Bah, ouai...

The phrase to use in response to anything and everything here in Lyon. Along with, "Hap," and "Tak."

Even better is the "En fait" phrase I hear so often during recess at school. "En fait, maîtresse, il m'a poussé et puis j'ai dit..." I probably shouldn't smile since they're trying to explain why they are beating each other up on the blacktop, but hey, it sounds so cute!

Anyways, today is random thought day for me so here goes a sputtering of a million things going on in my head right now.

• It's freezing again. I wish I brought my JMU sweatshirts and fuzzy socks from Aunt Patti.
• I do not like the cloudy weather, except for the excuse it gives me to drink more coffee.
• Despite all of the above hatred, the cloudy days tend to have the coolest sunsets.
• I miss peanut butter, but now I like Nutella, milk in my cereal (well a little!), and eggplant.
• I stayed up until 6 am Friday and didn't look at my phone once all night....well not until I was told that we were taking the first metro home. Amazing feeling :)
• I have been cooking new recipes every week; I always am thinking about what I'm going to eat next!
• Speaking of, I was invited to another raclette party on Saturday...cannot wait! Yummy cheese!
• Big goal of the year: learn and remember every student's name (that's over 450!).
• Every time I go to school, the kids run over to say my name, say hello, and ask if they can give me kisses. It drives me nuts (definitely couldn't be a celebrity), but makes me smile at the same time because they tell me every day how they love me :)
•  Back to food, I'm hosting Thanksgiving and I cannot wait...just need to find some cranberries in this country!
• I hate having no set schedule, deadlines, gym classes, or tests. I love taking my time, refiguring out my priorities/interests, biking home from parties, and meeting random people.
• The French radio stations play really old US songs, but really good dance mixes (still all in English, but hey I know what they're saying, the French don't).
• The lack of consumer goods/XL sizes of everything is driving me nuts, but at the same time it really does make you walk everywhere to find anything and teaches you patience! For example, I had wait until today to buy my pre-paid cell phone card since everything is closed after noon on Saturday. Furthermore, I walked to three different stores, because the one supermarket was out of my company, SFR, and the other store was already closed for lunch.  Despite my typical annoyed attitude, this aspect of France also makes you appreciate what you already have and learn to consume everything before you go out searching for more. One of the many American brain-washed ideas I am slowly trying to abandon while here....mass-consumerism. One of my many baby steps...I never throw out left-overs anymore and definitely wear my jeans more than once before washing them.
• The dog poo on the roads smell so bad. You really need to watch your step at all times. But, at least when it rains here, it doesn't smell like dog food (ahem, JMU).
• I will never get sick of being asked to boire un coup. When you want to hang out with someone, you drink. The choice of drink is up to you, but you most typically sit outside. Fresh air does the body good (as does people watching!)
• To remind myself/pinch myself once in a while that one of my dreams come true is actually happening right now, I blast Norah Jones' song, "It's Gonna Be" or Royksopp's "Vision One."

Okay, back to lesson plans....this week is focused on classroom orders/rules, school supplies, and a brief ABC singing to show the major difference between "eeee" and "uh" for the letter E, "gee" and "jai" for G, and so forth.

Ciao my lovelies!