10.31.2006

Apartment Tour

Well, we did it! We finished our apartment video. Click the "Vimeo" link to the right and you'll see on my bio it's the newest clip. Or I guess you could just click here, whatever you like. Enjoy!

PS - We are just about to go to a Halloween party, so pictures will ensue. :-)

10.30.2006

Aperitifs

Today I had a very long, arduous day that consisted of movie watching, basking in the 29 degree C weather (that's about 85 F), and bread-eating.

Normally I would post pictures of what I did, but I'll abstain for two reasons, the first being that nobody wants to see pictures of what I did, it's simply too boring. The second being that Hannah and I also made a house tour video today, and why bother with pictures when there are videos to share?!?

Uno problemo... the video is still compressing and you can't see it yet. But you have that to look forward to!

In other news, our landlady has been having a huge amount if guests here the past few days and they have been making a large amount of noise overhead. We had been speculating as to what they could possibly be doing up there... wheelbarrow racing? Feverish bouts of DDR? Irish step dancing? Tonight I found out what has been going on because we were invited up for an apéritif.

Truth be told, one of Isabelle's friends has very clicky high-heels and a small daughter of maybe only 4. We thought that was probably the cause of all the noise. HOWEVER... it turns out Isabelle's son (maybe 10-12ish) is quite the rabble rouser indeed, and so tonight we saw, in person, how he was taking all the sofa cushions and throwing them up into the loft, running up the stairs, throwing them back down, running back down, throwing them all about, etc. Hannah and I are quite convinced that he is the ultimate noise maker, but we are no longer upset by the racket because I must say we found the cushion tossing to be quite entertaining.

Tonight I learned some key phrases to use with children:
"Croques!" - Chew!
"Tu te calmes." - Calm down.
Hmm, actually those are the only two I remember... but I certainly did hear them a lot!

Anyhow, it was a fun two hours. It's always nice to be able to practice a bit of spoken French and more importantly, hear a lot of spoken French. It was also nice to be able to spend some time with some very nice kids... a little bit of a change from my lycée!* A+

*In fairness I must say the kids at my school are nice, if not a little underwhelmed with the prospect of learning English.

10.29.2006

Bathroom Botheration

Things in France are going well! Things in our bathroom, however, seem to be going astray.

First off, our lights have almost all gone out. Gone! The bulbs have been dying like flies one right after the other. And now we have but one single bulb lighting our bathroom. It looks quite bleak and eery, especially when you shower because the steam makes it look foggy and dim.

We have located spare bulbs at Monoprix, but we were not sure of the wattage of our lights so we did not buy any. Now that we have figured out how to take the bulbs out of the fixture (15 minutes in the bathroom and only minor electrocution) I now have a sample light bulb for comparison and think our future looks brighter (hardee-har-har).

Second, Hannah and I went to replace our toilet paper and could not find our super-cute butterfly toilet paper. We made the executive decision to buy a different brand. We ended up buying these MASSIVE rolls of toilet paper (supposedly the equivalent of 3 rolls in one) because they were a bargain. We ended up getting home and realizing that not only was the toilet paper scented (ugh, it's a horrible smell), but it also is not so nice on the derrière. Add to that the fact that the pattern is ugly, and you've painted yourself the proper picture. Luckily we only have 4 rolls of the stuff to go through... or should I say 12? A+

PS - Here is a picture of my iron burn. It doesn't look really impressive when photographed, which is not surprising because it's not that impressive in person. I just took a picture of my burn because I like taking pictures.

10.28.2006

In France... still!

Recently what's been happening?

Well, I am now on vacation. The wonderful French education system believes that two weeks off every 5 weeks is essential, so after only 9 hours of official logged working hours, I am now on a week and a half of vacation.

On Wednesday I went to a museum in Perpignan. I can't remember the name of it, but it right in the city center up a street between Place Arago and Place de la République. The museum was quite cute! It is pretty small, 3 stories, and very laid back. There is next to no security there, so you can get quite close to pictures and nobody really worries too much about it. The first floor had a whole bunch of miniatures by more recent artists, and that had to be my very favorite floor. Sadly, it closes at the beginning of November so it probably won't be a place any of you will get to see if you visit.

I also found the Auchon, the Wallmart of Perpignan. It's amazing! It's bigger than the Auchon in Paris, or maybe it just seems bigger because of the throngs of people wandering through it. It is definitely the mecca for shoppers and bargain hunters. My roommates and I found a dish rack, tea, cutting board, scales, and a whole bunch of other (not so) necessary kitchen items at quality prices. YAY! I know, I know, shop locally. And I would, really, but the most inexpensive dish rack in Perpignan proper is 38 euros, and the one at the Auchon was 5. How *can* you resist?

Thursday was my first official day off, so I took care of some official business. I went and got my bank card and I also went to pick up my Recipissé from the Prefecture. I did not do much else, and the highlight of my day I suppose would have been randomly bumping into other assistants, which is always nice.

Thursday also marked the first baking adventure in our convection oven/glorified microwave. We made a quiche, and it was perfect!

Friday Amanda and her friend Ruth left for a hike of doom (from my perspective, anyhow) through the Pyrenese Mountains. They will be back on Wednesday. Hannah and I had our own adventure when we made another trip to our newfound shopping mecca. We also were going to make soup that night but could not find all the ingredients so we settled for frozen pizza cooked in our microwave and ... well, that's it. When Amanda leaves, the veggies go, too.

Today is Saturday, and I went in to town this morning to buy vegetables at the market (we're making an attempt to bring them back), Ribeïrou bread, and Chèvre. We were down to one box of Chèvre (GASP), so we bought a few more. For those of you who don't know, Chèvre is good on everything - crepes, bread, pizza, noodles, apples, Bounty Bars, and anything else, really.

This afternoon I "watched" a movie, meaning basically I had a nice nap on the couch. I also took this lovely picture of the green grass outside of my window, our lovely wall separating us from the commercial district we live in, and the neighbor's house.

No plans for tomorrow, as of yet. It is daylight savings time, though. I am thinking of walking in to town and calling my grandmother since I have found a card that for 7 euros give you 6 hours of call time to the US, so... that's pretty nice! And the buses don't run on Sunday since nothing is open to go to. Maybe the beach? Hmmm...

To finish off this lovely montage, I'll leave you with a picture of my driveway that I took the other night when it was particularly lovely outside. A+



PS - I burned myself with our iron "like whoah". I now have a groovy mark on my forearm. Next time my skin starts to feel all burny, I might do something about it instead of thinking to myself, "Hmm... that's odd. My skin feels all burny."