Goodness time flies! Now more than ever do I realize how our perception of time depends so much on our own senses, or rather the extent to which they are engaged. While it's unsettling to feel that life is racing by, it's reassuring to think that this can only be good sign.

My goal of making more frequent posts was definitely a big fail! Who even reads these blogs!? Well, for those of you who do, here is a recap of my last two months, starting with Winter break. It seems silly to write about things that happened two months ago, but why not, if it feels like just yesterday...

CHRISTMAS

How to evoke the beauty and charm of a traditional northern German Christmas in the Remde household. The ambiance of this holiday was nothing short of magical. It felt great to be in the good company of family and friends again. Thanks to the many hours my Auntie Phyllis spent laboring away in the kitchen, Meghan and I were spoiled with one impeccable meal after the next; a true gastronomical delight.  Dinners included sauerkraut with four kinds of sausages, venison with red cabbage and dumplings, and half a Turkey with all the usual bells and whistles.The table spread was of Martha Steward like extravagance and the ornamentation straight from a Norman Rockwell painting.  Talk about engaging your senses! We were ravished to participate in these traditions, which have accumulated and multiplied over the years. One of my favorite moments must have been coming back from an evening stroll around the calm and snowy neighborhood of Oldenburg on Christmas eve to sing songs around the tree that was radiating with warmth and soothing candlelight. Either that, or drinking delicious East Frisian tee with an assortment of homemade cookies while listening to traditional Bavarian folk music after decorating the "Tannenbaum."  I think that's the most I've ever used the word "traditional" in one paragraph, but it certainly sums up Christmas with the Remdes.

BENELUX

Jumping to before Christmas was my trip to Benelux with Meghan, who continues to be my partner in crime. If there was any time not to be traveling by train, this was it. A snow storm had inconveniently set in shortly before we left on our trip, resulting in blocked airports and canceled trains all over Europe. To make a long story short, a voyage that normally should have taken three hours turned into twelve. The combination of temperatures well below zero and the incessant delays made for long miserable hours of waiting outside in the freezing cold. Thank god for the hot chocolate and coffee dispensers! The train stations in the Netherlands were even kind enough to give away hot drinks for free, probably feeling sorry for the travelers that were stuck outside so shortly before Christmas. I always knew the Dutch were personable.

The first destination of the trip was Brussels, where we spent three nights. There wasn't a speck of sunshine the entire time and we got terribly lost while searching for the youth hostel, but other than that it was an interesting visit. We squeezed in as much sightseeing as possible in three days, including the overrated  Mannequin Pis, the impressive Musical Instrument and Modern art museums, and the notorious Delirium bar, which was great minus the whole suffocating in smoke part.  Of course a trip to Belgium isn't complete without the "dégustation" of its world famous waffles and fries, which we just couldn't pass up. When it comes to fries, I must say the city lives up to its reputation. We didn't dive too deeply into the world of waffles, but the one we bought from a street vendor was as sweet and satisfying as imaginable. Perhaps it was all mental, but it works for me! Apart from that, we toured the official buildings of the European Union, including the Commission and Parliament. So, I finally saw the "capital" of Europe. If things go as planned, I'll be working (or at least interning) there one day.
After Belgium we headed to the Netherlands, where we spent one night in the quaint town of Breda. My friend, who I met during my internship in D.C., had invited us to her house for a short visit. We spent the evening  with her and some of her college friends in a bar downtown. It was fun but the amount of smoke and the overcrowdedness was somehow overwhelming. Am I getting too old for this?! Either that or I'm getting way too comfortable with the relaxed lifestyle and wide open spaces of the Vosges.


FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL

This event merits an entry of its own, but I might as well continue while I'm on a roll! Every February, Gérardmer hosts the "Festival Fanstastique." Believe it or not, it's the third biggest film festival of France. The themes for this year were schizophrenia, claustrophopia, paranoia, and other little joys of existence. The Festival attract tens of thousands of tourists, including occasional minor celebrities, usually members of the Jury or actors from the films. This was a big change of pace One of my colleagues hooked it up and scored Imanta and I jobs as volonteers, so we got see as many movies as we could for free. We were both given work schedules, including full night shifts, but the people in charge were pretty lax about everything, so we could come and go as we pleased.

Thanksgiving, Beaujolais, Strasbourg and more!

