Timber.

Ok, obviously it wasn't this bad, but trees definitely were knocked down this week. It's been a rough storm, after a moderately quiet fall/winter season.

I started Tuesday off solidly, waking earlier than usual because I was going to carpool with a co-worker and get some early coffee. Luckily I got up that early. Just as I turned off the water in my shower, all the power shut off completely. Freaking out, I scrambled to find my towels in the dark but knocked off the entire rack from the wall. Then I hit my foot on the shower and tried not to slip all over the place in the dark.

You have to understand we live in a middle condo unit, meaning we have shared walls on both sides. That leaves only the back of our house available for windows. So yeah, it's pretty dark in there. So I searched the house looking for candles and was unable to dry/straighten my hair. Instead, I threw it up in a quick, sloppy ponytail, hated my life and applied makeup in the dark. Awesome, since we had a game that night and usually have to dress up nicely.

Then I realized I wouldn't be able to open my garage door, or security gate to the complex. What a disaster it was. Thankfully Ben was already driving, so I just grabbed my gate key and went out the pedestrian entrance, standing freezing in the rain. And I found out when I got home that the power came back on not long after I left for work!

Then yesterday, I awoke briskly to a severe crashing noise outside my bedroom window. I sprang to my feet to check what made the noise, and nervously hoped none of the evergreens beyond our backyard had crashed into the fence or house. Luckily they hadn't, but I was never really able to figure it out until I came to work.

When I arrived in the parking lot in front of the baseball stadium and my office, I sat my coffee on top of my car so I could readjust my lunch, purse and open my umbrella. Except it was so windy, the cup was knocked off my car, spilling the contents all down the side of it as well as my pants.

Best week ever.

And I learned from a co-worker who lives in the same area that yesterday's large crash was a palm tree being uprooted and falling to the ground at the Home Depot parking lot a block down the street from my house.

Is it summer yet......??????

Way better than last winter

It's been so warm and sunny the last few days here in California! Almost like a mid-spring type of temperature.

With a rare day off from work (no complaints here, I really enjoy what I do!) I'm finally getting time to be outside and enjoy the warmth.

My parents are heading down to visit this afternoon for lunch and outdoor activities. Not sure if we'll go to the batting cages in Manteca, wine tasting at the Lodi vineyards, check out the port downtown, or what. Seeing as how my dad is a wine-maker, you can probably guess what we'll end up doing!

I'm really looking forward to upcoming outdoor festivals and farmer's markets that really set California springs and summers apart from other states.

In the mood!!

I don't know what it is about the holiday season that tickles me so, but I'm already raring to go this year!

Maybe I'm overcompensating for the fact that I missed out on nearly every American holiday last year by living in France. Though, I am quite bummed I won't be spending my winter vacation running throughout Europe again. Tant pis!

Well Halloween is almost here and my roommates and I are going political this year. I guess because I have brown hair and the glasses, I was told I should go as Sarah Palin. Plus all my roommates are democrats, so I guess I should bring in some conservative flavor (even if I don't know who I'm voting for.... please let's not take the conversation in this direction).

And that's as political as I'm gonna get here.

Though I'm not exactly sure how much of an opportunity I'm going to have to dress up and go out this year. We have a volleyball match Friday, Oct. 31, so I'll be working until at least 10 p.m. Maybe later.

And as jumping the gun as this is, I'm ALREADY prepping myself for Christmas music! I can't wait!!! And Thanksgiving (again, volleyball tournament the next day, so it'll be a short-lived holiday), with its yummy overload and football in the background.

Christmas is just around the corner :) You can't stop it.

And we turned on our heater for the first time this morning! It was 41º this morning (nevermind that it almost hit 70 in the afternoon). But morning and night are turning in to quite the autumn affair.... I'm ready for mittens, sweaters and scarves!

SUPER exciting prospects

So thanks to a late-night email from Michelle tonight, I learned about a REALLY cool summer job prospect. I've been kind of stressing about Summer '09, because my grad assistantship is two years, but only covers the academic year. That means I kind of need to find some summer cash flow. Or be a complete mooch and have my parents pay my rent/bills -- yeah, right.

