A frivolous weekend

Friday was my last workday with only two classes where I taught kids the Cupid Shuffle, fed them jelly beans, and played Pictionary. Super fun, and my last students asked to be facebook friends with me^^ I was pumped, obviously, so I went on a nice evening run in the park.

[Author's Note: Europeans use A LOT of emoticons online, a habit which I seem to have picked up. I apologize to any offended parties.]

That night I celebrated the end of work by going out. Some assistant girls came over for hookah and chatting and we headed to Pym's around 12h30 for dancing! The music was great in 2/3 of the rooms, but we mostly stuck to the rap/R&B/salsa floor :) They wanted to leave by 2:20 because of tiredness, so I had to go home still bursting with dance energy! Oh well, I'll party in Paris soon!

Saturday was the greatest day! Katherine came at 9am, and we spent the day: marketing for mini-muffins, eating galette saucisse for breakfast, sitting outside at Haricot Rouge for an almond latte, shopping (black strappy heels! and cute mugs withcartoon kittens that say, "Je retombe amoureuse tous les matins [I fall in love again every morning]"!), and eating bread/cheese/fig jam/saucisse sèche/strawberries for lunch :) It was 79 F out!!! I think every human being in Rennes was outside on the streets shopping and/or eating today.

Cutest purchase EVER!

Katherine wanted cute French placemats to take home, so we checked all the kitchen stores in town and got adorable ones. Back at my apartment, we had quiet time for reading/napping. Afterwards, we rivived ourselves with an evening coffee and snacking on baguettes while listening to the guitar guy outside playing songs like "Umbrella," "Wonderwall," and "Take Me Home Coutry Roads" in a slight French accent. It's so warm here, and I have no air conditioning so the windows are constantly open to the breeze.

And what I am assuming is the last big assistants party took place Saturday night chez Tara of New Jersey. I went over around 9:30 and was home around midnight. There was a mix of English, French, and Spanish conversations going on with some assistants I hadn't seen in months and some I had never met at all! Unfortunately, my night was dampened by a drunk man passed out in my building's hallway... He was gone in the morning, but I was still creeped out :/

On Eater Sunday, Katherine came back over for a food marathon. We started the day with a brunch of scrambled eggs with lardons, onions and cheese, and mimosas, serenaded by Michael Buble. We had also bought festive chocolates in bunny and bell forms because in France, it is flying bells that deliver the candy to kids--delicious and purchased 2 for 1 ;)

Easter brunch :)

Easter chocolates! Miam!

After coffee, we went for a stroll in the park in sundresses and our new heels^^, and I took tons of artsy flower phots (see my Rennes Spring 2011 album!). We spent the late afternoon watching 10 Things I Hate About You (the movie) online and dozing until dinner. For the grande finale of Easter, we went to an Indian restaurant and ordered lamb dishes, miam miam! We were stuffed full and ended up in pjs to watch Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It was a lovely, relaxing day :)

Rainy days

Rain returned to Rennes this week, but the spring-like temperatures between drizzles made it bearable!

My classes this week got to watch How I Met Your Mother episodes, so it was time for me to start reading War and Peace—impressive, no?And Paul Krugman's The Conscience of a Liberal, which my father will disown me for... :/ Ah well...

Tuesday I convinced Caitlin to come into Rennes for dinner and a bar outing. PA was working a party for CIREFE at Le Zing, so we had some drinks and mostly talked to his friend Noemie (who just returned from being an assistant in Ireland) and her friend Laura, mostly in French. Afterwards, PA, Caitlin and I went to a hookah bar :)

Wednesday I hung out and shopped with Caitlin, and Katherine joined us in the afternoon for chillin'...

Thursday night was Geek Night in a university gym. I went with Ewan and PA at 10, but had to take the last bus back to town at midnight. They played video games, and we all enjoyed mini golfing and the other little games that were set up. There was even Rock Band on stage, but the line was too long! Boo...

Friday was Wajd's birthday party... And it was all guys except me and Wajd's girlfriend Cynthia... Silly, drunk, 20-something French boys... *sigh* I went to bed at 3, but I heard a door slam! The neighbors downstairs had come to yell at the party and slammed the door... Then when people tried to leave the party a bit later, they found that the door was jammed shut. Yes, we were trapped in the apartment until around 11am the next morning when Ewan's friend came over and helped take off the doorknob from the outside! Phew!

