The Gym

So this morning at the gym, french woman number 1 (guilty of walking on the treadmill EVERY MONDAY WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY- when I want to run- how rude) brought in her little girl to the gym. How cute. Mommy and me time. NO. THE GYM IS NO PLACE FOR INFANTS. This little girl was around 7 so maybe she wasn't an infant, but I still thought it was totally inappropriate. And I sat there wishing I could be like "children in the gym? tsk tsk."
I really wished the evil towel man (the man who yelled at me for not carrying around a towel) was there because he is very strict with the gym rules and I am SURE he would have enforced this one. But no. He wasn't. And this mother bought her daughter a flavored WATER (not even juice) and then started her walking on treadmill regime. Meanwhile, this girl was 1. standing next to the bikes looking around. 2. then stared at me while I did the rowing machine and even asked her mom if she could try it- when her mom said no- she just stared and smiled at me. Comment dit-on GO AWAY in french? I actually don't know how to say it. I guess I've never had to use it.
Anyway, totally inappropriate gym mother was driving me crazy. She then brought her daughter to the other room while she did weights while her daughter stood next to her. She even had the nerve to take the machine I was about to use- oh no you didnt lady. But whatever, I was the bigger person and went to the other room to do yoga. and the lady left. She wasn't there for very long HA. Maybe she learned her lesson.
French people at the gym are VERY STRANGE (they are strange in general- besides Beatrice who is SO COOL.) The other day, someone winked at me when I handed him a towel to wipe the treadmill he grabbed just as I was done sweating all over it. No french person, we are not friends just because we both go to the gym. No winking, no smiling.
They also wear really weird work out clothes. I wish I could take a picture and share it because it is just so strange. French woman number 1 (mentioned above) wears the same thing (probably because WALKING on the treadmill does NOT make you SWEAT). Its a weird longggg black vest, black pants, and a white shirt. Same thing, same vest, everytime.
And don't get me started on the french love for aasics. That, I will never understand.

Anyway, my classes are wrapping up. I handed in a final yesterday, I have two finals tomorrow. One tuesday, and I'm home free. Except for the whole still going to be living in France thing.

:)

A quick note about NORMANDY!

So, this weekend, Bucknell took a three day excursion to NORMANDY. We got up super early Friday (met the bus at 545 AM) and drove to St. Malo. We walked around that cute little city, so happy to be greeted by the fresh, sea air. We then continued to Mt. St. Michel. It was just as cool as I remembered and I appreciated it much more. We drove to our hotel and Bucknell treated us to a delicious crepe meal (Normandy specialty!) and cidre.

Mont Saint Michel started as a tiny church and grew to this!
So eat your wheaties.
JK 

We woke up again early (Catherine and I barely slept thanks to our noisy neighbors who spoke in whatever language it was at 1 in the morning... NOT COOL) and started the longest day ever recorded.

Pretty view!

We went to the debarquement beach (sp?) which was awesome to see the extensive piers that Churchill had built IN ENGLAND and then dragged over to France. We then went to a film about the DDAY beaches... which was VERY moving.
We spent lunch in the town, which was actually a horrible lunch because the woman was so rude and thank god catherine was there to yell at her for the awful service and got me my sandwich FO FREE (because I waited half an hour while the rest of my table got served, had to eat or else it would get cold, and then we all sat there before that dumb lady came out and told me they didn't have the ingredients for mine... SO RUDE).
ANYWAY, we then went to the American Cemetery. It was such a beautiful day and we were really lucky to have gotten the chance to go on such a great day. I took some GREAT pictures.

American Cemetery

We then went to Pont du Hoc to see where the American soldiers scaled up the steep cliffs.

Pont du Hoc, imagine scaling up that!

After this we went to the German Cemetery because it was really important that we see that it really was a war that took the lives of so many young people.

German Cemetery

We returned to out hotel and got dinner at an amazing local restaurant. I do not think they get many tourists in this restaurant because there were only five old men in there playing poker. They loved that we were studying french and were so excited to show off their english to us. The food was amazing. I had another crepe (my fav).

