Get mistaken for a real German when people see my last name
Go see cathedrals
Visit museums
Celebrate my German heritage with German beer, chocolate, & sauerkraut
I think that about covers it. In case you missed it, I'm going back to the Mutterland (motherland) this week!! Adrienne and I will be going to Cologne, Germany (yes, that's Cologne like... cologne. Köln in German) for 5 days starting this weekend and I for one could not be more excited! I am starting to think though that I have a propensity for going to cities with odd names. For one, I live in Tours, which is just bizarre. And getting non-French speaking English speakers to not pronounce the s is near impossible. It led to a lot of confustion when I told people I was going to Tours (literally pronounced like tour in English). And now I'm going to the city that has men's body spray named after it. How bizarre. But, it's supposed to be a really cool town! It's the fourth-largest city in Germany and is known for its cathedral which took over 500 years to complete! Wowza. A lot of the city was destroyed during WWII. And it's known for its museums. That's pretty much all I know, not gonna lie! But alas, though I really wanted to go to Berlin or Munich, Cologne was the cheapest city that we could get to at €68 (or around $100 roundtrip) tickets from Paris. Oh, the advantages of living in Europe! Eastern and southern Germany will just have to go on the back burner for now. But hey, I definitely can't complain! I'm pretty excited to be going to Germany at all. And I finally get to bust out that whopping one semester of college German that I took!
In other news, I apologize to my oh-so devoted fans for neglecting my blog as of late. I have to say though the reason is - and I really do mean this in the least spoiled way possible - my life here has become very, very ordinary and I feel like I've run out of interesting things to write about. While I will always enjoy exploring new places and Paris will never, ever get old, when I'm just in Tours my life is quite run of the mill. Don't get me wrong - I'm having a great time, but after living here for nearly 6 months I've sort of gotten into an everyday routine not so different from any routine I've been in in America. I know it sounds really glamorous to live in France, but the truth is that while it is a great place, when you're living here as opposed to just traveling or studying abroad, it becomes just like anywhere else you've ever lived. You get your routine and everyday life is pretty much the same. This isn't to say that I'm not having a great time, but I can guarantee you that every minute is definitely not a new exciting, adventure.
However, since the French are incapable of going more than 7-8 weeks without vacation, I'm on break again which is why you probably all figured I'm going to Germany. We've got two weeks off effective this weekend until March 11. While the six weeks paid vacation I've gotten since I started in October might sound like a dream, it has brought me to the recent realization that in life you pretty much always either have time or money, very rarely both, and occasionally neither. I've definitely got more time than I do money right now, but like I said, I really can't complain! If there's one thing I've learned though, it's that an excess of spare time doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you don't have any money to spend occupying said time. Life lesson.
Well, I guess that's all, folks. Wish me bon voyage (or whatever it is the Germans say) and I will update you all with my new exciting German adventures very soon!
Once upon a Thursday night, I was sitting in the laundromat around 9 o'clock minding my own business, folding my laundry when something at the window caught my attention. Let me rewind and say that there had been a couple of other people in there with me but they left no more than 5 minutes before the incident, and as I had become accustomed to doing my laundry after dark because of my work schedule, I wasn't worried that I was completely alone. After all, it was only 9 pm and what can go wrong that early, right? Also, I should say that this is the type of building that has an entirely glass front and therefore you can see everything that was going on inside but since it faces out onto a poorly lit courtyard, I could see almost nothing outside. Now I know what a goldfish feels like.
Anyway, I'm folding my laundry and something catches my attention and I turn towards the window. There is a man standing at the window dressed in all black with a scarf covering the bottom half of his face. I notice he has green eyes. Then I notice something else. This man is staring at me, jacking off. Yes, that is correct. Jacking. Off.
