A victory and two points for me

I scored a huge victory yesterday, it may not seem that way to others but in my book it was big! First you need to know a little of the back story as that may help illustrate why this was such a great day.

Since receiving my first (small) paycheck back at the end of November I have attempted to open a bank account here in France. I went to a bank (that shall be left unnamed) with my handsome French speaking husband and enough documents to have fire kindle for weeks.

We spent about an hour at the bank giving them papers and signing forms and left with the idea that my account would be open and ready to go within the week. They stated that I would be notified when everything was ready and then would have to go into the branch to pick up my debit card and check book.  This initial week went by and I wasn't notified of anything. I did receive something in the mail after the second week that included my pin number and a piece of paper that I would need to bring to the branch to pick up my card. I then proceeded to go to the bank to do this and was told that my card and checkbook were not available for me. I of course wasn't able to decipher much of the information they were trying to tell me so went home defeated, frustrated and fighting back tears. 

My brother-in-law(BIL) then went back to the bank with me to try and help me figure out what was going on (James was at work). He was told that they were not able to verify me in the "system" as they could not find anyone with my name. Crazy, considering all of the documents that the French government has on me and that I am registered with immigration for the country of France. They told him that they hoped to have it all sorted out in the next week.

The next week goes by and still nothing. James and I go to the bank and I am told that they need to verify that I live where I said that I do. Since my name isn't on any of the utility bills they wanted further proof. So they would be mailing some "dummy mail" to the house that would need to be signed for. (Side note, my BIL had submitted documents verifying that I reside in his home. This included a written letter, their form filled out to show verification, a copy of a utility bill AND they took a photocopy of his passport for identification, yet this somehow wasn't enough "proof" for them).

So then the mail arrives and since I wasn't home it was signed for by my BIL. We took it to the bank and they said, "oh it's going to be a problem that it isn't Lynn's signature!" Are you freaking kidding me at this point!!! James had almost convinced some woman that it was signed for by my BIL a week ago and that should be good enough. She was then on her way to get my stuff (because the card and checkbook have been sitting in the bank for almost 2 months, just not given to me). The woman came back with another woman and asked if we had our "Livret de Famille" with us (the "family book" that shows your marriage). No explanation as to why they are now requesting this (as this is an individual account, not joint with James) and of course I didn't have it with me since I don't walk around with my French marriage license in my purse!

So some more time goes by, they resend the "dummy mail" to see if I live here. Again I am not home but James refused to sign for it knowing that it had to be my signature. So last Saturday I took the form to the post office and signed for it myself. Then we proceed to go to the bank.

We were still not given my stuff as they needed to wait to receive the verification from the post office that I had signed for the mail. At this point James is so mad that he is struggling not to punch someone's lights out! He is discussing the ridiculousness of this with the bank guy who proceeds to say that he is sorry that he had a baby and hadn't been at work. Really?! This isn't a person we have had ANY contact with prior to this day but somehow he is the only one capable of getting my account straightened out! This was more than James could take and he told the man that we were sorry we ever stepped foot into this bank and we walked out.

After two months of not being able to access money in my account unless I physically appeared in person at this branch during bank business hours (not open Sunday or Monday, closed during 2 hours of lunch time on the other days and after 6pm) I was beyond frustrated. The bank has NO problem accepting money into the account as my second check from work was directly deposited into it, yet I am not given the tools I need to actually use the account in any other way. In the midst of the crazy I decided that I needed to look at opening an account at a different bank. I consulted with some of my colleagues and was told that there was a bank that was British owned and so everything was available in English on the website and that there were many English speaking employees that should be able to help. We proceeded to go to this bank last week. I set up an appointment to meet with them to discuss opening an account and requested an English speaking person.

That appointment was yesterday. I went to the bank alone and with every single document I could imagine they would request. The woman was very nice and asked for documents and made copies of them. I asked her if she wanted a copy of our Livret de Famille and she said it wasn't needed. As I sat with her she entered my passport information into a verification system on the computer and got an immediate response which was printed out and added to my file. We reviewed the terms of the account. She had me fill out a couple tax forms that were specific to me being an American (the other bank never had me fill out these forms). She gave me many documents in English about the account and fee statements. She gave me everything I needed and told me my account was now open. She stated that I would need to come into the branch to pick up my card and checkbook and that it should be ready in a few days. I told her that Saturday was likely the best day for me and she said it should for sure be available by then. She also gave me her business card and suggested that if I have any questions I email her as she is better with responding in English via email than talking over the phone.

