Summer Reading

It's been a great summer for reading. Some ramblings:

Harry Potter: After nearly twenty years, I've decided to experience the cultural juggernaut that is Harry Potter. I've gotten through the first four books and films and have decided to continue. No spoilers please! I am so thrilled by the world-building and the twists and turns, and I am eager to hear the backstories of the professors. At the moment, Harry is my least favorite character. Hagrid is my absolute favorite. I expect it will take me way into the school year to finish Order of the Phoenix.

La pluie d'ete: I wanted to explore the writing of Marguerite Duras, so I started with this short novel about the two oldest kids in an immigrant family living in Paris. I thought the dialogue was interesting, but wasn't very invested in the characters or the plot. I plan to read Hiroshima, Mon Amour next, mostly because there is much more criticism available about that work.

Holy Cow: I borrowed this book from the library on a whim after I found out that David Duchovny is a published writer!? I thought it was a creative and interesting tale. The whole time, I felt like was reading a book my dad had written. It was all the 2015 slang. Something about imagining my Mulder at his computer writing an anthropomorphic cow going on about how the other animals on her farm are cray-cray was strangely fun.

All the Light We Cannot See: My favorite so far, and I'm not even 100 pages in. I adore the poetic language that Anthony Doerr is using to bring us to WWII-era France and Germany. I am constantly getting lost in his gorgeous paragraphs, and I am relieved that the book is enormous, so I can look forward to a beautiful, long read. Best of all, I know that this book will bring me to St. Malo, a city that is dear to me and in which I have many beautiful memories.

Back on the Horse

...and by horse, I mean bike.

T and I are now bike-having people, and so far we have done three consecutive morning rides.

I'm all in for an end-of-summer reset. But before I get into that, let's get one thing straight: since my last woe-is-me health post, I've had a reality check. I may still feel down from time to time about my lack of progress on the weight front, but I am no longer allowing myself to feel guilt. I know what to do to get healthy, and I can either do that, or not. I will, of course, try to live by one of my favorite mantras: It's not that I want it and can't have it; it's that I can have it and don't want it.

I expect I will go through some phases. For example, during this summer's vacation back in Caen, I was living in a cheese and chocolate fest. And for the last (almost) two years, I have been doing very little activity. This stemmed from a leg injury with a personal trainer and I caught anxiety about working out the leg again for an exaggerated time.

T and I are both looking forward to making healthy choices going into the 16-17 school year. No chips in the cupboard, less beer, and lots more exercise. Here's what we are doing so far:

-Weekly weigh-ins and measurements to keep an eye on our progress
-Daily bike rides around town
-Morning cardio in our (wait for it) newly renovated workout room!
-Smart meal planning - low sugar, low carb, plenty of produce, predominantly vegan
-Blog updates to keep us on-track.

Wish us luck. I feel very positive about this, especially because I have the best teammate in the world.

the day i got 100 passports

French media mail will be thanking me because I already have more books than I could possibly bring back to the USA.

Can I just say that the SPCD in Vichy is exceeding my expectations by so much. First, and most importantly, it is organized as all. It makes Carre International (where I got my degrees last year) look like it was organized by chimps. Seriously. I've been told from day one exactly which parcours I'm in, which professors I will have, which room I'm in, how to access our online platform, everything. Not once has a professor been unprepared or even uninteresting. I have a bunch more classes lined up and I hope that continues.

But what I appreciate the most is that everything I'm learning is practical in class. We spend very little time on theory and much more time on methods of implementation for our very diverse students' levels. Plus, we practice every worksheet and every game so we know how our students will feel.

I just finished my first year teaching and haven't had a real training yet because NJEA was cancelled last year. But I hope they are all like this because I'm learning so much.

New grammar books for my students plus 100 "passports for learning" that I will be using forever.

I'm most excited about the book in the middle, "Les Bulles de la France," which is a collection of Bandes Dessinees. The publisher asked a French comic to make a certain number of strips per theme. Then made educational worksheets out of each strip. It's super adaptable per level and authentic too!







Plus, I'm loving being a student again. Seriously, if I could be a student forever, I would be. Today our group had to do a group exercise where we pretend we decide to buy a house and we have to determine rooms, budget, chores, etc. Guess which group decided to sacrifice a second bathroom to install a jacuzzi and to add 50 euros a week to the budget for our party fund?

En stage

Some highlights of Vichy and the stage (teacher training) so far. 

