Il neige!

The snowy courtyard of my lycée
It's snowing! For real this time. Even while being a gorgeous November, it has snowed three times. The first two times, snowflakes fell from the sky and turned to rain as they neared the ground and last Friday's snow, although it stuck, was barely more than a dusting.

My feelings toward the snow vary. At times I find myself loathing it, other times I get giddy and excited. I feel uncomfortable admitting I sometimes loathe snow. As a child, I could not understand why my mom was not as excited as I when it snowed (because she had to drive in it) and vowed to myself that I would not grow up to detest the snow. The last few winters in Vancouver have had particularly heavy snowfalls though (by Vancouver standards), and being Vancouver, the city is ill-equipped to deal with it, which has turned me against the snow.

I am mostly excited for this snow as I am in France and my commute to work is a five minute walk. I am also hopeful that the snow will deter the French from walking their dogs and letting them shit freely on the sidewalks without picking up after them.

The same view from my kitchen window taken November 26, 2010
It would also be perfect weather to wear these. I discovered them last night and got super excited; until now, I think the only way to get the coveted CBC Radio 3 toque and scarf was to win them. Were I in Vancouver, they would totally be at the top of my Christmas wish list.

November is the Cruelest Month

View looking to the right from my kitchen balcony taken November 18, 2010
November is decidedly my least favourite month of the year in Vancouver. It's rainy, cold, and downright dreary. Moreover, being Canadian, there are no November holidays to brighten one's mood (although Peter's birthday has helped improve my esteem of November).

In contrast, November in SaintÉ has been beautiful and unexpectedly sunny, albeit cold. November here is not despicable at all.

Arcade Fire Live in Lyon

This was an eventful week. The day after hosting American Thanksgiving, a group of us hopped a train to Lyon to see Arcade Fire.

Arcade Fire played Vancouver the week after I left. I was kind of sad to be missing them. When I found out they were playing Lyon, I was immediately excited and bought a ticket.

Fucked Up shared the bill, which I thought was a bit of an odd pairing and the audience's reception would seem to indicate they thought so too. We arrived just after 8:00pm and Fucked Up had already started. Shows in France apparently run earlier and more on time than in Vancouver, so we missed most of their set. I nevertheless caught what I could of their set. I really supported Fucked Up's 2009 release of Do They Know Its Christmas?, proceeds of which were donated to charities helping women in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and Aboriginal women.

Arcade Fire was amazing. It was a little surreal and threw me off a bit when Win Butler greeted the crowd with, "Bonjour Lyon!" as I typically see shows in Vancouver. Arcade Fire is one of my favourite bands and Suburbs is one of my favourite records of 2010 so I relished every minute of their set. The show was a good balance between Suburbs and their two previous records, Neon Bible and Funeral.

One of the highligts of the night was Régine Chassagne's two-song interlude. To be honest though, prior to Suburbs, I did not find songs featuring Chassagne on lead vocals captivating. I felt her songs on Suburbs, however, were stronger and more engaging. Her performance of "Haïti" and "Sprawl II" solidified this for me.

(Photo via Exclaim!)

American Thanksgiving

This past Thursday was American Thanksgiving, as Canadians call it to distinguish it from our own Thanksgiving, which takes place about six weeks earlier. Thanksgiving has never been that big a deal to me, probably because my parents grew up in Québec, where the holiday was not really celebrated. Even compared to English Canada though, Thanksgiving seems to be a bigger deal in the United States. The Canadians on the program here were not very organized and therefore we did not celebrate Thanksgiving. The Americans were thinking about it well in advance, and a friend of mine, Kathleen from Georgia, even brought two cans of pumpkin for pie, boxed stuffing, and gravy mix.

As both ovens and spacious apartments seem to be luxuries in France, I volunteered my flat for the American Thanksgiving festivities.

On the day before Thanksgiving, Kathleen arrived at my flat bright and early and we started by preparing the crusts for the pumpkin pies using this foolproof recipe for flaky pie crust.

Next, Kathleen went to pick up "la grosse dinde," the large turkey she had specially pre-ordered from a butcher (because apparently the French do not commonly eat whole turkeys). Our freshly killed grosse dinde was 12 lbs., smaller than its "large" American cousins, probably because it was likely a heritage turkey and was not pumped with growth hormones (vive la France!).

