Wednesday 31 October 2007

movie night

Alex and I went to see Les Méduses (Jellyfish) the other night. Delightful! The characters were all so different but wonderful in their own way. We also saw le Deuxième Souffle a week or so ago. And you know what? I don't like Monica Bellucci. I just straight up don't like her acting. But, I love going to the movies. I love the plush red seats at our theater and holding hands with Alex in the dark. Le Deuxième Souffle was long, 2 hours and 45 minutes long and, it was set in the 60's so some of the lines they use were hard to understand. The cars and the costumes were great though and I liked seeing Eric Cantona in a movie, for me he's the french Chuck Norris a bigger and badder version of Walker Texas Ranger. Alex liked the movie but anyway back to Les Méduses. FANTASTIC. And now for a clip... (I took it off autoplay, so you have to click play twice.) Enjoy! Oh, and Happy Halloween!









Tuesday 23 October 2007

Heat

There is plenty of sunshine here today but good lord is it cold outside. I am trying to warm up with a cup of tea and a space heater. Alex tells me quite often that I am going to catch fire if I put it any closer. Right now, I'm willing to risk it.

I had my first cycling class at this new gym I'm trying out. Speaking of heat, I don't believe that they have any heat in that gym. The class was good though. The instructor was a very manly woman that really enjoyed making a show of her breathing technique but the music was good. It was an older crowd but the gym opens at 9:00 and that's when class starts so it limits the demographic. There was one woman about 65ish with rainbow cycling gloves that kept answering her cell phone during the workout, seriously you can't take 45 minutes away from the phone? It's nice to be able to work out so hard. I'm trying their pilates class tomorrow. I used to love my Pilates classes so I am excited to get back into it.

I've been thinking...

I have listened to this song by Yael Naim all day. It just makes me happy and lifts my spirits.



Sometimes I feel that moving abroad has set me back in different ways. Not to say that it hasn't made me grow and change and appreciate my life in other ways but somedays, I feel like I reverted back to being about 13, being unconfident and unsure trying to gain acceptance. Trying to integrate into a new community or new culture and meet new people is no easy process and each time you branch out and meet new people there is that same learning curve, that same test of showing people that you're worth it, that your language skills are okay, and that they don't need to talk about you like you are deaf, mute or dumb.

The problem I have during this recurrent process is that I take this all very personally and it makes me absolutely miserable. So, I'm just going to let it go. I've given hurt and anger a way to big a place in my life this past week so I'm just going to stop because I'm wasting time on people that don't matter and missing out on fun times with the people that do.

Monday 15 October 2007

So nice to be back...

Well, time has flown by since I last posted and I think I am ready to start blogging again. The trip to Vietnam & Cambodia turned out great, hot and humid and my first time in Asia It was filled with beautiful scenery, serious poverty, delicious food and a new view of the world. The 5 weeks following that I was in Seattle and it was absolutely wonderful to see my family. Getting things ready for the american wedding was hectic but great and filled with lots of great moments with friends and family. The time went by way too fast but it makes me want to go back and visit more often.

After Seattle it was back to Paris for work for the week, hopping down to Lyon for training and now I am back in my little village where the sun is shining and we just spent a great weekend with friends at the Refuge de Mayères. Plus, on Friday I had my first volleyball practice. I just joined the Pré-national volleyball team, a kind of relatively local, womens league. It felt so good to get into the gym and play some volleyball. Bonus, that for the most part I have found that female volleyball players are a pretty fun and intelligent bunch and so far my theory is holding. So things are going well. Life is busy and challenging but I am thankful for the opportunity to test my limits and step out of my comfort zone and in doing so, become a stronger and more capable woman. Hope all is well with you!