:) Just about covers it

Man oh man things are looking up. This past weekend was nothing short of amazing I think.

Friday was a day full of trains for me. I went to meet the girl I'm seeing here, in Montpellier down on coast for the day. I wasn't going to be able to because I didn't think I'd have enough time but things always seem to work out for the best. We met at the station and she showed me the city... we spent a good part of the day looking for a park to just relax in but couldn't find one that wasn't 'hyperbondé'. But nevertheless, good times were had and I was sad to say goodbye. I then headed to Marseille for the weekend. So it was... take train from my town to Avignon (40min), wait, take train to Montpellier (2hr)...zippiddy zip day goes by.. then anotherrr train to Marseille (and another 2hrs). Can get expensive, but I'm starting to not buy as many tickets as before and take my chances with the conductors.

SO, got to Marseille and took about 3 hours to find the place I was staying. In fact, its only a 10 minute walk from the station I just decided to choose the wrong direction. Typical fashion for me. I stayed with the same couple I had couchsurfed with a month ago. In France it is not polite if you come to someone's house empty handed so I stopped by a bakery and picked up a baguette and some mille feuille <-- delicious delicious scrumptious cake.

Saturday we headed out early to the Calanques to do some climbing! The hike was a long one from where we parked but it was worth it. It was my first multi-pitch climb... the cliff was probably around 500-600ft, and over 1,000 from the water, which made for beautiful views. So we reviewed a little bit at the bottom for how to set up the anchors and belay someone below you (normally when you belay they are climbing above so its different). As amazing as the climb was I did poop my pants twice... or at least I almost did. Two close calls: The first was a rock slide that happened just to the left of us. Verrrry unnerving because you're hundreds of feet up hanging off the side of a cliff and you hear what sounds like thunder with nowhere to go. The second was when I was climbing and took a fall... but when I fell my leg got tangled in the rope on the way down and when I stopped it flipped me upside down and I almost fell out of my harness :/ At that point I began to get a little nervous because that particular section was very difficult climbing and I didn't want to fall again haha.

But after we reached the top we hiked alllll the way down to the water to this little bay with beach shacks and boats and people laying out. And it was there I witnessed my first nude beach in France! it didn't disappoint, though it was quite awkward at first just because it caught me off guard. We took a dip and the water was like the titanic minus life preservers and not enough boats.. oh and the sinking ship. But it was a nice break from the heat. Speaking of which, I got toasted... and walked through a million prickly bushes just to aggravate it :) The rest of the day was spent climbing a shorter cliff but much much harder, on the other side of the water. However there was a peculiar site, one I haven't seen climbing --v

The hike out was again brutal, especially being a lobster by this point. But ahhh it felt so good to climb again after two months off.

Now I'm back 'home', Sunday. It is mother's day here so some people were over, but I just avoided them and took a nap. I needed one after the train I was on decided to pass my town and go to Avignon... so I had to wait 2 hrs before I could catch yet another train back to my town then walk that oh-so-lovely mile or so to my house :) But hey, I'm leaving Thursday.. and I get to see homegirl again Tuesday so I'm not complaining! So until then, cheers :)

La Feria!

Oh man, j'ai la flemme parfois, et à l'heure actuelle, j'en ai. Mais je suis de bonne humeur encore :)

This weekend was the best I've had by far in France. The festival in Nîmes was just ridiculous and crazy. Basically a weekend of enjoying friends (which I now actually have some here haha), drinks, music and excessive amounts of dancing.

Europeans love to party, and party with everyone. Especially this guy. --v

All in all, in our group, there was me, and English girl, and a bajillion germans. The communication consisted of speaking Frenglemandish. Going back and forth from three languages is interesting, but I loved it. I had met some of them the week before at my friend's going away party, but there were a lot of new faces. Saturday we spent the day eating in the gardens over looking the town, or just walking around until later at night when the real fun starts. I was sad however I didn't get to see a bullfight. None of the girls wanted to pay :( It was even in the old arena from Roman times so it would have been really amazing. I think after seeing the photo of the matador having a bull's horn rammed through his chin and out his mouth had something to do with it.

The sleeping arrangement was.. tight. One bedroom with 6 or 7 of us in there.. got pretty toasty. We were staying at one of the German girl's apartment where she is au pairing. The family wasn't there but all their friends were, and would come and go at all times of the day and night. You wouldn't be surprised to walk into the living room to see five new strangers, dancing to techno, smoking and carrying on. I got a very big hippy vibe from the house. And the all bio kitchen kind of solidified that.

