"Are you there, Cari? It's me, your travelblog!"

I received an e-mail from my travelblog recently - it told me it missed me after the 60 days during which I have not logged in.

So, I'm back! I somehow just forgot to keep updating - it wasn't that I didn't have time, it's just that I began to forget...

Here are some highlights since I last wrote:

Beaujolais Nouveau: The first wine in a vintage to be put out is the Beaujolais Nouveau. Beaujolais is the region to the north of Lyon so there were some big parties around here. I went with a bunch of other assistants to the downtown Lyon celbration. It was very small but we had a good time. The wine is always released the 3rd Thurs. of November so the part was at midnight on Wed. night. There were some small fireworks and a free tasting of the new wine (which is very good and fruity!). The best part is that the wine barrels are brought into town in a carrige pulled by horses with townspeople wielding torches marching behind it along with a marching band. It wasn't too big by American standards but it was a good time!

Paris: The weekend of American Thanksgiving I spent in Paris with a friend from student teaching. Mike is currently teaching English in England and had never been to France before. We met in Paris on a rainy, cold, and gray weekend (that's pretty typical though). We did a TON of stuff - probably fit in 4 days of touring into about a 24hr period! We arrived midday on Saturday and climbed the Arc de Triomphe, walked the Champs Elysee, ate Tartiflette, walked in the Tuileries gardens, saw Place de la Concorde, saw the outside of the Louvre, walked over Pont Neuf, saw Notre Dame, saw Place de la Bastille, saw Sacre Coeur, ate a fabulous French dinner, and saw the Eiffel Tower at night at the Trocadero. On Sunday we went to the Catacombs, the Pantheon, ate crepes, walked around the streets of the 6th arr., went to the Jardin de Luxembourg, saw the Eiffel Tower at day, and then went home. It was a whirlwind trip but well worth it!

Fete des Lumieres: This is an annual celebration in Lyon where the streets are illuminated with different types of lights and light displays. Some old buildings have projections of lights to make the building seem multi-colored or even to project a sort of a show that tells a story. The Americans were expecting big light displays but we quickly learned the extravagence we have in the states is not echoed over here! There were some displays that were just boring but there were some really awesome ones too! Unfortunately it was pretty cold but that helped keep the crowds down a little bit.

French Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorating: Since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday I had asked my French family if we could get a turkey one weekend and I would try to make some other Thanksgiving foods to share. The family thought it was a great idea so we celebrated the 6th of December. I got come cranberry sauce in Paris and found a bagel store here in Lyon that has a little "American Corner Store" inside. I'd invited 3 other American assistants and my French brother had his girlfriend and 3 friends over as well. That made the total count 11 people! I was imagining a smaller Thanksgiving since I've never cooked most of these foods before but I decided I would just do my best and we could just eat something else if it all flopped. The French family couldn't find a turkey so early (they fatten them up just for Christmastime) so they got a Chapon which is between a chicken and a turkey (it tasted just like turkey). Unfortunately I kept forgetting the name and called it a "Chopan" the whole time which sounds like the composer "Chopin"'s name. That always got laughs. The French family were concerned about eating dinner at 4 p.m. and they were also very skeptical of the mayonnaise AND fruit in the Waldorf salad. I made mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing (in and out of the bird), Waldorf salad, and green bean casserole (with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and French Fried Onions), and I also served Cranberry sauce (jellied) and rolls. My American friend Janie brought a lentil casserole and my friend Vince made a pumpkin pie. My French dad made an apple tart to make up for the apple pie. Everything turned out PERFECTLY! It was really delcious and the French people loved the food. They still thought eating all the food at the same time was weird (they eat one thing at a time and fruit is for dessert) but they enjoyed experiencing American culture. At the end we continued a Drake family tradition of asking everyone to share what they are thankful for, what they want for Christmas, and what they would want for Christmas that is so extravagent they would never get it. We did this all in English and it was a lot of fun - who knew my French brother would want a bear if he had the means? Afterwards the Americans stayed and we sat around the small Christmas tree letting our dinner digest (I also video-chatted with my parents on Skype) and watching the real candles burn on the tree. The French family also got out and old music box from Alsace and played music for us. It felt like a real American Thanksgiving with a little French flair.

