What can I say, I'm an international girl??

Oh my GOSH, I felt so Euro tonight. Wasn't able to get to dinner until after 9 p.m., speaking of that it's almost 11.... jesus where's my day??

Oh that's right, I SPENT FIFTY SEVEN HOURS OF MY LIFE THAT I CAN'T GET BACK AT WAL-MART. FML

Honestly, J.D. and I had a light list of items we needed for the house and seeing how Wal-Mart's the cheapest and I needed an oil change, off we went. I was initially told it would take about an hour until my car could be serviced. No biggie, we could waste an hour at Wal-Mart. We ended up browsing around for 1.5 hours and then I went to check and my car and noticed only two were left ahead of me. I figured it'd probably take about 30 more minutes then we could be on our merry way. Except, 30 minutes later, I was told it'd be another hour until my oil could be changed. At this point, it was almost 8 p.m.!!!! You've GOT to be kidding me.... so I asked them to cancel my service and we went home with several bags of things I didn't need as a result of wasting time in a super store.

Let's rewind a few hours. I got my House Party Game Night package FedEx-ed to me today!!! The Newly Wives opened my eyes to this website and I got selected to host the Game Night party! My package included a generous mix of snacks and Hasboro games for our party. I'm so stoked and ready to break into all these goodies:

Now, back to 9 p.m. After my last few French meals, my lunch at B.J.'s with our new interview candidate -- yup I'm on a hiring committee -- had me wanting to order fish tacos. Except, the nutritional facts side of the menu dissuaded me from doing so. When dinner finally rolled around, I couldn't get Mexican off my mind!

So I started by marinating some chicken in chili lime sauce and seasoning

Then I chopped up my little chicken breasts (in case you're wondering, I cooked for Mr. Fox who was on his run prepping for our 5K this weekend -- we're on different training schedules so today was my rest day)

And tossed them on a plate of natural Tostito's corn chips + Mexican blend shredded cheese. Into the broiler all of it went.

Can you tell that one of us likes cheese waaaay more than I do the other does??? While that was cookin' I got to work making myself a special treat. A Patrón pomegranate margarita on the rocks ;)

It was super hot today. I deserved a treat!

When the nachos were ready, I loaded them up with some fat free refried beans then turned it all into a taco salad-nacho hybrid!

My nachos paired well with a dallop of plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, carrots and Pace salsa.

Someone else enjoyed his plain nachos with a side salad along with a side of refried beans. We agree to disagree on our food preparations haha, but when all was said and done we both had the same thing over the course of the meal.

Well, that's it for tonight. We're headed to my parents' house in the Bay Area tomorrow (after a half work day... I love Fridays over the summer) for my mom's Williams-Sonoma Dinner House Party and then SUNDAY'S vineyard 5K race.

Bonne nuit!! xx

FMD. (Where D=Door)

I had a terrible day yesterday.

Since it's the holiday break, I left a few hours early from work, excited to clean the house some more, bake, do laundry, scrapbook, etc. But instead, both doors to my house gave me the middle finger.

Let me back up a bit here. Our back door lock sticks. Instead of clicking once you put the key in, it just spins in circles and never catches to unlock. So our landlord said that was the original lock and needed to be replaced. And we've known that for several weeks now, but has anyone taken care of it.....? Well to make matters worse, as soon as I couldn't get in last night, I opted to try the front door. But apparently when it's raining the screen door sticks in the door frame and won't open. Fruitlessly trying to open either door, and then going back and forth between the two for 20 minutes, I kicked the front door and crumpled to the floor so upset and frustrated with myself that I began to cry like a small child. It was the most frustrating moment I've had in a long time.

So finally I realized to call my friend, and he came and popped the screen door open for me with the help of tools from the garage. Immediately after I got in, I ran to Home Depot and purchased a new door knob.

And so I present you a 10-step re-enactment of my horrendous evening yesterday:

Taking out all the pieces was terrible, especially because I didn't assume it'd be messy, so I got grease all over the place from inside the door knob.

TAKE THAT, DOOR!

"Easy installation," Yeah these three tiny, ambiguous drawings are so simple. I totally can master fixing a door now.

