dog days

semaine de merde = week of shit.

rain.
job stress (turns out english speaking pr service may not be as fruitful as we'd hoped)
ordinateur en casse' (computer's broken)
more rain.

i am convinced next week will be better. monday, june 21st is a national celebration in france...fete de la musique! there are concerts happening everywhere across france (and in lyon of course). my friends and i are going to one called "dream & bass" (wicked drum n bass) from aout 5pm-1am. should be fun! i hope the weather holds up.

on tuesday, i will get my computer back from the shop - thank god!!! although my roomate is letting me use hers, i feel weird and naked without my own. it's my only connection to home and it's necessary for my job. on tuesday evening, i am visiting a flat in le vieux lyon. it's a shared flat with one other girl. it's on the fifth floor (no lift) but according to my friend marie, it is gorgeous and ever so french. it is super close to the st. jean cathedral which is incredibly beautiful. vieux lyon is my favourite area of the city - sooo charming. however if it turns out i don't like the flat, marie has kindly offered to help me find one somewhere else. ideally, i'd like to have my own place...i will keep you all updated.

as for the job, my boss assures me our plan is still the same - for me to be in lyon one year. there is even a possibility (if things go well) that i could offer a similar service in germany next year...just an idea at this point. we are both open to it. wouldn't that make little miss europe...!?

i lost seven pounds in my first month here. must be all the walking/stairs.

love and miss everyone at home.

june!

sorry to any and all of you who actually read my blog! i've totally put it on the backburner lately. why? because lyon is so awesome and i am busy doing cool french things!!!

my french lessons are going well, though i was sad to say goodbye to some of my classmates who had to go back to their normal lives. on their last day of class, we went to le vieux lyon for a little class field trip - i truly love that area of the city! our teacher + me and my roomate and two other girls went for a drink at my favourite little bouchon - the same one i posted pictures of before "let petit glouton." after our teacher left, we stayed for dinner and i ordered the exact same meal as last time! i constantly crave salade lyonnais and saucissons chaud!!!

right now, our class is 60% korean people + two aussies and me. this week we've been learning lots of vocabulary, such as foods/food groups, kitchen stuff (cutlery, appliances, etc). learning the difference between using le/la/les and un/une/des etc etc can be a little confusing. good ol' masculine and feminine nonsense...yesterday we learned about some french holidays (religious, civil and modern). the french are big on celebrating music (this is good news for me). on june 21, "la fete de la musique" is celebrated across the whole country. anyone from an amateur to a professional musician basically has the right to play or sing outside anywhere they want. cool beans! i am also excited for january 4th because it is the "l'epiphanie" and we will get to eat cake! at the bottom of the cake are little plastic figurines of either a king (roi) or queen (reine). VIVRE LE ROI!

last weekend, i had a blast with my new friend, lorraina (from arizona). i had her over to my flat for a big breakfast feast...tropical fruit salad, eggs, brioche with butter and jam, camembert, loads of french press coffee and OJ...this got us fueled up for some shopping! since my flat is so centrally located, we didn't even have to take transit to the rue de republique (big outdoor shopping area). i needed to get some comfortable sandals and an umbrella. mission accomplished. i also left with two cute tops from H&M ;) afterwards, we decided to go check out le vieux lyon. we came across an awesome medieval festival...lots of cool dancers and merchandise to buy. instead we bought a fresh samosa for one euro. we ran into an épicerie (general store that sells liquor) and bought big cans of beer. mine was 11.6% alcohol - only two euros - best buy of the day! then we took the funiculare up to the fourvière (giant basilica that overlooks all of lyon). it was incredible....i got a view of the whole city in all its glory. apparently it's ten times as beautiful at night. after we had our fill, we bought some bread and my new addiction - boursin. we have it in canada but it tastes so much better with french bread! we sat down by the river, drank our beers and stuffed our faces full of bread and cheese. french life is my favourite. later, we went back to my house...i made another feast (spaghetti, greek salad, olives, wine, etc)...around midnight, we met up with our german friend, steffen back in le vieux lyon. we had a drink at the james joyce pub. by this time, it was after 2am...i thought the night was over...but lorraina's friends knew of this club on a quiet little street...they knocked on the door and a bouncer opened the door and let us in. i felt like i was in a spy movie or something! we danced there until 4am. i walked home after, not feeling the horrible blisters my new sandals had produced on my feet until the next morning. i slept until 3pm the next day. so much for going to mass at st. jean cathedral!