Geneva: The weekend before holiday vacation I wanted to go to Strasbourg to see the Christmas market but by the time I tried to book hostels everything was filled. Instead, Vince and I went to Geneva - big mistake! This was probably the worst trip I have taken. Ever. We left early on Saturday and missed an announcement on the loud-speaker but thought it was nothing. When the controler took our tickets he said we were not on the train to Geneva - the train had broken apart earlier and we were not going to Geneva. We had to get off in a little border town called Annemasse and take a bus to the border. When we got to the border I told Vince we couldn't take pictures while in customs because it's very serious and that we could not bring fruit across borders (I've been on skating trips to Canada where we couldn't take pictures to customs and we can't bring fruit back to the U.S. so I generalized these rules). We got to customs and there was no one there! We saw our tram was about to leave so we hopped on and started going. We were laughing because we had just crossed an international border on foot when Vince whispered "I have clementines in my bag". Oh goodness... We eventually got to where our hostel was but couldn't find it for a while. Once there, we found our room with two other couples staying in it and then ate a lunch of Nutella sandwiches and clementines. We headed out to see the "jet d'eau" which is just a big fountain of water in Lake Geneva. It was freezing and the walkway out to the jet was narrow, had water on it, and had no guardrails. We then went to the cathedral where there was a battle reenactment going on and we couldn't even climb the tower. Instead we went to an art museum that Vince was interested in and got in for free because we hadn't gotten Swiss Francs out of an ATM yet. Afterwards we went back to the hostel to nap because it was too cold to stay outside and then went to eat fondue for dinner. The first restaurant we went to said they had fondue and then said they were out so we went to a different restaurant. We got the fondue and the flame was out of control! Vince wanted to stop it but we were so hungry we kept eating...until at the same moment we both severely burned our mouths. These burns were bad - blistered immediately - but we kept eating we were so hungry. We went back to the hostel and researched earlier trains to take the next morning. The next day we went to the UN building which was interesting. We could only stand outside the gates and look at it but there was a giant chair statue outside to symbolize the countries that still battle landmines. We got to the train station early and stood in a phone booth (there's no seats) to eat the remainder of the clementines we thought we couldn't bring back into France. We went to a tourist shop and I dropped a magnet on accident and then had to pay for it because the magnet part broke off the back (I wasn't happy but just glued the magnet back on and it was all fixed). We went back through customs and no one was there either. We were never happier to see Lyon and we will never go back to Geneva!!!

Holiday Vacation: For holiday vacation I went back to the states to be with my family. Unfortunately, I packed my presents in my large suitcase (along with the cheese I gave to my cousin) and KLM lost the suitcase. Actually, they left the suitcase in Lyon - it never made it to Amsterdam for my lay-over. So I spent the first 2 1/2 days stressing out about my suitcase but it came the afternoon before we left for Christmas in Wisconsin. We had a lot of fun in Wisconsin snow-mobiling, sledding, playing in the snow, and playing games together. The remainder of the vacation was spent going to my good old American hang-outs and seeing friends. I played my Mom's Wii games a lot (Dancing With The Stars!) and I went out to a bar with my best friend for New Year's Eve. My parents even surprised me with front-row tickets to a play at a small Chicago theater where my favorite actor (Jeffrey Donovan from Burn Notice) was playing a lead role! It was the best Christmas present! I even got a signed picture of him! I was indifferent about coming back to France at the end but it was a little hard. The first time was so exciting but this time it was just like going back to a normal and sometimes boring (I only work 12 hrs!) life. Luckily, the first weekend I had something to cheer me up!

Skiing in the Alps: My French sister lives at the largest ski station in Europe - Courchevel. She has an internship planning events there. I went to stay with her for 3 days and to learn to ski! It was absolutely beautiful there and the weather was awesome. She taught me to ski and I really enjoyed it! Some of the "blue slopes" were a little intese and steep (they kind of really scared me) but I did them all even though sometimes I went super slow and basically snow-plowed right through them! We took the ski lift to the top and saw a beutiful view of Mont Blanc (I took the ski lift back down because the slopes up there are really hard!) It was hard and exhausting but really awesome too! The next day Laurie worked so I did my own work at her apartment. We watched some movies and then I came back home. Really got me back into the swing of things here and made me remember I'm so lucky to be here!

School: Classes have been going well - I just yelled at my frist student this week. I've got 1 challenging group and the rest are either great or just full of energy that I have to harness. Before I left for vacation my students went on strike for a week - they blockaded the doors so no students could enter. They don't like the new education reforms. It was a very interesting experience that I enjoyed (I had no classes!) until a group of students from a nearby school came and broke two windows, set a fire, knocked over trash cans in the streets, and threw tomatoes and eggs at the school. I was really scared and I wanted to leave the school but the students and teachers reassured me that it was not dangerous - the kids don't want to hurt people, they just want to disturb the building. In the end, the firemen came, the police arrested 3 kids, and everyone acted like that was totally normal! Today I went to another demonstration and they say the riots and strikes are going to continue and probably get worse. January 29th is a national strike day (everyone is called upon to strike in the private and public sector) so we'll see how that goes!

Future: On January 30th I'm going to Prague to see the Miami Synchro Skating teams compete and then the next weekend I'm going to Rouen, France to see my best friend's little sister's skating team compete. A day after I get back from that will be spring vacation for two weeks and I am going to Rome, Naples, and Florence, Italy. Travel is picking up and vacation is coming up fast! I'll definitely make sure I remember to write here more often, though! I'm uploading some pictures from all these adventures I've described.

Hope all is well with you. Until la prochaine fois - bisous!!!

---

---

---