Go der friends: Angel of the North

http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/Leisure%20and%20Culture/attractions/Angel/Home.aspx

I don't know if I've ever seen anything so cool on December 31 of any year!!
Gateshead, UK

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone! I want to begin by wishing all of you a very happy holiday season. Here in Lyon, the holiday season, beginning with Thanksgiving, has gone by very quickly, which in some ways is good: 1)I am not thinking about how much I miss home during this time (which in truth-I still do), and 2) after Christmas I go on vacation! A real vacation!
My friend Cody from Cabot HS is coming to France to study for a semester in Orléans. Before he goes to study, he’s coming to Lyon, and then we are flying to London! We’ll leave London immediately for South Shields on the North Sea, near Newcastle, where we will stay until Jan. 2cd, and then we’ll go to Edinburgh until Jan. 5^th and then for Jan 5^th and 6^th we’ll be in London again. England and Scotland baby!! That’s a “real” vacation! I hope to see a lot of scenery…learn a lot of history…you know all the stuff the Romantics cried over in the 1800’s : )

As for Christmas, I’m going over to Marie-José’s place (my host counselor) for Christmas Eve. I’m thinking the tradition is different. I’ll be sure to jot down a little bit about their French family Christmas though, and after I get back from Great Britain I’ll write a "little" post about my Christmas and about my trip.

I actually just got back from Strasbourg. Yes. Again. This time Nathan insisted that I come up to see what Alsace is very known for---their Christmas markets! It was a great time! Well that is, it was a great time despite the frostbite/slick icy spots (mostly frozen dog pee)/twisted ankle. Yeah, that’s right. Nathan had never had a snowball thrown at him, so when I went to do it, the earth opened up and tried to eat me via a big hole in the concrete. It got a little twist of my ankle, but nothing that really slowed me down. Crazy Cajun though; he shoulda had a snow-ball thrown at him before ; ) We also went to another Alsatian town called Colmar, which is known just as well known for its Christmas markets and also for being “la petite Venise” of France, “the little Venice”. We hobbled around the city with my gimp leg for a great afternoon, a little too icicled, but a beautiful day nonetheless.

A few weeks back Nathan came down to Lyon to see an event special to Lyon: “La Fête des Lumières”=The Festival of Lights. For four nights Lyon was lit up until 1AM! I mean everywhere you looked, all you could see was one light show after another. I won’t write in great detail about every little thing because honestly, you just have to go look at my photos. Just about every square and/or parc in the city had a light show, which were always different in some way. For example, on some exhibits lights would bounce off of walls, on others, pictures were projected on buildings, or another, for example in Place des Terreaux, we saw a giant rainbow-colored sphere that reflected light off of surrounding buildings, and it also had lights pointing up to the sky, crossing in the middle. During this particular show, a sound machine made eerie extra-terrestrial noises. It was pretty amazing! I made Nathan close his eyes and let me guide him though a lot of it because he (and I!) had never seen anything like that! It was worth the surprise…he didn’t seem to mind too much.

Also, for this same event my previous Facebook-only friend Aurélien, a Frenchie who had met my good friend Anna-Kate while she was in France on her Rotary Scholarship, contacted me asking if he could stay at my place on Saturday night during la Fête, and he was going to bring along a friend named Monica (from Maine) who he had just met—through Anna-Kate. So both of them show up on Saturday for the “grand spectacle” on December 8^th. Nathan, Aurélien, Monica, and I all ventured out into the city, a city full of an expected 2 million people just on Saturday alone. It was C-R-A-Z-Y! We literally couldn’t move at all in the crowds unless someone pushed us from behind! Should to shoulder with a whole city, we had a GREAT time! …seeing light shows, drinking vin chaud, watching strikes (yes even during the fête there were strikes!), eating bison burgers and hot roasted nuts, and taking many goofy pics-and all the while we got to know each other better. Monica and I realized that we had already met, and actually at Anna-Kate’s apartment in Little Rock! Both worked for Heifer International down at the Perryville Ranch, and that is how they know each other. Small world. So thanks Anna-Kate, and thanks to Rotary as Aurélien said! Otherwise he would have never met Anna-Kate, Monica, Nathan, or me, the four crazy Americans!

So, about those grèves…school finally started back up again after 4 weeks of not having class. We missed a lot to say the least! I kept busy though while I was away, busy with everything Rotaract. I am very fortunate to have a very welcoming Rotaract club here, and one who does acts of services ; ) A few weeks ago we all got together and made 50 Christmas wreathes, which we sold and bought francophone books with the 500 Euros, and then we donated the books to a library in Argentina (don’t ask me why Argentina, seems kind of bizarre-I know). That was incredibly fun, and I enjoyed very much getting to be crafty : ) Also, we got together for our Christmas dinner. We went to this beautiful restaurant with cave-like walls lit up by these enormous sconces mounted by cables from the ceiling. We played that under 5 Euros Christmas present exchange game; me, I got a Japanese zen garden! It’s a little mock-up zen garden sort of like a miniature sand-box with pebbles and a rake. Gotta keep it well groomed! After dinner, I can say now that I can talk more easily with the Rotaractors. A week later we went to an old folks home where we sang French Christmas songs for the elderly who stay there. We also played “le loto” AKA BINGO. We served them some cake and juice, and we gave them gifts. I sat with a 90 year old man named Salvador. Originally from Italy, he explained to me his sad story of how hard it is for him to get around to see his family for Christmas and that he will stay at the nursing home with his buddies. After I fed him cake and helped him drink his OJ, we opened up his gift (well, I did), and then I put the bow on his sweater! Then after we sang, he yelled me back over to him, he took both my hands, and told me thank you for making his Christmas better. Nearly in tears, I Frenchie-cheek-kissed him and then for about 4 minutes while I was putting my coat on and getting ready to leave, he waived at me from his seat! It was pretty tender ; ) It was a very nice experience for me, and at first before I went, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to understand the older French people talking to me (because sometimes in English I can barely understand them back home!), but truly it doesn’t matter. You don’t even have to say a word. It’s just good enough to sit with them and let them recall memories of old, days long past that are often happy times and sadly often very difficult times. Auld Lang Syne. But I realize that although it can be hard to sit through some of their sad stories, these older people are happy to share them with you. I truly believe that the elderly can teach us so much about ourselves, who we’ve been and who we'll become.

Also while I was away from school, I was writing my first Rotary report which I finally got turned in. It only had to be 2 pages long, but it ended up being 6.5! I have attached the documents for you to read-one in English, one in French. Consider it a Christmas gift! Haha; ) I had to write one in both languages. My friend who I met through Rotaract, Marion, helped me edit my French. I was pretty pleased that my main problem was wordiness and preposition-verb agreement/wrong-use of preposition. I’m pretty okay with that ; )

Speaking of Marion...she’s awesome. So is her family. They invited me over one day last week to eat and to meet the rest of the family. Her dad’s pretty intimidating, and I’m glad I remembered deodorant that day, but all in all, they rock! Very nice people. They even invited me to go with them in the Spring to their vacation home in Provence. They said we have to wait to go though; they want me to see the rows of lavender in full-bloom ; ) I’m pretty okay with that too...the waiting for beauty; )

I invited Marion over the other day to see my apartment, and to see my make-shift Christmas tree! I went to IKEA, and for 3 Euros I bought some green ribbon, 2 strings of lights, and some gold garland, and I made a tree on my window!! Note: picture of me and my Christmas tree attached.
My parents and Lindsay (bro’s girlfriend) sent me a box full of Christmas gifts, so I put them under my “Christmas Tree”. I’ll probably be tacky like other cool people out there who leave their trees up indefinitely. I actually put it up for Thanksgiving to make myself feel a little better and to snap me out of that “woe-is-me” mindset.
My Thanksgiving isn’t all worth talking about, but the week after is! I invited all my friends over, all the Asians, and Guillaume, the French/Japanese major, and I cooked spaghetti and crêpes for us to “feast” on. Can someone say untraditional???! Yeah-yuh. It was great fun though, and I really love the friends I have. They respect me and let me tell them about Thanksgiving and why I am here. They are like me, and together, we share and enjoy learning about each other. I shared the tradition of going around the circle and telling everyone what one is thankful for. Yahan had the best answer: “The Indians! Otherwise we wouldn’t be here celebrating Thanksgiving”! True dat.

Let’s see, what else. It’s FREEZING! So I’m eating clementines to keep immune from the cold. While in Strasbourg, I don’t think I have even been so cold in my life. Even colder than when I lived in Michigan I think. Shiver me timbers.

Also, last week my host club celebrated its 15 anniversary and I helped one of its founding members prepare for the party. I spread butter on approximately 1 billion crackers, then on top of those crackers, I either slapped on some salmon or some smelly Roquefort cheese. To make it seem as though she wasn’t a slave-driver, I stole equally about 1 billion dried apricots and pistachios throughout the 6 hours of preparation, gobbled them up and called them a reward. No but seriously, it was like a hard day at work! Hanging stuff, moving furniture, dressing Christmas trees, preparing food, calming the bird down from a downfall of party-planning stress, etc. I can officially say that a Frenchie has snapped at me! She snapped because she was stressed, I understand, but still, I was like “Ummmm, I know she didn't”! Lol, it was funny! It was all very worth it though : ) For 6 hours I was hers, and then for the rest of the evening I was my Club’s. I always find that whatever table of Rotarians I sit with, it always seems to be pleasant and they are all very nice. I am blessed. I am spoiled ; )
Oh, I have to tell you what I ate: “cervelas Lyonnais”-pig brains, roasted potatoes, pistachios, yummy and smelly French cheese, wine-soaked and cooked pears, and our weight in bread. Then the kicker-Michel (the woman I helped), she surprised everyone with this huge stuffed beignet towering Christmas tree of a cake. Mmmmm. She’s a good woman that Michel, very interesting, and later on that night she Frenchie-kissed me like 15 times because she was so thankful for my help. I almost got dizzy from the back and forth cheek-kissing action.