As neither of us had every roasted a turkey before, Kathleen called her grandmother the night before to ask for tips. It proved especially useful, as Kathleen's grandmother was old enough to have roasted freshly killed turkeys before (rather than getting them plastic-wrapped from the supermarket as is more common today).

Kathleen's grandmother suggested that because it was freshly killed (and a bit bloody), we should rise and soak it in salt water for an hour to clean it.

Me giving a thumbs up, proud that we had so far managed to handle the turkey.
Kathleen, my room mate Andrenne, and I affectionately and alliteratively named the turkey Didier la Dinde. After soaking Didier, Kathleen and I wrapped him back up in the brown paper he came in and put him in a plastic bag in the fridge until we were ready to roast him the next day.

Kathleen left to go tutor. Meanwhile, Andrenne made stuffing, I went out to go buy carrots for the side dish I was making, and my friend Jacky from Los Angeles came by to use our oven to make yam casserole--an American dish combining mashed yams, sugar, cinnamon and marshmallows.

Later that night Kathleen returned with our friend Marryn, and we baked the pumpkin pies one at a time because the oven was only big enough for one pie plate.

Pumpkin pie baking in the oven. Note the oven thermometre next to it, because our oven dial does not have temperature settings like a regular oven, it has settings 1 through 9.
It truly felt like the holidays, as we cooked all day the day before and all day on Thanksgiving day. It was so cold outside, and we had so much food prepared, we were able to keep what did not fit in our fridge out on our balconies.

The next day Kathleen came by at on o'clock to have a light lunch and roast Didier. We stuffed Didier with onions and stuffing, buttered him and into the oven he went for the next several hours.

The roasting of Didier la Dinde
My room mates and I all had to work that afternoon, so Kathleen kindly kept a watchful eye on Didier with Marryn and Amanda.

Kathleen proudly bringing Didier to the dining room table.
Our 20-25 guests started arriving at seven o'clock with their appetites and side dishes for our Thanksgiving potlatch. It was a a huge success. There was more than enough food for everyone. I packed a little tin foil of turkey leftovers for each guest to take home. Our fridge is full of left overs and I have had yogurt with cranberry sauce and granola for breakfast two days in a row now--yum!

(Photos: my own, except pumpkin pie photo by Kathleen Campbell)

Les manifs continuent

Another manifestation just marched by my house this morning:

After the mani I wrote about in October opposition to retirement reform continued to be sustained ahead of the Senate's vote on the bill. The students continued to blockade the school, only letting prépas students in to attend classes. This continued for the next week. I therefore spent most of October sitting in the teachers' lounge to make sure I would get paid not not be marked as "on strike." I taught my prep school classes and the odd class when lycéens who did not want the school barricaded managed to find their way in. The students do not have the right to blockade the school, but no one took any action to break it up; that would be flying in the face of more than 200 years of history and likely have caused an incident.

Here is the video I shot of the student blockade on October 12th
The student blockade let up for the last two or three days before Toussaint holidays, but attendance was poor.

I had planned to go to Belgium over Toussaint holidays and was nervous about trains being perturbed, especially as there was another day of protest scheduled for the day after I was leaving. Fortunately, I left earlier than I needed to and everything ended up being fine. My roommates were not so lucky.

The retirement reform bill passed at the end of October, but that has not deterred the resolve of all. Another mani was held November 6 and, as mentioned, one took place today. The one I saw this morning seemed less well attended than that of October 12th, but they were just as determined to force government to bend to the will of the people.

Remembrance Day

Monument to the war dead of WWI and WWII
Last week and the week before I taught lessons about Remembrance Day, focusing on the differences between Canadian and French commemorations of this day. I had not brought a poppy with me from Canada when I left in September, and was surprised that poppies weren't also a tradition in France.

The biggest surprise, however, was when my students told me they did not really commemorate le jour de l'Armistice, as it is called here. The school held a ceremony the day before Remembrance Day, but attendance was voluntary and only one of my students told me they had attended. I think age and the different, more difficult history concerning the Résistance and collaboration during WWII, may have a lot to do with youth commemoration of Remembrance Day; some of my students told me that their families did not speak about their relatives' involvement in the war.

Despite this, I did see evidence of Armistice Day ceremonies being prepared for in Toulouse, and having taken place in SaintÉ (pictured above) when I returned from my trip.

