France

I’m back!

I know it’s been a long time but we had a long of school projects to do and I completely forgot my blog. But there is something that I have to write about: Our first thanksgiving dinner.
Only one thing to say: Perfect, just perfect.
Vince organized it perfectly, everybody had something to make. Sandrine (my roommate) and I had to do mash potatoes for 20 people. And believe me, this is a lot of potatoes to mash!
But we felt bad to make such an easy dish so we also made some “crêpes” for everyone. Crêpes are our pancakes, but thinner. You mix milk, flower, eggs and a little bit of butter in a bowl, and then make some really thin pancakes. The only thing is that it’s very long; it took Sandrine 1 hour and a half to make 30…

Vince mentioned our anxiety concerning the sweet potatoes. I just want to say that at the beginning, no one told us that you make this with sweet potatoes. We all thought it was “regular” potatoes and marshmallows, that’s why we started to panic a little. But then, we tasted it and LOOOOOOOOVED it!! Next week end, I’m going to Paris for a family dinner at my aunt’s place, and I will make some, because they have to try this!
The atmosphere was great, we discovered this all “thanks” thing, and I think everyone realized how lucky we are to be a part of this program. It was the first time we were all together to share something linked to our culture (well, your culture actually…) and it was really great.
One thing that could be improved next time: let the French people by the wine. I don’t really know why we didn’t take care of it but this was not the best idea we’ve had.
But this made us realize how non-French people select the wine: the packaging.
Don’t do this, at least not in France. Because fancy designed bottles are not the best ones. It’s the contrary. I think marketing people try to compensate the fact that the wine is terrible by putting it in a nice, colorful bottle.

That’s how we discovered on one of the table a wine called “Vin de Soif”, which means “Wine of Thirst”. Florian was crying!!
Here are some tips to pick up a decent bottle on your own if you don’t know anything about French wine (without spending too much money on it):
• When it is written “Vin de Bordeaux” for example, this means “Wine from Bordeaux”. It is usually a cheap wine, not produced in an independent “château”, so it just has the name of the region it was produced in. Don’t buy this one.
• In France, the place where the wine is produced is called a “Château” (a castle, even if it’s not a real castle). So when you by your bottle, try to find one on which it is written “Château Something” (something being the name of the château…)
• When you found a “Château Something”, look at the price. And if you don’t want to spend a fortune on it, try to find one from 8 to 10€. This would be a reasonable and “safe” choice, especially if you are bringing a bottle of wine to a dinner.
• Rule number one: if you see a modern-designed-fancy-colored-fashion bottle: forget about it, it is not good.
• My advice if you are invited by French people to a dinner? Bring some wine from the Napa Valley. French people will be really pleased to discover a new wine, and you avoid the risk to buy an inadequate wine. Remember: We know French wines, not the American ones!!
• Ask the host what he or she is cooking to buy the appropriate wine (avoid red wine if you are going to have some fish for example).
• And if you really don’t know, go to a wine shop, not a supermarket, and ask someone to guide you, telling him what you are eating and how much you are willing to pay.
• And of course, avoid the “wine of thirst”…
But as soon as we sat down, we forgot about the wine because everything was perfect. We love Thanksgiving and can’t wait to be in the States to discover how you really do it!

By the way, here is the Crêpes recipe, for those who want to try…

250g (55lbs) of flower
4 eggs
0.5 liter of milk (0.11 gallon)
50g of butter (0.1lbs)
You can also add a spoon of rum and some “vanilla sugar”
Put the butter in the micro-wave before you mix it with the rest of the ingredients so that it’s liquid. Mix all together and then… good luck because I don’t really know how to explain what to do next without showing it!!!
I’ll try to make a video of me doing some, but basically, what you have to do is take a frying pan, wait until it’s hot, put a piece of butter in it and spread the butter in the entire pan.
Then, with a small ladle, pour some “liquid” (I don’t know the word for it, let’s call it “the liquid” ok?) But while you do this you have to twist your wrist in circle so that the liquid goes in the entire pan and doesn’t stay in the middle as for a regular pancake. Wait until it’s toasted on one side (when you can lift the all crêpe, when it doesn’t stick to the pan). From now on, two options: you’re gifted or you suck.

