Photo-a-Day: Oct 11

Once again, on a Sunday afternoon, I treated myself to un café and sipped it while journaling and looking at the sunflower I bought myself at the market.

Photo-a-Day: Oct 10

I stepped out of my apartment and this is what I saw.  Incredible.

Photo-a-Day: Oct 9

Look how cute (some of) my family is.  Lizzie, the newest addition, likes to climb up on laps when I'm talking to my mom.  So, there she is, being adorable.  Also, look at what a stud my brother is! 

Photo-a-Day: Oct 8

Oops, this picture was actually October 8.  Anyways, these old men are always out playing Bocci ball.  Or Boule?  I don't really know the difference.  They're really cute.

Photo-a-Day: Oct 7

You might need to click on this one to see it in better detail, but one of the churches near me (or maybe this is the cathedral, I can never remember) had TONS (tonz) of birds flying around.  Donnie said, when I showed him the picture, that it looked like the church was breaking into pieces and flying away.  Pretty cool, huh?

Photo-a-Day: Oct 6

The day we got internet (but we hadn't gotten it working yet), I was desperate to use my own computer with the internet so I could post some pictures.  So, Fabi and I went to this really cute internet cafe called Café Cheri and I got an apple-grapefruit (I know, it was as good as it sounds) smoothie, and Fabi got us a "house cake," which turned out to be brownie, fresh from the oven.  YUM!

Photo-a-Day: Oct 5

I went on a really hardcore Pilates kick.  Guess that kind of stopped.  But I'm going to hop back on over break, because I saw a dance show last night and the dancers had hot bods.  I want a hot bod too.  But anyways, here's my little set up, with my rug and a towel on it in lieu of my yoga mat which took up too much space to justify packing...

Majorly needed update

Hello dear friends,

I am sorry for the serious lack of posting recently-- I have begun teaching, the administrative process has struck again, and Orange (more in a moment) has bitten us in the butts.  Oh, and I have a raving social life... jk.

So first, teaching: I feel a little bit like things are happening very fast and I don't know much about what is going on.  It's not like anyone is explaining things complicated-ly; it's more like no one explains anything at all.  For example, our vacations are written Oct 23-Nov 5.  Apparently, this means you come back to class on Nov 5, not that your last day of vacation is on Nov 5 and you resume on the 6th.  But I've only heard this through my roommates, and not through anything official, but now I've looked it up, and it's true.  WTF.  So now I'll be missing a day due to the fact that I wasn't told about how the schedule worked (I'll be in Germany still).  But what can you do?  Otherwise, though, I love teaching.  I feel a little awkward in class, because I just kind of do what the teacher wants me to, at this point, but soon I will be taking some kids to work in another room, etc.  I'm looking forward to developing my own lesson plans. 

Cute stories that have happened so far:
-They usually ask if I have a boyfriend, and when I say yes, they all (literally, ALL) go "ooooohhhhhhhhh!"
-One girl, when I showed a picture of my senior prom group, said "Oh, elle est en bonne forme!"  The teacher said, "In English, please!"  And the girl goes, "Euh... she 'as .... euh, a good figure!"  And I blushed a lot.
-I spent about 30 minutes describing my life to a class, complete with pictures.  I told them that we have a lot of corn, showed pictures of The Bean in Chicago; I described Meijer's sheer size to them, I showed pictures of my 96 year old great grandmother... I asked one boy, "What is one thing that you learned today, or one thing that was interesting to you?"  He replied, "I learned nothing."  :)
-Today, in class, I was sitting at a table with one of the students who is very good at English.  The kids were giving presentations on famous quotations, and this kid (who seems very... nice and polite) was mumbling under his breath, in English, about the faults of each person.  But not their faults in English, no.  Their faults as a person -- like, "Oh, 'e nehver prepares, I don't uhgree wiz 'iz assessmunt."  I had to work hard not to laugh (or agree!) because I think he's a little funny.

