26 juin, 2007

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!


Ok, well, my roomie is watching TV and I'm waiting to call my rents, so I thought I would get my blog on with my latest complaint, I mean, "entry." I discovered today I am feeling a bit ofthe green-eyed monster in that I have a friend who seems like she has everything falling in place and it just happens to be everything I want...grr. Oh how I envy her, let me count the ways:
1) She just got a job for the summer. Myself, I have 1, that's right, 1(!!!) babysitting job that will start before or after July 15th and will be once or twice a week. Before or after July 15th, that's random you might think, well you ain't the only one!
2) She happens to have EU citizenship. Don't get me started.
3) Her friend that's an assistant just gave her the info of someone who needs English lessons. Hmm, what was it again that Leah was searching for? Was it English lasoos? No, I believe it was ENGLISH LESSONS!
4) She gets paid this summer for her job although she has not worked since the beginning of June and will not work again until September! Almost 3 months pay for no work! Why doesn't the assistantship pay through the summer? Tooootally kidding, ps.
5) She secured a job for this fall. The guy who they originally hired(it's an exchange) backed out at the last minute. How conveeeenient.
6) She has a loving boyfriend. Scratch that, she has A boyfriend period. Someone who will help her when things get rough and will stay by her side so that she's never alone. How wonderful. I'm brimming with joy.
Bitter much? Yes. Now, is it better that my anger has turned to bitterness? Or should I just be honest and say I am now not only bitter, but also angry? Fan-freakin-tastic! Hope all's well.
Kisses,
Bitty McBitterson

22 juin, 2007

I am a geek


So, I went and saw Shrek 3 at the Gaumont on Wed and I gotta say I really don't know how they do it, but yet again, it was pretty darn good! I mean, the things these people come up with and their intense creativity blows my mind. "I suck-eth" taped on someone's back...that's just classic. A store called Versarchery? Very clever. Ye Olde Foot Locker? Again great(won't spill on that one, though, don't want to ruin it for those of you haven't seen it yet!) But, if you liked the first and second, definitely go see the third. I'm dying to see it in English because I can only imagine it would be even funnier and I also prefer Mike Myers as Shrek and, umm, kinda would've preferred Justin Timberlake over some random French dude playing Arthur. Besides them, Julie Andrews, several gals from SNL, etc, etc.

Speaking of animated films, would l'Age de Glace(Ice Age) be still funny for a CM2(5th grader)? I'm hoping so as I'm planning on showing it next week for my LAST.WEEK.OF.CLASSES!!! Youpiiii! JK, I am not actually a 8 yr old French child who would say that, I was just in the moment, quoi. Yeah, so I wanted to do something to celebrate the end of the year and those kids are already gone on vacation in their cabezas anyways, so I figured something like a film would be fun and CALM. I'm planning on showing l'Age de Glace in English with French subtitles provided that is actually a possibility. If not, I'll have to scour Geant, Carrefour or LeClerc for some cheap DVDs and invest in one myself. I was thinking a long the lines of Shrek 1 or Finding Nemo. Definitely an animated film, but I'm cheap, so I'd rather not buy one myself especially if I do end up leaving France and then the film would be of no use to me. We will see.

That reminds me, I still have to see Shrek 1 in English! I saw it in French in 2002 when I lived abroad in Rennes for the first time as a study abroad student. My friend had already seen it and we watched it together. Well, she was apparently a pretty big fan because everytime something should have been funny in the film aka would have been funny in the English version, she repeated what was said in English. Let's just say my friend, who is not a middle-aged black man, didn't really compare to hearing Eddie Murphy play Donkey. Also, somehow l'Ane just doesn't work...especially said with Shrek's scottish accent, it just isn't the same. However, I loved loved LOVED Pinocchio and the Gingerbread man's voices in French. Espec the part when Pinocchio is trying so hard not to lie so just keeps on saying really vague sentences, I was literally cracking up. Ok, I need to stop talking about Shrek because now it won't be my negativity that scares y'all away, it will be my geekiness! Haha.

Anyway, a subject I have been wanting to share for a while would be my pet peeves. I'm pretty detail-oriented and by that, I mean anal, so a lot of my pet peeves are things I have to deal with quite often. So, for your knowledge and for my entertainment(I enjoy making lists...ahem...as I said anal) and in no specific order, I have composed a list of my...

