All that random stuff: The unabridged version.

It was pouring and cold today. Here are 10 other things:

1. I got a haircut recently. The woman refused to believe me when I told her I wanted my hair short. She kept telling me that the cut I wanted was short! as if I couldn’t see the picture I was pointing to. Luckily she didn’t give me much of what I’ve dubbed the “Euro-mullet,” a disgusting trend I’ve seen on entirely too many women. Cut it off!




2. I have been doing laundry in my bathtub since I arrived, because I can’t find that ghetto, coin laundr-‘o-mat anywhere in this city. So I do my own. For this refined procedure, one needs just a few basic items: a decent tub, preferably clean; some fragrant laundry detergent that’s not too soapy; a large, wooden cooking spoon for rigorous agitation; a chair and a stiff back brace for time spent stirring; and a few hours for soaking. An active imagination also comes in handy after about 45 minutes when you look at the milky, muddy water your clothes are stewing in and want to believe they are clean. Be glad washing machines are not transparent. My philosophy is if the clothes smell good after I wash them, they must be clean. So I douse them with violently perfumed detergent, beat the hell out of them with the wooden spoon, and hope for the best. My whole apartment smells like humid “wildflower scent” for hours. It’s not bad. After a good rinse, my clothes are strung either on my heaters or on my balcony for a few days to dry/air out to a perfect crisp. Fascinating, I know.



Don’t mind my freakishly white eyes. Hey, they kind of match the bath water…

3. Today I mopped with what I think is the mop, a wet cloth that I pushed around on the floor with the broom. It worked = I am so right.



4. When I met my classes for the first time, after introducing myself and talking a little about the US, I asked the students to describe their stereotype of American men and women. This is what they described:

The American man is fat. No, enormous. He is always wearing a hat, either a baseball cap or a cowboy hat. In one hand he is holding a hamburger, in the other hand a coke. He is always watching baseball. In another version, the man is wearing lots of gold chains and wearing large headphones. I think this is the gangsta' version. The American woman, on the other hand, is beautiful. She always has, however, large breasts and a walletful of plastic surgery. I told them that we think that French women have hairy armpits. They shrieked.

5. My schedule has finally become clear. I start most days after 11. Every other Friday I start at 8, but other than that my classes are predominately in the afternoon, which is nice because I can sleep in all the time. I have 12 hours per week total. I think that I see most of my classes once a month, because I have half the class every other week. I have a lot of kids, and I haven’t even met all of them yet. Some of them love to scream “Hello!” at me from an uncomfortably long distance or from the top of the stairs when thy see me pass, requiring me to turn and give an awkwardly friendly wave. It’s strange to be recognized throughout the whole school.

But this is the least demanding job I’ve ever had in my life. It’s ridiculous. I would highly recommend it for those of you college kids wondering what to do next for a year. I plan one activity and repeat it for 3 weeks. That plan was working great until one day when I had to repeat the same lesson 6 times in a row. I was beating my head against the wall by the end.

Each class has its own dynamic and some are easier to make talk than others. Classes in which the majority of kids don’t speak well are the most difficult for me. I don’t know when or if they understand, and I don’t know what to demand of them. It’s exhausting. It’s great to have the occasional kid who speaks well and is motivated.

I will start teaching Frankenstein (the novel, in English) on Friday. The senior kids are reading it in preparation for their BAC, a huge final exam at the end of the year. I have really enjoyed the book and am more excited that I expected to teach a literature class.

6. Some common foods here include endives; pasta with cream, bits of ham, and Swiss cheese; salad with oil and balsamic vinegar dressing; peanut or tomato flavored puffy chips as an appetizer; plain yogurt with sugar added for dessert; cheese fondue; and pigs feet and rabbit (sick). Here is my fridge. More than you ever wanted to know, I know.


It’s tiny.

7. Aside from large grocery stores, most stores open from 9-12, close from 12-2, and reopen from 2 until 6 or 7. Grocery stores close at 8 and close at noon on Sunday. Plan accordingly. When I mentioned that in the US stores stay open all day, my friend asked how workers rest and eat a good lunch. I said that they don’t; they eat pbj in the break room. How nice would it be if all businesses, including banks and pharmacies, closed for 2 hours in the middle of the day, everyday? Everything stops and breathes. Inhale. Exhale. And continue.


8. I’ll

9. Stop

10. Here