Festive frolics

The time has come again where I write another blog about my 'Fabulous Year Abroad' (no word short of a lie, honest). But where to start? The days have gone by that fast I don't know whether I'm coming or going. All I can say is the last few weeks have been pretty ''dang'' good.

I do, however, seem to be turning American. I blame my flatmate Jackie (let's just call her the 'Chicago Bull'). Not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing. I have replaced 'What are you having for tea?' with 'What are you having for dinner?', 'Yeah, I know' has become 'I know, right?' and 'Dang, girl, dang!' has become a permanent fixture in my vocabulary, albeit an ironic one.

Thankfully, the annoying American sayings I have adopted are coming into their own during games of ''Beer Pong'', basically a team game that involves throwing ping-pong balls into plastic cups filled with beer (harder than it sounds, I was ''well chuffed'' with my 7 in a row the other night.... Dang girl, dang!).

So my inner American and I had a blast last Thursday evening during Thanksgiving. 18 of us English assistants (and one German) had a fabulous evening, eating as much chicken and sweet potato as is physically possible. Preparation for Thanksgiving began the day before chez nous- potato was mashed, stuffing was made and green beans were laid out in dishes. No rest for the wicked, eh? Our efforts were rewarded with a trip to the cinema (Harry Potter, what else? Was highly amused by the French subtitles where I learned the word for wand is simply 'baguette').

Back to Thanksgiving; after our meal of chicken, potato, beans and gluttony, we settled down for a Thanksgiving quiz one of the assistants had prepared earlier, Blue Peter-style. Was a great evening- and not just because my team won the quiz (plus the bottle of vodka that came with it).

The Thanksgiving festivities were accompanied with snow, which has been settling here in Nancy for five days now. The other day myself and someone I work with at school asked for a lift from a complete stranger to the train station as all the buses back from school had been blocked. Thank god he wasn't a pyscho...

The festivities continued on Saturday when myself, Jackie and Michelle went to Strasbourg for the day to see the world famous Christmas market (or markets- there's loads of them). We wandered round the hundreds of stalls, getting as many free cake samples as possible. It turned into a 'grub-crawl'- we had a bit of everything, from soup to sausage to vin chaud (hot wine, for those who comprennent pas). Mmmmmm. This is what I envisaged when I thought of the Year Abroad last year. Had a walk round the cathedral, went to a cosy bar for hot chocolate when we couldn't stand the cold any longer and even managed to find 'New Look'. Strasbourg was even more beautiful in the dark as all the market stalls were lit up, and the lights were just incredible. Definitely worth a visit, despite the crowds. Also an excellent place for comedy photos...

On Sunday, I went for a meal at a French family's house! It came a bit out of the blue, really. Jackie and I had signed up for 'Faim d'Echanges' a while back, whereupon local French families invite foreign students living in Nancy round for a meal. After getting a phone call from a very bossy sounding French lady at some point last week, I was invited for a meal at her and her husband's house on Sunday afternoon. If there's anything Faim d'Echanges taught me- it's that the French don't rush through their meals. We sat down to eat around half one and didn't finish until six o'clock. Ate a ridonkulous amount of Roquefort. Winner. Spoke lots of French too which is always a plus.

Anyway they were a lovely couple, recently retired, etc with the most gorgeous Golden Retriever (Missy) with whom I fell a little bit in love. The couple (Michelle and Yves) have offered to show me round the region- the Vosges mountains, Luxembourg, etc so on verra. I hope I'll stay in touch with them- they told me to phone them whenever I'm ill and they'll look after me (even in the middle of the night, apparently...). Gotta love the French.

So time stops for no man (or language assistant). Off for a meal at an assistants flat ce soir, should be a laugh. We're armed with chocolate biscuits and sangria. I just hope we don't get snowed in...