i'm legal!!!

so i finally got my carte de sejour today (a very nice b-day present...yes, i'm one year closer to a quater century today...24...as my sister loves to point out, "after 21 you just get old")...it only took a couple minutes...and i got a pretty sticker in my passport...afterwards the nice guy gave me all of my official documents he told me the offical head guy wanted to talk to me...at that point i had a minor panic attack...all sorts of horrible things started running through my head...my paperwork wasn't ok afterall and they were going to tell me to leave the country immediately...but fortunately he just wanted to ask me about the lycee in gondecourt...it seems his daughter is going there next year and he wanted to be sure it was a good school...i reassured him it was a fantastic school and ran out of there before he could take my carte de sejour back...

i bought this cd by cali this weekend...i'd been hearing this song on the radio and decided i should just break down and buy the cd...the song is very pretty with a sweet chorus..."pensons à l'avenir, bébé"..."lets think about the future, baby"...well, so i thought...i had never really listened to the verses before...so i get home and it turns out it's not romantic or sweet at all...but about some guy who is dreading the day is signficant other brings up the future...nice huh...well, either way it's a really good song...go download it illeagally or something...

this will probably be the last time i get to write before christmas...my mom and sister are coming tomorrow and we're heading to italy for the vacation...i'm very excited to see them and to visit (hopefully) a warmer country...so merry christmas and happy new year to everyone back home, especially my friends and family i can't be with...
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"Sommes-nous juste entrain de prendre du bon temps
ou quelque chose comme ça
Je redoute juste le moment où tu poseras ta tête
sur mon épaule et tu murmureras
'Pensons à l’avenir bébé'...."
-pensons à l'avenir by cali

quit yer bitchin', already...

ok...so i realize everytime i write a post, it seems all i do is bitch and complain about how terrible the students are...and in fact, that couldn't be farther from the truth...it's days like today that make me realize that i'm quite lucky to have this job and the opportunity to know these students...

most of the students have gotten used to my presence and they've stopped staring when they hear me speaking english in the halls...now i can't go anywhere in the school without hearing "HELOOOOO! HOW ARE YOU???" shouted at me...earlier this week i actually got a "GOD BLESS AMERICA" from across the campus...at first it was annoying...but now it just cracks me up...

so my 3:30 class on friday is one of my faves...they try really hard to speak english, are extremely respectful, and also know how to have a good time...like today we started the class talking about christmas...they told me all about christmas in france and then i told them about christmas in america...really this is just a tricky way of getting them to review vocabulary...afterwards we play a homemade game of taboo...what is taboo, you ask...well...i give them some vocabulary word that they have to get their team to say without using certain words...so, for example, they have to make their team guess the word north pole without using the words santa claus or elves...it sounds easy, but when you have a limited knowledge of english, it can be quite difficult...but these kids can get pretty creative...do you know what "zee wood car wit dee presents een eet" is????

after the game i gave them their christmas present..candy canes (sent from home by my dad...thanks dad!)...so, we had five minutes to spare before the bell...and they asked if they could draw on the board...of course i handed my markers over and let them have at it...it's christmas after all...the result was quite hilarious... i'll try and post the pictures later...

my next class is the one with the obnoxious, out-of-control students...but fortunately they didn't come today (the teacher decided that after the fiasco last week...they shouldn't come anymore!) ...so for once i get to go home on friday in a good mood...

so here's to starting the vacation on a good note...vivement les vacances!!!

good news and bad news...

the bad news....

what is it with the transportation systems here??? the last bus to gondecourt leaves lille at 7:15pm...i arrived at the bus stop last night around 7:10...and i waited ...and waited...and waited...that damn bus never showed up!!! this would normally not be a problem, except that it's 0°C...after an hour, i couldn't feel my feet (i must admit this was my own fault, i shouldn't have worn my chuck taylors...they just can't cut it in this weather)...so at 8:15 i realized i needed a plan b...luckily the german assistant, ester and her friend were waiting at the other stop...after a quick text message, we decided to try taking the train to seclin and calling a taxi to take us to gondecourt...on the metro ride to the station, we realized that the train workers were on strike today and there is only a limited number of trains running!!! fortunately there was one train left which we caught in plenty of time...

so we made it to seclin and started asking around about taxis...a nice gentleman offered to call for us and he finds out that there are no taxis in seclin...the nearest ones are at the airport and refuse to come all the way out to pick up three very cold foreigners...after chatting with this guy, we realize his daughter goes to the middle school in gondecourt and is one of ester's german students!!!! he offered to give us a ride, which we gladly accepted (i can here my mother scolding me now for taking a ride from a stranger...but really mom, the only other choice was to walk for an hour in freezing weather...i would take being axe murdered over hypothermia any day...) so, in the end, we all made it home, in one piece, to our warm apartments...

the only upside of this situation...the bus stop faces a youth sports center and most evenings i sit and watch kids practice the pole vaulting...(it's quite entertaining and i get to laugh when they fall)...so yesterday some kid was practicing wearing a santa costume!!! i wish i could've gotten to my camera phone in time to get a picture....it would have been quite a surreal shot...

the good news...

