Hallelujah

On the previously stated rainy day in Saint-Etienne, the internet cut out.  They finally have it working, so here I am.
The funny thing about the French is that they never do more work than what is required of them.  For example, re-setting the wireless router.  The guy at the desk, Franc, said that a technician had to come in to check it out.  This way, the internet guy has a paying job and gets to do work. I guess it's a mutual respect for each other in this economy, or their desire not to do more than they need to.  The important thing is we have internet, and everyone got paid.
On Tuesday, there was a strike picketing the retirement age.  Evidently, there may be another at the end of the month.  Randy was telling me that a few years ago, the students at Jean Monnet picketed and there wasn't class for a month.  Here are my thoughts if that happens (which it may because everyone else is picketing)
1. E-mail Dr. Morrissey and tell her the situation and pray that I can still get credits.
2. Travel the heck out of my time here.  Seriously, can you imagine the kind of adventures I could have if I didn't have class for a month, am surrounded by beautiful countryside, and have nearly unlimited means of transportation?
3. Some serious shopping.  My poor chacos feel so out of place here! As does my green stripey bag. I guess I'll just have to succumb to the fact that I am in one of the most fashionable countries in the world and act accordingly. Oh darn.

Today was a good day.  I finally had class!  Am I such a nerd for enjoying that?  Yes.  And I'm okay with that.  I was placed in the advanced level, and it seems really good.  We spent half of the morning filling in the blanks to a song.  It was a little challenging because we had to think about the correlation to the beginning of the line as well as look at the rhyme from the previous line.  The song was, naturally, a love song and it had the basic message of "You are the ___ and I'm the ____".  As in, you are the tea and I'm the glass, you are the racket and I'm the ball.  The strangest ones though, were "You are the marijuana, and I'm the joint" and "You are the butt and I'm the chair".  Normally, I would not consider that to me romantic terminology.  But, hey.  That's just me.  After class, Chelsey, Meagan, Laura and I went to have lunch at the Resto-U (the cafeteria) and met some of Chelsey and Megan's friends from elsewhere in Europe.  After that, I found my way to one of the many bus stops and got on to go to the Moyer's.  People here are honestly so nice!  I couldn't tell what stop we were at, and didn't know how many until my own.  I asked a woman next to me who didn't understand what I was saying in entirety.  So, I asked the guy across from me, and he said he would tell me when I had to get off.  So, I got to read a chapter in "Three Cups of Tea", listen to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and then got off and met Randy.  It was so nice to spend an afternoon in a house!  Randy and I spent most of the afternoon talking about things at church and how things were going.  (If I haven't mentioned before, Randy is one of the pastors at my church)  He also let me borrow The Sound Of Music, so I will be happily watching part of that tonight.  I am very blessed to have found such great people.  When I got back to my dorm, I made a dinner (not very French, though) of scrambled eggs and bread with jam.  Don't worry, I'll get a baguette after class tomorrow.  Sometime, I really should get on the whole French food thing.  Maybe I'll play with some cooking tomorrow.  Who knows?
Matt and Dad got safely to London, and I was able to skype with them for about an hour tonight, which was lovely.  I'm really looking forward to tomorrow!  I think I may even spend the weekend here exploring the town a little bit.  Maybe Charlotte (my British friend) will want to meander around town with me.  Et pour maintenant, c'est tout.  Bon soiree!