So! I just got back from the podiatrist who affirmed my self-diagnosis. My big toes are very “bloqu?©s.” Apparently they’re supposed to bend a lot more than they do. He’s going to make me orthotics which I can go get next Thursday. Overall it’s going to cost 160 euros and the MGEN will probably only give me 18 of that back (I guess feet aren’t up there on their list of vital working parts of the body). But I was thinking about it, and really, if I had gotten a mutuelle, I would probably pay around 140 euros for it, if not more, for 12 months, so I think I come out even. It just FEELS like a lot of money at once. But I’m excited about the possibility of having feet that don’t hurt!

so I had to post it.

see more loldogs are funny dog pictures!

Yeah, so I’m not voting. It’s a long story:

1) I was registered last in Minnesota where they do caucuses instead of primaries so I thought I couldn’t really vote. Then I found out that Democrats Abroad was organizing a way to vote online from abroad. Only, they send really confusing e-mails that don’t make it clear that you need to re-register/validate (still don’t completely understand it) in order to be registered to vote online. So, 2) I missed that deadline. I could have gone to Strasbourg on Feb 12 to vote, but 3) it would have cost 60 euros. Then I remembered that when I was home over xmas we got confirmation of my voter registration in Texas. I sent off for an absentee ballot. But 4) the French postal system is pretty unreliable, so I didn’t get the application in time. In fact, I got it exactly one day too late.

I’m sorry, Mrs. Clinton. All I did was add you to my facebook profile. I really did mean to vote for you.

The funny thing was that for a long time I was relieved that I was registered in Minnesota and didn’t have to decide. Then I decided, and screwed up all my chances to vote.

On a related note, the other night some people I was hanging out with started a discussion about the American election. This one (African) kid who, well, I don’t really like very much, clearly knew nothing about America, and pisses me off even in retrospect. His main points (which he liked to yell) were:
1) Obama’s not really black, he’s mixed.
2) It’s insane to think that Americans will elect a black president.
Add those two statements together and I think you get a person who understands nothing about racism in America.
1) Every black person in the U.S. is probably mixed to some degree. Knowing nothing about the most shameful parts of our history with slavery disqualifies you from then saying
2) that Americans won’t vote for a black person. Especially because they already have, in droves.
I hope he’s elected so we can prove this asshole wrong.
(Now if only Obama were a black woman…)
It still bothers me. I should really stop thinking about it.

I’m pretty sure it’s a cold because Linda and Doris were sick briefly last week. But it FEELS like allergies. Exactly like allergies. My eyes are puffy and itchy and when I sneeze they run. Whatever it is, I want it to go away soon so I can put my contacts back on.

Vacation is over, and it was pretty nice even though I didn’t go anywhere. D and L and I managed to waste lots of time, seeing movies, eating McFlurries, complaining about how boring Reims is, etc. Also a friend of ours came back to visit (he left for his stage in Switzerland, turns out he’s at CERN, where my brother was a few years ago) this weekend. So we were occupied.

Am hungry but v., v., sleepy and unmotivated to make food.

moar funny pictures

They are not this small anymore. But they still nap like that.
(Please go vote!)

So I went to the French doctor again today and it brought up something I’ve started wondering about since beginning my second year in northeastern France, which is–when is it okay to be friendly to strangers?

The French doctor is different in a few ways from American ones. The doctor has his/her own office with a desk and examination table. You pay the doctor directly right afterward. The receptionist is there mostly to make appointments and not much else, it seems. On entering and leaving the doctor’s office the doctor will shake your hand, which means you should make sure you’re not holding anything in your right hand or it can lead to an awkward shuffle (I’m quite good at forgetting about this if you can’t tell).

But the weirdest thing is that when you enter the waiting room you are supposed to greet everyone as a group, usually by saying “Bonjour messieurs/dames,” and they all say bonjour back. Then when the doctor comes to get you, you say goodbye on the way out. The first couple of times I couldn’t bring myself to do this (it just felt very strange) and I’m sure I came off as kind of unfriendly. Today I managed to say bonjour when I walked in but couldn’t do the au revoir at the end.

