And to add to the weirdness of the previous post...

the minutes after sending out my e-mail....

(via Yahoo Messenger)

Mom: It's OK, I just got [your blog]
Mom: Yummy, cow's brain, I haven't had that in ages!!
Dina: ewwwwww
Dina: of course that is what you would say
Mom: No, not really, it is a delicatessen, used to have it occasionally in the old country, when we could get some
Dina: it's really cheap though
Dina: cheaper than the chicken is
Mom: You should try it! It's really good with scrambled eggs
Dina: mom, no

Mini Blog Alert

This is a realllllly quick note.



1) I have the worst runny nose in the history of Dina-dom. My roommate thought I was crying all night, when all it really was was me trying to outrun the runny nose.



2) I saw today, for the first time ever...and hopefully the last time ever...in the supermarket packaged cow brains. I looked up right above the unassuming chicken cutlets and WHAM. It looked like a biology class disection project in Aisle 5. I actually caught myself saying 'Eww' outloud. And this is me. The girl that used to love cutting up cow brains in AP bio. But there is something more charming about a brain that is bobbed out of a vat of fermaldahide versus one shrink-wrapped and next to the meat you are planning to buy...with a sticker saying 'great price' stuck on it. I do have to say though, if I were a cow and I saw my brains were being sold for 4.50 euros, i'd probably become a Mad Cow (hahah...I just made myself laugh). But seriously. I'd feel a little better at least being a Swiss Cow cause at least the exchange rate would be working in my favor and making me look a little better.



3) Sucker...there is no number 3.



Anyway...I wanted to get that cow's brain story out there before I repressed it without letting it surface.



I hope you are all well and I miss you very much.



David...you get weekly immunity and are on your way to much greater immunity when the album comes :). Jerry has weekly immunity, too. And mom and Megan still. :) And Dan. And Ian...I neglected to mention his extended immunity for the package he sent me.



Have a great night and I hope you feel better (the latter part was a message by me, for me).



XOXO

Dina

Yesterday marked Month 4. Today marks Blog 26. Tomorrow will mark...uhh...Monday.

Ok….so this is going to be a mini blogger thing because not really a whole lot of exciting has happened, however, there is something worth talking about, but that’s mostly all I’ve got to offer.

Sick

So, I am sick again. This comes at an interesting time though, because lately I have been healthy Dina. I ran a little bit last week, been doing much more walking, been taking vitamins daily, and cut out the chocolate and junk food and ate more fruits and vegetables these last couple of weeks than maybe my whole life combined. It’s true. AND, if you can imagine, last night was the only night I have been out allll week. And I’ve been ODing on Airborne. And nevertheless...Boom…enter sickness. And it’s always the same thing. Stupid sore throat with swollen tonsils and swollen uvula and what one might call the random late night snot nose. So, I’m thinking either France is the cause of said sickness (seeing as to how Alix and I rotate disease with Sapna thrown into the mix here and there), or I need a tonsillectomy STAT.

The Double Cous

Everyone, do yourself a favor and stock up your pantries with couscous (the wholewheat kind is fabulous). And then do yourself another favor…go ahead and prepare that couscous. And then, throw some broccoli, tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese in a pan/skillet/whatever floats your boat, and add some olive oil. And then when the couscous is all boiled up and ready to go, add it to the pan/skillet/boat floater with the veggies and cheese and mix it up. It’s an American’s escape to Greece for, well, however long it takes you to eat it. HACHOO. Being sick is lame.

Oh! Here’s another delicious food tip for those of you who are trying to eliminate the poundage off the waist like this girl (we can all thank the balding bartender at Ma Nolan’s for making me feel like a fatty after saying I have a ‘pouch’). I have to attribute this one to Alix…

Instead of consuming regular fruit flavored yogurt (which is very good for you, especially you ladies, but can actually pack some calories), you take some plain yogurt and just add a tablespoon of any type of jelly you want. It actually tastes better to me than fruit yogurt, and, recently I have been buying fresh strawberries and bananas and slicing them up and throwing them in there, too. Try it. You won’t be sorry. And neither will your v-v’s, ladies .

Alluding to ‘The Office’…again

Just watch it. I’ve been reliving the second season again. And I am going to marry Jim Halpert. So what if he’s not real? And so what if fake Jim doesn’t even know I am alive? You watch. One day I am going to be Mrs. Fake Jim Halpert.

Yay! I’m loved! By French Fries.

So there is this little girl that is tiny in one of my classes. But I think this is adorable, and am hoping you will agree. So every time she enters the room when we have English she runs up to me and gives me a hug. However, she is so tiny that she ends up hugging my thigh, and in her little girl voice she always says “Dina….je t’adore.” Yeah. I’m the shiznit.

More Monaco-ian goodness

Last night we decided it was time for a change of pace, so Sapna, Angelique, and I ventured into Monaco. I purposely didn’t go out Friday so I could reserve my strength for yesterday, and get my long-overdue dance on.

Angelique had never been, and as you know Sapna and I have many an occasion, so we were amped to show her a good time. Welllll…she barely caught the train, but we all made it there and we wanted to try a new bar to start our night before we hit the club, because drinks are insanely expensive at the clubs there. So Sapna and Angelique had heard a lot about this bar called ‘Stars and Bars’, so after about a 30 minute trek (for some reason Angelique thought it wise to break in her new boots on her trip to Monaco) we finally got there. The ambiance was pretty good with live music, a big bar, a mini dance floor, and cool lights, but it was too clubby for me. You have to keep your bars as bars and your clubs as clubs. At least that’s the case in my humble opinion.

So anyway, the three of us decide to start the dancing (as per usual…we are the only ones dancing), and then one of the bouncers comes up to me and says something in French, which took me three tries to understand (yeah, the French is coming along lovely, thanks), but next thing I know, he is hoisting me up on the reception area bar thing. It’s hard to describe, but you know when you go to a restaurant and you have to go to the area to ask for a table or inquire about your reservations…now imagine a high bar-like barrier around that, and that’s where I was dancing. Next to me, Sapna is quickly thrown up there, too. And quite literally, thrown. And then Angelique follows suit. And as we are dancing, the bartenders are bringing us over free drinks for offering up the dancing entertainment. It was all fun until this guy gets up there, too, and starts pushing us and stuff. After almost elbowing him off the ledge, I decided for the sake of not starting a ‘Stars and Bars’ brawl for accidentally making a guy fall to his death, to just head down to normalcy and dance on zee floor. But it was a really good time.

So after that, we decided to also try a new club. Normally we always go to Karement, but this time we decided to hit up Jimmy z. (No, they can’t afford a light in the shape of a comma and the s was probably all sold out, making them resort to the z…or here’s hoping, at least.) But anyway, we get there after spending euro-age on a taxi, and then the bouncer asks us if we have a reservation. Naturally, we did not, because who the hell makes reservations to go to a club? So in our annoyed state, we decided to go to Karement again.

After suffering with tired feet and bladders which were probably 10 times the normal size, we finally get to Karement. But alas, ‘Do you have reservations?’. We never, ever, ever, needed reservations there. Never. That place isn’t even good enough for reservations. But lo and behold, apparently places like that get packed in the end of January (nobody is around the Mediterranean in January!) So in a state of even greater annoyance, and panic for our ever expanding bladders, we decided to go to McCarthy’s…the bar we usually always go to before Karement.

After getting to McCarthy’s and making a B-line to les toilettes, we opted to get some food there. They only had mini pizzas, which was perfectly ok, and I have to say I would never have imagined sitting at a bar at 3 am eating pizza in Monaco. But, it was delicious, and hit the spot quite nicely.

However, at that point Angelique was too tired to move from her seat, and Sapna was a little sad because that place brought up memories of someone she didn’t really want memories of at the moment (sorry to dish your life, Sapna, if you ever read this). But I still wanted to dance. So Sapna and I just started dancing a little in the corner. However, the music was subpar, so I wanted to ask the bartender/manager if he had anything good on his laptop (think laptop DJ).

I had become friends previously with one of the bartenders there, since we frequented the place so much, and so one of the managers also recognized me through that connaissance, so he told me to go behind the bar and take a look at what he had on his computer. It felt weird, but I was more than happy to oblige. So behind the bar I go, and choose a song (a little ‘Santeria’ by Sublime), but I look over and Angelique is fast asleep (who does that?!) and Sapna was in the bathroom. So next thing I know, I am behind the bar and the managers and my bartender friend are sitting at the bar, and one of the managers goes ‘Dina, make me a shot.” Obviously, I thought they were being smartasses, but I respond with ‘What can I get you?’ And then next thing I know, they are pointing to where everything is from afar and I am making them shots . So they took their shots, and then a patron comes to the bar, but the managers and Jim are still just sitting there, and they just reply ‘go on, get him what he wants’. So again, with gestures and explanations, there I am making a demi-pêche (do they exist in the US…it’s a shot of peach syrup with beer?)

So, I became the honorary laptop DJ and bartender for the rest of the night (which was only like 45 minutes), and in exchange they said I can make whatever drinks I want for myself . It was pretty awesome, though. I even met a couple of cool patrons from Monaco, and got to practice some French. And I made the Irish manager teach me some Irish words, and the Italian manager got to hear me butcher some Italian. And, by the end, I was pouring some sexy beers with the perfect amount of foam on them.

