one week until vacation!

My spring vacation of traveling for half of it, putzing around Chauny for the rest of it has suddenly completely changed. It's now more like "Chauny??? I don't know of this place." It all started with an invite from Anna to do a chateaux tour with her program and ended last night with a phone call from Veronique. This is not completely confirmed yet, because Anna has to see if there are still places left on the tour, but this is what my vacation is looking like now:

April 5 - 7: Aix-en-Provence
April 8 - 11: Rome
April 11: Back in Chauny for a few hours... off to Paris
April 11 - 13 (maybe morning of 14): Paris with Anna
April 14 - 18: Dublin
April 19 - 20: Recuperate in Chauny
April 21: Back to work

Crazy. Okay, not really, but just not what I had expected. The Aix-en-Provence thing was the most unexpected part of the vacation. I was already planning on going to Paris for a bit. Anyway, last night, Vero called me. She called me twice while we were eating at a friend of Viany's so I didn't answer. I did have a great voicemail from her and Nicole though! After we left, I sent a text message to Vero saying that she could call me then or today (Sunday). I didn't hear anything from her, but at about 10:30 she called me on her way to Marseille with Nicole to go out dancing. LOL! Love them!

We chatted for awhile, and she invited me to come down for a week during April vacation. Seeing as I already have plane tickets, that just couldn't happen. She practically begged me to come down for just a few days then, so I mentioned that this coming weekend could possibly work. That just made her day!! She really hates the student living with her now. The girl is mean to her (and everyone else), has stolen things of Roxane (Vero's daughter), and is just generally a pain. I hated to hear this, because Vero takes in students and treats them as her own children and genuinely likes having a student living with her. I guess even Roxane has been asking when I would be back. Now that surprises me!! So anyway, today I researched train tickets, called my mom to make sure I wasn't completely crazy, and bought a ticket. Since I bought it so late, I will have to wait until tomorrow to tell Vero the good news.

Let's see... what else has happened since my last update? All my classes went smoothly... more or less. I had some trouble with the dreaded DP6, but that was more of them just disappearing on me. And that's partially the teacher's fault. I was supposed to meet them and the teacher in her room. She told me last minute that she had to leave and that the students would be outside. Okay, cool. I found the students, but I don't have keys to a room, so I told them to wait for me while I go to the surveillant office. I go there, wait, talk to M. and he tells me that G. has the keys outside. So I go back outside... all but 5 of the students have gone! And G. did not have the keys... they were in the office! Oy! But at least it was the huge troublemakers that wandered off, and the teacher will handle that, because I made those who came write down their names.

As for the weekend, Viany made us homemade chicken nuggets (like she cut up the chicken, made the batter, and fried them) and fries (homemade as well). Yummy!! This girl can cook just about anything. She called it her McDonald's night. We all went to the bar, met some gendarmes (one of which we kind of already knew), confronted some voleurs (that was all Viany), and then just hung out at the apartment. Pretty tame night.

Saturday, Ellie came to Chauny, and we all had dinner at Viany's friend's house. She's also from South America, so she's kind of adopted Viany though we like to use the word kidnapped. I guess she's always inviting us over, but Viany always makes up excuses, but she finally gave in and said okay. It was good - she made couscous - and we told her straight off that we had other plans so we could get out of there in a timely fashion (why we use the word kidnap). After, we went back to the apartment to eat the desserts Ellie brought, I talked to Vero, and then we all went out. They had "Miss Cuba Night", but that contest fell flat on its face, we think. It never actually made sense or had any real winner. Ellie and I had a good time hanging out there though. We just sort of chilled. When the bar closed, our friend T. met us back at the apartment, and we all hung out there finishing the desserts and cheese that remained in the fridge. And as always, we love our BFF T. He even sent us a text to make sure we got home okay after Katie and I left.

Today, absolutely unproductive. Slept half the day away (stupid time change... yes, Europe is behind you folks). Watched the (illegal) copy of "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" that Viany's friend gave her last night. Ate delicious croque-monsieurs. And that's about it.

Tomorrow, I seriously need to get some things done for the week. I only have one class, so that should be possible... unless I sleep, read, or play on the Internet.