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Published: January 26th 2010
Changing Flags
Yes, Mme Mariatte has bright red hair (and no, its not natural). My club is one of four clubs in Thionville, named 'Millionième'Well, this is going to (or attempt to) encompass everything in the month of Décembre. I am not sure I will succeed, but I will try! OKAY
The first Monday in Déc. I had a Rotary meeting and it was pretty cool. At every meeting the give information about something, and this meeting had a presentation about the island of St. Martin. It wasnt as long as the first meeting, but it was informative. I exchanged flags with the president of my club Mme Marie-Noël Mariatte. That was the first flag exchange I have done while in France, and I highly doubt I will do another, but one never really knows. The dinner afterwards was excellent as well. 😊
In my region, there are many traditions that come from Germany. One such tradition is called the
Marchée de Noël. Starting on the first of December, the center of the city is filled with lights that are on all night every night until the New Year. There are small
Chalets that are set up in the main square. They are like small houses (or large ice shacks, if you will) and people sell things out of them. Usually homemade things
Marchée de Noël - Thionville
I worked in this stall, and took a picture of the outside. It rained :P or Christmas related food. There are also stands all over the centre-ville that sell
vin chaud (hot wine) and crêpes and other hot things. The Rotary had one of them in the main square. I was there for a Sunday afternoon and a Wednesday afternoon. I sold foods that were made in the region and then given to the Rotary who in turn sells them and gives the money to help disabled children in the area. I helped sell cheeses, jellies, honey and sausages all made by hand. There were even
escargots (Snails). It was pretty cold, and it rains a lot in this region, so when it rained on the Wednesday, we didnt get many customers. There are four rotary clubs in Thionville, and because the marchée lasts until the 24th, each club takes over the chalet for one week. My club had it the first week, and I worked with the president of my club. She informed me that our profits this year were higher than last year, so I have that to be proud of; I helped a good cause 😊 I also had the chance to visit some other Christmas markets throughout the month. Yutz is
Russia?
Marchee de Noel in Metz. a small village on the other side of Thionville (and is possibly the location of my next host family). One of my exchange friends, Doris, lives there. A group of us went to the market but the one in Yutz lasts for only a week. The market in Yutz was bigger than the one in Thionville, and was bigger in space as well. I bought some beautiful cards, and I hope everyone got them! I also got the opportunity to visit the market in Metz. There wasnt just one market, but three smaller markets spread throughout the city. They were each different in style and presentation. The first was a normal market like the ones in most of the other cities. The second, however, had large towers on the tops of the chalets in an attempt to look like the rooftops of St. Petersburg. I'm sure you all know the curches in St. Petersburg, or at least what they look like 😊. This is what they made the roofs of the chalets look like. It was really cool! The last one was in a "u" shape and the start of the line was a chalet in the shape of a
la Bière
This is the "Brasserie", or brewery where they make beer! steam engine! All of the other chalets were like the cars for a train. It was pretty cute. There was also a HUGE Christmas tree with a life-sized crèche in front of it.
AND AGAIN, there was a market in a city called Rodemack. This is one of the oldest cities I have been to thus far. Almost everything within the walls of the ancient fortress is from the
Moyenne Age "Middle Age". All the steps were worn away and the streets were big enough for one car at a time (or a large horse). My host dad and I walked along the battiments and i took some pictures of a rediculously old castle. At one time there was a duke who resided over Rodemack and the countryside, but that was several hundred years ago. The coolest thing, was that everyone who worked in the market (which took up the entire central area of the city) was dressed as if from the middle ages. There were even some cool "hobo" fires scattered randomly throughout the streets and all the stands were set up like in a normal market, not like the chalets of the other markets.
On the 5th
Old Method....
