in the true North Strong and Free. I'm currently kicking it with my brother however he's heading out to Vancouver next week so I've decided to go home to my parents to wait this stuff out. The past few days have been spent on random public pay phones begging and pleading with the people in power.

You know what I say....Que sera sera. Regardless of all this mess I'm having a great visit home, seeing lots of people I care about and generally having a good time and that's what matters the most!

Two posts in one week?

I'm sitting here drinking my café au lait and trying to get myself motivated to do what I have to do this morning. I'm preparing all of my papers and stuff for my trip to Canada so basically I need 900 photocopies of every offical document both goverments have ever given me. And I need to print stuff out however I'm without a printer...and there isn't exactly an abundance of Kinkos in this town...Not being one to dwell on the stuff that gets me down, let's move on to happier things!

One of my tasks today is to buy a gift for our friend who just had her first baby, Gustave! I must point out that when I recieved the text message informing me of said birth, there was a typo and I was convinced the new little boy's name was Gurtrav. I was just getting used to the thought of little Gurt.... ;) It's fun to look at the mini little clothes and know that I don't have the diapers and all that that go with it ;) We'd considered going to visit Mom, Dad and Gurt...err...Gus this past weekend (since it was a holiday) but the exhaustion-o-meter was reading pretty high. It'll probably be more like October now.

Also, I must buy milk and orange juice. Oh wait, that can't be what I was going to say, as interesting as that is....the gym? I'm going to the gym today. Let me tell you a little story about me trying to get to the gym.

I go to Canada, I come back all full of good intentions, show up to the gym for my favourite class only to find that the gym schedule had changed circa that day. The day before my parents come, after a week in Taizé I was feeling quite under the weather, but decided that a yoga class would do me a world of good. I came up with some superhumanesque energy and forced myself to the gym and get there only to find "Yoga cancelled today only, please come to kick boxing instead". I could have kick boxed someone then and there :P Saturday, I'm all motivated to go to the gym and....the lights are off and no one is home. Since Friday was holiday, they were closed Saturday as well to make for a long weekend. So let's just see what they come up with today!

Yesterday, I went to Paris for the day to meet up with Flo. It's funny, I hadn't been to Paris for 3 years and then suddenly I'm there all the time ;) I'm trying to make the most of my current unable to legally work situation...Good choice, it was pouring rain here all day and bright and sunny there. I'm busy the rest of this week so it seemed like the time to go. I had a really good time and helped myself to some things I've never seen, with a Starbucks in hand! (You can only get Starbucks in Paris here). I went on a tour of La Grande Mosquée de Paris - The first time I've ever visited a Mosque, I went to Le Jardin des Plantes...a big public park I didn't even know existed, Visited Ile St Louis, I went to Vespers at Notre-Dame, hung out for a bit under the Eiffel Tower, lots of fun stuff. We were crazy and took the last train back. It's OK for me, as I'm trying to go to bed a bit later to prepare for the big time change but for the person who had to get up at the crack of dawn and get back on a train to Paris this morning, perhaps it was a little less OK :) We were toying around with the idea of moving to Paris yesterday though....

Europe in four days....

So here I am. Sitting at home. Because I have one ;) My parents came for a whirlwind trip of Europe. We had a great time, but were traveling so much I've lost track of time and space!

They arrived on Tuesday, we had a great Raclette dinner (typical summer dish) and then got our whits together to leave for Paris on Wednesday. We toured Paris Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Highlights include drinking champagne under the Eiffel Tower on a blanket borrowed from the hotel, visiting Versailles and the air-conditioned Citroen place on the Champs-Elysées. Friday night we came back here, made merry and got ready for an adventure in Brussels on Saturday. Sunday we stayed in my city, visited the Market, went to Church and my Mom and I cooked a hearty Canadian dinner. Monday we rented a car and drove to Strasbourg (via Reims aka Heart of Champagne-land...oh and this little Cathedral where the kings of France used to be crowned). Tuesday, we got on the Autobahn and went to Munich to have our own Oktoberfest a few months early. Seriously, it's impossible to get less than 1L of beer at a time in that city. Funny how 1 L of beer makes me think I can fluently speak German...;) Wednesday, we drove to Luxembourg, a city which can't decide if it wants to speak French or German and where everyone seems to be depressed. Thursday we took the scenic route back and I drove that standard like it was going out of style. I apparently remember how (slightly proud of myself). 2000 km later, we arrived home. Friday was a holiday in France (The Assumption...a typical holiday in this SECULAR country, but I digress) so before my parents' train for London we visited the free zoo/Citadel and had the last beer of 2008 Summer Road Trip part 2: Europe.