And now on a side note, I’d like to tell you something that I absolutely hate: the expression “C’est normal”. The French say it all the time, and I just don’t like to have someone say “It’s normal” after I thank them for a good meal or after they do something nice for me. Really, in French it doesn’t mean “it’s normal”, it’s more like “it’s expected” (which sounds worse) or “as I should” or “don’t mention it”. For example, when I was in Strasbourg I bought a few gifts for people and at one place the merchant started to wrap my gift! It was VERY nice of him! I thanked him and he said “C’est normal”, cold without a smile. Now, I am thinking that “C’est normal” might be a lot better with a smile, then that way, just maybe I could walk away with a smile. Throughout the day, I’d rather carry with me a smiling “oh as I should” then a cold “oh it’s normal”.

Anywhoo, you all have a Wonderful Christmas and A Happy New Year : ) Yesterday I went to church and I sat there and thought to myself that although it is the best to have Christmas with friends and loved ones, and although it makes me sad to not be able to do it this year, for me, Christmas here in Lyon is not what it used to be, and I just keep thinking that before everything, before all the things we have done to "what Christmas really means", the message of Peace and Love thanks to the little baby Jesus is what I am trying to think about.

I miss you all, and I can’t wait to hear about how your holidays went ; )

Joyeux Noël!

Jess

PS, I have attached pictures and my photo website again ; ) I add a lot more photos on it than Facebook, so you can see a lot of what we saw during la Fête and during Strasbourg. And even Thanksgiving!

AIDS Awareness Day

Today is as some of you may know, Internatioal AIDS Awareness Day. This day always stands out for me because during my undergrad years I was very involved with AIDS Awareness via the UCA Rotaract Club. So, here in France, I am telling people about my involvement and about how important it is to tell people about the disease, the statistics, and the damage it's done.

Furthermore,
MY BOYS ARE GETTING INVOLVED TOO!!!!

Gotta love some Goo Goo Dolls:)

http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=623527

Best Coversations Ever. NOT.

As I passed by the strikes during the strike parade today in Lyon, I listened in on what some of the other spectators were saying. Here results some of the "best" conversations ever had (and they just say SO much:)
OH and PS, if you can't read this...you're not missing much ;)"

"---Merde alors, c’est affreux, hein ?

-------Non, pas tellement.

----Vous ne trouvez pas cette folie comme affreuse ?

-------Non, pas tellement."

"---T’es d’accord ? T’es pour ou contre?

------Bah ouais, contre la loi. Toi aussi ?

---Ouais, bien sur, je n’habite pas dans le luxe."

My Favorite (between two old men):

"---C’est insupportable. C’est n’importe quoi.

-------Hein quand-même, c’est toujours comme ça. Ça bouge.

---Bah ouais, de toute façon, tout le temps c’est n’importe quoi.

-------Ouais, ouais."

Grrrr. Burg...grrrr...King.

Dear Jessica,

Farmworkers who pick tomatoes for Burger King earn 40 to 50
cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, a rate
that has not risen significantly in nearly 30 years. Workers who
labor from dawn to dusk must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn
$50 in one day. Recently, McDonalds and others have agreed to
higher wages for these workers, but Burger King has not.

Tell Burger King to improve farmworker wages.
(http://act.oxfamamerica.org/campaign/burgerking/w365g8xrpdeek6e?)

McDonald's and other fast-food chains, including Taco Bell and
Pizza Hut, have committed to increasing wages and enforcing
better working conditions in the fields. But Burger King-the
second-largest hamburger chain in the world-has so far refused
to work with farmworkers to improve wages for those who pick
their tomatoes.

Please tell Burger King (http://act.oxfamamerica.org/campaign/burgerking/w365g8xrpdeek6e?) to join with
McDonald's and others in improving farmworker wages.

Thank you for supporting poor farmers both here and abroad.

Sincerely,

Tim Fullerton
Oxfam America

"Cold, Drunk, Spanish, Revolutionary Pie (in no particular order)"

Howdy Everybody!!
How's everyone doing ?
This letter is called: "Cold, Drunk, Spanish, Revolutionary Pie (in no particular order)".Mmmmmmm. Bon Appétit!
Everything's just peachy over here what with all the strikes, the weather, the approaching holidays, the indefinite university holiday, etc…
Haha, let me break that one down for ya'll so it's not so big of a pill to swallow!
France is at it has always been. We'll say that so as to keep this country normal.
And Jessica, well she is not as Jessica has always been. We'll say that to keep me as abnormal as ever!

When I got to France, when I lived in Tours, for about three weeks all was well. I was doing great in class (if not getting bored in class), I was making friends left and right and then hanging out with those friends all the time, I was truly living in a slice of Heaven taken from a pie called France. Then, near the end of my time in Tours, I was quickly forced to think about mortality, immortality, going to Heaven, living through Hell on earth, new responsibilities, friend's situations across the ocean, and close friend's situations in Tours. Frankly, it was as if that nice slice had never been cut, and someone or something threw the pie in my face instead.

Well, this past week was a douzy (I won't say I had a bad week! I don't like to say that! I have bad moments!)! I've just had an enormous load to think about. Oh, and I think I have figured out who or what keeps throwing pies in my face, making me feel like a clown. Okay, so it's either French bureaucracy, Old Man Winter, or French bureaucracy. DING DING DING! You guessed it ; )

***********Please note right now, that I am gonna spill. I am gonna spew out some ideas, and I just don't want you to think that I hate the French government just yet, or that I want to come home just yet because though I will complain, the situation could be a lot worse, and the reasons for everything that is going on in France right now has justification, and me, I am learning so many things in so many different areas of life—all at once. I honestly can't imagine coming home right now--as is--and not wondering about what is going on in France at the moment; I'm kind of hooked (and kind of scared!). This stuff is monumental, especially the University strikes… ************

Okay Problema nùmero uno:
France had crappy summer weather. It rained and then rained and guess what, rained some more!Thus, France gets no autumn; France gets no pie. We got pretty leaves and ugly dead leaves flooding the sidewalks, and the temperature is frozen winter icicles. And it even snowed Wednesday night! At least that's just the temp. in Lyon. Also people please keep in mind that with cold weather and cold bodies, people get sick and don't stop sniffling until spring. I got a pretty funny, gross story for ya…once when walking in Strasbourg with a friend, we counted how many loogies where spat about on sidewalks. OH MY GOSH. It's disgusting! And Lyon too!! People hawk them everywhere, and it's weird because I have never actually seen someone let one go (ummmm, which is a GOOD thing!!), but they are there nonetheless. Umm, to make that short and sweet--it's been friggin' freezing lately and with SNOW!!!

Problema nùmero dos:
Public transportation strikes. Again, for the second time in a season, France has gone on another massive transportation strike.
Go here: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/15/france.strikes/index.html#cnnSTCText
This past Wednesday my academic life was affected (yet again!) by the strikes. I didn't have two classes because my teacher comes in from Paris every Wednesday, and well this week, she didn't come in from Paris. In total, since school has started, we have not had 5 classes, and it's like the 8th week people! You do the math! If that were America, they'd put in a substitute. Not here! Teachers skip class, students skip class, and the administration doesn't know what taking roll means. I don't even know how to say that in French, cuz I've never heard it! Haha. Also, private lives are being affected as well. There was a concert an hour away in Rumilly on Thursday night, a concert from an awesome group named Dobacaracol, and I wanted to go you know! I miss going to live shows, dancing, singing along, being silly, laughing… Well, turns out that my cheap train ride and awesome concert did not happen because the trains are all blocked off because of "les grèves", the strikes. Besides that, even if I had gotten to go, I'd probably still be stuck in a freezing cold train in the middle of the Haute Savoie, hating the French Alps outside my window. And you know, I just can't afford to hate the French Alps at the moment, so it's a good thing I didn't go…my host counselor told me that she would take me this winter to see all the snow-covered peaks, so it's a real good thing that the thought of them still makes me happy ; ) On a different note, but pertaining to the same band…I have a friend who did go see them in concert in Metz, on a seemingly easy trip, on an hour long train ride (a train ride he had a return ticket for!), and he got stranded in the city all by his lonesome for two nights because the SNCF (France's RR) let him know that he wouldn't be going anywhere. He had to get a hotel, he had to worry like crazy, and thus he had to sprout some grey hairs. CRAZY CRAZY. So until the public transportation worker's retirement plans are worth retiring for, France will return back to serfdom, and we'll all be working on farms, milking our own goats, and eating our own stout goat cheese. As for me, I prefer Neufchâtel, Beaufort, or Compté, all "cow" cheeses, so I would really like to see those trains up and working. But I mean, who needs school and/or transportation when you can earn by day a good night's sleep? The agricultural life seems all to appealing to me right now among these crazy days.

Oh, and if you really must know, I have a gag reflex to goat cheese, I can't stand the smell or taste of it, unless it's really mixed in something deliciously palatable. Six years ago, on the plane ride home with me from France, I accidentally left some goat cheese in my purse, and when I opened it up in the comfort of my parent's home, I almost puked…and I still almost do.

