March 27, 2009

Since I'm feeling extra nice, here are some links to my Facebook albums. Enjoy the pics while you wait for more blog updates...

Nice - Fetes, Amis, & Moustaches
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165480&id=21300057&l=9b1d4e8b71

Nice - Carnaval!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165499&id=21300057&l=00524b8a70

Vence - Carnaval at LHM
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2166277&id=21300057&l=023c46a5ec

Nice - MAMAC
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2169610&id=21300057&l=1c413df2e3

Nice - ♥ My Life is Richer...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2166273&id=21300057&l=c5deeb935c

Nice - ...Because You're In It ♥
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2168366&id=21300057&l=3f3bcfa283

March 26, 2009

So I was totally aware that my blog was not up-to-date, but I figured nobody took much notice...which is why it's been almost two months since my last entry. Well, anyway, apparently someone did notice. Monday night I returned home from a weekend trip to Paris to find an email from MaMa (my grandmother) politely reminding me that I hadn't updated my blog in quite a while. I wonder if she was the only one who noticed?

(standing in the Place de Tertre)
Anyway, yes a lot has happened in the past two months. So much has happened that it would be impossible to even attempt writing about it all in just one sitting. So I'll give you an overview (pics included) of it all slowly but surely. First, however, I'm going to talk about my weekend in Paris.

(meeting up on day one)
Long story short, here's what went down:

Early last week my cousin Kim (who is currently living/working in Germany) invited me to Paris to spend three days with her and celebrate her birthday. Her friend had to bail at the last minute, so I'd be "doing her a favor" by keeping her company in Paris. The hotel was already paid for, and because of my money situation (still no CAF or Visa bankcard replacement), she offered to pay for my train tickets as well.

(I ate snails for the first time!)
I felt bad about not having the funds, but didn't want her to spend the weekend alone because of me. So I accepted the invitation. I admit, though, that I was secretly excited about spending time with and getting to know her because we usually only see each other once every few years. :)

(under the Eiffel tower at night, waving to our mommies)

During our weekend together, we managed to cram a lot in. Spent Saturday night in Chalons-en-Champagne so we could see Basshunter, a techno group, in concert at the Alegra discothèque (nightclub). On Sunday we hung out with Emily, my freshman year roommate who is teaching in Beauvais, a town just north of Paris. The three of us saw lots of sights: the Place de la Bastille, Champs-Elysées, Eiffel Tower, American Embassy, Notre Dame Cathedral, Point Zero, Louvre, etc. Monday Kim and I slept in and then headed to the Sacré-Coeur and Place de Tertre, where she had someone sketch her. Then we caught the train back to our respective cities.

(Kim at the Place de Tertre)
The weekend was pretty awesome overall. We had all seen Paris before, so there wasn't that mad rush to see and do everything. It was a pretty casual weekend, and the trip was totally worth the 12 hours I spent in a train traveling to/from Nice. ;)

(sunset in Paris)

You can see the rest of my Paris photos here:

Paris, Darling (Part 1)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2172054&id=21300057&l=8d4f5fe171
Paris, Darling (Part 2)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2172059&id=21300057&l=85f0dd3e71

February 3, 2009

After mentioning the tabac encounter, I remembered that I'd also dealt with an angry Frenchman back in November. I was helping Bev with her laundry at the local laundromat when this old man beside us started muttering something about "des conneries" (bullshit) when his clean laundry fell on the floor as he was folding it. Apparently we were occupying too much (2/3) of the table while sorting her laundry so he felt obliged to attempt folding his own laundry on the ledge of the dryer instead of asking us to move our stuff. Well anyway, we ignored his remarks and continued what we were doing. Because if there's one thing I've learned in my life, its that you can't win an argument with an old man. :)

Before I forget, I want to mention that today is the eleven year anniversary of my great grandfather's death. I remember being fond of him as a child. He didn't talk much, always had a cigarette in his mouth, and you could find him either sitting in his recliner or out in the yard picking up pecans. He lived in Blackville, SC, with his wife, a rather quiet woman with a gentle disposition. I think she used to talk more, but after his death she changed. Became more dependent on her daughter, eventually moved into an assisted-living home, and passed away in 2003, right around the time Claire found out she was pregnant with Caleb. My great grandparents were very simple, quiet, and happy, which is why I have nothing but respect for them. I just wish they'd been able to stay around a little longer. I miss them.

I guess I'll fill you in on more current info. Did much of nothing this past weekend. I went out with Natch and Anne-Sophie on Saturday night, but that was it. Sunday morning I woke up feeling like I'd been punched in the face. Those were the first signs of a stye that later decided to pop up on my lower right eyelid. It's just below the tear duct and is only slightly red and swollen. I imagine it would be much uglier and disfiguring if it had been located on the upper lid.

