Paris under the Gleam of Christmas lights

Salut a tous,

It is December 23 which means one important thing; that is one day from Christmas day.

This Christmas I will be spending the 24th with my first host family, by going to Church late in the afternoon and then eating ( the rest is still a mystery). Then the 25th I will come back mid day to join my current host family in the festivities.

On another note these past two weeks I have received a plethora of Christmas cards and packages from a bunch of you. Thank you so much to everyone. 

Tia Ana ya me he puesto el collar echo por Alitan y tengo puesto el pantaloncito en este momento.

Mami todo me quedo muy bien y las bolsitas estan listas para donar.

Abuelitos gracias por el dinero, use parte para comprar un nuevo vestido para la fiesta de nuevo ano. 

Y tambien por las tarjetas/cartas postales de navidad.

Martha Penzold, frohe Weihnachten für sie zu.

AND Amanda Flores, you little creeper. No just joking thank you for keeping up on me and I must say that your card was the most unexpected and man you put a lot of intricate detail into it. I found it very sweet and darling not to mention thoughtful. (by the way my host brother was impressed with your art skills)

I hope that everyone had my cards arrive.. but if not I wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Now I am guessing that if you read my last post you might be interested to know if I will ever be able to go to Paris to see the illuminations.

Little did you know until know that I did get to go before Christmas. As a matter of fact, my host mother surprised me Friday night by asking me if I wanted to go to Paris the next day.

Of course I said yes (although I had to cancel my own invitation for my first host family to come over and make Christmas cookies) because you never know when an opportunity like that will come up again.

And so just a little past twelve o clock we left and headed on the highway to Paris.

In a little under three hours we made it and parked near the Champs Elysee.

Here is a journey of our day:

Started out by walking and looking at the shops on the Champs Elysee.

 In front of a supposedly well know night theater.

 At the end of the Champs Elysee you find the much anticipated Marche de Noel.

 Ooohhh champs Elysee! Para ra ra

 The Eiffel tower in all its illuminated beauty. And then us..

 We took the tour bus from the Eiffel tower just until Notre Dame cathedral to avoid the long walk.
In the rain..

 Arrived at Notre- Dame Cathedral
Which turned out to be my highlight. The architecture is awes-trucking and I could almost imagine Casimoto   swinging from beam to beam. Also as we arrived the mass had just began which just made it all even more splendorous.

Ended the night of with seeing the windows of the Galeria Laffayette

That was it after the vitrines my host mother got us lost and we had to walk for an hour to get back to the car. All in all a superb day I cant wait to go back later for everything else there is to see ..

 I hope that everyone will enjoy their holidays many hugs and kisses

-Juliana

 

Christmas in France

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas! All over town!!

Actually it really is in my town all the Christmas lights have been put up and there is American Christmas music playing from speakers around downtown. It even snowed last week.

Today is the last Monday I have school for the rest of 2012 and I just got back from the weekend with the other exchange students in Bourges.
Bourges is a city that is about 4 hours away from me but close to everyone else in my district.
Anyhow we had a tour of the old quarter of town. However, because it was pouring they told as that we could walk around if we wanted and do some shopping.
This was quite appreciated as there was a Christmas market which was incredibly adorable and
I could have stayed at all day if given the chance.
I mean it was just gorgeous the little stands that a variety of merchants put up.

Although I really wish I could see one of the marche noels in Paris before the new year
( which is not going to happen because I have no transportation)
But hopefully we will go with my host family during the Christmas vacations if I am lucky.
I guess I shouldn't complain but I really wanted to go to Paris and see all the Christmas vitrines and decorations :(

O well we will see how it turns out
I will add photos soon when I find the time
Have a good week everyone and work hard the year is almost over ;0)

A little difference

Just got a postcard from California, from none other than my Grandparents :)

This means that the address that I posted on an earlier post is impeccable.

Now onto a cultural difference.

Not long ago I was at a bar with my host family and ordered lemonade.

