La fête des Rois

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Bonjour à tous!

Wow, I've been very busy the past few weeks; having fun of course and teaching here and there.
Two Sundays ago I had a "galette des rois" with lunch with the family I spend every Sunday with in Mulhouse. The feast of the Epiphany or Kings, on January 6, is celebrated here in France and they eat a "galette des Rois." This is a kind of cake, with a trinket (usually a porcelain figurine of a king) or a bean hidden inside. The person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket becomes "king" or "queen" for a day. Yesterday, Pascale bought "une galette des Rois" for me to try after lunch. Solenne cut the galette into 6 slices and Estelle (without looking), assigned a piece of cake to each person. The little trinket is really small and it was in my slice; it was a little baby Jesus. This meant that I got to be "queen" for the day and had to wear a crown. It was fun.

After lunch, Marc and his wife arrived to meet Pascale and I who would be accompanying us to Germany. We went to these thermal baths in Bad Bellingen; and I learned that "Bad" means "bath" in English. THere were three different pools of really warm water and two were outside. We spent the whole afternoon swimming and relaxing, and didn't get home till about 6:30pm. It was so much fun and I definitely want to go again!

Last week, one of the English teacher's daughters had the flu, so she was out most of the week to stay home with her daughter. Since she wasn't able to come int then I didn't have class with her all week. It seems that there is no such thing as a "substitute teacher" here in France. lol

School is going well otherwise and I'm trying to keep busy. My friend Andromeda and I have started running again to train for a 1/2 marathon we plan on doing in April in Annecy, France. We go on break for 2 weeks at the end of February and my friend Franzi and I have already started planning this trip...we'll be visiting Istanbul, Athens, Rome, Milan, and Venice, before heading back to Mulhouse. I'm quite excited!

Hope all is well back home!

Talk to you soon...

Kris 😊

It was a fun day!
Talk to you later,
Kristen 😊

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Comments

[Mom]

Annency
hometown of the "famous" Discovering French Blanc characters, n'est-ce pas?!!!

[Val Fisher]

Travel advisory!!
Make sure they think you're European in Istanbul. Many of the locals were VERY rude to Americans when I was there in October. Most very friendly if they think you're going to spend money,but otherwise RUDE to Americans! Keep the travel blogs coming...you're living my dream!!!!

[Uncle Dave]

Reine pour un jour
Tu es tres convenable d'etre une reine pour un jour, ou, peut-etre, pour une anne entiere! I sure sounds as though you have the life of royality en la belle France et ailleurs! Thanks for the great update, Avec envie, Oncle Dave

[Aunt Kate]

wow!
Kris you will remember these trips for the rest of your life. How Cool!! James will be very excited to share what you did with your friends on the Epiphany as I think they do something similar in their French Class at Oak Knoll. Keep running. Love, Aunt Kate

[Cathy Pfanders]

Queen!
Wow! Queen for the day! I bet Elise is jealous. Jk, Elise. Kristen, I just love reading about your adventures. I can tell you are happy and having a blast! Perfect!