So here it is, my long overdue post! I would prefer to make shorter ones more frequently, but since I haven't gotten around to it in a while, it's going to be a long one : / I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far! To my surprise, this small town life has been more eventful than I anticipated. The past three weeks have been filled with travels, hikes and the occasional "soiree." I must also say that I haven't enjoyed the winter this much since I was kid. It's on days like this one, when you see the sun creeping up behind the mountains into a blue sky painted with red and pink clouds, overlooking the snow covered forest, that I feel like I'm in paradise. As Imanta so nicely put it this morning, "If this isn't Heaven, I don't know what is!" 

From a couple weeks ago. There is more snow now!

I am still involved with the rowing club, which has begun cross training. Although they still row on occasion, it's usually far too windy and cold. The junior rowers cross train with everything from erging to skiing. They had a regional erg competition in Nancy last weekend, to which I kindly had to decline my invitation. The adults, on the other hand, take it a bit more easy. They do "gymnastics" every Thursday night for a good 2.5 hours, which is more of a body circuit with weights followed by core and ab exercises. I went for the first time a couple weeks ago, when I realized that my diet in France (which is probably a good 80% dairy and carbs) might be getting to me ;)  I was sore for a couple of days, and I must admit, I really missed the feeling! After Christmas break, I intend on getting my weekly dose of exercise on the slopes. The gym teacher is talking about organizing ski trips with some other teachers, and in January, Imanta and I are planning on having a skiing weekend with some other assistants in the area. All we need to do is set the date and book the chalet. Anybody want to join? :)

Apart from rowing, I've joined a choir in a smaller town in another valley over the mountain. I was invited by one of the members who I met at an interesting gathering. It's kind of a funny story. We had read that there's a party for the new people in town, so I was stoked about going and making some friends. When we arrived, however, we were greeted by a sea of senior citizens who had convened in a room in the library to discuss their upcoming bridge tournaments and nature walks. By new people, they apparently meant new retirees. They were surprised to see such young people showing up to join their "club",  originally thinking we were representatives of the Kiwanis. Imanta knew one of the men from choir, who talked me into joining as well.  After about an hour of small talk and various promises to consider various activities, we managed to leave. Staying true to my word, I went to choir the next week. Although I've only gone twice, I've decided to stick with it because it has proven to be incredibly entertaining. The director has an impeccable sense of humor and puts up very well with the wailing little old ladies with short, bright red colored  hair. He also has no qualms about cracking dirty jokes with the other old men in the choir.  I was in tears from laughing last week because of a joke Imanta cracked about one of the songs. The director stopped the choir to ask what was so funny, but we couldn't manage to explain. Instead of getting annoyed, he joined in laughing, along with some others. It's definitely a funny group. I enjoy the singing, but most of all I enjoy the people. This Saturday, we have our Christmas concert in the local church. If I go, I think I'll be saying a lot of watermelons...

Jamming out to the Beatles...or Lady Gaga

The last weekend in November, I had the pleasure of experiencing my second "staff party." The first time was a going away party for the IT guy, but this time the festivities were dedicated to the annual release of the "Beaujolais Nouveau." For the wine industry, it's the commercial equivalent of Black Friday. For the French, it's simply an excuse to party. Almost every bar in town has a little celebration, sometimes with music and food,  always with abundant wine. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it's a wine from Burgundy that is released for sale on the third Thursday of November. The quality varies, but for bigger parties, people buy the cheapest stuff they can find. I couldn't even stomach a small glass of it, and it wasn't long until we abandoned the wine and hit the kegs. That's when the party really got started. All social events are organized by Michel, the French and Theater instructor. I occasionally watch his theater groups and sometimes join in to help. He's an excellent entertainer and certainly never misses a beat when it comes to party planning. To him, no party is complete without karaoke. Sure enough, by the end of the night, we were all singing our hearts out. By 1pm, the only people left were Imanta and I along with several other party enthusiasts.  Lucky for us, we didn't have far to go home.  

Michel, Mattias, and Sylve (The cigarettes were meant for the song)

 For Thanksgiving, I was fortunate enough to have made it to my Aunt Phyllis' house in Germany, where I enjoyed the company of close family and friends along with a wonderful traditional feast. To get there, I hitched a ride with my philosophy teacher friend, who happened to be driving to Wuppertal, Germany that same weekend. We got lost in the Ruhr District, in which a large number of  freeways loop around and intersect through a dozen major towns.  Our combined lack of navigational skills coupled with a major freeway blocking accident and the ambiguous road signs after dark made our loss of direction inevitable. We must have driven through Cologne three times until we managed to get back onto the right freeway. It was to no surprise that I missed my train in Wuppertal, but as luck would have it, there was another one that left ten minutes after we arrived. I hopped right on it and made it to Oldenburg shortly before midnight, where I was greeted by my cousin and aunt.  The ride back was laden with other minor disasters, involving heavy snowfall, traffic jams, and canceled buses. I used what the Germans call a "Mitfahrgelegenheit" to get back home. It's a website that organizes carpools so you can hitchhike with  people who happen to be driving in the same direction. In my opinion, it's economical, ecological, and simply brilliant. I did this from Oldenburg to Freiburg, and from Freiburg to Colmar.  Thanks to my colleague, who picked me up from Colmar,  I made it back safe and sound, ready for class the next morning. Talk about a whirlwind weekend!

