COUNTDOWN!

"It's the final countdown." Great, now I have this Europe song stuck in my head. Um, seriously, what kind of name is Europe for a band, anyway?

Ohhhh, why can't awesome 80's hair and awesome 80's hair bands still exist? ::sigh::

Right, so I think that it's time to start the countdown. To lots of fun and exciting things!

Countdown #1:
*10* Days Until My Last Day of Work
That's right. There are only 10 days left. And 2 of those 10 days are weekend days during which I won't be working. I'm pretty psyched about this, but mostly because it means that I will no longer have to set my alarm for 6:48 AM, which is FAR too early for anyone to have to wake up. I think that if I could set my alarm for 7:48 or even 8:28 every day, I really wouldn't mind having to get up in the morning. So yes, I am excited that, 10 days from now, I will start being able to wake up whenever I want every single day (with the miniscule exception of Wednesdays, the day on which I still will have a job). But I'm also sort of sad - I'm going to miss my wrestling loving kiddos. I'm going to miss how excited Sebastian always is to see me. And Steven's adorable evil guilty smile every time he does something wrong. And how Nihel always has something to say about everything. And the ridiculous things that Theo does to get attention. And the way that Sofiane reminds me of Guillaume. And how Florian and Romain think that they can get away with anything because they know I like them (sadly, it's true). Anyhow, you guys don't know any of these kiddos, so I guess I'll stop here before I have something to say about every single one of them. Yeah, so I'm excited and sad about this coming end.


This is Mike Dirnt, the bassist of Green Day. He has nothing to do with anything I am writing, but he was the first love of my life, so I thought a picture was needed.

Countdown #2:
*4* Days Until the Lesson Plan (that is hopefully the last part of my Westgate application) Is Due
This is really the never ending application. It just keeps going on and on and on. Every time I think that I have FINALLY finished and there is no way that they could possibly send me anything else, they find something else for me to do. This time, I have to make a lesson plan so they can get an idea of my teaching style. I already answered about a bagazillion questions to give them an idea of this. But still. . .at least this time I REALLY don't know how they could possibly ask more of me. After this it must be the interview. It's due in 4 days, and I haven't even looked at it yet. Go me.


More Mike Dirnt Gorgeousness

Countdown #3:
*3* Days Until My Last Japanese Class
This would be ridiculously sad, but apparently there are going to be summer classes the first two weeks of July. And assuming that I am able to find my checkbook before Tuesday, I am going to be taking them. So it's all good.


That's how you write my name in Japanese!!!!

Countdown #4:
*2* Days Until I am Supposed to Have Finished the Book I am Reading
I'm reading "Millenium 2: La fille qui revait d'un bidon d'essence et d'une allumette" by Stieg Larsson. I think in English they called it "The Girl Who Played with Fire." It is SO good! Shockingly even better than "Millenium 1: Les hommes qui n'aimaient pas les femmes," which I think was called "the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" when it was translated into English. They're in Swedish originally. Anyhow, Sebastian (a student) saw me reading it Monday, and it's long, so he was wondering how much I would have read by the next Monday. I told him I will have finished. He laughed. So now I have to have finished. Luckily, I almost have.


YUCKY! There's a cigarette on the cover!

Countdown #5:
*5* Days Until My Summer Reading List 2009 Is Finished
Yeah, like I said last time, I've been working on compiling a list of books that I would like to read this summer. I've decided that I want to have it vaguely finished by Friday so that I can have looked it over long enough to decide which one to read first. Last time, I asked for RECOMMENDATIONS!!!!, and only *ONE* person gave me one (merci bien, Amanda!)! Last time I asked for recommendations, I read and loved pretty much everything everyone recommended (special thanks to Kristen S. - you recommended some awesome books back then!). So PLEASE, recommend please. Perhaps no one reads my blog anymore? Oh, how sad this would make me.


It's really not possible to get enough of Mike.

Countdown #6:
*25* Days Until I Go Home For Summer Fun
Yep, that's right. In exactly 25 days, I will be heading to Louisiana. As of right now, I've got no plans. Hopefully go visit Spiggalicious, and trying to plan a week long trip with the fan, but nothing is yet set in stone. So if you'll be around, let me know!!!! :-)


That's chez me right there in the middle by Alexandria!


