Just a little longer

We finally have a date!! November 7th and 8th are our moving days. We are getting the keys on Wednesday which will allow us to do some cleaning and whatnot before moving in. It has been a long wait and though we would have liked to be moving in sooner, these dates will have to do. I am excited and impatient. This is going to be a big change for me but I am ready for it.
Everything is finally coming together. First getting my car(this week) and now getting our house. I can't wait to make it our home. The stress is slowly lifting. That is a good feeling because who needs stress...I know that Bernard and I sure don't. I bought a blender/food processor today! Youpi!
My mom arrives in 6days. It's going to be interesting as we are going to have to stay in Bernards little studio. 17m². Tight quarters, but it's really just for the night. And since mom and I are going away for 5 nights it won't be too bad. 2 days before we go and about 5 after. We will all survive!
Life is getting exciting...and it will be getting really busy come mid-November. :)

News

Well, another 3 weeks has gone by and here I am, still sleeping on a couch waiting for our house. It's almost time....getting anxious.
So what has happened since the end of September. Bernard and I went back to La Chatre the last weekend of September. It was busy busy running around and all like usual....6hours of driving for 2 nights is not a lot. On the Saturday night it was his cousins 20th birthday party. (typical that both family and friends are invited) It was in a hall and there were about 60 people. I met some of the family which was interesting. It was a fun night.
Last weekend we went and looked at car, but that didn't work out. The guy was a little sketchy and his story about the car just didn't seem that good. On the Sunday we got up reasonably early and headed into the Vosges (mountains) to go hiking. We packed a little picnic and off we went. It was beautiful weather and the leaves have started changing. It made me happy because it reminded me of Thanksgiving, that I was missing back home.
Finally this past weekend we managed to find me a car. YIPEE!!!! I haven't got it yet, but we are hoping to get it at the end of next week. It's a VW Polo. I will try and post a picture once I get it. I am actually so excited and impatient to get it! And on Saturday we celebrated Liz's birthday (it's her couch that I'm sleeping on). Great party!
This week Bernard is in Lyon for training and we will be getting keys to the house next week. Unfortunately that doesn't mean we will be moving in right away as we have to wait on news from the movers...and what that means, is wait for them to give quotes and then Bernards work to decide which one is the cheapest and then see when they are available to move us....so complicated. It's been such a long frustrating process and both of us can't wait to just get in the house and be able to enjoy it and each other. It's been stressful and I think once we are in and settled we will both feel better.
My mom is coming in 11 days. Can't wait for that. Should be a great visit. We are doing going to take a cooking class....1 week. Should be lots of fun.
Well, I'm off.....can't wait to get my car!!!!!

Back to work

Well, I started back to work last week....if you can consider working 8 hours really work. I don't have a lot of hours at the moment, thankfully I am on salary and not per hour. haha. After the toussaint holidays it looks like I will probably be working quite a bit more which will be nice. I am also working in another department this year which will add 2hours/week for me. I know it's not much, but it's something. And it's paid well. :)
I have met all the newbies(lecteurs/lectrices). It's been nice getting to know them, going out for drinks and whatnot. It's a fun crowd. On Friday I went to the pub to meet them for happy hour and ended up going home around 11h30. hehe. Fun night.
Also on Friday I took the bus out to Fessenhiem to see Bernard. Not a bad ride. We went and saw a house(EDF housing) that is more or less ours when they move out. For now it's a waiting game. It should be mid-October....I'm anxious to have a "home". It is a single floor, with a huge basement(not finished, they do not really have basements like we do in Canada). There are 2 bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, family room and dining room. It's spacious. It will need some cleaning and some rugs (in my eyes). Maybe some paint in some places. There is a big yard that will need some tidying also. It wouldn't be my first choice in homes if we were really looking, but it's subsidised housing and we don't have a lot of choice.....we are not made of money. Just nice to know that soon we are going to have a place.
This weekend we went out for Miriam (a newbie)'s birthday. We started out with a bar crawl and finished at the salle des coffres....fun times. It was a decent night, though we found out yesterday morning that there was a bad ending to it for Ross (newbie). He got mugged and held by knife. Scary scary.
Yesterday Bernard and I went for a hike. It was an organised one in Munster. There was also a little festival with people dressed in traditional clothing and doing some dances and food. Mmm. We did the hike, about 6.5km and then enjoyed a glass of wine with a plate of cheese. mmmm. It was so good. Great day with great weather. Have to take advantage of the nice days while we still have some.