However, the thing I think that made the weekend really special to me was meeting a certain girl the first night. Well, re-meeting I should say, I knew her from the weekend before. One minute we were dancing and the next, bada bing. Romantic european movie moments commenced lol. Ultimately ending of course with the kiss goodbye at the train station. (insert sappy music). So I'm kind of in a pickle with that now, I don't know the next time I can see her because she does not live close to me. Still trying to figure out what to do but we'll see where it goes! Kind of relying on facebook for communicating.

So now I'm back in L'isle sur Sorgue, just chillin. Got word that the climbing expedition is a go for this weekend! Still stoked of course. Expect many a pictures.

Oh, and remember that guy Jean-Luc I was talking about? Here is a video. Can you guess which one he'd be?

Whew it worked! Just testing out a video I snuck on their computer somehow? and for some reason? and good news my charger is on its way so i can post pics n video and all that again.

Gettin excited for this weekend! oh and the fact that Matt has appendicitis haha. i want to show him my scar from when I had it to scare him but the mom won't let me. Oh well.

Bull dookie

I figure about time for an update. I'm also writing this with the taste of window cleaner in my mouth... Matt thought it would be hilarious to spray me in the face while eating lunch haha. Of course that caused me to deliver a beating on him as much as I could legally do.. then spray him relentlessly. I then went to the bathroom to rinse my eyes and he locked me inside. I think he won that one. I know where he sleeps though. Dealing with 14 year old boys is no easy task. I've givin up on the english lessons. But to be honest I could care less at this point. Oh, and the mom is back to being a sneaky you know what. Its two days in a row now she has walked right in front of me on her way to the gym and didnt ask if I wanted to come... knowing full well I paid 100 euros for a membership there. The ONLY thing that has kept me from absolutely exploding on her in a frenglish tirade is the fact that she brings home tasty treats that put me in a sugar coma.

But hey, two more weeks and I'm living with my french friend in Lyon and having a blast again. This past weekend I went to Nîmes again to see off my american friend. Had a chance to meet some german girls who I'm going to meet there this coming weekend for the festival! Its one of those where bulls run through the streets and there are bunch of games going on. There is one that I want to do where a bull chases you through a pool and if you make it to the other side you win money. I say this now, we'll see when the time comes.

Also can't wait til this Mistral ends. 50 mph winds alll day everyday is getting old. Though it did cause me to notice all the trees here. I couldnt help but notice them because its me who has to sweep the leaves up. But still, they are very pretty. Id say perfect but there are no elves baking cookies inside them.

Languedoc

Two to Nil. That was the score of my dictation battle with Matt. I'm just one of many tutors he has. The other day his French tutor came. I was surprised that he was struggling a little bit with his own language. So I challenged him to some dictation and we played best of one lol, until he lost. Then it was best of three. Needless to say I spanked him ;) But I write this because I'm noticing first hand what Ive heard... that the French are losing their language with the youth. I think all the modes of technology is to blame, like text and chat. It tends to be the way they are the most exposed to their language written down. If you see it, it looks like they're typing half the words with invisible ink.

Yesterday I headed down to Martique on the coast to work on the boat with the dad. We sailed it to a dry dock and spent the day scraping, scrubbing and painting. I forgot how gross barnacles are alive... and how sharp. Jean-Luc was there as well! You probably aren't excited like me but he his one of the most hilarious people i've met. i have video but i dont know when i'll be able to upload the next one... freaking chargerrr.

Oh, also got my first french haircut today, and i gotta say, the hairs fell the same way they do in america. It was a little awkward because I thought Valerie was taking me to a salon, but nope... definitely some lady's basement.. a basement with the little toddlers staring at me or trying to eat the hair on the floor haha. And once again, I left somewhere without paying. I felt bad when I remembered and ran back. I'm surprised no one has yelled at me yet?

Internet Café Alongée

Well. I'm now reduced to using internet cafés haha. the mom took the family computer and keeps it at work now. prices are ridiculous.. like 3 dollars for 30 minutes. but I need my email to communicate with everyone here and my family so guess I'm stuck til my charger comes.

Speaking of paying, everything is sooo expensive here! A coke costs almost 3 dollars. Good luck finding a meal under 20. Restrooms cost 50 centiemes to & Euro to use. I'm surprised they dont charge to use sidewalks, or breathe their french air =) So my money is going fast. Just took my last little bit out today.

