Right now I am really tired, really happy, and really old...haha well the last part is not true but it is always funny to have birthdays. I just came back from going camping in the Chartreuse mountains. It was a really cool (cold even) way to spend a birthday. We have been planning to summit the Grand Som of the Chartreuse for awhile now, and today it finally happened.
I'll right the rest of the story tomorrow but just wanted to say that overall I had a really great birthday. Many people thought it was really weird to go into the mountains for my birthday. Yet I think of it as something truly special. Pictures have been added.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Encore Croix du Nivolet
After class ended today I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. We are planning on going hiking and camping on either Thursday or Friday. Today was such a nice day that it kicked some of my mountain instincts in. Whenever it is exceptionally nice weather that means that a wave of rain or snow is about hit at some point. So I basically just grabbed my backpack and took off for the Cross du Nivolet. I left the house at around 2, which is very late for starting a hike considering that the sun sets at 5pm nowadays. Anyway I had the momentum going so there was no stopping me at that point. I left the house so quickly that I didn't bring any water, I knew of a little store along the way so I stopped by there to get some water before continuing.
I basically decided that I was going to roar my way up the mountain without too many stops. So I did. The 4 hour hike was done in under 2.5 hours. Overall it was a really nice hike but pretty exhausting as well. There were many people coming down the mountain when I was going up it. All of them were friendly though some of them looked skeptical that I was trying to do up the mountain so late. One woman asked if I had enough clothes and I said yes, because yes I had enough clothes.
One thing about the hike was that going down the mountain was more difficult considering it was dark. I wasn't worried about the dark as much as wondering where the wolves like to live in the mountains near Chambery. I eventually made my way back down after taking a few wrong turns causing me to take a different way back then I came up. Apparently navigation is more difficult in the nighttime. Good thing that downhill was always downhill so I knew I would eventually get back.
The entire trip from my doorstep to the Croix and back again was around 5.5 hours. Which I will call my new record because I think I could do it faster if I did the entire hike during the day. By the time I returned I was REALLY hungry so I ate a huge dinner of chicken, bread, peanut butter, pasta and oranges. I need to remember to keep some cereal bars in my backpack.
Anyway that was my day not too bad for doing a full days hike and going to class in one day. I just hope now that this weather will hold up all week. If so, another fantastic hike will be on the way.
Ciao.
I basically decided that I was going to roar my way up the mountain without too many stops. So I did. The 4 hour hike was done in under 2.5 hours. Overall it was a really nice hike but pretty exhausting as well. There were many people coming down the mountain when I was going up it. All of them were friendly though some of them looked skeptical that I was trying to do up the mountain so late. One woman asked if I had enough clothes and I said yes, because yes I had enough clothes.
One thing about the hike was that going down the mountain was more difficult considering it was dark. I wasn't worried about the dark as much as wondering where the wolves like to live in the mountains near Chambery. I eventually made my way back down after taking a few wrong turns causing me to take a different way back then I came up. Apparently navigation is more difficult in the nighttime. Good thing that downhill was always downhill so I knew I would eventually get back.
The entire trip from my doorstep to the Croix and back again was around 5.5 hours. Which I will call my new record because I think I could do it faster if I did the entire hike during the day. By the time I returned I was REALLY hungry so I ate a huge dinner of chicken, bread, peanut butter, pasta and oranges. I need to remember to keep some cereal bars in my backpack.
Anyway that was my day not too bad for doing a full days hike and going to class in one day. I just hope now that this weather will hold up all week. If so, another fantastic hike will be on the way.
Ciao.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Respite, Reading, Rhetoric
I had to spend most of Sunday relaxing because I was pretty much exhausted from a combination of dancing, drinking, hiking, and still trying to maintain my 7am wakeup time. I needed to take a day off. Originally we were planning on going on another big hike that day but that didn't work out. The plan is to try again for it this weekend.
I'm currently reading the book "The Power of Now." It is a really fascinating book yet unfortunately it is so easy to grasp that it can be really difficult as well. It goes into stuff that covers basically holding the meditative mindset all the time. Yet it is loaded with a bunch of angles to say the same thing. The book is basically summarized by just reading the title. Anyway it is a great read for people who are open and ready for it, otherwise it will lose you completely.
Today I met up with an amie and we practiced a lot of french and some english and chinese as well. Overall I was a really good time and we almost talked for 4 hours. My mind is getting more used to juggling languages. Eventually I plan to not have too difficulty switching between them when I need to. I'm still debating some ideas in my head but I think I should be able to become a trilinguist if I I focus energy into it. We'll see.
My website ideas have been put on hold for a little while based on different revelations that I've had. That's all I can say at this point about the website because it is pretty much just a suspend idea for now. Anyway I've got a test tomorrow so I might need to call it an earlier night tonight. Goodnight!
I'm currently reading the book "The Power of Now." It is a really fascinating book yet unfortunately it is so easy to grasp that it can be really difficult as well. It goes into stuff that covers basically holding the meditative mindset all the time. Yet it is loaded with a bunch of angles to say the same thing. The book is basically summarized by just reading the title. Anyway it is a great read for people who are open and ready for it, otherwise it will lose you completely.
Today I met up with an amie and we practiced a lot of french and some english and chinese as well. Overall I was a really good time and we almost talked for 4 hours. My mind is getting more used to juggling languages. Eventually I plan to not have too difficulty switching between them when I need to. I'm still debating some ideas in my head but I think I should be able to become a trilinguist if I I focus energy into it. We'll see.
My website ideas have been put on hold for a little while based on different revelations that I've had. That's all I can say at this point about the website because it is pretty much just a suspend idea for now. Anyway I've got a test tomorrow so I might need to call it an earlier night tonight. Goodnight!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Clubbing, Thanksgiving Dinner
Um yea. Friday night was pretty fun, pretty wild, with moments of hilarious. My Chinese buddy invited me to a party at his place. Everyone met up out side of his apparent and by chance my American home slice happened to wind up to arrive just at the right time to join the party as well. So we all had an enjoyable time of drinks and snacks. There was the was many campangs, campins and campays, or something like that, to say cheers in chinese, korean and japanese is very similar.
After a bit pushing the limits of "normal" social drinking it was time go out to the club. My amerikaner had to return chez-il so the discotheque group totaled to be 9 people, 2 dudes, 7 chicks and I was the only non-asian. By the time we reached the club it was already pumping. I got my free drink, culsec'd it and was ready for dancing.
I opened up the dancing in high force to start off with. The girls were soon placed in a wave of there own giggles, awe, this is awesome kind of atmosphere; I already reached that feeling in my mind earlier. It was an absolute blast, one of the girls was really good at dancing, some other were wild and crazy, others were awkward yet determined, who knows how one would describe myself. I made sure that, or at least tried to, have some dancing time with each of the girls in our group.
We took a few breaks from the dancing and stood in the fan every once and awhile. It was really hot in the club that night, so the fan was quite quite appreciated. Eventually some of the girls started getting exhausted. You know the standard procedure, if I am in the fully dancing zone people usually start dropping out before I do. I can't stop dancing sometimes, haha.
In the last hour something that I have never experienced before happened in a club. So basically all the go-go dancers turned into strippers. No expecting that one but yea there was girls dancing only in g-strings, well maybe high heels as well but I don't really remember. The girls reactions were priceless: this is so embarrassing, how awkward yet I like it! wow this is so cool! My reaction was a mix of all the others. France always seems to throw little surprises out there that I would have never imagined. A good chunk of the club stopped dancing just to watch the "show" I couldn't stop dancing. It was ummm quite the experience to say the least.
We eventually wound up leaving after some of the girls had some experience with the typical creepy drunk dudes and I had to do some occasional shielding. Some dudes out there can be complete idiots at times. Thats one of the downsides to clubs is that there is a certain scumminess to them, yet the music is always amazing, once you're in the zone it's fantastic.
It was a great night overall, really physically and mentally fatiguing but something that I can look back on and just start laughing.
...
The next day I visit my friend at the Japanese exposition. She was decked out in a kimono which was really cool. I watched a tea presentation which was strange yet interesting. There was also kendo (way of the sword) presentation an my friend said that she finally realized that they were shouting commands in japanese with french accents which was pretty silly.
Eventually I had to take off to get some wine for thanksgiving dinner. I got the wine and returned chez-moi. I really just felt like sleeping because I exhausted from the previous night. Yet I knew that I couldn't miss out on the dinner because I had a feeling it would be something truly special.
It was.
There were 10 of us crowded into a kitchen/dining room area. It was so tight that we always had to shift the tables around whenever anyone needed to stand up. The food was amazing. There was everything from actual from the U.S. stuffing to apricot glazed turkey. We all took turns saying things that we were thankful for in english and french, serious and silly. Oh and did I mention the hats. Yea we all had hats. The theme was pilgrims and indians and after a while the hats just seemed normal.