Siskiyou en France

Siskiyou at The Saint Ex in Bordeaux
As I mentioned, I went to Toulouse to see Peter play with Siskiyou. Peter had previously played bass on Siskiyou's record. At some point this past summer, Colin Huebert asked Peter if he would be interested in playing bass on an autumn tour of Europe. It was a split-second decision for him, as he would not only fulfill a dream, but potentially get to see me in Europe.

Despite my perhaps inherent bias toward Siskiyou, as Peter is my boyfriend, I really like their music. Prior to the show, I had only heard Siskiyou's album online. The live show was excellent. The live show was true to recordings, for example, using a melodica live as a substitute for the horns and accordion on the record.

Peter showcased his musicianship, not only played bass, but guitar, melodica and keys, and sometimes more than one of these at once, always transitioning seamlessly. In addition to Peter on tour with Huebert and Erik Arnesen, the line-up was rounded-out by Shaunn Watt on drums, vocals, and guitar. I first met Shaunn six or seven years ago when we were in high school, but had since lost touch. It was nice to meet him again so unexpectedly and on a completely different continent, and was a testament to how small the world (or the Vancouver music scene) really is. Although not familiar with his more recent projects, which include the Vancouver-based folk/rock band Red Cedar, I was a fan of Sic Semper, and think that Shaunn's vocals were a perfect fit for Siskiyou.

The write up in Le Lieu Commun's monthly listings compared Siskiyou to Sparklehorse, but I hear more old Modest Mouse and "It's All Going To End" reminds me of Eels.

My favourite songs are "Everything I Have" and "Never Ever Ever Ever Again" so it was awesome to see it performed live, with Bart on the musical saw for the latter. Another highlight of the live show was their rendition of Neil Young's "Revolution Blues," which you can watch here.

I really enjoyed my trip to see Peter with Siskiyou in Toulouse and Bordeaux. It was a fun couple of days in Toulouse and Bordeaux with Siskiyou, even with the van troubles. As we arrived in Bordeaux at 5:00pm and it was getting dark, I didn't get to visit the city, so I will have to go again and tell you about it then.

Did you see Siskiyou on one of their Canadian tour dates? What did you think?

Le Beaujolais Nouveau

Today, the third Thursday of November, was la fête du Beaujolais Nouveau. The Beaujolais region is close-by, just East and North of Lyon. Beaujolais Nouveau is the first wine of the season to be ready to drink and today was the first day that Beaujolais Nouveau could be uncorked and sold. The celebration dates back to the 1980s and its roots are based in advertising, but it is fun anyways. I especially liked the colourful rooster on the labels of the bottles we had for our party in the teachers' lounge after class today.

Toulouse

On Wednesday morning, I woke up really early to catch the 6:14am train to Toulouse to see Peter, who is currently touring Europe with Siskiyou.

I was so tired that I slept for most of the train ride between Lyon and Toulouse. The train rolled through the French countryside, and what I did see of it was beautiful: rolling hills dotted with stone farmhouses. I wish I could have mustered the energy to pull out my camera and snap a few photographs, but the scenery alone would be enough cause to make the trip again.


Gare Toulouse Matabiau



I arrived in Toulouse at about 11:15am at Gare Toulouse Matabiau, which is right on the bank of the Midi canal. My hotel was just on the opposite bank on the cleverly-named boulevard de Bonrepos.

As Toulouse is called la ville rose, I somewhat expected to see bright pink buildings. Toulouse gets its name, however, from its rose-red brick buildings, which differs from the predominantly beige stone buildings I've seen in Paris, Lyon, and Saint Etienne.

Earlier that week, I had done a lesson on Remembrance Day only to be told by my classes that its French equivalent, Armistice Day, was not that big of a deal (more on this later).

I passed this war memorial, Monument aux Morts, during my walk around Toulouse. It seemed that there were preparations underway for ceremony the next day as bleachers had been set up across from the monument and nice flowers had been planted around it.

I continued down Allées Jules Guesde, through a city park where I saw a peacock (but he did not show me his tail), and across the Garonne river.

View of Pont de Halage de Tounis 

 View of Pont Neuf crossing the Garonne river
One interesting thing I noticed in Toulouse was that the street signs were in both French and Occitan.

After crossing the Garonne, I headed back to my hotel for a quick nap before meeting up with Peter.

Where Am I? Toulouse & Bordeaux!

You guys guessed it: I was in Toulouse and Bordeaux this week!

