things i did today

(in no particular order)
-bought three sweaters for 5 euro at the friday market
-gave a mean produce vendor a dirty look and bought all my produce from the vendor directly opposite her*
-received postcards from donna and rach! <3
-bought 30 euro winter coat instead of 60 euro winter coat
-bought 20 euro boots instead of 60 euro boots
-FINALLY bought warm running clothes
-found yoga and was offered three free classes
-listened to bad religion while cleaning to feel closer to T
-skyped my besties at loaf day!
-made and ate cauliflower, kidney bean,& red pepper stir fry
-met an awesome former assistant from Texas
-drank a chocolat chaud outside of a bar tabac

life's good.

*She deserved it. Last week she yelled at my friends and I for touch-testing avocados, and when her coworker told her she shouldn't be talking to us like that, she said she doesn't need to have any respect for us because we're foreign and don't understand anything. Oh, how satisfying it is in those moments to look the person in the eye and say, "je comprends madame."

It was a graveyard smash

Last night, rendez vous USA, or, as Whitney called it, Operation confuse the hell out of the french by carving into pumpkins. This is one American tradition that did not carry over to France. So we brought it!

Mine's the baby, and Preston's not looking too good. Too many tiny wines and chocobons maybe...

And the award goes to nightscape in Paris by the talented Kaitlin!

I was afraid of missing out on Halloween this year, seeing as how it's my 2nd most favorite holiday of the year. But with friends this awesome, I think it's gonna be one of the best Halloweens yet!

Blissed Out

Did you ever have one of those days that just will not stop getting better?

That was yesterday for me. In the order of which they appear, my Sunday in awesome:

First little bit of awesome: Sunday market. There's an open-air market just about every day here, but Sunday is the biggest one. Walking past table after table of cheese, veggies, cider...it never gets old.

Second little bit of awesome: See-saw in the park across from the crêperie! (still waiting for those photos from W)

Third little bit of awesome: Crêpe flambée, as in the waiter set it on fire right in front of me!

Fourth little bit of awesome: Finally able to get photos off my phone! Back story: apparantly I am where cameras come to die. My first digital camera was stolen in Peru, so I had to buy a Peruvian one. That camera was swallowed by the Atlantic Ocean last time I was in France, and my amazing colleagues all pitched in to buy me my French camera. Couple weeks ago, it stopped working. Nothing dramatic this time, it just wouldn't turn on anymore. Then we have the camera on my phone, which takes beautiful photos, but which I can't find the USB cable for. Solution? Buy a card reader! The first card reader I bought didn't read either of the cards. The one I exchanged it for read the camera card, but not the phone! So, completely on a whim yesterday, I thought I would try to plug the cable for the new card reader directly into my phone...and it worked!

Fifth little bit of awesome: My absolute favorite favorite favorite bande dessinée by Marjane Satrapi (fabulous author of Persepolis), Poulet aux Prunes, has been made into a film and is coming out next week! I could shout joy from the rooftops.


Sixth litte bit of awesome: I've been invited to a proper English Christmas in Southampton! One of my best friends from the last time I was here and her family have asked me to hop the pond and spend the holiday with them. I feel so full of love it is unreal!

Seventh little bit of awesome: Skype. Thanks to this amazing software, the last thing I see most night's is T's smile. Perfectly happy end to a perfectly awesome day.

Friday WTF

Sitting at Le Lounge Cafe with some dear friends of mine, chatting in franglais and drinking my chocolat chaud, and a freaking hummer drives by. The kicker? It had a french license plate. Discuss.

One month in and already on vacation

Toussaints was on all the professors' minds yesterday, my last day of classes before the break. No work until November 3rd for me. I might be traveling with one of my floormates next week.

Class update: things have been going lovely at my school. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, teachers and students alike. I have even been invited to a Franco-American Thanksgiving! It never stops amazing me how kind and generous people can be with complete strangers. I feel incredibly lucky.

I was a bit sick this week, but was able to get all of my medicine and multivitamins for under 20 euros. Thanks France!

Today I hit up the Friday market. I can not express to you how much I love open air markets. It may be my favorite thing about this country, and I often said when I was home that it was the thing I missed most (aside from friends of course). I mean, a place where I can buy enough fresh fruit and veg to get me through the week for 5 euros? Hell yes.

We are approaching Halloween and I have plugged in my orange lights (damn I wish my camera was working). I think tonight a John Carpenter marathon is in order. All of the English floormates have left or are leaving tomorrow for vacation. Me, I'll be here, introducing all the other assistants to American Halloween. I even brought my devil costume.

urban legends and baked beans, oh my

I'm happy as this day was long. You may have noticed I don't blog nearly as much this trip as I did last time. That is because I am crazy super busy all the time in the best way. Living in Caen is awesome. Always a new assistante de langue to meet. I must have met 30 already and that's not even half.

Today I met two new friends at the station and we had a bit of a tour de Caen. Walked around the castle, the abbaye aux dames, brunched in an English tea house (baked beans with breakfast, really?), walked around the hippodrome where the horses race, and then met even more assistants in centre ville.

