Happy Halloween

More like Happy Blahloween. It's Halloween, I'm all sicky and I'm hosting a H-Ween fete tonight! Plus, I'm en vacances...thank you kindly illness gods for the wonderful timing!! I woke up Tuesday morning after being up all night with a stomach ache which I thought would be gone by then. No, not only was it still there, but it also had evolved into coughing due to a sore throat as well as my nez coule-ing up a storm. I was better yesterday during the day-why is it it's always the worst in the morning and at night, anyways? But, then this morning, it is even worse with a headache added in just for fun. Yay...or not. I will be staying in all today in hopes that I can be better for ce soir. Either way, Halloween will be celebrated even if I have to do it resting in my lit. So, Happy Halloween to all of you out there, drink some OJ for me!

I heart Friends

So, I've been wanting to post this clip for awhile now, but I was always too scared it would be too complimicated for my non computer-saavy self. Well, it was easy peasy! I'm en vacances this week, but not completely as I'm still working as well as doing my homework all due after this mini-break. I thought I as much as you all could enjoy a break and I invite you to enjoy this little tidbit! Toute de la froute!!!

Update time

I haven't blogged in forever and a day, yes I know. I've just been so busy, busy, busy with school, homework, FOUR jobs and trying to keep up a social life. Excuses, shmexcuses, I know. I've also had a friend staying with me for the past week. Did I mention I had a case of rubella? Not believable? Can't blame a girl for trying! Anyway, moving on, here are some things that I have been up to in recent times:

-Trying to understand why my classmates seem moyennement interested in getting to know me. I'm the only freakin anglophone and I know if I were in the reverse situation studying to be a French teacher in America and there was a French student, I would want them to be my ami. It's hard getting integrated when people all seem to already know each other either from their Licence in anglais or because they were studying for the CAPES last year. I've gotta make more of an effort to make some classmate amis, but this will happen eventually, so I'm not extremely worried, more confused.

-Yearning for all things home. Beautiful New England Autumn scenes, candy corn, Christmas decorations, family and friends. Christmas can't come soon enough. Not being at Thanksgiving already pulls at my heartstrings a little. The first family holiday since my Aunt died this past May. This year has by no means been smooth sailing and, if anything, has shown me how important family is to me. Also, I miss life where everything isn't such a struggle, where people don't smoke my face off, where people don't push me out of the way and then give me the evil eyes, where it's not an "every man for himself" kind of attitude, where things are organized...sigh. But, that is a whole nother post for another time!

-Coming to terms with whatever life brings me in terms of staying in France for a bit longer as passing my big test at the end of the year is seeming increasingly more and more out of reach. I can't be away from my family forever whether I pass or not. Plus, if I had my choice, I would absolutely choose to teach kids in primaire. But, alas, this cannot be. If I have to go back to the states at the end of this year, I will be sad, but I will be ok(though I waiver on this sometimes in both directions!) I'm not 21 anymore, free to just figure my life out later...I want to settle into a place, a career, a life...it is time. But, only time will tell.

-Trying to mentally prepare myself for my good friend's departure in two weeks that I kind of still haven't really admitted to myself. It really will be sad to see her go as we've been really good buds here in Rennes for over a year now. I will miss her tons. My chere copine rennaise.

-And, finally, making my Halloween costume which will remain top secret as I know of a certain little birdie who reads my blog who is hanging out on H-Ween and I want to surprise people. But, I will tell you one thing-it is all kinds of awesome! Oh, also I will tell you it'll most likely be slutty. But, if there's one time a girl has an excuse to ho it up, it's Halloween. Bonus points for making things that are so completely non-hoish into slutty masterpieces(slutty librarian, anyone?) I figure this is my last year to dress up for HOLLAween until I have kids, so I'd better live it up!

That's it from me for now, just to let y'all know I'm vivante and I've been(pretty much) keeping up on your blogs, so I thought I would share the love!

It's called "pardon"

TO: Too many French people
FROM: Not a revolving door

In the street, on the bus&metro, in the apt building, at school, in stores, in restaurants&bars, I am bascule-d. Remember the time I was actually a human being and not a revolving door for you to plow through nor a domino for you to topple over? Oh, also I'm not that into Rugby that you should try to smash into my shoulder as hard as you possibly can(in case you were wondering.) Yes, I know some of these cases are accidents. Either way, I think there's one little word that seems to be missing from a lot of people's vocabulary. That word is pardon.

Excuse you, lady, in Eurodif that decided to cut in front of me and proceed to bump into me and give ME the evil eyes. Me? Umm, I forget was it you or me that bumped into me...oh, that's right, it was YOU. And, you, lady in the grocery store line behind me, how about you back up enough so I don't feel like you're my long-lost siamese twin? And, you, couple that is taking up the whole trottoir, do you not see me coming with my huge grocery bag and my super-heavy bouteilles of eau? Oh, sorry, let ME just move out of YOUR way.

