March Madness

Well, it's official. The month that I once thought would never end has officially come to a close. Personally I couldn't be happier. This means just 3 months (92 days to be exact, but who's counting) and I'll be coming home. And on this last day of March it occurred to me that there was a rather important piece of news that came about in March that I have neglected to write about.
When I return to the US in July I will be moving to Boston. Jared has accepted a place in the History Masters program at Boston College and there seem to be a wide range of job opportunities there for me so I'm looking forward to it! I've only ever briefly visited Boston, but it seemed like a great city. Don't get me wrong, it's no D.C., but I think it'll be a great new adventure.
If anyone has contacts in Boston who might know of affordable (I realize that's a ridiculous word to be using when discussing Boston, but a girl can try) housing or interesting jobs, feel free to contact me.
More than anything I'm just excited to have some semblance of a plan for the next part of my life. I like plans and even though this one is just the bare bones of a plan it's better than nothing! So here's to the countdown!
3 months = 13 weeks = 92 days = 29 days of teaching UNTIL I COME HOME!

Quick Update 2

March has been a rather uneventful month, but at least it's gone quickly. One more week of teaching and then I'll be in Prague and Budapest for a week of our two-week-long Spring vacation.
And while the weather has been atrocious at least we get rainbows now. This is the second one in a few weeks. And these photos are NOT photoshopped in any way.
I've never seen rainbows so bright and intense. You can very clearly see every color.
And the other event in March was that Priya and Sam came to visit France. Katie even came down to Paris to see them and we were all able to meet up for dinner one evening. We all studied abroad in Grenoble back in 2005 so it was nice to see them again!
And that's been all of March. See you in April... LOTS more happening then! :)

Joyeuses Paques!

Happy Easter. Hope everyone back home had an excellent holiday weekend and that everyone, both in France and America, will enjoy their Monday off.
Today I was incredibly culinary. Lisa and I decided to celebrate the day in style with red beans and rice. Mainly because we forgot to go to the grocery store yesterday and that was the best meal we could concoct using the ingredients in our combined cupboards (in my case the bag on the table since I am still waiting for a replacement cupboard). Then we made... wait for it.. homemade brownies. Those who know me understand my penchant for brownies and realize that I make them often. But always from a box. But this time I made them from scratch, and from a recipe all in French from a magazine no less. Lisa and I rationalized that they were very Easter-y brownies since they used three eggs and the chocolate for the brownies was a chopped up Easter bunny my mom sent to me.
So that was my Paques... any other interesting stories out there?

Luck O' the Irish

So just after it turned St Patrick's Day... about 12:41am to be exact I do believe, I was awoken by a crash. And I don't mean a little crash. I mean this thing woke up everyone in a three block radius and left me shaking. So I decided to turn on a light and see what was going on. Except the lights didn't work. My electricity had randomly cut itself again. Good times. So I got my flashlight and ripped back the curtain between my living/bedroom and the kitchen expecting to scare away a large animal or intruder. But no, the small flashlight beam landed on this.
That's right. The hot water heater decided to make an escape from the wall and on its break for freedom it took out my cupboard, hot plate, toaster, bottom cupboard and ripped the sink from the wall as well.
This is where the break for freedom from the restraints of plaster, mortar and brick was.
This is the site of the once fabulous cupboard.
There used to be a drawer there. And some shelves. You can also see the poor hot plate.
The hot water heater fell a fair distance. But it couldn't get far enough. The water lines held it in place.
I think I have 5 of 18 plates left and a fair amount of my food landed on the disgusting floor or got oil all over it.

I called my landlord from my neighbor's apartment and he actually drove the 2 hours out here at 1am to make sure it was ok. I slept at my neighbor's for the night just to be on the safe side. And this morning my landlord called his fix-it man, who is also about 70 years old, and he came and we started clean up. After several hours I now have electricity and cold water back. But the estimate on the hot water heating going back up (yes, they're putting it back up in the same place) is about 3-4 days. Good thing I have a visitor coming tomorrow night, eh?

I guess in all honesty it was a best case scenario for a bad case. I wasn't in the kitchen. If this had happened just a few hours earlier I would have been standing at my sink washing dishes and I'd probably be fairly maimed. It also didn't fall through the floor giving Philipe scary-easy access to my apartment. And it's all things that can be fixed. Though I'm not sure I'll ever feel totally secure washing dishes again.

