I had my work Christmas Party last week at Restaurant Rouge Tendance. It was quite nice. We had a nice meal. I chose a wok so I got to go downstairs & choose everything I wanted. It actually reminded me a lot of Open Sesame, except the meats were a bit more fun! For example, mine had kangaroo meat & then beef. It was quite good. Both Lyon area stores were there so it was a bit segregated, but it was still quite nice. & I went home so full, which is always a plus.

Cédric & Tonia at the Christmas Dinner

The next few days mostly consisted of goodbyes. Thursday night I velo’ved over to Kate’s & we got ready to go out to her friend, Moritz’. We were having quite a good time, but Kate really wanted to say goodbye to a group of her other friends so we left & took the velo’v over to a bar next to her school. Along the way we decided to stop for a can of despé (beer & tequila…sounds disgusting, but is actually quite good) & drank that as we rode our bikes through the sketchiest part of town…ah yes, France & hanging out with people who are on exchange…Endless adventures…Anyways, we ended up at this bar & it turns out most of her friends had left & the group that was there were heading to the boats so we stayed for a bit & then headed back to hers to eat marshmallows & watch sex & the city.

Kate & I at Moritz’

despé while velo’ving=classy

Friday Tonia had me over or dinner. She’s this British girl I work with at Starbucks. We made curry stir fry & had this weird chestnut dessert thing. It was nice. She lives with 5 other people in this great (huge!) apartment 2 minutes from Starbucks. I’m a little bit jealous, although my apartment is pretty cute & I do quite love it. Afterwards I met up with Kate & we headed out to meet her friends. We met at Bellecour & were headed to her mexican friend’s house, drinking wine & eating papillotes as we walked…but just as we’d almost gotten there we ran into Mossimo (from Argentina) & Martin (from Toronto). They were headed to the Loft, which was where we were gonna meet the others so we decided to go with them seeing as it was almost midnight & you get in free before midnight. So we got in & waiting in the giant

line to check out coats just to find out we couldn’t go in with our purses so we had to go back & pay another 2 euro to check those as well. I dunno what it is about Lyon, but they never let you bring your purse into the club. What am I supposed to do with all my stuff when I’m wearing leggings?! So we ended up inside with no money because we were pissed about the whole purse checking thing (& I am flat broke anyways…) & the place is pretty much dead. We made the best of it: danced like idiots & showed off our line dancing skills (yes, I have no shame & did slap leather in the middle of a French club…). Eventually our other friends called to say they couldn’t get in so we left & went back to the Mexicans. Normally this would be nearing the end of the night at home…But no, alas, this is France. 2am…not time to go home! So we decided to go out to the boats. Lyon has this Quai along the river & it’s a nice walking path with activities & stuff & all these boats that are permanently docked there…& they all have bars on them. So we got in (without TOO much trouble…the bouncers here can be jerks & don’t always let anglophones in if they hear them speaking too much english) & stayed for as long as we could tolerate the drunken American who was unfortunately with us & then velo’ved back to Kate’s. (I mostly stay at Kate’s when we go out just so neither of us has to walk home alone).

Kate & I at the Loft

Ahoy!
Saturday before work I said my goodbyes to Kate at the market. How sad…she’ll be back pretty soon though & with things for me from home! Which is of course exciting! Also exciting- my parcel from home FINALLY arrived. After over a month, my jacket, a couple shirts & some packages of cooking related things arrived! So stoked!

me & my parcel!! 

some of the goodies mom sent me!
These last few days have been pretty uneventful…with everyone pretty much gone home for Christmas, I’ve been chilling out at home mostly…or shopping for Christmas presents. It definitely doesn’t quite feel like Christmas here yet though for me. I work tomorrow & then early on the 26th, so I’m not really sure what I’ll be doing. Karine & I had talked about making a nice dinner & stuff, but we’ll see what ends up happening. I hope all of you have an amazing Christmas though. Enjoy spending time with your families & eat a little extra stuffing for me. (or in Zevi’s case a few extra Latkas). Also, I wish you guys all the best for 2009. I’ll be thinking of you guys over the holidays & miss you all a lot!

enjoying a delicious moka & writing postcards

my last tartine à raclette at the christmas market.