This morning, we headed to the Memorial Museum of Caen. This museum shows the history from the end of WWI through WWII and even touches upon the Cold War. It was very cool! I've been there before but this time I actually paid attention. We got to sit outside and bask in the sun once more. I'm hoping to get a little face tan :)
We then boarded the bus to head home.
I came home to an empty apartment because Beatrice is in the Caribbean for two weeks! It's kinda nice to have the place to myself and I was looking forward to eating whenever I want. but to be honest, it's not like I don't have freedom when Beatrice is around and it's nice to have someone to talk to. :(
But, oh well!! PARTAY.
just kidding :P

Au Revoir Les Enfants!

Bucknell in France, in order to show that it is an enriching program, requires us to do "Journees Decouvertes," or Days of Discovery. Today, I did mine at an "ecole maternelle" or our equivalent of last year preschool to around first grade. I chose this because a part of me is interested in being a schoolteacher, or at least having that option if I want it.

So, instead of going to a boulangerie to watch them make bread, or other choices, I thought of this one! 

I had to get up super early in order to get there when the kids get dropped off. I got there at 8AM, and the principal walked me around for about twenty minutes. She then introduced me to the teacher I would be shadowing for the morning. The teacher didn't seem to happy to have me there. We stood in a room as the kids got dropped off, and she talked to the other teacher as I watched the little kids. But I was laughing because of their crazy antics and adorable ways so I didn't mind kinda being awkward. Then we brought her class, 5-6 year olds, to the class room. The 6 year olds left for english class and the 5 year olds stayed behind. 

They learned a new vocab word, and did a puzzle. I remember first grade being a lot different and doing a lot, but maybe that was just my first-grade mind. 

Then, the other class returned and we all went to recess. I was like crap because one, it was raining, two, today was unusually cold, and three, what would I do? watch the kids? talk to the teachers? Well, that question was answered for me as we went outside and the teacher made it clear she didn't want me to hang out with her. Fine with me, you're boring. 

So one of the little kids came over and asked me to zip her jacket, and then asked if I would play with them. I said ok, but to be honest, it is really hard to understand the little kid version of french. It's more mumbled and just SUPER hard to understand. So I had to kinda go with the flow in playing the game because I couldn't understand as they tried to explain. But it turned out to be freeze tag. I played with them for awhile. 

It then turned into me running from them. And then me comforting each crying child on the playground who came up to me because the teachers ignored them and they knew I would listen. 

The french teachers are super stern with little kids, which is SO backwards because the older kids (aka highschool ish and onwards) are horrible in class and the teachers don't do a thing about it. But anyway, I then got to leave for lunch. I walked home in the rain, had lunch, and passed out. I almost never nap. So that's an indication of my day. 

I woke up from my nap, dreading going back only because they don't get out of school until 5. But I pulled myself out the door, figured out some random way into the building because I was a little late and it was locked up. I went to the principal's office but ran into the teacher I shadowed. I went back to her classroom and the kids put their heads on their desks for their "sieste," naptime! AKA NOT NECESSARY FOR ME TO BE THERE WHY DID THEY TELL ME TO COME BACK SO EARLY. 

The teachers cell phone rang and she told me to go downstairs because I was going to spend the afternoon with the younger set. 

I found the room, good job me, and walked in on a bunch of 4-5 year olds napping, with pillows from home, on their desks. SO CUTE. Some even had stuffed animals. 

The teacher, who was REALLY nice that morning, had turned into a witch without the principal around. She just goes, "they're napping" and then goes back to watering plants. I found a big person chair and just kinda waited it out, even though they were all awake and kept waving, whispering, and making faces at me. (Except one little guy who was actually PASSED OUT on his desk, literally out. I couldn't even wake him up later). 

This teacher scared even me, I don't know how the kids deal with it. It was paint time after naptime. They had to paint flowers. Only six got to paint at a time, so the others colored in a drawing while they waited. Ok first of all, the teacher would only let them draw things the right color. Aka, trees had to be green. WELL, in my youth, art time meant creativity time. If we wanted orange trees, we were allowed to go with it. These kids were so disciplined. One kid drew out of the lines and the teacher told him it was bad work! And he was sad! I would have been like IM FOUR BACK OFF. 

She was crazy strict and I was kinda like why did you choose to teach such young children?

Then they all got recess again. And this time, I literally had every kid in this class, and the older class, fighting to hold my hand or for me to pick them up. I finally made them sit in a circle and tried to teach them duck duck goose, except the french version is called "tomate, tomate, ketchup." Fine. Then we played hide and seek. The bell rang and we went inside but the teacher was still outside and I was panicking. I did not want them to get yelled at because maybe they thought it was ok to go in because I was there. Maybe not. I was really nervous for them. 