At that point, however, Angelique was awaking from her slumber, and Sapna was getting ready to head out, too, so we went to the train station and caught the 5:15 train home. After what seemed like the longest and coldest walk ever, I was in bed and heading to dreamland. Unfortunately, for some weird reason, I woke up 3 hours later, and haven’t been to sleep since. SOOOOOO, if this e-mail blog thing is really awful, and the jokes are just as far from funny as can be…it’s because I’m working here on 3 hours of sleep and sickness.

But…je t’adore.

I hope you all had/continue having a lovely weekend, and feel free to e-mail me or call me or send me shiny things. Or you can even send yourself. (Dan H., Drew, Steve-o, Matt K., mom and Sandy are off the hook this week for their lovely e-mails and packages. And Megan has lifetime immunity because she visited.)


I miss you all very much!
XOXOX
Dina

It's the PMVB....Post Megan's Visit Blog...

My blog writing has taken a turn for the worse as has my excitement level here in Nice. I really can’t think of much to indulge my eager readers with (and I know you are all so very eager :p). It’s pretty much the same ol’, same ol’…but now my nights are more often filled with movies and crossword puzzles (thanks for the book of crossword puzzles, mom. It’s doing wonders for my social life!).

Let’s see…

I went back to work the beginning of last week. The kids are still the same, although I think they mellowed out a little bit since before the break. Which was quite a welcomed change. I started this time around by teaching them about English Speaking Countries. It was pretty awesome for me because I know a lot of people here who are from Canada , Ireland , Scotland , England , and even New Zealand , and so I made some of them sit with me and compile a list of words that are different in the different countries. I will share some with you here. These are equivalents in England and America (this is how you know my blogs are going down the crapper…)

Girls = birds
Sweater = jumper
Red head = ginger
Underwear = pants
Pants = trousers
Sneakers = trainers
Bathing Suit = swimming costume
Winter hat = toque (this is Canadian)

So that lesson was brought to you by the letter H and the number 5.

I downloaded some National Anthems for them, too, from the different English Speaking Countries, and I have to say… South Africa ’s national anthem is pretty awesome. It’s got a groovy back beat to it, and it makes me soooo want to go back to visit!

I also made a worksheet for them with flags that they would have to color in. And then I made them vote on their favorite flag (choices were: UK , England , Scotland , Ireland , America , South Africa , Jamaica , India , Australia , and Canada ). Amazingly, the Canadian flag was a multiple time winner. Who would think that the maple leaf could have such an impact on little Frenchies J. However, in talking to my Canadian friend here, we realized neither of us knew the origins of the colors on our respective flags. So I promised him research, and was quite disappointed to learn that in both cases, the colors were just chosen without specific means. Just *poof* these are our colors. I don’t like it.

Furthermore, I had previously written my first French teacher when I first arrived, to see if she would be interested in doing a sort of correspondence between her students and mine. She was very receptive to the idea, and she created a club that meets at lunch, and they compiled a bunch of letters, newspapers, postcards, and pictures of themselves and sent it to me about a month ago. I took the opportunity to present their things at the last lessons, and I had them respond by writing letters of their own back. Which makes for further blog material. One moment please…

Ok…so there was a verbal battle between two letters that my students wrote. Clearly these will not be forwarded to the American kiddies…we’ll call them the Freedom Fries, but I offer you the content of said letters:

Hello!

My name is A…. or 50 Cent.
What’s your name?
I am from Lebanon .
How old are you?
I am 10 years old.
How are you?
C… est une tête du vache. (C... is a cow’s head)
J’adore le football américain et le bascket. (I love football and basketball)

Yeah, so that was just an insult that was slipped in on the sly. And here is the responding letter…

Hello!
My name is C….
I am 10 years old.
How are you?
How old are you?
A…. est ugly. (A... is ugly)
A… est laid. (A... is ugly)
A... est trop bête, ugly, laid, et est un caca et une tête de vache (meeuuhh) ! HaHaHaHa et il est un KINDER. (A... is very stupid, ugly, ugly, and is a caca and a cow’s head (moooo) ! Hahahaha and is a KINDER [I have to look this one up in the dictionary and get back to you on this one, folks.]).

And that was the letter battle of the day. It was like the “8 Mile” of the French Primary School world. Although I guess it would be like “20 Kilometers”. Woo! Is this thing on [taps mic]?!

The only other weird thing going on at work is that lots of my little French fry girls have been asking me if I am married. And act surprised when I act surprised. I guess I am already looking spinsteresque to them.

Other than work, the going out is the same…Wayne’s, Thor’s, and Ma Nolan’s still remain our places of dancing and ingesting zee alkie. You know it’s bad when you know everyone’s name at the bars. But unfortunately, there aren’t that many cool places here.

Anyway, I think that’s all I got for you for now. You got off easy this time. I, however, did not, seeing as to how I am watching some really weird murder mystery movie with that guy from that show. Yes you think about it. I can’t think of the name of the show, but it had the down syndromed son named Corky. Oh, and a quick side note…we have an Italian channel, and they have “Let’s Make A Deal!” on that channel all the time, and the Italian version is the bomb diggity. It’s not over until the contestant cries. Whether be them happy tears, sad tears, or terribly stressed tears. And the host…well, he dances. Yes. DANCES. But anyway…that’s all there is.

I miss you all very much!!
XOXO
Dina

And P.S. .. Um, bone to pick time…where are my e-mails? Ian, Megan, Lianna, Mom, and Jerry are off the hook. You, too, can be off the hook if you send me e-mails, send me a package, come visit me, or merely put money in my bank account. Think about it…

P.P.S….some promised pictures from Megan’s visit are here now…Oh no. Star Trek just started in French. I must end this so I can change the channel.

P.P.P.S…I just saw a commercial where a woman got beaten by her husband and she’s crying on the floor and her 5 year old son goes over and looks down at her and then kicks her in the ribs. “A man who beats his wife teaches his children the same thing.” The French know how to do commercials!

All About Megan's Crazy Visit...If You Dare...

So, I know it’s been awhile since the last update, but with very good reason. Megan came to visit me from the 27th of December and stayed until the 4th of January. But you must embrace yourselves, because here I am including the nine day adventures of Megan and Dina in Europe.

First, let me start out by saying I hope that everyone had a wonderful New Year’s celebration, and may it bring you all health, wealth, and happiness. Ok, good…that’s out of the way. I think the easiest way to let you in on our adventures will be a day by day play by play. I’m a frickin’ poet.

Day 1: Megan Arrives

This was just the let’s reunite and catch up day. Megan and I went downtown to have some lunch and then we pretty much just layed low for the rest of the day and night. It was really great, because although we hadn’t seen each other in months, we were able to just pick up where we left off…just in France. We watched Bridget Jones that night, too, and for the first time ever, I ordered pizza for delivery. It was supbar, but still exciting nevertheless.

Day 2: Leave for Zurich

I don’t really recall if much was accomplished before we left for Zurich on Thursday afternoon. The trip started off on the wrong foot though because the bus driver at the stop didn’t want to stop for us because we were too slow walking to the bus (we had a big ass suitcase and there was an old lady with a cane…how fast could he expect us to run?). But I hit the bus with my hand to tell him to stop (an aggressive move, yes, but deemed necessary in the situation). But then I got on the bus and he starts yelling at me. And then I started yelling at him. So I got in my first French verbal battle. It was quite marvelous and I had the old lady on my side. And Megan was giving me English verbal encouragement.

Anyway, we arrive to the hotel in Zurich at around 8:30, after only a 50 minute flight. (We were the row behind Business class on the plane, and it was quite sad cause I went to use the bathroom in the front of the plane, and I got kicked out and sent to the back of the plane…My ass wasn’t good enough for business class’s toilet seat). So back to the hotel, we got there and we decided to head out on a night on the town. The people in the hotel led us to Old Zurich, which was in walking distance, and offered many restaurants and bars and all that jazz. So as we were looking at a map in the middle of the street, this guy stops and asks if we need help. So we tell him we are looking for a bar or club or something to do, and then he tells us we should join him at a bar towards which he was headed.

So we go to the first bar, and get a couple drinks and make our friend, Oliver, teach us some German. We also got to meet some pretty awesome other people, namely an awesome bartender from Maine who moved there to be with her boyfriend. In my buzzed state though, I think I offended her because I think I implied how silly it was to move somewhere for a man. I’m not very tactful when I have wine. But she held no grudge after the nice tip I left her.

After that bar shut down we went to the one place that was open, which turned out to be a piano bar. And that’s where the alcohol began to flow freely. We made friends with the bartender there, as well, and he kept making sure that our wine glasses were never empty. And you can’t turn down free wine in super expensive Zurich. So Megan and I kept on the wine, and then some guy (who looked like Frasier) was digging our new friend Oliver, so he bought us all shots of tequila. So Megan and I were dancing around the piano while the piano player (who happened to be from NY and happened to tell me he loves pisces women) dedicated Bon Jovi songs to us. It was a great time…we stayed and danced until the place closed .

Day 3: Lazy in Zurich

Megan and I were reallllly beat from our previous night out, so we made it a lazy day. I opted to be the one to get the food, so I walked back to Old Zurich and got us some McDonald’s. In Zurich, it costs about 15 francs for 2 Happy Meals. It’s expensive. Anyway, I gather my food and make the trek back, seeing Zurich a total of 45 minutes in the daytime. Megan and I ate and then stayed in bed another good 5 hours. We were quite hungry at that point, so we gathered all our strength and courage and went back downtown to a restaurant called the “Spaghetti Factory”. It was really delicious, but that was all the strength we could muster for that day, so we made it back to the hotel and just rested the rest of the evening.

