A few weekends in Lyon

I haven't left Lyon in a few weeks, but I've had plenty of adventures, mainly involving food. To start with, the Thursday after I got back from Paris I went to a girls's night (+ Geoff) at Kathy's apartment in the Croix Rousse with Alice, Milli and Emily. I had to come straight from my lecture which finishes at 8pm and Kathy had moussaka waiting in the oven for me! I even got my own special vego moussaka, which everyone had their eye on! There was also ridiculous amounts of bread and greek salad. The rest of us were in charge of dessert so I had brought a selection of macaroons from the patissier we all walk past and drool over on the way to uni in the mornings. Alice and Milli went all out and got a selection of cakes and a giant meringue, and we sampled a little of each. Anything with chocolate in it got my vote. We also got to try some strange green spirit that Geoff had procured from his grandmother who lives in the mountains near Annecy. I forget the name of the plant, but it can only be picked once a year at a specific time (and not totally legally, although the whole town seems to be in on it) to then make the spirit. Needless to say, on a very full stomach and with a night cap under my belt I had a good night's rest for translation Friday. I have French Culture on Friday mornings followed by 1 hour translation, 1 hour break, 1 hour translation, 2 hour break, 1 hour translation. The first two classes are French to English, and the first teacher's English and the second Australian. Miss Wilson, the aussie teacher, is just out of her undergraduate degree at Monash so I'm never sure whether to ask her about homework or invite her out >.< The last class is my favourite: it's English to French translation which is ridiculously hard but we have the most meticulous French teacher. She explains all the nuances of a text, and tells you when you're wrong and why, and she's always prepared for class, unlike the other two who don't really seem to care what you put.

Having gotten through that, and gone to my Friday night spin class (where I'm one of the regulars now and everyone talks to me about Australia), I had a fantastic weekend. Saturday I met Alice, Milli and Joel at the Musée de Résistance et de Déportation. For our culture class we have to write an essay on our reactions to the museum ... unfortunately the museum's pretty terrible. We didn't even realize it is housed in the building that served as the Gestapo's headquarters in Lyon in World War II! This is because most of the museum is made up of information panels with tiny writing on them, around which everyone crowds around to squint at. There's also a bunch of little films being played which you can tune into on an audioguide as long as you're prepared to stand awkwardly for a while. Needless to say I haven't started the essay yet. But the day got better when we picked up ingredients from mine and the girls's and headed to Joel's apartment to teach him how to cook. Joel's place is in the Croix Rousse, just about at the top of a massive hill. We worked up an appetite when we decided to walk instead of catching the metro, and stopped in a bottle shop and an op shop in our wanderings. Alice found a new fur and I got a tweed jacket, so it was a very successful detour. On the menu for dinner: curry with all the extras: rice, cucumber and yoghurt, chapatis (best I could find was actually burritos, but same difference right?), and mango chutney. There was a lot of food but we managed to polish it all off, and Joel was very inspired and even learned to cook rice! We polished everything off just in time for Rosie, Will and girlfriend to arrive and chat until the wee small hours.

Sunday required a sleep in, visit to the market for the third time that week (I have such a rapport with some of the vendors ... yay me). Then after doing some work/refining my procrastination skills I went to Yann and Charles's for drinks. At first it was weird being in EMily's apartment without Emily, who was in Paris for the weekend. But was very glad I went because I got to catch up with the boys I went to the Beaujolais with and meet Yann's lovely photographer sister. What made it even better was knowing that Monday was a public holiday: Toussaint i.e. All Saints (not quite Halloween).

After the usual uni on Tuesday I had my first tutoring session with Emile on Wednesday. He's 5 and his family lived in the UK for a year so his English is really impressive. We played games and read a book and even practised some writing. His brother, Antoine, even joined in for a bit, and by that I mean he sat at the table and amused himself while laughing at the funny English words. That evening I taught my favourite dahl recipe to Billy. My mistake was that I got him to chop up the chilli, because I don't like doing it being the clutz that I am. Billy diligently chopped up everything, then touched his eyes and spent the next half hour in the shower. Chiara form next door suggested going straight to bed with chamomile tea bags on his eyes. Worried I'd permanently injured my next-door neighbour I was very thankful when he recovered enough to enjoy dinner and call it an early night to leave me with the washing up.

Next thing it was the weekend again and Yann, Charles and Emily (pictured) had their housewarming. It was graffiti themed, meaning everyone wore white and they covered the walls in butchers paper, and we spent the evening painting each other and the walls. I have an awesome T-shirt and a blue patch on my stomach that won't seem to come off to prove it! It was a great mixture of French and Australians, and few English thrown in for good measure. And it went off without a hitch, and so far no complaints from the neighbours. To top off another excellent weekend in Lyon Billy and I cooked for Sara, Chiara and Marco, our Italian house-mates. It took some thinking to figure out what we could make them that was Australian and vegetarian. In the end we, very successfully, made vegie burgers (which none of the Italians had ever had). Marco had just been home so he brought some sparkling wine and some Italian cheese, and Chiara made an Italian chocolate sponge cake. mmmm.... Next it's Marco's turn to cook!