she said it's cold outside and she hands me a raincoat

and hello again. i really need to get on the ball with this thing don't i? i hate having these huge gaps in between my posts.

i am in vendée with ben and his mom. the village is called fontenay and it is bigger than sérignan! they even have a mall and an xmas market! sérignan didn't even try to put up a market and béziers' is pretty sad.

friday morning, karl, the cooking teacher at school, drove me up to la roche sur yon. the drive was 6 hours and pretty fun. we talked a lot about french food and my options as a vegetarian. i will be coming in and joining his classes when he does veggie dishes next semester so i am super stoked to finally learn quiches and tarts and ratatouille and stuff! i took a train to nantes and ben met me at the station. that night i met quite a few of his friends who all play the guitar really well, and when we were walking home it had snowed! i didn't have my camera though. it all melted by the time we woke up on saturday.

saturday: woke up really late and brunched with ben and cedric. i had this strange baked camembert with honey on bread. and some over-dressed salad. and it was crazy expensive. then we walked around but it started raining so we decided to get going to vendée. we piled into the car, ben gave a couple friends lifts up there and we got to his mom's place around 9. then we had dinner- a soup of mixed veggies and too much black pepper and no salt. with bread of course and clementines for dessert. i'm pretty sure clementines are just mandarins here cuz they look and taste the same. then we went out to visit his friends at night and talked until very late. it's cold and a quite village town so there isn't much else to do.

sunday, woke up late and walked around the town looking at the xmas market which was teeeny. and we went to the mall but i didn't get to look around much, with 3 guys they could only stand shopping for an hour or so. and none of them got any of their gift shopping done. came home and relaxed and talked. i showered finally! and we had a lazy dinner and channel surfed till we were pooped- around 11 haha. then we went to bed.

monday: woke up at 10 after a very good night's sleep and had some brioche and homemade banana berry jam. i don't know what type of berry though. don't know what the plan is for today; the weather is cold and gloomy.

all we hear on the radio these days is the snow in paris and the north and in london. i cant go anywhere without hearing about it! it's pretty crazy! people everywhere are stranded and i am very glad i didn't decide to travel out of the country.

i am learning a lot of french youth slang from ben and his friends and it is all very amusing. i just can't really tell the difference between the very impolite and the crude. which everyone else finds hilarious.

craving: spicy spicy indian chinese food and a hot tub
currently listening to: french talk radio

i could dream of ways to see you, i could close my eyes to dream

so the fates have declared this to be yet another weekend spent in serignan and bored out of my mind.

tuesday night: i went out to dinner with some teachers to a giant buffet restaurant. it was only slightly awkward. they were all really nice to me. i spent a while before at home, trying to decide whether to go or not because i had googled the restaurant and discovered that it is quite expensive. 23 euro per person. and mariana, the spanish assistant fell sick and wasn't coming. but i went for it since i have so little to do around here. the conversation revolved around teaching but it was mostly over my head. not that i didn't understand, i just had no way of contributing. they also talked about traveling in france and other outings they were organising. the food was amazing. especially dessert. i really have never seen such a large dessert spread in all my life. and it was categorized according to ingredient. the ice cream really blew my mind: caramel beurre sale. yumm. it's caramel ice cream with salty butter. i cannot get enough of it. and ooh what the french can do with chocolate. almost makes me wonder why they bother with frogs' legs, snails and whatever goes into tripe. aziza, my favorite teacher refused to let me pay even though i never said anything all night about the cost or anything. she said it was her treat. god bless her. she keeps saying that she's so grateful to have the chance to pass it along and help an assistant because of the incredible experience she had when she was one in liverpool.

wednesday: i went in for a class i see only twice a month. they're a group of students who take extra english and so they are slightly better than all my others. i spent the 2 hours with annie, their teacher, observing. they spent an hour asking questions about stokholm. at the end of the year they will be taking a 5 day trip to sweden to work on their english. they were quite excited about it and wanted to know all the details immediately. annie forced them to ask any and all questions in english and even though they struggled, (approx. 5 minutes to frame each question) they managed to express themselves really well in english. some of their questions were so strange though and made me wonder if they paid any attention in geography... or life. a few students thought it took all day to fly to sweden. the whole class wanted to know if they used the same electricity outlets as france. and a lot of girls wanted to know if the ABBA albums they wanted to buy would be in english.

the majority of the class was spent whining over the choice of stockholm. everyone wanted to go to london to practice english and couldn't understand why they were headed to a country where english wasn't the national language. i think it is a very cool idea. none of these students speak swedish, and i'm assuming that the odds of meeting swedes who speak french will be low, so the language everyone will be forced to use is english. i think these kids are incredibly lucky and i really wish i could go. i'm not going but not for lack of trying. there is a set number of adults required and i do not count. even though my english is awesome. boo.

thursday was pretty boring. the students were noisy and hilarious and i managed to teach very little. i tried showing a group of 13-14 year olds video clips of the pilot of the tv show lost to discuss what they saw. it worked a little. they earnestly attempted to speak in english and give me words and sentences about what they saw, but they mostly bickered about rubber band bracelets and who was farting and discussed the show in french. it is as if they all have attention disorders. or they're just not into it.

friday was so boring i made myself a chocolate cake. and i iced it too. i'm trying to figure out how to make a moist cake and this recipe called for mayonnaise instead of oil or butter. and i have mayo i'm not using so it was perfect. except that it came out dry as usual. it's very yummy but i want it moist!!

and saturday: i didn't do anything all day. except read, watch tv online, eat, and take a shower. and sing. i seem to do a lot of that these days. i really hope gladys and jean pierre can't hear me. and tomorrow's sunday. i am desperate for some pasta with a roquefort cream sauce and spinach and mushrooms but nothing's open sundays so i have to wait until monday to get the ingredients for that.

craving: lunch at cascade with vee and the twins
currently listening to: the quiet- my typing, random intestinal sounds, and natalya's soft humming

but it just may be a looooonatic you're looking for!

i am sleepy but i have a lot to do and i really want to blog because i have a lot to say but i'm sleepy.

this past weekend: didn't do much. it rained. gladys and jean pierre went to visit grand kids so i blasted music and sang very very loudly which felt great after my sore throat stuff. i had laundry drying in the garage that i wanted to get but couldn't cuz my remote wouldn't work. i tried the button every hour on saturday, stood outside the garage door pointing it at various corners, trying different degrees of pressure on the button. sigh. i tried to go shopping on sunday but the grocery store was closed. it was strange though, because as i stood outside the hyper u in the cold, there was a large sign saying how they are open 7 days a week, 8am to 8pm. i was angry and cold and looked around for someone to share my indignance with, but there wasn't a soul around. so i walked home. the gate wouldn't open. it's controlled by a remote and there is no overriding the remote. my remote is touchy sometimes, so i went for a short walk up and down the street to give it time to come around. didn't work. so i went for an even longer walk. came back and pushed the little button and nothing. and it was cold. so i sat down and thought. i didn't want to call gladys and worry her. so i decided to check out my options.

i found a spot through which if i absolutely had to, i could climb up and jump over a barbed wire fence into gladys' flower garden. then i sat back down on the sidewalk again to wait. i felt pretty self-conscious every time a car went by or an old lady hobbled by (crossing the street deliberately when she saw me) because this is not a place where people sit on the street. people don't even stand on the streets here unless they are talking to someone they just happened to meet or they are waiting for a bus. i called jules because i had to tell someone what was going on and during the call my phone beeped to let me know it would die, soon. not the best circumstances for a sunday night.

when it was too cold to handle, i decided to jump. it was pretty hilarious and took me a while to pull myself up. every time i heard a car drive by i burst out laughing wondering what it must have looked like to see a crazy girl struggling and scrambling through a hedge and over a very pokey fence. the fence hurt a lot. it poked through my favorite jeans. but i was in and i made my way inside to the warmth.

