Road Trip!

This is going to be a nightmare of a blog post. There is MUCH too much to say, and I have this headache that feels like a pick axe is making its way through the front of my skull, so the organization and flow are going to be horrible. Just to forewarn you. And to save face, a bit.

The trip to Avignon was formidabble! I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for the first time since I don't even know when... last summer maybe? Oh, it was DELICIOUS. And it was homemade, and not by me, which made it even better. The train ride with Lizzie to Grenoble was interesting and passed quickly, involving a healthy dose of existential discussion, one ear phone of a Podcast featuring a Bookworm interview with David Foster Wallace from 1996, insanely beautiful views and the kind of whole wheat sunshine that FILLED the train car like honey and coated its entire contents.

When we got to Grenoble, we spent a bit of time walking around, being in awe of the Bastille and awaiting Kevin to finish work. The rental car we got was a hilarious little cloud-blue manual thing that ran on diesel and apparently was wonderful to drive. We stopped at a rest area and had dinner, which was an adventure in itself -- I had never even considered the concept of French rest areas! And they're pretty much similar. They didn't sell flip flops, but they DID sell a set of Kellogg's Cornflakes mugs, saucers and a matching tray which we bought and later made good use of, even though they wouldn't let me use the tray to stand on in the shower. Haha my germaphobia was oppressed the ENTIRE weekend -- it was exhausting.

When we finally arrived to the hostel, we were greeted by a totally hilarious and creepy place -- the hostel was part of a campground, and appeared to be entirely unoccupied. Upon arrival, we were directed to a shack-like "restaurant" where I very reluctantly handed over my passport as collateral for the room key. (This was stored in a TIN BOX that looked much like a lunchbox, and was casually stored next to the register). A very nice lady led us to our room with a bunk bed and a cot, decorated in the fashionable color scheme of ancient peach walls with grey floor and faded blue and yellow bedspreads. We realized the immediate need for libations, and headed into centre ville in search for some good rosé wine, believing that being in the capital of blush wine we should be able to find a worthy specimen.

The rest of that night was a delightful blur of spills and uncovered truths, as Lizzie and I navigated our way through the tricky complexities of life and Kevin slept, seemingly unaffected by our angst.

Saturday morning/afternoon we woke up and went in search of food, following the suggestion of the woman from the hostel. With insanely low blood sugars, and super high tempers, we decided we couldn't actually finish that quest and ended up stopping for lunch at an amazing gem of a place. They served tartines, which are essentially super-thick pieces of bread loaded with various toppings. We all ended up getting one with goat cheese, ham, and mushrooms, which was basically the most delicious meal of all time. My friends cruelly confiscated my hand-sanitizer at this point of the trip, challenging me to go one day without using it. (I failed, because when there was no soap in the bathroom, I called foul play and quit that game).

We went to the Palais des Papes, where the popes lived, built and rebuilt the castle, squandered money from devout Catholics and lived lives either of ascetics or hedonics, which was explained in painfully intricate detail in the audio tour and displays. The first part of the tour was a total waste for me, because I took a French audio guide floating on the wings of insanely puffed-up pride, and didn't understand anything that was being explained. After the first few rooms, we traded in our wands for something more useful, but also a bit more boring to me because I could actually comprehend the fact that I didn't really care about the difference between SuchandSuch XII and SuchandSuch XVI. I just liked looking around and imagining people LIVING there! And people building that. Holy crap!

After finishing the tour, Lizzie was officially sick and we were all cold down to the very marrow of our bones. (People LIVED there! Holy crap!) We went in search of a warm cup of tea and ended up going to this place called a "Cosmopolitan Bar" complete with random US license plates and a giant steer skull mounted on the bar. After one night of adventure, freezing cold showers and a leaky window that let in tons of rain, we decided to stay in an actual hotel and headed there to take advantage of the extra 21 euros worth of comfort/luxury/heat/warmth we had purchased. When we felt warm enough to leave again, we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner and then brought our coughing, miserable friend back to the hotel to sleep.

