Let's do some back-tracking.
Saturday, Anna and I went to Carrefour, a Walmart type of store on the outskirts of town. The funniest part about this (besides the four wheel drive carts(=buggies for you in the south)) was that we had to take the bus. Line number three has a stop right outside the doors. So we got what we needed: a pillow, thumbtacks, a toothbrush, one each of kitchenware (plate, bowl, cup, etc), a hand towel, and then a wide variety of foods. This variety was really important, because the grocery store in our town (the only one close enough to walk to anyway) only has it's own labels of food. So, imagine going into your local Food Lion or Bi-Lo and only being able to buy their version of products; generally alright, but lacking in a certain quality usually referred to as taste. Anyway, we were thrilled about all of this, and the bath mat and cleaning supplies we were able to pick up. We check out, and return the cart (to get my $.50 back) and then wind up running to catch the bus across the street. The running was quite funny actually: me with a small bucket (shower basket now) stuffed with school supplies, a shopping bag of groceries, a pillow in a vacuumed plastic bag, and my backpack stuffed with the other things. Yeah, I looked really cool. It was overall a particularly good visit, except that it started raining as we arrived at the bus station, which is a good ten minute walk from our school. All in all though, it was a wonderful experience. I would do it again; but not soon.
Saturday evening was significantly simple. There is this really nice guy who lives at the end of our hall who goes home every weekend and leaves us his keys. This way, we can watch TV, catch up on the news, and have a kitchen accessible while the cafeteria is closed. I burned the fajitas we tried to make (I didn't put in "a families worth" of chicken since there were only two of us and then, rather brilliantly, decided to dump in the entire seasoning packet). I couldn't stop coughing for almost twenty minutes, because the jalapeno powder had gotten in my throat. Looking back, it is actually kind of funny.
Sunday, I got up and went to church. I met some people there I had seen the week before, and the priest introduced me to some young people too. Now, I have something to do tomorrow night and Thursday night. Hurray! I went home and helped clean the bathroom and sweep the floors. Then Anna and I took off to have a drink in a cafe. One hot chocolate later, the beginning of a parade came by ... which was hysterical because the people were throwing candy, and no one was there to catch it! Later, we discovered, that there was a half-marathon from a local town to ours, and the celebration was in the town center, where all the runners were going to finish. After watching a few older men in spandex run by, we took a walk and then went to the movies. We saw a movie called Entre Ses Mains, into his hands. Let's just leave it at it being bizarre, and move on.
After the movie, we walked to the town square again and caught the tail end of the awards ceremony. We also ran into a few other language assistants we had met in Reims. So, we walked, talked, got seperated, and then had another hot chocolate before walking home. We had take out pizza for dinner, and I successfully made fun of the man who was teasing us for speaking in English while we were waiting for our pizza to cook. We bought ice cream (that I discovered today we forgot to eat), I called home for my parents anniversary, and we went back and ate pizza and Toblerone (this is how we forgot the ice cream) while watching the West Wing (Anna loves it too!).
And that was pretty much the weekend. Seems like a long time ago already. I'll keep you posted. Love always, ~Heather
Saturday, Anna and I went to Carrefour, a Walmart type of store on the outskirts of town. The funniest part about this (besides the four wheel drive carts(=buggies for you in the south)) was that we had to take the bus. Line number three has a stop right outside the doors. So we got what we needed: a pillow, thumbtacks, a toothbrush, one each of kitchenware (plate, bowl, cup, etc), a hand towel, and then a wide variety of foods. This variety was really important, because the grocery store in our town (the only one close enough to walk to anyway) only has it's own labels of food. So, imagine going into your local Food Lion or Bi-Lo and only being able to buy their version of products; generally alright, but lacking in a certain quality usually referred to as taste. Anyway, we were thrilled about all of this, and the bath mat and cleaning supplies we were able to pick up. We check out, and return the cart (to get my $.50 back) and then wind up running to catch the bus across the street. The running was quite funny actually: me with a small bucket (shower basket now) stuffed with school supplies, a shopping bag of groceries, a pillow in a vacuumed plastic bag, and my backpack stuffed with the other things. Yeah, I looked really cool. It was overall a particularly good visit, except that it started raining as we arrived at the bus station, which is a good ten minute walk from our school. All in all though, it was a wonderful experience. I would do it again; but not soon.
Saturday evening was significantly simple. There is this really nice guy who lives at the end of our hall who goes home every weekend and leaves us his keys. This way, we can watch TV, catch up on the news, and have a kitchen accessible while the cafeteria is closed. I burned the fajitas we tried to make (I didn't put in "a families worth" of chicken since there were only two of us and then, rather brilliantly, decided to dump in the entire seasoning packet). I couldn't stop coughing for almost twenty minutes, because the jalapeno powder had gotten in my throat. Looking back, it is actually kind of funny.
Sunday, I got up and went to church. I met some people there I had seen the week before, and the priest introduced me to some young people too. Now, I have something to do tomorrow night and Thursday night. Hurray! I went home and helped clean the bathroom and sweep the floors. Then Anna and I took off to have a drink in a cafe. One hot chocolate later, the beginning of a parade came by ... which was hysterical because the people were throwing candy, and no one was there to catch it! Later, we discovered, that there was a half-marathon from a local town to ours, and the celebration was in the town center, where all the runners were going to finish. After watching a few older men in spandex run by, we took a walk and then went to the movies. We saw a movie called Entre Ses Mains, into his hands. Let's just leave it at it being bizarre, and move on.
After the movie, we walked to the town square again and caught the tail end of the awards ceremony. We also ran into a few other language assistants we had met in Reims. So, we walked, talked, got seperated, and then had another hot chocolate before walking home. We had take out pizza for dinner, and I successfully made fun of the man who was teasing us for speaking in English while we were waiting for our pizza to cook. We bought ice cream (that I discovered today we forgot to eat), I called home for my parents anniversary, and we went back and ate pizza and Toblerone (this is how we forgot the ice cream) while watching the West Wing (Anna loves it too!).
And that was pretty much the weekend. Seems like a long time ago already. I'll keep you posted. Love always, ~Heather
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