Ulgh. So frustrated. It looks like my battle to end my cell phone in France is going to keep waging on for the foreseeable future. I have confirmation that they received my letter with all my new proof (enrollment letters, employment letter, proof of housing with my mother, a copy of my birth certificate showing she's my mother, proof that we live where we do via water/electric bills)... and yet, I opened up my French account to see that on August 8th, they took out 200€ from my bank account... So, now it's going to become a fight to get my money (288 USD) back. Joy. I really just want to put the last school year behind me and move on... and I can't.
I'm so exhausted from this whole ordeal that part of me wants to throw my hands up in the air and give up since I'm not confident that I'll ever be able to win... and then I remember that $288 is almost Jon's and my food budget for a month and I won't get my first stipend check until the end of October. ::steps back into the ring::
Wish me luck?
On a more positive note, Jon did surprise me with a certificate for a massage up in Columbus for anytime between now and Feb 12, 2012. What an unexpected and thoughtful surprise.
Showing posts with label assistantship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label assistantship. Show all posts
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The train derailed, but is now back on track.
This weekend I was lucky enough to have my friend Jared, a classmate from OU who is also doing the French teaching assistantship this year, come visit. He studied abroad in Avignon in 2007 (the year before me) and was really excited to get back to town and visit his old stomping grounds and favorite sights.
Since we are both living on the meager assistant's salary as we wait for the housing aid to kick in, instead of going out to eat a lot, we stayed in and cooked instead:
Me, the crazy chef, drinking red wine and working three burners to produce yummy pasta-y goodness
I wish I could say that I ate all balanced meals and didn't indulge while he was here, but that'd be a lie (even if those food items/beverages were not documented via photo). I probably undid any progress I'd made with the veggie soup introduction this past week week since we drank like fish, consumed baguettes, and may have partook in dessert, like the selection below from a cool tapas restaurant in town called Tapaslocas:
I also didn't run or work out for all but one day of his visit, though we did go on quite a few photo excursions while he was here, in an attempt to capture the feel of the city:
One of our local bar hang outs. The patios are so nice when it's not too cold out!
Les Halles, an indoor market where I like to go to buy my produce.
A view from my bedroom window
On the way home from our last photo excursion
We had a great time cooking and hanging out together. It made me remember how much I prefer cooking with/for other people. Jonboy was jealous that he wasn't here for the soup. They're one of my specialties in our relationship (I miss his pancakes, btw). I'm hoping to make it up to Chambéry (where Jared is living) to visit his town at some point as well.
Today I'm back on track after our weekend of indulgences and it feels good. Plus, I've started doing the P90X lean sequence as cross training since I do want to tone up (hopefully in time to look smokin' for NYE?) Jonboy wants to match outfit-wise, so I'm hoping to be able to fit into a fabulous dress in time for the partay! :) So far, I've done Cardio X and Core Synergistics and I am already feeling it. Hurts so good, John Mellencamp style! I'm lovin' it!
Since we are both living on the meager assistant's salary as we wait for the housing aid to kick in, instead of going out to eat a lot, we stayed in and cooked instead:
I wish I could say that I ate all balanced meals and didn't indulge while he was here, but that'd be a lie (even if those food items/beverages were not documented via photo). I probably undid any progress I'd made with the veggie soup introduction this past week week since we drank like fish, consumed baguettes, and may have partook in dessert, like the selection below from a cool tapas restaurant in town called Tapaslocas:
I also didn't run or work out for all but one day of his visit, though we did go on quite a few photo excursions while he was here, in an attempt to capture the feel of the city:
We had a great time cooking and hanging out together. It made me remember how much I prefer cooking with/for other people. Jonboy was jealous that he wasn't here for the soup. They're one of my specialties in our relationship (I miss his pancakes, btw). I'm hoping to make it up to Chambéry (where Jared is living) to visit his town at some point as well.
Today I'm back on track after our weekend of indulgences and it feels good. Plus, I've started doing the P90X lean sequence as cross training since I do want to tone up (hopefully in time to look smokin' for NYE?) Jonboy wants to match outfit-wise, so I'm hoping to be able to fit into a fabulous dress in time for the partay! :) So far, I've done Cardio X and Core Synergistics and I am already feeling it. Hurts so good, John Mellencamp style! I'm lovin' it!