Kevin and I figured the night was still semi-young at 11, so we went in search of a bar and instead ended up walking all around the walled city, exploring the infamous Pont d'Avignon and again the Palais des Papes at night -- this time without the drunken teenagers standing in front of its massive entrance. Sleep was beautiful and interrupted on Saturday night, except that it involved an element of fear -- I was on a pull-out bed that was attached to the wall just by a questionable-looking support (to me, anyway) above the bed where Kevin was sleeping. All I could think at first was how if I broke that bed, he would immediately DIE and how badly the weekend could end. Luckily, my exhaustion won out over my worries and he lived through the night.

On Sunday, I served as the group alarm clock and got everyone up around 9. We went to breakfast at a cafe around the corner from the Palais and had orange juice from beautiful huge goblets, then headed back to Grenoble to catch our train/leave Kevin in his hotel home. On the way back, we stopped at a rest area that had an enormous nougat selection and Lizzie & Kevin bought half of their stock for an impromptu taste test. I wasn't really a believer until I tried the kind that tasted like a Moon Pie; combining that with my bottle of Coke in a CAR made me think of road trips and home and heaven, and rendered me so incredibly happy.

On the way back to Le Puy, I read my travel book in preparation for upcoming voyages and Lizzie and I traded iPods, which was a fascinating experience. How strangely personal music taste is. I definitely think that this will become a routine part of every new friendship I ever establish. It's SO interesting to see what music people like, and then try to figure out what that means about them. And what it means about you in the way that you respond to that.

I also decided to renew my contract for next year. I'm addicted to Europe, traveling, and speaking French. I fear the 40-hour work week and the institutions everywhere that I would be returning to/surrendering to, so I figure why should I go back now? Insead, I can profiter au maximum from the opportunity I have to spend another year of my life LIVING.

Oh, there is more to say. But I can't yet find the words.

"Sur le pont d'Avignon on y danse, on y danse"

Tomorrow, I'm going to Avignon!

I'm a bit afraid, because everything depends on a taxi. I finish school at 11:45 and my train leaves at 12:09. The plan is that the taxi will be waiting for me as soon as class gets over and we will speed over to la gare. I am not for sure that the taxi driver knows where the school is... this kind of makes me nervous. I NEED this taxi to be there. Otherwise, I wait until 4:30 to leave and that ruins all of the plans.

The plan is that L-dizzle and I will go to Grenoble, where we will wait for our friend to finish solving the electrical engineering problems of the world. Then we will all go get the rental car, and drive off to the south of France! Haha this is officially my first French road trip!! We are totally going to get lost. I'm totally excited!

I'm also totally excited about my new travel accessory -- a hot pink Converse bag. I saw it in a store today, almost got killed by sprinting impulsively across the street towards it, and bought it despite the salesman trying to talk me out of it, in favor of a very functional gray one.

I'm not exactly sure if we have a reservation at the hostel tomorrow or not, and I'm not sure if I'm going to tell my friends that or not, either. Haha it was kind of my responsibility to take care of this, and I didn't really prove to be reliable... whoops.

Il manque la tete!!!!

Ooh I forgot the other hilariously awesome thing that happened today.

So we had another galette du roi today and I was once again amazed by Mom Skills -- E wanted the feve so badly, and I watched as the Host Mom nimbly located it, and very inconspicuously made sure that E got it.

The thing she didn't anticipate was the fact that it was missing its HEAD! The thing was sawed right off! And they're made out of porcelain so it definitely wasn't beheading by the cheap knife she was using to cut the cake. No, no -- this was devious. This was planted. And poor E was so traumatized by seeing her headless feve that she started to cry and threw her crown off.

What do you think I did in this situation?

I LAUGHED.

And I said, "Oooh this would be a good book title -- the mystery of the missing head."

Thank God the host parents have a most excellent sense of humor.

Happiness is a Calendar Full of Travel Plans

Today was an AWESOME day. Like, a bowl full of Lucky Charms marshmallows awesome day.

I played the Wii for FOUR hours with E this morning. (And I should explain that we are now super best friends. She told me this morning, "je t'aime" and I almost laughed because it was so adorable and unexpected.)

I gave my first English tutoring session and it was awesome. And I made 10 Euros. Which was sweet.

Then I spent my 10 Euros on a new gorgeous and funny children's book about love, just because I could.

