Missing things

I've been in Europe exactly nine months now. Being June 13th, that also means that I've got exactly one month left until I arrive back home. One month sounds like so long to me, despite the fact that I've already endured (and enjoyed) nine months here. In that time, I've missed some pretty big events in the lives of my favorite people. Rosie got married, Erica had a baby, Stephanie met the man of her dreams, Maddox hit all the milestones of a healthy, growing baby, Bree planned her wedding, Taylor got engaged. New jobs were started and old ones lost, birthdays passed, family crises were dealt with and this all happened without me. Today, my little sister (technically Brooke's my cousin) graduates from high school; I also missed her prom. In the month I have ahead of me, I'll miss one best friend's birthday, another best friend's bachelorette party, and my Uncle Mark's epic Fourth of July party. It's easy to feel that I've selfishly missed all of these milestones but I shouldn't. Luckily, all of these people whose milestones I've missed have been super supportive of me getting out of the US for a little while. Sorry guys, 9 months was longer than I thought. 

Won't find this in Seattle... Burg Lichtenberg, Germany 

As excited as I am to get back, there are things that I know I will miss about living in Europe. So distract myself from thinking of all the people and places I can soon see and the things I can finally incorporate back into my life (cars, gym, quality ethnic food), here's a list of what I'll be missing out on:

-Sébastien, Silvia, Raphaël, Laureline, Jean-Michel, and Françoise. No explanation necessary.

-French. I still love the language and am continually learning new words and improving. (Most recent word: kinder: brune à l'extérieur mais blonde à l'intérieur. The name comes from Kinder chocolates, which are filled with white chocolate.)

-La bise. Once I got into the habit, I grew to love it. Don't be weirded out if I kiss you on both cheeks when I get home. 

-Being able to travel Europe quickly and more cheaply than if I departed from the US! 

-Being surrounded by history. I love turning the corner to find a building that's older than Seattle. 

-The scent of walking past pâtisseries and boulangeries is heavenly. I wish I could bottle it up. (I'll leave the scent of poissonneries and fromageries in France... I little too pungent for me!)

Hard to compare with Pike Place... Le marché in Le Mans

And for a few things that I will not be missing: 

-Smokers everywhere. It always seems to be that I was something because it smells like smoke and then the first time I rewear it again, I instantly reek of smoke again. You can't avoid smokers here, no matter how hard you try. It's disgusting and it's worse here in Lille than anywhere else I've been. 

-Not having a car. You'd think I'd have all the freedom in the world living over here in Europe. That's true, no one really cares what I do... but I'm limited by where I can get to by foot, bus, or train, which also kills my motivation. I'm sick of public transportation!! Give me a car and a full tank of gas!

-Everything shutting down on Sundays. 

-The fact that nothing happens instantly or without a ton of pointless paperwork or extra steps. If the French ever discovered instant gratification, I don't know what they'd do. 

-Working only three days a week. It sounds great but it actually sucks. I have all this free time but no one to spend it with. It leaves a lot of time to start missing people, things, and places.

-I will not miss missing my friends, family, or my real life. 

I love this place.... Sacré Coeur, Paris... one of my favorite sites, hands down

This experience has been life changing. It's been amazing, frustrating, and difficult over the past nine months. The next month will be tough. I'm so ready to go that it's all I can think about. But I don't want to miss out on what I have left, either... 

Bisous,
-kelse

kinder: brune à l'extérieur mais blonde à l'intérieur - A brunette who's blond on the inside
Une pâtisserie - a pastry shop 
Une boulangerie - a bakery 
Une poissonnerie - a fishmonger, fish shop 
Une fromagerie - a cheesemonger, cheese shop

Scaredy cat

Have you seen this commercial?

It creeps me out. Goosebumps? Check! 

Well, this morning I picked up my lunch bag and there was a spider scrambling around the bottom of it. I threw the bag on the ground and the spider came running out of it like a bat out of hell. I didn't know what to do so I grabbed the empty salt shaker on the counter. When I picked it up to see if the spider was smushed, it wasn't. The bottom must not be flat! So now there's a spider sitting under a salt shaker on the floor in the kitchen. I should probably tell Séb. I'm already terrified of spiders and this commercial makes it worse. Maybe the spider will suffocate under there? Do araignées breathe? 