Congratulations to the lucky winner, Julie! Please e-mail me your address and I will pop this postcard in the mail for you. Also thank you to Kit for playing, hopefully third time will be the charm!

I'm staying put for the next little while now, but I still have lots of stories from Belgium and this trip to tell. The next postcard challenges will likely not be until December.

Where Am I? Postcard Challenge #2

This morning I am catching a train to my next destination. I'll be gone for a few days, visit two cities and be back in time to teach my class Friday afternoon. Here are the clues for the second postcard challenge:

1. The first city I will be visiting is known as la ville rose.

2. There, it is always noon on the canal.

3. The two cities are approximately 245km apart.

4. The second city is found on many labels, as well as in many glasses.

Where am I going? If you think you know, leave your answer in the comments below. Again, props to you if you can answer each of the three clues(but don't worry, it will not put you at an advantage for a postcard). I will be back on November 12th and will draw the lucky winner once I'm home from work that day. This means you have until 5:00pm Central European Time (CET) on November 12, 2010 to guess and leave your answer.

Good luck!

In Bruges

Or,Here's Another Picture of a Bridge

Bruges, like the rest of Belgium, was beautiful. It was not at all the tourist-infested nightmare I had heard it was. In fact, our day was spent leisurely strolling over Bruges' many bridges and admiring the town's natural and architectural beauty.  We were in such awe of the scenery we saw everywhere we looked that we probably snapped two-hundred pictures of bridges (how many are there in Bruges?) and buildings between the two of us.

Rather than repeat the word "beautiful" a thousand times, here are a few of the many pictures of Bruges' bridges I took:

If autumn is as beautiful as it was in both Bruges and at the abbey in Leuven, I may be converted me into an autumn traveller.

Leuven

Leuven is just twenty minutes East of Brussels by train. I had never heard of Leuven before Kristen spoke about doing her MA in philosophy at the university there. It may be familiar to observant drinkers of Stella Artois, as Leuven is home to the brewery and the name appears on the beer's label.

KU Leuven University Library
Leuven has been a university town since the middle ages, when the university was founded in 1425. In the late 1960s, a feud between the French and Dutch-speaking factions of the university caused the two groups to split. KU Leuven became a Dutch-speaking university, while the French moved to Louvain-la-Neuve and founded the French-speaking Université Catholique de Louvain.

During First World War the university library was burned by the Germans. After the war, the Americans rebuilt the library only to have it burnt by the Germans again during the Second World War. It's a beautiful library and the names of the American universities that made donations towards its reconstruction after WWII are carved into its stones.

The bizarre bug-on-a-sewing-needle public art in the square opposite the library.
Leuven is probably not somewhere you would typically visit as a tourist unless you knew someone there, such as I did. The abbey there, however, was one of the highlights of my trip.

Cows grazing in the fields near the abbey.

The Belgian countryside is so beautiful. Sitting across the lake from the abbey I seemed to suddenly understand what inspired the northern painters' rich pallets: the dark green, burgundy, amber and orange leaves.

Belgium

I spent a wonderful week in Belgium and now I am left with the challenge of how to sum it all up.

I have to admit that were my friend Kristen not in Belgium doing her MA in philosophy, I might not have visited the country--or at least not so soon. It is my impression (or false impression perhaps) that Belgium is often left off of travellers' itineraries when visiting Europe. I think this is because Belgium is relatively little known compared to its European Great Power neighbours and its monuments are not as immediately recognisable as, for example, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, or the Colliseum.


View of Brussels' Town Hall spire


I flew to Brussels from Lyon. It was cloudy and starting to get dark when we landed. Brussels International Airport was unexpectedly large and somewhat of an obstacle course to get out of. Following the exit signs, I took at least four rolling sidewalks, then up and later down several escalators to the train. From the airport I took a train to Leuven, where I would be staying at my friend Kristen's flat. When the train pulled out of the tunnel it was dark out, so my arrival in Belgium was somewhat mysterious. I would have to wait until the next morning for my first real glimpses of Belgium.

Where Am I? Belgium!

You guys all guessed it: I was in Belgium! Home of Tintin and its invasion by Germany brought Britain into World War I because of the 1839 Treaty of London.

Congratulations to the lucky winner, my Dad! I'll pop this postcard in the mail for you and you should receive it shortly. Also a big thank you to Kit and Andrew for playing!

The next set of clues for postcard challenge #2 will be posted next Wednesday when I leave on my next trip. I hope you play!