last night i met up with l. from school (he's an english teacher in training) and his girlfriend a. and all of her english-studying students from the university. the two of them set up a conversation group at an irish pub called kilberry's every other weds. i couldn't believe how much english i heard. i felt like i was at a pub in england. it was pretty cool and the drinks were cheap. h. from los angeles showed up as did her friends from school f. and i. (h's new french boyfriend showed up too. i don't think she's into him as much as he's into her. he's only 22 and so desperately wants to communicate with her in english. so he was practicing last night, too.)
i ended up talking with some students and eventually talked with f. and i., who both turned out to be so fucking cool. f. speks engish wonderfully and actually studied one year at chapel hill so he has this ease about him when he speaks in english and immediately he cut the crap and started having a real conversation with me. one of his first questions was, "so, what the fuck do you want to do with your life?" to which i answered, "do you have a few hours?" i knew right then and there we'd be friends.
f. is studying to be a teacher but doesn't really know if that's what he wants to do. he "majored" in english and it seems to be the same in france as in america--- most engish majors teach. so we talked about that and god and smoking (he's a smoker, i'm not) etc. his girlfriend, i., is from portugal and totally gorgeous and they just looked like they matched together, you know? they looked like they belonged.
eventually, the five of us (sorry for the use of initials instead of names!!!) went out for dinner at about 9:30 after it totally stopped piss raining. my first thunderstorm in reims. dinner was wicked fun but by then i was dog tired and hungry and thirsty and tired of the smoke (although i am slowly getting used to smokiness, much to my relief and chagrin), so i left about about 10:50.
tonight, though, i. invited me to an art opening at 6 pm in town, which is where i'm headed. i have two classes tomorrow morning at 8 and 9; then l. and i are going to the sous prefecture for my visa thing. wish me luck; the french are full of red tape and are notoriously cranky when it comes to government stuff.
Comments (1)
When I used to come back from (ahem) concerts, I would always be surprised at how smoky my clothes smelled, even the next morning. Blah. Everything I was wearing went straight to the laundry bag, with no arguments.
I can't imagine that I'd be as used to it now, ironically.
Posted by pjm | octobre 21, 2004 5:18 PM
Posted on octobre 21, 2004 17:18