the one from day 3 of training ...

just a quick build on my previous post about the "raw meat" served for dinner ... seems i was clearly not the only one who was mildly offended at being served raw cow for dinner last night. one of the brits showed me on his cell phone this evening pictures he took of the meat. the first was he and his table-mates holding cigarette lighters under it in an attempt to "cook it" and then the other had it beside the glass of wine showing that it was the SAME COLOR as a deep red wine.

i need to make a point to locate him tomorrow and ask him to share those with me. something funny though ... they were so offended at how raw it was, as a joke they called the waiter over and asked to send it back because they really wanted "rare". the waiter apparently didn't get the joke. lost in translation i suppose.

tonight i didn't venture over to the castle for dinner. instead i walked into the little town of chantilly. now, for those of you who are movie folks ... i will tell you that the racetrack and castle from the james bond movie (i believe i was told it's "diamonds are forever" or something similar) was filmed at the chantilly castle and the race track straight down from it.

also, i will tell you that "chantilly" it is pronounced "shaun-te-yee".

i went to a small irish pub (i know, i know!) and had a pint with my new mates. (oooh, i'm so european with my slang!) :) i ordered a "burger' de maison" or something similar and had a colleague help me to order it "well done" but we even asked it in french. "bien cuit". yeah, well apparently well done here is medium-rare to just rare in the states. GAH!

i will, however, tell you that their mayonnaise is FAR better than american mayo. so good, in fact, that i have plans to purchase a jar to bring home.

i walked around the town square hoping to find a place to buy batteries for my 35mm camera. (another french lesson is that batteries is pronounced "peel" ... yup.

OH and "bonne nuit" is more polite way to say goodnight.

OH and i played this game last night called "petanque'" last night. SUPER fun game. (pronounced "puh-tonk") i had a good time and it was fun to socialized with so many other nationalities. too bad the girl, linda, was completely knockered, pissed, hordie ... or as we americans like to say "lit".

training is going good although i am exhausted.

i posted only a few more photos, 17, i think. sorry, it got dark fast. i will try tomorrow. go take a looksy at the link. the upclose of the sign is done because i thought it was hilarious that the sign had "dorking" on it since i use it was an interchangeable word for "effing" something up. :) and the other upclose one is wisteria. notice how it is growing up the line pole.

one last thing. i've learned today that "double dip" means something TOTALLY different to folks from this side of the pond as opposed to we americans. for us, it's when you dip into a sauce, take a bit from your chip or whatever and then dip back into the sauce after your mouth, spit and germs have invaded the dipping mechanism.

over here? let's just say it has something to do with shagging. *ahem*

anyhow.

avec amour de paris,
xoxo