Halloween Spirit!

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all doing well on this fine Halloween afternoon…well morning for you. It’s actually not that fine here, either. It’s realllly cloudy and a little windy, but it’s ok nevertheless. And that’s because I am sitting on the beach as I am writing this to you. As are lots of other people, and I am guessing it’s because of the national holiday tomorrow (All Saint’s Day), which I am guessing brings people to Nice for their day off.

But anyway, I am sure I had hundreds of stories to tell you since the last e-mail, but frankly, I can remember not-a-one. So let me start with the formalities. There is no school for me, because I am on vacation until the 4th of November. So I have no school stories for you. Except one that I neglected to mention in the previous e-mail (I think). So, I think I told you all that I bought the little French Fries candy to commemorate Halloween, since that was the focus of my lesson. But before I would give them the candy, each student had to say “Trick-or-Treat”, which I am sure they had no idea what it meant. But anyway, they had to say that to get the candy from me. And it was so damn cute!! They could NOT get it. Most of them would say “Trick-or-Treak”. It gave me a good laugh (which I always feel badly about when I am in their presence and laughing). But they know I am laughing with them!

So that was my classroom story. OH! And the other night I was using the free internet at McDonald’s, and I look over and I see this girl whispering something to her mom and she is pointing at me. But when I really looked, I recognized her as one of my students. So she was eating at McDonald’s pretty much sitting across from me, and staring at me while I used the computer. So I waved to her, and she just said “Heylo” and then quickly looked away. And then I said goodbye to her as I was leaving, but her mom was staring at me a little too much while I was talking to her daughter, so I figured that was my cue to leave. So I did.

So what else? The last few days has been a mission for me and Sapna to get our Halloween costumes. We decided to go with the devil/angel theme. I opted for Devil, since I hate wearing white . But seriously, the French DO NOT know how to do Halloween. Not yet at least. I was told that it is a relatively new holiday here, and more of a commercial holiday, than anything. It was probably adopted at most 10 years ago, but seriously, by the things they carry in stores and stuff, you would think they decided to adopt Halloween yesterday. All the places have like a mask, a witch hat, and maybe some face paint. But I really needed some horns, and Sapna really needed some wings and a halo. Soooo, on a top by a worker at one of the shops we checked out, we were told that there was a store called “Halloween” on la rue Diables Bleues. And that’s all we got. So we headed out to that direction, and somehow found that street, by chance. But no store. So we randomly asked some people walking by, and everyone looked at us as if we were crazy! So here we were, sans half our costume, trying to find some supposed store, which we were thinking didn’t even exist. So then we asked these people in the street one more time, and they knew what we were talking about! So they told us where it was, and we thanked them, but then as we were leaving, Sapna turned to me and her roommate and asked us if any of us understood what they were saying. None of us did! Thus, we were back to point A, but now we knew that it did, in fact, exist.
A few blocks later, I went into a Deli, and asked the guy working there if he happened to know where the store was. And he did, and was nice enough to come out of the store to point it out to us. So, with his aid, we finally found the store. But it was well worth the time spent in search of it! It was like a goldmine of Halloween stuff.. Costumes, wigs, make-up, jewelry, props, EVERYTHING. Think Party City in NJ for Halloween times 5. It was that much stuff. So Sapna and I found exactly what we needed and then made the trek back. I was exhausted, but quite pleased with my purchase!

So that was my big adventure for the last couple of days. I have the apartment all to myself , which is kind of nice, because I can play my music as loud as I want when I want, but it’s also eerily quiet. But that does remind me of a story, that my roommate better never read anywhere. But the other day I had something in my teeth (sexy, I know!) But anyway, I tried brushing my teeth, but to no avail. So then I look over, and I see my roomie’s dental floss sitting there on the shelf. So, I figure, she wouldn’t miss a tiny little piece, and my teeth certainly wouldn’t miss the little piece of food stuck between them. So I go to steal a tiny piece of floss, but in doing so, pull out the last tiny piece of floss from the package! There is no way she would “forget” using the last piece of floss herself, so I couldn’t try telling her that she must have used it without remembering. And I couldn’t leave it there empty. So, here I am, trying to thread the tiny piece of dental floss back into the hole where it feeds from, cursing my luck and karma at the same time. But I am trying to put it in the little hole and then loop it around the spool, to make it look like it was never used (because it’s a translucent box). So, needless to say, it took awhile, and it’s still not perfect, but she hasn’t said anything yet, but she hasn’t appeared to have tried using it yet either. So wish me luck. Eep.

Anyway, I am going to go, because there is a busload of little kids that just made it to the beach, and they are throwing rocks all around me. And that one almost hit me. Who throws a rock backwards?!?

