Cleaning out the fridge

I'm updating you on my adventures in the first month of living in France...click here to see the first batch of leftovers.

October 9  I might as well be in America...

In which: I discover that the cornfields of France look a lot like the cornfields of Indiana, make a disappointing visit to the other side of the Atlantic ocean, shop at the French version of IKEA, and continue to aid in the destruction of French cuisine.

It's true: a cornfield is a cornfield is a cornfield.  No matter that the cows in the nearby fields are called "les vaches" and the car whose window you're looking out is a tiny Peugot.  

It's still corn. 

I saw a lot of it today while Alain, Sylviane and I drove a few hours to buy a shelf off the French version of Craigslist and to get their GPS fixed(at a French mall…fyi, pretty much the same as an American mall, just different stores) .

We headed towards the coast near Dieppe. I was very excited about getting a cheap shelf for under my sink and about putting my feet in the English Channel and taking some fun pictures to share with all of you.

That didn't go so well.

The problem is, I can communicate in French, but not well. So little things, like asking if there is an IKEA near to the mall, turn into my friends thinking I really want to go to IKEA. Like really. So they hurriedly drove past the beach…stopping just long enough for me to take this:

Without even getting out of the car.  French-napped again.  

But I'll be going back to the coast.  There were beautiful sailboats.

But then I did get to go to Alinéa (the French IKEA…they have so many stores that are really similar to IKEA, it's crazy) and buy a new floor lamp and some new curtains.  

Then I was French-napped again.   [French-napping: (verb) when you're traveling with French people and you don't really understand where you are going, but you don't know a polite way to say, "Where are you taking me? I would like to go back to my apartment and explore more of Elbeuf."] 

My friends here think, "Oh Elizabeth is American. She must like American food."  

And I do.  But I'm in France.

However the only KFC for hours around is close to Alinéa and Alain really wanted to go.  So another visit to a little bit of America…

But the French KFC doesn't even have mashed potatoes…or BISCUITS!

I'm sad for the French.