Okay, I am sure that I could think of about a bagazillion more countdowns that I should be having if I wanted to, but this is already getting kind of long. Every time I write, I tell myself that the next time I write I will write less. So that people will look and be more likely to read. But I start writing and then just keeps going and it never ends up being less. Hopefully people read, anyway.
Right, that's it. Please don't forget - BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS! I'm begging, here! :-)

Summer is coming!!!! and BOOK SUGGESTIONS, anyone? aka the boring post with the long title

I haven't updated in a whole 10 days because I feel like I have had very little today. I've been starting to wrap things up in my classes, as I only have 2 1/2 weeks of teaching left. I am kind of super mega psyched about this, despite the fact that it being all over means that I WILL NO LONGER HAVE A JOB! Which on one hand means I will have TONS of free time and will no longer have to set my alarm for 6:48 in the AM every morning. But on the other hand means that I will no longer have any money.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the no money sitch, but in the meantime, I'm ignoring that fact and starting to make my summer plans as if the money will just keep coming. In the beginning of July, I'm planning on just chillaxing (yes, I did indeed just use that word) and maybe doing some editing of the book that I wrote back in November. Yes, I know, 7 months later and I am FINALLY thinking of getting around to doing some editing. Then on July 11, Celine and Guilhem are getting married somewhere in France that is not Paris. So I will be going there. And Bastien will be in town for the wedding, which I am super pscyhed about. He's living in Shanghai now, for those interested.

Then I will be hopping on an airplane and heading home (soooo scary) on July 15th. So, if anyone in Louisiana is reading, I'll be around from JULY 15 to AUGUST 9 minus a few days to be elsewhere. My dad has suggested that I take some FLYING LESSONS to help get over my fear of flying, so I am thinking about doing that.

After that, Guillaume has three weeks off at the end of August, so I'm starting to plan a vacation for us. We were thinking of maybing getting a Eurail pass through Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Has anyone every been to these places? Any recommendations to make? I'm especially interested in Slovakia.

I'm also in the process of building up my SUMMER READING LIST 2009!!!! Lots of free time means lots of reading time. :-) This is basically the list of books that I plan to read this summer. Usually, most of those books get read, more get added on, and some end up getting pushed back/thrown off the list. So anyhow, I've got some great books lined up, but the list is not quite yet done. So I would love suggestions from people. Are there any great books that you have read recently (or even not recently) that you think that I would like? PLEASE! Help me with my book list! :-)

On a completely different note, all (=most) of my students lately have been asking me what things like Edge, Undertaker, and Mysterio mean. They have also been spelling things for me like Kingston and McCool but then not knowing what they mean. I've been wondering WHY. Where could these words be coming from. I've asked some of them, but it's always when they're headed off to lunch, and as of yet, none of them have had the time or the attention span to tell me why they want to know.
Well, it was fire drill week at the schools last week, and I finally got my explanation when the kids all pull out their World Wrestling Federation (it's not called that anymore, is it? What's it called now?) cards. And I see THE UNDERTAKER. And EDGE. And KOFI KINGSTON. And REY MYSTERIO and MICHELLE McCOOL. Yes, this year, it would appear that my students are all obsessed with wrestling. And High School Musical and Camp Rock, of course, but mostly wrestling. What a weird thing to be obsessed with. I don't know why, but I just don't associate wrestling with France. Last year, all of my students were obsessed with TEKTONIC, which, y'know, is a trademark dance that is at least registered to a French man. And also, at least it was active, and kids should be active (as should everyone). They would spend their recess practicing their tectonik dance in front of the big library window in which they could see themselves. I must say, it made for some hilarious recess time watching for me, as I was often sitting inside the library, where they could not see me. But wrestling? C'mon, kids! I mean, they're not wrestling at recess time. They're looking at their wrestling cards and comparing them and talking about them. Seriously!
Anyway, click on the link and they watch the Yelle "A Cause de Garcon" video. Good watching. :-)

Well, that's all for today folks! A post with no pictures. Ohhhh yeah! And please, send me book suggestions!