I'm 23 now, but will I live to see 24?

I’ve been in a choir since 4^th grade. I have never not been in a choir at Christmas time – until now. I’ve been craving Christmas carols, and I recently realized that I normally am singing them not only in my school choirs, but in church choirs. So last Sunday I decided to go to church with Jenna, in hopes of singing some good ol' Christmas songs (but in French).  Jenna somehow found a Baptist church in Nantes, a feat which amazes me. I figured since they’re Baptist, they ought to love singing. Well, they do love singing. I recognized at least 3 of the praise songs from home (but in French). We asked someone beforehand if they would sing Christmas songs, and he told us, “They’re singing one, but the kids think they’re too old fashioned, so just one.” WHAT? Christmas songs never go out of style. So I sat through this service and only got to sing one Christmas carol, and I didn’t even recognize it. I see why they don’t like carols, though – this song was hard. It was way too high and had way too many words in too short a space. So I was pretty bummed out after the service. Jenna was talking to another woman about how we always do Christmas songs in American churches, and the woman said, “Oh, well there’s a carol service tonight at some such church.” Some such church is a ten minute walk from Jenna’s house. “Oh, and it’s in English.” WHAT? So around 4pm I came back to Jenna’s and after a bit we headed out to find this some such church. It really is just down the street. We walk in and run into some girls Jenna’s met who are on a mission from Bethany College, as well as a few people from church that morning. So the service gets going and the Pastor of the church, who is Scottish, tells us all about how it’s a tradition in GB to gather before Christmas and sing, and they’ve been doing it here for the past 4 years. The whole service is bilingual, but all the songs are English. And when I say English, I mean British. Fortunately Jenna and I have an advantage over the Bethany girls – we already know the weird hymn tunes to Away in a Manger and Little Town of Bethlehem. We are surprised by Angels We Have Heard on High, however. We don’t even realize what it is until the chorus – not “glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oria,” but “co-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ome and worship” England is so weird. I also wanna shout out to Dr. Long and the Willamette Chamber Choir – without you all, I wouldn’t have known Once in Royal David’s City or Lo How a Rose Ere Blooming. Cool. Basically, this was the coolest and best part of the holiday season so far, if not only for how fortunate we were to completely stumble upon it. Thank you, GB, for getting homesick and thus making my homesickness a bit more tolerable.

Tuesday, as you may know, was my birthday. Not just any birthday, but my 23^rd birthday. 23 of Blink 182 and Coolio fame, as I’ve beaten into the ground over the past week on Facebook. I’ve not been looking forward to this day ever since my best friend’s birthday in October, when I really started to pay attention to Blink 182’s words of wisdom – “Nobody like you when you’re 23.” Also, spending yet another birthday away from family and friends is never something to look forward to. But my few remaining friends in town outdid themselves once again, and I actually had a very lovely day. First good birthday in 3 years, I’d say. I started if off at midnight with a mug of Cointreau cocoa, the remaining Russian Tea cakes, and Love Actually. Fairly lonely. After a few hours of sleep I got up to see the lunar eclipse (on the solstice, none the less, I’m sure there were people dancing naked and burning things somewhere). However, weather prevented me from seeing anything, so I went back to sleep until 11am. I ate a whole bunch of chocolate and then went into town to meet Richard for lunch. We had pizza (this was my second artichoke pepper and goat cheese pizza in 24 hours, I had the very same with Annika’s parents the night before), and it was delicious. After we went to the Jardin des Plantes, which I’d never been to, and found some goats to feed. I’m fairly certain that I’m a goat whisperer, because these were the 3^rd set of goats I’ve hung out with since August. I mean really, this is getting weird.

my new friends

 After the goats, I headed to what Carly had dubbed the Peter Paul and Mary church (Cathédrale Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul), where I met Carly for ice-skating. French people love ice-skating. I think I’ve ice-skated more in the last 2 months than in the 4 years before that. This was an outdoor rink, special for the Christmas season, and it only cost 1euro for skate rental. Cool. So we ice-skated for a bit, then headed to the Christmas markets to get some praline peanuts (bringing back memories of airlines of old) and a carton of scalloped potatoes with ham bits. Delicious. We then headed to the theater to see Nowhere Boy, that movie about John Lennon. It was pretty enjoyable, especially because it was freezing outside and we still had some peanuts to enjoy. A good way to spend 2 hours. After we headed to pasta box and ate boxes of pasta, then over to Carly’s, where we drank Cointreau cocoa and wine. Keri Ann showed up followed shortly by Jenna, and I enjoyed the last few hours of my birthday lying around with my friends in our pajama tuxedos. A good birthday, all around. I believe I will make it to 24, no matter what Blink 182 says. As it turns out, the song ends with “No one should take themselves so seriously with many years ahead to fall in line. Why would you wish that on me? I never want to act my age.” Agreed.

