The past couple of days have finally been sunny. I'm putting on my suntan lotion and wearing white clothing. The sun is very hot and high here since geographically I am closer to the equator than back home. I think that my neck is getting red though. I'm turning into a redneck, haha, just kidding! But I might return home with a strange accent!
I've been weeding a lot on the farm. I especially weeded thoroughly in the green house where Ja-Ja planted some basil and tomatoes. The onion plants seem to need lots of weeding, too. At the moment, I am actually removing onions from the garden to through away beacuse they are very sick, or even dead. With so much rain, many of the onions suffered. After I pull these up, Ja-Ja is going to plant lettuce instead. One farmer nearby planted almost only onions in his gardens. He has had to throw a lot of them away too. Lesson: Don't put all of your eggs in one basket!
Yesterday, Chérif, Ja-Ja, and I went to mark the sheep. There are 66 of them, plus a couple of younger, smaller ones. We put them all in one room in the stable. The, Chérif would hold one while Ja-Ja markes them with a specific symbol (like a clover) in red paint, once on the back and once near the tail. Then, I would let the marked one into another room. The sheep are very strong and it was a bit of a struggle. I got a deep scrape on my knee from the door when one of the sheep rammed against it. I later washed it off in the fountain, and put a Band-Aid and some Neosporn on it when I got back to the house (thanks for the reminder to bring those Aunt Linda!). The sheep seemed so innocent and cut, though! Oh, and soft, of course. On Monday, Chérif will take the sheep up to a mountain where it is cooler in the summer. They will have their vacation up there for about two months, just to eat, play, and make baby sheep. The marks will help Chérif identify the sheep when August comes. With more exercise, the meat of the sheep will be better as well. Everyone is happy, but I will miss them!
On Monday afternoon, Chérif took me to a community center where neighbors gather to dance. They dance to traditional, live music. I learned a bit. I never danced the way they do, in such a folkish fashion. The participants were very nice, though, and helped me out a bit extra. The volunteer instructir, Guillome, also had new dances to teach. They were all French folk dances. I had a lot of fun, and even me a New Yorker! He had a British accent, though, haha, because he grew up in Britain. It was nice to speak some English with someone. I told Chérif about American square dancing, an he seemed to like it. I wonder if we have clubs like this?
On Tuesday night, I helped cook dinner. I made a Lebanese bean stew. Ja-Ja really liked it, since was born and grew up in Algeria. The beans aren't popular in France, but she ate them a lot in her childhood. They bought me dried, bulk beans, which I wasn't used to. I usually get them out of the can! So I had to soak them overnight and shell them Tuesday afternoon, which took about an hour! The dish turned out good, but the beans were a bit dry, no matter how much water I added while cooking them. Cooking is always a learning process.
We still have been eating salad a lot since it is in season. There are often radishes on the table to nibble at. The are very soft and refreshing! Protein is usually beans, lamb, or frech eggs from the chickens on the farm. Last night, we ate a bunch of steamed potatoes with butter. I addes some salt and pepper, and the taste really took me back home! Today, Ja-Ja made french fries. Ignesse, the youngest daughter, ate them with sweet and sour sauce! I never tries that. I ate them the European way with mustard. I told them about Heintz ketchup and how it was more salty. Ketchup here is usually sweeter. I've got to find them some Heintz!
Today marks two weeks since I arrived in France and seven weeks until I go back home! I am learning a lot and trying to stick up for Americans! I hope you enjoy reading the posts. Leave some comments if there is something you would like me to write about. Chao!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Weekend with the Swiss Couple
The couple from Switzerland, Arnould and Kristeen, arrived Friday night with their one-and-a-half year old son, Joseph. None of them spoke English or had been to the United States. I am beginning to find out more and more that no one I have met has ever really been to the United States. They have a lot to say about America and Americans, but have never really experienced a day within the borders. I don't know what to say about that, except that Europeans seem to love to travel, but just within Europe. That's just what I've noticed. Are Americans like that, too, in general?
Anyway, we ate a wonderful meal with leg of lamb and potatoes, salad, and Algerian bread. The lamb was very tasty and tough. For lunch on Saturday, we had lamb sausages! They were tough as will, but seemed healthier because they were less fatty. Ja-Ja also made a crab cake loaf, but it was mostly bread with sprinkles of crab. Still, the smell and taste of crab brought me back to Maryland! All I needed was some Old Bay! We also had ice cream for dessert. We did that Sunday, too. They usually have dessert after lunch, rather than dinner, although sometimes it's after dinner. That's new to me. There is still always cheese after the meal, though! On Sunday, we had a vegetable stew from the gardens on the farm. I helped Ja-Ja shell fresh peas! That's for you, Dad! We will definitely have to have fresh peas more at home! They really were sweeter.
On Saturday morning, I awoke at 6:45am to go with Ja-Ja and Arnould to sell produce at the market in a nearby village called St. Jean du Gard. We sold nearly everything on the table: radishes, salad greens, parsley, lemon verbana, chives, potatoes, squash, leeks, apple juice bottles, a few vegetable plants, and more. It was a lot of fun. I am definitely more comfortable with the Metric system now. I was trying to be extra friendly, saying "Bonjour!" to those who passed, smiling, and talking a bit. Arnould told me not to be too outgoing though. He said the French are somewhat strange in that they don't like to be talked to a lot. They feel pressured to come to the table to buy something, I guess. So then, I just smiled and waited for them to start talking, haha. It felt strange to hold myself back, but with this culture of discreet people, it works. One woman was very interested in fact that I was American and said she would call the farm one day and we could hang out. I think she wants to see what Americans are like and have a cultural exchange or something. Pretty cool!