Day 4: Zoo in Zurich

We were committed to making it outside today. We both decided to go to the Zoo, so we took a bus and headed towards the animals. The weather started out being really nice, but got progressively colder. But that didn’t stop us from checking out some of the awesome animals. We got there kind of late though, so I was sorely disappointed when the goats were taken out of the petting zoo area to get fed. It ruined my zoo experience a little, cause that’s what I most look forward to. Yes, I like playing with the goats. We did get to see camels, elephants, elk, llamas, all sorts of fish, bats, lizards, and I am sure more that I can’t think of right now. Oh yeah…Penguins! I like penguins.

So anyway, as the zoo closed we headed back downtown and opted to get some Fondue that night. We found this really nice little restaurant where we had amazing cheese fondue. We ate it as if we hadn’t eaten in years. I think we surprised the waitress with our rapid eating pace, because there were people that sat down before us who weren’t even close to being finished, and yet there we were asking for our check. It was so delicious though.

After that, Megan and I decided to go out again, but this time sans alcohol. We found this place with a dance floor. Of course we were the only ones on the dance floor, but had a really great time just being sober idiots instead of drunk ones. Then we began to head home when, sure enough, we ran into our friend Oliver. It was good to see him, and together we recapped the events of the previous night. We then walked the rest of the way back with him and parted with our Swiss friend. Bye-bye Swiss friend! And that was that.

Day 5: New Year’s Eve

We headed to the airport to fly back to Nice with the intention of going to Monaco that night. After the flight and the walk back home, however, we realized that going to Monaco wasn’t necessarily the best idea seeing as to how tired we were. So instead, we made our way downtown, and went to Wayne’s where we danced a little, and then these French guys shared their bottle of wine with us, and Megan practiced her Spanish with the guy, which was quite impressive seeing as to how she was a) buzzed and b) hadn’t taken Spanish since her third year of high school.

We toasted at midnight, and decided, like every year before, that New Year’s sort of sucks and is a big disappointment, so we took our disappointed bums and went home and to bed. We were probably the only ones in bed by 1:30.

Day 6: New Year’s Day

Today we headed downtown to get some unique type lunch, but all the restaurants were closed or not appealing, so we ended up getting some good old Chinese food. And by good, I mean subpar, but it did the trick nevertheless.

After Chinese we went to the fair they had downtown for the holidays. There wasn’t much to do there but we got some amazing churros and we rode the big ferris wheel, which is a big deal for me, since I am scared of ferris wheels. It lended us an amazing view of the city though, and it was a really awesome day out, too, which made it even better. After our ferris wheel ride, we headed home and just took it easy for the rest of the night.

Day 7: Our busy day

This was a good and proactive day for us. We headed downtown but stopped along the way to go shopping. We got some cute outfits and then we decided to stop at the mall to look for more clothes, but then ate lunch there instead. After lunch we continued to venture downtown where we went and got my nose repierced. It was the quickest thing in the world. I was in and out in like 5 minutes.

We then headed home and bought some groceries to make what would be the best tacos ever. They were delicious. Some new learned advice…ground beef that is meant to use to make a Bolognese sauce works really well in tacos. And so does the French salsa. And crème fraiche.

After tacos, Megan and I headed downtown and went to the Casino Ruhl, which I had never been to, but Megan and I have a slight gambling problem, so what better way to handle it then to share the experience together. It was so underwhelming though. From the outside it looks huge, but on the inside it’s sort of a small with not many machines or tables. We both lost very quickly, so we left soon after and headed to the bars downtown to show Megan my usual hangout spots . We met up with Sapna and just got our dance on everywhere and every which way.

We then made it home and got some well-deserved sleep.

Day 8: Hibachi Heaven

This was another semi-decent day for us. Well, the night was productive, at least. During the day we just chilled and watched movies and what not, but then that night we decided that we would get dressed up and head downtown for a nice fancy dinner. After making it downtown we wandered all around looking for something different and delicious, but nothing really struck us as such. We then decided we could really go for some Thai food, but nothing. So I went into one of the bars I usually go to and asked one of the bartenders if he knew of any Thai places and he steered us to this place called “Samurai” which was a Hibachi restaurant.

Somehow we managed to find it and we were seated across from a mini birthday party for some teenage guy, with his parents sitting next to us. It was like a four course meal, and was really delicious, but Megan and I began to wreak havoc when the main meal came with rice, and we couldn’t quite figure out how to eat the rice with our chopsticks. This struck me as insanely funny, because our effort and dedication was mind boggling. We were even sharing techniques at one point. So I started laughing hysterically, and since we were in close quarters with the other family, it was a little awkward because they were giving us disapproving looks. But those disapproving looks soon turned to laughter, too, because you can’t not laugh when two girls are cracking up with rice all over everything.

After the delicious meal, we made our way to one of the bars to get our dance on. We were dancing Megan and Dina style (aka like crazy idiots) and since nobody else was dancing, we got all sorts of attention. The DJ who normally never says boo to me offered to buy us drinks (but was more than pleased when we said we weren’t gonna drink that night…cheap bastard), and he also took pictures of us dancing for the bar newsletter. It was quite fun, and a really great night to end her trip.

Day 9: Farewell, My Love

This day we woke up early and headed to the airport. Not much to say except this was a pooey day. I was grumpy and miserable for the rest of the day…and got super homesick. It’s bittersweet having someone visit, I suppose. It was definitely great to see her, but her leaving made me realize how much I miss from home. But I guess I only have 6 more months to go, and the first 3 seemed to fly by.


Anyway, now I am back to work and getting back into the swing of things. I’m also already thinking to another trip I can take somewhere, so if any wants to meet me anywhere (wink, wink), I’m game .

Happy New Year, All! I hope it’s starting out well for everyone.

Miss you very much!
XOXOX
Dina

P.S. Megger’s has all the photos from the trip, but as soon as I get my hands on them, I will be sure to send some your way

Happy Holidays again from Nice!

I just wanted to write to say that I hope everyone had a great Chanukah or a fantastic Christmas!! I was lucky enough to have my coordinating professor invite me to her place for both Christmas Eve, and then Christmas. I was sort of not looking forward to the evening at first, since it was catering to her older French family, but it turned out to be a really good time, and I think it would be fair to say it ended up being two days of the best food I may have ever had, and hands down the best in France. BUT, I have to mention how much the French eat!! I guess this was my first typical many course French meal with wine and champagne coming out of the rear. Just to give you an idea of how much it is, I included the menu from both the Xmas Eve dinner and the Xmas lunch....

Christmas Eve

Champagne with Olives
Red Wine
Soup with scallops and mozzarella
Spinach with hard boiled eggs
Quiche with onions and turkey
Cheese with Salad
Tea
Apple Pie
Minced Meat Pies

Christmas

Champagne
Red Wine
Smoked Salmon with herbs
Oysters
Puff Pastries with Escargot
Duck with Orange Sauce, roasted potatoes, roasted artichokes, sautéed mushrooms
Cheese with Salad
Tea
Bouche de Noel (Chocolate mousse cake)
Christmas Pudding
Minced Meat Pies
Chocolate

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday thus far, and will continue the trend by having a wonderful happy and healthy New Year! I miss you all!!!!

XOXOX,
Dina

P.S. 1 Day until Megan comes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh Snap! It's a new blog!

Hello everybody! I hope this e-mail finds you all doing well. I know it’s been awhile since I last sent an e-mail! For that I apologize (namely to Mom and Jerry). I decided to break this e-mail down into anecdotal stories, and separate them like that. I hope you enjoy!

Oh Sheet

So there is this little innocent looking girl in one of my classes (who is really a big brat, that’s neither here nor there) but she is really small, wears braided pigtails and has one of those annoyingly cute smiles. So you can imagine my surprise when she dropped her pencil and loudly exclaimed “Oh Sheet!” And then she asked me what it meant. After the damage was already done. But I told her it’s a word we don’t say in my class, which got all the other students morbidly curious, and then just made the brat girl say it more frequently. I don’t understand how they can’t retain the words “thank you” in their brains, but the curses-they’ve already got that down before I even get to them. Weird. (I, for one, didn’t learn dirty French words until college when I had to read Ancient Erotic Fables, but then again, that’s neither here nor there. Just a little traumatizing.)

London Taxi

(This one only makes sense if you know that I went to London again for the weekend.) So what’s the most politically correct thing you can conjure up in your imagination? While this may be up there, I felt I was rocking the p.c. boat pretty hard on my carbide to the airport in London. So picture it…London 2006. 4:55 am. Dina enters cab, driver closes door for her. Driver enters cab, seemingly on the wrong side (England’s all backwards). Dina sympathizes with cab driver about being up at the buttcrack of dawn. Driver drives excessively fast. Dina makes conversation to calm her nerves. Driver asks if Dina celebrates Christmas. Dina divulges that she celebrates Chanukah instead. Driver acts surprised. Dina asks if he does. Driver says he is working on Christmas but charging double. Dina, like a good Jews from. He says he lived in Germany for 15 years. Dina: So you’re German? Driver: No, I’m originally from Pakistan. Dina thinks: Wow! A German-ish Pakistani! Good thing I told him I was a Jew! Driver probably thinks: But her nose is so small!

So anyway, it was a pleasant ride. Dina learned about Driver and Driver learned about Dina. It was like “Driving Miss Jew-sy”. And we were clearly poster children for religious tolerance and world peace.