Friday, November 12, 2010
The Curiosity of Lauriole (aka "A Day in the Hérault")
So, this past weekend, my cousin took our friend Nolwenn (who's visiting from Corsica) and me on a "mysterious adventure" and refused to tell us where we were going aside from the fact that it was going to require a 2.5 hour road trip over into the Hérault department.
On the way there, we ended up on some tiny backroads (Thanks, TomTom!) that seemed pretty treacherous for Michel's car (which is enormous by French standards), but provided some fun photo-taking opportunities:
I LOVE FALL! While I miss seeing all the beautiful changes at home, it is pretty interesting to see the changes here in France too (exhibit A: vineyards)
Nolwenn :)
Another view from the car.
I guess this is where we're going? Almost there?
Me by the hill.
See, it's a hill. At least a little one, right?Eyes don't lie.
Yep. That's right. He took us to a hill. In the middle of nowhere. We were very confused... until he explained that this "Curiosity" was that things roll UP the hill all on their own. He demonstrated this phenomenon with both the car (we didn't believe him) and then a bottle of water. Why I didn't get this on video, I do not know, but apparently it's an actual phenomenon called "Magnetic Hill" where the an optical illusion makes it look like it's an uphill slope (see the above photo... that looks uphill, right?) but really it's not. Interesting, no?
Instead, we picnicked. This seemed like a good idea until we realized it was cold and windy:
That's Michel on the left. He loathes being in photos, but I'm sneaky sneaky and managed to snap this one before he blocked himself out. tee hee.
On the way home, we took a detour to visit Minèrve, a town with Cathar ancestry that is officially among "The Most Beautiful Cities of France." From the photo below, I'm sure you can see why. It kind of reminds me of the town of Gordes over here in Provence what with it also being built entirely on a hill.
Can you find me?
After stopping in a quaint café for a cuppa to warm up our insides (and our hands), we called it a day and road tripped it all the way home. All in all, quite a successful day trip, if I do say so myself. Oh France, how diverse you are!
Next up on France updates, I finally caved and threw in the towel with "my" beloved iPhone. Sadly, my petit assistant's salary isn't high enough to pay the bills on that sucker, so no more fun Facebooking at the bus stop for me! Instead, Matthieu at The Phone House set me up with a little text/call only phone from Orange. Much more affordable. AND I got out of my second accidental renter's insurance. That said, almost all of my administrative woes are clearing up! All that really remains is to see why they won't give me a checkbook and if all my paperwork for the CAF (housing aid) goes through! Keep your fingers crossed!!!
On the way there, we ended up on some tiny backroads (Thanks, TomTom!) that seemed pretty treacherous for Michel's car (which is enormous by French standards), but provided some fun photo-taking opportunities:
Yep. That's right. He took us to a hill. In the middle of nowhere. We were very confused... until he explained that this "Curiosity" was that things roll UP the hill all on their own. He demonstrated this phenomenon with both the car (we didn't believe him) and then a bottle of water. Why I didn't get this on video, I do not know, but apparently it's an actual phenomenon called "Magnetic Hill" where the an optical illusion makes it look like it's an uphill slope (see the above photo... that looks uphill, right?) but really it's not. Interesting, no?
Instead, we picnicked. This seemed like a good idea until we realized it was cold and windy:
On the way home, we took a detour to visit Minèrve, a town with Cathar ancestry that is officially among "The Most Beautiful Cities of France." From the photo below, I'm sure you can see why. It kind of reminds me of the town of Gordes over here in Provence what with it also being built entirely on a hill.
After stopping in a quaint café for a cuppa to warm up our insides (and our hands), we called it a day and road tripped it all the way home. All in all, quite a successful day trip, if I do say so myself. Oh France, how diverse you are!