Happy Halloween to all!! I will be sure to let you know how the Halloween celebrating is here. Hopefully, it is better than the shopping for Halloween is.

Miss you all!!

MUAH!
XOXOX,
Dina

'Twas a Lovely Day Here, My Friends

Hello everyone! Hope all is stillll well with everyone. This e-mail is going to be a good one. I feel it in my left knee. It projects good things to come.



So, first off, I will start by mentioning how today was monumental for me, in that I washed my first pair of jeans by hand today. I know what you are all thinking. 1) Dina, that's so gross considering you've been there a month already and only have 2 pairs of jeans you like to wear. And by said logic, you're just unclean. 2) Dina, it's only handwashing. You're dumb.



But hear me out. It took me so long because I was scared to wash them. Yes, scared. So many things could have gone wrong, you see. I could have stained them with the detergent, I could have displaced so much water in the sink because of the weight of the jeans that the water could have overflowed. But scariest of all...I could have been hanging them up to dry, and my hand could have slipped or the heaviness could have made them fall the 5 stories onto a poor unsuspecting French walkers head. In which case, I could have gotten yelled at in French. Scary!



But I promised goodness, in this e-mail. So I will deliver.



First off, was my day yesterday. It was the last day of work before vacation for both me and my little French Fries (AKA students). I know, this is a rough life I lead. After 3 days of work, I get a 10 day vacation. It really stinks. But I digress. So yesterday I wanted to make it a Halloween oriented class, so I made them little picture cutouts of witches and ghosts and haunted houses, and so on. So I drag myself out of bed by 7 to make it out the door by 7:15, and then I get to work a half hour early. After waiting for someone to show up to open the door, I learn that I wasn't actually really needed until 10. So I thought that was a little annoying, but it turned out to be good, because I wanted to get the kiddies some candy for Halloween. So I asked the Director and he was all for the idea offering to reimburse my purchase. So I walked my tush to the grocery store and bought them some candy taffey stuff. It should be noted though, that a normal bag of candy at home that you can get on any given day in the States, is considered the JUMBO Halloween sized bag in France. So I had to buy many bags.



So teaching was good, then. It's always nice to have some candy for leverage to get them to stop talking. I wish they would reimburse me for candy every week. But anyway, at lunch time, I get two hours to try to figure out what to do with myself. So this time, in hopes to save some money, I brought a can of tuna to eat, and our ghetto can opener, and found a bench somewhere. So, as I was eating and minding my own business, something falls on me. With a thud, too. And when I looked at what it was, I was surprised to see that a bee had fallen from the sky right onto my arm. So that was to set the precident for the chain of events that were about to ensue. So as I am trying to get the fallen bee of my arm, I look over to my left and I see that a lady was trying to get a little water out of the fire hydrant-like thing on the street. But instead of a steady stream, WHOOSH, out comes out gallons of water...all over her. So what do I do? I quickly swallow my tuna so I can begin laughing. BUT THEN, instant Karma. While I am mid-laughter, I drop the agenda book from my hand onto the ground, only to see it had fallen next to my bag, which incidentally had fallen into dog poop...the dog poop, that i now noticed, was all over my shoe. Yup, I was a stinky laughing Poo Shoe. (By the way, they powerwash the streets here at least twice daily to try to get rid of all the hundred of dog poops that deface the sidewalks and streets). So that was just all sorts of gross.



Fortunately, that was the last of the incidents that occurred in that span of time. With my Poo Shoe, and my Crap Sack, I headed back to work and took the roll of toilet paper and douced my bag with water. And then I threw away my tuna can that was in a ziplock, as was the ghetto can opener (which I realized hours later). So a lesson can be learned from this. A ghetto can opener is better than no can opener.



So last night, me and the girls went to a bar and just hung out and chatted with each other. On the way home, however, we ran into some really drunk guys (a couple of them), and the best thing to do in France, is to ignore the aggressive guys. Sometimes even fake not understanding them is good work, too. So, these two guys start talking to us, and I wanted to take the sign language route and pretend we couldn't hear them but Angelique for some reason, went against the cardinal rule, and started speaking to them. So they start speaking in English with us, and then one of them pulls out a bottle of vodka from his jacket (which was like a magic trick in itself) to try to intice us to hang out with them, thinking that free alcohol was the ticket for us. So right after they show off their bottle to us, the guy holding it proceeds to drop it on Sapna's foot. So their supposed enticement goes down in flames. Or at least in pieces. So after that debacle, we just start walking away. They walk after us, and keep talking to us. And so I just say under my breath "Angelique, don't talk to them". But under my breath still meant audible, I guess, at which the other guy goes (In broken English) "Excuse me Miss. I am sorry. But you are not so nice. Zee French are nice, but you are not." And then he walked away. And then I laughed.