The Haircut

About 2 weeks ago, I got my haircut here, cause I figured I wanted a change, and hairdye is getting expensive, and I always managed to get the wrong kind here, too. So, Sapna had already gotten a haircut here, which she ended up hating solely for the fact that she had partial highlights (only on the top of her head) so it looked like she had a lot of colors going on. So she wanted to get her whole head dyed, so we decided to make a group effort out of it. We didn’t want to spend a lot of money, so Sapna did some research, and as it turns out, in France they charge you for the cut, for conditioner, and for “le brushing” which is them basically blowdrying your hair and styling it as they see fit. So at one place Sapna asked if she could get the highlights and forego ‘le brushing’, cause she could just do that herself at home. The lady she was asking practically gasped at this request, saying “you want us to let you leave the salon with wet hair?! Our manager will not allow it!” As if it would be a sin to be seen leaving their establishment without perfectly styled hair.

But, nevertheless, Sapna and I ended up at this reasonable place and the lady styled my hair so well. It was brilliantly straight and it looked good. The problem was, it was pouring outside, so the minute I left the salon, my hair went from fab to curly mess in 2.5 seconds. So much for “le brushing.”

Sapna’s Birthday

Here is some proper Tequila etiquette. Especially when the Tequila is grocery store unknown brand ‘silver’ Tequila.

Don’t take Tequila shots and then try to light 24 candles on a birthday cake. Someone will get burned. And it will seem funny.

Don’t take Tequila shots and then try to dance in a busy bar. You will fall.

Don’t take Tequila shots and then ask an estranged friend why he never talks to you. People may think Tequila lessens emotional pain. It does not.

Don’t take Tequila shots and then speak French. Unless you’re me. Then you’re French somehow gets better.

Don’t take Tequila shots before running into Sapna’s French roommate. It will only give him fuel to continue calling you a “veree strange geerl”.

Don’t take Tequila shots on Sapna’s birthday. Ever.

Chanukah Chavoc

So apparently I wreaked havoc in my school last Thursday because I talked about Chanukah in my classes.

First of all, when I talked about Chanukah in one of my first and youngest classes, one of the cutest little girls raised her hand and told me that she was Jewish and that her brother had a piece of his penis cut off. She included little hand movements to better illustrate and explain her point. It was adorable, yet slightly horrifying. And then, in another class a couple of boys came up to me and asked me if moyels (circumcisioners…yeah I made this word up) existed in America. Kids and their weird curiosities.

So anyway, about discussing Chanukah, I figured I would be careful, and asked the director of each school I work in and my supervisor if it would be appropriate to talk about Chanukah with my French Fries. They all said it would be fine, as long as I didn’t delve into religion and all that stuff, to which I agreed. So I downloaded a Chanukah Song and I made up a sheet with the words to the song and some pictures they could color of a dreidel, a menorah, presents, candles, and chocolate money. But, during my third class in my first school, the director walks in really quickly and tells the children to not glue the sheet into their notebooks. Then she tells me that what I am teaching is way too religious. She said the Menorah is equivalent to the cross, which is not true. The menorah is equivalent to the Christmas Tree (in front of which we were having this discussion). Then she told me my song was way too religious, but she can’t speak English, so she couldn’t even know what the song meant. But then she told me that she understands, because she, too, is a Jew, but she celebrates Christmas for her children. Which, in my rationality, isn’t really a Jewish holiday.

But it was all good, because in the second school I ran it by the director again to make sure it was ok with him, and the teachers and students were very receptive and thanked me for teaching them new information. So take that other school!

So, I’m thinking this is all I have to offer to you for now. Only one more class tomorrow until my holiday break which means Megan is coming in a week, which means we are going to Switzerland soon. I am missing you all, especially with the holiday season here in Nice, which equates to roommate Xmas tunes, too many people on the streets, and heightened cravings for chocolate and romance.

I do hope you are all doing well, and staying sane. Keep sending the e-mails…I LOVE receiving them! And if I don’t get to write another e-mail before Christmas, I wish you all a very Merry Xmas. Be safe, stay warm, and eat lots of food. Especially stuffing. Mmmm.

And just in (super) case, HAPPY NEW YEAR’S!! Come join me and Megan in Monaco, if you dare.

XOXOX,
Dina

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Hello everybody! I hope everyone is doing well, and getting ready for the holidays. I miss the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Here it’s definitely more crowded, and places are actually open on Sunday, but it’s still not the same. However, there is a sweet little Christmas Market in downtown Nice. They set up a skating rink and a ferris wheel, and there are a bunch of different little covered kiosks with vendors selling all sorts of things as well as games and stuff for the kiddies. It looks pretty lively and it definitely jazzes up the normally ugly and construction-filled landscape.

The weather here is also getting temperamental. Last night may have been the coldest I have been in Nice. But yesterday during the day I had to take off my jacket while walking around cause I was so hot. It’s sort of nuts, in fact.

So I just saw another cockroach. In my room. Which is going to make it sort of rough going to sleep tonight. So now instead of just ruining my eating experience by imagining cockroaches laying eggs inside every box of cereal I own, I now have to picture them crawling all over my face in the middle of the night. But I couldn’t even take it out on said cockroach. Although I did yell at it and called it stupid when I tried to trap it to put it outside. I hate this not being able to kill bugs thing I am infected with.

Speaking of infections….I visited my first doctor here in Nice. I have been feeling sort of crappy for about a month now, and I figured at this point I probably needed antibiotics since I tried all other over the counter options already. She was really pleasant, and it was pretty much the same thing as I’m used to, except she actually spent more than 3 minutes with me, and she only charged me 20 euros. But she gave me a prescription (which is actually just a piece of paper with her name on it and the meds I need) for an antibiotic as well as an herbal supplement with Echinacea in it. It is the most vile thing in the world. The pharmacy had to prepare it for me (and it cost a whopping 60 euros!) but it is this brown and thick goo, and it tastes like what I would imagine liquefied tree bark would taste like. But, on the flip side, I am already feeling better.

There are a couple stories I have been meaning to send you. So here goes.

The Market Misidentification
So I was in the local grocery store here picking up a few things, namely chicken for dinner, and so I was in the cold food aisle with a basket in hand. Next thing I know, this guy comes up to me and mumbles something about the chicken, and then he takes cheese that he had in his hand and he throws it into my basket. So, here I am, realllly confused and unsure what to say or do. I thought he was being too lazy to put it back or something and wanted me to. Frankly, I had no idea. But then he looks at me again, and this time a really confused look appears on his face. And then he goes “Oh, you’re not my wife!” and then he embarrassedly removed his cheese and proceeded to move by his wife’s side, who was now also looking suspiciously at me.

He did mumble an apology before leaving, but I think I made him feel worse about the situation because I could not hold back my laughter. And there was a lot of laughter to get out of my system. So somehow I then became the weird one looking at chicken and laughing loudly to myself. Oh well.

The School Stories
There are just two stories I can think of from work that I wanted to mention. One was about my phone number. So we were doing numbers, and I thought a good exercise would be to do a number dictation with them, where I just tell them a number and then they write it down. But then I thought it would be cooler to make it more ‘real world’ relatable, so I told them my phone number as practice. But the French Fries thought that it was the most classified information in the world that I was offering to them. They got super excited and scrambled to write it down, and then a handful of them proceeded to write down their phone numbers and give it to me. But they really expected me to call them! I was settling down for lunch after one of the classes and they saw me, so a couple of my students were like “Are you going to call us tonight?” What do you say to that? I went with the safe “maybe.” It was weirdly cute, and weirdly freaktastic at the same time.

Then the other day I started teaching them clothing. And so I packed a backpack with some of my clothing, and told them I was going on a camping trip and let’s look at what I brought. So I pulled out my shoes, which was funny for them for whatever reason, and then my socks, which were hilarious for them. But then in one class I pulled out a skirt that has a little belt attached to it. And then they were looking at it stupefied asking me what it was. And then one of the boys yelled out “Isn’t that what you wear to do cooking in?” So to them skirt equates cooking. HAHA. It doesn’t get more chauvinistic than that, huh? But I found this extremely funny for some reason, and could not stop laughing. Their normal teacher then started laughing because I was laughing, and then that got the French Fries laughing, too. So my classroom turned into a mess of laughter. So at that point my lesson was shot to hell, but I think it was worthwhile.

Those are the only stories I can think of right now. Just winding down over here, getting ready for my holiday vacation. Their vacation here starts on the 23rd and doesn’t end until the 8th of January. The kids here never seem to go to school it appears. And then they have a Mardi Gras break from February to March.  I’m looking forward to that one!

Anyway, that’s all I got for now. I am getting tired. I think that Echinacea goop is getting to my head. I hope you are all doing well!! I miss you all so very much! And by the way, I now have internet at my apartment, which doesn’t work so well right now, but hopefully the situation will be rectified and then I can bless you all with more e-mails. Woohoo!

Miss you!!
XOXOX
Dina

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ‘OLD MAN’ DREW!!!!!

A lamer update. I apologize.

Hello there everyone. I think it's time for a new e-mail. And I had so much to write in here, but at present I can't really think of anything that I wanted to say.

I did want to talk about my first apartment cockroach I spotted the other day. Of course it had to make a statement by crawling around and being spotted chilling by all our dishes in the kitchen. Nothing more wonderful than imagining cockroach pooplets all over your plates everytime you eat. But it looked the same as an American cockroach, I am pleased to announce, just with smaller bone structure, and it was wearing a beret and smoking a cigarette. And unfortunately, I have the "I can't kill a bug" disorder, cause I feel both guilty and scared of karma, and that sucker was quick...so I never actually captured said cockroach. However, I haven't seen him or another one since, so I am just pretending now that we don't have a cockroach problem.

