Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Foie gras et Parfum

With two days to go until 2009 arrives, this will probably be my last post of the year. It has been a good one, filled with many enriching experiences. 2008 has also brought some new people into my life that I never want to part with... and all in all, it has been a year that I would do all over again; from my last practicum, to my graduation, to my first teaching contract, and now my trip, I cannot say that I would erase any parts of 2008 (well, except maybe when the Canucks didn't make it to the playoffs... but that's ancient history).

But before I completely write off the year, I should tell you about what I have been doing for the last days of 2008. Christmas this year will definitely go down as one to remember. It was my first one away from any family, in another language, and with people that I have only known for 2 months. In spite of what would seem an obstacle-ridden holiday season, I had a very charming Christmas. The 24th, we loaded the 2 cars with all the kids' paraphernalia, the presents, the clothes, the non-gingerbread gingerbread house, the strollers, and finally ourselves, and headed to Cecile's mom's house in Mougins, which is close to Antibes. Her house is huge, but seeming as there were 8 of us, plus 3 kids, we were still a little cramped at times. Cecile's brother, Arnaud, came from Paris with his wife and son Karl, whi is this adorable 2 year old. Marion was also there, and so we all had lunch together, then spent the afternoon playing with the kids and finishing the Gingerbread house.

At night time, the kids all went to bed, not before Lisa left the candy-covered house next to the tree with a glass of milk for Santa to snack on when he came. Then, it was the adults' time to have fun. Everyone got out of their jeans, dressed up and we had a 4 course dinner with its accompanying wines by candlelight. I tried Foie Gras for the first time, served with fresh bread, caramelized onion jam, and fig jam; It was to DIE for, and I think after this Christmas with it, I will not spend another without it!! then came the grilled scallop and prawn salad, then theRoasted Veal with Wok vegetables (made by yours truly); and finally the Bûche de Noël, a delicious grand Marnier and Chocolate cake made by Iannis.
It was truly French, to have spent nearly 3.5 hours at the table, eating good food in small portions, enjoying wine; and conversing... then at midnight we opened the grown-up gifts. I got a gorgeous suede designer bag, a french pastry cookbook, a short stories french book, and a beautiful candle holder. I was very pampered, considering I wasn't chez moi.

The morning of the 25th was a flurry of pyjamas and wrapping paper, as the kids opened their gifts. It was a little overwhelming for them, since each one had about 12 presents... they don't even know where to look by the end of it. At 1pm the rest of the relatives came, and after converting the table into one that fit 16, we had the traditional Christmas dinner; with ,ore foie gras, turkey, foie gras stuffing, veggies, mashed potatoes, etc.
Overall, I felt very much like part of the family, and considering how far I am from home, i think I could've spent a much sadder Christmas; I was truly blessed that day!

So, I was supposed to leave for the UK this week, but for reasons not worth mentioning, I had to cancel and postpone my trip. I was pretty devastated, since I'm getting to a point where homesickness is getting very strong, and to have seen my friends, someone familiar, would've really helped me out. But, there's no sense in dwelling; life goes on, and I better keep up!! So I spent the day in Grasse yesterday. Grasse is known as the Perfume Capital of the World. It became so when tanners started to impregnate their leather products with essences from Italy to make the animal hide smell go away; Later, they learned to make their own essences, and being as Grasse has the perfect climate to grow some of the most aromatic flowers in the world (orangiers, jasmine, May rose, lemon), it was easy for the market to develop itself.