In total, we were fifteen. I don't know how we managed to find enough space at a cafe. French cafes are typically small and also jam-packed on Saturday afternoon. But we managed and I was smack in the middle of people who only wanted to speak French. Score!

Then off to dinner, my favorite creperie again. The hostess remembered my name and thanked me for bringing her lots of business. Last week I brought her ten, this week fifteen. I should get a free cider or something, right?

Then it was off to ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING THEATRE PERFORMANCES I HAVE EVER SEEN. The theme was urban legends, and this one was about William the Conqueror. I am really stoked about it. First there was a musical performance in the lobby. Couldn't tell you the instrument. Looked like a giant silver leaf. It was somber and beautiful.

Then they ushered us into a big common room where everyone sat on the floor and listened to the story of William's skeleton. Long story short, it was raided, and after a seriously long time they managed to find all of his bones, except his femur. Pesky femur. Then they found it! Well, they're 90% sure it's his anyway.

After story time we broke into four groups and watched dramatic scenes in the cloister. Two each about William and his honey Mathilda - one for each in their own time, and a reinterpretation of each set in modern times. The performance finished with the old and modern characters coming toward each other. It made me think about conquering, and how whenever we embark on a new quest, we have to think about our past and contemplate our future too. Very well done.

Guillaume, pissed off and ready to conquer

Crazy Mathilde, being courted by a peasant


Photos to come! Promise!

call me ambitious

When else in my life am I going to have the chance to really focus on self-improvement? Let's face it, in the USA I never have time to create and reach goals for myself. Here, I work 12 hours a week, giving me plenty of time to travel, read, write, do whatever the heck I want, really. So, I present to you my goals for 2011-2012.

1. Get healthy physically, mentally, spiritually
2. Run 5k nonstop by March (the 3k track is literally right outside my door)
3. Find yoga and do it at least weekly
4. Eat seasonally
5. See Germany
6. See south of France
7. Perfect my french
8. Cut down dairy/sugar consumption
9. Write poems weekly
10. Try other forms of writing/arts
11. Create lessons that I can use later as a teacher
12. Save money
13. Make awesome friends (already cracking away at this one!)
14. Talk to family as often as possible
15. Translate some French poems
16. Complete National Poetry Month in April (write a poem a day)
17. Volunteer
18. Complete advanced degree of french studies
19. Handmake Christmas presents

This list was inspired by a photo I took last time I was in France of my goal list. And I realized I had done most of them:
1. Find yoga
2. Eat better
3. Walk 1/2 mile a day
4. Become fluent
5. Finish l'histoire de pi
6. Try 20 cheeses
7. See D-Day beaches
8. See Eiffel Tower
9. Go to England
10. Complete NaPoMo (intentionally not completed)
11. Write poem in French

Funny what changes in three years, what stays the same.

Two Words

Lavender. Chocolate.

15/16ths to go

Talking to T last night, I said I've been here almost a full two weeks, and he said that means I'm 1/16th done.

When you put it that way, it doesn't seem long at all! 8 months sounds forever to me, but 16 biweeks sounds like it's going to fly by!

I'm already anxious to be back home and see everyone I love/miss, but I am also really excited about all the new friends I am making here. I live with about ten other assistants from all over the world - Russian, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Arabic - which means we speak only in French woot! And almost every day I meet some new assistants at school or from the Caen Facebook group. Living in Caen there is always something to do. I already feel busy and I haven't even started classes yet!

September October November December January February March April May

I know sometimes it's going to feel like forever, but maybe I don't have such a long road ahead.

Sister Act

This is the story of how I almost came to live in a convent for a year.

Since the lease was postponed, I started looking at other housing options, you know, just in case it didn't work out. I couldn't stay on Nath or C's couches forever after all. I'd been in France over a week and still hadn't unpacked my suitcase.

Suddenly I had a few options.

Option #1: Single room in an apartment attached to a family's house. Apartment to be shared with a perfectly nice-seeming gentleman University student I had never met. Forgot to check if the door had a lock when I checked it out.

Option #2: Convent where another English assistant is staying. Cheaper than aforementioned apartment and closer to the town center and all relevant tram/bus lines. The catch? Lots of rules to obey. No cell phone ringers after 9pm. Vibration with discretion. No talking after 9pm. No showers after 10pm. No boys allowed upstairs. Wanna go out after 9pm? Not unless you asked for the key by 4pm that day! It wasn't all bad. For one thing, I knew it was safe. I knew I would get to speak French all the time. And I would even have a housemate who I already knew I got along with.

Option #3: Room at a local high school. This one didn't seem likely because I had asked them over the summer and they were all booked. But wait, what's that? One of the assistants never showed up? There might be a room available? Well, guess who was knocking on their door at 8:30 the next morning with all of her bags saddled on her sides, looking like a homeless person who really needed a room? THIS GIRL.

So here I am, settled in, tiny buddha bought for my desk and keychain bought for my new keys. Sacrilege?