I also finally figured out my plans. I'm staying here in L'islesurlasorgue until the first week of June, bouncin, then going to live with one of my friends in Lyon, kinda using it as a home base so i can travel around to everywhere i want to see. I'm also beyond stoked about climbing the Calanques in a couple weeks. They're giant seacliffs, some over 1,000ft that end in well... the sea.

well my hour is uppp

Nimes

Hello. Still typing with the french box so bear with me!

This weekend was a relief. I had so much fun with a bunch of new people. Saturday morning I caught the train to Nimes and Abbie the american girl met me there. We just walked around for a bit and she showed me the sites. Nimes is a very beautiful city, lots of canals, trees and art. Got to meet the family she is living with. The mother speaks a little english. The daughter is autistic and the other one, the dude, is mute with a disability I forgot. So communicating was interesting. Later that night abbie's friends from england and germany came over along with some french guy they know, who turned out to be an awesome guy. He's a carpenter and he took us to a really old house he was renovating in town which was interesting to see... well once he explained it all I guess. The fun began after that when we all headed to a party their friend was throwing. It reminded me a lot of the more artsy parties at uncg that I miss... meaning ones where you actually have good conversations, play games etc while enjoying your favorite brew. I love to meet new people and in this case when they find out you are american it makes it that much easier.

An hour or two roles by and everyone decides to head out to the club. definitely not my scene lol. i'm just glad it was free. to be honest i was dreading it, but i think thats because I have the way people dance in america engrained into my head. I was pleasantly surprised to see how girls dance here... with more rhythm, its almost swing style, and better than the dry humpin I usually see. Soo yeah that was fun. Took more pictures than anyone should. One weird thing was I never saw a line for the bathroom and this is why: When one drinks something, usually you need to take a leak afterward, and tonite was no exception. I ask the french guy if a certain door was the toilet and he just shakes his head a motions for me to follow him. We go to an alleyway just behind the place and instead help continue the life of a poor plant with our generosity. When I look down the street its full of other guys doing the same. It kinda startled me for a second when the lights on the car next to me blinked. I dont think the guy was too happy with me either because he put it in reverse and tried to squish me against the plant in its giant boxlike planter. Was time to split. But, thats apparently how nightlife goes in France, and I wondered why the streets here smell so bad....

Just one thing interesting I noticed while there is that I FINALLY know what international students feel like when they have to talk to each other in english. It felt so awkward everyone speaking french in the group when i knew it wasnt their language but you had to to communicate. Its kinda cool at the same time because as the night wore on you began to speak and understand so well that you honestly wouldnt be able to differentiate hearing english or french.

So today, Sunday, I left Nimes to meet Sam for the day in Avignon. It was really nice catching up. We went to the castle where the frenchie closed the door in our faces last time and it was definitely worth it. Although, on the bus on the way there, we were wondering if it actually was... because a homeless couple smelled soo bad one girl went around and opened every single window. I mean it was... bluhhh I honeslty believe a cockroach, or something else hard to eradicate, could meet its end with that stench. But we perservered. We're survivors. We didnt pay either which I thinkk came back to bite us later because we were waiting for the same bus on the way back but the dude drove right by us and the stop. Touché. So that led to a wonderful hour long unnecessary walk back to the train station! arrived just five minutes before my train left.

So more happened this weekend but honestly im not motivated enough right now haha soo ill see if i cant get another video done loaded up on here. I've had one eye closed and the other half open while writing this so i think bed is calling my name. Though here it says it like Daveed :P

pièce de résistance? nay... pièce de crap

Well, glad to see things can get even more complicated. Im writing this from a french computer which looks like something youd find on an archealogical dig with tons of strange symbols. It also feels like im doing a math equation just to type any punctuation; notice the lack of it. you have to press so many buttons!

so yea my computer died. i think it ended up choosing computer hell considering the fiery blaze it went out in. the power chord is actually melted in two now haha. im not sure what to do. i might have to bite the bullet and get an ipad or something. horrible timing! its my only means of communication and i have a lot going down right now to take care of. but hey, ooooh i found the coma key! , at least im not getting electrocuted daily anymore by that piece o crap!! its a nice feeling. or lack of feeling i should say.

tommorow im stayin the night in nimes to hang out with another american here and her friends. then off to avignon sunday to see my fraternity brother sam coming down from lyon to hang out! hopefully ill get everything figured out buttt its another french holiday tomorrow which means nothing will be open. yay.

