Sailing the 7 C's

Hello dearly beloved,

This will hopefully be kept a bit more concise, as things are sort of busy at the moment. I'm gearing up for supertrip 2008-09, which will be my first trip spanning two different years. I'm sure I've described this already on here, but what's the harm in a little redundancy? It's good for the memory, and besides, the trip has been expanded a bit:
Dec 19-22: Visiting Marta in Madrid
22-26: Hanging out with Scott VIII, Kevin XXIII, and Benedict XVI in Rome.
26-30: Damage control in Athens (tentative)...staying alive with Scottistotle and Kevinopoulos
Dec 30-Jan 3: Le Retour a Paris- Touring with Thomas and greeting Robby as he gets off the plane in a new year!
Jan 3-4: The Beginning is the End, in St. Etienne...a revisit/goodbye to Leila before she goes to Brazil

Eighteen days, over 5800 km (3600 miles), 4 planes and 2 trains, crossing the Pyrenees and the Alps twice over, 3 of the 5 largest cities in Europe, capital cities of 4 different countries (If I continue listing useless facts like this, it makes it seem impressive and interesting, yes?). I am extremely excited for this trip...I have seen all of these places but Athens before, but it's moreso seeing the friends that has me pumped. It will be a sweet mixture of time spent with my American and European friends.

We were worried about Athens and riots and whatnot, but I think at the moment things seem good enough there. We'll keep an eye out on the situation, but for now it seems acceptable. Scott promised to come draped in a US flag, and Kevin's tattooed Texas Tech logos all over his face and body, so we should be good. Drink of choice for this party: Molotov cocktail.

Returning to the boring details of everyday life: As it turned out, I once again did not work my reguarly scheduled 12 hours this week. After last week's 7 hour marathon, I followed it up with a hefty time-and-a-half-worthy 5 hour work week. Not my doing, of course. Two teachers weren't going to be there for some of their courses, so I didn't have those. This morning I went to the middle school only to find out that the teacher with whom I was supposed to work 4 hours was not there. Thus, no worky. As I'd seen transpiring in the morning, students at the adjacent high school where I work were in the process of blocking the entrance in protest of next year's reforms, as has become the trend in France over the past week. Way to catch on late, guys. Seeing a few of my students as I left the premises, I made note to tell them that this was a display of laziness. Because I clearly have the right to talk.

The other day, I walked into one of those stores that's a combo department/grocery store, and I was browsing around looking for travel-size toiletries. I, being a rather gauche person, had one of those typical moments that I think a lot of men have in this type of store...where you're strolling, mindlessly looking for deodorant or body wash when suddenly you come to and realize you weren't paying close enough attention, and you have the misfortune of finding yourself in some sort of women's hygiene aisle. Of course, you are the only male in this aisle. After a brief shock-and-stop, if the expression on your face isn't enough, you have to visibly show your discomfort by your body language to let those around you understand the regret caused by your error. After all, what creepster wants to be the one snooping around in these foreign territories of the grocery store?

Shortly after said uncomfortable experience, I was looking at simple, white T-shirts, as made famous by idols of mine such as T.I. and Andy Pasternak. these, of course, are usually located next to the boxers and such. At this point, I was reminded of the discomfort forced upon me and, I am sure other men as well, when even nearing the boxer section...a specific type of clothing aimed at US. If this is the case, why is there always that stupid picture of some dude flexing for all he's worth while wearing nothing but boxers? And idiotically grinning either at the camera or at some "unseen person"? This is not impressing or seducing us, nor is it encouraging us to buy the product. Put some damn clothes on and quit looking like an idiot. Who in the marketing department of Hanes thinks this is a good idea?

Continuing on the topic of unidentifiable people who are no good at everything: I would not trust the French postal service with mailing a postcard...let alone the bank code to access my account on line. Unfortunately, banks in France feel that the latter should be IMPOSSIBLE to obtain in person, thinking it more secure to send this little code through the unreliable mail so that it ends up in the hands of whoever may find it at whatever address it was wrongly sent to. After all, being present in person is not enough to prove that you exist and are the holder of an account. This was a problem last time I was here (when the bank was literally 5 minutes walking from my residence), and after 2 or 3 demands this time, it continues to be a problem. Today, after noticing my account balance was 150 euros lower than expected (surprising because I've been carefully noting my expenditures this month), I asked at the nearest branch to see my account transactions for the past few weeks. Of course, this was unavailable unless I go to the branch at which I started the account, and I can't access it online. I proceeded to express my disgust to a teller at my bank today (Societe Generale) by saying that the French postal service resembled something from a Third World nation. This is, of course, impolite and disrespectful- to the Third World. The irony of this is that La Poste not only serves as the postal service, but also a bank...a mind-boggling conundrum that one must conclude forms the ultimate black hole of lost bank materials.

Finally, I've noticed lately that there are still bits and pieces of the French language that can be difficult to adapt to. For example, when someone offers a "grosse pizza," the natural response is "Ewww, you can keep that one yourself." In reality, however, a large pizza might be nice to share. Other phrases, such as saying "Coucou!" to greet someone, just sound too goofy to be used seriously. Finally, sometimes the blatant use of English words is a bit laughable. I can't help but chuckle when I hear someone refer to a before or after party as a "beforrrhh" or an "afterrhh," and I still find it amusing that they love to say "bon weekend!" and call things "cool" or "top." Yes, we use quite a few French words in English, but their choice of words to use seems to be...less than the best. As a means of amusing oneself, however, it is fun to jokingly use these in daily conversation.

That's all the rant I've got for now..."Concise" got lost along the way, but whatever. It'll probably be at least 18 days before this gets updated again, so I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. In the mean time, I'll be eating some of the "grossest" pizzas you could imagine over the holidays in Italia.