I'm waiting for classes to start. I'm quite bored. Last summer when I was this bored, after school ended, I spent a ton of money because I had nothing to do every day except go shopping. Well, that didn't end very well because my account is now pretty low, so unfortunately shopping away my troubles isn't the answer. So I am forced to wait, bored, until I start teaching again. Vivement la semaine prochaine!
The White Bean of Soissons is quite the legendary food around here. It's a very large white bean, like a big lima bean (see the image above, couldn't paste it in here). It is very rich in nutrients and according to legend saved the city from famine during the Hundred Years' War. Several years ago the city made an effort to revive this bean and since then they've had a festival in September to celebrate it. There was a large tent area with different gourmet vendors from all over France, three performance spaces (featuring my favorite country line dancing group, Chey'Aisne), a parade, stuff for the kids... all in all quite the thing to do! I kept running into other instits on Sunday so unfortunately I didn't have a chance to taste this famous white bean. It seems like it's used mostly in soups, but can also be cooked with differnt ingrediants to eat as a side with your dinner or a little appetizer or whatever. And the site of the cooperative that grows the bean even lists a cake recipe! So go buy some and support local agriculture! And then tell me what it tastes like! Or I guess I could go buy some myself and see what kind of magic I can whip up with my one electric burner (that doesn't even boil water!) and a microwave.
In other news, Ben gave me my first, and probably only, manual driving lesson. After four tries where the car jumped around and turned off, I finally got the thing to go! And then of course once we were finally rolling I yelled "oh my gosh, it's moving, now what do I do!?" Because clearly I don't know how to drive a car once it starts moving. I was quite impressed by the fact that I finally coordinated pushing doucement on the clutch, gas, and brake, but he seemed less impressed and not totally convinced that I would ever learn. When we ended the lesson he said "okay, we'll get you an automatic car."
Manual cars: 1 Soleil: 0
The White Bean of Soissons is quite the legendary food around here. It's a very large white bean, like a big lima bean (see the image above, couldn't paste it in here). It is very rich in nutrients and according to legend saved the city from famine during the Hundred Years' War. Several years ago the city made an effort to revive this bean and since then they've had a festival in September to celebrate it. There was a large tent area with different gourmet vendors from all over France, three performance spaces (featuring my favorite country line dancing group, Chey'Aisne), a parade, stuff for the kids... all in all quite the thing to do! I kept running into other instits on Sunday so unfortunately I didn't have a chance to taste this famous white bean. It seems like it's used mostly in soups, but can also be cooked with differnt ingrediants to eat as a side with your dinner or a little appetizer or whatever. And the site of the cooperative that grows the bean even lists a cake recipe! So go buy some and support local agriculture! And then tell me what it tastes like! Or I guess I could go buy some myself and see what kind of magic I can whip up with my one electric burner (that doesn't even boil water!) and a microwave.
In other news, Ben gave me my first, and probably only, manual driving lesson. After four tries where the car jumped around and turned off, I finally got the thing to go! And then of course once we were finally rolling I yelled "oh my gosh, it's moving, now what do I do!?" Because clearly I don't know how to drive a car once it starts moving. I was quite impressed by the fact that I finally coordinated pushing doucement on the clutch, gas, and brake, but he seemed less impressed and not totally convinced that I would ever learn. When we ended the lesson he said "okay, we'll get you an automatic car."
Manual cars: 1 Soleil: 0
5 comments:
hahaha!! What language were you cursing in?!? :)
Sticks actually aren't that bad. My dad taught me how to drive a manual when I was 16 and it was kind of crazy. After one really painful day, it got easier!
Yeah, it always starts out like that. Everyone stalls... repeatedly. I'm sure you could learn--it just takes perseverance!
I had a friend teach me a bit before leaving last summer so I had the basics in English, which helped. He explained how the gears worked and everything, which of course I don't remember, but somehow it helped me understand WHY I had to let the clutch go slowly, etc. It's totally worth the effort, so keep trying! (And keep us posted, hehe)
The beans look beautiful. Hopefully you won't have to take the written test - now that's the challenge.
Okay, bolstered with all of your encouragement, I will be asking for further lessons! I should probably make the traffic radio station broadcast some kind of warning...
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