The bonus of the day is that the co-worker who referred me to the bank is getting a referral bonus added to his account just for recommending the bank to me and if I refer anyone the same would be given to me. I left the bank almost shocked at how simple, professional, and smooth this experience went compared to the other. While I am not feeling 100% yet about this I am hopeful that I really will have my card and checkbook this next week.

The second thing that happened yesterday to add to my victory was that I went to the post office alone to mail my niece's birthday present. The line was super long with lots of unhappy customers waiting. Yet I was able to get her gift in the correct shipping envelope and mailed off!

I need more days like this, where I feel like I have made some progress and will survive living in a foreign country!

So the score is no where close to even between France and I but I scored 2 very big points today!!!

12 hours down, 238 to go...

Today I attended my 2nd French class. I mentioned before that taking French is mandatory as part of the immigration process for me and that after being assessed I was given 250 hours of French (read more about that here), today I completed hour 12. That's right 2 classes attended and 12 hours complete. In case you were wondering, that's a whole lot a French in 2 days, at least for this girl.

The first class last week consisted of 10 students. The difficult thing for me was that the levels vary greatly all within this one class. For example, there was a woman in class that has been in France for 7 years, yup S-E-V-E-N! Needless to say she speaks French pretty well and when I inquired further about this she reports that she is taking an exam this month to hopefully be finished with classes. In contrast, there are others in class, like myself, who have been in France for less than 6 months and are not communicating fluently in French at all.

My assessment of the teacher on the first day was that she was nice and friendly but not all that organized or sure how to accommodate and modify for the varying levels of the students. I was surprised to see that I was comprehending a lot of what she said but there were other times that I had no freaking clue!

Let's fast forward to class today. Again there was about 10 students present but not all the same students that were there last week. The new students seem to be of a lower level which was reassuring for me as I felt like we were all a bit more on the same page in our abilities.

During the break for lunch one of the students was asking about the exams we take to assess our progress. From what I gathered in this conversation there are different exams for this. The DILF is the exam for the A1.1 (total beginner). The DELF is for A1/A2 and B1/B2 and the DALF is for the C1/C2. Now all of this doesn't mean much to me but I think that we are suppose to attain a minimum of a B2 for immigration. Yikes!

I was also informed today that even though I was awarded 250 hours, they need to be completed within 1 year. The exam can be taken prior to the year mark but has to be taken at the year mark regardless.  So at 6 hours a week (since I am only doing Mondays due to working), that means 41.666 weeks of French class to make this happen. Now being a scholarly individual I asked the teacher what I am suppose to do since I cannot attend class on Thursdays and Fridays (but everyone who isn't working does 6 hours on each of those days as well). She then proceeded to hand me a whole bunch of worksheets that the class completed last week AND some worksheets that they will be doing later this week. So this girl has some serious French homework to do in the next 6 days.

I know that I asked for the work but most of it is above my level and it takes me FOREVER to complete just 1 worksheet. James can verify this as I sat doing homework yesterday for a few hours. Of course I stop every time I don't know a word and have to look it up (and that happens a whole bunch)! It was recommended to me by a colleague who is multilingual that I use some French children's books, the Petit Nicolas series,  as a way to increase my skills, vocab, and fluency. Feeling super ambitious over the weekend I found 3 of these books at a secondhand store and was super excited to get 3 of them for the price of 1 new.

So let's recap here, I have 1 year to become fluent enough by the standards given by immigration. I have 1 formal class a week and need to supplement my learning in every other way possible on my own. It seems very overwhelming to me but I am determined to make it happen. I just need to figure out a way to be disciplined and work on it multiple times a week in the midst of working and all the other daily happenings.

I can already feel a love/hate relationship developing with learning this language. I have tiny moments of comprehension and feel proud but at this point there are a whole lot more moments of hate as it seems so difficult, I don't understand much and speak even less. I fantasize about a day when I can speak an entire conversation in French, even if the topic is basic.  Until then, anybody have suggestions of how to not feel so defeated, dumb, or exhausted in trying to do this?

