the local & the locale

our bookshelves

or "The Things We Brought to Busy Ourselves"

or "The Things That Now Seem Unnecessary"

This is the last place I expected myself to be blogging from, but here we are. In a French McDonald's, the only place we could afford to steal WiFi from on a Saturday afternoon. My nerves are fried. I don't know if it's the stress of moving to a new culture, too much whipped cream on my coffee, too much caffeine or too much time in a McDonald's. It's odd. You wouldn't expect to come into a McD's and find yourself thinking, "That latte art is fabulous," or "I want the entire box of macarons!"

So while I'm preparing lesson plans for my first week of classes, Joe is studying French verbs. We're taking a break from our apartment, where it seems like everyday someone leaves a nice note about what we've been doing wrong. (Who knew you couldn't hang your laundry out to dry from the only window in your apartment? Why have an entire recycling bin dedicated entirely to junk mail?)

I've been complaining a lot lately, but there's also been a lot of good going on. We're getting in touch with Nancy culture, sorting through our magazines of community events and trying local food.

This week, we even discovered that the Ch'ti name so popular for pubs and brasseries (pubs with beers on taps, but literally translating to "brewery") in the area is tied to the Picard language. Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais are regions near us, in Northern France near Belgium.

For centuries, France was a country of patois, or region languages. Few of the languages have held on, being transformed into more-or-less comprehensible dialects of modern French. Chti or chtimi of the North is one of the most prominent, even more so thanks to Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, a film following a man as he travels the the region of the Picard language.

Intrigued? Who wouldn't be? Start studying your Ch'ti vocab on Chti.org before you pop across the pond for a visit. I've yet to start learning the language, but I've been reaping the benefits of the Ch'ti pubs. Last night was our first night at a bar in Nancy & our first time out with the girls I'm working with at l'université. It was nice to start feeling connected to people again, to have a few hours to forget about the bills we've as yet been unable to pay–and for once not for financial reasons, but for electronic banking issues!

Outside of linguistic changes (a subject Joe & I will both geek out on for post after post if we weren't afraid to see our readership plummet), we've been enjoying the local food. For once, this means more than our regular baguette and pastry line-up that we've settled into at Chez Régis, the boulanger (bread-maker) closest to us. Can't wait to post about mirabelles, a celebrated fruit of the Lorraine region, and more candies with bergamots. But for now, it's time to get back to vocabulary lessons.

We've found a new kindred spirit, a friend familiar with the troubles of French bureaucracy and blogging. Meet Lauren in Lorraine, a fellow lover of baking, & her husband over at Metzing Around. The new Expat generation has got this blogging thing down.

a rough patch

I am ata computer with a timer counting away the last of our euros, so I will make this quick. I wanted to post a quick update on our situation before people start to worry...

We're well settled into our apartment and absolutely loving it. Our landlord, I'm sure, is not. We still have no bank cards, and since France relies on Internet banking this means we have been unable to pay our deposit OR our rent. I get so worried she'll suddenly stop liking us, because I've already decided I love her and really want to visit her in Luxembour. (This is NOT creapy! I as invited, thank you.)

So. This also means we can't get the Internet. Or a cell phone. Or pay for electricity. I wake every morning fearing that the lights won't turn on, but everyone here seems to be oddly understanding.

As for my work, I get started on Monday. I have had training for one class of six or seven. I found out today that the course was cancelled. Back to square one. Tommorow, there are meetings after meetings to try to get things in order. I need to get my French hat on tighter. That will start tonight.

We're making dinner for a friend, the girl from my university who is the second me in Nancy (or perhaps I am the second her, or perhaps we are one in the same). We'll calm down, like Joe and I do every night, watch an episode of Arrested Development and have our second five-hour dinner.

Joe and I are making time to cook dinner and eat in the French style--later, more slowly and with more wine and bread, eating in courses. Last week, Lauren treated us to such a dinner (for her birthday, no less). Now it is our turn, and we'll be bouncing back and forth each week. So we're focusing on these things for now, the beautiful moments of our first year of marriage, and ignoring the less beautiful details--like our umbrella that broke in the middle of the near-daily afternoon shower and we are already cold and we just want some peanut butter.

187, or, holy shit February

That's right. It is February. That means it is seven months (and 7 days, really) until The Big Day. Ouch. There are moments of high stress, but I'm feeling really good about things.

All invitation supplies are in order, and I can't believe how much easier it is to have a local printer working on things... a REAL printer and not a copy center. It makes my heart happy. I'm looking forward to getting covered in glue, stressing about sticking things in straight, and spending more time than I should making sure that each invitation is perfect.

I want the look of the invites to be a surprise, but I will say that I hope the white "gel" pens we got at Hobby Lobby better write on their black card stock, WHICH the printer is cutting for me. Who knew? And for less than $100. (Ok, for now. I'm not letting myself get too set on this)

The to-do list for Spring Break is getting longer, especially when my reading assignments are figured in, but it's also putting a lot of things into perspective. Plus my bonus trip home this weekend will get one component of the day completely knocked out: bubbles. I got the labels to print on my roommate's computer, after much screaming and cursing trying to move it from a Mac to a PC.

Chloe doesn't know it yet, but we're spending some QT together, putting Megan & Joe labels on 150 bubble bottles, perfectly straight, which is tricky because they're shaped like test tubes and not the usual little jar.

Ok, the whole point of this post was to say that I think we've finally figured out the shoes... sort of. Mom did some digging, and found out that Payless dies and ships wedding shoes for free! The shoes are around $40, so the savings could be almost $20 a pair. Score! So here's the deal.
1. They're BOGO 1/2 off.
2. They offer a small selection of wedding shoes, died in 64 colors.

I think I'm going with the Catherine shoe, in their wedding collection. This is really random, but I found a great pair that matches the vintage-feel of everything on Etsy, sold by SlickBettie.... and they're my size!

So, moral of the story is: I'm asking the girls to order either the Audrey Payless wedding shoe or this cute little number my mom saw, also at Payless. I hope this is easy, since they're online or in the store! Here's a peak at what I think Chloe's favoring... I like!

P.S. Can't make it to Payless? Whatev's. Peep-toes are back with a vengeance, so there are similar styles out there.