6 months abroad

On November 12, I celebrated 6 months of living in France! R and I took a ride to nearby Nantua where there is a lake with a little beach. In the summer, we came here a few times to sunbathe by the lake which is surrounded by mountains. On that fall day, it was unusually warm, so we took a long walk, appreciated the warm weather but wondered if the nice weather wasn't a sign of global warming, and ate kebabs while watching the sun set.

I've learned so much since arriving and altogether, it's been an eye-opening experience. But as Thanksgiving and Christmas draws near, I'm getting more homesick. Thank goodness I have a trip planned for Boston in less than a month!

Until then, I'm going to be a busy girl. Last night, R and I went to another Glocals event hosted by a Dutch guy...his event? Dutch spekpannekoekenavondsmulfeestje which means Dutch bacon pancake savoring party! Say that fast 3 times :)

It was a fun time; the only requirement was to finish at least 1 giant pancake. R and I brought 2 bottles of cider (2.5% alcohol) while others brought Dutch beer, Belgian beer, and more cider. I managed 2 ginormous pancakes while R had 3 and a half. So yummy and filling - not a diet food, but if you could have smelled the bacon and the apple. And to top off the pancake? Dutch stroop, or syrup. There was also confiture, sugar, Emmentaler (Swiss cheese). But the best part was the company...a group of 6 fun Dutch plus 1 Colombian woman and me. It was a good time and I hope to see this group again soon!

Today I'm going to another mushroom outing with the mushroom club while R gets new tires for the car. Sunday we're going to Geneva's Escalade parade which celebrates the defeat of troops sent by the Duke of Savoy by the Genovoise. And Monday or Tuesday, we are going to the NL via Luxembourg and Belgium to visit R's family and ailing aunt.

Loups-garous

First, I was the Idiot and then Cupid and afterwards, just a simple villager in love with a werewolf who turned human. The little girl had me laughing my butt off, and everyone was suspicious of everyone else. Puzzled?

Last night, R and I attended an awesome event in the Paquis neighborhood - a Loups-Garous party. If you don't know what that is..it's a French social game in which villagers are haunted by werewolves. Each person is dealt a card which contains his/her secret role - either a villager, a villager with special powers (such as a Prophet, Witch, Cupid, Village Idiot, Hunter, or Little Girl), or a werewolf. There are 3 werewolves and many villagers. The werewolves' identities are revealed to each other; but the villagers cannot discriminate between plain villagers, villagers with special powers, and werewolves. The objective is to figure out the villagers posing as werewolves and lynch the werewolves before they eat you and the rest of the village up! The fun part is that it's a very social game in which suspicions, lies, pretending fly around; but in the end, only logic will help you solve the puzzle!

In English, the game is called "Werewolves"; other variations of this type of game are Mafia and Murder Detective.

I played Murder Detective years ago at a birthday party and though it was fun, I loved the Werewolves game much more. For one, it was hosted by the most jovial Japanese man who had played the game a number of times and liked it so much, decided to host his own event at a friend's house. His props, music, and the signs he gave for each character were hilarious! Especially the one of the "Little Girl" which was a wink and a sideways tilt of the head. Anyway, there were 16 of us including the host, who played the narrator/moderator.

Here are the general rules in case you'd like to play! Maybe we can organize a game when I'm back in Boston in December or January! Let me know if you'd be interested.