This is how it was done back in the day... of December, was the feast of St. Nicolas. In my region, it is a HUGE deal, because St. Nicolas is the patron saint of Lorraine. On the 5th, I went with the Rotary to a village a little over an hour south of mine called Saint-Nicolas de Port. We got there around 3 PM and met up with the other exchanges. We then went to
Une musée de la Brasserie. This means that we went to a beer museum 😊. It has been in production for almost 300 years, and we got to see all the different ways that beer was made throughout history. There were 7 floors and each floor had a different "age" of beer-making techniques. They had an ancient fireplace and really old equipment. Every floor was different. I dont think our guide liked us very much. When the tour was finished, we sat in the front room of the museum and each tasted a beer from the still-working company. It wasnt bad, but as I said, I'm not the biggest fan of beer.
We then headed to the centre-ville, which was only five minutes from the museum. We walked there, and it was uneventful besides the
New Method
...and this is how they do it nowdays :) fact that we all got scolded for speaking in English. We were saved by Bernard, the head boss of the whole world (or at least our Rotary world), who said that exchange students ALWAYS speak in English, or at least Franglais (mixture of French and English) when they are all together. Good save! :D When we got to the centre-ville, which wasnt very big because its a village, we all split up to watch the festivities. I went with a small group and we watched some fire eaters first. There were too many people to see properly, so we continued on a little ways to a Marchée de Noël. There weren't very many stands, but some girls found some cute homemade earrings. I didnt buy anything like that, but, holding to the tradition of Christmas, I bought some
marrons and ate them. On every corner during this time of the year one can buy them. In English it is simply "chestnuts". I have never eaten one before I came to France, and they are SO GOOD! They really warm your hands as well. They are sold in paper cones that hold about a dozen or so. If you have never
Ice Sculpture
This is the basilisque from an iced point of view. eaten chestnuts before, you should NOT do what I did and put the whole thing in your mouth! You have to break the shell first and THEN eat the meat of the nut. In France, you can just drop the shells anywhere outside. In the US you would probably be arrested for littering. On saturday nights if you go into the city and walk around, you will be stepping on shells (and cigarette butts) wherever you go!
So back on the ranch...(to those people who had Mrs. LaVick as a teacher)
After I bought my magically delicious chestnuts, we went and watched some men build an ice sculpture of the basilisque of Saint-Nicolas de Port. It was at least six feet tall and lit from the inside! It was a bit cold to be around, but we stayed and watched them work for a while, while trying to talk over the chainsaws and ice shavers while eating marrons. Next, there was a parade! There were several really cool floats, and even a few marching bands! Actually, there was only one marching band and the other two were marching percussion sections. The last two showed the story of Saint Nicolas.
Organ
The church had a really nice organ After the parade were the fireworks. They were pretty cool, because they played songs that everyone knew on the loudspeakers. They even played MIKA! They lasted maybe ten minutes and then the party was over. We headed to a
Salle des fêtes (community center) and ate a hearty dinner of sauerkraut and sausages (no joke). Our dessert was bread and cheese, as well as a small slice of apple tart. Traditional desserts. Dinner lasted about an hour and we talked for maybe half an hour after that. The French believe in talking while one digests ones food, so we always get a lot of time to talk. We mostly talk about our families, school, and of course home. We were given regional wine and, of course, water to drink. All in all a lovely dinner.
We walked to the church when the food had all been eaten. There, and almost every year since 1270, was a mass for Saint Nicolas that was a traditional Catholic mass. In France, very few people go to churches except for weddings, funerals and holidays. Sometimes even THEN they dont go. My host family NEVER goes to church, but neither does anyone else here,
Let there be LIGHT
Everyone got a candle! and no matter how bad this might sound, it doesnt really bother me. The first part of the mass went the same as every other mass I was ever in back home. During the homily, the priest mentioned that there were 28 exchange students from 10 countries present, and people started to stare at us. It was kinda cool that they managed to do that, because we were in the back 😊. We sang a song, finally, which required everyone to have a candle. Everyone then processed around the inside of the church for an hour singing the refrain. No one knew any of the actual verses. By the end, EVERY exchange student knew the song. The words are as followed, with a rough translation afterwards
Saint Nicolas, ton crédit d'age en age,
A fait pleuvoir des bienfaits souverains.
Viens, couvre encore de ton doux patronage
Tes vieux amies, les enfants des Lorrains!
Saint Nicholas, your credit throughout the ages
He has done good things for the people
Come, cover us again in your kind patronage
Your old friends, the children of Lorraine.