i finally got word today from the secretariat that my carte de sejour will be ready on monday...i was beginning to panic since my visa expires on wednesday and my mom, sister and i leave for italy on the 25th...you're not supposed to leave the country without it and i was really worried i'd get stopped at the boarder coming back to france...but it seems the beurocracy gods have decided to smile on me...fingers crossed that it will actually be ready on monday...

a week in pictures

so i realized on thursday that i had taken pictures with my camera-phone nearly every day this week...so instead of posting one at a time...here they are all at once...i'm not sure why they're all different sizes...

sunday

post-partying shopping at the marché de noel and in vieux lille...

the ferris wheel reflected in the window of the theatre du nord....i do feel quite artsy...thankyouverymuch...


incredible dresses in vieux lille...the one on the left reminds me of something from kill bill...


tuesday

pre-cirque du soleil coffee with aaron and miriam at morel et fils in place du theatre....my hot chocolate, aarons coffe, and aarons hand...yes, the artsy bug carried over to tuesday as well....


wednesday

decorations outside my apartment in gondecourt...took the bus home with ester after going to see bridget jones 2 (quite disappointing i must say)...joyeuses fêtes = happy holidays...


thursday

taken from the top floor of the school building...gondecourt in all it's splendor....yes it really is as cold as it looks...


friday

mathieu...sigh...my friday night ritual: star academy and laundry...he lost, but i still love him...for those who don't know, star academy is this stupid reality show that's a combination of big brother and american idol...yeah, this is a picture of my television screen...


saturday

i went to the football game with miriam and paul...it was against nantes...of course lille (losc) won, they're second in the league!!!


miriam and paul...hook 'em horns...uh...i mean allez dogues!!!


sunday

post-partying uno game in miriam's room (it was too cold to go shopping!!!)...here's aaron and his mad kung fu moves...yes, this is what happens when assistants get bored...

dude...

article about my favorite word...the Dentist knows what i'm talking about, right dude??

the day from hell....

well...yesterday was...in a word...terrible...by far my lowest day since coming...i should have known it would be terrible based on how it began...my alarm didn't go off and i woke up 15 minutes before my first class...but the real reason it was hellish my last class of the day...they are so frustrating and out of control...they would not shut-up and towards the end two boys actually got up and walked out of the class...i absolutely lost it and started ranting..."i didn't spend 10 hours on a plane to come all the way to france to be a babysitter..." yeah...of course none of them understood a word...well, one girl did...it was actually really cute...her face lit up and she said "j'ai compris"..."hey, i understood that"...she was kind enough to translate for the rest of the class...i felt really bad because it's only a few students that cause problems...the rest are extremely sweet and try really hard...it's not fair that they can't learn because of a few rude kids...

anyways...i came home, with a really bad headache, ready to go on a shooting rampage...and decided to call a friend back home and vent...but, of course, he was busy...so i did the one thing i do when i feel like things are totally out of control...i clean...holy crap, my apartment is spotless...i even rearranged all my furniture...i guess putting things in physical order helps me feel like i'm in control...i know it's futile, but my apartment looks great...

and to top off a terrible day, my boy, mathieu, got kicked off of star academy...now that is a real tragedy...

today i'm feeling much better...i'm heading to lille in a bit and i think miriam and i are going to our first football (that's soccer for you guys back home) game...allez dogues!!!

rasterbation is fun

reading the latest issue of readymade magazine i found this article about the rasterbator...it's this program that will take any picture and rasterize it (turn it into a million little dots, like a newsprint picture) and print it on multiple sheets of paper which you can then piece together to form huge frickin' posters...well, needless to say, my bare apartment was starting to get to me so i had to try it...so i stayed up late last friday making these...

i've said it once, and i'll say it again...i love this movie!!! 


so this one is in hommage to a show that used to be on kvrx...i always loved the title...and, well, robots are fun... 


to give you an idea of size...the robot is 25 sheets, and zach braff is 12...

i want to do more, but i don't have any wall space left...damn these small french apartments...

a blogging ethics question...and yet another picture...

so i was reading zac braff's blog the other day (yes, i'm still crazy about that movie...the dvd is coming out later this month!!)...and he had this post about calling up this australian movie critic and confronting her over a bad review of garden state...i went back a few days later, to find that the part about the movie critic has been deleted...i'm sure it was probably not his decision (corporate reasons and whatnot) but post alterations and deletions seems to go against the whole spirit of a blog doesn't it?? it's like going back and ripping pages out of your diary...

so...it seems like i've been posting a lot of pictures lately and not writing much...but there hasn't been much news to report...last weekend we had a nice makeshift thanksgiving at aarons place...no turkey, but a roast chicken is pretty damn close...we did however have stuffing and sweet potatoes...this weekend it's my turn to venture into the realm of dinner parties...well, make that lunch parties...i've invited some of the other assistants to cram into my miniscule apartment for a byop (bring your own plate - i only have two!!!) lunch on saturday...should be interesting...and of course i'll post pictures...

i got a shipment from my dad this week...complete with the latest issue of readymade magazine...if you've never read it before, check it out...

i took this picture last night...in less than a week the bamboo was taken down and replaced by a huge ferris wheel...the grande place and surrounding neighborhood have been transformed into a winter wonderland...christmas is here, eh?