Today started marvelously, went to shit, and then ended on a good note

This morning I treated myself to a trip to the French salon. I feel like since I have gotten here I have been a wreck--sweaty from walking all around this city all day, my hair a frizzy mess and my clothes in shambles after trekking them all over Europe and only having washed them once in the past month.

So, by the recommendation of Pauline, I went to Camille Abane for a hair cut, and it was awesome.

Anais, my new stylist, was the cutest thing, and while customer service apparently doesn't exist in this country, one can find some kind of respect for clientelle at a good coiffure.

They greet you by taking your coat, slipping you into your own robe and then escorting you over to the shampooing stations where you sit in massaging chairs. And Anais, what magical hands she has! I got the best scalp massage I have ever received, followed by a deep conditioner rinse, and then the most precise haircut I probably ever have. I swear she checked almost every strand to make sure it was perfect.

So, I walked out al 11am feeling super French chic and not a haggared mess like I have been.

Then I went home (or to my fake home?) and realized I had no return emails for housing or from my school contacts. I was supposed to go sign my work contract today but no one had contacted me. I realized my money was running out and that I really had no idea what the heck I was doing, yet again.

So I cried. A lot. Went thtough plenty of tissue packets (thank goodness I bought the maxi-pack from Match) and called Jonatan wailing and flailing like I seem to always do.

Well he told me to give myself a slap in the face, grow up and stop crying (and to stop biting my nails) and to just go down to my school and see what the heck was up.

So I did. I marched down to the train station, bought my ticket to Valenciennes, got on, and then Mademoiselle Sophie Lejeune, one of my contacts, called me on my portable. I was flustered and couldn't quite understand her on the phone, but somehow managed to communicate that I was on the train, going to Valenciennes. She said she would meet me at the train station and then take me to the Inspector's Office so that we could go over any questions.

I got off the train in Valenciennes, wandered around a bit and then finally bumped into little Sophie Lejeune--a typical petite Frenchy cute in her little black mary jane heels and dress. And she was the sweetest thing. An air of relief finally washed over me. I of course apologized profusely for sounding so desperate the past week or so, but she said she understood, and even invited me to stay with her should I need to in the time being.

Well we walked right down the street to the Inspection de Valenciennes, which is in the same building as my main school that I teach at (Ecole Cariot). It is a typical northern building: large and all brick, with vines creeping up the sides.

And then all the French started. Now I think I understood people fairly well, but now that I think about it, it was really all a blur.

I met the Inspector of Valenciennes, who is sooo super nice and looks like the actor Bob Hoskins (from Roger Rabbit), I met a bunch of other people who work at the school whom I have forgotten now, including some lady I am supposed to have lunch with tomorrow and who is going to look at an apartment with me, I met Anne-Elisabeth, the cute, really tiny, English teacher I will be working with, and then some other guy who I think is an English teacher whom I will be working with (so I better figure out his name...)

Anyways, Sophie made the introductions, it came up I had no housing and was staying in Lille, so then everyone started throwing out ideas for housing. This Serge Gaveriaux (who is supposed to be my main contact) apparently has just been missing. No one knew he was doing nothing for me, so they all tried calling him, finally got him, I forget what was taken care of with that. Someone called the Mayor of Valenciennes to ask about some house he has for housing. I had a coffee and a cookie. The lady I am having lunch with tomorrow went online and called a bunch of apartments. Blah blah. French French. Oh you are from San Francisco? French French. Oh I think I found housing for you! Oh wait no, the guy I tried to call is in China.

That is pretty much how it went, from what I can remember. So, in the end, I am going back tomorrow, at 9am so I need to get up very early. Sophie will introduce me to my other two schools and we will figure out my work schedule (so far I teach at Ecole Cariot Tuesdays from 8:30-10am and then Fridays 8:30-10am and then 2-3pm), I will have lunch with Sophie, the lady whose name I don't know, and her friend, and then the lady whose name I don't know will go look at this studio apartment with me, and hopefully more places if we can find any.