Well, the prospect is with Major League Baseball, so fingers crossed that actually works out!!! I'd die and be in heaven. Honestly.

But in other news, I'm helping out with the men's basketball media guide -- essentially I'm doing all the layout/design and player biographies. I'm really pleased with how it's turning out and this is a huge deal because men's basketball is our biggest sport here. So that's kind of a major responsibility; hopefully I'll get my name mentioned in the credits section for the design so I can show it off to future employees.

And I can tell it's fall because good old Northern California wind is howling, like it usually does. I'm actually sort of nervous about parking my car in the street, because our neighborhood is lined on both sides of the sidewalk with very large trees.

One of those trees lost about three enormous branches a few houses down thanks to gale force winds. They landed right in front of the house, off the sidewalk where someone would normally park a car. Knock on wood (ha, get it?) branches don't start launching off trees in front of my house anytime soon.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot!! I get to work an NBA GAME next week!


The Sacramento Kings are taking on the Los Angeles Clippers in our campus arena, and I'll be working media for the event. Super excited! Let's hope that I'm paying my dues now being worked to the bone so that way I can have it better off in a few short years....

Welcome to Hell

Although I don't entirely agree that it's hell, California's getting a lot closer to such a state.

After another long weekend trip down to Santa Barbara for the Fourth of July weekend there are nearly 1,000 fires blazing in California and my car is completely covered in ash -- I need a car wash in the very near future. But driving down Wednesday night, I noticed the hills just above Goleta glowing as if I were driving past an active volcano. California's larget -- the Santa Barbara Gap Fire -- is nearly three miles long, running parallel to the 101 and has been causing rolling blackouts among all the power grids within 15 miles of the fires.

Well, luckily no one I know has been injured and all their homes are still in tact. This summer is just turning out to be one of the hottest and most fire-active summer in as long as I can remember.

In other news, I really have enjoyed starting my new job. Here's the first (mini) release I wrote for the website. Oh, and my sports have changed: I'll be the primary contact for women's water polo, men's and women's swimming and the secondary for women's volleyball and baseball.

Looking forward to Week 2!

We don't need no water...

Wait, yes we do.

I can officially report that from both sides of the mountain range in Northern California -- coastal and inland -- are being heavily affected by the 800 rampant wildfires spreading through our half of the state. Typically around this time of year I was always moving out of my dorm/apartments at UCSB and inhaling thick smoke from as far south as San Diego County. So June is always associated with SoCal fires in my head.


Fittingly enough, since today was my big move-out-of-my-parents'-house day, the skyline was covered with a thick, brownish haze. Not only could I barely see Mt. Diablo from the living room -- a feature that sold the house, because we literally are at the base of the mountain -- but just looking at the ground, my world had taken on a reddish hue. I can't imagine what the sun must have even looked like under its smoky guise.

Point of my story is this: everyone I've been talking to lately feels like they've been heavy smokers for the past few days. And it's no different no matter where you go, we're all being hit pretty hard. Well, I guess I can be thankful for the fact that this is all I have to deal with, other than, you know, having my house burn down or close friends and family die in the flames.

And on to another, unrelated topic, I'm having a hard time blogging under the name "French State of Mind." In theory, yes, it's always going to be in the back of my mind, especially how all of my dad's family comes from Francophone regions. But I feel like more of my life these days is spent rambling about coping with California and re-establishing a new life here.

That being said, I'm thinking that I'm due for a big revamp soon. If I can figure it out. Plus, I am ADD girl and my blog has looked like this for nearly one year now.

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 :)

Pays to live in CA

Why am I awake at this absurd hour of the day?

Because a 3.0 earthquake shook the house so hard that everyone popped out of bed just now.

I know you're thinking a 3.0 isn't very big and all, but that's where you're wrong. My dad guessed it was about a 4.0 depending on where it was centered. In fact the magnitude felt so strong because it was centered in our hometown. Don't believe me? Read it here.


No matter how frequently these guys happen, I still get scared of the prophesied "big one."

Edit: Just as I clicked "send" we were dealt another, larger 3.5 quake centered 1 km farther than the last. This girl's going to have trouble sleeping tonight.