After the spectacular meal we after first desert, followed by second desert, followed by third desert, followed by forth desert. Wow, just wow, all the deserts were homemade masterpieces of creativity, love and all around tastiness.
After the dinner the was a bit of dancing and singing. Great times. Eventually it was time to roll out. I was surprised that when I got hoe it was near 1am. Time flies when living life at its best. I'm not forgetting this thanksgiving.
After a bit pushing the limits of "normal" social drinking it was time go out to the club. My amerikaner had to return chez-il so the discotheque group totaled to be 9 people, 2 dudes, 7 chicks and I was the only non-asian. By the time we reached the club it was already pumping. I got my free drink, culsec'd it and was ready for dancing.
I opened up the dancing in high force to start off with. The girls were soon placed in a wave of there own giggles, awe, this is awesome kind of atmosphere; I already reached that feeling in my mind earlier. It was an absolute blast, one of the girls was really good at dancing, some other were wild and crazy, others were awkward yet determined, who knows how one would describe myself. I made sure that, or at least tried to, have some dancing time with each of the girls in our group.
We took a few breaks from the dancing and stood in the fan every once and awhile. It was really hot in the club that night, so the fan was quite quite appreciated. Eventually some of the girls started getting exhausted. You know the standard procedure, if I am in the fully dancing zone people usually start dropping out before I do. I can't stop dancing sometimes, haha.
In the last hour something that I have never experienced before happened in a club. So basically all the go-go dancers turned into strippers. No expecting that one but yea there was girls dancing only in g-strings, well maybe high heels as well but I don't really remember. The girls reactions were priceless: this is so embarrassing, how awkward yet I like it! wow this is so cool! My reaction was a mix of all the others. France always seems to throw little surprises out there that I would have never imagined. A good chunk of the club stopped dancing just to watch the "show" I couldn't stop dancing. It was ummm quite the experience to say the least.
We eventually wound up leaving after some of the girls had some experience with the typical creepy drunk dudes and I had to do some occasional shielding. Some dudes out there can be complete idiots at times. Thats one of the downsides to clubs is that there is a certain scumminess to them, yet the music is always amazing, once you're in the zone it's fantastic.
It was a great night overall, really physically and mentally fatiguing but something that I can look back on and just start laughing.
...
The next day I visit my friend at the Japanese exposition. She was decked out in a kimono which was really cool. I watched a tea presentation which was strange yet interesting. There was also kendo (way of the sword) presentation an my friend said that she finally realized that they were shouting commands in japanese with french accents which was pretty silly.
Eventually I had to take off to get some wine for thanksgiving dinner. I got the wine and returned chez-moi. I really just felt like sleeping because I exhausted from the previous night. Yet I knew that I couldn't miss out on the dinner because I had a feeling it would be something truly special.
It was.
There were 10 of us crowded into a kitchen/dining room area. It was so tight that we always had to shift the tables around whenever anyone needed to stand up. The food was amazing. There was everything from actual from the U.S. stuffing to apricot glazed turkey. We all took turns saying things that we were thankful for in english and french, serious and silly. Oh and did I mention the hats. Yea we all had hats. The theme was pilgrims and indians and after a while the hats just seemed normal.
After the spectacular meal we after first desert, followed by second desert, followed by third desert, followed by forth desert. Wow, just wow, all the deserts were homemade masterpieces of creativity, love and all around tastiness.
After the dinner the was a bit of dancing and singing. Great times. Eventually it was time to roll out. I was surprised that when I got hoe it was near 1am. Time flies when living life at its best. I'm not forgetting this thanksgiving.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
Today I went on a hike, I'd guess you would call it a 2/3 american 1/3 russian kind of hike. Anyway the tree of us set out from les elephants to search for a cave on Doria mountain near Chambery. On the way to the hiking trail we decided to stop by the store and get rain ponchos in case we needed them.
Afterwards it was up the mountain we went in search of this cave. The hike started off in a dense fog. Right around went we arrived at the small village of Lovettaz. We broke through the fog to see a layer of clear sky between the fog and the clouds high above. When we were in the town a semi creepy yet cool event occurred. The fog rose up quickly in the sky and surrounded us once again. Eventually we made our way back out of the fog a second time but it was spectacular to see how quickly the fog could change.
Eventually we were close to the cave. The sound of the waterfall was nearby. We thought it would be really cool if the cave was behind the waterfall. Once we reached the area of where the trail lead to the cave. The trail went right behind the waterfall. Oh cool so its true! We busted out the rain ponchos in preparation to go behind the waterfall. Go rain poncho power!
So we approached the waterfall and soon realized that the cave wasn't behind the waterfall. The actually waterfall itself was coming right out of a cave and it looked like there was another cave right about it as well. The problem was that the trail was flooded over from the raging water. Pretty much all the snow had melted from the surrounding mountains and as a result the water was flowing with a lot of force.
We decide to drop down a bit to see if there was any way to approach the cave from the the other side. It turned out that it was not possible to reach the cave from any direction that we tried. Eventually we would up finding a crevasse in the side of the mountain so that was our "cave" experience for the day.
We later took. A 50 metre detour that turned out to take a pretty big chunk of time. It was worth it though. THe trail itself was pretty dangerous because, well, there wasn't actually any trail in some parts and we just had to climb it. The good thing is that we eventually made it to a summit. The view was absolutely amazing and it was a great feeling being at a mini tip of the world.
We then decided to make it all the way to the Col de Doria. This turned out to be an underwhelming fork in the road but just beyond it was a peaceful field where we ate lunch. While we ate lunch there was a dog with a bell on it's collar that was frolicking through the woods. It eventually made its way to run right past us.
We had some good laughs while we ate lunch and then started to make our way back down the mountain. It became nightfall before we made it back to town and there were many salamanders that we had to be careful not to step on. Once we made it back into town it was time to go back into combat mode (aka poncho time) because it started raining.
Finally after a long day I was thankful to be home. I am planing to have thanksgiving on Saturday but I was still thankful for today. Actually I try to think that everyday is like Thanksgiving, because each day has its own special moments to bring.
Afterwards it was up the mountain we went in search of this cave. The hike started off in a dense fog. Right around went we arrived at the small village of Lovettaz. We broke through the fog to see a layer of clear sky between the fog and the clouds high above. When we were in the town a semi creepy yet cool event occurred. The fog rose up quickly in the sky and surrounded us once again. Eventually we made our way back out of the fog a second time but it was spectacular to see how quickly the fog could change.
Eventually we were close to the cave. The sound of the waterfall was nearby. We thought it would be really cool if the cave was behind the waterfall. Once we reached the area of where the trail lead to the cave. The trail went right behind the waterfall. Oh cool so its true! We busted out the rain ponchos in preparation to go behind the waterfall. Go rain poncho power!
So we approached the waterfall and soon realized that the cave wasn't behind the waterfall. The actually waterfall itself was coming right out of a cave and it looked like there was another cave right about it as well. The problem was that the trail was flooded over from the raging water. Pretty much all the snow had melted from the surrounding mountains and as a result the water was flowing with a lot of force.
We decide to drop down a bit to see if there was any way to approach the cave from the the other side. It turned out that it was not possible to reach the cave from any direction that we tried. Eventually we would up finding a crevasse in the side of the mountain so that was our "cave" experience for the day.
We later took. A 50 metre detour that turned out to take a pretty big chunk of time. It was worth it though. THe trail itself was pretty dangerous because, well, there wasn't actually any trail in some parts and we just had to climb it. The good thing is that we eventually made it to a summit. The view was absolutely amazing and it was a great feeling being at a mini tip of the world.
We then decided to make it all the way to the Col de Doria. This turned out to be an underwhelming fork in the road but just beyond it was a peaceful field where we ate lunch. While we ate lunch there was a dog with a bell on it's collar that was frolicking through the woods. It eventually made its way to run right past us.
We had some good laughs while we ate lunch and then started to make our way back down the mountain. It became nightfall before we made it back to town and there were many salamanders that we had to be careful not to step on. Once we made it back into town it was time to go back into combat mode (aka poncho time) because it started raining.
Finally after a long day I was thankful to be home. I am planing to have thanksgiving on Saturday but I was still thankful for today. Actually I try to think that everyday is like Thanksgiving, because each day has its own special moments to bring.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Wow, What a Day
Crazy, that is the word I would use to describe today.
...
So yesterday there was a big assemble for all the students to further debate were or not to go on strike. After several arguments, some of them getting heated. The decision was decided that something needed to be done tomorrow but also another assembly was needed on Wednesday.
After the meeting I went on another hike. It was only a mini one but I discovered yet another new place to hike. Chambery is absolutely packed with hiking trails shooting off into all directions. Latter, I met up with a Japanese friend and had a little English time with her because she was trying to catch up on some of her English. We talked about everything from television, to music, to Japan to America. It was overall really fun. A nice day but completely different from the next day.
