I brought the magic of Halloween to 400 or so rural french kids, and I think the main point they took away from it was that Halloween involves M & Ms and you have to say "trick or treat", but what does that mean anyway? Give me the candy. So I think I did my job there. The school part is going well, the kids are all adorable and eager to participate and please. I did inadvertently cause a child to cry last week when I corrected his pronunciation on a word, and I tried to explain to him in french that I make 4398340598 mistakes a day speaking french, and that I understand where he's coming from here. I think it was lost in translation. Maybe he needs to do what I do, and reward himself by downloading episodes of Arrested Development when he makes it through a day with only a modest amount of mistakes and embarrassing moments. Hmm...
Last weekend a few assistants and I went to visit some other assistants who are placed in Sarlat, a tiny town an hour and a half away from Perigueux. Sarlat is very pretty, and definitely has that old time European cobblestone street feel. It's pretty popular with tourists in the summer. I think Rick Steves has discussed it as well, which gives it some serious street cred. Rick and I got pretty close this summer, so his street cred it pretty legit. Not on par with, say, Jay-Z, due to the fact that I listened to his pod cast and he sounds like he is from Fargo and said "okey dokey" more times than should be permitted in 45 minutes. Which is to say, he said it once. Not that there's anything really wrong with that, but if he told me to brush my shoulders off I'd probably laugh at him. In case you're wondering, that is my only qualifier for having street cred. You should probably practice that line in the mirror if you want to impress me.
But I digress. We went to the market and got some huge mushrooms to make for dinner. The wonderful Sarlat assistants prepared a great dinner of mushroom gratin and it was delicious. Here are some pictures.
I would also like to inform you all that due to my apartment's lack of a microwave, I have been cooking a lot more. I made ratatouille this weekend and it was... not disgusting. I include this point because I know a lot of you have been waiting for me to reach this point of maturity, and I will remind you that Rome wasn't built in a day, but hey, it's progress. 28.5 years old is probably an advanced age for such a transition but I am fairly confident that if I had to pick one literary character that most mirrors my own personality, I would have to pick this guy:
Don't worry guys, Leo turns out just fine. Just in his own time.
We are now officially on break for two weeks, and thank god, because i just worked four weeks in a row. That part of french life I am adjusting to very well. Tomorrow my friend Megan and I are heading to Prague and Vienna for a week. I am quite excited to be heading to beer country for awhile. Wine is my first love as far as beverages go, but I have been missing some good beer. Next weekend I'll be visiting my long lost friend Kristin in Switzerland for a few days, and experiencing what I assume is the badass life of a Swiss boarding school. Swizz boarding school, I'll call it.
Enjoy your week, friends, and Happy Halloween! Eat some candy corn for me and say a silent prayer that it soon gains worldwide appeal.
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