Matthew est Malade

Matthew is generally a very healthy person. In the three years we lived in Greenville we never even found a family doctor. The 2 or 3 times he was sick enough to warrant a doctor's visit, I would just take him to Doctor's Care (an urgent care doctor's office).

Last night Matthew came home from work and he looked awful! He told me work had been torture, and he could barely move from his desk all day. He spent the rest of the night laying on the couch. This morning he attempted to go to work. About 10:00am I got a call from him saying he was coming home. He had gone to the infirmary at work, and they had given him some medicine, but it didn't help. Matthew's boss gave him the number of a service that would send a doctor to your house. His boss told him that during flu season if you don't already have a family doctor, it can be hard to schedule an appointment. Matthew called the service and about an hour later a doctor showed up at our doorstep.

I am not exactly sure how health care works here in France, but I know for citizens, it is wonderful. For expats, our insurance policy works a little differently than in the US. We have to pay for everything out of pocket, fill out a form, send it to the insurance company, and then we are reimbursed.

After the doctor had checked Matthew's blood pressure, temperature, listened to his breathing, and asked him some questions, he handed us his bill. I was a little nervous to see how much a doctor's home visit would be. 32 euros (a little over $40). That's it! Then he handed Matthew a prescription sheet with 4 prescriptions written on it. So I headed to the pharmacy (for the first time).

I walked into the pharmacy and handed the lady behind the counter the sheet and explained that I only needed the first 3 prescriptions (the 4th was only in case Matthew started throwing up). She went to the back and came back with my prescriptions. She asked if I had a carte de vitalite (like a prescription drug card), I told her "no". Then she asks me if I can pay. At this point I start worrying a little. I know we will be reimbursed, but still, I am wondering how much is about to be deducted from my bank account. She rings up the prescriptions and says "sept blah blah blah blah, s'il vous plait". I knew I had heard the number seven ('sept'). I was expecting around 60-70 euros, but seven? Seven what? Seven hundred???? Surely not. She runs my card, and hands me my receipt. 7.91 euros! Without a drug card, 3 prescriptions were less than 8 euros!!! That is amazing!

Play Date with the Pages

After many, many rainy and cold days, today was a gorgeous day. Lots of sunshine and beautiful blue skies. We called Freddie and Jen Page to see if they wanted to bring the kids to meet us at Parc Montjuzet. The last time I went to the park was when Clarrette and I went walking there back in November. That day, we were the only ones in the park. Today was a completely different story. There were families everywhere, couples jogging, people everywhere walking their dogs. They even had a little mobile store that was selling cotton candy and waffles covered in Nutella (this is a pretty big deal considering NOTHING is open on Sundays here). The view from the park is probably my favorite one of the cathedral and the city.

The Simmons' Wine Tasting Party

Saturday night, Matthew and I were invited to the home of another expat family for a wine tasting party. Our hosts were Reno and Susan Simmons. There were 14 bottles of wine all covered with aluminum foil and a letter on each bottle. Reno and Susan had created two games. The first was the "easy" game. This game included 7 wines (red and white) from across France. Sheets were handed out that had the names and type of grape for all seven wines, and most had a description of the wine. The object was to taste from a bottle and try to match it to the name, type of grape, and/or description from the sheet. The fact that there were white and red wines, helped narrow down the choices. The second game (the impossible game!) included 7 wines, all red and all from the Languedoc region of France. By the time I got to this game, everything was tasting the same so I only tried about 3 and guessed on the other 4. Although I tried to remember everything I had learned at the International Women's Club wine tasting in November, I think most wine connoisseurs would have cringed at my tasting strategies (including cleansing my palette with bacon wrapped scallops, escargots, and other yummy things to eat!). When Susan announced the winners, Matthew and I were not surprised to not have won. We all got our sheets back and I was proud to see that on the "Tour de France" game I got 4 out of 7 right. On the Languedoc wine game I got 1 out of 7 right (which was the same number as anyone else got)! It was a great night of wine, food, and fellowship with other expats.