I don't know if any of you have read The Perfume, History of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind, but it is in Grasse where a lot of the story takes place, because for centuries it has been renowned as the capital of parfumes in the world. It was also really neat to see all the techniques they mention i nth ebook for essence extraction in real life. It was a gorgeous day for a day trip, and I was able to enjoy the inland city with the sun coming down on the palm trees. My first stop was the Musée International de Parfumerie, where they have exhibits of everything from the earliest uses of perfume by the Egyptians, to a collection of modern day art found in perfume vials. It was truly interesting, and the best part was that they had free entrance for the week of the 24th to the 31st.. yay for free!
After the museum, I had a quick lunch, and made my way to one of the most celebrated parfumeries in France: Fragonard. They have a 225 year old factory in Grasse, which is still in operation, and they offer free tours. They also employ one of France's 10 "noses". A Nose, is someone who studies the science of fragrance. There are only two schools in the world, one in Versaille, and the other in Paris. A nose's formation takes between 10-15 years; by the end of their education, they can recognize over 350 essences (most of us can only recognize about 80) and by the end of their career, they can recognize 3000. They can even tell the difference between jasmine grown in Grasse, and jasmine grown in any other part of the world! To maintain their sense of smell intact, they must renounce all spicy food, alcohol and tobacco.
It was this nose that created the delicious perfume that I bought as a souvenir, called Belle de Nuit. Its delicious... and I got it for half the price that they usually sell it in their stores, since I was in the factory.

These are all the updates I have for now.... i wish you all a very Happy, Merry and FUN New Year's, but most importantly that you may live life to the fullest and love every minute of it in 2009!!!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Christmas Tree is Always Greener on the Other side...

Christmas is upon us again, my friends. I hope you've all pulled out your stockings, put up the Christmas lights without falling off the roof, and tried your hardest to avoid Santa's Naughty list (although for some of you, that might than others- no judgment here!). I for my part, have decorated the Christmas tree with Lisa and Cecile, tried to teach Spanish carols to the kids, and have strolled through Christmas Markets in Paris, Cannes, Monaco, Nice, and Aix-en-Provence.
Yet, the Christmas-y Feeling is just not as strong this year. I think it might have to do with my association of Christmas to the break I get from university to go home, or the bitterly cold December weather, or the Firefighter's Light display at Stanley Park (who are we kidding... we all go for the firefighters, nobody pays attention to the lights!).

Somehow, between my lugging around of my life from one continent to the other, traipsing from Northern to Southern France, and spending my first Christmas away from my family in 11 years, I think I've lost track of time and tradition. It's as if my life is suspended from all familiarity, and no holiday or special occasion has the same meaning, because it's not "real". To be honest, I'm starting to panic a little... if I feel this way about Christmas, what will happen for MY BIRTHDAY????!?!?! We all know how my whole social calendar and sense of well-being revolves around the 13th of February! What if I don't feel it to be as big of a deal as I do usually? For someone who usually likes to ignore birthdays, that would be fine; but I start counting down the days on January 1st! I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it...

Back to Christmas. I've had people asking me what traditional Christmas is like in France. Well, for one, I haven't noticed that general sense of merriment and festivity that I felt in Colombia and Canada. But maybe that's just the French conservatism coming into play. I know that for my family, we're having 2 dinners. The 24th is the "fancy" dinner, when there's less people. There will be 7 of us at Cecile's mom's house, and I've learned there's seafood, foie gras, and wine in the menu. The 25th, after opening presents in the AM, we'll be eating a more traditional meal with turkey and other goodness. I'm sure I'll have more details to tell you when it's actually happened.

Anyway, I just wanted also to send out a big Christmas hug to all of you. I hope that wherever you're spending it this year, you won't have as hard a time as I am in finding the Christmas spirit within you :) Joyeux Noel mes chers amis!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Very busy December!

