Home, Home on the Range

I am home!  Well, much like the tradition I've taken up in France, I continue to be a rambling woman, a bag lady of sorts, traveling from spot to spot.  I spent one night at my dad's and last night at my brother's and tonight I will spend at my grandmother's.  Then I drive back home to sweet Louisiana tomorrow night.  I cannot wait to see my ladies (and gay boys).  We are gonna dish about all the scandalous things I've been doing in France.  This things cannot and will not be divulged on my blog because well, the entirety of the interwebs doesn't need to know what sort of ridiculous things I've been getting into.  Also, I highly doubt my family members want to read about all of that nonsense, especially since I've already been told I talk too much about drinking.  So if you know me personally, and want the 411, just give me a call while I'm in town and I'll divulge it all.  Ladies and gents, I cannot wait to see you this weekend!  And on Sunday I get to see my mother in all of her pink eye glory.  CANNOT wait.

SNEAUX DAY(S)!

Snow in the Front Yard

If only you could see it twinkle.

So it has been brought to my attention that I don’t really talk about anything on my blog outside of wine.  With that being said, I thought I’d add a few boozeless tales to the mix.  So, snow or how we in Louisiana like to call it, sneaux.  Snow…what a wonderful and beautiful and delightful and graceful and cold and dirty and slippery and mushy thing.  So a week ago we got our first snow here in Valenciennes.  It was somewhat snowing when I went to sleep Monday night, but when I woke up Tuesday morning and walked to the bus stop, it was a bona fide winter wonderland.  Everything, including the roads, was just covered in this beautiful, glittery snow.  Every step I took created a footprint because my feet were the first ones to walk in it.  It was cold but glorious.  Seeing as I’m not used to snow AT ALL it was super exciting.

So I made my way to the bus stop and waited.  No bus.  Hmm…so I thought, I’ll just continue to wait.  Thirty minutes later and still no bus.  Another fifteen minutes later – nothing.  So I decided to walk home and check the Transvilles website (the bus company).   No buses because of the snow.  I contacted the school and informed them that I would be unable to make it to school.  Shucks.  So I was snowed in.  The upside was getting to go back to sleep and be all warm and snuggly in my bed.

So here’s the downside of snow.  It melts, and when it melts…well…it’s a mess.  My boots are not made for this kind of weather and my toes are really starting to hate the fact that I haven’t bought new boots yet.  Melting snow adds to the problem because it soaks through the shoe quickly and then I have cold wet toes.  Not good.  Also, people walk through that stuff and it can get right down nasty.  When David and I were in Lille on Friday all the snow had melted and all that was left of the perfect, beautiful, white, shimmering snow was what looked like sand.  Yuck.

Another fun fact, when snow melts but then it drops below freezing before evaporating, yeah, you get ice.  Yesterday I was slipping and sliding down the road to the bus stop.  Got there and wait about 15 minutes before deciding that the buses probably weren’t driving on ICE.  So I texted my teacher to let her know I couldn’t come in.  Day two of missed school due to cold weather.  Nice, but she definitely wasn’t understanding of the fact that if I miss bus number one and bus number two, there’s no way I can show up for school on Monday (seeing as I only work from 7:50-8:50).  Bus one comes at 6:39 and bus two comes at 7:09.  The buses didn’t start running until after 10.  Hopefully she and the principal will understand that this is out of my control.  I can’t help the fact that it takes me an HOUR to get to school.  They don’t seem too concerned with that.

So, this whole snow thing is just kinda spiraling out of control, but oh well.  I’ve decided I’m going to have to stay in Paris the night before I fly home (poor me, right?) because I don’t want to take a chance that the train I need at 5:30am Wednesday morning won’t be running due to snow/ice/whatever the hell. 

OMGGGGGGG just 8 days till I come home!!!  8 days from now I will be preparing to take off and fly home.  Oh boy!  Oh boy!  I’m getting REAL excited.  I just have to finish Christmas shopping, pack, clean my room, call AT&T and get them to turn my phone on while I’m home (that’ll probably take all day), prepare lesson plans on Christmas with songs and games, and be ready to roll out by Tuesday at around 6pm.  So much to do in such little time.  Oh yeah, and Allison and I are going with Annabelle to Belgium on Saturday.  It’s not Germany, but it’ll do! Everyone keeps saying that they just want me home for Christmas so I hope everyone is really ready to get whatever random shit I have found.  This is hard.

St. Nicolas Parade!

Said parade upon which we stumbled.

Surprise! Surprise! What is Before My Eyes?

Last night I decided to stay in and just be at home for one night.  It was really nice.  I ended up getting to talk to several friends back home.  Since I didn't go into town last night I decided to go into town today, and low and behold, I picked the perfect time.  I met up with Allison and David at Subway.  We then walked over to Place d'Armes (the mall) in Centre-Ville.  We saw some people in pink and blue outfits, so we just had to see what it was.  It was a mini parade!  It started with a marching band, followed by some people in crazy red and green costumes and then the pink and blue frilly costumes.  The last group also had a little dance they did (video to come).  At the very end there were people in masks handing out St. Nicolas cookies, an ass and St. Nicolas himself.  In France they celebrate St. Nicolas on Dec 6 (tomorrow) and it's kinda a big deal.  He's the patron saint of boys.  Ste. Catherine was already celebrated Nov 25 (Thanksgiving this year) who is the patron saint of girls.  Anyway, it was pretty cool to stumble upon a little piece of home (i.e. parades and costumes) right here in Valenciennes!

All I Want for Christmas...

Strangely enough, last night I had a dream in which some bad guys were chasing after me or putting evil spells on me and I lost on of my top front teeth.  Very weird dream, but it made me think of wanting teeth for Christmas...or other things.  This Christmas is going to be really different for me.  Normally every year my dad asks me consistently for what I want for Christmas and I have to come up with a list of things for him to sort through and get me.  This has not happened this year, and I attribute this to the fact that I'm in France, and he has no real way of calling me.  So there haven't been any conversations of the like.  Also, no questions from mom, brothers, friends...anything.  No biggie.  Maybe they aren't gonna get me anything.  No biggie.  I can still make my dream wish list of everything I might want for Christmas.  I can always get them for myself.

1. Going home for Christmas.  Obvious, right?  The number one thing I know I will get this year is spending the holiday with my friends and family.
2. A massage.  My back is all kinds of knotted up.  I could really use a day at the spa to relax this ragged ole back of mine.
3. Money.  Money is good for so many things, like paying rent, traveling abroad, buying gifts, etc.  Christmas and the next couple weeks rent are gonna make a significant dent in my bank account.  My American bank account is already reeling from the negative exchange rate.
4. iTunes gift cards.  That's right.  Music is my heroine.  I need it to get through the day to day, and although my spending habits have decreased whilst I've been in France, I still gotta get something new from time to time.
5. Boots.  The boots I brought with me broke shortly after arriving.  I now have nothing tall and warm enough to wear.  Also I need something to help me walk through the snow.  My little Louisiana body is just not used to all this snow and cold weather.
6. Winter coat.  Yeah, I brought my "winter" coat with me.  That coat is meant for Louisiana winters, not French ones.  I am layering and layering, but still, I gotta get a coat before I freeze to death.

Anything after that is lagniappe.  I seriously can't wait.  Less than two weeks till I'm home.  WAHOO!!!!