If you are gifted, you do it like French professionals: you take the pan (I mean, you have to lift it up, not on top of the fire, because it’s really a risky move… If I were you, I would stand in the middle of the kitchen and make sure no one stands close to you). So you take the pan, put it in front of you and twist your wrist (from bottom to top this time) so that the crêpe makes a complete loop and falls back on the side that is not toasted yet.
Yes, the first one falls down, the second and third one too, but the fourth one will eventually go back into the pan. Make sure it doesn’t fold when it goes back; you want it to be a perfect circle. So yes, throw a 5th one…

If you don’t feel like ruining your kitchen with half-cooked French pancakes, just take a spatula and turn it on the other side.
Yeah, easier but not as fun!!!
You should practice because when I’ll come to the states, I’m going to organize something that we do a lot in France: a “Crêpes Party”.
And I can make my crêpe do 4 loops before it falls back into the pan… (The key of success: always look at your crêpe when it’s flying.)

Once you have a decent stack of crêpes, put some sugar, jam, chocolate, honey, peanut butter or anything you want on it and “Bon appétit”!
My favorite: put some butter and sugar on it, then you micro-wave it so that the butter melts down with the sugar. It’s warm, sugared: great!

You can also eat it as a main course. Put a crêpe into the pan (once it’s cooked only…) and put some ham, an egg and some cheese on it. Once the egg is cooked, fold your crêpe in the middle (so that it looks like a Calzone pizza) and enjoy…
You can put anything you want on it, feel free to try everything you would like.

This is a lot of writing for me, and you might want to try the crêpes right now. So good luck and see you soon because the “Fête des Lumières” (The Lights Party) is this week-end and it’s wonderful.

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=VTTvPHiZfJU

I was talking about the normal guys before, saying that they were not that different from us in fact. Well, you were right while thinking “those frenchies are not like us at all.” That’s true, no matter how hard we try to integrate ourselves into French or American culture, we are different and will always be “an American in France” or “a French in America”. I believe there is nothing we can do about it; it’s probably something genetic…

Here are the first differences that we noticed:

- Americans wear undershirts. Even in the middle of the summer. Even if the color of the T-shirt doesn’t match the shirt’s one.

- Americans wear flip-flops. Even if it’s raining. Even if you decided to dressed up and wear a tie. Even if you want to party and go to a club. You keep your flip-flops on.
Can I say something? In France, just don’t. Never, ever. No one will let you come into a club like this. And no one will actually consider what you say if you are wearing those bloody flip-flops. (Love saying bloody, sounds very British to me… I’m feeling like Queen Elizabeth while saying it.) If you’re on the beach, Ok. Otherwise, no. Flip-flops are “cheap”. Do not wear them in the city.

- Americans are louder than we are. That’s a fact. But that’s ok. And to tell the truth, it helps us understanding what you say. So keep being loud, please.

- Americans believe all French people cook like professional chefs. We don’t. Try my brother’s cooking if you still have some doubts…

- Americans eat with their left hand on their knees. And apparently, most of you have forgotten what the knife stands for. Even if “Bonnes manières” is difficult to say, try to remember this if you don’t want to be killed by your host or the restaurant owner: left hand on the table (not the elbows) and cut the food with your knife, not your fork.

- Some Americans can drink wine directly from the bottle without any remorse. If you don’t want the all French nation to kill you: Don’t.

- Americans say “pardon my French”. But you are the ones saying fuck every two words. We don’t even have such a word!
(But we do have “merde”, “putain”, “enculé”, “fils de pute”, “enfoiré”, “connard, “salaud”, “fait chier”, “bordel de merde”, “va te faire foutre”, “poufiasse »…, that’s right)

- Americans say « French fries”, we say « fries ». You say “French bread” or “French toast”,we call this “lost bread”. You say “French puddle”, we say “puddle”. You say “French kiss”, we say “kiss”. You say “American breakfast”…
…. we say “English breakfast”.

- Some American states have banned Foie-gras.
HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND???

