First Week Home

Plunging into the salty Pacific Ocean, jumping on the trampoline, beach walks (with Dad, Katie and Becca), San Diego visit, chips, fresh salsa and guacolmole, American bars, American accents, short dresses, sunsets, driving, giant coffee drinks, yay!

TOTD

I'm gettıng too old for hangovers.

Expat Life

I'm missing everything!!!!  I want to be there for important moments.  This is so frustrating!!!  I love and miss my friends.  

Winter

What's the best thing about winter?  Skiing!  I only got 3 days in, but they were amazing of course, and will tide me over until the next time.  There is nothing like going down your first slope of the season.  Banking on that muscle memory, a little hesitant because you know you're out of practice, and then that feeling of success when it all comes rushing back.  Fabulous.  France is great because they make it quite easy to get up to the slopes.  If you buy a SkiRail ticket it's 37 euro, for your slopes ticket as well as a train there and back.  The train leaves at 6h30 and comes back at 17h.  I went up once with Brian, and once with Nihal, Matieu et Thomas (my flatmate, her bf and his friend).  With Brian we just went up for the day, which was not enough!  So, the next time I went up for the weekend.  The snow was better the first weekend, but the weather was better the second time.  Brian is a beginner snowboarder so the first day we just did baby slopes and intermediate, really fun and a good warm-up.   Nihal is also a beginner (actually first timer), so Matieu and her struggled along the bunny runs and I skiied mostly with Thomas, which meant mostly black and red runs, ah !  He was much more advanced than me, it was the reverse of me and Brian skiing. Super fun, wish I could have gone more !  Till next season...

Gorgeous air, gorgeous snow, gorgeous mountains.
Les Pyrénées

I didn't choose the thug life.

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Kristen Tranny !

Back in December (14th) it was Kristen's Last Weekend in France!  I went down to celebrate her last night with her and her friend's in Biarritz.  It was super fun and I was sad to see Kristen go, love her.  We are always in France at the same time !  However, she is back already haha, she was living in Paris for a couple months, but is currently living in Biarritz again.  All good.  I visited her in Paris the first week of March(4-10th), and again in Biarritz the last weekend of April (25-29th).  I'm just trying to keep track of my life here, this is not at all interesting to read...have a picture

Polaroid

Kristen's 'Last Night'

Au marché

I LOVE GOING TO THE MARKET!!!  Every Sunday there are fresh fruits and veggies and cheeses and meats to be had !  I always wonder why I ever by produce at the store when I go, but then I realize it's because I am not always here Sunday mornings.
The lady who sold me my delicious chevre (goat cheese) this morning was the most adorable, round, french, country-woman I have ever seen !  Such an amazing accent.  unE petitE...I can't really explain the accent without sound lol. And she was so friendly!  Made my day.  The sellers always wish you a 'Bon dimanche!' when you head off.  So polite.
Another great thing about Sunday market days is the feast after the shopping!  I always get at least one exciting thing.  This week it was cherries!  Last week, strawberries :D  Oh my yum.
C'est les petits plaisirs.

Fromaaaaage!

Le marché

Cute old french ladies :)

She lives the poetry she cannot write. - Oscar Wilde

Safe

I have not left the my apartment in 2 days and I could not be more content.

Paycheck to paycheck

I've got all these cards ready to mail, but no money to buy the stamps.

Out with the English Assistants

Awkward Turtle at Jaeger bar :)

Actually there's a Scottish, Italian and Irish in this picture as well.

Toulouse

My beautiful new flatmates:

Selin, Nihal et moi :)

Aujourd'hui

Il y a du soleil !!!!!

Cigarettes and Chocolate milk

Have I mentioned that all my high school students smoke?  It's fascinating.  It's like watching a 12 year old smoke!  Granted, they've got to be at least 14, some almost 18, but that doesn't make it look right.  We'd have been expelled so fast at Dana if we smoked outside the school.  I guess it's cool...

Winter, je ne t'aime pas

The kind of cold where your nose burns when you inhale.  

Why?

I've had to wake up every day of my life.  According to google that is almost 8766 days.  So, I ask you, WHY IS IT STILL SO DIFFICULT TO WAKE UP IN MORNING?!  You'd think I'd be used to it by now.

