A bus leaves from right outside our apartment building and for 3 euros each, brings us to Ornans. Ornans is southwest of Besancon and is surrounded by mountains. I found it funny that a town only 30 minutes away had a couple inches of snow on the ground while we have none! At one point on the bus you could see houses going uphill. The lower houses had no snow on the roofs while the higher ones were covered.
The town itself is gorgeous. It is very historic looking, and has a river running through it. The water was so clear you could see the riverbed and fish swimming. There were also ducks. Mallards, in fact! Besides pigeons, mallards are the first comparable bird species I have seen. I'm sure that will change come Spring, though.
The only buses heading that way were at noon or six. While noon was very early, six would be too late so our idea was to grab lunch at a local cafe and wander around town until it was about time for the party. Well, not only was it snowing and cold, but we forgot that most stores close from noon to two. Evidently in a small town like Ornans, even the cafes close. So we walked to Louis and Marianne's and they graciously let us in much earlier than the intended time and even made us lunch.
I'm really glad we got there early because it gave us time to talk from one expat couple to another. They gave us advice, places to shop, and joked about French customs and ways of life. They are really nice people, and huge Halloween fans! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I was super bummed to find out it is not celebrated here, so this was happy news for me! They turn their whole basement into a haunted house!
The party was wonderful, everyone was very nice and trying their best to include us in their conversations. There were 19 adults and 10 kids! The food was Quebecois, that is to say recipes from Quebec. Marianne went a little pale upon finding out that I'm vegetarian, as all her entries were meat. I assured her it was fine and I'd make do with appetizers and such.
I never know what to do in those kinds of situations. Upon finding out about the party should I have told Jeremy to tell Louis about my vegetarianism? Or should I just keep my mouth shut? If I tell people beforehand, I feel like I'm making a big deal out of it and am afraid they will feel like they have to go out of their way for me. On the other hand, I can embarrass the hosts of the party who, upon finding out, realize they have nothing to feed me.
But when I say anything is fine and not to cook something special for me, I really do mean it. I had no problem eating the vegetables from the appetizer platter and mashed potatoes. I like vegetables, it would be hard to be vegetarian otherwise, and the mashed potatoes were awesome. Plus, it saves more room for the dessert!
Jeremy said the meat dishes were delicious. There was some kind of sausage, a meat pie, and a meat stew. There might have been one more thing. I'm not very descriptive with meat dishes considering. There was also homemade ketchup that Jeremy said tasted sweet and spicy. As a side note, it seems the French eat ketchup as a side, not as a dressing. When the girl next to Jeremy, Natasha, asked him if he wanted some he asked "Sure, but what do I put it on?", gathering odd looks from the people around him. He then noticed that people just put it on the side of the dish and eat it like one would eat mashed potatoes or peas.
The desserts were amazing. Maple syrup pie, maple syrup cupcakes, and apple pie. The maple syrup pie had a consistency of pumpkin pie, except thicker, and the maple taste was very strong. The cupcakes had a more mild maple taste with an almost cinnabon-esque icing. When you walked into Marianne's kitchen, I swear there were at least 6 empty jars of maple syrup. But let's forget about how many carbs I consumed.
We were driven home by a friend of Louis and Marianne names Emanuel but affectionately called Crab by his friends. It was very nice of him, otherwise we would have had to stay the night and catch a bus the next day. We were exhausted from trying to speak and comprehend all night, which Louis and Marianne understood from both Boston and France.
As an interesting side note, Marianne said she would have thought moving to Boston would be harder than moving to France because she could speak French, but it was actually the opposite. Canada and America have a similar way of life while France is a lot different. For example the fact that everything is closed from noon to two Monday-Saturday, and closed all day Sunday. Life is more relaxed here, which is nice but can be a con as well. People being more laid back means things like us getting our washer 30 days after it was supposed to be delivered is a more common occurrence. Customer service is practically non-existent here as well, though Marianne said it's better than it was 5 years ago. People also tend to be more easily offended here. They take pride in how they look but at the same time want to make sure they look like everyone else and take offense very easily to anything regarding themselves, their region, or their country. Marianne said many times if she mentions she misses something from America or Canada she gets something along the lines of a haughty, "Well, why don't you just move back, then!"
It's a lot to get used to, that's for sure. I often wonder how many times I have screwed up or offended someone simply because I'm not sure what the cultural norm is here. It is very nice having people who can relate, and exciting that hopefully I can call them my friends.