Global Warming Killed My Boyfriend

I'll have to update this with picture proof when I get back to Antibes. But I've finally succumbed to a French love-affair.

It all started *cue flashback music* in Switzerland of all places. This chilly Easter morning, I experienced my first real falling flakes of snow in quite a number of years. It sparked something in me that hasn't yet been awaken. Kind of like a child-like state. So in this "weakened" mentality, I was able to let it in.

In Neuchâtel, Switzerland I saw this little guy. My first glimpse of a snowman left by some other love-struck wanderer and suddenly, I was inspired beyond my years.


Since I'd already been heart-warmed by this child-like state, a few hours later and back in Annecy, France chez mon papa, I was quickly reminded of my brief infatuation from earlier in the day. Just like that, a wave of emotions I've never felt rushed over me.


A new idea struck my little American brain and love walked back into my life. This is the beginning:


Just when I thought I'd never have a French romance, I was willing and patient to let things develop. I was trying to catch something before that wasn't yet ready to materialize.


It took a lot of hard work and energy -- even the eventual delay of my favorite nightly ritual: tartes from the local bakery.


In order to make things work with a French man, you must be patient. You have to be willing to see what you want to see and accept the rest for what it is.


French men never smile in photos.


But in the end it'll never work out. Our differences are greater than the miles that span the Atlantic Ocean and separate California from France. Eventually I'll have to go back home. His temper got the best of me the few short hours we spent together. Because of his French heritage, he is cold and slow to let people in.

I made a joke about him being thus and he took it too much to heart. So then I pointed out the obvious stereotype: "If you're so upset about it, why don't your run crying to your mother." However, I didn't know he actually does live with his mom.

I let myself sleep on it and in the morning decided that I needed to apologize and we could work out whatever kinks exist between us.

...But in the morning, he was gone.

* * * * * *

I told you snow makes me feel like a kid. Though, I had to put up with a lot to get here, like a 13-hour delayed flight. I arrived at the Nice Cote d'Azur airport on Friday at 6:30 p.m., a little early for my flight. When the kiosk finally opened, my gate was never listed and "Flight Delayed" kept flashing by all the Easy Jet flights.

Well, three hours passed and the two flights of the night that were later than my 9 p.m. flight had already come and gone. Our plane sat patiently at the designated gate, waiting for people to fill it up. By 11:30 p.m., we were finally given the green light to board. Alas, after 30 minutes in the hangar, everyone was told to leave and go back beyond security to the airport's main lobby. Everything in the airport was closed and half the lights were off. Instead of flying out that night, every single passenger was given free transportation to the Park Inn hotel right by the airport along with a (HUGE, un-France-sized) breakfast the next morning and transportation back to the airport.

Long story short, I made my way to the Basel airport for a snow-filled weekend in Germanic Switzerland with my parents. Here's my very first glimpse of snow, before even getting off the plane:


Though I don't yet know how this story will end. It's supposed to snow heavily for the next three days in Geneva, so only time will tell if my flight will be able to leave ground this afternoon...

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...

"Par contre aux Etats-Unis..."

(Though it is much larger than mine, here's a good example of a typical French elementary school.)

I find myself saying this a lot: "But back in the United States..."

Basically, it's setting me up for a comparison between France and the United States. I swear that's all my roommate and I talk about, is what it's like here compared to the good ol' U.S. of A.

Whatever. If you're born a certain way, you're always going to be seeing through that tint of glasses, right?

And I'm super surprised I haven't brought this one up yet, but that's probably because I see it every day at school. But every morning, rain, hail, thick fog, or shine -- though we haven't been seeing much of that lately, it seems I did, in fact, jinx the nice weather this weekend -- all the students are left to run a muck outside in la cour (the playground, though it's nothing but a concrete square blocked off from the outside world by the fence and gate that circle the entire school).

When the morning, recess, and afternoon bells ring, the students have two minutes to line up according to class, two-by-two. Once this is done, the teachers -- usually laughing amongst themselves in the center of the cour -- break off and go to their respective lines. From there, they take turns going up the stairs to their classes. It's all very systematic, like a ballet really.