Saturday I had Katherine over most of the day. We chatted in my apartment while it rained and hailed for a bit. We then ventured to Haricot Rouge for hot chocolate. I showed her this awesome store called Somewhere where I proceeded to spend over 100 euros (and earn a free duffel bag!). A bit more shopping filled the afternoon. We had a glass of wine and got pizza at Casa Pepe.

Sunday update soon!!!

Rainy Rennes...

Friday and Saturday were lovely, spring-like and carefree days... I shopped a bit (scarf, light jacket, sweater), saw two movies (Le nom des gens and The King's Speech, both good), and had a group dinner with assistants Saturday night at the vegetarian restaurant again. Afterwards, we went to Café St Georges for drinks, and I talked mostly to Kelsey, an American assistant from California who also has a French boyfriend, and Steven, her boyfriend.

A ton of sleep and I feel so much better! But time passes sooooo slowly in France on a Sunday where nothing is open. On the agenda for the rest of the day is to finish a fellowship application and find some more icebreaker questions for my students this week!

Sadly, today is very rainy and soggy, so my plans to go running have been foiled... :( I miss working out in a gym where inclement weather can't hurt you. It's sad I can't even go on a walkabout.

Later, mes amis!

Adventures in Copenhagen with Lily and EBrown

Thursday through Sunday I was in Copenhagen, Denmark, to visit two of my Africa study abroad buddies, EBrown and Lily (who lives and studies there now).

Getting there was ok--bus to Rennes airport, plane to Paris, delay in Paris because of the previous day's snow, arrive in Copenhagen around 11pm. Lily picked me up there and we metroed to her place to drop off my stuff. It was cold, windy, snowy, snowing! We metroed to meet her boyfriend Martin at a main square and found a bar. Danes have an intense drinking culture, especially at "Christmas Parties" this season--even your work party is a drinking party from lunchtime until night! Tried the Christmas beer and chatted with Lily and Martin until a drunk Dane named Reuben came to hit on me. All Danes learn English from elementary school and speak pretty fluently. It was pretty easy to talk to people in shops, cafes, drunken bar settings ;)

Between metroing at night and walking back in the freezing cold, Lily and I weren't in bed until 3:30am that night, and we had to get up at 8am so that she could go to class. I got off to explore the shopping streets and the Christmas market on a canal for a few hours.

Lily and I finally got to meet EBrown at noon! We all headed to eat Chinese takeout and met up with EBrown's sister Brittany and her friend Caitlin to roam the streets. See photos in the Copenhagen album for an illustration of those chilly hours. Actually, the sun was out pretty much all weekend, and we had decent weather in general but for a few bouts of snow/rain/sleet. It's just always below freezing and the sun sets around 3pm.

Me, Lily, and EBrown

Lily headed to work at a restaurant, so EBrown and I went to Brittany's host family's home for dinner. The house was cool and the parents interesting world travelers. We helped make the delicious home-cooked meal of vegetable quiche/tart, salad, hamburgers with egg on top, potato salad, and South African wine. We also had these delicious ginger/honey cakes with chocolate on top that are a Danish Christmas treat. So good!

They lived about an hour outside the city between a train and walking in the cold. Around 10pm, we headed back downtown for a taste of nightlife. Brittany went with friends, and EBrown and I went to Lily's restaurant where we got free cocktails--mango for me and lemonade mojito for EBrown. When Lily was off, it was a quick Christmas beer before EBrown had to head back with her sister and Lily and I had to metro/walk home.

Slept in a bit before meeting up for walking and a long cafe break where plenty of girltalk ensued. That afternoon we met up with Martin. Firstly, I grabbed an authentic Danish hot dog with mustard, ketchup, fried onions, We climbed up this church spire for a scary but lovely view of Copenhagen, which is actually some islands off of the Denmark peninsula. You could even see Sweden and the bridge to get there--only 30 minutes away!

View of the city from the spire.

The power of the wind and the cold had us down before too long, and we headed to Freetown Christiania. This place used to be a military base that fell into disuse, so hippie-squatters moved in and made it a mini-society with its own hippie laws, common property, and lots of pot. The police come to clean out the weed every once and awhile, but the people of Copenhagen cherish it and consider it an important city landmark. It has a "downtown" area with an art gallery, cafes, pot stands, etc., and then there are really neat houses built of odds and ends where people actually live around the lakes--they just have permission to do so rather than actually owning it. Martin showed us around, and then we warmed up with coffee at a cafe there.