50th Birthday celebration

Last night we went to celebrate the 50th birthday of James' brother-in-law. It was held at a banquet hall type place, there was a sit down dinner as well as a dance with a DJ.  It was fun to have an evening out and a reason to wear heels (since there is NO way I can wear them on a daily basis walking all over Paris, I have NO idea how the Parisian women do it)!

It was nice to see some of the family again and fun to experience a big birthday celebration here in France. The evening started off with appetizers and drinks.  Followed by a sit down dinner of couscous with vegetables, chicken and lamb. Then on to the cheese course and we ended the evening with champagne and desserts.

A picture of us with the birthday boy and his wife (James' sister).

The champagne tower.

The amazing desserts, one was peach and the other chocolate.

The candles were super fun and seemed like fireworks to me. It took a few attempts before the birthday boy was able to get them blown out.

I would call myself a friendly and social person but these events are always a bit intimidating for me in France. I  know that the main reason is that I can't really communicate with others  and feel strange just sitting and smiling most of the evening (good thing I have my 2nd French class tomorrow).

In spite of my worries, it was a fun evening. I mean any evening that includes sipping champagne with flowers in our hair has to be good, right?!

Off to finish the last of my homework for French class tomorrow. I plan to write about my experiences in class but thought I shouldn't base my opinion solely on one class. So we will see what tomorrow brings!

Immigration class #1

Yesterday I had to attend a class titled "La vie en France" (Life in France), one part of the immigration requirements. This class started at 9:15 and was to end at 5:30. That's a whole lot of life in France for 1 day!  I tried to go into the class with an open mind and hoping to take some new information away.

I arrived to the class and was greeted by a woman who ended up being my own personal translator for the class. She quickly told me that she has a difficult time with American accents and that her English isn't great but she was the person available for the day and would do her best.

There was a total of 10 of us in attendance. The majority of participants were from different countries in Africa, one woman from Turkey and the other from Russia (who also had her own personal translator). Everyone was really friendly and pretty engaged in the class.

The format of the class was very relaxed and interactive. The topics covered were: school, medical care in France, employment, housing, and the general set up of the government and their functions (city hall versus the others offices).

We took a break for lunch and everyone chatted about what traditional food was in their country. Of course they asked what was the most common for the US but also answered their own question stating that they thought it was hamburgers. That really is the image of the US, we all eat hamburgers everyday.

The class didn't provide any earth shattering information for me but did give me some resources and ideas of where to go if I needed to further navigate one of the systems. The woman who translated for me was really friendly and nice and assured me that the next class I have to take (on the 27th) there will be a "real" translator for me, even though I thought she did alright.

The class ended 2 hours early and we were given our certificates to prove that we attended. The reported to us that this is a mighty big deal since we signed contracts upon entering the immigration process here and agreed to do what they asked of us (including these classes, learning French, etc).  We were reminded to guard these certificates with our lives as all of this paperwork I am amassing will be needed when I go to renew my visa.

Tomorrow I embark on the next adventure as I attend my first French class here in France. It starts at 9am and it includes 6 hours of French, with a break for lunch. Others started class last Thursday but I am only attending Mondays due to having a job (the others take class 3 days a week for 6 hours a day). At this point I will be attending every Monday indefinitely; until I exceed my 250 hours, am ready to take the exam, or have to change class days for some reason.

I am not sure how I will survive 6 whole hours but I really am excited to get better at this language and hope the class is good and fun too! A bonus if there is a fellow American or English speaker in the class that could be potential friend material. It would be nice to say I have at least 1 friend in this country, at this point I got zilch (since I am not counting family members)!

King's Cake

Sunday we celebrated the day associated with the festival of Epiphany during the Christmas season in France ( it typically falls on January 6th, find out more details here). Tradition hold that the "galette des rois" (king's cake) is used to draw the kings to the Epiphany.

Inside the cake is a trinket of some sort and whoever ends up with the trinket in their piece of cake is suppose to have special privileges, wear the crown, and can also choose their queen. The type of cake various in France depending on what part of the country you live in (north or south). Our cake consisted of flaky puff pastry layers with an almond flavored filling. 

