big travel plans and the carnaval de dunkerque

So I guess I should start out with my big travel news. In April, I will be spending three weeks in Thailand (with most likely a few days in Cambodia)!! How exciting is that?! I had to move two classes in order to go (talk about it falling at the perfect time!), but my colleagues were like "You must go! We're so jealous!", so I bought a ticket. I'll be going with Brazilian, his friend Fred (whom I've met several times), Fred's cousin (who I don't know), and another girl I don't know. It should be loads of fun!

This past weekend was a fun one. I met up with Brazilian and Fred and after lunch, we looked at Thailand travel guides at Fnac. Every little thing more I learn about the country makes me more and more excited to go. After coffee and lemon meringue pie at my favorite cafe, we stopped by mine to look up domestic flights in Thailand. The general plan is to spend a few days in Bangkok before flying up North to celebrate the Thai New Year. Then, it's down to the South to visit some islands before busing it back up to Bangkok and then over to Cambodia.

After our research, I met up with a few friends for an apero before heading to Le Quesnoy to Brazilian's for dinner and drinks followed by a rock concert in a local bar. The dinner and drinks were fun, but the concert was definitely not our style. We basically couldn't wait to get out of there and go to bed because the next day we were going to the Carnaval de Dunkerque!

We all met at mine to finish our costumes and makeup before hitting the road to Dunkerque. Once in Dunkerque, we noticed it was fairly quiet. Not to mention that no one was dressed up... Needless to say, Brazilian (who's idea and plan this was) did not look up the actual program for the day. Luckily, I had my trusty iPhone and soon learned that the Carnaval that day was in the town next door Malo-les-Bains. Talk about disorganization. We'll have to work on this before Thailand.

Malo-les-Bains, like Dunkerque, is right on the sea, so we wandered down the Promenade by the water enjoying the crazy costumes that we saw. Some people seriously went all out. We listened to some music, had a few drinks, and awaited the main attraction of the day, la bande (a big parade which is actually everyone in their costumes walking down the city streets). We linked arms and followed the crowd. We took a little break by the sea where some drunken people were wandering out in the icy cold water.

Group shot

The two guys on the right (next to me) are the guys I'm going to Thailand with.

After a quick drink, we linked arms and were off again. Brazilian, who was tired of the calmness of where we were in the crowd), took off to reach the front. We followed suit losing a few people behind us for a bit. I wasn't sure what was going on, but as Brazilian had my arm, I had no choice but to run after. I soon learned what we were after, the chahut. The chahut is basically people "moshing" (for lack of a better word) together. We got pretty close to the origin which made it quite violent. We lost most of the group during this and in true "Shannon fashion", I fell (someone stood on the laces of my shoes so I couldn't move my feet to keep my balance). That's a pretty scary thing to do, but Brazilian kept a death grip on me and pulled me up and out of the crowd. We were then down to three in our group and the chahut started again. Fred was just like "Forget this!" and got himself out of the way. I clung to Brazilian for dear life for a few moments of the chahut before we decided to follow after Fred.

Lesson I learned? I hate the chahut. At least the violent front of it. Apparently, you need to find a good measure between the calm back of la bande and the crazy front. I was quite happy to head home after that.

This week is the vacation. I've been pretty much just chilling. Grading exams, running errands, giving lessons, talking vaccinations for Thailand with my doctor, and the like. My big outing of the week was having a nice calm drink for my birthday with a few of my friends who are still here. The big party is planned for next Saturday. Tomorrow, I'm off to Lille to watch some films with my friend who lives there. Should be fun!