You know an uncarbonated drink made from squeezed lemon juice, 

water and sugar. With the optional variation of strawberries or 

lemon slices added as a garnish.

However, little did I know that in France, "citronade" is used to 

refer to American-style lemonade. While "Limonade" refers to 

carbonated, lemon-flavoured, clear soft drinks(like Sprite or 7 up). 

Because of this I ended up with something I was completely not expecting so be warned even little things such a lemonade have a different interpretation in France.  

Thanksgiving

Well  not so long ago Thanksgiving rolled around and while it may be a extremely well known national holiday in the United States, little is known about it in France. In general the French population when questioned about this topic will tell you " Ah oui ce le jour avec la grosse dande.. " or in other terms not much at all (that was exactly the explanation my host brother gave). Because of this outstandingly blank answer I prepared my self to introduce this holiday as best as  I could to my host family and friends.

For my family this started out by explaining the traditional menu to my host mother and then together deciding which recipes we were ready to tackle. All in all we decided on a small handful that seemed simple enough both in terms of ingredients and preparation.
This was followed by a trip to the supermarket, in which we spent a significant amount of time finding a list of ingredients that seemed uncomplicated enough to start out with but somehow became increasingly harder and harder to find.
All in all triumphant, minus some small details such never finding baking soda or having to pay nearly four dollars for a single Egyptian, yam.
My gleaming host mother assured me that already she felt as if we were on an adventure and that we had purchased foods that she would never think once to buy.
This summed it up for the shopping trip.

Now onto the cooking.
Due to the fact that on Wednesday afternoons I have no classes I quickly pedaled home ( I know ride my bike too and fro from school) and began to peel, slice and fry.
Importunately I had to do this alone as both my host brothers had sport and my host mom and dad were still working. This left me to my own means to find the various pots and pans and cook up quite the storm.Finally after a few hours my host brother Tom arrived and helped me figure out the specifics.
I will  keep it short by nightfall all was ready and my whole family was looking eagerly at the delights.
Asking all sorts of questions the most common one being "on mange tout sa ce soire" (do we get to eat it tonight)  but no no no as thanksgiving is on Thursday and the pie and turkey were still not finished I had to tell them they would have to wait another day.
Finally on Thursday we discussed the principle of Thanksgiving (  I attempted as best as I could to explain the whole pilgrim- native American stories) and feasted. All in all they finished with happy smiles across their faces and heaping tummy s = success!  I have to say that my whole family was very proud of me as well as myself as I have never cooked so much food. And of course I was especially glad that I left a good impression of the American culture and was able to truly explain and remove all misconceptions.

La Ferté. Le lycée Robert-Garnier accueille de plus en plus d'élèves étrangers

Had an interview by the regional paper yesterday. As a consequence today I opened the paper and found this:

La Ferté. Le lycée Robert-Garnier accueille de plus en plus d'élèves étrangers

in the actual unabridged version it goes on to say that
" Une autre exemple d'intergration Juliana, originaire de l'Oregon aux Etas- Unis, a deja sympathise avec plusieurs personnes "
(I then get quoted a bit later)

I also appeared in two other papers as well :)

Cooking in France as an American..

Hello everyone just wanted to share this site that
I have been using  lately to plan a thanksgiving dinner for my French host family :)

Lyon Eats: Found: Buttermilk!:

And one of the recipes I stumbled upon ;

Found: Buttermilk!

There are many possible substitutes for buttermilk, but the best I've found is Yorik fermented milk made by Yoplait. You can find it in most grocery stores in France and it works perfectly in many American recipes.

If you can't find Yorik, look for lait fermenté in the yogurt aisle. A word of caution - Yorik also comes in fruited flavors, so if you want plain buttermilk, look for nature.






American recipe: Buttermilk pancakes



2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 Tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup Yorik lait fermenté
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp melted butter
1 Tbsp oil

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the eggs, milk and buttermilk in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until the batter just comes together. Add the melted butter. Mix lightly.

