Time is going quickly since my masters classes began. Many days we have class from 9 am until 7 pm. Occasionally we have an afternoon off, but often we use it to meet in small groups to complete group projects.
Much of our class work is case studies, either completed individually or in small groups. I am currently working with 4 different groups on 5 cases or projects. We are not all in the same classes, so it can become difficult to get everyone together. Today we met for an hour at 9 am and made good progress.
Last night we hosted a dinner for 4 other students, which meant we had to clean house and shop first. Chef Fred did a great job and we had a very nice time.
We started with appetizers in the living room, nuts and olives, crackers, etc, followed by sauteed mushrooms, then spicy sauteed shrimp.
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| Sauteed mushrooms |
Then we moved to the dining room for asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, then sauteed, served along side Paul Prudhomme spiced salmon fillets sauteed in oil and butter.
We ended the meal with strawberries, ice cream and coffee. Fred and I had a great time. Thanks to my classmates for sharing the meal and time with us.
Saturday we slept in, then skipped breakfast, opting to eat an early lunch out. We headed out to shop for a printer and some small PC speakers, so we can play music.
We saw the landlord on the way out and he suggested we go to FNAC for the printer - it is in the city center, closer than other options. It is raining off and on and if you are reading this near the time it is written, you have probably heard there are "strikes" all around France. These protests affect transportation - some networks shut down, and some offer reduced service. We don't want to get stuck on the outskirts of town, carrying our purchases, so we opted for FNAC.
FNAC sells electronic equipment of all types along with CDs, DVD, games, phones, books, etc. On a rainy Saturday, the store in the central mall is packed! I found an employee to help me and quickly decided on a printer - roughly equal in price to what we would pay at home. We also got some speakers, then headed for home, purchases in hand. It was raining harder, so we tried to walk under canopys as much as possible, but it was a long walk carrying things.
Info on Centre Jaude: http://www.centre-jaude.com/
We got everything set up and running just in time to attend a Polish evening in the garage of our landlord. The husband has Polish heritage and they have invited several families to enjoy a polish dinner.
Their dining room (above us) is not large enough, so they erected a tent in the garage and have set a very nice table for us. One of the other couples both have good English, so we sat next to them, and they translated some of the conversation for us.
I am doing better with French, I recognized most of the words, but my mind won't work fast enough yet to really follow general conversation. In addition, they are all neighbors and long time friends, so we don't always know the context, meaning they don't need to say some things to be understood.
Our hosts announced that in Poland, everything is set on the table at once, even dessert. This is much different in France, where there are typically several courses, served individually.
Drinks included very cold vodka shots served beside apple juice, apple juice alone, or beer.
We started the dinner with cold veggies: shredded red cabbage, carrots, and diced tomatoes with dressing. That was followed by potato salad, much like we make at home, except with the addition of shredded cheese. Next came Golabki or stuffed cabbage in a tomato/vegetable broth sauce.
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| Golabki |
After that we had Bigos, similar to the French Choucroute, with chicken, sausage, cabbage, smoked pork, apple juice and spices, cooked for a long time.
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| Bigos |
We ended the meal with a sort of apple pie - everything was delicious and the conversation was interesting, covering everything from the neighborhood to national and world politics.
See this site for some recipes: http://www.krykiet.com/polish_food.htm
Or here for a video on Polish food:
http://www.polishfoodinfo.com/
We arrived home about 1:30 am, very tired and full, but had to check the football scores from home before going to bed.
Friday after school I went grocery shopping. The regular grocery stores close at 7 or 7:30 pm, so because we needed food for breakfast and for tonight, I went right after school. First stop Leader Price - we needed some staples, then to the vegetable shop, then the small grocery down the street. I did pretty well in Leader Price, both in terms of time and money. At the local store, I bought some frozen salmon and some cereal, making the bill seem high for the small amount of food.
Fred cooked dinner when he got home - I was tired after the first week of school and a whilrwind trip to the store. He made braised chicken with potatoes, celery root, carrots, onions, garlic, and mushrooms. He did a great job - and I must say again how much I like celery root in dishes such as this. You get the great taste, with the texture of potato.
We have some things to do on Saturday, but no specific schedule, so NO ALARM for morning.
So the week has gone well, several days of orientation for me, as well as one French class and a couple of days of class that centers on our main project for the year.
I will be taking French 2 evenings a week, usually from 5:15 to 7:15. I am also going to sit in on a German class that meets on Monday evenings, also from 5:15 to 7 or so. The schedule can be different every week. That is not what we are used to - in the US, university classes are usually held every week and are at the same times.
Anyway, the Tuesday French class is a regular language class and the Thursday class is to prepare us for a language test we will take in December. It is a well known and recognized test here in France, that will give us a rating on our French language skills that other schools and businesses are familiar with. We will have the same two instructors we had for the first month. We will practice speaking, listening, reading comprehension, and grammar/vocabulary.
We also had training/presentations on the internship program and on use of the library/media services area, received our class schedules for the semester, and met individually with our program head. During that meeting, we were asked to update and provide a copy of our CV (resume) and a cover letter we will use to apply for internships.
Our Thursday and Friday class were on the DRIVE project, a small group project that we will start this semester and finish next semester. In our groups, we will decide on an entrepreneurial project or a possible startup business. We will fully develop that idea and present a sort of business plan for the final in the spring. In the midst, we will have more intercultural training, and some project training related to this class.
Our DRIVE project class is only the students in the IPM program (International Project Management). So now, there are 6 of us, all women, 2 from China, two from France, one from Spain, and me. They say we expect a couple more. There are another 16 or so students in the finance program, but we are small group and have been able to get to know each other pretty well.
In the DRIVE class, we also di personality inventories, knowing each other made it easier to be open about our goals, our strengths and weaknesses.
I haven't been here for a while, we have been very busy. Two weeks ago we went home to the US for a week. Fred had classes and meetings and I had to sit with the furnace repair folks. But all that is done and we have returned to France, a week ago today.
Our travel went well both to the US and back, no real delays, and we made all of the legs of the flights. We arrived in Paris at 7:30 Sunday morning, then took the Air France bus (as we usually do) to Gare de Lyon to catch a train to Clermont. We arrived at the station about 10 minutes before the 9:00 train, and thought the turnaround to buy tickets and catch that train would be too tight for us. Reserved seats are required on this train and it is often quite full, so we can't really buy tickets before, because if our flight is late or traffic is heavy, we might miss the train.
Anyway, the next train was at 1:00 pm, so we found the luggage check, left most of our bags, and went for a walk. We walked over to the Seine River and stood on the bridge for a bit, then followed the Canal St Martin, which leaves the Seine near Gare de Lyon, leads through locks up to the Bastille monument with park on one side, then goes underground for roughly one mile. Then it surfaces to pick up the Seine again on the north side of town. It is a very pretty park and the canal is home to many houseboats, some quite large. From the Bastille, we walked back to Gare de Lyon, ate an early lunch, picked up our bags, and made for the train.
Normally we try to stay awake all day, but I was just too tired. We flew through Houston this trip, and it is a 10 hour flight from Houston to Paris, but I only slept for about 3 hours. That is NOT enough for me.
When we got back to Clermont, it was just a short walk to our apartment. We unpacked, then went to 1513 for dinner. We had salad and dessert, then headed home.
We both had a long week ahead, Fred teaching and for me - the first week of my program, so we both need to be ready to go on Monday.
