A French Dinner Party, PDAs, and General Conference

Two in a row!!! Last week FLE was canceled so we got to lay out and soak up some sun and I have actually made progress with my tan! I signed up for NAU courses for Fall semester although I didn't get into BIO 416 (Gross Human Anatomy) but I've emailed the professor and I'm hoping I'll be able to get in! I can't believe I only have one year left at NAU before I get my degree, even though I could have graduated this semester! In one week I will start my application for graduate school, and if I get accepted, in three years I'll be a Physician Assistant! Also in a week I have to go to the OFII (Office of Integration and Immigration) to get a medical exam and get a stamp in my passport that way I can leave the country and go to Switzerland and Spain for the upcoming two-week break! I've heard in the medical exam  they take a chest x-ray which you get to keep! I'm actually really excited about this part! I've never had a chest x-ray, but I'm pretty sure I fractured a rib or two when I was 8 and got hit by a stray baseball, and I know one of my ribs the past few years has been unattached from the cartilage, and the fact that I get to keep the chest x-ray is awesome!

This is where I sunbathe.... Be jealous ;)

Now, last Saturday ROCKED. On the way to the market to get my apples and carrots before Anglophones Anonymous I saw the elders and we chatted for a bit. On my way to the café I ran into Maurice and his wife which, of course, resulted in a PDA (public display of affection lol). I joined Molly, Laura, and Alex sitting outside the café and after a few minutes of people-watching, chatting, and laughing about Molly's nearly-nonexistent voice this random old man walked up and stood between Alex and I just staring at me. Awkward enough, right? He started "laughing" (more like wheezing) for like thirty seconds and put his hand on my shoulder when I looked at him and all he said was "Elle ne dit rien!" ("She's not saying anything!") before starting to wheeze again, tousle my hair, and walk away! After enjoying some delicious pasta and getting invited to dinner by Alex we started fretting over what we should bring and wear to a French dinner party! So, we went to Casino (the supermarket) and got some ice-cream, an apple tart, and a pretty bottle of wine and headed home. Sitting on a bench were some older men who asked in French if we were Dutch or English and when we didn't reply he grabbed my bags! Apparently he doesn't do well with being ignored... Honestly! It was like pick-on-Lindsey-day or something! Maurice probably paid those men to make my life even more awkward haha. I should probably make a label for "Awkward old men." I went to the train station, bought a ticket to Toulouse for Sunday to go watch General Conference, saw the elders again, went tanning, showered, watched the Saturday morning session of General Conference with the elders and Caitlin, and then Alex picked us up to take us to Ecole des Mines!

We entered Guinome's flat and were seated on his bed with a coffee table in front of us that had M&Ms and no fewer than 20 different bottles and cartons of different drinks on it. French student dinner party :). Mathieu and a couple also came. We played a few drinking games which thankfully I didn't lose even though I didn't know what was going on! I did have some yummy pineapple juice though! Alex lost quite a bit, and drank more than a bit, and I was a bit concerned about how the food he was cooking would turn out, but there was no reason to worry! Around 10:30 he served us heaping plates of the most delicious rice and chicken I've ever tasted! After dinner we started playing darts and two girls the boys called their "godmothers" who looked like girl scouts joined in the fun. Then we headed to the student union/bar on campus. It was so cool! There were foosball (table football) and pool tables, crazily painted walls, barrels transformed into tables, a dance floor with platforms, and of course, a bar. Poor Molly and I were both suffering from allergies (hay fever) and Molly was especially suffering from a certain kid named Harvey. But, after fake relationships were established between Molly and Henry, and Caitlin and I, he backed off a bit. Alex was very sweet and kept coming over to make sure Harvey wasn't bugging me too much. The boys took us on a midnight stroll to see the pond and when we got back I was getting a water at the bar when I realized I was being stared down by an attractive guy wearing his grandmother's nightgown. Oh yeah! Did I mention that it was pajama night? Lolz.   I smiled and was pretty much instantly surrounded by 5 or 6 French guys: Paul (wearing the nightgown), 'Jardinet?' lol, Simon, and others. We played foosball, had deep conversations about movies and music (I was told I have awful taste in English music and need to see "127 hours"), and they told me I need to cut my fringe back to how it was when I was 7. I danced with Simon, who was fantastic! i was in the middle of teaching him a new move when the music went off at 3am. So, I said goodnight to my fan club and we headed to Henry's room and shared a brownie and chips. Charly finally took us home at 4, I set the alarm for 7:30 so I could catch the 9 o'clock train with the elders, and woke up at 10:30! Woops.

