cheesy songs, cheesy cheese

A French song for everyone!
Or at least some people. Rachel seems to have a song for everyone! And really doesn't mind singing them, especially after an incredible (and I mean INCREDIBLE) meal of raclette and a couple glasses of wine and some anise liquor. But more on this meal later...FIRST I simply MUST link here some of those songs. This first one was for me, its cheesy, its from the 60s, its Nathalie!
This next one is dedicated to my dad. Its crazy, its late 80s, and its just really weird. Here comes Andy!
The last one comes from the land of 1990s french rap, and is a personal favorite of mine. Going out to Mia, its Je Danse le Mia!

I don't think any description can do justice to Raclette. Its melted cheese on potatoes, tomatoes, other veggies, assorted meats, accompanied by white wine. Last night our meal went from 8-10:30. It was very French, and very Alsatian.
I learned quite a bit of history last night over dinner; the conversation seemed to flow quite freely (maybe it was the magical raclette. Or the wine. Who knows?). The Alsatian people have a very interesting history, as Alsace has changed hands between France and Germany a gazillion times. The people here really identify with Alsace, differentiating themselves even from the Lorraine area, just next door. Apparently in Alsace there are a lot of Turkish immigrants, but not really anywhere else in France, just like in the Moselle of Lorraine (where Rachel is from) there are apparently a ton of Italian immigrants. It is a big mining area and after WWII, Italy, especially the southern part, was really poor. The government instated an initiative to get Italians to come work in the mines, or something like that (keep in mind this was all in french). I found it fascinating.

This morning I woke up to loud hammering noises. And I could not for the life of me figure out where they were coming from! I finally found out from my host mother that our retired neighbors (with whom we share a wall...its kind of like a duplex) were doing some construction work.
I wish I could show you how these houses are constructed. My house has a built in stair master (in the form of just a lot and lot of stairs), with narrow hallways and cupboards and/or fridges that you can only open when other doors are closed.

Something I like about traveling abroad:
Simple adolescent graffiti becomes hilarious. Walking by the castle where we have class (yes, we have class in a castle), someone had changed the letter "T" into a "P", changing a chateau into a chapeau. A castle into a hat. I found it hilarious.
ALSO!
We always walk by this store on our way to class, where we see a poster of George Clooney seductively holding a tiny espresso. Apparently, its a "thing" here in France. George Clooney and Nespresso. What else?

So far my family, my sister, and my Michele are getting post cards :)