One teacher enters, the others encourage their lines of children to follow and instinctively take sequential pauses. You have to wait 30 seconds at the door to enter the interior. Thirty seconds at the bottom of the stairs to climb them. Once you reach the summit -- you guessed it -- a 30 second pause atop the stairs. Then the double doors leading to the classrooms requires another 30 second stop, while you wait at your teacher's door for him/her to say the magic words, "Entrez les enfants." Only then is it safe to enter the classroom. If I didn't know better, I would have guessed this country has an impeccable military power, based on the obedience and compliance alone that is visible in the elementary school system.

All that explaining and picture-painting was necessary to say this one thing: WHY DO THE TEACHERS LEAVE THEIR KIDS OUT IN THE RAIN SO LONG?!?!

This morning, it rained again. And during all the 30-second pausing, a bunch of class lines inevitably are going to have to wait outside. I understand that it'd be pandemonium if everyone was to run inside all at once, but why can't the classes begin like ours did back in California: Students entered the classroom at their leisure, as long as everyone was seated and ready to go by the time the first bell rang, when teachers would call roll. And if it was raining, we'd certainly have indoor recess; we weren't left to fend for ourselves against all the elements. Especially since the majority of parents obviously don't equip their children with raincoats or umbrellas! Fashion wins over practicality nine times out of 10 in this nation, so every student is perfectly dressed in their long peacoats, jeans tucked into their boots and perfectly coiffed hair.

Oh yeah, did I mention they're only NINE YEARS OLD?!

And let's not forget the scatter-brained teacher. Everybody had one at some point in their life. I remember a good handful from just elementary and middle school alone -- don't get me started on college.

But said teacher was nearly five minutes late after the first bell rang this morning! So guess what that means: her perfectly-lined up students stayed in their line, necks craning towards the front door, waiting patiently for their maitress to show. If only they were this orderly and quiet in class... However, that doesn't excuse the fact that they were just left standing in the rain and not one single teacher/administrator pretended to even half care! Am I missing something here?

Well, just like all things here, I've decided just not to care really. I know that sounds selfish and totally wrong, but I find that my lessons are better when I've hardened to my environment. Instead of worrying about minor details and being everyone's friend, I'm just here to do one thing and one thing only: teach. For example today my classes erupted in noise and general outburst all afternoon long when I decided to put my foot down. I let them finish and then ripped through my exercises and lesson with some success, I think. Well, at least half the class understood what was going on and did really well, so we'll see how Day 2 of my "emotions" lesson goes on Tuesday.

There you have it, I only have 53 days of teaching left to look forward to in France.

And yes, I actually did count out how many teaching days I have left in this country. The other 50 will be extremely blissful, since they are not filled with school. Oh yeah, and two weeks of that time won't even be spent in this country at all since I'll be spring breaking throughout Europe :)

A sequel to mauvais temps

After that hurried little post I banged out this afternoon, the day got significantly worse. Perhaps this was the most unpleasant weather-related experience I've had to deal with all year!

Well, at first it was exciting. Like the first time you experience something "different," once you realize that it's a bother and imposing on every-day well-being, it becomes more of a burden than a novelty.

The hail and slush quickly melted off and turned into 45 minutes of non-stop torrential downpour. It wasn't that long really, but strong enough to cause mass flooding all down my street. I even saw the underground drainage system overflowing with water, running down the streets only adding to the car-size puddles in the roads. Because of this, the local police deemed it unsafe for cars to "float" down the street and subsequently closed off all roads near my apartment complex. Cool right? I could walk down the street, listening to my iPod in peace, without having to worry about French jackass drivers plowing through the puddles and unnecessarily spraying me with nasty road-water.

Except when the rain started coming in stinging angles and my pants were soaked higher than the knees -- front and back -- I realized it's probably worth the 1 Euro to take the bus. Well, that was 35 minutes into my walk, I was nearly halfway and sat and waited for the bus. However, since all roads north of me were closed, that meant the bus changed routes so I was left waiting in vain 20 minutes for a bus that never came!

Either way, I called my school and warned them that I'd be a little late because the floods were blocking my normal route and I couldn't hop on the bus like normally.

