Virtually Home

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 scenar...

Friday, I went to see Paranormal Activity with Anthony. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would, to be honest. It was fun to see, but I'm struck by the oddity of the flood of horror movies that are coming out in December. It seems like now is the time for Christmas movies. Afterward we met up with Xavier and Maria at Dick Turpin's, and ended up running into Carley and Danielle, some Canadian friends. The next night, I went to Anthony's to watch Miss France, which was pretty much exactly what you would expect if you took Miss America and made it more French (which is to say, not any better). The announcers had a much more French sense of style, though one of them was wearing a dress that made both Anthony and I think she looked like an ostrich. The panel of judges included Jean-Paul Gauthier. There were lots of coordinated sort-of-dance routines with matching outfits. All of their swimsuits and bikinis matched (yes, there was a swimsuit contest AND a bikini contest)...

Sometime after regaining consciousness and before opening my eyes this morning, I remembered (sort of gleefully) that I'd fallen asleep reading the Wheel of Time, and thought of sleepily carrying the book and a blanket downstairs to sit by the fireplace and read all morning. I thought probably if I sat there, someone would come build a fire on the hearth. Then I opened my eyes and realized I was both in France, and no longer 14 years old. Also, that the house is gone, and that particular morning will probably not happen again. It was really disorienting, but not altogether unpleasant. Friday afternoon. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with my Friday. The photo is of a cotton-candy setup at the fair from a few days ago. Here they call it "Barbe à Papa" -- "Papa's Beard". Those bins of different colored things are your flavor options. There are a lot more decisions to make than just "pink" or "blue", here. I think it...