Speaking of creatures with eight legs... There was a spider on a student's desk the other day. The girl, Rachel, sits in the second row and I was the first to notice it. I was in the middle of teaching something and just froze. Mouth shut, I stood there pointing at the spider until Manon picked it up and put it on the floor. Not that it made it better but at least I couldn't see it. Eew. 

Bisous,
-kelse

Une araignée - a spider

It continues...

If you read my last post, you'll remember my back and forth discussion with Océane on whether or not my name was Kelsey or Cassis. I had two similar conversations today... one of them was with Océane. I was helping another student and from across the room, she kept yelling "Cassis! Cassis!" (This really gets on my nerves, they don't understand that I can only answer one question at a time and I can't even answer one question if they won't all shut up!) Anyways, I looked up at her and said "Je suis occupée! Et rappelle-toi que c'est 'Kelsey'." She shook her head and repeated Cassis. I give up. (Honestly, I don't care but I find it funny!)

In another class, I couldn't get Cassandra to stop talking, worrying about what others are doing, and drawing on the desktop and just do her work (and she wonders why I don't let her erase the board). She was trying to complain about another student saying my name incorrectly. I told her to worry about her own business and do her work, which she still hadn't started. The second I turned around, she was back to correcting Rémy on my name, telling him my name was Cassis. I looked at her and said "Non, en fait, je m'appelle Kelsey. Kel-sey." With a dead-serious stare, she corrected me "In English, your name is Kelsey. But in French, your name is Cassis." Oh really? I didn't know. "Bah, non. Kelsey n'existe pas en français. Je m'appelle Kelsey." I can't stand her. 

On another note, I taught them today how to conjugate the French words avoir and être in English, which are two of the the most important verbs in the French language. I gave them a few examples of phrases and then asked them to invent a few phrases using each. To get started, I had a few students raise their hand and say a sentence they planned to write. Quinten raised his hand and said "We are white." I thought that's what I heard but wasn't sure. He repeated it but I didn't want to embarrass him by having him say it over and over. I asked him to write it on the board, so he wrote "We are white." I didn't really know how to react, since a huge percentage of the class is not white... I just kind of skipped over it and went onto the next... 

I also had my youngest class literally undress me. Elyas grabbed my purse again and Caroline unwrapped my scarf and tied it around her neck. I will have to say that she looked adorable in it! Oh what a day... Only 7 class days left! 

Bisous, 

-kelse 

Je suis occupée! Et rappelle-toi que c'est 'Kelsey'. - I'm busy! And remember that it's 'Kelsey'. 

Non, en fait, je m'appelle Kelsey. Kel-sey. - No. In fact, my name is Kelsey.

Bah, non. Kelsey n'existe pas en français. Je m'appelle Kelsey. - Umm, no. Kelsey doesn't exist in French. My name is Kelsey.

avoir - to have

être - to be 

I stand corrected - by my students

Despite appearances, I am generally a smart girl. That being said, I'm definitely not perfect and would never want to be. In the last week, I've been corrected several times by my students with very firm beliefs that they are right. I can't help but laugh...

Writing in English, speaking in French, and doing both without getting chalk all over me is tough. Yesterday I noticed I had chalk on my boob and a handprint on my ass... Enzo caught me trying to get it off and couldn't stop laughing. Anyways, back to the writing thing! I've been going over adjectives and had a list going on the board. "Big, little, old, young, long, short..." Everything was going fine until Selyan raised his hand, "Miss Kelsey, is it 'little' or 'litte'? You wrote l-i-t-t-e. I think you forgot the other 'l'." Double-tasking got the best of me.  Students: 1 - Kelsey: 0

Then there's Ali; he tries so hard to speak English well but it doesn't always work out. This time, I was asking for a few extra adjectives that they use commonly to add to my list. I figure they'll pay a little more attention if they're interested... Ali raised his hand and said "une planète." After making him repeat it a few times to make sure I heard him correctly, I told him it wasn't an adjective. "Yes it is! Because it's 'UNE planète'. You see? 'UNE planète' is an adjective, I know it is." I was dumbfounded. "Ali... 'une' is the determinant and 'planète' is the object..." He opened his mouth for a rebuttal but then his eyes quickly widened with embarrassment. Students: 1 - Kelsey: 1

Saving the best for last, Océane can be a little brat. She wouldn't start participating in English until the middle of the year and now she thinks she knows everything. She also thinks the best way to learn is with her back turned to the blackboard. Yesterday, I walked into recess with a gaggle of kids shouting butchered versions of my name at rapid fire. "Keece! Cassie! Cassis! Keetzie!" I looked back at them with a blank face and firmly said "Je m'appelle KELSEY. KEL. SEY. K-E-L-S-E-Y." Océane shook her head and said "Non, tu t'appelles Cassis. Ton prénom est Cassis. Cuh-sis! (heavy emphasis on the second 's') Cassissssss!" About thirty seconds passed of me saying 'kel-sey' and her defending 'cassis' before I pulled out my driver's license to show her my name. The silly girl still wasn't convinced and I was now stuck in a crowd of kids staring at my wallet. Students: 1 - Kelsey 2? 

