Good Times, Conversations

 feat. The Preatures - Take a Card

Ahhh~ I had heaps and heaps of fun today!!! 

I went to town again and discovered some really nice places ❤♥  and of course nice things: at the cool teashop, where the clerk was wearing a darkgreen yukata robe and a japanese store where they had Pocky & other stuff...

I am so happy!

as I am in need of presents for all my girlfriends in Germany, I bought some lotion at the local

☆click☆ >> Yves Rocher : I bought two different lotions to try out - Muguet/Lily of the Valley and Lila/Lilac which are both scents I love.

 Despite looking at many blogs I have yet to find a good Lily of the Valley perfume. The Yves Rocher one made my nose burn, so I hope I dont get any rashes from the lotion...it is a poisonous plant after all...☠ 

dum da dum dum!

Bento leaf dividers



japanese Washi tin with beautiful maple print

Post Scriptum: learned about the word "Weeabo" today.

I am not one of them, luckily, because I enjoy every culture there is, but I am still proud of being british/german. 

I would be terrified to be on the same level as Venus Palermo..brrr

                                            

 

Iconic Cows & other ramblings

Hello! Ca va? ♥
 

It seems to me that a lot of french expressions include cows - such as:

Oh ! La vache = my oh my/ Oh my God!
Être une vache à lait = to be easily exploited (a cow easily milked)
Bouffer/Manger de la vache enragée = to live in poverty (eat an enraged cow)
Période de vaches maigres = times of need (a time in which cows are rare)
Une vraie peau de vache = a cow/bitch/mean person (a true cow's hide)
Parler français comme une vache espagnole = to speak gibberish (speak french like a spanish cow) ... seriously??? ☺☺☺

Le plancher des vaches = solid ground/earth/floor
Pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse = to be pissing down/rain heavily (to rain like a cow...urinating. (¬‿¬)
Grosse vache = fat cow. literally.
Mort aux vaches ! = Death to the cops (Death to Cows - originates in Franco-Prussian war and relates to german cops = the cows)

 Are there any more? - it sure is funny. I know as a matter of fact that through history   

 there have been a lot of farmers in France - as I have been prying at the old actes de naissances et  
 marriages = birth and marriage certificates in the town hall I am working at ✰ hee hee

 There still is a lot of agriculture going on, with apple orchards, vineyards, lavender fields, dairy farms etc.

 So it is not that surprising. 

 A lot of names seem really weird to me too, I write them down to make my german friends chuckle:

 such as Tinkerbell aka Clochette, the Smurfs aka Les Shtroumpfs (which is the original title by the way)
 and most importantly Bilbo Baggins, who goes by the name of Bilbon Saquet. This is most amusing for 
 people who speak german, as a "Sack" means something...entirely different... \ (•◡•) /  Yay!

I tried to explain to a collegue, Hélène, that there was going to be a new film about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton on telly. She tilted her head slightly and went: "Hein?" (pronounced Hahnnn) which is the equivalent to "What?". I mulled it over and repeated: "Il y aura un film sur Eelisabett Teillorr et Rishart Beurton sur le Télé ce soir." She looked at me and went "Ahhhh!". Is it really that difficult to understand   
the english pronunciation? :-D

The funny thing is - when you travel around Europe, people understand you when you speak english. Well, most of them. But not so in France. It is for this reason that fellow Europeans think of them as arrogant, when they are not. They just don't need it. There are enough francophone countries around the world to get around. And if they do learn a language for working abroad, its mostly spanish. Because the french love Spain. Or german, for finding work. Or even japanese. But english? Nope.




 

Bonjour!

Je suis la stagiaire anglaise!

is probably THE sentence I have been repeating over and over. Hello, I'm the english trainee.

How do you do? ça va? 

I have run through a lot of compartments in the Lycee by now - the Compta, which means accounting,

CDI, which is the school library, the Accueil - reception and others. 

Don't get me wrong - I love my collegues and the petit pause where I can have some tea, while the others sip on their espressos. I like helping people out at the reception, sorting and registering freshly bought books etc. But I'm not cut out for such boring work as accounting. I do it because I have to, but calculating has never been my forte and it takes me a while, which makes me frustrated, which is clearly visible, because by then I'll be frowning. Period. 

