Noel en France

Just found an extra brownie in my cupboard that I didn't know I had- score!!

Well, I'm writing this a day before I head back to Glasgow, as I can't pack my case yet- the femme de menage is cleaning my room. The past month has been pretty eventful- went for a walk in Orgon, went to Nice, Chris came to visit, saw the festival of lights in Lyon, and had various fetes at peoples houses, plus plenty of flat drama. I also know almost all the words and actions now to a German song about flying like a plane (und ich flieg, flieg, flieg wie ein flieger!), have found out that two of the schools I've been teaching at aren't in my contract and don't have insurance to have me there, I've learnt how to (well watched Stefanie) make mulled wine, and have found out what the 13 deserts of Provence are, have learned French for Christmas tree (Sapin, lit. pine tree,- not 'Arbre de Noel' as I was originally saying!), elf (lutin), snowman (bon homme de neige, makes sense), and reindeer (reine).

As well as the many good experiences there have been, there's also been some, well, not necessarily bad, as much as, bizarre (love that that word works in English as well as French, probably my most overused word here!). For example, one Tuesday night me and S and another friend, N, decided to go out and try some salsa dancing at some free classes advertised in an Avignon club. The 'free' part is disputable, had to book our coats in at 2euros, and when we went in the place was practically empty, the class was in full swing and everyone there had clearly been coming for some time and knew all the rather complicated steps. At one point there was a break and we asked the instructor whether there was any classes for beginners, only to be told 'no, these sessions aren't really for beginners', which is not the impression we got from the posters pasted all around town. To add to this though, there were people at the back of the room watching us and apparently taking photos as well. When we left, one guy came out and told us we were being watched for an anthropology project for uni- don't people need your permission before they do that kind of thing? Anyway, we left and headed to another bar which does salsa classes, even though you have to pay, to check it out. At the bar N met someone she knew and was chatting with him, and we were standing there for maybe 10 minutes at most when the proprietor of the place came right up to our faces and said 'what are you having to drink ladies?' I wasn't sure how long we were staying so didn't reply, but he just kept asking, and eventually we said we weren't sure yet, nothing at the moment. To which he shouted right in S's face in French that we had to leave. I couldn't really believe it until he said in English "Go Away!". It was the rudest thing ever and I still can't believe he treated his customers that way. Anyway me and S left and vowed never to go back again. If you live in Avignon I'd advise avoiding the bar with the initials B C, the proprietor is very rude!!

As mentioned above we've also had numerious flat dramas generally involving our landlady (nicknamed LoLo) and one or other of us very nice tenants. The current, biggest flat goss is that one of my colocs has acquired a kitten, and it states in the terms of us being here that we've not to have pets for 'hygeine reasons', which is hypocritical as LoLo has her daughters dog Sam over for days on end every other week (Sam barks maniacally every time he sees you, and once scared me half to death by barking at me when I came out of my room into the corridor... he has been a small source of flat drama himself) but nobody is quite sure what will happen when she finds out about the cat. I for one am really happy to have a moggy in the house, and I even got to babysit him in my room last night :D. Makes me even more excited to see my own kitties when I get home tomorrow- can't wait!!

Well there's loads more wee stories to tell that'll have to wait for another time- I really have to pack! But my New Years Resolution will be to write in my blog more often (along with a resolution to actually think a bit about what I'm going to do about getting a job after the diploma... so hard to be motivated as it seems so far away!).