I bet that's not where you thought I was going with that, right? My immediate thought is "LOOK AWAY, LOOK AWAY!" My first reaction was to just start folding my laundry faster because in some twisted logic I thought that if I did that it would make him go away. Next thought: "MAKE IT STOP!" Finally, logic hit and I decided to grab my phone and fake-call the police. Why didn't I actually call, you ask? Simple answer: I don't know what it's called in French! Thankfully, the fake phone call scared him enough and he ran off. The whole incident couldn't have lasted more than 30 seconds but just like a car wreck or a really embarrassing incident, it happened in slow motion.
For whatever reason, I STILL, nearly two weeks later, have not been able to get through this story yet without laughing. I guess laughter always has been my coping mechanism for awkward situations. Alas, I made it home unscathed that night, but it's safe to say that I will be looking for a different laundromat and will only be doing my laundry between the hours of 9 am and noon from now on. Only in France, eh? If I had been able to think straight, I might've thought to make fun of how miniscule it was, but unfortunately I didn't think that quickly. Maybe next time (God forbid). After discussing this with several friends I have been told a few times now that my story "takes the cake," but I can assure you all, this is NOT the cake I want to take!
In other news, you all probably know that a major cold front has been sweeping across Europe and the weather here in Tours has been exceptionally cold for the past week or so. It's been subzero (celsius) for nearly a week now and isn't supposed to be above freezing before Friday. It snowed last Monday and though we only got about an inch or so, people freaked out just like they would've in Georgia. One difference though is that here they only cancel school if it's really, really bad. Otherwise, you go in if you can and if you can't, you can't. No punishment. But, since the buses pretty much completely stopped running at the first prediction of snow, that means empty classes since the students can't get to school and neither can many of the assistants (such as moi), school is basically cancelled. Last night it snowed another good 3 inches or so, which is just enough to make it look really pretty and cancel buses, but not so much that it's no longer fun. The perfect amount! Today Adrienne and I baked nutella cookies and I took advantage of the snow day and admired it from the comfort of my apartment, having her come to me. Maybe I'll get more adventurous tomorrow since it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. The low tonight is in the single digits Fahrenheit, so that's about -13 Celsius. Brr! Atlanta has not prepared me for weather like this! My jealousy for those of you in t-shirts and shorts back home knows no end. Though I now know that teachers look forward to snow days just as much as students do!
View out of my bedroom window this morning. Such a lovely view to wake up to!
The park from my window
Something that you've probably learned about the French from reading my blog is that they take a lot of vacations. I haven't gone more than 7 weeks here without at least a 10-day break. So, alas, though I've only been back from Christmas break for a month, we have another vacation starting in three weeks! This time, I'm getting a little more adventurous with my travel plans and going somewhere people can correctly pronounce my name. You guessed it - Germany! Adrienne and I will be going to Köln, the 4th-largest city in Germany, and possibly making day trips to Dusseldorf and Bonn. I am SO excited as I've always wanted to go back to the motherland. I bet they'll think I'm actually German. Boy, will they be surprised if they try to speak German to me! All I recall from German class is "Guten Tag" and "Danke Schoen." Should be interesting! Unfortunately, it definitely won't be any warmer in Germany, but it's going to be so worth it!
I've also made travel plans to visit Lucy in her hometown of Edinburgh at the end of my contract and I literally cannot wait! I've always wanted to see Scotland and can't think of a better tour guide & friend to go with!! After spending a few days there in the beginning of May it'll be back to the good 'ole US of A for me! I truly cannot believe how fast my time in France has gone. I've been living here for nearly 5 months now! I have less than 3 months left in my teaching contract, and before I know it I'll be going back home. I can't lie though, as much as I am enjoying my time and everyone I've met here, it really has made me appreciate my friends and family so much more. I love it here (despite the laundromat incident) and am so pleased with all the friends I've made, but I really think life is just too short to spend it away from the ones you love. Don't get me wrong, I'm having the time of my life, but I will be ready to come home in three months and see some old friendly faces. I had always looked at this job as my ticket out of Georgia, but the longer I'm here the more I miss it. I'm just going to make the most of the rest of my time here because, really, when am I ever going to live in Europe again? But I definitely look forward to being back in America.
In case you missed out on 1993 and didn't get the blog title:
