Cultural happenings in Tours, France

Over the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to see three French films, attend the “Festival of Language” (Festival des langues), and do my fair share of bike riding and crepe making in Tours. Am I becoming French? No. Am I appreciating the fact that I am in France? Yes!

A while back I wrote about a movie theatre in Tours called La Studio (I saw “The Social Network” there).  La Studio shows both mainstream and indie-like movies in their original languages. In early November, I saw a movie called “La Princesse de Montpensier”; it recounted the fictional story of the Princess of Montpensier in 11^th century France. In my opinion, the film was not great, though the actual filming technique was very well done, as were the costumes. In the middle of November, I saw a much better (and funnier) film called “Potiche” (which roughly translates into trophy wife). This film was unlike many other French films I have seen. The movie seemed to have a more intriguing plot and there were multiple times when I laughed! It was almost like an American film… Anyways, the film takes place in France in the 1970s and follows the story of a family who owns an umbrella factory. One day the husband becomes sick and it is the responsibility of the rest of the family to run the factory. And, most recently, I saw “Elle s’appelait Sarah” (She was called Sarah). This film is about an American journalist who lives in France. She is working on a story about the French and their role in WWII regarding the Jews. The journalist attempts to discover the story behind a girl named Sarah who was kept at Vél d’Hiv before her transport to a concentration camp. It was excellent and very well done. It may have shown in the states (half of the film is in English and it stars Kristin Scott-Thomas).

This past weekend I attend the Festival of Languages in Tours. The festival is held annually in Tours and showcases different countries from around the world with cultural displays, language classes, and music/dance performances. This year’s festival was November 20-21. At the festival I had the opportunity to take four language classes…I attempted to learn some Arabic, Italian, Vietnamese, and Chinese. Each class was about 50 minutes long and was organized by the respective cultural organization in Tours. Next time you see me….you can ask me to say something in one of these languages….

More regularly, I have been riding my bike to and from meetings, classes, and events. I am so fortunate that my landlords let me borrow their extra bike! It is so wonderful for getting to the bus stop…I can sleep 15-20 minutes more because I do not have to walk! And, it’s also great when I oversleep or need to be somewhere in 5 minutes!

Crepes! YUM! So, ever since I had crepe night at my house….I LOVE MAKING THEM! They are so easy and delicious to make. I have figured out the proportions to make two crepes with: 1 egg, ½ cup of flour, ¼ cup of milk, ¼ cup of water, dash of salt, and 1 tablespoon of melted butter. This means that whenever I want a sweet snack, I can mix all of the above ingredients together and have two crepes (to fill with whatever I want) in less than 10 minutes! My favorite type to make is with apples and cinnamon sugar. I put one sliced apple in a bowl and add about a tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of sugar, and ¼ tsp. of cinnamon. Then I microwave it for about 1 minute and stir the mixture; I do this until the apples are soft and the sugar and cinnamon has created a caramel-like substance.

This is all for now…I have to get ready for my busy week ahead of me. In addition to my classes (which will be getting Thanksgiving lessons), I have to film an English sport called netball with the other primary assistants on Tuesday afternoon, I am hosting fondue night at my place on Tuesday or Wednesday night, I have a session on Wednesday morning where I will be teaching English to adults with some of the other assistants, and I have Thanksgiving on Thursday! And then…before I know it…Kaitlyn arrives on December 5!