So I kind of stole the title of my post from Sasha but it was just so catchy. I know I haven't posted for a bit but that is because for a little bit my life was pretty stable here. And I knew that visiting in Sasha in Perpignan would provide tons of good material for the blog so I decided to wait (plus I was busy). But I was right and I now have tons of things to tell, although only Sasha and I may think that most of it is funny. The whole weekend started out with a bang when my first train was "supprimé" (suppressed or erased). I managed to get on another train and by complete chance, made my train change by 1 minute. I get on my train heading south and I found a really nice train neighbor sitting next to me; it was a dog! So yah, dogs have more rights in France then in the US but this dog was just sitting on the chair (the seat) like it was a person. It kind of smelled and was in general super amusing situation!
So I got off the train in Perpignan (8 hours after I left Dijon) and am greeted by one of my favorite people in all of France, my dear Sasha! We then proceeded to fight the wonderful wind that Perpignan and Montpellier are famous for. I met her friends at the "auberge espagnol", which is a play on a classic French comedy about a student apartment with people from all different places. Most of the people only speak Spanish and a little French and it was really like being in a different world. After our brief repose from the wind at the "auberge espagnol" we walked the 30 minutes or so to Sasha's humble abode (a.k.a. a dorm room in a lycee, high school, outside of the center of the city). She does have an extra bed due to the fact that her roommate moved into the "auberge" so all was good.
The next day, I saw Sasha's world, complete with wind, tons of high school kids and adventures trying to teach English. We spent most of that day at her lycee helping out and exploring. Then that evening, we ventured out into the city of Perpignan. It was really a completely different world then in northern France. It was more like being in Spain (the main place was completely Spanish), or Catalonia since that is where I technically was. In Perpignan and much of northern Spain many people speak Catalan which is a mix between French and Spanish (but more like Spanish), it was very confusing. It was really fun exploring with Sasha...we always find new cool things to do. We ended up eating at this hippie restaurant and then going to Sasha's favorite bar, which really is quite awesome, called "la divine comedie". They play great music and it really is weird everyone hangs out there. All of the other teaching Assistant's in Perpignan, converged there and it was cool to meet some of them.
The next day we ventured off to Figueres, Spain (and Catalonia). First we stopped in Portbou which is just over the border of Spain and we got to go to the beach for about 20 minutes! We ran into a friend of the "auberge espagnol" there and it was so random. Figueres was pretty awesome to go to Spain. I had a great time. We went to this insane Dali museum where Sasha and I tried to unravel the mystery that is Salvador Dali. We didn't really have much luck but we definitely had fun. For the afternoon, the time when everything in Spain closes, we took a little walk around the largest fortress in Europe (still unconfirmed) but it was still cool. It was pretty big and on one side you could see the ocean, on the other the Pyrenees. After that, we were pretty much beat and headed back to Sasha's for a night watching a rediculous French movie and going to bed early.
The next day we attempted the almost impossible, we climbed the big rope pyramid across the street from Sasha's school. She had been waiting for me to visit to try this so it was kind of a lot of pressure (despite the fact that kids climb it every day). In the end, we surmounted the obstable thanks to team work and our cool sunglasses and we managed to chronicle most of it on my camera. However, the videos were too big to put on my blog so you will have to wait to view the whole journey. For now, I'll just give you a short preview.
After mounting the great pyramid, we headed into town for me to catch my train and return to the dark and cold north. It was a sad moment but I managed not to cry on the train by making a train friend. We had coffee in Lyon and then I headed home to start my week. It's nice to be back despite the busy week I have. I should probably actually try to work.
Adéu. Fins ara,
(Goodbye, see you in Catalan),
Sarah
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