Les Paragraphes au Hasard

1. Dreams
I dreamt that I married my brother, Jack, last night. Is that a bit too personal to write in a blog? Probably. Especially considering that I personally believe dreams are one of the most important parts of ourselves (next to our souls). But then again, it's probably not too personal, eh? I share this because Natalie explained to me her perspective. She thinks that it just means I miss him. Naturally, she thought the dream was completely normal (coming from her NYU Freudian viewpoint).
Meaning: I love my family, and I miss them.

2. Trucs
My bike fell over in the hallway as I was exiting my apartment today. The left break broke. The actual metal part literally broke in half. My friend Fréderic happens to work in a bike shop. And M. Bassenne is bound to either have a "truc" (thing) to replace it with, or he'll find something. Also, the guy I bought the bike from, Thomas, said I could call him anytime if something went wrong. He buys old bikes and fixes them up for sale, so he might have a "truc" to help me out, too. I was very sad about it for about two seconds, but I actually don't care. With all these seemingly positive prospects, I'll get it figured out.
C'est la vie.
breaks- freins
metal- métal
to weld- souder
screw- vis
screwdriver- tournevis
kickstand- béquille ; 'kickstand'
Meaning: I get to learn new words and USE them for something NECESSARY! whoooooo.

3. Dictionaries
I bought a francais-francais dictionary. I'm all over it, but don't think I'm giving up on my francais-anglais dictionary. That thing is a treasure. I've had since 7th grade! ...since my very first French class at Renner Middle School. I'll never forget that class. We sang happy birthday in class, and also some other song involving 'stand up, sit down, left, right.' My teacher even looked French. I don't remember her name, and I'm pretty sure she was American...but I remember her face as if I saw her yesterday. And she'll always be French to me.
Meaning: I'm making progress with intelligent purchases. (no matter how long it takes, damnit!)

4. Hikes
I went on a hike Sunday with four other people, all of whom were French. We went in the Jura mts. along the Loue river. Sylvain drove us there in his car (about a 45 min. trip outside of town). We hiked for almost six hours! It was way more than I was expecting and soooo worth it. We saw open fields and cows close up (really close up). At one point we were in what felt like a rain forest, practically climbing vertically (at least it seemed so to me ... I'm not a hiker, or a climber so you can imagine!). We ended up above the clouds and saw the town below. We walked for a long time along clear, transparent, flowing water (I'm talking transparent for over 12 feet down!). We saw that clear water fall, and fall, and fall, and therefore we admired waterfalls! We went inside a cave -- deep inside a cave! We ate walnuts that we found on the ground and cracked open with our feet. We felt rain. We felt leaves tumble.
After all was said and done, I was content. Very content
Meaning: Nature can heal.

5. Evil Nametags
Classes are going well with the kiddos. Ages 9-11.
Today I had one of my youngest classes make nametags with their new English names.
A girl made hers half green and half red, then kindly explained to me that the red was "sang" (blood) and the green was "l'herbe" (grass). One half was "la beauté, la nature" and the other half was [in a low, scarier voice] "le mort de la vie! l'enfer! le diable!" (the death of life! hell! the devil!). I told her that those were the colors of Christmas. She didn't know that (I guess they don't have all the red/green stuff going on here?) En tout cas, she liked the idea and decided to write Christmas-themed things around her name (but she wrote them in French! Whatevs. she'll learn that vocab in a few months.)
The kid in front of her wrote "diable" (devil) all over his nametag, and something about fangs that I didn't understand. Isn't that just splendid? Ah, that nice 'lil French boy. But he did his notebook correctly so I had to give him a sticker. Should I shun him for making an evil nametag? I didn't have time to do anything about it. Literally, class was practically over.
But seriously, what's up with these kids and the devil?!?!? Is it some inbred existentialist something going on? Sartre, oh where art ya?
Meaning: no idea.

6. Swimming
I went swimming today! With Catherine and Fréderic from upstairs and up-upstairs. I was cold in that water. Also, I sported my two-piece bathing suit that is totally for the beach and not the exercise pool. I have nothing else, don't make fun!
Meaning: use what yo mama gave you and have fun.

Pictures to come.
But now you fools just have to read!
Peace.