ALL-TIME GREATEST PET PEEVES:
1) sitting in the aisle seat on the bus-let me just clarify that I don't feel the need to always sit down on the bus and especially don't like sitting with STRANGE*ers, but I just think it's so very inconsiderate to take up two spaces because you want to sit by yourself. In that case, too bad, find a place standing then!
2) rudeness-this can encompass so many different things and can exist in so many different ways from the grocery store clerk that doesn't even say hello or goodbye to a lady that poked a guy on the train with her umbrella because she was in a hurry(so was he, btw.) I am a polite person with excellent manners and I cannot stand for people being rude whether to me or others. One guy once yelled at my mom when my fam was all together at a James Taylor concert in MA. He told her to not step on his blanket(it was an outdoor lawn and tons of people brought blankets and/or chairs and picnics). It was jam-packed with people by the time we got there and there was no other way to find a spot but to make your way through the people already sitting down and find an empty spot of lawn. I'm sorry, but too bad my mother(one of the nicest people in the world who does not have a rude bone in her body) stepped on your precious blanket. So, my mom told him he was rude for yelling at her and he said "no, you're rude" and I turned and said "actually, you're the one who's rude." I could have said something about the fact that we had no other choice, but to make our way through all the people and we were trying our best not to disturb people's set-ups, but it's super crowded and we're carrying chairs, a cooler and a blanket, but I didn't because I could tell he was a bitter, old man and he didn't even deserve my time. So there!
3)men who wear murses, fanny packs and jeans tighter than mine aka many french and spanish man-ok, this one's kinda a lark, but come on, now!
4)people who walk really slow in front of you or right behind you-more annoying is the right behind, just go in front of me!
5)close-talkers and loud breathers-nuff said!
6) loud and/or gross eaters-this one really bugs me. Any variation of lip-smacking, food dribbling, slurping, sloshing, teeth or mouth picking is bound to drive me bonkers. There's a lady that eats her breakfast on one of the trains I take and she eats a full-blown bowl of cereal. Well, this train is pretty early, so it's pretty quiet and her milk-slurping resonates through the whole car. Grr.
7)being hot-I have little to no tolerance for this and find myself unable to carry on a normal conversation until I have cooled down. Let's just say, my hair and face are not friends with humidity.
8)on-the-go t-shirts-Yes, it's nice you went to Florida, but can't you find another t-shirt that doesn't have a huge smiling alligator with a hot pink background?

That's all for now, folks! Off to the Beaux-Arts museum with Jen that I've still never been to after all this time here.
*Oh, the lady on the bus next to me was a case. She was talking to anyone and everyone whilst shoving crackers into her bouche non-stop which I can only assume crumbled all over me as she might as well have been sitting on top of me. She was dressed like a homeless person would be on a very cold night in December which is a mystery to me because even when it was raining and a little chilly earlier, it wasn't THAT cold. I always get the winners, I tell ya!

18 juin, 2007

Sienna has nothing to do with this post except I mention something belonging to my cat once very briefly aka I like long post titles!


Well, I do feel a little better about the staying in France situation. I won't say anything here because I do believe in jinxing things, but let's just say there might be a teeny tiny miniscule possibility of me staying. And, hey, I'm clinging on to that like there's no manana. That is all I will(try to) say about that because even though a lot of why I started this blog was to be able to remember my experience and be able to have a sort of online diary, I also wanted to keep everyone up-to-date on what's going on in my vida and I now fear I have scared everyone away. So, I will try to squeeze every last ounce of positivity out of my veins that are clogged with negativity up the wazoo because, well, that's just the new plan. I also want to warn people who don't know me, but read the blog, that I'm not a pro-blogger or great writer or anything, so BEWARE. MWAHAHA! Kidding...really...well, mostly anyways!

So, to lighten the mood, I thought I would talk about food I miss from the US and then also give you guys abroad a recipe that I found recently that definitely made my morning a little sweeter(hint, hint.) And, by sweeter, I mean maple syrup-y sweeter...have I said too much? Anyhoo, here goes the list of grub a gal like me misses from the good ol' U S of A:

Microwave popcorn
GOOD peanut butter
Cottage Cheese
Mac&Cheese
Stone Ground Wheat Thins
Zatarin's Black Bean&Rice Mix
Readily available cheddar
Bagels&Cream Cheese(no, Boursin is just not the same!)
Sandwich shops(mom&dad kind, Quizno's, Panera Bread, etc...I loves me some sandwiches)
Turkey burgers, Turkey sausage, Ground Turkey/Chicken(basically more options for non-beef and pork eaters like me)
My mom and dad's home cookin'