After the cake was cut into 4 pieces (the number of people present), Emma, got to decide who got what piece of cake since she was the youngest person present. It was fun to eat the cake and keep looking at each other to see who had the prize. Having no idea what to expect or how big the trinket would be,  I was eating slowly and kept looking at my piece of cake.

So who had the trinket? Was it me?

 Or Emma?

 Or June (who is a bit camera shy)?

Or James (who we didn't get a picture of because he was making tea)?

Our trinket ended up being an old fashioned radio.

June ended up with the trinket and should have been the king for the day but since this is my first experience with "galette des rois" he made me the honorary queen.  I like to pretend I am royalty  on most days but it was nice to be officially recognized (and actually was at one point in life, dairy princess totally counts)!

It was a really fun experience to have and I can see how the excitement would build with small children around. You could really get creative and make the privileges fun and worthwhile for the king/queen for the day.

How to Fake French

It is hard to believe that I have been in France for 4 months now! While I have adjusted to some things about my new home I am still definitely a beginner when it comes to the French language. I would say that I have improved on my comprehension when others are talking to me and increased my vocabulary but speaking French (in sentences) is a whole different story!!

I came across this video the other day that shows how to "fake" being French. I literally laughed  aloud. It isn't that I have attempted to "fake" French but there are times when it is definitely easier to just nod my head, or focus on the meal or drinks than really try to contribute to a conversation.

As I had mentioned a few weeks ago as part of my visa/immigration status, I was given a large number of hours of French class to improve my skills.  When I had the meeting and assessment of my language ability a few weeks back, I was told that classes were likely to start on January 5th and that they would call to confirm this. Well that hasn't happened. I still do not have a start date confirmed from them and this causes some issues for me with work as I need to be able to give notice as to when I will no longer be teaching on Mondays as I will be a student of French for 6 hours on those days instead (6 hours, that's a lot of French in 1 day).

If I have learned anything over the last 1+ year navigating the unknown world of paperwork and processes, it is that there is a whole lot of waiting to be done. So I will sit and wait! Until then I could try using some of the tools outlined in the video above, minus all of the swearing of course!

Is this how it works in most cities?

One day last week, late morning, I was walking to one of the offices that I teach at. I walk past many shops/stores on the way including restaurants, pharmacies, restaurants, bakeries, and butchers. I was about a block away from my destination which also happens to be where the butcher is located.

This is what I saw...

I was really shocked to see this truck with large animals hanging out the back of the truck. I walked a little bit further and stopped to watch what was really going on. The butcher would unhook one of the large hunks of meat from the truck, throw it over his shoulder and carry it into the store. From what I could tell the meat wasn't wrapped in anything.

I have been told in conversations with others that the regulations(like the USDA) for meat and food is more strict in France. This then leads to the higher costs of many of the items we buy. So it isn't that I think there was anything wrong with the meat that was being brought into the store. I was just surprised by the method of delivery and that it was happening in the middle of the day.

I was telling James about this and he made some good points. How else would deliveries be made in central Paris (where there really isn't back entrances or alleys)? How is meat delivered to butchers in the US?

I may have more knowledge about this topic in the US than some others based on the fact that I grew up on a farm and know the process that was used to take animals from the farm, to the butcher, and then back to the deep freezer at the house. However, my knowledge of this is that the process happens all at 1 location (that the animal is delivered to the butcher and leaves there when it is wrapped in individual packages).  Of course this is at small town butcher and I have no clue how it happens for those located in bigger cities. James thought I should consulted by Dad on this, so Dad if you happen to be reading this fill me in on how it works. For all I know there are trucks making the same deliveries all over the US, I have just never been walking by them when the delivery is made.

Paris lights and the hunt for Korean food

Last Sunday I was invited along to take our niece, Elly, back to college and go to a Korean restaurant in Paris. I of course accepted because I am all about seeing and doing new things here. James wasn't able to go since he had to work and I felt a bit guilty about going to have Korean food without him. It is his absolute favorite type of food on the planet!!! So having Korean food without him feels like I am cheating on him!

After dropping Elly off at school we headed into the city to find a Korean restaurant. This proved to be quite a difficult task as we were not able to find any that were open (due to it being New Year's Day). After driving around to two different ones that were closed we parked the car and started calling. I think that 14 different Korean restaurants in Paris were called and none of them were open. We thought by a stroke of luck that we came upon one and parked the car and went inside. It ended up being a Vietnamese restaurant and the food was really great!

