Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Class…lunch at the center…lazy afternoon, nothing too special. In the evening, I took a walk around my neighborhood to see what there was. I stopped at a little restaurant hoping to get dinner, so when she asked what I wanted to drink, I said that I wanted, “une carafe d’eau,” but since they weren’t serving dinner yet (heaven forbid, IT WAS 7:45pm), she brought me the water I had to pay for! So, I got a 4 euro glass of water…but at least now I know that if I go to a place like that again, I shouldn’t go before 8pm to get dinner.

Things I noticed today: the French people I pass on the street are friendly, I just have to smile at them—if I don’t smile, I’m just another selfish American. The French people who work the minimum wage jobs (McDonalds and cashier in a grocery store as examples) hold themselves to higher standards of morale and personal dignity than do many of the same jobholders in the United States. I still don’t know whether or not to feel sorry for the beggars that I see regularly, do they really have no skills to get a job, or is the unemployment rate truly at impossible levels? There is the same one at my metro stop every morning and the same one on the main street in front of my school. I don’t stop or give money because that is what I have been taught to do, but I see plenty of women in Chanel suits giving. I think I might take a tour to Champagne region this Sunday. Hopefully at least one of my friends will want to go, but if not, I guess I will go myself and be the only one under 65 on the tour.