She lives with her brother-in-law and her 6 year-old niece when she is not boarding at the boarding school where I teach. When I arrived to the place I was sleeping, she made painted me a sign: She also spread out every French book that she owns so that I could borrow them to get my French better. It was so cute!!! She had lots of bags she found with American flags on it, old National Geographic magazines from the 90s about “The American Dream,” a hat she found at a market that said “Los Angeles” on it, etc. She would also ask me…”How is____ in the USA?” “Is ___really like that in the USA?” “I saw ___ in a movie, is it true about the USA?” SO CURIOUS! Gosh, I wish I had money for a plane ticket for her to visit.
On to Halloween in France…
In French, instead of saying “trick or treat,” you say “bonbons ou la vie” (candies or your life), which is a lot more violent of a demand haha. I saw a few kids getting candy from restaurant owners, and lots of adults dressed up as well. But, it was explained to me that Paimpont is a religious town, and they don’t believe that celebrating Halloween is a good thing.
SIDE NOTE: November 1 is the bigger celebration day. Flowers are everywhere (to put on tombstones). Graveyards are absolutely gorgeous for the day with all of the flowers. One of my American friends got made fun of in Rennes because she wanted to buy a bunch of flowers that were on sale this weekend for her apartment, but she didn’t realize they were for honoring dead people. Apparently that’s taboo. LOL.
Ambre, the 6 year-old niece, dressed up as a witch, and we walked around Paimpont. There were lots of tourist trap things around that had to do with the magical forest we were in (Broceliande). Witches, wizards, celtic myths, fairy tales, Merlin, King Arthur, scary crow statues etc… Because the “tout bio” (all organic) creperie opened at 7pm (yes…it opens at 7 PM…past my bedtime, folks), we walked around town and went into little shops to pass the time. The weather was warm, t-shirt and shorts!
At the creperie, I had a goat cheese gallette (with lardons, onions, and everything good on this earth) and a caramel dessert crepe. She insisted on paying, and her mother (who lives near Germany) put money on her card especially to take me out to dinner. It was just the three of us: my student, her 6 year-old niece, and I. She secretly hid a calculator under the table so she could keep track of the prices. It was so cute, yet I felt really bad and guilty for not paying, even though I tried to a million times. She would always say "I invited YOU, you don't pay!!!" (in French of course...I haven't spoken English in days).
After we got back home, we watched a movie and I went to bed. The next morning, we baked special cookies from an old family recipe that is pied noir. The cookies are called Montecaos. After that, we went for a walk around the village. It overwhelms me how people are so generous sometimes. Even if they don’t have anything, they gave whatever they have so I feel so welcome. It warms my heart.
Before I left, my student asked me if I liked fairies. I said…”sure, like Tinkerbell” and she nodded. She asked again if I liked fairies, and I said “yeah…why?” And she pulled out a little fairy necklace she bought for me at the little gift shop! I almost cried. After all she did, she even got me a little necklace!