i had my first week of english coaching. i administered a quiz to assess the students' current english comprehension, then on tuesday i taught a lesson on telephone etiquette. on wednesday, i taught a lesson called "what's the status?" - it was all about client communications and status reporting. i do the coaching over skype for half an hour every day. it's a lot of work to plan it out but it's a good challenge. three of the students (my co-workers) are german and the other two are french (here in lyon). they seem very receptive to it and my boss seems happy with my approach so far.

one funny thing: i made a tuna salad sandwich and got my french roomate to try it for the first time. she wrinkled her nose while i was making it, but she ate the whole thing and said it was "so good." it was a damn good sandwich (put it on a fresh french baguette). it tasted a bit like home.

the weather here has been lovely...but will get HOT very soon. on sunday it's supposed to be +30.

this weekend, i will go see a drum n' bass show in villerbanne (area near lyon). the trio is called "aquasky" and they are from the UK. wes introduced me to their music.

i miss everyone dearly and will be sending out some postcards soon!

more adventures

after playing in lyon for one week, it was time to get down to business. i started my intensive french course at lyon bleu international on monday. i was placed in the total idiot beginner class (A1) with about seven other students (from korea, germany, brazil, california and scotland). our teacher, alexandra, is very young and thankfully, very patient. she teaches frenchin french, which i'm sure is the best way to learn, though it is a major headache at the end of the day. we study vocabulary, phonetics and grammar. so far, i'm diggin' it. on break from class the other day, i tasted my first french pastry - pain de chocolat for 0.90EUR...it melted in my mouth. there are really no words to describe how delicious it was! i enjoy my walk to and from class - lots of great window shopping and beautiful views. it doesn't get old.

i've met some really nice people over the few weeks. for example, one day i was trying to find a friend's house but ended up getting a little bit lost. i went into a deli to ask for directions. there was a couple and their young son in line - so i asked them if knew of the street i was looking for. they didn't know it, but it turns out the man is a taxi driver and he offered to plug the address into his GPS. we went back to his car and while he was plugging it in, i chatted with his wife, telling her i'm a canadian in lyon studying french. she identified with me as she had spent some time in london studying english...she remembered how terrifying it was to be lost in a new city. the driver invited me to get in because the destination was very close and he said he'd take me there. when we stopped, i offered him 5 EUR but he refused - he just gave me his business card and said to call him when i need a cab! (i surely will!) SO kind. i find most people here to be quite accommodating so long as they can tell you are trying to communicate in french. (i always tell them i'm a a canadian!)

on tuesday, my friend marie had me over to her flat to watch a movie. i met her boyfriend and her french bulldog, tama. tama was my best friend by the end of the night. it was nice to be around a dog again - a cute thing to love and cuddle! plus tama is HILARIOUS. she is so snuffly and snorty...cracks me up!

it was +20 the other day so i decided to wear shorts and flip flops. as i walked to class, i noticed french men and women wearing jackets, boots and scarves. it was HOT, wtf! i felt like a bit of an idiot the rest of the day...hopefully the french bust out their summer wardrobes soon so i don't look so stupid in comparison. (they are such snappy dressers here!)

i visited le vieux lyon last weekend (the old part of lyon). it is indescribably beautiful...truly french - a huge cathedral, men making crepes in the street, beautiful patisseries and boulangeries, fancy jewellery shops, cobble stone streets...just what you'd imagine france to be. we stopped in for petit dejuner at a little bouchon. i almost ordered brains by accident, haha...thank god for my korean friends and their little electronic dictionaries! i ended up getting salade lyonnais (bed of lettuce, sprinkled with ham, croutons and topped with an egg) and then sauccissons (sausage) in this amazing sauce, green beans and potato au gratin. we shared a bottle of wine from the rhône valley (only 8 EUR!). for this gourmet meal, all i paid was 20 EUR. probably the best 20 EUR i've ever spent :) anyone who comes to visit me in lyon - prepare yourself for a wonderful experience in le vieux lyon!