Problema nùmero tres:
Right now in France 41 universities (and counting!) out of 85 are blocked, including mine. School is out of session. The reason: for about two weeks, French students have been rallying against a law proposed by Valérie Pécresse, the Minister for Higher Education, which concerns French universities freedoms and responsibilities, also known as the law on the autonomy of universities. Basically, here's the gist: students don't want the law to pass because the law will put universities in charge of themselves, instead of the government, "l'État", in charge of the universities. It distresses the students and university workers because if this law passes, the tuition will rise, the university staff will shrink, a student's self-representation will diminish, and external people will be given bigger roles in the decision making process. A university's budget will be its own business.
For those of you who can read French—do it.
If you can't, go here and read this; it was the best "en anglais" site I could find, and it's outdated.
So here is my story: I only have classes on Wednesday and Thursday, you see, and so Wednesday when I went to class, not much in the strike genre was going on. I went to class, a few students were handing out flyers, and that was it. The flyers were invites to go rally in Lyon in Place Bellecour on Wed. and Thurs. afternoon. It didn't seem like a big deal really, and it was a short day because I didn't have my first two classes because of the train strikes (i.e. the Parisian teacher). Well then, Thursday comes around, I get to school, and 15 trillion students are in every courtyard they could find at my university. Loudspeakers, blow horns, hot mics, "revolutionary" booklets, scarves, hats, sweaters, gloves, red noses and ears, and goose bumps all around. It was frightening. I got scared quick. I trust they mean no harm, and they just want to, you know, "fight for their right", but it was scary seeing that many people (youth at that!) in an enclosed space with loud voices and fists in the air. I have never seen anything like it. I wasn't even sure why I was at school at that point, it really seemed like every student who would be or should be in class was outside in the frozen air, chanting heavily and blocking up passageways. I got through just in time to see my teacher's red backpack climbing up the stairs, so I followed. We get in class, and hear nothing but the bothersome multitude for an entire hour, and then thirty minutes before class ended, a group of students patrolling the hallways opened our door, and told us that we had to leave. STUDENTS! Students came in, and told us and the TEACHER that we had to leave! It was unprecedented, unique, cumbersome. Never have I EVER seen anything like that. It was very scary at first; my immediate thought was Columbine, but when one of the students struck up conversation, telling our teacher that he was in his English class (that they wouldn't be having Friday), my pulse calmed. Turns out, administration was locking all the doors, and these students took it upon themselves to kick everyone out. No more class that day starting at 4:30, no class Friday, no class Monday until after noon thirty. That's the verdict, we'll see if it changes. And in an act of true revolt, these same students found as many chairs, bureaus, desks, that they could and lodged them up against doors and windows. (See my pictures attached.)
So, we are blocked out of school, literally and figuratively.

PS. Dear parents and loved ones who worry about me, It wasn't really like Columbine. I was just being honest with my first thought. I was in no harm. None of the punk kids with Mohawks pushed me to the ground and told me to spread 'em. Don't worry, it's not like I have to go back to school or anything ; )

Love,Jess

This is a photo of a sondage of how many students are participating throughout France, note that a big blue dot is on Lyon, which means that as of Nov. 13--three days ago--there were more than 150,000 students participating. Surely that has augmented. It's funny, just by looking at the map it looks like all the mountaineous regions, all of those students are like "Meh, whatever"!
Oh and FYI: Moins=less than Plus=more

These photos were taken at my university today.

These are the chairs and bureaus that the protesting students pushed up against the doors.Problema nùmero cautro:
Yeah, so this problem doesn't influence me directly, but I am in Lyon, so the topic is right under my nose. Lyon is famous for its Beaujolais Nouveau celebration. Wednesday night at midnight marked this seasons Beaujolais Nouveau opening. Beaujolais is a unique wine that only last a few weeks and has to be drank in that time. While some experts say that there are some sorts of Beaujolais that are good for ten years, most people beg to differ, and the city truly celebrates by drinking and/or selling all of the Beaujolais it can get its hands on. People take off work the next day. People don't go to sleep so that when stores open up on Thursday morning, they can be the first to get their greedy, shivering hands on a bottle, or 50. People survive off Beaujolais for sustenance. The running joke here in the region is that we don't have two rivers, no no, we have three, and the third one is called Beaujolais ; )
To give a little run down of the problema…the Beaujolais vineyards north of Lyon use Gamay grapes, which create a fruity wine, and the wine depends heavily on the temperature. For example, in Bourgogne (Burgundy), just north of the Rhône-Alpes region (Lyon's region), wine is made from Pinot Noir grapes, and it is said that the Gamay grapes are a mutant of Pinor Noir grapes. Because of the temperature and topographical change, the Gamay grapes mutated, forming a sweeter grape. Now, along with the region's temperature is her soil, which is very important too, and when you put that all together, when the Beaujolais has a good year, business is good and busy. It's sold all over the world, and exported overnight almost immediately. Wine producers make a killing. Well, this year was not a good year. The summer was cold, windy and rainy, affecting the chemistry and richness of the soil. So problema una for Beaujolais this year was the weather, problema dos, was transportation. Without all of the 700 trains up and running, Beaujolais can only wish to be so popular this year. The market will surely suffer, and I am sure that within this coming year I will hear about it 248028452 times.

Problema nùmero cinco:
The holidays are coming up. I don't have any American friends here in Lyon…so I'm getting homesick quick. I want some cranberry sauce, some of my momma's stuffing, and some apple pie and/or chocolate pie and/or cherry pie and/or peach cobbler. I want to get stuffed and then loaf on my designated spot of couch with my puppy dog. I want to have movie day on Thanksgiving and Christmas just like we always do. I want to hug and kiss the cooks, help do the extensive load of dishes, and then be hugged and kissed. I want to sit in the living room with my brother and make fun of dad snoring in the lazy-boy. And then I want the leftovers after I take snooze as a peaceful angel. Gah, I'm going to cry.
I think maybe what I will do is follow the lead of my friend Ashlee, another Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar who is in Germany, and get all of my friends ( who are all Asian)…and get all of the Asians together in my apartment, tell them to bring a dish, and then tell them about Thanksgiving while we feast on a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
And then maybe I'll cry.

Boy oh boy, don't ever take anything for granted folks.

So anyway, before this quickly gets any mushier, I'm gonna go now!
Send me some shooga.

With good tidings and cheer and cornucopias and me caroling,
Jess

Feed the Hungry !!

www.freerice.com

Hiver Automnal

Dear everyone,
So, here is my latest update, my latest reflective thoughts, my latest happenings:
I can’t believe it’s almost winter. It’s already November!
Time here is different. Everything is so much slower. Transportation in Lyon is quicker, but time is slower. It’s weird, when I stand in line, when I wait for the Tramway and/or Metro, or when I wait for class, it’s like time is not happening and I don’t have any deadlines. My wait and time is irrelevant.
My theory is that, I tend to cast a very careful eye and I listen constantly (as some of you may know), thus with my eavesdropping and with my want for knowledge, I am able to get through waiting lines and long train rides because I pay attention. I don’t stand there and tap my foot or bite my nails because I have so many different and foreign situations around me. It’s kind of nice ; )
I feel like I have opened my eyes and when I come back home, maybe I can take this with me when I stand in a long line at Walmart or at the post office! Maybe I’ll just daydream about “les heures fugitives” in France ; ) Who knows. I'll probably go through a lot of culture shock.

Some of you may have heard about the strikes that were (well and still are) going on in France. Now, if you were actually here and I were to mention the strikes to you, you’d immediately ask me: “Which one?” Haha. Just a little Frenchie humor for ya! No, we have actually been having three, one with public transportation, one with universities, and one with nurses. The workers have simply gone on strike, thrown up their hands and said: “We’ve had enough”.
I mean, it’s noble and all, but come on!
I mean, I like the liberty of it all, you know, complaining about whatever you want, but come on!
So, for three or four days it was pretty rough to get from here to there in France, and at one point the SNCF (France’s National Railway Company) announced that they were canceling 95 % of traffic! 95 %!!! That’s CRAZY for a France that depends very heavily on its rail system!
Mmmm, I love the lack of collective bargaining here.
I guess I’m just FOR talking one’s problems out, you know?
Seeing eye to eye and creating a solution, be it temporary or long-term.
Furthermore, I just think it’s hilarious how French newspapers can predict when strikes will happen! It just shows how deep-rooted and entrenched these strikes really are in the French lifestyle. That would grate on my nerves personally, knowing that something like that is going to happen, and then not reckoning, reconciling. Guess that’s just a foreigner’s wishful thinking though; )

On the same day that France revealed that the transportation strikes were to take place, France also revealed the eventual divorce of the Sarkozy’s.
Now, I must talk about tabloids in France. They basically don’t exist. French newspapers tell you the facts, the stuff that will happen and that did happen. They don’t give gushy details about affairs, marital problems, cuckoldry, etc. They just tell you “qu’est ce qui s’est passé”.
I was completely surprised one Thursday morning to read that Nicolas and Cécilia Sarkozy had just divorced in Paris. No questions asked it seems. No time wasted. No second thoughts.
It’s kind of nice really to just read the facts! It’s like these French just give a traditional shrug towards the ooey-gooey details, and life goes on!
At least what I have been reading is informative, right?

So, I got internet in my apartment finally. And by finally, I mean it took two FLIPPING months!!
When I first moved in, in early Sept., there was hush-hush talk about getting internet. Well, we finally got it the last week of October.
It’s funny, I have spoken with two other scholars who shared my exact frustration with all of this lack of technology and / or customer service. The workers have got their own schedule here; maybe they have too much paperwork. Hmmm.
Anyway, so one of my friends got on the phone with his provider last week because he was having trouble installing the box that they gave him. He gets on the phone, and the conclusion was that he had to send it all back and then start over. Poor guy, it’ll probably be next year before he gets internet!
I’m just glad that my apartment complex dealt with it, even though it took an Indian summer to get it.

