Day 10 - Rated "R"

Huge progress today! I bought a notebook for class which is exciting because A. I was able to find one and B. I did it in French. "Le tableau grande si vous plais".

Roger and I had lunch at Pell Mell again, where we both had the duck leg served with vegetables. Easily the best restaurant of all time and if anyone is able to visit, it would be on our list of places to dine.

The good news is today is we're celebrating our 5th month together! Our lives have changed so much since we met and I would never have imagine life would ever being so wonderful.

Oh, and more good news is Jen should be visiting soon. Fingers crossed.
The frustrating news came this afternoon when my french teacher told me it's typical for Americans to have trouble pronouncing the french Rs.
-doh!
You have to make the sound like you getting the phlegm out of the back of your throat, crinkle your nose and make a frowning face all at the same time just to make this sound. She's explaining all this to me in french of course and wish I could see the shocked look on my face as I'm watching her contort her own face with her fingers while simultaneously trying to hock a "R" loogey. She wants me to practice this in the mirror at home.
This may be the most romantic language but the training is brutal.

Not to mention, most of the consonants at the end of their words are not prounounced at all or are added on to the word that follows that word when spoken.
More bad news, she said that when I speak french I have a spanish-accent. Phenomenal. When's the last time you heard a mexican say "Oui oui monsieur" or "Scusi Mademoiselle, comment allez vous?".
I guess I should ditch the spanish-to-french instructional CDs I borrowed from Roger. The two years of college Italian and Roger's recent attempts to teach me Catalan are not helping. My head is spinning.

some self-portraits I took on my way to school today.

In the elevator.

I love this graffiti'd wall.

Some scenery of my route.

The rat walking the cat.

The town has many impressive wall murals, this petite one makes me smile.

I turn in front of this Iraelian market to get to my school. The chicken roasting on the spits in the window fall off sometimes onto the ground. This also makes me smile even though I feel bad for the shop owner when they do.

One of the many fruit stands.

Day 9 - More school

I just returned back to the apartment with the groceries I purchased for dinner (Part Deux).....stuffed in my purse. I paid for the items but first of all the mart I shopped at doesn't give out bags to put your food in, typically they give you one or two but not this mart, not this day.

I say part II because well, last night I almost set the kitchen on fire and I want to give the tortellinis another try. Funny how Roger and I have developed a quick history of culinary mishaps. There was the "Great Potato Fire of Houston" where Roger almost turned the microwave to ash at our last place. Then there was my grease fire, another attempt at cooking potatoes, this time in the frying pan. We avoided further damage by making sure that my significant other didn't douse this oily fire with water. Baking Powder made the top of our next shopping list.

From that point when it came to potatoes, if they weren't already cooked they didn't enter the apartment.

Anyways, back to last night. Somehow I managed to set a blaze a tortellini in the microwave. Not sure how the knife made it in there with the food and the paper napkin, but I saw through the little fiberglass window streaks of red and orange. Folding the paper napkin in half, I managed to extinguish the hazard. I then pulled the vent cord to let the smoke but the string broke off in my hand. So, I went to the balcony doors, opened them and when I came back the paper was on fire again. I took a chance and threw it in the sink, end of story. When Roger arrived and the place smelled of fire, we decided to dine out.

We ended up at a restaurant down the street where not even he really knew what any of the menu items were.

We picked two dinners and figured we could share them especially if one was not good. This food was beyond waaaaaay beyond not good. The place seemed pretty normal, good crowd, friendly hostess, nothing alluding to the fact that we would have a dinner that rivals the one Indian Jones had in the Temple of Doom.

"Cervelle de veau" was Roger's main entree. Evidently it is a classic french dish, but we were not expecting "calf brains". They didn't even try to disguise it. You know, any other time I would have had my camera and I hate to deprive you of visual images so here's one. Imagine two of these on a plate, with a side of Potatoes Au Gratin.

My dish, I don't even want to take a guess at what the orange mush was poured inside a bread roll. I didn't recognize the flavor.

 

Why did everyone else have such amazing looking Turkey Legs and Roasted Chicken? At least my Creme Brulee was great even though it was hard to enjoy it much at this point.  