Why am I studying languages? Because I'm good at it and I like it. Why am I not studying maths? - Because I suck at it  and it makes my head a dratted > Gordian Knot <!

As I have inherited one half of german work ethics, I just get on with my job though. End of complaint. 

It's pretty cool, I got to visit the theatre in Pont-de-Cé. I hadn't noticed I missed acting so much - but when I entered the room and smelled the slightly dusty air, it got me really excited. Hm, that sounds slightly off. XD

It was fantastic anyway ♡♡♡

River Maine at dusk

Nostalgia

When searching for pictures of lilacs, I just came across this blog : The Venomous Bead

Seems like i am not the only person to whom lilacs are a scent of childhood. The lilacs here in France are in bloom and as i was inhaling the smell wafting from the delicate petals, I remembered. And I thought suddenly:    

                                                                                     I really want a crown of lilacs for my wedding! 

                                                                          

This thought just popped into my head.

And I thought of the hot summer days next

to the church walls, drawing with chalks on roasting asphalt. The smell of the lilac bushes thick in the sweltering air, firebugs crawling amongst its roots.

The neighbours ragdoll tomcat rolling luxuriantly in the grass, while our cat, the queen, a splendid red mackerel tabby, perches serenely on one of the gravestones, observing her little world. 

The chestnut tree showering everything

with sticky buds, the feeling of them on your feet, as you run around barefoot.

A cold, cold river flowing right behind the house, the little landing - so perfect for letting your toes hang into the cool wetness, the small fish meandering around the shadows. 

I am so glad I got to experience that.

Of Rivers & bruised knees

I just adore the landscape here - so wild and beautiful with its steep hills and thick bushes. I experienced a really precious moment - walking towards the bridge in lavender twilight, birds swooping low over the water, calling softly. It felt almost surreal. Pity I didnt have a camera - but its imprinted in my memory, so i guess its ok.

 

 

So I just wander around often, I took my bike last time. I just kept on going the whole day. When I was 

almost home again I had to go up a really steep hill and that`s when I thought `Youve had enough now`. I wanted to turn my bike around, but ended up driving it against the pavement (dontaskmehow) and fell over - but in a very slowmotion kind of way, waving my arms in the air before landing smack on my knees.

It must have looked hilarious to the guy on the bike behind me, because he was chuckling when he asked me wether I needed any help : Damn!

Well....this kind of thing isn`t knew to me. After all, I`m the girl who managed to crack her friends toilet seat just by sitting on it. Although you can say that its owner had done it in beforehand - what with him weighing around 200 kg.
But still...

Vive la France!

 

A big step and a fresh start

For quite a while I have wanted to go to France to improve my français. 

Now it has finally come true! I have found a place to work in the west of France, not too far away from Nantes. When I hear about the city, I immediately think of the song Nantes by the wonderful group Beirut. Listen to it below:

nobody raise your voices...just another night in Nantes...

What I have discovered so far: 

Western France is the land of wristwatches,a place where women are fit and dress well - they arent all beautiful, but their taste in clothing makes them easy on the eyes. (not all of them, obviously)

It is also the land of salt, and as a matter of fact, salted butter. A country of small boutiques and cute slate roofed houses, where talking enthusiastically and frequently and giving out kisses to friends is perfectly ordinary.

There are apple orchards, vineyards and greenhouses. Rosmary grows all around and pines encircle the sky when you look up. People eat a lot of cheese and like to drink wine with a proper meal - the wine is a lot more acidic and stronger than what I`m used to, the cheeses more pungent, sharper, more flavourful. I have grown to like this goût - this flavour.

The only thing I dislike and cannot get used to is the amount of chlorine in the tap water. It tastes bad and doesn`t agree with my skin at all. I know there are countries where you cant drink the tap water at all, but I was raised in Bavaria and the quality there seems like a sparkling mountain spring in comparison X3

I am on the way of discovering french chansons - so far I`ve bought one CD by Miossec which is pretty good - a smoky voice and clicking, sharp lyrics accompanied by a guitar. What I didn`t know was that Brigitte Bardot had been a singer as well. Daft Punk is a french band. And currently my roommate Célia

is into a band called `Shaka Ponk`. 