There were a few things that I got to correct this week... Perfectionist Clara was disappointed when I pointed out that her sentence 'I am ten fish red' was a little jumbled. I got a little scared when Selyan asked how to say un pistolet; I calmed down when he wrote 'My gun Nerf is funny.' But I totally loved it when students wrote (correctly) "Kelsey is pretty. Kelsey is nice and intelligent...." 

No amount of sweet sentences will diminish my excitement that I only have eight days left of work! Not to mention that I see my mom three weeks from today and get back to Seattle five weeks from today! 

Bisous,
-kelse

Une planète - a planet
Je m'appelle Kelsey. - My name is Kelsey. (Technically, 'I call myself Kelsey.")
Non, tu t'appelles Cassis. Ton prénom est Cassis. - No, your name is Cassis. Your first name is Cassis.
Un pistolet - a gun 

Sausages and feathers

My fabulous roommate's birthday is on Tuesday, so last night we went out to celebrate! We started with an apéro at a friend of a friend's. I haven't had a screwdriver in so long and now I remember why. And while we're at it, the little sticks of imitation crab sticks aren't my thing either. We arrived fashionably late to Aude's apartment (the other birthday honoree) for more snacks and finally dinner. I was dying in the sweltering heat - which to me is anything higher than 70°F and yesterday was well above that. I sipped a Leffe (a Belgian beer) and snacked on some cheeto-like things that tasted like peanut butter to me, though I know that wasn't the intended flavor. I definitely didn't find the Leffe refreshing, which is funny... In Berlin, Pierre told me that I was stupid because I don't find a cold bière refreshing on a warm afternoon. Different strokes... that doesn't make me stupid.

Anyways, on to dinner. Before taking off to the bar, we dined on a pasta salad. I may be a pasta salad novice but the mix was good, if not interesting. Pasta, beets (!), corn, carrots, chicken, and saucisses, mixed with a dijon mayo. Séb loved the hot dogs and picked a few extras out... and then this happened! 

Yankee Doodle

Muffins, hot dog bits, and dijon mayo...

No words...

We eventually made it to L'Appart Café to continue the night. Séb had a great night! I had fun but was exhausted from the heat and only having two drinks kind of put me to sleep. I can definitely hold my own with my French but when I'm not completely sober and there's English music blasting in the background, my mind definitely doesn't appreciate the extra effort required. By closing time, I definitely didn't have the energy to move on to another bar nor did I dance to songs I'd normally dance to. Luckily, I caught a ride home and passed out at 3:00am. All in all, it was a great night and was already daylight when Séb and friends returned to the apartment. From their sluggishness this morning, I'd say it was a successful celebration for Séb's 27th birthday! 

I rocked the headdress!

Aude, Angel, et Jonathon

Ugh, I don't want to work tomorrow!! But only 10 class days left for me!

Bisous, 

-kelse 

Un apéro - an aperitif, cocktail hour

Une bière - a beer

Une saucisse - a sausage, hot dog

Murals, postcards, and chocolate fountains

Last up on my day trip to Brussels my recap of the random sites I saw around the city. I bet you didn't know that BD's are hugely popular in France and Belgium and that The Schtroumpfs were Belgian, did you? Confused? BD is short for bande dessinée or what we call comic strips and Schtroumpfs are the "kiddie cocaine" of the 80's that we lovingly know as The Smurfs. My kids are always stealing away peeks at their BD's, which are often used in class as part of their curriculum. It's nothing like comic books in the US. The most iconic of characters is Tintin, a cross between Indiana Jones and a journalist, who will soon be featured in a Spielberg trilogy along with his canine sidekick, Snowy. France has a theme park dedicated to Astérix, a Gaulish gladiator fighting off Romans; their most loved comic series. 

