Also, it rains a lot in Perigueux.
I actually had a pretty good weekend. Karen came over from Villefranche which was fun, and we got a ton of Christmas shopping done with Marina on Saturday both in the shops in Perigueux and in the Christmas market.
Shopping in the market. For some reason I look utterly exhausted in this picture.
We actually had a really good night on Friday. After dinner with Cathi and Marina, we ended up at an English pub in town. I made a spectacle of myself by falling down some stairs in front of a room of people - but really the important part is that I neither broke the glass in my hand nor spilled a drop of the beer in my other hand. So people laughed but were also impressed. Anyway, after chatting for awhile, a guy came over to our table and asked us to join him and his friends; a couple, another French guy and an Argentinian girl. The girl had been an assistant in the past in Perigueux and had met her boyfriend while she was working here. Long story short, we talked to them for awhile and ended up having a big dinner with them and a few other friends on Saturday evening. We officially have some French friends in Perigueux now! More young people to hang out with - and the fact that some of them are French is great, cause now we can really speak real French! Anyway, we were really excited to have found some new friends and they were all a lot of fun and very nice, so we had a good time with them both nights. We're looking forward to hanging out with them in the future.
This week is the last week of classes, a fact that I am thrilled about. I'm doing a lesson on Christmas and New Year's traditions in the United States, so it's not too tough. I can't wait for Friday to come though! Though I do have a whole list of things I need to get done before my family shows up...
This evening we went to the English pub to see a couple of the assistants play Christmas carols. It was really nice! Unfortunately, the room was chock full of old British people so there were no tables for us to sit at, so we didn't stay too long. But it was nice all the same!
English pub sing-a-long!
I also used the opportunity of being out on the street in the evening to take pictures of the Christmas lights again. I tried to take a video of some of the particularly tacky lights but it didn't work out so well - so that will be a project for another time this week, maybe Thursday night when most of the other assistants will have already left Perigueux.
The street in front of the cathedral actually looked quite nice with the lights and everything - though I still think they would look nicer if they were yellow-ish rather than blue-white.
Giant round snowflakes on a tiny road.
These are the kind of lights that look like they're icicles and dripping. (They actually were dripping because it's been raining for about four days straight.) They're one of the only blinking effects that doesn't look totally tacky - or doesn't almost give you a seizure.
Pretty(ish) lights close to my street. Plus the nightly pile of garbage next to the Christmas tree! The garbage gets collected every night though, so the city is very clean during the day - and since no one is in the street at night, it's no big deal!
And this is my street. A dozen trees, forty strands of garland, tinsel, ornaments, flashing lights, and, for some inexplicable reason, a red carpet. Which has been sopping wet and disgusting for days. Walking down the street is like being in a snow globe - actually in a snow globe, with water and everything since the carpet squelches under your shoes.
I also tried to make my apartment a little festive and cheerier. I might keep the lights up even after Christmas because they do make the place happier. It's better in general as an apartment cause I have decorations up and I have a rug that covers part of the hideous floor - but, eh, it's still just okay!
So that is life in Perigueux at the moment. I'm hoping this week goes by quickly so I can see my family and travel and celebrate the holidays! And then Mark comes! I have lots of traveling and company for the next few weeks.
Also, the Redskins are in first place. What the heck.
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