So I caught the 12:27 train and was sufficiently creeped out by a drunk man on the train, and thankfully saw T- (from Tahiti, in the Albi branch) in the station, headed back to Carmaux, and he helped me get to the metro, bought my ticket, and passed me on to one of his friends (Dani? from Tahiti) who was heading to the church. I love that even when you're running to catch the train, there is always time for kisses in France! We got to the church building a few minutes late and I went upstairs to the English-speaking room and afterwards met Elder and Sister Larson (no relation as far as I know) and stood awkwardly in the hall before finding a piano and playing around for an hour and a half. The only room where they broadcasted conference in English was full of missionaries.. and then there was me. By the time the "Sunday morning" session was over, it was 6pm and I decided I'd take my chances and catch the late train (9:20pm) back to Albi. Regiss (from the Congo) took me back to the metro, waited while I got my ticket, and left me to wait. There were only 3 lunatics and one two creeps, so I'd say it was pretty successful! By the time I got home, 11pm, I was exhausted and starving! I love conference though and it was nice to meet new people! I ate some leftover pasta and hit the sack. When I woke up at 7:30 I decided to skip my class and slept another hour, which was perfect because the teacher hasn't been here all week! Then in my French Lit class we were given a take-home exam so I basically didn't have classes! Monday and Tuesday I taught Tilipan (sp?) with the elders. There's a new one from Spokane, WA: Elder Brown. At FHE the past two weeks Amandine has made mini crepes au sucre. So cute!!

Pyrrhocoris apterus AKA Fire Bugs or Fire Beetles
Nasty little bugs, but at least they look kinda cool with the African Mask design!

 Here's some fun facts about these little guys: http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/fire-beetles/

The Theater of Albi, Rugby, and Toulouse

For FLE (French as a foreign language) last Friday a few of us had the wonderful opportunity to go to the theater in Albi and get a private tour by the director. For starters, we had to wait out in the cold while he smoked his cigarette and blew the smoke in our faces. Everyone in France smokes! I'll likely have black lungs by the time I go back to the US. Now, it was truly interesting for about the first 45 minutes, but after 2 hours, I was bored to tears! The theater has been renovated several times. Originally it was the gymnasium for the prison, but when they built a larger prison farther outside of town, it became a public gymnasium and has recently been renovated for use as a theater. It really is cool though! They were setting up the lighting for a set while we were there. It was pretty cool to see all the behind-the-scene places. We even got to see the air filtration/ conditioning system, and holy heck- it's huge!!! That sent the director into a tangent about how it has to be that big to filter out possible pathogens terrorists can unleash in theaters, just in case. Then he showed us the dressing rooms, toilets and showers (as if we really needed to see those), and we had an awfully long chat about photons and electrons. By this time, he had already been talking for an hour and a half, and then asked if we had any questions. Did I mention that we watched a 40 minute film in class the previous week about everything he didn't cover? I had heard more than I ever wanted to about the behind-the-scenes of the theater. But, he wasn't shy to tell us that we must be half-dead if we're not curious about anything. So, he talked for another 15 minutes during which he kept making long dramatic pauses in the middle of his sentences in which he was completely still. It was really quite strange. By then, it was way past time that he had another cigarette, so we went back outside and froze while he took another smoke. Finally, we thought we were done, but then we got a quick 10 minute tour of the cinema. 

photo credits: http://ballsontheline.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/saving-face/ 