monday night when gladys and jean pierre got home, i told them what happened. he took my remote and with one push, had the fence open, perfectly. and i told them about the garage. and in front of my face, inside my room, he pushed the garage button once, and it opened immediately. of course. so there they were looking at me like i was slightly deranged, but to be pitied. and i was screaming inside.

and that is tonight's story children. stay tuned for the tale of the listening dinner and the anti-stockholm syndrome.

craving: orange juice! and peaches.
currently listening to: take you there- sean kingston

i couldn't quite perfect that nonchalance; paris and champagne with one brown sugar cube

shout out to ilam and ashu for being amazing, delightful people :)

wednesday: woke up, got ready, caught a train for montpellier. everything went oh so smoothly. i didn't have to wait long for anything, it was as if the world was on my time. met up with jules and headed straight for diagonal, the theater that plays all its films in vo (version originale) which means that harry potter was playing in english!!!! i had missed the 4:15 showing so i bought a ticket for the 9pm one. and i had all day to get very excited about it. jules is not a harry potter fan. to each his own but i am still incredulous whenever i meet a non-fan.

headed back to jules' place and talked and chilled (literally, the weather was ridiculously cold). i texted the few acquaintances i knew in the city to see if anyone happened to be free to watch the movie with me. antoine, a juggling aficionado we met in the park a week ago, agreed to keep me company. there was actually a line outside the theater when we got there! and i hear a lot of people speaking english in various accents but i was too excited to pay attention.

the movie was SO good. and i am so glad they stuck to the book so well. overall it was a very satisfactory viewing experience. i can not wait for the next one to come out. and i already want to watch this one again.

thursday: the next morning, i made sure to make it to my meeting at the ofii early. i waited forever anyway. it was for a medical exam, but i didn't know what that entailed. all it was, was a lung x-ray. the nurse who directed me through the whole thing was nice but in a great hurry. the little booth thing was freezing. and it was a considerably awkward position they wanted me in to snap the photo. it was over quick but that was followed by over an hour of more waiting. all to be called into another room to be told that they forgot to print my card. the lady (who's last name was lion, irrelevant) told me that it could take anywhere from up to 3 days to a week for them to get it processed. and so i had come all the way, paying a total of 17 euro for my return train fare, for essentially nothing other than to push my boobs up to a freezing plate in a tiny booth and carry around proof of my impeccable lungs. i wasn't that upset actually. it was an excuse to watch harry potter!

so i caught a train back and when i was almost at beziers, i got a phone call telling me that my card was ready! great. so i told the lady that i'd be back next week to collect it. but seriously, why?

friday: i woke up and went to the market to buy veggies for the weekend. i came home and made guacamole and garlic butter with parsley to take to a thanksgiving dinner party hosted by elaine in beziers. i caught a bus a little hectically, forgetting my toothbrush, but i made good time. the weather was below 2 degrees outside! i picked up tortilla chips and a loaf of bread for the guac and garlic bread and walked to elaine's to help prep.

she had a turkey going and there was cranberry sauce (oceanside, her mom had sent it to her!) and sweet potatoes, and mashed potatoes, and stuffing, and green bean casserole and for dessert... pumpkin pie! people had brought over a lot of food and we were a huge group. all the people from the mexican dinner plus 3 more americans- 2 assistants and a professional volleyball player from san jose. it really is a small world.

dinner took 4 hours to eat and it was so so delicious. elaine and diane had made the pumpkin pie from scratch and it turned out perfect. it has motivated me to try it myself. but the pumpkin in my fridge is for tomorrow's green curry.

it was great talking to all the other assistants and sharing horror stories. i really had a lot to be grateful for, my experience here has been a delight compared to others'. as the night ended, and people trickled out carrying their sleeping or crying children, i felt overwhelmingly content. i really like being in a full, noisy place sometimes. and nothing beats good food and excellent company.

saturday: i spent the night and caught the noon bus back to serignan. i wanted to do a load of laundry but i couldn't get the garage door open. which sucks since gladys and jean pierre have gone to visit grand kids for the weekend and i still have other clothes drying in there.

all i've eaten today is leftovers from last night's dinner. and lots of clementines. i do not have any vitamin c with me, just multi-vitamins. so throwing off this sore throat will have to be done organically haha.

and now i must go wash my hair.

craving: some more of last night's sweet potatoes
currently listening to: paris nights / new york mornings- corinne bailey rae

There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

i failed to mention this in the last post: thank you so much to everyone who commented! it really made my week :)

tuesdays are good days to blog because so much happens in school. today was no exception. i only had one hour in the morning; a group of eleven 11 year olds and they were working on family. they were energetic and surprised when they answered me correctly, which was adorable. they would also look at me like i was a mad woman when i asked them to try and answer in english. it was so simple too: describe your family. and the vocab was all on the board. i started off by drawing the simpsons family tree on the board and labeled each person what they were. ie. bart= son and brother. i think i speak too quickly even though i think it's quite slow enough, because half way through the class, a boy asked me if 'father' was what homer was called in english. i think i enjoy teaching the younger students more here, they behave so much better.

i got to head home after that class for a long nap and lunch before my 3 afternoon classes. the first group was the other half of a horror group from last week. i think their teacher must have considerably chastised them all because this group was eerily silent. they loosened up midway and participated and were very well-behaved.

i had prepared youtube videos for all my afternoon classes but when i hit full screen, i got an 'unexpected error' and so i talked them through a restaurant situation (for what felt like the 40th time for me), since they hadn't done it before. and when they class was over i power walked home to re-stream the videos and legged it back to school within the hour. i'm sure the ladies at the front office thought i was insane, coming and going like i was. the total times i walked to and from school today is: 3.

my afternoon classes were trying to say the least. i would have preferred to have had one of them yell in my face all hour instead of having to deal with them all. the last group especially. they would not stay quiet even 2 minutes to watch the video. i waited and they would hush but there was never silence, and the little quiet there was never lasted longer than ten seconds at a time. i didn't yell. i picked up the list of their names and just kept reading names off and telling each person in turn to be quiet. it was all i could do i thought because they each seemed to only take notice when i said their names. i also wrote stuff by their names in hopes that they would be threatened enough to shut up. to no avail. they became even louder, demanding to know what i was writing and giving me fake names.

the odd thing was that even the chattiest person was able to answer my questions about the video. i had to ask them a thousand times and repeat myself countlessly (not a word, but don't you think it should be one?) over the voices of those who refused to stop talking. but they had all somehow managed to pay attention in between fighting each other over rubber bracelets, tipping chairs over, pulling pants down, changing seats, and pinching, flicking and smacking each other on the head, all while whining at me to get the others to stop. not everyone, but most. this time there were only 3 students who stayed quiet throughout. it's odd because i think they all learned something. i just wonder why they didn't bother to stay quiet to learn more. were we like that in middle school? i remember wanting to learn french...

monday: i made an amazing mushroom sabzi with pav bhaji masala, courtesy el madre. it was sooooo good. it was today's lunch and will be dinner.

friday and this weekend was spent trying to get rid of a frightening sore throat. google told me to gargle some very odd things but i stuck to salt and warm water. i also made 13 delicious chocolate chip cookies. only one now remains in the jar, and it is staring at me as i type.

i have noticed that so far, serignan and toronto have roughly the same outside temperatures when it is not raining. and it barely rains here. this is not fair. i picked the south of france to escape the freezing cold. it seems, as whoopi told me, that i "inspire bad weather."

today i received my appointment date for the immigration stuff. it's thursday. so i will be heading to montpellier tomorrow and back thursday or friday. i was so angry that they gave me barely any time to plan this (and throw off my sore throat) when i realized that the 7th harry potter movie releases in france tomorrow. and montpellier is possibly the only place close to me that might actually play it in english. coincidence? or does the universe love me? i'll keep you posted. (oh cross your fingers, toes and eyes and send me positive health vibes and just hope for me that there is a theater that will play it in english with the real actors' voices! please oh please!)

craving: ripe mangoes
currently listening to: crystalized- the xx

Quiet nights of quiet stars, quiet chords from my guitar, floating on the silence that surrounds us

