Un Grand Poste

Fountain at Versailles 

Even though my boys are thoroughly exhausting, it's time for a proper post.  I've done quite a lot since I've been here... lots of traveling.  So let's jump right in shall we....

Le Premier Jour

Je suis ici!  Enfin! Don't want to bore you to tears about my long plane ride and issues with the airline and airport...  How about just some highlights of my first day in France?


-On the air plane I sat next to a man from Togo.  It took me about a wine split and a half to gather up the courage to talk to him... but we had a fun conversation in Franglish with another person sitting near us who was a funny Parisian man.  At one point during the flight I got the hiccups (trop du vin?) and the African man said to me, "sept.. sept.." and motioning for me to drink some water.  "Sept!" I replied,  "Ouais! Je dis la meme!!" Or... "Seven sips of water! Yes, I say the same thing."  I guess I was over taken with surprise that Africans use the same hiccup remedie as me, because the woman in front of me told me to quiet down.  She was American.

-First thing I ate? ... baguette et l'eau.  Apres.. Dorothée (my host mom) bought some salads of carrots, beets, and rice with tuna.  Followed by more bread and camembert.  Miamm!  Miam is French for... yummy!

-Right now my house is being renovated, so pictures to come later, but there is a group of Romanian men working on it... it's funny to try and communicate with them.  Generally our conversations go something like...
-Ca va?
-Oui, ca va...ca va?
-Ca va!

-After lunch and a shower, Dorothée took me out to walk around our neighborhood.  It is quite charming.  She showed me Victor and Alphonse's school, the metro, the library, a park, the mall etc... everything in walking distance!  While walking on the main street, we passed a café with tables outside.  There was one boisterous table that was occupied with three men and a woman drinking, talking loudly, and laughing... next to them at a smaller table was a couple who couldn't keep their hands off each other and kissing.  Dorothée glanced my way and said, "un café vrais français!"

-Dorothée owns and runs a pharmacy right near our house.  We had a petite fête there in the evening to celebrate my coming and to say au revoir to one of her employees.  So we sipped on champagne and rose while eating canapés (the fois gras was my favorite) in the back.  And if you wanted to know, yes, the French do say, "ou la la!"

-Bon.  Mon premier jour en France!  Today I am going to Paris!  Ou la la!

La Famille Pt. II

Vergisson, France 

And now... part two of the riveting Reverchon chronicles.  Where we left off... Jacque Maximillen Reverchon has left most of his family behind in France for La Reunion, Texas.... a socialist commune inspired by Charles Fourier which is now modern day Dallas.  If you're interested in botanists and children born out of love affairs I suggest you... 

God Bless America

So it was July fourth two days ago, America's Independence Day for any of my Continental readers out there.  I certainly was feeling nostalgic for my home I haven't left yet.  I was a little worried that the waterworks would start whilst watching fireworks.  But, we had a pitiful view from our beach house, and I was "fluish" from drinking the obligatory Bud Lights in the scorching sun for hours.  You know what did make me cry?  When my Aunt Diana gave me a card that said, "don't forget where you come from," alongside a Clemson University mug.  Woof!  But I digress... I just finished a book about American's favorite past time, baseball and it got me thinking about some of the American things I am truly going to miss...  

French Wedding

Okay, so any of you who know me, know that I love weddings.  (Including planning my own nuptials  that is being held at a date TBD).  You also know that I love French anything.  So when I saw these photos of this classic French wedding by Marion Heurteboust I couldn't not post them... 

Photos via Bridal Musings

Brètagne

I am feeling very sick indeed, so I have been daydreaming about my vacation to Brittany with my host family a week after I arrive in France.  I can't wait to taste crêpes (they originated here) and local seafood, take in some chateaus, and meander along tiny seaside villages.  

Les Films

In order to bolster up my French skills before I depart, I have been doing a lot of studying with my old college textbook.  But mostly, I have been watching French movies on Netflix to re-acquaint my ear with the language.  And save your, "yeah, that really sounds like studying..." because I think it does wonders and I have even started dreaming en Français. 

So, here is a list of my favorite French films I have found on Netflix... 

La Paperasserie

After what seemed like months of document accumulations, translations and preparations, today was the day for me to report to the French Consulate to apply for my visa.  I was terrified.  The French are notorious for being extremely scrupulous (yet, oh so plodding) about their paperwork.  If the tiniest thing had been done wrong I chanced having to start the process all over again, and maybe even face some serious travel rearrangements.  But, after looking everything over about ten times, I was confident that everything would go well.  And everything was going fine (a traffic jam on 75S not withstanding) until the nice office worker asked me for my travel itinerary. The frantic look on my face prompted the young man to ask, "you do have a ticket right?  How else will we know you're actually going to France?"

Bon Appétit!

I just finished "My Life in France" by Julia Child last night.  It is part of the informal "education" I am giving myself before I flit off to Paris.  It was a very interesting and entertaining book, but did not offer much in the way of getting around Paris as an American.  Not that it would matter now; it was set in the 50's and 60's and was about her culinary training and "cookbookery" as she called it.  There are lots of stereotypical French dishes I am dying to try... Croissants and Pain du Chocolat, Les Macarons from Laudrèe, Boeuf au Bourguignon, and Coq au Vin just to name a few... But Child has inspired me to try a few other dishes like Dover Sole à la Meunière.  The Dover Sole can only be found in European waters, and this dish in particular was the first Child had in France, and also it was the dish that changed her life.  The sole is lightly flowered and sautéed in butter and topped with a beurre blanc with lemon and parsley.  I think I can put my poisson-phobia aside for once.

Adieu, Mademoiselle

Via The Satorialist

In elementary school, when we were taught letter writing, we were also taught the proper way to assign titles.  In a Southern third grade classroom circa early 90s these were the rules...

Mr.- For any and all men, naturally.

Mrs.- Reserved for a married woman who has taken her husbands name. 

Ms.- For a woman when you are unsure of her marital status, or God forbid, is divorced.

Miss- an unmarried woman. 

Fifteen years later, these rules are, as you can see by my blogging name, engrained in my head.  The first time I encountered a break in understanding was at the airport when my ticket read "Miss Lindsay Mc..." I had my ID checked more times then I can remember, and when I questioned the attendant upon boarding, he told me that Miss was used to identify travelers who were under the age of thirteen and that I was basically a weirdo.  "Well I never!" and indignantly as possible, snatched up my ticket and stormed into the jet bridge tripping over my carry ons.  

The next time the issue arose was when I was subbing at a Baltimore City high school.  Per usual I wrote my name "Miss McC..." in beautiful flowing cursive on the chalkboard.  For the students who could read cursive, I was asked what"Miss" meant.  They had never seen or heard it used before!  I took this to be a cultural difference, but have now discovered that Miss was becoming obsolete and used only for young girls or adolescents. 

Across the pond in February, the French have banned the use of one of their most iconic words, "Mademoiselle," on all official government documents.