November 16, 2005
So after I updated my website the last time, I ate out at McDonalds. There’s nothing really exciting about a fish sandwich and a Sprite. Oh, I did have potato wedges instead of French fries. Anyway, I figured I’d walk the long way home to see if there were any stores, any thing at all, open on a Sunday night around 5:30. I was lucky enough to find a butcher and a couple of bakeries but my trip home took me down a road I don’t like to take. It’s the actual road that my building is based off of, but I usually take a completely backwards way to avoid a part of the road. It’s really nothing big, but there is a phone booth store that overbearing Arab men hang out on the sidewalk of the place. They usually stare me down as I walk by, making me feel like a piece of meat, so needless to say, I avoid it like a college grad with no medical insurance avoids the doctors. Anyway back to the story, oh yeah I forgot to say that on the opposite side of the street is a homeless shelter. I feel really bad, but I hate being harassed every day for every last penny I have.
SO anyway, I was walking home and I had to pass the wonderful store. Two Arab men were standing outside, smoking a cigarette, when I was passing by. One of the men said hello to me and instead of doing the French thing of acknowledging him, I did my American thing of completely ignoring him. Boy, did I regret my cultural faux pas. I thought I was doing good and about 4 blocks away from the store, the guy was standing right next to me. This was about the time when I was thinking in my head “Oh shit.” Pardon the language but that was one of the two things going through my head. The other was “What do I do now?” Now, the guy was about 75 lbs more than I was and was about a foot taller than me. That alone deleted the idea of flight or fight in my head, there was no way that I could outrun him or fend him off if he did anything. Now that I think about it, my self-defense classes a few years ago are now completely useless, I froze up, and I stopped thinking. Anyway, the only way that I knew I was getting out of it was if I saw someone I knew in the road, or an act of god.
The guy continued walking with me up until the front door of my residence hall. He started asking me for my name, where I’m from, and what my telephone number is. I lied about everything. I said that I didn’t have a telephone number. In saying that, my act of god happened. Phil called. I told the man that I had to meet a friend inside, and that I was late. I was so relieved to hear Phil’s voice. I try to brush things off as if they were nothing. Normally when I say something to anyone, I try not to have it sound like I was extremely afraid. I talked to Phil for a long time. I kind of starting thinking about the fact that the guy knows where I live; which prompted me to consider moving.
I know that it seems a bit much. I love my job, I enjoy the company of the people I live with and all of the professors and the administration are absolutely wonderful. It’s not that France is bad, but I know that it would be so much better if I got my own place. I did the math on Monday night and it would actually be cheaper in all around costs if I got my own place. As of right now, I spend about 70 Euro on phone cards each month to call home. For about 14 Euro, I can have a phone plan that I could call home for just as much and maybe a few minutes more. Then there is the Internet factor, instead of paying 40 + Euro per month for a limited amount of time, I could have unlimited for 24.99. So I was getting pretty excited about the whole moving thing. Then my phone rang, it was some French guy with an Arab accent, I thought nothing of it and tried to describe in poor French that he had the wrong number. After about a minute, I hung up, I didn’t want to try to talk anymore. He called back in two minutes, instead of picking up my normal way; I picked up the phone just enough for the call to connect and dropped the phone back down so it would stop ringing. So I went and had my steak dinner with potato wedges and veggies, too bad I burnt the steak a little bit, and then I went back to my room. I was determined to finish my stocking, and I did for the most part, now I just have to sew on the back of it and the hanger thingy. I finished around 11:30. I started cleaning up the immense mess of tangled thread and felt that I had all over my desk.
As soon as I heard a noise I felt like a deer in headlights, I stopped what I was doing and all of my muscles tensed up as if I were going to run off somewhere. I couldn’t believe my ears. Around 11:45 at night, someone was knocking on the metal shutters of my window. At first, I was thinking, that couldn’t be happening, I’m losing it, it’s probably happening to the guy next door and I’m hearing an echo. But then, a second time, it got louder and I could see the metal lock that keeps it closed shaking. I don’t think I have ever sat that still. I sat in my chair at my desk for the next 10 minutes, afraid to move a muscle, afraid to look through the small slits to see who it was. I had filed all of my paperwork having to do with housing in a folder in my closet that was across the room. I wanted to call the security guard, but I knew that by the time I would have dialed, the person would have probably heard me and left.
