ray of hope

Well I decided to overcome my fear and go find someone at the Rectorat to see about a position here. If people cancel or don't show up then they need people to cover those positions. According to past assistants a lot of people cancel at the last minute and they need someone.
At this point in time they need someone but in a town an hour away... But the guy was actually really nice and sounded hopefull for me, that he thinks there will be something next week (when everyone is officially supposed to have arrived by).

Here's to hoping.

pooped

I'm finally sitting down after a day of tutoring, wading through annoying lines at the uni trying to registrar (I'm officially a student though!) and trying to drop off my CV at different places.

Still have a load of things to do and it turns out that uni starts next week, I thought it was in a few weeks but oh well not like I really had plans next week.

On the upside I had my favorite chevre/spinich lasagne tonight. Yum.

tah dah!

Ok I made it back to Normandy, my 2 months of traveling around the globe have come to an end.

But I do have to say its nice to be home.

I got back to my little flat and have started on my amazingly long list of things to do...

1) grocery shopping (done!)
2) registrar at the university
3) GET A JOB
4) get a residency permit
5) boring stuff (bank, CAF, laundry...)

But to get my head cleared and my place feeling like mine I've just rearranged all my furniture (again) as I have a new couch its been a bit of a puzzle trying to fit things. Got my curtains up!But everything is all hooked up and I like the results. I think the best thing about going home was the HUGE pile of mail that was waiting for me! It seems like I never get mail (hint hint) so it was really fun to sort through all that (even though some were bills...).

So except for the job thing (hire me! please!) all is well over here. I'm back in the swing of things, meeting up with friends and enjoying being home.

Someone across the courtyard is making some sort of bread or cookies, it smells amazing, I might have to go make dinner now...!

Good to be back :)

Around the world in 3 hours

Went on a little day trip yesterday to the rainforest, yup here in Denmark! In a nearby town (Randers) there is a rainforest, actually 3 rainforests. There are 3 different greenhouse-type domes housing 3 different groups of rainforests, Africa, South America and Asia.

More the half of the animals there are not in cages but just leaping through the air, monkeys swinging from branch to branch, birds and butterflies zipping about it was all pretty amazing! We saw the tiniest primate on earth, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand! Course we couldn't touch them, wouldn't want to risk an Outbreak-type senario! But watched the guides feed gibbons, river otters, strange looking little dogs from south america, monster guinea pigs (yummy)... impressive! Who knew all that good fun existed in the northern part of Denmark?? haha

One of the best parts was the temperature, 25+ C and really humid, I really did feel like I had landed in the Amazon. When I get the pictures downloaded I'll post some, I think I got some great shots of animals I hadn't even heard of until yesterday.

Today we're off to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, then I've got tomorrow and then my flight/train ride home on Sunday! My 2 months of non-Normandy fun have sure flown by but I am excited to go back to my house (uhh, apartment), hang my new Ikea curtains, check my mail and catch up with friends.

smoke signals

So I thought I'd be a good houseguest by making breakfast. Frozen bagels that you pop into the microwave oven and presto-chango breakfast! So I asked how long the bagels go in there for, 10 minutes. So I stick those little suckers in there and put it on for 10 min...

Then it happened... I thought I smelled a bit of smoke but waved it off thinking they were just cooking... then the smoke alarm went off...

Running towards the kitchen I open the door and was hit with a wall of yellow-bagel-scented smoke. Spent the next 30 minutes or so airing out the smoke, watching billows of it drift down the street, and checking the oven for damage. Fortunetly there were no flames, just massive amounts of that yellow smoke, and 2 black-hockey-puck bagels sitting there.

My hair still reaks of the stuff, oh well, the house didn't burn down and we are off to the grocery store to buy some oven cleaner. Opps my bad.

away but here

Well I'm still around here in Denmark but havn't been posting as there is nothing too exciting or revolutionary going on. I've just been hanging out, cooking, going on walks, knitting etc... But all is well and enjoying myself, its good to be on vacation!
Will be back laters ;)

ps the picture is of a typical danish dinner (hamburger, potatoes, onions and sauce - yummy!)

valhalla and banana skum

Greetings from Denmark!!

Been having great fun lounging around, watching Danish cartoons depicting the Norse gods and eating chocolate-covered banana-flavored marshmallows(that would be the skum I'm refering to in the title)! Can it get any better than that? I don't think so!

The wind was blowing today but we managed to make it out of the house for a few hours to explore downtown. Got some new tea (vanilla and bailey's flavored yum!) Its been great to just veg and watch tv, all the tv here is subtitled and not dubbed and its mostly American. So... I've been catching up on a couple years of American tv: Oprah, Gilmore Girls, ER, CSI and even managed an episode of Desperate Housewives which I've heard tons about but had never seen.

