December creeps on in

This post is a bit of randomness, but then again, my week has been a bit of randomness, so it's not entirely my fault. Things are going, for better or worse. Work is back in gear (thankfully), and I'm starting to get back into the groove around here. So here's what's been happening:

Saturday night- This was concert night at the Liberties, our English pub, so naturally we went. Well, actually, I didn't really want to go (truth be told). It was raining, which isn't itself unusual or off-putting, but the music was advertised as hardcore rock/metal. Yeah. Not my style. But one of the girls really wanted to go, and another promised to go with, and I couldn't let them go it alone, so off we went. We even managed to rope in the girls from down the street, so we made a party of it. I saw my student Camille there and that was fun because I never see her anymore (after the England trip I realized she's not actually in any of my classes). I saw a few more students, which would normally be weird but in such a small town I didn't think much of it, and they were all very friendly and didn't treat me like an uncool teacher. Anyway, the music sucked. Well, the first band was okay because they used words. The other band, well they screamed, loudly. When no one sang the music was fine, but when the singer got going it was indiscernible screeches.... ehhh. Luckily we were upstairs and didn't have to really listen, and instead we focused on honing our pool-sharkness. Yes, we are awesome. I dare you to come and challenge us to a game.

Unfortunately, on the way home we ran into problems. As we walked by the elementary school where Irish Rach and Kate live, a man on the far side of the building was staring at us and started banging on the window to get our attention. Well, they thought they lived alone, and so the man was a surprise in and of himself, let alone the fact that he was banging on the window like a psycho. It was late, and they were freaked out, so we let them stay over at our house. From our flat they called the police to have the school checked out. The police were kind of mad, but they begrudgingly sent someone to check it out. They didn't find anything, but the girls weren't going back to the creepy school after they saw that guy. The police made them talk to the elementary headmaster about it, and all he could tell them was that another person may or may not live there. Helpful, those French. As of now, there have been no further sitings, but no updates on whether someone else actually lives there.

Sunday- Rhi and I trekked out to Church, this time with minimal rain. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Christmas season had begun. We even lit the advent candle! Though, it was a bit out of place because advent celebrations are typically German and English, not French, but these evangelicals decided to steal the tradition for themselves (having obviously abandoned the French-Catholic traditions, whatever those may be). So we lit the advent candle and sang Christmas carols. We sang one song that was awesome called "Comme une souffle fragile" (like a fragile breathe) and another that we actually sang in high school French called "Il est ne le divine enfant" (he is born the divine baby). I learned things. It was good. I'm feeling much more comfortable there. I haven't found fellowship, per se, but I am feeling more at home. I can go and know that everyone will be warm and welcoming. And most importantly, I can praise and honor the Lord. That reminds me of something I've been trying to learn. I used to look at Church and fellowship as things that I were made for me, not for God. Church should feed me, it should teach me things, it should suit my music/worship style tastes, etc. Notice the reoccurence of 'me' in there. It's that whole consumer-model religion. Religion is only worthwhile if it can serve me. That's wrong, obviously. But it's a hard attitude to get rid of. I'm trying now to get into the mindset that I'm here to serve, not be served. So yeah. Any-who, back to the church service.... After it was over they had lunch and we were invited. I didn't want to go, to be honest, but this 16yr old girl was taken with the 'foreigners' and wanted us to stay.... so we did. It was nice, but a little awkward. It was a 2 hour deal, and it was hard to stay interested for that long. But I'm glad we stayed, and I made a friend (who I think is named Sarah), so that was nice.

Sunday was the day of the big wind storm. I thought it was a hurricane or something. That night the power went out, several times, to the detriment of our now no longer working Christmas lights. Sadness.

Monday was less eventful (isn't this detailed play by play getting boring...sorry). I got McGyver (the French fix it man) to fix Rachel's light which neither of us could manage to change. How many anglophones does it take to unscrew a light bulb? More than 2, apparently. He came and unscrewed it with no problems, and then looked at me like I was some helpless american. But he didn't make fun of me. Then he fixed my heat so I no longer live in frigidness. My room feels like FL now, and I love it! On a bad note, Yves was mad at me. Apparently he didn't get my email or my note in his box or the message from the other teachers that I had to miss Monday's class 2 weeks ago to go to Paris early. Oops. He said the students showed up (the ones I still haven't seen yet for a variety of hit and miss incidents) and I wasn't there. Sorry. I left you 2 messages! What do you want? Whatever. I didn't really have a choice, and it's too late to fix it now. On a better note, I started debates with my other class, finally, and it went lovely. I'm finally excited to teach again. It's about time.

Tuesday- I used fill-in the lyrics with my BTS class (the 20 somethings). The rowdy class of footballers was really fun, actually, cause they sang along to Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girl. I had to listen to it about 20 times though. My 2nd group wasn't much fun because it was all the well behaved, but boring, girls. It's hard because I thought I'd like the well behaved students better, and I don't. They're just too dull. I'd rather they goof off and talk out of turn just so long as they look alive and interested. We'll see how next week goes. Maybe they just didn't care for music.

Wednesday- I went with Rachel to Rennes to pick up her boytoy Collin. It rained and rained and my feet were soaked. I gave in and bought some boots, but not French ones. I bought Wellies, yes, Wellies, the English rubber boots. It was either Cheetah or fake Burburry, and I went with the latter. I had to buy insoles too because they are literally just rubber. We'll see how they work out. At least my feet will stay dry. Oh and I randomly hurt my foot, and it hurts, sucky.

Okay I'm done. I felt like being long and boring today; don't ask me why. If you made it this far, well, props to you; you must be bored too. It's time for me to catch up on Laguna. Cheers.