Let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France.

Bonjour tout le monde!

A few new exciting things have happened lately. For one I had my medical visit last week for immigration (more than 2 months after my arrival, so on the off-chance that I did have some terrible, havoc-wreaking disease that we Americans are known to carry I surely would've spread it by now!) and my visa is OFFICIALLY validated meaning I'm here legally and therefore I can travel outside of France without being deported! They really do chest x-rays to check Americans for tuberculosis and they really do let you keep it. And I really did hang it up on my bedroom wall. It was too blank! Now my skype calls are exponentially more interesting.

Last week was a little weird for me as it was my first time ever not being with my parents on the holidays. But I think the thing that was the weirdest about it was the fact that it was just like any other ordinary day in France. It probably would've been a lot harder had I been somewhere where they actually do celebrate Thanksgiving and unable to be with my family. It didn't really feel like I missed it, more like I just skipped over it. Bizarre. But, some of the assistants and I had our very own Thanksgiving dinner Saturday since we all had to work Thursday. It was très delicious and felt just like home! Merci millefois à Meg for hosting us! A few of us also got creative with our homesickness remedies and watched last year's Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Not quite the same, but a close second!

Christmas lights have officially been strung all over Tours and it is looking very festive! The Christmas markets started this weekend and they even play Christmas music on the main shopping street, which is charming when you're wandering around but probably really annoying if you work anywhere in the vicinity. I promise I'll take pictures of Tours/my apartment soon!

And the most exciting thing to happen recently (and the inspiration for the title of my post) is a petit trip to Bordeaux this weekend with Lucy, Carys, and Adrienne! I've never been to Bordeaux before so I am thrilled to check it out and get back to the south of France for the first time since study abroad! I do wish I could go back to Montpellier though. That's definitely on the list of things to do before I leave in the spring! But, going back to the south is not the only reason to be excited about this weekend. Bordeaux is the wine capital of... wait for it... not just France, but the WHOLE, ENTIRE WORLD. I think we'll fit in just fine. Because we all know the one thing I need most in my life right now is more wine. Let's be real. Bordeaux is a major city and will be my first big trip since I got to Tours other than a couple of daytrips to Paris. There's lots to see/do there so it should be lots of fun!

School is going well, when I'm there, that is. I've avoided telling most of my friends back home that I only work 12 hours a week and actually do make a half-decent salary for fear that they would think I'm some sort of socialist or something, but that's actually not too far from the norm for the French work week. A lot of the "real" teachers at my school work the same number of hours I do and since I've been here I've learned that 22 hours per week is considered full-time and 35 is the limit. Did I mention 2-hour lunch breaks are practically enforced by law here? Like, businesses shut down and everything. Every. Day. And there's wine in my staff lunch room? And people drink it and then go teach? And everything shuts down on Sundays, and often Mondays as well, and sometimes even Wednesdays? And schools are  all closed Wednesday afternoons? And there's wine in my staff lunch room? And there's a train strike just about every other day? And there's wine in my staff lunch room?

You don't know the meaning of laid-back until you know the French.

But, the reason I bring it up is because I've been working even less than my normal work week the past two weeks. It's a fairly common occurrence for the teachers I work with to tell me they have something else planned on certain days and they don't need me to come in for their class, which was sweet until it started happening practically every week. And not to mention that for the past 3 weeks 7 hours of work have been cancelled due to teachers' illness. I guess they've never heard of subs here? This can be a fun surprise, except when you wake up at 6:00 and walk outside to catch the bus and you realize they still haven't turned off the Christmas lights from last night because it's still that dark and then get to school find out that your only two morning classes are cancelled and no one told you, which is exactly what happened today. Did I mention that my afternoon classes were cancelled as well? I didn't even have to come in at all. An hour and a half on the bus that I will never get back, my friends. Organization is not one of France's strengths. Next time I'm just going to randomly assign myself to a classroom and insist on teaching. I need something to doooo!!! But alas, it's Tuesday and I'm done with work for the week because I don't work Wednesdays or Fridays and this Thursday we have another all-day training day. At least I'll have somewhere to be! I've also been instructed to - verbatim - "plan something on America" for my lesson next week. Ugh. Specificity isn't one of their strengths either.

At the risk of sounding self-important talking about a haircut (but isn't that really what blogs are for, anyway? A blog is nothing if not a boost for your ego.) I've decided that I've FINALLY mustered up enough courage to do it tomorrow because after all, I'm long overdue. Hopefully they'll take pity on me and use simple vocab. Updates to follow!

That's all the ranting I can handle for now, but in other news, only 25 days until my parents arrive!

Here's to hoping you all have a more interesting work week than me!