Apartment set up

I've been staying in my apartment for the last 2 nights and for a place at a school, its actually pretty big. it has 2 bedrooms (i took the biggest one the fartherst away) which is connected by a hall. in the same hall is the shower - with no toilet cuz its europe and the toilet is in a FREAKING closet!!! and i took a shower yesterday and halfway thru the water went cold so i couldnt wash my hair. and i tried to have one this morning but the water is cold, so im gonna have to ask the enlgish teacher. oh yea and i used the washer last night and its kinda funky i shut my clothes in and started the wash but then wanted to add something else in, but the door is sealed shut, you can't even get in if u wanted. and another weird thing is that when the wash was done i opened it up and the clothes were sooooooaked hahahaha thzere was a puddle of water practically. and since there is not dryer, u have to hang them up on this drying rack in front of the heater - so it takes prolly a day to do your laundry but i think im getting the hang of it. plus i might have put the washer on the wrong setting cuz i don't know what the heck 'lavage' ment - apparently not regular wash! anyway my apartment is nice besides that, ive set up fifa and been playing a lot. also walked into the city yesterday and realized its not that small. i check out this huge cathedral, and walked around the town. i wanted to find a pub with a tv so i could watch liverpool but i doubted they would have it on. i really cant wait until the american comes tho cuz my apartment is kinda quiet and big for just one person. tho i have made a coulpe trips to the store so far and oooommmmgggg i love french food. i bought three different cheeses, 2 bottles of wine, a 10 pack of beer, 3 piZZas, yogurt, coffee, baguettes, some ham, pasta man and the store isn't too overpiced. but the best part of all is that i can eat at the high school and for only 2.50 euros per meal!!!! i got the student rate instead of the teacher's and so i can have lunch and dinner there if i want to. andrea (the englsih teacher) recommended i do that cuz think how much money i could save. if all i had to buy from the supermarkets was breakfast and food (and of course beer/wine) on the weekends, i could save close to 500 euros a month which would be GREAT for traveling. anyway thats it for now - seems like its gonna take some time for me to get phone, internet, and bank set up cuz they still havent processed all the papers.


My Bedroom in the apartment!

I'm in lisieux right now at the high school on the schools computer:: man this keyboard is funky! anyway i have an apartment set up which is pretty nice and another americqn assistqnt is coming on the 30th - a guy from washington (zhitman) named cecil. i don't start for another week, so i've been relaxin in the apartment (i borught my ps2 lol, and have been buying cheese, wine, pain au chocolats,) but i cant get fat so im gonna start running and playing soccer as soon as possible.

Unfortuqntely i won't be able to skype or aim until i get internet in my apartment but that could take some time (french are very picky ... papers and bureaucracy!!!!). I can email and facebook a little until then. That's all for now. I will post the phone number and other contact info when the papers get processed!

First days in Normandy

Picture of the Normandy countryside from the train window


Philippe (the dad) took me on a bike ride around the countryside, i took about one hour and was kinda intense, as we mountain biked on these small roads, up hills, through trees. It was nice though. It's kinda tough though cuz I can't really communicate everything I want to without messing up a ton. He tries a little in english but prefers french definetely. Last night I went to Kevin's (the son) handball game. Its really popular over here for some reason, have you heard of it? It's kinda a weird combination between basketball and soccer, but played indoors, 6 people on each team, and they have goals they you shoot on only you use your hands. except its crazy physical, people hold on you down, use their nails it seems, and push you to the floor - there is a lot of falling over. anyway that was interesting. and i guess everyone here in lisieux is WAY into it, cuz there was this national handball girls team of lisieux and wewent to see that game today. i got in free which was sweet cuz being american, but i don't know why the others would want to pay 2-3 euros each to watch it lol, it gets boring after a while. Anyway, now I'm back to the house for my last night in the teacher's house, before setting up in the apartment at the school. I'm excited to cook and live by myself for pretty much the first time! especially with all this great french food I can buy just a block away. And I'm looking forward to the arrival of another American assistant from Washington (i think) who will be living with me in the flat. Thank god for another anglophone! That's it for now. Time for some more pics...


View from the backyard (nice swimming pool).



This is the famous Basilique. It's huge! have to check it out

Paris, 1st blog

Me in front of le Louvre!

I've been in France for 2 nights now. The first night I stayed in paris at a youth hostel for pretty cheap. I was pretty tired due to the jet lag, but since I arrived to paris in the morning and because it was PARIS, i forced myself to tour the city a bit and saw all the things all the tourists see - eiffel tower, notre dame, le louvre, arc de triomphe. I usually used the metro to get between places, but when i couldn't find a station anywhere between notre dame and the eiffel tower so i started walking. On the map, it didn't look like that far, but i soon found out how far it really was. My legs were SOO tired when I finally reached the eiffel tower, that I had to rest and buy a drink. Buying a drink at the eiffel tower was not the best idea - 3 Euros (5 dollars) for the smallest bottle of water you can imagine!!!!!! ah well. Anyway, I got back to the hostel and slept for a while, before I went to get some dinner with my roomate at the hostel. And guess where we went for dinner? of all the fine restaurants to eat at in paris, we chose - McDonalds! hahhahaha my mom would have killed me. But who can resist a 5 Euro dinner with so much food, when everywhere is twice as expensive for half the quantity. I had a beer at night in the hostel bar, then took the train the next morning for Lisieux, Normandy. The scenery from the train window was pretty amazing - it went from packed apartments in Paris, to open grassy fields with a LOT of COWS in normandy. The English teacher picked me up from the station, and invited me to stay at her house for the weekend which is where I am right now. They are a nice family, and because she is the English teacher at the high school (and from England) it's quite nice that I can communicate fairly easily. Anyways that's it for now.

My room at the hostel in Paris.

Thought this was cool to find in Paris. Home away from home.











And a photo of the house in the countryside I am staying at for the weekend....