As we walked out back into the street, wishing we were still feeling hungry instead of our current state of disgust, we laughed at the situation. We will never forget the day when I started French Class and Roger ate Cow Brain.

Day 8 - School

I had my first French class today from 9-12 and it was amazing. We learned the alphabet, numbers from 1-20, as well as nationalities.

Among my 14 classmates, there are:
3 Venezuelans, two i think are brother and sister
2 gorgeous young girls from Brazil
1 Israeli-American lady who came to France with her husband (she lived in the States for about 3 years)
1 Japanese girl about my age, she met her french husband in Japan and relocated here
1 young guy named Wallace Woo from Hong Kong who's english is nearly perfect
1 thirty-something guy who currently resides in Tanzania but is Irish/Turk and travels around a lot
1 Bolivian/Spanish fellow who doesn't speak any English but is here to study photography, I think
1 Argentenian/Italian man
1 Saudi Arabian who speaks English very well, and though he's quiet I think that he might be pretty funny
1 Israeli girl who sits next to me, she wears the typical garb and seems very bright
1 older lady who's Armenian/French

We are all beginners but I think that some already understand French yet don't speak or write it yet. It is a relief though because during our break we found that we all have the same opinions thus far of Lyon;
That it's a beautiful place and the locals try to be helpful, but no one speaks anything other than French.
It helps to know I'm not alone.


While doing my homework this afternoon, I have been watching [The Fabulous Destiny of] Amelie. It's a really beautifully directed French film with a very clever plot about a girl who not only is trying to catch her dream guy but is also changing the lives of others along the way.

Day 7 - Parise, Je T'Aime

The Canadians were seconds away from taking the gold in Men's Hockey when the take out their goalie so they can sub in an additional attacker. Zack Parise of the U.S. scores with seconds left to take the game 2-2 and into sudden victory period. We lost but oh well, hockey isn't even our biggest past time.

Speaking of Je T'Aime, tomorrow I begin my french classes and could't be happier!!!
Eventhough I was to go skiing this past weekend I would have missed my first day of school =(,
As fate would have it, the trip was cancelled and I was secretly elated that I would be able start the road to french-dom sooner than expected.

 Its' been incredibly windy the past couple days. Apparently there is a huge storm blowing across Europe from Portugal all the way to the Netherlands.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/28/europe.storms/index.html

While browsing the articles, this one also called to my attention,
Why France is best place to live in world
written feb. 11, 2010
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/11/france.quality.life/index.html

"France always nets high scores in most categories," the magazine said. "But you don't need number-crunchers to tell you its 'bon vivant' lifestyle is special. It's impossible to enumerate the joy of lingering for hours over dinner and a bottle of red wine in a Parisian brasserie. Or strolling beside the Seine on a spring morning, poking through the book vendors' wares."

Even though we are not in Paris, Lyon does have a telecommunications tower sitting on a hill overlooking the city that rivals the iconic Eiffel tower; and instead of one river we have two, the Rhone and the Saone.

I'm especially enamored by France after a day of exploring the city by bus and finding that hidden in the hills are the remnants of a once thriving roman civilization including a theater that overlooks the now bustling city below.

Not to mention countless churches, museums, and cobblestone streets that give everything a Charles Dickens, or even Harry Potter-ish, type aura.

Even the detail are breathtaking, like crossing the city's two rivers and being able to choose which of the many bridges you want to take. Both of the rivers have at least 4 bridges within 3 blocks of each other inluding the suspension bridges that moves a little with the wind  but have beautiful stone archways over them or the concrete bridges that end with a skate park and walkways to the water where you can feed the ducks and swans.

Day 6 - Samedi (saturday)

I heart IKEA and their supercheap post-shopping refreshments.

Actually the food wasn't "gastronomical". The bun was delish but I'm not sure what to make of the dog. But after two hours of shopping for home furnishings with your boyfriend in the the most aesthetically fascinating store ever, you'll eat just about anything..... It's the ultimate test spot for need vs. want and I checked my self-control at the revolving front door.
How do you explain that you really do need a duvet cover and a designer napkin holder when you just came to buy extra storage bins and some plastic hangers? 

