Why do we call it the "dead of winter"?

Do you ever hear the phrase, the dead of summer? No.

But things are looking up. Anyone who knows me understands that I detest daylight savings time. I hate getting into my car after work at 5 p.m. in pitch black. I hate feeling like it's midnight at 7:30 p.m. The shorter days suck. (Yeah, that's as eloquent as I'm going to get in my pouty-post.)

With January here, we've only got two and a half more months of winter. But the best part is that I can tell the days are stretching out a little bit longer as the weeks pass.

When I hopped into my vehicle this evening, it was 5:15 p.m. And there was still a bit of sunlight lingering on the horizon. I watched it sneak out of view. But the fact that I saw it happen is big. Spring is coming, am I too soon on this yet?

Happy Summer!

As excited as I am to be moving, I absolutely hate packing. Well, luckily I'm doing this in waves. So in order to put off packing one dresser full of clothes and the bare minimum of my toiletries, I give you my pictures from the first day of summer with my mom.

...When it rained in Monterey Bay and Pebble Beach. It was 105 degrees and dry as hell in Alamo, but 70, muggy and stormy on the coast. I'm kind of bummed we didn't make it out to Cannery Row or the Bubba Gump Shrimp Shack -- two places I haven't been in many a year. Oh well, there'll be more chances.


Enjoy the new season, kiddies (regardless of your weather)! This is definitely my favorite part of the year :)

Just a spoon full of (fake) sugar

I am still sick. Day seven now.

After two bouts -- in six months, not too bad -- of violent stomach aches and vomiting, I finally summoned up the courage to go to the pharmacie yesterday and try to explain what was going on in hopes of receiving some magic pills.

I'm not so sure I correctly explained my situation. Though I was able to tell her what I did not have. It's not heartburn before/during/after meals and it's not nausea. Well after thinking it over for five minutes, the pharmacienne gave me a 3 Euro packet of some kinds of pills. She told me to take them whenever I feel sick, no more than three times a day. They are to be placed and dissolved in the mouth, no water necessary.

I then turned to my friend Sarah and said, "Oh, these must be like Tums," which would indeed be some sort of an ease to the pains I've been having as of late.

However, upon closer inspection after already purchasing the pills, I noticed they're made with ASPARTAME!

Earlier in this cold/flu thing, I'd been sucking down throat losenges like they're candy -- not too far from the truth, but I did have a real bad sore throat. Then I'd notice my stomach would begin to hurt after taking them because, shock of all shocks, they're made with fake sugar.

Apparently I can't handle more than one small dose of fake sugar, AKA Aspartame, a day.

Hopefully this goes down better than the last ones I tried....

Oh yeah:

(Happy Spring!)

And speaking of Spring, I'm kind of bummed I missed out on MLB Spring Training in Arizona this year. I've gone three times and have missed out on two because I've been here in France. And I never in my life got to make it out to Dodgertown, what with the Dodgers leaving Vero Beach as their spring training site, opting to join the rest of the West Coast in Arizona next year.

Either way, I AM going to as many games as possible this summer when I return to the United States to make up for the 2.5 months of baseball I'll be missing abroad!! Though, I'm not sure how excited I'll be to watch some ball if Barry Bonds gets picked up by someone else. The A-hole needs to retire already.

Opening Day is only five days away!

Oh, celestial sphere

Hello, going back to my days in Astronomy 1 freshman year of college! Anyways, just when I thought I had many of the subtle nuances of French culture down, nature has to go and throw me off my learning curve -- again.

You see, normally I pretty much got that people say bonsoir either when it's a.) dark or b.) the working day's over. And for the past few months, the two have usually been one in the same.

But now, with the approach of the vernal equinox in only two days (good riddance, winter!), our days here in the northern hemisphere are getting much longer. In fact, almost equal to the amount of time that is night. Which means, when I get off work (on the two days I work past/until 4 p.m.) it's still very bright and sunny outside. So wanting to take advantage of this weather that's slowly getting more and more dry and less and less chilly, I'm walking around much more. When I enter my humble abode after a full day of work and at least a solid hour at the gym, I can almost make dinner in full sunlight at 6:30 p.m. -- almost.

That's all going to change in a little under two weeks anyhow, when France finally hits on daylight savings times and jumps ahead one hour. Then it'll be sunny until 7:30 and beyond!

The only complaint/qualm I have with all of this is as follows: When's the appropriate time to say bonsoir now?! When I said hello to the people at the gym at 4 p.m. in broad daylight, they corrected my "bonjour" with a "bonsoir" in return.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong with saying "good evening" when there are still nearly three good hours left of sunshine?!

Well, at least I don't have to worry about the cultural importance of saying "good night" at 8 a.m. like they do in parts of Spain. Oh wait, I'll be there in about three weeks...

Taper sur bois

Is that how the French translate knock on wood? Either way, I'm doing it!

After a lovely winter excursion up to the Alps and my dad's house -- this morning we took a walk around Lac d'Annecy and went to the Sunday farmer's market in Annecy le Vieux -- a quick afternoon flight brings me back to Antibes and what I think will be the start of a beautiful French spring!