Books

In Australia:
Slaughterhouse-Five
Lord of the Rings
Marching Powder
A Million Little Pieces
The Prince
L'étranger
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tuesdays with Morrie
How to Make Love Like a Porn Star
The Help

Back in America:
The Great Gatsby
Pakistan on the Brink:  The Future of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan
Catch 22

Toulouse 2013:
The History of Love
Streetwise French
RollingStone - Jimi Hendrix La Saga du VooDoo Child (hors-série collector, spécial 70e anniversaire)
A Year in the MERDE

La Première Gorgée de Biere
Dead Ringers - Charlotte Portman

The Time Keeper
Grey Matter - Kyle Dorsett
Beautiful Creatures
Bossy Pants - Tina Fey
Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
Perks of Being a Wallflower

Newcastle's Mecca:

The Lighthouse.  I walk here a few times a week and am always struck by how many other humans are out doing the same thing.  Alone, with family, with dogs.  Running, walking.  Big people, small people.  It's gorgeous.  And everybody's doing it.  

Last day in Paris

Ok that's a lie, but tomorrow is.  Triste!  Why do I have to leave right when the weather gets gorgeous?
You win yet again, France.
I would be extremely distressed/upset if I didn't have so much to look forward to..  I would go on about it again, but I will just point you to this.  Anyways, today was my last day of teaching and it was bittersweet...or according to WordReference.com 'aigre-doux'.  I love kids I don't have to babysit, and I will really miss their enthusiasm and my celeb status.  I will especially miss their accents.  Actually in a broader scope (that's not English is it? fuck), accents are what I will miss most when I move back to orange county.  Merde.  And my freedom.  MErde!  And exciting things happening every day...and working 2 days a week.  And the metro.  And seeing lightbulbs going off in my little students brains.  And the frequency and length of French holidays.  And the Cheeese!!  And the wine.  And the normalcy of drinking outside in the sunshine with friends.  I will miss food always being fresh and real.  I will miss being able to walk places.  I will miss speaking French.  And I will miss hearing people speak French.

I will not miss every little thing being unnecessarily difficult and expensive.  Or the lack of toilet seats..or paying to pee for that matter.  I won't miss people smoking cigarettes inside.  I will not miss old men harassing me in the streets.

I will have to get used to not speaking broken English like it's normal.  My French has gotten pretty good, despite what looks like my best effort at surrounding myself with people who don't speak it, however, my English has totally regressed.  It's a joke.  I can't hear anymore if things are right.  I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well but, before I came here I could tell by the sound of something if it was correct.  Unfortunately, that appears to be a skill of the past.  I can't tell what's real anymore!
My Franglais on the other hand:  fantastic.  I will definitely miss being able to communicate with it.

So, my last day was kind of anti-climactic.  I'm quite positive I was above the legal driving limit for my first class (another thing I will miss about the metro), grâce à notre petit pique-nique we had on the canal last night.  So I don't even know.  Fun.  My second school (with my favorite kiddies!) forgot that I was teaching and had a movie-outing scheduled!  Luckily, I still had one class to teach and I was able to say Adieu to the others before they went off for their fieldtrip.  So adorable.  All the little gangsters shook my hand, which I loved, they were my favorites.  And the little girls shyly giggled.
On Adieu:  I love that the French have a word for 'goodbye forever'.  You only say it if you are never going to see the person again, or if the person is going to die.  Or..if you live in the country in some region.  So quaint.

Yesterday I had a very French moment that I want to remember.  I was trying to recharge my metro pass for the week and get rid of all my change at the same time.  The Euro involes wayy too much change.  There is a coin not only for 1 euro, but also a coin for 2 euros.  It keeps your wallet pretty fucking heavy, and difficult to close.  So, I wanted to get rid of it.  The 'rechargement' was 18.35.  so I put in a 10 euro bill and then proceeded to use my coins.  I am putting the last euro coin in AND THE MACHINE SPEWS IT ALL BACK AT ME!!!  Saying that it does not accept more than 20 coins at a time.  Fucking asshole!  So I had to re-do the whole thing with one less coin!  Merci, France, mare-fucken-si.
So that was just silly.  Many things in France are

You know what I'm excited about?

Everything.  I feel so excitable.  I've had this antsy feeling for years now, it's crazy and hectic!  It seems there is always something to be excited about.  I'm excited I'm in the Balkans right now, I'm excited I'm going to Belgrade tonight.  I'm excited I'm going back to Paris next week.  I'm excited it's sunny in Paris :)  I'm excited to move home and see everyone!  I'm excited to eat burritos and go to the beach.  I'm excited for festivals.  I'm excited to get a job (hopefully as a bartender or barista).  I'm beyond excited to move to Australia in September!  I'm excited to live with Anne.  I'm excited to visit people in SD LA and SB.  I'm excited for California sunsets.
WHAT AN OBNOXIOUS POST
but this is how I've been feeling lately.

I hate mistakes

that cost me money.