Croatie

I wrote most of this on the road, just putting online now.

25 août :
partie La Châtre 9h15 arrivée Chambéry 18h35
dormi à St Michel de Maurienne

The drive started out not so good. I thought we weren't going to make it to Croatia, but here I am 9 days later sitting on the coast of the Adriatic sea while Bernard is being the mechanic once again (yes, more car problems...now the question is, will we make it home).
Although we hade to stop VERY frequently due to an overheating motor on the a here(first stop being maybe 20 km from La Châtre), the ride wasnt too bad. We stopped in Chambéry for a little visit before heading a little further and to find a place to sleep. Great a few more problems on the way. A stop for dinner in a parking lot which we had originally planned to sleep in till the train went roaring past. Then to another parking lot for the night.

26 août

Mechanic time! First thing in the morning fine a café, enjoy a hot cocolate and use a real toilet (it had only been one day, but it was nice). Then it was to work for Bernie. Time to fix our problem and get us to Croatia. (So many of his friends didn't think the van was going to make it that far and we had to prove them wrong). I headed off to find a boulangerie. Lots of litres of water later we got on the road. A lot later than planned thanks to Jean-Paul (the van) but we headed out, thats what counts.

partie St Michel 11h30 arrivée Brescia(Italy) 21h10

The van works again!!! No mkore overheating. So happy. The drive was good. We stopped in Torino for lunch then just before Brescia for dinner. We were on the edge of a cornfield and got our our little gas stove to cook some pasta. We had quite the crowd watching us. Finally a little man on his ride-on lawn mower came over and what we understood of his Italian was to not leave garbage. So we finished quickly and went on our way. We headed across Brescia an slept on the otherside of town by yet another cornfield. PS. Italian drivers are crazy!

27 août :
partie Brescia 9h05 arrivée Rijeka(Croatia) 19h45

We got off to a good start. Finally a good day. Well as good as it gets with Italian signage. We ended up crossing at the wrong border to Slovenia and ended up further north than we wanted to be in Slovenia. To make matters worse, Slovenian signage is even worse. After asking a couple people we thought we were on the right route but 10km later, still no signs. We stop again and a little Slovenian family helped us by drawing and giving us a map. Once again the signs were bad or should I say the lack of signs, and we went off in the WRONG direction. I have to admit, we did see some nice countryside, but that was not what we wanted to do. Once in Rijeka we visited the town a little before finding a place to camp. We ended up on some mountain road barely big enough for one vehicle. We found ourselves having to pass another car. I was holding on for dear life hoping we wouldn't fall off the edge. We found a nice(fairly isolated), far from roads place to sleep, have dinner and wash up.

28 août

We wandered around Rijeka for a bit in the morning. Went to the market where to my great surprise, I found corn on the cob. It was no Niagara peaches n' cream but it was decent. Checked the internet and headed out. We stoppek in Bakar for lunch on our way to Krk Island. First stop on the island, Krk. We spent day there, visited the town and spent the afternoon on the beach. We got some groceries and headed south to Baska for the night. We set up for dinner in the bus area next to a parking lot (FREE unlike the parking, haha). Table, chairs, camping stove....the works. People kept passing. Some were nice and said hello or even "that is life!" Others just gave us looks like "what are you people doing". We were enjoyng our dinner with a view over the city and bay. A bus showed up in the parking. The driver started talking to us though we had NO common language. He knew about 1 English word, super and the spoke Croatian to us. He said our van was super then asked Bernard if he could take me with him on his bus to keep him company. It was quite comical and he was a sweet man, even when he said he would give Bernard money for me. haha! We went and walked around town and had a nic cream before finding somewhere to sleep. We found a little "road" if you can call it that and camped there.