Oh, and just so you know, we didn’t have an Indian summer here; instead, we had a Eskimo, igloo, ice cube of a transition from summer to fall. Well to winter. I think we skipped fall really. The temp here has been about a steady 45 degrees F. Now, for an Arkansas girl, that’s winter!! If I’m pulling out a pea coat, a scarf, gloves, tights, layered clothing, and legwarmers, that is winter!!
Gosh, I remember this time of year back when I still went trick-or-treating, when my mom and dad debated on whether or not my brother, Justin, and I had to wear jackets out on Halloween. Haha, not here! Gotta bundle up or your little fingers and toesies will frostbite and break off!
YES, I figured it out!! Now I know why the French don’t trick-or-treat! Because it’s too cold!!

Let me first talk about cold weather and French administration some more, and then I’ll talk about Halloween a little bit more ; )
So, it took a lot of patience and energy for me to get my VISA request. Yes, that’s right, I still don’t have my VISA, I have a piece of paper that says that I am legal until like January, and my former VISA that I got in Houston is now invalid.
And feeling like a confused invalid, I went to Lyon’s make-shift, "friendly" VISA office that had been moved twice in the past year. (And let me tell you! It was HARD to find! Oh, and it wasn’t welcoming! Didn’t know if you caught that sarcasm!) I showed up one morning at 8:30, thinking that if I were 30 minutes early, I would get a good spot in line before they opened. The office is set up on the left side of a big administrative building, and when I turned the corner, I promise you, there were 150-175 people there, (150-175 foreigners mind you) FREEZING, standing in line to get in. So, as a patient girl, I got in line, listened to about 10 languages, and then at about 9:10-9:15, minutes after they opened the doors, a man came out telling us that we had to leave:
“Il faut sortir! Vous sortez, revenez demain matin très très tôt!”.
Yeah, that translates into, “Leave this place, and come back at your own risk!”
Haha, not really, they told us to come back the next day very early to assure our place in line.
And so I did, for want of my VISA.
I showed up the next morning at 7:45, and there were still like 100 people in front of me!! OH MY GOSH. It was ridiculous! I waited until 9:00 again, and then, I was almost near the door when someone came out and said that they didn’t have any more tickets and that we had to come back next Monday ('cuz this was on a Friday). Well, some people decided that day that they wanted to protest, so they broke in through the doors, got into the warmth, and it got heated. I followed, and stood there and listened to the best fight ever!!!
Some 4 foot 11 French lady was throwing down with a 6 foot 4 African man for about 20 minutes!! Basically, here’s the gist: They have around 75 tickets per day, which is why you have to get there super early to even think about getting a spot in line. So, after they hand out the 75 tickets, they basically deal with people for a few hours, and for the rest of the morning/afternoon they process all of the requests. This was during the strikes as well, so their excuse was that they didn’t have all the workers that they usually have. So instead of telling us up front about the 75 tickets, they made us wait in a pointless line for several hours in the cold.
(So yes Simone, I was directly affected by the strikes!!)
Then, I went the following Monday at 7:15 in the morning, only to count that there were already 79 people before me. Guess what I did?? Yup! I left and got back in bed!
Tuesday morning, I woke up at 5:30, questioned whether I was too early bird for the métro (and I wasn’t), and got to the building at 6:10. I was like the 30th person. Early bird catches the worm! YAY! So, for three and a half hours I froze to death, greatly anticipating a small piece of paper that would get me in the door! YAY!
Oh man, it was an awesome experience I tell ya, AWESOME.
Wish I could do it again!
Not.

And now, on to more exciting news…I went to Strasbourg over the week-long French holiday for All Saints Day. Yes, French universities take off an entire week ! It’s pretty awesome ; ) God bless the Catholics.
I went to Strasbourg to see my friend Nathan, and I also attended one of his Rotary club meetings. I had a blast! That night a group of Rotarians from Little Rock, AR were there to speak to the club. From Little Rock! From Home!! Rotary has a program that allows clubs to exchange members throughout the year, and the Rotarians who go on these trips take with them young professionals, who are in the running for becoming future Rotarians. So, these young professionals get a chance to see Rotary happenings, and they are welcomed by all. It was really cool because it was like I got to catch up with “home” for a few nights! We talked about LR hangouts and where we worked. It was something special ; ) And it also made me incredibly homesick!!

Also, while in Strasbourg I walked over the Rhine river on a bridge to Germany!!! I got to see a little of Germany and I walked there!!! LOL!! It was all together a good experience and our sole mission was to find Nathan’s German friend Lukas a white scarf and a black pea coat. Yes, and they had to be those colors! Just FYI, we had no such luck with finding a white scarf in Germany, but he found a cozy and classy coat! In Strasbourg that same day we found his scarf ; )
It was fun, and I enjoyed Nathan’s company and the company of his friends : )

I also caught up with another Rotary scholar named Tenile from Brazil, who I had met in Paris during our orientation at the end of September. She is a real sweetheart, serving us tea and strumpets!

I ate a lot of sauerkraut “la choucroute” while I was there too! I am addicted to the stuff now! (My dad is already sooo jealous, and this will make him more so!)
And I also ate Head Cheese! Yup, that’s right! Haha, I think that I grossed Nathan out! But he was eating fatty liver, so he’s got nothing on me! It all tasted good, so...
What can I say, I’m crazy, adventurous and in a different country ; )

Oh, and I was in Strasbourg during Halloween…I saw a lot of decorations in stores (man do they like to decorate for Halloween!), but no trick-or-treaters.
If you want to see Strasbourg pictures, along with most all the other pictures I have taken, go to my website again :

http://picasaweb.google.com/BulletproofSpirit

So, in the near future, I will be an American celebrating Thanksgiving in France.
Maybe I’ll teach some Frenchies about Squanto and “discovering” American soil ; )
Also, I will hope to not celebrate Christmas alone! I just hope that I don’t end up sprawled out on my bed, watching my American movies, and eating every nummy I can find.
Gah, what a sad time that will be!! What a “woe is me” story that will make!!
Um, yeah, so I gotta make some plans! Lol!

I have a few friends who might be coming around Thanksgiving, so that’s good; and I have another friend who is coming at the beginning of December, so that’s even better; and then a friend is coming to live in France for an entire semester next semester!! He will get here around the 27th of December and we will go to England and Scotland for New Years : ) YAY!!!
So, it’s good to have plans, and I am sure these next couple of months are going to fly by, and school is flying by too. That is the only thing as of now that has gone by quickly--School. It’s pretty much been a blur.

I will end it here and give you all my best : )

Têtes à claques !!

I have been learning Cajun/Acadian thanks to Nathan, a Cajun himself!



http://youtube.com/watch?v=XQAReQOJfX0



http://youtube.com/watch?v=vX9V7anGvsk



http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hg19pyCq7nA



http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z3gddkQcmQI



http://youtube.com/watch?v=hA3hAMBhozY


Fin.

Comme-Oddities

Notes on a Country: Comme-Oddities

Hope this is shorter for ya’ll ; ) But I make no promises ; )
Differences:
• Toilet paper goes quick here. The ply is short-lived, that is unless you buy the more expensive brands. I guess it’s the same in the states, but here, it just seems like I am ALWAYS buying it.
• Eggs and milk are bought lukewarm, outside of a freezer. We buy milk lukewarm too, soymilk and powder milk, but here you can buy cow milk and goat milk among the aisles.
• I have never seen so many sorts of prunes and grapes. My favorites are these little green prunes called “Claude Reine Vert”, which really doesn’t mean anything special… “Green Queen Claudia”. Whooo. And I also like these little bitty green grapes called “Chasselas” and these big fat green ones called “Italia”. All the grapes have seeds, and it’s funny because normally I like dark-colored grapes, but here the ones that I can find taste like muscadines, and I CAN’T stand the taste of muscadines.
• No one uses air conditioners here, unless its places like the Office of Tourism or the City Hall (la Mairie), who cater to many foreigners. Truthfully, it hasn’t been a problem for me. However, I remember one day in early September when it was a little hotter, and I was walking around on the Presqu’île and I saw some older ladies sitting together in the shade dousing their necklines and their shoulders in water. Then I remembered an essay I wrote in one of my French Lit classes at UCA about the “La Canicule” (the heat wave). In 2005, many people died (mostly the elderly) in France because of a huge heat wave that struck the nation and took by surprise those without an AC unit.
As I said, no one uses AC here, I never have. It’s the beginning of October now, and there have been a couple of days where I thought I was going to die of cold. It is gonna be a LONG winter!
• I love having the accessibility of recycling almost everything, and I love how it makes me feel. But note that the French don’t recycle aluminum. Strikes me odd. Hmmmm.
• I love getting handed a free newspaper every evening when I get off the métro. I have never read the news like I read the news now.
• People hardly ever smile at one another on the streets, in the markets, in the métros, etc. Except me. I’m a smiler ; ) Truthfully, it’s a pretty cold place, and the only thing that is keeping me going is my eternal optimism, that and the little moments that happen throughout the week that keep me smiling. Every once in a while I get some human compassion, and those brief moments make my day, each and every time.
As an exception, people smile and say hi instantly and repeatedly in my apartment complex and in the elevator-I guess because we are “neighbors”.
I have seriously said hi 5 different times (yet in the same exact manner) to a guy who lives a floor underneath me and equally to some girl that lives a floor or so above me. They seem nice, always very pleasant; it’s just very weird though. I find that people here are very stand-offish, but once you are in, you are in, and you don’t even necessarily have to know the person beforehand. For example, I recall the night of Marie-José’s son’s house-warming party when I met her other son Pierre and his girlfriend Maude for the first time. We rode in the back seat together to the party. Pierre knew before he and Maude got in the car that I was with his parents, and I think because he knew, and maybe because he knows how close Marie-José and I have become, he slid right in the backseat like we were friends, like he could slide right in and hit my hip and it wouldn’t matter. He did just that, stuck his hand out, gave me an enormous smile and that was that. I was “in”. I will never forget that feeling! I felt grand!
The same thing happened when my host Rotary club welcomed me for the first time. The president of the club, Joëlle, came right up to me, in my face (like the French do), and just started rambling, inviting me over to meet her daughters of my age. I had never emailed, never seen, never even heard of this woman, and there she was in my face kissing my cheeks because she knew who I was through Marie-José and through Rotary.