A couple weeks later, it was St. Nicholas day, celebrated on December 6th. Saint Nicholas is the patron Saint of Lorraine, so this day is almost more important than Christmas. There are floats and parades in most of the tows, some bigger than others. We were originally planning on going to Epinal for this, a bigger town 40 km west of here, but decided to keep it local in the end. There was a cute little Christmas market in front of the church and a single float with St. Nicholas and Black Peter. The float was followed by huge van filled with buckets and buckets of candy that was handed out to the little (and big) kids. If was fun, except that is was the coldest night yet. Even the hot mulled wine didn't help!

The cathedral in Strasbourg

Our host with his Mini

Wine fields along the hike

This passed weekend, Imanta and I visited Strasbourg, the Christmas capital of the world, as they say. I had another incredible CouchSurfing experience with a host who took us hiking at the foot of the Alsace wine route and even let me drive his twenty year old mini. Needless to say I stalled the car on the middle of road and couldn't start it up again, so it was a short lived experience. One of these days I'll master the stick shift. The Christmas markets hadn't changed much since the last time I visited, though they might have been more crowded this time.  It was hard to move around because of the herds of people that poured in over the weekend, so it was a little overwhelming. We managed to get in some Christmas shopping and some good eats despite of it. The Alsacienne cuisine is debatably the best (tasting) in France because it is loaded with heavy cream, bacon, cheese, etc. All the good things in life. We stayed until this morning because there were no buses to get back on Sunday, as usual. We left Strasbourg at 5am, which almost felt warm for Winter. Three hours later and ten degrees lower, we arrived in our little snow globe. 

Classes have still been going well, minus that one group I have at the end of the day on Friday. I guess I can't complain if just one class out of  twelve isn't up to par, but it would be nice to get them motivated as well! It probably doesn't help that my teacher had me talking about fast food and obesity for the fourth week straight. What a great image these kids are getting of America! Next time, I'm making my own lesson plan. End of story. this week I have the joy of talking about Christmas and sometimes even making my students sing, in ENGLISH of course : D Unfortunately, this only works with the younger ones. This week is the last week before Christmas break and is the busiest one yet! The boarding school kids are having their annual theme party and Christmas dinner tonight; we're going to see a cabaret with the theater class tomorrow; visiting more Christmas markets on Wednesday; have the final choir rehearsal/gymnastics on Thursday, and a staff Christmas party on Friday. It's great to be busy.

Taco Tequila Tuesday! 

The Great Outdoors

If there's one sure thing you can do around here, it's HIKING. I was supposed to be traveling for a race this weekend, but since it got cancelled, I  spent a nice weekend here in the Vosges. I've only been hiking a few times, but each time, it just gets better and better. And all this time I was so fixated on being in a city! I'm hoping this doesn't change for the worse once the snow really sets in, or after I've been here for more than just a couple months. Either way, there are enough trails in and around Gerardmer to last me a very long time. During the first couple of weeks, Imanta, Charlene and I began to wander through the forest just around the lake, as it was the closest and the most accesible.This one alone is incredibly beautiful and picturesque, especially on a sunny day. 

           

Although I was surrounded by mountains in Pennsylvania, I never really seized the opportuniy to explore them, save for a few times during senior year. Not that I had much time for this then! So, what better time than now to make up for it.  It's the "dead" month now, when the weather is generally pretty grey,  it gets dark particularly early, and there are no tourists whatsoever. This weekend though, I was lucky enough to have specks of sun and a friendly teacher who wanted to take me along to "les Cretes," where we hiked for a good 4 hours. These mountians separate Lorraine from Alsace, and on a good day, you can see all the way to the Swiss Alps. It was a little hazy, but you could see a faint outline in the distance. We walked up to one of the highest points, "Hohneck," and then made our way down the side of the mountain and back up through a woodsy trail which ended in a snowy paradise. It had just snowed the night before, so everything looked  pretty and fresh. There is supposed to be more snow next week, so hopefully I'll be up and skiing in no time :) Who says you can't have fun in the sticks!