She came in and they all sat down. Story time! I noticed half way through, the teacher got really animated and her voice got nice. Well, when I turned around, parents had arrived to pick up their kids. Witch teacher and your evil ways, I see right through you. 

The kids left and the teacher told me, Good luck... thanks?

Au revoir et merci!

That signaled the end of my day. 

The end. 

Recipes for pancakes and tomatoes!

I am no longer living alone. Beatrice returned this morning at 3AM. When she asked me if I heard her walking, I said no not at all don't worry! But what I really meant was yes.
And yes, while we are on the subject, you woke me up with you at 8 AM. I don't know why because normally I'm the one who wakes up early but what the hey. Let's get wild.

That's all in fun because I am actually really happy that Beatrice is back. I had someone to talk to throughout the day. And when I was doing my homework, she mentioned making pancakes (not sure if I wrote about this but Beatrice has been dying to learn to make pancakes ever since she went to a Denny's in California). So, I did some homework and then looked up recipes. I found one and wrote it out for her so she would know what to buy. But as it turns out, we had everything in the apartment. Even milk, which is weird because neither of us drink milk. (and also, the milk here does not have to be refrigerated until after opening. She pulled this milk from her pantry. I asked her about this and she said something about it being heated super high and even though its not fresh it can be stored- until its opened)

But the gods had spoken. And even though it was 330 PM, and we had finished lunch only two hours before, we decided to have a pancake snack. We whipped up the batter, invited Catherine over, and made pancakes. It was super easy and super delicious. And we saved the extras so Beatrice could have them for breakfast!
We all hung around for awhile and then Beatrice decided to go for a run... it takes a strong person to run after eating pancakes.
At around 8, Beatrice and I sat down to have dinner. And maybe this is not important but we had the most amazing thing that I'm dying to share because it was heaven in a bowl. It was brown rice, tomatoes chopped up, balsamic vinegar, and oil. And it was ALL KINDS of delicious. It tasted like summertime. I was amazed and kept saying I like this, I like this... AKA... make it again.
And that is why I am so happy to have Beatrice back. Other than the having someone to talk to thing. She makes the most simplest dishes that are sooo good for you. For a WEEK I have been staring at the tomatoes thinking, I don't know what to do with you other than eat you with pasta. And I can't stoop to that stereotype (college kid eating pasta). And now, I have a recipe. And I'm very happy.

So, after waking up at SIX AM, I have now tested and passed as a level B1 DELF certified french speaker. Whoo. hoo. NOT worth the sleep I so sadly missed.

ANYWAY,  our weekend excursion "Centre Renaissance" has been cancelled. Darn, I guess the Bucknell students will miss out on eating turkey legs and watching a jousting match. I am really excited to have the weekend off, just chillaxing here in TOURS. I like Tours alot. It is a "city," I guess. It has many stores. And that is very cool. But, at the same time, its small enough that people are really nice. Unlike that RUUHUDE city, Paris. Paris is good for visiting, Tours is good for living. That's my saying.

What I love about Tours:

I can run here. I can shop here. I can learn my way around the whole city and still have new parts to discover. I can feel confident enough to explore. I can look forward to coming back here after time away. I can take the train whenever I want to get away. I can walk anywhere I need to go. Food is not so expensive. I have figured out all the really great places to go... like this great crepe place I love and have been twice. And the grocery store is pretty cool (Monoprix <3).

Ok. That's a lot of great things in one city. Definitely enough to keep me happy for only one semester.

Wikipedia Tours

According to that link, we speak the purest form of french in Tours. Well good. I don't want to speak impurely.
Also, Zaz, this really popular singer was born here. But I'm not proud of that because although I've never heard her songs because I listen to my ipod at the gym, I have seen her music video a million times and I am SICK of it. So Zaz, I'm not proud of you, stop creeping on my life.

But also, learned on wikipedia that SPRINGFIELD USA is a twin city of Tours. What up Dad???

there are a lot of great things about Tours. One is that every Wed and Sat mornings there are street markets. They sell flowers (which is beautiful to walk past and I used to walk past when i came to school from my old house- shudder), fresh meats, cheese, fruit, and then cheapy merchandise.

I plan on going to the market tomorrow. After a run. and enjoy my free day in this lil city.