This is the first letter I sent out at the beginning of my time in France. Thought I would post it to start my blog. More later....
January 11, 2005
Bonjour and Happy New Year! I am going to try to send out a few updates while I am here so I don't have to type everything a million times. Very lazy of me, I know, but I have been called lazy before.....Betty.... I arrived in Paris at 9:00 am on New Year's day. At the last minute, my friend Jolie decided it would be fun to go to Paris too so she got on my flight and off we went. The flight was uneventful and went really quick.Jolie and I toasted in the New Year a few times on the hour in the airplane. We knew someone was celebrating at that time somewhere in the world.
After climbing five flights of stairs with our luggage, we got to my apartment and fell in love with it immediately. It is better than the pictures and so inviting and cozy. Right in the middle of the mantle was a bottle of Jameson, displayed like it was some kind of prized possession and I immediately knew that this was meant to be. The neighborhood is awesome too. To the right of my building is a boucherie (butcher) and a boulangerie (bakery) and to the left is a grocery store. The Metro station is right on the corner and there is just about every kind of store imaginable within walking distance.
After we got settled, Jolie immediately became our social organizer. She speaks fluent French and made it very easy to get around and meet people. By day two, she had lunch plans with someone she met at a restaurant in Germany, dinner plans for us with he and his friends the next night and dinner plans with my landlord and his friends the following night. It was unbelievable! By the time she left, we had met a handful of people and she had made a list of all their numbers for me. Besides all the dinner dates she made, we went for a cruise on the Seine and explored the neighborhood.
We found some great restaurants and had some amazing. Our favorite is called Le Troquet, where you guessed it, they know us by name when we walk in. The chef is semi well known in Paris and his restaurant is listed in Zagat's top 10 as well. The last night we were there he asked me if I wanted to stage (intern) in his kitchen after Jolie mentioned I was studying cooking. So, all in all, we had a great week and I would highly recommend Jolie as a traveling partner.
I also started school that week which was a little difficult with Jolie's schedule and the fact that I always seem to answer yes when someone says, let's just have one more drink! School is great. It is a 10 minute walk from my apartment so it is very convenient. The first person I met was from San Francisco and guess what her name is? Jamye. She spells it wrong though. She also happens to be in every one of my classes so now I am known as Marge here too. (My work friends will understand that). There are people from all over the world in my classes. There seems to be a very high percentage of women and many of the students are from somewhere in Asia.
On my first day of class I started deeply regretting the fact that I wasn't doing Basic Cuisine as well as Basic Pastry. So I made the most expensive, split second decision of my life and signed up for Cuisine as well. That may mean that I will be riding on the MTC upon my return to Mpls considering I used the money I received from the BNDLBUG's death. I figure it will all work out.
I am very happy with my decision. I love the Cuisine classes and would have had too much free time just taking Pastry. My schedule changes every week and I usually have 2 classes 6 days a week.We usually have a demonstration and then we split up in to small groups to do our practicums. It is great. It is like watching a cooking show live and then getting to do it yourself. The only difference is it is in French and I am wearing a goofy uniform with an even goofier hat. Oh well...you can't have everything.
The chef instructors are very talented and very entertaining. Most of them are quite easy on the eyes as well! We have covered stocks, souffles, cookies and tarts so far. Each night I am bringing home loads of food with onlyme to eat it. Tonight I have a whole chicken waiting for me. The people are great and the staff is wonderful. I am so happy to be here.
My aunt Steph came to visit me on Saturday and left today. We had a great time.The highlight of the trip was going to visit some friends of hers in the Chablis region. They were the Ambassadors to Fiji from the U.S. when she was in the Peace Corps there in the 70's. Needless to say they were very interesting people. They live half the year in France and half the year in Greece where they produce oliveoil. They have a few acres and live in an old mill. It is right on a river so when you step out the door you hear the sound of rushing water.
The buildings on the property were beautiful and it was such a peaceful place to visit. They made us a lunch of fresh turkey that was butchered the day before at their neighbors farm. They also shared a great bottle of Chablis with us as well. We had lunch, took a shower and went home. Yes, you read that right. We took a shower because my heat and hot water were out for 2 days. Luckily the weather here is very mild right now so we didn't freeze.
More to come...
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