Virtually Home

I still have about a month and a half in Bordeaux, but today I felt really ready to go home for the first time. I mean, I'm far from having achieved closure with people, or even with the school, but I just missed things. People. Driving. What the South Oval probably looks like right now. Frog and insect noise, now that it's warm. It was 84 Fahrenheit today, which means it's reached the temperature that I need to keep the windows open for ventilation. While sleeping that's going to be a hassle, since the windows have no screens and the mosquitoes, though nowhere near the droves found in Oklahoma, are beginning to emerge. If the drapes are closed, no air passes. When they're open, my across-the-courtyard neighbors' lights shine right into my room. To say nothing of their windows looking right into my room, I guess. Morning sunlight is a whole separate issue. I think this will be good for putting me back on a diurnal schedule, though. Coming off of the Amsterda...

I can tell you that in the airports and the train stations of western Europe, there is nothing nice being said about Iceland. It is, of course, hardly their fault that a volcano erupted, but it is wreaking havoc with spring break plans all over the place. Our trip started out on Monday. We took the TGV up to Paris and dodged the RER closures to get to Draveil, which is a little town south of the city where our hostel was going to provide a free shuttle to Orly for our 10:30 a.m. flight the next day. We were nervous about the ash, but Orly had re-opened on Monday and was operating most of its flights. The only flights that weren't landing in Athens as scheduled were coming from France and Germany. This didn't bode well. Tuesday morning, and we have received no cancellation e-mail from EasyJet, and the internet tells me that our flight status is still "on time". We walk to the train station, get on a bus to the airport, walk from the bus stop to the terminal. I real...

French stereotypes that make a Jessie happy: Men in striped shirts. Ridiculous mustaches. Poodles. Hearing anyone, at any time, say "Ooh là là". Seeing French children rollerblading with baguettes under their arms. Terrifying cheeses. Seeing anyone selling escargot, ever. The omnipresence of wine. French stereotypes that make a Jessie unhappy: Constant smoking of cigarettes. That guy who reeks. And inevitably stands next to you on the tram. Complete lack of efficiency, promptness or competence.

Spring is definitely here, and I can tell because this purple flowering vine has begun to bloom again, like it was at the end of August when I arrived. I have no idea what it is, but if you do, you should let me know. This is the view directly out of my living room window. There's usually not a French flag there, but sometimes, on rare occasions, they fly it. Usually it's for some kind of holiday, but I'm not aware of any particular reason why it's been up the last few days. I like it, though. It's huge and transparent, and when the wind blows it takes up most of the view from our window. This morning I woke up and Amy met me. After several tram foibles we made it out to Chartrons, which is the historical wine-trading district in Bordeaux. Every Sunday morning they have a big open-air market out there, with lots of seafood for sale. Terrifying seafood, with lots of whole, unedited creatures staring blankly from beds of chipped ice. More ice than you've ever ...

But that's not really the theme of this post. I just thought it was funny. The photo on the left is just down the street from my house, as they were finishing a building-cleaning job on both sides of the street. I was intrigued by the catwalk between projects, but I guess when the scaffolding gets to a certain height that might be a good idea. What seems to not be a good idea is the way they build and tear down the scaffolding, throwing lengths of steel piping at one another from a great height. It looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen. I cringed every time I had to walk by a guy tossing something heavy down at the street. I have definitely fallen down on my blogging job. Since my last post I have endured a few more days of incompetent workmen to end up with a kitchen that is less leaky and also less waterproof, as our countertops have now changed from laminate to wood, varnished with a single coat. I like the visual effect. They're less ugly and easier to keep clean. Not th...