France - 10/11/00

10/11/00

Class today was 2 1/2 hours of writing an essay.  Yuck.  Afterwards, we had the meeting about teaching English in Auvergne.  I'll be at the Lycée François-Rabelais in Brassac-les-Mines - a 45ish minute train ride from here.  I met with my teacher contact person afterwards and found out the only day our schedules work together is Monday.  So I'll be taking a before 7am train every Monday and taking a 6pm train back.   I'll be teaching 7 hours on Mondays!  Yuck.  And the school is a "professional" high school, so it trains future cooks, pastry cooks, waiters/waitresses, and sales-people.  She said it's kind of the equivalent of an inner-city US school, minus the violence.  The kids have family problems and there are a few pregnant teens, etc.  Also, they know very little English!  What in the world am I supposed to do with a class full of kids who don't really speak English, when the only thing I'm supposed to do with them is speak English?  I'm already feeling helpless and frustrated and discouraged.  Lord, please help me out with this.  Calm my fears and give me the strength to accomplish this!  (sigh)  After the meeting, Morgan and Sarah and I bought  our schoolbooks at Les Volcans and I bought some socks and a scarf at C&A.  No mail today and I  can't call my Jamie, either.  Life isn't looking good right now.  I miss you, sweetheart.  I love you.

France - 10/10/00

10/10/00

I bought three candles at Galeries Lafayette today.  (Morgan, Sarah, I went shopping after class.)  Green, purple, and pink.  Or "Meditate," "Serenity," and "Joyful."  I have Joyful lit right now.  They match the white "mineral" one I bought at Auchan.  It's already almost 1:30 and I'm not ready for bed,  And I haven't written any letters yet!  I'll write at least one tonight.  Classes started at 9:15 this morning and went on until 4:30 this afternoon, with a 45 minute lunch break.  Long!  Tomorrow we have "Writing" for two and a half hours, and then we've got to go to the Teaching English meeting.   So, before class tomorrow, Sarah and I will go change our enrollment times again.  And I've still gotta pay rent... Tomorrow after the meeting is birthday shopping for Jamie.  I'd like to get him a sketch of me or an antique coke sign done in French, but I think those are both pretty impossible.  Maybe some small antique thing?  Help!  (sigh)  I need to write that letter and then go to bed.  I love you!

France - 10/9/00

10/9/00

I got to talk to Jamie tonight!  I wasn't going to call him, but I went downstairs to call Mom and Dad and thought I'd go ahead and call Jamie just to see if he was there... and he was.  Life is always more wonderful after I talk to him.  I found out today that I'm in level 4 and don't have classes on Mondays.  And class on Friday is over at 11:15, so I've got long weekends all the time!  [The "stage" was just for the first month or so; we took a placement test to put us into our levels for the rest of the year.]  I think I'm going to tell the "teaching English" people that I'd like to work on Wednesday and Friday afternoons.  The bank was closed today, so Sarah and I couldn't pick up our checks and cards.  We did go to Auchan, though, and I stocked up on food.  And bought some makeup and sink cleaner.  Also withdrew 2000 francs from the ATM so I can pay rent and all the enrollment fees.  I have ten letters to write to get caught up, so I think I'll start on that tomorrow.  Today (after my three hour nap!) I cleaned my room, put up my postcard sand pictures, and handwashed all my undies.  Productive!  Jamie talked to his dad about my film, and it looks like I need to go ahead and get them all developed here.  I'll send a few at a time home to Jamie and Mom and Dad, though, so I won't have boxes full in June.  Another expense I hadn't counted on.  (sigh)  I'm getting worried about money problems!  argh.  I'm going to do my devotional and crunches and get ready for bed.  I love you, Jamie!

France - 10/8/00

10/8/00

I'm missing Jamie a lot.  It's always the worst at night.  I had a letter from him when I got back today and it was absolutely wonderful and really made me cry.  Leila (a nice French girl we met last night in Nice) spent the morning with us before our train.  We sat at a café learning French slang for a while before the train... also met a guy name Zerin (from New Zealand) this morning during breakfast; he's in France studying painting.  Our train ride back was nice.  We had a compartment to ourselves to Nimes and watched the sea until we were too far inland.  Then I slept.  From Nimes to Clermont we were in a regular car (no compartments) and we had a blast.  Sarah read her book until almost the end and Steph, Ramsey, and I passed around mine & Ramsey's CD players.  I introduced them both to the Spectrum song and we sang it all the way home.  Back in my room here, I've got the beach mats as rugs.  Tomorrow I have to buy food and cleaning supplies and candles at Auchan.  My room is filthy and smells stuffy.  I also need to unpack, clean, and catch up on letter writing, and put up my pictures/postcards.  Then it'll be more homey!  Mom also sent me a letter today with a People magazine.  And she told me Aunt Natalie gave her a black leather jacket!  And Uncle Ron wants to show her sculpture of Andrea in a gallery.  And she gave him the one of me since he liked it so much.  Gotta go to bed... I love you, Jamie!

