Célébrez!

After a full day of classes on Thursday, I was tired and ready to just snuggle and watch a movie for the night. However, I was invited to spend the evening at Véronique’s house, with other fellow teachers from the lycée, some English and some who merely speak and understand a bit of English. I have been waiting for this opportunity since plans for it fell through before Christmas, so although I was feeling not up to a night of speaking French (and English, for that matter), Amy and I went off to meet Olivier, who gave us a ride to Véronique’s house.

As I had not yet been to her house, I only had one image in my head of what it might look like: coming from Cathy (ma coordinatrice, or supervisor/colleague, whose house I have been to a few times), “Véro’s house makes my house look like Uncle Tom’s Cabin!” As we drove up her private drive on the side of one of the rolling hills just outside the chic Bonnieux, I marveled at the wonderful pool and garden outside as well as the beautifully decorated interior of the home. It was very provençal, yet in an exquisite way. They immediately handed us glasses of wine and said it was necessary that we celebrate. All of a sudden, Véronique came around the corner with a gift bag in hand and offered a joyous “Happy Birthday!” Everyone commenced in singing the song in English, allowing me to tear up a bit, and was given a beautiful ring to commemorate my time here in France – they said they always wanted me to remember them. Bien sûr, it was a moment that I will never forget.

Then, they shoved food on our plates, which included quiche lorraine, pizza du jambon, an endive salad, cold cuts of ham and salami, bread and a spicy shrimp cocktail salad, followed by dessert of a raspberry tart, brownies and clementines, all while all types of wine were poured, along with an after eating coffee, tea and pastis. I saw my teachers I work with but met their husbands, other teachers from the school and even a Vietnamese landscape worker who is friends with Véro. We spent the night conversing in both French and English, though I must admit they mostly spoke English to us and they would tell stories in French to the group. Best story of the nigh: the story of one of the teacher’s bike trip across America last summer and a very awkward situation that arose on a stay in Kansas. I definitely learned some new vocabulary with that one….

Friday, with one private lesson to teach as one was cancelled, I got all dressed up to go and have a nice dinner to celebrate my birthday with Amy and Alison. As they arrived a little later than expected, they got cleaned up and yelled to me through my door that they were ready to go. I walked into the kitchen and was greeted with a surprise: a stack of delicious brownies topped with lit candles and the girls singing Happy Birthday to me! It was such a sweet gesture (literally, as those speculoos brownies were amazing!) and so unexpected. Thanks girls for the cake and gifts! Then we were off to dinner at le Carnot Set. This is listed on Tripadvisor as being one of the best restaurants in Apt, and it did not disappoint. I had a delicious magret aux cerises, duck with cherries and cherry sauce, served with roasted vegetables, bread and even some fries on the side. It is a definitely a place I want to go back to, as the food was as great as the service, with the chef personally coming out to hand his plates to his customers. This place definitely broke the stereotype that French servers can be cold; they were so kind and friendly. Je reviens bientôt*….

The chef even jumped in for a picture, asian tourist style!

Seriously, AMAZING. My mouth is salivating as I am typing.

Homemade Speculoos Brownies, so delicious!

Sooo.. they didn't know they were trick candles. After five attempts with no avail, we threw them into a bowl of water - definitely blown out now!

Although Saturday was supposed to be spent hiking, seeing the forecast was rain, we decided to call it off and try to go again next week. It was good that we had – we ventured out in the morning to have a nice breakfast at a café and it was pouring rain and windy, making a simple walk through town quite chilling to the bone. In our best efforts, we thought we might rent a car for the day and drive around to visit a few villages. That plan was squashed when we were informed that all cars were already rented out for the rest of February. We decided to stay in, spending the day and night cooking, talking, and even doing some French grammar.** It was a relaxing way to spend the day, and nice to be out of the cold. 

Homemade tomato soup, courtesy of chef Amy

After a lazy, sunny Sunday, I was back to teaching early today. As I was told my students would be going on a field trip that afternoon, I was to prepare a lesson on Nelson Mandela to help them understand the movie. The first class enjoyed learning about him and his important life’s work. On presenting the topic of the day to the second class, I saw one student roll her eyes and turn to her fellow students, complaining in French that they have covered this topic ten times already in their English career. I asked her to speak up and in English and she angrily asked if we could talk about something else today, she was sick of talking about this topic. As no one in the rest of the group was even talking, I was extremely taken aback by her forwardness. However, I was flexible and turned it more into a comparison lesson, asking them for similarities and differences of apartheid and segregation. I had never experienced a student to be so demanding, and in situations like this I feel like it is better to be flexible – I could have said “No, this is what your teacher wants us to talk about and this is what we are doing” but that just makes the student not motivated to participate. I got her and the other students to talk and compare, making me feel quite accomplished today with a difficult situation. This rainy and windy afternoon, I helped chaperone a field trip to the cinema to see Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Quel film incroyable! I couldn’t help but cry a few times at the amazing story of this man’s life. Everyone must see this and understand this part of history.

I also received a lovely card in the mail today from Dan and Brenna, thank you! With all the festivities this weekend, it was nice to receive this message from home, making me even more excited to celebrate with them and my parents in 12 DAYS!! That’s right, in less than 2 weeks, my family will be here! The excitement is killing me. For now, I will continue to celebrate my time here, as I am continually realizing there is hardly any time left. On doit célébrer!***

Loved the 3D card!

*Translation: I’ll be back soon….

**I know what you all are thinking: happenin’ Saturday night, right? But really, I needed that grammar review.

***Translation: We must celebrate!