Happy St Patrick's Day! Hope you're having more Irish luck than I am so far today.

Quick Update

So not a whole lot has been going on in my life that's worth noting, but I thought I would give a general update anyway.
I'm now well over halfway through my 9 months of voluntary servitude in France and things are finally starting to go well. I've almost hit my stride in teaching. I find that a mix of bribes, bitchiness and business add up to a productive class. The kids are, for the most part, progressing nicely, and I feel comfortable enough with a few of the teachers to have real conversations which is always nice.
Outside of the classroom things are going even better. I decided to quit my tutoring job since I was in WAY over my head and the company didn't seem to be quite on the up and up. But since I have started privately tutoring 4 women on English for their upcoming oral and written exams at teacher's university. They're really great and it's nice that they have really specific goals because it makes it easier for me to prepare things for them. And it's nice to meet people. Speaking of meeting people I have a French friend! Her name is Amandine and she just moved to Chartres. She spent a few months in the UK and wants to keep up her English so we've met to speak in English for her and we plan on meeting to speak in French for me. It's really nice!
I also start physical therapy this week for my knees so that will introduce a whole new level of vocabulary that I'm excited about. And I made reservations for my April vacation. I'll be exploring Prague, Czech Republic and Budapest, Hungary for a week before I have even more visitors. I'm really excited because I've always wanted to visit these two cities and now I actually have the chance! There's some other miniature trips in the works, but I don't want to jinx anything.
Other than that there was a birthday party for two of the other assistants up in Paris a few weekends ago and I didn't look totally terrible, so here's the photos from that. It's me with the birthday girls. The first is me with Lisa. She lives next door to me here in crap-fest apartment building and we've had quite a few adventures with the interesting characters that seem to frequent our humble abode. The second is me with Deborah who actually works at a high school in a neighboring town, but chose to live here in Chartres.
So that's my life in a not-so-interesting nutshell. Hope everyone reading this is surviving March as well! A bientot mes amis!

Finally Finishing February Part II

Well... Blogger has been down for a bit so tonight it seems it's working again and I'm taking advantage of that to get the rest of February back up. I know it's late, but that means that I've been busy, and trust me, that's a really really good thing. Even March is almost halfway over now! How incredible is that? I'm super-jealous of all the snow everyone has had back home, even though they all think I'm crazy for it. But here's the fabulous ending to my fabulous February... it's when Jared came to visit me!!
We started off in London. Jared wanted to visit so we took the Eurostar train over and got to go through the Chunnel. A lot of people have asked how it was. The short answer is "dark". Didn't really notice you were in it to be honest. Not that great. But anyway... this first image is an homage to London's park "wild"life. This was, perhaps, the most normal looking bird we saw for the entire trip. There were also rabid squirrels, pelicans (and yes they WERE too pelicans), geese that moved like something from Jurrasic Park, and pigeons that looked seriously inbred.
Our first, and only, full day in London Jared got to go to his precious used bookstores. He even found a few really great books. AND he got to go to the British Museum. By the end of the day we were physically exhausted and Jared had had way too much excitement for one day.
Here's one of the libraries within the museum. Jared's hoping to have a room like this one day.
Random shot of Jared walking through London. I think he really liked it. And since I've been there before it was nice that we could really just do the things that he wanted to do.
The London Eye in the Background, part of the Stock Exchange on the left, Big Ben in the center, and a bit of Westminster in the front. A very British photo indeed.
The Tower Bridge. We didn't have the time or energy to go all the way out to and across it, but the view was pretty good so it didn't matter. Besides, we had a tour to get to!
This was our tour guide. He's a beefeater... or a Yeoman Warder. It's a very difficult job to get and there are lots of perks. He was actually hilarious and incredibly knowledgeable! If you ever go to London be sure to tour the Tower of London. It was the one thing I hadn't done yet and I can't believe I hadn't. Fantastic!
After the long weekend we made a Wednesday day trip to Bayeux. It's up in Normandy near the D-Day beaches and the American Cemetery. We had planned on visiting those along with the Bayeux Tapestry, but the train was almost two hours late so we ended up not having time. It was disappointing, but the tapestry was everything Jared wanted and more. Even for non-history freaks it was pretty cool. Here's Jared outside the museum recreating a scene.
Then we went up the cathedral in town (every town in France has one) and looked around. Jared loved that some of his historical idols actually set foot here. I thought the lighting was neat. But we both enjoyed it, so that's all that matters.
Since we didn't have the time, or money, to get all the way out to the American Cemetery we settled for the Bayeux War Cemetery. It's primarily British, but there are also Australians, Germans, French, etc war casualties buried there. It was moving.
And Jared found a tank outside the war museum. Apparently this one was from the US military.
And I wanted a picture of the sign. It says "Bayeux: Town of Art and History" and then lists the towns it's sistered with around the world. But someone was being a sourpuss and didn't want his picture taken. Tant pis! :)
And finally, on Friday, we went up to Paris. We went to les Invalides, a military museum that still houses active military members. I'd never been here either so it was neat to see.
Les Invalides is most famous as the resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte. Even in death he thought himself to be quite the big man. He is the centerpiece of the entire chapel and the lower ring around the tomb itself is meters upon meters of all his accomplishments etched in stone.
The rest of the museum houses the history of all things military. I'm not exactly a military kinda gal, but some of the armor was amazing. The detail and art and care taken with something you wear into battle was astounding.
And what trip to Paris is complete without a trip to the Eiffel tower?


