The Woodsman's Log: Thanksgivings Etc.

This past week has been very exciting, with lots of Thanksgiving-related goings-on. Even though Thanksgiving is an American holiday, and therefore not celebrated in France, Jenny and I did just as much celebrating as we probably would have done at home! On Thursday, which was actually Thanksgiving, we went to a big Thanksgiving potluck party at some friends' apartment. Jenny and I don't have an oven, just a stove-top and a microwave, so we went over to their place the afternoon of the party to do our cooking. Jenny made two big pumpkin pies, for which her mom had mailed ingredients which can't be found here, such as canned pumpkin and evaporated milk. I made my mom's sweet potato casserole, which I had never made before, but turned out wonderfully (and got quite a few compliments at the party, I might add!).

There were around twenty people there that night, mostly lecturers and assistants, so there was a lot of delicious food. There were Americans, French, English, Irish, etc. and a lot of people were celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time ever! Jenny had had her students that day draw hand-turkeys (where you trace your hand and turn it into a picture of a turkey) and she brought them all and hung them all over the wall. And then we all made our own hand-turkeys and hung them up. It was a lot of fun, and I was SO full by the time we left. On the way home, Jenny found some guy's long-term metro card (which costs hundreds of euros) on the stairs going down into the metro station, so she found him on Facebook when we got home and sent him a message, and we were able to meet him and return it to him the next day.

On Friday, we took a train to Bois-Bernard to have Thanksgiving with Liliane and Francois. Liliane had sent Jenny an e-mail asking her what ingredients we would need for Thanksgiving foods, so I assumed that we would be helping her make the dinner. But when we got there, Liliane gave us the ingredients and told us "You're the bosses today!" Jenny and I were both kind of surprised, but we managed to make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner mostly by ourselves! I made mashed potatoes and corn and my mom's sweet potato casserole again, and Jenny made stuffing, her mom's version of sweet potatoes, another pumpkin pie, brussel sprouts, and she and Liliane cooked the turkey. It was all very good, and I went to bed very full once again.

On Saturday, Liliane and Francois drove us up to the coast, which was really cool. We went to a cliff called Cap Blanc-Nez, which is on the beach. It was extremely windy! There were amazing views from the top, and you could see England (barely) on the other side of the water. We then walked down on the beach, which was also very beautiful, and not nearly as windy. After we left the cliffs, we drove to Boulogne-sur-Mer, a city on the water where we went to a big aquarium called Nausicaa. It was cool, but I think both Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg and the Chattanooga Aquarium are better.

It was a great weekend! I love seeing new parts of France. Sometimes during the week when Jenny's working and I don't have much to do I feel like there's no reason for me to be here, but going places like Cap Blanc-Nez makes me glad I'm here. I want to see a lot more of Europe before I leave!

Here are some pictures I took.

Cap Blanc-Nez

Across the channel. I left this photo at a higher resolution than the others, so you can really see the detail when you click on it. You can barely make out something on the other side of the water, which is England!