Jessica Rowan

January 30, 2006

Time certainly seems like it's been flying. A lot of things have been happening. This past week, my two cousins had their surgery. Both are doing fine, which I'm really happy to say. I think this week went so fast because I had a lot on my mind. I was thinking about my family. The puppy was sick this week too, so it didn't make me feel any better.

On Thursday morning, one of my students passed away from a heart attack. I didn't know it until after my two morning classes. I spent the rest of the school day consoling students.

At night, I went over to Briffaut, the other high school that has assistants living there, and we had a good time sitting around in their kitchen. Afterwards, around midnight, we went out to a club which was hosting a party for students and assistants. I have to say, French music, especially dance music, is absolutely horrible. I listened to electronic French music for about 2 hours before they moved onto another type of music. Finally the best music I heard that night was that of Aretha Franklin and the Beach boys. Doesn't say much about the music that French people like to listen to, but it did affirm my belief that American music is universal. Even if people have no clue what it means, they will still memorize and sing the songs. Another favorite song in the club that night was Nirvana's “Smells like teen spirit.” The French knew all of the words, but I know that they have no clue what any of it means.

Now, I'm not the best dancer, not by far, but the French are probably the worst I've seen yet. Girls kind of stand in the middle of the floor and shift their weight from one foot to the next, not with the beat of the music, but whenever it seemed like their one foot started to hurt. French guys like to dance more than American guys, but after seeing French guys dance, I much prefer the method of dancing that American guys do – the non-dance. French guys seem to run around a club like they are on some kind of drug. They also like to hump the nearest thing to them, whether it be the wall, a railing, a girl, or the air; it is the preferred move.

The last thing I'm going to say about the club is that there are French people, which are weird, and then there are weird French people, who are out of their minds. I met the latter group at the club on Thursday night. There were two separate groups that were out of their minds – the pirates and the smelly hat people. The pirates were a group of kids dressed up as pirates: bandannas, eye patches, long skirts, leather boots, tight pants, etc. Just strange. The other group, the smelly hat people, didn't seem to understand that they smelled really bad. They continued to dance a lot to the point where they had an invisible barrier which no one wanted to enter, because it smelled so bad. These people also had what looked like Scottish berets with ribbons and pins attached to them. Later on during the night, someone explained what the hats meant, but I won't repeat it online.

I got home around 4:30 in the morning. The first time in two years that I've done that. The forecast for Friday was a big snow storm, so when I went to sleep I crossed my fingers and hope for a snow day. I woke up Friday morning to see that the snow had just started to cover the grass. I went to class at 11 am and none of my students were there. At 12, with about an inch and a half of snow on the ground, school was canceled for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, because I walked the mile and a half to get to school, I was already too awake to go back to sleep. So I washed my laundry by hand. And cleaned my room. I also studied for my LSAT test.

I've discovered that French people are absolutely ridiculous when it comes to snow. School gets canceled, people don't go to work, businesses shut down. Completely unnecessary for the amount of snow we got. People were walking around with snowshoes and umbrellas. Krista, Lena and me were getting a kick out of watching the French walk around out side. It seems like the French try to ignore the fact that snow happens to try to prevent it from falling. In this manner, French people are never prepared and most people act like the world is going to end. They also have severe problems with driving in the snow. We ended up getting about a foot and a half before the storm was over. By Sunday night, it was all melted.

Saturday, I woke up and decided that I could get a lot done this weekend because the ski trip was canceled. So I wrote up my list of things to do and started crossing things out. I've gotten a lot done. The only things I'm waiting for now is my letter from Neuf Telecom telling me that I have internet and the chance to go to the post office to ask were my box of gifts is that I sent home. There are 40 days until I see Phil, and 22 before I see my mom and my sister. Over all there is less than 100 days left, so I'm staying pretty optimistic.

Dinner tonight will be steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli. How American. :) Too bad they don't have barbecue sauce in France.