:)

Glass House

Who knew that drama would even follow me to France? If you know me, you know that I try to avoid confrontation, but if its inevitable, oh man... i'm opening a can of something nasty on you. and make you it eat. edible whoop-ass i'll call it (verbal edition). patent pending. and that made no sense but I'm tired and have no idea what I'm writing so go with it. Annywhoo.. got a lot resolved today. The agent called while I was preparing dinner with Valerie. umm AWKWARD. <-- actually the word awkward is kind of awkward as well i think. As is any word if you say it repeatedly... yes.. you know what I'm talking about. try it! after saying the word like 20 times you'll be thinking to yourself "what does it even mean?".

So Val hands me the phone and Madame Malow asks how things are going and told me she found me a new family, and if I want to stay with the Gledhill's or change. Talk about being on the spot! The new one would be an older couple in an even smaller town so it didn't sound too appetizing. "I've got to think about it and I'll call you tomorrow," I told her. So I go back into the kitchen and Val asked what she wanted (she really knew). I can be blunt so I just said it... I might be changing families. We then got into a lonnnng conversation about what I want to do, how we've been interacting, etc etc. I could tell she was getting a little emotional at one point so I just calmed her down. The conversation basically ended with I'm probably going to stay, but I'll let you know tomorrow... but I might not stay as long as we had agreed on. I might just leave at the beginning of June and nomad it around europe. Put my rail pass to good use.

So hopefully this will be the last post regarding this crap. Sick of writing about it :) But besides this nothing too much to write about today. Though we had an interesting argument at dinner about different races and the problem of immigration in France. I loved it because if you know me you know I absolutely detest political correctness. hate it. and the french are not, so I spoke quite freely. its quite funny to see how quickly the French build up their anger during little disputes. oh well... i'm gonna go bug the cat a little bit and call it a night! (you know its time when you start to hear birds chirping outside)

Oh, and because I like to leave you visually stimulated.. I guess I should leave a video or something. Its not related and probably not too interesting but ... je m'en fou ;) *edit* screw that actually, i'll just put a picture up i think captures the mood of today :P

Vive la liberté! Yeah, well not here.

Well today was one for the books for sure. Ugh where to begin... probably with me waking up, yeah. So I did. I woke up. Which is always a good way to start your day, I feel.


I hop in the shower and try to shake off my headache from all the pounding on the wall next to my head all morning long (they're renovating the bathroom). I manage to shake it off and it goes down the drain. Headache free, and I'm fresh. I had to hurry though because I needed to meet the agent for my stay here (Malow) at one o'clock in Orange, France. It is not too far away but it's still no small undertaking. I have to walk 30 minutes to the station, take a train to Avignon, then another different train to Orange. And of course it would be raining. The reason I was going is because the mother here called Malow while I was in Marseille complaining about me. So the agent lady called me and told me to meet her.

She picks me up and we go to a cafe. She does not look happy. We get to talking and I tell her my side of things and we come to the conclusion that I need to be with a new family. Woo! I didn't even realize that was an option. But after the things the mom complained about, which was such crap and infuriated me, I do not want to stay here with her. So Malow is looking for a replacement family and will get back to me. Needless to say the next week or two will be quite awkward around the house.

After our talk she showed me around Orange and the roman ruins there, as well as their version of the arc de triomphe. Quite nice.

It came time to go home. I purchased my ticket and hopped on the next train back to Avignon. At least I thought I did. I sat down and struck up a conversation with a guy in my compartment (like the trains from harry potter lol, but unfortunately no one saying "Annnything from the trolley?" ). It was amazing because it lasted at least 20 mins and was the first time I had no problems at all speaking! Amazing feeling. There is definitely a steep curve with language, a good one in this case. so yea we were talking and the train stopped. which would have been okay if I was on the right train. I realize this, say au revoir, and bolt off the train just as it was leaving.

I'm now at a tiny station in the middle of nowhere with one other person. I ask him when the next train is coming, and he told me not for a couple hours! whhhat?? poopsticks. He notices my accent and asks where I'm from. Charlotte I tell him. Turns out he lives in Atlanta working with a mining company there. It confused me when he said he was visiting France for a week haha, but it then made sense. He was waiting for a while too so we had good conversations about the two countries, cities here, cities there, girls here vs girls there, etc. Swapped facebooks because he actually has most of his family in my town here, so we might hang out later. I believe everything happens for a reason, my incompetence with train tickets would classify. So met a genuinely cool person when i thought things were going badly. But anywhoo, eventually got back to the house. Everyone seemed unusually happy and I haven't figured it out yet. I don't think the agent called because they didn't bring it up, so I walked around all night in an unsure awkwardness. and then watched the marseille vs. someone else soccer game while downing some tasty mentos. yum.

cool. well thats all. sorry for the rant!