Strike out --- so much for skiing.

Five hours after leaving the apartment, I am back again. We arrived at the airport to find out that the flight could be cancelled and eventually it was.

Here's the scoop:

French air traffic controllers' strike latest European labor trouble


A French air traffic controllers' strike has grounded dozens of flights in Paris, one of Europe's busiest air travel hubs. The first hints of spring appear to be bringing strike fever to Europe.
French air traffic controllers, currently among the most well paid in Europe and required to work only 100 days a year, are angry at a proposal to consolidate air traffic control with some of their European neighbors, which they fear will lead to salary and benefit reductions. Air travel-associated strikes in recent days have created delays and ticket-counter drama elsewhere as well. Pilots for Lufthansa ended a one-day strike last night, but there will be routing and delays until Friday, authorities say. In all, some 800 flights have been affected.

In other news, we had some great food today.

Sometimes I have to pick something off the menuwithout knowing exactly what's in it.

At the airport, I chose the Salad of Lyon. It was a bowl of bacon, with a little bit of lettuce and large slices of what I consider high-end Spam. That is not a large piece of white cheese (which I would have been really excited about) but rather a fried egg. I would give this 2.5 / 4 stars, deducting for the incredibly high fat content. =) It was pretty tasty though and I started thinking about how everyone in France could eat so many cheeses and meats and manage to stay so skinny.

Let me not forget to mention the desserts. The chocolates are just not fair!

They appear pretty normal from the outside but when you go to break into it, you find that the middle is all hot, melted, goodness.

And for dinner, we dined at Chicken Palace, more pics to come.

Day 5 - Time for Le Weekend

It's Friday and that means its time to head back to Barcelona, a land where I speak at least one of the region's two languages, woo hoo! I will probably have to bid adieu to the blog til monday because we will be venturing off with some of Roger's university friends to ski. We'll be staying in Alp, in a region of Spain that's called La Cerdanya.




This is a perfect coincidence because I've been listening to this song "Ambling Alp" all week by a favorite band of mine. The vid is interesting to say the least, almost like a bad 80's fantasy movie like Legend or Labrynth.
The lyrics are Fantastic though.



Ok, and just this once I get to say it- O.....M.....G!
SPEAKING OF CINEMATIC BLASTS FROM THE PAST, THIS IS GREATNESS...


It's from this VH-1 website that has got me in stitches. BestWeekEver.TV

Ciao for now!

Day 4 - Jeudi

What a big day it's been for me.

I walked to the university and enrolled in class. It starts Monday but I will not be back from Spain til the afternoon, so officially I will begin my french lessons next Tuesday.

As I left the school, I felt overwhelmed with happy emotions. I guess because in a way, the things I have always hoped for are coming true. In my other blog I wrote an entry regarding some hopes I had for myself on September 9, 2009. Ths was just less than one month before meeting Roger.

-----------------------------------------------------------
9/9/09
So by the end of the week, I'll be sending out applications. Gonna throw 'em out there and leave it up to fate. Who knows where the wind will take me next. Born in Maryland, lived in Atlanta, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, The Woodlands, and Austin may be next, possibly even Barcelona. This girl doesn't stay anywhere too long....


Hopefully by January I will be at one end of a classroom. Could be teaching English in Spain or getting my Masters somewhere else, preferibly in foreign languages.
Mi espanol es excelente, il mio italiano sta bene, but I don't speak a lick of french. Here's a song I heard in a lil museum of oddities this past weekend. I wish I knew what she was saying.



ciao for now."
http://anothernotchonmyblogpost.blogspot.com/2009/09/i-used-to-live-in-heartbeat-city.html

------------------------------------------------------------

Can you believe it????? I never imagined in a million years that I would be studying french in Lyon, living with a Catalan man I met after moving to Houston. Somehow, someone is watching over me. The best part is I've got proof that my prayers were answered and I'm living a dream I thought would be impossible.

____________

I have to mention as well, that Carla Bruni from the video above is none other than the wife of the current president of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy.

