New Year, New Journal!

Hi! Welcome to my new journal! Thanks for making the change, and sorry if it's confusing!

I realize it's been over a month, and no, I haven't forgotten about my journal project, just been a bit preoccupied. So, a quick fill in since I last wrote...I went home to the states for the winter break and saw friends and family. It was really wonderful to be home for a couple of days, and though it short and pretty exhausting, I'm glad I got to go home and spend some time in beautiful Oregon with the people I love! When I got back to France, I had a busy work week (also jetlagged and with some sort of stomach bug), and eventually got myself settled back into normalcy. My first weekend back was my birthday, so we went out. And then I had a writing workshop all day on Saturday, which didn't exactly work out as planned, but was still a good day of writing. The next week, I got caught up with friends. One of my friends had a sad family thing happen, so I spent a lot of time talking with her. I went to a writing workshop in French, which was really fun, but difficult. I went to a dinner party, and then went out to the pub (see post: dating in France), worked the next day, and then on Friday afternoon, I went with Michaela to our friend Sarah's parent's house in Albi for the weekend.

Albi is a lovely city with a river flowing through it. Its buildings are red brick and colombage (timber house- much like in Germany), and is known for its famous artist Toulouse-Lautrec. The cathedrale is immense, fortress-like on the outside, and incredibly detailed on the inside, with every surface painted in really very modern motifs. The neighboring museum holds works of Toulouse-Lautrec, from his earliest drawings all the way through his career, thus tracing the evolution of his style, themes, and even specific pieces. It's a wonderful museum for its simplicity and direct handling of the art (there's no abstract explanation or theorized installations, it's more of a gallery, just showing the work), and even though I've been there before, I could spend a lot more time there than I did on this visit.

The weekend was really nice. Sarah's parents are great. They've been traveling all over the world for decades, and are selling their house in April to start traveling again. They are full of stories and questions, and made us very at home with delicious meals and photo albums. It was fun to spend time with a French family, as I haven't done that for quite awhile. Here, I'm back into almost college mode, where you forget that other generations and lifestyles exist other than that of the young adult. Of course, I have lots of friends here of my parent's age, but they are all single adults, not families. And I don't think I've talked to a kid since August, when I left PFS. That's odd.

It's back to work tomorrow, with a dinner on Monday and on Tuesday, a play on Wednesday (Pygmalion- My Fair Lady), and then a huge party that we're throwing on Saturday night.

I'm going to try to be much better about posting regularly, for anyone who actually reads this thing regularly (which I think really is only a few relatives).