While on the way into the city after making the stop at Elly's apartment we drove past the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs-Elysées. I have visited these locations many times but this was my first time in a car. There is NO way I could drive in central Paris! However the sites were amazing. During the holiday season there are many Christmas markets in France. The one on Champs-Elysées seemed quite large. We didn't get out and walk around as it was raining and we had a mission of finding Korean food.

A shot of the Christmas market.

 

Some of the lights as we were driving by.

At the opposite end from where the Arc de Triomphe is located was a Ferris wheel all lit up. It was really beautiful and we could see it from far away.

June even drove all the way up to it so I could get this picture (I think it is one of my favorite pics in Paris that I have taken so far).

Two great things happened during this evening. I got to see the holiday display at night in Paris and I didn't cheat on my husband(with Korean food in case you missed that up above)!

So it has been decided, I need to spend an evening here next year during the holiday season and get a closer look. I know that it was very busy and likely many tourist but I would love to stroll down the famous avenue of Champs-Elysées and take it all in. Anyone want to join me?

Being an expat

I have many titles that I have acquired in life, some of which are: daughter, sister, friend, cousin, aunt, wife,  and now I get to add expat to the list.

I was talking to a friend a few weeks back and made a comment about being an expat. She said, “What does that mean?” It hadn’t really occurred to me that the title of “expat” might not be familiar term used by others.  However, after thinking about it I realized it wasn’t a term I had used much prior to becoming one.

The official definition is:

Expat-a person who is voluntarily absent from their home country; i.e. American expatriates

When searching for information about how to navigate different systems here in France I have come across a multitude of resources directed towards the expat community. There is this website dedicated and organized to expats in many different places in the world. 

There is a Facebook group for expats in Paris. People post questions about things they are trying to figure out (housing, finding jobs, a grocery store that carries food specific to their home country, etc). It is also used for planning social events to meet up with other expats. Unfortunately all of the outings occur in Paris which isn't ideal since I am living out in Chartres, but it's a great concept and maybe one of the events I will be able to attend. 

I haven't noticed any negative tone used with the term expat yet but I am sure that people have varying opinions about us! I would love to hear from other expats here in France or anywhere else in the world to share experiences. So if anyone out there is reading this and has been or is currently a fellow expat, please shoot me an email (found in the contact page)!

Game Night

Some of my favorite people in the world (The Jepsen's) got us some games for Christmas. Their intention was to give us games that didn't require much talking so that the language barrier that exists at times wouldn't be such a factor. The games that we got are Uno, Jenga, and Farkle.

We spent many nights during the week between Christmas and New Years putting these to good use! At the moment the favorite is a toss up between Jenga and Farkle! I appreciate this super kind gesture to give a gift that allows me to interact more since I am not really doing that during conversations or dinner in larger groups.

The competition got fierce at times. To say my family here in France (and MN for that matter) is competitive is an understatement!

In addition to these games we also played some Mario Kart on the Wii (which I am awful at) and a Dance game on the Xbox 360 Kinect (equally awful at this but so much fun to "battle" in a dance against a partner)! Emma and I have vowed to practice our dancing skills with this game and wow the competition during the next game night showdown! She also agreed to help me figure out how to do yoga on the Wii Fit as I think I would totally dig this and it falls into some of my 2012 goals.

Goals for 2012

Having dinner on New Year's Eve (NYE) we chatted about any goals we had for 2012. At the time of the discussion I couldn't come up with many, other than that I want to really improve in my ability to speak French.

After further reflection and thought over the last few days I have added to that list and hope to find ways to make them all happen.