...
Today. The day started off with going to campus and hearing from my Mexican friend that the majority of the buildings on campus were closed and blocked off. So it looks like the student greve has been set into motion. We had class still because the international classes and law classes still continue when ever there is a strike on campus.
For lunch I ate a good old American style pork and potatoes lunch and my friends house. Afterwards we went to see the greve. And oh what a greve it was. I arrived on the scene with my Russian comrade and we were greeting by a lot of noise, smoke and fire and the flashing lights of police cars.
There were hundreds off people gathered outside of the court house with a good chunk of them wielding signs of protest. There were many any people protesting today basically because the presidents reform plan for the country is packed with issues that the people are not happy with. There were everyone from railway workers, to lawyers, to students all rallying for a massive protest. Pretty soon the massive crowd of people took to the streets and started marching their way all over town. Stopping traffic and generally everything in their tracks.
There was all sorts of action going on. Some people were carrying torches while others were wielding massive signs with political messages. There were also several "grevemobiles" with speakers on top either playing music or having people yell out things over a loudspeaker.
I have never seen anything like it. It is kind of like if you combine a parade with a bunch of football fans with a message to tell the government. The result: a lot of people making a huge statement.
The sounds in the air were filled with what could be confused with gun shorts but it was a continuing barrage of firecrackers. People were chanting, and yelling, singing and shouting. The sky was continuously filled with smoke from various torches and flares. Combined with the flashing lights from the police cars there was a tense atmosphere in the air.
There were all sorts of characters in the crowd ranging from families to, tipsy hippies, to businessmen. A few friends and myself were running around taking many many photographs of the entire occasion. At points we were wondering if there was going to be a riot because there the police locked themselves in the area of the castle with riot gear at there feet in case they needed it. The was definitely some really tense moments but overall the scene maintained a balance between not quite violent but not really peaceful at the same time. The kind of energy which is produced when a statement must be made.
Eventually the various sections of protesters started to branch out and go there own directions, but definitely there was an impact on the energy of the city. Myself and my American number one met up again and eventually we met up with our Brazilian and Mexican amies at a cafe and discussed the days events.
People eventually departed but on the way back it seemed that the general chaos of the day was not quite finished. We were walking back towards the elephants and there was a whole lot of firetrucks and pompiers running gathering about. We went to see what all the action was and it turned out that there was a fire in one of the that apartment complexes nearby. There were loads of firefighters gathering around and organizing for a plan of approach. We took some more pictures and went to checkout around back there firefighters in the back were all organizing to rescue a woman from the top level of the building.
The overall atmosphere of the firefights was not a sense of urgency but rather careful planning and strategic decision making. We talked to a police officer and he let us go in for a closer look. Overall it was all had a sense of surreality to it. The firefighters seemed to have most things under control and weren't too rushed about putting the fire out. They didn't seemed worried so I trust that they knew what they were doing.
We eventually left the scene and made our way back towards home. Once I arrived home the power on the entire block was out. Mme J was aggravated by the situation but I told her about the fire and she continued to figure out how to fix this problem with the lights. After many phone calls we found out the the problem with the electricity was being fixed. We also figured out that the firefighters were doing a practice run in the center city which is why they ultimately lacked a sense of urgency. Yet overall the practice run was pretty impressive.
Now I am just wondering what is next in the life of Chambery. Everyday is a new adventure and a new discovery.
...
So yesterday there was a big assemble for all the students to further debate were or not to go on strike. After several arguments, some of them getting heated. The decision was decided that something needed to be done tomorrow but also another assembly was needed on Wednesday.
After the meeting I went on another hike. It was only a mini one but I discovered yet another new place to hike. Chambery is absolutely packed with hiking trails shooting off into all directions. Latter, I met up with a Japanese friend and had a little English time with her because she was trying to catch up on some of her English. We talked about everything from television, to music, to Japan to America. It was overall really fun. A nice day but completely different from the next day.
...
Today. The day started off with going to campus and hearing from my Mexican friend that the majority of the buildings on campus were closed and blocked off. So it looks like the student greve has been set into motion. We had class still because the international classes and law classes still continue when ever there is a strike on campus.
For lunch I ate a good old American style pork and potatoes lunch and my friends house. Afterwards we went to see the greve. And oh what a greve it was. I arrived on the scene with my Russian comrade and we were greeting by a lot of noise, smoke and fire and the flashing lights of police cars.
There were hundreds off people gathered outside of the court house with a good chunk of them wielding signs of protest. There were many any people protesting today basically because the presidents reform plan for the country is packed with issues that the people are not happy with. There were everyone from railway workers, to lawyers, to students all rallying for a massive protest. Pretty soon the massive crowd of people took to the streets and started marching their way all over town. Stopping traffic and generally everything in their tracks.
There was all sorts of action going on. Some people were carrying torches while others were wielding massive signs with political messages. There were also several "grevemobiles" with speakers on top either playing music or having people yell out things over a loudspeaker.
I have never seen anything like it. It is kind of like if you combine a parade with a bunch of football fans with a message to tell the government. The result: a lot of people making a huge statement.
The sounds in the air were filled with what could be confused with gun shorts but it was a continuing barrage of firecrackers. People were chanting, and yelling, singing and shouting. The sky was continuously filled with smoke from various torches and flares. Combined with the flashing lights from the police cars there was a tense atmosphere in the air.
There were all sorts of characters in the crowd ranging from families to, tipsy hippies, to businessmen. A few friends and myself were running around taking many many photographs of the entire occasion. At points we were wondering if there was going to be a riot because there the police locked themselves in the area of the castle with riot gear at there feet in case they needed it. The was definitely some really tense moments but overall the scene maintained a balance between not quite violent but not really peaceful at the same time. The kind of energy which is produced when a statement must be made.
Eventually the various sections of protesters started to branch out and go there own directions, but definitely there was an impact on the energy of the city. Myself and my American number one met up again and eventually we met up with our Brazilian and Mexican amies at a cafe and discussed the days events.
People eventually departed but on the way back it seemed that the general chaos of the day was not quite finished. We were walking back towards the elephants and there was a whole lot of firetrucks and pompiers running gathering about. We went to see what all the action was and it turned out that there was a fire in one of the that apartment complexes nearby. There were loads of firefighters gathering around and organizing for a plan of approach. We took some more pictures and went to checkout around back there firefighters in the back were all organizing to rescue a woman from the top level of the building.
The overall atmosphere of the firefights was not a sense of urgency but rather careful planning and strategic decision making. We talked to a police officer and he let us go in for a closer look. Overall it was all had a sense of surreality to it. The firefighters seemed to have most things under control and weren't too rushed about putting the fire out. They didn't seemed worried so I trust that they knew what they were doing.
We eventually left the scene and made our way back towards home. Once I arrived home the power on the entire block was out. Mme J was aggravated by the situation but I told her about the fire and she continued to figure out how to fix this problem with the lights. After many phone calls we found out the the problem with the electricity was being fixed. We also figured out that the firefighters were doing a practice run in the center city which is why they ultimately lacked a sense of urgency. Yet overall the practice run was pretty impressive.
Now I am just wondering what is next in the life of Chambery. Everyday is a new adventure and a new discovery.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Macumba
You know how I usually wake up at 7am, well today that's the time that I went to bed. Roll backed into town at 6:30 and then returned home to go to bed. Last night I took a trip with a bus load of the other international students to Club Macumba. It is a club that is right next to the border of Switzerland.
The bus ride over to the club was pretty amusing. It was essentially a party bus were people socialized and many people had a cup of wine or other beverage of choice. Terviseks! (Cheers! Estonian-style). I learned I got to know a German girl that I met before a little more on the ride over. At first she had that German kind of strictness feeling to her but after I got to know her some she was pretty cool. Eventually we made it to the club.
The club itself was huge. It had all sorts of rooms that made it more like 6 clubs. There was the standard awkward club activity and I was starting to wonder how many of the people dancing were actually having fun. Anyway I spent a lot of time dancing with my chinese, german and swiss friends. I spent the rest of the time making observation on general club life and had the occasional giggle over its silliness.
At one point I got to dance with a Brazilian friend of mine and she basically retaught be how to dance. Dancing with a girl that is 0% timid is really fun. The key to dancing is the more comfortable you become with it the better you get. If you worry what others think you won't be able to improve you dancing. Anyway she was really comfortable with dancing so we had a really good time dancing together. Who needs aerobics when you can just dance.
I later sat and watched some dancing competitions between people which was pretty amusing. La mode of dance now seems t be a jungle-like style, that's the only way I can think of describing it. I re-met with my German friend and "saved her" (in her words) from some French dude that coming on to her way to quickly for her liking. We danced together for a little longer and then had to return to the bus. The ride back home was filled with really crummy sleep. I groggily got off the bus and returned back chez moi.