So then this brings us to today. We all went to the Prefecture today to get our Carte De Sejour, which is a card that French Citizens receive. It's like an ID card, and it's important for traveling, for banking, for lots of things. So we got part 1 of that taken care of today. And on the way home, Sharleen, the coordinator for us assistants who lives in our building, asks us if we heard the news? She told us that yesterday the police stormed into our building onto her floor at 6 AM, and took the 'extremely nice' neighbor out in handcuffs. So, it turns out, there is this big news story here that involves a bunch of people who work at the Nice Airport being arrested for stealing baggage and reselling them. The neighbor was one of the heads of the operation, and the items he seized were actually just chilling in our basement. So that was kind of crazy.



And then if that's not enough for crazy, as I was coming here to use the internet today, I was walking down the street and I look to the opposite side of the street, and I see a crowd of people, and a man on the ground. My first reaction was that he was hurt, but as I looked closer, there was a guy sitting on top of the man restraining him, by holding his arm behind his back. And the guy on the ground was yelling. I can't imagine the events that lead up to that scene, but a minute later the police arrived, and took the man for themselves. Nice is Nuts.



And that brings me to this moment in time. I very much want to use the bathroom, but this McDonald's is all high tech (even moreso than the fact that they have WiFi), and I have to buy something to get a receipt which has a code that I need to enter to get into the bathroom. Heck no. I will not give into the McMan. So there. That's all I got for you today. I hope my left knee was right!



I miss you all very much!



XOXO,

Dina

I went to the beach in late October, suckers.

Hello there everyone! I am here in Nice. If this is news to you, than I have been doing a really awful job in my writings. Good. Now at least that is out of the way. I am at La Sansas today using the internet. No, I am not being ghetto outside on a park bench stealing the WiFi today. "Why not?" You ask. Because it's already dark here, and I wanted to enjoy a delicious orangina and Tex Mex salad anyway. And now my breath smells like a giant Onion Tree. Even though onions don't grow on trees.

Anyway, let's see what I can talk about first. This weekend has been pretty slow. On Friday I went out with some of the girls to a bar called Checkpoint. It's a good crowd, because there are English speakers, French speakers, and other people, too. Right now, the world is really split into those two options for me, and all other fall on the periphery. So anyway, we went to this bar, and I met Sapna there and Angelique. Then a bunch of other assistants came (Renee, Liz, Ashley, and Martine). We had a really good time dancing and talking, and just being silly. Yeah, I said silly.

So, Martine is an assistant of Spanish, and he is from Mexico. And he looks like he should be in the movie Desperado. He has really long, full hair. So, I am giving this detailed description to segue into my next story. Which I hope he never reads. So while all of us were hanging out, this woman comes up to me, and goes "You like this sort of thing? Guy with longer hair than you?" To which, I just said "Oh, he's our friend." To which lady with the crazy accent says "He looks like animal." Me: "Oh. Haha." Crazy Accent: "If you were really good friend, you would tell him to cut hair.". Me: "...I'm gonna go dance now." So that was sort of awkward. I was taking a verbal assault on behalf of another person, given by some random outsider. So foreigners are weird. But that doesn't take away from the fact that Friday night was a good time. I even have pictures :)

Saturday was also a slow day. I had to go food shopping because all I had in the cupboard was a can of Tuna, and empty box of cereal, and the milk that I accidentally put in there instead of in the refrigerator. So yeah, I was out of milk, too. So I walked all the way to the grocery store, only to find out that my timing was off and I was smack in the middle of the French equivalent to the siesta. So I went home and watched some Melrose Place instead. Speaking of Melrose Place...when I said that French TV was bad, I spoke too soon. I heart Melrose Place. But I think the time elapsed over the years is what makes that show so good. Seeing the tight jeans with flannel shirts...TUCKED IN on Doug Savant from Desperate Housewives makes me way too happy.

Anyway, I finally made it to the grocery store, and then I went to steal the internet and do all that good stuff. But then on the way home, I took the bus, and I almost saw a senior Citizen brawl break out. I was just standing there minding my business, when I see two older people come on the bus. So this lady stands up to offer the seat to the old lady who just came on, but as she approached the chair, so did an old man at the same time. And this old man had super powers...in the form of crazy amounts of ear hair. I was ear level with him, and I am saying I could have braided a rug with his left ear alone. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, they both hesitated for a moment, and the lady just sat down. But the old man wasn't liking that. Nah uh. So he offered a rebuttal to her move by saying that he was old. To which she didn't even have to say anything, cause she was clearly old. To which he said "I am holding a big bag". But she was holding one, too. Finally this woman next to them, who wasn't as old started telling off the old man, saying that it's only fair for the woman to get it, and yadda yadda yadda. So finally, a couple minutes later when they decided they were too tired from all the energy exertion, the old man just went to the back of the bus and took a seat there. And I was finally able to both giggle to myself and stop looking at ear hair.

