Martial Arts in France and Scooter Rides

Well, I've had a busy and interesting week.  Yann went off to work on Wednesday morning.  I had a coffee and shopping date with a French friend, Diane.  It's so nice to have a good ol' fashioned girl's day.  We had a really good time; she's a very sweet girl who lived in Chicago for 3 years, so her English is great.  We walked everywhere; until my feet were hurting.  But then I remembered I had to get home because I had told my neighbour I would go to his karate class with him at 7pm. 

 

I called him to cancel when I got home because I was so tired and hungry, but he assured me it would be "soft"; aka: My ass wouldn't be kicked too hard.  Okay...so i went hoping it would be like a beginner class where you spend the first half hour stretching gently on the mats and the last hour lightly punching at a bag.  Nope. I get there and I am hurried into the locker room by the Sensi.  He gives the white jacket and pants to put on.  They are children's pants and they stop just above my knee.  I feel stupid already. 

 We begin the class by bowing to one another.  There are 2 white belts, my neighbour and I and the other 3 students in the class are green belts.  Which is apparently 2 colors away from 'Lethal Killer'.  Of course the class is all in French.  The teacher is having us do calisthenics; none of which I had any stamina for.  Running from one side of the gym to the other as fast as we can, jumping over a pole set up as a hurtle, doing army crawls under the pole, doing squats and lunges, situps, pushups with a partner.  I wanted to ask if I could just watch for the first lesson, or maybe even just take a small sip of water?? No, not yet, my neighbour explained. First, we warm up, then we learn the fighting techniques. 

 So, after our heart rates were all up we learned how to slam eachother down on the mats.  My partner was pretty much a French supermodel, a beautiful girl, with full makeup still on.  She is a green belt.  She is a little bit scary and I'm smaller than her.  She speaks no English.  She is laughing because every time she slams me, my white kimono gets smeared with her mascara and foundation.  I even get to slam her once.  My neck begins to hurt.  Then it's time for her to go fight with an actual contender; another green belt student.  The Sensi works with me and he is very nice and is being patient.  I actually nail a couple of the moves.  After class the teacher encourages me to come twice a week.  It's inexpensive enough and would be helpful in teaching me some self-defense.  I mean I do live in Marseille, and I may need it someday.  But I think I've decided to put mastering this ancient Japanese martial art on the back burner for a while.  I've got more important things to figure out now, like a job and learning French.      

Also, I just have to tell you about my exciting experience last night.  It wasn't anything too crazy, but JC came to pick me up to hang out at their house.  Guess what he picked me up on!!? A cute, little scooter!! It was so fun flying up and down all these narrow city streets, feeling the cool evening wind in my face.  My mom has always scared me from riding on any motorcycle with all her horror stories from her college days.  But a scooter is a bit more innocent, right? It makes less noise, it doesn't go as fast.  And I still wore a helmet.  Mom, don't worry, it's not like I'm going to go out and buy a scooter.  But it is really exhilarating to ride around on one.  So, here is a pic of JC coming to pick me up on his hot scooter.

Tonight I'm going to this get together that should be really fun.  They are the group of English speakers I met through the internet.  The group was started by this really cool French girl, Malou, and the group is about half French who want to practice their English and half a random assortment of Americans, Irish, Canadians, and British.  Actually, there is only one other American girl besides me, Laila.  It should be a good time, so I'll try to bring my camera so I can post pics of my little group of friends.  And, I'm so excited because Yann comes home on Sunday evening and he has 11 days off!!! It should be snowing in the Alps this week, so I think I can sense a snowboard trip in the works! A bientot! 

Foodie Pics

The following are some pics of our dinners we've been chefin' up recently.  It think my blog may take turn towards food soon, because that's a main reason why I am so excited to be in France.  Plus, I just love to cook and eat. 

Our romantic table for two.

This is Yann's special Brazilian dish that was AMAZING! It is a thick soup base made of fish & shrimp stock, coconut milk, and fresh crushed tomatoes, and chilies.  Then he added tons of cilantro and roasted red & yellow peppers and the shrimp right at the end.  Brazilians eat this with salted white rice.  

This is a grilled steak with a mache greens salad topped with sauteed shrimp, roasted red peppers, and goat cheese.