I woke up at around 1pm. Mme J told me a story about the attorneys and judges that are on strike. Yea the attorneys and judges are on strike too. Anyway so there was a judge that was trying to protest in a restricted area in front of some governmental building. The Gendarme asked him to leave and threaten to ticket him. The judge replied giving a ticket for a court summons was pretty pointless considering he was the judge. I'm not sure what happened after that. Just an amusing story.
Afterwards Mme J, spiffy roommate and myself took a trip to the cabin. It was nice and snowy up there and the day was really beau. I got to see a nice snowy vista of the surrounding mountains. I continually threaten to dump my roomy in the snow and succeeded a few times. She was both not too happy and very happy about this, girls are weird like that.
Ce soir I got some more Chinese practice in. Chinese is super hard but I get better day by day.
The bus ride over to the club was pretty amusing. It was essentially a party bus were people socialized and many people had a cup of wine or other beverage of choice. Terviseks! (Cheers! Estonian-style). I learned I got to know a German girl that I met before a little more on the ride over. At first she had that German kind of strictness feeling to her but after I got to know her some she was pretty cool. Eventually we made it to the club.
The club itself was huge. It had all sorts of rooms that made it more like 6 clubs. There was the standard awkward club activity and I was starting to wonder how many of the people dancing were actually having fun. Anyway I spent a lot of time dancing with my chinese, german and swiss friends. I spent the rest of the time making observation on general club life and had the occasional giggle over its silliness.
At one point I got to dance with a Brazilian friend of mine and she basically retaught be how to dance. Dancing with a girl that is 0% timid is really fun. The key to dancing is the more comfortable you become with it the better you get. If you worry what others think you won't be able to improve you dancing. Anyway she was really comfortable with dancing so we had a really good time dancing together. Who needs aerobics when you can just dance.
I later sat and watched some dancing competitions between people which was pretty amusing. La mode of dance now seems t be a jungle-like style, that's the only way I can think of describing it. I re-met with my German friend and "saved her" (in her words) from some French dude that coming on to her way to quickly for her liking. We danced together for a little longer and then had to return to the bus. The ride back home was filled with really crummy sleep. I groggily got off the bus and returned back chez moi.
I woke up at around 1pm. Mme J told me a story about the attorneys and judges that are on strike. Yea the attorneys and judges are on strike too. Anyway so there was a judge that was trying to protest in a restricted area in front of some governmental building. The Gendarme asked him to leave and threaten to ticket him. The judge replied giving a ticket for a court summons was pretty pointless considering he was the judge. I'm not sure what happened after that. Just an amusing story.
Afterwards Mme J, spiffy roommate and myself took a trip to the cabin. It was nice and snowy up there and the day was really beau. I got to see a nice snowy vista of the surrounding mountains. I continually threaten to dump my roomy in the snow and succeeded a few times. She was both not too happy and very happy about this, girls are weird like that.
Ce soir I got some more Chinese practice in. Chinese is super hard but I get better day by day.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Stike? Durango?! Ski Stuff!!!
So the students at Chambery may being going on strike, yes that's right students all across France on going on strike and Chambery might follow suite. The reason behind this is that traditionally, the university system in France is funded completely through the government yet this could change. The is a new plan to make enterprises start funding the Universities. The problem is that if Universities need to start negotiating contracts with enterprises for money it will break apart some of the equality that France so strongly strives for. The big time Campuses in big cities would get more funding, more marketing of junk to students and ultimately realize that they don't want to depend on these companies for money. Smaller campus like at Chambery would struggle more for money because a smaller campus has a smaller opportunity for cooperations to give money to the campus and market their stuff. All around a lose lose situation.
So, on Thursday I meant to go to the meeting for the greve (strike) but I got a little distracted. First I got trapped in the epic lunch line of doom which I wasn't expecting to be so big because I'm used to it getting like that 10 mins latter. Anyway I ate lunch with some acquaintances and they drank some free wine they were serving in the cafeteria. I was asked me where exactly was from. I told them I was from Durango. The response: oh so you know the other girl from Durango. What?! So out of all the billions of people in the world who is studying abroad from The Fort (Durango's college) is in Chambery as well.
Yea there is girl from Durango that lives in Chambery. About a half an hour later she happened to arrive at the table. So we got to know each other some and it turns out that she worked kitty corner to where I work. If I say this again later I won't be surprised: It's a small world after all.
By the time I showed up to the greve meeting it was over but mon ami americain told me that he spoke out at the meeting and offered support from the american contingent. There would probably be more news to come later about how this goes. I might not even have class, but the international section of schools typically keeps going when strikes happen.
Afterwards I got some laundry done and now my clothes have an air cave. Whether it be cave caves or wine cellers, the wine cellar/basement is called a cave in french and its name suits it well from my experience: musty, dark, where are the bats hiding?
...
I made a vision/affirmation board out of my desktop and it is pretty spiffy. Basically the theory is if you have goals create a poster to represent all of those goals so you have something to visually strive for when goal setting. It is still in the works but I've got one started. I'm stying playing with some ideas in my head for my future plans but have day is a step towards the right direction.
...
Today I went to the Bourse aux Ski to find some skiing stuff. I got boots, poles and skis with bindings for 53 euros. It is 8 euros over the maximum I had in mind but the cheaper stuff at the ski swap was already falling apart. Still though not too bad for equipping myself for the ski season. I like to think of it as a birthday present for my self and now I really want to go skiing. The ski places are starting to open up now, and this years seems to be like it will be a good snow year. It certainly is cold enough to be one. It is rumored that this region has the best skiing in the world. I'll be finding that out over the next few months.
So, on Thursday I meant to go to the meeting for the greve (strike) but I got a little distracted. First I got trapped in the epic lunch line of doom which I wasn't expecting to be so big because I'm used to it getting like that 10 mins latter. Anyway I ate lunch with some acquaintances and they drank some free wine they were serving in the cafeteria. I was asked me where exactly was from. I told them I was from Durango. The response: oh so you know the other girl from Durango. What?! So out of all the billions of people in the world who is studying abroad from The Fort (Durango's college) is in Chambery as well.
Yea there is girl from Durango that lives in Chambery. About a half an hour later she happened to arrive at the table. So we got to know each other some and it turns out that she worked kitty corner to where I work. If I say this again later I won't be surprised: It's a small world after all.
By the time I showed up to the greve meeting it was over but mon ami americain told me that he spoke out at the meeting and offered support from the american contingent. There would probably be more news to come later about how this goes. I might not even have class, but the international section of schools typically keeps going when strikes happen.
Afterwards I got some laundry done and now my clothes have an air cave. Whether it be cave caves or wine cellers, the wine cellar/basement is called a cave in french and its name suits it well from my experience: musty, dark, where are the bats hiding?
...
I made a vision/affirmation board out of my desktop and it is pretty spiffy. Basically the theory is if you have goals create a poster to represent all of those goals so you have something to visually strive for when goal setting. It is still in the works but I've got one started. I'm stying playing with some ideas in my head for my future plans but have day is a step towards the right direction.
...
Today I went to the Bourse aux Ski to find some skiing stuff. I got boots, poles and skis with bindings for 53 euros. It is 8 euros over the maximum I had in mind but the cheaper stuff at the ski swap was already falling apart. Still though not too bad for equipping myself for the ski season. I like to think of it as a birthday present for my self and now I really want to go skiing. The ski places are starting to open up now, and this years seems to be like it will be a good snow year. It certainly is cold enough to be one. It is rumored that this region has the best skiing in the world. I'll be finding that out over the next few months.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Beaujolais
So last night was fantastic. I went to a big festival that occurs each year in France. The night started off with myself and a massive crowd of mostly Koreans and various other nationalities. While waiting for the bus I had to remember to no step in the crotte du chien that one of my friends stepped in earlier. Nothing like good old poo on the shoe to start off the night. For awhile I wonder if the bus was ever going to arrive. Since the public transportation system is on strike in France buses have turned into something not commonly seen in France, well sort of.
Finally the bus arrived and we were off towards some area north of Lyon. You know know that I think about it I'm really sure, exactly where we were going but I had a general idea. I sat next to my one of my friends from class and she taught me some Korean. Eventually we made it to our first destination and arrived at the restaurant where we were having our pre-party dinner.
The dinner itself was really tasting. Unfortunately for me my digestive system currently wasn't too happy so I had to bear through a kind of stomach ache for most of the dinner. Yet it wasn't crippling, just highly annoying. Eventually by the end of the meal it was mostly gone. Dinner consisted of a salad to start off with, then a sausage and potatoes main course. The food was really tasty in a French kind of way. A fine mix of creamy goodness with the sprinklings of herbal magnificence. For desert we were swept away into an dream filled with apricots, cream, and pastry magic. It was the best dessert that I had in a long time. We took a lot of pictures at the dinner and the Asians, especially the girls, especially the Japanese, were obsessed with always doing hand signs. This seems to be the standard procedure. They would do the "I love you" sign but would do it backwards, lol. It winds up with funny pictures which leaves one questioning whether people are flashing gang signs, obscene gestures, or just being silly. In the end it is just being silly.