-Vichy is so small that even when I got completely lost in town last night I managed to find my way and it only took me a half an hour. 

-My host family is wonderful. Super patient, welcoming, and good cooks. Plus, they have an adorable one-year-old and a super animated seven-year-old who loves to talk about any and everything. 

-It takes me three minutes to get to class every day. 

-The classes are well-organized and interesting. Right now I am in a daily program addressing how to favor oral communication in classes. We learned plenty of activities and techniques and it is only day two. 

-My fellow French teachers are awesome! Although the grant was available to Americans, the University accepts people from all over the world. I find myself again in a "petite planete" where we can learn each other's cultures and techniques and practice our French together. I am impressed by how appreciated we all are to one another, and how we are seen as colleagues by the professor, and not as students. It's a nice distinction, to be a party in sharing and not just one expected to learn. 

And the one I'm happiest about: two days in and I already feel lighter in body and in spirit. My class is on the 6th floor and I force myself to take the stairs all the way up 3x a day. I meditate before bed at night. Vichy is known for its spas, and I am going to book myself an Ayurvedic rebalance later this week. Plus, no snacking. No gourmandises except to try something new. I can already tell it's going to be hard to leave. 

But, oh, not as hard as all that, cause in less than two weeks I get to reunite with my famille Normande!

Vichy!

Along the way to Vichy, I:

-Had my first nonstop flight since Semester At Sea.

Somewhere above the Atlantic.
OFK moment: when the fog on the ocean
looks like cake decorations.

-May have gotten another stomach bug from the plane food (veggie as it were).

-Got chauffeured around Paris (dude had a name card. literally).

Nice to see you again, Tour Eiffel! 

-Picked up grant money from a Western Union. It felt really strange.

-Spoke Spanish with an Aregetinian, 3 Brazilians, and a Chinese girl at the station.

-Got to know a super welcoming host family who took me on a tour of Vichy!

-Watched the sun go down at 9:55 pm.

Tomorrow, first day of teacher training. I'ma nerd out when I get my books.

What changes, what stays the same

So I came to the realization not so long ago that I don't live in France anymore.

I know that sounds crazy because at some point close to a year ago, I got myself on a plane, flew across an ocean, reunited with T and all my family and friends, and threw myself into the job hunt. Then I accepted my dream job, moved in with T, and settled down. So, yeah, I live in New Jersey again. And I'm here to stay.

From the moment I got home, I knew I had said goodbye to my town with a dozen cafes on every street, bookstores galore, and bartenders who knew me. I had accepted the fact that I would only see some of my dearest friends annually. And I was totally stoked to be back in the USA, land of the convenience store and home of the sprawling highway, where I could drive my car again! So much good here.

What I didn't realize AT ALL until this week was that France meant so, so much to my physical health. When I compare myself to where I was a year ago, I am ashamed and saddened. I am eating too much and I am participating in ZERO physical activity aside from when I am at work and the occasional Saturday fun activity with friends.

I gained ten pounds since the beginning of the school year and didn't quite understand why. But this is where I have to remember that I am not in France anymore. There, I (begrudgingly, sometimes, I admit) walked everywhere. Across town multiple times a day. Sometimes with heavy grocery bags in both arms. I ate better, whole foods. And a lot of friends, in what I have come to see as a very appreciated, very French type of criticism, raised their eyebrows at me if I ordered a heavy dessert after a heavy dinner, or exhibited any similar gourmande activity. I watched the way parents educated their kids about healthy eating and I listened to what they said for myself. I got slimmer, but more importantly, I got healthier.

Today, I am lethargic, unreasonably cold ALL THE TIME, cranky, and worst of all, lazy. It was a long, cold winter and I am over it.

I want Spring to be a time of healing. Because I have a lot of healing to do. So I am educating myself about how to eat the right foods when I need them. I bought a juicer. I am seeing a nutritionist. I am going to a gym. And I hope more than anything that I can get healthy again. Because I have been on this road many times and failed. I don't understand how the same me who has faced and overcome my fair share of challenges is the same person who cannot turn down a cupcake.

Friends, what have you done to keep you motivated as you got healthy? What am I missing? I am not sure I have ever had willpower. Where can I sign up for some of that?

Bienvenue, 2013!

2013 is here, and I am still having trouble processing how quickly it came.