Next up on France updates, I finally caved and threw in the towel with "my" beloved iPhone. Sadly, my petit assistant's salary isn't high enough to pay the bills on that sucker, so no more fun Facebooking at the bus stop for me! Instead, Matthieu at The Phone House set me up with a little text/call only phone from Orange. Much more affordable. AND I got out of my second accidental renter's insurance. That said, almost all of my administrative woes are clearing up! All that really remains is to see why they won't give me a checkbook and if all my paperwork for the CAF (housing aid) goes through! Keep your fingers crossed!!!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Three Cities, One Weekend
One visa, two bus rides, and approximately 20 hours of travel later, this weekend has come to a sunburny close.
Me and the “Bean” in Chicago
Chicago was good, and, actually, not a complete food nightmare. Since I couldn’t fit my running shoes in to the small carry-on I took with me on the Megabus, I wasn’t able to run in Chicago, but still managed to end my week at a roughly even scale of points use (perhaps a tiny bit over). I also didn't get to run in Athens during my 22-hour "WOO! I can see Jon again!" visit where, instead, we spent 9 hours outside in the 94º heat working our garage sale. That said, I stepped on the scale yesterday when I was at home in Athens and was down to 169.8, so hopefully I’ll see a bit of a loss tomorrow when I hit up the WW meeting at lunch with Deb!
I’m still working on figuring out a lifting plan, so once that’s figured out (hopefully this week), I can start doing that, but for now, I’m trying to figure out the workout plan for the week. I’m currently car-less, so we’ll see about getting to the classes. Ideally, I’d love to hit Zumba and Pilates tomorrow night, but we’ll see with my carless status. My minimum goal is to hit at least 3 of the training runs this week so I can move to Wk 2 (Aerobic intervals, Gentle pushes, and the 6-7mi long run on Sunday). I figure the 3-4 mile easy run on Saturday probably won’t happen since we’ll be in Auburn for the first football game of the season! Woo! Without any group fitness classes, that’d put me at 26 activity points for the week… Not too shabby, especially considering that there will definitely be a lot of food and beer involved in tailgating!
Anyway, I don't have a ton to talk about this week. Just looking forward to getting those runs in and going down to Auburn for the weekend. I'm so glad we were able to work a game in before I left for France! I know I'm a new football fan, but, still, seeing how much Jon loves it, I would have been bummed to have missed the entire season!
Question, do any of you have any good running book recommendations? My friend Christina @ Making Healthy the Norm recommended a book on lifting, which looks great, and I plan on using it to figure out my plan, but I’d love some running tips as well!
Chicago was good, and, actually, not a complete food nightmare. Since I couldn’t fit my running shoes in to the small carry-on I took with me on the Megabus, I wasn’t able to run in Chicago, but still managed to end my week at a roughly even scale of points use (perhaps a tiny bit over). I also didn't get to run in Athens during my 22-hour "WOO! I can see Jon again!" visit where, instead, we spent 9 hours outside in the 94º heat working our garage sale. That said, I stepped on the scale yesterday when I was at home in Athens and was down to 169.8, so hopefully I’ll see a bit of a loss tomorrow when I hit up the WW meeting at lunch with Deb!
I’m still working on figuring out a lifting plan, so once that’s figured out (hopefully this week), I can start doing that, but for now, I’m trying to figure out the workout plan for the week. I’m currently car-less, so we’ll see about getting to the classes. Ideally, I’d love to hit Zumba and Pilates tomorrow night, but we’ll see with my carless status. My minimum goal is to hit at least 3 of the training runs this week so I can move to Wk 2 (Aerobic intervals, Gentle pushes, and the 6-7mi long run on Sunday). I figure the 3-4 mile easy run on Saturday probably won’t happen since we’ll be in Auburn for the first football game of the season! Woo! Without any group fitness classes, that’d put me at 26 activity points for the week… Not too shabby, especially considering that there will definitely be a lot of food and beer involved in tailgating!
Anyway, I don't have a ton to talk about this week. Just looking forward to getting those runs in and going down to Auburn for the weekend. I'm so glad we were able to work a game in before I left for France! I know I'm a new football fan, but, still, seeing how much Jon loves it, I would have been bummed to have missed the entire season!
