So many topics, so little time

So there are lots of things I want to briefly talk about this week, so I'll give you a quick breakdown in number form.

1. CONGRATULATIONS!!

Sara and Adam got married!!!!! For those of you who don't know, Sara and I worked together at Halox over the summer, and she and her fiance got married October 4th, I believe. Congratulations! And hey, Halox people, I KNOW you're reading this blog, so why have I not gotten a link to the wedding pictures? I guess maybe they're not up, it's only been nearly TWO WEEKS since the wedding. I expect this egregious error to be corrected ASAP. You all have my email address.

2. More Theater and Literature Observations

We had to write a 5,000 character (2.5ish pages) paper for theater due on Monday based on our observations of the performance of Dom Juan we saw last Thursday. I didn't think mine was that good because I wrote it late Sunday night and it felt sort of all over the place on account of not really knowing what Julie wanted us to write because she didn't want our opinions, just our observations. Anyway, I sort of compared the book to the play (because they were very different on account of the modernization) and used the word "anachronistic" a lot. The play was almost Tim Burton-esque/Big Fish (the movie) because they would (randomly) switch between period costumes and modern clothes, and some characters were perpetually in the past and some were almost always modern, plus one of the dons, Dom Carlos, was played by a woman who painted a fake mustache on, but Dom Juan wiped it off, implying that he knew she was a woman, but in the book, Dom Carlos is definitely a man. It made sense to reuse the actress because she had a really small part otherwise, but it made no sense to have her play a woman pretending to be a man who really was a man in the play... so I just made some stuff up about artistic license and anachronism and I don't even remember what else.

So anyway, Julie handed our papers back, but before she did, she threw in this backhanded compliment, "Well, I've found that you all write much better than you talk..." Um, thanks?

She was waaay more generous with the grades than I would have thought, so it's either got to be that she thought we were so dumb that she was highly impressed that we had complete sentences and consequently gave good grades, or she's just one of those professors who is tough in class but realizes that we're trying on homework.

I think it's mostly that Julie (and Sophie) are just very French in the way they teach. French professors/teachers never tell you you're doing a good job, they only tell you when you're doing things wrong. There aren't any compliments, only criticisms, so that's why I don't take their harshness personally. Sometimes I feel like Sophie WANTS to like us, but then she remembers how very French she is and will stop smiling. It's actually kind of funny.

3. More Reasons Why Marc Is The Coolest Professor Ever

Marc, on the other hand, is not French at all when he teaches. I still have yet to see him wear anything but black (and that gray suit that one time) and the other day I saw him in the garden area of the school chomping on a baguette. I don't think he could look any more French if he tried. He rides a moped, for goodness sakes! So in class the other day we were talking about the end of World War II and the Korean War and how Western Europe and the US were trying to figure out to how stop the spread of communism, and so he brought up this French politican named Jean Monnet. Marc wrote Jean Monnet's name on the board and told us that it was Monnet with two "n's" and not Monet like the painter. Then he launched into this really funny story about how when he was "young" (this guy's only 41) he worked as a tour guide at a museum dedicated to Monnet here in Paris, and he would always get American tourists who thought they were going to see Monet's paintings at the museum. The real kicker was that Monnet's wife thought she was an excellent painter and painted lots of still lifes that are hanging all over Monnet's house/museum.

Marc also commented on the translation of "still life" which is "la nature morte" literally "dead nature." ("Americans are so optimistic, while French people are so pessismistic, young people!")

Anyway, so he told us to picture a young Marc Germanague, tour guide, trying to explain to the American tourists that no, they were not at Giverny, this was not Claude Monet, this was the famous French politican Jean Monnet, but hey as long as you're here, want to go look around? Said tourists would then see Madame Monnet's"truly hideous" (according to Marc) paintings hanging on the walls and whisper to themselves, "This tour guide doesn't know what he's talking about, look at all the paintings, it MUST be the Monet museum!"

4. So Theresa, What IS Giverny?

For those of you who don't know, Giverny was where Monet lived and did most of his paintings. It's really beautiful (think: water lilies) and I'm actually going there tomorrow on a program field trip.

5. Tonight: Operation: Find Thibaut's Concert (take two).

Remember how I said my friend Rachel and I looked for an hour trying to find her host brother's choir concert recital? Well, he's got another one tonight, and this time we'll be ready with GOOD directions, though "good directions" in Paris is almost an oxymoron.