There are some cute work stories I can insert here now. I have been demoted in my students' minds from teacher to compadre. In French there are two different forms of 'You'. There is a formal one, which you use with friends and family, and then there is a formal one, which you use with strangers, older people, and figures of higher authority. So first, my kids decide it's cool to start using the informal you with me, and online started telling me their boy problems and stuff (how interesting that they should know I could relate to them, huh?). But next thing I know, my students are coming up to me and giving me the double cheek kisses, reserved for friends that you have known for awhile, and such. It's really cute though.

I also ran into some students walking home from downtown yesterday. It took me awhile to realize who they were, and they were with their mothers. So they stopped and said 'hi', and their mothers were looking at me suspiciously, and they finally ask their kids "and this is who?" and then I awkwardly say the English teacher, and then walk off quickly. But Sapna tells me that she sees her highschool students out a lot here, and they tell her they saw her at the bar last night, or other places like that. So I think my awkward moments are still the better end of this deal.

What else? I really can't think of anything. So I will insert my Conversation of the day now...

This is referring back to the rehashing bad tales of 6th grade love.

student says:
tu sais j'ai un amoureux:-* (you know I am in love :-*)
Dina says:
avec qui (with whom?)
student says:
non mais en fait je l'aim mais lui non : yohan (no, but in fact I like him but him no. Yohan)
Dina says:
ah d'accord (ah, ok)
Dina says:
c'est la vie (that's life)
Dina says:
je le sais bien (I know it well)
student says:
ouais mais bon il a dit pleins de trucs méchants sur my !! yes, but he said lots of mean things about me)
Dina says:
oh c'est pas vrai! (it's not true!)
student says:
si ! ma copine lui a demandé si il m'aimait et il a dit non car il me trouve trop moche !! (but yes! my friend asked him if he liked me and he said no because he finds me to ugly!!)
Dina says:
oh, c'est parce qu'il est un homme et jeune. Meme s'il t'aime, il dirait ca! (oh, it's because he is a young man. Even if he likes you, he would say that!)
student says:
il est trop ... méchant !!!!!!!!!!!!! (he is too...mean!!!!!)
Dina says:
c'est les garcons pour toi! (that's boys for you!)
Dina says:
c'est tres different avec les garcons comme tu deviens plus agée. N'inquietes pas! (It's very different with boys when you become older. Don't worry! I LIED HERE TO MAKE HER FEEL BETTER. SHE SHOULD BE WORRYING!!! :p)
student says:
merci (thank you)

So, that's all I think I have for you today. I do have some Thanksgiving pictures to offer you though. And I also have some vain pictures to show you, which I took last night, because I liked my hair. Yes, because I liked my hair. I said it.

I hope you all have an excellent weekend, and I hope the weather is a little less crappy wherever you are than it is here.

*cough, cough*

I miss you all very much!! MUAH!!! XOXOX

Dina

It's a loverly warm and sunny Sunday in Nice

Hey Everyone! I hope you are all doing well, and I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, and an even better Black Friday. France is so the opposite of that, you would not believe it. The Christmas shops barely see anyone walking in and out of them, and the other stores (even the mall) appear to have the same volume of people in them as well. Although I have to say the grocery stores are crazy packed here. But that’s how it always appears to be, I am told.

Since Friday, not too much has happened here. It’s been a rainy weekend until today. Thank goodness it is beautiful outside, because I was very ready to jump out of my 4th floor window if the sun didn’t show itself.

Friday I went downtown to use the internet at Wayne’s, but was sad because they neglected me. I think I am becoming too much of a regular there that they think they can forgo all good service with me and I will still go there like clockwork. So I decided I shouldn’t show my face there for awhile. But guess where I ended up meeting Sapna and Elena on Friday night, merely 5 hours later? Yup, Wayne’s. There was a weird live band playing there, and they did some decent covers [READ: She by Green Day], but they also did some really bad ones [Can’t think of any of the bad ones right now]. And there was this older lady rocking out next to me. Like think soccer mom scantily clad, drinking like a fish, and trying to grab at the singer of the band. So she is wasted like you wouldn’t believe, and I guess she tried breaking out some dance move that was too young for her…and next thing I know, she is clawing at my face and grabbing onto my arm to try not to fall, but I am starting to fall with her, and Sapna is trying to hold me up. Somehow I stayed on my feet, and decided it was time to have an unspoken territorial dance off with Oldie McMom. So Sapna just broke out our moves to whatever horrible song was playing and we won our spot.

And then all of a sudden I see the singer pointing to me between songs. And then he says over the mic “I’d like to introduce you all to Kate from Lost. She’s in the house right here.” And then I just laugh. And he continues “Kate, don’t let Jack be mean to you!”. So I just laughed and said I actually get that a lot. Sort of weird, sort of flattering. I still don’t see it though, but I think that brings my overall count to 18 or 19 times that I got that one. Never over a mic to a crowded bar, though. That’s a first.

After the band came laptop DJ. I kept making the guy standing next to me angry because he was right next to me and I kept implementing my arms in my dancing, and in doing so, kept jabbing him. But he was just standing there on the tables not dancing (and they are for dancing!), so I justified it that if he were dancing, he would be moving to much to be met in the face with my elbow. But he left soon after, so Sapna and I just danced the night away without a care. And it was a gooood time.

That brings me to Saturday. It was again rainy and dull, so I just sort of slept in and watched shows on my laptop. And ate. Boy did I eat. Then Alix and I took a trip to McDonald’s for internet. That place dulls in comparison to downtown for internet. And here is the deal in France. Lots of younger people here have MP3 players…some like IPods and some on their phones. And the ones with players on their phones like to play their music at loud volumes, but without headphones. So, in short, they are imposing their music on you on the bus, on trains, and always at McDonald’s. Downtown is too classy for that ;).

Then after McDonald’s I did some grocery shopping and I came home ready to cook myself rice with Chicken, mushrooms, and curry sauce. I am trying out this whole cooking thing, and starting small. But at one point I was reusing the pot that I used to heat up the mushrooms to heat up the sauce. So there were a couple tiny pieces of mushrooms still on the bottom of the pot, but some crazy reaction happened when I poured the sauce in the pot. Before I knew it, a piece of mushroom was flying full force out of the pot and landed on my hand. I was attacked by a rabid mushroom. I think that was an external force telling me that the flying mushroom was a sign that I should quit cooking while I am ahead.

After dinner, I took my exhausted bum to bed, watched a couple episodes of Reno 911 and actually fell asleep mad early. And now it’s a beautiful day, and you better believe I am downtown using the internet. AND I miss you all, and I miss the hustle and bustle of the holidays in the good ol’ US. Keep me informed about how it is .

It’s that time again for some By the Numbers:

2 days that the leftover stuffing lasted. It was delicious.

4 hot chocolates I had in the last week. I think I am obsessed with that stuff, and if anyone wants to send me American Hot Chocolate Mix, feel free.

1 shout out I got from the band on stage. “We’d like to welcome Kate from Lost” is what they actually said.

3 times my Irish friend made fun of me for using the term “potty mouth” in one night.

3 amazing new episodes of Desperate Housewives I watched Friday night.

5 times I entered Wayne’s this week. (It’s a bar with free WiFi during the day, and awesome Dancing during the night).

9 o’clock I went to sleep yesterday. I was that dork on a Saturday night.

4 days it rained in a row here. So much for the 200 or so average days of sunshine Nice is supposed to have.

7 episodes of Reno 911, Season 4, Drew sent me to fall in love with that show all over again.

13 times my ‘randomizer’ on Windows Media Player started with Come on Eileen.

1 time the guy in McDonald’s told us that we had to eat something to use their WiFi.
0 things we decided to consume after he told us that.
0 times he reinforced his rule. Sucka.


And now for the Conversations of the Day:

This student was very motivated to speak English with me, which was awesome, but it resulted in some randomness. He knew damn well what time it was…he just wanted to say it in English ;).

Student says:
hello
Dina says:
hey
Student says:
my name is joris
Dina says:
hello Joris
Student says:
how are you?
Dina says:
good thanks. How are you?
Student says:
y im happy
Dina says:
good
Student says:
i see you tomorow?
Dina says:
yes
Dina says:
ton anglais est tres bon! bravo! (Your English is very good !)
Student says:
what time is it?
Dina says:
5:53
Student says:
2 minute plaes
Dina says:
sure
Student says:
no
Student says:
good by
Dina says:
goodbye
Student says:
good bye!!

----------------------
And now to counteract the last e-mail with the student that told me I have to continue my French studies, I thought this was a good ego booster, and thus had to share with you…

Student says:
hello
Dina says:
hello
Student says :
la dernier fois tu a BIEN parler en francais (the last time you spoke in French WELL)
Dina says:
oh merci! (oh thank you!)
Dina says:
en classe? (in class ?)
student says :
yes
Dina says:
tu aimes le lecon de THanksgiving? (You like the Thanksgiving lesson ?)
Student says:
oui
Student says:
c'etait trop BIEN (It was very GOOD)
Dina says:
awww Bon!! J'aime le chanson de la dinde (awwww Good !! I like the song about the Turkey)
Student says :
tu as BIEN EXEPLIQUER (You EXPLAINED WELL)

[NOTE : I learned I lied to them about some of the facts, too. Apparently it’s not the third Thursday of November…]

Student says:
moi aussi c'est marant (me too it’s funny)


I wish I could send you a video of me and the French Fries doing the Turkey Gobble Song. It was really funny. But that’s all I’ve got for you! Keep sending your e-mails! I really love receiving them!

