Le week-end

So this past weekend was the first weekend in my town. Unfortunately, everyone leaves the dorm to go back to wherever they're from, so my little "chambre" (bedroom) feels more like a prison than living quarters. Luckily, the Frenchies have reached out their generous hands and invited me all around town and then some. The married English teachers have sort of adopted me - they've lent me a bike, did a load of laundry for me, have fed me more meals than I can count, and brought me to the store to do shopping. Among all these glorious things, they teach me about apertifs (small amounts of alcohol drunk before a meal), local cheeses, desserts, and main dishes. My french culinary education is coming along quite nicely. The way of life here really isn't so different as some might imagine. The two things that have been the strangest to adjust to is 1) the main meal here is at lunch and 2) bread is rested directly on the table, not on the plate. Also, lunch and dinner is almost always followed by a cheese course and coffee -- to no one's surprise, this pleases me.

On Saturday, I took a bike ride 8km into Sallanches. Riding the bike was MUCH better than driving. I got to smell the horses, hear the cow bells (yep, the cows really do wear bells), watch the smoke from fireplaces disappear into the mountains...If I had a beret I'm pretty sure I could have been cast in a movie. Once in Sallanches, I went to the general store to buy folders to keep my dozen classes sraight. Then I went the fromagerie (cheese store) I had spotted once before. I dared to go into this cute-beyond-words little store and squeaked out, "I'm not from here and I'd like to buy some local cheese." The woman was very obliging and started handing me tastes of various things, 5 in total. I bought 3, placed them carefully in my backpack, and hit the road. That night, I brought the cheese and some wine over to the English teacher's house, where we ate dinner before heading out to meet some other teachers from the school. Natalia, Blandine, and I ended up going out dancing, which is not called a club, but a box ("la boite"). So, to the dancing box we went. Much like in any club, I felt a little uncomfortable, moreso because I was with two 40 year old women, each of whom had 3 children, and one of whom could be called my boss. Nevertheless, I am glad I went.

The next night I went bowling with my surrogate family, and Sunday night I had dinner at yet another English teacher's house (Sandrine), after which we went to a concert - an American arist curently touring France - Raul Midon : raulmidon.com. He's a blind one-man band definitely woth checking out if you like jazzy blues!

Finally, last night I went rock climbing. I went with Jaques, who is a philosophy teacher who lives on my floor of the dorm. (Olivier, my boss, and his wife Nadine were also there.) Jaques and I wil begin English lessons for a small fee - 10 €/hour - since he is starting a Master's soon and will need to take classes in English.

Today a small step was made in finding other youngins, as I finally have found a 26 year old female Spanish teacher! Just as exciting, she is from Marseille. A conspicuous attempt to gain friendship with her has thus begun!