A Bizzare Lesson

While things have generally been going smoothly, I knew I’d eventually have an off day, not to mention a bad lesson. Little did I know that it would hit me so soon, or quite so awkwardly. To preface the story: my apartment building is on the side of a small mountain and is therefore completely exposed to the elements. It’s great when it’s sunny, but when it rains, it sounds like you’re standing underneath the Niagara Falls. What’s worse is when there’s a strong wind, you get the feeling the building is seconds away from levitating and being swept away to the Land of Oz by a category five hurricane. You get the idea. So Thursday night there were winds of about 60 km/h pounding against my bedroom window with an incredible force. As a result, I didn’t sleep. Inconveniently, I had six hours of class awaiting me the next day! I can handle being half awake while attending class, because face it, everyone goes through those days in college. However, teaching under these circumstances is a whole other story. I realized it actually takes a good amount of energy to be enthusiastic and animated for a whole hour to keep the kids engaged and to lead them into productive discussion. When you’re out of it though, it’s like you trying to pull your own teeth.

Class was pretty much normal until the last hour. It was the last class of the day on Friday, so naturally the kids had somewhat of a shorter attention span and were ready to be done for the week. Anyways, their teacher had asked me to discuss the film poster from “Fast Food Nation.” The poster is already kind of strange to begin with, but some of the questions were worse:

“What are the hamburgers supposed to resemble?”
“Why is there an American flag on the baby’s diaper?”
“Why is the baby reaching up to the hamburgers?”
“What makes this poster provocative?”

I suppose they’re relatively harmless on the surface, but when dealing with teenagers, maybe not ideal. Upon asking them to respond to the first question, I was faced with silence. I figured this would happen, because not only were they supposed to talk about boobs, but they were supposed to do this in a foreign language with an assistant they hardly knew. After a continued struggle for answers, it was my turn to explain:

“Well, the hamburgers are supposed to resemble a woman’s breasts. The baby is reaching up to the breasts because it’s probably hungry, and of course it’s too young to eat hamburgers, but if the mother consumes them, then the hormones from the meat are likely to be in her breast milk, so therefore the baby would be indirectly eating the hamburger meat, and the poster is trying to explain that … blah blah blah.”

After all that there was a brief lull. Then one of the students calls out, “BOOBS!”

I could see the light bulb go on when he realized that this was in fact what we were talking about. Sadly, I think the majority of the class missed the point of my explanation. It wasn’t until one of the better students translated what I said that they got it, and oh how funny they thought it was! Clearly they hadn’t quite reached the level of maturity to seriously talk about things like “breast milk.” Mind you these questions came from their book! It quickly dawned on me why the teacher might have preferred to leave this lesson to me. Ah the joys of being an assistant. Since this obviously wasn’t going anywhere, I decided to drop it and move on to another question, which brought us to the next, extremely academic topic of poop.

When discussing babies and diapers, it’s not a big surprise. Unfortunately though, the students didn’t express themselves in the most eloquent of ways: “The baby shit on America!” I asked for a better word, upon which I was given “poop.” After lecturing that “shit” and “poop” are not words we use in polite conversation, let alone class, they wanted to know the alternative. While not being an expert in this field of terminology myself, I initially hesitated, but decided on “relieving oneself” as the proper expression. And what do you say instead of “shit?” At this point, I found myself writing “feces” on the board. While writing this in my half-asleep, over-caffeinated state, I realized how ridiculous it all was. Too late, there it was, written on the board in big letters. Then I went on to explain that in this movie, a man discovered fecal matter in his hamburger meat, etc. This evoked both laughter and disgust, as I’m sure it’s not every day they talk about these things in class. French scchools are generally very ridig! It’s a good thing the principal didn’t decide to drop by and observe that day. Luckily I was spared from having to go into any further detail, as class was about to end. Truly saved by the bell! Well, that concluded the lecture on…what was it we were talking about again? Fast Food? Oh how easily things can go astray.

In the end I was left to wonder: Is this really what the teacher had envisioned for class? Is this really what the French government is paying me to do? Oh yes. But before I could give it any further thought, I was back in bed on the verge of much needed sleep, glad to have made it through the day, and feeling like I’d been dreaming all along. In the end, it’s something to laugh about. For what it’s worth, it got them talking. Lets just hope there’s no more stormy Thursdays...

First Update!

So I am new to the world of blogging and never really saw myself as a "blogger," but i figured this would be better than sending really long, intrusive, e-mail updates. This way I don't risk sending e-mails to uninterested participants and you can check out the blog at your own leisure, if you are ever wondering what I'm up to.

With that, I am sending you my first "Hello" from France, which seems to have been on the brink of revolution..!

