When I look back on my year in L'Isle sur la Sorgue...well let's just say I think I'll be rocking some metropolitan areas for awhile! Little towns would be nice if I had a family and a job/career and was looking to 'settle down,' but as a 23 yr old unattached adventure-seeker...well, I've found some adventures here, I suppose.
A favorite moment was last Saturday, showing a big group of friends around my town, and running into not 1 but 2, er, 'exes.' I see students I know on the street, at the pool, in the store, and what's worse, they see me, and feel the need to inform me that over the weekend they saw me by the river, or in Avignon, or running. I love being a celebrity with the town's under-12 population, but I always feel awkward when they explain to their parents who the stranger is they're saying 'hello' to.
And what would life be without a randy old PE teacher who tells sexually explicit jokes and all but propositions me, even though I've met his son and teach his grandson? At least he's cute, (retired pro soccer player!) and not creepy, like another teacher who always insists on giving me the slowest gooiest 3 kisses in greeting whenever he sees me, and then crows about how great it is to kiss me. Blech! HE looks like a bad guy in a cartoon: bald with a Hitler moustache, no joke. Would it be completely over the line for me to invite PE teacher out for a drink? I could say it's to celebrate his upcoming retirement this June...Annette, what's wrong with this picture? Or rather, how many things can you find that are wrong with this picture?
Then there was the awkward, never-ending, 'surprise' Tupperware party I attended...'just some friends getting together to make a meal' should apparently be read as ' 6+ hours of Tupperware HELL' from now on. Thank goodness my town has a bar! The sole bar in town, which I was explaining to some random French guy today that I know quite well. Last Friday night I saw a random American friend there with some guy she'd just picked up (who just got out of prison, no joke, though I don't know what for...), and left a note for the barkeep, which, being drunk, probably sounded a bit more explicit than I intended. Oops! ;)
I've also got to give props to my American friends just a short train-ride away in the 'big city' of Avignon. If I didn't have them to escape to, I probably would have cracked long ago. Last weekend included a Eurovision watching party (I voted for Germany, but Norway won...with good reason...I can't get that song out of my head even if I wanted to!), the most delicious picnic I've ever eaten (spicy olives, amazing goat cheese with pepper, fresh baguette, and cherries 3x as big as any other cherry I've ever seen in my life), and slaloming the Pont d'Avignon in a kayak with Steve, for free! I just went into my property manager's office today (whose daughter works at one of the schools I work at...did I mention it was a small town?) to figure out what I need to do in a little over a month to get out of here. Sad day! I know I'm going to miss this place...it's great to be adored by kids and their grandfathers alike!
I've been thinking alot lately about where my next adventure will be...who knows? Hopefully something will present itself! Until then, I'm cooking for myself (tonight was chicken, onions, broccoli in a white wine + herbes de Provence 'sauce'); making the most of random Catholic holidays (this weekend it's Ascension? Does that sound right? On the agenda: chill at swanky Olympic-sized private pool/lounge, eat hippy food, attend concert in the park, party with friends, make an appearance or two at the bar, among other things...); racking up credit card debt like I won't have to pay it off (and who knows? Maybe I won't...maybe the good Lord will call me back to be with him before I have to deal with that!); and SLEEPING!
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