Miss me?

So, I've seriously logged into this website 3 times in the past couple of days and then decided that I really didn't feel like writing anything. Lucky you; however, because now I do! Let's go with the usual format, shall we?

Friday night we had a party. It was pretty rockin'. At one point there were 5 French guys in my room with all of us. Cramped, yet, stylin'. None of them were even remotely interested in me, though. Everyone left around 1:30 in the morning. Clean up was minimal. :)

Saturday we woke up, ran some errands, went to the bank, went grocery stopping and then were sloths all day. It was excellent. Later that night we watched Labyrinth....oh, David Bowie.

Sunday we ran to the only cafe open for coffee and did lesson plans. We then walked around and met up with the Brits at Place Plume (Place Plumereau....go google it...now.........I'll wait.................cool, no? Let's continue...) came back and then made delicious dinner (I made cabbage soup for 50 men/the fridge to hold). I then went to bed, finished my book, and stared at the ceiling in terror for about 4 hours. Around 3:30 I fell asleep.

Monday I woke up at 6:30 to catch the train to Ballan-Mire. I got to use my card in the ticket machine (eek! :) And arrived in Ballan around 7:30. I then proceeded to take an hour to walk a 10 minute walk because I got horribly, horribly lost twice. When I got to the school the director was not there. Turns out.......friends........that he gets in at noon on Mondays. So.... I did not have my schedule/know wtf to do. One of the teachers there grabbed my schedule off of his desk (yay!!!!!!!) and then left to teach class. Nobody came to get me for observation, so I asked the secretary how to print something (use the director's computer? what?) and then make copies. I then copied things 800 times and then sat down in the teacher's lounge and stared at my schedule.....no really....just stared....until 10. I then got pissed off that the director was not there/nobody knew wtf was going on.......so..........I left. I peaced out of the school.

I walked around for about an hour in search of a cafe (nothing was open) and eventually went to a giant "Simply Market" and bought a pain au chocolat......mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm and looked around there for a bit. (I don't know if you've noticed it yet, but I LOVE grocery stores in France. I actually consciously hope that I forget something so I can go back and get it at a later date.) Around 11 I went back to the school and the director was there (ugh...) and he made sure I got my schedule and asked me who gave it to me and a bunch of other things in his silly accent that I cannot understand at all. Then.....it was lunch time. I sat in the teacher's lounge from 1130 until 1330 doing nothing but getting terrified. I honestly, honestly, almost ralphed all over the table. :(

I got into my first class and was shaking uncontrollably (did I mention that I had been drinking coffee straight from 1130 to 1330?......haha). We did the lesson, the teacher was not in the room, everything went well. It was terrifying. The children laughed at my French. Tant pis. Then the teacher was 15 minutes late coming from her lesson :( So, I was 15 minutes late to my next class which was just after that. booooooo. Then I got a 15 min. break and then I taught two more classes. They all went well. I sang to them. They liked it. They learned nothing. (WIN!)

After my last class I sprinted (well, not sprinted, but walked briskly) to the train station and JUSSSST made the train home. I also, fell asleep on the train for a second. When I got back Emma had made me a card hoping I had a good day (so sweet!) and then we talked about our days and an hour after we got back we all went to Marie's house for dinner.

Oh. em. gee.

Marie greeted us, poured us some vouvray (the sparkling wine that's made in Tours........sooo good) and we talked about things over appetizers. All I want in the world is for her to like me, so I made sure that I said some smart things. I told her how much I love Camargue and Mistral (Inner Monologue: SEEE! I KNOW YOUR CULTURE! LOVE ME!!!!) and we talked about Avignon for a bit (while everyone else was discussing other things). She mentioned the bridge (like I'd never heard of it, of course) and I mentioned the fable that the Terrasque (sp?) ate the other side of the bridge and how it's a metaphor for the Rhone river (like she'd never heard of it). Win. Win. Win. I think I impressed her. That and the conversation about Colette at the dinner table. :) God, I'm glad I retain trivia like it's my job. God bless Francois Bory. Avignon was worth the trip if only for that class and it's applications in real life.

For dinner we had: 1) Asparagus with sauce 2) Foie Gras (Yes......foie gras........I ate at least 75 bucks worth of it) 3) Roast chicken, risotto, mushrooms, pumpkin puree 4) Chocolate cake and ice cream.

Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I could barely move when we left.

Luckily, conversation at Marie's was easy because she kept pouring booze down our throats (I would say I had a total of 6-8 glasses of wine in the span of 3 hours). French came easily and laughter even easier. It was one of the best nights I've had here. Super super fun. The whole point of the dinner was to meet Amelie, Marie's neighbor's daughter who is our age. She is really cool, plays the accordion/piano, teaches at a conservatory of music (well is an assistant to a blind professor), is in a band, and loves ska. We all exchanged phone numbers/email address/etc to hang out soon. She friended me on facebook before I even had the chance to get on and try.

Overall, it was an awesome night.

Today, Tuesday, I woke up at 7:30 and headed to Francis Poulenc. The class is filled with little brats and I'm going to strangle them all (not really...but it's nice to dream). Then I came back here and took a nap. No idea what the night may hold, I think the Brits might come over at some point........ who knows.

Tomorrow, administrative stuff until noon. Then, hopefully, jam session! I miss my guitar. :(

Okay, interesting tidbits:

1. I got my credit card from Societe Generale! It's so f-ing sweet. I will post a picture.........sometime.........

2. At some point, I don't remember what day, I was able to talk to Erin. And it made me happy. It's weird to think how I must look to her....I feel like I'm changing/growing drastically each month. Oh, well. The best part is that now I get to be her friend and not her employee!

3. Emma does the best impression of how the French children act.....it's really something to see. I HATE children..........but.......... at this point...........I kinda want a little French kid to have as a pet. :)

4. Also met Marie's current foreign exchange student who is from BGSU. She's.......special. I don't think she understands much French (even though we were talking really, really slow/in English sometimes)......I think she might not have been paying attention or something. Anyway, she got offended when I told her what BG is known for (teehee). Oh! And turns out she grew up in Cleveland and knows all of the cities that my friends are from up north. :) I don't want to be her friend, though. She seemed apathetic towards the fact that we all were there. Wish she would try more.

5. New pictures up on facebook! I believe the include the Opera, the Musee des Beaux Arts, the Cathedral in Tours, my roommates, and a giant tree. Go check them out!

6. Decided Sunday night....er........Monday morning (really early) that it's time to start over. So far it's going really well. I'm starting to feel like myself again. I love it here.

7. Went to the grocery store today, bought cidre, baguette, and milk that's good until December. Explain that one.

Love Always,
Amanda