I <3 Valentine's Day

Okay maybe not really <3 (heart). It's feb 14th and you all know what that means. For me, it's just another V-day flying under the radar. I think o and 22 isn't that bad, haha (or as Irene says online... jajaja --and not that's not pronounced jah jah jah like I thought it was). No really, I actually forgot that it was Vday until I went to class. You see, after teaching one of my classes about American high schools one group of students was inspired to organize their own "spirit day" for today. I was so proud. They put posters up and got approval from the principal. They even had a box in the lobby for students to leave love notes that they'd deliver during classes. They went all out. Unfortunately, the French consider it below them to participate in such an uncouth support of anything other than unions or football so it didn't go well. Heck, even I forgot to wear pink or red (oops). I realized my mistake when I saw a group of girls from my class walk up to me in crazy combinations of every red or pink item of clothing they owned. "Lin-say! Where iz yor spirat?" Sorry girls! Of course I didn't get away that easy. One of the girls attacked me with a lip pencil and drew a lovely red heart on my cheek. That works. On the upside, they filled the love note box, even if only their friends actually dressed up.

I'm actually in a good place today, and in general things are fairly calm. My classes have been breezy this week, a combination of the Bac practice tests and a few classes out on internships. The only downfall is the boredom which is starting to take its toll. I need to give this computer a break, but without it I'm not sure what I'd do. I actually have a few books to read, but the ones that are novels are in French and the ones in English are serious reads and I think I'm in the mood for something, I don't know, different than that. Maybe Gone with the Wind meets Pride and Prejudice? I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for. What I should be doing, actually, is delving into some of the philosophy articles/books I have here. I know that once started I'll get into it, but something is holding me back. I think it's this whole waiting to hear back from schools thing. I'm afraid to get back into it only to get shut out from that world. I realize that even if I don't go to philo grad school I can still do philosophy on my own, but for right now it's hard to get into it knowing that I'll love it and may be setting myself up for more heartache if I don't get accepted anywhere. So we'll see. I think I just need to do it anyways. After all, I'm applying because I love it, so why not do what I love to help with this waiting game. But that would make too much sense.

In other news, tomorrow is momma's birthday! The big 5-0.... yes it's online, there's no denying it. I'm sorry I'm not there for it, but I love you!!! Watch some of that OC for me.

Oh and before I forget, this week I went to the circus with Irene. It was crazy. We were also the only people over 5 feet tall not accompanied by someone under 3 feet tall. Oh well. The ringmaster was frighteningly similar to Sarkozy in both appearance and demeanor. I wonder if that says something? The highlight was the lions and the tiger. Yes I realize they should be in the wild, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't neat to see them. Sarkozy doubled as the lion tamer as well, and his routine reminded me of how I play with Lexi (our dog at home). I think he called one of the lions Nala (my alt name for Lexi). Sigh. Also, the circus was run by one family who all changed costumes and pretended to be different people. It was rather funny, though the clowns weren't. One of the kid from the circus family was running about everyone and even ran across the ring. Good times. Being surrounded by some many little cute kids almost stirred some maternal instincts in me. Almost.

One last story for you all. I've realized this year that living in a foreign country has generally decreased my coolness (if ever I had any). By this I mean, every single day I embarrass myself. Not that that didn't happen in the States, but the frequency here is astonishing. Part of it is the dangerous mix of a new language and culture, but another part is that I just seem to be the biggest dork ever when placed in a country that is renowned for grace and poise and culture, etc. I have none of those. Things just don't go smoothly for me. Let's take today for example. I went to swim practice and got my butt kicked by the workout, which is generally a good thing. Normally when I finish I'm the last person to realize that practice time is up and we have to get out. The coach usually laughs and says, "Lin-say a la douche (to the shower)." So today I thought I'd be on top of things before being told to go home. I finished everything that was on the board, and the last bit was a 200 easy. The obvious conclusion to be drawn is that practice is done. So I take off my cap and start to gather my stuff. The coach looks and me and says, "Il reste 5 min Lin-say"...ugh. I thought he was joking, but then I realized that he was totally serious, and he went onto to tell me to do a 200 kick (pointless really). So all the lil kids waiting for their practice laugh as I put my cap back on and start the kick set. The problem was that the last 25 of the 200 was supposed to be all out kick. For me, it was all out flutter kick, and that, naturally, produces quite a bit of splash. Now because I was kicking on my back, I was unable to see the swimmers who had to swim around me. As it turns out, the one cute guy my age that's on the team (is sometimes a coach for the little tykes) passed me while doing backstroke (not kicking, so obviously was going much faster). That would be fine except that I was apparently kicking up quite a storm. When I finished I looked over at him on the wall and he was coughing pretty badly. Not just one or two coughs, but was seriously dieing. I thought to myself, "Wow, I wonder what happened to him." That's when he looked over and laughed through his coughs saying something to the effect of, "You were kicking pretty hard." Zut alors! I was the cause of his lungs full of pool water. I replied with a look of shame coupled with a smile. Oh well. Happy Valentine's day cute guy on the team. I hope you liked your present.... (sigh)