29 août

Back into Baska for a hike, thinking it would just be a little on upto a church and back. On no! About 11km later we were back to town. The views were amazing! Crossed a couple of Italian men, actually, they passed us. Talk about being in shape. To quote one of them on what we could see from the mountain "bellisimo". Aftar, all hot and sweaty, too lazy to cook we grabbed a bite to eat and hit the beach. It was packed. Late afternoon we headed off with a sop at the beach in Punat(also on the island). We snuck into a campground to take a shower. Finally a shower!!! It was interesting to see the 3 towns....none of them were alike. Baska was very touristy.
Off the island we went heading south to Senj. A little background information first :
We are driving a 1982 (yest, I was born that year) VW Transporter. It is only a 4 speed. The fastest it has gone is probably 100km/h, maybe 110, and that is downhill. On average we are between 80 and 90km/h on flat ground. Don't even ask about the uphill.
So back to our drive to Senj. Driving along when all of a sudden we are being waved down by the police. Super, just super! Apparantly we were driving 88km/h in a 60 zone. Though the people infront of us were driving a lot faster, we got stopped. Don't really think we were driving that fast. Anyway, he asked for papers and said the ticket was 500 kuna (70€). Then he said the minimum ticket in Croatia is 300kuna and if we paid now it would be that much. Great...43€. We paid the money and were on our way. We had dinner along the road and then walked around town(Senj) before finding camp in a little "chemin" off the main road.

30 août

Morning tour in Senj before continuing south to Zadar. We got there mid afternoon and visited the city. The sea/wave organ was really neat. We went up the city tower and ate dinner(picnic) along the coast. That night we met Mirja (from couchsurfing) and got a delicious ice cream. Then we met a couple other CSers (one she knew-an Italian and Spanish) for drinks. It was a fun night. Bernard and I ended up sleeping very little that night as we stayed in the city. Croatia has a 0 tolerance for alcohol.

31 août

Early morning. Another little visit arond town before hitting the road, direction Sibenik & Krka National Park. A short visit to the old part of Sibenik and the cathedral which was really nice then to Krka. This was wonderful! After having lunch we took a boat up the river then walked into the park to find a magnificant waterfall...or shall I say multiple waterfalls. It was great. Nice hiking trail all around and then for a swim, even under the falls before a short storm. It poured for aout 15minutes, even hailed. On the road, AGAIN. (2 weeks including driving from central France = NOT ENOUGH) to Trogir where we visited the town by night and camped.

1 septembre

In the morning we toured the city and then were off to Salona, the ruins. It was so hot and there was no coverage. Had lunch halfway up one of the mountains where we saw where some of the forest fires took place. We headed into Split and had a beach afternoon. That evening we were going to see about paying in a camping just to use the showers but decided to just spend the night. Turned out bing a relaxing night (well needed....can't forget the nice hot shower we had.

2 septembre

Lazy morning at the camping beach, before another hot shower, packing and going into town. Grabbed lunch intown and visited the city. Not much open Sunday afternoons. We had a nice Croatian fish we bread and Croatian olive oil. Mmm delicious! A fairly relaxing day. Enjuoyed some music around town in the evening. Had our best camping spot along the Adriatic seat about 3 or 4 metres. GREAT! though we had more car problems that Bernard was going to look at the next morning.

3 septembre

That brings us to today! As I already metioned, the morning began with me tanning and Bernard looking at the van. We are currently in Bosnia on our way to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Still a ways to go and a lot of hills. You know what that means....overheating. So here I am writing in the mountains while Bernard tries to get us to our destination. Almost the end of our travels. Tomorrow the park, then direction France on Wednesday. It's la rentrée for us Monday.

** continue my writing now as I type

It was an interesting drive to seem of the "interier Croatia" and Bosnia. It was different than the coast. Houses don't seem to be finished and there are lots of abandoned ones. The towns looks sad compared to the coast. In Bosnia we visited one town and saw some traces from the war. Bullet holes in walls and even in a statue. That night we found a campsite of the main road not too far from the park. Nice stary sky when we headed to bed around 21h45....yes it's early.

