Saturday, April 26, 2008

3 things that are different

I have moved to the US about 8 years ago, so I am pretty much used to it now. But it wasn't always the case. There are so many things that are different from the country I grew up in.
I said in another post that I would tell you about the difference between the French and the American washcloth. But there are many other things that are different.

J'ai demenage aux USA il y a 8 ans, alors j'ai bien l'habitude des coutumes et differences. Mais au debut c'etait different, tout m'etonnait. Il y a tellement de petites choses qui sont differentes ici.
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The French washcloth is on the left. Like a glove, you slide your hand in it and it is pretty convenient I think. The American one is a square piece of towel.

Le gant de toilette francais a gauche, et le gant de toilette americain a droite, qui n'est pas un gant mais simplement un carre de serviette.
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On the picture the left pillow is the large square French pillow and on the right is the rectangular American one. I don't think there is one better than the other. They can be both as comfortable. I like to have both at home because I am both American and French now (hehehe...)

Les oreillers francais sont bien plus grands et carres, mais les oreillers americains sont rectangulaires. Ils sont tous les 2 bien comfortables mais j'aime bien avoir les deux sortes a la maison pour les invites.
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The windows in America slide up and down or sideways (I don't like it because they stick and are hard to open sometimes). In France they open wide like a door with a handle.

Les fenetres aux USA coulissent de haut en bas ou bien d'un cote a l'autre (Je n'aime pas trop car souvent elles sont dures a ouvrir et ne glissent pas super bien). Les fenetres francaises s'ouvrent bien en grand avec une poignee.

Friday, April 18, 2008

In the mail today...

I came home tonight and there was a big box at my door. It said it was from France, so I got all excited remembering that my mom said she sent me something. The box looked pretty beat up so I was hoping whatever was inside made it well.
I opened the box, to find another box inside which was wrapped in heavy paper and then duck taped all over. It took me about 5 minutes to get that off, and I finally get to the box which was also duck taped all over, making sure that any possible openings were safely shut. This box was definitely impossible to open by hand and needed the help of a knife or something sharp.
10 minutes later I open the mystery box and pull what is inside.
Oh !!!! a little box! wait a minute! I recognize that little box !
It was a little wooden box I had when I was little. And inside, I find earrings and necklaces that my mom made for me. And a ring that my brother got me.
In the big box I also find
- a dried French salami. (yummy...)
- 4 French style wash clothes (I will explain the difference another day about French and American wash cloth).
- 6 French pillow cases (Yes the French pillow cases have a different shape than the American ones, the French ones are large and square)
- 1 duvet cover (twin size)
- 1 mattress sheet (twin size)
- 10 0r 15 recipes (photocopies from cooking magazines... of the stuffs that are in fashion in the cooking world of France)
- and a cute note saying "dear Cecilou and Christou...... we hope you like it....... we love you and think of you....... mom and dad..... Marie-France and Noel".

Now let me tell you.
1- When my parents ship something, it will arrive in good shape and safe, because they are KING and QUEEN of packaging. They will pack it so safely that it will be a real challenge to open it.
2- When they say they are shipping a couple pillow cases, they mean : they went to the supermarket and bought everything they thought that could please us.
3- If you say on the phone (one day in a conversation), that you kinda miss French dried salami, they will make sure to go get you one and even more other things.
4- There will always be a sweet little note, whether it's on a tiny post-it or a big piece of paper and it will be signed "mom and dad" followed by their names (just in case I didn't remember who they really are.)

Now, is that the sweetest thing or what?

So I would like to thank you for all the gifts mom and dad, Marie-France and Noel (just in case).
And thank you Lionel (bro) for the ring, I really like it.

(Ah and just in case you are wondering, the twin size bed sheets aren't because I am moving out, but because when I start being a Firefighter in one month, I have to sleep at the fire station in a twin size bed (10 days a month).

Saturday, April 5, 2008

J'ai les muscles qui poussent



Title: My muscles are growing.

Thank you, Thank you for all the nice comments, it's always good to see that my buddies are thinking of me.
Week 4 of the fire academy is over and I have 6 left. My muscles are very achy and sore and I have a hard time to recover from one day to another, so I think I'm gonna have to start eating meat again (unfortunately, I don't like meat very much. I will not eat chicken though, Yuukky!)
I am getting so strong, check out my muscles, It came suddenly this week, I looked into the mirror and found my arms with those muscles. It scares me...

Merci merci pour vos gentils commentaires, ca me fait toujours bien plaisir de voir que mes potes loin en France pensent a moi. Et puis j'ai fait ce blog pour que l'on puisse continuer a rester en contact, alors je suis contente de voir que ca marche.
La formation de pompier aux USA, c'est pas de la tarte... Je parie que c'est pas facile en France non plus, mais je ne sais meme pas comment c'est en France. C'est la 4eme semaine de formation et il m'en reste encore 6. Je suis fatiguee, j'ai des courbatures et j'ai du mal a recuperer d'un jour sur l'autre, alors je crois qu'il va falloir que je me mette a manger un peu de viande car mes muscles me font bien mal. (j'aime pas la viande. Je ne mangerai pas de poulet en tout cas... Bahhh!)
Et puis cette semaines j'ai mes muscles qui ont soudain pousse. Je me suis regardee dans le mirroir et ca m'a fait peur.