Operation Overlord

Friday turned out to be sort of successful. After a good 20 minutes shivering at the bus stop, a bus did show up and I managed to get to Place d'Italie. I did a little shopping at the cheapo Wet Seal/Forever 21-ish stores. Unfortunately until I get paid I can't do a ton of shopping. But I got a few long sleeved shirts, which I can add to the two pairs of shoes I ordered that my mom is going to bring me in a couple weeks. I'm getting used to wearing my boots and flats but I miss the days of Uggs and flip flops. Actually there is a new pair of Uggs out that I am so in love with I think I'm going to buy them and figure out a way to get them here. Too bad I just found them or I would've had time for Mumsy to bring them. Anyway. I got some cat food at Bricorama, went to the gym (FINALLY. It was glorious) and then stood out in the even more freezing cold to catch the bus back home afterward. It reminded me of the days of Muni buses, standing in the cold waiting and then the excruciating crawl through traffic.

Yesterday, a Saturday morning, I dragged my ass out of bed at 7 am and walked in the dark and freezing cold to MICEFA. For my Franco-American relations class, we had to take this mandatory trip to Normandy to do some WWII learnage. Luckily MICEFA is all about the charter buses so it was a comfortable 4 hour drive. Except for the part where I thought I was showing some self control by not buying anything at the gas station mini-mart on the way there, because we were promised a crepe stand at the beach. Well, crepe stand was closed. That started a long road of starvation that lasted until I finally had something more than my morning coffee and a few Pringles, at 7 pm on the way home.
Anyway, the trip itself was really cool. I went to Hilton Head in South Carolina when I was really little but I don't remember it, so technically it was the first time I'd ever seen the Atlantic Ocean. It still strikes me as odd when I see beaches in cold climates. At home the beach is fun and inviting, in San Francisco it's just grey and scary, and in Normandy it was cold and really calm. It's the ocean but it was also the English channel so that explains the lack of breakers I guess. Plus the sea gulls were just floating near the shore like ducks! I couldn't believe it. Luckily it was a perfectly clear day so we just kind of walked around and looked at stuff and took it all in. Oh and Morgan waded into the water to get sea shells for everyone like a savage.

Then we got back in the bus to go to the American cemetery, which was pretty disorienting I have to say. Well first we had to go through security which was funny cuz I had a coffee thermos in my bag that pretty much resembled a torpedo. And we got inside and there's Dubya's framed publicity photo (why he hasn't gotten a new one in 7 years, I'll never understand) looking like the goofy asshole he is. Our chaperone didn't much like my reaction. Sidenote: she was a bitch, basically. Just way out of touch or something, I dunno. At least Barbara treats us like humans. Anyway, bitchy chaperone told me that when you're overseas you shouldn't talk shit about your president or something. Is she kidding? If I'm supposed to be representing Americans then I should let people know that not all Americans are Bible-thumping cowboys. Honestly just because I may have shown a chink in that United We Stand bullshit doesn't mean the the rest of the world is going to suddenly realize that America isn't invincible -- trust me, you twit, they know. ANYWAY. The rest of the cemetery was really cool. Our tour guide was extra perky and excited, and there were some cool displays with maps of all the fighting. Of course in the actual cemetery portion I had to find all the Jewish people. Luckily they got Stars of David instead of crosses, which everyone else got regardless of their religion. I know it's an old cemetery, but that still seems kind of silly. I mean they are bunches of military cemeteries in California and they all just plain white, pillar-like headstones. Anyway, yeah. And someone asked what the stars were for.

Okay maybe this is a bit of a rant, and if you didn't grow up in an urban or yuppy-ish area then you probably don't know any Jewish people, but seriously. I didn't know any Muslim people for most of my childhood but I still managed to pick up a few things about Islam. There's a woman who works at one of the schools where I teach, and granted she seems a little stunted emotionally and not totally aware of social propriety (in that she sometimes stares at me like I'm a zoo creature), but when I told her I wouldn't be missing Christmas with my family because I'm Jewish, it was just a blank stare. I understand if you don't understand what Kosher is or why some people wear kippahs, but there are people who think Jews celebrate Christmas? Actually I shouldn't be surprised -- Chelsea didn't know that Jews didn't believe in Jesus until I told her about a year ago.
Okay I'm getting off track again. The rest of the museum was nice, with lots of displays and a short movie to watch. Again, it was all very American with our super American tour guide and I felt more like I was visiting Pearl Harbor, but with less Japanese people. Oh and toward the end some members of the Royal Marines showed up and the girls (and of course many of the guys) in our group were pleased. I'd never seen a jarhead with a British accent, it was cool. I find myself straining to here British people speak all the time. Is that creepy? Sometimes I wish I had a fun accent.

So after the cemetery it was back on the bus and back toward civilization. Except this time in addition to the idiots behind me singing along to Jessica Simpson on an iPod, there was this crazy woman to the right of me. I knew there would be trouble when she threw into an earlier conversation that she was the youngest of 6 children. Immediately I was like, oh dear, she has a desperate and pathological need for attention and validation. And did she. I'm quite certain that more than half of the stories she told Morgan (I was just eavesdropping) were complete bullshit. I could almost see her thought process as a subject was brought up and she came up with some outlandish story or statement to make herself seem amazing. Plus she was just hypersexual about everything which sadly makes me think she was abused or something as a kid. Who knows, I shouldn't psychoanalyze people. Anyway, I wish I had brought my iPod cuz honestly after a while listening to her speak made me nauseated. Plus I was hypoglycemic from not having eaten anything that day. And I couldn't doze off because she'd start talking about vaginas or excrement some more and my stomach would turn. Finally her husband called her and she stopped talking (oh yeah, husband. She also announced to our part of the bus that we should get married ASAP before our tits start to sag. As if that fucking ring is going to keep her husband from cheating on/leaving her disgusting ass in five years. Oh and then there was the part about her next life phase "making the babies." I wish people could figure out something more to do than populate the Earth with their unevolved offspring).

Anyway, despite some of the irritations of the day, it wasn't bad for a field trip.

This morning I woke up, and it is fuckin' frio in the world. I turned on my heater for about 20 minutes to warm the place up a bit. I hate heaters for some reason. When I was little we never used it, that's probably why. My mom would just tell me to put on some socks and a sweatshirt when it got cold in the house. Sometimes the heater would turn on for a bit in the middle of the night, but only when it got to like 45 degrees in the house. I dunno. It makes me feel like I'm wasting energy, like when people leave the lights on in empty rooms or throw away their plastic bottles. I feel bad because I don't pay my electricity bill so if I overuse my landlady has to deal with it. So I've been keeping everything except the phone unplugged unless I'm using it. Sadly, it is getting really cold and I may have to keep the heat on at least while I'm at home. At night it's actually not really necessary cuz between the covers and the cat I'm super warm. According to my weather widget it's 32 degrees outside. Fack.