Since I got back to the USA in June, I haven't given myself any time at all to reflect. A lot has happened. I didn't get the job I was interested in in May, but I did get one a whole lot better for me. After months of storage-unit managing and cable company date entering, I sent out a letter of interest on a whim one weekend, not feeling quite ready to start applying for my dream job (teaching French), but knowing that September was fast-approaching. After a phone call, an hour-and-a-half car trip, and the most important interview so far in my life, I was offered a job teaching French, and the whirlwind that is now my life began.

I moved in with T and two days later I was an equal parts nervous, equal parts excited Madame, full of hope and positive energy for this school year. Now the 12 part of 12-13 is already over, and there is still so much I have to teach my students!

True, school has taken over most of my time, but the whirlwind has also been full of catching-up time with friends, reading, marathoning television series while I bake and clean and craft, and spending every free moment with T. We've got 8 months to make up for.

In 2012, I toured 5 countries, met friends in each of them, made a new best friend and added more chosen family members, was reminded how awesome the people I know are, finished two French diplomas with pretty stellar notes, and nabbed my dream job. At the same time, I got to know myself a little better and became aware of all the things I want to work on to become a better person, friend, and family member.

In 2013, I want to keep up the healthy eating habits I have adopted for myself, but more importantly, I need to get back into running, yoga, and meditation. My health has taken a hit since September. It's time to sleep the right amount and get my body as healthy as possible. It's the only one I have.

This year, a lot less sarcasm, a lot less letting myself get annoyed. No more yelling at the Comcast people, for example. I want to be more tolerant, more appreciative of all those around me.

And, I think most importantly, better lessons that encourage and inspire all types of learners, not just learners like me. This is the biggest one, the one I can't stop thinking about, the one that is driving me. I know it could take years to master, but I want to get damn close in 2013.

Happy New Year everyone! What big plans are up your sleeves?

Allemagne!

Yesterday I left my france and took a loooong train ride to Germany!

My friends came over to keep me company, help me finish all the food I had left and take stuff off my hands that I couldn't bring home. Then we played bilingual telestrations! Dani and Ed even brought Plato! I wonder if the salle commune had ever seen a dog before that.

I stuffed all of my things into one big suitcase and one bookbag.

I shipped home about 33 pounds of books and 15 pounds of other heavy stuff I couldn't bear to part with.

I took one last cafe in Caen with my best friend Whitney, at my favorite cafe.

I made it through the Paris subway with only two escalators out of order, and nice people to help me up all the stairs.

On the train in France I thought about how happy am that my French is finally good enough that I have no problem traveling, asking for help, clarification, directions, understanding all responses,etc.

On the train in Germany I am back to square one and don't understand a thing.

Sylvia was waiting for me with a Bavarian speciality!!

A pretzel cut in half and stuffed with cream cheese and chives! Perfect after 11 hours of traveling. =)

So good to see my friend, so much to catch up on, and so much to see!

Best Week Ever in photos

Wed evening: Pad thai from my two thailandaise classmates. I had NO idea how easy it is to make once you have the sauce, which is apparantly very difficult to make and takes a looong time to ferment. Challenge accepted.

Wed evening: This night we went around the room mocking our bad professors, reminiscing about our good ones, and sharing our stories about falling in love. T now has a fan club.

Friday morning: Classes are officially over! So many hours of exams. I geeked out about this big lecture room. Something I didn't get much of as a student. After the DALF, I sat with my friends for an hour or so on the grass, taking advantage of our time together.

Friday evening: Soiree jazz to celebrate the end of classes. Fun! Saying goodbye to Ian, Andrew, and Lauren, not fun. But I know their energy and spirit will ensure they are on to great things.

Saturday afternoon: On the way to meet my friend J for ice cream on the chateau, we find an orchestra in the middle of the sidewalk.

Saturday evening: Finally finished all those goodbye presents for my professors and colleagues while watching some contest for Europe's best singer. All other countries had some beautiful girl doing more dancing and acting than singing. But I would vote for Russia. 6 old ladies in traditional Russian garb singing what looked like a folk song and messing up the words from time to time. I saw too much English and too many fireworks in that show, and those Russian grannies were really refreshing.

Sunday afternoon: BBQ chez maman Veronique! Hazy in the morning but the sun came out and it was gorgeous in the afternoon. Plus, I finally got to meet the family Whit has been raving to me about since I met her. And with good reason. Lovely from the inside out, every one of them.

