Someone who's taking pleasure in breaking down

So I have been mocked by Jenna and Marta for apparently not knowing a lot of places in Toulouse, and at first feeble attempts at denial were hastily put into action. However, I have recently embraced the fact that, no matter how much I try to explore, I will never know all of Toulouse. It is not that big of a city, but nevertheless, I continue to learn things about it and discover new little nooks and crannies. For example, the other day I found this big indoor market right in the middle of downtown, mostly for meat and fish. It was weird, as there were several bars inside as well, with open facades like the meat sellers have. I walked around for a bit eating a pastry, and as I left the market, I saw the dog of a homeless man patiently sitting beside him, wearing sunglasses. Hmm.

My friend Robert visited from Paris last week, and he described Toulouse as the "most random" city he'd ever visited. He was amused by strange displays of street entertainment and various other things that seemed out of place. I brushed up on my history and provided him with more details of the city, but he still said that, as a city, it was very strange. He has asked that when our friends from Texas come later this month, our friend Dan provide him with a "coherent" tour of the city. I'm beginning to feel that, no matter what I do, that cannot happen. I'm thinking now that this isn't so much a product of me as it is of the city.

Recently, I have become somewhat of a regular at this Arab pastry shop right near the main square in Toulouse. In October, I took Jenna and Marta there, and we were all either disgusted or disappointed in the pastries. Well, as we've all been told since our infancy, "Every pastry shop deserves a second and maybe a fifth chance," I figured I would follow these words of wisdom. Since, I have found several items that I like, but each time I enter the store, the clerk sort of eyes me wearily, knowing that I, unlike most of his bulk-buying customers, am going to come in with strongly accented French and order one thing with my exact change before leaving. I like to view this sort of interaction as brief and efficient, short and to the point, no wasted energy, no harm, no foul, don't ask, don't tell. Well, maybe not the latter. At any rate, I think I will continue doing this until the store owner either cracks and expresses his anger in a slew of quick Arab and French cursing, thus signaling that I should probably not return more than one or two times thereafter, or he decides that he likes my style, gives in and one day offers me a second pastry for free. After all, I am bringing in business 1 euro 30 cents at a time, and sometimes more. I took Robert there when he visited and, like Jenna and Marta, he was disappointed with what he bought. You're welcome, Ro-Bear.

This past week, I moved out of my hellhole living situation and I am now living happily with my friends Livan and Remy and a third guy named Adriane. We've all become better friends rather quickly, and it's already been a brilliant experience. This Friday we are hosting our housewarming party, and I've got a clown outfit ready. This should be a most excellent experience.

In leaving my old apartment, things didn't go as well as I'd hoped, as I apparently didn't follow my contract because I misunderstood a small phrase. I went to return my key to my former landlady only to find a raving pot of lunacy. After her husband had been extremely nice about letting me move and saying he understood how I wasn't happy there, he left the matter in his wife's hands, as she was the one who signed the contract. Well, she returned to Toulouse 2 days after I moved out and began blaming me for the fact that she had to return and couldn't be with her sick mother at the hospital. I'm sorry, ma'am, but it's not my fault. I apologized in advance to her husband, but he refused to close out the situation, so she was obliged to come back and felt the need to do it asap. She began demanding my 300 euros for the month's rent and I said no, that I would organize a meeting with the director of the program.
Well, we had our meeting. The prop. again demonstrated hard-headedness, rudeness, and generally unlikeable qualities. The director argued my case and was clearly frustrated, so things finished with the "connasse" landlady saying she would be going to the bank to cash my 150 euro deposit check. Everything else will be dropped, and I guess that, all things considered, things turned out relatively well for me. It could have been worse. My primary regret was not switching to the informal form of "you" at the end of the meeting and demonstrating my extensive vocabulary of French swear words. I was a bit irritated as the prop gave the falsest smile and handshake while saying "good luck" as we left. As TI tells us,
"Haters smile like they like it when they really don't," and this was certainly a good demonstration of the wisdom of everyone's favorite rapper. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything in front of the director, who was extremely nice and helpful to me during the ordeal.

Livan and I have really enjoyed a game recently in which we play foreigners (that is to say, different kinds of foreigners than we already are) and go around talking to random people or asking for cigarettes (I don't smoke, but it's fun to obtain cigarettes for friends who do). He often pretends to be a native English speaker (Canadian or American), and I usually come from a small town near Helsinki, Finland. Depending on the situation, we speak with some sort of unnatural accent and pretend to struggle with either French or English. It's a fun game that I would recommend if ever you find yourself in public amongst people you don't know or at a party amongst strangers. Robert clearly enjoyed playing a young Japanese during his Toulousain sejour.

Finally, I apologize for the delay since my last post (the date on this post is not correct...it's really the 18th of March). I've been having more fun lately and haven't had much desire to sit in front of the computer. Tomorrow I won't be working because of a large strike in France, so the fun shall continue. Also, my friends Dan and Chris will be coming to Toulouse on Sunday (March 22), so betises and goofy fun could reach a pinnacle very soon :) I will be telling you soon how that goes.