I don’t really get this. I think it’s nice, but it just seems inconsistent with the general culture of ignoring-other-people. The only other situations where I’ve noticed you should say hello even if you don’t know the person are

1) passing by people in the residence hallways. I find it odd, especially because the residence (and most university residences, I’ve heard) is not very open. It’s not like American dorms where you can leave your door open and you know most of your neighbors. I know two people on my floor of about fifteen, and one of them I just met recently. So these people I say bonjour and bon soir to are people I never recognize and who will probably never talk to me.

2) walking past reception desks upon entering or leaving a building.

and

3) buying things in stores. You’re always supposed to say hello and goodbye, but all the same, the cashier usually isn’t very friendly (small shops and boulangeries being a very pleasant exception). In fact in between the smile-less hello and goodbye they are prone to taking up conversations with the cashier opposite them and ignoring you altogether.

People have warned me that it’s not a good idea to smile at people who pass you on the street so I generally never do. It makes me feel a bit rude and snobbish but what can you do. Also the French don’t seem to have small talk. You step onto a usually very small elevator, say bonjour (if it’s the residence), and then stand in awkward silence even if there are only two of you and you live in the same building.

Buses are also strange. They’re so much busier in France than in the states that of course they sometimes fill up. So people take to sitting on the outside seat of the two-seat groupings to discourage people from sitting next to them. Even if there are people standing. The first time I noticed this I was appalled. Now I do it a lot myself, but mostly because 1) I’m slightly claustrophobic and hate the sense of being trapped and 2) I don’t like making people get up to let me off. My stop is right after a huge roundabout. And the drivers do not go easy on the brakes.

On a related note, I’m not too fond of standing in lines with strangers. The generalization about the French being unable to wait in line patiently is so, so, so (generally) true, and it drives me nuts. I hate having to defend my spot in line. It’s like all these friendly, normal people suddenly feel like they can treat each other like less than people and so cut and dodge and ignore each other in order to get to the end as fast as possible. (I have to confess that over time I have once or twice taken advantage of this attitude. Resistance is futile.) If you can ignore someone in line like this, why so friendly in a doctor’s office? I dun get.*

I was on the verge of tears a lot on my return trip to Texas last May, but I do remember the feeling when I stepped onto the airport bus, nearly fell off, and an older Texan man caught me, saying “Don’t worry, I got ya” and smiling. Speaking in English doesn’t give me much of a sense of relief anymore, but laughing with this guy was like returning to a familiar language where I could let my guard down.

Anyway, people say that it’s hard to make friends with the French (or maybe just northerners), but once you’re in, you’re in for good. So theoretically there is an upside. I’ll let you know in ten years.

*There is a notable exception to the line rule. People waiting in pharmacies seem to put a lot of care into watching for who’s next in line and making sure everyone goes in the order they arrived. But pharmacies would go under my small shop heading anyway.

Some of you may have picked up on the fact (or read on this very website) that I’ve been planning since June to apply to the Foreign Language Education masters program at NYU. Done and done. Around Christmastime I discovered their new Teaching French as a Foreign Language program with the first two semesters in Paris. Huzzah! Dream come true. So I wrote and asked how to handle changing this application situation, and the director told me what’s best is to finish off the FLE application (deadline Feb 1) and then write to transfer to applying to the TFFL program (deadline April 15, which is a whole other potential headache). So I finished off my online application to FLE.

Now it has come time to get off my butt and send off the transfer request. The FLE program lets you apply online. The TFFL does not. Hence transfer confusion. I have e-mailed both the program director (again) and graduate admissions with questions about how to do this but had no answer. So I called today. I got transfered around a few times and finally found a woman who seemed to have a clue. The conversation went something like this:

Admissions Woman: Graduate Admissions.
Me: Hi, I have some questions about the new Teaching French program.
AW: [silence]
Me: I’ve been shuffled around a few times trying to figure out who to ask these.
AW: You should probably ask the director of the program, [Name].
Me: Yes I did that, and he said he didn’t know and would forward my e-mail to admissions, but that was about three weeks ago.
AW: Well, what are your questions?
Me: [Boring situation explanation] Can I apply to both programs?
AW (in what sounded like a ritual response): You can only apply to one program.
Me: Okay, so, my submitted application was online and the Teaching French program wants it in paper. What do I do?
AW: Hmm. What’s your social security number?
Me: [numbers]
AW: Ah, Eileen.
Me: Yep, that’s me.
AW: Well it looks like they’ve actually recently made a decision on your application, but I suppose that’s not available yet.
Me: …! [which is still basically silence]
AW: Hmmm. We can probably match your online application materials… no, why don’t you go ahead and submit a regular paper application, with the personal statement and resume. Write a letter requesting the transfer and then attach those materials, along with the new ones. If you’ve looked at the website you probably know…
Me: *affirmative sounds*
AW: [boring]
Me: Sounds great. Thanks a lot. You were really helpful.
*hang up*