Bussss

So, just got back from Marseille, and off the phone with the agent for my stay here. Seems as though the mom didn't know I was staying there overnight, even though we had talked about this a little while ago. I guess its kind of how she forgot Glenn was coming at all this weekend. Now I'm once again in a pissy mood because of this woman. She called the agent to complain about me saying she wasn't happy with me. Her reasons: I get up late. Which can be true, I do sometimes get up around 11. But lets think about this... why on earth would I need to be up before then? I would just sit around. Not to mention no one is home. I don't teach til the evenings. Second. My room is messy. Imagine moving into someone else's room that has their old stuff in it, then adding yours. The room is most of the time clean, there was a period of like 3-4 days last week when I'll admit it got a little messy. Her third thing was I don't do enough to help out around the house. COME AGAIN...???? Who is the person who does the dishes, every, freakin, day, offers to help prepare each meal, and then cleans and washes the table. Some days I'll randomly vacuum the house as well. Yeah, I guess I never help out.... I just can't believe the nerve she has complaining (to essentially my boss) about these things. So I'm going to meet the agent lady in Orange tomorrow afternoon to talk things over. Best case scenario, new family away from the crazy lady! But I don't see that happening. It'll probably go like, oh well work on your communication, you need to this and that. I'm pregaming with wordreference.com studying all the vocabulary I'm going to be using tomorrow in this altercation haha. Maybe even tonight?

Well enough venting. Marseille was amazing! Too bad it rained most of the time. (I'll just cliff-note this one because I'm tired). We saw all the old areas, took a boat out and toured the coastline. Very beautiful. Spent the rest of the day walking around getting lost, eventually ending up at our Couch Surfers house! They said their name was on the buzzer but.. nope. So we just hit all of them and they ended up being the only ones home, so we lucked out! Annemarie and Pierre were their names and they were a very nice young couple. We were their first couchsurfers and I hope we left a good impression. They had just gotten back from biking to India for a year, and came back through Africa. Turns out they love to rock climb and are going to take me sometime soon, as is the plan! It will most likely be a multi-pitch climb, i.e. around here 500ft+ :) Perfect!

So me and Glenn headed to the train station this morning and were waiting on our connecting buses or trains when one of the station employees started asking us to move back, move back. He was clearing everyone out of our area. I said whats going on? So he goes, "You speak french? Il y a un colis" Basically, move there is a bomb. Soo that kinda freaked us out a little bit. Glenn decided it was a good time to leave and take the earlier bus. And here is that moment.




I say bus like a German. Also Glenn I realized your last words were "I don't want to die." And I agree, that would not have been good.

Hurry up and Wait

So received some bad news a couple nights ago, my grandfather passed away :( The family is headed down there today. I'm sad I can't be there.... Wish I had known the last time I visited was the last time I was going to see him. So got that on my mind.

But on a happier note Glenn is here! He got in last night. I ended up having to take a train to Avignon because the buses weren't running. It turns out the day we decided on happened to be a no-work holiday in France. The only one of the year. I guess the two hour lunch breaks everyday were wearing on them.... So after waiting a few hours on this hoodini bus I bought a two-way ticket to Avignon. I thought I was going to have to wait another hour or so for Glenn's train to arrive but when I stepped off there he was... turns out we had been on the same train lol. We didn't know it went through my town. Which got me thinking, how many times in our lives have been really close (physically) to someone we knew, but we'll never know that they were there as well.

So today we got up and went into town and walked around the market for a few hours. Had some deliciousness that is the ice cream here. Eventually we made our way to Avignon to see the sites. Now I hadn't been to Les Angles yet, which is right across the river, so we decided to check it out because we saw a huge castle. Well a few unnecessary miles of a detour later we found the area we were looking for. But as soon as we try to walk in, the douche of a gate guard closed the door in our faces. There were people like 10 feet in front of us he let in but when it came to us he said it was too late for visiting. ummm?? so we were pissed and tried to sneak in the exit. Our tactical insertion was a success. That is until we made our way up the tower and were turned around by a guard following the last people through. The thought had occurred to us we could have chilled in the pitch black munitions room and just been locked in the castle for the night and had fun.

Dejected we left and tried to find a bus back because it was getting late and we didn't want to miss the last train back to L'isle-sur-la-Sorgue. Well it turns out there was only one bus left that day.. period. And we were pretty nervous either it wasn't coming, because you never ever know in France, or we had missed it, because between the two of us neither had brought a watch. This explains my happiness in the video of saving us a couple hours of walking back.







So tomorrow we're off to Marseille till tuesday. It'll be my first time couch surfing so I'm excited about that!