03 December, 2009

And in reality, Thanksgiving was....


  1. Very French. I've never had a more French meal in my life. The entree was a toasted half of a baguette, on top of which was an olive spread, two large broiled? belle peppers and a sun-dried tomato. It was very bizarre and had to eat but very delicious; all of the French people thought it was an American dish and all of the Americans assumed it was French. The turkey was covered in cranberries and mushrooms. The "stuffing" was actually some sort of meat pâtée. The desert was "pumpkin pie" WITH LOADS OF CURRY - which I was in no mood to eat having just recovered from curry food poisoning two days previously.
  2. A terribly comforting and wonderful experience. I had some revelations. Well, Hanna had some revelations that I ended up benefiting from. Despite the fact that the food at Thanksgiving was decidedly sub-par, it is absolutely the best thing in the world that I miss home and my own Thanksgiving so much. Having a French Thanksgiving made me so grateful for all of the wonderful holidays I've gotten to share with my own family. It is such a wonderful thing to miss you family, and I do and I am grateful that I love them so much because they are so wonderful.
  3. Additionally, I was so grateful on Thanksgiving because I got to share it with so many wonderful friends. I LOVE the people I've met here, and I love that I do feel like I'm part of a community here. I will miss everyone so much when it is over, but I am so grateful to have gotten to meet them and spend this time with them.
  4. Performing with Forrest was one of my highlights from being in France. We did two songs, "Don't Think Twice" by Bob Dylan followed by "La Vie en Rose" by Edith Piaf. I was terribly nervous, as usual, going up there in front of 200 people, half of whom were French, but it was just such a wonderful experience. We got encored after our first song and followed it with La Vie en Rose; all of the French couples started singing along, and I seriously teared up a bit because I felt such a part of a French community in that moment and it made me so glad. After we finished, we got encored again but didn't have anything else to perform. So. The experience just made me so happy. Additionally, I love that Forrest and I kept getting introduced as The Tennesseans, because we're both from Sewanee (although Forrest is actually from Texas, of course.)
  5. Having a beer at the Graslin afterward with Hanna, Forrest and Horace. I had a 3 euro Banana Beer, which was only pretend alcohol at around 3%but extremely delicious.

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