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Published: November 28th 2007
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Avignon in the fall
View of Pont d'Avignon and la Rhone. Bonjour mes chers amis!
I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, and are starting to enjoy the holiday season!
So, this entry is going to be a little shorter, since I have not gone on any glamorous trips, and therefore, have nothing too exciting to share. However, I do want to tell you about my first Thanksgiving in France, and a little bit about my every-day life here.
Thanksgiving was truly AMAZING! A number of my American friends (12 of us, to be exact), got together and prepared a pot luck dinner. One of the girls, Celine, was nice enough to invite all of us to her studio apartment, where we put all the food on one table, grabbed plastic plates and sat around floor, sofa, and a few chairs that we could find; it was a little tight, but nevertheless, the atmosphere was very nice and friendly.
We had a sign up sheet for what everyone was going to bring, and it worked out pretty well. Since none of us have ovens in our kitchens, we went to a market to order a turkey which they cooked for us, so we just went to pick
Avignon in the fall
View of the city's center it up when it was ready. Previously that day, I had 4 classes (2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon), so I was running around all day like crazy, trying to teach, shop, and make the food in time for dinner. Luckly, I had a 3 hour break from noon to 3 PM when I came home and made my "famous" Serbian bean soup, which was requested by a number of people who had tasted this wonder at my place a few weeks ago. After I made the soup, I went back to school to teach my 2 remaining classes for the day, and then I went home again to prepare the green beans. I finally headed out a little before 7 and started walking to Celine's apartment, when it started to rain, so I had to carry my food in one hand and my umbrella in the other, trying not to fall as I was wearing heels! Haha!
So that evening we discovered that we have some amazing chefs in our group, as all of the dishes turned out to be delicious! We had a traditional American Thanksgiving meal, which included everything from turkey, stuffing, mashed
potatoes, green beans, apple pie, and more! (well, inluding my soup, which doesn't exactly fall under this category...lol). After we stuffed our faces, Emily (my roommate) brought her guitar and played a couple of songs, as the rest of us who have no musical talents whatsoever, laid down on the floor and enjoyed the music. Then, we decided to play a game called "never have I ever"... this is when one person says something they have never done, and if it turns out that you have done this, you have to drink. I can say that I learned a lot of things about people during this game, which I'm not sure if I wanted to know, but it was still lots of fun. Oh, and just for the record... we didn't get wasted from drinking while playing this game; the wine just helped some people be more open about themselves. :-)
Now I have to tell you about my visit to the Orthodox Monastery, located just outside of Avignon (about 40 km), in the countryside, where the wine in this region is produced. This past Sunday, an older couple from the church came and picked me up around 8:30
Thanksgiving!
Getting food! AM to go to this monastery for liturgy. I was very excited to go, as I have never been in a monastery in France! The day was gorgeous, sky was blue, and the view of countryside was just breathtaking. The couple I went with are both of French origin, used to be Protestant, and have converted to Orthodoxy when they were young; moreover, they told me that their daughter entered the monastery at the age of 19, and is now 36! I was just so amazed to learn this. The liturgy was so nice, and the signing of the monastics was gorgeus! It was all in French, even though the monastery is Greek. After the liturgy, we had a coffee hour and then we ate lunch with the sisters and everyone else who showed up for liturgy. Everyone was so nice and welcoming, and I got to speak a lot of French that day which was awesome! :-) On our way back, we stopped by this amazing small town, located on a hill and took a walk around, and then we went to the Pont du Gard (the Roman aqueduct); it was pretty interesting going to these touristy places in
Thanksgiving!
Stuffing our faces! my church clothes and heels, and I got some strange looks by the tourists who were there...lol.
Other than that, teaching is going pretty well. This past week I talked about Thanksgiving in all of my classes. First, I started off explaining that Thanksgiving, as it can be seen from its name, is about giving thanks and being thankful, so then I asked them what they are thankful for; in some classes this went well, and in other classes not so well... most kids had a difficult time figuring out what it means to be "thankful" (little brats!). After discussing the thankfulness, I gave them a text about the history of Thanksgiving Holiday in America, and we spent the rest of the time talking about Pilgrims and about how we observe this day today. Most of the kids are good, but I do have a group who just doesn't talk AT ALL, and then another group of kids who need to be disciplined, so it is a bit challenging.
So a few weeks ago some of my friends and I joined a gym! It is a bit far away, as it takes me about 30 min. to walk
there, and it's also quite expensive, but it's totally worth going to. All of the classes that they offer at the gym, such as pilates, bodyjam, etc. are all included in the price, so we've been going to those lately as well. My goal right now is to get into shape so that I can go jogging outside (longer than 10 mins...lol) by the river when it gets nice.
In a few weeks, we get a Christmas vacation, and as of now, I don't have any plans except for going to Lyon to spend the Christmas day with my cousins there. Then, I'm planning on coming back to Avignon and spending the New Year's with my American friends here... we're still not sure what we're doing; we might even end up going down to Marseille or Montpellier for the evening. The saddest thing is that for the Christmas on the 7th of January (according to the old calendar which Serbian Orthodox Church still follows), I will be in Avignon, working. :-( I was thinking about going back to Bosnia, and spending this day with my family there, but it's almost impossible to go; first of all, the buses from
Thanksgiving!
Celine playing the guitar! here don't go as often, so I would have to miss a couple of days of work, and the trip is very, very long.... then, there are planes, but even in this case the trip would be long, and tickets are unaffordable for me, which is really sad. :-( However, Micaela (the woman I stayed with when I arrived) offered me and my roommate to spend the night at her place, and she wants us to have the traditional Serbian Christmas that morning before we go to work, which is really nice of her!
Oh wow, this became longer than I expected! LOL! Anyway, I wish you all Happy Holidays -- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ... just in case I don't get to talk to you beforehand. :-)
Hope to hear from you soon!
Love,
Darija
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Aren
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famous Serbian bean soup, eh?
I'll have to try that! :)