Sunday evening: Double birthday party with the Barbes! These girls made me a crown (because I may have demanded a crown) that took my breath away. And I met the most adorable little ginger kitten that night. I also dropped some asparagus in my wine when I lost control of the tongs, but then drank the wine anyway. Class!

And Monday: Met a beautiful new baby who has been born to an amazing mom and dad and big sister, shared my chocolate chip cookie recipe with probably the most socially adept and intelligent 14-year-old boy I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, and had cafe and pizza with some people who I am really going to miss.

with 15 days left to go

These are the shoes that are so busted they are not worth taking home.

Yep, you are seeing right. Normandy tore through FIVE pair this year. That's a good thing I guess - less to take home?

Being home in 15 days is starting to feel unreal. I have so much to get done before then. And French administration is a nightmare. I feel like anything that isn't taken care of already will not likely be done at all.

As usual, I feel like I didn't get to spend as much time with most of my friends as I would have liked to. Regardless, I am so happy that I got to live here for another year, grow closer with my friends, and start to master this language. I still have a long way to go, but am leaps and bounds ahead of where I was in September.

Tomorrow, final exams, the beach, a jazz concert and dancing.

Today, a Skype interview with a program I would love to be a part of. I hope they like what I have to offer them!

Oh, photos from our unforgettable pancake day!

Semicolon pancake!

Me cooking pancakes in the tiniest kitchen ever shared by 11 people

Because birthday does rhyme with Monet

Yesterday I turned 26 years old. I think I asked my parents at some point what time I was born. I think they didn't remember. So I usually just go for a celebration that starts at midnight. Midnight on the 20th I was chatting franglais with Whit, Raph, Ian and Andrew at the Broc Cafe. Then I walked home under a sky that I would have expected to be much darker at 1am.

I woke up the next morning, put on my birthday shoes (which look exactly like my regular shoes btw) and walked over to chez Whit to meet her and Daniela, my road trip buddies to Giverny! And what road trip girls we were. Complete with us shouting "road trip," stopping for snacks, rocking out to "You're the one that I Want," and shouting "Giverny!!" in unison as we passed the first road sign for the village.

So, you know how Monet painted these?:

The inspiration for the water lillies series was his garden in Giverny. And that is where we spent the day on Sunday. You know I am a sucker for collective energy. For me, there is no better place than somewhere with a lot of other people appreciating the beauty all around you. So of course I loved Giverny. Even, or maybe especially, under the rain everything was magnificent. We walked the paths that Monet walked, laughed together in this garden that it must have taken loads of people to cultivate. We snapped shots of lillies, hulking trees, weeping willows, colorful orchids, and each other.

We took a little visit of Monet's house. Looked out his bedroom window into his garden. I especially loved his blue kitchen. Blue plaid curtains, awesome stove, and a whole wall of hanging pots, pans, spatulas. And even better than that, a kitchen all decked out in yellow!

We ate overpriced cheese dishes that none of us enjoyed (who knew my favorite of all cheeses is gross when warm?). We drank coffee and juice. We smiled with the flowers when the sun came out.

I am so glad that the rain didn't stop us from going, because raindrops on flowers can be as lovely as the flowers themselves.

May I always have birthdays that are shared with amazing friends, in inspiring places.

All photos are the master photography of Whitney. My battery was being weird.

Me, Whit and Daniela on the Japanese bridge

Rainy leaves

Les Nymphéas

Jour Férié Awesomeness

Jour Férié = bank holiday. Today is the ascension. And the following awesomeness ensued:

-Woke up completely stress-free, with no exam to get to or study for.
-Told Grooveshark to play me any of the 500 most popular songs at random, and it chose "Welcome to the Jungle." You haven't lived until you have seen me alone in my room screaming "I want to watch you bleed."
-Made my secret brownie for my tea party (group of professors who like tea, not who are crazy reps) I am going to miss this group. We have so much fun together. And they are great, caring friends. I told them I liked baking, so they gave me the bible of all french pâtisserie cookbooks!

No, I will not tell you the secret ingredient.
-Planned what to do on Sunday. Spending my birthday in Monet's gardens. Life is real freaking good.
-Next Thursday I have a Skype interview for a job I really want at a place I really want to work. Crossing all my appendages. I ask you to please do the same.

La Foire de Pâques

So here's a video about the Easter Fair that has been the spot to go for the past few weeks. Famous last hangout for my friends Bing, Samuel and Rana who were looking for a fun, memorable last evening before they left la france. I've also been with friends just looking for something fun to do on a Saturday when it's nice outside. So many rides. So much dizzy. So many lights. See for yourself.