But what does this have to do with Brussels? Well, as part of the Comic Book Route, there are over 30 murals of famous Belgian comic characters scattered around town. If I'd have known before my trip, I'd have found a map online! But I kept an eye out throughout my wanderings and snapped several pictures! 

Tintin nearby to Mannekin Pis

Sorry for the terrible picture, it's tough to photograph a window in the sunlight... But if you look closely, you'll notice that Mannekin Pis is peeing chocolate. Not that appetizing, if you ask me. And the picture that follows is his lesser-known counterpart, Jeanneke Pis. Yep, a fountain of a little girl squatting. Classy! Then I spotted these lovely postcards... even better how they're juxtaposed!

We could have had this chocolate fountain at our Senior Ball instead... tant pis!

Right outside Delirium Café behind lock and key... Jeanneke Pis.

Same time, same place... bitch!  

And for a few more random things... I saw several areas around town actually designated for you to have your dog do his business. Much cuter than the sign telling you not to leave your dog poop at Burg Nanstein in Germany! Then, can you please tell me what these animals are supposed to be because I want one. And finally, to all my Chi Omegas, every owl I see makes me think of you guys - even in the form of graffiti! 

Insert your own caption here... Just do it. 

Chi O love in Brussels.

I have no idea what this window front was for. Who killed Miss Rose? I say it was the creeper clocking in at over 7'6". Don't they use the metric system?

How many behemoths do you know over 7 feet? And I thought Pierre was too damn tall! 

Well, that's it. And guess what? Now that it's June, I can officially say that I come home next month!! Even better, I get to see my mom this month!

Bisous,
-kelse

Une bande dessinée - A comic strip 
Tant pis! - Too bad! 
Rendez-vous ici, demain, même heure. - Meet me tomorrow, same time, same place. 
Une salope - a bitch, whore 
Qui a tué Mlle Rose? - Who killed Miss Rose? 

Bites in Brussels

Normally I eat a really healthy and balanced diet, heavy on fruits and vegetables and light on sweets. I don't like beer and rarely drink, except for when I really feel like it. Both those general rules flew out the door when I hopped off the train in Brussels. At least I had a healthy breakfast? ; )

After some shopping and siteseeing, Riina and I tucked into Delirium Café for a beer. Let me note that this was at 12:00pm. Delirium Café hold a Guinness Record for offering 2000+ beers from all around the world and also has a really cool ambiance. Like I said, I don't like beer but I knew that my dad would practically disown me if I didn't have a Belgian beer in Belgium so I asked for a white beer and was given a Watou's Wit. Riina and I toasted to Christmas in May and spent an hour chatting before she had to meet with her co-worker. Before she left, I asked the guys sitting at the barrel next to us to take our photo. Two of them said yes and then there were crickets... After thirty seconds of no movement, we started laughing and I joked with them that usually this was the point where one of them would take my camera. Once Riina left, I finished my beer and figured out my game plan. When I got up to leave, I noticed one of the guys in the group had Greek letters on his jacket so I asked them where they'd gone to school. I ended up sitting with them for over an hour chatting about traveling Europe and comparing Greek systems at UW and UC Berkeley. Finally, I declared that I needed food at 2:30pm and they said they were impressed that I'd had a beer before lunch. Actually, that beer was my lunch...  For the record, I kind of enjoyed it (the beer, not the fact that it was my lunch). 

Riina and I  - Truffles in Tartu and beers in Brussels, let's continue our world food tour!

My lunch: Watou's Wit 

AEPi's from Berkeley Jeremy, Yoni, Ben, and David

The guys and I parted ways and I decided that I could indulge on a Belgian waffle as a snack. What was wrong with me? Usually I am very good at talking myself out of these ideas. Luckily I didn't, because this was the best waffle I've ever had. Well, normally I don't like waffles so that might not be saying much, but it's safe to say that I'll probably never have a waffle in the US again. Belgians know their waffles! The little crystals of sugar imbedded in the waffle are the best part! I can't believe I'm going to say this... I didn't have any chocolate while in Brussels because I'm over chocolate. Belgian chocolate is, however, very tasty! 

I had plenty of decadent options for toppings... 

But I kept it simple with just powdered sugar. Miam Miam!

For dinner, I went back to an Indian restaurant that I'd been to in October and enjoyed a delicious Tandoori Chicken Tikka plate with naan. This makes me excited to get back to the US where I don't have to go to another country to get good ethnic food!

Well, at least I did a ton of walking that day! 

Bisous, 

-kelse