What's Going On?

So here's the story:

One month ago, today, Annie and I were on our way to France. The flight was uneventful, and Annie didn't embarrass me by pulling any weird stunts or using the barf-bag. I'm pretty sure I did beat her pretty bad in Rummy, no big deal. We arrived in Paris, at about 7am, which is an ugly hour no matter how little sleep you've gotten. Even Paris is dull at 7am. After we dumped our stuff, we coffee shop hopped away the morning and early afternoon. We met Sebastien under the Eiffel Tower and went to another cafe nearby. For future reference, it is better to plan a more specific meeting place than "under the Eiffel Tower," since every tourist in Paris is there.

Annie and I fought to stay awake until a safe enough hour to crawl into our bunk-beds and sleep, earphones stuffed into our ears so as not to be disturbed by the constant traffic in and out of the hostel bedroom.

The next morning, we parted ways. She was headed to Flers to meet her new host family and I was headed to Toulouse to see Aline for the weekend before going to Pamiers. Our goodbye was not drawn out, but just a few words muttered across a crowd of people, Annie and I crammed against our luggage on opposite sides of the metro.

When I arrived in Toulouse, I stationed myself at a cafe in downtown and waited for Aline, upon her instructions. Marc came to get me, brought me to the car, and Aline hobbled out with her broken foot to welcome me. The weekend in Toulouse was a huge success, I met loads of new people and broke back into speaking French.

I really didn't want to leave for Pamiers that Monday morning. Few people really new anything about it, and the ones that did, poked fun. Great.

Pamiers is in the department of the Ariege, and although it is the biggest city in the department, it is not the capital. I wouldn't say that Pamiers is particularly pretty or anything like that, but coming from America, there are certain charming aspects, a large square right downtown, skinny roads and footpaths, walking distance from the nearby hills and on a clear day, a decent view of the Pyrenees.

Pamiers is a city of about 20,000 people. There are no universities, and therefore if you are a student, you are somewhere else. The university systems in Europe, in general, are different than in America and it is normal to be still at university at my age. Bummer. Cafe du Midi seems to be the best place to go to meet young people. We've succeeded on a couple of occasions, our biggest attraction being that we aren't french, and the biggest reason people come over to our table is to ask for rolling papers or a cigarette. The bartender there knows us and usually gives us something for free at some point in the evening.

My job is great! I teach about 10 classes a week between 4 different primary schools in Pamiers, so kids ages 8-11. It is mostly oral and routine, and I can use the same material for almost every class, with a few minor adjustments. The prep time is minimal. The kids are kids. Simple.

I live at 21 rue de Piconniéres, chez Mme Dupuy. It is a very big house, right in the center of town. The inside is very decorated with pastels and uncomfortable antiques; it's neat and proper, giving off the feeling of a museum more than a home. I usually sit in either two chairs if I'm not in my room, one of them being at the computer and the other at the kitchen table. I can't take any food at all, unless I am invited to have it with The Dame. I learned this the hard way after I had been nicking butter, milk and other small items, replacing them when they were gone. I should translate the note and the lecture I got for that one!

The Dame herself, is a few inches taller than me, thin, and dressed to match her home. I don't dare ask how old she is, since she once told me she no longer talks about her age, but I'd guess around 56. She has very short, very dyed black hair and is always well presented with the necessary make-up and outfits to receive the Pope. She stands, hip jutting out and torso pointing at just the right angle that allows her to prop up her baby, "pom-poing" the Bichon, who is a part of her wardrobe. She says "Weeeeee!" instead of "Oui".

She lives alone, and and has adopted the relationship philosophy of "moi, chez moi et toi, chez toi." She enjoys opening her home up to people like me. She talks to me and shows me pictures of when she was in the newspaper or her last vacation in the mountains. She prefers to talk than to listen but she pops the occasional personal question. She is convinced that Sarkozy is the end of everything good about France and tells me this regularly, to which I nod and agree exactly even though I'm not very politically educated. She tells me that life is hard and that I'm young but I'll figure everything out one day just like she has.

This is a temporary living situation, and I've told The Dame that I'm moving trying not to hurt her feelings. She's really a nice person, and she is always offering me to use her bike or to take me with her when she goes hiking with the mountain club. It's just, I need my own place. We don't have very much in common, and I'm pretty sure that if I stay here I could wind up doing something terrible like sneaking a glass of OJ in the middle of the night. I need my own place. I need a roommate where I can steal their stuff and then not read a note about it the next morning.

