Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving, or had as the case maybe. So its thanksgiving in the USA. I keep forgetting about that, since theres no commercial's or turkey cut outs hung up at the stores here. In fact I don't even realize that Christmas is around the conner. As you should know, of course they have Christmas here, but I am surprised how uncommercial it is. I've only seen one tv commercial about Christmas, and one sign that had Santa Clause on it. And I bet in the USA, everythings plastered with Christmas all over it, and infact, you probably had Christmas and Thanksgiving thrown at you for months now, huh? Well tomorrow (thanksgiving) I have class, so no vacation for me, but afterwards, we are gonna have some friends over, and show them how to celebrate (a.k.a. eat like americans!). Celines got a feast set up for us, with all the traditional stuff, but excluding some, since it would be impossible to get. Not really alot going on here, but one thing I can tell you is that its freezing. They say it doesn't snow much here, so of course I think to my self "I can handle the cold here". I mean, if I can survive the freezing weather in ohio with snow, I should be able to here without snow, right? Well I don't know what they are thinking, this morning was freezing, I really wouldn't have been suprised to see 3 feet of snow, I think it was colder than Ohio. I really just hope it is some kind of cold weather coming in from some where, and not something thats gonna be around for along time. Well I hope everyones having a good holiday, I'm gonna go try to keep warm!
Well yesterday we bought our plane tickets back to the U.S. It was kind of a sad moment. That's because I've gotten so used to being here, and it really didn't feel as if we where actually going back until the moment we bought the tickets. But we have them and now it makes it all the more real. We are flying off Feb. 22nd from Bordeaux to Paris to Cincinnati to Cleveland. Yes that's a long day. That was officially the last week we could go, without a huge price tag. But don't let that statement fool you. The price was as much as it used to be to come here in the summer. So I'd hate to see what the prices are now in the summer. There was a guy in the place where we bought our tickets and he was complaining about the price. He had taken the same trip that he's going to be taking here soon, and he was complaining about how much more it costs. The lady was saying that the price of gas has gone up like 60% in the last year or so. From the last I remember its doubled. I'm dreading having to be back in the U.S. and be dependent on a car which I will have to pay the HUGE price of gas for. OH well. Maybe to help me get over being sad about going back, I will list a bunch of things I WON'T miss.
THINGS I WON'T MISS Dog Poop - It seems like everyone has a dog and no one has to pick up their crap. Since we practically walk every where, its almost rare to not see any. There is so much crap on the sidewalks/walkways that there is even a guy who's job is to go around town on his little scooter with a huge vacuum on the back and pick up dog crap all day. Now there's a rewarding job, he must be desperate. But unfortunately there's only one guys, so there's always crap every where. Shutters - Why shutters, well unlike in the US, the houses are right out on the side walks, and they swing out over them. So when your looking down for the dog crap, you get to run into the shutters, its a never ending process. Beggers - I have to admit most French people are great at minding their own business and not bothering people they don't know. But with the good comes the bad, I don't think I can go any where without people asking me for money or cigarettes. Usually if they don't stop insisting I just start talking to them in English, and they get all freaked out, I think they deserve it. Food - Ok, well this is an exaggeration. I actually love the food here, just wait till you see how fat I've gotten you will understand. But while being here I have tried a lot of food that I don't plan on eating back in the states. For example: escargot, bread made with anchovies. Also in the food category, I've had to go without some foods that you just take for granted in the US and can't find them at all here. Also food here is very expensive. Of course I think its expensive because in the US it would be considered Organic food. By that I mean its fresh, non-processed food. Which is probably why French people aren't as fat as American people. Crazy People - I do believe there are a lot of crazy people here. Well maybe its just a different culture, but its probably just comes with living in a bigger city than Mount Vernon, of course there's a lot of crazy people there too. Perhaps I will never get away from them. :)
Well today was a sad day. It rained all day, it was cold and grey! All we wanted to do was get out of the house. There isn't much to do when its one of those days. So we found ways to entertain our selves. Napoleon and Chili: Learn to Dance with Napoleon Dynamite I haven't seen Napoleon Dynamite in a while, and since its an American DVD and our DVD player here doesn't play American DVD's but only the European kind, we watched it on the computer. It was a good time and brought a bit of happiness to our gloomy day. And then also the chili. It was the perfect night for it, cold and rainy, so why not. Celine always makes good chili, Jim should know! So after that we watched yet another DVD. This one was a French one, I've seen it before but its pretty good, its called "Les Bronzes font du ski". Its with a group of people that make movies together, I've seen 3 of them and they are all pretty funny. This Week: This week, we haven't done to much. We do our usual morning routine of walking to the restaurant and cleaning. But its been so cold these last few days, that there has been a lot of fog, and with there being yet again holiday, where no one works or goes to school, walking through the fog in down town, with no one around was a weird experience. I guess its just one of things you have to see. In the news: I guess last week the emails started. Everyone in the US was getting the news of the riots in France, and everyone was emailing us at the same time asking how we are doing. Well we're fine, now that I think of it I'm not sure if the riots are going on still or not. We haven't really had the chance to watch the news lately. But yesterday I heard something like 6,000 cars had been burned in the last 2 or 3 weeks, with the riots. It's really crazy, everyone has there own opinion about it, but when it comes down to it, its a race thing.
Well we just got back from Spain. Well actually a few days ago. We had gone there for a long weekend. I'm mean we're only a few hours from the border of spain so why not right? Well it was a great trip. I've never been to spain before so I was excited to go, that makes 12 countries I've been to, only 181 more to go... Yeah. Maybe not. But there are a few other countries I'd like to visit. Like Japan, Ireland, Australia, maybe Iceland, I'm not sure, who knows maybe Bjork will be there. Any who Spain, I'm amazed how much different the language and culture is from France. I mean they are right next to each other and no bigger than Ohio. Ok, well maybe slightly bigger but ya get the point. Any ways living here in France I've kinda addapted to the culture already. Here, I eat alot, drink with the meals, usually have supper about 8 or 9pm because after 7 O'clock everythings pretty much closed anyways. I mean resturants are open, but its usually calm. But Spain, WOW. Apparently they live during the day, everything closes about 2pm until like 7pm, then they live at night. I mean we were walking around late when in France there would be nobody. In Spain, the streets where packed. We actually staying down town in like a extra bedroom in a house that they rent out. And I had a hard time sleeping from all the noise going on. all I can say is WOW. But it was a great experience. Then right when we got back... its Holloween, and I'm back in the French Culture again. In France it seems very important the home life. So we had Holloween at Celines Uncles. So thinking its at Celine's uncles place, I didn't think it would be that exciting. But I forgot some of the French Culture, They love to have a reason to celebrate, and why not Halloween. So we all dressed up and Celine and I showed up at about 7:30 cause Like I said people usually eat at 8. Well no one else showed up til 9pm. Then the music started then the alcohal flowed like wine. I don't know what that means, but it means we danced and drank till midnight. Then the meal started, it was a good time for it too, cause I was tired. So of course we ate alot and drank with the meal. Then the music started up again. To make a long story short. I didn't get home till about 4am. And being in such a great mood, I thought why not call Jim and Steve. Well steve was a fag and was going to bed (FAG :) but like always Jim was up for it. So we talked for like an hour, it was good to time. Even though I don't remember much! Just kidding. I do remember it was hard to talk straight. Any who, ever since then I haven't cought up on my sleep, I almost fell a sleep in class today (thursday) thank goodness for coffee..
