Virtually Home

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...

I think the latest washing machine atrocity witnessed the bottom of my I-miss-everything-and-have-no-friends spiral. I think I realized that my life, while not wholly unpleasant, is not complete without people I can socialize with. Additionally, I realized it's hard to socialize if you don't speak to anyone, and that it's hard to speak to anyone if you're constantly afraid of their judging you for something or other. I've had a pretty promising, seeming-upswing the last several days. First, I went to the birthday party of a guy I met a few weeks ago, and had a lot of fun talking to and hanging out with him and his friends. I met him for a Coke the next day and had a good conversation, and when I wandered leisurely back to my house I came across a fair, which is where the ferris wheel photo comes from. I like it because I took it with my cell phone. Despite my lens having been repaired, I didn't think I'd come across such cool things when I left the hous...

Today, I am frustrated beyond belief. Already. Last week I called the company that came to give me an estimate about the washing machine to ask them why the hell they still had not come to fix my washing machine. They told me I had to wait for the formal estimate in the mail and then MAIL IT BACK TO THEM when I made my decision. And so I waited with as much patience as I could muster, for over a week, for a piece of mail they claimed they mailed to me from not even a mile from where I am sitting right now. No luck. I just called back to beg for someone to come fix it, and their response was that they HAVE to have the request in writing and I MUST wait for it in the mail. They agreed to send me a new one. I asked them if we could just forget I ever "asked for" the estimate and start a new work order. She said no. And furthermore, there are parts to order. I asked her (rather hopelessly) if she could order them in advance. She said no, she has to receive a request i...

Yesterday after class I was waiting to ask our professor a question and listening to the conversation he was having with another student. The question he'd asked had to do with the difference between a linguistic sign and a symbol, and as the professor started talking about symbolism, he suddenly says: "Like America. Everyone in the whole world knows the value of America. When you seen an American flag, you don't just think that it symbolizes the U.S. -- it symbolizes a lot more than that." At which point the student says "ok, I understand now" and they both turn and look at me. I'd sort of worked out my whole question in advance so I could minimize stuttering, but I was so surprised that it didn't work out quite like I'd planned. Last night, Alex had heard about a rock show near our place, and we went. It turned out to be a juice bar called Soup&Juice. A juice bar that also sold beer? Or, kind of. They explained to us that they would onl...

This morning I was walking to the tram past a couple of ladies with clipboards. I learned after the first week that once the ladies with the clipboards conducting the survey or trying to get signatures for the petition figure out that you're not French, they absolutely refuse to talk to you further even if you display interest. So I was walking by with my headphones and they made eye contact and I just told them sorry, I'm not French (except I said it in French) - and they're like "wait! Are you English?" (in English) and the confused, resulting conversation that took place in mixed French (on my part) and English (on theirs) was apparently intended to lure me into the church of scientology. I was confused at first -- aside from passing some Jehova's Witnesses at a tram stop once, I have not been proselytized to once since arriving here -- not even in all the churches and cathedrals I've visited. When I looked confused they said "Scientology...you h...

Well, our washing machine still doesn't work. Also, we lost to Texas. I hate that a lot, but I can't say I didn't see it coming. It got cold in Bordeaux all of a sudden. It's already affecting my life, and it's not even below 50 yet. I just have very little desire to walk around aimlessly (which was one of my chief employments until this week) when it's cold out. All the shops and restaurants are starting to keep their doors closed and move their furniture inside. I hate it when it gets cold. I lose motivation to go anywhere, and when it gets dark earlier I'm much more likely to stay inside than to get anything done. It's not ideal. On the upside, the guy I left my lens with tells me he can fix it for around 30 euros, and to call back sometime next week. Hopefully this is true, because that's not a bad price at all. I was expecting worse. I'm copying the notes I took during the first week of class into some new notebooks. They don't r...

...and I wish I could see the game.