Chapter 29: The Happiest Hour

nerd blog post #32

German was okay. I'm learning more every class, and it's really good for my French. After class, this guy who sits in the back came up to me and told me that he'd heard I was from Toronto, and said he lives with a girl from Toronto! She goes to university in the States and is here on exchange. I was pumped. I haven't met any Canadians in Rennes at all, and gave him my contact info to pass along. She added me to facebook, and I saw that we have one friend in common. I looked, and it was this teen I took my CPR course with in the Spring! Small world.. Anyways, she graduated from high school (Havergal) when I graduated from my undergrad, so is quite a bit younger. But I like young peeps, and look forward to meeting her.

I was really tired in the evening, and did not feel much like going to the Irish Pub. But I rallied back for the students, and made my way to O'Connells. I was so happy with the turn out! There must have been close to 50 students there, all mingling and talking in English (sometimes..) and meeting each other. The manager, Owen, who's my buddy now, gave me a stamp and said that anyone in the group could enjoy Happy Hour (1/2 price pints) for the whole night. Normally it ends at 10pm. Stamping hands is really fun. I have about thirty first-year students in all, and almost half of them came out. It was such a hit that we decided to do it every Monday, and Owen said we can have half the bar to ourselves, and get the Happy Night every week. Best part was that I got free beer all night! What a deal. I had one of the classes today, and they were all buzzing about it. I think it will only continue to get bigger. Because of how much fun it was, I'm thinking about talking to Owen about doing one for 2nd and 3rd year students on Wednesdays.. It was nice to socialize with my students outside of the classroom, and in a social setting, their English is more relaxed. I think it's a way better environment to learn in.

The best part of the night (possibly better than free beer) was meeting one of my student's bfs, who's deaf. I have a deaf cousin and know American Sign Language, though it's pretty rusty now.. My cousin was born in Papua New Guinea, and there, the language for the deaf (and her first language) is called Cued Speech, which focuses more on phonetics, as opposed to ASL's visual representations of words. Anyways, I guess I thought that ASL would be the same in France, just maybe with different word placement. But actually, it's completely different! The word for Canada is even different. Here, it refers to suspenders, because of the stereotype of lumberjacks. (Nice.) In Canada, the sign refers to wearing a coat, because of the cold. Even the alphabet is slightly different.. It was really cool chatting (silently!) with him and exploring the differences of the languages. He said it's very hard for deaf people in France, and that he has always wanted to move to Canada because he has heard that they're treated as equals. I don't know much about that at all.. He gave me the number for a centre for the hearing impaired here in Rennes, and I'm thinking about going and seeing if I can volunteer there or something.. I'm still searching for a L'Arche-type activity to fill that crazy passion Quebec gave me all those years ago..

Yesterday I had big plans to get a bike pump, but instead stayed in almost all day, doing not much at all! I talked to some people online (points to you) and wrote my grandparents, and did laundry.. I also started planning my week off trip with Cynthia, which was really exciting! I don't want to post the plans yet, because they may change, but we'll be booking stuff this week.

We had Merrill and Marianne (the American lecteurs who have cooked for us) over for dindins. We made a delicious Mexican feast of flautas (kind of like taquitos, but better than the Sevs sells), with homemade salsa and guac, and this delicious sour-cream rice. Cynthia is the pro chef, and I'm the little helper. I like cutting garlic. I have realized, living with her, that Mexican food is not a genre I have ever eaten much.. Aside from Taco Bell at the mall at age 12 (shout-out SJC), I haven't had much experience with it at all. The way she makes it is unbelievable - spicy and flavourful.. I love it.

Last night was the Quiz Night for NESS (that English club). Again, I felt like chilling, but had told students I'd go. So I went. Luckily, not many of them were there, so I was able to just say hello and not stay too long. It's very hot there, and I got too stuffy. My dad and I have the same problem of overheating.. It's horrible. I'll think of him this week-end - Thanksgiving around the Hincks table is always far too stuffy. And we always have an old person there who's cold so my dad and I suffer with the windows shut.. Blast. Anyways, I didn't stick around long.. But I was there long enough for the president of NESS (a student) to tell me that they have lot's of people interested in the theatre group I mentioned awhile ago.. Anyways, that will be one night a week, and I'll lead it. I think it will be fun.

Today, I taught two classes in the morning and then went to get a bike pump. My mom asked yesterday if I still saw my first friends, Pascal and Hossoen. I do. Hossoen more than Pascal, because he's closer to here and we're better friends. I saw Hossoen today, and we sat outside and chatted for an hour. He wants me to meet the rest of his family and have dinner at his place. He also thinks that the private university where his wife teaches is looking to hire a prof, and she'd like to talk to me about that. So that could be good, too. Though I am feeling quite busy, there's still a bunch of down time, and I'm happy to have it fill up!

This afternoon, Cynthia and I are riding our bikes to Carrefour, a giant and cheap department store. We need spices to make zucchini bread. Obvi not my idea, but she found a recipe online and I'm happy to help make it.

This week-end will be great. It's Cynthia's birthday on Sunday and Raffi the Clown is coming to check out Rennes. I'm looking forward to it.

For 75 points:
Is there an expression in English that describes how a child looks like their parent? I know we have the apple not falling far from the tree one, but that's more personality. Is there one that deals just with the physical appearance? Ponder as you wander..

With love,
Hincks.