____________

After enrolling at the school I decided to go for a bite at where else but McDo's. Side note: last night's dinner, no so great. The soup tasted like baby food and the pate' looked and smelled cat food. Since it's still very difficult for me to order food here without Roger, I am trying to stick with the basics and figured that I should be able to get 6 Nu-GATS without a hitch.
----WRONG!
Well partially wrong, they understood nuggets fine and le petite coke light but then when I asked for Mustard all hell broke loose. The cashier freaked and called over le McManager. At this point, I felt all eyes in the restaurant on me as I try to say mustard in every accent I know. Pretty sure I looked like a jerk. If it were any other condiment I would have given up, but without the mustard I would not endure this grade "E" meat. Eventually I spotted the mustard packets behind the counter and pointed, saying that I wanted "du".
I handed the girl my money and took my tray up the stairs (because in Europe the McDos always have two levels) to escape the drama.

After I finished my lunch, I walked over to the center of the city becuase it's much more modern and there are plenty of places to sit and people-watch.

it was cold and windy today, but no rain.

This stand is called "American Sandwich"

It is run by French-Asians and they sell  French and Mexican desserts filled with Nutella. How American!

I didn't succumb to the delicious temptations today, but it's only a matter of time.

More interesting store names.......

Oh, and I made it home without opening a map, today was a success!

Couldn't end this McBlog without including the McScene from Pulp Fiction where John Travolta talks about ordering a big mac in Paris.

I hate seagulls - dedicated to 2 best friends of mine

I came across this song this morning and instantly thought of my bff back in San Diego, Jen Dub. It's been a while since I blogged in your honor Jen, but with the coincidence of emo sea gulls and days on the beaches this one goes out to you...... Well, actually it's co-dedicated to you and Roger both because as you will see this song is really about being in love as well as hating seagulls. and I don't know if Roger hates Seagulls, but if he does it's probably not as much as Jen does.

Day 3 - Mercredi

I finally got brave enough to use the public transportation today, and it was great!!! No more wandering the street aimlessly.
At noon I caught the 53 bus at the end of my street, then jumped on the C1 bus that carried me to the Museum stop where Roger was waiting for me to go have lunch.
Instead of opting for our normal deli lunch of sandwiches and varieties of quiches, we entered a small restaurant called Pell Mell where they offered two lunch choices.

We had the Brandade de Poisson.
- Brandade: a warm garlicky puree with milk or cream or oil, and sometimes mashed potatoes. 
- de poisson:  "of seafood".  So, it was basically mashed potatoes with fish in them.

Surprisingly it was probably my favorite meal so far and I would definitely have it again. However, some of our meals have been a bit dodgey because nearly everything is made with seafood. For example, we tried some quiches yesterday, one was made with shrimp and one with salmon. Eggs mixed with seafood is something I prefer not to experience again. Much like public transportation, there are some tastes the Western palette is not accustomed to. I have acquired a taste for pate' and foix de gras, but the smell of fresh oysters being sold on the street still bothers me despite its novelty.

Today I went grocery shopping and found that the gastronomy of France goes much deeper than the restaurant cuisines. I found that Pringles potato chips are basically the blank canvas for french artists of flavor. So excited about my discovery of new flavors that I had to purchase three canisters: Wasabi, Sezchuan BBQ and Chili-and-Cheese.

(*Sour Cream and Cat flavor sold exclusively in China)

After I finished my dinner shopping which consisted of canned pate', some crunchy bread, and vegetable soup I picked up a $2 bottle of wine!!!! Hopefully it matches the quality of San Diego's famous brand "Two-Buck Chuck".

Tonight I will try to make my first French meal but we may have to go to McDonalds (aka "McDo") if things don't turn out well.

Bon Apetit!

Last Sunday we stopped at a gas station that had a McDonalds adjoined with a mini-store that had the usual stuff like magazines, gum, and more types of Nougat candy than you can ever imagine. Turns out McDo's was fresh out of chicken and it took us a while to find this out because even though we were asking for nuggets, they did not understand what we wanted til we said ummm, "Chicken Noug-ATS si vous plais". They did however have a chicken sandwich and packets of original mustard which happened to be the Spicy Mustard that we have in the states. This made me a very happy girl becuase that mustard is the sole reason I will eat at this fast-food establishment.