Lac d'Annecy under its morning winter fog. Today was my third time around it!

Although it's not quite spring yet, I have every indication to believe it is in the South of France. I was only wearing a tee-shirt with a tanktop underneath, but already the double layer was too much for me in the 60+ degree weather! My roommate says the rain is behind us now and since she's been living here for seven years, I'll take her word for it.

So knock on wood that I don't jinx this beautiful weather!

Flying down here, I opted to go for a window seat -- which I never do. Since I'm used to taking super long flights, I prefer the aisle seats because I have a bit more room to spread out, and I don't have to bug people sleeping in their seats next to me if I need to go to the lavatory or stretch my legs around the cabin.

The decision quickly paid off as I saw all of Geneva under a cloudless, 55-degree sky. The last two times I've flown in/out of Geneva, it was muddled in dark clouds and fog. Another advantage was seeing the Alps all the way down to Nice including Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in France!

Once we reached the Baie des Anges down here, we spent nearly half of our 45-minute flight circling the ocean, waiting for our cue to land. During the unnecessarily long circle, I actually was able to locate my apartment BUILDING in Antibes, I saw Monte-Carlo, the costal Lérins Islands where the Man in the Iron Mask was said to be jailed, and even part of the long peninsula that is the Italian Riviera which extended long beyond my line of sight.

As much as I'm not ready to go back to class tomorrow, this weather is enough to motivate me to get out and enjoy my second half of the program in France! Plus, it's only one month until my next break and there are a lot of holidays between February and April, meaning I don't have to plan too hard to give a fun cultural lesson ;-)

Pétanque

Very cautiously and slowly, like a newborn foal awkwardly testing out its legs for the very first time once the winter's snow melts away, spring is encroaching on my Antibes life.

While winter did have its low points, overall it was a fairly bland one seeing as how I was still wearing shorts into November. But to give new meaning to an old adeage, when it rained, it poured. Last week I was drenched with torrential downpours and today I let my super white legs have their first taste of fresh 2008 air. Well, yes, they're white but perhaps not super, as I've been using sunless tanner lately ;)

I take that back. They probably are ghastly, but since I'm the palest person I know they're not as white as they could be. I figured I'd spare all the sun-drenched locals.

But getting back to downtown Antibes -- In December, I gave Aimee the grand tour and showed her along the seaboard. It was a ghost town; hardly anyone was out walking, enjoying the rare sunny rays in the beginning of a dreary winter.

Yet today, that tide is changing. Dozens of people lounged about on the decks of an old abandoned cabana club and in their bathingsuits no less! After running to the gym and working out in my shorts, I decided to continue my journey down to the ocean where I soaked up some rays eating an apple and reading a few pages of my current book.

Of course, the best part was seeing all the elderly men out and about again.

No, not like that, I'm not a pervert.

Instead, they were breaking in the newly-installed courts. Each of them huddled up in a crowd to see who could get closest, and whose strategies were the best, whether landing their chrome balls with finesse, or out-right launching them with no regard to anyone else standing nearby was the best way to win.

That's right, just like how the groundhog sees his shadow in February, you know warmer days are sure to come when the French men take to the courts in light jackets and big hats to protect their delicate skin from the sun to play their beloved pastime.

You and I call it bocce ball or boules.

To them it's not just pétanque. It's more than that. It's a lifestyle.

...19 days until California!!

Don't push it

This morning really did feel like spring. Really.

My roommate and I spent all (late) morning cleaning up the house and she went through everything, either tossing out or giving me whatever was collecting dust in the house. So basically I just scored a sweater (it never belonged to her because there's no chance in HELL we'd ever wear the same size...) and a whole bunch of jewelry. It's probably going to clutter up my space too, but whatever, I can decide what to do with it when I return to California next month. I mean, in three weeks!!!!

But today was such a big ordeal because last weekend when I was in Italy, she and her boyfriend totally renovated the majority of the house. It looked good before, but now it's completely functional and aesthetically pleasing.

As soon as that was all done, I figured, now's as good a time as ever to head for the gym! So off I went on my merry little way -- IN SHORTS. Not once did I ever feel the sting of chilly winter air. Instead, I sat and waited for the bus in the full sunlight. To me, these are the early indications of spring mornings. As I type this, I believe it's around 60 degrees outside and it's supposed to be 65 tomorrow!

So upon leaving the gym nearly two hours later, the sun was still out in full intensity! Right then and there, I vowed that if this continues tomorrow, I'm for sure taking a book to the beach or something.

Now that I've eaten and taken my shower, I headed back to my room, opened the curtains and was slightly appalled at the clouds rolling in. Big, fat, ugly, ominous, gray clouds. Do you want some more adjectives, because I could throw those in right now.

Either way, they're ruining my day!!! Get out of here clouds.... no one wants your rain.

Hopefully they continue on their dismal way beyond Antibes, leaving me with a bright and happy Sunday afternoon at the beach.

...Maybe I am pushing for spring too hard.