And we finished off our time together with a great French meal at a little hole-in-the-wall place in Paris' Marais district.
On the metro on the way home we ran into this poster. It's advertising tourism to Cuba. Jared thought it was false advertising as no one in Cuba looks this relaxed and happy and the car is a little too nice and too shiny. But I've got to admit... the sun looks really enticing.
It was a great time together. It was certainly hard to see him go, but time has been passing so quickly it will be July before I know it!

Finally Finishing February Part I

I can't believe February is already over! I know it's the shortest month anyway, but this year (despite the leap year's extra day) it seemed particularly short. As my mother would say; "Time's fun when you're having flies." I finally got done editing the remainder of the good (read:interesting) photos from my trip to Spain and here they are. After we finished with laid-back Granada we moved toward some larger cities to get a well-rounded feel for Andalusian life.
In Cordoba we arrived in the early evening and decided to ask for a good restaurant recommendation. We ended up at a traditional Spanish place with some overly friendly, and a bit intoxicated, German friends. They took quite a liking to Erika and after our table had enjoyed some good Spanish red wine we somehow found it necessary to take some photos with them in the middle of the restaurant.The next morning we got up early to go see the Mesquitza. It was originally a massive mosque, which is quite evident in the many columns and rounded arches throughout.
When the Christians took control of the region they used the existing building but added some "touches" of their own, which eventually grew to an entire cathedral located in the center of the old mosque. Unfortunately the cathedral area was closed off for restoration, but I was able to snap a shot of Jesus looking down into the mosque. I think the irony is quite interesting.
The Mesquitza's courtyard is still filled with orange trees, which had been harvested just before our arrival. The oranges were sitting in HUGE tubs around the edges of the courtyard. What is now the bell tower was once where the meuzzin went to give the Muslim call to prayer.
There's a varied religious history in Cordoba and this next building is unique evidence. There are less than a dozen synagogues left in all of Spain and this is the only one left in Andalusia. Others were destroyed during the Inquisiton. If the architecture looks familiar that's because it is very Arab in nature. Muslim, Christian AND Jewish craftsmen all worked on the building, making it a true gem. The inscriptions are in Hebrew and are from the Torah. This tiny synagogue is buried deep in Cordoba's Jewish quarter, which is a great place to walk around and get lost.
Back out in the main town, the Arab and Muslim influences are evident even today as locals maintain their houses in their original styles and brilliant colors.
We also went to see the Alcazar, and old palace used by Moorish and Christian kings. The gardens were beautiful, the ramparts looked like something out of a medieval fairy-tale and the tower offered a great view of the town. Actually, it reminded me of a miniature Alhambra, with much less Arab decoration.
One thing I did find interesting in all of Cordoba are the window dressings. I can only imagine how hot it must get in July and August because the vast majority of windows had big heavy screens like this one. They're made of a natural material and allow some light and air in without letting in the hot rays of the sun. Quite ingenious.
With our afternoon in Cordoba we went to the Hammam. This is an Arab bath that was recommended by another assistant who visited Spain in November. And after experiencing it myself I understand why she thought we should visit!! For more information check out the website, but I'll give a basic explanation: There are three pools (the largest is about the size of a regular in-ground pool, but the others are only big enough to fit a few people) one with warm water, one with HOT water, and the last with really cold water. There's also a steam room and a masseuse. You start with the warm and spend about five minutes in the water. There are beautiful skylights letting in just a bit of light, candles burning something that smells amazing, soft music playing and the sound of water as it flows into the pools. Relaxing doesn't even begin to describe it. After about 5 minutes you move to the hot bath. The heat is a bit abrasive at first, it makes a hot tub look lukewarm, but after a bit it feels great. After 5 minutes there you spend some time in the steam room. This is a steam room from the movies. You open the door and there is so much thick steam that you literally can't see anything. After the steam room you plunge into the cold water bath and let your body temperature come back down. It's quite a shock at first but after a while it feels really good (think icing your body after a race or a hard workout). Then you keep repeating the circuit. At one point the masseuse calls your number and you go and have the MOST amazing essential oil massage. It's incredible. Then you go back to the pools circuit. And yes you weirdos... everyone is wearing bathing suits. If I lived anywhere even close to Cordoba I'd be going there on a weekly basis. Incredible. Go there. Now. Look how relaxed I look after being there for an hour and a half...
And that was the trip to Cordoba! Up next we had our final, and warmest, city which was Sevilla. The economic and cultural capital of Andalusia.
We started with the cathedral. Like Cordoba's Mesquitza, there was once a mosque here. But instead of using the existing building, the conquering Christians tore it down and vowed to build something so large that it would make all who saw it think they were crazy. I have to agree with Rick Steves on this one... the building is pretty hideous. Granted, it's the 3rd largest cathedral in all of Europe, but it's really ugly. The best part is probably the tower. It's the only part leftover from the mosque. And there are only about 8 stairs in it, the rest of the way up is by ramps, which made it easier for the meuzzin's horse to run up 5 times a day so he could make the call to prayer. Today there are a lot of bells and camera-crazy tourists at the top.