I do this all the time. I have conversations where I just nod and think I have all the information I could possibly need and then I hang up and realize how many more things I should have asked. I thought it was a language problem and that I only did in French. Not so.
1) you really can’t tell me the decision?
2) if I get news of the decision before I’ve sent in my transfer request, does that mean I’ve already applied to one program and can’t apply to the other?
3) what is WITH this annoying April 15 deadline?

Okay I wouldn’t really have asked her that last question, because obviously that’s not her decision. Anyway once she realized I was informed and not going to be rude she was very helpful. But I am still very, very confused about all this. I’m just going to send off my transfer request this week and figure that they’ll give me leeway since it’s them who made this weird April 15 deadline decision. (I know they’re trying to be nice since it’s a new program. But it makes my life more complicated, especially since UT already accepted me.) I’m not even sure I want to know whether I’ve been accepted or not to this other program that I don’t really want to do. So I’m not going to think about it. I’ve printed everything off (although I am almost out of black ink so I had to print in dark blue…) and addressed the envelope, now I just need to borrow someone’s stapler.

Other news: Went to see Paris this evening. It was quite good. Want to watch again. Other movies, such as The Savages, have come out in France and I hope they come here. I want to see this Ch’tis movie too. And the Jack Black/Mos Def/Michel Gondry movie. Hopefully it’ll come here in English.

Tomorrow I have my toe appointment. I hope to just be referred to a podiatrist. I hope the doctor takes the problem seriously. Also tomorrow I should really get some work done. I have a translation to finish and a bunch of lessons to plan.

And I went again today. I meant to just go look for scarves but I ended up buying completely different (and very cheap!) things. So now I’m going to post some sort of crummy pictures of them.

This is a strappy metal headband from H&M. I also bought bobby pins there but I suppose you know what those look like.

These are the gray shoes I love and that demonstrated to me once and for all that I need to get my feet looked at. Sigh. They are so cute. If I ever drive anywhere in my life ever again instead of walking endlessly on cobblestone streets they will be super useful.

This thing is kind of hard to explain and looks much better on. It’s from Promod. It’s a skirt, with straps that go up over the shoulders. I love it. The straps are a TINY bit too big, I think I am meant to have bigger boobs. Well screw that. Here is a closer picture:

It was 10 euros!

This was also 10 euros!

And here is a close-up:

It’s from Mexx, a store I go into all the time without buying anything because it’s right across the street from Andre (where the shoes are from).

Sorry for the erratic picture sizes. I don’t know how I made that skirt so tiny. I would fix it but my server is being way slow.

In other news, I still need someone to come to Tegan & Sara with me in Paris. This is an open call… the ticket is up for grabs. If you live in France and you like Tegan & Sara (or indie rock in general) let me know if you’re free on March 19!

I think I may have this. Fortunately I have none of these scary-sounding bumps and spurs. Anyway I have an appointment for Friday with the regular doctor so we’ll see what happens.

so far I bought CocoRosies La maison de mon r?™ve and that pair of shoes I’ve been ogling since, well, the crush started in November.

It’s very sunny today. One nice thing about being on the 4th floor (that’s really the 5th) of a building is that the sun seems to stay out longer.

I managed to get up at 10:30 for the second time in a row this week even without anything planned. This is unusual for me but I like this pattern.

I think D and I are going to see The Kite Runner this evening which I’m excited about. All the good American movies are finally coming here. And since I have nothing else planned for this vacation, I think I’m going to go see a lot of them.

My speakers seem to be having problems. It’s sad. They go all crackly and stop working for about two seconds every once in a while. Also I dropped my iPod on the pavement this week so that bodes badly. Last time I did that (with my old iPod) it stopped working two weeks later. They’re tricksy bastards.