I am counting on you guys to leave some “French people do…” comments. Yes, this is the end of my first article, it’s late and I need to eat something. I want to go to Mc Donald’s before it closes. Oh, and I almost forgot:

- Americans say “Quarter Pound Burger”, we say “Royal Cheese”,
Because we have no idea of what the fuck is a pound!
(Pardon my French…)

See you soon,
Marie

Well, starting a new blog, in English this time.
Yes, because I’m French, and I’m already telling my “Atlantis Program experience” in a French blog. But as several American students started a blog, telling their experiences and what is different, funny, weird, horrible in France or with French people, I realized I had to respond to this and give my opinion on American people and American habits.
(By the way, you will notice that none of them reported any “horrible” thing about France. Just saying…)
But it’s not fun if I do it in French, because the all point is to have some US readers. And as French is just impossible to learn (I’m glad it’s my native language, because I wouldn’t be able to speak French otherwise!), no one speaks French in America so I have to write one in English too.

Anyway, here starts my guide for you reader, to understand the froggies, or, for the bravest ones, to prepare your trip to Snail Land.
I’m Marie (Yes, you're right, you didn't pronounced it correctly), and here comes the “How to survive in the French jungle, indispensable book for American citizens coming to garlic snails homeland”.
Even if Vince started to list some differences, I would like to give you our opinion on it, so that you have a balanced overview of what is life in France.

For those who don’t know, I’m one of the French students who’s is doing the Atlantis program, a two years exchange between French, Swedish and American schools. I’m rooming with Sandrine, one of the best crêpes makers I know (I’ll talk about this later, and if you behave well, I may even give you the recipe of what is “a little French piece of heaven”…) and who is also doing this program.

Ready to start? Ok, so put your own ego and stereotypes aside and remember: a little bit of humor might help…

First of all, I have to say that we were secretly expecting for a group of really, really loud guys, wearing Santiags, Stetsons and chewing gum. Or at least Hawaiian shirts and a big Nikon camera around the neck.
But we were very disappointed.
No, they were just normal people (like us), wearing jeans (just like us), Converse or Nike shoes (once again, like us) and T-shirts (guess what, like all of us!).
One tiny detail though: we didn’t understand a single word of what they were talking about! Or at least during the first ½ hour, once we got used to the strong-swallowed-Yankee accent, it was much better.

Then came the “say hello” part. And here comes the funny part. First cultural clash. Ok, maybe not really a clash, but we learned something, and learned it fast: American and French people don’t say hello in the same way, not at all…
You hug, we kiss.
Sandrine and I first welcomed the 4 Western Illinois University guys. We said hello and kissed them on both cheeks. Logical no? No?
Oh, maybe that’s why they were looking at us in a funny way after it.

Alright, first lesson: in France, we do kiss people on the left cheek, then the right one, to say good morning. Or the other way around. But try to make sure you’re synchronized with the person in front of you to avoid any unwished accidents. Maybe that’s how all this French kiss thing started, who knows…

Anyway, people “double kiss” friends, relatives, family (Same as relatives no? I’m not sure anymore of what a relative is, friend or family… Let’s put both, just in case). We don’t kiss strangers, business partners, older people that we don’t know (young people do kiss even if we don’t really know each other). If the person in front of you doesn’t belong to any of the previously stated category, you shake hands. I assume you know how to shake hands…
And men don’t kiss men, they shake hands. You can kiss a man if he is from your family or a very, very good friend. In this case, it’s not considered as “gay” at all. Otherwise, yes.

If you want to do it the American way, you can. Just warn people, or do start your hug slowly, so that they don’t think you want to strangle them. Especially if the “they” we are talking about is a girl, and a small one.
She will flip out. A lot.
This is what happened to Cécile, the third French girl, when Keith first hugged her. She was standing there, her feet not touching the floor anymore, and giving us this “I NEED SOME HELP HERE!!” look.

That’s your first lesson of the day. And to all the boys coming to France, when a girl kisses you even if she doesn’t know you: it’s not you, it’s cultural….

PS: if a panic feeling overwhelms you when “hello time” approaches, you’re not really sure which category the person in front of you belongs to, and you begin to really hate this stupid custom and wish you never came here, keep cool and …
… just shake hands.