Winter, or something like it

That's right, friends. I am officially freezing my arse off. The season change kind of eased in with a few cold but clear and sunny days. This sucked for me cuz I was like, "Sun! Flips fops! Yeah!" But once I got outside I realized it was about 45. It's the worst in the mornings when I work, because it's about a ten minute walk from the train station to the school. . .in the pitch black, of course.

I feel completely wrecked from this week. I spent two days glued to the news, missed four straight days at the gym. Just not great decision-making all around. Yesterday I went to work in the morning to make up for some of hours I missed during the metro strike. As soon as my phone started vibrating at 6 am, my entire body just seized in pain. 6 am is an ungodly hour and should never be attempted two days in a row. But I dragged myself to Marly, did two really good classes, and got the hell out of there. Although since it was about 10:15 when I got to the train station, I had to wait until 10:40 for the next one. Anyway, I wrote the proposal for my TA-ship last, last minute, then napped and gymmed and did the regular Friday night stuff.

So now I'm sort of on vacation until next Thursday. I don't have work, my MICEFA classes were canceled this week, so it's just one on Tuesday and one on Thursday. I have no idea what to do with myself. I'm going to make a trip to Gibert Joseph to buy some books for class. I'll do some hardcore lesson planning. But what I really want to do is go to Disneyland. It's decked out for Halloween until November 4. And they have some kind of second park, Walt Disney Studios or something? I assume it's akin to MGM Studios at Disneyworld, with all the behind-the-scenes kind of stuff.

Every time I see the Halloween Disneyland ads in the metro, I get really homesick. There are plenty of reminders of America here, like McDonald's and The Body Shop and Starbucks, but Disneyland dressed up for Halloween combines two of the best things about America, that I actually take part in gladly. I taught Halloween to the kids this week, complete with candy and paper jack-o-lanterns. I explained trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving in French so that they would understand. Apparently Halloween was a big fad a few years ago but has since died out. I'm sure the French marketing machine couldn't keep up. Selling Halloween involves giant bags of fun-size candy bars and shitty made-in-China costumes and accessories in Rite Aid by the beginning of September. Large bags of candy, cheap Chinese products, and Rite Aid all don't exist here. Monoprix barly resembles an American drugstore. Poor kids.

Next on the list for American culture lessons are baseball and Thanksgiving. Of course there will be obligatory hand-turkeys. I wonder if I can find a mitt in France?