Later that day, we all went searching for mushrooms in the national park here while Chérif went to the sheep. Kristeen thought it was "incroyable" (unbelievable) that I had never done that before... okay, right. We looked for orange ones. If found about 5! Later on that night, Ja-Ja sautéed what we found with onions for dinner. The mixture became very watery, though, because it has been raining so much here and the mushrooms were soaking it up a lot.
On Sunday, after the couple and the baby left, I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Ignesse, the eight-year-old daughter. It was all in French, so I understood some of it. The visual aspect of the film is amazing! I was always astonished with all of the colorful nd imaginative scenes. Chérif told me that Tim Burton is very popular in France. It must be the love for surrealism of the French. The family also have Harry Potter in French, so I can't wait to watch that!
For the rest of Sunday, I took a nice, long walk and jog, a hot shower, and then downloaded some of their Arabic and North African music to my laptop. I shared my Lebanese music with them. They really liked the classical rhythms, especially Ja-Ja who was born in Algeria (Chérif was actually born in Paris). I let Amena, another daughter, listen to my iPod. She enjoyed it and recognized a lot of the American artists. During dinner, Chérif and I talked a lot about the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, is trying to change France a lot. His approval ratings are falling. He is privatizing a lot and changing the system to be a bit more American. Chérif is very disappointed and thinks that capitalism is a failing system, even in America. He said that he probably thinks this way because as a Muslim, wealth really should be distributed to the poor and the state should have the power to do so. As an American, I said that we don't really have that "safety net" mentality and believe that we shouldn't have to rely on the government to support ourselves. It was a good dispute, and we laughed a lot, but it's interesting to see the differences and how histories and cultures form government systems.
I hope everyone had a terrific weekend! I'll write again later this week. A tout alors! (until then!)
Anyway, we ate a wonderful meal with leg of lamb and potatoes, salad, and Algerian bread. The lamb was very tasty and tough. For lunch on Saturday, we had lamb sausages! They were tough as will, but seemed healthier because they were less fatty. Ja-Ja also made a crab cake loaf, but it was mostly bread with sprinkles of crab. Still, the smell and taste of crab brought me back to Maryland! All I needed was some Old Bay! We also had ice cream for dessert. We did that Sunday, too. They usually have dessert after lunch, rather than dinner, although sometimes it's after dinner. That's new to me. There is still always cheese after the meal, though! On Sunday, we had a vegetable stew from the gardens on the farm. I helped Ja-Ja shell fresh peas! That's for you, Dad! We will definitely have to have fresh peas more at home! They really were sweeter.
On Saturday morning, I awoke at 6:45am to go with Ja-Ja and Arnould to sell produce at the market in a nearby village called St. Jean du Gard. We sold nearly everything on the table: radishes, salad greens, parsley, lemon verbana, chives, potatoes, squash, leeks, apple juice bottles, a few vegetable plants, and more. It was a lot of fun. I am definitely more comfortable with the Metric system now. I was trying to be extra friendly, saying "Bonjour!" to those who passed, smiling, and talking a bit. Arnould told me not to be too outgoing though. He said the French are somewhat strange in that they don't like to be talked to a lot. They feel pressured to come to the table to buy something, I guess. So then, I just smiled and waited for them to start talking, haha. It felt strange to hold myself back, but with this culture of discreet people, it works. One woman was very interested in fact that I was American and said she would call the farm one day and we could hang out. I think she wants to see what Americans are like and have a cultural exchange or something. Pretty cool!
Later that day, we all went searching for mushrooms in the national park here while Chérif went to the sheep. Kristeen thought it was "incroyable" (unbelievable) that I had never done that before... okay, right. We looked for orange ones. If found about 5! Later on that night, Ja-Ja sautéed what we found with onions for dinner. The mixture became very watery, though, because it has been raining so much here and the mushrooms were soaking it up a lot.
On Sunday, after the couple and the baby left, I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Ignesse, the eight-year-old daughter. It was all in French, so I understood some of it. The visual aspect of the film is amazing! I was always astonished with all of the colorful nd imaginative scenes. Chérif told me that Tim Burton is very popular in France. It must be the love for surrealism of the French. The family also have Harry Potter in French, so I can't wait to watch that!
For the rest of Sunday, I took a nice, long walk and jog, a hot shower, and then downloaded some of their Arabic and North African music to my laptop. I shared my Lebanese music with them. They really liked the classical rhythms, especially Ja-Ja who was born in Algeria (Chérif was actually born in Paris). I let Amena, another daughter, listen to my iPod. She enjoyed it and recognized a lot of the American artists. During dinner, Chérif and I talked a lot about the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, is trying to change France a lot. His approval ratings are falling. He is privatizing a lot and changing the system to be a bit more American. Chérif is very disappointed and thinks that capitalism is a failing system, even in America. He said that he probably thinks this way because as a Muslim, wealth really should be distributed to the poor and the state should have the power to do so. As an American, I said that we don't really have that "safety net" mentality and believe that we shouldn't have to rely on the government to support ourselves. It was a good dispute, and we laughed a lot, but it's interesting to see the differences and how histories and cultures form government systems.
I hope everyone had a terrific weekend! I'll write again later this week. A tout alors! (until then!)
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