Then yesterday night, I went downtown to Vieux Nice again, where we went to another bar, and a club, which made me so mad cause they charged 20 Euros to get in, and then they wouldn't let us take in our purses, so we had to pay even more money to check them in. And I just hate clubs as it is, so I opted to take my tushy, and get a cab home. So I stopped this taxi, hopped in, and the driver automatically knew I wasn't French from my accent, but was surprised that I was American because, and I quote, "You speak good French for an American". But I told him that with some wine, it gets even better. To which he said "18 euros, get out". Ok, he didn't say that, but it really was 18 euros for a 10 minute ride.

So today was a slow day. It was a really cloudy and cool morning, so I decided to walk downtown to see if i could find some curtains or something for my room. By the time I got there though, the weather had turned beautiful, so I decided to take the five more minutes and walk to the beach. Unfortunately, I didn't even think to bring my bathing suit, but I ended up lying on the rocks and soaking in a little sun anyway for a couple hours. Apparently old men don't like girls that sit alone, because 2 old men asked me if I was sad because I was alone. It's not acceptable to be single in France, it seems.

So that was my weekend. I am trying to think of good activitites for my little Frenchypoo students for Tuesday, since it is their last class before the break that extends through Halloween. So if anyone has any good ideas for me, let me know please :). Songs would be especially helpful!

I miss you all very much!
And it is officially 66 days until Megan comes!!!!


XOXOX,
Dina

Old Pics From Alix's Birthday Dinner

Here are some pictures from France for you to love and enjoy. So you better both love them and enjoy them!



by alixquinn

This is me and Sapna admiring the menu


by alixquinn

And this is me loving Tiramisu


by alixquinn

Alix, Angelique, me, and Sapna at a restaurant for Alix's birthday


by alixquinn

And now with the serious looks off our faces. Heehee.


by alixquinn

And this was us before Dinner. Sorry for the lack of chronology here.

I Think This Is Number 6

Hey hey hey! How are all of you people doing? I am doing pretty well. I think I am getting sick, though. It's impossible not to here with the everchanging weather. It changes more frequently than my underwear. First it's crazy amounts of hot in the day, then it drops down to crazy amounts of cold in the night. And then it rains, while poor Dina has to make the couple mile trek to her work sans umbrella. Needless to say, my nose is running like it's its fulltime job. Oh yeah, and it doesn't help that my roommate has been sick for like 3 weeks now, and the other assistants are also getting sick left and right. So that was my Nice rant. As in the city. Not as in the adjective.

So what's new? Well...I was talking to Matt, and he was talking about the A-Team, which reminds me that I wanted to tell you about my TV watching adventures. So a few days ago, I returned home and just wanted to watch some good old TV. So i flip the channels and all of a sudden I see a Black guy with dangly Dreamcatcher earrings, a mohawk, Bling before it was popular, and some crazy little get up. Needless to say, I had just flipped the channel to the "A-Team". Mister T was suddenly fluent in French. But to my dismay, his presense wasn't as commanding. I am pretty certain they chose a little White boy to his dubbing. So imagine big ol' Mr. T, saying "I Pity the Foo'", but in French, and high pitched. Loses some of the effect, huh?

Other than that, the TV is pretty lame here. Lots of game shows, and there is this show called the Star Academy, which is like American Idol, except here the contestants live in a house together and they include the reality drama aspect of that. The only cool part of that show is that they pop up with little captions whenever some sort of dramatic irony is present. It makes me giggle. Like this: tee hee.

So other than TV, and "The Office", which I am addicted to now, I have been occupied with work a little bit. It's getting a little difficult to make lesson plans because I teach 8 classes, and they all seem to be on different levels. So, I seem to forget what I went over the previous class, but it's quickly made obvious with the look of terror on the childrens' faces when I start to sing a song and they can't sing along. Or maybe it's just my voice. Wait, no, it's definitely my voice that strikes up the terror. They love songs though! I did the ABC song, which a lot of them already know until the 'Now I know my ABC's part'. But if you listen carefully, you can tell they are singing a bunch of nonsense words that sound pretty convincing. Like "Na ayno ma ABC, nexta wunju seeng wisme". And then I tried to teach them "10 Little Indians". They sing the numbers REALLY loudly, but the little indian part is just my crazy loud voice singing.

And there is definitely an old guy right now across from me watching me type. Which is very French. However, not many Frenchman here wear full out Sailor garb (the hat included) when they are clearly not on a sea voyage. That is what makes it a little creepy. And funny. But creepy.

