T-Day

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Obviously. But what really is an SYA Thanksgiving, you ask? Well...

We started off the day with the usual schedule: I had Langue, Culture et Société Françaises, Littérature and Histoire. But to be honest we were all so giddy with excitement and a little sadness to not be home on such a family holiday. One of the girls had suggested we all dress up nicely for the occasion (as we would at home) so the boys broke out the button-down shirts and ties and the girls wore skirts or dresses.


After a LONG waiting period, we began to walk to lunch at St. Vincent, the local high school we go to for lunch. Usually, we start lunch at 11:30 and get back to school for 1:00, but on Thursday we started our lunch at 1:15. Needless to say, we were more than ready to go into the room that the chef at St. Vincent had prepared for us to begin our feast.

We started with a butternut squash soup, followed by some turkey, odd orange potatoes (not sweet potatoes, mind you), and green beans. It wasn't exactly a gourmet meal, but we were all happy to be in the holiday spirit. We got back to school in time for afternoon classes but no work really got done - Who has the motivation to do work on a holiday? Of course, SYA students are hard workers and we were back to the homework and studying on Friday.


On Friday afternoon, as soon as school ended, Wes, Grant and I walked a half a mile up the road to the SuperU to buy ingredients for Saturday's festivities. We filled up the shopping cart with spinach, apples, green beans, chicken (it's really tough to find turkey before the Christmas season in France, I'll tell you that much) and all sorts of goodies and walked back to Wes's house, weighed down with grocery bags

Grant left for tennis, so Wes and I began the preparations. I chopped up innumerable onions, he ripped up a baguette into millions of breadcrumbs, we figured out how to use French bouillon cubes (it oddly resembles jello..?) and Wes attempted to make an apple pie. We put the preparation away until tomorrow, I wished Wes and his host parents a bonne soirée, and I headed home.

Up the next day:

My alarm didn't ring, but somehow I managed to make it to school by 8am, to leave for Mont. Saint Michel for the second time. We toured the Abbey, took tons of pictures, had crêpes and were back home for 5pm. I hopped on the number 9, rushed home, showered, whipped up a pumpkin pie mix and hopped back on the bus.

Quick Tip: Don't talk to a pumpkin pie in English on a French bus. For that matter, don't talk to it in French, either. In fact, don't talk to your pumpkin pie at all, if you can help it. People look at you as if you have three heads.

I got to Wes's house and helped Wes, Grant and Will who were attempting to throw together the finishing touches on the meal. I sautéed green beans, put together a gravy, whipped up some cream and together, the four of us had a perfect meal on the table by 8pm. We gave thanks, ate too much, cleaned up, ate my stellar pumpkin pie, cleaned up the desserts, and relaxed in front of the TV, all ready to explode. It was a good night, to say the least.

Alors,

I've decided not to make Thanksgiving dinner for my host family today, because some of them are going to a concert and I don't have any of the ingredients I need. The LeGac Thanksgiving: Postponed. For now, at least.

Now off to do homework. Work hard, play hard.

Yours in Dysfunctional French,

-L

p.s. I'm getting overwhelmingly excited for Christmas. USA, here I come