So what have I been up to?
Well, it was great that there were 6 days of beautiful, bluebird days in a row, which brought with it very cold temperatures, where some days the frost never disappeared! I was spoilt in that a friend of mine took me for a day at the beach on La Manche/The English Channel. It was a good 3 hour drive and we got to the coast to a litte village that is heaving with people in summer and was nearly deserted this cold, mid-winter's Saturday. We went for a long walk along the beach to a point where we could see a cute, little coastal village. We saw a muscle farm and we were able to see Jersey and Chausey Islands. By the time we got back it was dark and we headed to Granville for dinner and back to L'Aigle late that night. A lovely day!
As I am half-way through my contract, my timetable has changed around slightly so other students can get to spend time with the language assistant. I still have Monday and Wednesday off, and I have the same number of hours on Friday - my busiest day, and now I have less on Thursday and more on Tuesday. In terms of the work, its no big deal, just different students with different requirements which all seems pretty straight-forward.
This Sunday I headed into Paris for the day, because I was missing church, so I got up and took the train to Paris to go to Hillsong. I meet up with my friends Jason and Rebekah and then we went out for lunch afterwards. Being Sunday the streets of Paris where rather deserted. They wanted to take me to this street they'd been to the day before that had heaps of character and where they had found a cute little restaurant for lunch. Well, we turned up and this is where all the people of Paris were. The street was full of people and there were cute, old people singing Edith Piaf and people dancing in the street. It was awesome. It was a classic Parisian moment. I was gutted I didn't have my camera with me. Then we found the cute little restaurant. Little being the operative word as it was so teeny tiny. It was called the Maison des Tartes (House of Tarts). For 8 euros, we got a drink, a savoury tart and a dessert tart. It was great! After that we walked through the 5th arrondisement past the Pantheon to St Michel. Here's a pic I stole from the google images of Rue Mouffetard, where we had lunch.
Then I went to see an old friend, Tunde, who is Hungarian and who my Eau Vive friends and I all met when we were in Provence in 2005. I haven't seen her since then, and it just happened that she is working on canal boats and her boat is in Paris at the moment.
From there I decided I needed to participate in a bi-annual French ritual. Les Soldes!! Les Soldes are the sales that take place Jan/July every year when the shops try to get rid of their stock to make room for the next season's range. Everyone has been going on about how good these Soldes would be because of 'La Crise' (the Recession) and how the shops need to get rid of so much stuff. They've been talking about as much as 70% off stuff. Some people think that the Soldes have been a bit over-rated this year and I'd have to say I think for the most part they are right. None-the-less, after a week with a few disappointments I needed some retail therapy, so I joined the other half of Paris at La Defense shopping centre, Le Quatre Temps, and I fended my way through the narrow pathways in each store, with racks overflowing with clothes and shoes, and products strewn across the floor, pushing and shoving just to get in the door to each shop. It was hard to get a good bargain but in the end I succesfully bought two items both 50% off, so I was pleased with that and it was time to get the train back to L'Aigle.
The latest adventure was a trip today to the Dr's. I've had a really bad cough that just won't go away and keeps me awake at night and I'm sore from coughing so much. Diagnosis - Tracheitis - inflammation of the trachea. What was classic was that I had to pay the Dr directly (I've been to the Dr in France before and I don't remember doing that). Plus, she didn't take card so luckily, I had enough cash and to give me change she just gave it to me from her purse! Then, in typical French fashion - they love their medicine, I got loaded up with a pile of different medications. I'm supposed to have a magic card thing which means I get reimbursed for a decent amount of what I spent today but again, typical French beauracracy means I don't have this card yet (and I wonder if I'll ever get it before I leave, as I know that has happened to many people) so I had to fork out for it all. After, I caught up with some friends who proceded to tell me that what I have is contagious (all though the Dr didn't tell me that) and that I can't do the Bises (the custom of kissing on the cheek when you meet people) while I'm sick. So no Bises for a while, but the irony is I've had this cough for well over a week and I've been in front of classes of students and I've given 'les bises' to everyone I know here several times over, so its a bit late for taking such precautions now I think!! If they are going to have it, they will have it by now!!
Well, that's all for now. 3 weeks left of the term and then its holidays. I'm off to Prague and Vienna for a week. I'm looking forward to that, especially as at the hostel in Prague my room got upgraded to a private room due to a mix-up. If you know anyone who wants to join me let me know 'cos I'd love a travel buddy!!
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