Heat a flat griddle or frying pan to medium high heat. Oil the pan then ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle to about 5 or 6 inches wide. When air bubbles start to appear on the surface at the center of the pancakes, use a flat spatula to flip them over. After a minute, check underside for doneness. When golden or darker golden brown, they are done.

Serve with butter and maple syrup (sirop d'érable).

My Class / Mail

Here is a photo of my class, Premier Literature.

Taken during one of our many English classes.

As you can see we mostly girls:)

That is it for this post but if you would like a personal letter or postcard sent to you
then just leave your address in a comment below (or send it to me privately by e-mail to juliana.alvarz@gmail.com)  and I will try my best to make your special piece of mail arrive :)

And just below here are some letters that I have already sent a few weeks ago and all arrived!!
Proof that the French mail system is not completely dysfunctional. (took of the picture for the sake of address identity).

Oh and by the way I have also recently received a card from my good friend Hailey Clark and from my parents.
Than you very much for your little piece of Oregon.
( I would also like to give a big thank you to my friend Martha Penzold, who sent a card that sadly never arrived)

So feel more than free to send me a post card or letter to this address.

Juliana Alvarez- Famille HUET
La Sauge
Route de Preval
La Ferte Bernard
72400

FRANCE



It truly makes my day and will make me think of you for days to come.
While expanding my post card collection ;)

Changing Families

Well its been nearly two months and a half that I have been here in France, which means I changed host families.
This happened a week ago during 15 days vacation :0)
and well so far excellent I have already gotten very well acquainted with my new family.
The mother Muriel and I have already attempted to make an American cheese cake and have started morning exercises together, and did a overly moisturizing avocado hair mask just yesterday.
The father Pascal,and I are at the moment watching a comedy series on the t.v.
The oldest "sibling" Tom (14 years old), and I took a walk together the day of my arrival, and will soon start English practice.
And finally Adonis (9 years old) and I well.. we do several simple tasks together.

But what I really want to talk about today is my last host family. They were quite caring and I spent an excellent two months with them.
There are many things that I truly learned from them and numerous moments that I will fondly remember.

For example for Anne Louise's seventh birthday, her brother and I made this quite KMMMM.. lovely? Pinata :)
(my host mother staring down the pig pinata before delivering the deadly blow)

Anyways the reason I made a pinata was mainly because I wanted to share a piece of my Colombian culture before parting.  And thats exactly what I managed to with a mixture of the actual pinata and my explanations, the pinata song ( that Arthur ended up humming the rest of the day) and the stories of how my grandfather Rafael, once broke a broom trying to hit a pinanta.

However, no need to be worried there were no broken brooms as my family decided to put their own french twist , by using their " parapluies" (umbrellas) to hit the pinata.

Race againts breast cancer

Hello everyone! This past weekend I participated in a 5km race against breast cancer.

It was really moving because there were nearly 8,000 women all in the pink shirts and ready to run or walk their way to the finish.

And of course all for a wonderful cause. As breast cancer affects one in ten women in France. It is therefore essential to learn more about this disease to improve prevention, screening and treatment. With thepurpose of the course being to support scientific research and to understand howthis cancer develops, I truly felt like I was involved in something bigger and more important.

Plus it was amusing to run with the wife of the current Rotary district president.

Here is a little video that I borrowed from the website

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slqJGztqNy8&feature=player_embedded

And to finish a photo of me and Joselin before the race.

 

Thank you for viezing my blog
_juli

Normandie

Bah voila! Here are some photos of my weekend spent in Normandie/ Le Mont Saint Michelle.

With nearly 140 exchange students.

We all had a great time and were able to visit Le Mont St Michelle itself ( as well as take part in the unique experience of traversing thigh high water for three hours or so in order to see a nearby rock). We also did a tour of the American cemetery(in which I met a WW2 veteran!) and viewed the D-Day museum.

It was a truly exceting weekend and you can bet I was tired for nearly a whole week after.