Day 2 - Mardi

Even though I got dreadfully lost today in the streets, I stumbled across the greatest antique store and found these two jewels in addition to 3 old vinyls I bought for our shelves. I managed to lose one of the candles on the trip home. C'est la vie, haha!

Lyon Day 1 - Lundi (Monday)

We arrived in Lyon Sunday night around 10 pm, that's 3 pm CST. It was about a 6 hour car ride from Barcelona which by European standards in one long road trip. However it could take over 9 hours just to travel across Texas which goes to show that the Lone Star State is bigger than France. We're sure not to mention that little fact to any of the locals though.

It was cold and rainy when we arrived and already dark so we called it a night and hurried across several blocks and up to the studio apartment. Fortunately the next day, we were able to switch to an actual one bedroom apartment that I think we can settle into for the next year. These are pictures of the base models, at least we have a kitchen now, a large balcony, and a living room with a lot of closet space.

Anchors just seem to be reoccuring throughout my life, hopefully we will gets this mediterranean theme modernized soon! Overall, we are very happy with the new nest!

On Monday Roger and I took the bus back to his office after lunch and then I proceeded to walk back. According to the map I was not far from the Lyon Centre.
Here's my very first broadcasts ever, they're very amateurish but hopefully with a little practice my vids will improve.





In the city I came across some wonderful sights and places. Alas, my camera battery soon ran out so I will have to return soon to capture them all.

I did meet one girl who spoke English today, she worked at Starbucks in downtown.

No surprise there, I figured that would be the one place I could order without any problems.

-----------------------

Later on, Roger and I made our way back to the Centre via metro rail to dine at Les Enfante Terribles.

 and the dessert.

What a great start to our adventure!

Goodbye! Adios! Au Revoir!

Last day at work February 12.

Adios amigos, will miss you but not the view from this office. 

---------------

My birthday dinner with the at The Cheesecake Factory minutes before heading to the airport February 18.

Goodbye Houston!

---------

My third chocolate birthday cake, this time in Barcelona.

Au Revoir 29!

Big Day!!!

Most importantly today, my best friend since 7th grade, Amanda, finally had her little girl Sosie today!!!! She was due yesterday and the doctor's planned on inducing labor this coming Sunday but she was destined to be an aquarius!

I fly out at 8:30 this evening en route to Heathrow in London and then on to Barcelona where I will meet Roger. On Sunday we plan on driving out to Lyon.

I'm still packing and unpacking and repacking. Its just about done though. Who knew I have so much STUFF? When you think about all the unecessary things we carry around, possessions, it's really ridiculous. In my defense though, it will be very cold in France and some of these jackets and sweaters take up a quarter of a bag. My shoes alone could fit an entire suitcase but I'm very proud of myself and managed to leave most of them here.

I'm a little stressed over leaving my dad, my dog, and the rest of the fam. Hopefully the anxiety and anticipation will pass.

ok back to packing....

less than two days

and I'm exhausted! I feel like I've been put throught the packing gauntlet, or rather, the olympics of travel preparation. In the luggage competition, we have already been through 3 preliminary rounds and the finals should be tomorrow. Seriously though, my shoes alone could take up one bag and I'm trying to keep it to two carry on items and two checked items. That's even too much to bring judging by the pictures Roger sent me of our new studio in France.

Thankfully, it's just temporary until we get a normal apartment that's not just a bed next to the toilet and a mini fridge that is supposedly the kitchen. In the meantime, my search continues for the french translation of "Walk-in-closet". They've got to exist, clothes are a major part of the culture. I'm hoping that the Parisian fashionistas do not fold their coutour gowns and put them in a drawer. If worst comes to worst, I will convert the shower space into a hanging rack. Wonder if I'm the first to have to resort to this action? Maybe that's how the smelly reputation came about, hmmmm.

My favorite musical New Zealand duo, The Flight of the Conchords, and their comical lesson in french and how to pick up women.....