This talk of cultural barriers makes me think of first impressions and how others can talk a person up. My mom always used to tell me that a first impression is crucial. I used to shrug it off…not iron my clothes…not act like every strand of hair had to be perfectly positioned, every eyelash perfectly separated… Lol, here I’m still the same way here, but I make sure that when I go somewhere for the first time or meet someone for the first time, I put on my best face, my best outfit, and my best attitude. In fact, most of my meetings are for the first time only anyway, so you know what that means! Yup, Jessica is lookin' sexy all the time! Lol.
I have found that a first conversation is crucial. I am lucky and happy to say that most of my first conversations have been amazing! It’s funny, the first night I got to Lyon, I remember when Marie-José picked me up at the train station and then took me home to meet Jacques. They commented on how my French was very good, and for me, to hear that is bizarre because I know how many mistakes I make more than anyone else I think! Well maybe! I think that my close Anglophile friends I have here like Nathan and Karen, who are in my same boat, notice my mistakes. Of course it’s always supportive, respectful, and beneficial--We gotta learn somehow.
Haha, it’s a good thing that I showed a good potential the first day I met Marie-José et Jacques because in subsequent days, I don’t’ know how many times I have had to clarify or repeat what I want to say to them! It’s sad but true! Ahhh, c’est la vie d’une étudiante étrangère !
• Drivers are ruthless. They are out for blood here. My legs almost got forced concave the other day when some idiot driver (who was parked might I add!) backed up and nearly amputated me. She didn’t look one time to see if a) a car was coming and b) that Jessica Jones was standing there. The nerve! The same goes for bicyclers. They don’t care. They own the road just as much as the drivers. Seriously, I always look both ways at crosswalks when I have a “go” sign because there are always those idiot cyclists who “own” the road and take pedestrians out. Sure they can easily swerve, more easily than a car can, but I am convinced that they are egotistical and merciless. I’d rather not have an unforgettable story of me in a hospital bed after having been mowed down by a biker. Ha, I’d probably make up a cool story ; )
• Truthfully, public transportation is first come first serve. I don’t know how many older people, pregnant women, and moms with strollers I have seen standing in the middle of métros and tramways keeping their own bearing-without any handles. Sad but true.
Also, you had better wait for people to get off the métro/bus/tramway before you get on, or they will ram you to the nasty métro ground, or get in a tiffy and storm off mumbling to themselves.
• Speaking of pregnant moms, they get good good benefits here. Momma’s here, no matter their marital status, get money for each kid they birth. If their marriage is stable they are getting a stable monthly check. If their marriage is in shambles they are getting a stable monthly check. For-each-kid. Whoa.
• Annoying cell phone rings, and people talking on cell phones don’t annoy me here like they did stateside, instead, it’s people who blast their MP3’s or cell phone MP3’s, and expect everyone around them to already automatically love whatever it is they are listening to.
I was in a superstore called “Auchan” the other day and these two young punk high school girls were listening to some awful American music, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Of course, with my luck, they saw, and then they continued to stand right next to me, giggling proudly at how much they must have though I hated them. I giggled later at their music choice and how banal they would appear in America. I won, and they didn’t even know it! ; )
• I have grown to hate chestnut trees and pigeons. Both of their droppings drop on my head, hurting me physically or mentally, or sometimes both.
(Cody, t’en souvient-il? Le Centre Pompidou, les serviettes, le “photo-up” du dernier siècle…)
• France has got to be the anti-aging capital of the world. I have never seen so many “anti-rides” (anti-wrinkle) formulas! The other day, I was looking for a simple daily face crème with some SPF in it (cuz I ran out of your Mary Kay goods Katie!), and I ended up standing in the aisle (mind you, an entire aisle in dedication) for 30 minutes searching out all the formulas that could “guarantee” me a diminishment in my fine lines and wrinkles. In the end, I went home with a formula specifically for 20-something year olds who need sun protection and hydration throughout the day. Believe me, it took a while to pick that out after I narrowed down “what I needed”, for then I had to pick out the brand and the price. Truthfully, I went home feeling like I made the best decision ever. Furthermore, I was trying to find some acne gel the other day, and I figured that the same store would have a lot of choices since they had everything anyone would ever want in the face cream selection. They didn’t. They had two different choices. Later, I looked at a supermarket near where I live to see their choices, and I couldn’t find a single thing. Do people not have zits here?!!
On another note, and under the same topic, I am TOO white for French face concealers! Seriously, I must be albino! I am going to have to look elsewhere for something to hide these under eye circles that will inevitably keep developing.
Also, my nail polish remover is better than yours. My nails smell like sweet lotus flowers that haven’t been poisoned by acetone (acetonic?) toxins. Seriously, I would wear the fragrance as perfume!!
• France closes on Sunday, which means I have to buy the key essentials (i.e. toilet paper, bread, coffee) on Saturday. No really, a billboard drops in front of your eyes when you step foot outside of your apartment. It says: “France is closed today; you can wait until tomorrow”. There are a few restaurants that open and I think some supermarkets open until like ten to noon-ish in the morning, but still, for the most part the State turns its cheek on you. If you “got to have” something you had better wake up at the crack of dawn to go and get it, or wait around until the shops owned by foreigners open up.
• The Master’s Degree programs work bizarrely here. You have an entire month and a week to turn in your official document saying what classes you would like to take, and in the meantime you go to those classes without having been enrolled in them first. Très très bizarre! Currently, I am pleased with four of my six of the classes I am taking, and one I am not sure about yet (a French grammaire class!) , and another one I don’t like at all ( a theater class). The teacher is “Muh-nuh-tuhn” (monotone en français), and while he teaches he pleases himself I tell ya. He smiles at a hand movement he makes or a theatrical rendition of a French play he *beautifully* recites. He is full of himself. Plus, he paces back and forth and it annoys the crap out of me. It sort of makes him look like an animal trapped in a cage, doing the only thing it can: pace and walk about. Furthermore, he gives a speech for an hour and a half (in the same tone!). I always fall asleep.
Yesterday I had my other two classes that I hadn’t started yet because the teacher was sick. She said she’d be back on Oct. 3rd. That’s right, she can predict the exact day when she can come back from a lengthy sickness.
Seems sketchy to me. I’m thinking that she’s been on the beaches of the Côte d’Azur this whole entire time. She did look pretty tan today!
• The French ask me what my country is like, not what my state is like. To give you a little history lesson…France is composed of many provinces, and many of those provinces have been around for centuries. The inhabitants of those countries are very close to their land, their “pays”, which suggests that it is not just their land, it is their country, and it is where their heritage lies. Whenever I think of this, I think of people in the US who are really tied down to their “country”, people who have produced wine in their own vineyards for many generations, people who live in the backwoods in sheltered mountainous ranges, people who live on remote islands on the Atlantic coast and still speak a different language. They are out there! I like the thought of it too ; )
• The laundry mat is a great place to meet men. Last week I did my weekly load and I met the most wonderful man in the world. Many years ago he was a “Boulanger”, a bread maker. Today he is retired, living alone in “une maison de retraite”, a residence for the elderly. The day I met him he was doing his own laundry because his caregiver was sick, and that same day he talked about how we was going to the hospital to have an operation on his knees. I helped him. Well, I DID his laundry ; )
I wonder how he is doing, and I hope that I see him again because I had my best French conversation with him yet while living here.
• I’m pretty much a loner here. I don’t have many friends yet except for Yusuke, a Japanese student at another university in Lyon who was in my class in Tours, and a married couple from Finland who have installed themselves here. Vera and Mattie. I met them my first week in Lyon at the hotel where we all stayed, and yesterday I found them on the street. They smile a lot like me, and I was so happy to find them again! We exchanged numbers immediately! I also made an American friend named Gary. We met at church two Sundays ago. I decided to start looking for a church because I thought that it would do me good. I like having a support system and people around me that care about other people. I’ve made a few friends in class, but the students are very private here and often I feel like we are in class together and that is it. And that is it. I think that they are just as busy as I am though, so I don’t hold it against them. Also, they have their friends from Undergrad school.
Although I have not yet been cheek-kissed by a classmate, I’m awaiting it, and I think it’s gonna happen next week: )