4 septembre

Woke up to a huge storm. Rain and thunder, cold grey. Not good. The one thing that we had been waiting for the entire trip was the visit to this park. We had heard so many great things and seen so many amazing photos. We decided to lie in bed for awhile hoping it would clear up. Finally around 11 we decided to hit the road. It was not going to clear. Off we went....encountering yet again.....car problems. This time we decided to stop in a garage and have them look at it. Only one of the men spoke a little English and we mangaged to tell him the problem. They told us to wait about half an hour so we headed next door to the restaurant for lunch. Back to the garage where we ended up spending the entire afternoon. It was wet and cold. Not the best of days. I was very disappointed about the park, but it just means we will have to go back! The men in the garage were nice. They started working on the van around 2 and finished around 6. Normally they finish their day at 4, but for us stayed. We decided to drive a little further before finding a camp spot...this time NO van troubles. We stayed near the town of Delnice.

5 septembre

On the road again. A quick stop in Rijeka and then back on the road. We drove to Venice and spent a couple hours in the city before going north 20km to Treviso to meet a couple friends that live there. We had a delicious Italian dinner at their place and then tried some italian liquors. Alberto took Bernard and I out after for a quick visit of the city and then to bed. We camped out right infront of their house that night.

6 septembre

From Treviso to the France/Italy border. We drove about 500km. We decided not to take the tunnel that had cost us 42€ on the way there seeing as the van was in tip top shape. We drove up the mountain, zigging and zagging at about 30km/h. Luckily there was no one behind us. We camped out in the mountains at about 2100m, overlooking a lake. We were in bed even earlier this night. 21h30. It was getting chilly and there was lots of wind. The stars were amazing so we lied in the van with the curtains open looking at the stars. Saw a shooting star or two.

7 septembre

Last leg of the trip. We headed out around 8. It was too cold to stay in bed. The lake was beautiful. On the drive down the mountain we even saw frost on the grass in the shady areas. When we made it to the bottom the temperature was about 5°C, so I can only imagine the temperature overnight. Another 500km to do back to La Châtre. The drive was pretty easy. Saw lots of nice scenery along the way. Sad the trip was coming to an end.

Well folks, that is it!!! Great trip altogether!! Can't wait for the next one we have
Cheers

Oops....again

Well, it's been a long time again since I have written....guess I've gotten into a bad habit.
I've got back to France, gone on vacation and am now back in Mulhouse, so I guess quite a bit has happened.
When I got back to France I spent about 2 weeks in La Chatre. I did go with Bernard to his "stage" thing outside of Lyon for a couple days. It was long days for me as I had to leave the room when he did which meant around 8 am. I spent my days in Lyon bumming around. I guess it was better than sitting around La Chatre. Haha. In my eyes I have more or less mastered driving stick. I drove the car into Lyon a couple times by myself and didn't have any problems. Yeah me!
We headed on holidays on the 25th of August for 2 weeks (I am going to put that in another post, as I wrote most of it on the road) and then came back to Mulhouse on the 9th.
I am staying at a friends place right now. Bernard is on training in Fessenheim (about 30km from Mulhouse) for 3 weeks. After he will be transfered and we are assuming it will be mid October. As long as it is before my mom comes and we have a place to live I will be happy. hehe.
I haven't started work yet. This year is different from last year, because for the first few weeks in 06 I was working like mad and so far on my schedule, I only have 8 hours for next week and 6 for the following....I am taking on some lessons in another faculty. Just 2 a week but it will be good I think.
Alright, so my life at the moment is not that exciting....I did cut my hair....
signing off....

Too long....

It has been well over since I posted...I know, I'm a slacker. I thought about writing on many occasions, but either got side tracked or was just plain lazy. So here I am now...

Where did I leave off....I hadn't even finished classes at work. I still had almost 2 weeks before I finished work and had to pack up and move out. Classes ended well for the most part. For those that bothered to come to class, they were lucky enough to enjoy some of my wonderful chocolate chip cookies!!! Some kids came just for that. :) I went to their end of year party the Thursday before I had to move out and it was a fun night. I didn't really expect to stay out for long, but I did. I think I got home that night at 5, or close to. It was mainly first years though there was a group of second years. It was a lot of fun.