Obviously this is quite a condensed version of everything that we did. It was an awesome time and sooooooooooo difficult to see my parents off. If I can figure out how, I might use my free time this week to put some pictures up. That is if I'm not getting ready for my new teaching position in Kuwait (just kidding...or am I.....:) )

Olympics!

So almost a month later I finally update. This life of leisure is just so exhausting ;)

To quickly bring you up to speed. I returned to France with no problems, except zero entertainment system on the plane. I fortunatley had my brand new iPod chalk full of Podcasts to listen to for the 8 hour flight.

Last week, I went on a spritually quest to Taizé here in France. I was expecting a small thing, but as it turned out there were 3000 people there from all of the world. It was pretty amazing. There were even 8 Canadians there ;) (From Halifax, Toronto and Vancouver...) It was fantastic and I highly suggest the experience to anyone and am counting down the days until I can go back.

Tuesday, my parents arrived here on the continent. We just got back today from three days in Paris, visiting the highlights, drinking champagne under the Eiffel Tower and generally being pseudo-Parisian. Tomorrow we are visiting Brussels and then we are heading off on a road trip to Munich.

Also, due to complications, it would seem I'm returning to the Motherland at the end of August.

This had turned into quite the adventurous summer.... ;)

*sigh*

I've been avoiding the update because I don't know where to begin :) I'm currently sitting at my uncle's place drinking some 10W30 (the Neustadt beer) and discussing world politics. I've been having a wonderful visit to the Motherland. Everything has been going perfect....:) I'll update when I get back to France.

Enjoying a chocspresso from my Tassimo machine.

Life has been full of adventures since my return. This is how it went down, I flew across the ocean (1 hour late of course, it is Air Canada after all). Landing at Pearson International I had just enough time for my first double double (and here I was thinking I'd never drink a double double) and then it was in the car to drive for three hours. We spent the night in the lovely city of Brokville and after visiting the town and having my first bagel of the trip, we headed off to Ottawa to see our Nation's Capital. I heart Ottawa. It was beautiful weather and we really got to appreciate the city. After appreciating Ottawa we were Montreal bound. Montreal was FANTASTIC. It has always been my dream to live in Montreal and basically I love all things Montreal (except for the smoked meat sandwiches. We stayed in a hostel there and visited mainly Vieux-Montreal. I will write more about our crazy adventures, but I wanted to get something down!

After Montreal, we headed back to Toronto just missing crazy funnel cloud involving storms and hung out in the big city. After that, Tuesday afternoon, I got on a plane and came home.

Home has been great! Except for the visit to the dentist yesterday morning..what a way to begin the day. Also yesterday, I had to get my passport renewed. Well, there wasn't even a line at the office AND I got the parking space IN FRONT OF the building. What a day. The weather has been fabulous and today, my list of things to do involves: NOTHING! Horrah. Except sorting through papers. I currently am going through my mail. I feel popular, however, it is mostly from the bank ;) Alright, back to drinking coffee.

Double-Double here I come!

...except I don't drink double doubles. :)

The point of the matter is my bags are packed and I'm ready to go. I'm typing this with one hand as I am currently drying my hair but tonight (inshallah) I'll be going to sleep in Canada. The big question is....will my luggage follow me? So so so excited.

Next update; from the other side.

I'm currently sitting here enjoying my couch. I've been doing a lot of running around recently. This weekend, we headed to Rouen to visit a new kitty! New kitty friend was so much fun (especially when I closed the bedroom door at night and got a rest) It is amazing how much energy the little animals can have. I've never had a kitten of my own, due in great part to my irrational fear of cats as a child.

Also during my weekend, I visited the Rouen division of my gym. It was slightly complicated to gain acess as all of the gyms are franchises so the card system doesn't work exactly the same from one place to another; as in we have swipe (well actually microchip) cards sans picture and they've got hand made picture cards. The machines at their gym however were astonshingly nicer than the ones at ours especially considering that ours has about seventeen fold the memebership. It was nice to get a chance to work out there too though!

In other exciting news, I got to drive a brand new car (Ok, it had 100 km on it) for the first time in my life today. I was speeding (this is a bit of an exaggeration, I might have hit 90 km/h) around the highways of France in a brand spanking new Smart. Get this, there was a crack in the windshield of the old one, so instead of just changing the glass they traded her in for a new one. Even though it's not at all my car, we definitely bonded this morning...perhaps even more so seeing as how I will never see the gas bill.

