Food I miss

Cheddar cheese
Root beer
Multi-grain sliced bread
Sliced turkey (that isn't disgusting)
Good beer (that doesn't cost five euro a pint)
Bagels

I also, in general, really miss being able to eat a variety of food. In France, or at least in a small town like Perigueux, there aren't exactly many options. It's French food or it's no food. I miss being able to eat Mexican food, Italian food, American food, Thai food, etc., and having all those options any time I go out to eat or go to the grocery store. I ate "Chinese" food the other night - and it was awful.

I do, however, appreciate two euro bottles of wine and the super fresh market vegetables and fruits.

But when I go home, I'm going out for Sunday brunch and making quesadillas with non-French cheese and ordering a sandwich from a sandwich shop as often as possible. All on Sunday. Well, maybe not, but I'm doing a lot of stuff on Sundays because that is definitely high on the list of things that drive me absolutely insane about Europe: everything being completely shut down on Sunday. Also everything being shut down at 7pm.

It snowed this week. Not much - at least I didn't think it was much. Apparently an inch of snow is enough to shut down the Dordogne. Maybe half of the students showed up to school. Maybe. Admittedly, the snow/ice was probably worse on the country roads...but if they had put down some sand or salt, everyone would have been fine. It wasn't very nice as snow; it was barely cold enough, so it was very wet and slushy and gross. I also had to walk to the grocery store in it, and it was less than pleasant.

The weather has been pretty ugly since it snowed. But I've been fairly productive and worked on my resume and cleaned my apartment and read some books. Tomorrow I'll have to plan my classes for the week. This evening we're going to a movie; it's the first time we've gone to the movies in Perigueux! We're going to go see Amour, which I think has been popular in the U.S. lately as well.

And, saving the best for last, I went and picked up a purse this morning that I ordered when my family was here. I got it at this great little leather shop - everything in the store is handmade by the owner. I had seen a purse in the window and told him I was going to buy it, and then it got sold. But he remembered which one it was and made me my own! Verrrry exciting.

So pretty! And the leather is so nice.

Also, these are my crazy shoes I bought while I was here. (I've bought three pairs of shoes so far - not too bad considering my track record.) I loooove these. I don't have much of a reason to wear them here, but they'll go to use when I come back to the U.S.

Nothing else too interesting going on right now. I spent much of yesterday worrying about finding affordable shipping for my luggage. I'm going to have to ship home a couple of my bags, partly because I don't want to cart them all over Europe with me before I come home (I'm probably going to travel for a couple weeks) and partly because I've bought stuff and they're probably going to be pretty heavy. I wasn't having too much luck finding anything remotely affordable. I'll probably start calling a few places and see what I can find...

And that's all for now!