February in Bordeaux

...So i'm a little backed up, but i'll see what I can tell you about February. 

February was generally calm. I went to class...Always. I maintained my friendships in France with regular outings and out of school events, I took part in a fancy Valentine's day dinner with my other exchange friends, Sarah (another uOttawa) came to visit from Grenoble for two days...to be honest, its been too long ago so I don't remember that much.

My main memory of February was the cockroach infestation that took place in my building. It started at the beginning of the month and at first I did not mind their infrequent presence in my room. I would even be so kind as to pick them up and put them outside on the balcony. The situation worsened, however, and soon I was being flooded by these cockroaches from all the cracks in my room. I would return home and find them being very at home in my room. About a week and a half into their stay with me I caught one of them near my toothbrush and another one on my bed. After those incidents I became a lot less gentle with the cockroaches, some might even say violent. As they mostly come out when it was dark and when there was minimal movement in the room, I knew when to expect them. I would rush home after being out late, open my door slowly, turn on all the lights and squash them all with my shoe. 

Another strategy was that I would go to bed with my pocket flashlight, mostly because I was scared they were planning to mobilize against me. I would wake up in the middle of the night and very discreetly shine the light around the room looking for them, eliminating the late night snoopers. 

After two weeks I thought I was winning the battle with these critters as there were less of them and the ones that remained were the smaller ones. Out of a hint of nostalgia for their departure I decided to ease up on the few remaining cockroaches. In hindsight I realize that this a personal moment of weakness and a huge mistake. They came back in greater number and size. 

By this point I had become mildly obsessed with the cockroaches. I would talk about it with all my friends and in class plot different strategies against them. I would spend time on the computer researching methods to get rid of them. Then one day I came back to my residence to find a sign warning the building of an extermination that was to take place almost two weeks later. I was both glad and upset. I mean at least administration had taken notice, but two weeks was a long time to wait. This was around the same time as I became convinced that there was a rat living in my wall who would eat elaborate six course meals in the middle of the night. 

My neighbour cracked before me. One day I came back to my room to find him treating his entire room to a powerful anti-cockroach repellant. Toxic stuff. For me this was a last resort, but figured it was time. I used the spray conservatively, which brought results, but was poisoning me as much as the cockroaches...the trade off seemed worth it at the time. Eventually the extermination happened and I left for two weeks during the break. I have just gotten back, but have yet to see a living cockroach in my room. I suspect that they may be regrouping in a safe zone. 

That was what I remember the most about february. 

First Three Weeks

So I thought I would write a post every week, but it was just not in the cards for me. So then I said I would wait until someone gave me a hard time about not posting anything. As my friend Brad, who lives vicariously through this blog, has expressed discontent with my lack of writing...I have decided to give him something to fill his mundane life.

Once in Bordeaux the Mormons accompanied me from the train station to the nearest bus stop. There I waited 20 minutes for the next bus that would be going in the direction where my couchsurfing host lived. The Mormons took the same bus as me, even though another bus going their direction left 10 minutes earlier. I finally arrived at my hosts house at 11:45pm. Ruth, my host, is a pleasant Irish girl who is teaching english in Bordeaux. She was very nice feeding me and chatting to me even though she had to get up early the next dayto work. So I slept in the living room next to the kitchen on a small, but adequate couch. The next morning I was awakened early by the loud noises coming from the kitchen, I assumed it was one of the other tenants and tried to go back to sleep. The noise continued and sounded more like a thorough cleaning not that of someone making a quick breakfast. Then I heard singing and more pots banging...this was starting to annoy me, I understand I am just a guest, but there is no need to be purposely loud. All of a sudden a dark haired middle-aged woman comes out of the kitchen. She spoke to me and I could barely understand anything she was saying, this was on of my first "French" interaction since arriving in Bordeaux so I was severely concerned about my level of comprehension. I started to speaking to her in French, but could not understand her responses and all the while thinking how this semester will be impossible if I don't understand the French. Then it suddenly dawned on me that this woman was not speaking only in french. I now remembered how Ruth mentioned a cleaning lady that came in on Thursdays. A Portuguese cleaning lady who did not speak french very well.  The conversation somehow got easier once I figured out that she was speaking in Portuguese...I don't know how, but we started understanding each other, at least I think...she seemed very nice.

I decided to start my day as sleeping no longer seemed a reasonable option as I was neither enrolled or had a place of my own. I took my first shower in three days and ate a breakfast from my supplies as well as from the pre-approved food Ruth had left for me. I was eating quietly desperately trying to connect to the internet when one of my host's roommates walked in surprised to see me. He didn't seem too happy to have me invading his kitchen, so I kept quiet and he went to eat at the other table.

