à Montluçon, etc...

13 décembre 2008, Christmas lunch

SATURDAY
Today was the annual Club anglais (English Club) Christmas lunch. A member lives up the street from me and he drove me along with two others to Marcillat-en-Combraille, which is where the lunch was being held.

Marcillat-en-Combraille is a small town, about thirty minutes south of Montluçon. Population approximately 900 inhabitants.

There was snow on the fields as we drove through the French countryside, which always has a particular charm about it, even though it is becoming familiar.

Like any proper French village, Marcillat-en-Combraille, the church is the center of town.

There were 32 people in attendance. We sat along two large table in the back room of this restaurant. The food was delicious; there were two main courses, a cheese dish, and dessert. One of the members from Christmas crackers from England

After the meal, everyone sang some Christmas carols, including "The Twelve Days of Christmas," which was a lot of fun. We were divided into groups and given a specific day out of the twelve to represent; you stand up and sing on your day, but then everyone stands up and sings "on the first of day of Chirstmas..."

The whole event lasted nearly five hours.

12 décembre 2008, Barbudos

FRIDAY

Barbudos is a Montluçon band; they played a show at a bar in the medieval part of town. There are six musicians in the band, they traded off instruments and vocals, which was cool. The music and the lyrics were very French, which is kind of hard to explain, but it was fun to listen to.

11 décembre 2008, casino

WEDNESDAY

A mobile casino that has been plopped in front of the Saint Pierre bus stop, which is right at the edge of downtown Montluçon.

8 décembre 2008

MONDAY

Walking through the medieval part of town to get to work.

6 décembre 2008

SATURDAY

Marché de Noël in Prémilhat

Prémilhat and Templemore, Ireland are sister cities. The sister city association had a table at the event. In the picture is my roommate, Becky, playing the flute and Françoise, who is a member of the English Club, is holding the music.

Art exposition. I know the two featured artists through the English Club that I have been attending.

5 décembre 2008, gingerbread houses

FRIDAY
I gathered the preparations for making "gingerbread" houses and two friends and I spent our Friday night decorating.
Molasses is not a typical ingredient sold in French grocery stores, so I couldn't make real gingerbread. There also isn't graham crackers, so the Swedish Wasa crackers played the role in creating the foundation of the houses.

My gingerbread house

4 décembre 2008

THURSDAY

I took this picture walking to my first school of the morning, École Jean Moulin. This was the first time I actually saw the Christmas lights on, which was exciting.

A rainbow from my kitchen window.

A four-wheeler parked on the sidewalk in downtown Montluçon.

The booths for the marché de Noël (Christmas market) are now set up in the square in front of the castle, though the market won't open until the seventeenth of December.

3 décembre 2008, decorating for Christmas

WEDNESDAY

Becky, my roommate, came home with a mini-Christmas tree. I helped make the star to put on top and cut out snowflakes.

2 décembre 2008

TUESDAY

This is a window display in a Montluçon. The poster in the center of the display is another example of where the French have used English, though the translation just did not work out. An English speaker can understand what "Happy Party" means, but the expression just doesn't work in the language, like it does in French. Kind of interesting.

I went to Pat à Pain with Becky. We sat in the upstairs area of the boulangerie/café and enjoyed watching bustling Montluçon :).

28 novembre 2008