My French Life

I've been meaning to post my address in France for quite some time, so here it is:

Cari Drake-Wittenborn
Chez M. Thierry Duchêne
101 avenue Barthélémy Buyer
69005 Lyon, FRANCE

I haven't writen about my daily activities in awhile so I thought I'd take a second to do that - especially after experiencing the US election this past week. Of course Obama was the favorite candidate of just about every Frenchman/Frenchwoman and on the 4th and 5th the election was all the French were talking about! I was very happy to wake up and find Obama the winner on November 5th and my French family helped me celebrate. They surprised me that evening with champagne, appetizers, and 4 French newspapers so I could remember the different headlines in France on that day. Although they began by humming the English national anthem (it's the only one they could think of!) Bastien soon found the tune for the Star Spangled Banner! Needless to say, my French students entered the classroom the next day chanting "Obama!" and asking questions about what would happen next. Two of my senior level classes wrote letters to President-elect Obama that I'm going to send to him next week. They were really beautiful letters - I'll type one of them at the end of this post.

Now that the election is over I've been less embarrassed to speak my accented French and proclaim that I'm an American when the inevitable "What nationality are you?" question is asked. Instead of being questioned about Bush and Iraq and I am congratulated about the election of Obama. When I say I am from Chicago I no longer get questions about Al Capone and gangsters but questions about whether I live close to Obama!

Other than the election there hasn't been much excitement over here - just the same old stuff. The family flambéed bananas for dessert the other night which I thought was exciting but is, I guess, just a normal dessert to them! On Tuesday Kristi and I went to Dijon (2 hours to the north) to sightsee a little - there isn't much there so one day is sufficient. It's the town where I studied in summer 2006 so it was really fun for me to go back and remember when I lived there. Once we got there it all started coming back to me and we even went up to my old residence hall and Kabab restaurant. The man at the Kebab restaurant remembered my friends and I from 2 years ago and we took a picture together - just like the one we took in 06! Although it was a cold and dreary day we had a great time visiting churches and spending some time in the Burgundy region. This weekend he whole french family went to London because it was a gift for Marie-Suzanne's 50th birthday so I'm all alone. My friend Kristi came over today to make chocolate chip cookies which was fun except for that we couldn't find the cookie sheets! Instead, we put the cookie dough in dishes for soufflés and the result is delicious! Tomorrow I'll be unpacking my suitcases for good (the family moved their boxes and papers out of my room during the vacation so I have room for my things now!) and then it'll really feel like I'm home. I'll take video or pictures once that's done and post them next time.

As for the future: I've found some Mexican and Thai restaurants here so I'm trying to find some time to try them - I miss spicy food! Most of the food here is fairly bland compared to the food in America. Next weekend is Bastien's birthday so we have some family parties to go to. It'll be fun to meet some more family members and friends. I'm planning on celebrating some kind of Thanksgiving the weekend after that - the family is going to get a turkey! It's amazing how fast these first few months seem to be flying by - I have something important every weekend until I fly home for Christmas!

Well that's all for now. Gros Bisous and A bientôt!

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