I should update this, huh?

Sorry, but I have been too busy/lazy/absent-minded to update my blog.

Overview:

I went to Nice. It was nice.

I have a Callie. Michelle is safely parted and back in the US. Miss you already, Michelle!

I have invitations to return to Strasbourg or Nice anytime.

I have an invitation to Sweden and to Bordeaux.

So far I have taken Callie to the following places:

-Eiffel Tower

-Arc de Triomphe

-Angelina (for hot chocolate)

-Aquarium

-Musée de l'Orangerie

-Science Museum

-Louvre

-Chateau de Versailles

-Montparnasse

-Nice

-IES center

-SHOPPING

-Notre Dame

-Up and down the Seine river

-Centre Georges Pompidou

-probably much more that I am forgetting at the moment.

We're doing well, and I'm dreading the moment that Callie leaves. Tomorrow, we'll going to Notre Dame for a mass, then we'll climb the Towers and eat with one of my French friends.

Now that I have actual friends who are actually French, I'm having tons of fun. Because with them, it's not always tourism... I mean, tourism is nice sometimes; it's great to climb the Eiffel Tower and take funny pictures in front of artistic masterpieces and so on, but it's also fun to just LIVE in France.

OH, and starting in the first week of January, every year, in France there is the Soldes. What is that? It's when EVERYTHING is on sale. Now, I don't particularly like shopping. However, eventually one finds that two suitcases of clothes is not sufficient for an entire year's stay in a foreign country. In such a case, shopping is occasionally necessary. And during Soldes, one can save a particularly large amount of money. This is all important.

In an unrelated note, I recently received an email about a paid internship called Breakthrough Teaching, in which college students teach younger students who are high-potential students but in conditions in which, without proper intervention and support, which might impede their ability to attend college.

So far, the pros greatly outweigh the cons, but I'd love to throw my list out there in order to garner your thoughts and advice.

Pros:

-Teaching experience in which I am THE teacher, they're MY lessons and it's MY class.

-Looks great on a resume

-It's the age I want to work with

-I want experience working with high potential youth

-Money (a minimum of $1000 for the 8-9 weeks total)

-I'll get a test of a true 'teacher's schedule'

-Housing is taken care of (homestay, perhaps)

-Possibility to teach in another part of the country (if I am not assigned in Minneapolis or St Paul) and find out if it's a place I'd like to consider working upon graduation

-If it's in the Twin Cities, I can take a night course to fulfill my English core requirements for UST

-It's in the US. I speak English. Hurrah.

Cons:

-Can't go on my family vacation in the summer... though I may be able to go for just one weekend.

-If it's not in St Paul/Minneapolis, I will have to take an English course online.

-I MAY be away for about 8-9 weeks after having been gone from the US for 10 months.

-I will be extremely busy

Ah yes. Well, let me know what you think. Classes start on the 1st, I'll let you know what's up with them at a later date!

Be good.

Short sentences tell good stories.

Michelle came.
I had Christmas. It rained.
I went to Strasbourg.
Strasbourg has lots of storks.
I met French people.
French people are my friends now.
I have a Macbook Pro.
Thanks, Mom and Dad.
I am going to Nice soon.
Callie will arrive before this happens.
Callie will also be going to Nice soon.
I'm not sure she is aware of this.
Classes start in a few weeks.
It's cold.
The birds are cold.
I may go to the comic conference in Angouleme.
Comics are serious business.

Oh la la !

I just got an email that I am a Glimpse finalist. To any potential readers from Glimpse.org, might I conduct you to the post entitled An Interlude which is your official welcome onto my unofficial travel blog !

Unfortunately, I am still swamped in work, but I would like to take a brief pause to share my quote from the weekend.

"Did... did I just eat bird butter?"

Bird butter is to butter as peanut butter is to butter: it is not butter. It is, instead, a spread destined to be eaten on top of bread that consists of pulverized turkeys, ducks, and chickens. It tastes fine, but the idea is disgusting (the texture, too). However, there is an entire can of bird butter awaiting me in the fridge...

Oh joy.

I love France, guys.

Living... barely

Why yes, it certainly is "Finals" time here. For me, at least. So be warned that I won't be updating my blog for quite some time, as I'm very, very, very, very busy.

But also know that I won't be doing anything worth writing about because I am... well, busy.

Yes.

I have a dissertation to write now. Goodbye!

In case you were wondering...

Today in class, we talked about toilet paper.

A omann gleay.

Or allap.bynfw ydco t.fxrape co p.ugocbi yr yfl. jrpp.jynf cb yd. y.qy xrqv C jabbry ucq ydcov Or frg ap. ircbi yr i.y a lroy cb ICXX>PCODv vvv ydco co oaev

Title: "A small update"

(Translation from above follows)

So apparently, this keyboard is refusing to type correctly in the text box. I cannot fix this. So you are going to get a post in GIBBERISH. ... this is sad.

Yesterday, I walked around. A lot. More than 6 miles. I walked to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and ended up at the Centre Georges Pompidou (the modern art museum).

Why?

I was searching. Searching for living statues.

You know the ones: they paint themselves all in silver, gold, grey, white, or black and are masters at standing perfectly still. These are my favorite performers ever, and I have yet to see one. So I was on my search, which was unfruitful in that aspect, but what did I find?

A street performer!

He drew a HUGE crowd. To say that there were 200 people is an UNDERSTATEMENT. He picked three people from the audience: a German man, a Chinese man, and a Canadian woman. He made them do improv things. Oh, it was hilarious.

And since he was performing out in the open square, people were evidently walking by him in order to go to the museum building. He ran up to one woman and pretended to karate kick her in the FACE. She was terrified! She screamed and ran, and we all laughed heartily.

Later, a woman walked through the middle of his 'stage.' He stared at her, waiting for her to pass, when suddenly, she turns around and pulls down her pants. Turns out she was crazy! He had to wrestle her back to the side of the audience and hand her off to a man in the audience, who led her away (after forcibly pulling up her pants).

Oh, Paris.

Then at the end, after his 'volunteers' (victims, rather) sat down, a tiny little girl who was probably 18 months old in a giant jacket waddled out from the crowd. He stopped. He stared. Everyone chuckled quietly. He knelt down and beckoned her over with his index finger. She slowly walked towards him, and he turned away and picked up his jacket.

Suddenly, he pulled a piece of candy out of his jacket! The little girl broke into a run, dashing towards him with grabby hands. The crowd let out a roar of laughter, and he collected spare change from everyone in a giant polka-dotted umbrella.

It was a great day.

Er...

I think I just got prank-called by my host family.

I'm so confused.