I tried translating as best I could. The song is almost as old as
Snowhall
Yes, this is me. And behind me is Snowhall in all its glory. the church I believe. There were at LEAST 100 verses if not more. Our candles had pretty much burned out by the time the song ended, but we had a great time and soon after, the mass ended. After the mass, it was almost midnight, so we all said our goodbyes and headed home. The next Rotary venture is in January on the 23rd. We will all go to Gérardmer, a skiing resort in the Vosges, about 2 hours south of me. Its a two day venture, and we will spend the night down there in the mountains! Im excited!
As you can all see, my weekends are always booked. I recently went to a place called Snowhall. It is a giant indoor ski slope. There are only about three in the world. One of them is in India or something like that. A woman from my Rotary club took me and I went skiing with her and her husband and children. Even though I live in a place that is cold and has a lot of snow, I dont go skiing very often. They thought that was strange. When I told them that it was all outdoors and
Nicholas D. Worsnop
Aussie kid. Coolest dude evah, mate sometimes it gets below -25°C, they got wide eyes and then they undersood why. Snowhall is all artificial snow and is kept at a balmy -4°C (25°F) year round. People from all over Europe go there to ski, so it was cool to go there and hear Spanish, French, German and even British English. Of course, it was a Sunday, so it was really busy. Lunch was really good too. We ate this fondu thing that is "traditional mountain food" as it was told to me. Heated cheese, and one dips bread and potatoes into it. Meat too, if one wishes. ITS SO GOOD! Very filling and perfect after skiing.
On the 19th was the party fot eh other Australian. It was a joint party for him and his host brother, so there were a lot of people there. Also, it was a costume party thing and I went as a hippie 😉. It was all I had clothing-wise. I didnt feel like buying anything here. I had to borrow a pair of sandals from one of my friends, but it was fine otherwise. We all brought sleeping bags and slept at a "salle des fêtes". There were a
My Birthday!
My host parents were so nice! They bought me a cake! lot of people, food and loud music. All the makings of agreat party! It was uneventful other than the fact that we didnt sleep until 6 AM. We had to wake up early too (around 9) to catch a train at noon. Unfortunately, we also had to clean the salle des fêtes, so we all helped and then got a ride to the train station. Even more unfortunately, the city we were in was in the muntains, and therefore it began to snow early in the morning. Consequently, there was no train at noon. Laura and I took a bus to Nancy. Normally, by train it takes 1 hour to get to Nancy and then another hour to Thionville. But the bus took 3 HOURS! AND there was no heat on the bus!! Thankfully, I was not alone and Laura and I have a "when I was an exchange student..." story.
There was a small gathering at new years as well. Maybe ten of us, and we danced a lot and , since everyone brought several things, there was a lot of food. We did the countdown at midnight and danced most of the rest of the night. The
Mégane
I do theatre on wednesdays after school. This is Megane, my bestest theatre friend! girl who hosted the party, thankfully, had no downstairs neighbors. The ubstairs neighbors said they were okay with a party, which is good because we made a lot of noise. Other than that, it was an uneventful New Years (Also, my birthday was the 31st. I'm 19). We celebrated my birthday AND a Finnish girl's birthday. Her name is Sara. The girls from my city gave me a beautiful watch, and Nick, the Ozzie (Australian), gave me an AC/DC CD (Black Ice) and a bunch of chocolate from Australia. Very nice. WELL. That was my December, sorry about the REALLY late update. I hope to update again....maybe after the France/Spain trip in late Feb. SORRY, but I'm really busy lately :P
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!
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sue alice
non-member comment
your blog
I took the liberty of sending your blog on to some other teachers. I always enjoy reading about your adventures. I know you probably can't talk about it but I really hope your second host family experience is going well. Sometimes it is so hard to adjust to a big change like a host family. But you have already reached the 1/2 point mark and your year is flying by ! Can't wait to hear more about it all when you get back. You probably know that Ian is in Europe on tour right now. I believe he is in Vienna today. Hard knock life for y'all. all for now - love, Sue Alice (Ian's Mom)