This is the fish stock made with the head & bones of the Turbot.

Here is Yann cutting filets from the Turbot. 

I'm cooking the clams with white wine, butter, & garlic.

These are two bouquets of flowers I bought at this shop around the corner.  One was for the neighbours for having us over to dinner and one was for us. 

Pictures of Paimpol

Happy Easter!!

Well, I'm back to post some pics of our trip up to Paimpol in the North of France.  The Brittany coast of France is rugged, dramatic, and very beautiful.  There are tons of quaint, sleepy villages all throughout the area.  They are connected by a road that winds around the cliffs above the ocean; the waves down below never cease to crash against the giant rocks causing the sea to spray high up into the air.  When we were there a couple weeks ago, it was still very much early spring; if not still winter.  The sun only showed its' face once the whole time we were there, and the rain that fell all the while was cold and almost mist-like, instead of big, fat drops of rain.  This was ok though, because we were equipped with proper Brittany outerwear by Yann's parents.  Big, oversized rain jackets of his dad's, that I was swimming in, but I did stay warm and dry.  Plus, everyone is walking around with these massive coats too, so you actually blend in more with the Paimpol crowd if you sport one.  I do have to mention that the weather is not always this bad in Brittany.  In fact, I will be going back in May when my parents are here and the weather then will be warm, sunny, and beautiful.  They just suffer a particularly harsh winter.  However, I think all the horrible winter weather must be worth enduring, because once the sun comes out, I think Brittany, France must be one of the most charming and beautiful places on Earth.  While we were there we saw old, dilapidated castles covered in bright green moss, we walked in the country and fed horses hay through the fence.  We ate amazing food every night; Yann's parents are really incredible cooks and in Brittany there is an abundance of fresh mussels, clams, oysters, lobster, crabs, and any other yummy creature of the sea you could want to have on your plate.  Let's just say we were eating good!  Yann and I drove to villages and had beers and crepes in cafes by the sea.  We went to the Paimpol outdoor market and wandered through the tiny, cobblestone streets in the village looking in store windows.  While the tide was very far out we went searching on the beach under the rocks and seaweed for tiny fish and crabs.  We went to the place where the fisherman bring in all the fresh catch of the day and we saw them harvesting the oysters from the bay, packaging them and bringing them to the little store right on the dock.  We went in the store and you can pick your dinner from about five very large tanks: one for lobster, one for Spider Crabs, ect..  Also, one day we packed a lunch and drove an hour to this really cool aquarium called Oceanopolis.  It was a really good aquarium, with a polar exhibit with penguins, a tropical exhibit with tons of really beautiful fish and sharks, and also a Temperate exhibit, where we got to see the sea lions being fed and getting scratched on the bellies like they were dogs.  

It was such a fun trip and his parents really showed us a great time.  They are such kind, loving people; the perfect future in-laws! They are such interesting people; their lovely, historic home is filled everywhere with antiques and artifacts from Africa, Brazil, South America, and Europe.  And each one has a story behind it; how they bought it, what it was used for.  They lived in Mali, Africa when Yves was young (Yann's older brother).  His mom was super-pregnant with Yann in Mali and she travelled back to France three weeks before Yann was born to deliver him in a proper hospital.  When Yann was just two weeks old, she travelled back with the new baby to Mali to join her husband and other son, Yves.  Talk about a strong woman! His mom, Daniele, is this tiny, cute woman, and she is just great; and so sweet too.  His dad, Pierre-Yves, is this big, fisherman guy, who has a big smile and a huge laugh.  He's travelled all over the world on fishing trips, bringing his two sons when they were boys.  I asked to see the family photo albums from Yann's childhood in Brazil and so I learned a lot more about this really unique and cool family.  In every picture, Yann is almost butt-naked, with skin as dark as a little native boy, either swimming in the ocean, fishing, or paddling a boat.  This was his life growing up in Brazil; pretty much a dream childhood for boys.  Anyways, I was just so happy to be invited into their home and get to know them better.  They love Yann very much and want to see him happy and they've been so helpful in researching Visa information for us, so that Yann and I can be together.  It will be so fun when my parents are visiting in May, when we can all hang out in Paimpol together.  