Teachers, students, trains, civil servants, literally EVERYONE was going on strike this past month in a struggle against Sarkozy's law to increase the age of retirement. As usual, the strikes have proven to be unproductive. In the meantime, trains were getting cancelled left and right and trash was piling up sky high in cities like Marseille where the garbage men were striking as well. And all anyone can say is..."Welcome to France!"

It's been just over a month since I've moved to Gerardmer and everything has been wonderful, for the most part. The town is very cute and primarily caters to its tourists during the summer and winter months. The downside: there is no train station! This makes traveling somewhat of a big ordeal that requires much detailed planning and coordinating with buses, carpools, etc. The school is relatively small and built into the hillside, looking down into the center of town and with a pretty view of the ski slopes. Most of the area is completely covered in forest with specks of little towns here and there. I didn't expect to be living the small town life again, but I'll take it!

I live in the boarding school and share an apartment with the primary school assistant, Imanta, who is from PA and also has dual American and European citizenship. We both have our own smallish bedrooms and share a kitchen (with attached dining room), large bathroom, and toilet. There is no living room, so we usually just hang out in the kitchen. The best thing about it... it's free! For meals we either cook or eat in the cafeteria. There is a third American assistant in town as well (from CT), so the three of us sometimes get together on the weekends. Unfortunately it's a bit hard to meet French people in such a small town, at least ones that aren't much older, or creepy. The town has a notorious "stalker" who has already managed to meet all three of us, but luckily we haven't seen him (as far as I know) since the first couple weeks we've been here. There aren't many twenty somethings in the area since they probably all take off for the cities as soon as they get the chance. This means there is plenty of time for preparation and pondering the great questions of life ;)

Luckily I have made friends with many of my colleagues, who are all incredibly nice and hospitable. We eat lunch together in a separate room in the cantine, which makes for great chats in French about everyday life. I immediately bonded with one of the English teachers because she's an active rower and took me right to practice the first day where she introduced me to the coaches and rowers. I promptly signed up and was already racing with them in Burgundy a couple weeks later. I raced in an octuple skull with the head coach, two assistant coaches, a junior national champion, and some adults who row recreationally. Never thought I'd be rowing in France! It was great fun and good to meet people outside of school. Some of my students row at the club as well, so I got to know them a little bit better. I was looking into coaching, but as it turns out, you need a special license for in France. I would have to take "rowing instruction classes" and learn about the history of rowing, etc., followed by an exam. Nothing like Detroit where I showed up out of the blue one day and was getting paid to coach the next. They certainly take their rowing seriously!

As for work, I have 15 different classes and teach about 12 hours per week, not including lesson plans. The kids are great, although their English skills are a bit worse than I expected. I usually come up with my own lesson plans and always teach about half of the class on my own in a separate room. The number of students I have ranges from about 5 to 15. Pretty interesting experience, teaching without having studied pedagogy! Sometimes it's hit and miss with the activities, so I usually need to have a plan B, and sometimes even C. That hardest part is to get everyone to talk and to find activities that accommodate for their different skill levels. They hardly practice speaking in their regular classes, so many are very shy about it.

In other news, yesterday was my last day of fall break and I just got back from traveling with my friend from college, Meghan, who is also an assistant in a city close to Paris, Chartres. The good thing about working for the French school system is that they hardly go two months without a vacation. We had a great time visiting some ancient towns in Provence, mainly exploring the Roman ruins, medieval castles, and museums. We spent two nights in Avignon and the rest of break in Arles, taking several day trips throughout our stay. It was a miracle we made it there and back with all the strikes !

In Arles we stayed with a wonderful Couch Surfing host who drove us around the country side to see the hidden provincial terrains, inaccessible through public transportation. We were also there for Halloween, which we celebrated by introducing our host and some of his friends to *pumpkin pie.* Meghan and I made it from scratch, and it may not have been as good as mom's, but i think it was a hit nevertheless. In exchange, our host introduced us to various French cakes, tortes, and some darn good quiche, and Pastis. Then, as if someone was trying to tell me I was having entirely too much fun, my wallet got stolen. It was turned in to the police station four days later, without money, but everything else intact. It was the perfect storm, but no need to go into further detail...

That's all for now! I promise the other posts won’t be as long. Write back or comment if you'd like :) It would be great to hear from you. Miss everyone and the pretty colors of fall in Michigan. Already counting down the days until Thanksgiving, which will hopefully be spent in Oldenburg with Auntie Phyllis :) Cheers!

Hautes Vosges

Gerardmer:

I have finally arrived in Gerardmer where I will be living for the next 7 months. More info to follow!