When it ends

I apologize I haven`t written anything in a long time. There is a reason though. It just felt wrong to me writing about funny or happy things, although that is all I want to write about. A colleague of mine died and I experienced writers block for the first time in my life. Everything still feels a bit warped, but I can deal with it. It's just that he was my age and wasnt ill or anything - it was just some medication and alcohol that did him in.

Enough of that, I just felt I had to write it down. Thank you for listening.

Oh noes, I wanna goes!

Its festival season once more and I'm so hyped!!!

 I really, really, reallyyyyy would have liked to go to 

 ❤♔❤   GLASTONBURY    ❤♔❤

I mean - it's ☆☆☆ legendary ☆☆☆

And there would have been so much too see, the STONES, ARCTIC MONKEYS, MONSTERS & MEN etc, etc.. I looked into the other bands and really liked some of them

Asakusa Jinta from Japan sounds deffo cool (click-e-di-click) >>  Setsuna is a cool song!!!

And the new Monkeys song kicks ass  >> Watch 'Do I wanna know?'

I'm thinking of going to the  ♢ http://www.chiemsee-reggae.de/  ♢
I bet that's pretty dope too...oops XD Wait, Im not into that! Oh, who cares.

 

It`s all good

I've been so exhausted lately that I just went straight to bed, pushed my cat to the side and dozed off to dreamland. No friends, no clothes, no books - I was just too tired.

I even fell asleep on the lawn .... I got out of the bus, walked the last five minutes home, took off my pink

ankle-straps and lay down on the grass looking at the beautif`ly blue sky. When I slowly came to, I noticed 

that I had been snoring AND salivating all over myself in front of my boyfriends grandad....  Noooooo! Well, at least I'm feeling positive again. After all, I didn't cancel my flat in order to stress myself even more in search of a new one - which is what my mum did. Seriously, what went wrong that side of the family - they can't all have been crazy???!!! Next time I'm in St. Albans, I'm going to find out about that




Well, I finished reading 'IQ84' and it was even strager than I had anticipated. I liked the characters, but 
that brutal suffucation felt out of the place. 

And I got irritated sometimes, I know Murakami is a man, but usually he depicts the women in his books 
as more gentle, so the manliness of Aomame was a bit over the top. 
But thats just my opinion. I immidiately craved another book, so I went along and bought 'The Help',  
because I've been dying to see the film. 
That one inspired me a lot - it is, after all, a book about a book in the making. 
Aibileens character was so warm, I cried. And Skeeter gave me hope, in future, in being able to write 
someday. 
Right now I'm just glad. Glad to be alive, glad to have friends, glad to have... love <3 (So kitschy...)

On Saturday, Anny, Laura & me made Cake-pops   (< click for recipe)
 We did it all wrong, but we had so much fun 

Life is for living

I finally bought Murakami`s new book. After all, who needs a hardcover? I`m poor.

So far its very promising, starting off weird from the very beginning. I wonder what strange things will happen this time...I feel very close to Aomame, seeing as I`m very good at the stone face as well. People only call me beautiful when I smile. I don`t know.

Lately I`ve been letting myself get depressed, which is not good! No good at all! I should snap out of it!
Only...its not that easy, right? I didnt get the job at the newspaper, so now I`m working at a hotel.
It`s very stressful, my body isnt used to it and I`m aching all over. Crap!!! Strangely enough, my thumb hurts the most. X3 I`ve been complaining to my boyfriend a lot (I dont like going there, Ive seen a friend making a fool out of herself - who wants to be a mopey woman?)

Right now I`m trying to gather some peace around me. Sipping tea and letting myself float. And listening to chinese konghou music, which is an ancient chinese harp. I like the sound a lot~ I bet I`m even more into
chinese culture than my asian friends XD

Still wondering what to get for my boyfriends birthday since the idiot already bought the present I wanted to buy him for himself!

Calm down....
Ok, Goodnight x