well, i meet my new boss tonight. i am not sure what our plan is but i think our team is going for dinner somewhere. i am a bit nervous as i've worked and conversed with him for almost two years, yet have not met face-to-face before! it will be good to finally put a face to a name. wish me luck...

les nuits sonores

a crazy fun night!!! i met up with a new acquaintance (julien) and some of his friends. we partied at his flat until about midnight and then made our way to the venue (la marché gare). EVERYONE SMOKES! almost all of them hand-roll their cigarettes with lucky strike tobacco. we drank in the streets (not even concealing the bottles or anything...and i didn't see even one cop!) hundreds of lyonnais youth came out of the woodwork, dominating the streets. we all hopped on the tube (which was packed)...everyone was screaming and clapping with excitement- banging on the windows, "ALLEEEE ALLLEEE!" when we finally got to the venue, we were packed like sardines in the queue. after a long wait, we got in and went directly to the stage where HOT CHIP was playing. i've been to some intense concerts in my life but i don't think i've ever been in such a crazy crowd! the lyonnais youth know how to party! after hot chip finished their set, we went to get drinks (most of which ended up getting spilled) and went directly to see BOOKA SHADE (my favourite german DJ duo). they put on an incredible show. i hung onto tom and emma (new pals) for dear life! i was grateful to have them looking out for me all night. i didn't get to bed until about 5 am, but it was SO worth it! see photos and video below!

safe & sound in lyon

what a day!!!

saying goodbye to mom and dad was gut-wrenching....probably the hardest part of the whole day. i also experienced major airport drama and stress. first off,my plane was delayed nearly three hours. luckily i found a nice german girl from berlin to talk to, which really passed the time. i was amused that she was exciting about attaining sleeping pills like nytol. (apparently you have to get a prescription for them in germany!) she was also bringing back bagels for her friends, haha..BAGELS? she gave me her email address and said if i ever come to berlin that she would show me around.

once i got on the plane to frankfurt, the flight wasn't so bad...impossible to get comfortable though! i slept for about eight seconds during the 9.5 hour flight. luckily i was seated next to another delightful german woman who is writing her PhD thesis. we had a good chat. she had a similar experience abroad when she was young: she moved to newfoundland for one year and stayed with a family. she said it's hard at first, but then you get into a groove and all becomes well.

our plane was late arriving and therefore, i had about five minutes to get to my gate to board the flight to lyon...but there were a zillion security checks and lineups preventing me from getting to my gate on time. i was not impressed to find that i had to wait another 2.5 hours for the next flight. i had to call veronica (my host) to let her know i was going to be late. luckily she was very kind about it and agreed to meet me four hours later than intended. i also called my parents collect and cried! after that i napped for a little while on a bench of sorts which was sorely needed. the flight from frankfurt to lyon was quick, only about an hour. i listened to my ipod and dozed.

once i got to lyon, i learned that one of my bags was 'missing'. my spidey sense told me this was going to happen! luckily i got ONE of the two bags...this one has my toiletries in it so at least i will be clean. veronica kindly washed my clothes so i have something clean to wear tomorrow. right now i am looking pretty fashionable in a bathing suit top and shorts! but back to the lyon airport where i dealt with a major french asshole. he argued with me that he gave me a bus ticket when i know damn well he didn't. i went to the info desk to complain, saying i was not getting what i paid for and they did nothing...totally useless. can't say i'm shocked though.

i met a nice lady on the bus from the airport on my way to meet veronica...we chatted almost entirely in french. i was surprised at how much french came back to me. it was fun! i look forward to getting better and better at conversing.

the place i'm staying looks so french!! my bedroom faces the rhone river and i have huge double windows! i will take some photos soon to show you. tomorrow is the electronica/indie music festival, "les nuits sonores". a very nice acquaintance and his girlfriend are letting me tag along. i will see the dj duo booka shade, whom i love!!! i hope i can stay awake for it as they don't start their set til 1 AM. eeek.

time for me to pack it in for the evening...am pretty zonked.

thank you to everyone for your prayers, kind words and encouragement!

au revoir!

tomorrow is the big day...last night i had a goodbye party with my friends at ducky's pub in calgary (karaoke bar). i was touched to see how many people came out to see me off! i'm definitely feeling a whole slew of emotions now that the day has come. i'm trying to be tough but i'm pretty sure that i won't be so tough tomorrow at the airport.