So what else? Oh, last night I went to another Assistant's, Sapna's, apartment because she was throwing a housewarming party since she just moved in to her new apartment. There were some other assistants, as well as some of her roommate's friends. It was a pretty good time! I practiced my French more there than I think I have in all of France, thus far. There was the other girl there from Romania, actually. She has been in France for 5 years, and speaks very well. So we talked for a long time about Romania, cause she was quite excited to learn my family is from there. The roommate and his friends were also all studying film, too, which was pretty cool to talk about. OH, and I officially got word from a French person at the party that I looked like Evangeline Lilly. So now my number is 13 I think :). And someone said I looked like Charlize Theron, to which I profusely thanked them, and everybody shook their head almost violently, but then I realized he probably only got that notion because I told him I was born in South Africa. And that's how he got the Charlize connection.

Afterwards, last night, I went out with Sapna and Angelique to a discotheque. It was sooooo crowded. But we were talking along the way, and I asked if it ever just strikes them at random times that they are in France. Cause I had one of those moments. As I was walking and seeing everything written in French, I just had to stop and think "Holy Crap! You're in France!". And then when we got to the bar, where there was French rap playing, Angelique decided that that was one of those moments. I decided again when we were rocking out to "It's Raining Men" in a hip club. I was just waiting for some David Hasselhoff to come on. Or perhaps some mention of Jerry Lewis.

Ok, sailor man left, but now there is a pigeon sitting on the bench with me. It's quite cute actually. And creepy. But cute :)

Anyway, I am going to take a quick walk to the beach to nostalgically look at the water, and pray for a sunny and warm day tomorrow. I hope everyone is well there, and keep sending the e-mails :):):)!!


Miss you all very much!!
XOXOXO
Dina

Brr...Nice Should Never Get Cold

Hello everyone. I am sitting in the park across the street from the usual bar I go to. I have become that cheap that I am chilling with my laptop on a bench grasping at the WiFi from La Sansas. It could be a beautiful thing, but all I hear right now is construction noise to my left, and old man snoring to my right, and I am pretty cold right now. Good thing the laptop battery gets warm. It's the perfect ghetto heating, to the perfectly ghetto scenario.

So yesterday was my first day of teaching. It went pretty well, I must say. I incorrectly anticipated the duration of the lesson though, so I had to rely upon my quick wit to get me through. Ok, so it wasn't my quick wit I was relying on...it was the Blues Clues Alphabet Card Game that really got me through. But whatever. That's besides the point. Anyway, I got there about 45 minutes early to try to make a good impression. But the only impression I made was the one of my ass on the chair I sat in while waiting for everyone else to appear.

So, I went into my first class, which is one of the older levels, and I think it's fair to say that I did my worst job in there. I realized then my lack of proper timing for the activities, and I wasn't very animated during that class, due to insecurities and not knowing what to expect. They were responsive, nevertheless, and really really cute. I have to record their little voices for you all. "Mai Nime eez Dina". That's what they sound like.

So then, I made it to my next class, which went well. The kiddies love any sort of game, I am learning. So they appreciated my random games I had to offer. My third class sort of sucked, because the teacher wasn't a good disciplanarian, so she let them talk and all that stuff while I was trying to teach. It was a little rough.

My 4th Class was the cutest. They were about 8 years old, and they all had wide-eyed frightened expressions on their faces, which was somehow really adorable. And when they spoke, they not only had the accent, but they also had the little kid voice to add to that. And I made a point of speaking no French in any of the classes, but they asked me a question, and when I answered in French, they were shocked!

The rest of my classes followed the same suit (I have 8 classes over the course of the day). Basically I taught, the kids giggled (especially when I broke out the highfives...I figured if the autistic kids liked that, so would the French, right?). And the kids really seemed to like me. I have an advantage at the school, I admit. I am the only woman there who doesn't have a fan ready on her desk to aid with her menopausal hotflashes. I think a young teacher is a breath of fresh air (there is sort of a pun in there, i think). So when I was leaving, all the little students ran up to me and yelled "Haylo Mees Dina!", and they were all telling their parents that I was the new English teacher. It was heartening, and hopefully financially rewarding, because I am hoping to get a tutoring/babysitting gig out of the deal :)

So tomorrow I go again, and I will let you know how it goes. If any of you have any suggestions, let me know please! Games/Songs/Stories/ANYTHING, dammit!

Last night I also went out to a downtown bar with Sapna. It was a pretty good time. I saw my first good coverband! What a relief! They don't all play "Funkytown"! But, alas, I don't think that band plays there all too often. C'est dommage!

ANYWAY, I am freezing my little American feet off. (Story about that...in France, I am a size 40 shoe, which is considered to be at Sasquatian proportions here, so much so, that many stores don't even go up to that size. So we are apparently war-loving, fat, McDonald's loving Bigfoots here. But I digress...)

