I have to say, I'm starting to develop a big head. I mean, being an anglophone around these parts is sort of like being a celebrity. People hear me and my friends speaking English and chase us down the street to talk to us, "You speeeek Eeeenglish?" Then they ask us for English lessons or propose English exchanges or try to get our numbers. Sometimes in restaurants I am pretty sure that people are listening to our conversations. On Saturday a woman accosted us because her friend was telling her that we don't have plays on words in English (umm, aren't there plays on words in every language?), and well I tried to explain puns, but the only one I could think of was that a friend of Parks has some slippers in the shape of Sigmund Freud's head, and they're called Freudian slippers, and well that one took a good 10 minutes to even try to explain. All of the attention is pretty annoying sometimes, but I do love the novelty.

And every once and a while you find someone who doesn't just love English but who loves America. For example, I wasn't aware of the 6 month wait to go to the eye doctor here, and I just realized that I have a few contacts left! I called EVERY eye doctor in town, and the earliest I could get an appointment was going to be July...that is until I started calling the suburbs and I stumbled upon an America-lover, and managed to get an appointment next week. Apparently his love of America stems from his travels on both the east and west coast. Everyone I've met who has been to the United States has really liked it. This guy seemed just absolutely astonished that someone from the US would call him and try to get an appointment. "Jackson, Mississippi--isn't that crazy!" he kept saying.

The students have voted to continue the strike, and it's still not the party I imagined it would be. I had heard rumors that we'd have to recuperate the hours, but the last I heard was that we will put the info for the class online and hope that the students will do it at home. I'm wondering if they will continue the strike through exams and well just wishing that this weren't happening. As it is the French universities are ill-organized--for example I have absolutely no idea when any of my exams are, and this is normal for the universities--but with the strikes, things are even more confusing and unorganized. Still, the real victims are the students who do not oppose the reforms and still want to learn. In the university where my friend Andromeda works, they voted to strike by a single vote, so now the 49% of students who want to continue going to class, can't.

Anyway, my second spring break has started, and Carlos arrives tomorrow!