This update is a bit like a cookbook without pictures........boring.    So far, I haven't taken any dazzling photos, and, if I had, it wouldn't really matter anyhow since the cord that transfers pictures from my camera to my computer is wedged between my sleeping bag and my Sam's-Club-size bottles of shampoo at the base of my 45lb back pack.  

Lauren and I have nearly overtaken Julie's living room with half-unpacked haphazard bags.   The arrangement of my belongings is a testament to the state of mind I must have been in when I left: my underwear are in the unreachable bottom of my rolly beneath all of my winter sweaters while my gluestick, gingerbread man cookie cutter, and peppercorn grinder (I honestly don't even remember putting this one in...) are conveniently nestled in my carry-on.  Moving out of Julie's apartment is going to seem just as epic as moving across the Atlantic.

Finding an apartment here is just about as easy as finding a restaurant that serves tater-tot casserole.  It's a frenzy and I've the feeling that my accent along with the conspicuous lack of properly conjugated verbs in my sentences somehow lends me a less competitive air.  Apartments get rented within hours of being posted online.  Last week I became an expert at leaving the following voice mail: "Bonjour.  I am just coming from seeing the announcement you made on France Wooooest.  This announcement interests me very much.  I am named Brian Carpentier and you could please contact me on my portable phone the number of which is zero siiix, forty feeve, seventin, fiffy eight, fiffy.  Thank you very much.  Au revoir!"

I've only had 2 people return my calls.

Although it's much funnier to blame it on my accent/grammar/etc., the truth of the matter seems to be that once an apartment in rented, the landlord no longer sees the need of contacting anyone who inquires.  (Nor does he/she see the need to take the announcement offline).   When I call and actually get a real person (after I stop stammering from shock), they usually say, "My deepest regrests, Madame.  It is already rented.  Au revoir!"

Thank goodness for Julie.  Lauren and I are having a blast staying with her and, somehow, the bazaar we've made of her little living room doesn't seem to frazzle her one bit.  

Tonight it hopefully looks like our lodging situation will be resolved.  We are going to visit two promising-sounding apartments that are near the city center, and, if neither works, we will accept the apartment offered to us by a local high school.  Many high schools in France provide seriously (yes Mom, seriously) subsidized housing for teacher and school employees.  Neither the middle school that I will be working at nor the high school currently have anything available, but Pascale's (my teacher contact) husband (who is the headmaster of another local high school) was able to pull some strings.  The high school that has housing available is pretty far away from down town, but it's right on a tram line so the commute would be easy and fast (less than 15 minutes).  The major pluses are that the apartment is very clean, fully furnished (including bedding, dishes, cleaning supplies, etc.) and only costs 270 euro/mo. total, all charges included (water, heat, etc.).  Divided by two, that's pretty enticing.   Snack money and travels money have always been among my top priorities :) 

Anyhow, as soon as we get a place and settle in, I'll put up pictures and give you all the tour.

Though it may not sound like I've been doing anything other than search for housing, I've actually been relatively busy seeing/meeting people as well.  Lauren and I went to diner at my host family's house.  It was just great to see them again.  My host sisters made me my favorite chocolate cake and we all stayed up talking until half past eleven!  They've had an eventful year (marriages, family deaths, moving, etc) but things have settled down now.  They bought a house in a charming ocean village not far from Nantes and have already invited Lauren and I to spend many weekends there.  

This weekend I met one of the teachers with whom I will be working and her family: Pascale, Jean-Luc and their three darling children.  They live in a beautiful quiet village north of Nantes in a gorgeous house that sits on the back of Pascale's mother's property.  I felt like I had stepped into a novel.  The children ran about between their house and their grandmother's house, hiding in grape vines, picking raspberries and speaking French while Pascale and I sat on the porch in the sun sipping glasses of white wine (actually, the two youngest children ran round while the oldest, Alice 11, sat next to me sipping an miniature coke.  Later, she asked me what my favorite color was and made me a little beaded bracelet.  Precious).  

Oh France, you just kill me.  

Pascale and Jean-Luc are open, generous, quick to laugh, inquisitive.   I've fallen among friends instead of staunch colleagues as I had dreadfully half anticipated.

Well, it's about time to got look at apartments, and I think I'll have a little snack before I go.  Ha, before I forget, I think my favorite thing so far since being here was my trip to the grocery store.  Holy Cheeses.  So many different kinds of cheese and wine and cookies and chocolate...and all so cheap!  Even after the conversion rate!  You can buy a good bottle of French wine and an entire wheel of camembert for 6 euro!

It's good to be back.