I've been dealing with another health issue as well. Specifically dry, peeling skin at the corners of my mouth. I'm very self-conscious about it and have been covering it up with makeup when I have to work. I read up on it and thought it might be what the French call "perleche" which can be caused by a lack of B12 vitamins and iron in the body. So now I'm taking a multi-vitamin each day, which is good because my diet's not as balanced as it should be. And I'm hardly eating meat at all. My favorite part about taking the vitamins is that my burps taste like those Flintstone vitamins I took when I was a kid. :P

Sabrina's coming to visit me again in March during her spring break! :D I'm very excited, but will be poorer than last time because I've been going out with friends more often and haven't gotten the CAF stuff handled yet. She and I have no big plans, though. We're still going to have an awesome time together. :) We always do. Oh, and I'm sure you're all wondering about Oh Henry the penguin. You'll be glad to know that he is having a blast in Dalzell/Columbia. He made his first snow angel a few weeks ago....


Back to the topic of visits, my silly Malaysian friend Voon Yee (whom I met while studying in La Rochelle) will be coming to Nice in early April! It's been almost two years since I last saw her. She was there at the train station waving goodbye with the French families and our international friends as we Americans headed to Paris the day before our plane left for the USA. Voon Yee is very silly and one of my absolute favorite parts about having studied abroad in La Rochelle. :)


This pic of Voon Yee and me (above) was taken during a CUFLE fieldtrip to Marennes. We were listening to some boring audio as we watched a video about oysters. :P CUFLE fieldtrips were fun because all of the international students got to mingle with each other while visiting new cities and learning about French culture and history. Way better than sitting in our French class for three hours straight! :P

January 29, 2009 (PM)

Today's one class was easy. I had a group of four Terminale girls. Instead of doing the planned lesson, I allowed them to ask me questions about any topics that interested them. We started with prom/cheerleaders, talked about the effectiveness of non-native English speakers teaching them English, and ended up with me being asked for advice on how to meet boys that are boyfriend-material. :P Ha! Seriously. I told them I was having boy problems, too. When I asked whether they ever meet guys at clubs, they told me they're too young to even get inside. In France you can drink wine and beer at 16, but must be 18 to drink liquor. And since clubs serve liquor, they aren't allowed in. :( I told them the best I could suggest is to try meeting guys at the supermarket or church! :P Or just to wait until they go to college because there's more variety and freedom. I think that's the wisest choice.

Other than that, they seemed disappointed in their English class because they learn words and vocab relating to boring subjects like pollution and world affairs--things that are useless when trying to learn/practice conversations skills. I told them it was the best their profs could do given the availability of native English speakers here that are qualified and willing to teach. And a prof can't just rely on oral lessons because students need to build a good vocab foundation. Not to mention the fact that it would be nearly impossible to conduct conversation classes with 30+ students at a time. I promised the girls they'd have more convo opportunities if they studied English at the university level or lived in an English-speaking country.

Gah, speaking about teaching is boring. And it really annoys me when I'm writing and the bus driver can't drive worth a crap. If someone were to look at my handwriting they'd think I was second-grader! I've learned to appreciate the good bus drivers (especially since they come few and far between). The good ones drive like racecar drivers, zipping in and out of lanes, slipping between poorly-parked cars on narrow one-way streets, and not breaking a sweat when they come within inches of a building while making a tight turn. Then you've got the crappy/unfriendly drivers who are extremely rude to the passengers, speed up and slow down constantly (causing me to get carsick), and leave bus-stops too quickly (causing old ladies to fall down when finding a seat). It makes me wish that I had Moby (the station wagon) here with me.

Oh, almost forgot! I had my first real taste of French bitchiness the other day on Boulevard Gambetta. :) I stopped at a tabac to find a cool magazine with Obama on the cover, preferably one I could understand. So I was looking through one, and the lady asked me to please not "'feuilleter" (leaf through) the magazines because then nobody would buy them. I wasn't really thinking, so I just had it in my head that she didn't want me to bend or crinkle the covers. But I wasn't hurting them. No creases, no nothin'. Was being extra careful. Anyway, I kept on looking at different magazine covers and found another one I liked. So I held it above my head and kinda fanned the pages lightly (couldn't see anything, though). Then she proceeded to get all bitchy at me again. So I calmly said "I want to buy a magazine that I can understand. Why would I buy one without looking inside first?" But she continued being rude to me and said something about how I should go to a "supermarche" (supermarket) if I wanted to "feuilleter" the magazines. That's when I just rolled my eyes and politely said "Okay, well, good evening!" and left. And she was STILL muttering stuff as I walked out of there. Geeeeeeez!

