Monday, December 6, 2010

You Do the Hokey Cokey and You Turn Yourself Around...

Today we have learned a very important lesson. Today we have learned that the black boots that are so cute, that we love sooooo much, are not suitable for icy conditions. Unfortunately, we learned this lesson the hard way, by making a spectacular fall in the street, in front of one of our schools, in front of several students and parents. Ow... my pride... and my backside. Happy Monday, Sara.

In other news, I learned a new song today. It was a song I thought I already knew, but apparently the British English textbook we use knows a different version. It's called the Hokey Cokey. You put your arms and stuff in and you shake em all about, but then there's this whole weird extra chorus part where you do the Hokey Cokey and you turn yourself around...and then "knees bent, arms stretched, rah rah rah?" Yeah, I don't get it either. I am going to have to take this up with my British roommate.

So I went to the big Christmas market in Lille last Friday. On the whole it was kind of disappointing. I was hoping for a lot of handmade crafts and regional specialties that I could take home for Christmas gifts, but mostly it was just a lot of touristy crap. So that was a bummer. But I still had a very lovely afternoon. I went with Joey and two of his friends from the US who were visiting, Jamie and Brad. The temperature was hovering somewhere near the 20 degree mark (I have recently learned that this is some of the coldest weather Northern France has seen in years), but we bundled up and braved the cold and had a really good time. We got some roasted chestnuts and some mulled wine, which helped us warm up a little, and since the Christmas market was a bust, we trekked across the city to the Citadel, a huge military fortification from the 1800's that is now also a huge park. Very pretty all covered in snow. So we took some pictures, threw some snowballs, complained to each other about being cold, and then headed back downtown to the English language movie theater to see Harry Potter 7. It was excellent, of course, the best one so far, I think, but unfortunately the people at the movie theater must be trying to keep their expenses down, because it was effing freezing in there. During the frozen pond scene my teeth were actually chattering. But we enjoyed the movie nonetheless (it was Joey's second screening and Jamie and Brad's third), had some tasty dinner afterwards (and finally got warm!), and then headed back to Valenciennes to my house for a couple of bottles of wine to cap off the night. Brad and Jamie are now on their way to Egypt, for their honeymoon!

Anyhow, that's about all the news I have for now. But here are some pictures!

Joey, Jamie, and moi, braving the cold.
Christmas market crap...
La Citadelle
Joey and Brad having an impromptu dance party in my room...

Happy Monday, y'all!

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