Ok, I screwed the middle latch in. Only to find out 15 hours later that it was on backwards. FML.

Fixing the inside part of the door frame.

And, this is actually a lie. It's not screwed in all the way. I think I got a faulty one, because the screws won't go in. I need some power tools. Anyone???

As I write this, I believe J.D.'s fixing the door right now. Awesome. I've stopped caring, because it has caused me literally five hours of stress and ridiculous frustration.

And to make matters worse, I tore my sweater when I was putting it back on, because there were splinters in the door that my sleeve caught on. Oh yeah, and I JUST bought that sweater at GAP in Vegas last week.

And then when I came home, I was plugging in the Christmas lights and the reindeer/sleigh on the mantle toppled off the mantle and fell into the tree. So I jumped over to try and stop them from falling and breaking and hit the tree, almost knocking it and all the ornaments on the ground.

So Ben took me out to get some drinks and dinner so as to forget my horrible night. And when I walked into the restroom at the end of the night, I slipped in someone's piss.

Can I take a nap from life right now?!?!?!

(Also, thanks Ben for saving some of my sanity last night!!!)

Tant pis.

I chewed about two pieces of gum over the weekend.

Big mistake. I think the jaw issues are flaring up all over again. If you ever see me, DO NOT let me have gum, ever. So I'm trying to take it easy, maybe revert back to non-chewy foods and stick to the old massage/stretching regimen I used to be on.

On the bright side, today was the first time I took any painkillers since my terrible allergic reaction to Excedrine that left me vomiting for nearly 12 hours.

And also on the bright side, ice cream is a non-chewy food.... :) Too bad Safeway was out of my favorite flavor ever :(

How do you have eggnog and gingerbread, but NO PEPPERMINT?! So we settled on rocky road. It's a good second choice.

P.S. It only has to be the Dreyer's brand.... the Safeway knock-off kind has green mint chunks and it is way less good. If you haven't, buy Dreyer's/Edy's peppermint ice cream. It's like Christmas in your mouth.

The Never-Ending Saga

So my TMJ trials continue. Currently, my physical therapist doctor has limited my jaw's range of motion by restricting me to "soft foods" and liquids only.

In the diagram below, you can see exactly what the jaw muscles are. My TMJ joint is off track. Thus causing the jaw bones to rub against each other and crunch and pop out of place. Apparently, this is something that's never going to correct itself or go away; essentially I have to live with this my entire life. (Unless they refer me out to surgery, which I'm hoping they do at some point because this is getting unbearable).

So with all that going on, my Temporalis Muscle is working way overtime to try and make up for that. The muscls are pulling away from my TMJ joint and causing a severe amount of pain/strain right where the muscle meets the joint. My remedy for this has been to massage and exercise the muscle right where it meets the joint. However, the instant I barely touched the muscle, shooting pains went through my entire head.

I can't do it.... it's way too painful. So I'm trying in small doses. And hoping it gets better. But with the Temporalis Muscle working overtime, the lower, Masseter Muscle is working hard to pull in the other direction to correct my jaw strain.

All this just leads to a big old mess of lower jaw pain, excruciating pain located where my TMJ joint is, and gnarly pressure headaches at my temples, where the Temporalis Muscle meets the TMJ joint. Imagine everything you use your mouth for.... it's something I'm always constantly aware of, I can't just shut it out. And the headaches are getting so intense, that I can't focus one entire day. By the late afternoon, I can't do anything at all because the headaches just make my want to lie in bed and not move. When I get home from work, I plop down on the couch and can't do anything at all.

This is my life, with advanced TMJ.

Awesome. I can't open my mouth more than two fingers high (how high they are stacked up on top of each other, not lengthwise). So I'm stuck to eating oatmeal, soups, Jamba Juice, PB&J sandwiches, flaky fish, rice and meals made in the slow cooker...

Does anyone I know specialize in oral surgery who might be able to help me?! :)

I realllllllly want to be a Mommy :(

Like right now. I'm tired of waiting!!!!

Whoa, whoa, chill out. Before you jump to any conclusions.... I'm talking about adopting a puppy.

