The "Creation Market" Adventure

Earlier this week I sent a message to the British girls (the ones I met last weekend at the picnic) to see if they wanted to go to the Marché de la Création (or Creation Market) that happens every Sunday morning along the Saone River. We made a plan to meet up at the metro stop in Vieux Lyon that wasn't too far from the market. I had told Lindsey about our get-together yesterday and invited her along (which was fortunate for us, you'll see why...).

So we met up at the stop; Helen and I got there first, then Helen's friend from "Uni" Pheona met us, and then Hannah and Caroline. Lindsey texted

me to say that she was already walking around the market, so I said ok, see you soon! The other girls and I started walking and we saw a bunch of tents along the other side of the river. We just assumed, ah, that's the creation market.... but when we got there all we saw was a huge fresh food market- complete with cheeses, fruits, vegetables, fish, rotisserie chickens, sausages, and more. (The rotisserie chickens looked and smelled amazing.... I kind of wanted to buy one and carry it around with me til I got home, but didn't want to be followed around by dogs, or cats, or whichever animal likes rotisserie chickens...)

Lindsey and I called each other back and forth trying to figure out where we were in relation to each other. Finally, Lindsey said, I don't think we're at the same market, which side of the river are you on? So, turns out, we were, in fact, on opposite sides of the river. She said, "I thought you wanted to go to the Creation Market," I said, "I thought I was at the Creation Market." LOL. Hannah and I even said, huh, this market wasn't quite what we were expecting...

Eventually, we crossed back over the river to meet Lindsey and walk around the real Creation Market, complete with jewelry, paintings of all shapes, sizes, and styles, clothes, scarves, things made out of metal, animals painted on rocks, etc. I thought, well this seems more like it.

After walking through both overwhelming markets (lots of people,

lots of stands), we all decided we needed to eat something. So we "popped off" (as my British friends say) to a boulangerie for a sandwich, drink, and dessert (or at least that's what I got). I got a ham, cheese, lettuce, and butter sandwich, with a bottle of water, and a pink praline tartelette for 5 euros! It was delicious. We sat to eat and chat in front of the St. Jean Cathedral. Before leaving our lunch spot, we went inside the church to see if we could catch the old clock chiming or making noise (we had just missed it, shucks). Lindsey and I talked a few more people into joining us for Chambery on Saturday and went to get our tickets together (Caroline, Lindsey and I got them today, Helen needs to find a train closer to where she leaves outside of Lyon, and Hannah needs to check her schedule before buying tickets). So yay! More British+American Lindsa/ey adventures to come!

After the ticket-buying, we all went our separate ways to get ready for the week ahead. Tomorrow, I have a formation (in-service day) to learn how to teach French kids English... which I'm not really looking forward to. I would much rather just be going back to my little elementary schools... but I understand why they need to have these days for the primary instructors. Not everyone needs to have a degree or aspire to have a degree in Elementary Education before taking on this level of English Assistant, so not everyone has had the same kind of classroom experience that I have had. And who knows, maybe I will learn a few useful teaching tricks or tips, for both French kids and American kids!

I'm pretty much exhausted now, so I'm going to hopefully hit the sack early tonight in preparation for my 8 hour day tomorrow (I'm assuming we have some sort of 2 hour lunch break in between 9h-17h... but nonetheless, this will be the longest work day I've had since this summer!).

Hope you're all enjoying your Columbus Day weekends! Columbus didn't need to find France, so we don't celebrate... tant pis. I do get a 2 week vacation at the end of the month, so I think I'll survive.

Reste cool:)