The marché de Noël is here!

Headed into the market with Ngân ("I'm the tall one." Just had to say it since I don't get to often.)

Last Friday I (amazingly) found that I had a couple hours free so quickly rallied the troops (Ngân, Kendra and Evan) for a trip to the Marché de Noël, the annual Christmas market in Lyon. It was - as always - awesome. The twinkling lights, hot mulled drinks, beautiful handcrafted gifts... Definitely recommend planning a stop by if you're in the area between now and December 24th.

In related news:


The December issue of theFrenchPaper, on sale in kiosques around France...


...with an article on the Marché de Noël by yours truly!


Le marché de Noël fact 1: 900 vendors applied for spots at this year's market.


Ngân sampling the mulled cider with cinnamon and lemon


Le marché de Noël fact 2: Of those 900 vendors, only 130 applicants were chosen.


Cheers!


Le marché de Noël fact 3: The market started in 1996.


Le marché de Noël fact 4: It is the largest Christmas market in the region.


Le marché de Noël fact 5: I absolutely love it.


Well, aren't you in-the-know? Already reading the blog... ;)

He's 'practically' funny...

K: If you want, I could give you a couple ideas for my Christmas gifts.

J: Gifts? You mean more than one?

K: Very funny.

J: Sure. What do you want?

And at this point, a very clear distinction is made between a person who loves to shop and a person who finds joy in practicality.

K: Well, I want a lightweight fleece vest for running, and...

J: You have one.

K: No, I don't.

J: Sure you do. I gave you my old one.

K: It's huge on me! It bounces all over the place when I run. Way too big.

J: What about your blue fleece? The one your mom got for you?

K: It has long sleeves.

J: Just cut them off with scissors. There... gift number one: check! So what's next on your list?

K: Nevermind...

Your assignments...

Sitting in our apartment, waiting for Jonathan to come home from long hours at the clinic, thinking about the long day I'll have at work tomorrow... My cousin just posted on Facebook that she's "helping clean the house and waiting for fam to get here."

In this case, 'fam' includes my parents, who are back in the US right now. I started to get a little weepy, but decided instead to nip it in the bud by doing one of the things I do best: bossing people around delegating.



So, here are your Thanksgiving assignments from me.

- Corrie, hug my Mom and Dad for me - and make 'em big ones.

- Beth, enjoy hosting your first Thanksgiving at Holly Hill. Take lots of pictures!

- LeAnn and Marcy, run hard.

- Kevin and Penni, have a wonderful dinner of la pizza.

- Tauna, enjoy the quiet and know you are very much appreciated.

- Jana, show Hannah and Charlie a picture of us and tell them 'aboot' how we celebrate American Thanksgiving :)

- Julie, tell Renae and Sam that we love them. Jesse too, if he's feeling left out.

- Pegs, know you're missed and thought of. (Same goes for another someone whose name starts with a P and has four letters, but we know he wouldn't want his name on the internet.)

- Kate, try to console Chris with the fact that we'll see you guys in 25 days. Another serving of pasta should help numb his pain.

- Britt, hug the kiddos for us (remind them we'll see them in about a year!) and take copious notes about what kinds of foods you make.

- Everyone else, eat lots of green bean casserole (my favorite) and pumpkin pie on our behalf. But you can keep the calories for yourselves... Happy Thanksgiving!

Le Thanksgiving...

Five Americans, a Pole and a French woman are sitting in a room the size of a prison cell. Two of them are vegetarians and one has Vietnamese roots. A baby and a three-year-old are crawling around on the floor...

Not the lead in to a good joke - it's just Thanksgiving at our place! :) It was a great combo of cultures. We ate tons of good American food, but spread out over a nice two hour meal à la française.


Britt, since I know you want the list: turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes and gravy, frog eye salad (so good!), green tomato pickles, fresh bread, pumpkin pie and apple tart.


Ngân and Evan...


... and Jonathan with Evan!


The scene before...


... and after. (I like the 'after' much better.)

Did someone call for an ostéopathe?

He looks pretty impressive in his clinic-wear, eh?



Jonathan has been working in the clinic as part of his studies for two years now. He's treated about 75 patients and will be increasing his patient load soon. Recently he was contacted by a French magazine that will be running an article on alternative medicine and needed photos of a very handsome osteopath. (Well, something like that.)

The article will come out in March and the magazine is distributed in 40 countries. So famous!



A big thank you to Dorine for taking the photos and to Thomas, the patient. (They are both graduating in the spring with Jonathan.)



