The Tempest, English, and Hockey
Last night there was a "tempête", which the internet translates as "gale" or "storm" or "uproar". I'm guessing that first is the most appropriate, because there was a lot of wind. However, it wasn't enough wind to shut down anything except maybe the C-152s at training schools, had it happened in Oklahoma. They shut down the trams on account of the storm hours early, and I was expecting more.
The sky was clear and the moon was full and we ended up at a house party with some friends. The remarkable thing about a house in Bordeaux is that it's more like a multi-story, multi-bedroom apartment, since all of the buildings in Bordeaux are connected to each other. This particular house was among the most spacious places I've seen in France. The bathroom was, as Nico said, big enough to play soccer in, and there was a small garden in the back yard, complete with a magnolia tree. When the gale was starting, it was oddly warm and felt a lot like it feels in Oklahoma before there's a wrath-of-God thunderstorm or a tornado. Neither of those things happened, and the wind kept up all night.
We made breakfast at Nico's from potatoes, chevre, and duck and then we walked home in the wind and the spattering rain.
This afternoon Anthony and I met with a physics major I'd met on the tram and who was interested in practicing her English. We switched languages whenever anyone had a misunderstanding or needed clarification, and it was a fun exchange. She had brought a friend and we all ended up at Funky Burger, where I was brave this time and tried the MacFly, which has camembert on it. It turned out to be another delicious bastard child of America and France.
This evening, our bandwidth was finally good enough to let us watch the Olympics on the Internet, so I saw the men's hockey final complete with French commentary. I learned a lot of vocabulary and was very excited when the US tied the score at 2-2 with 24 seconds left in the third period. Losing in sudden death thereafter was kind of sad, but Danielle, our resident Canadian, was happy, so I guess it all worked out okay. They had better-looking jerseys, anyway.
The sky was clear and the moon was full and we ended up at a house party with some friends. The remarkable thing about a house in Bordeaux is that it's more like a multi-story, multi-bedroom apartment, since all of the buildings in Bordeaux are connected to each other. This particular house was among the most spacious places I've seen in France. The bathroom was, as Nico said, big enough to play soccer in, and there was a small garden in the back yard, complete with a magnolia tree. When the gale was starting, it was oddly warm and felt a lot like it feels in Oklahoma before there's a wrath-of-God thunderstorm or a tornado. Neither of those things happened, and the wind kept up all night.
We made breakfast at Nico's from potatoes, chevre, and duck and then we walked home in the wind and the spattering rain.
This afternoon Anthony and I met with a physics major I'd met on the tram and who was interested in practicing her English. We switched languages whenever anyone had a misunderstanding or needed clarification, and it was a fun exchange. She had brought a friend and we all ended up at Funky Burger, where I was brave this time and tried the MacFly, which has camembert on it. It turned out to be another delicious bastard child of America and France.
This evening, our bandwidth was finally good enough to let us watch the Olympics on the Internet, so I saw the men's hockey final complete with French commentary. I learned a lot of vocabulary and was very excited when the US tied the score at 2-2 with 24 seconds left in the third period. Losing in sudden death thereafter was kind of sad, but Danielle, our resident Canadian, was happy, so I guess it all worked out okay. They had better-looking jerseys, anyway.
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