So, now I'm in Marseille just hanging out with Yann here.  We've been cooking a lot, so I'll have to post pics.  He made me this shrimp, coconut milk, and roasted red pepper dish with rice from Brazil; it's called: Muqueca de Camarao and it was awesome.  We also cooked a Turbot, that I bought from the neighbour.  It was this giant, whole fish in a bag, it's little, clear eyes staring up at me.  I had Yann hack off it's head and filet it.  We put that head and the bones  in a pot with some onion, carrots, celery and peppercorns and made a damn good fish stock.  We baked the filets in the oven and topped it with a saffron butter sauce.  We served it with potatoes that were cooked with white wine and fish stock and we then added to the potatoes some fresh tomatoes and Coques, which are little, delicious clams. That was a great dinner.  Tonight we are just roasting a chicken and we are going to test our new deep fry basket and make some pomme frites.  So, to counter all the eating yesterday we went on a long run to one of Marseille's calanques, which are these places outside of Marseille where the ocean comes in to make a cove.  Each calanque is different; there are about ten or so and the most beautiful ones are accessed only by foot.  As were were running yesterday in the sunshine, there are people out hiking with their dogs, rock climbing, and backpacking.  We only ran to the top and looked down at the calanque, but in the summer you can hike down to the water and go for a nice swim.  The water is turquoise and aquamarine and from our view point from high above, we could see the different areas of light and dark of the reef.  

Last night we went out with some friends I made in Marseille.   My French friend, Malou, who is a really cool person.  She worked as a deck hand on private yachts around the world for six years.  She is completely fluent in English, but has a New Zealand accent because that is where she learned English.  And we also hung out with a couple, Micheline and Freddie, from Tampa, Fl.  Micheline is French/American and so she speaks perfect English and perfect French.  They are really fun, and it was so nice to go out with people and not have a headache from trying to follow the conversation in French.  This is what happened two nights ago at our neighbour's house, where we went for dinner.  There are super nice people, and they can speak pretty good English, but when the majority of people at a dinner are French and you are in the country of France...the conversation will be in French!!  The solution is easy and very evident...I NEED TO LEARN FRENCH ASAP!!! So, that is my task for this week; finding a good French school.  Also, on the agenda: compiling a list of all the English Schools in Marseille, so that I can begin to schedule interviews and drop off resumes. Whew...If I'm going to live in France, it can't be all fun and vacation all the time.  Reality will be hitting soon....  

chapter one

hi! well, this wont be the entry i thought it would be. it will be a shortie because i am typing on yanns computer, which is a french one, and all the keys are in different places. my wireless is not working at the moment so i need to wait until yann comes home on tuesday and fixes mine. then ill be back in the blogging business. so, ill just write what will be appearing in the next edition: my first week here...alone in marseille!!....then about my trip up to the North of France in Brittany. I meet up with yann in Paimpol for 5 days of hanging out with his parents. it was an amazing trip and i cant wait to write more about it all and include the pics too!! so, that will all be coming soon, maybe on Thursday, so check back! all is good here and every day i love France more! Au revoir!!

Here are some NC pics

Our trip to North Carolina

ok, first i have to apologize for not being a good blogger.  I think it's better to blog short and frequent entries, instead of one massive, long one where one losses her reader's after the first 10 minutes. Forgive me; I'm here in Marseille now, and i promise to be a 'model blogger'.  So, i have to fill you in on Yann and my trip to Florida and North Carolina: in a word it was amazing!!!  We couldn't have had any more fun, however i did keep those days booked completely full.  It wasn't a lay-on-the-couch-all day-watching-Food-Network kind of vacation.  But I was such a good tour guide in NC i must say, and who knows when yann and i will be back there again so we really had to stay busy. 