Saturday we went to "Anglo-phones Anonymous" at a cafe for lunch. This crazy old man is really quite interesting. Him and his wife come every week and when we arrive, he always takes our hands, strokes and kisses them, pulls our chairs out for us, etc. in the name of French gallantry. There seem to be a number of rumors about the reason he and his wife move so often, why he can't have an email address, and what his real job is. Anyway, on the 26th of March at "11 o'clock 15" he's planned a "surprise" for everyone. I can't even imagine what it could be. Whenever he leaves he always insists on getting his goodbye kisses one way or another, and he can be quite assertive about it. France is funny like that. You kiss total strangers, just because they know one of your friends, even though you'll probably never see them again! Then, that night was the rugby match between England and France, so Caitlin, Laura, and I went to O'Sullivans to watch the game on the big screens and around halftime I finally decided that I was officially cheering for England. (England had two hot players, and France only had one cute one) Rugby is so much more violent that American football, but it's also more fast-paced and more entertaining. And because they don't wear pads or helmets you can see their faces, although very few of them are really worth looking at haha. Sébastien Chabal is certainly interesting... I could never play rugby against him. He's a beast! It was a good match though! England won!

I'm being quite spoiled here as far as school goes. We have a two week break right now, and another at the end of April! There's a carnival in Albi right now, and it's all over town. It's pretty cool! I'll take my camera with me next time I go! So Tuesday we ventured into Toulouse! Unfortunately the weather has been dreadfully gloomy lately, and so I didn't get any great photos. Laura nearly got beat up by some girl on the metro though! This girl got on, and just gave Laura a nasty look. I just assumed she was having a bad morning, and ignored her. Several stops later she started yelling at her like crazy! Unfortunately, my vocabulary is quite lacking in French profanity, so I don't know what she was saying, but she shut up after a few minutes. Finally, she got off the train, only to turn around and start yelling again nearly about to drag Laura off the metro. Thankfully, a man shoved her off just as the doors were closing. We got to the university library with no problem, but it probably took us a good ten minutes to figure out how to get inside lol. But, we were finally successful and headed back into town, and after finding one of Caitlin's buddies we got lunch at a Lebanese restaurant! It was really quite good. It reminded me of a chicken burrito from Chipotle with french fries inside. From there, we went shopping and headed back to Albi! I had started a load of laundry before we left and two of my once white shirts and several socks were then pink, as well as one of Richard's towels I thought I'd be nice and wash for him... Woops! And, I finally got a postcard from Paraguay and a letter from OFII! So, hopefully I'll be able to go see some more of Europe soon enough. It finally cleared up for a while today so I got to catch some sun at the park. Hopefully we have another gorgeous day tomorrow! To be honest though, overcast skies and rain are so much better than feet of snow, ice, and sludge. I'm definitely not missing the winter weather of Flagstaff!

Capitolium

Bookshop- "White Shadows"

Restaurant Libanais on the left!

J'aime Albi!

Cathédrale Saint-Cecile d'Albi

          I've now been in Albi for three weeks now and I love it! I’ve been waiting for the weather to clear up and last weekend it finally did, so now I have pictures to put up! It's a fair sized, medieval city. The campus is small. The weather is great! Centre-ville is simply charming! There are cobblestone streets, cute shops, and of course the cathedral (Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile d'Albi). It is the largest brick building in the world. I've not yet had the chance to go inside, but even from the outside it is certainly a remarkable building! It is right by the Tarn River and the Toulouse-Lautrec museum. I cannot wait to see the gardens in spring and summer! It's been overcast every time I've gone downtown with my camera, so I'll have to put pictures of the city up later. Every Saturday there is an open market downtown by the cathedral. It's the best place to get groceries- especially fruits and vegetables! One morning that I went, I hadn't eaten breakfast, so I was going to buy an apple to eat, but they just gave it to me! There is a plaza downtown that has 81 small fountains (just like the ones that you run around in). They look really cool in the evening.

Downtown by the cathedral, there was a man playing a music box and singing! It was so cool! So I gave him what coins I had. Speaking of which, 1 and 2 euros pieces are coins, not bills!

One of the less scary looking paths going down to the river

I found a cute park!!

More of the cathedral... I can't wait to see the interior!

