Thursday, November 4, 2010

Uh... Sorry I'm kind of a slacker...

Hello all.

It's been a while. I'd like to tell you that it's because I've been ridiculously busy that I haven't updated you on my life, but really it's just because I've been on a long school break and I've been in super sloth mode for most of it. So sorry about that.

Not much has been going on around here lately. The strikes are still going on in places around the country, but Valenciennes has been pretty quiet the last couple of weeks. Most everyone has also been on "Vacances de Toussaint," which is a 1-2 week vacation period around All-Saints Day, which is November 1. I was off for all of last week and all of this week until today. I taught one class today, and may or may not teach one tomorrow (the actual classroom teacher is away tomorrow), and then, ta-da! Weekend. Then next week is a short week because of Armistice Day.

The French sure do love their vacation time, and I'm certainly not complaining, but I'm so used to working a bajillion hours at home that I'm running out of ways to entertain myself during all of my down time. I've been sleeping a lot, reading a lot (Barbara Kingsolver's new novel!), and spending waaaaaay too much time on Facebook. I did go to Amsterdam last weekend with my friends, and that was a lot of fun. We were there from Thursday night through Sunday morning, and we spent our days exploring the city, checking out the architecture and cultural stuff (we took a really awesome boat tour of the city through the canals), and of course we spent our nights partying. And let me tell you, Amsterdam is a crazy place to be on Halloween. Getting up at 6am the morning after to catch our bus home was NOT fun, but all in all we had a really great time, and I was able to get a lot closer with some of my new friends here, which helps me not miss my crew at home quite so much. 

In other news, my shampoo-free lifestyle change is going pretty well. My hair was really awesome last week, full of body and easy to manage (I even straightened it without a drop of product-- a definite first!), but this week it's being kind of oily and weird. I must still be in that adjustment phase. I think it's going to be a good thing overall though. The biggest difference I've noticed, though, is that immediately after I stopped using shampoo, I stopped having dandruff/dry scalp/ itchiness/ flakes. Seriously. Something others with scalp issues might want to consider. Also, my hair dries wavy/curly now when I air-dry it. Who knew I had curly hair hiding in there?

Here is a picture of me about one/one and a half weeks into the project:
Still wasn't sure if I'd made a good decision at this point... but notice the hair is starting to get wavy.
And here's a multi-purpose picture (me in Amsterdam, with good hair, ab three and a half to four weeks in):
That would be my friend Allison next to me.
And that's really all I've got to say for myself. Except, if any of you see my mother, give her a big hug for me. She is awesome.

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