Name: Valerie Osbourn

Birthdate: 07/17/1987

Age: 27

My school in France: Ecole Jules Ferry, Verquin

Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Current town: Noeux les Mines

Hobbies: traveling, art, trying new foods, learning languages, taking photos, animals

Future Plans: Seoul, South Korea to teach English (I just started teaching myself Korean)

I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. We have a very unique culture there, as it is a blend of Mexican, Native American and Spanish influence. Besides my family, I miss the food the most. We eat green chile on everything, no matter the time of day. Spicy food is a huge part of our daily life!

These are the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque. Sandia means watermelon in Spanish. They are called this because as you can see in the picture, they turn pink during sunset.

The next photo is of a traditional New Mexican dish called chile relleno. It is a whole green chile stuffed with cheese and/or meat, breaded and deep fried. Not the healthiest but definitely a taste of home.

 

For the winter holidays John and I traveled to Ireland. We spent a few days in Dublin and spent Christmas in Galway. We took a day trip up to the Giant’s Causeway and we also saw the Cliffs of Moher in the west.

In February, we are planning to return to Budapest (where we taught English for 2 years) for a week. Hopefully before we leave France we will make it down to Morroco as well!