Our next step was to head to were the party was. Where that was, like I said I'm not exactly sure but the bus dropped us off in a town were we were left in the freezing cold air. We did what any reasonably person would do, find the campfires-wheel-barrels and get warm. I took a side tour to find a toilet of sorts and wound up discovering which what I thought was a laser show. I turned out to be just lasers and smoke but there was a mini laser show a little latter on.
Eventually the parade started coming our way and I grouped up with some friends and joined in the parade. I got handed a torch. Sweet! Basically the parade consisted of a bunch of people marching and dancing with torches. Our destination: free wine! and lots of it. We marched and danced our way all the way to the party and counted off the new year to a new wine season.
This was followed by a fireworks show, laser show, and best of all free wine for everyone. Tchin tchin! Cheers! The was much wine drinking and dancing afterwards. I got the dancing going with a group of 8 amies or so and it was a bast as always. Of course many pictures because the Asians seemed to be more hardcore about taking group photos then other cultures that I've met. The pictures were hilarious because it would usually start out with a group. Of us and then there would just be random French guys that would join into the picture. The French guys really like talking with the girls because the were clearly étrangers. Some of these guys where a bit more sketchy than others but I think the sketchy one eventually got weeded out. The were a lot of old men that would love to go up to go up to the girls and give them the French cheek kisses. It was pretty hilarious.
Eventually we had to return to the bus after enough (more than even) dancing, wine drinking, and pictures. I see if at some point I can get some of these pictures because I pretty much focused on being in the pictures rather than taking them. I sat next to a Japaneses friend on the way back and we wound up falling asleep for the bus ride back. Dancing and wine drinking does get tiring after all.
On the walk back home I got to try some chunk of a baguette freshly made. I've determined that no baguette beats 4am real French baguette. Anyway the night was absolutely superb. A night to remember.
Finally the bus arrived and we were off towards some area north of Lyon. You know know that I think about it I'm really sure, exactly where we were going but I had a general idea. I sat next to my one of my friends from class and she taught me some Korean. Eventually we made it to our first destination and arrived at the restaurant where we were having our pre-party dinner.
The dinner itself was really tasting. Unfortunately for me my digestive system currently wasn't too happy so I had to bear through a kind of stomach ache for most of the dinner. Yet it wasn't crippling, just highly annoying. Eventually by the end of the meal it was mostly gone. Dinner consisted of a salad to start off with, then a sausage and potatoes main course. The food was really tasty in a French kind of way. A fine mix of creamy goodness with the sprinklings of herbal magnificence. For desert we were swept away into an dream filled with apricots, cream, and pastry magic. It was the best dessert that I had in a long time. We took a lot of pictures at the dinner and the Asians, especially the girls, especially the Japanese, were obsessed with always doing hand signs. This seems to be the standard procedure. They would do the "I love you" sign but would do it backwards, lol. It winds up with funny pictures which leaves one questioning whether people are flashing gang signs, obscene gestures, or just being silly. In the end it is just being silly.
Our next step was to head to were the party was. Where that was, like I said I'm not exactly sure but the bus dropped us off in a town were we were left in the freezing cold air. We did what any reasonably person would do, find the campfires-wheel-barrels and get warm. I took a side tour to find a toilet of sorts and wound up discovering which what I thought was a laser show. I turned out to be just lasers and smoke but there was a mini laser show a little latter on.
Eventually the parade started coming our way and I grouped up with some friends and joined in the parade. I got handed a torch. Sweet! Basically the parade consisted of a bunch of people marching and dancing with torches. Our destination: free wine! and lots of it. We marched and danced our way all the way to the party and counted off the new year to a new wine season.
This was followed by a fireworks show, laser show, and best of all free wine for everyone. Tchin tchin! Cheers! The was much wine drinking and dancing afterwards. I got the dancing going with a group of 8 amies or so and it was a bast as always. Of course many pictures because the Asians seemed to be more hardcore about taking group photos then other cultures that I've met. The pictures were hilarious because it would usually start out with a group. Of us and then there would just be random French guys that would join into the picture. The French guys really like talking with the girls because the were clearly étrangers. Some of these guys where a bit more sketchy than others but I think the sketchy one eventually got weeded out. The were a lot of old men that would love to go up to go up to the girls and give them the French cheek kisses. It was pretty hilarious.
Eventually we had to return to the bus after enough (more than even) dancing, wine drinking, and pictures. I see if at some point I can get some of these pictures because I pretty much focused on being in the pictures rather than taking them. I sat next to a Japaneses friend on the way back and we wound up falling asleep for the bus ride back. Dancing and wine drinking does get tiring after all.
On the walk back home I got to try some chunk of a baguette freshly made. I've determined that no baguette beats 4am real French baguette. Anyway the night was absolutely superb. A night to remember.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Thoughts, Notepads
Yesterday was a really neat day. It put my mind into some new perspectives that I have never thought about before. Yet my mind is still wondering about certain things. Chambery like many cities has several beggars that come and go and several that are just standard. Sometimes I run into them on a daily basis. On one hand my heart is split on this issue. I can either give them money or not. I have decided to not give them money but I needed to know why. I have determined that the more of them that you give money the more of the habit you produce. A better option would be to give them food if you want to give them anything. At least you know that they the choice is now in their hands to eat it or not. Anyway it is a strange concept to think about but I ran into one yesterday that really made me think about it. There must be a better way than just begging for money.
Afterwards I wandered my way into a free art exposition. When I entered the exposition they asked if I spoke English I said oui and continued in French. Sometimes people try to force me into English when I don't speak perfect French but now I just plow past that and continue in French because that's is why I'm here.
After I looked at all the pictures I got a chance to talk to the artist and photographer, a mother son team. It turned out that this time the son actually didn't speak very much French so English was the better option. They were from Romania and I got to hear some interesting perspectives on life, love and war and things in between. It was a nice conversation overall and lasted for at least and hour. Overall it was a great experience and it was nice to listen to the perspective of the world from a Romanian point of view. He also commented that I had a good energy which was neat because people haven't typically said that to me in the past.
Today I have continued my new daily routine of more massive walks. It have me some more time to think, which I have had plenty of time to do so far. Yet I need to put more actions into these thoughts because there is only so much, and so much more than we realize, that thinking can produce. I'm starting a checklist of things that I need to get done each day and getting those things done. I general I have started writing down thoughts that I come up with on an daily (hourly?) basis and it is helping keeping me more organized. I would recommend that to always carry a pen and notepad around. Why I never started this earlier, who knows. It is simple, and simply worth it.
Afterwards I wandered my way into a free art exposition. When I entered the exposition they asked if I spoke English I said oui and continued in French. Sometimes people try to force me into English when I don't speak perfect French but now I just plow past that and continue in French because that's is why I'm here.
After I looked at all the pictures I got a chance to talk to the artist and photographer, a mother son team. It turned out that this time the son actually didn't speak very much French so English was the better option. They were from Romania and I got to hear some interesting perspectives on life, love and war and things in between. It was a nice conversation overall and lasted for at least and hour. Overall it was a great experience and it was nice to listen to the perspective of the world from a Romanian point of view. He also commented that I had a good energy which was neat because people haven't typically said that to me in the past.
Today I have continued my new daily routine of more massive walks. It have me some more time to think, which I have had plenty of time to do so far. Yet I need to put more actions into these thoughts because there is only so much, and so much more than we realize, that thinking can produce. I'm starting a checklist of things that I need to get done each day and getting those things done. I general I have started writing down thoughts that I come up with on an daily (hourly?) basis and it is helping keeping me more organized. I would recommend that to always carry a pen and notepad around. Why I never started this earlier, who knows. It is simple, and simply worth it.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Croix du Nivolet
Today was, really awesome. Myself and mon camarade americain, set off to conquer the Croix du Nivolet. Basically we hiked from Chambery, les elephants, all the way up the mountain nearby. It took a little while to f ind the railhead but once we found it the journey was afoot. We passed by everything from donkeys to men with rifles. We endured everything : rain, snow, fog, mud.
At one point we ran into a waterfall that was very cool. Yet the coolest part (one of them) was right before the summit we had to run the gauntlet of a metal set of cables and stairs that brought us up the super-slippery cliff. If we slipped it would have been sure death, but don't worry there was no reason to slip so we decided that wasn't option. Basically imagine that you are hiking in the rain/snow and then have to climb a metal latter. Exciting! It was pretty awesome but unfortunately not awesomely pretty. The fog left the affect where you could not see more than 40 feet ahead of you. The good part is that you could not tell how far the cliff was because you could only see the first 40 feet of it.