January 29, 2009 (AM)

Today I've already missed two of my three classes. THere's a huge greve today so the buses/trains/etc have been heavily affected. I anticipated this, but failed to get up early enough to sit and wait at the bus stop earlier than usual. I was pooped this morning and knew I could make up some lame excuse and get away with missing a class or two. Pretty awful, huh?

The head of the English department asked if I'd mind taking on a couple more classes each week because some of the classes (who perhaps don't see an English assistant at all) are having difficulties. My contract says I'm only required to work only 12 hours/week, but I figure taking on the extra classes would benefit me in the long run. I've become way too lazy here and can be rather nonchalant about my job at times. Being busier will force me to move around more (and burn off those French sweets). And as long as these new classes don't require a lot of extra lesson planning on my part, I'm cool with it.

January 27, 2009

Today's lessons were kinda blah. I need to come up with some more exciting topics to teach about. I fell back on the debate idea today. Students split up into two groups (for or against), were given the debate topic (either "Parents should be held accountable for their children's actions" or "Homosexual couples should be allowed to marry"), and then had 10 minutes to come up with as many arguments as possible. After time was up, they put down their pencils and took turns flinging opinions at one another in support of their side. The lesson went over well with the Terminale and Premiere students, but the Secondes seemed to either not understand what we were doing or their attention spans were too short. Oh well, better luck next time, I guess. But it was good to try out the debate idea. However if I plan to do debates in the future, I just need to keep in mind that the Secondes aren't as good at supporting/disputing an issue when they don't necessarily agree with it.

[Just Because]

Elementary my dear Watson ! from Capucha on Vimeo

i can't get enough of this little girl. :) she's so flippin' cute!

January 26, 2009

Lisa, one of my German roommates, moved back to Munich a couple weeks ago. :( There was a big farewell party at Sophie's apartment, and we all took turns hiding in the front closet, signing a huge card when she wasn't nearby. We were very sneaky about it. ;) But yes, I'm going to miss Lisa and our "parties in the corner." Just a few days after she left we got a new roommate (also from Germany) named Wiebke. I think that's how you spell her name. She's very sweet and friendly, but we still miss Lisa very much. She was like the mother hen of the apartment. :)


What else? Um, so I've been learning to cook lately. With the help of Natch I made quiche lorraine! It was super yummy too! We had some filling and dough left over, so we attempted to make a baby quiche too, so we wouldn't waste anything.


A few days later we were scheduled to have a random international dinner party at the apartment and ended up making quiche again, since our first attempt went so well. This time we also had wine, salad, and a gateau du roi (king's cake)for dessert. [Generally with a gateau du roi there is a tiny prize inside (something ceramic or a bean), and whoever finds the prize in their slice of cake gets to become the king for the day.] While a few people were taking a smoke break outside after the main course, we cut the cake. There were twelve of us at the party, but we cut the cake into thirteen pieces by accident. Anyway, once everyone was back at the table we handed out the pieces and started eating. We all looked around anxiously, waiting for someone to say "hooray i found the prize!"...but that never happened. Turns out the prize was in the final piece of cake that never got handed out. Whoops! :P


Any other interesting news? Um, Bev and I got invited to Sainte-Maxime (a city near St. Tropez) last weekend by a cool French guy I met a couple months ago through Lori. The timing wasn't good, so the trip was postponed. However this past weekend the French guy (Vincent) came to Nice to party and celebrate his birthday. He and I went to dinner at the Bistro Romain on the Cours Saleya in Old Nice and later met up with friends at Ma Nolan's (laid back Irish pub) and Wayne's Bar. Once the bars closed everyone parted ways, but it was fun hanging out with everybody and dancing at Wayne's. I used to hate going out (especially at Waynes), but if there's a boy to dance with it can be fun. Also, I'm starting to appreciate the nightlife more because everyone has become super-busy, and the evening is usually the only time when we're all free to meet up.

January 20, 2009

There's an 80% chance of rain today, but I don't mind. Want to know why? Because I'm stoked. Today is a day that I will remember always. Simply for the fact that there's going to be a new president. One that I've been cheering silently for all along the way. Today is his day to shine. Go Obama, we love you!


(Pic via patrickmoberg.tumblr.com)

January 19, 2009

Finally the long-awaited post has come! :) As you probably assumed, Christmas vacation was a blast with Sabrina being here. She arrived on Wed, Dec. 17th, and for the first couple of days she got over her jetlag while I finished my last two days of school before Christmas vacation. Those two days, however, were somewhat eventful because there was a "blocus" (blockade) of students at the entrance of the school both days. This was all in response to some change in curriculum that would be effecting the "secondaires" (french equivalent of the freshmen class) in high schools across the country. I'd seen the teachers, buses, trains, policemen, and ems drivers "en greve" (on strike), but never the students! Silly French....


