l'anniversaire de romain.

8 june was romain's birthday. birthdays, to me, are a really big deal. i love celebrating them, and when i was younger, we used to celebrate half birthdays as well. so in the beginning when i realized i would still be in paris for ro's birthday, i told him he needed to dedicate some time for me. he gave me his actual birthday day, so i started to plan. i wanted to do a trip, but with ro's working schedule, it is simply too expensive. he needs to leave friday night and come back sunday morning, the most expensive times to travel.

so, i had to do things that were inside paris. so, a couple days before, i began seriously planning. i went to phildar and got yarn to make him a scarf. [he's french, and thus wears scarves all year round. finally a boy who truly appreciates hand knits!] i went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to make fajitas and a cake.

making a cake in france is very different than making a cake in america. i decided to extend myself even more, and use a french recipe. bad bad idea. i thought it would be easier, cause the recipe ingredients would be written in the same language as in the store. instead, i ended up just messing up and getting the wrong cream, so my mousse ended up more like super sugary boiling frosting. after dropping it on my toes, and experiencing the worst burn blister of my life, romain dropped a huge bomb: his mother had come up from the south for a surprise visit. in my mind, everything was a waste. all the food, all the planning, the failed cake, and the burn. all i wanted to do was cry.

surprisingly, romain still spent his birthday with me. he devoted a different day to his mother. so, in the morning, i packed a picnic. i made sandwiches with expensive bread from the bakery. they were chicken pesto sandwiches with caramelized onions, garlic, and bell peppers. then i sauteed strips of ham, and made a crunchy canadian bacon. romain's favorite food is cold pizza [not what i would have expected], so the day before i had made a pizza and chilled it overnight.

romain came over, and after opening my present, the unfinished scarf, we went to a park called bois de boulogne. now, this isnt your every-day-run-of-the-mill park. it's about fifteen minutes outside of paris, and theres a wildlife preserve in the middle of it. the wildlife preserve is on an island, with a sort of moat going around it. the only to cross that moat is by a little ferry that waits on the dock for you. it's interdit to picnic on the wildlife park, so we just explored for a little bit. it was really very lovely, there were bunnies and other sorts of wildlife running around.

 

when we got too hungry, we took the ferry back and sat by the side of the lake. we sat there for hours. i had planned for us to go to a photography exhibit afterward, but we were just too lazy and couldnt bring ourselves to move.

after the park, romain had to go to work. so he dropped me off at home [he drives a scooter, which is why we were able to go to that park.]. while he was working, i made dinner and finished his cake. i ended up making a french recipe for a chocolate cake with a melted heart. the french dont use frosting, so instead i sprinkled it with powdered sugar and shaved chocolate. i didnt have any decorating bags or tips, so i cut a too big hole in my only ziploc bag and had to make do. i sloppily wrote 'bon anniv' on it using melted white chocolate and a little bit of cream to keep it from hardening too quickly. ro has never seen the usual caliber of the cakes i make, so he was suitably impressed. i was ashamed, but it tasted great!

katy and i have a pull-out table so i set that up and we ate at it for the first time together! we then watched the final episode of flash forward which we had been saving until we could watch together.


it wasnt anything too romantic, or too extravagant, but it was certainly enjoyable!

le sud: les derniers jours.

finally, the last post about the south! this is the last in a series of three. here are parts one and two.

saturday, we woke up incredibly late. by the time i got downstairs, i had missed breakfast completely and it was time for lunch. and what an amazing lunch it was. as this was the last complete day we had with everybody, romain's mother outdid herself. the first course was a tomato-mozarella salad. normally i detest tomatoes, but i loved this salad! the tomatoes were juicy and sweet, and i had missed mozarella cheese. cheese is looked at very differently here. the cheese that is cheap back in the states, like cheddar or mozarella, is really expensive. but goat cheese and camembert and fancy cheeses which would be gourmet in the states are ridiculously cheap here.

the second course was a curry with fish and rice. i dont usually eat curry with fish, mainly chicken. but this was good! jerome's wife detests spice, so mme clerc made a very mild curry. but for those who like spice, [comme moi!], she included a side dish of spice to add to it. so it was really very good.

