Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone! While some of you are slowing down this week due to the wonderful holiday we call Thanksgiving, things are picking up for me in France! The end of the semester is approaching, and along with that comes getting final grades together and preparing students for national exams.

Right now, I am organizing a review session for the Cambridge Exam, an exam that non-native English speaking students can take to measure their proficiency in English. In the French tradition, I wasn't given the materials to prepare my students for the exam until a few weeks ago, and they take the exam on December 9th. So, I have had to work very quickly to become acquainted with the exam and to figure out how to best prepare them to take the exam. It's been a challenge trying to work an additional 4 hours into my schedule. Luckily, though, I was smart this week and am having my students do "show and tell," so that buys me some extra time. :)

On a personal level, I had a really good week! I have had the opportunity to get to know my neighbors better. Thedi, a Bulgarian girl living on my floor, cooked a dinner for all of us on Friday night. She made Musaka(sp?), a dish with potatoes and ground beef and pork. It was sooo delicious! Saturday night turned into another impromptu dinner with my neighbors. Originally, I was supposed to have dinner with the Belgian and Paraguayan lectrices, but since we made WAY too much food, we invited our neighbors to dine with us. Our party of 3 doubled into a party of 6! It was so much fun - each person brought his/her own thing to share with the group. And, we were truly an international group; not one nationality is repeated. We have one: Paraguayan, Gabonese, Bulgarian, Belgian, French, and American. Needless to say, the cultural diversity makes each meal interesting.

On Sunday, we decided to have an "American Day." We were going to go to McDonald's (since I have never been to a French McDonald's - they wanted to share that experience with me!) and see an English speaking movie. However, on our way to McDonald's, we had a flash storm, and we got soaking wet. We decided to go back to the residence hall, change into dry clothes, and eat leftovers there. We did still go to the cinema. We saw the film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" in the "version originale" - the original version (i.e. English). It was a very interesting movie - very creative and imaginative. It stretched your imagination and appealed to your senses in a very unique way. I think the film comes out in the U.S. in January - I recommend seeing it! It's also Heath Ledger's last film; he died while he was filming that movie. It was so strange to see him up on the screen.

I also spent some time with Catherine this weekend. I went to the market with her on Saturday. After the market, we went to taste a red wine that only comes out the third week of November in France. It's called Beaujolais, and a French store (La Comptesse de Barry) was having a wine tasting in efforts to sell it. In my opinion, the wine was not the best I have had, but I think the appeal comes with the fact that it only comes out once a year.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, laughter, and blessings. I am thinking of you from across the ocean. Please pray for me that I remember my gifts here and not be too homesick. I am actually going to celebrate Thanksgiving three times! The first is with one of my students (who is actually interested in being the French assistant at Meredith next year!) on Wednesday and then with Debra (the Meredith alumna here) and her family on Thursday. The third I will celebrate in December with Catherine. God has certainly blessed me with wonderful people willing to share the holiday with me! I'll give you an update on all of that next week. Bonne semaine, mes amis!