Just before we reached the summit we ran into a French dude who was quite friendly. He offered that we descend the mountain together in a different direction than we came up. It sounded fun enough. He lead us though the snow and fog down a different direction of the mountain. We half descended half slid our way down the mountain; I wished that I had skies at points. There was discussion of everything from politics to learning somethings about nature. It was surprising how much or little time went by during the hike.
Afterwards we returned to his place and had some hot chocolate. We sat around and talked and his Senegalese roommate joined in and talked with us as well. One thing I think that is always neat is how the people I meet in France are always really friendly. People just have a nice vibe to them. What's cool about some of the apartments in Chambery is that they are old and have a kind of castle feel to them. They are different from a lot of things that you find in the states.
After I returned chez-moi I bombarded myself with more Chinese and struggled to learn more, eventually fatiguing myself to sleepiness. My roommate and I discussed all sorts of weird things in chinese and French and Chinese. I eventually just needed to go to sleep, I decided to write in my blog first ;)
Well good night. The sleepiness is quite strong now.
p.s. I added some more photos but would also highly recommend seeing some my friend Brian's newly added photos. His pictures have a professional touch and can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcrigby/
At one point we ran into a waterfall that was very cool. Yet the coolest part (one of them) was right before the summit we had to run the gauntlet of a metal set of cables and stairs that brought us up the super-slippery cliff. If we slipped it would have been sure death, but don't worry there was no reason to slip so we decided that wasn't option. Basically imagine that you are hiking in the rain/snow and then have to climb a metal latter. Exciting! It was pretty awesome but unfortunately not awesomely pretty. The fog left the affect where you could not see more than 40 feet ahead of you. The good part is that you could not tell how far the cliff was because you could only see the first 40 feet of it.
Just before we reached the summit we ran into a French dude who was quite friendly. He offered that we descend the mountain together in a different direction than we came up. It sounded fun enough. He lead us though the snow and fog down a different direction of the mountain. We half descended half slid our way down the mountain; I wished that I had skies at points. There was discussion of everything from politics to learning somethings about nature. It was surprising how much or little time went by during the hike.
Afterwards we returned to his place and had some hot chocolate. We sat around and talked and his Senegalese roommate joined in and talked with us as well. One thing I think that is always neat is how the people I meet in France are always really friendly. People just have a nice vibe to them. What's cool about some of the apartments in Chambery is that they are old and have a kind of castle feel to them. They are different from a lot of things that you find in the states.
After I returned chez-moi I bombarded myself with more Chinese and struggled to learn more, eventually fatiguing myself to sleepiness. My roommate and I discussed all sorts of weird things in chinese and French and Chinese. I eventually just needed to go to sleep, I decided to write in my blog first ;)
Well good night. The sleepiness is quite strong now.
p.s. I added some more photos but would also highly recommend seeing some my friend Brian's newly added photos. His pictures have a professional touch and can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcrigby/
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Yesteday Equals Awesome
So Yesterday was amazing. After lunch I met up with a Canadian girl and showed her some stuff in town. I think that being a town guide is something that is not really my specialty but thankfully I eventually got us to discover the maison de Jean Jacques Rousseau. Which is something not to many people find in Chambery so I thought it would be interesting.
Next,we went to a cafe and talked about various things. I wound up bombarding her with some of my new random ideas and such which seems to be one of my current themes whenever I have any one on one time with anyone. She seemed curious so I told her about the meditations too which was somewhat hard to explain in French. At one point she asked me if I was a Sagittarius and I said yes. Although I have never put too much effort into studying astrology I have done some research and it is actually pretty interesting at times.
Later she showed me the Library because I actually never took the time to go there. I was like a kid in a candy store. It is funny because even though I don't like reading I love learning new things or things that I am interested in. So that library was packed of cool things that were all in French. I think I'll be going there more often now.
Afterwards I returned home and my roommate and I took off to meet up with our cool mutual friend and Chinese dude. He cooked us dinner. His roommate came back and she joined us for dinner. The food he made was fantastic, one of the best meals I've had since I've been here. He is thinking about potentially starting cooking school perhaps as soon as next year. After dinner we enjoyed a bottle of wine and went out to go dancing.
The bars and pubs we went weren't too great eventually we made our way over to the discotheque. I was a bit reluctant because it is super expensive but I didn't show it because I thought if they are willing to pay I guess just go for it. It started off slowly and my roommate asked me why I wasn't dancing. Well the truth was literally nobody was and I didn't feel it yet.
Well... this night turned out to be perhaps one of the most fun times I have ever had at a club. My coloc (roomy) is super comfortable with dancing with me so we could dance anything from super silly, to rock star, to semi-freakish. Anyway it was amazingly awesome to hilarious to way too much fun. At one point there was a live band with some dancing girls that were giving out some free fedoras. So well all banked ourselves some fedoras and rocked out in a rain of confetti. I wound up getting a tee-shirt as well.
Overall it was a lot of fun; one of those days comes around every few days - I'm trying to define the meaning of "carpe diem" - my days recently have been anywhere from great to better than great. Anyway try thoughts meditations, or at least look into the "law of attraction" it is an interesting philosophy that I have recently adapted and combined with meditations, it pays off more and more on a daily basis.
Cheers, blessings, dasvidanya!
Next,we went to a cafe and talked about various things. I wound up bombarding her with some of my new random ideas and such which seems to be one of my current themes whenever I have any one on one time with anyone. She seemed curious so I told her about the meditations too which was somewhat hard to explain in French. At one point she asked me if I was a Sagittarius and I said yes. Although I have never put too much effort into studying astrology I have done some research and it is actually pretty interesting at times.
Later she showed me the Library because I actually never took the time to go there. I was like a kid in a candy store. It is funny because even though I don't like reading I love learning new things or things that I am interested in. So that library was packed of cool things that were all in French. I think I'll be going there more often now.
Afterwards I returned home and my roommate and I took off to meet up with our cool mutual friend and Chinese dude. He cooked us dinner. His roommate came back and she joined us for dinner. The food he made was fantastic, one of the best meals I've had since I've been here. He is thinking about potentially starting cooking school perhaps as soon as next year. After dinner we enjoyed a bottle of wine and went out to go dancing.
The bars and pubs we went weren't too great eventually we made our way over to the discotheque. I was a bit reluctant because it is super expensive but I didn't show it because I thought if they are willing to pay I guess just go for it. It started off slowly and my roommate asked me why I wasn't dancing. Well the truth was literally nobody was and I didn't feel it yet.
Well... this night turned out to be perhaps one of the most fun times I have ever had at a club. My coloc (roomy) is super comfortable with dancing with me so we could dance anything from super silly, to rock star, to semi-freakish. Anyway it was amazingly awesome to hilarious to way too much fun. At one point there was a live band with some dancing girls that were giving out some free fedoras. So well all banked ourselves some fedoras and rocked out in a rain of confetti. I wound up getting a tee-shirt as well.
Overall it was a lot of fun; one of those days comes around every few days - I'm trying to define the meaning of "carpe diem" - my days recently have been anywhere from great to better than great. Anyway try thoughts meditations, or at least look into the "law of attraction" it is an interesting philosophy that I have recently adapted and combined with meditations, it pays off more and more on a daily basis.
Cheers, blessings, dasvidanya!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Movies, Kisses, Hikes
On Tuesday my spunky fantastic roommate came back from her trip around France. I think I surprised her a little bit at the train station because she asked me to meet her there but I didn't guarantee that I would. Anyway she was more than happy to see me and told me about some of her adventures.
On Wednesday, also know as the busy day, I went to class and such and afterwards decided that I must get some laundry done. So now all my whites are hanging in the cave. I only hope that batman doesn't mind.
Wednesday night I went to movie night which featured a movie from Hong Kong. It was myself and three asian girls (friends/roommate) that watched the film as well as various french folk. This resulted in conversations in mostly french as well as a crazy mix of engljapochoreanese. It was funny because one of my friends actually won the ticket drawing at the beginning but she lost her ticket. We didn't find the ticket until after they already did a new drawing and someone else won instead. The movie itself was kind of stupid kind of intriguing. It seems like most movies they host for movie night have the theme of being really weird.
Afterwards we all walked home. I gave the girls the double cheek kiss goodbye. I think the asian girls really get a kick out of the cheek kisses because I have never seen any of the asian males do it. It always seems to be something grand and exciting and fun. I also think that they don't really get it, or maybe I don't get it but the sometimes the asian girls point to two different people and say kiss. It's an act non a command, by french standards its a handshake of sorts. When I think about it, it's actually pretty amusing around. I could go into more stories about it but perhaps I'll save that for later.