10 days since my last post and the reasons for this are twofold: i went to montpellier for a long weekend and avoided the internet when i was there and when i returned, i fell sick and didn't want to do anything much less blog about it.

this flu thing i have took me completely by surprise. i can usually tell if i'm going to fall sick and also how bad it will be. this french strain destroyed all that. on monday night i had a glass of wine and snacks with my landlady for around 30 minutes. i came back home and ate, went online and went to bed with a slight sore throat. i woke up in full fledged agony but i was in denial about it. so i went to school and had a miserable day.

tuesday: the kids were loud and plain crazy. they didn't want to learn or listen to me. in one of my classes a girl had the audacity to have headphones in her ears and music playing! i confiscated the phone after much difficulty; she pretended not to understand me even when i spoke in french and then tried to hand me only her headphones without her phone! as if i didn't know that the two went together! the class was so loud and hyper and i had a sore throat and my body ached all over. it was torture.

at the end of the hour, the aforementioned girl walked right up to my desk and picked up her phone and almost made it out of the room before i caught her arm and talked to her. i was really surprised because when i took her phone, i told her i would be handing it over to her teacher and that she would deal with the issue, not me. now if this were me, i would have been embarrassed and scared for the rest of the hour, wondering about my phone and the trouble i was in. not this young lady. she spent the whole hour loudly talking to the boys beside her and not paying even the slightest attention to what i was saying. i was shocked. because of all the kids in the class, she had the most reason to try and suck up to me and she didn't even bother.

so when the class was over, she stood in front of me and begged me to give her a second chance. i returned her phone and headphones not because she was bright red and on the verge of fake tears, but because i absolutely hate it when teachers (at stella) tried to take our phones or belongings and not give them back at the end of the day. it used to infuriate me that the teachers and nuns at stella would confiscate phones and not return them for months! i'm sure it isn't legal. and now in that class, it all came back and i let her have her phone back saying that i would be informing her teacher of what happened.

and i did. i was embarrassed to, and sandrine (the teacher) was even more embarrassed that i had to deal with something like that. things like this really makes me wonder what makes a teacher someone worthy of students' attention and respect. clearly i fall short in some way. i'm not exactly sure what to do about it either. i don't yell in class, i hate yelling. i simply stop talking altogether and observe their various conversations with (what i hope is) a stern look on my face, until of of them realizes and yells for the others to shut up.

yet another observation is how i do not know if they understand or not. the expressions on their faces when they are disinterested are the same as when they do not understand. only when they are engaged and when they understand, do i ever see interest on their faces. and this is rare in some classes.

wednesday: i woke up with a beautiful fever and could barely move. i texted my teacher and apologized about not being able to come in. and went back to sleep. i find it so fascinating how my entire body can hurt when i have a fever. i forced myself to get out of bed by noon to get dressed and go shopping with my landlady. she took me in her car and was very worried about me all the way there. she gave me plenty of advice of how to throw off a cold and what to eat and not eat and all that. i barely heard her. i was trying to find a way to sit so that my jeans would stop hurting my legs. i needed to buy heavy things like milk and flour or i wouldn't have gone at all. i moved so slowly and i think my face must have shown real disease because gladys followed me around with the cart and helped me out a lot. i was wearing 4 layers including my coat and shivering my butt off in the hyper u. fortunately the whole shopping trip took less than an hour and i was home in warm pjs and socks by 2pm. i spent the rest of the day in and out of sleep, heating up water to drink and gargle with.

thursday: i forced myself to go to work. i was feeling better and so i thought i could make it. i no longer had a fever and only minimal body pain. i also had an easy work day. my morning class were angels. they were so very excited to be speaking english and they all participated and told me what they could and could not do. (all the girls could not play rugby and all the boys could not dance). they were so sweet. i had a 3 hour break before my next class so i came home for a nap and lunch. i woke up to hearing gladys say my name, just outside my door. she didn't knock so when i got up to see what was going on, there was a delivery man and a very large box for me! yay! my mommy sent me clothes and spices! and gladys saw that i was still sick and brought me a chickpea and greens soup. it was simple and very yummy. she is one of those people who can do anything they want with ingredients and have it turn out amazing. like my mommy and ashwitha's mom and very few others.

i had a truly horrible ravioli that i bought in case of emergency. it was what i had the night before in my feverish state. it was a simple canned cheese ravioli in tomato sauce. i was in awe of france and its ability to turn even the simplest food into something disgusting. this stuff would make anthony bourdain happily eat chef boyardee and praise and recommend it for the rest of his life! nfortunately i hae another can in my cupboard and this one is a different flavor- mixed vegetable. i followed it down with a clementine and salt water gargling for my throat.

when i got back to work, i felt a lot better and had 3 more classes. i had a cute group of 11 year olds and made them practice numbers by telling me their phone numbers in english. and then we told time with a wobbly clock i drew on the chalk board. the following two classes were the same class just each half given to me an hour apart. they were 15 year olds and i had prepared a fill in the blanks lyrics worksheet for them to the song just the way you are by bruno mars. i really did not anticipate this, but most of them already knew the song! thankfully nobody knew what the lyrics were so they actually learned something. and since they knew and liked the song, they were all highly interested and curious to learn the meaning of the lyrics. they even sang the song at the end! in one group we were lead by a boisterous funny guy named quentin who sang loudly and badly. and the other was a girly drama queen named marie who sang in a funny falsetto throughout. i told them that singing was a really good way to practice their english and they seemed happy to hear it.

friday: i made myself get up to go to the market to buy cabbage and tomatoes and bananas. there were no bananas to be found so i bought a chocolate croissant and a cookie for breakfast instead. i took a very long nap after gargling 3 times (before and after market and after breakfast) and woke up and gargled again. i am determined to get rid of this sore throat but it is putting up one hell of a fight. i helped gladys with an email issue: attaching a file to an email. and cleaned my kitchen after talking to vee. i then made rasam from a mix and cabbage (cose) curry and rice for dinner. 4 helpings later, i decided to blog. and here i am.

craving: an end to my sore throat and a strawberry and banana smoothie
currently listening to: recado bossa nova- hank mobley

it's a black fly in your chardonnay

so pere says: "update this you lazy bugger" and i say to pere and anyone else who reads this: comment so i feel motivated to update!!

so i did a stupid thing this morning. i woke up dark and early at 6:30 and got ready, had breakfast, walked to school. then i found out that i have no classes today. i work every other wednesday but with all the strikes and holidays i got confused. brilliant. and so i waited 15 minutes in the teachers lounge until my ears thawed and walked home. i did get to stop at the market on the way and got veggies and i'm making an amazing pasta tonight! but i'm kicking myself for waking up this morning at all.

especially since i was so pooped yesterday evening after work that i was nodding off at 8pm. so i took a nap and woke up at 10 to shower and get prepared for today. sigh.

in other news (cough cough): i desperately want a thick warm, woolen, scarf, beenie, glove set in dark dark chocolate brown. it's all i can think of when i step outside. the wind in this village is vindictive.

tuesday: work was exhausting. i think all the kids were really excited about something happening after school or next year or whatever, but they refused to learn english. all day long they were uninterested, talkative (and that's putting it nicely), and fidgety. i worked with 11-12 year olds all day and the subject of restaurants and the restaurant experience from the point of view of the waiter and the customer. some classes had gone over the vocab and some hadn't. they mostly knew random food vocab and everyone wanted to know what coleslaw was. and what a t-bone steak was. and why a caesar salad was called that. and if cheese cake tastes good because they thought it sounded awful. which you could understand because if you had some french cheese and then thought of making cake with it, it would not sound appetizing. but none of them had a problem with the term 'french fries' and i thought they would surely ask me about that. and these questions were never framed in english. when i asked them to please do so, they looked at me like i was insane. which was pretty funny.