Taking off this weekend to visit my friend's parents in a nearby city, lots more eating good food and hanging out. This is what vacation is all about!

travels travels

Been a while since I posted because I've basically been go go go non-stop since my last post. I went to Paris and then did a mad dash through the airport to catch a train to St Etienne for my ex-roomie's wedding. Managed to make it there on time after changing clothes on the train and heading straight there WITH all my luggage. Dined on tajine and danced "fest-noz meets Marrakesh" until the wee hours of the morning. I managed not to fall asleep in my soup so that was a big accomplishment! The next day was brunch with the wedding party then I decided that the town was really not that interesting on a Sunday so I went a bit earlier to Lyon.

I stayed in Lyon with another friend from university for 2 nights, she did an excellent job showing me the city and I totally feel in love, it is sooooo beautiful there. I need to explore other regions of France more often!! So after caramel ice cream, butter-colored houses and two beautiful rivers I was back on the train to Paris. Stayed the night and then this morning caught a flight to Denmark to visit a friend. I'll be here for 10 days but apparently missed the good weather as it is WINDY and blowing rain.... oh well there is always vegging in front of the tv!

So I hope whoever is reading this is doing well. I'll try to update more often but between the øø's and ææ's it takes a bit of time! Might try to get some pictures up too but that will probably end up being when I get back home to Normandy! But leave me some comments and I'll check in often!

Gyoza and Karma

Well I'm back from a fabulous trip down to Oregon to visit old friends at my former university. I had a fantastic time exploring old grounds and seeing new construction at the campus. I meet up with wonderful friends (some I hadn't seen in 4 years!), had lots of coffee at the Bistro, sunshine and long talks.

I stayed with a friend at her house and talked, watched movies and made 49 gyoza (Japanese potstickers) by hand!

Then on my way back home I stopped in Portland to see another friend who was flying in, we had lunch and I had my karma for the day. I couldn't find my sunglasses when I left that morning but when I was sitting on a bench in the mall waiting to meet for lunch someone had left a pair of sunglasses! Very nice ones, so I sat and watched them for about 25 minutes but no one came to claim them, finders keepers, loosers weepers I guess. The moral of the story is that I have new sunglasses! Cha-ching!

Anyway to keep things short I'm in the middle of packing, flying back to Paris tomorrow morning and have a million little things to do before leaving the house at 6:30am tomorrow! I'd better get crackin'!

I'll be in and around the next few weeks before getting settled again back in my appt around the 25th, so stop by if you get a chance :) Post some comments! They are fun to read.
Wish me bon voyage... :)

sweetness

So we are celebrating my little sister's 21st birthday today (one of the last nights before she heads back to school and I go back to France).

I got to make the cake!

Go Duncan Hines! Made a light and fluffy chocolate cake and then put razzzberry jam and cream cheese frosting between the 2 layers before adding dark chocolate frosting alllll over. This is the pre-candle shot though, ended up putting all those candles plus doing some decoration on the top. Good fun, I'm actually really happy about making the cake because I've been wanting to do some overly-sugary-american-baking since I've been back but Mom dosn't like sweet things around the house. Great excuse :)

So we had a wonderful sushi dinner out at the local sushi bar then back home for presents and cake. I'm stuffed! A little sugar high too ;) guess thats why I'm up late but its all good. Fun night with the family.

Basically I'm trying to get ready, I've only really got 2 more full days at home because I'm off on a little road trip to Oregon for 3 days next week. Got my little list of things to do but mainly I want to really learn how to drive a stick. I'd be nice to be able to rent cars in France. So anyway then I'll come home from OR, madly pack and then I'll jet off again! The adventure begins again...

my soapbox

(*edit: for those of you that have been asking me, I'm no where near the flooding, I'm in the Northwest near Seattle...)

I'm sitting here watching BBC World on Canadian TV (thank god we get real news!) and they are daring to say what us Americans won't... that what is going on in New Orleans SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING! We have the capabilities to prevent what is going on but instead we took our budget surplus and are chasing phantoms emptying the bank. The rich got out of the danger in pleanty of time but what about the rest? The ones who barely had anything to begin with, spending days in horrible third-world conditions only to be sent to Texas where they will have even less with no chance to rebuild their lives. Bodies floating, disease spreading, people stealing guns and starting riots because they are deprived of basic human needs.

A historic city has been lost when the technology exists to have prevented not only the loss of the city but loss of thousands of lives it makes me sick. It makes me sick that we are now complaning of gas prices when we pay at least 1/3 less than most Western countries pay in normal conditions. Maybe in a horrible way this will teach people a lesson, help out, take public transportation... somehow I doubt it.

Ask me why I'm not living here, this is why, I just can't handle the way things are done in my home. Yes there are good things, sure the US news plays wonderful heartwarming stories of volunteer actions and sacrifices but overall I'm at a loss for words. Play the reality in its entirety.

My heart goes out for those in New Orleans that lost their homes, their loved ones and those still stuck there.