Anyways, enough of that.  I need to do a lesson plan for some classes for tomorrow, so I should go, but basically my life has otherwise consisted of dealing with Orange, the phone company that we were required (by our school) to take out an internet contract from.  They have screwed us over royally, charging us up the wazoo for things they said they would not charge, billing us earlier than they said they would, and (get this) giving us a different, and more expensive plan, than we signed up for.  I am so upset by this, and we have been fighting it to no end.  They have conceded to reimburse us 60 euros, which is something, but... not much compared to how much they're demanding of us.  OUCH.

And finally, I have been trying to plan a birthday for me and my roomie Xiao Lu.  Her birthday is tomorrow (!) and mine is on Friday (!) so we're having a joint b-day party on Friday night with some assistants.  It should be fun, I'm thinking.  I'm going to try to make a cake; we'll see how it goes, with the few cooking utensils I have here, and the modified ingredients I have to use. 

OK, off to plan a lesson on American high school stereotypes (goth, nerd, jock, band geek, prep, artsy kid, etc.).  And then get some other lessons ready because WHO KNOWS what I'm going to do in my other classes.  On verra...

photo-a-days

Ok, not quite there, but I'm getting caught up.  Enjoy these few for now and expect another update with some more pictures in the next day or so (or maybe even tonight!).

Photo-a-Day: Oct 4

The day after the concert, Lisa concocted a feast.  We ate a potato onion casserole type thing (but casserole isn't nearly a beautiful enough word to describe what Lisa made), and there was incredible salad and mushrooms (which I ate and they were GOOD!), and after the meal we had espressos from this amazing machine that Lisa has and I want one real bad so I can't wait til I get married some day so I can put it on my gift registry.  And it looks like this and it's amazing:

Photo-a-Day: Oct 3

I wish I had a better picture to have captured this lovely evening, but long story short, this is my mom's friend Lisa with whom I stayed for a night after seeing her concert at a church in a town outside of Rouen.  Lisa has an absolutely stunning voice and I felt so lucky and blessed to be a part of her family's life for those 24 hours.  I'm definitely going to go back soon (though, less soon than I had hoped because all of a sudden I'm busy.  wtf).

Photo-a-Day: Oct 2

One night, I went out with Fabi (my roommate from Costa Rica) and Lisa, another assistant who renewed to come back this year.  On our way home, we stopped by this church and I took a picture.  It reminded me of the castle in Beauty and the Beast.

Photo-a-Day: Oct 1

One day, I was in an internet café, talking to my dad.  We said goodbye and hung up, and I called Donnie.  But then, all of a sudden, on Skype, I got call waiting from my dad; I guessed he had forgotten something he wanted to tell me, etc.  So I paged over and said, "Hello?"  Nothing.  "Hello?"  Still nada.  Then the screen registered.  It was my dad's cat, Andi, sitting on the keyboard.  She and I chatted for a mo' and said our goodbyes, and I paged back over to Donnie.  But not before I got a picture of the sneaky cat.  :)

Photo-a-Day: Sept 30

When we had the random woman living with us that first week, she told me about the heads along the Seine.  And then, on a walk one day, I discovered what she meant.  Apparently, there are heads of all of the explorers who discovered or "discovered" lands far far away.  I couldn't find Christophe Colomb (good ol' Columbus) but rumor has it, he's there.

Photo-a-Day: Sept 29

Everyday, first thing in the morning and last thing at night, I have been continuing a tradition from Cherubs, which involves lighting the candle (that the kids in my cast gave me -- WOOT Scarecrow!).  And each night, I use one of the matches in that pile -- a pile which contains exactly one match for each day until I go home for Christmas.  It's a really nice way to symbolically look forward to returning home, while keeping myself present in Rouen.  For now I'm using the red ones; there are exactly 14 black matches in the pile, which symbolize the last two weeks before going home.  I'm certainly not wishing away my time here, but I'm also really looking forward to the holiday season at home!

