Frog Blog

there was a big teacher/staff/everyone-is-invited shindig last night here at school called an "amicale." just an excuse for everyone to get together, share some pizza and champagne, talk shop. the other assistants and i went and had a good time. i met the husband of a spanish teacher and he wanted to practice his english and i was ok with that.

later i met up with h. from los angeles, s. from boston, r. from missouri and e. from england. they were just finishing dinner when i met them at the restaurant (i'd already eaten) and we later piled into a U-shaped booth at a bar called the glue pot in the center of town. it was nice; s. from boston talks really loud (and always seems to be talking) but r. from missouri is crazy fun and later t-bo (h's new french boyfriend) showed up so r. and t-bo talked about shit in french. e. from england is only 20 years old but super sweet; we ended up taking the same bus home at about 11:30.

the bar was fun and divey and dim and smoky and not too loud and had red vinyl chairs and dark walls. i got home at about 11:45 and hit the sack and slept hard, but damned if the shirt i was wearing didn't smell like smoke the whole night, infusing my dreams with nicotine. i finally got up at about 3:30 and tossed it into my shower room so i wouldn't have to smell it anymore.

i only had a small beer last night but i think all the smoke really got to me. god, i hate how i smell after a night out, esp. if i've just washed my clothes. ah well.

i slept in today until about 9, which was nice. had one class and just had lunch.

i'm glad i went out last night; glad it was a smaller group so we could all talk to each other, glad to not sit around my apt. i think i may go to this english speaking get-together tonight with some of the younger english teachers in reims... we'll see what pans out.

it was also cool last night to not talk about school, or the students, or france in general; we all just talked about other shit which was a nice change of pace.