Joyeux Toussaint!

Hello everyone! While most people in the U.S. are saying "Happy Halloween," the French are all geared for Toussaint (All Saints Day). For those of you who are unfamiliar with this traditionally Catholic holiday, it's a day to celebrate and remember all those who have left our presence and are now with God. I went with Catherine and her friend Francoise yesterday to clean and decorate the tomb of their late friend Martine. The cemetery was absolutely beautiful - the tombs were decorated with all kinds of flowers, and there were so many people there visiting the grave sites of their family members. It was such an interesting thing to see; we don't really have a holiday when we remember those who have died.

The city of Angers is decorated in flowers too for the holiday. The fences surrounding the various parks and gardens are covered in flowers. It's nice to see all that color in the dreary, cloudy fall weather we've had.

I had a week off of teaching classes this week in honor of Toussaint, so I had a nice little vacation! While I didn't travel anywhere outside of Angers, I took the time to visit with my friends here. Catherine and I went to go see a movie on Monday. It's a German film titled "The White Ribbon," and it was playing at one of the "independent" theaters - not one of the main theaters that play American films. The theater is named "Les 400 Coups" after a movie by the famous French director Francois Truffaut. It receives money from the government to show films that are produced in Europe; the intention is to support the art of European cinema. The movie itself was strange; it was about a town where crimes were happening, and nobody knew who was committing them. The ending didn't give you a resolution - it left you with two possibilities of who could have been the criminal. Overall, though, it was a quality film.

That night, I went out with the exchange students that are staying in Catherine's house (Trevor and Hitomi). We went to a little restaurant downtown since the one we initially wanted to go to was closed on Sundays and Mondays! It's funny to see the cultural differences here; you would never see a restaurant closed during the week in the U.S. (unless, of course, you're Chick-fil-a!). After dinner, we went out for a drink, and then called it a night.

The rest of my week was pretty relaxed. I am taking a French business class at the university that was still meeting this week, so I went the to the university Tuesday through Thursday. I went over to Catherine's on Tuesday night for dinner, and then Wednesday night, one of my neighbor's cooked dinner for me! His name is Anziz, and he's from Gabon, Africa. French is his native language, so he does a great job with teaching me new vocabulary - especially in the kitchen. He made a great fish-pasta dish for me and Thedi, a Bulgarian girl who also lives in the residence.

Friday, I went to lunch with one of my French business classmates. Her name is Nadia, and she's from Mexico. She lives here with her husband in Angers, and she's hoping to pass the national French business exam after this class so she can work in an office setting. For lunch, we got some Chinese take-out and went back to her apartment to eat it. I got to meet her husband, Johnathan, who works for a French communications business. They were so funny, and I really hope that I will get to see them regularly.

Today has been a little less pleasant of a day, unfortunately. I woke up with a headache (I think it's due to the weather and pressure changes), so I didn't go to the market and canceled my plans with Catherine. I've been resting and feel much better; I'll probably go to Mass tonight and then take it easy - watch a movie or something.

Tomorrow should be a big day though! Catherine is throwing a party for Hitomi's birthday; she'll be 21! She's inviting about 10 people over (which is quite a group in her little apartment!) and cooking a feast. I had intended to go help her prepare for it tonight, but she told me to stay home and rest. I'll give you more details on how that goes in the next post.

Thank you all for your emails and thoughts and prayers! I hope you all are doing well, and I miss you! A la prochaine, mes amis!