I knew it was a good choice at some point

So I know there are a whole lot of Bush-bashers out there, and I, at times am indeed among those of you.

However, I'm still not going to deny the fact that I helped vote him into office back in 2004. At the time I thought it was a good decision and after months and years of no longer holding to that opinion, yesterday changed my mind in the blink of an eye.

George W. Bush has given me, personally a $300 check. Never mind that it's a federal economy stimulus check and many families earned twice that amount.

But, would Al Gore have done the same for me?! I don't think so. His silly movie/book would have never came out had he been sworn in and too busy with presidential matters and consequently would not have the Nobel prize to his name either (don't get me started on the fact that those people actually RESEARCHING global warming as well as the producers and/or the cameramen should be the ones garnering awards, not the big celebrity who filled in as a voice-over). So, Al Gore should be happy we had all those issues with hanging and pregnant chads, otherwise he'd be just another boring president.

And he wouldn't have given me a check, because he (most likely, though I have my doubts after 9/11) wouldn't be bombing the shit out of the Middle East thus causing our prices of oil and overall living to skyrocket on account of the American people really just not trusting the president and his current "executive" decisions. Though, in W's defense, Congress and everyone still had to allow his decisions, it's not like it's just Bush that's supporting all of this.

So that's my story. Thank you Mr. President for ruining the economy and then giving us all $300 to $600. I'm sure we won't be in debt or economic panic anymore now that your deus-ex-machina has saved us all...

(But hey, I'm not one to complain about free money! Neither is my currently unemployed bank account.)

PLUS DE PLUIE!

Welcome to my lovely département, The Alpes-Maritimes, in the greater Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur region!

Well, as of today, I once again feel like I live right on the Mediterranean Sea! Why all the exclamation points, Monique? Oh that's because after months and months of yucky rain, ominous clouds, fog and evil Mistral winds, it finally is getting to be weather you'd typically expect from this little beach region. Never-you-mind that we're on about the same plane/latitude as the Eastern Canadian border, ok?

Regional météo forecasts indicate that over the course of the next few days, we'll be seeing weather anywhere from 15 to 17 degrees Celsius. Hello mid-60s and possibly even 70s on Thursday! That's what a girl from California likes to see.

I'm also pretty stoked on life right now because one of my afternoon classes was canceled today, so I basically had to work from 8:30 to 10:00. And after I eat lunch/give myself an hour, I'll be making my merry way back to the gym. Speaking of the gym, I've already lost about two kilos since I've been back from my "vacation" in the United Sates -- which, by the way, I flew home exactly one month ago today!! Since then, I've been making a point to do cardio exercises for about 35-50 minutes a day. I've stopped eating past 9 p.m. and for the most part, I've cut out lots of added sugars (and alcohol)!

And the best part is that IT'S EASY! I mean, I get a few cravings every now and then -- I'm allowed to cheat once or twice a week, I think that's the key to longevity -- but I'm quite impressed how easily I can say "no" to dessert or even the 28,482 pastry shops I pass each day. Ok that's a little exaggerated, but yeah point made right? (Oh yeah, and I've had a little help from this diet. Too bad they don't include the recipes online, but I ran across it in a fitness magazine when I was home in February and decided to give it a try! It really does work!)

***EDIT: I searched and searched online and I actually found the equivalent diet for men in the Men's Health Magazine. Their website has included a few of the recipes for the male version, some of which cross over for the ladies too. Hey, I'm all about it, new recipes and we all know how much I do love me some smoothies!

Today, I got lucky.

Twice.

It seems as though there are going to be train strikes on Thursday -- the day my mom and sister get in to the Nice airport. So what does that mean? They'd probably have to either figure out the bus themselves (with all their luggage) or pay over 60 Euros for a taxi to Antibes.

But instead, my school is having an afternoon field trip for the CE2 classes to go the the movie theaters, while the CM1s are going to see The Golden Compass in the afternoon -- which, by the way, I totally pegged Nicole Kidman to play in when I read the book for my children's lit class three years ago. So, my afternoon classes are canceled! They offered to take me along and I really wanted to say yes (as well as the students, they really wanted me to say yes too) but then it occurred to me: I can go to Nice and meet my mom and sister at the airport!

