Missing my "Old" Buddy.

So I rented a DVD but found that when my computer killed itself it also killed my DVD player and I do not have a disk for it. It came with my computer I guess because I didn't buy it. Now I have a DVD and no way to watch it tonight, as the TV is occupied. Guess I'll sort it out tomorrow. But I need to fix this before I leave for France!

Today was also a bit nerve-twisting. I received a message from another girl, Kirsten, going to Montpellier with me about housing. In our first email from our International Services person, Jacques, he wrote about our stipends and housing: "Housing is paid by Monique + stipend of 260 euros/month on your bank account (I can "pre-open" it if you give me a copy of your passport showing the visa stamp). The students must confirm their booking on line (by June)."

And thus, I thought it was about money not housing because Jacques is talking about money in this bullet point, non? But alas, Kirsten thought it might be about housing, which makes a lot more sense as you can't exactly get a bank account up and running without being there (or maybe you can with this pre-open deal? not sure how that works). So we both panicked a bit! I called her and we talked about it and I reassured her that ISEP is in a contract to give us housing and that this will be fulfilled. I said it really to more convince myself it was going to work out.

We talked for a while about our jitters and our plans, what we're bringing and if we should meet at the train station and go to the school together. After a while, and probably using all of my minutes for the month, I hung up a bit more confident of my French skills and ready to get going. If Ben Molini can go to France for a semester with very little French, I can do it with eight years of learning.

I messaged all the people I know going to Montpellier and got a call from Mayra and she told me she once emailed Jacques about it and never got a reply. Meanwhile I have two emails out to Jacques about things he hasn't replied to yet so I asked her when she sent it and it was shortly after we got our first email, sometime in late May. Also, he had replied to other emails she sent about other questions.

So my thinking is that it isn't important, we still have housing and also that Jacques possibly made a mistake and is ignoring it so he doesn't have to live up to it. By the culture books I've buried myself in this summer it seems about right for what a lot of researchers say about French reactions to mistakes. For one, you don't say, "I'm sorry" when you make a simple mistake but rather "Pardon."

Anyway, moving on to better things. Well, at least more interesting than my mindless worries!

I found out today that the winemakers in the Montpellier region are on strike and as it turns out, a pretty violent one by American standards, though I think normal ones for the French. I'm not sure when harvest time is for grapes for wine but shouldn't they be picking rather than striking?

Also, I found a pretty nifty thing on Assistants in France, a nice little forum of English language assistants going to France talking about French things and preparing to go teach, someone posted about a podcast about French Idioms.

http://www.katiaandkyliemac.com/
I'm listening to all of their "Learn French" ones, which about idioms, but they also have two others, one about travel and another that talks about random words.

At this point I'm writing out of books to read about France. I mean, a lot of them are exactly the same. "Oh poor me, I'm moving to retire/marry a sexy Frenchman/hang out in France. How will I ever adapt?!?" And then through a lot of awkward moments and Anti-Frog sentiment they come to love their new home. Yes, this is probably what this blog will get to but at least this is for people who actually might know me and therefore have a personal connection. I don't know these random author's little tweaks so these books get a little old after a while.

I am still shying away from history, which is bad I know as I know very little about French history. But even so, I'm not interested in history in English. So reading French history (in English as the French versions are very expensive) is not exactly my idea of fun. And there is a grammar book sitting at my side waiting to be worked on. Shame on me.

Now, back to listening to two lovely Anglo-Francophones!