So, I'm going to move to Toulouse and share an apartment with Oscar, hijo de puta, the Spanish are always in my life. I'm finally going to take advantage and make a conscious effort to learn some Spanish from him, considering my vocabulary to date is limited and offensive.

There are two other language assistants in Pamiers that I hang with, Rebecca from near Frankfurt and Jenifer from Manchester. We're best friends by default and it's working out just fine. We see each other regularly, to go on hikes or to watch a movie or have a coffee or a beer at the local. After a month in Pamiers, things are settling in. I'm reading French detective novels. A beech tree suddenly appeared in Sophia's yard, she didn't plant it, who did? She disappears. Then another guy gets stabbed in the stomach 4 times. This stuff is great!

I've worked a total of about 30 hours in the past month and I'm on vacation for 12 days. What a country! I'm headed to Annie's town, Flers, on Sunday, and if the weather is nice this week I'm hoping to shoot up to Mont Saint-Michel. By the way, Annie and I bought our tickets to Istanbul for Christmas. Nine days in Turkey!

L-I-V-I-N!

Forget the Yankees, Allez Les Bleus! La Coupe du Monde Rugby!

I am not a sports fanatic, but i do like to catch the fever when it's in season if you know what i mean. i happened to be in Toulouse the first weekend of my installation in Pamiers.

I needed to change some check koruns which i had been hanging onto for3 1/2 months. I'm not sure why, except that I'm stupid and lazy sometimes. the money, everything i had been able to save after living in Prague for 7 months, basically my mounting security deposit and my last pay, amounted to 21,000 koruns. don't be deceived, i know this sounds like a lot of money.

after all that travel and time carrying the cash around i think it actually depleted in value. the bureaux de change gave me around 650 euros for it. i could end up needing twice that just to move into a damn apartment.

anyway, sports. so i was in Toulouse because there isn't a single place in the whole department of Ariege that could sell me euros for my koruns. i fell into it. France versus New Zealand, the All Blacks in the quarterfinals of the 15th Rugby World Cup, hosted by France. the Toulouse region is very well represented by the french team, Toulouse being one of the best teams in the french rugby league. I, being American, know absolutely nothing about rugby, except that players often have very few teeth and funny ears.

I had been spending the day in Toulouse with 3 Espagnols who are Spanish teaching assistants in Pamiers, St. Girons and another place that I can't remember. Between the four of us, we didn't know how the scoring worked and I seemed to be the only one really interested. We went to La Place du Capitol to watch the match. This is an immense and stunningly beautiful grand square, maybe common in Europe but nonexistent in the States. It is headed by the Capitole building of Toulouse, an enormous building constructed in 1190. The All Blacks are favored to win the world cup and France is never known to have an incredibly strong rugby team. French people being stereotypically wafer-thin.

We arrived an hour early and there were already thousands of people, painted,costumed, and partying, in front of a huge screen especially installed for the event.

New Zealand started off with their intimidating traditional dance, the Haka. Whoa! Huge ugly men, with no teeth and funny ears, sticking their tongues out and beating their chests. So far, so good.

As the game started, I'm trying to ask a new Espagnol that has joined the group exactly how the scoring works. We are communicating in French which makes it a bit difficult because the Spanish accent is thick and he is difficult to understand, he is probably feeling the same way about me. He was able to give me a basic idea. Three points for a field goal, five points for a touchdown, with two for the extra point. Simple. It sounds a lot like American Football, and it is a little bit, if you throw WWF Wrestling into the mix and consider that the play doesn't stop unless there's a penalty...I think.

New Zealand who started off with a quick 13 point lead was unable to live up to their reputation as France eventually won the match, with a very exciting outcome of 20-18. The crowd erupted simultaneously with the whole city of Toulouse and there wasn't a serene moment for the rest of the night. Honking horns and crowds chanting french fighting songs echoed all over the city.

My friends and I joined even more Espagnols in Place de la Deraude right on the Garonne river. The weather, is still warm enough here even though it's almost the middle of October. Most of the night, I listened to Spanish chatter and occasionally caught quick conversations in French or English. The french were still in the streets above the river banks and the cheers lasted long into the night.