But, again. Space is limited in our house and dating a boy who's never had pets before does not easily lend to immediately getting a puppy. I have the money and space for a small indoor dog. So I feel like I've been waiting long enough. I've wanted one ever since I finished college in 2007. But it is a big responsibility, and I didn't really think I could have handled it until I got a place of my own this May. So for the past five months I've been yearning for a puppy of my own.

And it's getting so hard. I feel like no matter where I look, everyone has a dog!! I'm so pathetic, I sometimes strategically make sure my evening walks are past the dog park near my house, and smile at other peoples' puppies and try to imagine myself in there with one too.

It's kind of like that feeling when you know you're hopelessly single and it seems like everyone around you is in a happy relationship. Well, I'm hopelessly puppy-less and everyone's getting a new dog!!

See examples from the past four weeks:

My parents' new dog, Lilly

My college roommate's new dog, Pip

My friend Brian's new dog, Buster

I think this is the most jealous I've ever been in my life! It's also killing me to turn away THREE of my friends who in the past month have known people looking for homes for puppies a friend of a friend had.

Maybe when I move and get a job with free nights and weekends and a house with a yard. Sigh....

There is no such thing as a free lunch radio

This "bad" economy that we've all heard so much about but haven't really felt other than massive sales and decreasing and now rising gas prices is finally starting to trickle its way into my life.

And it's hitting the radios, hard.

Beyond the proposed radio tax in the works, I've lost quite a bit of patience with radio especially here in the Sacramento/Central Valley market.

First, my favorite radio station since I was about 12, KWOD, has been off the air for about a month now and I want to cry. When I didn't get LIVE 105 in my old house in the Bay Area, I could get Sacramento stations across the valley, like KWOD. And for the life of me, I can't find a suitable replacement. Broke radio stations suck.... I was also trying to win concert tickets like crazy on their big texting give-away that apparently never came into fruition.

But LIVE 105 hasn't been without its cutbacks either. The Woody show in the morning is gone. Much like that prematurely-ended Adam Carolla show. Apparently he has a podcast that I've yet to check out, but I'm still majorly in shock that they canceled his morning show way back in February.

I'm getting so frustrated with all of this!!! Why can't the listeners have their way?! I realize it takes money to run radio stations, but why can't they stay?!?

Anyways, this is just a really long way of saying I'm back listening to French radio online at work. And at home I can download international radio stations through my iPod/iTunes without actually being at a computer.

Over it.

Now that hope's run out, the only thing left to do is cross my fingers

...I really just wanted to try my creativity at making up an "emo" title. And it came to me really easily, so now that I'm kind of freaked out by that fact, let's get on with today's post, shall we?

Anyways, today's entry is 100 percent inspired from this sign. I think I'll be happy if I never see it again, because that'll mean I never have to return to the Medical Insurance building!


Well, you've heard my billions of complaints regarding the process necessary to obtain a French social security number, which would in turn lead to medical insurance and reimbursement! Even though I do have a "temporary" social security number to prove that I'm employed by the state of France, it is missing the final two digits required to obtain medical reimbursement.

This afternoon, thirty-five copies of everything possible in hand, I made my way back to the Assurance Maladie office for the third time in three weeks, praying not to be turned away.

You might remember last time, how I was told my birth certificate wasn't official enough? Well, I brought the ORIGINAL with me today. Upon my arrival, I did my usual take a number wait 30+ minutes routine just to be called to the "pré-accueil" desk -- pre-reception. I explained that last time I was missing one or two documents to complete my dossier for social security, so the secretary registered me in the computer as requiring an official meeting with one of the agents, prompting me to sit another 30+ minutes. I've decided not to sweat this anymore -- I even came prepared with American Psycho to read while I waited. And I finished it this week, so after my appointment, I went straight to the Médiathèque to check out more books for my flight home, but that's neither here nor there...

When my number's finally called, I tell the agent that I think I'm all set for social security. He mindlessly takes my folder, without checking anything in great detail then begins to file it away saying the number and important info will be mailed to me in a week or so. Except, I told him I had in my hand the copy of my carte de séjour and official birth certificate.

He looks at me quizzically saying, "Oh, I thought I already saw those in your folder. But you don't need the original, a copy of your birth certificate will suffice."

Nearly fuming, I tried to compose myself enough to explain to him how the last agent told me my American birth certificate wasn't acceptable in France.