Then we can all take the bus back and only spend about 8 Euros total. Plus, they'd have two more hands to help out with the luggage. Not a bad deal. AND I'm not working in the afternoon, so we get to hang out or I get to stay downtown while they sleep, or something like that.

It's also now occurring to me, if the CE2 classes are going in the morning, does that mean those classes might be canceled too? If so, then I get the entire day off! We'll have to see how it goes on Thursday...

Another way in which I struck gold today involves more American t.v. I guess after Grey's Anatomy put out its two-part series, it kind of stopped being available on Limewire. So Aimee sent me to this website that hosts hundreds and hundreds of t.v. shows in their entirety. The latest Grey's was finally released and I've been trying for days to download it. The other night it took me two hours to load about 30 percent of the episode. In short, I've probably watched Episode 10 in fragments about six times, but only about 75 percent of the episode.

So today it linked me to YouTube, where I found the very same episodes instantly! I didn't have to wait for them to load. Thus, I finally got to see the end of the most recent Grey's as well as the second-to-latest Private Practice.

There are some things being in France makes me miss :) Otherwise, once I start losing more weight (i.e. stop eating so much) I'll be perfectly content.

MY FAMILY'S COMING IN TWO DAYS!!!

Some days, I'm really proud of myself

In a totally selfish way, today is one of those days. I am proud of me. (Even though I look like a pregnant lady this month... by the way I'm working on that every day. Hardly any sugars consumed today!)

It all started at 7 a.m. with my roommate running into the kitchen this morning, shrieking like a little girl, laughing and HUGGING ME!! A couple of things to consider: French people DO NOT give hugs. She is 30-something, I still haven't figured out exactly how old, but I'm guessing in between 32 and 35 (the age of her older brother).

Why was she acting like a crazy person??? Because I decorated the house in Christmas festiveness and paper snowflakes. Her boyfriend thought I actually bought a mini Christmas tree, but in reality I just hung ornaments and bows on our little tree plant in the living room.

Then at 8:30 this morning, one teacher stopped me up the stairs to her class. She said, "I just wanted to congratulate you on the way you've been teaching the class."

That means a lot. Apparently all the teachers think I have a natural authority (wow, I'd never have guessed that from how rowdy the kids are, but I guess I don't get upset with them and handle it well or something). But then again, she told me the assistant last year would show an English movie and then talk on the phone with her boyfriend or family for 30 minutes. She ended up leaving in April, even though our contract is supposed to go until June. Whatever.

But the best thing to happen to me today...... I RECEIVED MY FRENCH SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER!!!!!!!! So I suppose that means I can go fill out the form to receive government assistance for housing (MEANING France pays half of my rent), and I'll have my medical insurance card coming very, very soon. My paperwork's almost completely done here!!!

And I'm now 100 percent legally in France. It's about freakin' time!

26 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

19 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

Je suis extremement fatiguée!!

Me back in Nice again! And it's been renovated since two years ago.

As much fun as it's been in Nice, I'm glad to be back in Antibes.

For the past two days I've been waking up before 6 a.m. and hopping one of the first TER trains into Nice. Like I said last time, the exciting part is being able to see the sun rise over the deep blue ocean. Absolutely gorgeous.

And while the orientations have been extremely helpful, they're also painstakingly long. We had three-hour morning séances, a one-hour lunch break, and then three more hours of the grind. At the end of the day, if this makes any sense, we were all too tired to go home knowing that we'd eat and promptly fall asleep at 7 p.m. Plus, it's quite hard to be in Nice and not exploit the heck out of the cafés and shopping districts.

Since the trains leave earlier than the first busses of the day, I've been walking to the stations, walking from the station in Nice to the IUFM building in the hills of Cimiez where we had our meetings, walking back down the hills to Vieux Nice, walking back to the train station, and then from the station in Antibes, walking back up more hills to my apartment. I've made some necessary purchases (i.e., a sponge for the shower and nail clippers!) in addition to some really exciting ones -- lychee and green apple sorbet in Old Nice. Pretty much what I lived off the entire 2005 summer that I spent in Nice.