in one class i went over emotions and personalities, focusing on adjectives and adverbs. ex: i am sometimes grumpy but never shy. i went around the room and had everyone tell me what mood they were in at that moment. i had a lot of 'i feel tired' and 'i feel a little shy' and i had three students who were both angry and happy. then we had a discussion about whether a person can feel two conflicting feelings at the same time (in french). most of the class thought so and gave me examples like when you are so happy you cry. and when you are in love but sad. i didn't feel like these were appropriate examples though because the crying is not separate from the happiness and the sadness isn't separate from the being in love. they gave up when i explained that, and decided to yell across the room instead. but it made me wonder.

i thought that they may want to know how to express specific emotions or feelings in english so i asked them to give me emotions in french and i'd give them the english equivalent and we'd make sentences. the words i got however, were: fart, burp, drunk and vagina. this isn't to say that all the students were hooligans, there were a few girls who seemed to want to learn and asked me pertinent questions. god bless them.

this past weekend: i finally got around to heading into beziers. i met up with elaine and we bumped into mariana who is the spanish assistant at my school. the 3 of us walked had a drink, walked around the city, then had another drink. mariana invited elaine and i to a dinner she was having the next evening. she and janet, another spanish assistant were making mexican food for 3 other assistants. so i met 2 other canadians from halifax and an american from spokane. the evening was a lot of fun and much needed. the girls are all very sweet and i'm glad i've finally found people to hang out with down here. dessert was my first ever time eating black forest cake outside of india. and it tasted pretty much the same, though the cherries were a tamer shade of red than at saravanas.

gladys found me a bike! i was up in her kitchen just talking and i mentioned how i was going to ask around at school to see if any of the teachers knew someone who had a bike lying around. and she said that was a good idea and that she would ask her friends for me too. i thanked her and went home. less than 10 minutes later she came down and told me she found me a bike and that we'd go get it the next morning at 8! it's a road bike and it's lovely. and i cannot wait for the weather to improve to take it to the beach.

that is all for now. there is no school tomorrow because it is a bank holiday. and the plan is to head back to montpellier for the weekend.

craving: macaroni grill's mushroom ravioli
currently listening to: aicha- cheb khaled

boire de la vodka, aller chez ikea, me lever en retard... je n'ai rien trouver de mieux a faire!

so i have been procrastinating writing this post because i have so much to write. and that is stupid because if i procrastinate something like this, it accumulates. so i will try and be brief and get it over with. but brevity is not my strong point.

so friday: i didn't go on a bike ride to the sea. jules did, but the group didn't have a bike for me so i didn't get to go. instead i took a walk around montpellier and enjoyed the city at my pace. i went into a few small shops and looked around at various snooty merchandise. this being only the second walk i had taken around the city and already i was beginning to recognize where i was and how to get to certain places: that's how small and intricate it is.

when i got home shana was heading to ikea so i joined her because i didn't have anything else to do and i really love going to ikea. she wanted to buy fabric and i didn't even know ikea sold fabric! we took the tram which is like vancouver's skytrain but on the ground and a whole heck of a lot slower. it snakes around the city like a fat lazy worm and is pretty useful for people who don't like to walk. ikea is on the outskirts of the city so it made sense to take it. it's located in a shopping complex called odysseum. this place reminded me of california; it's full of new buildings and lots of cement. there was nothing french or historical about it and it felt like hacienda crossings mixed with westfield, only with multiple outdoor levels. there were of course, young people everywhere buying various overpriced things and i even noticed a caribbean themed restaurant where people were invited to dine pirate-style (why anyone would want to do that is beyond my range of comprehension [as are many things]). i also remarked upon a store called the very dry store!

ikea was the same as it is everywhere only in french. we wandered through and looked at everything which is how i like to do it. shana found what she was looking for and i daydreamed about my future house and its furnishings and colors. we then wandered through zara which contains far more awesome wearable items than in its north american version. one day in the not so distant future... :)

saturday: we decided to go to the zoo in the off chance that once we got there the rain would stop and we could still walk around. the zoo is about 20 minutes north of montpellier and free and since there is absolutely nothing indoors and free in the city, we decided to check out the animals. pouring rain (of course) when we got there so we paid to enter their amazon exhibit. it was surprisingly worth it. i have never been that close to alligators in my life. they were highly entertaining and they stared at us and smiled just about as much as we did them. there was also a very cool bat exhibit that was designed like a cave with lots of black light so we could see the bats flying all around. we even watched a determined constrictor weave its way to the door of its case/hut and inspect it thoroughly as if it knew that it was its only way out. we stayed all afternoon and then returned to the city library. we chilled and read magazines for 2 hours; jules- news and current affairs ones and me- psychology, travel and interior design. then we walked to monique's place for dinner.

monique had invited 3 friends and so jules and i waited for them and chatted. monique gave me a birthday gift of a very cool necklace which is now the only piece of jewelry i have in france. so sweet of her! when the guests arrived we had our aperitif: champagne and snacked on a veggie loaf, aubergine puree and cherry tomatoes. i love how aperitif in france lasts almost an hour. we listened to the adults talk about meeting people in today's world; dating sites, clubbing/ the pub scene and through work or friends. monique and her friends are all retired and jules and i appreciated how bizarre it was to hear people like them (old) discussing things that affect well, us. no, we did not contribute a word to the conversation.

dinner didn't disappoint as far as yet another french person's (mis)interpretation of a vegetarian diet is concerned (surprising to us since monique made very good vegetarian appetizers): boiled, peeled potatoes, boiled peeled carrots, an entire cauliflower boiled in one piece, plain rice and only after we asked, more aubergine puree. paired with a white wine. then followed cheeses- brebis, chevre, gruyere and 2 more that i forgot paired with a lovely bordeaux. apparently if you serve yourself a second helping of cheese, it is an insult to the host since it means you didn't eat well. fortunately this came up before i reached for more. the last course was dessert- a simple fruit crumble with a white muscat, very yummy. and monique packed away all of the leftovers, including the cheese, for us to take home!

sunday: it couldn't have felt less like my birthday when i woke up. it was rainy and gloomy. so i stayed in bed and in pjs reading down under by bill bryson which is hilarious and highly recommended. i breakfasted late and alone with the book and lunched on leftovers from the night before with jules. at around 6pm i was restless so i commandeered their kitchen and made myself a chocolate cake. yes, i did indeed bake my own birthday cake. when i called shana and jules to have some, they brought a candle and sang to me, which was sweet. we ate lots of cake and therefore skipped dinner. then jules decided to take me out to do some celebrating and we headed out to the rock store at 11:30. there were people dressed up for halloween all over the place, mostly zombies and nothing creative. as the night progressed we met a mate from sydney, a wannabe canadian from new york and a motherly london based french teacher.

and now i'm sleepy so i will continue the rest tomorrow. ta!

craving: an orange dream machine jamba juice
currently listening to: a disgruntled refrigerator.

take me on a trip, i'd like to go someday!

so i LOVE montpellier.

i am sooo upset that i don't live here. this city is crazy beautiful. it's petite, ancient in parts, full of young people, diverse and just wonderful.

within 2 minutes of arriving i had already met jules who rushed off to class leaving me with a friend. he was so incredibly nice! he helped me carry my stuff back to their place and gave me a tour; and the walk from the station was lovely. people everywhere and the streets were old and cobblestoned and there were statues and parks and churches and fountains all over the place. plus incredible art and street exhibits. on top of it all the weather was a good 8 degrees warmer than serignan so i was in love.

jules and her 3 flat mates live in the heart of the city right by the roman aquaducts. in fact the view from jules' window is the aquaducts!! they all get around on bikes and everything is close and compact. i met her flat mates and more friends last night because they had a dinner party. mounir is algerian and studying/ working here; yoko is japanese and doing the same; shana is chinese/mongolian and doing the same; and jules is takinng french classes and being an english assistant like me. it's such a diverse group and since jules and i are the only ones who speak english, we all have to speak in french and it is quite musical how all the accents blend into the french.