the dessert was amazing, however. she made a chocolate mousse! all from scratch! plus, after seeing my penchant for strawberries, ie me eating a whole carton all by myself, she served fresh strawberries with it.

after lunch, while his brothers prepared for their departure the next day, we went to one of the little towns in the south around his house. this one was called saint-maxine. the architecture in the south is amazing, and so quaint. the town just felt so romantic! romain, having grown up there, didnt see it that way though.

we stopped and got some ice cream, which claimed to be the best of saint-maxine. it might have been, at one time, before it had been frozen, defrosted, then frozen again. but the guy gave me extra chocolate to garnish my cone and the flavor was amazing, so the icy chunks didnt bother me.

when i focus, i lick my lips. i was having a really hard time choosing soap. ro caught me at that perfect moment, right when i was mid-thought. the south is known for its soap, its really quite special. we bought soap from a tiny stand in front of a square, dozens of bright colors and soft scents gently grabbed my attention and i just had to have one. but despite my protests, both ro and his brother bought me one each. i have saved one for america, but am using one in the shower now. my skin has never been this soft before.

saint-maxine boasts the church where the tomb of mary magdalene is housed. also, the cave where mary magdalene hid. but i didnt go see that one. we went to see the tomb, but it wasnt that impressive. im not religious, i dont know the story of mary magdalene, so this wasnt a very moving experience for me. im sorry to say, we didnt even spend five minutes in the church.

we had to cut our "outing" short, because in french culture dinner is at a specific time and if you miss, there is hell to be had. we arrived two minutes before dinner, and sat down immediately at the table. ro's mother had worked even harder, since this was the last dinner we would all have together. honestly, it might have been one of the weirdest dinners i have ever had.

i dont like cooked vegetables, so i pretended to eat those, slipping them onto ro's plate when no one was looking. but the cod was amazing, and the yellow sauce was even better. i've started buying it here even. its called aioli, and it makes everything better. the snail isnt an escargot, its a sea snail. it is eaten cold and it is absolutely disgusting. not even the yellow sauce could make it better.

after dinner, romain and i went and met up with his friends. i had a horrible time. his friends reminded me of my friends in flagstaff: the hippie clothes, the hippie hair, and the hippie music. but the resemblance stopped there. they were all unbelievably rude. no matter what language i spoke, french or english, they wouldnt speak to me. romain says its because they were afraid, but i didnt get a feeling of fear. it was more like apathy, no only simply cared to speak to me. there is a difference in the youth of paris and the youth of the south: the parisians always want more friends, are used to strangers, and welcome them. the youth of the south is the exact opposite; they have their groups, dont need more, and dont know how to act when strangers come amongst them.

i am willing to admit some fault, however. if lauren who speaks french fluently had been in my place, she would have been fine. or if katy who doesnt speak french but doesnt care had been there, she would have been fine. but me, who speaks french but is afraid, failed. i am too shy to ever succeed in those kind of situations.

sunday, we stayed around the house. ro's brothers all went back to paris. we had waited too long and the sunday train had sold out, so we were forced to leave monday. mme clerc was unbelievably sad. the house was empty and quiet, and she went to bed for most of the day. it was the first time i felt intrusive, knowing if i hadnt been there romain would have been comforting his mother instead of entertaining me. i tried to take a nap, but he wouldnt hear of it. eventually, i got too bored and we went for a walk. he took me to what he called a man-made lake. but in arizona, the man-made lakes are actual lakes, with fishing and boating and whatnot. this was more like a man-made puddle. but it was pretty, and i enjoyed the downtime with romain.

when we got back, his mother had prepared a lunch: leftover cod and cold microwavable pizza. she was definitely depressed that everyone had left. ro and his dad were walking on eggshells around her, and i stayed quiet, offering random french phrases and large awkward smiles.

