Nous sommes dans l'argent//We're in the money

I often wish it wasn't so important for my life. But, alas, it's necessary: money. Cash. Bucks. Loot. Moola. (Did you know the word pelf used to mean money? I like that. "I won the lottery. Now I'm rolling in the pelf!")

L'argent. Depending on your outlook, it makes the world go round or it's a necessary evil. 

And though I use my debit card for almost everything now, cash is still necessary for some occasions (like paying my electricity bill. Really? You don't have to ability to take a card? It's 2011! Hovercraft are supposed to be right around the corner).

I don't know about you, but I'm always interested in cash from around the world. I still have some bills and coins from a trip to the Bahamas when I was four.

France uses euros, like the rest of the European Union. For an American, Euros are colorful and shiny compared to our predominately green currency. (Although we've also been adding colors lately!)

This was a ridiculously difficult picture to take. My money+wind= risky.

Just as a reference, a euro is usually worth a little more than a dollar. Right now, you could get $1.36 for 1€ or .73€ for a dollar.

It's the coins, though, that I find most interesting. In the States, most of our coins are equivalent to less than a dollar. Dollar and two dollar coins exist, but they're rare. The euro system uses more coins: 2€, 1€, .50, .20, .10, .05, .02, and .01. My purse can get really heavy sometimes with all those coins.

That's a lot of coins to figure out. But at least they say how much they are worth in numbers, not just letters. Here's an experiment for those of you in the states: Pull out a nickel right now, pretend you can't read English, and try to determine how much that coin is worth. I didn't realize it until I brought some American coins into class to show my students, but our coins only say “Five cents” or “A quarter.” A little confusing, non?

 My biggest problem is the same problem I always have with money: it disappears too quickly. I'm used to coins being worth less than a dollar, so spending them is not a big deal. They've always felt like extra, inconsequential money. Here, if I spend coins with the same nonchalance, I could quickly spend 10€ with just 5 coins. Just another one of the surprise mental adjustments I've had to make. 


Hope you're having a great Friday!

More...um...adventures?

Calling these adventures is, well, a bit of a stretch. Maybe if I lump them all together, you won't notice how, well, boring I've been lately. I've always felt rather independent, but it's really not as much fun wandering around my cold town all alone. I can't wait until you all start to visit me!

But at least I do have friends around, even if they aren't close. Soon after I got my hair cut, my friend Anna came to visit. I love having Anna here, as we always end up laughing and having a great time, even if we're just hanging out in my apartment watching movies and eating Nutella.

Anna also had her first French eclair the other weekend. These things are really good. Like, really, really good. 

We also made crepes. (You have to put the Nutella on something, and people judge when you eat it on a spoon. Not that that stops me.)

Later that week, I got the chance to really go to Dieppe. (See here for my first, not-so-exciting experience in Dieppe.)

This time my friend Amélie invited me to have lunch at her grandmother's house. She lives in the countryside near Dieppe, so after lunch Amélie and I decided to head to the coast.

I got to touch the ocean!  It was cold and windy, so we just had to stop, take advantage of les soldes, and buy new hats.

Trés chic, non? Amélie is so French in her beret!

We also had a beautiful, spring-like day on Friday the 11th. I'm talking 55 F and sunny. Sunny. I broke out my sunglasses and went for a walk down by the Seine.

Look how happy my Toms are to be out by the Seine!

I discovered a fun mural on a local building. I have no idea what this building is, but isn't the art fun? 

I also made some new friends while I took these photos. Tourists don't really come to Elbeuf, despite our fabulous museum, so taking pictures tends to get me noticed. These guys somehow automatically guessed I spoke English (I hate when that happens. How do they know?), and we had a conversation about why I was in Elbeuf, despite it being merde. 

I love random encounters.

The circus was in town again this weekend...

and my friend Charlotte had a book signing at a local bookstore. 

I got a little lost trying to get here, because when Charlotte said the book signing was at la librarie, the English speaking part of my brain pictured my local library. But librarie in French means bookstore, so I ended up confusing myself and some librarians before I figured out my mistake. Oops.

I also got the chance to introduce Anna and Kirsty to the Elbeuf Museum. It's one of the few things going on in my town, so I talk about it a lot. Plus it's free! The only thing I don't love about it is the lighting. It's dim and it creates a really nice atmosphere and really bad photos. 

See? And these are enhanced. The bad lighting is the museum's doing, but the silliness...that's all us!

We also went in search of coffee and discovered a local bar celebrating the Simpsons. French people love this show; I'm just sad that this is their window into American culture.

And to finish up this epic-ly long post, my valentine's day in France:

I went into town to shop for boots (I bought some, but they've got to go back; they're too small). Then I bought myself a fancy eclair. Yum. It was a lovely day, despite my lack of an amoureuse. 

Hope your Valentine's Day was wonderful too!  I'll be back soon with Fun French Friday.

January Adventures

I've been a bad blogger lately. I wasn't sure why I've been so tired this last week, until Saturday night when I started feeling feverish. I spent Sunday sleeping on my futon, alternating between putting more layers on and taking them off as the chills and the fevers took turns with my poor little body. But I feel a better today after some tea and toast and broth.

I've been enjoying all the status updates and photos about the blizzard the United States have been battling the past week.  It's easier to enjoy a blizzard when it's 50 degrees here and grass is growing in the cracks in the sidewalk. (I'm not sure I'll ever be able to live in the Midwest during the winter again.)

While you're buried under layers of snow and ice, let me catch you up on some of my recent adventures.

I got a new washing machine. FOR FREE. I'm so excited; hand washing or carrying my laundry for blocks has been getting quite tiring.

My friend Alain joked that my new friend was a Laden. "Osama bin Laden?" he said, laughing. "Non, non, non," I said, shaking my head at him.

But later that night...I heard a strange hissing noise from my kitchen and discovered my pipes were leaking. It was just a little leak, and it was late at night, so I decided to leave it until the morning.  Maybe not the best plan, as I found a large puddle on my kitchen floor the next day.
After I moved most of the contents of my kitchen into my living/dining/bedroom,

  and gave my washing machine a look

my friend Sylviane's neighbor came and fixed my pipes. Yay!  Now I can do laundry, my kitchen floor is clean, and my cupboards are reorganized. And on top of all that, I learned that I have a creepy basement under my apartment and how to turn my water off.  Sarcasm warning: It was just fabulous. 

Also, I got my hair cut! I've been needing a cut for a while, but they're really expensive in France. Then I discovered a salon/school around the corner from my apartment that offers free haircuts. I looked up all the haircutting words, like layers and bangs and "I'm trying to grow my hair out, please don't cut it too short." I like it, but I really can't wait until my hair gets longer. This in-between stage is annoying. Grow little hairs, grow!

You can't really tell here, but I have bangs now.

This post is getting really long, so it will be continued tomorrow. Hope you're having a great day!