Also in the picture: a card from my mom with two old ladies (whom she described as herself and Amy, in another life -- I think it's her and Amy in 50 years...); Wonka Nerds, which are one of Donnie's favorite candies (I only like the pink and the green ones, but I've been making sacrifices and eating the other colors, because Donnie isn't here to eat them); nose spray, which was supposed to make me get healthy faster when I was stuck with that awful cold for the first two weeks here.

Photo-a-Day: Sept 28

This was my pantry, on Sept 28.  I was so incredibly proud of myself for being so neat and not getting too much food.  But then... fast forward to a glimpse of my pantry on October 6...

In my defense, only that top shelf is mine...  But still, look how it multiplied!

Quick post to say:

 1) There are two people who are incredibly brilliant.  One of them is Gram, Donnie's grandma.  The other is my mom.  They are just generally brilliant, wonderful, lovable people but today they score extra points because I got two packages in the mail today, one complete with three varieties of homemade cookies from Gram (!) as well as some little birthday presents that were wrapped separately.  I have decided to leave those wrapped so I can open them on my actual birthday, which is in ten days.  What?  And, I got a lovely package from my mom containing little bits from home which was LOVELY.  There was a People magazine and some milky ways and sweedish fish and nerd candies and a really funny card and it was the best ever.  What a wonderful way to start my day that otherwise felt a little stressed and grumpy.  THANK YOU GRAM AND MOM!

2) I bought my tickets to go see Lena in Bonn, Germany over my first fall break.  I'm going to visit her from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6.  There's quite a bit of long train rides and changing trains to get there but I think it will all be worth it to see someone I know and love, and to explore Germany a little.  So, woohoo!

And probably the biggest news of all...
3) Mom, Gramma (my grandma, Iris, this time), and Cameron are coming to France from November 20-November 30.  They'll be here for Thanksgiving and I am so excited to share this town and the people here and that family holiday with them.  They are the best in the world and I am so excited.  The only thing better would be going to Centralia to visit my extended family there because I love them so much and I love Thanksgiving there.  But this will be really really good.  Also, Iris's 75th birthday is on November 14 so it will be a fun belated birthday celebration filled with amazing French wine.

OK. That's all for now.  I am going to go have a Skype date with that one boy.  :)

Oh. I lied.  Not quite all.  I'll write more about this soon, but basically I started teaching today and it was exhausting but wonderful.  In the interest of being quick and a bit lazy, I'm copying over my facebook status about it:

i told one of my classes that i had a boyfriend and they all went OOOOOOHHHHHHH. also, i showed them a picture from my prom back in the day, and a girl told me i have a nice figure. also, after i talked for half an hour about myself, urbana, my family, my country, etc, i asked this one boy to repeat one (just 1!) thing he had learned today. he said he learned nothing. at all. oh dear.  i like these kids already. :)

More Orientation, and It All Begins.

Huge long day of orientation which was actually super helpful.  We covered some administrative things, and then got tons of helpful tips for dealing with discipline, ideas for warm-ups/ice breakers based activities.  Those were nice.

And after (this is maybe the biggest news), I HUNG OUT WITH SOME PEOPLE and even though we were all Americans, we all spoke French the entire time and I think I had the worst French in the group which I really like because I learn stuff and ... guys, I think I might have some friends or something.  At least I hope so, because I like them.

Anyways, this is very short and sweet because I'm beginning teaching tomorrow (what?!) and I have some lesson plans to prepare just in case a teacher goes "Hey, Kinzie, how about you take half the class in the other room and teach them for 55 minutes?"  I'm not too worried, but I certainly want to be ready for anything I'm given so my first day is not a stressful one.  I've learned that every little bit of time I give towards preparation, the easier I breathe while teaching, and I like breathing, so.

To infinity and beyond (vers l'infini et au dela!) -- there was a sign posted outside of the teacher training institute with Buzz Lightyear on it and it was in French.  Anyways.  Bye.

Gotta get my sh*t togetha!