I miss you all very much!
XOXO
Dina

I'm Thankful For Seeing Black Friday

Hey everyone! Just giving you a quick update today....the good news is I did make stuffing, and I did eat the stuffing, and I am still alive to write about the stuffing. Surprisingly, it was quite tasty. It turned out that our dinner just became me and Alix, and Sapna and Elena. So 3 Americans and 1 Russian. How's that for PC? But it was a really good time...nice and low key, and with people that liked to make fun of everyone else. Good times. Alix also made a cheesecake that was absolutely amazing! I may have to hire her to make my wedding cake one day in the not near future.

Teaching the French Fries about Thanksgiving proved to be a little bit difficult, though. They didn't really get the concept or my drawings. I drew England and America with an arrow and a boat to explain the voyage of the pilgrims, and they were like "OHHHH. So Thanksgiving is like a Grand Prix?" And then when I tried to further explain it, they were like "So it's a holiday for vegetables." I just agreed. But one thing I would not back down on was my turkey being called a chicken. Wasn't gonna stand for that, because my depiction of a turkey was actually quite fantastic!

So that was Thanksgiving in France. It was fun and now there is a smoother transition in my mind between Halloween and the Holidays. So Yay!

Anyway, bon week-end! I'll send you a better update when I accomplish more to write about!

Missing you all!


XOXO
Dina

Addendum: Thanksgiving Horror!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got laughed at by so many teachers yesterday because I thought it would be a good lesson to sing the turkey gobble song and do a turkey dance along with it. You should try it sometime! Little kids love it after the initial fright they feel after watching a grown woman waddle!

A Blog to Be Thankful For...

Hve Hello again everyone! I hope you are all doing splendiferous! For those of you in NJ, my mom has told me that I cursed the good weather there by complaining about it in my last e-mail, so for that I apologize. And do an evil laugh.

So, I since the novelty of conversing with my students via MSN Messenger hasn’t lessened for me, I decided I am going to share some more…interesting conversations. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it, ok NOW…

This is, by far, my favorite conversation I have had so far…


student says:
hello dina
Dina says:
hello
student says:
how do you do
Dina says:
good! and you?
student says:
yes !!
student says:
y love you Dina bisous (kisses)
student says:
lol
student says:
!!!
Dina says:
hehe awwww
student says:
tu CONNAIS la comédie musicale high school musical ?? (You KNOW the musical comedy High School Musical??)
Dina says:
c'est un film ici? aux etats-unis c'est une emission (It’s a film here ? In the US it’s a show)
student says:
tu voudras que je te le prete ?? (You want to borrow it)
student says:
tu va voir il y a un acteur trop mignon (You are going to see a very cute actor)
Dina says:
il est trop jeune pour moi? (He is too young for me ?...NOTE: SHE SAID NO, HE WAS 16)

………

student says:
dina je peux te poser des questions ?? (Dina can I ask you some questions ?)
Dina says:
Oui (Yes)
student says:
tu es nee quand ? (You were born when ?)
Dina says:
le 20 mars 1984
student says:
alors tu es poisson ?? (You are a pisces ?)
Dina says:
Oui (yes)
student says:
ok
student says:
ton nom de famille (Your last name )
student says:
??
student says:
silteplait ?? (please??)
Dina says:
Berkovits

(NOTE: THIS IS WHEN IT TAKES A TURN FOR CREEPY)

student says:
dina j'ai un carnet avec des question pour mes amies ..... sa te dERANGE pas si je te pose des questions comme : ton adresse ton prtable ?? (Dina, I have a little book with questions for m y friends....would it bother you if I ask questions like your address and cell phone number ?)
student says:
??
student says:
yes ou no ??
Dina says:
oui, d'accord, mais malheureusement c'est pas possible maintenant, parce que je doit rentrer chez moi, mais le prochaine fois quand nous sommes ensemble a MSN? (yeah, ok, but unfortunately not now because I have to go home, but next time when we are together on MSN ?)
student says:
ok pour jeudi tu pourrai me DONNER UNE PHOTO DE TOI et moi je te DONNE le flim jeudi ok ?? POUR LA PHOTO (ok, for Thursday you will be able to bring me A PHOTO OF YOU et I will GIVE you the film Thursday ok?? FOR THE PHOTO)
Dina says:
hehe
Dina says:
j'ai pas un photo (I don’t have a photo)
Dina says:
bonne nuit!
student says:
a jeudi ou a demain bisous ma prof préférer (See you Thursday or tomorrow kisses my favorite teacher)
Dina says:
aww
Dina says:
c;est très gentille! (that’s very nice !)

AND THEN, she changes her display name from her name to Vive Dina…so it reads Vive Dina says: Good night. Thus, I have my first stalker, in the size of a pint-sized teeny-bopper French Fry. Don’t be alarmed if one of you gets a phone call from her, I do not intend on giving her my phone number.

I also received an e-mail this week from a student, and it started out so sweetly and unassuming. She started writing how she loves English and has been studying it for 4 years now, and that she hopes to continue her studies upon going to high school and maybe at University. BUT THEN, she goes, “and I hope you also continue your studies of French when you return home, because you speak with too much of an American accent.”

On the one hand I admired her audacity, and on the other hand I hated it. Haha. So, the next day in class one of my students batted her eyes at me and was like “did you get my e-mail?” and I said yes, I did, and I wanted to make sure it was her, so she pridefully told me her name, indeed, the little goody-two-shoes know-it-all-but-who-makes-lots-of-mistakes was the one who tried to put me in my place. Kids say the darndest things, huh (insert face with rolling eyes here).

Other than these, nothing exciting happened this week so far. That’s a common trend, I guess, these days. Nice is becoming depressing and emptying out. We went downtown the last three nights in a row, and it was DEAD. The bars that are usually disgustingly packed with people and smoke, are now just packed with, well, smoke. But not as many people. But on the one hand it gives Sapna an advantage of having the whole dance floor to ourselves wherever we go.

It was actually great because the other night we went to this bar called Ma Nolan’s and there was this awesome band that is there often. They have a really mellow sound, and they do covers, but in their mellow swanky-esque fashion. I asked if they could play “Sweet Home Alabama” and the singer/guitar player was like “I don’t know that one”, and then he just strums a couple chords to see if they could work, and it was PERFECT, and then he sings all the words. So his not knowing it was pretty impressive, since he seemed to know it really well.

It was also great because laptop DJ came on (which is Sapna’s new term, because there are few DJ’s in Nice, there are just laptops set to randomize), and Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” came on, so Sapna and I started rocking out to that song but they stopped it for the band. However, the astute singer noticed that we were really into the song, so he and the band finished singing it for us, mellow style. It was pretty neat-o.

And the other weird story from the last couple nights is that I went to the bathroom last night at a bar called Thor’s. It was ladies’ night there so for 3 euros, chicks can get all the wine they fancy. So last night in the bathroom there were these two girls that obviously fancied a lot of wine. But when I walked in I felt like I was being interrogated. They kept asking me all these questions, but then they asked me what my name was. And when I told them it was Dina, they were like “Ah oui, Dina. Eet eez comme zis. Rrrrrrr” and they did the whole lion claw miming thing with their hand. I guess they like the name Dina. Haha. So that was weird, and I was quite relieved when a stall became available soon after.

So that’s about it. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so Alix and I are hosting a Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment for some of the other American Assistants. This should be interesting, given a few factors. One is that our apartment is tiny and we are going to have like 8 people here. Another factor is I am going to be cooking. In that respect, I think the real Thanksgiving for our guests will be the day after, Friday, if they live to see it. But it’ll be nice, nevertheless, because I was a little bummed at the idea of just surpassing Thanksgiving. And that reminds me….10 points to whomever can tell me when Chanukah is this year (Mom, I’m counting on you here.)

I’ll be sure to take pictures at our Thanksgiving, so you can see what a ghetto Thanksgiving looks like. You all have a wonderful and safe, and incredibly gluttonous Turkey Day! And friends, you better be rocking out tonight, on the most popular night for going out of the year!

I miss you all very much!!

XOXO,
Dina

P.S. DANIELLE, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!! I’M SORRY THIS WISH IS SO LATE, BUT I’M A LITTLE FLAKY, OK?!

My Fascinating French Fries...

Hello everyone! Again, it’s been awhile since my last e-mail. I hope this e-mail finds you all well and in good spirits. Especially those of you in Jersey, where I hear the weather is more beautiful than it is here along the Mediterranean. What gives?

Nothing too exciting has happened since the last e-mail. I just had a day of teaching, which proved to be a pretty good day. I decided to give them a quiz-like thing, but not for the purpose of grading. It was more for the purpose of seeing what I needed to continue reviewing, and what they really weren’t getting. But it was funny, because the poor French Fries were petrified about the prospect of the quiz (even though the week before they were begging me for one, which I thought was the weirdest thing in the world). But anyway, it took forever for them to simply understand the concept of the ‘quiz’, and then it took an even longer time to make them understand what they were supposed to do with them (who thought matching could be so friggin’ complicated?!). But upon reviewing most of the papers, I can clearly discern that my teaching is completely subpar, because they don’t even know their numbers . But they all seemed to do really well with colors, which was sort of weird.