So, depending on who you ask what day, my folder is complete. I even turned in my dental records from when I had an emergency run a few months back.

Which is why I say FINGERS CROSSED. Hopefully this does indeed pass France's requirements and in one week I receive both a social security number and a check for over 30 Euros returned to me from my dental visit.

And for the record, I checked out two English and two French books at the Médiathèque. Currently I'm reading One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, which makes my fourth book of 2008. (Just don't mention the fact that I'm concurrently reading another, French book entitled Maintenant, qu'il fait tout le temps nuit sur toi, notice how in French they only capitalize the first letter of a title?!) Either way, I hope they last me the 14 hour flight(s) to and from San Francisco in the next few weeks, because I'm sure as heck not buying books in the United States to clutter up my suitcase for my final return in June.... which reminds me:

...FIVE MORE DAYS UNTIL CALIFORNIA!!

A certain "Je ne sais quoi"

Alright, this has really been bugging me lately.

I'm in France. I'm in the South of France. It's warm and sunny. I live on the beach. I'm gaining weight because the food here is so good.

So why have I been so homesick and unhappy lately?? I mean really, what else could I want from life right now??

But I think it's a little more complex and nuanced than that. No, I'm not whining and packing up my bags because I'm quitting the program. When I sign up for or commit to something, I'm going to see it through to the end and try my best. That being said, I think I'm doing a fairly good job of teaching here. My students can conjugate verbs as complex as "to be" (I am/he is? that doesn't make any grammatical sense), which they aren't technically supposed to learn until middle school. Plus, on top of that they know all sorts of vocabulary. So I really do give a damn, even though it doesn't sound like I wholeheartedly am doing so.

But I digress.

I've come to the realization that being in France is only prolonging the rest of my life to come. What's wrong with that, right? Well, normally I'd say nothing. But I realized that I really don't know what I'm going to do when I get back in June. And I'll be 23, so in theory my professional life should have already begun well before then.

And I know, I know, who am I to complain about being abroad for a whole year and putting off other real responsibilities?? Well, usually I would never even think of doing such a thing, but it really is bothering me that I'm out of college and still spending all my parents' money.

So I think that's the root of my problems here. I can't have the time of my life and still keep a clean conscience about it.

Oh yeah, and being so far away from all the closest people in my life is kind of weighing on me. Having friends here is a bit inconvenient because we're all scattered in different areas of the city, working in different schools, with buses that stop circulating at 7 p.m. So only once in a while can we actually hang out when our schedules permit.

Maybe I'm just being a big baby. We'll see what happens when I go back to California for my winter break in TWO WEEKS! Maybe I'll get it out of my system and come back to France for my second half of this program refreshed and ready to go.

On verra...

...16 days until California!

French banking is the best in the world!!!

Case in point:

-It took nearly three weeks for a bank to approve of me putting my money in an account

-After opening my account in October, I couldn't officially access it until I received an ATM card in the mail

-I wasn't allowed to have the card until I could prove that I actually lived at the address to which it came

-I wanted to deposit money in my account in my dad's city, but they wouldn't let me because I can only withdraw cash (and perform no other transactions) outside of my region.... regardless of the fact that I was still in the country

-In order to deposit a check (in my region) I needed to wait in line at the welcome window, get a slip, fill it out, go back outside of the bank and deposit the envelope in a box

-For every transaction I want to make (in my region) there is a different ATM

-If you go to the wrong ATM, you have to remove your card and then wait in line (again) at the next station.


...Oh my God I miss Bank of America. I can't wait to go back home and do everything I want to anywhere in the country from one machine.

But point of the story, I was able to deposit my check today... even though it's written out to Mr. Moyal. The lack of a first name means I can probably get away with it, but we'll see.

Oh and it takes over a week and a half to register transactions online. Super.

Welcome Back...

Oh man, I thought I had naturally grown out of this like some people eventually do in time.

But after two years of rather unsuccessful treatment, my TMJ -- or TTM in France -- seemed to MIRACULOUSLY disappear after coming out here to France. Perhaps it was the result of me no longer making weekly plane trips after finishing up with the AVP. Either way, for two months here I was never once bothered by my jaw problems.