Okay, so I think I’m done with my Frenchie-Lyon thoughts, now I just have to make a comment about clones.
I had a conversation in Tours a few months ago with a fellow Rotary Ambassador Nathan, who is in Strasbourg currently, and he mentioned how he had been seeing all of his friend’s faces and/or bodies and/or characteristics in France.
It has now hit me! It’s an epidemic! I am cursed to look at a lot of my friends faces while walking around the city and I can’t a) talk to them, b) hug them, and c) exchange “how’s your mother’s”.
Let me just list you off who I have seen who has struck me as one of my friends.
1) Dustin Seaton. There was a tall guy in the metro the other day and he just looked like a regular normal bloke, and then he face squinted like Dustin Seaton. I giggled to myself : )
2) Sarah Haney. I was in MacDonald’s using their “Wifi Gratuit” their “wee-fee gratooeee” (free WIFI) and I saw this college-aged girl walk in with long blond hair and she had the face of Sarah Haney. As I examined her (stealthily of course!), I discovered that she moved her hands too much and she wanted attention. Haney, you’re not like that, but nevertheless, I thought about you the other day ; )
3) Thomas Herndon. I was on the tramway going to IKEA one day and this guy had Thomas lips! And a Thomas nose! He was even quiet and reserved like Thomas is when he’s by himself! It was crazy. He seemed really friendly too : )
4) Sarah Mason. So once this chick got off a metro and she was your short, she was wearing black leather boots that went up mid-calf (made me think of your black rain boots), she had on cool glasses, short hair with spiky ponytail things, and she looked friendly. I wanted to reach out and touch someone!
5) Andrea Jones, my mom. I saw a younger version of you, momma, and I daydreamed that if I were slimmer maybe I would look like this young woman. She must have been my age and she looked like you in photos before you married Dad. She had darker hair and she was shorter, but her eyes haunt me still.
6) Justin Jones, my brother. Every time, I tell you every time I see a normal height, square jaw, slim-Jim, military type, I do a double-mint gum. Every time! (Haha, oh Slim Jims and Justin Jones!)
7) Chris Heien. Same game- square jaw yet with a different height and long-blowy, silky locks. I see you mostly sporting loafers, nerd glasses, and a sweater coming down your back, draping your shoulders.
9) Linda Drasler. It’s your hair sweetums. There are a lot of really curly heads here. I think it’s the weather.
10) Anne Milligan. I was on the metro the other day and I saw Anne’s red hair (but it was longer), Anne’s nose and eyes, and that was all that I could see of this young woman until she got off at the stop, and I noticed that the bottom half of her face was not that of Anne’s.
11) Christian, I walked behind you the other day. The guy had a perky walk, and tight European jeans, but he sported a faux-hawk. And your mug just wasn’t the same, but your skin color was and so was your height. The faux-hawk part just made me laugh and laugh ; )
12) Julius. I saw a German the other day (and I know this because he spoke German) and he looked like you Julius. He had your rosy glow and your height, and even your facial features !

For the rest of you of whom I haven’t seen doubles (yet)…it just means that you are too unique for anyone else’s shoes : ) And when I do see you, it just means that I miss you very much : )

On a side note, I have been seeing celebrity look-alikes as well. There are two guys in two of my classes: one looks like Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the other looks like a young Eddie Veddar of Pearl Jam when the song “Jeremy” debuted. I stare too, it’s uncanny really. My Eddie Veddar look-alike is a lady-killer though. Can’t imagine how bad he’d hurt a foreigner ;) Lol. I don’t think I want to know! Crazy lady killers. How do they sleep at night? Ha, with many others, that’s how.

So, as some of you know, I went to Paris over the weekend. It was indeed as lovely as the world gives it credit for being. And for me, the second time was the charm.

City of Love= Check. City of *clean* streets= Check. City of Lights= Check. City that never sleeps=Check. City of the most memorable monuments= Check.
(PS, the streets weren’t that bad!)

In fact, I couldn’t get away from Paris!! I changed my train ticket, so that I could spend 6 more hours there! Then, I missed my changed train ticket because the city wouldn’t let me go (I got lost in the 1st Arrondissement!)!!
I ended up taking a red-eye night train to Lyon that lasted 5 and half hours (three and half hours more than usual!). I have never slept so well too, let me tell you! After this *well-rested* night of peaceful sleep, I got off the train in Lyon at a train station far away from my apartment, and I found out that because it was October 1st, my monthly transportation card had expired.
I really should have just stayed in Paris : )
I had a great time though. I was invited for the obligatory Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Weekend Orientation. They set us up in a youth hostel for two nights, and they gave us a tour of Paris by foot and by “bateaux-mouches” (literally: fly boats--but they are slow), touristy boat rides that coast all along the Seine river. I saw many of Paris’s famous sites from the water!!! It was amazing : )
I stayed in the youth hostel with three of my good friends, which boosted my moral like nothing else could ; ) There I met two Canadian guys who were celebrating their birthdays and their drunken youth, I met a remarkably kind-hearted girl named Carly, a scholar from Austin, Texas, and I met up my friend Daniel again. I met him back in April in Kansas City when we had our Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar weekend orientation. Both he and Carly will be in Tours for three months, so hopefully we will get to see some of France and/or Europe together while they are here ; )
Friday night we had a fancy dinner at a nice hotel, and I recited “L’Albatros” by Baudelaire for all of the Rotarians, the former Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars, and for all of the current Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars. It was amazing! I have never felt so lax in front of a group of people! The former Ambassadorial Scholars, the Scholars who threw the whole weekend together, had requested before we arrived to tell them if we had any special talent. I’m not special and I don’t have any talent, but by golly, I still have my favorite poem memorized, and I was confident that I could get through it. I did : )
To all of my past students: I represented ! I stood there and recited it for them less nervous than I was when I taught it to ya’ll. Yay ; )
Just a side note—If you ever decide to arrive at the Gare de Lyon, the Lyon train station in Paris, DO make sure that you KNOW what line you are coming in on. That place is a zoo. Nathan met me there, and for an hour or so we were looking for each other! It was ridiculous and I felt dumb. Also, don’t tell someone to meet you at the welcome station because there is not one, there are several! Many several!
The weekend was great though, just what I needed to reaffirm my goals and to create many new friendships.
I am glad I painted my nails red : )
Also, anytime you want you guys can go to my Photo website and check out my photos. If you have Facebook, I’d prefer you go look at them there because there is where you can read my silly little comments under each photo. Regardless, they are both meant to let you know how I am doing, and as you may know, I LOVE taking photos! Furthermore, many of the times, if you want to know how I am doing, just go look at my photos. I upload frequently, and they tell stories within stories ; )
Mise-en-abyme ; )

http://picasaweb.google.com/BulletproofSpirit

Greetings from Lyon!

Arriving in Lyon, finding an apartment in Lyon, getting lost in Lyon…it’s all part of France’s master plan to make me exhausted! Quite frankly however, France has not kicked my butt yet, I have realized after a few days that though I am not France savvy just yet, I am quickly learning that in order to be “France savvy”, one has to persevere.
This week especially, more than any other period in my life, has been full of me giving all that I’ve got, keepin’ on keepin’ on.
In this letter I hope to explain what I have been going through ;)
Oh and for those of you who don’t want to waste your time lost in my ramblings, here is the brief meltdown: I don’t have internet yet in my apartment, but hopefully by next week I’ll have it, along with a cell phone number. (In France you can get your TV, your internet, and your phone all hooked up together for a small price. It’s pretty cool : )
Oh, and I have an address:
Jessica Jones
2 Rue du Diapason A212
Lyon, 69003 France
That’s right, I live on Tuning Fork Street ; )
Oh, and I have a Skype!! Search for me:
Jessica Jones of Cabot, Arkansas or Jessicaleeambassadrice

Now, for those of you want a glimpse into my life---read on!

I left Tours after my language training last Friday to come to Lyon. I packed up all of my luggage, cursing at how much I (and Sarah Ann Mason, it’s all Sarah’s fault!) packed all along the way, and finally I arrived to greet the welcoming face of Marie-José, my host counselor, my “marraine”, that is, my God-mother. She calls me her God-daughter and kisses me tenderly on both cheeks. We have grown to like each other very much, and I have realized just how tender a “real” kiss on the cheek really is. For those of you who don’t know, there are different levels of kisses. When you don’t know someone in France, you either shake their hand or you kiss their cheeks, well, you just exchange cheeks really. The next step up is when you continue just exchanging cheeks, but you let the exchange linger a little longer. The next step up from that is when you actually kiss a cheek, and then after that you kiss a cheek a little more tenderly, and then to complete the full on exchange of how glad you are to see someone, you kiss cheeks tenderly more than two times. This is what I have gathered. I haven’t yet been cheek-kissed more than two times except from Marie-José, and that is because she is "ma marraine” and she takes care of me : )
When I arrived in Lyon, I stayed with Marie-José and her adorable husband Jacques, who is obsessed with playing tennis and watching sports. He is a classy sort of fella who mumbles a little when he talks, who dresses nicely (mostly in LaCrosse), and who drinks a glass of Bourbon before dinner for good digestion. I call him Monsieur Jock and he calls me Mademoiselle Jessica. He knows some English, and sometimes when we talk he picks out uncommonly spoken French words and asks me to translate them into English. For example, “breed” of dog = "une race” en français. Dogs have races. Heehee, Mah you will be glad to know that our precious dachshund Jasper has been the topic of discussion at least once ; )
Jacques is the principal of a public high school; Marie is the director of a private middle school, created for underprivileged youth; she is a Rotarienne. They live outside of the city and I have to take a Tramway to get to their house.
After two nights at Marie-José’s house, I moved into the Hotel Simplon, situated on the Presqu’île of Lyon (the near island-almost an island). A fellow Rotarian of my host club, Croix-Rousse (Red Cross), owns the hotel and she lodged me with a “Rotarian discount”, which means that I only had to pay half, and breakfast was included. Alix’s hotel was very homey, very comfortable…and she had decorated the whole joint in cherries! Everything was red or yellow covered in “cerises” (cherries), with “cerise” written all over it. Alix even wore cherry patterns! It was pretty adorable and she is an adorable little lady. (Thomas, her cherry obsession reminded me of your ancient Coca-Cola obsession!) Marie-José pepped me up before I left for the hotel by telling me how adorable Alix is, and truthfully when I got there I had a hard time talking to her because she is very stand-offish, very different from Marie-José. Let’s just say that she is very French! Yet, as time went on, I realized how much she cared for me by her little actions. For example, she invited me to lunch once and we ate something that I hope to reproduce because it was AMAZING! Fresh, raw salmon, mixed together with a ton of lemon juice and dill. Salmon Tartarre. It was so delicious, so simple, and so refreshing. I think that in the future when I have people over for dinner parties or whatever, I will try and always make this dish ; )
During my stay at the hotel, each and every day I woke up very early, was always the first one to breakfast, and then I ventured out alone in my new city, unknown and intriguing. I was trying to find an apartment, and boy was I trying. I came home exhausted after 10-12 hour days of walking around and getting turned down. It was draining and discouraging. I didn’t have much money either, so I ate little and kept a water bottle with me at all times, refilling it frequently. I was wind burned, sunburned, cold wind burned, river wind burned (by two rivers!), and I was washing my clothes by hand in the hotel sink. When I got back to the hotel each night, I relished in watching TV because for an entire month in Tours I was not allowed to sit in the living room at my host family’s house. Ha! And I don’t even watch much TV to begin with! I watched “Men in Black, “The Fifth Element”, and some cutesy French film about a close-knit family going on vacation and how both the mom and dad have an affair, and both didn’t know that they had the same exact story—affairs with the locals. (Justin, when I was watching “Men in Black”, I cracked up because when the mistreated housewife says “shoogur watur”, the translation was just not the same! And then I missed you brother, just a little ;]).
Also, the news stations are a little different too, here they have the normal streaming CNN-esque news, but they also have many stations that broadcast special stories in length, sort of like 20/20. They have an Oprah feel to them, very heart-wrenching and tender…I was watching a news report about a Grecian man who had lost his four generation-old family home because of the raging fires in Greece. At first I thought that they were just going to talk about the fires and drop it at that, but no, it was like they wanted your sympathy, and they got mine. I stood there in front of the TV, glued and teary-eyed.