I miss you all very much, and hope to hear from you soon. BRRRRRRR. A bientot!

XOXOXO,
Dina

Nifty Nice

So, this time, I am at no shortage of stories to share with you. So many strange/funny/loco things have happened recently. So let’s see. Where should I start??

I’ll start at the moment I left the internet café the other day after writing my last e-mail. There are only late night buses that run here after 9 PM , which is kind of annoying because they follow very different routes, and they only come around every hour. So, to my joy, Alix and I were able to make our bus (after running like idiots). And so we were in good spirits while hyperventilating after the run (ok, that was only me), and then we see this seemingly homeless man get on the bus. The only reason I noticed him was because she seemed to be very intoxicated, because he was stumbling around. So that was that. BUT THEN, he reaches into his fanny pack (yes, I said fanny pack), and touches something. And next thing we know, there are 3 RATS that come out. And this guy is sitting in the seat right in front of Alix and me. So then, he starts letting them crawl around on his shoulders and neck (which happened to be right in front of our faces), and every once in awhile, one falls onto his lap or next to him. EWWWW. I can’t even write this without getting the heebie jeebies. So after I practically am sitting in Alix’s lap cause I need some comforting, and all the other ladies around have panic stricken faces, Alix and I decide to get off the bus at the next possible stop. So much for running for the bus. But seriously. Who A) has a fanny pack, B) Keeps rats in their fanny pack? Ick. In my mind this story takes the cake for being so bizarringly disgusting….

So, for the next story, I was talking to Alix about these e-mails, and she asked me if I had mentioned Mister Opera Man to you yet. And I had not. So you know how every once in awhile when you are on your own (or even in the company of a friend) you love just blasting your music and soaking it in? Well, imagine doing that every single day at lunch time, but with French Opera music. And imagine being this guy’s neighbor. I say to each his own, but not when his own is now mine, too. So this story is lame in comparison to the other one. I apologize.

Yesterday, I started going to these seminars (6 hours of lectures) about how I am expected to teach. So I started talking to these two English girls, who are very nice, and are teaching me the differences between British English and American English (and who also shot down my attempt at an English Accent). So, while I was eating my crisps at tea with these two Freshers in Uni, an older man came up to me (I would guess he was in his late 60’s), and he told me that my face very much resembled that of his mother when she was his age. I somehow was flattered. I don’t know why, because as far as I am concerned his mother could have been Eleanor Roosevelt (who we all know was not much of a looker), but it was sort of nice that I invoked this memory in him, so much so that he felt the need to stop and tell me. Or at least I am 75% sure that is what he told me. My French comprehension is still a little shaky.

Oh yeah. There is one more anecdote that I thought was adorable/funny that I forgot to mention from my observations. In one of the classes, the students were reviewing “My name is”, “I am ___ years old.”, “I am from…”, etc. So they had to choose a celebrity and write their identity on a card as if they were them. A few kids chose 50 Cent (who, I had to explain to the principal that was observing with me, is a rap artist who chose to leave the s of the “Cent” even though it is, in fact, improper English). Anyway, one of the kids chose “Misturebine”, which at first looks like some crazy artist or something. But when he said it aloud, we realized, with much amusement, that he was actually talking about “Mr. Bean”. So that made me giggle. Hee hee.

So that is pretty much what I wanted to write about. I actually have to head back to part 2 of my seminars L. I also have them all day tomorrow, too. Make them stop!

I still miss you all, and I’m still appreciating the e-mails, mail, and calls that you are receiving very much!!

Much love,

Dina XOXOX

(I don’t know if I want to call myself Dina Berk anymore, because yesterday I found out that the people in France say “Berk” instead of “Yuck”, So basically that makes my French name DinaYuck. Not cool. )

Hello From Nice, Version 4.1

Helllllo Everyone! I am here in Nice. Still. I guess I am nearing week 2 here. It's still beautiful here. I had an observation today at a different school, which was pretty cool, but I didn't get to really interact with teh kids at all today. Although they were all curious about my name. And I am learning people here have a tough time with the name Dina. They all prefer Tina. So in France, I am Tina.

Anyway, after my observation, I went to the beach in my work clothes and sat on a bench overlooking the beach for a good hour and a half. I couldn't believe I could be entertained just sitting there. But it is so calming, I couldn't remove myself. And it is great for people watching (AKA making snap judgements of everyone I see).

And now I am at a NEW bar trying to use their internet cause La Sansas is mysteriously closed today. I don't like this bar as much. It's too official with the WiFi deal. I like my free things to be simple. What's the fun in being a Mooch who needs a password. Nah uh.

So, let's see. What is new and fun since I last sent an e-mail?