...Little did I know, my tardiness was pretty low on the grand scale of the day's events at my second school.

Now, I'm going to put out a radical statement here. I'm going to demonstrate, in my one small life-observation, how one English assistant's daily experience is a microcosm for France's immigration policy as a whole.

The second school at which I teach on Mondays and Fridays, and the following statement is by no means an over-exaggeration: is 75 percent populated by children of immigrants, notably from Northern Africa. Actually, I would venture to say that UNDER 25 percent of the students there are white and/or native French citizens.

This is mainly because Antibes is one of many French cities where children have to attend the closest school to their residential units. Thus, the school -- can I point out that it's right on the train tracks -- is plopped right in the middle of the immigrant district.

Why do I mention this fact?

Because after attending my other, whiter school this morning in the rain, nothing out of the ordinary happened. But when I arrived 10 minutes late at Juan-Gare, I noticed all the teachers were suited up in their rain gear, yelling at all 250 students in the courtyard (playground I guess as we'd call it in the U.S.). When I went up to the teachers' room to drop off my stuff and dry off a bit, I noticed no one was up there. Then I noticed one person running down from the third story, absolutely drenched, warning me not to go into any of the rooms. That's because a massive leak was dripping water from the third floor, including the now over-flowing toilets, all the way down to the first. The directrice deemed it unsafe for students to be in class, because should there be a fire -- HIGHLY unlikely in this sopping weather -- all fire exists were blocked and/or running with water. It would only take one student to fall down those stairs to cause a lawsuit that would eventually close down the school.

But my point here is that the rainstorm really was not that long. It lasted for 45 whole minutes. Where was the school district's maintenance crew? Why did one small leak cause such a massive problem? Why didn't the white school have this "inconvenience," as the administration kept referring to it, so not to verbally step on anyone's toes by pointing out the blatant racism at hand in this situation.

Well, it affected me, too. For two of the three hours after lunch, all the students were free to run around outside until the janitorial staff mopped up all the water. Luckily, the sun came out and halted any further damage from happening. So, as useless as I was, I was told to stay at the school during my normal hours, until someone decided it was ok to return to the classrooms.

Well, I only got in 40 minutes of actual instruction, which essentially was supposed to be a review session for Friday's unit test. Since two-thirds of my students never received such a review, I now have to push the test back until after the two-week winter break and expect them to have studied up and be ready to go.

Please, God, let my students be disciplined enough to study over the next two weeks without instruction...

Ya de la grêle!

I will definitely post more about this later.

BUT, I have to run (um, maybe I'm going to rethink running) to my classes in Juan-les-Pins in a few seconds, literally. Interestingly enough, I decided against paying 12 Euros for a bus pass this month, because I'm probably only going to take the bus four or five times in February.

Anyways, I'm getting ready to walk to my second school today which is about 50 minutes by foot -- I kind of want the exercise.

That might be a little tricky because IT'S HAILING RIGHT NOW!!! And I'm not sure, but I think the rain's also turning into soft little snow flakes, which are melting as soon as they hit the ground.

Perhaps I'm going to rethink my decision to not take the bus...

...SIX DAYS UNTIL CALIFORNIA!!!

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.

I've stayed drier in a POOL

One day in the future if/when I have kids, I'll finally be able to tell them, "When I was your age I had to walk x miles in the snow."

Scratch that. In the rain.

As usual, it's a Monday so the 2008 bus strikes are continuing. However, figures the only day of the week there's a strike WOULD BE the wettest day of the week. And bear in mind you're reading the blog of someone who was hardcore enough to ride her bike in the rain to and from classes at UCSB! A little water doesn't scare me.

But, when I have to work in two different cities it does. You see, normally when it's pouring this hard, I just suck it up and rely on my umbrella to protect me to and from the bus stops. But, no bus, no dry. Instead, I was forced to walk 50 minutes BOTH WAYS to school.

And leave it to French drivers to make my day even more miserable than it already was. On the way back home, my entire route is uphill. That means streams of water are pouring down towards me in sizes and speeds that could probably rival the Loire itself. (That's probably NOT an exaggeration).