But anyway, along with the quiz, I started teaching shapes. And to make it a little more entertaining for them, I made up a sort of Tangram sheet, where they had to color the different shapes certain colors, and then cut them out and then make anything with the shapes. Anything their imagination could afford them. I demonstrated my lame house, but I was sooooo pleased by some of the things they came up with. I took pictures of some of my favorites so you could see them .

So, over the course of the last week I gave all my classes my e-mail address, in case they wanted to ask me questions or wanted to practice their English (and I wanted to be able to practice my French, as well). So that’s when they all recognized the fact that they can use my yahoo name with MSN Messenger, so the next time I signed into MSN, there they were…15 requests for new online contacts. And since then, I have had some gems of conversations. I even included a couple excerpts from them for your entertainment. The first girl always asks me questions about Hollywood and movie stars. It’s so cute, and somehow all conversation comes back to “Desperate Housewives”, which is absolutely fine with me! I thought you should see their cute attempts at English, too.

The second student is one of those that I am going to keep around merely for self confidence resolution.  You’ll get it when you read it.


Student says:
hi
Dina says:
hello
Dina says:
how are you?
•Student says:
hay am happy and you
Dina says:
I am happy! And I am tired. Are you tired?
Dina says:
sleepy?
Student says:
happy and you
Dina says:
I am happy
Dina says:
comme ca
Student says:
yes

-------------

Student says:
hello dina c'est my susan !! (It’s me, Susan!!)
Student says:
har way you ? (how are you)
Student says:
tu connais le restaurent "kfc"? (you know of KFC ?)
Dina says:
bien sur! c'est tres populair en amerique (of course ! it’s very popular in America)
Dina says:
tu l'aimes?' (you like it ?)
Student says:
oui il est très bon je laime trop et le macdonald aussi ! et toi ? (yes, it’s ver good, i like it too much and McDonald’s too ! and you?)
Dina says:
oui! mais j'essaie de n'y manger pas trop! (yes ! but I try not to eat there too much !)
Dina says:
mais je l'aime beaucoup (but I like it a lot)
Student says:
moi des fois jy vais beaucoup de soirs et puis après j'ai plus envie dy aller !! (sometimes I go there a lot of evenings and I still want to go there !!)

-----------

Student says:
Coucou (Knock knock)
Dina says:
:)
Student says:
ca va dina (It’s going, Dina ?)
Dina says:
Oui (yes)
Dina says:
et toi? (and you)
Student says:
OUI (It’s going)
Student says:
TU ES TROP BELLE (You are very pretty)
Student says:
DINA
Dina says:
merci beaucoup!!! (Thank you very much!!)
Student says:
DERIEN (You’re welcome)


So that’s the fun school stuff. Aside from school, things have been pretty quiet for me. I was sort of sick last week, so I didn’t go out too much. However, last night we went to Monaco to celebrate Sapna’s roommate’s (Elena’s) birthday. It was pretty fun, but we were going with a large group, so it just got a little out of hand with trying to get everyone together, and finding something that everyone wanted to do. But I voted Elena got first pick, since it was her birthday. So we went to the same club we went to last time, Karrément. I have some pics for you from last time we went there, and it was pretty much the same, except maybe a little more crowded. It was funny though, because I ran into my Italian acquaintances whom I tried to convince I spoke Italian to. They didn’t believe me this time either, when I pretended to speak Italian. They’re good.

So here’s some more By The Numbers for you.

4 times this week that I was downwind from an old man that decided to offer up some flatulence.
1 old lady sitting next to me who looked at me and cracked up with me on occasion #4

2 times this month that the bus Control boarded my bus to make sure everyone paid for their voyage.
2 people that were kicked off the bus and fined a whole lot of money for not having a pass.

5 students that asked if I had a webcam when I gave them my e-mail address
5 students I lied to and said I didn’t have a webcam.
1 student who kept insisting to the point of asking if I had a phone he could call.
1 gullible student who believed I didn’t have a phone.

4 glasses of apple juice I had at bars in the last 3 days. I’m sort of on a kick.
6 Airborne tablets I took in two days. I may suffer from Vitamin C poisoning.

1 person who made fun of me at Karrément for going all out and rocking to Offspring’s “Self-Esteem”
3 people who started rocking out with me.

5 blisters I have on my feet from my stupid shoes last night.
25 years it looks like my feet have been professionally dancing with the Russian Ballet Company. (They’re pretty horrid).

9 e-mails I received from you guys since the last bloggy e-mail thing. Thank you!! I love receiving them.

50 times a day I realize how much I miss all of you.

1984 is a great year because I was born, but also a really depressing book that I just finished this week here.

38 days until Megan comes!!

Ta-Da!! I am finally finished with this epic e-mail. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I miss you so very much!!

XOXOX,
Dina

It's been awhile...

Ok, so I know I've been slacking with the updates....I admit. But, I guess not a whole lot has happened since I last wrote awhile back. And really, I can't think of too much to write about now either, but I felt it was necessary to let you all know that I am alive and well (because I know you were all worried sick). I only had a half day of work today, which was quite nice, because it took all my strength to get me out of bed this morning. And I am somehow a part of a mysterious phenomenon, in which I defy the logic of time. Everyday I leave for work a little later than the last, realizing that I always arrive too early there with not enough to do. But yet, somehow I always get to work earlier than the previous time. I seemingly keep the same pace, and I definitely always go the same route. But that's that. Anyway, so I arrived at work this morning, and the classes went well. It was funny because I gave my students my e-mail address, and the first class went nuts over that. They were asking me if they could talk to me online through MSN messenger, and asking me when I was on and everything. I felt like the cool kid in school!

Then the best part of the day was the end. One student asked me where I live. And I said Nice. And, in all seriousness, the little French Fries were blown away by this concept. I think they somehow had the misconception that I lived in the United States and commuted everyday or something. It was hilarious. They were like 'you really live in Nice' and 'what road do you live on' as if they were testing my theory, or something. I think that was definitely the highlight of my short day.

Otherwise, nothing too crazy to report. I'm gonna try something new though. It's a little By The Numbers...

2 times I got pooped on by a bird in the last week.
0 times I played the lottery so far, although something is telling me I should.

5 guys I lied to in the park and told Alix and I were Russian to, so they would stop harrassing me cause I was an American
5 guys who happened to like Russians more than Americans.

8 times I read Dr. Seuss's ABC in one day to the little French Fries.
1 teacher who implied Dr. Seuss's ABC was a ridiculous one.

6 times today one of the kids called me Rachel (last year's English Assistant)

3 times I heard Nirvana being covered in the last week by a French group.

1 e-mail I have received in the last week...you guys are slacking!

So that's By The Numbers for you. I hope you enjoyed. It's getting dark here though, so I am going to get going. Hope you are all well, and I miss you very much!!

Weekend Addendum: Loco in Monaco

So, I somehow motivated myself to go out again last night, despite being ridiculous amounts of tired. But Sapna and her roommate were going to Monaco, and I felt like I couldn't pass up a trip like that. So we boarded the 11 o'clock night train to Monaco, and a half hour later we were there. So Friday in Rich Man's Cannes, and then Saturday in Anti-Po' Monaco. Ok, I'll stop with the witty rhymes.

Anyway, once we got there, it was an adventure in and of itself to try to find the exit of the ginormous train station. It was pretty cool though, cause the elevators were all fancy and automatic. That's when we could tell we weren't in France anymore. So we finally found the way out, and off we headed in the direction of the water. That's a common theme here. Just head waterward.

We passed the Monte Carlo, and took some pictures, and kept walking until we saw what appeared to be a cheap bar. Sapna and I know to look for Irish Pub type places. It's usually a cheap and good time. So we went in, and the music was very weird. There was this Jamaican guy with dreads playing a groovy rendition of "Tainted Love". But the drinks were cheap so we got a couple wines. And then came the groovy rendition of Nirvana's "Rape Me". That's the point where we knew we either had to drink more, or leave. So we opted for the further. Sorry, mom. You have to learn about the depths of my drinking sooner or later. But I think you know by now anyway :). Anyway, after chatting up some pretty awesome people all around, and taking too many pictures. And after realizing it was already 2:30, we decided it was time to move on. So, off we headed to this club that Sapna knew about. It was HUGE. And very clubbish. I prefer bars over clubs, but it proved to be a fun time. I met a bunch of other people. And I pretended to speak Italian to a bunch of Italian people...which obviously doesn't work. But, all in all I had a really good time.

So at about 6 AM the club closed and we headed back to the station. We were anticipating the 6:45 train, but as it pulled up and we went to get on, it just drove off. It was a little annoying, a little weird, but a whole lot of hilarious a couple minutes later. I actually then fell asleep waiting for the next train, at which I woke with a start when Sapna yelled for me to get the next train. But again. This train didn't even pretend to stop. We ran, but it ran faster. So FINALLY, at about 7:45 we got on a train that decided to let us on. It was a rough ride, being so tired, and seeing the sun come up. But we got home, I took the longest walk back of my life, and crashed into my bed.

Now, I am a little comotose, but happy that I decided to go to Monaco. It was an excellent time, and I plan to do it again ;).

So that's all I've got folks. Hope you had a great weekend!

Miss you all!

XOXOX
Dina

It's a really long one!!

This is going to be an epic blog, since it includes Halloween and a little bit of travels. So brace yourselves, it’s going to be a long ride.

