Today's Cultural Exchange

It's 730p and we have not had supper yet. My stomach is growling so we are about to go out to eat, but hey, this is FRANCE...folks here don't have supper typically until after 8p. We're about to leave, though. It's six hours ahead of EST here, so I am guessing a lot of you just finished up lunch recently. They eat lunch (midi) when we do, but they usually have a snack (gouter) late afternoon to tide 'em over until supper. I'm afraid to say "dinner" because dinner to a Southerner can be lunch, yet to a Northerner it's supper...haha! Sorry, just pondering a lot of Southernisms right now due to Angie's blog entry.

We wandered around the town today and went through the Cathedral here in Clermont-Ferrand. It's all black. In fact, the oldest buildings in town are all black because they were made out of volcanic rock, which is black. Coolness! We're going to see one of the extinct volcanoes later on in the week. Should be interesting! The cathedral was magnificent. It had the typical arches and majestic qualities of a cathedral, plus the stained glass, but it also had a certain uniqueness due to being all in black.

The house itself here is very French in set up. Newer houses have the toilet WITH the bath/shower, but the older ones have them separate. In fact, in this two story townhouse apartment, the bath is downstairs....and the toilet is upstairs. I'm a spoiled American and I find it a pain in the ass to wake up in the middle of the night downstairs (where the bedrooms are), and then realize I have to fumble my way upstairs to take a pee. I've had two children; asking me to make it all night long without taking a pee is asking way too much!

All the appliances are tiny compared to ours. The washer is small. The stoves are all space saver sized. His family doesn't even own a dryer or a dishwasher. Oh god I am too spoiled, yes indeed I am! There's no icemaker of course, and the refrigerator and freezer are really small compared to our average sized ones too. The washer themseves have a unique rhythm to their washing and they have different settings than ours. I am sure I don't have to explain that their settings for things are in C rather than F for temperature, either. I've had to use a conversion chart to figure out how to use the stove...haha!

So, last night I made empanadas for them. Mexican food is JUST NOW starting to hit over in France, and most French people have no idea what it is. I decided to do empanadas because they won't be able to find them here...OEP doesn't have an empanada kit! They LOVED them, but since there was no garlic press in the house and I had to mince the garlic like a professional chef, I smell like garlic. Good thing Alex likes garlic! His mother's kitchen is not well equipped because she doesn't like to cook. This is a shock for me because I love to cook and can't believe what basic utensils her kitchen is lacking. She had FOUR spices besides salt and pepper in her cabinet...woof! Anyway, it was fun introducing them to some Mexican food.

I'll give more info later...if I get my ass off the computer now, I've been told we can go eat. They are accomodating the poor American gal who thinks that supper is supposed to be earlier. It's 20 to 8, so that's early for them...seeya!