Full-disclosure: this was the first time I actually tried editing a video. And it's a video I took on my webcam and cell phone. So I am aware that it is really terribly done. But I'll keep trying.

Things I left out of the video:
-How I screamed so hard on the upside down ride that my friend asked me if I had another cold the next day because I had lost my voice.
-How I got really into the haunted house and running out looking scared that a really nice lady pulled my friend aside to ask him if I was OK.
-How I spent about 2 euros (20 centimes per try) trying to win T a little bear and failed miserably, while Whit totally won a stuffed mario on her first try.
-How a silly mom wore a skirt to the foire and a gust of wind at the funhouse showed everyone everything.
-Another thing I noticed that def would not fly in the USA:

(Yeah, just go ahead and zoom in on that beach scene)


Things I left in the video:
-Me searching for the word jam. Cause most of the time I still can't believe I learned french and love when I forget words in English.
-Me saying I'm going to the Foire tomorrow. It's definitely over now. Sorry, took my time uploading.

Taking a breather

I have been studying on lock. And interrupting each hour with en episode of Cake Boss to keep myself sane, of course. The brain can only take so much without some shallow reality television to balance it all.

But isn't his Jersey accent going to interfere with the french comprehension, you ask? Oh, don't worry. I am falling asleep to Plus Belle la Vie, France's answer to the drama-packed daytime soap.

I have NINE exams next week, three of which are tomorrow! Those are for my degree from Université de Caen, Diplôme avancé d’études française. Then the week after that the DALF: Diplôme approfondi de langue française. That's the international beast, but I am less nervous about it because it's a language assesment. I go in with what I have, can't really prepare for that anymore than I have been, speaking French as much as others will let me and watching the TV in the salle commune as much as humanly possible. For the others, I have to know about subject matter that I don't have any background in at all! Economy? Juridique? What was I thinking challenging myself? I should have stuck to literature!

Since it's gorgeous outside, I have also (finally) picked up running again and am doing national poetry month May to make up for falling off track in April.

What else is going on? I know I talk to some of them often, but in general I feel completely cut off from my friends and family in the USA. Guess that's what happens when you pick up and leave for the bulk of a year. I am beyond ready to settle myself back into New Jersey life and pick up where I left off. Food swaps, late night chats with my roomie, beach days, exercise time with my nephew, all of it.

As excited as I am to come home, I can't see myself not here. I'm going to miss the boulangeries, the barman at the What Else, the cheap cheese and apples, and 100 times all that, my friends and family Caennais. You'd think I'd be used to leaving by now. It never gets easy though. Sigh. I need a job in the USA that lets me come to Caen every year. I won't give up until I find it.

Time is getting away from me! I can count the weeks I have left on one hand!
My next weekends:
This one: studying
Next one: Giverny (Monet's town)
The one after that: Germany
The one after that: HOME IN THE ARMS OF MY BABY!!!

Damn.

Study music:

why i love my boyfriend

On gchat:

me: ok baby, me too, i better get some sleep
pancake date tomorrow morning with nath
its a national holiday!

T: France has a pancake day?

me: hahah no that came out so wrong
its the end of the war anniversary
and im celebrating with pancakes

T: Don't care it's pancake day

Yes you did!

When you are much too tired to write but want to share the amazing night you just had with your friends...VIDEO BLOG!

Mina, pack your suitcase girl

The best way to be a better writer is to write, right? So that's why I just made a French blog! If you are French/speak French follow me! Let's see where this goes.

http://belleayrer.wordpress.com/

Hey, did you get that super awesome 90s wordplay I did in the title there?

Best Week (and week-end) Ever, the assistants are leaving (but that's not why it was awesome) edition

On Monday I had a feeling this week was going to fly by. My last week of work, first week of University classes back from the Easter holidays, and worst of all, the last week for the majority of the assistants I know.

I think I had forgotten from the last time how sad it is when the contract comes to an end. And this year I had some absolutely fabulous students. It was hard to say goodbye to them, but even harder to share my last lessons and coffee breaks with my AMAZING colleagues.

There were only two times that I almost cried, first in my class de 1L, when four of my students presented me with this:

It's a beautiful picture frame and inside little notes from my students thanking me for the things that I taught them. In the left corner is a postcard another two students gave me with a Normand Hamburger on it: An apple cut in half stuffed with Camembert, tripes, teurgeule, and crème. Yum!