1. Improve my French (well enough that at NYE dinner next year I can state my goals in French)
2. Meet people and make some friends here in France
3. Spend a few minutes each day to do some meditation/intentional reflection
4. Find a studio to practice yoga or develop my practice at home (with DVD's, free online classes, etc)
5. Budget well enough or find additional sources of income to ensure that I can visit MN a minimum of once a year (with an extra amount set aside for any big events that may be coming-weddings, babies, big birthdays, etc)
6. Make plans to visit other parts of France and Europe (with a minimum of 1 trip a year)
7. Improve my running ability and increase the distance I am able to run
8. Continue to make time to connect with family and friends in the states (as things get busy and time zones play a role, this often gets difficult)
9. Have date nights/days/mornings with my husband (intentional time set aside to connect with each other, especially when our schedules don't match up much)
10. Spend more time doing the things I love (updating the blog, sewing, knitting, photography, etc)

I know that 10 things may seem a bit lofty to attain but I really feel all of them are important in their own way. I welcome any feedback from all you if you have ideas or tools to help me reach these goals! If not your cheerleader skills are always appreciated!!!

Méche (a.k.a. highlights)

I have needed to get my hair highlighted for at least a month now (if you have seen any of the recent pictures on this blog you know it's true!). I have been so scared to go to a salon here as I can barely speak the language well enough to order in a restaurant let alone give instructions about what I want them to do to my hair.  I have a huge fear that I am going to leave the salon with some crazy color or my hair falling out from leaving the foils on for too long or not using the right products to highlight my hair. I know I have been beyond spoiled with all of the talented people in my life who are in the hair industry back home, this only contributes to my really high standards of how someone does my hair.

The last week or two I have been really focused on needing to figure this out as the last time my hair had any TLC was the beginning of September before I left for France. That's 4 months, way too long for this pamper snob!

One day last week I was able to stop in to a salon that the girls (2 of my nieces) were getting their hair cut at. I watched the people in action and was thinking that it must be an okay place if the girls come here for all of their haircare needs.

However while I was sitting there a woman came in to get her hair highlighted (but not blonde) and I was watching as this occurred. The method used was unknown to me. I am used to all highlights being done using foil. This was not the case here. Envision a tool that looks like a handheld mirror in shape and is plastic. They would gather the hair in the normal method and then stick this tool under it, hold the hair on top and put the color on, then move on to the next spot. I have never seen this technique but kept thinking that the color was not contained and would be touching the other hair around it, but I am sure there are many different ways to do this.

Before leaving the salon with my brother-in-law and the girls we inquired about the cost of highlights, only 46 Euro! This included the highlights and a wash and style. I then asked them if they use aluminum for highlights when they do blonde and was reassured that they do. So I went home that day contemplating on taking the plunge and going to get the highlight. I mean 46 Euros is in this girl's budget, way cheaper than the English speaking salon I found near Paris that was 140 Euros for the same service.

Two days later I finished off 2011 with my ugly hair and got a highlight in a French salon. James was available to come with me and gave them the information about what I wanted done...lots of foils, all blonde, no cut at this time (baby steps and testing to see how this turns out before committing to a cut, and how to explain what I want done for a cut, too much for 1 day)! James then left the salon and me with the stylists who spoke very little English.

I had 2 individuals putting the foils in at the same time, it felt a bit like how movie stars may be treated! They brought me hot chocolate and gossip magazines in French. I later told James that I think reading gossip magazines would be a great tool for learning French as I am motivated to read what all the ridiculous news is in Hollywood!

An hour and a half later I was a new woman! The color turned out great and they were all really friendly people who wanted me to feel comfortable. I am excited that this turned out to be a positive experience and even more excited that the cost was so reasonable!!!

The before and after pictures of my highlights, loads of improvement!

Before picture, UGH!

After shot #1, still in a ponytail due to it raining on me while walking home

After shot #2, thumbs up for a successful experience

After shot #3, ignore the evil eye look. I was trying to get a close up shot for my hair peeps back home!

I am sure that 2012 is happy that I showed up looking much better!!!

Anniversary dinner and drinks

James made plans for the evening of our anniversary and just told me to be ready by 6:30pm. We walked into the city center even though it was lightly raining, same sort of weather as our wedding night but probably a bit warmer here.

We started the evening here at this wine bar.

We had a few glasses of one of my favorite wines, Coteaux du Layon, to start off the evening.

Then we went to dinner at the restaurant that James had made reservations.

It was a cozy Italian restaurant and we had a fun window table with a view of the rain and trees still all lit up.

The view outside of the restaurant

The inside of the restaurant

I started off with a salad that was really delicious. It had artichokes, tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella.