I've been working on some osteopathy slogans. Thinking of having t-shirts made, or maybe throw pillows. What do you think?

"Osteopaths: manipulating people since 1874"

"Just D.O. it!"



"We do more than snap, crackle and pop."

"I'm disfunctional. You're disfunctional."



And my personal favorite, drawing on the palpatory side of osteopathy...

"Be feeled!"

I'm turning red...

Tomatoes a month ago...

Remember last month's green tomato salvage? It's turning out beautifully. Two weeks ago about one-third were ripe, another third today and another third are still nestled in the basket. Check back with me in two weeks...



Obviously, this is great news for the 100+ tomatoes we'll be able to enjoy even after the frost. The bad news is that now I understand just how easy it is for tomatoes to be picked super green then ripen as they are being transported miles away.

But for now, I choose to focus on the delicious plans for these little tomatoes!

Productive name-calling...

Jonathan and Kari are talking as they walk through their neighborhood on a beautiful fall afternoon. Let's listen in...

K: Uh... snob.

J: Bookworm.

K: Gold-digger!

J: Cheapskate!

K: Copycat... Poseur.

J: Loser.

K: Momma's boy!

J: Dork.

K: Weirdo.

J: Big-mouth.



Don't worry, blog readers. It's not what you may think.

This weekend I had to write an article on popular insults in American English. Jonathan helped me do a little brainstorming before I sat down to write. It was actually kind of challenging to find insults that might be of interest to language learners, but that weren't too childish or too - ahem, grown-up.

Any obvious ones we missed? Thanks, blogworms! ;)

3 things, 4x over...

3 things I want to do in Lyon soon

- See as many of the lights displays at the Fête des Lumières as possible from Dec. 5th-8th (This year's preview photos just posted here. So cool.)
- Visit the Deportation and Resistance Historical Musem to learn about the Occupation, Klaus Barbie and the Gestapo in Lyon
- Go to the market as often as possible! Odds are good that I will never live this close to such an amazing variety of produce - better enjoy while I can.

3 things I want to do in Senegal next February (that's right - we bought tickets!!)

- Watch the fishing boats come in off the ocean
- Kiss Jonathan at the Lighthouse overlooking Dakar
- See Ibrahima, Diami, Pape Dieye, Demba, Daouda, Maye, Robert, Yaye Coumba, Alioune, Bintou, Astou...

3 things I want to do in Marietta next fall

- See Stephen and Beth's house (aka Holly Hill)
- Eat at Willie Rae's
- Show Jonathan the sights of Atlanta (ideas welcome!)

3 things I want to do in Iowa next winter

- Meet cool Sam!
- (Maybe) try cross-country skiing
- Cook for my in-laws

Obviously, these are not comprehensive lists. But are there any other things I may not have thought of?

Better than flowers & chocolates...

On Saturday Jonathan was gone for a day-long class. But at about 1pm he sent me an email saying he had a surprise for me. Most wives might think flowers or chocolates - and he did bring me some pretty amazing chocolate-bling from Paris once - but I had a sneaking suspicion that wasn't it this time.

I'll give you a hint: my surprise was perfectly soft and blackened, with a wee bit of mold, and of the genus Musa.



Plantains!

During his lunch break, Jonathan walked to the Bombay Bollywood Bazaar and found they were having a sale on plantain bananas. Knowledgeably, he dug around for the darkest ones, leaving the firm, bright yellow ones behind.

Jonathan said the woman ringing up the plantains jokingly asked if he was going to make aloco (an West African dish) with them. His affirmative answer took her by surprise. Apparently she'd never heard of white people making aloco before. :)



Unlike bananas, plantains are either eaten green (as a starch) or black (as a sweet), but in either case must be cooked first. We like them fried up into aloco or baked with a spicy tomato and onion sauce, or baked with a pinch of brown sugar and cinnamon. Yum!

Going from an 'outie' to an 'innie'...

Although the French expression for people who consider themselves to be the center of the universe, or 'the world's bellybutton' (le nombril du monde), is an accurate visual for this topic, I prefer to call it a good dose of introspection...

In 2002 I took the Myers-Briggs personality assessment tool. It's a big, long questionnaire that sums up your personality in a little 4-letter code. Mine was ENFP, which means extraverted, intuitive, feeling and perceiving. But the letter to focus on is E for Extraverted - note the capital E! Out of a possible 50 points, I got 50 points. I was as extraverted as they come - energized by being around other people, thriving on socializing and never feeling a need to be alone.