Ok, so that is people who need to say pardon as well as those that need to bouge their freakin culs out of my way. But, still, they enerve me!

Tousssin' and tournin'

Last night I got the teensiest amount of sleep because my apt is FREEZING cold as the heat is controlled for the whole immeuble and, therefore, we will be getting ours turned on in, oh, about quarter to never. I just could not get warm and if I'm cold, I can't sleep. Especially cold feet are the worst(no, not that kind of cold feet!) Then later, I found myself touss-ing up a storm for some odd reason. Odd because I've been sicky, but more the cold/sore throat kind of sicky with a minimum amount of coughing. Anyway, Roomie#1 and I were having an impromptu coughing contest at 2 AM as she is sick like me(prob caught it from me, actually) plus she has the gastro(yikes.) Sidenote: could the Frenchies be any more dramatic about being sick? Coughy McCougherson actually said she was going to go to the hospital because she had marre of being sick. I mean, yeah it sucks being sick, espec a gastro, but you have a bajillon medicaments and you just have to get it out of your system. And, ps, the attrap-ing froid business that they say could not be any more ABSURD.

Anyhoo, when I was up for the coughing sing along, I suddenly realized kitty was nowhere to be found. She was not at my side, at my feet or in any of her normal corners. So, I checked under the bed and in her kitty house(aka carrier) and still no Sienna. Well, much to my amusement, when I looked at my armoire, this is what I saw:

So cute!

Gettin my French on

I've lived here in France, specifically Rennes, for a total of two years now(spread out over time, but not important to my point) and there are obviously many things I absolutely love about France and the French as I would not be here if that were not the case. There are also things I strongly dislike, but that's a post for another time! Anyhoo, there also for me is a whole other category of things I encounter frequently and more than liking or disliking them, I find myself being like say whaaaa? every time I come upon them. However, I guess two years is the magic number. Two whole years is when things that used to astonish and shock you before become part of your everyday life. I have to admit, mes amis, I've started to become a little French.

Some are worse than others, but here goes a list of some of the things I've been up to that are unforgiveablely French:
-Complaining that I only had an hour for lunch instead of my normal 2 hours.
-Thinking that it's the end of the world when I'm sick, but all I have is a tiny cold.
-Taking up the concept of "every man for himself" when boarding the bus(with the exception of old ladies, people with children and/or strollers, handicapped people and odd people that I would rather see where they go and then sit far, far away.)
-Complaining that the University only has 1 week of vacation for Toussaint. Remember the time I lived in the states and we had only two big breaks?
-Highlighting, red-penning and white-outing my notes whilst in class.

One reason why I could never fully convert(there's something hidden!):

For I believe that
Leah
Is an awesome
Person and she will never
Fully
Learn to accept
Or act like
Peepz here think they
Should.


PS-Some of you might recognize this pic as the one from the Facebook Bloggers in France group and it is indeed the very same one. As a sidenote, if you are on Facebook and you are a)a blogger in France b)not already part of this group, I encourage you to join! Bloggers in France unite! :)
PPS-To avoid all confusion- I am not, in fact, turning into a FrenchMAN.

Trouble with a capital B

Imagine the scene:
I awake to the sounds of cute little birdies chirping and get out of bed fresh as a daisy. My sweet kitten waits at the door to be let out of the room. I head to the kitchen and prepare myself a breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup with a tall glass of refreshingly cold orange juice. Roomie#2 enters the kitchen and we chat away seeing as I have all the time in the world to get ready and head to class. He wishes me a nice day by giving me a kiss on each cheek and I gladly accept the kind gesture. I slowly meander towards the spot where my private car awaits.

Wait, that wasn't believable? Man, I knew the private car thing was one step too far.

Yeah, so here's what really happened:
It's 8 AM and I have already been awake because of the stupid freakin ducks that have been quacking away since like 6:30. So, I decide to roll out of bed because my cat is drivin me frickin crazy scratching and meowing to be let out of my room. I drag myself to the kitchen to pour myself a bowl of cereal because that's all I have time for. I realize Roomie#2 is in his room getting ready and think I am golden and won't have to deal with the dang bisous...good morning bisous of all possible annoying bises. Dammit, he finished getting ready before I could get out of the kitchen. He asks if I slept well and I say "umm, not really" thinking this might ward him off. But, no, he comes over and gives me freakin good morning bisous and wishes me a bonne journee. Does he not know that I don't like to a)speak when it's so early b)get the bises especially not in the morning. I walk hurriedly to the bus stop because I (of course)leave late and pray that I make it on time.

Sigh...