yesterday we walked around the city and i think i could do that all day, everyday for the next 2 weeks and not get bored. there seems to be so much to see since every little thing is squished into very little space. there are old buildings that have been converted into museums and restaurants and little alleyways with cafes and art galleries and shops. in fact, there are cafes everywhere you turn. and even the shopping here looks more attractive since the store buildings are so old. the center squares always seem to have something going on and yesterday it was yet another greve (strike). we walked through it to head to a grocery store and i managed to snap some pics: my first greve!

then when we got home i helped in preparing dinner which was mongolian wontons! and for the first time in all my experiences in france, the vegetarians were the majority! me, jules, and mounir! so shana made only veggie wontons. i paid very close attention and the recipe itself is fairly simple. it's the technique to roll out the dough and then wrap the wontons that is tough. very very tough. i tried my hand at it and though i got them the right size, they were never round. and never mind trying to wrap them; when shana did it, they ended up as little pieces of art. perfect. and she worked so fast!

she also hid a one euro cent coin in 2 of the wontons. and she made a sugar one as well. whoever found one with a coin would have good luck and prosperity and the one with the sugar brings good luck in love. then she steamed half in a wonton steamer, and she fried half in a frying pan. and they were ready. filling: cabbage, mushrooms, onions, spring onions, clear rice noodle, fried egg along with powdered ginger, salt, a special seasoning salt, tiny bit of clove, soy sauce, and garlic powder.

mounir also made a special algerian dish. it was a semolina flour fried bread that was dense and delicious and that was soaked in a tomato and red pepper sauce/ soup. it was seasoned with a lot of mint and a little garlic and coriander seed paste he ground himself. it didn't turn out as he wanted it to (he had taken notes when his aunt in algers made it) but it was very yummy and we didn't know the difference.

dinner started when everyone arrived. we were joined by 4 more people and we ate in jules' room cuz it's actually a living room divided to make 2 bedrooms. dinner was fun and we discussed varied topics including horror films, superstitions and paranormal activities, ouija board experiences, internet idiocies, pranks, the world's most boring jobs, late night/ late shift jobs, travel and a whole bunch of other things. and somehow, i got both the coins in my wontons! so i am going to have exceptional prosperity this year! yay!

after dinner mounir made some strong delicious mint tea and we all had 5 rounds of it and kept talking until we were all sleepy. then we lazed around a bit longer and finally went to sleep.

today we are supposed to head on a bike ride to the beach with jules' french class but it is very cloudy and gloomy and we're worried it will rain. we're going to give it another hour before we decide though cuz hey, you never know. it would take us 40 minutes on bikes to get to the sea and it sounds like a lot of fun! unfortunately the forecast for the weekend is rain. bah humbug!

craving: a warm bright sunny weekend to explore this fabulous city
currently listening to: montpellier traffic and the shower running.

she wants to go home, but nobody's home

today, i start with my dream from last night: me and vee were with pere and at costco. i remember thinking "yes! pere is here, i can get all the stuff i really need, and all the heavy stuff too!" and i ran around getting such luxuries as q-tips, organic oatmeal, a large bottle of lotion, flour, chocolate chips, lots of milk, and of all things, a blender. and i remember being very happy.

i think my subconscious is forming an Anti-France and Living Sans Parents Campaign.

Tuesday: (yesterday) i went shopping with melanie. it was at the new mall out in beziers called Polygone (not pouligen) and it is very nice. quite high end with stores like benetton, guess, levis, a whole bunch of ridiculous french ones and h&m. i tried to gauge what french fashion is this fall and i think i like it. not that i can afford even this season's gloves. it consists of various styles of tunic sweaters to be worn with leggings and belts and mini-vests and sweaters and amazing long coats. there's also knee length skirts and knee high boots paired with poncho type sweaters and belts and other things. the french have more words for the different types of clothes there are than english speaking world does.

melanie is an interesting shopper. she spent over 500 euro while we were there. but on 4 or 5 items. and i didn't think anything she bought was worth what she paid for it. least of all the 50 euro long sleeved black tee from levis, that said san francisco on it in large letters. but i don't judge (hahahahaha).

wednesday (today): went shopping again with melanie to a different mall and this time gladys and clara came along. we were shopping for winter clothes for little clara. she picked up some very nice things, almost an entire new wardrobe. all she had to do was smile at her grandma and she got what she wanted. example: benetton winter boots that wouldn't last an hour in the snow and a handbag to match. we even went back to polygone where i picked myself up a little birthday gift. boots! and i like em! :)

we had lunch at a chinese buffet place and never has food tasted less asian. oh well. i napped when i got home and woke up to clean. the studio is now spick and span (that looks so strange written out) and that's how i like it when i come home from a trip.

speaking of which, i'm heading to montpellier tomorrow for the weekend. i'll be staying with jules and monique who have graciously agreed to put up with me for 5 days. i am pretty excited.

i wish everyone a happy halloween and i hope i have one too!

craving: money money money
currently listening to: the fridge rattle away the night

"They say hello, they say hola and they say bonjour"

i now do this thing where i ask my self daily whether i should blog about today. and everyday i say no because nothing of interest to anyone (including me) has happened. so i will continue to do a semi-weekly recap until my life becomes so exciting that every day deserves a post. which will be soon, i'm sure (haha).

thursday: nothing much happened. i had work and it went well. the students were insane because it was the last day before their 10 day holiday for toussaints. so they were restless and i played games with them until they were bouncing and then i let them go.

friday: i don't remember what i did.

saturday: i went to the hyper U cuz i had run out of anything to cook with (veggies). bought some cous cous and veggies and some chocolate pudding to cheer me up. i then ran into sandrine, one of the english teachers i work with and we chatted for a few minutes. and that night i was to lazy to cook so i just had bread and cheese for dinner.

my baguette diaries: when i first got here i was thrilled to have a bakery so close. i thought i'd buy 2 baguettes a week and enjoy the yummyness of freshly baked bread. baguettes unfortunately have the shortest shelf life of all the bread family. 2 days max. even when refrigerated. and i don't eat bread everyday. so i googled ways to revive a baguette and was told to massage the crust with water and microwave for no more than 20 seconds. i do so and voila, an edible-ish piece of bread. after day 2, a baguette takes on the consistency of croutons. and even after this microwave trick, there is a stale taste to the bread that is less than desired. current bread status: one more-than-a-week-old baguette in the fridge.

sunday: stayed at home all day because i woke up with neck pain. i had recommenced the tiny bit of yoga i do in the morning and my neck got very angry, very fast. so now even that little bit of exercise is on hold. i don't know for how long. all i know is that i really want to start working out to a) give myself something outdoors to do in a village and b) to get me some happy hormones going. alas. i resort to neck exercises along with cat-like stretches when i've been sitting too long.

monday (today): no more neck pain, yay! and dear gladys has her grand children over for the holidays. she shares them with their other grandparents who also live in serignan, which i now realize is like an old age home in several ways. she invited me over for lunch and a movie. the kids, melanie (15) and clara (7) are adorable. lunch was interesting. gladys made me an aubergine and red pepper fry and cracked an egg into it. it was yummy but strange and very rich. she also had some leftover gratin. this gratin was made with chayote (yes i googled it, that's why it's in bold) or chow chow as i know it. gladys grows them in the back yard. the gratin was yummy, it was a lighter, blander quiche. She also over-cooked them and added parsley for me to try them that way. And this tasted like every other over-boiled vegetable i've had in france. i was really sad because when i took this picture, all i could think of was sambar. we had cheese and dessert as well but i was stuffed. gladys then took the three of us to the cinema in beziers. the kids had already picked a movie: Alpha et Omega. A story about two wolves of different social standings in the pack who fall in love and triumph over wolf-adversity. in animated 3d. it was exactly how it sounds. and it was in french so while christina ricci and justin long were supposed to be the voices, i heard french voice actors. i understood all the french which i was proud of. it was silly and cheesy and disney- without actually being disney. the credits were the most interesting part because there was a mumbai crew. the movie (animated) takes place in canada. there were lots of indian names in the credits so i think that part of the film was outsourced!