So, here's the deal.  I have had wireless internet since that one glorious, glorious night at the internet café.  And, as a result, I have since wasted my life away on the computer.  This ends today.  (Like, now.)  I'm going to continue blog posting and researching grad schools (because I've recently made the decision that I want to go to grad school -- in French, at this point, though much research will be required before making decisions, and all that...) and emailing and Skyp(e)™ing and all.  But less time on Facebook and I'm going to get other things done first.  Among those things:

1) clean up some things.  I have kept my room fairly neat, and I make my bed every day, but I have piles of paperwork stacked in various places around my room.  So I need to organize those.  To help me with that, I purchased a file folder and some tab dividers.  That will also help me with my grad school research.

2) do Pilates.  I am literally working 12 hours a week here.  There is absolutely no excuse for me to not move my bod' at least for 10 minutes a day.  I'm walking everywhere (literally, everywhere).  I think it's been at least an hour a day, thus far, if not more.  So I'm not worried about that part -- but if I have all the time in the world to get me some arms like Michelle Obama, well, why not?

3) watch movies in French.  Because of internet, I have been doing a lot more in English.  I need to continue the amount of French that I had been subscribing to.  So, movies in French it is.  Doesn't sound too bad to me.

4) hang out in the salle des profs (teachers' lounge) more, and talk to people there.  They are all very nice.  Though recently, I've been keeping my distance because EVERYONE there is sick with achy flu, sore throats, coughs, sniffles...  The list goes on.  I refuse to subject myself to sick situations if I don't have to be around them.  Also there is coffee there all day, which I like going to drink, because it's espresso style coffee (not Espresso like Espresso Royale, but ... you know, like the little tiny cup of concentrated coffee) and it's good.  But there are cups for everyone to use, and after these (sick) teachers finish their cup, they rinse it out with cold water and no soap, and put it on the drying rack.  As a result, I've been using the soapy sponge to wash my mug before and after I use it.  No way, no how, Germs.  You're not gettin' in to ME.

Anyways.  I'm hoping to get more pictures up soon.  For some reason, my computer is not being happy and it won't recognize my USB chord when I plug in my camera, so I can't get my most recent pictures off of it.  I'm going to keep trying though, and once I do, I'll put up more pictures.  For now, I guess, I'll put up the pictures that I took a while ago of the town.  For a bigger view of them, just click on the picture and it will expand it to full view.  So, here they are:

This is the view right outside of my window.  All of the houses look like this, because they're way old.  But these have been repainted fairly recently.

This is the view of the school grounds from the front door.  To get to my apartment, I just follow the path between those two buildings.

This is taken from the same place as the previous picture, but it shows the theatre building to the right.  Yes, theatre building.  No such thing as an attic on the 4th floor with some choir risers to create seating.  No way, no how.

 Here's the front door to my apartment building.  My bedroom windows are the ones right behind the tree there.

This is the conservatory down the street from where I live.  I walk by it at least a few times a day.  I have yet to explore if there are performances here or anything like that, but someday I'll work up the courage.

This is the metro station right near my apartment.  There is one line that splits into two different directions in Rouen.  It's quite useful, and since I'm under 26 years old, the tickets are only 65 cents each time I ride.

This is the major cathedral in Rouen.  It's in the very touristy part of central, historic Rouen.  It's pretty incredible to be walking around, shopping, and look up and voila, cathedral.

This is inside the cathedral.  Need I say more?

This is part of the downtown area.  It's about a 20-30 minute walk from where I live.

I love this town.  As soon as I can negotiate the USB business on my computer, I'll put up some more pictures, including pictures of my roommates and the rest of my apartment.

xoxo.

Pictures of my bedroom! (also see following post with a picture a day)

 

As you can see, this is my bedroom.  There's my desk with some of the pictures (I have even more up now, as I took these about a week ago), my sink that is in my room, which is the most brilliant thing EVER because you can brush your teeth in your room and then just crawl into bed, and my armoire type thing, and my bed which is less comfortable than I would like it to be, but it has my bedspread from home so that's nice.  As soon as I have more internet on my own computer (maybe tonight? though, we'll see...) I'll put up more pictures of my neighborhood, and the rest of my apartment.  Etc.