So while there are already pools of water raging down towards me, all the drives still refuse to adhere to right of ways. And I was almost hit twice. Luckily one bastard stalled his car stopping for me at the final second. Serves him right. Everyone else though sped up when they neared me, rolling their wheels through immense pools of water, spraying it all over my body.

I'm not joking with you right now: I have street water all over my face and clothes. Imagine oily and dirty cars rolling around in that mixture, plus whatever billions of dogs have already done their business on the road/sidewalks today. Actually, I don't want to think about that anymore.

So instead, I'm going to continue shivering as I futilely attempt to dry off my clothes and backpack, then I plan on taking a very long, hot shower.

Consider this a big F-YOU to the French government! You should not be allowed to strike when it's either a.) snowing or b.) raining HARD. If only I had a car....

It's always nice in Nice.

Even in the early stages days of the winter months. See?

I only had to work half a day today, so that left plenty of time for Aimee and me to hop a train 30 minutes East over to Nice -- my former stomping grounds. I say that because that was the last place I studied abroad and I can navigate the city pretty well (shocking isn't it?).

Well we only planned on spending about a half a day in the city, but the beach was calling our names! Even though it was much too cold to even think about taking off our jackets, let alone plunging right in the crystal clear blue water, we did bring a picnic lunch to the lone sandy spot we could find on the otherwise pebbly beach and spent a good hour just taking everything in. Then we decided to walk off our excess hunger by climbing the hills to Castle Hill, where a beautiful waterfall caps off the skyline.

Then you know, we did the requisite shopping thing. Our excuse? It is Christmastime, after all. So we got to wander Vieux Nice as well as the crazy main part of the downtown area.

Around 5 p.m., we figured might as well stay for dinner since we've made it this long. But the ongoing joke in France is that no one will even think about opening their doors for you until it's after 8 p.m. in any restaurant. Upsetting really. Why do you French people eat so darn late?! So we continued on our wandering path, looking for a cafe or someplace to pass the time.

Finally at 7:15, we stumbled across a really cute little Indian restaurant where we ordered up Indian kir (sparkling white wine with rose and orange syrup), chicken tandoori, garlic naan bread, curry vegetables and potato rice. Oh man it was delicious. And that was probably my first real encounter with Indian food. I'm definitely going back another time! This is what the restaurant looked like from our table:

And here I am near 1 a.m. with absolutely nothing to do. My classes are almost done, it's almost vacation, and as usual, I have Wednesdays off :)

So until the next time, check out my photo album from the day's adventures!

14 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

- and -

ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS IN FRANCE!!

Oh how I hate the cold!

When I woke up this morning, I knew it was going to be a bad day because the sky was black. I actually wasn't sure whether it was morning or night and I did sleep in a little through my alarm. I think it's just one of those days that starts off not knowing which way's up or down.

But the GREAT thing about the impending winter -- nay, it's already here as it's only 9º Celsius and it's nearly 11 a.m. -- are the ways in which I choose to warm myself up! For example, I ran home and heated up some chestnuts then proceeded to devour the entire bag.... mmmm. Healthy, too. Now a pot of water is boiling on the stove, waiting for me to go turn it into a cup of minty tea goodness.

But at the grocery store yesterday, I really did get into the fall and winter festivities. This began by purchasing first and foremost some pumpkin soup! Actually, it was sparked by the spotting of OCEANSPRAY CRANBERRY SAUCE IN THE INTERNATIONAL AISLE!!!! For anyone who knows me, my favorite thing about Thanksgiving is hands down, the cranberry sauce. And the pumpkin pie. But mostly the sauce. I refrained from buying it, because the jar was about the same size as a jar of baby food and cost nearly 3 Euros. No thanks.

Then my cart and I continued throughout the store picking up fun seasonal treats. The best part? My 1,25 Euro Mickey and Minnie Mouse advent calendar! Bring on December and the rain!! I don't really mind that my shoes, pants, airing laundry on the balcony are soaked because it means I get to start making some yummy warm things to fill my belly. Now I'm just waiting on my French Press and then I can go looking for Peppermint Schnapps to add into a cup of coffee or hot chocolate ;) Or, if I'm feeling non-alcoholic, I need to find hard peppermints or candy canes to dissolve in cups of warm drinks.