Travel Trio decided we're going to Avignon this weekend.

And I have extended my February travel plans to include an extra 4 days in Paris. I'm going to be gone for two WHOLE weeks, with only one little carry-on full of stuff. For me, this is a huge thing. I am a person with tons of stuff. And I bring it everywhere -- always. I can hardly imagine the idea of having ONE CARRY ON full of stuff for TWO WHOLE WEEKS of living! But it's going to happen. And it's going to be amazing.

Hooray!

The Girl Who Buys Children's Books

I'm so happy to be back to MYSELF again!

Today I gave the first private English lesson to Julia, then went to town and bought another children's book and a French version of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

Holiday in Spain

HOORAY!!!

I am the proud owner of four plane tickets. I'm going from Paris to Barcelona, from Barcelona to Madrid, from Madrid to Porto, Portugal and then from Portugal back to Paris.

:)

Hello, Spanish- & Portuguese-speaking lands.

Amazon.fr is going to be sending me a Spanish dictionary pronto.

Obama's wife is gorgeous. The lime green was choice, I must say. Haha AND it was total outrage in this country over the fact that Mr. President was running late at lunch time -- the news people were absolutely beside themselves because the time schedule was off! I just laughed. Good for him. Bon appetit!

New Perspective

Hello, world! I am once again a part of you!

I don't handle sickness well. I definitely don't handle it well when I'm in France. Last week was a nightmare of sickness, Kleenex, sleep and tears.

I did go to the doctor finally, and by weird coincidence, she was the mother of one of my students!

In other news, today it was a balmy 7*, and my jacket got soaked with rain in lieu of snow! I wore my mittens and it was senseless. I hope the warm weather stays forever. J'en ai marre with the cold. I also want to start running again, and I can't do it in this cold. I just can't.

Tomorrow Obama becomes our president! And I'm having lunch with Lizzie! And... potentially buying plane tickets to Spain and Portugal, for adventure numero deux with Jules. It's going to be a good day, I can tell.

Bon nuit a tous!

Third Time's a Charm

I'm trying to figure out how it is that since I arrived in France (during which time, I've been here working less than I did while going to college full-time) I have gotten sick three times already. Either my immune system is ultimate crap, or my immune system is ultimate crap. There is absolutely no good excuse for how this is happening.

But alas. I've been in bed since yesterday noon, reading depressing Salinger, watching movies and e-mailing half of the planet, trying to keep my germs contained in my room, far away from the host family. The thought of venturing out into the cold and teaching tomorrow makes me want to cry for the sake of my throat, but the thought of staying isolated another day seems equally trying on my sanity. We'll see which wins out tomorrow.

Ughh. Sickness.

On another note, the host family had une galette de roi tonight which is something they do here for l'epiphanie. There is a flaky pie-like dessert in which a little statue or une feve is hidden, and whoever gets the piece with the hidden statue gets to be the king or queen for the day. There is also a crown involved in all of this -- a very nice cardboard one that reminded me of a very upscale version of a Burger King crown. T won tonight and was delighted; apparently they did this last night and Tt won. So, of course, there were tears when E did not get the lucky piece. Tomorrow night will be the ultimate test -- there's no cheating with this thing because the pie is purchased from a store, The Host Mom cuts it at the table, and everyone selects the piece that he/she wants. I am a little afraid for tomorrow night...

Roses and Thorns

When I was an RA, we used to have "Roses and Thorns" at the beginning of our weekly staff meeting which gave everyone the opportunity to share one good/positive/funny thing about their week, and one bad/negative/horrible thing. Of course, this used to take half of the meeting time because people turned it into "Thousands of Roses and Thorns" in lieu of sharing simply one.

But it's in this spirit, that I self-indulgently invite my cyberspace audience into the goings-on of this past week.

Roses:
+ Last Wednesday, I finally saw "Twilight" in French. A few days later, during a discussion about the godlike man who played Edward, a friend told me that it was the same guy who played Cedric in HP. My genius reply was, "But he didn't have an accent!" to which she pointed out, "You watched it in French." Haha of course.