And the second time I almost let a few teardrops fall was when some terminales (seniors) had a few last questions to ask me about my favorite memories in France, what stereotypes I have come to realize are not true, what the first thing is I want to do when I get home (that one made me super happy because I got to say I will kiss my boyfriend!!) But the thought of not having these students next year, not working with these professors, was overwhelmingly sad. That's what happens when you create a whole nother life somewhere else though. After that, wherever you are, you are going to miss someone.

In other news, I am proud to say I am rocking the face off of my classes at the University. I got all my grades back from before the break and I killed it! Some of the best grades I have ever gotten in France!

National Poetry Month came to a grinding halt before vacation in Rome. I have ideas for all my poems, even some lines worked out, but I simply don't have the time to write them. I think I'll give myself an extension, write them when I can, and still post them here.

So, OK, let's talk about food. Because I have eaten SO. MUCH OF IT. this week! The assistants leaving has sort of inspired everyone to have going away evenings, last meals and all of that.

Wednesday night Bing and I were invited one last time chez Yolande, a professor at Malherbe who went to great lengths to reunite everyone who is lodged here. So she had us over for crepes a la Bretonne and they were even better than the last time. Plus, she showed me her technique for making the perfect egg.

Friday night was oh-my-moussaka Greek wonder (seriously, look at that picture. I am so overwhelmed). The Greek professor from my lycée invited me, the Spanish assistant (who is leaving tomorrow), a Spanish teacher, two French teachers, and the Swedish teacher over to send us away, and we also turned it into a birthday celebration for her. I cannot tell you enough how much I love this cast of characters. Spanish S with his love of dogs and cats, Spanish C with her glittering eyeshadow and a super colorful personality that makes you want to have fun, O, E and S, the French and Swedish teachers, with their soft speech and super interesting insights, and our host Athan, whose personality in all of its stereotypical Greek wonder is as spiced as the dishes she made. She speaks loud and she doesn't take any shit. I love being with all of them - what a diverse group we are!

Athan prepared an amazing full-course Greek meal. We started with a huge bowl of tzatziki and some baguettes to spread it on. You could smell the garlic from a mile away. Then, these amazing little spinach and feta cheese fritters. I don't know what she did with the feta but it almost tasted like paneer somehow. Then, a big Greek salad, and for the main course an enormous moussaka for everyone else and a dish of eggplant, potato, tomatoes and cheese for me. And then to finishe we had a sublime orange cake, and the chocolate cake Sam and I brought from our favorite boulangerie. And someone else brought macarons! I couldn't even eat one, I was so stuffed! Every single dish was super yummy and as I told Athan later that night, I was surprised that she went out of her way to ensure that I could eat everything on the table. My fellow vegetarians in FR know that is something you can say very rarely, and I appreciate the friends who actually get it.

I got dropped off at home in the rain on Friday, slept very little, and woke up for a full Saturday of things to do. Uni work/laundry in the morning followed by Sam and Yann's birthday lunch. I suggested pizza (wtf when I already had pizza planned for dinner?! Ashley, come on really). So we ate pizza in the salle commune, laughed at Youtube clips and joked together. Then ate this incredible gateau aux fraises that Violeta bought as a gift for the two guys.

And then last night, dinner for all the English colleagues from Lycee Victor Hugo. We meet for drinks, walk into a bar and are faced with a dude entirely dressed in a sub leather dress with a ballgag around his neck, a skimask over his face, and a flogger in his hand. Thank god my profs are not uptight! We all had a great laugh and headed over to the pizzeria where I got the best pizza I have tasted yet in Caen, I kid you not. Artichokes, mushrooms, olives, onions and lots of cheese. Que la vie est belle!

After another round of beers we were all on our way home, me laughing out loud down the street about all the things we saw and joked about that night. Oh, how we laugh together. I hope that wherever I end up teaching, the ambiance between the profs is as amazing as it is between them at Victor Hugo.

So now it is Sunday morning. I have lots of work to do, tidying up, letters of recommendation to write, University work to prepare, and CVs to send out as I am starting the job search process in the USA. Plus, a Sunday market to visit and a coffee to be had with one of my best pals.

Oh yeah, and one of the best parts of this week, I bought my plane ticket home. New York, baby, here I come! I think on June 8th when I finally get to New Jersey and am in the arms of my baby, the state will explode from the sheer power of my happiness.

