Welcome to Caen

{This group of posts pertains to my Christmas vacation in which my family came to visit me. The posts are based on notes I took during the trip and then wrote up after returning. They are post-dated to reflect the proper sequence of events. This is Part 2.}

My family arrived today! They got through customs super quick and were able to grab an earlier train to Caen. I rushed down to grab some Buchettes de Noel as a special treat, but more about those later. I met them at the train station, and then we went to the hotel to drop off their luggage. They were beat, but determined not to give in to the jetlag.

Side note: I personally don't have much trouble with jet lag. I tend to get over after about a day, or at worst, two days, but I know people who take a week or more to adjust. There are two schools of thought: 1) Gradually change your inner clock by pushing yourself to stay awake an hour longer each day, and 2) Just force yourself on schedule. I ascribe to the second one. If you have a long time to adjust, the first method is probably gentler. However, I generally don't have the patience for that and especially if you're going to only be someplace for a short time, method #2 is the way to go. Thus, I dragged my parents and sister all over Caen to keep them up and at 'em.

All over town is a bit of an exaggeration. I could have taken them to see a lot more, but it turns out that I am a fast walker, and they, um, are not. We did get to see the Christmas market, where they tried some hot spiced wine. It got mixed reviews. My parents thought it was ok, but Mere wasn't especially fond of it. I don't prefer it over hot cocoa but it's pretty good. As we walked through the main shopping area we got a sandwich to share and a couple of nutella beignets. Happiness, I am quite convinced, is a nutella beignet. So delicious. I showed them the old castle and the main cathedral, and we walked over to my apartment. By that evening, Mere was just too tired to continue, so my parents and I went to dinner and left her to sleep. We had a great seafood dinner. Being on the northern coast of France, seafood restaurants are plentiful and really good.

Pre-Arrival

{This group of posts pertains to my Christmas vacation in which my family came to visit me. The posts are based on notes I took during the trip and then wrote up after returning. They are post-dated to reflect the proper sequence of events.}

Today was my last day at work before my winter break and I was actually there pretty late - 6:30, well past my usual departure time. Then it was back to the apartment to do some much-needed sprucing. The usual de-cluttering and such but also a good cleaning of my kitchenette.

Side note: I have the cutest paper towels with little elephants on them. THe packaging said that a portion of their revenue went towards saving African elephants. I don't know if it's true or not, but they're so cute I don't care.

I can't wait for tomorrow; it's going to be so great to see my family. I've more or less mapped out what I want to show them but a lot of it will be dependent on how tired they are and when they get hungry, etc. So we'll see. Off to bed.

The Late News with Jackie

*Ba buh ba buh ba-daaaaaa*

Good evening! I'm Jackie and this is the Late News. We don't always deliver the most important news, but you can be sure we'll deliver it late. 

Entertainment News

I went and saw The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey yesterday! It was so great. I wasn't interested in seeing the 3D version the first time around, which meant I had to wait until 9:35 to see it. It's a 3 hour movie (no really), but it was definitely worth getting in a little late last night. Peter Jackson does not disappoint. Also, I am now in love with Kili and Fili. Sorry girls, I saw them first. A+ 

Sports News

Cocky, the best mascot ever, is currently undefeated as he goes up against Raider Red in the finals of the Capital One Bowl Mascot Challenge. Vote vote vote! capitalonebowl.com

Weather

It snowed last night, a beautiful but icy 0.3 inches. However, this being the first snow of the year, it was accompanied by the usual complete and utter meltdown of metropolitan transportation. The trams were not going, and the buses were stuck in traffic with everyone else since two trucks decided to run into each other and block the entire road. An hour and a half after leaving my apartment I managed to get to work, freezing cold, with no further desire to ever see snow again. 

Political News

Some politician somewhere said something stupid, because his father paid his way into a prestigious school where he skated by on his family's reputation and thus learned nothing. His remarks have stirred a lot of controversy, but he refuses to apologize, mainly because he's too drunk to remember what he said. 

Crime News

Someone did something stupid, and it probably involved a sexist/racist/expletive-filled statement, an illegal weapon/substance, and/or gang activity. However, his/her mother insists that he/she is a nice boy/girl and would never be involved in anything like that.  

Fluffy News

The world needs more happiness so look how cute my dog is:

The Coupe de Cheveux

Before I left for France, I felt that I was more or less prepared for life in France. So far, that feeling has been completely justified. However, I have always admitted that there was one thing that sort of scared me: getting a haircut in a foreign country. My hair does not grow very quickly so if I get a bad haircut, I'm sort of stuck with it for a while, and worse, my hair is very straight, which makes it harder to hide mistakes. This makes me uneasy about trying new hair stylists in the US, and I'm not very articulate about what I want in English, let alone French. And of course, there's the old stereotypical imagery of a French hair salon and some guy named Jean-Pierre giving you "The New Look". I don't want to look chic; I just don't want to have my bangs in my eyes. Well, I couldn't put it off forever, and any time my hair gets too long it starts to bug me. For the past week it's been practically driving me crazy so I decided to bite the bullet and go get a couple centimeters taken off. 

Now of course there's the question of where. I had done a little preliminary research over what to expect out of a French hair salon, and after reading a few blogs by fellow Americans, I knew one thing for certain: I did not want to go to someplace called "Tchip". In French this is pronounced like the English "cheap" and that's not a coincidence. It sounds a lot like Great Clips and I haven't gone to Great Clips since I was 8. I'm a firm believer that you get what you pay for with a haircut, and I seen no reason to visit any establishment whose best selling point is their price. I may be a pinch penny, but I'll pay up for a good haircut. Thus I came across a place called Camille Albane. An easy to find location on one of the major shopping roads downtown, nice spacious salon (well, for France), and named after a person, not a price point. I personally have greater trust in salons named for a person, even if it's a chain, than something like Haute Hair. When it's your name and reputation on the line, there's greater accountability; there's more at stake. 

Thus resolved, and armed with a few well-selected vocabulary words, I went in and asked for a haircut. The lady was nice, but not chatty. I think my obvious foreign accent and extreme timidity probably deterred her from doing the usual small talk. I managed to remember my vocab words and explain what I wanted and she she showed me about how much she was going to take off. I agreed and she set about to shampooing my hair. I love  having my hair washed. So relaxing and nice. Ahhhh. And then the nerve racking part, the actual hair cut. All said and done I liked it. She cut it a little shorter than I think I was originally envisioning, but they always do. She did a great job with the layers, and my bangs are no longer falling in my eyes continuously. I would definitely go back. 

As a reward for having braved the dreaded hair salon I went and bought myself this delicious treat: 

Nutella Beignet!

Then I wandered over to the Christmas market. The town has set a whole bunch of wooden booths where vendors sell everything from Russian nesting dolls to ugly hats to hot spiced wine. They also have a giant Christmas tree and the kids can meet "Pere Noel" (Santa) at his cottage. When I got there a troop musicians and stilt walkers was performing. Great way to round out the day!

Christmas Lights in Caen!

Look at all the pretty Christmas lights! Caen is all ready for the Christmas season and is decked out in pretty pink, blue, and purple lights. Why pink, blue, and purple? Who knows, but all the lights are those colors.

{Also, I apologize in advance for the terrible photography. I need my friend Becky to come over here and take pictures for me.}

I especially apologize for the video. I only caught the last bit of the show, and once it was over, people started bumping into me and stuff.

Town Hall

The castle, with pink lighting

The cathedral at night

A better picture of the cathedral at night