That is Wei's and my new slogan. We have been cooking a lot and, while the outcome isn't always the most beautiful thing, it has all been very tasty. This weekend, we went to a soirée at one of Wei's friend's houses, and we made a quiche that kind of fell apart when it came out of the pan, but everyone really liked it, so it was a success. The next day, we made nem, which are spring rolls. They kind of fell apart in the frying process, but we ate them anyway and they were very tasty. Today we made fresh spring rolls (the not fried kind). They were even kind of pretty, and VERY yummy. I think they are probably one of my favorite foods, and I've been missing eating them a lot lately, so it was good to have them. Also, Wei made flan today, which is a little over-cooked on top and a little too liquidy on the inside, but it tasted very yummy. Hence the new catch-phrase.
On the not ugly food side, yesterday we found the most amazing cookie store. It was like heaven. You picked out a little decorative tin and then there were bins with about 15 different kinds of cookies and you got to fill your little tin with whatever cookies you wanted. A little pricey, but totally worth it. And they had samples. While I was standing in line, I got to taste one of the kinds of cookies, these chocolate "olives", and this other little candy thing. I think it was marzipan, but I'm not entirely sure. On top of all the deliciousness, it was the cutest little store. Which fit the town it was in. We spent the day in Annecy, which is about 2 hours from Lyon, near the border with Switzerland.
After some difficulties with buses and trains, we (Wei, my friend Robert, and myself) got there around one. We wandered around the vieille ville, which was a couple narrow streets full of shops and restaurants. There was one restaurant that was getting ready for a Halloween party and they had three ginormous jack-o-lanterns outside. Then there was a western store, with tons of different cowboy boots and a window full of belt buckles. It was a nice little splash of home in the midst of a little french mountain village. I was kind of sad that it was closed. We also checked out the chateau-turned museum, which was not terribly exciting. Then we headed down to the lake, which is gorgeous. We were told that we should do the paddle boats, but all the paddle boat places were closed (probably because it was FREEZING). So we just kind of wandered around taking touristy pictures and enjoying the beautiful views. Then, we found the amazing cookie store, and then met up with some German ERASMUS students from Lyon who had the same idea to day trip to Annecy. We wandered around some more with them before making our way back to the train station and coming home. And that was my day yesterday. It was a really nice little trip.
I'm kind of sad that I didn't do anything Halloweeny for Halloween, though. I really love Halloween, but the only places who celebrate it here are nightclubs, and I wasn't really up for going out after spending the day wandering around Annecy. A couple of my friends are having a Halloween party tomorrow, which should be fun, but I have no idea what to do for a costume. I usually raid my closet and hit up thrift stores and come up with something, but my wardrobe is much more limited here than it is at home and thrift stores aren't nearly as easy to come by. Plus, it's a lot harder to get into the spirit when you aren't surrounded by halloween decorations and there aren't mounds of pumpkins outside all the grocery stores. I definitely feel like Halloween was just another day, which is kind of sad.
Moving on, though...today is Toussaint, which inFrance is a jour férié, which means that everyone gets the dayand most stores are closed. For that reason, I stayed home and was kind of restless. I wrote a while back that Florence likes to rearrange the furniture a lot, and that it made me want to do the same. As long as I had the day to myself, and I needed to clean a little anyway, I decided to go for it. So I spent the morning redecorating. I like the way my room is now. It feels a little bit smaller, because there isn't a big space in the middle, but smaller in a good, cozy way. I think I'm going to like it.
Lastly, on Monday, I went to talk with a TOEFL class. TOEFL is the international English exam that people have to take it they want to study or work in the states. The director for the Penn program at Lyon 2 teaches the class, and she asked me if I would come talk to her students about Oregon. It was really cool to go in and talk to them. Eneryone was really nice and they asked me questions about life in the states and the differences between school here and there. I gave them all my email address after the class in case they had any other questions, and on Tuesday I got an email from one of the girls who said we should hang out sometime so that we can talk more. She seems really nice. I'm definitely glad I went and talked with the class, and Barbara (the teacher) invited me to come back and do it again sometime because she gets a new group of students every couple of months. Yay!
Ok, sorry this post is kind of random and jumps around a lot. That seems to be my life lately.
Bisous and Happy Toussaint!
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