+I spent Thursday in Clermont-Ferrand for the medical visit required for the carte de sejour (basically like a green card). The city is gorgeous, and we spent a ton of time in the cathedrale in town, hiding out on the very top of the cathedrale and enjoying the sacred quiet and the sunshine. It was nice to spend time with the other assistant, A, who I didn't know very well at all before.

+I went, for the first time, to Grenoble this past weekend. When I got there it was 10 at night, so I didn't even notice how enveloped by the mountains the city is until the following morning. I ended up walking about 15 miles while venturing around the Bastille (a fortress from the 1600's set up high on a mountain) and the neighboring caves and war memorial. Pizza and impromptu beer tasting was an excellent reward at the end of the day.

- Sadly, I am now super sick. A bunch of the other assistants were sick last week, and I knew it was just a matter of time before it would get me, too. I went back to bed after school today, and I plan on sleeping all day tomorrow.

-Because of being sick, I probably can't go to Avignon this weekend, which bums me out a little. My travel friends are both only going to be here until the end of March, so I want to profiter au maximum while they are here.

+ I am going to start training again for another 5k. My marathon-running travel friend has motivated me to get back into it. I just need to get better before I start running in the frigid out-of-doors.

+ I've decided that I definitely want to go to grad school. I've started looking at a couple MFA programs for children's literature/writing for children, one in Boston at Simmons and another in Virginia at Hollins. Most of the programs I have found are low-residency, and I really don't want to do that because I'm not nearly motivated enough to work so much on my own. The Hollins program is a summer-only thing, so it would take me a few years to finish it but I could teach during the rest of the year. Then it might be more affordable for me to do. And I could move down south, if I wanted! The Simmons program is more of a full-time commitment, so it would probably only be possible if I got a fellowship. I definitely have a lot of research and work to do in terms of figuring out what I want, and getting my applications together. But I'm excited about the idea of continuing my education right away! I miss being a student.

Un mot (ou plus)

Teaching is the best job in the world. Seriously, show me another job where you walk in sort of hating the world, and you leave feeling so full of hope and happiness it's ridiculous.

Things that made me happy today:

1. The fruit juice I consumed. It seriously is made of FRUIT. And not etc.
2. Talking about "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" with my CE2 kids. Or just my CE2 kids.
3. I finally got up the guts to ask for help with The Bad Class. After all this time, I have always been afraid of admitting I needed help and then when I finally did the teacher was like, "Yeah no problem - I know they're crazy. I'll help you. No worries."
4. Wearing my new 6 dollar Old Navy scarf.
5. Thinking about how many people are rooting for me, even from far away.

January, you are full of promise.

For Auld Lang's Syne

Hello, 2009. I hope you will be as good to me as your predecessor was.

An abbreviated version of my journey home for the holidays goes something like this:

I stayed at crappy hotel near Lyon airport, thinking I would save money by staying at a 39 Euro/night place, but was proceeded to be practically robbed the next morning with a TWENTY TWO EURO cab ride for a 3 km distance! The room had barely any heat, was made entirely of plastic (except for the bunk bed that was positioned at the exact right place to ensure maximum head-wounding capability) and looked as though it hadn't been cleaned and/or used in six months. Delightful.

The way back to the US was pretty awesome - I enjoyed being in Delta's fabulous Business Elite class, beginning my voyage with a little mimosa (oh, yes please!) and made friends with basically everyone within speaking distance. I've never been so in love with English as I was on December 19th.

New York awaited us with a giant snowstorm that extended throughout the midwest, so my plans of traveling to Detroit were instantaneously extinguished. Instead, I went to North Carolina and spent some quality time with my grandparents.

I spent 7 hours in the Greensboro airport on Sunday, trying desperately to get back to Detroit, watching plane after plane leave sans moi, eventually getting to the point of desperation where I was literally handing over my credit card for a $180 rental car and 12 lovely hours of solo road trip time... luckily, my uncle intervened at that exact moment and convinced me to wait it out. A mere 6 hours later, I was back in Metro-Detroit, after a brief visit with my uncle in Cincinnati.

The week in Michigan flew by at an impossible speed, and before I knew it, I was back in NC, then already back in France.

And here I am, again, doing the thing that I must: "keep on keepin' on."