To all of those following my blog regularly, to those who follow it occasionally, and to those who pretend to follow it so as to not hurt my feelings... I owe you all an apology for letting my writing slip for so many days! It has been a very busy 2 weeks. A lot has happened, and there's more to come, but that's no excuse to leave my legions of fans in the dark!! (HA! that's a good one)

I guess the beginning is always a good place to start... so, let's commence there. The weekend of the 6th was Lisa's birthday party. I've been talking about it for a while, and if you've been keeping in touch with me, you know I was planning it for a loooooong time. As someone said, it seemed that we were planning the coronation of a king more than a 3 year old's birthday party. But hey, Lisa is only going to have one super awesome Colombian nanny in her lifetime, so she better get the most out of me that she can!
The party was a total success. After spending over 40 man hours cooking, papier-macheing, planning, shopping, and decorating, I was very pleased with the results! The pinata was beautiful, not because it was particularly appealing to the eye, but because it was a very unique experience for everyone involved. I don't know how many of you have ever had a pinata at your birthday party, but for me, it was a staple when I was growing up. The excitement of beating this thing with people cheering around you, the anticipation the little treasures inside, and the sugar high from the birthday cake make for a very singular combination and a guaranteed high. The kids and the parents loved it, but Lisa was the most proud, since she helped me make it, and was telling everyone who would listen.
Then came the birthday cake.. that Barbie creation that took me 5 hours to make and decorate; it almost felt like my baby by the end of it. I had to fight the urge to take the cake and run before the guests ate it and destroyed my masterpiece. All in all, the whole party was a hit, and I enjoyed myself just as much if not even more than the kids themselves.
After the party, my friend Chelsea came to visit for a week. She arrived here last Wednesday, and we've had a lovely week (albeit a little wet) together. She's doing her masters in London, but she won't be there while I'm in the UK, so she came to visit. It's been a nice change of pace, to have a "roomie". I've fully taken advantage of having someone around to do some fun things...
For example, Thursday night, we went to this bar in Vieux Nice that has "Ladies' Night". This encompasses paying 3 euro, and getting all the champagne you can handle for that until their bottles run out. This meant that for 3 euro, we each got 5 glasses of champagne... I don't think I've ever found such a deal anywhere else! Then, the live music begins. Wayne's is a great place because there's a lot of ex-pats and Anglophone tourists, so the band plays everything from AC/DC, to the Beatles, to Bob Marley. The best part about Wayne's though, is the dancing... See, there's no dancefloor, so people just get up on the tables and make those their dancefloor. I know, it sounds like something trashy that drunk girl in the too-short-skirt would do on Tequila Sundays at your local biker bar. But here, everyone does it... literally, there are 12 or 14 tables with people on them, dancing, talking to each other, and having a blast. That night, we met Australian and French guys, and it was a lot of fun.
Being the troopers that we were, we stayed until closing time, and woke up 6 hours later, with a heavy head as a reminder of the Champagne extravaganza of the night before, to go to Monaco. That day, was the ONLY nice we have had as far as weather goes. The pics are here if you haven't seen them:

Monaco was gorgeous as usual, we were able to mix with the rich and powerful, while basking in the sun, walking around the Christmas market, visiting the Prince's abode, and even making a new Canadian friend ( from ABBOTSFORD of all places! It's such a small world!)
The night brought a divine Christmas concert from the Nice opera, and dinner at an Italian restaurant.

The other days, we went to Cannes and Antibes, where I was able to show Chelsea some of the lovely beaches that we have in the Cote d'Azur. Too bad it was raining the whole time... we even had a small version of a hurricane while walking along the beach in Cannes on Sunday morning.We tried to be brave and took a bus to the charming Aix-en-Provence, home of Paul Cezanne on Monday. But that ended up being a bit of a disaster, as the rain did not let up, my boots let all the water in, and Chelsea developed a horrible sore throat and couldn't speak. Aix is really a gorgeous city, but it needs to be appreciated in the summer.

I'm going to be busy again planning Christmas and my impending trip to the UK, but I promise I won't leave as much time between posts as I just have!
I hope most of you have gotten my little surprises in the mail? Let me know when you do, I want to know that they got there okay!
Allez, Bisous!!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Random...