Whew. Man. All I want to do now is eat McDonalds and watch TV. So yeah, I will do that now.

Thanks Jonatan--you know more than anyone when I need a good slap in the face. I don't know if I could have done today without you xoxo

Tomorrow....another day of stuff I probably won't understand or remember

Wherever You Go, There You Are

So here I am. I know it has taken me a while to start this thing (having been in Europe about a month now), so I apologize for my tardiness and hope you all will understand I was a bit distracted these last few weeks ;)

To sum up what you have missed: Swedish McDonald's is still the best in the world, Swedish women are so hot they can't keep there hands off each other (literally), and Swedish men really probably are the best partners due to their "enlightened attitudes toward equality and gender roles" as The Local has reported http://www.thelocal.se/21098/20090804/ (I can't cook, clean, or do laundry the Swedish way--yet! But I want to learn!).

Jonatan and I had a great time doing what we do: eating, relaxing, laughing ;) And I was truly sad to leave when it came time. Goteborg is a beautiful, welcoming city and I enjoyed exploring it a bit more on my own this time (as Jonatan was in school. which was ok, because now I am totally comfortable taking the buses and trams all by myself. and shopping all by myself too, the most important thing).

I even joined a club while I was there: The American Women's Club of Goteborg http://awcgothenburg.com/ and was able to connect with many interesting women living the expat life with their Swedish partners in this coastal city. Good contacts to have!

Jonatan and I also got to share the most exciting weekend together: meeting the twins! Alexandra (Jonatan's sister) and Felipe (her husband) welcomed their first children into the world one month ago: Victoria and Valentina. They were the most beautiful babies and spending time with them and the family was very heart warming (I still need to work on that svenska though...I'm starting up that Rosetta Stone again).

But sadly, I had to eventually say hej då to Sverige and bonjour to France (though I hope to get back to Sweden soon! And not just because I had to be an eno gab on my flight out and leave half of my luggage there because I am an idiot and don't check baggage allowances on flights within Europe until two days before I leave).

So now I am in Lille, my new home for the next 7 months. I admit, yesterday, after travelling from Goteborg to Oslo to Paris and then finally to Lille, I was a bit of a poop. I was nervous, anxious, stressed, lonely and my heart was hurting a lot. But, thanks to the most generous friends, I had a place to stay and a tour guide during my time of transition.

And Lille really is an exquisite city. The past 24 hours I have felt a bit off balance and have been trying to search for that passion and admiration I usually feel for anything French. It is slowly coming back, especially after I devoured a tarte au sucre and a gourmandise from the original Paul (boulangerie), but I am hopeful that once I am settled I will yet again be mesmerized with the certain magic this place holds for me (like the food, shopping, architecture, history, language, culture and art and not the beaurocracy or the pain in the *** it is to do pretty much do anything practical here. but whatever. this is definitely only temporary that I will be here, so I might as well just focus on the good stuff and enjoy it ;).

I have so far set up a French cell phone number for myself, tried unsuccessfully again to contact the teachers at my schools in Valenciennes (for those of you who don't know, I will be teaching English this year in 3 French public primary schools in the city of Valenciennes, about 30km outside of Lille), and met up with about 10 other American teaching assistants in the same boat as me. It really is great to be able to meet with people going through the same thing as you--especially when it can be so frustrating!

Anyways, I enjoyed a tasty steack avec sauce deux poivres et frites this evening at Aux Moules http://www.auxmoules.com/ and a big Belgian beer with my fellow assistants.

Tomorrow it is off to discover Valenciennes, desperately search for a place to live and maybe write and discover more of this new place. And it's not bad. It may be missing a few places and people in particular that I would like to have, but it's alright. I think I will enjoy it just fine. Afterall, how bad can a place be that sells chocolate covered waffles? Not bad at all...