Anyway, to continue… on the third day I finally found a student residence in a safe neighborhood with easy access to the metro system. It is an apartment with a “coin-cuisine”, which is a half kitchen with a sink, a half fridge, and a stovetop with two ranges. It also has a separate bathroom with a small shower, and it is “meublé”, which means that it is furnished-with a bed/couch, a kitchen table, a desk, a pantry, a nice big shelf, and some drawers. All of the pieces of furniture match too : ) The carpet is “moquette”, which means that if something happens to it, if I spill something or drop candle wax on it, all they have to do is pull up one square and then install another (Sarah that should interest you!). I also have a big window that opens up to a pretty little garden-like resting spot…or for the French-a smoking spot.
It sure beats the other two places that I checked out.
The first: 12 m² with a futon, a toilet without a door, a suspended, drop-down table top, a sink and two cabinets and a closet with a door that when opened hits you in the face while you are using the bathroom. Not to mention that it is on the 9th floor of a building without an elevator (and with all of my luggage!). It was horrendous. Marie-José joked about how I would always have breakfast in bed, in a bed that wasn’t even long enough for me, a 5”8’-er. It was a joke. (Katie it made me think of your old place and how your bathroom didn’t have a door! But that’s long gone for you know, you home-owner you!).
The second: 17m ² with a little more leg room and a separate bathroom (with a door!), but it was on the first floor near the entrance way where everyone would pass by. It was also in a section of town where I didn’t feel comfortable, and it was also right in front of the Tramway line. It just wasn’t working! It was a good thing that I wasn’t completely hopeless by that time; otherwise I probably would have taken it. Luckily, I persevered.
I am presently happy in my 22m² squared, best-priced and best-situated, apartment ; ) It is near Place Bir-Hakeim, a nice little park where many children pass the day by playing ball or racing on their little scooters, and I love sitting there and watching them. I am convinced that little French toddlers are the cutest of toddlers, especially when they are really small. I enjoy listening to them trying to say words, the only words that they know, because I sort of relate to them ; ) I was on the tramway the other day and this old lady started taking to a woman and her little tot. All the little one could talk about, all he was limited to talk about was how much he likes his veggies, and how much he likes the garden next to his house. Then he continued to talk really loud and tell the whole load of people on the tramway his entire address. It was hilarious! (Melissa, I sort of wish I lived with a family like the one you lived with in France! I can’t get that little tyke’s curly hair and cute little face out of my head!).
I also live one crosswalk away from a supermarket, and that makes it easy for me to carry all my goods home! As some of you may know, one of my favorite past times it to go to the supermarket and create recipes in my head as I shop. It is completely satisfying here in France to walk around searching out the super cheap French cheeses, French mustards, French breads, and French beverages. I am in love with the sparkling waters and juices that Europe has to offer! Before, I thought Orangina was good! Now, I have an abundance of assortments : )

Washing laundry here is expensive! It’s like 3 Euros for one load, which is like two loads American. It sucks too because I have to haul my big laundry bag down Cours Gambetta (the main street by my house) to get to "la lingerie”, the laundry mat. But it’s cool—I am through with washing my clothes by hand in my sink!!
My current task is to decorate! I must decorate! I went to IKEA yesterday and picked up a few things, although, I must admit, a big part of me went to eat the Swedish meatballs in the creamy sauce and in the lingnonberry sauce. I did eat them as a matter of fact, and I thought of home, Beau, Thomas, my Swede family, Anne, Sarah, Miss Jo, road trips, and Conway. I am soooo grateful to have an IKEA here, but it sort of makes me mad also, because I love the lighting section and I am forcing myself not to buy a cool lamp because I already have one and I can’t afford to carry it home when I leave. Ha, and also bedding and pillows! Hey Mason, I opened up all of my sock and hose plastic baggies and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the cutesy little notes you wrote all over them ; ) It took me back to a time when we were stuffing an entire year into three suitcases…thank you ; )

As for “the gastronomic capital of France, Lyon keeps to its title. As Lyon is a cosmopolitan city (much like Paris in fact), there are tons of Kebab, Indian, Chinese, and Moroccan restaurants. I live in a truly multi-ethnic environment where when walking down a road I see (and hear!) (and smell!) equal numbers of French, Italians, Germans, Armenians, Africans, Indians, Chinese, British, Japanese, etc… I anticipate making a lot of friends here who are as foreign as me!
I mention that I “smell” these people because NOONE hardly wears deodorant here. I have pondered this many times, in elevators, in the metro, in the shopping line while standing next to a real stinker. Do they not have the money to buy a spray can of deodorant that costs 1.50 €? Is it the fact that the French climate is generally not as scorching hot as say Arkansas's weather? Regardless, the French walk everywhere, and walking produces perspiration. I realize that pheromones are supposed to be sexy and they release one’s natural essence, but when a natural eau-of-stench is released, it’s a total turn-off for me. Furthermore, France has been nicknamed the “perfume capital of the world”, and that holds true in my opinion. If they are not stinking physically, they are reeking of perfume.
And truthfully, I’d rather die from eau de toilette than from eau-de-BO ; )
Hmmm, that might sound rude to read, but honest, if you were here, you’d understand. All too well!
Also, to continue with French stereotypes…some French women shave, some don’t. A lot of the ones who don’t are foreign. Furthermore, I think I understand why some women don’t shave—it is darn near impossible to maneuver in an apartment-size shower here! Period. When they can’t resort to the sink, when they don’t have time for the sink, they skip it, it’s that simple.

As for me being a “foreigner” among the city folk…I find that being foreign is not such a foreign concept for the Lyonnais to grasp. Lyon is full of travelers, foreign students, and foreigners interning and/or working. I don’t feel out of place and my accent is not a problem. I have always held to the idea that accents are unique, and here in Lyon, the idea still stands. I’m fine with having an accent : )
True story: One night in Tours, I went out with my two Dutch housemates, Phillip and Hein-Jan, and with the daughters of my host lady. An old man sitting near our table asked me if I was from the Québec region because I sounded French-Canadian! I laughed and told him where I came from, which was all I really could do because he was drunk and I thought he was hitting on me. Later that night while walking home, I thought to myself that my summer in Québec must have had a profound influence on my French pronunciation…and I think that is stellar! Who would have thought that merely a month’s worth of immersion would have had such an effect on me!? Hmmm. (Anna-Kate, did you ever encounter that in Québec?).

