A French Style Christmas

Mark and I just got back from spending Christmas in Lavardin with the Decazes family, and I thought I better catch up on the blog before we embark on our first big European adventure. After Thanksgiving, nothing super exciting happened other than the Christmas market. We volunteered with Rotary at a market in a small village called Carquefou-- we sold items from Africa with all proceeds going to help a hospital in Mali. We also attended two different Christmas parties with Rotary. The first was with Rotary Club Nantes Jules Verne, and their party consisted of a diner rotatif (progressive dinner en anglais). We had an aperitif at one house, the plat principal at another and finally everyone ended up at the same place for dessert. It was quite interesting because this was not my host club so Mark and I knew no one other than the Monsieur who invited me, and we were not at his house for any part of the meal. It was a lot of fun, and we met a lot of really interesting people, one of which is a retired Congressman. We ate a salad with scallops and champagne for the entree, then we had couscous, salad, and cheese and bread, and finally all sorts of desserts. The final destination was a sort of community center, and there was a DJ who dressed as Santa and told cheesy French jokes, and a dance. One Rotary member at my table drank a liiiittle too much wine, and then forced me to dance to some terrible French rock song-- it was quite entertaining. The 2nd party we attended was put on by my host club, and was mild in comparison to the other. They played a word game (it was too complicated for me to understand; even most of the native French speakers couldn't figure it out) and exchanged gifts. Other than these two parties, my finals and the French students going on strike for a little over a week are the only other adventures we have had. My one final sur table was pretty difficult-- I had to read and analyze a translation of an excerpt from Breakfast at Tiffany's, and then I had to make my own translation of it (it is not easy to translate from ENGLISH to FRENCH for a non-native speaker!!). About 10 minutes before the time was up to finish the exam, the fire alarm goes off in the building. We were all ushered outside by a very annoyed professor, and we had to stand out in the freezing cold, worrying about not finishing our exam because another was scheduled in the same room right after ours until the alarm went off. We had about 3 minutes to finish our final thoughts and turn in our exams. The last two weeks of class/exams/presentations for me were impossible because the trams were shut down due to student protests. The education system is about to undergo some reforms, and the students are protesting the changes. I heard from one group that the teachers are really manipulating the students to protest because they do not want to change the structure of the education system, but I am not sure if that is true or not. (these are junior high and high school students, by the way, not the university students this time). We had to walk to the university at least halfway every day due to the students completely blockading the roads and tramways (one day they even started a big fire in the middle of the tram tracks and gathered around it; they also overturned a lot of trashcans).
Other than these events, we did get to visit Strasbourg to see the gigantic Christmas tree (much like the one at Rockefeller Center in New York) and the biggest Christmas market in all of France. The tree is beautiful and the markets were endless. The city looks magnificent with all the Christmas decorations; one street even had chandeliers hanging on ropes from shop to shop outside-- I will post pictures soon. We also visited the cathedral with the amazing astronomical clock and the picturesque part of the city called La Petite France. We went to Selestat and the chateau of Haut-Koenigsbourg also; both excellent places to visit at Christmas.
Then we went to Tours and then to Lavardin with the Decazes family for Christmas! It was really generous of them to offer to let us spend the holidays with them because French families are very close-knit and private. Each meal is even a private moment for them; it is so different from in the states. We shared our gigantic magnum-sized bottle of champagne that Mark won in Paris, and we had a really wonderful time. I am sure it is a Christmas I will never forget. We ate oysters followed by coq au vin and potatoes for Christmas dinner, followed by une bouch de marron (chestnut log), and chestnut cake. For Christmas Eve dinner we had some sort of casserole with scallops (delicious!) follwed by fresh blueberry pie. I think Catherine cooked the entire time; the food was amazing, and I know you all love hearing about it. We played card games with Alice and took the dogs (Lili and Lola) on walks in the country between meals (which again lasted about 3 hours each). We stayed one night in Tours after that, and revisited all our old hang-outs from August. The city has been transformed for the winter-- no more guinguette bars au bord de la Loire, no more etudiants at the Institut, etc.
Now we are repacking to go to Switzerland, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. We will visit Geneva, Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels over a two-week period before returning to Nantes. Thank goodness for Eurail passes and hostels; otherwise a trip this long would be way too expensive! I will write more after we get back, and hopefully I'll get more pics posted soon.