Love love.

Photo a day, with explanations!

SEPTEMBER 21

Oh dear.  This picture was actually taken on Sept 22, around 3 in the morning.  Poor Donnie stayed up almost all night with me, getting my bags packed.  They were each around 45 pounds -- the backpack one kept trying to pull me backwards.

SEPTEMBER 22

In the Detroit airport, during my several hour layover, I had one last "American" meal, whereby that, I mean I had avocado sushi and a beer.  I toasted myself and this huge adventure that I was about to embark upon, and wrote in my journal as I ate.

SEPTEMBER 23

London Heathrow -- This was just one small part of the line to get through customs.  The line took 2 hours, I was so tired, and was so stressed about how I was going to get in to Paris.  Not one of my better moments.  So I pulled out my headphones and listened to Harry Potter 3 on my iPod.

SEPTEMBER 24

There were some cows out the window on my train trip between Paris and Rouen.  "I like this place already," I thought.

SEPTEMBER 25

This picture was taken from the metro, as the sun was setting over the Seine.  What an amazing place it is that I live in.  At this point, I was on my way home after purchasing a cell phone and getting groceries.

SEPTEMBER 26

This one gets a double picture.  I went on a guided tour of Rouen, and as we were leaving the Cathedral (look it up, it's real famous), we saw all these little tissue paper hearts on the ground.  I thought it was so pretty, and figured it was from an earlier wedding, but then I looked up and there were the bride and groom, having LITERALLY just gotten married.  It was so lovely.  And somehow, I grabbed pictures of both things.  Good work, Kinzie.

SEPTEMBER 27

This is the most poetic I have felt since coming here.  I literally sit and drink single espressos (cafés) and write in my journal.  Basically, I'm like Proust or something.







Unfortunately, this is all I have time to post for now, but I think we will get our wireless set up very soon, so I'll be posting more pictures at that point.  Hope you like this little glimpse into my daily life here!

I think I am buried under a pile of papers...

And so the paperwork continues...  But today, I turned in my folder to apply for social security.  I had to include two copies of my birth certificate, translated into French, my original contract, copies of pages from my passport, my bank information, and a "declaration of a change in situation" which basically is a ridiculous paper in which I mention that I now work in France and before I ... didn't.  It's all turned in to the incredibly helpful (albeit occasionally elusive) secretary of the lycée, and will hopefully be sent in soon.  If it arrives before October 12 and all the paperwork is in order (which it better be because I've spent a week compiling it, dammit), I will get an 80% pay advance at the end of October.  Please cross your fingers for me; unfortunately, I can't wait until the end of November to get some more dollars.  Er, euros.

In addition, we have checked into the internet situation.  It has nothing to do with the fact that there wasn't sufficient money in the French bank account.  No, Orange just hasn't done anything about it yet.  So, we wait.  We are looking into the phone situation -- if I get the phone working in our apartment, I will have free calls to the US (and Verizon Wireless customers can receive the calls for free, is my understanding, and maybe other phone companies too) until the end of October.  So, hurry up, France, give me my free calls!  It might be the problem with our phone, so one of the people here is going to look for a different phone to give us.

What else...?  We got our fifth and final roommate last night.  Her name is Rebekah and she is from Texas.  But we're only speaking French together, despite the temptation otherwise.  I mean, we're here in France to work on our French.  Let's speak French already!  Jeez, people...

I found a super duper organic store today, right next door to my bank (uh oh).  It reminds me of a really expensive Strawberry Fields or something.  But there are secret deals for cheap things.  Today, I left the store with 1) something that vaguely resembles wheat gluten. it's called _____ de blé, so at least the wheat part is right.  I'm going to try to make seitan and I guess we'll find out. 2) two small squares of tofu, that cost 2€29.  It's the cheapest I've found it in France. 3) some ginger, aka gingembre, seasoning, that I've already used on some potatoes for lunch; and 4) one single beer that has three ducks on the label.  They are sitting at a café.  I really related to them.  Oh, no, I lied.  I almost got that beer, but it cost 27 cents more than the other one, so I got that one instead.

