Chapter 57: Rules of the Road

nerd blog post #62

This week has been much more relaxed, which is nice. Cynthia and I went to the opera on Monday night, which turned out to be an operetta and was Orphee aux enfers (25 points, DP). What the operetta meant was that a guy introduced each song and then peeps came on and sang them. The singing was amazing. The (over)acting was annoying. I was not at all disappointed that it wasn't a full opera.. It was fun having the songs contextualized, and since I find opera difficult to understand to begin with, it was easier to follow along with the French lyrics after the song had been introduced. And as the emcee was trying to entertain as well as educate, it was interesting culturally. I love the opera house here, and our front row centre seats were perfect.

Yesterday I did some crafty and sneaky things that I can't blog about! Sneeeaky!! I also have chatted with a few peeps on skype, which is always nice.. Correspondence of any type is so appreciated.. There are moments of homesickness, which are quickly remedied by dear friends and a stellar family.

Last night, the tradition of wine at Merrill's continued. Once again, Tuesday evening was great. She lives in a really cozy room with a French feel -- quite different from my mod-ren apartment. I like going there. We always talk about work and boys. Throw in some snackies, f-book creeping and a dance party here and there and the night is golden!

The term is really drawing to a close. I am beginning to prepare marks to hand in. Students are graded out of 20, with 10 being a passing grade. Marks higher than 15 are very rarely given, and half of first year students are expected to fail. Since it's a public university and there was no selection to get in, I guess this is how the sifting is done. But it's hard for me.. I want to give everyone great marks, but can't even pass everyone.

Now it's time to talk about bikes for awhile. Ahem.

On the first floor of the apartment, accessible only from the outside, is the bike storage room. I appreciate this room very much because it means that I don't have to bring the bike all the way up here, or leave it outside... However, there are hundreds of bikes in there, all crammed in, and it's hard to find a spot. This is also okay. The problem is that I use my bike every day, and it's tricky to maneuver it around the room, and wanting to be respectful, I was always finding a spot near the back.. Now. French peeps don't ride anymore. I think it's too cold for them. So I was starting to become annoyed with all of the maneuvering that was going on. And so, I borrowed chalk from school and marked all of the tires of the bikes in my way. I waited a week. This morning, I went down and found that only ONE of the bikes had moved since last week! Who knows when the rest were last used! I don't know if this was appropriate, but I took the bike sitch into my own hands. I rearranged the entire room, putting unused bikes near the back, and the used ones (including mine and Cynthia's) in the most convenient spots. I hope this solves the problem.

Next. The bike ride to school and back is great. It saves a ton of metro money, and takes about the same time. I think it's about six kilometres each way, which is fine. The issue is clothing. In the mornings especially, it's chilly, so I wear a coat. But about half of the ride is intense uphill, so I begin to get really hot. And by the time I get to school, I'm boiling. If I don't bundle up, I'm fine, but then I'm cold when walking in between buildings. All very annoying. This reminds me of exactly why I don't like skiing. You sit on the chairlift, getting colder and colder, and then go down the hill, getting hotter and hotter. By the time you're at the bottom you (I?) want to rip off your clothes and make naked snow angels. But that's kind of frowned upon, so instead, you rinse and repeat. The difference, and this is why I don't ski but do bike ride, is that in skiing, you're not getting to work or saving metro money. You're just getting cold and hot.

Finally. It's interesting how cars here in Rennes treat bicycles as if they're not even there. There is no moving over or slowing down. It makes for a very scary ride. Because cyclists are completely ignored, though, we have to make our own rules. Run red lights? If you want! Signal turns? No one will care! I haven't had a car show any sign of recognizing I'm there at all, so I just make up the rules, and be sure to wear a helmet..

End of bike talk.

On Friday, RtC is coming to visit for the week-end. I'm really excited.. Just to clear some things up, as there has been confusion, and I think this only fair:
Q: Are Raffi and RtC the same person?
A: Yes. R(affi)t(he)C(lown).
Q: Do the clowns really do the balloon making and tricycle riding you've written about?
A: No. But they do learn acrobatics!
But that's not what I was going to say. What I was going to say is that I'm really looking forward to the week-end and have a lot of fun ideas. Now, being that the clown is an avid (though silent) nerd blog subscriber, I will have to wait to write about what we will do. The art of waiting to give information is one of the reasons Cynthia and the others (still!) don't know about the nerd blog. I just like being able to write whatever I want. That being said, I like that Raffi reads. Just saying..

I have to wrap up and get ready for theatre group tonight. Afterwards, the Brits are throwing a little Christmas party, complete with mulled wine and minced meat pies. They wanted to do something British after the t-giving they experienced last week. Should be nice.

Much love,
Hincks.