Life in France is starting to pick up for me. Last night I went to my first French swimming pool. I went with Claire (Bertrand’s girlfriend) and Eugenie (another girl that works for Michelin). They both speak a little English, and I speak even less French. Claire wants to improve her English so that she can get a better job and I obviously need to improve my French. We went to a pool that is fairly close to where our new apartment is. It cost about 3.50 Euros to get into the pool. Then there is a long row of changing rooms, which has a door on the other side that you go through to get into the “locker room” area. When I opened the door, all I saw was a bunch of men in their little Speedos, so I thought for sure I had been wrong about going through the second door. I went to a changing room further down and went through and found Claire and Eugenie (nothing is labeled that would have told me that there is a men’s side and a woman’s side). Next you have to put your bag in a locker, then you must shower, then you go through this little wading pool to clean your feet off, and finally you are in the area with the pools. It was a very large pool, but only the size of about 2 normal lanes was marked off for the public. The rest of the lanes were for swimming classes, and one lane was being used for physical therapy for several people in wheelchairs. I wasn’t really sure what “going to the pool” meant since it was at night and inside (there would obviously be no sun tanning and lounging around). Apparently, it meant swimming laps. There were a lot of people swimming in the public lane, and people in France swim like they drive. I was constantly being kicked, so I swam very crooked lines trying to stay out of everyone’s way.
This morning started off early as I headed to meet Robin at a “chit-chat”. I had to figure out what bus to take (which can be very confusing, considering the bus and tram maps don’t have road names on them, just a colored line to show the route). When I got off the bus, I felt very much like a tourist since I had to have the map out to find the right street. I found the street fairly easily, but then couldn’t find any numbers on the buildings to show which was number 2. Luckily I bumped into Clarrette, a fellow expat from Columbia, SC. I called Robin and she came down and found us and took us to the right apartment building. Today’s topic had to do with careers for woman. In the group there were women from America, France, Germany, India, Ireland, and New Zealand. It was very interesting to hear how the different cultures handled women working, especially women who had children. The first hour was spoken in French, and then the second hour was spoken in English.
After the chit-chat, Robin suggested we go to lunch before her French class. Robin, Clarrette, and I went to a restaurant that Clarrette suggested. It was delicious. We all got a duck entrée that came with a gratin and green beans. This particular restaurant is known for their patisserie, so of course, we each tried a different dessert.
In other news, we found out that our container will be delivered on Wednesday! So Matthew and I will be moving into our new apartment next week!!!! Hopefully that means we will have internet soon and will be able to call home more regularly.
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