An half hour walk towards Toulouse takes you to the closest thing to a mall they have here- Centre E. L’Eclerc: Portes d’Albi. It’s about a 15-20 minute walk to any grocery store, which makes grocery shopping fun. Aside from fruits, vegetables, and frozen foods, things here are so different! [Baking soda is bicarbonate alimentaire and baking powder is levure chimique. You’ll find baking soda by salt, and baking powder by baking goods and yeast.] Milk comes in cartons like Rice Dream in the US. I love that the majority of the refrigerated section is cheese! I haven’t been quite brave enough to try many of them yet. I’ve been sticking with brie and Tinnery (it’s like cream cheese). I tried some others while I stayed with Chabaud family, but I can’t remember the names! Baguettes, Nutella, and chocolate are super cheap. My absolute favorite thing I’ve had so far has been Galette des Rois. It’s simply delicious, and totally fun!

My room! Because I have no roommate I have two beds, and... TWO CLOSETS!!

I live in an apartment for the study abroad (Erasmus) students with a boy from Turkey and a boy from England. The school itself used to be former military complex; the buildings which house the classrooms, former barracks. I live in the homes built for the married soldiers. The boys are upstairs with their own rooms, and downstairs is my room, living room, bathroom, toilette, and kitchen. I hate our shower… It’s like a hip bath and there’s nowhere to put the shower head, not to mention the inconstant water temperature. But, on the bright side, I love cheap rent and having my own room!! We also have a washing machine, but to dry clothes we put them on top of the heaters, or if it’s sunny, on the clotheslines outside. The Erasmus students are all great!  There are 3 kids from Britain, 1 from Barbados, 1 from the Czech Republic, 1 from Finland, and 2 from Turkey. I’m the first person anyone has ever heard of coming from the U.S.! Rent is 100 Euros ($140) per month, and we don’t have to pay for heat, electricity, or water! Université Jean-François Champollion is a small university really close to the train station so it’s easy to get to Toulouse, although I haven’t been yet.

If our "shower"didn't have tile on the sides, it'd look like this.

The system here is much different for signing up for classes. I have 10 classes (30 credits), but the classes only meet once a week. I have 3 English Literature classes in which we are studying Dracula, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I’m also taking a literature and cinematography class in which we analyze the adaptation of literary works for the screen. In my French literature class we only analyze excerpts each week. Then there is FLE (French as a foreign language), Danse, two translation classes, and History of the English Language. History of the English Language is actually my most difficult class! It’s not only the history, but most of it is actually translation between Old English and modern English, using our knowledge of Latin and German. I know nothing of German, and what I know of Latin comes from biology courses! I swear these skinny French girls in my Danse class are either naturals, robots, or its genetics. But, we go through a series of moves once and I can do everything perfectly, then they turn on the music and do it 5x faster and they do it perfectly! I think there are quite a few girls there who might hate me. I got a number of dirty looks. I hear there is salsa dancing on Tuesday nights, so I'm going to start doing that. Yesterday I helped with an advertisement they’re doing for the school. They photographed and filmed a bunch of us holding up letters (I was the “T”) spelling “Small is Beautiful.” I found out that I have to send things to the immigration office, get a medical exam, and go to an integration meeting all in Toulouse and get a special stamp in my passport before I leave the country or they won’t let me back in! I have a two week break starting at the end of February and I had wanted to go to Spain (Madrid temple!) to see Britt (one of my best friends who is a SA student there), but I guess I might have to wait.

Random Sculpture

Church. L’Eglise de Jésus Christ des Saints des Dernier Jours is just a 5 minute walk from my apartment. It’s great! The branch is very small. There are probably only 20 members each week. I’ve already given prayers three times, and I am basically the official pianist already! The second week at church, I found out that my Book of Mormon was an old version and some of the wording is slightly different than the newer one. It made it a little difficult to follow along, but the elders gave me a new edition! The elders are great. Elder Baret was here for the first week (from New Caledonia). So now there is Elder Carson (Portland, Oregon) and Elder Hilgendorff (Seattle, Washington). Church vocabulary is pretty different, but once you know it, everything makes sense. I’ve already gotten to go teach with them 3 times now, and it’s been really cool!

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