Now I'm off to make some Chili sin carne. I'd share the recipe but I'm not even quite sure what it will be yet, except that it will more than likely involve two types of beans and perhaps some mushrooms.

Ikea wants one out of ten European children to be conceived in an IKEA bed.

...now you know!

As we speak, Argentine Lentil Stew is simmering on the stove. It smells good but I won't lie, I'm a bit sceptical about a stew that involves BBQ sauce, but I'll give everything a try, once. The Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs did live up to all the hype. :)

The weather has suddenly become fantastic. I would be out enjoying it but I'm desperately trying to finish my book, Of Marriageable Age (although I'm actually reading Noces indiennes despite my general dislike of reading French or English books translated), which is due back to the library tomorrow. Granted, I could simply renew it, but I'd just as soon finish it now so I can spend the next week speed reading a new book before my vacation. I highly recommend this book, which is about the lives of three different children whose destinies slowly intertwine. I haven't been able to put it down and not only because of the deadline of tomorrow. The sumptuous descriptions transport you to British Guiana, India, among others. *sigh* Now I want to travel....

Whoopsie.

I thought the last time I updated was Friday. I guess I over estimated myself :)

To make up for it, the delish recipe I'm making today for lunch is....Yummy Honey Chicken Kabobs. I figured you can't go wrong with a name like that. Now let's just hope it lives up to its reputation! For desert, I have a hankering to bake, so I think I'm going to make some sort of a chocolate pudding cake. The details have yet to be worked out (and I just remembered I have no baking powder. D'oh! The superette (mini-grocery store...bigger than a Green Gables/Mac's Milk, smaller than your average grocery store)is exceptionally closed today. I'll figure something out, or I'll just eat the cocoa in powder form.

The Euro 2008 has begun! We watched the opening game yesterday between the Czech Republic and Switzerland. We are taking part in a pool and basically picked our teams randomly much to the despair of our friend who carefully weighed the pros and the cons of each team when making his selection. Imagine his face when our team, the Czech Republic won ;) However, afterwards, our favourite Turkey, which, yes is playing in the EURO didn't come through and lost to Portugal near the end of the game. But here's to hoping that Croatia and Germany make us proud today. Although, Croatia is playing against Austria, which is apparently only included because the tournament is partially taking place in their country and bearing an act of God doesn't have a hope.

The game that I'm personally looking forward to is Italy vs. France on June 17th.

Guess which team I picked :)

Day 5..

I was working late this afternoon, so I contracted out the cooking yet again. After the relaxation of my Body Balance class, I was welcomed home to the tempting flavours of Pork Chops with Apples, Onions, and Sweet Potatoes. The orginal recipe was tweaked (quite) a bit. The ending result was more Pork Chops with Apples, Shallots and Potatoes, with a rubbing of Herbes de Provence on the Pork and a light dusting of cinnamon on the top. It was a very yummy dish made from ingredients that were on hand.

I'm enjoying this challenge. I think the best part is all the recipes I have come across that I am planning to try.

Alright, back to watching a documentary about the impending end of the world. It's a study of global-warming-famine-flooding-war-raising oil price, pretty much covering all the current buzz words in the media. But don't worry guys, it's going to be OK :P

Days 3 and 4

Yesterday, I forced myself to go to the gyme and whilst I was busy sweating up a storm, someone else was in the kitchen whipping up something he'd never even eaten before...Tuna Noodle Casserole. It was a nice comfort meal to eat on a stormy evening. Speaking of which, recently there has been fairly intense storms which no fail flood out the main road. I don't quite understand why nothing has been done to fix this seemingly frequent problem. One of my students today informed me that the city had, in fact, attempted to rectify this situtation to no avail. Next time it's raining, I'll just head into town in my canoe. :)

Tonight, I had a hankering for some Indian-style cuisine. I loosely followed the recipe for Rajma which is a dish made from Kidney Beans, which I thought I had but didn't so I threw in some chick peas. I also attempted (for the umpteenth time) to make some Indian Chapati Bread which was, yet again, mediocre at best. One day, one day I will master the art of making flat bread.

It's still raining, so I might just take the bit of free time I have this evening to start building that ark :)

Week of No Groceries, Day 1 and 2

Alright, yesterday we conjured up that old time childhood favourite of tuna melts for lunch. To me, the ordinary was extraordinary with the exotic taste of melted emmental cheese topping them. Mmmm.