So there I was, in my room, with no clue of who to call or even whom should I tell. I didn’t think anyone would have believed me. I decided that night that it was time to start looking for an apartment. I barely got to sleep because I kept thinking about what had previously happened. The what-ifs ran rampant through my head as I lay in bed. I think I got to sleep around 3. Phil called me at 6:57 to say goodnight. I was supposed to get up at 7, but I felt really tired. I talked to Phil for a little bit. He told me that I should see if my building had any other rooms that weren’t on the ground floor. After talking to him, I went back to sleep for about 45 minutes.
I woke up with ten minutes before I had to run to school. I miraculously, for the first time since I got to France, got ready in about 8 minutes. I got to the school with 15 minutes to spare. As I was walking up to the classroom to meet my students, I remembered that they were supposed to have an exam this morning. So I didn’t have class. I didn’t have to get up; I could have slept in. You know those moments when you realize something and you just want to scream out in anguish but the image of you doing it in your head suffices that urge? Yeah, that’s exactly what happened this morning. I didn’t have any other classes today, but I was supposed to meet up with a student for tutoring at 1 pm. So since I had about 3 hours before lunch, I went out apartment shopping. I found three housing places near my school that have a list of about 50 places for rent at each place. I jotted down some information at each place.
I was at the third place writing down information when a guy who lives in my building saw me as he was passing by on his way to work. I told him what had happened the past couple of nights and he told me that I should talk to the administration for a different room. He told me in the last case scenario, I should go looking for an apartment. So I thanked him for advice and I went back to school. I talked to the teachers there and all of them offered a room in their house if I needed to stay somewhere until I found an apartment. It always surprises me how helpful everyone is at school. I would love to find something like it in the US. Anyway, I ate lunch with all of them and afterward, I went back to the Teachers Room in order to wait for the girl I was going to tutor. I waited about 7 minutes and got bored so I went on the computer to check my mail and play around on the Internet. The girl never showed, which isn’t really like her at all, but something must have came up.
I went off to the Post Office in order to mail a card to Phil and waited in a really long line. While waiting, a thought popped into my head that the only thing worse than waiting in a long line is a long line with a screaming kid. At that moment, in walks a woman a little older than me with a stroller in hand. About 10 minutes go by and the kid starts screaming. I don’t know if screaming is the proper word. It was like screaming, wailing, shrieking and screeching all put into one little boy. I thought my head was going to explode. Luckily the line moved quickly and I was out of there in five minutes.
I walked home and when I got there, the administration pulled me into the office. I felt like I was about to get a detention or something. They had heard what had happened to me the past couple of days and they said that I should have told them. They continued to tell me that they are changing my room and that I had a choice of three rooms all above ground level. So I went upstairs and I looked at all of the rooms. I chose the one on the 1st floor (Second floor in US). All of the rooms were the same. So, I moved for the first time. I know that I will be moving into someplace other for December; I decided that I’m nothing going to unpack every and make myself at home as much as my last place. I really thought my last place was small. To give a visualization of how much room I have I will give two examples:
For people from Burlington - it’s about half of the size of Matt’s room, with the addition of a small bathroom too.
For Jefferson people - it’s about the size of my room in high school - now Danielle, my sister’s room, and the closet in that room is a little bit bigger than my bathroom.
My bathroom is about the size of an American tub in width, but there is a shower, sink and toilet in that amount of space.
I was invited to watch a French movie today in the residence hall, but I was in a good mood for writing, hence my lengthy entry today. Also, I ran out of chocolate mousse and rice pudding, so I went to a small grocer to get some cookies. The box didn’t last long. I decided that I should just stay in tonight. I want to write up all the things I want to get done tomorrow because I always forget something.
I’m also happy to say that I’m not the only one who is looking to get out of the residence hall. The Belgian girl and I are going apartment hunting tomorrow morning at 9. Hahaha. (<- Delirious laugh.) Maybe I should get to sleep.
One more side note - I bought two pairs of pants for a total of 20 Euro. They are more like pajama pants, but I plan on using them for running. Here’s the killer thing though - they are both a size large and they are a little tight on my thighs. Sizes are so much different here, and no I didn’t gain a lot of weight from eating tons of pastries - I’ve actually lost a few from all the walking I do.
The person who gets this quote first gets a bottle of wine - as long as you’re older than 21 - “It’s time now to take our leave until next week’s meeting. You keep the letters a’coming, we’ll keep the music a’going.” (Just a side note - Mom if you don’t get this one, you’ll be upset. Especially because it’s part of the CD’s I always steal from you.)