Tuesday was Halloween, as you know. But apparently, Halloween is not so important here as it is in the States. So Sapna and I decided we would dress up and we opted for the typical Devil/Angel theme, me being the Devil because I don’t like wearing white. Uh huh. Anyway, Sapna and I ventured out to find outfits that we could wear again after Halloween, so we both went for the skirt and top combination. That was the easy part. But then we needed horns, halo, and the like. That was next to impossible. We searched far and wide, only to find that stores carry about two costumes a piece. There was always the obligatory witch hat next to the ‘scary’ plastic mask. So, on the tip of an employee of one of these Halloween-unfriendly stores, we found out there was a store called “Halloween” on some street that we never heard of. Nevertheless, we took this mission on, and wouldn’t rest until we had exactly what we needed. So, to make a long story short, hours later, and after asking more people in the streets than not, we finally found someone who pointed us into the right direction. And when we arrived, we had clearly found the Halloween Mecca of Nice. It almost put Party City to shame. So, with horns, pitch fork, halo, wings, and glitter in hand, we made our way back home with smiles on our faces.

The next night, on Halloween, we headed to Old Nice to get our party on. Little did we know, nor anticipate, that also unlike the States, not too many people get dressed up for Halloween. And to them, dressed up also entails street clothes with fake blood splattered across their faces. So as we were walking to the bars, we literally got laughed at. People didn’t even try to hide their amusement at our confident incognito selves, heading out for Halloween Festivities. However, later on our costumes would prove to be valuable because it got us into places with long lines, and helped us cut ahead for some drinks, too. So we got the last laugh suckas. So that’s Halloween in France in a nutshell. It could be summed up in one word: lame.

So, on Thursday Sapna and I took a day trip to Antibes, a little city near Nice, still on the coast touching the Mediterranean. It was such a good time. We left the station at Nice at about 12:45, and arrived in Antibes maybe a half hour later. The train ride was rather funny, and choc full of feeling like a tourist. First we got our tickets and wanted to go to our train, but couldn’t figure out how to get to the train. So we had to pass through this little area, but we had to validate our tickets. So the both of us were inserting our tickets every which way, just standing there trying to figure it out. So we finally discovered the proper way (which was disgustingly simple), and we then try to go to the platform at which the train was waiting, but we couldn’t figure out how to get there either. We were going into exits facing masses of people rushing towards us, then we ended up in this area that led to nowhere, but finally we took a right turn and made it onto the train. It’s a nice train, pretty clean and pleasant, but packed a little tight. So at the end of the ride we get up to wait by the door to get off at our stop, and we are standing waiting at the wrong door. Then we went to the right door, and when the train stopped we were waiting for the doors to open. But alas, no doors were opening. Then we hear this older woman next to us heave a big sigh, step in front of us, and then pull the doors apart. Us lazy Americans want our automatic doors, ok lady?!

When we arrived in Antibes we made our way out to the only Museum that held interest to us, a museum of Peynet (who I, nor Sapna, had ever heard of before), but we were up for a nice art museum. Unfortunately, the Picasso Museum is being renovated and won’t be open until 2007. But anyway, we got to the museum, but it was closed for lunch hours, so we just walked around Antibes for a little while, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The streets were narrow and the architecture was so old worldly. I felt like I was in Italy (which I have never been to before, but would imagine would look similar). All the buildings were overlooking the Mediterranean, too, which just added to the amazingness of the whole place. It was just truly incredible, and a breath of fresh air (both figuratively and literally). After taking oodles of pictures, Sapna and I made our way back to the museum, which was also quite amazing. Regardless of which painter was highlighted within, the Museum itself was set up really well, being both quaint, and beautifully spaced out. The artist, Peynet, was very good, though, which was like icing on the cake. He does illustrations portraying all sorts of love, and includes humorous quips with his paintings. It’s definitely a change from the art that exemplifies the pain and suffering that was displayed at the Musee des Beaux Arts. It was interesting though, because aside from Peynet, there was also a section devoted to Political Cartoons, so on one side there were the light, fluffy amorous paintings coupled with the satirical and dark humor on the opposite side.

After the museum, Sapna and I walked a little more and decided to stop for lunch. We went to an unassuming little restaurant with a patio, so we could stare at people walking while they stared at us eating. It was delicious though, and I had my first French omelet. Yummy. We then left, and headed back to Nice, and took the rest of the night off in anticipation of our trip to Cannes the following day.

Enter Cannes. After a 45 minute train ride, we arrived in Cannes at about 2. Before heading out I was reading a guidebook which included Cannes, but spoke of it in a very unfavorable light. They said, short of the Cannes Film Festival, there is nothing there to do. And they were sort of right. Sapna and I checked into our hotel and just walked around alongside the sea. The view was pretty spectacular, but nothing too different from every other Mediterranean-based city. We then decided to go to a Museum, called the Museum de la Castre, which entailed us walking across the city and climbing a steep mountain (which is sort of tough for this girl), and when we finally found the museum atop the mountain, we were informed that they were about to close. Doh! So we took some pictures and went back down (which is way cooler than going up, I must say). We then got an early dinner at a well-priced restaurant (which was extremely difficult to find in rich man’s Cannes). We then decided to just chill in the hotel room for a couple hours before we went out for the night. Luckily for us, there was a gripping movie about this police officer that killed some woman. I understood like 1/3 of it, and made up the rest the way I would have wanted things to happen. I’m good like that.

At about 10:30 we headed out anticipating an awesome night on the town, hearing really good things previously about the nightlife in Cannes. We were a little disappointed to realize that we were the only people walking the streets at that point, which was shocking considering it was a Friday night. But we persevered and went to an Irish bar where we spent an arm and a leg for some tequila and then continued further. We checked out a couple of the other places we read about, but they were completely empty, so we headed to the Port, where we heard about this club called Bâoli, which was supposed to be ritzy and the place where anyone who’s anyone is seen when they visit Cannes. I was personally hoping to run into Johnny Depp, but the only thing we ran into was a HUGE bill for 2 glasses of Champagne. When we arrived, they asked us if we were there for drinks or dinner, and we stated just drinks, where they walked us into this unbelievably elegant lounge area where the tables were all silver, and were against couches with leather pillows adorning the silken upholstery. It was so chic and swanky. But when they brought us the menu, I wish I could have gotten a picture of my face when I saw the prices of the drinks. But Sapna and I decided that we were in France only once, and we wanted to feel what it’s like to be upperclass for the next half hour, so we splurged and got some rosé Champagne. Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford to stay there, but we vowed to come back and sneak in later when they opened up the dance floor.

In the meantime, we had some cheap drinking to do. So we found this bar that advertised 10 shots for 15 euro, which was uncanny to us, seeing as to how the other places here charged 15 euros for one drink. So we walked in, only to realize it was Karaoke Night. We just smiled and nodded to each other, found our place and asked for our 10 shots of Tequila, s’il vous plait. When it arrived, it was the coolest thing I had seen in a long time. It was a huge tray with tequila covering it, and iced with a salt shaker and a lemon for each shot. So as the shots started disappearing, Sapna and decided it was time to take our Karaokeing skills to a new country. We picked one of the few American songs they had (“La Isla Bonita” by Madonna), took the rest of our shots, and performed as if we were performing a concert at Madison Square Garden, complete with choreography and everything. We were impressed, but as the song came to a close, we realized nobody else was. In this packed bar, we got not one single applause (and, yes, everyone else received hearty applause before us). So we handed the DJ our mics, grabbed our jackets, and stealthily made our way to the doors. And back to Bâoli we went.

After another LONG walk, we finally got there, but there was a line. But Justin Timberlake started playing, and Sapna dances anywhere and anytime, so she breaks out dancing in the line, at which the bouncer looks at her disapprovingly, so she just apologizes. But then he asked us how many we had in our party, to which we replied it was just us, and he let us cut the line and go in. So Sapna’s dancing got us special treatment. And we were pleasantly surprised to see there was no cover charge, and no drink minimum, so from midnight to 4 AM we got our dance on, and had a really great time. I was a little surprised when Kris Kross’s “Jump” blasted over the sound system, but until last night, I never appreciated the dance value of that song. So put it on your dance mixes, folks, even if it’s a one hit wonder from the 90’s sung by 10 year olds. Trust me.

After walking for what seemed forever, we were back to our hotel where we just crashed, until about 9, at which time we were awoken by the loudest hotel cleaning ladies you have ever heard in your life. So we snoozed our alarms from that point on for the next hour, and then headed out back to Nice. There was this hilariously hyper and ADD little boy on our train. He was sooo nuts, but really cute. At one point he ran in front of this old couple and jumped right in front of them and yelled ‘Cou Cou!’. We started cracking up, but the old couple were not digging it, so they ignored it. Little boy wasn’t digging being ignored so he kept getting more and more in their faces and yelling even louder. The old man got really pissed and said some rude comment to the little boy, which just made everything ten times better to watch, cause the little boy wasn’t miffed at all. He just kept at it, until he got bored, and just left them with their disgusted looks on their face. It doesn’t pay to be a disgruntled elderly couple these days. You still won’t get left alone by Ritalin-deprived 4 year olds.

Ok, so that’s all I’ve got. I’m sorry this one was so long. But when the muse calls, you better answer. So this is my answering in the form of a novella. But you can’t deny the fact that you love these . Anyway, I will leave you alone now, but not without including some pictures first.

I miss you all so much!
XOXOX
Dina

Include sexy rocks, quai des pecheurs, peynet, in front of fnts, Atop mtn, Obligatory water shot, all 3 at waynes.

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