maroon tuxedo - keeping me warm since 2009

dix

“I don’t have arms, but I have friends”

                -speech bubble from an armless stick figure on a poster about discrimination in one of my schools.

I apologize for my absence of over a month, I have absolutely no excuse, besides that so much has happened that once I missed a week, it just seemed too daunting to catch up. So rather than try to recap the entire fall season, I’m just going to tell you about my friends – I’m lucky enough to have both arms and friends.

Last night those of us who are still around gathered at Carly’s place for a white elephant exchange. The east-coasters (both the residents of the house) call this a “Yankee swap,” which was appreciated by our british friends. I spent the day going to various groceries to find ingredients for Russian tea cakes, my holiday classic (snickerdoodles have far too many non-french ingredients, so I didn’t even try). Powdered sugar is sold in a plastic jar here, and costs nearly 4 euro for no more than a cup. Don’t even get me started on Pecans. I finally gathered everything that I needed and whipped up some teacakes in the foyer’s kitchen, then headed over to Carly’s. We ate treats and enjoyed the Christmas spirit, and I introduced the gang to Cointreau-cocoa, which if you haven’t tried, you should. It’s much like a chocolate orange, in a glass. Delicious. So we’re all sitting around in Carly’s room, sippin on our cocoa, and then the lights dim, and I look up to see Carly walk in carrying a cake, candles and all. All my friends are singing me happy birthday and I’m left speechless, caught entirely off guard. I’ve never been surprised for my birthday before, and I can’t even begin to express how happy this made me. I was planning on a pretty terrible birthday, basically all alone in France, but my friends went above and beyond to make sure that didn’t happen. I blew out the candles (or tried to, as it turns out French trick-candles are impossible to put out, even after pinching with wet fingers they light back up), and then was showered with presents, each one a new surprise. I can’t believe how many people got me gifts, when I was only expecting to walk away with a candy bar or plastic trinket from the white elephant. As it turns out, one of my gifts was a tiny elephant that when blown into makes the sound you would expect a 2 inch elephant to make. I cannot say thank you enough to these people who have made my time here bearable, and my birthday wonderful. You guys are the best, you’ve completely outdone yourselves.

Another gift was broccoli to go with the Ranch dressing that Misty brought. They don't have Ranch here, and I  had told Misty that I liked cooked broccoli with Ranch. Now everyone else does, too.

After the birthday festivities were through, the white elephant began, and having drawn number 1, I picked my package and got some chocolate eggs filled with toys. This was one of the more polite white elephants I’ve been to, with very little stealing, and even less crappy gifts (aside from the package of screws, everything was pretty excellent). In the end I came away with a chocolate santa, which I promptly ate the head of, and because whoever had the eggs forgot to take them home, I got those too. A few people went home at this point and the rest of us started singing Christmas carols. When ‘Away in a Manger’ came along, we all started singing, but soon realized we were singing two different tunes. Apparently in England, they use the traditional hymnal tune. Same for Little Town of Bethleham, I think. This led us to ‘God save the Queen’ vs. ‘My country tis of thee,’ which of course resulted in the Americans trying to remember all the words to the latter. Once we hammered that out, we all headed home. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday surprise, thanks again, team.

Things that have happened since I last updated, which I can tell you about if you’re interested:

A trip to the LC club, the biggest dance club in Nantes. Power week – ten straight days of going out. My neighbor letting us into a church at midnight to listen to him play the third biggest organ in Nantes. Karaoke, twice. A trip to Ancenis. Iceskating. Hosting Thanksgiving for 35 of my friends. Thanksgiving in Angers. KeriAnn's gangsta birthday, durag and all. Last weekend in Angers before the kids leave.

I may write about some of these things anyway, but let me know if you want an update on anything specifically.