Hike at Charade

Saturday, Bertrand and Claire invited us to go for a hike around a golf course in the village of Charade. I had discovered Charade on the internet while searching for things to do in the area. There is a ropes' course there that Matthew and I plan to try when the weather gets warmer. Charade's claim to fame, however, is the motorsport road course that was built there in 1958. The course was built around the sides of an extinct volcano. The last Formula 1 race was held there in 1972 when a rock was thrown from the tire of one car and hit a driver in the eye, ending his career (the drivers wore open faced helmets because they complained the twisty course caused motion sickness, so the open faced helmets were just in case...).
Saturday was the warmest it had been in a while, so Matthew and I were questioning our judgment as we drove higher and higher into the mountains (we kept seeing more and more snow on the ground, and the temperature continued to drop). The hike started off as an easy walk along a road that ran beside the golf course and the ropes' course. As we got deeper into the woods, there was more snow and it was pretty slippery, especially the downhill parts. Halfway through the hike, there was a path that led uphill through the woods and opened up out on the side of the mountain. There were breathtaking views of the surrounding area. After taking lots of pictures, we headed back down the trail and finished the hike. Bertrand got a really good workout since the had to carry Lisa most of the way. My ego (as well as my behind) was slightly bruised when I slipped on some of the snow/ice and fell (this is why you will notice in the pictures that Matthew is carrying the camera, I didn't trust myself!).
PS-Thanks to Claire for sharing her pictures with me (I have posted them along with mine in the slideshow).

Galette des Rois

"King Cake"
A Galette des Rois, or King Cake, is a cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in many countries. In France, it is a very popular tradition. The cake gets its name from the three Biblical kings who traveled to Bethlehem to honor Jesus on Epiphany. Bakeries and grocery stores are filled with the Galette des Rois and bottles of sparkling cider (it is tradition to eat the two together). The cakes have a small figurine hidden inside. Whoever gets the piece with the figurine inside becomes the king or queen of the day. That person is also obligated to supply the next cake, or host the next party. To ensure a random distribution of the cake slices, the tradition is for the youngest person to go under the table and name the order in which the family is served.

Last week, Claire and Bertrand invited us to their apartment for a Galette des Rois. Claire baked the cake herself, and it was delicious. The taste is really hard to describe, because there is nothing in the US that I can compare it to. The crust (top and bottom) was just like a traditional apple pie, and the center had an almond taste. I have tried to come up with a description of the texture, but I can't! I will say that it is very different from the King Cake that is popular in New Orleans. I found the figurine in my slice of cake, but I have a feeling it was rigged...

Bene's Baby Shower

Even though this will be Bene's 3rd child, it will be her first to be born in France. So Robin and one of Bene's French friends decided to throw a baby shower (that, and the fact we will use any excuse for a party!). There was a nice mix of Bene's American and French friends at the shower. It was also a great chance for Jen Page, who just moved here 3 days ago, to meet everyone. We had lots of good food and wine, and even a shower game. The object of the game was to estimate how many squares of toilet paper it would take to go around Bene's belly. I guessed 11, which was close. The correct guess was 9. The big hit of the night was the diaper "cake" that Clarrette made complete with ribbon and little booties and one-sies tied to the side. It even had 2 pink necklaces for Bene's two older girls.

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve this year with Bertrand, Claire, and Bertrand's daughter, Lisa. Matthew and I were treated to a French feast prepared by Claire. We started the evening with an aperitif of champagne and sliced baguette with creme fraiche and smoked salmon. The meal began with a seafood course of Noix St. Jacques and Crevettes (scallops and shrimp). Next, we had frog legs sauteed in garlic and butter and gratin dauphinois (a creamy potato dish). Then, we had a cheese course. Unfortunately I can never remember the names of cheeses that we eat! Finally, we had dessert (the only part of the meal I was responsible for). I made chocolate fondue with a variety of fruits for dipping. We sat down to dinner about 10:00pm, and we did not get up from the table until after 1:00am! We asked Bertrand and Claire if there was a ball dropping or any other tradition to ring in the New Year. After the puzzled look we received, Matthew and I tried to explain the tradition of the ball dropping in Times Square. We then told them about the year we went to Atlanta to watch "The Peach" drop. The ball dropping is such an important tradition in the US, but trying to explain it, I realized how silly it sounds (it especially sounded silly when we were trying to describe the giant peach in Atlanta!!!). It sounded even more absurd when we told them how people stake out their spots in Times Square the morning of New Year's Eve and don't move in fear of losing their spots. "People stand there for hours to watch a ball drop?" It does sound pretty lame. Oh well! I guess you have to grow up watching it every year to fully appreciated it. Our entertainment for the evening was when Bertrand convinced Matthew to play his guitar. There was lots of French and English spoken. We always laugh when words come up that sound very similar, but mean completely different things. For example, when making the smoked salmon appetizers, Claire asked me to put some "paper" on top. Paper? We finally figured out that she was meaning to say "pepper". I had never thought about how similar those two words sound! Bertrand was laughing when Matthew told him that we had duck for dinner one night when Mom was here; however he pronounced the word "connard" instead of "canard" for duck ("connard" is an a** hole...definitely not the kind of mistake you want to make when ordering from the butcher!).