Today I wound up going on a spectacular hike. Know I have been doing some pretty nice hikes over the past few days but this one topped all of them. I think the biggest factor was that the weather was absolutely spectacular. I went in new a direction and it brought me up a mountain that overlooked Chambery. Overall the view was gorgeous because usually the is a certain fog in Chambery which didn't exist at all today. This hike put those other hikes to shame scenery-wise.
On Wednesday, also know as the busy day, I went to class and such and afterwards decided that I must get some laundry done. So now all my whites are hanging in the cave. I only hope that batman doesn't mind.
Wednesday night I went to movie night which featured a movie from Hong Kong. It was myself and three asian girls (friends/roommate) that watched the film as well as various french folk. This resulted in conversations in mostly french as well as a crazy mix of engljapochoreanese. It was funny because one of my friends actually won the ticket drawing at the beginning but she lost her ticket. We didn't find the ticket until after they already did a new drawing and someone else won instead. The movie itself was kind of stupid kind of intriguing. It seems like most movies they host for movie night have the theme of being really weird.
Afterwards we all walked home. I gave the girls the double cheek kiss goodbye. I think the asian girls really get a kick out of the cheek kisses because I have never seen any of the asian males do it. It always seems to be something grand and exciting and fun. I also think that they don't really get it, or maybe I don't get it but the sometimes the asian girls point to two different people and say kiss. It's an act non a command, by french standards its a handshake of sorts. When I think about it, it's actually pretty amusing around. I could go into more stories about it but perhaps I'll save that for later.
Today I wound up going on a spectacular hike. Know I have been doing some pretty nice hikes over the past few days but this one topped all of them. I think the biggest factor was that the weather was absolutely spectacular. I went in new a direction and it brought me up a mountain that overlooked Chambery. Overall the view was gorgeous because usually the is a certain fog in Chambery which didn't exist at all today. This hike put those other hikes to shame scenery-wise.
This Morning
This morning has had a pretty rough start. I woke up this morning at 6:44 and checked my email. A find of mine told me that something bad happened in Finland. Later I instantly checked the news. I cried a little even yet so realized that I needed to do something else. People are dieing every day based on different acts of hate. Things like this should signal to the rest of us that we truly need to start being more kind and caring to other people. One of the issues with modern society is that the stress levels have developed to become huge for a lot of people. In extreme cases this can lead to violence.
I think that if people start practicing the small steps to take the time to actually put in a huge effort to continue tho think positive it spread to other people. It doesn't mean not to block out negative feelings but more to find the cause of those feelings and the realize what needs to be done. If people start taking personal responsibility to be better people then that is what they will become, better people. It takes just a few little things to make people give up too easily. Yet with persistence things can and will get better.
I think that if people start practicing the small steps to take the time to actually put in a huge effort to continue tho think positive it spread to other people. It doesn't mean not to block out negative feelings but more to find the cause of those feelings and the realize what needs to be done. If people start taking personal responsibility to be better people then that is what they will become, better people. It takes just a few little things to make people give up too easily. Yet with persistence things can and will get better.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Back to School
Class started again today. The odd thing about class is that it seems to be going so slow right now. Sometimes some of the exercises are really helpful but other times they can tend to drag. I've started re managing my time in class when I feel it is need ed. For example, every Monday we have these listening exercises were afterwards we go back and correct them. I've determined that the correction after the fact is pretty pointless because it goes back to correct something that I heard 20 or 30 minutes ago. Seeing the correct version with out hearing it isn't going to do me much good. I use that time to look up a few words in the dictionary.
After class today I had lunch with some Chinese friends. The annoying part was that they were being a real pain and refusing to talk in French. So for most of the time I was just sitting there occasionally trying to force them to go into French again. Eventually I got them to talk and it was good. At first they said it was girl stuff and they couldn't talk to me about it. I knew that this is pretty ridiculous because I'm not sure exactly what defines something as "girl stuff" but I know that, not that I'd want to, I could talk (and have talked)about issues ranging from periods and mammograms all the way to abortions and rape. I guess it depends on how quickly people trust each other to talk. Anyway I eventually got them talking in French and we talked about various thing about why men and women clash so much. I was just glad that we were finally talking in French.
Later today I ran some errands. I'm trying right now to come up with ideas for cheap foods that are also healthy. So if anyone can tall me anything that can help out that would be greatly appreciated.
Tonight I tried to open up my computer so I could try to figure out how and if I can add more RAM. After opening it up I only speculated what exactly I was looking at and have a hunch on where the RAM was. Yet without not knowing too much about computers, especially laptops I'm not really sure where to go. I've only ever dealt with a desktop's RAM and that was way easier. I wish there was just something somewhere in the computer that would at least say RAM. Oh well.
I forgot to mention but the other day when I went on a walk I returned to the cemetery. For All Saints Day people load up the graves with a lot of flowers. That place was more at peace then it was before. I'll add a picture to flickr. I guess I should get to bed soon, I was up, unplanned, at 5:30 this morning and its starting to really hit me.
Bonne nuit.
After class today I had lunch with some Chinese friends. The annoying part was that they were being a real pain and refusing to talk in French. So for most of the time I was just sitting there occasionally trying to force them to go into French again. Eventually I got them to talk and it was good. At first they said it was girl stuff and they couldn't talk to me about it. I knew that this is pretty ridiculous because I'm not sure exactly what defines something as "girl stuff" but I know that, not that I'd want to, I could talk (and have talked)about issues ranging from periods and mammograms all the way to abortions and rape. I guess it depends on how quickly people trust each other to talk. Anyway I eventually got them talking in French and we talked about various thing about why men and women clash so much. I was just glad that we were finally talking in French.
Later today I ran some errands. I'm trying right now to come up with ideas for cheap foods that are also healthy. So if anyone can tall me anything that can help out that would be greatly appreciated.
Tonight I tried to open up my computer so I could try to figure out how and if I can add more RAM. After opening it up I only speculated what exactly I was looking at and have a hunch on where the RAM was. Yet without not knowing too much about computers, especially laptops I'm not really sure where to go. I've only ever dealt with a desktop's RAM and that was way easier. I wish there was just something somewhere in the computer that would at least say RAM. Oh well.
I forgot to mention but the other day when I went on a walk I returned to the cemetery. For All Saints Day people load up the graves with a lot of flowers. That place was more at peace then it was before. I'll add a picture to flickr. I guess I should get to bed soon, I was up, unplanned, at 5:30 this morning and its starting to really hit me.
Bonne nuit.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Christmas Plans and Waking Up
Today I was supposed to have dinner this evening but it got canceled. Instead I have been trying to get plane tickets to visit my grandparents for Christmas. There are some strange credit card issues but I will try again tomorrow with a French credit card, that should do the trick.
I went on another walk and came up with idea to build my website. I have big plan right now and I will start plan going once I have the basic plan in fairly solid. It will take a lot of work to get the website going but in the long run I think it will be well worth it. Once I have the ideas solid I will let you guys know.
One of my current plans is to get up each day at 7am Monday-Sunday. This is only a half-hour/hour earlier than normal but eventually I can start pushing this earlier; once I'm ready I will wake up earlier. It is something that most (all) of the improvement gurus I have come across advocate strongly. If you think about it, lets say you wake up between 2 to 3 hours earlier each day and form this habit. You basically have added around an extra day to your week, every week. As long as you body healthily adjusts to this new routine it is well worth it. Gaining over 5o days in you life each year. Imagine all the stuff you could do if you had 50 extra days each year. I just wanted to throw that out there for you guys to think about.
Cheers!
I went on another walk and came up with idea to build my website. I have big plan right now and I will start plan going once I have the basic plan in fairly solid. It will take a lot of work to get the website going but in the long run I think it will be well worth it. Once I have the ideas solid I will let you guys know.
One of my current plans is to get up each day at 7am Monday-Sunday. This is only a half-hour/hour earlier than normal but eventually I can start pushing this earlier; once I'm ready I will wake up earlier. It is something that most (all) of the improvement gurus I have come across advocate strongly. If you think about it, lets say you wake up between 2 to 3 hours earlier each day and form this habit. You basically have added around an extra day to your week, every week. As long as you body healthily adjusts to this new routine it is well worth it. Gaining over 5o days in you life each year. Imagine all the stuff you could do if you had 50 extra days each year. I just wanted to throw that out there for you guys to think about.
Cheers!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
How ya do'in?
OK so not real big hike today. Just a quick trip to town that later brought me back home. I'm slowing trying to come up with some plans to get some good plans going for what I will be doing here for the next few months. I will still need to find a job of sorts but I'm also brainstorming ideas for my online business. I'm not sure what the business is yet but something that will undoubtedly relate something with languages or travel, or connecting people, or helping people. I just need to write all the ideas down so I can get them organized.