clara was adorable in the car trip home, she kept whispering to me things to ask melanie in english like, "say, 'melanie, what is your name?' in english!" and i had to explain how logistically that wouldn't work. and then she said "oh, ok, ask her if she likes pizza in english!" and then she would whisper-ask me what her sister said in response. i don't think she fully understood that i know french because although we only spoke in french, she still asked me to read several street signs to her as if she wanted to see if i could read it too. hilarious.

tomorrow i will finalize my trip-to-montpellier-for-my-birthday plans and go shopping with melanie and clara. there is a new shopping mall called le pouligan in beziers.

an interesting tidbit: i've noticed how people here like to say 'bye.' they do it at the end of phone calls, when they leave a room, and even when they leave in general. so it sounds like "allez, bye" and it throws me off. and they do it in their french accents so it's nice.

craving: hot hot pav bhaji and sweet lime juice
currently listening to: the wind blowing outside, it's crazy windy today. so it sounds ominous like a disney channel halloween movie haha

let me take you down cuz i'm going through (wine) fields

Where the orb meets the sea
vines all around.

it has been almost a week since i last blogged and so i will do a week recap:

last friday: i was invited by one of the english teachers named eleonore to a dinner at her house with 5 other teachers. her invitation did feel a bit like pity, but i wasn't going to complain. she lives in beziers so i got a ride from a teacher who lives here in serignan. she was very sweet and double checked on what vegetarian means according to me and everything beforehand. i finally tried the speciality wine from this region, it's called musca and it is a sweeter wine. i had a white variety for aperitif and loved it.

we talked for a long time and then had dinner and continued talking throughout. this means that they talked and i listened in. it was pretty interesting and i was surprised at how much of the conversation was about the school and students and such. i would have thought that teachers wouldn't want to discuss work outside of school, but i guess they do. dinner for me was over-boiled sugar snap peas with a hint of ginger and plain rice. eleonore did apologize for the overcooked-ness and i was happy about this because it at least means that she is aware when a vegetable is destroyed, unlike other french people. everyone else has a very elaborate north african chicken dish with a peanut sauce. this again was interesting because i have never witnessed a french person cook a cuisine other than french.

another little curious fact from dinner was that we began with the main course, followed it with a salad and finished with dessert. whereas up north they begin with salad. dessert was homemade apple sauce that annie, one of the english teachers brought over. it was yummy but, it was just pureed apples.

we then played a few hours of french trivial pursuit and i was only able to help with one question all night: indira gandhi's son's name. all the other questions were so french specific like the name of the only coniferous tree that sheds its pines and the longest southern trekking route in france. but the teachers were all very into it and i enjoyed watching them enjoy themselves.

saturday: i didn't do much. stayed inside and slept, went to the library.

sunday: i was restless. so i went for a walk to valras plage. it's the village south of serignan and it's where the nicest beach is. i took a bicycle path for an hour. it lead me through a giant vineyard and it was very secluded and beautiful. there were no grapes on the vines but every now and then i spotted some so i tasted them. they were very large and sweet and so i ended up eating quite a lot even though they were considerably dusty! by the time i reached the sea, the wind had really picked up so i only stayed and stared out at the mediterranean for 30 minutes.

it is so very beautiful. the beach was empty because it was late and so chilly. there were only a few insistent fisherman around. from where i was i could see the river Orb run into the mediterranean and the river's colors mixing with the sea's. the sea is a lighter blue and the river was so dark so it was a lovely contrast. i even touched the water and it was warmer than my hands! granted i was freezing, but still.

monday: the internet man was supposed to come and fix up the wifi for me but he was a whole 45 minutes late! and my landlady had somewhere to be. so i rescheduled and moped. i also went out to try and get a cell phone service but it turns out that i need additional bank paper work so i have to wait some more. i then went to the hyper U to look for oatmeal again. i found the organic aisle (incidentally called the 'diet' aisle) and walked up and down looking at every single shelf for around 10 minutes until i saw two packs of oatmeal squished in a corner. oh how my heart soared. i grabbed them both and it almost made me forget that i still didn't have internet at home! flocons d'avoine= oatmeal in french.

tuesday: i woke up at 6:30 before the sun did and got ready for school. i made oatmeal and it was SO good. especially because it was only 6 degrees outside! and the sun was shining like a clueless mongoose. i had 4 classes all to myself and they went fairly smoothly. my first group were excellent. the participated and were good and everything. the second group, not so much. and the third were great again. i was really tired by lunch and happy i had the yummy pasta salad i made the night before. turns out that there was a staff lunch and there was an interesting spread. i had some leek tart which was delicious and some mixed berry tart too. i am officially obsessed with french berry tarts. especially raspberry ones. mmmm. i also tried a new obnoxiously yellow cheese though i don't remember its name.

at the end of the day laure, one of the english teachers i work with gave me a ride home. she's new to serignan too, she's from montpellier. not such a difference but still, strength in numbers. she was also an assistant just 3 years ago and this year is her first official year as a teacher. she was a french assistant in london. when i got home i found that i had internet! yay! at last!

wednesday: i have no work today because the classes are such that i only have work every other wednesday. and i am at home and online :) and now i am hungry.

craving: a raspberry tart from my bakery 30 seconds away
currently listening to: almost silence in my studio.

We definite, B.E.P, we reppin' it...

i am le tired.

and since the library is closed today i am using the computers at school.

i have a bank account! and insurance for my studio! i am almost all set according to the french government!

i don't really want to go into the details of how going to the bank was today, it's quite boring.

i got to take class alone today though, but the teacher didn't tell me i would be so i just played 'name, place, animal, thing' with them. and instead of 'name' i used 'food.' so i could figure out their level and see what they were like as a group with me. they seemed to really enjoy the game and wanted to continue playing after the hour, which was gratifying. but they were so talkative and loud all class long, it was hard to get them to stop talking. and of course, they didn't want to talk in english.

here the teachers don't seem to organize seating charts or anything like that so students sit where they want when they enter and it changes whenever they want as well. so nothing prevents friends from sitting together and talking all class long. so i wonder if i make them sit where i want them to (away from their friends) it will upset them or worse, upset the teachers. i think i'll give it a go anyway though, just for my sanity.

the daal i made last night was amazing! and gladys brought me turmeric and cumin powder! she has a sister who lives in reunion and so she is apparently used to spicy food and lots of the same spices! so she gave me some and i am eternally grateful. i used 3 of the tiny chilies she grows in her garden and they were excellent in the daal! and i made enough for dinner tonight!

no work tomorrow but there is the market and i need tomatoes. and i have other errands that need doing.

i did ask my students about oatmeal here and they said i was looking in the wrong aisle! i apparently need to look in the organic aisle for it! so i'll give it another go soon.

and they asked me about the black eyed peas (the group), so i told them they're a type of bean and they said that they had a teacher last year who said that as well, but who had also said that there is another significance that they were too young to know about! and i have no idea what that is! maybe i'm too young as well haha!

craving: ice cream!
currently listening to: people talking in french about boring administrative french school things.

brrrr it's cold in here, there must be some clovers in the atmosphere!!

at the serignan mediatheque (library). it reminds me a lot of a slightly smaller british council library.

wednesday: school was great as usual. i only had 2 classes in the morning so i could leave and get things done afterward. today's class started with the teacher asking the students what they remembered of my self-introduction and question-answer round las week. they remembered almost everything! it was a bit strange to hear one child at a time raising their hand and calling out things like "you were born in 1988!" "you 'ave one seester!" "you're muzzher leeves in san francisco!" and they were quite excited when they were correct! They then had to print out paragraphs on Shakespeare thy had written in partners and go over them for a pronunciation review in which they would individually read their paragraphs to the teacher and be evaluated on intonation, pronunciation, speed, comprehension, etc.