Yesterday I also had an accident in my apartment. While I was decorating, my flip-down pantry door fell and almost knocked me to the floor. I have a goose-egg the size of a large button and it hurts really badly today. It’s cool though, nothing a little Tylenol won’t fix. Or ice cream. I joke that I almost had a concussion because that was the first thing that went through my head, not the pain, not the event, it was the fact that if I had a “real” accident I wouldn’t know what the crap to do! For an American, the first thing you think of is “911”! Luckily, I know now what to do!
The same day Marie-José’s son Jerôme invited me to his housewarming party or in French “le pendaison de crémaillère”-the hanging of the trammel (some part of the chimney I think). It’s a rather weird expression in my opinion. I had fun at the party. His apartment is amazing! Very modern, very masculine, very industrial-metallic. It has a great ambiance. Jerôme is very nice to me, but sometimes I feel like he thinks that I don’t understand at all. He just hasn’t been around me enough!! He actually works for IKEA, shipping their goods to and fro. He is like 32, but he looks 26. I have noted that he is very close to Marie-José and Jacques and his brother. They were all there at the party, and all his friends from grade school, middle school, high school, college, and career where there as well. After the party I mentioned to Jacques that I didn’t have the same kind of upbringing, and I don’t have many of my friends from a very young age. But then I realized that it doesn’t matter. How many people can say that they still talk to people that they graduated HS with, really? I can at this point of my life; I can say that for at least four really close friends and two semi-close friends. That makes me happy : )
Last Friday I gave my first speech to my sponsoring Rotary club. We meet at noon-15, but as the French are always late we really meet at like noon-45. (Dr. Bailey, I had a conversation with a few Africans in Tours, and I mentioned how you told me that there is a “French time” and an “African time”, and how both equal tardiness! Needless to say, we had a few laughs!). I was the first one present aside from the Rotarian of the club who organizes the meetings, who dresses very polished-metro, with an unbuttoned shirt collar that shows off all of his manly chest hair! I was even one minute late and I was running to find the place, freakin’ out because I was going to be late. I got there to see an empty room. We meet in a fancy hotel, and we eat well. Friday’s lunch: ratatouille with a poached egg and round thinly-sliced salami as the appetizer, shrimp au gratin and buttered rice as the entrée, and for the dessert: a trilogy of crèmes brûlées. Délicieux!
My speech went well, I made a PowerPoint slide-show presentation of Arkansas, and I talked about where I come from, my sponsor club out of Conway, what I studied, what I am studying in Lyon, and what I hope to do in the future. I mentioned how Rotary’s mission for the educational scholarships is to uphold peace and harmony by respecting cultural differences and by looking for resolutions to conflicts. I explained how in the future, I would like to use my French and work for a non-profit organization that helps others and that respects other cultures while doing so.
I wasn’t nervous either, which was great because it was my first French speech in front of a group of Rotarians! Well, that is if you don’t count my scholarship interview back in May 2006, when the panel of Rotarians asked me a question and told me to respond in French!
Okay, I exaggerate. I was freaking out after I finished my speech. I sat down shaking.
I truly had a great first ambassadorial scholarship experience , and I have a very warm group of French humanitarians who have welcomed me : ) In fact, this October they invited me to go with them to Strasbourg to show me the city and to show me their partnership with an Alsatian Rotary club. I am rather excited because: 1) my new and dear friend Nathan is there, and I'll get to see what he sees, and 2) I can’t wait to see what you saw for an entire year Anna-Kate ; )
At the end of this month I HAVE to go to Paris. Darn the luck.
All of the French Rotary ambassadorial scholars “have” to go to Paris for a mandatory French orientation. They are setting us up, they are giving us tours, and they are taking us on a bateau-mouche ride (a riverboat ride) to see all the Parisian sights along the Seine river. I am stoked! I can’t wait to go back! Six years has been long enough I’d say!
This past week I basically restarted living. I searched for an apartment alone (because Marie-José’s middle school started back up), I got a French bank account, French lodging insurance, a student ID card, a transportation card for the metro/tramway/bus/funicular, French rent reduction from two different places, got a place to live, and I did all of that on foot and in 5 days, all by myself and all in French. I have never even done most of that stuff in English! It was rather difficult because if you didn’t have one thing you couldn’t get the other thing, and it took a lot of planning, a lot of lists, and a lot of talking to myself to get myself through it.
The student card is awesome. Throughout the Rhone Province, there are many different Resto-U’s, that is university restaurants…and at these locations students swipe their cards and eat good meals for like 2-4 €. I haven’t done it yet, but I hear that in Lyon we have like 25 locations. (Aurélien, à Grenoble, je peux manger avec ma carte d’étudiante ! Cool, eh ?!).
Also the card gives me many discounts on travel, on museums, on tours, etc…
Furthermore, another card, my Carte 12-25 (my French Train card for 12 to 25 year olds) gives me discounts at the grocery store near where I live, and that means that when I swipe my Carte 12-25, I automatically get “S’miles”, which are points that go towards train tickets; I get credits each and every time I go to the grocery store and I can get a train ticket even cheaper than what the card already gives me. The card only cost like $45 dollars (if I remember correctly) and it lasts for an entire year. So that means that when I go to Strasbourg, I can go cheaper, and when I go to Paris at the end of the month, I can go cheaper. Cooh, huh?

Next week will hopefully not be as stressed as the previous. I will get a cell phone, and the internet, I will go to pre-orientation at the university, and I will finish my CAF and LOCAPASS applications (my two rent reduction applications) and get them turned in.
The French government treats the students well! With the CAF (Caisse d’Allocations Familiales) Monetary Allocations for Families/students), I get money back for rent, like 158 € a month, which means that my rent is not 554€, but instead around 396€, which is ideal! The LOCAPASS reimburses your security deposit, and mine was 700€!! So, I will be reimbursed for that. Well, actually Marie-José will be reimbursed for that. She cut two checks for me to be able to live where I live. She is truly my French Guardian Angel! Without her, I would still be in the hotel, watching English movies in French, and I’d probably be sick from desperation and the elements!
I am blessed.
I start school on the 17th. Ahhh, back into the old swing of things. Except here, I have no idea what to expect! Time will tell. Inevitably, I will return back to my nerd ways and study like crazy, become a “rat de la bibliothèque” once again.
I will end here…I think this has been long enough! I want to thank you for caring about me and praying for me throughout my experiences : )
Anne, Tim, Samantha, Beau, Heien, Christian, Herring, Mary, Aurélien, and whoever else, write me back and tell me about grad school, give me some encouraging words : )
Alyssa, tell me about your first year of HS and all the boys running around circles for you;)
Grams, I bought some jelly the other day and I thought about you and your yummy rhubarb jelly. The jelly I bought isn’t as good though, and it made me want some of yours!!
Papa, tell mom to stop worrying about me, and you stop worrying about me too ! Take care of yourself okay ; )
Mah and Pah, I’m fine.
Later and take care,
Jess, your Franglophone

PS. For all of you who are going to come and visit me, I CAN’T WAIT!! I can’t wait to be your translator and your tour guide! I can’t wait to meet you at the train station and hug you long time! I can’t wait to show you how the metro works, and most especially I can’t wait to see the expressions on your faces : )

In Shambles.

I leave on Friday for Lyon...
I am staying with my host counselor Rotarian on Friday through Sunday and then she is gonna hand me off to another Rotarian who owns a hotel, Alix, and she is gonna set me up until I find an appt, which I hope will be soon because I need some stability in my life right now.
Tomorrow I have to sit in a phone booth for an hour and make Saturday appts for Marie and I to go appt shopping. I imagine that this will be very stressful!

Why I need some stability:
My very dear friend Nathan, a fellow Rotary ambassadorial scholar going to Strasbourg with whom I've spent the last month with here in Tours is having a Crisis.
My best friend, and her family (my family) from Conway, AR is in the middle of a huge Crisis as well.

I am very stressed out right now and I have got a lot to deal with, and all I can do is be pensive! I can't even cry yet. It's sad really. And all I want to do is hold my best friend and/or my mother and/or Nathan.
And I want to cry, but I can't. I can't because I have been practicing holding it in all week for my friend Nathan, who I see in class everyday almost on the brink of tears. It's all I can do to not cry myself. Just to see him sitting there in his own world, unaware of everything around him.

Can you please send some empathy to a fellow ambassodorial scholar named Nathan Rabalais, my friend from Lafayette, Louisiana who I met in Houston when we got our VISA's. He is here now with me in Tours at the langauge school, and we are about to wrap it up and move to our respective cities, and he got an email early this week saying that his dad has a blood clot in his head and his whole left side is paralyzed. It is completely horrible. In Lafayette, Nathan's dad fell down in the middle of the night, he had a stroke, and Nathan's poor sister found him there mumbling and nearly unconcious. Nathan found out a day later, told the teacher what happened, and then emailed me a while later. I was terrified!
I had just spent all day Sunday with him, happy as could be, going to caves and walking along the Loire River; we exchanged information about our families, him telling me about how he and his dad are best friends, me telling him how me and my mom are best friends. He talked so much about how much he loves and respects his dad, and it's just horrible that this happens...we are so far away from home and it just really hits home for me, and I am truly having a hard time with it. I have been almost in tears for the past week because of it. But I can't cry. It's pathetic really.

And then the whole Sarah situation happens days later, right after Nathan had gone through "it" and is still going through "it".
Thursday, Nathan was with me when I read Sarah's DREADFUL email about her dad and he excused himself when he saw my eyes welling up with tears and he told me he would come back and then when he did, very calmly, he asked me in a very composed manner, if Sarah's dad had passed. I looked him in the eyes and I said that I wasn't going to talk about it with him because I didn't want him to start crying, and he looked at me, saying in tender frankness: "Jess, you are such a sweet person". I said the same. Then he said: "If you want to talk about it I could be there for you." I said that I didn't want to put him through that.
Moments after it happened, I appreciated it immediately as something that I will look back on as a profound moment and conversation in my life.
We said 5 sentences tops:)

Sarah's dad died on Wednesday. He had diabetes and one leg, and his kidneys shut down. He gained 6 pounds in his stomach during the night and then they rushed him to the hospital.
After about a few days, which seemed like a year of not crying, I finally let go the night of our last dinner at my family's house in Tours. This was also, consequentially, the day Nathan left for Strasbourg (to get things straightened out in case he had to leave to go to Lafayette), the day I had to tell Nathan goodbye, and the day when I finally got to talk to Sarah. I just burst out in tears and had to excuse myself from the table. The family looked at me like I was crazy!

So, as you can see, I have a great friend named Nathan, and his life is in shambles at the moment.
Also, as you can see, my best friend's life is in shambles at the moment.
Thus, my life is in shambles as well.

On top of all that, I am moving in about three days, I don't know where I am living, and I am worried to death about Nathan's dad, who is still lying unstable in a hospital bed.