It was nearing 6pm when we left again, Lily to work and EBrown and me to Brittany's host home for a candy making party. First of all, the 20 minute walk after the train ride took about an hour because we got lost. Imagine forty or so Danes, adults and children, plus five American girls in a marzipan and nougat sculpting/candy-making competition! I just made myself one little treat to eat, but EBrown made a bunch of grapes and there were animals and traditional candies too. Towards the end, there was a big pot of soup, bread, and cheese to eat. I headed to Lily's alone and made it back safely.

Sunday I really slept in while Lily went to church. EBrown and I met at 11 and went hunting for those honey-ginger cakes which we ate with tea at Lily's apartment while we chatted. All three of us gathered at the metro at one to take me to the airport. So fun to see them, the first old, friendly faces I've seen since September!

I got to Paris just fine, but then my flight to Rennes was cancelled. AirFrance bused us all to the train station and someone went to get our tickets. We waited as a group for half an hour--the train was going to leave in five minutes and we still didn't have tickets in our hand. A search for the AirFrance official failed, and we headed down to the platform where the train was sitting. Some people just got on and said they would get reimboursed by the company for the tickets later... but I was afraid of getting a fine! With only two minutes before departure, the AirFrance lady shows up with a stack of tickets--I grabbed one from her hand and jumped on! So instead of getting back around 9:30, I wasn't in my apartment until 12:30! Oh, well...

It was back to work today for a Taboo-esque game of describing random people, places, and things in English for the other students to guess. Seems to be going pretty well! I also finished Pierre-Antoine's Christmas gifts, so I'm on to some for his family.

Please, check out all of my Copenhagen pictures in the album too!

Vacation cont'd.

I found the upside of retiring later for the French: Taking Early Retirement May Retire Memory, Too. And for all of us, I suppose... ;) I'm pretty sure that this month of not working has already declined my brain abilities, so I totally agree with this study's findings!

So it still isn't too exciting here... After my last post, I went on a bit of a shopping spree for a bathrobe, hat, and mittens to keep me cozy this winter. I also found postcards that actually show my apartment's windows!!! How cool is that!? I bought a ton to send and keep for myself. Also grabbed pasta and sauce for a lonely dinner. Most of the other assistants are out of town traveling for vacation, and the two in town were not feeling up to meeting me downtown since they live a ways out. It was fine to have a little chill time, and there was a band playing at a bar I could hear clearly from my windows. After "Hotel California" and some Beatles, I was plenty content.

This morning was exciting because I got two packages from Mother of clothes, Thanksgiving things, photos, and brochures for my classes. Thanks to her and Grandma Tucker for the thoughts and things! I also got a form back from my landlord (who lives in Andorra, so I got a cool Andorra stamp!) so that I could finally mail in my application for housing aid! Hopefully, that will go smoothly, and I can take advantage of this poor French government some more.

PA arrived around lunchtime, bringing me a microwave! How exciting! Plans for the afternoon include helping PA research grad school stuff, decorating my apartment for a Halloween party, and perhaps going to IKEA to buy a table, lamp, and clothes rack. How domestic my life has become...

STRIKE: Day 5

The strike goes on! Even Pierre-Antoine's university is on strike... And next week is a holiday week for Toussaint, or All Saints, so really everyone is just enjoying a nice long vacation with some demonstrations thrown in. I'm sure you've all heard of flights and trains being cancelled. I'm staying put in Rennes for now...

Still, I had to appear at work this morning so that everyone knew I was not striking myself (though why I could possibly care about French retirement ages, I don't understand). I chatted with English teacher Corinne a bit in the teacher's lounge and then headed back to my place. Pierre-Antoine (also free) and I went shopping for a universal remote for my tv and I also found some new black flats. I apparently scared him and the shopkeepers by how fast I picked them out and paid! I know what I want, I suppose...

So my only activity for the day is going to the bank at 4:30 to figure out insurance and how to fix my shower. It is just annoying because there is no leak or anything up here... so I'm probably going to have to coordinate a plumber visit with the neighbors. We'll see...

PA and I are going to try this restaurant called "Back to the 60s" near Place Sainte Anne. It has burgers and shakes in a 50s diner atmosphere! Just don't ask me why they chose the 60s as the diner era :/