Monaco - 10/7/00

10/7/00

It was a fairly wonderful day in Monaco.  The tickets were cheap and Monaco is gorgeous.  On the way there we went through beautiful little towns like "Beaulieu sur Mer."  I'd like to have a "summer mansion" in Monaco or thereabouts when I'm rich.  (ha!)  I wish Jamie could have been there with me.  When we came out of the train station we were right on the dock area and there was a go-cart championship going on.  Loud!  It was really colorful and I took a picture.  (Unfortunately, discovered afterwards it was in panoramic.)  We then hiked up bunches of steps to the top of a cliff where the palace was.  Wonderful, wonderful view!  The oceanographic museum was kinda dull, but the aquarium was nice.  There was one tank where a fish and two eels were tearing apart an oyster/clam thing... drew a crowd.  And there was a really rude group of secret service-type body guards that shoved us out of the way of someone who must have been important.  Sarah was in a horrible mood the first part of the day and pretty much made the rest of us miserable.  The second half was good, though.  We saw the Casino (from outside), a cool fountain, some designer shops - from the outside - (we were glared at), and the beach!  The beach was nice.  We watched "Hip-Man," who did stretches, push-ups, & hip rolls in his speedo, and a guy who got dressed under a shirt he put on around his waist.  I called home from the train station in Monaco to say "hi" and "I love you" and got to talk to Dad!  Wish I could talk to my sweetheart now!

Cannes, France - 10/6/00

10/6/00

Still in Nice.  (warning: Jamie-joke ahead.)  It's nice.

We shopped this morning and then got sandwiches and had a picnic on the beach.  We then got tickets to Cannes and spent 25 minutes standing in a crowded train to get there.  Of course, in the train (while, in the train - I'm tired), it started to rain and it was cloudy when we got to the beach.  Steph and I went all the way in and swam a bit and then Sarah and Ramsey waded a bit.  We changed in a restaurant's private bathroom afterwards (the guy that was cleaning the tables told us we could) and got griped at afterwards.  Shopped a bit this morning (bought a yellow see-through camisole) and then found an Etam Lingerie this afternoon!  Bought a pair of green undies and a set of three cotton camisoles I can wear for pjs.  I also found a postcard at a souvenir shop that says "Je t'aime" that I'm sending to Jamie tomorrow.  I'm tired... This entry really doesn't make much sense.  We had to catch the night bus back and there were 8 of us on there coming to this hostel.  I'm going to wash my face and brush my teeth... tired.  And really missing my wonderful Jamie.  Also bought two cheap bracelets.  Jamie's with his parents right now and I think it's about 2pm there right now.  [Another paragraph or so about Jamie...]

Nice, France - 10/5/00

10/5/00

I'm in Nice.  I'm halfway through the second Bridget Jones book and it's wonderful.  The train ride down here was long, but didn't feel too long... there was a lady sitting next to the four of us who smelled really bad - we all kept sniffing Stephanie's Bonne Bell lip stuff (smells like caramel, but is called cappucino) to get rid of the smell.  We also made comments to each other about the smell, only seeing near the end of the trip that she was reading a paper in English and not French.  [That taught me a very good lesson.]  We spent about an hour on the rocky beach before finding a hostel and it's gorgeous.  It's in what used to be the home of a marquis and we've got a balcony with a great view.  Everyone in here is trying to go to sleep so I'll make this short.  Had dinner at a yummy place in town - had a huge tuna pizza.  The service was great and I spent less than $10.  I love you Jamie!

France - 10/4/00

10/4/00

When am I going to learn?  It's 1:40.  I have to be up in 2 and a half hours and I haven't gone to bed yet.  (sigh)  I made an appointment to enroll on Tuesday.  And there's a meeting Monday for all of us who are interested in teaching English at a high school.  I gave Jamie a quick call today.  Reminded him to ask his dad about the film and told him to have a safe trip... and I told him I love him, of course.  I miss him.  Right now I'm trying to think of something I could give him for his birthday, and I really don't know.  I'm thinking maybe I'll have someone draw me and I can send that to him... but I'd feel conceited.  I have no idea.  And I really need to pack - that goes to show how tired I am.  I've already packed!  I need to put a pair of pjs in my bag and wash my face and brush my teeth.  2 hours of sleep!  I love you Jamie.  Your flight took off 15 minutes ago.  Hope you manage to get some sleep on the plane.  I miss you.

France - 10/3/00

10/3/00

I really need to start writing in this earlier in the day, when I'm not tired.  I got to talk to my wonderful Jamie tonight!  I miss him.  I told him to go ahead and book the Holiday Inn for Paris on the first night.  I need to go over our itinerary and check dates and hotel, etc, before I talk to him next Tuesday.  I have to go a week without talking to him.   I need to write letters tomorrow if I have time.  We all had the big "foreign student orientation" today and I met a girl from Colorado State that just arrived Sunday.  Her name is Stephanie and she's going to go to Nice with us.  As far as I know, it's Sarah, Ramsey, Stephanie, and me for Nice.  We wanted to leave tomorrow morning, but we have to go to a meeting about teaching English in high schools, so we're going to leave Thursday morning.  Morgan gave us the name and telephone number of a hostel she really recommends, so we'll call them tomorrow night about making a reservation.  I'm tired.  Have bunch of things to do tomorrow, so I'm going to bed.  I love you, sweetie!

View of the Puy-de-dome (highest point in central France) from Clermont-Ferrand