a hard rain's gonna fall

As today is my first day off for about a week from teaching at the university, giving private English lessons, and translating articles, I told myself I wouldn't spend the day at the computer. Mostly because I may be developing carpal tunnel's syndrome. Good thing holiday break will be getting under way in two weeks.

Thanksgiving was successfully celebrated thanks to my French work colleague and good friend, Anne. I don't own an oven, nor is my apartment large enough to invite more than two people for dinner comfortably. Anne offered to host, providing the full kitchen and an actual dining table. Jacob and I provided the main dishes, turkey (legs, not a whole one), mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and an apple crumble. We also ate broccoli, green beans. Dessert was complimented by raspberry tart and homemade brownies courtesy of Blythe.

Dinner reminded me of eating chez Les Bardinet, my host family in Besancon, as a handful of countries were always represented at the dinner table, though for Thanksgiving, the common language was English instead of French. Blythe, another work colleague and friend who is British/American, brought three friends: Alessandro from Italy, Evelyn from the Netherlands, and Takaki from Japan. I was very pleased to see that everyone throughly enjoyed their first Thanksgiving meal. They were so eager to try the food that my attempt to have everyone say what they were thankful for failed and we all just said "Bon appetit!" and dug in. Quite American. Jacob and I returned to Anne's apartment the following night for dinner to help finish the leftovers.

This past week, I met two more students who responded to my advertisement for cours d'anglais. One student, Daniel, works for CNRS, the French National Scientific Research Center. He wants to learn English so when he returns to India during the summers, he can speak with his family and handle everyday situations. Though the part of India where his family lives was once a French colony, English has become the mainstream language alongside Hindi. India has the second largest population of English speakers who speak it as a second language. We met for coffee to arrange a schedule and discuss his specific goals. I tried to suggest we begin speaking English at the beginning of the conversation, but he seemed nervous to start and didn't want to be charged for a lesson. So we stayed in French.

Yesterday, I met Brigette, a woman who teaches art therapy, for introductions. As English is spoken in the home with Jacob, I asked Brigette if I could do a lesson exchange instead of charging. Though I'm technically more intergrated into the French system now than compared to when I was a student in Besancon, my French is not where I'd like it to be. I need more food and cooking terms and basic conversation time. It's impossible to describe what fresh herb I'm looking for at the market without the proper vocabulary and bundles upon bundles of green leafy things. We ended up chatting for about three hours, first in French, then in English. We have a lot of common points despite difference in age. I explained the concept of Crafternoon to her as she is in art therapy and we decided to go to some art exhibitions together later in the year. I'm looking forward to meeting with her again in about a week.

An update on the possibility of staying another year: My supervisor at Marne has invited and encouraged me to stay next year, however, I essentially need permission from UNL as it could affect my enrollment as a Masters student at UNL later. I wrote a formal letter to the Modern Languages Department to be considered for next year, mentioning the possibility of two Nebraskan students at Marne and offering to act as a mentor for the incoming exchange student. Heaven knows I would be lost without advice and I could have used more of it, even now occassionally. As I wrote this letter, I realized if I stayed another year in France, I would not enroll for the Masters Program until 2010. Weird. Sounds like the future to me. That means I wouldn't get into the Peace Corps until 2012. Time may have run out by then according to the Mayans.

Since I've arrived in Paris, it's been my intention to get involved in my local quartier via classes at one of the four community centers in the 10th. Hooray for governmentally funded social organizations. After much internet browsing, I decided to sign up for yoga and flamenco classes once a week. The little spot in my heart reserved for the Hispanic language and culture has been neglected, thus the flamenco classes. I only hope I can be as awesome as the many flamenco dancers I've seen: You Tube Flamenco - Alegrias Those dresses are just amazing.

Last read book: A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clark. The amusing story of a young British businessman who spends the year working and living in France. I found it to be a little sexist, but decent metro reading material nonetheless.
Current music: The Killers (they are coming to Paris in March) and The Gaslight Tapes 1962, Bob Dylan.