...Until three days ago.

Now here I sit, watching Grey's Anatomy on my computer trying to take my mind off it. I can't sleep because I'm too busy rubbing, stretching, and trying to pop my jaw back in place. Instead of sleep, I'm here making the most disgusting noises with my jaw joints.

And it's really painful. And when I take money out for my rent next week, I'll be left with less than 200 euros in my account. This is a really, really bad time to need to see a doctor. And where would I even start to look? I can barely describe my problem in English, let alone French. And do I really want to see someone? I've had such bad luck with it in the U.S. that I totally distrust anything they could possibly do here.

Maybe I'll just go to the local pharmacie (pick one, they're every 5 feet here) and load up on some intense pain killers. Until then, it's time for some Tylenol PM. Here's to knocking me out for the night without any further pain... (I WISH!)

Then again, maybe it's a result of my terrible students! Today was the first time I actually had to stop a "fun" lesson and make them copy sentences. When I come back, I'm going to check and make sure their parents signed their letters saying how bad they were -- wish me luck (with everything).

Random thoughts in my frazzled brain

One more day until I go back to school! (And start using more French)

So that gives me some time to reflect on what I've been doing this vacation :) Here's an excerpt from my mass email, because honestly I don't know how to encapsulate five days in the Loire Valley:

As for my vacation, I just got back from five fabulous days of wine-tasting and castle-touring in the Loire Valley, in the city of Tours. The weather was very cold and chilly, but it's a nice break from the sun-drenched weeks we've been having here on the Riviera! I was finally able to use my large coat and scarves. But once I returned back to Antibes, I sadly put them back in my closet where they've been hiding since I unpacked a little over a month ago. And the castles themselves were all so amazingly intricate, large and beautiful.

The first day I visited Chenonceau, the Clos de Lucé (where Leonardo da Vinci lived out the final days of his life after an invitation from King François... which I think is what the movie "Ever After" is all about) and the château at Amboise, where we tasted very delicious regional Chinon wines. For the second day of castle-visiting we saw Chambord and Cheverny -- which inspired the castle in the Belgium Tin-Tin comics! I guess I could blab all I want about these places, but you really need to see them for yourselves. I did get a little camera-happy and took over 400 pictures.... but just in case, here's the site I'm keeping all of my pictures from France/European travels:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mmoyal85

The first two albums are from this weekend. On the train back, we had a two-hour stop in Paris, so I was able to get a few shots in of the Gare de Lyon (train station), the river Seine, and of course the most famous church on that river -- the Nôtre Dame. We didn't have enough time to get super close or go inside, so most of my pictures are of some neat little park and the long-distance view of Nôtre Dame.

It was all very breath-taking and beautiful. Look at the pictures, I just finished putting up captions under most of them.

But now that I'm back, I'm here afraid of my roommate again. I don't think I've written much about her, but she's super intense and psycho. So after letting me drive her to the train station last week, she's now accusing me of having broken her car. Luckily, she's not saying I need to pay or anything, but I have this disgusting feeling that she's going to give me the bill once her car comes back, functional. Pray for me that DOESN'T happen. But yeah, that's the story of my life here. I use something (old and already broken before) and it works fine, but once Karina uses it, it's suddenly broken beyond function. And she conveniently doesn't remember that she took her car to the shop two weeks ago anyways. So now I'm spending more of my time away from the apartment or locked up in the privacy of my own room. It's a weird, hostile feeling, but hopefully it'll die down very soon.

And finally, my dad has an interview today with a company based in Geneva! I really hope he gets the job, because he'd be over here beginning next week until May. That means my mom would come visit more, and I could have something to do on the weekends! I think his company would pay for travel so that would be AMAZING. Plus I'm beginning to get a little bit homesick now that I've been here for my longest stay ever.

Although this weekend our family friend invited me over to a large luncheon at his house. So on Sunday I'm leaving first thing in the morning to catch a train to Toulon so that I may go visit Jean-Claude, Patrick and Yvonne -- my 98 year old great-aunt! I can't wait for that :)

Weight/exercise tracker, 06/11/07:
Weighing in at 60 kilos today :(, hiked 2.8 miles and did 75 sit-ups.