ICE CREAM! Oh yeah! So, you know how people who travel sometimes keep a log of the restaurants and fancy food they've tried in different places? Well, on a much less sophisticated note, I am going to become a connaisseur of the different flavors of ice cream. And I can honestly say, that when it comes to French ice cream terminology, I am learning it quickly. Une boule = 1 scoop, Parfum = flavor, Gouter = to taste, Je ne suis pas gros = I am not fat. So, so far I have tried Three Chocolates, Kinder, Tiramisu, plain old Chocolate x 2, and crap, there was definitely another one, but i forget the flavor now. I will get back to you on that!

So what else? Wow, I am really having a hard time thinking of some anecdotes from France. What's going on here? Maybe it's cause all my time is spent on the beach! So let me tell you some things I saw on the beach recently. No poo, thankfully. That joke already got old 5 minutes after I made that discovery. And no Megan, I am sure they weren't mini baby ruths :p.

OH! Here's something dandy to talk about. They shut off the gas in our apartment. And no, I am not talking about that old man downstairs who has a bad case of flatulence. I mean, walk in the shower in the AM ready to get rejuvenated by a steaming shower only to realize all too late that the only thing that's steaming is your anger at the spray of frigid water hitting your body. Not that I am speaking from experience or anythign >:\. The only good thing about the no gas thing is that I know have a free pass to make everything in the microwave instead of trying to make the roommate think I know how to cook (which is actually me just boiling water, anyway), and I don't have to fear burning off my eyebrows each time I strike a match to light the stove. I value my eyebrows.

So that's about it. I am lucky enough to be looking out at the beach right now, in fact, and it is quite foggy here. THe one day I attempt to straighten my hair...Oh yeah, and I also went to go for my medical visit yesterday, and they let me keep my chest XRay as a souvenir, I guess, or a giant placemat. So if anyone is into Modern art, and that plays nicely into your furturistic living room set up, let me know, and my chest is yours for free.

I hope all is well with everyone. I miss you all still very much!!! And to those of you sending me letters and e-mails, I appreciate it very very much!!!!!

LOVE XOXOXOX,
Dina

It's Nice in Nice!

Bonjour!

I hope all is well back home. And if it's not, then you are in luck, cause it's about to get better upon reading my third e-mail. Duh duh duh duh...

So where to start? I guess I will begin by talking about my first observation at one of the primary schools here. I was really nervous about it, for some reason. And for whatever reason, they are making me do my observations at schools other than the one I will be working at. So I arrived at St. Roch 1, the school I was observing in, and I guess the children were in recess cause all i saw was a whole big mess of little Frenchies. They were very cute though,. which made me a little less nervous.

Soon after, I was in my first class. That teacher offered to have the children introduce themselves to me, and then ask me questions. The questions started out really sweet and innocent like 'how do you like America', 'how long are you here?', 'do you have family here?', etc. But then they took a turn for the weird with 'Have you ever been arrested?', and 'Have you ever killed anyone?'. I guess their perceptions of Americans are a little skewed. When I think of France, I just think of Grey Goose and surrendering. Not that they are trouble making murderers. But hey, to each his own. Anyway, at that point the teacher nervous giggled and just asked me to sit in the back of the room to observe. A few minutes later this girl in the front told her teacher she had something to tell me. So she makes her way to the back of the room and says "Eexcuuse mee miss, you are verry beeutiful. You are zee angel." It was really really cute.

Then I went to my next class, where the teacher was the opposite of the first one. She was like the English teaching Nazi. But you could tell the kids were going to learn much more English from her, than from the previous teacher. So it was bittersweet for those students. Afterwards, I was very proud of myself, cause I found my way home from some random place in Nice. So i rewarded myself with some ice cream. I seem to do that a lot here.

Yesterday night a bunch of the assistants were told to meet up at the beach...I could not believe that the beach could look any more beautiful, but at night it just takes on a whole new level of beauty. We met up with the others, and just sat and drank some wine on the beach for a little while, and then the group split up, and went their separate ways. I went out with a couple of the girls that i went out with on Tuesday. We went to a bar called Waynes, and there was a British cover band playing there. They were pretty good, just hard to dance to, cause they played things like the Beatles and CCR. But I still had a good time, nevertheless.

Which brings me to today. The weather was perfect again, so I went to the beach with Alix. It was sooo nice layiong out on the beach. And the water was a little chilly, but so clear today. That is until I noticed some weird brown plant floating towards me. Which was fine....until I noticed they weren't plants. They weren't living things at all. However, they once did belong to a living thing. Yeah, they were floaters, but in a giant toilet known as the Mediterranean Sea. So that put a damper on my beach day for about a minute...until I redirected them towards some other unsuspecting swimmer. Enter evil laugh.