I left the house and took two trams to get to my university, without getting lost. At the university I walked into three offices before finally walking into the international office. It all went well enough and I found out I do not need to properly register for classes until a few weeks after classes start. Once noon hit all administrators have lunch until two. I called Canada and then decided to get lunch I sat down at one of the outside table near my university in a central square. As this menu was complex I did not understand all my options so I asked the waitress if she had any seafood, she quickly listed off four or five meals from the menu. I told her that I wanted the first of the list, but had no idea what I had just ordered...except that it came from water. Fifteen minutes later a plater of oysters with red wine came out. I had never eaten oyster and was now forced to debunk this problem in the middle of a busy square with many spectators. I somehow managed to eat all six of them without injuring myself, but the whole process took over an hour. I left the restaurant tipping a euro, even though it is not necessary, I would have felt guilty not tipping (this feeling has since then disappeared).

School has been interesting. I am not actually registered...yet. The way they do it is that you just audit the classes and once you pick the ones you want than you go and register officially. I have yet to do this, but I am still waiting for some of my classes to start as the start date keeps getting pushed back. One of my classes does not start until March as the Prof is doing field work somewhere in Africa. The university itself is beautiful, right downtown and has a library that resembles that from Harry Potter. The Anthropology department is tiny in total around 40 students, but only 30 show up regularly. Also there are about 10 elective courses from which French students can only choose two, I can many more as I have not taken some of their core classes. These elective classes are pretty specific... for example: Mutation of anthropological sciences in Europe: Romania (Its about anthropology as a discipline in Romania as well as eastern Europe). There are only 5 people in this class. The prof is a really nice young woman from Romania. She often gets so excited about Romanian related events that result in massive digressions... still interesting thought. The more traditional French Profs sit at the front of the class room and read from a page, while sitting. I have not yet felt the distance between prof and student that is supposedly infamous in France, but perhaps it is since this university is so small. I met a girl from Quebec in my French african literature class who I think is on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. She was extremely unhappy with the way our university operated in France...it probably didn't help that the prof was 20min late for that class. I have since then tried to appreciate the schooling for what it is and not take it to seriously, I would call it more of a cultural experience than an academic one. In a good way of course.

Friends: Yes I have made some. I have made some american exchange friends and hope to travel with them. They have been great making me feel like one of their own. I mean Canadians rarely go traveling around Canada/USA during the school year, it is the same here. I am planning a trip with two of them to Morocco (with two days in Porto and then Barcelona), but that will be dealt with in another blog post.  I have made a french friend from couchsurfing named Laura who has been very nice to me and invites me often for lunches or dinners of some sort. She always has a couple couchsurfers at her place so I have met many nationalities thanks to this. I have managed to make some friends in my anthro classes who have invite me out on thursday to go out with them and yesterday I was invited to a professional rugby game (Bordeaux vs. Lyon)... Bordeaux won yay. The french have been very nice to me and love to mock my French Canadian accent...(I am not saying I am French Canadian because I am not, but that the french I learned is...to clarify). I have met a nice Irish girl who hosted me my first night in France and a Polish girl who I have just recently met. Finally, I have a great neighbour in residence who is from Morocco and we spend time together to, although sometimes I have trouble understanding his french and he has trouble understanding mine, but we make it work. I do make an active effort to spend time with my french speaking friends and not get stuck with only english speakers as I have seen happen to others.

Otherwise I went on a wine tasting tour/ lesson last weekend. It started at 10am with a two hour lesson on the wine production and wineries in the region plus how to taste wine properly. Then a six hour visit of two wineries and more tasting...by 6pm when it was all over I was completely exhausted and had no more ambitions of drinking that day (8 hours of steady wine tasting really takes it out of you). I have come to terms with the construction crew constructing a new building right out my window...it insures that I wake up at 7am everyday...early starts are key! Also for those who do not follow the news, this is the coldest year in Europe more nearly 30 years. Though unfortunately more than a hundred people have died of cold in Eastern Europe, it has been working in my advantage in Bordeaux as I do not have a fridge and keep my food on the balcony. The French here are very concerned with the low temperatures and the potential fall of snow...it hasn't dipped below -5C, but that is still very rare here.

P.S. I saw the two Mormons I met on the train twice. Both times at the grocery store...I have the feeling that we might go to the same one. Both times I avoided contact with them...as I have no intention to going to a three hour sunday service with them. I was even tempted to tell the manager of the grocery store that the two Mormons were evangelizing in the store, probably leading to them getting thrown out. I came to the conclusion that his would not be a very ethical move, but I cannot say the temptation was not there.

Overall things are going well. I miss certain things about Canada, but I am enjoying France as well.

My bathing facilities

Desk/Bed in my residence

Balcony/Fridge

View out my window

Place de la Victoire-Université Bordeaux 2 is the building on the far right (my school).

Winery I visited