The weekend before leaving I had a little shindig at my place. One last bang before heading off for the summer. We had a potluck and then some predrink before hitting up Salle. There were about 10 of us. Way too much food that I ended having to give bunches away and eating tons myself. Delicious food, great people and some booze! What more can you ask for??! Well, I know one thing that was missing at that night of fun....Bernie!!! We headed to the Salle for one last night on the town. Jenn and I always have a blast there.

I headed off to La Chatre on Saturday the 30th after doing the "Etat des lieux" with the landlord...wasn't that great...still trying to get that all worked out. Things didn't end so well there which is a pain, but with the help of my little Frenchman (I guess he isn't really little) we will get things worked out and get back what is ours.

I spent 2 weeks at Bernards before heading home. We had a party with friends and some family at this park. It is more or less private as it is owned by his work. We had a BBQ and drinks and lots of fun. We camped out there for the night. Great night with everyone dressed up in costumes of some sort.

We also headed to Auvergne, the mountains for a couple days to get away. We camped in some farmers field. It was a little adventure!! Good fun. Getting us ready for our trip at the end of the summer to Croatia. I can't wait for that....

So, home in Canada. It's been nice to see the family and some friends. Got to spend the weekend with my sister and her little family. I babysat little Paige for a night in Ottawa.

Not too much excitement is happening here. I will try and get back into the habit of writing on this silly thing again.
Cheers!!

Not much longer..

The year is coming to an end...I can't believe that the year is almost over. It has flown by that is for sure. Another year passed. Lots of good times had, and some still to come.
Two weekends ago I went to Lyon with Jenn to see a friend of ours, Val. It was a fun weekend. Long train ride home, big surprise....an hour late. haha
After the weekend away I welcomed 2 "couchsurfers" to my place. They arrived on the Monday early afternoon. They headed off to Bale for the afternoon while I headed to work. That night we enjoyed a delicious dinner at my place and then headed to meet a couple local couchsurfers for drinks downtown. It was a nice enjoyable evening. Lots of good laughs! The next day I took my guests to Colmar. I really like this town. And right now with all the flowers out it's great. We did get stuck with a little rain so we ducked into a cafe/bar got some wine and a tarte flambée for Alison and Eric to try. Mmmm! Gave them the good pointer of "you don't HAVE to tip in France". hehe. They headed out on a night train to Nice that night. Nice to have some guests!
This past weekend Jenn and I went to Freiburg (Germany) for a night of clubbing with some friends. It was fun. Nice that we had someone drive and we didn't have to stay over night. It was a blast....though I've been seeing tooo many mullets....not so much in France, but in Germany and Switzerland.
Yesterday I went to "Art Basel". A huge art show, with galleries from all over the world. It was enormous. We were there for about 3 hours and still didn't get it all in. Saw some interesting things that is for sure!
This Thursday,June 21st is the "fete de la musique". It is a national celebration of music. Concerts in the streets and all. We will be making a night of it....starting with a little pre-drinking at Jenns. Should be a good night. Then Saturday one last party before the year is done. Next week I finish up my classes!!! Woohoo!!
I'm happy and sad at the same time....isn't that always how it is thought?!