Oh yeah, my other really exciting piece of news is:

I GET TO SEE MY DAD TOMORROW!!! Really, really excited about that -- can you tell?

He called me from France last night and after notifying him that I used his credit card to purchase my groceries -- I hope said card isn't canceled now ;) -- do you know what his first words to me were? (And I'm putting this in here because he, sarcastically, told me to. See, I'm an obedient daughter).

"You bitch!!!"

After laughing quite a bit, my response was, wait for it...

"Dad, have you been drinking tonight?"

Affirmative. Haha, I love you. Can't wait for this weekend!!!!

Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you're curious about how my diet's been going over the past week, I've already lost between 3-4 lbs! However, I've been cheating pretty badly on the weekends and it looks like this week will be no exception. So that just means I'll stick with it a little longer than normally anticipated to compensate for my days off in between :) My overall number is still up from when I first came here, so let's just say I can drop 2-3 more kilos (about 5ish lbs.) then I'm back at what I started :)

Snow in the mountains!

That's right, it's 65 degrees in Antibes and snowing in the mountains of Nice!

Now that I'm off the hook from teaching for about two weeks, I can start to do things I haven't had time for here in Antibes! Or things I haven't been adventurous enough to experience over the past month.

So after my usual day-off trip to the médiathèque, I noticed that the mountains in Nice were covered in snow and really wanted to take some pictures. Not long after I realized it was a beautiful day! And the rest is history :) I headed out to Fort Carré and Port Vaubin to read my newest book from the library -- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, in French of course. Hanging out at the port made me realize that I need to start making some friends down there! Entire groups of French, English and New Zelanders were sitting in their yachts, basking in the sun and eating their lunch. Actually, it was more like they were beginning their apéro just before lunch. I could smell the pastis a mile away! (Or should I put that in metric??)

Speaking of food, I really need to calm down. I've definitely gained some weight again, UGH. But it's so SO hard to restrain oneself with all the brioche, pain au chocolat, bon-bons, Pims, biscuits, tartes aux fruits, etc. I guess I've put the expression, "Like a kid in a candy shop," to shame. My clothes still fit the same, but I noticed that I'm not looking the same as before I left...

However, the one thing I'm really bummed about during this vacation time is that I can't eat in the cantines at my schools anymore, well until I go back to teaching next month. Three-course 2 Euro meals were AWESOME! But maybe taking a break from those will do me some good as well.

So I've made the decision to stop buying cookies and nutella! My new snack of choice is first a large bottle of water, and then some fruit. I've been running a lot lately and doing a bunch of sit-ups, so hopefully I'll get back to what I was before. Pace yourself, Monique.

Wish me luck!!

I'm freaking out!!!

View from my bedroom at night, if you're curious...

Ok, this afternoon it was 18 degrees (which, I remember from HS physics, thanks Ms. Lewis! can be converted to Farenheit by multiplying the number, 18, by 9/5, let's just say 2 = 36 so far... and then adding 32, but because I already rounded up earlier, let's say 30 = 66 degrees Farenheit). And it was fairly muggy and humid, as I noticed the first day I stepped off the airplane.

Because of the nice weather, Sarah and I were finally able to find a beach and since it's now October, it's mainly only locals.

Getting to my point -- THE WEATHER HERE IS NUTS!

It's still equally humid close to midnight, but the sky is now pouring down torrential rain. An hour ago, I heard my upstairs neighbors making a whole bunch of noise and I wasn't sure what furniture they were moving or throwing out...

Now I realize those terrible sounds were not moving noises, but thunder ripping throughout the atmosphere. And the entire apartment keeps lighting up as lightning bolts through the sky every 20-or so minutes. I guess I'm not going to sleep tonight. Now ambulence sirens are piercing the momentarily-silent night and the baby next door is beginning to wail.

This just goes to show that the hills of Antibes can be equally as exciting as the downtown area.

And since I'm not getting any sleep, I've posted some of my 100+ photos from the past seven days:
http://community.webshots.com/user/mmoyal85