day 3

27 sept 2007

i finished that bottle of bordeaux last night before the principal ever made it home, and then stumbled myself to bed sos not to incriminate myself. hes a party animal himself though, m. baumelle! hes planning on going out dancing tomorrow night too. some rock/swing club he said. he invited me, but im hoping i can find something else to do instead... im almost out of hash already. i got a bit carried away yesterday, but still. hash is not herb, nor does it do half of what weed does for me. so it was like nursing a bottle of formula instead of the real stuff. didnt even give me the munchies. i think its pretty pure hash though. the stuff that has opium in it is what gets me good. that shit has me sleepin for days!

its thursday. today was a long day. i mean, i keep saying that about everyday, but today it felt like i ran around even more! when i woke up, i could hear the kids at recess outside my window. a little close for me, so i was on a mission today to find another place to stay. i woke up around 10am and after a light breakfast of leftover potroast, oj, and baguette, i went downstairs to the school to fill out some paperwork. but really alls i could fill out was my name.

i left there and started to ride m. baumelle's bike into town but i didnt want to risk getting stuck in town with it pouring rain like it has been, so i opted to take the bus instead. when i got into town ( a short 15 min ride) i went straight to buy a monthly bus pass (27,30euro), then to the cell phone store called Orange to get a phone; but you need a bank account to get a phone plan. so then i went to the HSBC bank around 16h for my appt and i needed proof of residence to get that! so THEN i went to some housing agencies and FINALLY, around 18h scored a sweet studio right in the middle of downtown Tours! (but i had to pay the agency fricken 140euro to help me!) but my location is PRIME! im talking, the main plaza, Jean Jaurés, is right outside my door, as well as the bus stops for every line, and the hôtel de ville and musée des beaux arts are both about 100ft away. the train station is about 150ft if even, as well as the only mc donalds ive seen in town (mmm comfort food!), a couple pizzerias, about a dozen bars... im payin 320euro for it, all utilities included. 4th floor - rooftop level. its got a shared shower and toilet though, but only with 2 others, so that shouldnt be too bad. fridge, microwave, solo electric stove thingy, & a comfy bed. so write me!! i move in saturday evening. YAY!!

1 rue charles gille
37 000 tours

while i was talking with the landlord he got a phone call (french people dont care to be rude and answer a phone in the middle of business. i swear he took about 5 calls in the hour that i was there and he kept putting me on hold.) but it was another english TA on the line looking for a studio to rent. he showed up right as i was leaving. his name is Bryan, an amerian from Tampa fl who speaks french, italian, and spanish, and is teaching at two high schools. (he paid jack shit to find the spot! he went by the university and in the foreign studies department he met a girl who told him about the appt). i think hes older. id say about 25, 26. he had a lot of information about work in the linguistic field. mostly all government jobs. but SWEET setups where they pay for me to travel wherever, every 6 months. but its government and maybe if i didnt have a substance abuse problem, thatd be different... i thought wed be neighbors for a second but the room he looked at was at 420euro a month, and we only get 750euro. so i gave him my list of other appts to look at.

THEN he told me about this language café!!! aw snap! my toes started twinklin when he said that. people come speaking any and every language just to converse. ive found my new hang out. whatevs, call me a nerd... ive already embraced it. at least i have a passion in my life. suckas! people meet every monday night at 2030. so imma go practice some portuguese and maybe japanese (surprisingly, theres a small japanese population here... and about the same amount of japanese as there are black people... =D). maybe ill try and pick up a 6th to start learning... im so fuckin enthusiastic about everything now though. just watch, in like a week im gonna be over all this shit ^-^ this blog may even be difficult to maintain, but im trying to write throughout the day in my journal and then just type it up at the end of the day. my brain is getting exhausted from having to think in french all the time. my french gets worse in the evenings and i mumble a lot more. im waiting for the moment when it become effortless for me to converse in french. im almost there. i started dreaming in french last night and i wasnt expecting that to happen for another 5-6 days.

i was going to go visit brittany today at joué centre, but the bus had stopped running... didnt think that MOST of the buses had stopped running. it was only 2030!!! shed returned to Gien with her bf teddy anywho(not a very french name) so my casual ass then went and grabbed me some gyro with bryan and returned to the bus stop around 2130h only to find out that NONE of the buses were going to saint cyr... my first beef with this city. thats fucked up man! is there a friggin curfew of 21h or something? so i had to take a bus as far north and in my direction as possible, only to have to navigate myself through the bus stops and find my way back to saint cyr on foot. an hour later, around 23h i made it back. the streets were really dark, but so so peaceful. im sure the crime rate is super low here.

a note on the french fashion: havent seen a single pair of nikes since ive been here. all ive seen are converses, pumas, and no name brands. and REALLY bad clothes. but helas, theres Zara, havent found H&M yet, maybe tomorrow, mango, D&G, Prada, and a ton of cute boutiques. cant wait till i get my first pay check!! hmmm, i suppose thats all i have to say for now. i came so close to getting a lot done today, but tomorrow ill get a lot more accomplished. bank account & phone to begin with. and by next week ill be settled in! i have orientation on tuesday in Orléans , about 30 min from here on train. until tomorrow...
keep it fresh & above all
keep it positive