I made it home

I am finally home after what was usually an easy trip home from Bernards. NOT this time. I decided to take the train from Montlucon instead of Chateauroux this time. Cheaper and easier not going through Paris. We left on time, like planned, 14h30....my train was at 15h25. It's usually 45 minutes by car but not yesterday...we got to the train station at about 15h30....5 minutes too late. I missed my train. Wonderful. Just wonderful! Off to the guichet to see what good old SNCF can do for me. I am imagining that I am going to lose my ticket and have to buy a new one as it's a 12-25 ticket. The man was helpful and said he will authorise me to take a later train, leaving at 18h18 arriving around 3h30. Oh super, get home in the middle of the night. So, 2.5 hours to kill in a town not so wonderful. A little snack and drink, food for the train....which I almost missed again. We are really not good at being on time. Alright, only 4 trains. First one, TER, get off and get on another TER. Get off and wait of another train. Finally arrive Lyon around 22h00. I see on the screen there was a "retard" for my train...I am going to get home 40 minutes later than planned just super! (notice the sarcasm). So I called Bernard and talked for a bit when I noticed people were looking at the big screen with train times. I went and looked and saw that, NO it wasn't 40 minutes late, it was 4 hours. Holy cow.....what am I going to do in a train station till 3 in the morning. UGH! So off I went to the "Accueil" to wait in the long line of pissed off train riders. So I finally made it up to the counter and talked to a surprisingly nice SNCF man. He told me they would give me a hotel room for the night and I could take the first train at 6h35. Yes, I would have rather been in my own bed, but I was happy that for once they actually did something and I wasn't stuck in the train station, cold. I can't believe that SNCF actually put people up in a hotel. Hotel Campanile, just across the street, 95€ per night.
So I finally made it home to my place this morning around 11h15. Happy to be at my own place. :) What a trip....don't think I'll be forgetting that one.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I just want to be taken care of. I guess I will always be the "baby". I miss having my mom, someone who always takes care of me when around.

Forever

Well, it has been ages since I have written...2 months. What has happened in the last 2 months??
At the beginning of April I headed back to Canada for a visit for 3 weeks. Bernard came with me for 10 days. When we left France on April 5th it was beautiful sunny 20° weather. We had a lay over in Philadelphia (4hours) and went into the city and walked around. It actually snowed. haha. Finally made it to Canada after a slight delay...well 2 hours or so. The weather was quite a change. It was nice to see the family and for them to meet Bernard.
Bernard and I did the tourist thing, typical - Toronto, Niagara Falls, Niagara on the Lake, Maple Syrup farm etc. I had got tickets for an NBA game for his birthday so we went there too. It was a good game.
My sister had a baby girl one week late. Paige Taylor Fournier. She was born on April 10 @ 21h49. She is cute as a button and I cant wait to see her again.
I had a really nice visit with my family and got to see some friends which was really great! The 3 weeks went really quickly and now I am looking forward to my visit this summer.

Back in France.....I've been back for almost a month and not too much has been going on. We have had more or less nice weather since I've been back. There were a few crappy days, but I have managed to sun tan a bit. :) Myself, Jenn, Emma and David went to Bale(Basel) at the start of the month for a night out on the town. That was fun, though waiting for the 6am train was not as much. haha. We also went to the zoo there.
Last week Bernard made his way to Alsace for a long weekend. It was a beautiful weekend which made things better. We went to Frieburg Germany and did some biking. We went and visited a bit of the region with a prof I know and to a castle with some friends. Can't forget the "chapeau party" at Liz's place. That was fun too! It was a great weekend. I am now in La Chatre as I have a few days off I decided to drive back with Bernard. Going to see a few friends while I'm here. It has been quite some time so it will be nice.

Anyway, that's about all in my life for now. Going to Lyon in 2.5 weeks with Jenn to see a friend and the city. Then I have a few "couchsurfers" staying at my place. 5.5 weeks left of school. Time is going to fly by now and summer will be upon us. I can't wait. Starting to make some "travel plans". Yipee.
Well, signing off now, I'll try to keep up on this a little more now.

Snow...

Well, tomorrow is the first day of spring and this morning to my surprise there was snow on the ground. Ok, not huge amounts, but it is still white, cold and wet.
Last week I was in La Châtre. I actually drove pretty much the entire way from Mulhouse. I have driven quite a few different cars and been getting some good practice. I even drove the "transporter"....hehe, I'm sure I look super small driving that.
On Thursday night we went to a "Marcel et son Orchestre" concert. There was a group of about 10 of us. Most of us got dressed up, as that is what the group does. It was pretty fun. Seeing as I was a last minute addition I did not have a wig like the others. So I got my hair done ridiculously in various pony tails sticking out every which way and then teased. Oh what a site to see...and then the make-up....even more ridiculous. It was a fun night. We went to the concert in the "transporter" and had a boat tied on the roof....apparently at their older concerts they would have an inflatable boat and have someone go crowd surfing in it. They wouldn't let us bring it in. It was a fun night.
I got back here on Sunday night. Taught a couple classes yesterday and I'm off today. Teaching 3 tomorrow...oh joy!
Lindsay is due in 2 weeks...I guess the baby could come any day now...I can't believe it. It's crazy how time has flown by. And in 16 days I'll be in Canada...with Bernard. I am super excited for the holidays. Should be good!!!
Well, I am going to go try and get somethings done...need to try and be somewhat productive today!! hehe Cheers