Question, do any of you have any good running book recommendations? My friend Christina @ Making Healthy the Norm recommended a book on lifting, which looks great, and I plan on using it to figure out my plan, but I’d love some running tips as well!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
An Announcement and HTD4: Introducing Jesse
Last night, Jon had to work pretty late and, since I get really antsy being home alone all day during my temporary unemployment, I decided to see what Jesse was up to this evening before he got home. Thankfully, she was free, so she drove out here to run with me (I'm also car-less currently in addition to being unemployed). The Runner's World plan had me doing 2 13:18 miles for an "Easy Run" last night, but since Jesse and I were running and talking, we pushed quite a bit past that and hit 5.25 miles.
We took my usual route out on the bike path (hence no map... boring!) and we just able to jog and chat as we merrily plodded along. I don't know where it came from but yesterday (and today) have been surprisingly cool and mild, which is very refreshing after these past few weeks of intense heat and humidity. Here's the run breakdown, though I forgot to mark the miles, you can get the idea from the overall stats:
I also went ahead and forced Jesse to snap a sweaty photo with me post-run, since I talk about how much I love running with her and yet haven't really made her "appear" on the blog yet:
Also, on a final note, yesterday was bath day for Sahara. She was such a good girl and how can you resist this post-bath adorableness?
Oh wait, you were probably still waiting for that announcement, weren't you? Well, I got my arrête de travail (teaching contract/work papers) in the mail from France yesterday and, after my lovely father in Cincinnati scanned and sent them to me, I learned that I'm going to be in two different towns in the south of France next year: Chateauneuf-de-Gadagne and Le Thor. I'll be in 3 different primary schools, teaching from October 1, 2010 – June 20, 2011.
Chateauneuf-de-Gadagne is the 'A' dot... It's apparently too small to really be on the map when I zoom out there. Also, my French family (who I was hoping to live with) is south of that in Miramas
To be honest, I'm freaking out. My cousin still wants me to live at home, though I think that'd be too much of a commute, but other than that I don't know what to do. Furthermore, I was really hoping I'd get a 7-month contract... 9 months just seems so long. I know it'll be an amazing experience and that Jon and some family and friends will visit... but it still makes me sad to think about being away for that long and missing things happening at home. I know it'll work out, but I am kind of disappointed with the placement right now. Then again, I guess things happen for a reason, right?
On that note, I should go and start packing for our trip to Auburn. We're hoping to leave tomorrow, but it might get pushed back to Friday depending on Jon's work. I'm really looking forward to working on the house and seeing everyone down there--Not to mention the fact that Jon alluded to a possible girly spa day as well? Always a good time. :)
We took my usual route out on the bike path (hence no map... boring!) and we just able to jog and chat as we merrily plodded along. I don't know where it came from but yesterday (and today) have been surprisingly cool and mild, which is very refreshing after these past few weeks of intense heat and humidity. Here's the run breakdown, though I forgot to mark the miles, you can get the idea from the overall stats:
I also went ahead and forced Jesse to snap a sweaty photo with me post-run, since I talk about how much I love running with her and yet haven't really made her "appear" on the blog yet:
Also, on a final note, yesterday was bath day for Sahara. She was such a good girl and how can you resist this post-bath adorableness?
Oh wait, you were probably still waiting for that announcement, weren't you? Well, I got my arrête de travail (teaching contract/work papers) in the mail from France yesterday and, after my lovely father in Cincinnati scanned and sent them to me, I learned that I'm going to be in two different towns in the south of France next year: Chateauneuf-de-Gadagne and Le Thor. I'll be in 3 different primary schools, teaching from October 1, 2010 – June 20, 2011.
To be honest, I'm freaking out. My cousin still wants me to live at home, though I think that'd be too much of a commute, but other than that I don't know what to do. Furthermore, I was really hoping I'd get a 7-month contract... 9 months just seems so long. I know it'll be an amazing experience and that Jon and some family and friends will visit... but it still makes me sad to think about being away for that long and missing things happening at home. I know it'll work out, but I am kind of disappointed with the placement right now. Then again, I guess things happen for a reason, right?
On that note, I should go and start packing for our trip to Auburn. We're hoping to leave tomorrow, but it might get pushed back to Friday depending on Jon's work. I'm really looking forward to working on the house and seeing everyone down there--Not to mention the fact that Jon alluded to a possible girly spa day as well? Always a good time. :)
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