Yann flew in on February 20th and we spent the first few days hanging out with his family and mine.  Yes, we had the BIG family meeting for the first time.  That was a first for me (and him)!  We were both a little nervous, because of the language barrier, but actually his parents speak good English.  We invited them over for a dinner, wich was planned and executed by yours truly.  I must say, it was nerve racking to be the Exec-chef when you are having a big group of hungry French people over, but with a little help from my sous-chefs mom and dad I was able to pull off a great dinner.  Dad was at the grill with Pierre-Yves, Yann's dad and my mom and Daniele, his mom, were happy chatting on the couch.  Yann is so sweet; he was talking with my 93 year old grandfather for most of the time, while i was cooking.  Yann really likes his stories about WWII, and about all his Naval adventures.  So, here is "le menu" for all the foodies out there: 

Starter: Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta with Chevre, bacon, and Basil

Main: Grilled Fillet Mignon, Shrimp cakes with a homemade tartar sauce, Potatoes Au Gratin, Green beans with shallots, and a mixed greens salad with my balsamic vinagerette.

Dessert: Chocolate Pots de Creme with whipped cream and shaved chocolate, Chocolate Hazelnut tart, and coffee.

All this was served with some really good French wines, none of which i know the names of. Let me just say also, the meeting went amazingly well.  I knew our dads had a lot in common, but i didn't know they were twin souls.  It was hilarious; they were talking fish and boats all night long.  And then the next day, as yann and i were driving up to Asheville, we called home to say hi and they were all going out on my dad's boat for lunch! So, i guess they didn't need us anymore.  Also, my parents bought their plane tickets last week to come to France on May 17th and Yann and my mom are planning the whole thing.  There will be a few days of visiting Yann's parents up in Pampol, Brittany.  His dad wants to take my dad fishing. Go figure. anyways, let's shift gears and talk about our trip up to NC.  (stay with me guys, I know this is already a novel...)

We arrived at the cabin in Cashiers, NC and we spent 3 days relaxing, cooking, and hiking.  Our weather was really perfect, cold but sunny winter days.  At first night we made a little bed in front of the fire place and slept there, because it was so cozy.  It felt like we were camping outside with the crackling fire and just outside the huge picture windows, you could see all the stars in the clear night sky.  A few days later we headed to Asheville and we stayed with Kate and her lovely roommates.  It snowed the first day we were there! Yea! I got to see snow once this winter.  Living in florida kinda makes you forget there even is such a thing as 'winter'.  So, we were quite busy in asheville.  For a belated B-day present to Yann, i got us a couple's massage at Spatheology downtown.  It was his first real massage and i had never had the luxury of a couple's massage. Ok, so, it's not an indulgence you have every day or even every 6 months, but it was well worth the splurge.  We had to eat at all my favorite Asheville spots, in fact we were eating 3 big meals a day.  we hit up some Mamacitas, Heiwa, 12 Bones, Brew-n-View, and Filo, where i used to work.  We also went out to Enotecca with Maria, Filo's Owner and Yann bought us a really great dinner; it was so good to catch up with Maria.  Yann told her how much he loves Creme Brulee and so the next day she called us to come by Filo and try some of hers.  Yes, IT WAS the best Creme Brulee either of us ever has had.  When we were scrapping the bottom of the ramekin for every last bit, there were tons of fresh vanilla beans from the pod.  Maybe that's her secret weapon at Filo, only using the finest quality ingreidents and being a damn good pastry chef.  (and a good teacher)  

We also got to have lunch at Brew-n-View with Megan Wolfe, my college professor and Annie Singletary, my friend and studiomate from art school, who brought her cute, cute, cute little boy, Will.  And now i am kicking myself that i didn't take any pics of us. He is growing up so fast!  Later that evening, we went to see Megan at her house and see her little cuteness, Winston.  That is one handsome little guy.  Will and Winston are one month apart. i forget which one is older.  But maybe they will someday be alumni of the UNCA Ceramics Dept. Ha! They will be studio mates and have critiques together, just like Annie and I!  

We also went to Kyoko's solo exhibit opening at Blue Spiral, which was just incredible.  We surprised her with some flowers and the look on her face was classic.  I hadn't see her or talked to her in a long, long time, so she was really surprised that i just popped up out of no where.  She and her husband Chris are so cute and they are maybe going to move to Philly soon.  I'm so happy for her that she has this show at Blue Spiral and for me she really is a true artist, in every sense of the word.  