This evening I spent some time talking to a friend of mine. I was able to get a lot of French cranked out and she helped me with a lot of French that hopefully. It was really good because I was able to talk about some of my ideas and I was forced to do it all in French. We both had hot chocolate and later went to a Kebab place. It was 99.9% French except when I taught her how to say "Whatz 'appenin," as well as "How are you doing?" "How ya do'in?" "How YOU do'in?" and explained the difference.
Overall a good night. Good night!
This evening I spent some time talking to a friend of mine. I was able to get a lot of French cranked out and she helped me with a lot of French that hopefully. It was really good because I was able to talk about some of my ideas and I was forced to do it all in French. We both had hot chocolate and later went to a Kebab place. It was 99.9% French except when I taught her how to say "Whatz 'appenin," as well as "How are you doing?" "How ya do'in?" "How YOU do'in?" and explained the difference.
Overall a good night. Good night!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Excellence
Last Night was nice. I had dinner with a bunch of friends at a friend's place. It was an American-Mexican-French-Swiss-German kind of dinner, you know the standard deal. Anyway, the dinner was a really good. After the dinner the was a mini concert of a bassoon duo that was really great. Afterwards I think we were bored (although I am never truly bored) because we played everything from patty cake, to lets see who can hold their breath the longest (I won), to some random slapping leg game (hard to explain), to telephone in French or German or Spanish, to the mild version of suck and blow (which was absolutely hilarious). Overall a nice night with some good food, good silliness, good music.
Today I went on another hike. I hiked all the way to another town nearby Chambery. It kind of caught me by surprise because I thought I was hiking up a mountain and then all of a sudden, surprise, another town! Hiking seems to be the theme of this week.
I basically, have spent the past few days with overwhelming force on hikes and at the same time listening to podcasts, mostly by Steve Pavlina, Robin Sharma, and a bit of ChinesePod. I have determined that slowly but surely I'm striving for excellence in my life. This might sound pretty silly but I have not really thought too much about it before this year. The thing that I have realized is that many people go through life paycheck to paycheck because that's simply what they have settled for. After a while this gets boring yet they stick to it for some odd reason. The thing is when there's a will there's a way. It may sound cliché but it is true. If you think you can be doing something better, than do something better! It is harder work in the end but far more rewarding. I thought it would be better if I announce it here because it makes it more official the more people that know. It is more of a statement, a goal that has potential supporters if needed.
Anyway, basically my current project will stick with me for the rest of my life, that is for sure. After I realized that not only learn something new each day but improve myself as a result, it seems like the only way to live life. Although this vacation did not work out for me going to far away from Chambery, I have learned a lot in the past few days. Something that is truly priceless. The biggest thing to work on right now is to put knowledge into action. That has always been one of my weak points but eventually I foresee it as being one of my biggest strengths.
Oh yea by the way, if you haven't ever looked into meditation or tried it, you are missing out on one of the most valuable things that we as humans can do. So do it and don't give up, once you even just slightly get it there's no going back. It is probably the most useful things anyone could ever do for mental heath. If anyone is curious just ask me.
Well, anyway I blogged today in my more journal style but it seemed the only way to go. Probably way more interesting too!
Today I went on another hike. I hiked all the way to another town nearby Chambery. It kind of caught me by surprise because I thought I was hiking up a mountain and then all of a sudden, surprise, another town! Hiking seems to be the theme of this week.
I basically, have spent the past few days with overwhelming force on hikes and at the same time listening to podcasts, mostly by Steve Pavlina, Robin Sharma, and a bit of ChinesePod. I have determined that slowly but surely I'm striving for excellence in my life. This might sound pretty silly but I have not really thought too much about it before this year. The thing that I have realized is that many people go through life paycheck to paycheck because that's simply what they have settled for. After a while this gets boring yet they stick to it for some odd reason. The thing is when there's a will there's a way. It may sound cliché but it is true. If you think you can be doing something better, than do something better! It is harder work in the end but far more rewarding. I thought it would be better if I announce it here because it makes it more official the more people that know. It is more of a statement, a goal that has potential supporters if needed.
Anyway, basically my current project will stick with me for the rest of my life, that is for sure. After I realized that not only learn something new each day but improve myself as a result, it seems like the only way to live life. Although this vacation did not work out for me going to far away from Chambery, I have learned a lot in the past few days. Something that is truly priceless. The biggest thing to work on right now is to put knowledge into action. That has always been one of my weak points but eventually I foresee it as being one of my biggest strengths.
Oh yea by the way, if you haven't ever looked into meditation or tried it, you are missing out on one of the most valuable things that we as humans can do. So do it and don't give up, once you even just slightly get it there's no going back. It is probably the most useful things anyone could ever do for mental heath. If anyone is curious just ask me.
Well, anyway I blogged today in my more journal style but it seemed the only way to go. Probably way more interesting too!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Walking and Dancing
On Tuesday I spent a lot time downloading some podcasts. Podcasts are some what like a radio talk program except they are mp3s. Nowadays you can find all sorts of podcasts online for free. The good thing about podcasts is that you can things that your interested in and download them. They ranging in all sorts of categories you can think of; anything from self improvement to learning a new language.
That evening there was a little party at a friends house. He lives way too far away so everyone just wound up staying there. It was pretty chill, a laid back gathering of people. And apparently I have perhaps a minor talent in giving messages, who knew.
Yesterday I spent most of the day either walking or dancing. This was pretty exhausting day so I woke up about an hour ago, its 3pm now. I walked everywhere from the super marche, to the sorting goods store, to the bank. Afterwards I just walked right out of the city and found a random and awesome hike that went over the hill and trough the woods and even to a grandfather's house. I met a a friendly man from the region and we exchanged a few words.
Basically after hiking forever I realized what he told me was indeed true. That I would hike and come back on the same trail that I was on. I thought that this hiking trail actually had a destination. Silly me, It actually turned out to be endless, at least as far as I could tell. By the time I got back home it was already dark out.
I had some dinner, took a shower, attempted a meditation and woke up 10 minutes past the time I was supposed to meet up down town. I rushed out of the house and finally made it, a little groggy.
We eventually went to the dance place in town. I danced so hard that I ruined my shirt with sweat. This left my shirt in a nasty and unappealing to my appearance. I decided to pop a mentos, figuratively, (if you have no idea what I'm talking about then you need to watch a mentos commercial) and I soaked the entire shirt in the bathroom sink, voila! the shirt was uniform again albeit a little wet.
I then continued some dancing and eventually we change locations to the actual club, club. Which I like to think as a cross between a swamp of drunken idiots and and a place where one can dance to their full potential or any range of that combination.
Anyway it was a lot of fun. I still have a lot to work on with my dancing. Right now mostly the ability to boost the groups energy. I can out dance most people, the only limiting factor is maintaining that balance between getting too sweaty and not. It is actually a big challenge, yesterday seemed to be exceptionally hot.
Eventually the music stopped and my friends were in dire need to finally get home so we left. I got home at 4:30 or so and finally got some well needed sleep.
That evening there was a little party at a friends house. He lives way too far away so everyone just wound up staying there. It was pretty chill, a laid back gathering of people. And apparently I have perhaps a minor talent in giving messages, who knew.
Yesterday I spent most of the day either walking or dancing. This was pretty exhausting day so I woke up about an hour ago, its 3pm now. I walked everywhere from the super marche, to the sorting goods store, to the bank. Afterwards I just walked right out of the city and found a random and awesome hike that went over the hill and trough the woods and even to a grandfather's house. I met a a friendly man from the region and we exchanged a few words.
Basically after hiking forever I realized what he told me was indeed true. That I would hike and come back on the same trail that I was on. I thought that this hiking trail actually had a destination. Silly me, It actually turned out to be endless, at least as far as I could tell. By the time I got back home it was already dark out.
I had some dinner, took a shower, attempted a meditation and woke up 10 minutes past the time I was supposed to meet up down town. I rushed out of the house and finally made it, a little groggy.
We eventually went to the dance place in town. I danced so hard that I ruined my shirt with sweat. This left my shirt in a nasty and unappealing to my appearance. I decided to pop a mentos, figuratively, (if you have no idea what I'm talking about then you need to watch a mentos commercial) and I soaked the entire shirt in the bathroom sink, voila! the shirt was uniform again albeit a little wet.
I then continued some dancing and eventually we change locations to the actual club, club. Which I like to think as a cross between a swamp of drunken idiots and and a place where one can dance to their full potential or any range of that combination.
Anyway it was a lot of fun. I still have a lot to work on with my dancing. Right now mostly the ability to boost the groups energy. I can out dance most people, the only limiting factor is maintaining that balance between getting too sweaty and not. It is actually a big challenge, yesterday seemed to be exceptionally hot.
Eventually the music stopped and my friends were in dire need to finally get home so we left. I got home at 4:30 or so and finally got some well needed sleep.
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