Bonnes fetes du Paques!!

Happy Easter everyone!!! And that really does apply pretty well in French because I learned this week that the French word for Easter, "Paques" is in fact derived from Pesach (the Hebrew word for passover) and that Paques means both Easter and Passover. Even though they are not at the same time this year, which makes no sense to me but I suppose it is futile to try to make sense of the Catholic Church all of the time. Easter is not as big a deal here as it seems to be in the US, however, Monday or "Lundi Paques" is a national holiday (i.e. everything is closed) and people seem to get really into that.

This weekend, I celebrated a strangely long week during which I did some normal work and gave a talk to some of the people in the department here. It was supposed to be a talk to explain to people why I'm in France (since they don't understand the idea that someone could do research with out a PhD) and describe my research to faculty members. But due to some scheduling conflicts (hehe, won't really discuss on blog), there weren't that many people there and it really was like a practice one. I almost did the whole thing in French (45 minutes) but Carmela, the English teacher, convinced me that it would benefit everyone else more if I did it in English. So I only introduced things in French. I practiced it in French though and it made me proud just knowing that I was capable of it.

On Saturday, I relaxed, went to the market and cleaned my apartment. I needed that after my weird week. I also decided to make burritos for some of my French friends who were still in town. It was the first time that I really made them by myself but I had to soak and boil the beans and everything. They turned out pretty well too!! I think so, at least. My friends also bought chocolate and hid chocolate eggs in my apartment to introduce me to the French Easter tradition. It was really cool. We played with Kinder Surprise for about half of the night which are like the coolest things ever. My friends gave them to me for Christmas too and it was when I started thinking that maybe these people understand me more than I knew. And here's why: kinder surprise is a cheap chocolate egg with a cool plastic eggshaped container inside which contains a cool toy or game. It's just a fun egg of entertainment!!! Perfect for my ADHD self!! So that was Saturday night.

Sunday, I went to Easter Mass with all of my foreign friends at Notre Dame. It was pretty cool and I think I criticize the church less when the mass is in another language. However, it did bring up some interesting questions, such as, what were masses like pre-Vatican 2 when they were still in Latin? Why is Easter always on Sunday when Passover changes? And what city in Southern France is the priest from? (he had a pretty strong southern accent). Afterwards, Katie showed us a little bit of her family tradition which includes a huge brunch and mimosas. So she made great omelettes from eggs I bought at the market on Saturday and we hate delicious bread. It was quite a nice Easter morning. That afternoon I saw a pretty good film with my friend Philippe and that was pretty much my weekend.

Now, I'm back to working and ruminating in my apartment until I continue my adventures in Dijon, France and beyond...

Ok, that sounds stupid but I'm tired and don't have too much to write at the moment.

So, until next time...