The tomb of Christopher Columbus is in the cathedral as well. Again, see how everyone in Andalusia is trying to take credit for what happened in Granada? Is Columbus's body here? It's debatable... and I'll let Jared debate it.
There's also a treasury with a ridiculous display of the wealth and power of the Catholic Church.
The choir is pretty neat. The large object in the center is actually a music stand. Enormous music books would be placed there for the singers to read. It was far too time-consuming and expensive to have a book for each member to have their own.
After getting in touch with our peace-loving, God-fearing, religious sides we took a tour of Granada's bull fighting stadium and museum. I'm not a fan of the practice and even Michael decided that maybe he didn't want to see a fight after all at the end of our tour. It's just a very backwards and cruel form of entertainment.
The general decoration around the entire city is pretty cool. This wall was near the university and I loved the composition of the photo so you'll have to indulge me. It has no real significance.
That night at the hostel we decided to head to the hostel bar to hang out and for some reason, after a drink, I thought it would be a great idea to challenge Michael to chess. This was a big mistake. If you look hard enough you can actually smell his brain burning into overtime from this photo.
Graffiti is a popular artform in Spain and no one really seems to mind it. I saw this walking around on the 14th and thought it would be appropriate to take a photo since it was Valentine's Day afterall.
We found a really great park as we were randomly walking around... so of course Erika and I played on it! Michael read the nearby sign and thought it was funny that it noted the nearest hospitals. Playgrounds must be really dangerous in Sevilla!
That night we got some tapas action after dinner with a new friend from the hostel...
... and then ran into old friends at a free flamenco session! That's Sa'rah from Ohio Northern. Small world, eh?
On our final morning in Spain, Erika and I went to see the Basilica de la Macarena. We had planned on doing the titular dance outside, but it seemed inappropriate, so we just took photos. The amount of gold is ridiculous...
And on the way out Erika was given a little picture of Jesus. I was standing right behind her so either I look like I'm down with Jesus already or I'm past saving. Either way Erika thought she might take Jesus out for a drink later... get to know him better. lol I think they're a cute couple.
And on the way back from the basilica we literally stumbled on a small market and I was able to buy some jamon iberia for Jared. I'm no ham expert, but ham in Spain is a source of great pride and the time it took this butcher to cut some slices off the main whatever it's called proved just how seriously they take their ham!
Shortly thereafter I hopped on a plane and headed back to cold and dreary northern France. But it was an AMAZING trip that I will always remember. I plan on heading back to Spain at some point... but right now I've got lots of other places to check out first.
Stay tuned for some photos from Jared's recent trip to see me!