Semestre Two

The neighbours

I don’t spend much time talking with my neighbours.

The Wise

E——, who lives down at the end of the street and offered to let me use his Internet, is a convivial sort. He looks rather a lot like me in some ways, though his pony-tail length hair would not do a bun. He’s been a big help with pretty much anything mechanical or practical. He helped me get a request in to get my shower looked at a while back, and he’s always quick with a helping hand when he can.

Tuesday Pharma

This is one of the surveillantes. I don’t know her name. She rarely eats at the canteen, but one of the roles of the surveillantes is to be there to watch the boarders once they are done with their classes. This means one of the two or three surveillant⋅e⋅s are there through the evening meal and they sleep in the internat as well. Some nights certain teachers also board there. There’s is a nominal boarding fee for the teachers; teachers and surveillant⋅e⋅s alike can buy dinner for something like 2.80€, which is what I pay. This particular one quite likes to talk at the evening meal. She seems alright for the most part.

Each Tuesday after the meal, she asks the students if there’s anything they need from the pharmacy. She then leaves for the pharmacy which is a fifteen-minute walk or a five-minute drive from the school.

Hot Rod

The proviseur came down to the canteen this evening to make it clear that he was going not going to take allegations of food poisoning as criticism without a credile example thereof. The chef came by recently, apparently ready to listen to student’s comments about the food preperation and planning. The chef chef is a man very proud of his position and he seems happy with his vocation, but he can be severe and apparently takes criticism from high schoolers as insult.

The chef is my next door neighbour. One of the first things I noticed When I moved in, besides how large my own backyard was, was the massive pool in the neigbour’s yard. It’s been far too cold to use it now, so instead on off-hours, I sometimes see him working on a sixties bug that he’s restored and souped up. The hot rod has the looks of a VW bug, the sound of a Harley, and the style of a dragster. His children can often be seen taking care of their own mopeds or driving them in the streets — helmeted.

Paris

One of my best friends, N—— came to visit C——— and I this weekend. The two of us are in a relatively tight situation financially after our wonderful winter vacation¹. this meant that aur Paris escapade had to be a frugal one as well. We booked a hotel for a single night and between three or four restaurants, two bars, and entry to the Louvre² I ended up peying about 150€ for my share. We had some pretty wonderful meals and I got to revisit one of my favourite bars. We spent only a little bit of time in the Louvre, including waiting in line for N—— and C——— to get pictures of, with, and near Mona Lisa.

I’ve updated some of my expectations for visiting Paris. The last time I spent any time in the city I spent five days there, three of which were spent on the streets. I had forgotten how much time it takes to walk between different places, and how much my pace feels like the white rabbit’s. I walk quickly. I also expect to walk instead of taking buses or metros to get places.

Each time one thinks about taking a picture, the best plan is to go ahead and do so, rather than saying something like: it’s alright there will be another opportunity later. »