Oh yeah, I've yet to figure this out, but each morning as I headed towards the train station at around 7 a.m., the local pub is JAM-PACKED with people! At first I figured maybe in the morning it doubles as a café, but this morning they were definitely tapping a keg. What the F?? I think I might go one morning just to say I have.

But back to the meetings in Nice -- we've been learning all kinds of websites, games, and strategies to use in the classrooms and I'm quite excited because I've semi-prepared a bunch of lessons already. The only problem is that during four three-hour sessions, most of what our presenters had to say was a ridiculous amount of overlap. C'est la vie, I suppose. But this was the first time I understood 100 percent of what was being said in French! And it was 16-hours' worth!! If only I can replicate that in my own speaking skills...

It's a little strange though because I am finally understanding just how good I have it at every stage of my life. In high school, the 8 to 3 daily schedule was absolutely tiring and after-school sports practices and homework drained all of my remaining energy. Then in college I learned the beauty of scheduling classes (only two or three hours a day!) around my sleeping/eating/working preferences. However, finals week was always hell. And now that I've experienced two different aspects of the working world, journalism and education, it's so insanely nice to go home at the end of the day and not have anything to worry about like homework and studying. Yes, some preparation is necessary, but it's totally convenient and very low-stress.

Sitting in classes all day really drained all my energy. Thank God those days are behind me :-)

However, I am very heavily entertaining the idea of going back for a Master's or even a Ph.D. when I return state-side. So far, I'm really enjoying education and I might want to do it at the research/university level.

Surprise Mom and Dad!

If I could have a superpower, it'd be teleportation

Enjoying my fabulous day at the beach downtown!

But that's besides the point.

It's finally a huge relief to be able to use MY OWN computer over here. Although I'm still not using it at home, it's the weirdly-placed keys that I remember and the programs I've installed, along with the ability to download whatever my little heart desires. Strangely enough, I keep wanting to hit the Q button in place of the A because -- among many others -- those two are switched on the French keyboards.

And as weird as it feels to sit in a McDo (that's McDonald's to you in the States) on my laptop, I have no objections. There's a specific breed of people walking around town you can pinpoint. Basically we're all walking around the city with backpacks and unloading our hardware in McDonald's. I'm not the only one eating fast food, with headphones, using Skype or what have you on my laptop here. It's kind of a different feeling. At first, I had to muster every single ounce of energy NOT to order a glass of wine here. I feel like that's the most typical thing you could purchas at a French McDo. Instead, I opted for the "McFlurry Crunch," and lesson learned, I'm never ordering food here again.

After being in the bathroom for quite a while (sorry, too much info, I know) I can now enjoy the Internet as long as I want! Well, not entirely, since it closes at 11 p.m.

But my day off was quite productive. I might make a habit of doing this every Wednesday! I started off the morning making a trek-and-a-half out of a trip to find the next grocery store on my list, Carrefour. It's within walking distance of my house, but I swear all my maps are out-of-date. What should have only been a 25/30-minute walk ended up taking me nearly two hours. And I take back my last comment, Monoprix is NOT the Target of France. Carrefour most definitely is. And it's cheap! Now that I've signed up for a carte de fidelité, I'm probably going to do all of my shopping there. AND THEY HAVE SKIPPY -- very, very expensive peanut butter, but a treat nonetheless.

So after making my way home, I got back just in time to throw together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cookies, pear, and a bottle of water to make the noon bus downtown. For the third time in my 10 days here I had a nice and quiet little afternoon at the beach.

And now here I am at 5 p.m. sitting in a McDonald's. The whole evening looms in front of me, as I plan to at least take another exploratory run and then make dinner.

I've also been thinking, that despite the NUMBER of people that initially have mistaken me for a local -- living in the hills has its perks -- I feel SO out of place here. For example, the only thing everyone wears here is black! And if you know me at all, you know that I have a thing for very bright colors. So today here I am in my bright blue beach cover walking around the beach, city and hills, passing blacks and browns all along the way... tant pis.

Tomorrow we're back in Nice and I can't wait! Until then...