The two-day blocus was convenient, though, because I was able to skip classes the second day and go to Tourettes-sur-Loup and St. Paul de Vence with Sabrina and two of the English profs (Anne-Marie and Paule). I'd been to Tourettes-sur-Loup before, but St. Paul was totally new to me. It's considered a very chic artsy town where rich people like to live. And Chagall, a famous French painter, is buried in the cemetary there!

Since everyone was leaving for the holidays, Sabrina and I made a point to have dinner with the roomies and go out to Wayne's Bar, a popular hangout in Old Nice, before we were left all alone in the apartment. The night we went to Wayne's we met some really cool guys--Jeremie, a Frenchie who works in Cannes, and Moreno, an Italian friend of Anne-Sophie (French friend) who works in Monaco/Nice. They were both very sweet, cool guys, so we ended up hanging out with them a lot over break.



As for traveling, I can now check Ventimiglia (Italy), Monaco, and Cannes off my list of places to see...


In Ventimiglia, there wasn't much to do, despite the fact that it was a Monday. Apparently the city's about the size of La Rochelle, with even less things to do. So Sabrina and I concentrated on eating some Italian food (spaghetti/gnocci/gelato) and finding as many photo-worthy things as possible so I could create a photo album on Facebook. :) We managed to find three or four churches, have random conversations about columns with clergymen, and make it home in time for a much-needed nap. So all in all, it was a good trip. Oh yeah, and we looked desperately for decent postcards to send home, but they were all either really plain and boring...or not suitable for children. So nobody's getting postcards from Ventmiglia. Sorry, guys...


The trip to Monaco was a lot more exciting. We saw the palace, spent like two hours in the Museum of Oceanography, walked around a lot, visited a small zoo, and went to a museum that showed off Prince Albert 1er's huuuuuuuge car collection. I spent a lot of money, but I really liked that trip. That was probably the most fun-filled day I've had here so far. And I even got to have a McFlurry (oh yeah!) at the end of it.


The day we went to Cannes, I was feeling really crappy b/c of my sinus infection and a headache. We got a late start to the trip, and didn't leave Nice until 3pm-ish. Once in Cannes, we got slightly lost but soon found an interesting museum (Musee de la Castre) where we saw lots of old stuff. :) We took really pretty pics from atop an 11th century watchtower, had a snack in a little cafe, walked around a bit taking more pics, window-shopped as usual, and met up with Jeremie (the French guy) at the train station. We ended up having spaghetti, having an in-depth discusssion about penguins, and watching Harriet the Spy in my room before we all conched out.



During the vacation, Sabrina and I regularly slept in...but we also spent A LOT of time running around outside of the apartment. In Nice, we did a lot of window-shopping, saw the Russian church, climbed up the hill to the Chateau (a good place to get panoramic shots), visited two museums (Musee Massena & Musee Chagall), saw the Salvador Dali exhibit in the Hotel Negresco, and watched two movies--Madagascar 2 and Australia--at the cinema. We also went out a lot with those boys I mentioned earlier... :)


As for the holidays, we didn't plan much for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to midnight mass at a nearby church, which was kind of cool. Christmas day we stayed inside, made pizza, called loved ones to wish them a Merry Christmas, and watched movies on my computer. On New Year's Eve Sabrina, Jeremie, and I went out to Checkpoint, a bar in Old Nice. We couldn't be too crazy because Sabrina left early (6:30am!) on New Year's Day. But I managed to snag a kiss from Oh Henry (the penguin I made for Sabrina last year). Oh Henry's been to Italy, France, and now he's going to Mexico with Sabrina in May! :)


All in all, Christmas vacation was freaking awesome. Would've been a drag if Sabrina wasn't here. I wouldn't have gone to so many places or met such cute boys(!) or had such a random holiday. I came out of my shell a bit, let down my guard, and learned to live a little. Because despite being here in France and having the world at my fingertips, I haven't taken advantage of it. I've realized, however, that I'll always be a homebody, no matter where I'm living. I'll always be someone who's content snuggled up in bed all day with a good book or texting with a bestfriend or enjoying a comfortable lifestyle without taking too many risks and living on the edge. And that's okay.

Oh, if you want to see all of my pics, you can look at my albums on Facebook!

Ventimiglia, Italy:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2156575&l=23e2f&id=21300057

Cannes, France:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157777&l=1d41e&id=21300057

Monaco:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157766&l=ab431&id=21300057

Nice, France:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2156569&l=4c301&id=21300057

January 6, 2009

It's snooooooowing here in Vence!! :D I don't have a camera, but I went out into the snow/rain. There are little baby snowflakes, but most are melting once they find a place to land. Also, there's sludge and ice on the ground, which means my feet will be soaked by the time I make it to the bus stop. Oh well. But happily some of the snow has stuck! It's supposed to snow in Vence tomorrow, too, however I'll be home in Nice and probably won't see anything but rain....