Seen today, in a French street:

A woman driving a motorized wheelchair... on the ROAD. Like a car.
She had blinkers and everything... she was behind a Citroen, and in front of a Renault. This is too good to make up! I was so stunned I literally stopped in my tracks, grocery bags in hand, and just looked at her smoothly change lanes, do a right hand turn, and go on her way.. maybe she was even going to get on the highway! Wouldn't even surprise me. Ah, the little things that remind me I'm in a different country...

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Improv at its best: Paris Again.

Well you know, life surprises you, plans change, you find discounted ticket to Paris, you have 4 days off work, one of your friends says she'll receive you with arms wide open and even has plans for you already... what do you do? If your answer was "Go to Paris", you're right!
I had the incredible luck to go to this gorgeous city for the second time since my stay here, and it was a very different, but still electrifying experience. Being far more North than Nice (duh) it was a good 8 or 9 degrees colder than my sunny abode. I was smart enough to buy a scarf, hat and gloves before getting on the train, and I made good use of them!
Paris in the winter is still as charming as when I visited under the warm September sun. I think a lot of its charm has to do with the impending Christmas holidays. The city is dressed to the nines in decorations and lights, making it a completely euphoric experience for the eyes to go out at night. Champs Elysees are a sight, as is the famous Galerie de LaFayette, (somewhat equivalent to Bloomingdale's in New York, and The Bay in Canada). The latter, which has 4 stores all across from each other, pretty much occupying the whole block, leaves no penny unspent when it comes to prettifying its facade and the interior. You can see the pics on my Facebook... but my camera did not do it justice, as it's not very good at taking night time pictures.
Well, when I arrived on Thursday night, we went out to a chic club next to the Arc de Triomph, and we met up with Diana's boyfriend, as well as two of his friends from Spain, who were visiting. The club was not very pretentious, which was nice, and it had 2 rooms, one playing techno and the other playing a little bit of everythign. We stayed in the second one for the most part, where we danced the night away until 3:00 and beat off a particularly aggressive breed of Parisian man, who would do "n'importe quoi" to dance with us, even though we were surrounded by 3 other guys. Anyway, we had a blast, got home close to 4am, and poor Diana roughed it out next morning to go to work at 8:30.
I slept in a little longer, and then met her in the business district of Paris, the very modern, very sober La Defense. It's a little surprising to get off the metro from the Paris I know, filled with classical architecture, into a plaza full of skyscrapers, aluminum and glass. It was an even more pronounced difference with the grey winter sky as the background. Here is where Diana works, and we met up to splurge on Sushi. I say splurge because sushi here is very expensive.. to give you an idea, I had a California roll, 6 pieces of sushi and a miso soup for 20 Euros (about 34 dollars). But, I hadn't had sushi in 3 months, and since I was on "vacation" I decided to just go for it. It was heavenly!
After, Diana had to go back to work, so I spent the afternoon by myself. First, I went to the Christmas market at the Defense. It was a paradoxical place, because the market were all little wood houses, very rustic and welcoming. Yet, it was placed among giant skyscrapers and next to the Arc de la Defense, which is grey and cold. But the market was incredible... very cozy, festive, and full of surprises at every turn. After having some very delicious Hot Wine (a mix of spices, oranges and red wine... oooooh, so ridiculously good) when I was strolling along, I took the metro to the Musee d'Orsay.

