Vacations!

One thing on my mind today: vacation. For those of you who don’t know, the French really like their vacations. The school year is about as long as the American school year, but it’s split up by two week vacations at least four times during the school year, as opposed to twice in the American school year. Add to that the slew of days off due to national holidays, strikes (been four so far this school year) or the field trip to London that I chaperoned for a week, it would be safe to say that teachers have it a little better than they do back home.

So then my mind naturally turned to the question of whether I deserve a vacation...after all, my last vacation just ended a little over a month ago. I only technically work 12 hours per week, and I say technically because I’ve been averaging about 6 hours per week for the past month. Yep, you heard correctly. There were the hours when teachers decided not to send me students for whatever reason, there was the national strike that cancelled all four hours last Wednesday, there’s the class that comes to me on a volunteer basis (surprisingly enough, nobody has volunteered to come for the past two weeks), there were the classes that got caught up in the confusion of my recent schedule change, there were the seniors who had the week off to prepare their competitive exams, and there was one class period that I decided not to go to, because I don’t like them.

So in other words, I’ve logged the equivalent of one full-time week over the past six weeks, and for that I am rewarded with a two-week vacation. Don’t you love France?

Parislytic

Went to The Frog and British Library yesterday to unwind after a long day at the library, and had a pint of their Parislytic. It's billed as a malty, hoppy English amber ale with a 5.2% alcohol content (I think they could work on their marketing a little). Frankly, I get the malty part, but the world hop shortage must still be taking its toll on craft beer producers in Europe because their "hoppiest" beer was anything but. It's one of my bi disappointments about beer in Paris, and honestly, most beer across Europe. Nobody has discovered quite the way the Americans have how sexy a strongly hopped amber or IPA can be for your palate. But then again, just as in most things, Americans have a capacity to innovate and break with tradition where Europeans still fear to treat. The tradition of craft beer in this part of the world is hundreds, even thousands of years old (although in the 18th century, the French were still throwing animal fat into their beers) so the process is by now ingrained. Regrettably in some cases.

French Beer

France isn't usually thought of as a beer-drinking or beer-producing country, which is why it surprised me greatly to see so many French speaking people drinking beer in their outdoor cafés and brasseries. Despite France's reputation, beer is indeed a staple drink as in other European countries, and the only reason we don't think about it is because France doesn't export a whole lotta good beer. Sure, you can get Kronenbourg in the US and England, but it's not really good beer. So where can you find good beer in France? Take a look at this article from The Beer Expert UK discussing French beers, from which I will quote the first paragraph:

"Although France is better known for its wine and food products, it also has some really good beer. Although the beer industry went through a massive decline during the first part of the 20th Century, over the last thirty years or so it has come to life again, and many young people in France drink beer more often than wine or spirits. The region known as the Nord-Pas de Calais is where French beer is at its most popular, mainly due to its proximity to Belgium. In fact, most of the best French beers are similar to their Belgian counterparts in terms of style and taste..."