 
James had octopus with some pasta as his starter. I tried the octopus and it had a great flavor. 

Of course wine was in order. The restaurant carried only Italian wine so James did some serious contemplating to decide on which bottle we should have.

James reviewing the wine menu. To make the process easier, he had a whiskey while making the big decision.

  After much contemplation he did his best and made a choice, a great Chianti wine. Now on to the important decision of what to have for our main dish. I was really lost in trying to decipher the menu (more lost than usual when it come to ordering in French). James suggested that we order pizzas and decided on one he thought I would like.

All smiles ready to try the pizza

It was essentially a ham and cheese pizza but with multiple types of ham. Now I don't mind ham and it is very plentiful here in France, but historically it's not my first choice of meats. Back in the states I would choose turkey every single time when it came to deciding on a meat for sandwiches. I had never had pizza with ham unless we are talking about Canadian bacon with pineapple. This pizza wasn't my favorite. It had a variety of different kinds of ham on it, some of which I didn't really care for and was trying to pick off. However, the crust of the pizza was fantastic!

While the pizza that James chose looked a bit strange to me it was really tasty!

I preferred his over mine and he was willing to share a bit (I am sure we would have totally traded but he doesn't eat ham at all).

Looks can be deceiving as it was great but it looks strange right?! I have never seen an egg on a pizza before. I have no idea if this is "normal" in France or Italy but it was a first for me.

 It was a great evening of drinks and dinner celebrating our first year of marriage and reminiscing about what we were doing a year ago and all of the fun we had as we became husband and wife. After dinner we went home and I surprised him with wine and the cheesecake I mentioned in the previous post.

Looking forward to what the next year has in store for us!

Paper and cheesecake

So now that the big 1st Anniversary is over I can give the details of what I had planned for James. I had researched what the traditional gift was for the 1st wedding anniversary and it is paper. Really, paper?! According to the sources I checked the more modern version is a clock. So I tried to get creative while wanting to stay with the traditional gift idea just for fun.

I decided on giving James a journal and I wrote a love note to him including all that we have accomplished this past year and the things I see and hope for during our second year of marriage. I asked that he play along and also write a note in it with the hope that we can use this as our anniversary journal to reflect on each year and share some of our favorite moments. It may be something really fun to look back on as time goes on. He loved the gift and agreed that he would play along with my plan and that we would both write notes in it to each other around our anniversary every year.

Anniversary Journal

The inside of the journal, love letter #1 to follow

The second part of my surprise to James had to do with cheesecake. James loved cheesecake when he had it in the US this past summer so I thought it would be nice to make him one for our anniversary. Some of you may remember that I attempted to make a cheesecake not long after my arrival in France (read more about how that went here). Since that time I have gotten better prepared for a second attempt at making a cheesecake. Three major things have happened since then:
1. My mom mailed me an amazing stash of baking items which included the ever important graham crackers
2. I found Philadelphia cream cheese here in France
3. I accidentally found a spring form pan at a store (James and I searched high and low months ago for one but could never find one)

So needless to say I was MUCH better equipped this time to make a cheesecake. I made it on Thursday evening while James was at work. He had no idea about it until I brought it out on Friday evening to have as dessert after our evening out.

The cheesecake baking in the new fancy spring form pan!

He was surprised and excited!

The cheesecake was pretty good, I just need to perfect the crust a bit more. I used a recipe from a friend along with one I found online (I didn't have all the things needed for 1 crust and the other had cinnamon in it which James hates). The only other thing missing was a strawberry topping. Since it isn't strawberry season I wasn't able to find any and they don't seem to believe in frozen fruit here (or if they do I haven't been able to find it yet). However considering how the first attempt at cheesecake went I think this was a much bigger success and his smile when I served it with the wine was a perfect ending to our anniversary celebration.

If I needed further confirmation that it was a success, James had 2 pieces of it for breakfast the next morning. The only change was that we got brillant and added some of my grandma's homemade strawberry/peach jam as the topping, according to James this was truly the missing link!

Adding the jam, Grandma if you are reading this we already finished this jar!

Looking a bit tired but loving cheesecake for breakfast

Anyone have a cheesecake recipe that is to die for? I am game to try a couple different varieties to perfect this adventure of making cheesecake in France.