Mon Noël français

A little delayed, but I am here now to give some updates to the many adventures I have had over the past month or so. I will start with what was a french Christmas spent in a little town called L'Hermitage. At the Busnel family residence, I was welcomed like I was a Busnelian prince (kisses from the females, jabs in the rib from the males) and the hospitality would have ratings above five on yelp. Madame Martine (Titine d'amour ;) ) is Elodie's mom and Alain her father. In a continuing effort, I will try to show my appreciation for what they do and have done for me.

So before I arrived in France last August, I had already made the decision to bypass a Christmas and a Thanksgiving with my family back home. I have an amazing and a large family, filled with loving parents, grandparents, brothers, sister, nephew, cousins, boyfriends, girlfriends, aunts, uncles, etc. It goes with out saying, however I will, that I am thankful and cherishing of all our times together and the futures ones to be spent. However, I wanted to make a commitment and dedicate it to new experiences and ones with a special someone, a girl who makes me proud everyday.

Virginie, moi, Elodie, Kévin, Eva, Alain, Martine

This is all of us, excluding the bebe Alexis! When Vivi's boyfriend, JP had arrived, we became quite a handful of frenchies and one american at the dinner table. Much of the festivities are the same as what I have done before back home, but nevertheless I will regale you all with my Christmas tale.

Twas the night before Christmas, all through the house. Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. Yes, he even makes the journey to France ;) and the scholar in me must reference the previous lines to Clement Clarke Moore in his poem, "A Visit from St. Nicholas."  

Evidence of said stockings and chimney (notice Jay :) )

Ok, ok. Back to business. So the night before Christmas we went to mass. They are Catholic so this was a new experience but one that was very similar to old ones. Once again, I didn't understand much of what the guy in front was saying, I sang poorly but proudly, and I was surrounded by the whole town dressed in their best. Afterwards we were to begin our very lovely dinner. The Busnels (I cant speak for all of France, as Im sure its different) have a tradition of having a large and lovely spread of seafood for special occasions like this. If I was a good boy, I would remember all the names in french but I might cheat and use a translator for them. It was all very new to me, but I dove in and found myself a little drunk from the wine and also surprised at how delicious it all was. 

We have oysters (huitres) on the bottom left, huge fan. Then prawns (idk translation, grosses crevettes?) and shrimp (crevettes), crab claws (crab), and lastly the bulot (whelk in english?). Bulot is like a snail that lives in the sea. They're semi big, like an inch or two in diameter. Mama Busnel made a vinaigrette for the oysters and we used mayo for the shrimp, crab, and bulot. It was a process to eat it all as you had to rip the heads off the shrimp and then I am no pro with the crab. But it was fun and we talked and ate our dinner and also had another dinner afterwards consisting of potatoes, veggies and steak. It was a lot of food, but so much fun to eat and to listen to the frenchies around the table. I've improved my french enough that I can understand and contribute, which of course is so much more enjoyable!

On Christmas day, the kids and I all had an exchange. I got lovely presents from everyone and was so happy to be taken care of like family. Of course, homesickness sank in a little over the holidays, although I cant say that it stayed very long because I was quickly given reasons to forget it. For lunch of Christmas, we had the leftovers from the seafood the night before. Still delish too.

That is a basic summary of my Christmas, it is important to me to show how important family is and how we can all find it wherever we may be. I am very lucky to have been so welcomed and to have a family here that looks after me and of course everyone back home whom I care for. The support I get from everywhere is what motivates me everyday to do my best and to take full advantage of seemingly small opportunities. From my beginning stages of deciding to move to France til the unknown end, I thank you all.

Future blog posts will be here shortly as I have had a busy 2014. I welcomed my mom and Lane to France as you've seen from the pictures on FB. We spent about 10 days together that we all wished could've dragged on forever and I was so proud to have them here. Shortly thereafter, I also spent a week in Morocco with Elodie. My week in Morocco will posted soon as we experienced a culture unlike any I have seen and it really makes an impression on you.

Apparently its not too late in France to people a Happy New Year, so I am doing it now. Have a great 2014!