Vacation

I'm on vacation! I have ten days for All Saints. On Saturday I hopped on the train to Nantes to see some friends (I literally ran and hopped on the train because I was so late in buying my ticket. Utlimately it wasn't as cool as it could have been though. After rushing into the train I waited for a couple more minutes before it pulled away. It would have been more dramatic if I had lept onboard as the doors were closing...better yet as the train was pulling away. Someday I'll time it like that). Anyway, where was I. Right, so here I am in Nantes. I stayed with David and Mel Macfarland from Saturday to Tuesday. It was really fun, and I saw a lot of friends that I hadn't seen for almost two years. Now I am staying with Maëlle and her family for a couple nights. Tomorrow Maëlle, Céline, Noëmie, Guillaume and I are leaving for Saint Malo (it's up in the North of France). It is a beautiful city, so I will take lots of pictures. And if I forget to take a lot of pictures, I will steal Maëlle's pictures because she never forgets to take them.

This is a pre-fire picture of the fireplace in the house I live in. It's really nice. The dining table is just out of the picture on the left, so we are all nice and warm during dinner.


Here we are a good way into the fire.


This is my bed.


This is the desk where I work and do important things such as updating my blog. I'm actually sitting in that chair right now.

My Kettlebell

Just in case you thought I was letting myself go over here, I've decided to introduce you to my kettlebell. It is a twenty-four kilogram (fifty-three pound) ball of iron with a handle on it. I go outside to swing it around like a maniac at least three times a week in the backyard.

Classes and Cognac

Hello everybody! I started teaching classes on my own this Tuesday and so far everything is going well. I like the students a lot so it is fun to be around them. In one of the reinforced English classes they are reading "A Lesson Before Dying," by Ernest Gaines, so I get to follow along with them in the book and lead discussions about it in class. So far that is what I enjoy the most.

Also, I went to Cognac this weekend with Eva (a friend of mine I met last time I was in France) to visit her boyfriend, Cedric, and his two roommates, Xavier and Hubert. Cedric, Eva, and I took a tour at Martell, a maker of cognac. There was a tasting at the end.

Cedric and I drank our cognac in a very professional manner as you can see.

Here are a few photos of the Quétel's house where I live. You can click on them to make them bigger. If that gets annoying let me know and I'll go back to posting them in the bigger size.

More pictures of the raclette

The grill for cooking the Raclette is on the top left. I am in the middle there sampling some eau-de-vie made from apples. And below is some cold meat we ate with the Raclette.

La Raclette

I headed down to Nantes on Friday for an orientation with all the other English assistants. While in Nantes, I stayed again with Maëlle's family. For dinner Saturday, I was introduced to La Raclette: A Swiss specialty consisting of melted cheese prepared at the table using a special heater or grill, served with potatoes and cold meats (Larousse Unabridged Dictionary). It was amazing! I've never eaten so much cheese in my life!

This is a picture of the cheese. It is special cheese

made specifically for La Raclette.

I will post more pictures later, but I am still trying to figure out how to use this blog.I'm not going to tell you how long it took me to do this much...let's just say five minutes.

Monsieur le crapaud (Mr. Toad)

Yesterday I worked out on the back porch around ten in the evening while it was drizzling. There was a toad on the deck who, when I came outside, slowly hopped over onto the base of an umbrella, then watched me for the entire hour. I offered him the kettlebell in case he wanted to pump out a few reps, but he was too lazy. Madame Quétel says that he often comes to visit. When it is hot and dry in the summer, she puts out a little tub of water for him to swim in.