monday, we didnt do anything but leave the south. ro's dad took us to the train station, and ro seriously looked like he was going to cry. t

my time in the south was amazing. to anyone who likes to travel, i would seriously recommend going to the south of france at least once. i was very apprehensive about meeting ro's family, not only because they speak french, but specifically due to the fact that one day ro and i will have to end. i cant live in france my whole life, and he has no desire to come to america. so, it felt very weird getting to know a family that i may never be part of. but i am very glad i did it, i have learned so much about french culture, but even more about ro and who he really is. i think one of the most interesting things is knowing where someone comes from, and how they became who they are!

this was the last thing i saw while pulling out of the train station in aix:

does it look like an impressionist painting? well, that's cause it inspired many of them. all the most famous french impressionists lived in aix, and painted that exact mountain. as an art history major, that was the most inspiring image i've seen in a while.

le sud: jeudi et vendredi.

thursday, i woke up refreshed and feeling better. we woke up early, disturbed by the cries of young emma. i headed downstairs in my pajamas, wanting to be there for breakfast. breakfast was very relaxed, everyone was left to fend for themselves. that morning, we went to a french open market, which is like a huge collective yard sale. i found an old tobacco pipe with the a carving of a round-cheeked gust of male wind, and a pocket watch that wouldnt open. i didnt buy them, as i had no cash. but it was still really interesting to see the things people had collected over the years, then randomly decided to get rid of.

after the market, i showered, got ready, and went back down, prepared for whatever the day would bring. it didnt bring much, just hours of sitting around speaking french, which is much more exhausting than you would expect. romain and i gardened some, lay by the pool, fooled around with his camera, and played some fighting video games. [i won, as always.] it was this day when his family begun to try to get me to stay in france. romain's belle sœur even begun trying to get her baby to say "tante anna", claiming if she said it i couldnt on good conscience ever leave france. they also referred to romain's mother as my future mother-in-law. however, i think that was just cause they didnt know any other words or the meaning attached to it. they also kept using the phrase "what's the hell??", which i absolutely loved.

as romain is a photographer, his idea of complete entertainment happens only with a camera [or techno music]. these are the result:

and my personal favorite:

he also adores taking videos, here are a couple:


 
hear the french in the background??



for dinner, i got to experience true french wine. they dug deep into their cave de vin [wine cellar] and pulled out a bottle from the late eighties. it was good, i was suitably impressed, yet i am not a big fan of wine. never have been. everybody said that would change once i got into france. i think i like it less, cause i am surrounded by it and have no other affordable options. for dinner, ro's mom made enchiladas. he had told her i like them. they were good, but they made me miss home, where they are exceptional. again, we stayed up talking but not as late as the last night. the exciting charm of reunion had worn off, and people were just tired.

friday, after much delibaration and arguing by the family, we decided to go to the beach. we went to cassis, ate in  fancy restuarant, played in the waves, and laid in the sand. we didnt go to the coves, but it was still an amazing trip. i ate at my first fancy french restaurant, each course was around twenty euro. now, i am not classy. i am an artist. this was a huge deal for me, one i was not comfortable with. romain has spent too much money on me, as has his family. but my complaints were ignored.

it was weird, being with the frenchies at the beach. not a single one had any desire to go anywhere near the water. they sat on the edge of the beach, in their tights and shoes. it took a lot of prodding to get romain down to the water, and even more major convincing to get his shoes off.

after the beach, we went home and ate dinner. this time the wine was from 1978! a full ten years older than me. i didnt like it, but neither did romain, which made me feel better. i guess some wines age well, and some dont. there is no way to tell. romains mom had mad chicken, and placed barbecue sauce on the table solely for me. now i dont really like barbecue sauce, but apparently, its the american thing to eat!!

after dinner, we ironically enough watched an american movie about a country singer in arizona. it wasnt very realistic of my life, at all. it made us all seem like backward rednecks. romains family was amused by this portrayal, especially romain. he vowed jokingly never go to flagstaff. the movie was the first true english i'd heard all weekend, and it felt very weird to hear it. i keep thinking the phrases over again in french. i'm at that point in between languages. im definitely not comfortable hearing french, but im no longer completely comfortable hearing english. its a very odd place to be. 

i found an aerial view of romain's house on his camera, dont ask me how he got it. ill leave you with that. i am off to uni!