This week I read an article entitled Top 5 Things Every Extrovert Should Know About Introverts by Bryan Kim. (I know. Mr Kim spelled 'extrovert' with an O and Myers-Briggs does it with an A. It bothered me too, but that's a whole 'nother personality test...) I decided to read the article because I'm married to an introvert and I figured reading an article would be easier than coercing my husband to tell me about his deepest feelings and emotions.

A) I was right.

B) The article confirmed a suspicion I've had for about two years now: I think I'm actually an introvert.

People who know me from pre-2002 probably can't imagine me as an introvert, but people who have met me more recently have a hard time believing I ever hit 50 points on the extravert scale.

Is it possible to change from being an 'outie' to an 'innie'?

I identified with all five items listed in the article and for each one I found myself thinking, "I wish I could explain this to so-and-so..." or "If so-and-so knew this about me, they would understand why I act the way I do sometimes." For example, Kim explains that if you want to engage an introvert in conversation, you should skip the small talk and go for deep conversations instead.

If you're married to an introvert or have 'innie' friends, I highly recommend reading the article for yourself.

So, what do you think? Are you extraverted or introverted? Are introverts misunderstood to be shy or anti-social? Do extraverts wish introverts understood them better? Is it possible to change from a 50-point extravert to an introvert?

The roots are just the beginning...

On November 2nd, France's highest literary honor was bestowed upon French-Senegalese author Marie NDiaye. Of course, I was all, "Woohoo! Senegal!"

I immediately read up on the prize-winning book, Trois Femmes Puissantes (Three Powerful Women), and also on the author. But before I go down that road, let's take a rabbit trail on the award itself - the famous Prix Goncourt.

The award recipient is selected annually by the 10 members of the Académie Goncourt for "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year". Keeping in mind the award is for 'imaginative', guess what the 10 members of this group are called? Les Dix. Which means 'The Ten'. I thought that was funny. Anyway...

The Ten meet up on the second floor of the Restaurant Drouant in Paris on the first Tuesday of each month (not in summers - this is France, after all) to discuss amongst themselves that year's books. The award is announced in the fall and the recipient receives the prize money: a whopping 10 euros.

Isn't that awesome? The highest literary honor in the country comes with a check worth $14.77 by today's exchange rate. However, the book is guaranteed to zoom to the top of the bestseller list, so that's not half bad. Last year's Prix Goncourt winner was Les Bienveillantes (The Kindly Ones) by Jonathan Littell, an American author who writes in French.

End of rabbit trail. Back to this year's author, Marie NDiaye.


© AFP

As I said, I was throwin' up jazz hands about NDiaye having Senegalese roots. But in every article I read about her, she went out of her way to explain that she's really not Senegalese. She was born in France and "grew up in a world that was 100% French."

"My African roots don't mean much, except that people know of them because of the colour of my skin and my name," she said. "I don't represent anything or anyone. I have met many French people raised in Africa who are more African than I am."

I loved that.

As excited as I was to read of a French-Senegalese author receiving this award, I was even happier to read this quotation from a woman who understands that identity is so strongly linked to where we grew up and have lived. She's not snobbishly rejecting her roots - nor claiming to be someone she's not.

I sometimes feel like a 'traitor' when I see that my American identity has been diluted by other cultures. But Marie NDiaye reminded me that our roots are just the beginning of who we are.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interested in reading the book? Here's a description from the Guardian:

Trois femmes puissantes weaves together the stories of three women: Norah, who arrives at her father's home in Africa; Fanta, teaching French in Dakar, who is forced to follow her partner back to a miserable life in France, and Khady Demba, a young, penniless African widow who is trying to join her distant cousin Fanta in France.

Buy it here.

Coming soon, to a TV near us...

A few months ago I did a voice-over for an animated TV series for kids called 'Guess What?'. The series is for kids aged 3 to 6 and features Timothy and Annabel, two cute rabbits who solve riddles together. But watch out - there's also... Thunder Girl! (That's me. I also do the voice of the Pink Fairy.)



A little spin on Google this afternoon informed me that the first episodes will begin airing on TIJI on November 23rd in "more than ten territories" Not exactly sure what that means, but I'm happy with it.

It's pretty rare that I see the finished product of these voice-overs, and the only other time I've been able to track down an air date was a week too late! So I'm looking forward to November 23rd. Not that we have a TV, but still fun to look forward to. And I think they post clips online after airing, so I may have some snippets to share.

For now, I found this short clip of Thunder Girl. Click on the link, then 'play' to watch. I know it's kind of hard to figure out when it's my voice, so here's a cheat sheet: all the laughter and the 'yoohoo!' from behind the cloud.