All is moderately well in my world right now, what do ya know? And yes, I did get a new console for a very nice price. No, not free, because I did not accept Christ but I was this close! I love old consoles.
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| Week 18. |
Mood almost ruined before it even hit 9:30 AM this Monday. I went to see my teacher Aicha to sign up for some B2 classes when the social security issue struck again. Basically, I had a temporary social security number for a long while, I got my permanent one by mail about a year ago and have been using it since. We tried signing me up to classes but for some reason it wouldn't accept my number and when we called CPAM (overseeing organization for this type of stuff), they said I didn't have a permanent number and just had to wait for them to activate it and mail me my insurance card. Dude... the French government could really invest in this thing called... technology. I don't know what they're using up there, typewriters and fax machines, but the wait-times for literally pressing a button are getting a little stupid.
I did ask her if she could find a space for my brother in the A1 course so hopefully that pans out. In my sadness I went to the store and bought a re-usable shower gel bottle with these little things that dissolve in water and make gel so you don't have to buy a new bottle every time. I'm not a retail therapy kind of gal but I fear I had a moment of weakness. I am happy to report that I did get lucky though and that the gel works and smells great, it's my fave flavour of them all: monoï!
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| I've been having too much hot choc... |
At home I watched Glengarry Glen Ross, it was fine. I've been going to bed very early these days which I'm loving. I feel like I have the whole day ahead of me when I wake up early.
On Tuesday we went to work as usual, this time we'd be continuing the fertilizer. However, the boss forgot to leave us the tractor keys so we were kind of stuck with a 600kg bag that we couldn't move. We couldn't call him either as it was the day that our cell data stops working. Damn! We worked slower than usual but figured out some bag-contraption to carry some of the fertilizer with us.
While we were gone our mum was supervising the installation of a new heater in our house. We have had so much problems with our old one, the thing was ancient, broke half the time, and our bills were ridiculously high even when we barely heated the house. This new one is ugly as all hell but apparently doesn't rely on gas which is cheaper and more eco-friendly. And we paid a total of 1 euro for it. Hooray! Okay, you win this one, French government.
On Wednesday we went back to our last day of work for now. The current harvest is ready and the boss hasn't yet gotten the new batch of kiwi plants so we're on stand-by. Means I'll have to look for other work soon enough.
On Thursday my brother met up with Aicha, there may be a class that starts at the end of May and he may be legible but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Now, Friday. Friday was a good day! Not only was it Labour Day, also known as International Worker's Day, in most of the world but it was also a day for the flea and flower market in my town. I was real selective this Friday but found some great things, mostly for my music and movie library and for the summer.
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| "My taiyaki...my Dune..." |
But the coolest thing we got was...a PS2! Yes, we are now proud owners of a Playstation 2. I ordered in a Free McBoot card for it and soon enough we'll get to play all the exclusives we want.
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| She's perfect... |
My brother is most excited for Gran Turismo 4 and I wanna play Ico and Yakuza. If you have any PS2 recommendations please leave them for me in the comments!
There was also a local cow farmer and his wife who had a food stall that served delicious burgers. The line was absurd though and even funnier than that, he and the wife seemingly were having beef (pun intended). Total rush hour in their little outdoor kitchen and him trying to get her attention while she was giving him the cold shoulder, and us, 20 onlookers trying to pretend we can't see what's happening. Hilarious.
Saturday was uneventful, I mostly spent it doing cleaning in my room and on my PC. I also did my media log on time on the site but still have to catch up with my blogs here.
On Sunday I kind of wasted the whole day doing not much at all. Didn't even watch a movie. Disappointing. I did see that a neo-neighbor, Mimi, was trying to join Spacehey so I gave them an invite code. While doing that I caught up with their site, they have a really great nostalgic YouTube videos page so I got lost in those for awhile, especially the rodgerswan channel. We also re-watched the Devil Wears Prada, even though I'm not going to watch the new one in cinemas. This is probably going to be such an unpopular opinion but I don't really like the movie. Sure, in the end Andy learns that she doesn't want Miranda's life for herself... but no one considers that Miranda's abuse of power is totally absurd. It's usually a very male-dominated phenomena (love to see a woman in a male-dominated field!), like great directors that abuse and harass actors, staff, people in their lives etc. but it's all okay because it's what leads to their great art. Yeah, it's a bunch of bullshit. When Miranda says that no one can do her job but her I literally rolled my eyes. They all think that.