Back from the East

Well, a little travel is always fun....but coming home sick isn't.
Got back from Prague on Saturday. Jenn and I flew out Monday afternoon spent the first night in Prague. We did a little tour of the city by night then headed south to Cesky Krumlov early the next morning. I was told that it was a great place to visit. It was a nice town, though we visited in the wrong season. Should return in the summer. We were going to stay 2 nights because we though we would want more time. But the castle was closed as was the theatre so we decided to head back to Prague. It's a very out outdoorsy place. Lots of hiking and I think it would be great once it warms up a little. We weren't the brightest and paid for the two nights right away. After deciding we were leaving the next day we had to argue for our money back. We learnt our lesson and paid night by night in Prague.
Back in Prague. We had a blast. Met lots of people. Did get to go out on the town a couple nights. It's very cheap there which is great. Beers cost maybe 1 euro in the bars/clubs, and that was for 500mL. Vodka was cheap too, as long as you didn't want juice with it. Haha! We went out both Wednesday and Thursday night. I woke Friday with a cold and a sore body. I didn't go out to the club on Friday with Jenn. I got to meet a really sweet French couple (Sylvain and Anais)earlier in the week and went out with them for dinner to a Czech restaurant. It was quite interesting that they were seating us at a table (not a very big one) that already had 4 people sitting at it (and they were not all together). We sit down and one group of two was just finishing up. They left and we were left with some Frenchies, sort of ironic. A mother and her son. It's wierd that they seat you with random people, but a neat and different experience. We had a nice evening. Once back at the hostel I met a Bulgarian artist. He was doing some body art on Anais and then on me. Sylvain who is also an artist drew a portrait of me. It was a really nice evening. Different from the rest of the week, but it is contacts like these that really mark you.
Saturday we did one last morning out in the city before taking off to the airport. Good trip!!!
Not a good return, although I thought getting some rest and sleep I would feel better, boy was I wrong. I was up sick Saturday night, not fun. Jenn came over yesterday to make me some soup. I lied around all day, and did my lesson planning. Unfortunately this morning when I woke up I really did not feel well at all. I had to call in sick to school. I hate doing that, though I think it was good as it forced me to go to the doctor as I had to get an "arret de travail" (doctors letter). Turns out I have tonsillitis, or something along the lines of it. I'm feeling better now. This "arret de travail" in mandatory when sick, and it only allows you to leave your home between certain hours. Mine were 14h00 to 17h00. Outside of those hours, there is a possibility that someone comes by your house to verify that you are there (and sick).
When I got home today I had a good email waiting. Bernard got a call today from a place he applied about an hour from here and he has an interview Wednesday morning. So tomorrow afternoon he will be headed here, arriving in the evening and spend the night here. Wednesday i will head back with hime to La Chatre as I am off till Monday.
Three and a half weeks till we are home!!!! Can't wait....counting down.
Well, dinner is ready......take care

I'm still alive...

Well it has been ages since I posted. My life has not been overly busy, hence the lack of writing. The big reason is that I have been lazy.
So, the month of February. I worked 3 weeks. Classes went well. I had met a new prof at "jury", a meeting thing deciding on the whether students pass or not (French school system is wierd) in January. He invited me to dinner one night with some friends. Nice to meet his friends and hang out with new people. I also met someone off couchsurfing who just moved to Mulhouse. Went out for a drink one evening.
I finished classes on the 23rd for holidays. Yes, again! I headed to Bernards for 10 days. Always nice to see him. Met up with a couple friends at the Londons on the first Saturday. Bernard and I had a few drinks and were feeling "joyeux"(tipsy). Sunday we went for a small hike with friends, it was rainy. Then had them and another couple over for the "apero". Tuesday we went to Remi's for dinner. It was a nice evening. I miss having Remi around. He is a sweetheart and good friend. I got a cold while there which sucks. Met Bernard for lunch and went to the movies on Thrusday, saw a cute french film, Michou d'Auber and saw La Mome on Saturday. On Sunday we headed off to Paris, Bernard started his "stage" (training) on Monday. We decided to go up the Eiffel Tour as it was a nice day. Then we met Lindsay (Gresko) and Thomas for dinner. It was great to see her again. We will have to do it again. Still waiting to hear about the transfer...both positive. Off to Czech this afternoon....