NaPoMo Day 7-10 Poems

It's day 10 of NaPoMo, and I'm writing away but this year, I'm not entirely stoked about my work.

Last year around this time I was breathing poetry. Newly in love, it felt like everything I touched in the supermarket, every conversation I heard on the street, every person I saw in the park could be a new poem. Plus, I had this really amazing project to work on, my black and wtf poems. In 30 days I pumped out some of the best, most surreal stuff I've ever written, and I loved every single line. Poems about goats on slides, elephants trying to stuff themselves into cars, comforting bears, men making Snooki giant pickles, etc. When I re-read these poems, I feel like they could really go somewhere. I'm newly inspired right now to rework and submit them. I like the commentaries they make, they way they talk about our world.

But this year, I'm pretty much just journaling. And, that's OK too. I'm happy to be writing, but the result is that I feel like these poems are just for me, and maybe my little group of friends. At the end of the day, I don't think anyone on a larger scale will want to read me pontificating about the differences between France and the USA, or how much I hated my job back home, or my personal struggles. To be short and sweet, I don't think I'm writing anything that anyone hasn't already written.

Again, this is not a complaint. I've been so busy with school and work and taking up running again and planning voyages around Europe, I didn't even think I'd get past day one of NaPoMo. And I certainly haven't made any time for journaling. So these poems will someday be a nice little thread for me to hold on to my April 2012 days.

Oh, and for the record, I am still crazy in love, but we've been doing the long distance thing, so the physical electricity that lets me tranform everything I touch into a poem is on vacay for now.

Here's some of what I wrote this week:

Day 7 I rehash an old prompt from poetry workshop years ago.
I Sold my Virginity on Ebay

Today, a search for virgin turns
up 58,653 results. I stand
out among the virgin neem
oil, the barely legal videos,
the virgin mother statues,
the CDs from Virgin Records.
For 10,000 bidders, I assure
the eBay buyer protection
and the certificate of authenticity.
Yeah, Ebay has a rule about nudity,
but this bidder wants more than a bare
ass or tits anyway. My photo gallery shows
my parts separately: sharp elbow, jawline,
above upper lip, upper thigh. The winning bidder
is a polite businessmen. We agree, my virginity
will arrive in 5-7 business days. But how can I
package it?

Day 8 I visit the Easter market in Caen
Au marche de Pacques a Caen

I walk through the market to find
some Normand apples. But it's late
Easter afternoon and probably
everyone wants to go hunt
for eggs and play
with whatever the French
play with on Easter. The marche
is wrapping up. I get the apples.
On the way, I pass a bald man
being followed by an enormous
bubble. It pops and I am surprised
the little rainbow inside doesn't slick
his skin. Ah, Caen, qu'est-ce que tu me
satisfait, et bien je ne suis jamais satisfaite.

Day 9 I put together a Facebook found poem. I am only posting a few lines of this one.

Today it's market
research. I check my feed, see that a friend wants
to know why boys these days want the cake
but not the whole thing. I learn he doesn't give
pieces. 40 hours a week for three years, where
did you go? Every one of you was raw, unbridled
evil and greed and ignorance smothered in balloons
and ribbons. Let's hope we don't get blown away
by the wind.

Today, my poem is "At 25 years old I feel my breasts for the first time." And it probably won't go public yet, just so you know in advance.

NaPoMo Day 6 Poem

One touched up, the other catch-ups coming soon.

Some girls made brownies 
in their toy ovens. I baked 
little women. Every day 
in the back room, Full 
House, Step by Step, 
Family Matters, me 
and my army 
of dolls. My trays
could make six women 
at a time.  [To make a plastic 
  woman: 1. drip eye and lip 
  dye into grooves of the metal 
  tray. 2. Fill body with flesh 
  color (peach available now;
  more colors coming soon). 3. 
  Choose brown, yellow, or red,
  cipher hair dye into the depressions
  of her squared bob. 4. Insert silicon
  handled tray into oven. Bake women 
  until mom shouts about burnt plastic 
  smell. 5. Using other trays, cook separately
  the sarongs, sneakers, skirts and shirts to wrap
  around your women.]
How I loved 
the peel of them 
from metal, their cling
to those round grooves. 
If you want to bake
a woman, be careful. 
Pull her out too quick 
and an eye could tear.  Too 
slow and she may mangle.
Just remember, no matter
how many plastic women you have
made, they never stand unless propped.