Ok, I feel like there's prob a ton more, but those are the top ones I can think of. The top of the list after mom&dad has got to be cottage cheese. Yumm-o. I really, REALLY wish it existed in France because I am a CC addict. And before you get all in a tizzy about my patriotic list, I could also list a gazillion things I love in France too, believe-you-me:)

Now, for the recipe. I woke up Saturday(after a bad end of the night where a French guy was extremely rude to me) and I was hungry for some comfort food from home, so I thought about the (little) cooking ingredients and food I had and magically came up with...PANCAKES!!!

So, here she goes:

2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 tbl. melted butter
1 whole apple cut into small pieces

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg and milk. Add this to flour mixture and then, stir in melted butter. Serves 4.

The apple(possible substitute also would be peaches, strawberries, blueberries, etc) idea was all mine because I had to bootleggedly(is that a word?) use honey instead of maple syrup as I had none, so I wanted to make sure I had something sweet in case the honey was a bust which it surprisingly wasn't. Oh, and I also didn't have baking powder and measured the cups with a glass because I was too lazy to look up the conversions and I do believe I have a decent eye for that. Let me just add in the fact that I do have a 1/4 cup measurement I use to feed kitty cat that I could have washed and used. That's just to show you how bootleg and lazy I am! Anyway, they turned out great, so I invite you to try this recipe sometime soon. Enjoy!

08 juin, 2007

Strength


Well, after battling it out with the Rectorat and then after not hearing from them and receiving an email from the CIEP saying they had bien recu'd my dossier, I started to feel a teense better that I did still have the option of being an assistant if ever anything turned up. Well, being experienced with one person saying something and then another person saying something COMPLETELY different, I thought it best to email the CIEP and just confirm everything was fine. Well, at first they did, then I got this second email...

Après vérification, il apparaît que vous avez déjà travaillé deux fois en tant qu’assistante de langue, il ne vous est donc plus possible de postuler à nouveau. Merci de prendre bonne note de ce message.

Ok, well, since my contract isn't up yet, I assumed she was referring to 2004-2005 when I was an assistant and 2005-2006 when I renewed but didn't accept and according to them, quit. So, I wrote her back a nice, but firm email indicating that this year is my second time as an assistant and next year would be my third. The rules-as I knew them from the responsable for the primaire assistant ie someone WHO SHOULD KNOW-were that you can be an assistant three times total, with a max of two years in a row. Well, he told me the WRONG INFO which I found out in this next email...

Je pensais avoir été suffisamment précise, vous ne pouvez PAS renouveler votre contrat, la limite étant de deux années.

Wow and I thought that someone in an important role would not be so bitchy and also not use bubbly font that is inappropriately large and childish for even a 7th grader. Oh, I'm sorry, was that rude? So, this was my response because I couldn't let her get away with that, but I also wanted to be the bigger and better person...

Bonjour Mme Snarky,
Non, ce n'était pas clair, je pensais quand vous avez dit que j'ai déjà travaillé deux fois en tant qu'assistante que vous ne parliez pas de cette année comme ce n'est pas encore terminé. Donc, Monsieur Frenchy McFrencherson ne m'a pas indiquée la bonne information quand il a dit que j'avais le droit d'etre assistante une troisième fois. Merci quand-meme pour votre réponse et bonne journée.

I'm sorry, but telling someone something when you don't know that it is 100% correct and then leading someone to believe for three months(and what would have been longer had you not contacted them!) that their dossier was fine and dandy, is JUST SIMPLY WRONG. I'm pissed off because now that is one more possibility that is in the gutter. I don't know what I will do next year and I know if I have to go back, I will be ok. But, for now, I want to stay and I'm soooooo unbelievably annoyed at how impossible it is all seeming. I will do my best to keep positive and I can be an m'effer when I'm motivated, but Dieu give me strength! Wish me luck:/

PS-The red and all caps are supposed to represent my ANGER. Umm, in case you didn't get that already...
PPS-You might be wondering why there is a picture of a teeny bopper hunk. Well, when I did a search for Strong in google images this is what came up and I thought it was too funny and I needed to lighten the mood. Almost all my posts are me venting(sorry bout that.) Plus, who didn't love Boy Meets World? Haha!