the past 36 hours

the following is an anomalous occurrence. i must have been giving off some strong pheromones this weekend.

on friday mat sent me an email to invite me to a last night's folk dance and i agreed, expecting to go with him and several of his friends. however, he showed up alone. i'm not sure if he meant it to be a date or if he just needed a partner for the night. either way, he was extremely patient with me and both of my left feet. after the dance we met up with my friend the dragueur and two of his female friends and we all headed to al's party. there we met a whole lot of irish people and a falling-down-drunk franco-scot, who asked me my name and what i was studying at least four times before the soiree ended. during the entire party, the dragueur and the scot took turns hitting on me, while mat suffered silently from a headache in a corner. eventually mat went home (i would have done so sooner in his place) and the scot kicked up his game a notch. the dragueur was mostly kidding, but the scot was inebriated and earnest, which worried me (as it well should have).

at the end of the party i had two options (only two because my shoe was broken): 1) sleep chez the dragueur, whom i didn't particularly trust in the dark or 2) walk to the taxi depot with the scot and his friends so we could share two cabs for the six of us. even though i worried that we might have to carry the scot to the depot, i chose option 2 because i thought it would be less worrisome in the long run. oh, was i wrong.

on the way to the taxi depot the scot decided to make a serious play for me, not by telling me jokes like most boys might, but by repeatedly asking my name and my field of study. i know that he was drunk--he was just barely succeeding at walking in a straight line--but i have a hard time believing that his memory is that bad. after having told him my name and that i wasn't in school at least 8 times, we finally reached the taxi stop. i chose to sit on the rail next to the scot because even though he wasn't in the best shape, he was much easier to stomach than his friends. they made fun of him very loudly for his obvious lack of luck with me the whole time he was talking to me. their behaviour was just bearable while we were all waiting, but it was unacceptable when one of the cabs showed up almost an hour after we'd arrived. all four of the scot's friends got into it, leaving him drunk, a bit sick and alone with me. i felt bad for myself having to be with the scot, but i felt even worse for him for having such friends. the poor kid could barely walk, let alone remember who i was or why i kept rejecting him.

we waited for the other cab for another half hour, then we decided to walk home. i couldn't really avoid walking with him because i live on the way to his place and not the other way around. it was a bit creepy walking with a complete stranger at night, past dark corners and the scot made it even creepier by grabbing at me the entire time, not necessarily in a sexual way, but in a strangely gallant attempt to keep me warm. first he forced his coat on me, then he took my hands one at a time to heat them in his. he'd seize one hand, exclaim that it was freezing and try to warm it by rubbing it between his hands and sometimes even by blowing on it. then he'd grab the other and repeat the process. he was equally as surprised at the temperature of my hands the first time he took them as he was the twelfth or so. one thing he tried but that i absolutely would not let him do was give me his socks and shoes. every fifty yards he'd stop and try to take them off and give them to me and i'd hurry away, so he'd have to catch up with me or never see his coat again. the scot didn't ask me my name again during the walk home, but i don't think that's because he remembered it. i think he was too busy warming my hands and pulling at his socks and asking me when he could see me again.

during most of the walk i was afraid that the scot was feigning delirium and was actually going to rape me, but toward the end i realized that he was actually chivalrous in a rambling, only semi-conscious way. that's the only excuse i can offer for giving him my phone number at the end of our walk.

not true. the other, very good, excuse i have is that i want to see him again in order to determine if he was just extremely drunk saturday night or if there's something wrong with him. i didn't let him follow me all the way home, thank goodness. i did, at least, take that precaution. i wonder if he remembers who i am, if not my name, today. it would be really funny if all he could remember about last night was that someone named "universal muse" was not in school.

this evening, in order to clear things up between the dragueur and me, i was going to tell him that he needed to ease up on his constant seduction attempts. they're not working and starting to make me uncomfortable. just as i was about to start this discussion, i received a phone call from the loup, a very attractive and very married teacher who works with me. the loup is one of those guys who always give the impression that their interested in whomever they talk to. every conversation with him seems like a double entendre for something sexual. at lunch when he says, "pass me a napkin" he might as well be saying, "let's go make out behind the bleachers." needless to say, i plan to avoid him like the plague this school year.

after a longer-than-necessary conversation, i got the loup to hang up so the dragueur and i could have our little talk. it turned out to be fine. i have to say, though, the timing of this weekend's events absolutely kills me. this is the first time that anything of the sort has ever happened to me.

if you want a really good read, try either of the two following sites: thecompanybitch.blogspot.com or redactedblog.blogspot.com. both are smart and the latter is verbose, but witty.

by the way, happy thanksgiving! i didn't really celebrate it, though i have to talk about it tomorrow in class. i spent my last thanksgiving in france in a restaurant that tried its darnedest to recreate the American holiday authentically for my group. our meal consisted of beef-stuffed turkey and unidentifiable vegetables. for dessert we had the choice between pumpkin pie and chocolate cake. having seen the french versions of turkey and stuffing, i opted for the chocolate cake. good choice. i tasted one of my neighbor's pumpkin pie slices and it was atrocious. french pastry crust (good) with under-sugared pumpkin paste (very, very bad). wishing you all a much better meal than that one.

it might have been a better idea to not tell anyone that i'm writing a blog. now i have a reader, which means pressure to be entertaining. sorry, p, don't think that's happening anytime soon.

i live in a country where parking cars on sidewalks is acceptable. this fact continues to blow my mind after two months. it kind of makes sense, since the streets are so narrow, but it doesn't give pedestrians much room or security. maybe there should be a limit to the amount of sidewalk space a vehicle can occupy. for example, tonight there was a bulldozer parked on the sidewalk, taking up the entire sidewalk--because bulldozers are big. that practice should be illegal, in my opinion. but i guess that even if it were outlawed, the city owns the bulldozer, so they wouldn't give its operator a ticket. hmm.

beginnings

i s'pose i'll start with my workday. the first group was well-enough behaved, though markedly uninspired. e was loud and a bit annoying, but not too mean. p was her usual brash self--i love this girl. she reminds me of a teacher i had in high school who managed to convince a good number of us that she could get away with doing us physical harm and who routinely threatened us with blunt objects. she was built like a buick and never smiled--best history teacher ever. s was actually pretty good, but the entire class was scattered. no more thinking games for them.

the second group was a disciplinary disaster. l2 was her usual self. i wonder if she hates me or just has trouble with authority. i'll talk to her after our next session if she's bad again. e, the anglophone, was mouthy, but maybe only because l2 is her best friend. l1 is being good again. i think i just embarrassed her last time. she's smart--they all are--but l2 is a terrible influence. i lost v today because i underestimated his enthusiasm. we clashed when he acted out in protest of my (not exactly) punishment. i think it made him mad 'cause he's usually one of the good kids. he also acted out when i told him he couldn't fully participate in the activity. next week, the object is to get him back and occupy them for the entire hour. maybe i'll start with some stuff about college--that'll get them.

the other groups were fine, i guess. the second group completely deflated my ego, so i was a bit depressed when the third group showed up. i need to catch their attention more fully. i think i'll go back to the article. they were so enthusiastic that they lifted my spirits for the hour, though they were scattered like the others.

my lovely sixers saved the day with the guessing game. they actually fought over who got to draw xs next to adjectives on the board.

to anyone who happens to stumble upon this blog: i hope this is the most boring post i'll ever make. i'm in a melancholy state, which i hope excuses this sad (ha, pun!) excuse for a posting.