Things have been a little fishy with my host family the past while. My roommate Jamie created an online account to deal with her French cell phone service, and somehow it interfered with the family's account. In France, if you download something illegally off the internet, and the government finds out, they have the right to prevent you from ever having internet at your house again. Our family was afraid that if Jamie downloaded something to her account, and it got linked to them, they would be in serious trouble. So our housefather, Monsieur A, sent her a quite nasty email telling her to remove the account. He wrote it in English, and was very much en colère (angry), and he used words that he really shouldn't have. But, apparently he didn't mean to be quite so harsh; the swearwords he used in English don't translate properly to French. But when Madame A came by the check on us a couple days after the email, she noticed we were upset about something. We started telling her how we felt about this email, and she, not having much English, hadn't understood the severity of what her husband had written. When Monsieur A arrived, the conversation escalated into a shouting match that ended in me and my roommates bursting into tears simultaneously. But, once we and Madame A made it clear what the problem was, he apologised and she gave us all a big hug. Since then we've had less tension with them and everything seems to be going well. It's always tricky living under someone else's rules and expectations, and no matter how uncomfortable the situation was, it was certainly a rare chance to practise our "difficult conversation skills." I'm really grateful for having roommates that I get along with so well. I hadn't realised I would have any roommates, but it couldn't have worked out better.
I know this post (like most of the others) is already a novel, so I'll try to keep the rest of it short.
So, other things I've done:
1) Thanksgiving weekend: We Canadians didn't have any means of cooking a turkey dinner all together, so we went to a local restaurant called O Quebec to celebrate. We started with poutine for the table, then had various stereotypical meals (bison burgers... I don't know of any Canadian who eats bison). It was quite delicious, especially my pancakes I had for dessert. It was nice to celebrate somehow, because I was feeling rather homesick. I also went for a walk in the most beautiful park near my house. It was full of big old trees, crunchy leaves, and lovely flowers.
2) It's definitely fall here, almost winter. I think we're stuck in a cold front. Most of the leaves don't change colour here like they do at home, but most of the vines turn red. I've been wearing my late-autumn/early-winter jacket and using two duvets at night! But, the air smells really fresh, and every once in a while you get the most sumptuous whiff of a wood fire.
3) You know how only September was to be my fat month? Well, it continues. The food is just too good! I'm also cooking dinner for myself now, which is a bit of an adventure. If anyone has any really simple, inexpensive recipes that you'd like to share, I'd love them. My favourite thing I've made so far is a gallette (buckwheat dinner crepe, not sweet) that I put egg, cheese, and ham into. Yummm. I went to go buy milk the other day, and saw something called lait ribot. Assuming that was the brand name, I bought it. Quel dommage... Turns out to be buttermilk. Nothing like fermented dairy with your cereal in the mornings.
4) Laura's parents are here for about 10 days, and they took me out for a really wonderful meal at a local tapas restaurant. It was so delicious, and so nice to be a part of a family for a night. Also, I've signed up for an association that pairs foreign students with local families who, out of the goodness of their hearts, invite you chez eux (to their houses) for dinner twice a month, and any other activities they're available for. Free of charge. I've just started to be in contact with my family; they are winemakers who live 20 minutes out of the city, and they have a bed and breakfast. I'm thrilled! I'll meet them in a couple weekends.
5) This past weekend I went on a school trip to two towns called Mont-St-Michel and St-Malo. Mt-St-Michel you would recongise right away - it's an island town that's built up on this small (in diameter) but very tall hill. It's capped by a really old and beautiful abbey, and the town winds down the hill from there. You would have excellent leg and butt muscles if you lived there. Thing is though, I couldn't figure out how anyone does live there. From what I could see, there was not a single building that was not a restaurant, a hotel, or a tourist shop. I spent the day with my Korean friend Subin, and she and I found the town hall, so there must be inhabitants. St-Malo was really beautiful. It's another coastal town just on the edge of Brittany. It's enclosed by great stone ramparts, which you can make a full tour of and look at the ocean. I saw Optis sailing just off the coast! They're the kind of boat I teach in the summer. Subin and I walked down to the beach so we could touch the Atlantic ocean from the European side. Inside the town we wandered around and came across a really delicious gallette/crepe restaurant. 1 gallette, 1 crepe, and a pot of cider for 9 euros. Delish.
I'm sure there's more I've left out, but I'll leave that for another update. Until then, thanks for reading, and à la prochaine!
Ps. I've finally figured out how to type some of the French accents using my regular keyboard. No more copy-pasting!! éèîôçàâ«... weeeeeeeeeeeeee
Pps. Photos to come!
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