Day 28: ca ne marche pas

28 septembre 2009 (Day 28)
An explanation of today’s title is necessary. “Ca ne marche pas” directly translated is, “that doesn’t walk”. It is really a very courante French phrase that means “This doesn’t work.” And today ne marche pas. Just as a warning, this is a complaining day. Things didn’t go how they were supposed to today. Waking up was perfectly fine, I got lots of sleep which was very nice. I didn’t like phonetics again. Today we were learning how in “la langue courant” where you should drop “e”s. I don’t like dropping most of my “e”s, I think that it sometimes makes French sound very yucky and informal. Luckily there are only 12 classes. :]
I took the 30 minute tram ride out to Wattignes for frencing class, but it was cancelled today. I did talk to a nice girl in my class Cami for a little bit though. I hung around Hotel Dieu and did homework on the lawn, jealously watching some people play guitar. I was still ridiculously hungry so I bought a pastry, “un Coeur de framboise” which was a little disappointing.
I finally met the ISEP coordinator today. She was full of apologies. She has an interesting personality, she is very sassy. She scolded me for responding to her in French when she was talking to me in English (sometimes it is just automatic). She told us we could come to her and cry, as she had the motherly figure roll here in France for us. She had many apologies for France and the program, but then basically said tough love, it is France, it is always like this so don’t complain. I did find out some very useful information about my second semester here and my stipend. It sounds like I will be done with class in May or June and I don’t have to take the same final as the French students. I am to work out with my professors a different form of grading. I found out that my stipend or “bourse” should be in my bank account sometime this week, so I am anxiously waiting for that. I planning on stocking up on food (boring things like mustard, jam, rice, cous cous, museli from Carrefour [the missionaries say it is the best], pink toilet paper).
Art history wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be. It was still a little disappointing, but she did finally do some good teaching. I was really excited to watch, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in French after class today, but I couldn’t find where it was playing. Thus I went off to the Rubis and got some dinner. Tonight they you could choose from ground beef pizza, croque monsieur, and chicken with scary looking beans and/or carrots. I got the chicken and carrots along with a “gauffre” or waffle for dessert. It was okay, but it wasn’t the greatest ever. I am amazed at how accustomed my tummy has become to one giant meal a day. I remember the first day it was SO much food to me, and now my stomach can handle it quite well, what a champ!
When I got home, my internet wasn’t working! I waited for a while, but finally gave in to going to McDonald’s. I talked to the “Washington group” for a little bit. There are about 18 people here from Washington because there schools are sister schools. While we were talking, a pizza delivery man, driving wildly on his moped, flew over the tramway straight into the supermarket’s parking lot and talked to a woman that was walking by. I thought it was pretty funny that he was lost and asking for directions. Twenty seconds later he came to a screeching halt by me and demanded if I had a cigarette. I told him no and then I laughed to myself. He really needed a cigarette,he had quite the desperate look in his eyes.
I finally got to McDonalds and I bought some fries because I felt bad using the free internet and not getting anything. I was also still hungry as well (why, I don’t know) and I couldn’t go to the supermarket because it closes at 7:30pm every night, except Sundays, when it is closed all day. So I ordered a small fry because it was the cheapest thing on the menu. The man was really nice because he was going to give me my fries and then he said, “Oh no, that is not enough fries!” so then he went and put more fries in it (ones that were actually warm). The first fries were okay, but the rest were cold, greasy, and tasted like fish. And there was no ketchup to cover up the nasty taste.
And now I am writing this, taking the tram back home to the comfort of my internet there, trying to figure out if the person in front of me is a drag queen or a really odd looking woman with a wig and a really bad taste in clothes and lipstick. Non, ca ne marche pas.