La fille qui nage..

1. The canteen line
2. Paula and Elodie
3. My leftovers!

So this was kind of a random title.. it's a French in-joke, but I kind of have to tell you now: the Brousses have a cousin or something from South Africa who doesn't speak French but finds the phrase, "La fille qui nage" inexplicably sexy (not entirely sure where he was coming from with that one, but try saying it really fast, and for those of you who're wondering, it means 'the girl who swims')

But speaking of, it really is quite profound how many Prince Charmings I find for myself on the tram everyday -you really should all come and see for yourself!

I thought you finally needed a really good update on food in France, and since yesterday was such a good day for eating, here it is:
Yesterday was my last day of school for the year and it was also the day of the Christmas Meal at the SELF (as in Help Yourself -it's the school canteen). Clemenceau, which is rather a flash school, had a flash menu to match. I took a photo but it was kind of blurry so I thought I'd better copy it out instead.

Menu De Noel
Du Vendredi 16 Decembre


Entree
Assiette de Foie Gras   (As in Pate!)
Saumon Fume             (Smoked Samon)
Coquille Saint Jaques   (The remains of which can be seen in the last photo -shellfish)        
Tarte Fine aux Escargots(Yes -a real life snail pastry!)


Plat
Supreme de Pintade aux Marrons (Marron are chestnuts -they're delicious in cooking!)
Filet de Truite               (This was fish -we've eaten fish here alot!)
Saute de Cerf                 (Cerf is reindeer!!)
Pommes Dauphines              (the yum potato balls in the second photo)
Fusion de Legumes d'Antan     (veggies -gotta love 'em)
Fromage                      (and my favourite: cheese, and there's always crusty rolls)


Dessert
Supreme Capuccino            (Tiramisu!)
Baccara au Caramel           (A kind of caramel tart)
Foret Noire            (Black forest cake, although me and Paula agreed this was average!)
Choco Tresor                (Kind of gourmet coffee cream puffs, covered in chocolate)


...Hungry yet?
Last night we had a North African themed night at the youth group (as in Morocco, Algeria..) which was hilarious because everyone dresses up like arabs, and we had couscous.
That afternoon we had delicious Mille-feuille and coffee gateau at Odile's work -it's like a never-ending feast, but my stomach didn't thank me for all the coffee!
The line for the canteen is huge, but it was particularly slow today because lots of groups were choosing different things (you had to pick an entree, main and dessert each like usual) to try. We did the same and were passing everything across the table.
One afternoon we decided we felt like a gateau from the bakery and so just got one! I had the most amazing rasberry-custard-cream-cheese tart about as big as a cricket ball, all to myself!
Today I'm going to eat 'en ville' with Paula because its her last day before she leaves -I think we'll go to a  creperie. We also made a cake together for our class -it was cinnamon-y and delicious! She said that a lot  of the German girls had problems with their host families, which makes me even more grateful for the great family I get to stay with! I also think that that is a huge advantage of a private exchange..


Life in general is pretty fab (although I'm glad school's over!) Here's an example of what we do in English:


We watched this video by Tim Burton http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD8uQzu0IL0, got given the English transcript and then had to translate a passage and make it rhyme. We then got shown the French version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdBf3dlcc84 and could compare our answers. Since we were working in groups it was actually pretty useful for me!


We're studying (mostly Romantic) French Poetry in French at the moment. It actually fascinates me how separated the French and English-speaking worlds are by their languages! Apart from maybe Romeo and Juliet, they have no knowledge of any English poets, playwrights or authors -it's a completely different world! One well known poet is Baudelaire (who you might recognise if you've read a Series of Unfortunate Events; the main characters have his last name) and the books are dedicated to Beatrice, who this poem is for: http://poesie.webnet.fr/lesgrandsclassiques/poemes/charles_baudelaire/la_beatrice.html


There is quite a bit of crossover in the language though, with words that come from English, and vice versa (known as Frenglish!)
One night (very late!) me and Anna watched Lord of the Rings in French on my laptop. There's been a massive storm here and my room is kind of like a little attic so the rain beats very loudly -it's such a nice sound!


The other day I heard Brook Fraser 'Something in the Water' on the radio in a big department store -I felt like dancing!


We made a salad and took it to Priscilla (Anna's friend's) school and snuck into her canteen again to eat. We visited the house nearby again which is for kids from nearby schools to eat and discuss things. It was amazing the atmosphere there! (My nutella crepe wasn't half bad either, although the French insist that nutella isn't very French -that's news to me!) It's just one woman who opens her home like a cafe with full meals, love and interesting and meaningful discussion for only a couple of Euros! It's only Anna's first term so she is quite new to Clemenceau but we found the 'aumonerie' for her school aswell: it's a catholic idea and it would be so cool to have a place like that where people from Sacred Heart and maybe even Bernards could go after school. Here we get lunchtimes off to head into town or go home for lunch, but you could have it for after school at home.


There's the christmas party on Sunday, so I'm looking forward to that... wonder what a French potluck will be like...?


je vous aime