OFII, The Search for Housing, and Gross Misunderstanding
The first day back, I had to go to a mandatory medical visit to retain my visa. I was in and out of doctor's offices and waiting rooms, but aside from it being complicated, it wasn't too much of a hassle. I was in and out in 45 minutes, and really all they wanted was my height, weight, blood pressure, a chest x-ray, and to listen to me breathe. I guess I proved I didn't have TB because they gave me a carte de sejour and they sent me home with the chest x-ray, which I decided to hang on my wall to fix some of the previously un-relieved white. Plus, I think it's kinda cool to see my vertebrae and heart on the wall, but maybe I'm the only one.
Amy has been on a furious search for somewhere to live on various apartment-finding websites for Bordeaux, with not very much luck. Tomorrow, she's going to look into getting a dorm room, but last fall there were too many students to accommodate them all in the dorms, so I'm not sure how much hope I have for that scenario.
Until this morning, our friend Elizabeth was also looking, but I think she got on a plane back to Texas this morning, and plans on enrolling at the last minute at OU for the semester. I'll miss having her around. I was looking forward to hanging out with her this semester.
A few days back I had the biggest misunderstanding I've yet had in France. My friend Xavier called me up and told me that he and Andre were going to Patinoire Meriadeck and would we like to come? I looked it up on the internet, and it returned a result about a concert venue and bar. I figured we were going to go meet for a drink, since the concert schedule showed nothing for that night.
Little did I know (or remember, I should say -- who knew that "leisure" chapter from the French II book would have come in handy??) that "patiner" is the verb "to ice-skate" and "patinoire" is kind of obviously the noun made from it -- "ice rink". I'm glad I don't tend to dress up to go out, because when we ended up ice-skating, I would have felt really silly.
I felt silly as it was, actually, since it was only the second time in my life I've been ice-skating. It's a lot more difficult than roller-blading, in my opinion, and the ice was in dire need of a good zamboni'ing. I managed not to fall and subsequently get my fingers sliced off by a passerby with blades strapped to his feet (this is the scenario that plays constantly in my head when I'm ice-skating), so I count it a success. Hooray for adapting to unexpected situations!
Now that I'm all caught up about Christmas and New Year's, I don't have to suppress my usual schedule of posting -- or procrastinate. I'm looking forward to it.
Lately, I've been reading L'Etranger, by Albert Camus, because all the bookstores around here have been shamelessly promoting him, I guess for the 50th anniversary of his death, since he died in January 1960. I think I might go work on that right now.
Amy has been on a furious search for somewhere to live on various apartment-finding websites for Bordeaux, with not very much luck. Tomorrow, she's going to look into getting a dorm room, but last fall there were too many students to accommodate them all in the dorms, so I'm not sure how much hope I have for that scenario.
Until this morning, our friend Elizabeth was also looking, but I think she got on a plane back to Texas this morning, and plans on enrolling at the last minute at OU for the semester. I'll miss having her around. I was looking forward to hanging out with her this semester.
A few days back I had the biggest misunderstanding I've yet had in France. My friend Xavier called me up and told me that he and Andre were going to Patinoire Meriadeck and would we like to come? I looked it up on the internet, and it returned a result about a concert venue and bar. I figured we were going to go meet for a drink, since the concert schedule showed nothing for that night.
Little did I know (or remember, I should say -- who knew that "leisure" chapter from the French II book would have come in handy??) that "patiner" is the verb "to ice-skate" and "patinoire" is kind of obviously the noun made from it -- "ice rink". I'm glad I don't tend to dress up to go out, because when we ended up ice-skating, I would have felt really silly.
I felt silly as it was, actually, since it was only the second time in my life I've been ice-skating. It's a lot more difficult than roller-blading, in my opinion, and the ice was in dire need of a good zamboni'ing. I managed not to fall and subsequently get my fingers sliced off by a passerby with blades strapped to his feet (this is the scenario that plays constantly in my head when I'm ice-skating), so I count it a success. Hooray for adapting to unexpected situations!
Now that I'm all caught up about Christmas and New Year's, I don't have to suppress my usual schedule of posting -- or procrastinate. I'm looking forward to it.
Lately, I've been reading L'Etranger, by Albert Camus, because all the bookstores around here have been shamelessly promoting him, I guess for the 50th anniversary of his death, since he died in January 1960. I think I might go work on that right now.
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