Something to write home about.

Well, it's been awhile since I wrote, no surprise there as I am not very on top of it of late. It's been two weeks now since I have written...lets start from the beginning and then get to what I am writing home about.
So, after Becca left I headed to La Chatre to Bernards place. It was a long journey....I decided I would take the night train to Paris and then arrive in Chateauroux aroun 11h00 to meet Bernard for lunch. Well, the train from Mulhouse was 3 hours late to Paris meaning I missed my correspondance, and had to wait another 2.5 hours in the Paris train station. Ugh....not impressed. It's even worse because I had debate whether or not to take the early morning train or the night train and I ended up arriving the same time I would have if I took the other train. Well, finally made it. I went to the highschool on Friday to meet Remi for lunch. Always enjoy that. Hung out with him for a bit and with Nicole then we went to Manolas for tea and cakes. We had a fairly relaxing weekend. The weather was nice while the snow melted away.
Bernard had his surgery on Tuesday so we spent a couple days at the clinic. This was for his nose, some sort of sinus problem I guess, not sure how to describe it. Arrived early Tuesday morning and left Wednesday morning. I went to Remi's place for lunch as he doesn't live too far from there. I miss him being around. Great friend, always fun to chat with and hang out with. Bernard was fairly groggy after the anesthesia, but we just chilled and I kept him company. The room was so hot that night making it not very nice for sleeping. I dont think either of us slept much, though for Bernard it may have been partically due to pain and for me partially due to his breathing as his nose was blocked. Oh well, I spent the next few days taking care of him as he couldn't do much let alone work. By the weekend he was good. Got the stitches and some sort of interieur "cast" taken out on Friday...I dont know, French medical terms.....And to end the week we had a nice dinner out at the Chinese restaurant.
Saturday I went to Bourges with Nicole and Manola. Did a little shopping, not much though. Had a nice girls day out!!
Get ready for the big news....Sunday we headed to Paris. We were going to leave early, though that didn't happen. We got on the highway and off we were....Bernard asked me to drive after a little bit.....this is a French car, station wagon, stick (manual) car. I've been learning, practicing so it was no big worry, especially on the highway. So we drive and we are starting to get into the city, still on the highways. Ok, ok Erin you are fine! Next thing you know I'm being told to exit the highway.....for those that don't know, my weak point was always starting.....haha, that first take off when you have to balance the accelerator and the clutch. Well, off we went down a boulevard in Paris.....stop light after stop light and I'm doing fine!!!! YEAH ME!!!! I drove through Paris....and I don't mean just the outskirts, but along the Seine past the musee d'Orsay, past les Invalides to a Parking looking out at the Eiffel Tower......almost at the parking....talking to Bernard....he comments on my clean driving with not really any mistakes.....next stop light red.....green means go.....oh no.....i stalled....horns start honking, I start to panic.....it takes Bernard telling me to restart the car...hehe....oops....like he said, "spoke too soon". Well, I did it! I drove in Paris with an manual car and really didn't make any big mistakes!!! I'm so happy and proud of myself. I think that is an accomplishment.
Well, now I am back in Mulhouse, back to work....counting down the weeks till the holidays....only 3 weeks! Horrible, I know. Then I will be counting down the days till I come home for vacation. Oh yea, guess I haven't mentioned. Got my ticket home and Bernard is coming!!!! Yipee! We fly in on the 5th of April. He will stay for 10 days and I for 3 weeks. It is so exciting!!! We are really looking forward to it.
Well, I think that is all the news here for now. I'm sure this is getting too long anyway, chat soon! Cheers