We saw her again and some other really dear friends at Angi West's show at Bo Bo's later that night.  Amber, Clay, and Lindsay were there and i just wish i could have hung out with them more.  that was my only regret for the whole trip.  Angi is an amazing singer and piano player; you need to check her out on myspace and on iTunes.  Her voice is unreal and it gives me the goose bumps to hear her sing her songs. I'm sooooooo happy that she happened to be playing while i was in town.  I couldn't talk so much with Lindsay and Amber because i wanted to really listen to the music and so i caught up with them after.  They are both doing really great.  Lindsay just got into her top ceramics grad program at Ohio...full ride...she deserves all of it, because her work is sick. it is so great. She's been working full time for Christina Cordova, so I'm glad she will have this chance to focus completly on her work.  and Amber is living up in Penland with Clay, making lots of beautiful jewelry and she is very busy doing shows and completing orders.  She gave me a pair of her 'stick' earings to remember North Carolina by, and they are soooo pretty and that really means a lot to me.  

I also got to see Taia and jazzy, my old neighboor and her little feisty Jack Russel.  We took the doggies on their old walking route to the park in Montford and they had so much fun chasing eachother.  Jazzy thinks she is a big dog, like Rascal!  Also, in Brevard we got to meet Nick and Jen Freidman's little baby boy, Jack.  OMG! He is soo sweet and tiny! He really is a cool baby. Nick is such a great dad, as he explained that once you have a baby, it's like you're in the "Corvette Club".  Meaning: you don't know how great it is to be a parent until you are one yourself.  And I love how he is the same old Nick: making pots, having fun, building bonfires in the cold, and sippin' on whiskey. 

Also, I just have to thank Miss Kate Dunnagan and her roomies Kim and Sarah for letting me, my boyfriend, and our misbehaved dog, Rascal, stay with you!! You guys are the best.  I have to tell all about the dinner they put on for us.  Well, Kim and her friend Lisa, who are both accomplished chefs, gave us a dinner party that was out of this world.  A bunch of friends came over to eat and the ladies would not accept any help.  They planned and shopped and cooked the WHOLE day for us!  I think the menu went something like this:  Cheese Board with olives, fruit, and various crackers and toasts.  Roasted fingerling potatoes, beets, cauliflower, and asparagus with a mayonaise aoili.  Rainbow trout with beet greens, pasta bolognese, ceasar salad with homemade croutons. and for dessert, chocolate lava cakes with carmelized pineapple, and handrolled dark chocolate truffles.  It was truly a feast and a good way to end our trip to North Carolina.  

Before leaving town Kate D. and her fella, Aaron, came to stay the last night at the cabin.  We arrived in the afternoon and hiked to the land next to the house.  It's a piece of proptery my dad and mom bought many years ago.  They just have kept it wild and built nothing on it.  It's 16 acres in the mountain and has two pretty big waterfalls.  It's out little slice of heaven, our refuge, our safe place in the world.  It's a very, very special place for my family and I and we always love to share it with people we love.  So, there are some cool pics from this little hike too.  The doggies had a blast; Noodle and Rascal and best buddies.  They played and chased and dug in the snow at the bottom of Eric Falls.   Then we cooked a great dinner and drank some good wine, Kate and Aaron played music and sang for a while and then we all crashed out.  It was a lovely, lovely evening.

It was so good to see everybody in NC and it meant a lot to me, because i got to show yann this side of my life.  So far, he had only known about me in sarasota, fl, which is my hometown. However, Western North Carolina is really where i feel like my home in the U.S. is.  That place made me who i am now, and i can't really describe the place, it's just a feeling you get by being there.  The friendly faces, old buddies from college, the beautiful nature and mountains, and the art and music and good food.  I love it there and I do miss it all the time.  But i know it's not going anywhere and that i can visit anytime.  Yann really loved it a lot there and i know we'll be back again to do all the things we didn't have time for this past trip.  

OK, so this post is officially over! Woohoo! I just have to say finally, that yes, I'm in Marseille and it feels great to be here safe and sound AND with all my 4 suitcases!  I was so scared they were going to lose my bag with all my shoes in it!!! and i had to leave Rascal with my parents, but they are taking great care of him.  Hopefully, he will be able to fly over soon, but we have to move into a more suitable apartment first.  So, I think I will be blogging again about my first few days in France very soon......See you then!!