Their paragraphs were very well written and it made me wonder if they had actually written them. I always feel awkward asking someone if the words on the paper are their own. (not a situation i'm in often thankfully) And even here I avoided asking to simply observe. We only had time to listen to 3 presentations and all 3 girls did not know what a 'century' was though they used the word several times. They also had no idea where Stratford upon Avon is! They all mentioned it at least twice too!

All of this really makes me think back to my first french classes and whether i too was as clueless about random french culture things and oral tests. i wish i could remember.

i was really nervous for the kids when they were presenting too and i would always ask the easiest questions. i think one girl almost cried when the teacher was giving her feedback and i felt really bad. thankfully this particular teacher is very kind and gentle. phew!

last night: i met my landlady. she is unbelievably nice. i feel so very lucky! she knocked on my door and when i opened it was all excited to meet me and she just talked for 15 minutes straight about her past tenants and how she hoped i was settled in and to ask her if i needed anything and what changes she could make, etc. and she gave me a great big hug!

wednesday contd: this morning after classes she took me shopping to the local hyper U which is like superstore. she told me about her life and she has a daughter and 2 grand children. they're very close and she keeps in touch via internet. (her wifi password isn't working for me so i gotta get tech support to figure it out) her name is gladys and her husband passed away a long time ago. she lives with a partner named jean paul or jean pierre and they are adorable. she also told me that she lost her 17 year old daughter in a car crash 26 years ago. and i don't know what to say to something like that in any language.

i found ginger! and daal! so i bought some veggies at the market (happens every wednesday and friday) and i'm gong to make daal tonight! with rice! yay!

there is one thing about this place that i am opposed to: i can't find any oatmeal. i searched all over the hyper u and couldn't find any, gladys didn't even know what i was talking about! i'm worried too, cuz the mornings are so cold and cereal for breakfast isn't going to cut it! what a random thing for a grocery store to not have!

one thing i do like: i have never met a french person with an automatic dryer. all their laundry is dried outside on clotheslines. i'm sure up north and near the mountains and in the colder places they use dryers but everywhere they don't need to, they don't even buy them. this is pretty cool. and i'm reminded of this only because i gotta do laundry while it's still sunny out. the weather is so unpredictable!

dilemma: in 2 weeks there is a 10 day holiday for toussaints (all saints day) and i have no idea what to do or where to go if anywhere. i don't think i should stay here in serignan since it's so tiny and i don't have friends. but i don't know where i could go...

and in an effort to read books in french i have started reading a french translation of a gossip girl book. it's pretty hilarious and there are SO many words i have to keep looking up! and french gossip girl has all principle characters smoking! i don't know if it's there in the english books too and they just omitted it for the tv show, but yikes. not the best example for our youth.

more tomorrow!


craving: wifi at home so i could be online, talk to my loved ones, stream tv and cook at the same time!
currently listening to: the humm of natalya (my laptop) in this quiet quiet library

whan i was just a little girl, i asked my mother, what will i be?

and i'm back and still alive.

this past weekend was probably worse in retrospect when i think of what i did:

saturday: i took it slow, woke up nice and late and lazed around. i wasn't worried about getting anything done cuz there wasn't really anything for me to get done. i wanted to sweep and mop the studio cuz its all tile and that gets dusty fast. i went outside and it was very cloudy and then i realized that all my landlady's plants were really parched. so i looked around for a way to water them and spent around 45mins doing so. then i ate some cereal and watched a movie. for dinner: heated up some canned ratatouille and had it with linguini and another couple movies. the rest of the day was a bit of a blur.

sunday: i woke up to pouring rain. and it didn't stop. i know that most things are closed on sundays here so i only ventured out to buy a baguette from the bakery that's less than a minute away. heated up some soup and had it with bread and fresh rain-drenched parsely from madame mur's garden. watched more movies. took a long shower. more films. that night was a little more tough, harder to fall asleep. and since i am an idiot and didn't realize that watering plants for 45 minutes the day before is considered a 'repetitive acticvity' my neck and back reminded me with more pain. so i took it easy and rested. and tried not to let my mind convince me of how alone and bored i was.

monday: (i don't work mondays) woke up ready to explore the town and the library and other things. pouring rain. so i watched a movie with breakfast and one with lunch and in between i showered, read a french cook book i found lying on a shelf, and decided to go out despite the rain. the library is about a 5 minute walk from home and it was closed! the hours that things are open here are so strange! turns out both the library and the bakery are closed mondays. and things close for lunch and reopen and this includes the library! moped around the tiny studio, listened to npr podcasts, watched another movie, heated up soup for dinner and watched another movie. then tried to get some sleep.

i couldn't of course because i had spent the last 2 days oversleeping and my body didn't want to sleep. so i lay awake and tried to convince myself that this whole stint is a good idea after all. and i think the count was 11 movies in 3 days.

tuesday: oh the kids are so funny. today is one of the many and very famous grèves (strikes) in france. so some teachers are on strike and i didnt know so i showed up anyway. turns out only the one teacher i was supposed to spend the majority of the day with, was absent so i shadowed some other, very cute classes.

eleven year olds are funny. there was a class with just 6 of them and they were scared to bits about even asking me how old i am in english. then followed a class with another 6 who were more relaxed and oddly philosophical. i was asked what my favorite object was, whether i liked myself and what i thought of the phillipines. they wanted to know what kind of music i listened to and whether i liked katy perry and owl city! these were 13 year olds but still they all told me they liked eminem and rihanna's song and that was a little disturbing. and in other classes they want to know if i'm single or not and even with a negative response continue to ask if i have children and this is after asking my age! am i jaded or are they?

and now i feel like i have repeated about a million times that my sister's name is Veera and that she is 19 years old and that i don't have pets but used to have a hamster (i cup my hands to indicate hamster, how else can i do it?) and that i love to swim and bike, that i am terrible at soccer and tennis, that i have never ridden a horse, or played rugby, that my favorite dish is (depending on the day and mood) pizza, pasta, indian food, chinese food, cakes, etc. the toughest questions are ''meees, what do you like?'' how do i answer this? i started by saying this like shoes, bracelets, food, puppies, and then i stopped and ask them to be more precise.

there is also the dreaded ''what is your dream?'' what do i say? i don't really know if i have a dream, and that makes me wonder if i should think of one, or something. and all the time i spend waiting for them to come up with a question to ask me, i think about how philosophical it all is. do they have dreams? did i at their age? what did i want to be? why did i not become that? when did my dream go away? of course they are all just looking for ways to practice their english and i shouldn't read into their questions. right?

and now i have an hour before the library closes and i would love to check it out, i'm really hoping it's nice and has lots of books that i want to read and wifi!!

plus my landlady is home today and i get to meet her for the first time! stay tuned for more excitement!

craving: rasam satham and vendeka curry- extra spicy!
currently listening to: hums of computers and some kind of floor waxer thingy in the hall

i kinda like it in my brand new place, i wipe the spots off of the mirror, don't leave the keys in the door...

thursday continued: we got my keys from the neighbor and went in to my new home for the next 8 months. i couldn't believe it. i was excited beofre but really doesn't begin to explain how perfect this place is. i have everything i could possibly need and more; they said fully furnished but wow. everything is small but i have a double bed. i have a little kitchen with everything there! dishes, cutlery, pots, pans, microwave, etc. i have a large wardrobe type closet and a small chest of drawers; there is a desk with a lamp, a bedside table with a lamp and a cute round dining table with an overhead light. the bathroom has lots of storage space and a large shower- bigger than Pond! and the water pressure is perfect. i even have 3 small windows in the bathroom! the odd thing is that there's a thing that looks like a urinal but isn't and i don't know what it's for. so i ignore it. the landlady even put in special touches like a blowdryer, an iron and ironing table and extra pillows and blankets and towels!

thursday and friday:
then i went and checked out the school. it's pretty big, around as big as harvest park but with less outdoor space and fields and whatnot. it's kinda old and grimy especially the toilets which look frightening from the outside so i haven't yet ventured in. it's a closed campus that's a bit more harsh than pleasanton cuz these fences, though they are white, look more daunting. but students are allowed out for an hour and half for lunch- not all students, just the ones that live in Sérignan. There are students that come from neighboring villages; there are 5 or 6. I can't really imagine places smaller than Sérignan so i will definitely check these out.
I have observed classes over the past 2 days and have very few conclusions about french middleschoolers. they are all incredibly well-dressed for village-dwellers. They are surprisingly sweet. They are terrible at English. They are pretty good looking as well and almost all of them are athletic in some way or another. From rugby to tennis and baseball and dance, they seem to keep busy. But i think this is pretty much the same of kids in a lot of places. they even have cell phones. so i guess they remind me of pleasanton kids a lot.