The Musee d'Orsay is the Impressionist Museum, home to Monet, Manet, Degas, and Picasso amongst others. It's a lot less intimidating than the Louvre, and I was able to cover it in about 2 hours. I was very tired from our gallavanting until 4am the night before, so I went back home, we had a quiet dinner, a nap.. and then went out again. This time, we just had some crepes on the street, went to Hard Rock Cafe, and had a drink at a Cafe. Still, we were out until 2am. Don't ask me how that happened!
The next morning, Nicolas, Diana's boyfriend was taking his friends on a little city tour of places I hadn't been to, so I came along. We visited the Cour St. Emilion, which used to be an industrial area, and it's turned into a cool little street with all these cafes and restaurants. Then, we headed to the Jardins de Luxembourg. It was pretty cold, and there werern't very many flowers, but it was beautiful nonetheless. After that, a short visit to Notre Dame to see the Christmas Tree, and then to have late lunch with Diana.
We ate at a traditional French Basque restaurant.. the food was really rich, and I was full until the next day, but it was definitely worth it. After that, the garcons had to go, so Diana and I took off to have some girly time parading around the Champs Elysees at night, enjoying the Christmas lights, and doing window shopping at Sephora, Esprit, and others. It was magical, with all the people, the lights and.. yes, one more glass of Hot Wine.. heheh.

It was a lovely weekend, all of it. It was nice to get out of town, see different people, and do different things. It really filled me with some energy that I very much needed, and I'm re-fuelled to attack December and all its challenges! You think Christmas is chaotic? Try it when you have kids (well, someone else's, but still). We have about 4 different craft projects planned, Christmas baking, tree trimming, gift wrapping.... it's going to be so much fun to live this holiday through the eyes of kids again! And speaking of Christmas... don't forget to send me lovely Christmas cards and gifts through the mail! Until next week!

Monday, December 1, 2008

An ode to Life

I have a couple posts to catch up on, but my time and energy are limited tonight, so I thought I would write the most important one right now, and save the more light-hearted and Lonely-Planet-ish for tomorrow.
I want to dedicate this blog to all the beautiful people in my life... the ones who have touched me from birth, to the ones who have stopped momentarily to intervene in my everyday banter. I want to dedicate this blog to Life. The life that zooms by your eyes when you're in your car, the one that you can almost touch with your fingers when you're in front of a magnificent sunrise, the life that curses through your veins when your heart pumps extra hard at the sound of the voice of someone you love so much. I want to dedicate this blog to the life that we sometimes take for granted, letting its precious minutes slip by us, as we complain we wished we had a better life. This blog is for those who are clinging to their lives,by threads of transparent hope wishing they had the Life that you and I are able to wake up to everyday. This blog is dedicated to the Life you know you want to have, and that you're working so hard for, even though sometimes you feel that you're throwing your days away in search of that life.

A very, very close friend of mine has been diagnosed with a very treatable, very curable cancer, that has been caught in time. He is 26, and has his whole LIFE in front of him. In my heart of hearts, there is NO doubt that he will beat it, as his body and mind are some of the strongest I have ever encountered. But, the sudden manner in which it appeared, and how quickly he has found himself in chemo really made me think about how thankful I am for what I have already lived and what is ahead of me.

My own sister, last weekend, also had the chance to be thankful for Life. She was incredibly lucky to escape unscratched and unscathed from what could have been another deadly accident at the Portman Bridge. But, she's okay.. and that makes me want to celebrate Life.

So to all of you out there, who are struggling in the mornings to get out of bed, who have lost the spark that makes your heart race, who wonder how long they will be trapped in the routine they have created for themselves... Stop. Stop, and make a list of what you're thankful for in life. I did it, as I was on the train back from my weekend, and I found myself writing for an hour. I had a list in which I thanked the powers that be from everything to forgiveness, to crepes in Paris, to my family, and to my warm house and full fridge.

I know I'm sounding a little like a Hallmark card here. I can't help it... I need to live the life that has been given to me as fully as I can, for as long as I can. If I don't, I will feel like everyday I'm going about rushing through moments when I should've been paying attention, and later on will have the anxiety that I have missed something really important. Your life, your REAL life, is not about being gifted, about having money, about your successes in school or work, about your car, about your education, circumstances, or failures. Your REAL life revolves around your attitude. Everyday, you have the chance to choose your attitude, and thus, choose your life. What will you choose tomorrow? And the rest of the week?

I can't think of a good, strong way to end this Ode to Life, other than to leave you with this:
" Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending"
- Maria Robinson