Sealed with a bisou

Yeah, so I've got a problem. My roomate that I've had since September is a biseur. That's right folks, your lovely Leah is getting bised up a storm. He does the bises when saying hello, goodbye, 2nd hellos, 2nd goodbyes, etc, and the worst of them all(dum, dum, dummmmm!)...the good night bises. You might ask, what's wrong with this? Well, dear reader, by constantly giving the bises when I'm about to hit the hay, I feel like I can never fully relax in my own room. He ALWAYS goes to bed before I do and so either the light in my room is on or my door is ajar. To him, this means, come on in and bise me up, Scotty! There are just some times that you want to be in your room and tranquille. Espec since he seems to be super observant and into what you're up to at the time. I dunno. I realize it comes from him being a fine, upstanding gentleman, but it's starting to P me off. Anybody catch my drift or am I just as bonkers as you originally thought?

Biz,
Not Bizy McBizerson

Busy little bee

Well, last week was my first full week of classes and boy was it full, alright! I just love my wonderful schedule that is clearly such a great match for finding time during the day to have a job(insert sarcasm.) Wonderful, me arse! I now have three, count them, three jobs that add up to a measely 11 hours of work. A job tutoring a 5 and 8 yr old, a job tutoring a middle-aged woman and a job at a private primary school teaching two classes of CP and one class of CM1. There is a possibility I might get to add on 1 or 2 hours to the job at the school depending on how things go, but even still, whoop-dee-freakin-doo. I'm extra bitter because a college I sent my CV to this summer called desperately trying to replace the person who quit and the directrice was super interested in having me there. But, since they already have an American there working 6 hours, they can't hire me since I'm only a measely AmeriCanadian and instead have to find someone from the EU, Australia or NZ. Did I mention the position needing to be filled is in the section Franco-AMERICAINE??? Yeah, that's right...americaine in English means British...I forgot! A friend of mine who is an assistant in lycee said her school was also desperately looking for someone, but they could not be American. Get this-they could be CANADIAN. Absurd!

Anyway, besides scrambling to get mulah so I can support myself, I have been awaiting the dreaded Trefecture call. I have not yet heard from them which means one of three things: a) things are fine and I will get my convocation to get my CDS very soon b) things are not fine and they will let me know very soon c) things are not fine and they don't give a flying f*** and I will have to go back in about a month's time to deal with them where they will say my dossier is a)bloque because of the visa problem or b)lost and they have no idea where it is. I despise them lots and lots.

Moving on to better and more interesting things, I had a fun weekend both fete-ing and relaxing. Friday was my friend's b-day, so he and his American gf(K) prepared an apero dinatoire at their apt with quiche, spinach dip, veggies and other yummy nibbles. K had made brownies and his best friend had "made" him a foret noir cake(that he clearly bought at Super U) complete with ALL 26 candles on just the cake itself. We chatted about birthdays in the US vs France and us Americans couldn't help bringing up the fact that when it's your birthday here in France, it's YOU that brings in the sweets for everyone to eat. I'm not talking about in school because we did that too and I think that makes sense. But, like, to your workplace. We concluded you might as well also offer your friends presents on your birthday because, well, it's almost the same thing. Sidenote: I found a 10 euro bill on the road at around 20h30 when I was walking to my friend's apt that was clearly lost by someone. Without telling you what I decided to do, what would you do? We had a big debate about this Fri night when I raconted my story to everyone. Anyway, all in all, it was a fun night with good conversation and we ended at a bar de nuit dancing our tails off. Fun times had by all.

On Saturday, I met up with my Assistant friend who had just arrived back in Rennes and we went on the great apartment hunt 2007 traversing the city to find apt ads so she can get settled and start all the lovely required demarches administratives. It was so good to see her as it had been about 9 months since I saw her last and she is good times. After the hunt, we decided it would be nice to do a night in and settled on the idea of making a pizza and watching an episode of America's Next Top Model that she had downloaded. So, we invited over K&A for a fun little girls night and enjoyed a couple slices of yummy chorizo-red pepper-emmental-mozzarella pizza and a third slice of American reality TV. At one point, we had to remind ourselves we weren't, in fact, in America because take away the chorizo we used instead of pepperoni, we could have easily been back home. It was a nice feeling. We watched our ANTM episode and chatted about things like what someone could possibly do with a $1000 shopping spree at Old Navy. Buy 1000 t-shirts, for example? Funny cuz it's true!

So, that is it from me for now, just wanted to update you all on what I've been up to since I had been so MIA. This week, I have an interview with a couple chefs d'etablissement who will either give me the go ahead to teach in private secondary schools or not. I will be VERY nervous for that! I am also en stage this week at a lycee which is mostly observational, luckily. I'm off now to try and find something to wear so that I don't look 17 like people often think I am! In the words of katiaandkyliemac: ciaoooooo!