So now I am in my usual bar, where the workers all roll their eyes when I walk in, knowing full well that they are going to have to see me for the next couple of hours plugging away a the keys, and laughing to myself when I read my funny conversations. Oh well. They love me, they just don't know it yet.

I will try to e-mail you all again soon! I still miss peanut butter, but I miss you all more!

XOXO

Au revoir!
Dina

You lucky ducks...Update number 2

Bonjour everyone!

It's me, Dina, reaching out to you from the French Riviera ;). Um, there is so much that has happened since my last e-mail...

Let's do a mini recap, shall we? Hmmm?

Ok, Saturday...I went to the beach again. As you will see, this pattern will be repeated numerous times throughout this e-mail. It was a pretty good time. I decided to fly it solo that day, just to make sure, if all else fails, I can find my way to the beach. So after a trip to the bank, and the post office, I ventured downwards to the water. Sure enough, I found my way, and to reward myself, I bought myself an ice cream. It was chocolate, and it was delicious!!

That night Alix and I were both pretty tired, so we decided to stay in.

Then Sunday, they have this deal in Nice where the first and third Sundays in Nice are free at all the museums. So Alix and I decided to take advantage of this deal, and we went to the Musee des Beaux Arts. It was choc full o' paintings from the different time periods. It was pretty cool. Not too many names I recognized, but I suppose those are reserved for the Louvre.

After spending some time at the museum, Alix and I went to the beach. Surprise, surprise. We then had to head back to the apartment to get ready to go to the hostel for the evening.

So after a quick shower, and a quick packing job, Alix and I were given a ride to the Relais de la Jeunesse, by Sharleen (she's the coordinator of the program, but conveniently lives the floor above us). At the hostel we got the opportunity to meet a bunch of other people in our school district, but unlike the United States, a school district here has schools in Nice and in other cities that can be up to 2 hours away. So after some mingling, we were treated to some hostel dinner. It was pretty good. Everything always tastes better when it's free though somehow. I am not sure how that works. But it does.

After dinner, we did some more mingling with some espresso, beer, or hot tea. I chose neither, because I was mentally preparing my senses for the forecoming night spent in a room with 8 girls. I met a really cool girl that I actually talked to before the trip through e-mail, and so I finally got to meet her in person. I promised her that I would take her to the beach the next day (i think it was more of a selfish thing than an altrustic act), since she is staying in Toulon, one of the cities that's 2 hours away. So after a few hours of talking with some of the others, we called it a 'night', which was more like an extension of the day, since it was nearly impossible to get some sleep with all the noise. At one point during the night I decided to reposition in my 1 foot by 2 foot bed, but for some reason i couldn't do a slight turn, I had to do practically a complete 180 turn, and bellyflop onto my mattress. Unfortunately, the mattresses were reallllly squeeky, and upon turning, I awoke to hear the German chick in the room (who I didn't know spoke English) yell "Zyou arr beeeing ztoo loud!" So I was now the loud one in the room. Who knew that turning could be so dangerous?!?

In the morning, we were treated to breakfast, at 7:00 AM, which was more like a wake up hour before we had to go to a bunch of meetings. Since Sharleen calls us neighbors, she also asked us (me and Alix) to lead a group of people to the Rectorat from the Hostel. I was responsible for the non English speaking group. It was quite funny leading the group of 100 people across the street. If you could see the faces of the people stopped in cars at the crosswalk....priceless.

Anyway, after some standard 'welcome' meetings, we were given yet more food. It was one of those buffets, though, where you can't really tell what anything is. They were all finger foods, but half the fun was just guessing what you were eating.

After that, Mieko (the cool girl from Toulon) and I headed back and we went onward to the beach. When we got there (way later than we hoped), the sky was pretty cloudy, so it wasn't as awesome as it usually is, but Mieko really liked the water, so we swam for awhile and then headed back where we found a bus stop so she could head back to Toulon.

Afterwards, I called me mums, and was starving so i went to the little grocery store. Tomorrow is Alix's birthday, so I decided to buy some delicious looking ravioli, and treat her to a pre birthday dinner. It was pretty good, but would have been delicious if it were free...

That brings me to now. I am just chilling, once again with my glass of rose wine, watching two germans chickies get their dance on to a remake of C&C music factory's "Everybody Dance Now" (I noticed that the music here is all American music...i am listening to Shakira now, and all over is Justin Timberlake and the Pussycat Dolls).

I still miss you all, and think you should all visit. I would also love if anyone has any pics from home to send them to me!! Also, if you want to keep me entertained with mail, my address here is:

Chez Mme CRAIGHERO
Re: Dina Berkovits
54 Avenue Bellevue
06100 NICE France


XOXO MUAH XOXO,
Dina