The teachers are harder to observe. The english teachers all have very adorable french/british accents when they speak english. i was told that they usually do not like having a native speaker around since they are not native speakers and they are teachers, but none of the teachers i have worked with so far seem to have any problems with that. some even double check pronunciation and facts with me in front of students. i think this is very cool of them and i think i'd definitely do the same. most of them are pretty young- mid30s max. there are more women than men and they all seem to get along. i must admit that i find the staff room a pretty boring place after having wondered what goes on in here all my school-going life. teachers just hang out and talk and gossip between classes. most teachers eat at the cafeteria at lunch and i need to figure out if i will as well. i have been informed that there is one vegetarian teacher around but i have not met him/her yet. it costs around 4 euro for lunch every day. which is definitely cheap for this country.

today i observed a class vote for their délégués- class reps and they did it to mimic the french election style. it was all very serious and professional with voting booths and stamps and real-ish ballots and voter registration cards and numbers and id checks and everything. the kids were all solemn and cute and took it seriously. it was interesting that they laid out ballots with each candidate's name on them and had each student take one, then they went into a booth where they each selected 2 candidates from the ballots and put those in an envelope and through out the rest. they came out and got in line to check their ids and put their envelopes in the ballot box that had a counter and required 2 keys to open. it seems to be a clearer way to do it than in america biut i'm not sure since i can't vote in america. then the votes were immediately tallied and marked on a chalkboard. two girls named melody and sara won by more than the required absolute majority. if not they would have had to vote again and again until they had one. interesting stuff.

last night i was too pooped to care so i had some veggie instant noodles i found and i bought the most delicious raspberry tart. i live a minute away from a very good bakery which is not good for me i'm sure. i figure if i allow myself no more than 2 desserts there a week i should be okay but it's going to be hard to resist.

and now i'm heading home cuz i'm tired and hungry. i won't have internet until tuesday when i have classes!

what oh what am i going to do this weekend? at least the weather's lovely.

craving: another raspberry tart and some bread and cheese!
currently listening to: the same persistent tube light and a custodian sweeping

I remember when we were driving, driving in your car...

at the end of my second day of observation of classes here at Marcel Pagnol- the middle school I will be teaching and assisting at for the next 8 months.

A few words before I dig in: I do not yet have internet at home because I need to run that by my landlord and she is out of town until next week. So I use the internet at school and facebook is blocked. and so needless to say that this weekend is going to be boring unless i can find a way to get online. oh enslaved are we to the great triple w.

wednesday: ridiculously early in the morning i got on a train for Montpellier from Bordeaux. the night was ok even though my room was incredible tiny and the bathroom was highly disgusting. check tripadvisor for a horrible review of the Hotel California Bordeaux, if you'd like. worst 60 euro i ever spent. monique, an amazingly kind lady i met this summer, met me at the station and drove me to the meeting of all the assistants at this one high school in montpellier. i was 2 hours late. i walked in and sat down and listen to a few people drone on about things i already knew. but i guess it didn't hurt to hear them again, reinforcement doesn't hurt. but qfter 2 hours, it was a bit painful. they then let us go for lunch and i cringed cuz that meant either eating alone or talking to people i didn't know. i really don't like approaching people i don't know.

but i went for it and as luck would have it i ran into 2 girls who teach in Béziers and one in Montpellier. The 2 Béziers girls are from america- elaine from santa cruz (small world) and becca from minnesota. they were very sweet and happily hilarious. funny thing was that 2 of them doesn't speak french too well and they still got into the program. we were told that there are more schools that want assistants than there are assistants and funding available. and that if we are being abused by our schools to remind them of this fact. lol, I can't imagine doing that even if they were mean to me.

after the meeting they split us into our language groups and we discussed some more stuff and ran through some teaching techniques and ideas. in english which i was happy to be speaking in france, something i haven't done before.

the day ended and monique came to get me and we went to have a drink in a central square area of Montpellier which was really nice. i had the oddest lemonade called a diablo. it had a mint syrup in it that honestly tasted like mouthwash. i had to consciously remember not to swish it around my mouth and spit. then we went back to her place where i showered and then we went out again for dinner. i had a cheese and mushroom omlette with fries (of course, everything in france is served with fries) and i couldn't finishe it. monique had some sort of raw fish thing that looked like ridiculously thin slices of salmon all laid out on a lettuce leaf. and she didn't have room for dessert. i do not think i would enjoy living with someone who ate as little as she does.

thursday: the next morning she drove me to Sérignan. she has a tiny two-door car and she drove at 190km; i felt like i was in a video game. at times her car would protest and she would just laugh and say that her friends tell her she's going to wreck her car if she drives too fast. she was sweet though cuz she asked if i get car sick before revving it up to that speed. we discussed CIFC and her camp CIFAS the whole way.

the rest in the post that follows cuz this one is already quite long.

craving: an awesome and spicy lunch
currently listening to: this tube light struggling to stay on

if you catch me at the border i (don't) got visas in my name...

It is unfortunate that the first post on my shiny new blog should be such a miserable one. but here I am at the Toronto Reference Library and here's the story:

Today was my visa interview. The website said that visas usually take 10 days to be processed but that if the consulate has your file earlier, before the interview, you can get the visa the same day. so I was prepared to get my visa today. My interview time was 10:15 and I showed up at 9:30, so far so good. There is heavy security in the form of a short rude Indian man who asked me for ID before letting me into the waiting room. I waited and flipped through a French travel magazine that just happened to have an amazing article about the region of France that I am going to be in. This got me all excited. But I was also pretty nervous. When I got called up the lady at the counter asked for my documents and my passport and I gave them to her and everything was in order and I was waiting while she went through it. A few minutes later and problem number one struck:

My birthdate on my official job offer letter was wrong. And I didn't even see it before. The idiotic thing is that I filled out the form correctly and sent it to the embassy, who sent it to France whose only job was to copy the birthdate I had written, and they messed up. That aside, the lady behind the counter continued to process my visa and she completed everything and told me I had to wait to hear back from them in the next 10 days for my visa. Enter problem number two:

They did say that as long as they had my file, I would get my visa the day of my interview, right? When I asked her about this she said yes, but the file needs to go through to the visa section and they just had my file on file, and hadn't yet put it through for the visa. Asking her why my form was just hanging out in their office and not yet in the visa section would have been rude. But that was all I could think about. And I am supposed to be flying out tomorrow.

Then followed a long period of emailing everyone to let them know what happened from a computer that automatically logged me out every 15 minutes. I even went back to the consulate twice to ask the lady behind the counter questions to try and salvage my flight ticket somehow. She told me that there was no way whatsoever that I could apply for the visa in France or Europe and she was a bit snippy about it. So was the Indian security guard.

So now I wait and it could take up to 10 days. So it could be tomorrow (cross you fingers) or next week. I feel like I should add that the lady behind the counter did put it on 'emergency' so idealy they should let me know faster than usual. But who knows what France considers fast in an emergency? I digress because I am bitter.

So I'm still here in Toronto. Spirits are low. Throat is sore.

I need creative ways to help me switch my flight ticket. Any suggestions would be largely appreciated.

And I would like to acknowledge the love from the amazing Jason To and Candace McKay. FASHION!

Craving: a 'your visa is ready for pickup' email tomorrow morning and lots of hot water
currently listening to: the plastic rustles and clicks of this public library's computer section.