Another delayed update, as we have limited internet connection.


Dec 24th, 2006 (Dimanche)

It’s almost Christmas here in France.

Yesterday was our “shopping day”. In the morning we followed Marie-Francoise to the local Hyper-U (the French equivalent of Walmart) to get groceries. It was packed as everyone was trying to get their goods for making Christmas meals we suppose. We were also struck by the amount of dairy products in French supermarchés, especially yogurt-like substances – very intriguing. The guy behind us at the cashier had a cart full of bread and ice-cream – très bizarre.

In the afternoon, we made a poor attempt at getting presents for Antoine and for ourselves (under Mamie’s orders). You should have sent the look on both our faces every time we picked up something to check on the price. Things are ridiculously expensive here. We are also too practical perhaps and hence make lousy shoppers. It’s probably a good thing we are not the typical Americans, otherwise the US economy will really be in trouble! Fortunately, we did manage to pull together something for Mamie – we got her a nice Christmas-y bouquet and a few other little snacks to go with the Mariage Frères tea we got her in Paris.

This morning we attended the late morning service at Saint-Martin, which was quite nice, although very cold. Churches in the US are modern and heated, but lack the splendor of the architecture and mystic of the churches here in France. Tonight we (with Marie-Francoise) will return for the midnight Mass, which will be even colder!! Shuwen is looking forward to a Christ-Mass in France :)

We visited the Le Cahiers this afternoon and had a lovely time chatting. They had just been looking at the photo Dad had sent to them from Thanksgiving in Chicago, so they were pleasantly surprised to find us knocking on their door. They were all impressed by Marc’s running prowess. Gratefully, they didn’t force feed us and we managed to leave before tea-time in order to squeeze in our respective runs (jog for Shuwen).

Time for dinner!

Dec 25, 2006 (Lundi) – Noël!

Marie-Francoise made some fantastic crèpes last night for dinner. She had rolled saumon fume, crème fraiche et gruyere in the crèpes she made, sprinkled some more shredded gruyere on top & backed them in the oven. There was also a simple endive salad with walnuts, which was quite lovely. Needless to say, fromage was also present. For dessert, we had dessert crèpes with nutella (of course) and a really tasty pomme et poire spread. YUM! We were stuffed silly but happy.

Next, it was time to open presents! Yay!! Shuwen received a fun tomato-red scarf from Marie-Francoise, who had noticed how much she likes red. It matches her coat and beanie perfectly – although that might be a bit too much red if all worn together. Marie-Francoise also got us some beautifully handmade chocolates and fruits confits candy. Mamie loved her little ensemble of snacks and small bouquet flowers from her garden that Shuwen put together. Marie-Francoise loved the scarf that Christine and Chris got her so much she put it an straight away and went to mass with it.

At the Notre-Dame, the service involved quite a bit of singing, which was fortunate since Shuwen started falling asleep halfway through. The other thing that was helpful in keeping her awake was the awful stench of someone nearby burping (4-times!) Somebody ate too much fois gras and drank too much wine for dinner! PHEWIE!

Everyone slept in late this morning. Marie-Francoise is busy preparing lunch (she is constantly working!) We are trying to so a little work here and there. Marc is editing some reports and Shuwen is wondering how she is going to pull together some additional data runs a professor needs for a presentation in DC on Jan 11th. This will likely involve working in Singapore since the internet connect here is limited and slow. Oh well!! Probably good that there is work to do, otherwise it will be really tough adjusting to life as a student when we return to the US. She has also yet to hear about her advisor’s plan/decision as to whether he will be leaving UNC for UMich. There is no much she can do from here anyway, so she will deal with the repercussions when she returns in Jan.

This afternoon we will have a Christmas dessert at Ann-Marie’s (Antoine’s God-mother).

~ Shuwen and Marc