6. Dinner @ an Italian Restaurant in Paris

Rachel and I went to dinner Wednesday night at this little pizza place near her house. It was delicious! The waiter/cook/probably-owner was a really nice guy, too. He asked us if we spoke English, and I said we did, and we spoke French too, and he said, "Oh well that's great! Me, I speak Italian too." And he complimented our French when we ordered, which is always flattering. It was a smallish restaurant, and there was this awkward point when he was standing by the kitchen and was pretty much calling across the restaurant, "Is everyone okay? You over there, you're good? And the Americans! Are you doing okay? You know you have to eat everything or I'm going to make you do the dishes!"

Thanks, pizza place owner, for announcing to an ENTIRE restaurant (albeit a small one) that HEY! THERE'S TWO AMERICANS OVER THERE, IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE! LET'S ALL STARE AWKWARDLY AT THEM! No, I'm kidding, it wasn't that bad. When he came to give us the check, he's like, "No coffee? No dessert?" and we said, "No thanks," and he's like, "You don't need a handsome young man to dance with, perhaps?" We politely declined and he was like, "You're sure? I know several young men around here..." No thanks, sir.

7. The Weirdos Are Everywhere

My friend Stevie is always having the most bizarre encounters with strange men in Paris.

Bizarre Encounter #1:
She was sitting in a park, not talking, not reading an English book, basically not doing anything that would identify her as an American. Some guy walked up to her and said, "Oh, you speak English? I would really like to practice my English!"
Stevie: Sure, that's fine.
Weirdo: Well, I'm actually a foot masseuse, and I would really like to rub your feet.
Stevie: Um, no, sorry.
Weirdo: No, really, that's actually why I came over here in the first place. Please, let me rub your feet! They are so beautiful!
Stevie: No, I have to get going.
Weirdo: (attempts to grab Stevie's foot, gets ahold of a toe)
Stevie: Aaah! What are you doing?! (yanks foot from his grasp, flees the scene)

Bizarre Encounter #2:
I can't remember the back story, all I remember is that it had to do with some guy approaching Stevie like on the metro or something.

Creep: Are you American? I am Moroccan! I love America!
Stevie: That's nice. (She is trapped on the metro car, can't leave.)
Creep: What is your name? I'm ******* (I can't remember his name.)
Stevie: Uh, Stevie.
Creep: Stevie! So how long are you here for?
Stevie: I'm studying here, actually (immediately realizes this was the wrong answer).
Creep: Me too! When do you leave for the United States of America?
Stevie: December.
Creep: Me too! Can I have your phone number so I can call you?
Stevie: No, sorry, I don't have a phone (this is a lie).
Creep: But how will I contact you?
Stevie: (Metro stops, she gets off and tries to leave.)
Creep: (In pursuit) But Stevie! When we get back to the United States, we must get married! Where are you going? Stevie! Come back!
Stevie: (Beating a hasty retreat, does not reply.)

8. Catherine and Lionel return to France.

They got back Tuesday at like 6:00 at night or so, and they said they had a really good time. Catherine loved the Grand Canyon especially. Only problem? Well, they had a TON of stuff to sort through (gifts and souvenirs and whatever) and so I was in my room FOREVER doing homework and such and waiting for someone to tell me when we were going to eat dinner. 8:00 rolls around... no dinner. 9:00... nothing. 9:30... I subtly go downstairs to use the bathroom (hint hint: dinner time?). No. Nothing.

9:45....
10:00....
10:15...
10:30... DINNER! I was absolutely starving by that point, so I was thrilled to finally be eating. However... we had soup for dinner. Just plain soup, not even stew or something. I was less than excited, but I didn't want to be rude considering that Catherine had just gotten home from vacation the same day. The thing was, I would have been happy to make my own dinner/every else's, but it's just not done like that here. You all eat together, and one person makes the meal. If you miss dinner, you don't just roll in and heat up some leftovers and eat them. It's kind of unfortunate.

9. The Americans Are Coming!

I got an email from my Halox boss, Tony, about him and his wife Robin coming to Paris in November! He'll be here for work stuff, but he'll have evenings off, so I think he and Robin and I are going to get together during the evening. I'm so excited to see familiar faces!

So in closing, I have a TON of homework due next week :-( that I don't want to do. I have a presentation in Marc's class, so I have to go out and find some newspaper articles to work with.