Dinner was made with the chicken in the fridge that had to be used up before it spoiled. I decided to only use recipes I've never used before. I made Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken which was a big hit with the masses accompagned by herbed stuffed potatoes. The potatoes in my fridge are reminicient of new potatoes lacking the size and the thick skin of the baking potatoes I'm used to in Canada (which I have yet to find around here). I wish I'd taken a picture of the cute little stuffed potatoes sprinkled with cayenne pepper, but they didn't last that long.

Lunch today was a Greek Lentil Soup which was delightful; a mix of green lentils, garlic (Note: I love garlic), shallots, herbs and a wee bit of tomatoes.

Supper, however, is Paëlla from a can :) Hey, it was in my cupboard!

Challenge!

Today being Saturday is the day we usually do the grocery shopping around these parts. But we decided to challenge ourselves this week; we are not going to buy any groceries and only eat what we have.

I'm excited, I love a challenge in the kitchen....off to look for some recipes!

A lot of work to do today...best to blog.

Yesterday was a busy busy day which involved walking for 15 minutes under a downpour, sans umbrella, riding drenched on the subway for 25 minutes with people starring at me as the water was dripping off me and my bag and then to boot it was still pouring once I arrived at my destination and I had to walk for those last 5 minutes. I was impressed. My appearence ressembled that of a drowned cat.

In order to calm my nerves, I decided to put my energy into the kitchen, an activity which always helps me calm down. The menu: A quiche lorraine. Classic, but nonetheless theraputic. I chop my onions, I roll out my dough, everything is good to go. I open the fridge, grab the eggs...oh wait. There is a severe lack of eggs. Someone forgot to check for eggs. Oh wait, that someone was me.

After wallowing in self pity momentarily, I decided to use my HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) and came up with a solution. Quiche Lorraine inspired pizza. All in all it was successful allbeit it caloric. My craving for quiche is still here though, but I can sense my next quiche will involve goat cheese...mmmm...(Yes, and eggs...)

Me vs The Mosquito. Round 1.

Last night, I was having a bit of trouble sleeping, tossing and turning and then turning and tossing. All because of one of our favourite summer friends, the mosquito. I heard this buzzing in my ear and due to my lack of wakefulness, it took me longer than it should have to calculate that it was a mosquito. Come 3:30 am, I couldn't take it anymore. The window was closed, the light was turned on to locate the cause of my insomnia. As the light illuminated the room, it also illuminated the starwell to show...

A STRANGE CAT IN MY HOUSE!! A giant fluffy black cat that somehow managed to squeeze through the open bathroom window and decided to help itself to my place. The audacity of some people's cats.

Canada: Nation or notion?

I'm not working this morning so after quickly doing the dishes from my cooking ventures last night, I settled down with a podcast from my favourite CBC show, Ideas entitled "Canada: Nation or notion?", from April 14th, 2008.

This is a debate that characterises for me one of the greatest issues in Canadian society: Who are we? Boardering on one of the biggest and most powerful countries in the world which seems to us have an extremely strong sense of identity our quickest argument is that we are not American. That's nice...and very easy to say, but what does it mean?

One interesting point that I pulled out from this debate was the fact that there are many small countries in the world which seem more comfortable with their size (in population terms) than we as Canadians feel. Take the Netherlands for example; a country of 16.5 million or so. I have yet to meet a Dutch person who spends any significant amount of energy wondering about what it means to be Dutch.

People I have met would be quick to point out that our lack of sense of identity stems from the relatively new origins of Canada and just brush off the question.

I am curious though. Will Canada one day mature into a strong sense of self? Or will we forever percieve ourselves as the Northern Neighbours of the USA?

Having lived outside Canada, I have felt the importance of this question. As Canadian abroad, I am frequently asked to explain Canadian culture (despite my best efforts to underline the fact that Canada is diverse and there are a lot of difference within the cuture.) I make sweeping generalizations in order to apease my audience however my answers are not enough as I am under constant observation.

"So you do it that way in Canada?"

I don't know if we do it this way in Canada or if we as a province do it this way or if we as a family do it this way or if I as a person do it this way.

Another obstacle to this Canadian identity is when I begin to explain that schooling and Health care is handled by individual provinces. For countries with a National Education System and a National Health Care system, this is difficult to understand. However, the USA has a similar division of power which does seemingly little to impede their sense of nationalism.

I would be interested to dicuss the concept of American identity with some Americans to see not only what they would say but also if they would agree with each other.

I will end my inconclusive rambling with a question. How important is it to be able to define a Canadian identity?