A little special segment this week: I left a comment on Ari's blog a few weeks back that had to do with traveling during uni. She mentioned that she would be curious to see some stuff about my past travels. Now, I don't know if anyone or Ari will actually enjoy what I have to say about past travels but here it is...
Flashback Trip #1: 2019 Tampere/Turku with Daniel and V
So, this is not a 100% true trip because by 2019 me and my bestie V had already been living in Finland, Tampere specifically, for about 6 months on an Erasmus exchange. However, Daniel, another bestie of mine, was coming to visit from Budapest for a few days and we would all go to Turku where me and V haven't yet been.
When he first got there, we picked him up at the airport and went straight home: the following day we hosted a BBQ with all our Finnish friends right outside our house. This was early spring so there was still lots of snow but it was getting warmer.
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| When you lose UNO you go to UNO prison. |
We didn't spend much time in Tampere... as much as I love the city there ain't that much to see. We did live right next to lake Näsijärvi so we took him to see it while it was partially frozen. A few months before I walked all over it when it had thick ice. We went about town a bit too. If you're a student it's a pretty awesome place to be: there's hangout spots, student discounts in lots of places, and very pretty nature spots. However, a lot of the uni campuses are way out of the town center and it's annoying when the winter temp is -40. From the hotspots, there's the Näsinneula Observation Tower but we were to broke to go there. And the Särkänniemi amusement park, but it's closed in the winter. There's also a very cute Moomin museum but Daniel doesn't really care for Moomins so we decided to leave all the museum stuff for Turku.
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| Vulcan represent. |
On the second day we took a bus to Turku, Finland has a pretty great and affordable bus system between towns. Turku is a pretty funny city because it just goes on and on along a river, you can basically just walk it all day. First we had a very nice student-priced lunch and then we stopped by a church just because it was open and blashpemed a little.
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| "Straight to hell with you!!" |
Our first museum was the Pharmacy Museum and the Qwensel House. It was very small but preserved or set-up very nicely.
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| "Potion-seller, sell me your strongest potion!" |
After that we hit up Turku Castle. It is huge! Totally worthwhile and can busy you for half a day easily. There's some models, battle recreations, lots of historical info and very fun stuff like a bunch of knight props that were probably meant for kids but entrained us endlessly.
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| High five, my liege! |
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| Short king. |
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| Bonk! |
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| 'Twas where the maidens talked shit. |
Closer to the end of the day we visited the Forum Marinum, a maritime museum. I think I was the only one having fun there because both V and Daniel were kind of rushing me through it. It was just so moody and cool even though I actually hate even the idea of being on a ship in the wide open water.
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| Bye Turku! |
After that we headed back to Tampere and spent our last day just relaxing and hanging out. Daniel was put on a plane and next we saw him when me and V came back from our exchange in May.
Back to the present! That was the week. Busy and fun. A bit of a let-down in some parts but I think I'll recover.
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| The end. |
This Week I'm Excited For...
So, this is actually happening on the 12th but a bunch of French libraries and bookstores will be hosting a small event for the Witch Hat Atelier manga! Volume 15 is about to be out in France and select bookstores will be doing some small challenges, some free gifts, and a special pen for people who'll buy the special edition during the event. I was going to buy the special edition anyway so this is just a bonus! I was going to bring my sister too but sadly she has an exam on the day. I hope there won't be just kids, otherwise my grown ass will look so dumb!
Song Of The Week...
Been giving Prozac+'s Acido Acido a good shake this week: just very fun and punchy punk. There are so many great songs but my pick is Ho Raccontato Che. It's very catchy.
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