The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

A few weeks ago I was asked if I could help supervise my school's English-language movie night. Having an hour to kill between the time I finished work and the movie night, I picked up this book from my school's library. I was initially drawn to the book because one of my classes read it.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a quick, delightful read told in the style of letters back and forth between the protagonist, Juliet Ashton, and the other characters (I love snail mail!). The novel is set in Britain just after the end of World War II and tells the story of Juliet writing a book about the Guernsey Islanders' experiences under German occupation. Though the book deals with the war, the story is for the most part lighthearted. One of things I enjoyed most about this book is the British humour, which though written by two Americans--Mary Ann Shaffer and completed by her niece, Annie Burrows, after her death--is spot on.

(Image via Google Images)

Cartolina Cartograms

How pretty are these Cartograms from Cartolina's iPhone app? It makes me want an iPhone so I can send them!

I discovered this app through Design*Sponge, and was even more excited to find out that the designer behind Cartolina, which also makes cards and paper goods, is based in British Columbia! What a small world the WWW is! Cartolina cards are available for sale around Vancouver at places like the Vancouver Public Library store book'mark, so I'm sure I've seen and admired them before. It's just so neat to discover something from home when halfway across the world.

(images from Cartolina via Design*Sponge)

One Flew Over the Alps

I flew back from Rome the morning of December 27. As I had to get up before the crack of dawn to catch my flight, I fell asleep on the plane. Nearly home, I woke up to this view:

A sunny, clear view of the Alps! It was a spectacular sight!
On the flight back, I ended up sitting next to a twenty-year-old American seminary student on exchange to Rome. I ended up helping him and his two friends, also American seminary students in their twenties who had been sitting a few rows ahead of us, get from the airport to the train station. It was really interesting to talk to them as one doesn't often meet young North American men studying to enter the priesthood. When we parted ways at the train station I even heard them call "God bless you" after me!

La dolce vita

As I mentioned, I was immediately stuck by Rome's unique ambiance and vibrant, warm-hued buildings. I made it a mission of mine to try to capture this charming essence. Here are some of my attempts:

A street near Piazza Navona the first day.
I had my last day in Rome to myself, as my friends had continued to Florence, so I walked around the Trastavere district. Trastavere was my favourite neighbourhood in Rome. It's a bit more rustic and picturesque, and seemingly less touristy. Next time I am in Rome, I would spend more time there.

This was my view walking home toward Santa Maria Maggiore at the end of each day in Rome:

Bocca della Verità

After visiting the Roman baths on our first day in Rome, we set out to explore the city. We stopped by the Bocca della Verità, which was featured in Roman Holiday.

According to legend, if one placed their hand in its mouth and was lying, their hand would be "bitten off." Apparently priests fuelled this myth by placing scorpions in the mouth.

Here I am joking around in the Vatican Museum the next day.

Rome: Midnight Mass

Going home for the holidays was never part of my plan; I left for Europe fully prepared to be away for the full eight months. My original plan was to spend Christmas with Kristen in Norway. When that fell through due to Kristen's boyfriend buying her a ticket to Toronto for the holidays, I made plans to go to Rome.

Rome was very un-Christmassy. There were way fewer Christmas decorations than I would have expected, especially having walked down Paris' Champs Élysées the week before. There there were some Christmas lights strung in the narrow streets, and the nativity scene and Santa's sleigh and Christmas tree set up in Piazza Venezia before the monument to Vitorrio Emanuele II. The climate was also not what I consider to be Christmastime weather. I have been calling Rome my first "tropical getaway" as in the daytime it hovered around a balmy 10°C (as compared to hovering around 0°C in SaintÉ), and perhaps even reached 15 or 17°C on December 23. Rome's un-Christmassiness made my first Christmas away from home much easier; often we would just forget it was Christmastime.

As I was in Rome over Christmas, my pilgrimage to Saint Peter's Square for midnight mass was thus somewhat incidental; having been brought up Catholic, I couldn't very well not take this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to midnight mass at the Vatican.

It had poured rain all day Christmas Eve, which was especially disheartening as that was the day we had tickets to visit the Coliseum, Palatino, and Roman Forum. Because of the downpour, we weren't sure we would be able to attend midnight mass. But the rain finally stopped mid-evening and we set out for Saint Peter's Square.

Saint Peter's Square was so amazing! As soon as I arrived, I was instantly imbued with happiness.

Before leaving for Rome, I had read online that one needed to arrive early because thousands of people flock to Saint Peter's Square for the mass. We arrived shortly after 9 o'clock for the 10 o'clock mass and there were surprisingly few people there. Even by the time mass started, the square could not be considered crowded. Emily and I speculated that the rain deterred a lot of people from coming.

To be in Saint Peter's Square for midnight mass was such a moving experience, and exactly how I wanted to celebrate Christmas in Rome.

Day and Night

This was the view I woke up to this morning, and every sunshine-filled morning for that matter. It has been such a beautiful month so far, sunny and warm--almost an early-spring feel in the air.

Mid-last week I started to notice that the days were getting longer. The transition from winter into spring is one of my favourite times of the year. It's so encouraging to notice little differences every day and to have summer to look forward to.

As my dad noted, according to timeanddate.com, the days in Saint Étienne are nearly an hour longer than Red Deer, where he lives. I am only getting little less than a half hour of daytime more than Vancouver.

In Saint Étienne, the sun currently rises at 8:19am and sets at 5:25pm, making for a day of 9 hours 6 minutes. In Vancouver, the sun presently rises at 8:02am and sets at 4:42pm, for a day of 8 hours 40 minutes. And in Red Deer, sunrise is currently at 8:38am and sunset is at 4:52pm, for a day of 8 hours 14 minutes.

Even since I checked last week, the days have gotten much longer!

Broadcasting Interruption

I just wanted to apologize for the radio silence. I really wanted to catch up on blogging over the break (ever noticed how I never finished telling about Belgium, or Dijon, or la fête des lumières du 8 décembre?).

The truth is, after I got back from Rome I got sick with a really debilitating sore throat that I only just recovered from last weekend. So I feel I have been really bad at getting anything (blogging, sending snail mail etc.) done ever since. I will get on top of things though!

(image from Wikipedia)

Kitchen

I have been meaning to give a virtual tour of my flat. You have already seen my living room, and a glimpse of my kitchen, so I thought I would show you the rest of the kitchen.

This is our kitchen table. I thought the rooster from the Beaujolais Nouveau label was pretty, so I brought a poster back to decorate our kitchen.


Overall, I like our spacious kitchen--especially the floor tiles. It does have its drawbacks though, namely enough storage space and surfaces. We have tried to maximize storage space by placing things on top of the cabinets and fridge.

The kitchen is nice and bright. This door leads to a small balcony with this view.

Happy New Year!

La grande roue au Marché de Noël
Happy New Year! With the time difference, I rang in 2011 when it was only 3:00pm December 31, 2010 back in Vancouver.

For me, 2010 was a year that got better as it progressed. In 2010:

• After lots of stress and hard work, I completed my undergraduate Honours thesis, defended it and got an A;
• I graduated from UBC;
• I moved to France to teach English;
• As such, I have been able to travel around France and Europe, so far to Belgium, and Rome.

In 2011 I am looking forward to more travel and summer in Vancouver!

My New Year's resolution for 2011 is to wear more dresses!

How was your 2010? How did you ring in the new year? Have you made any resolutions for 2011? What are you looking forward to in 2010?