In Beaune?

No. I am at home. Still. ... Yay!

And a Happy happy New Year's to you!

Must take advantage of all free opportunities to put up photos!

Photo 1: A cloitre (crap I can't spell it properly) at the Fontanaye de Abbaye off of the city of Dijon and Beaune.
Photo 2: View from the road up to Chateauneuf en auxois. (too lazy to do accents right now for everything)
Photo 3: Fountain at the Fontenaye de Abbaye. And one of the many "Where's Waldo" photos taken on this trip. Seriously, I am in all of the next following few pictures. Try to spot me!

Photo 4: Big fountain in Dijon. Seriously, I probably could've given a name and some historical specifications to this fountain. I think they are in a guidebook that Corli has.

Photo 5: A very typical photo in Dijon. This reminds me of the Disney's The Beauty and the Beast. I think they must have taken some of the architecture from this town or have been inspired by some of it from this general region of France.

A few London pictures for now

[I also forgot to take a photo of the "Look right/left" signs on the pavement when I was in London because I didn't really think about it. I did think vaguely think in the back of my head, "oh yeah, there's that thing in London because tourists don't ever remember where they're looking when they cross the road. So they've spraypainted it in for tourists." And then I was also vaguely thinking while I was in London about it being the top most visited place in the world, and one of the largest multi-international cities. And I was thinking, "oh yeah, didn't I know that before", and "that must be true", without really questioning it because it seemed so.

But then I returned home and noticed those spray painted signs on the ground in the streets of Vancouver and just chuckled to myself with mild surprise. I ought to take a picture of it in Vancouver!--Here we've skimped on paint money because we've only written out "look" (with cute little eyeballs in the "o's") and then an arrow pointing in the right direction. But that could also be because we're realized that not everyone might speak the same language so we've given them something more visual to go by. So anyway, the London photo is one that I googled because I realised, someone has got to have taken a photo of it.]

Because seriously, any more pictures than these and...well, my blog would just refuse to put them up.

My school (or one of them at least)

OK, so for some reason, whenever I upload pictures to this blog all at once, it doesn't really put them in the order that I would like them. But oh well, c'est la vie. The top picture I am assuming will come out as the cybermaison. So there's an idea of what the place looks like that I spend my afternoons at doing anything internet related in France.

The next picture is a general picture of what the square looks like of "le Centre Ville" of Vitrolles, where the cybermaison and other stores are located. Vitrolles is a relatively newer suburb of Aix-en-Provence, with a lot of "immeubles" and things recently built in. And as you can see here, there are a bunch of very boxlike "apparts" on top of some shops, which is kind of typical.

As you may have heard, some of the French dislike the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre for it's modern feel or something like that, and so the same people generally hate urbanization, and grumble about all the "immeubles" that are basically an eyesore to them.

There again the pictures didn't go in order, but this is a look over into what I guess would be the yard to one of my elementary schools. I'm not even sure if I am allowed to take this. Apparently, if I get a picture of my kids, I could be sued by one of the parents. So here I picked a Wednesday, when I would be sure that none of the little kiddies would be there.
The great sign that tells you what school you're looking at. No seriously guys, no kidding. This is one of the nicer schools in Vitrolles that you'd fight to put your kids into. I live only two minutes away from it (on foot) and my landlady's grandkids go to this school. It is in reality a lot nicer than it seems, when you ignore the wirey fences and kind of institutional boxy feel of the building.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to take any pictures of my other school, Raimu, for you to have a look at yet, but it is also really cool. I happen to teach there all the days that there are kids at the school so I can't take a photo yet. Maybe one day I'll be there on a Saturday, Sunday, or Wednesday, on one of my days off when school isn't in session, so that I can take the photo. But I kind of hope not.

And now for more random pictures in France!

Katannya wrote me in a letter and asked what Christmas is like in France. She wanted to know if the French were as crazy as us North American's who start selling Christmas shortly after Halloween. Well, I wrote back in a letter and explained some detailedness. But I forgot to put in the letter that really, it just has to be seen to be understood.





My French cold medication. Luckily, months after the medical examination.
The picture of my X-ray of my lungs was taken in my room in France. I had to do a medical exam in the first week of entering France so that I could submit my longterm stay papers. And part of the paperwork includes a detailed report on your medical health. And apparently at the end of the exam they didn't have any use of keeping my lungs on file, so they gave it to me. Meh, better than keeping it in a dusty drawer or chucking it out. I'll use it to poster my room. I'm sure the Designer Guys would say that agrees with the decor.

I am feeling very productive and accomplished as far as updated my blog and facebook as soon as I've come back to Canada. It seems like during the holidays you are stuck inside with a lot more time on your hands waiting to attend some family function or other.

[As a note, all of the pictures that I take are date stamped according to Vancouver time, and I haven't changed it.]

Happy holidays to everyone!

Short hair is awesome!

Aside from the fact that long luxurious hair is usually the symbol of beauty, short hair is awesome!

Thanks to the people that said nice things about me having short hair. I don't know why cutting my hair from long to short is so dramatic, but it's been funny so far with people's reactions at like my schools and such. The kids were like "Amanda? Is that you?" Well, granted the first day I went back I was wearing my glasses too so I looked a little bit more different. Some teachers were like, "Amanda, you've changed your whole look." I just smiled. In my head, i was like, not really. I would usually wear my glasses more, but they're actually just not the right perscription for me right now. But I am wearing them a lot more lately because for some funky reason my contacts have really started hurting my eyes, like badly.

In any case, contacts are too expensive to maintain here in France. That's another thing I am learning. About the cost of living. Even the French find it expensive. It is apparently better in Canada. OK, fine, no big surprise there. But that means I won't be buying too many things to bring back with me. In fact, I am thinking that the best things to bring back would just be some of the food. Like chocolates, nougat, and things. I wish I could bring back some of the cheese! But nope, even if it kept well, US customs would freak, if not Canadian customs. And then again, i don't know if they'll let the other cookies and chocolates go through either because they are all technically food.

Which brings me to my final topic, and here I am not sure if you've all been following along, because i know that i tend to write long posts when i do, and babble off on tangents, and be very ambiguous. But i just don't know how to do a clearer lead in to, 'I am coming home for Christmas.' So there i said it.

oh woops, i forgot the point of the post was to write about how awesome short hair is. there i go again. going off on tangents. It is more convenient that's for sure.