Tonight, me and the roomies are going to a café across town where there is internet.  There is coffee and smoothie things to buy, and then you can use your own computer.  So I'll finally be posting pictures of my bedroom, of the town, and my photo a day.  Superb!

Love to you all.

Adventures in Yvetot, and Yerville, and some other city... Or maybe just those two. I'll get back to you on that one.

Whoa, what a whirlwind.  Yesterday I was feeling very homesick. I missed all of those people at home who are so lovely. It's not the place I miss as much as the people. But then, as I was talking to Donnie on my cell phone, via my phone card, I got a phone call on my cell phone from my mom's friend, Lisa. Years ago, Lisa and my mom were in Sound of Music together. Lisa played Maria, and my mom was the youngest daughter, Gretl (sp.?). Lisa met a Frenchman and now lives in France. She has 5 kids and a lovely house about 20 minutes by train from Rouen. She invited me to a choir concert at her church, which she was the soloist in. So I spontaneously hopped on the train and went to the concert, went to their friends house for a drink afterwords, and slept over at Lisa's. It has been absolutely lovely, and the perfect cure for my homesickness. We are having potato and onion casserole for lunch, and had a wonderful breakfast of bread and homemade jam from their garden. And very strong coffee!


So anyways, that's my deal for now.  I'll be heading back by train today, and starting orientation (supposedly) tomorrow.  I'll call my contact professor this afternoon to see when I should show up, etc.  Not quite sure what's going on, but I'm actually fine with that.

And I think I feel better enough, sickness wise, to start up Pilates tomorrow via the DVDs that I brought with me.  Ripped bod', here I come...  :)

Since last time...

Well, let's see.  I have a raving social life.  (Small joke -- I've gone to bed before midnight every night since I've been here...)  But actually, yesterday all of the assistants in Rouen had a huuuuge orientation** that was fairly dry and quite long, but will smooth out the process later on.    Some of the assistants made plans for later and exchanged cell phone numbers.  I felt so popular.  So last night, Fabi (my Costa Rican roommate) and I went out for a drink with a few former assistants who have renewed and a few new ones.  Turns out one of the former assistants is a contra dancer and knows Maya and some other peeps.  Small world, eh?  

Today I'm seeing a movie with two of the English teachers at my school called Fish Tank (feeesh tahhnk, in French).  Tonight, I might go to a concert of classical music that one of my mom's friends is singing in.  It sounds lovely.  Tomorrow I am going to go to the market, and then the Musee des Beaux Arts (one of the best known museums in France) which is free the first Sunday of every week, and then I have a glorious Skype date with that one girl who was my roommate for four years.  Annah, I think, is her name...  :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  Rouen is such a lovely city -- I wish I could steal each and every one of you and make you come see it, because it's just that good.  Uck, someday I'll post pictures.  Hopefully in the next week, but we'll see.  It is France, afterall...

À plus.

**I should mention, there were parts of the orientation that were quite incredible.  For example, at the very beginning, someone from each of the languages represented stood up to welcome the native speakers of that language, so back to back, we heard German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and English.  Way cool.  Probably my favorite part, even.  Except for maybe when the army like dude from the offical office place called each of us up, one by one, to turn in our paperwork, and no one could understand their names because he read them all with a very French accent so he would yell them over and over and then finally skip the person who would then finally realize that it was them so they would go up but there would already be someone else up by that point so it got very messy.  That was also a very fun part of the day.  (Big joke.)

One full week in Rouen

Well, it's been 9 days since I left home (is that it?  I feel like I left years ago, in a lot of ways...) and a full week since I've arrived in Rouen.  I can't believe that lugging those heavy bags was so recently -- my body has finally recovered from the memory my traveling backpack and my rolling suitcase, of my big carry on and my purse, of how sweaty and gross I was that first day here.  Phew.

I now have 3 fulltime roommates, with another one arriving Saturday, I guess.  So, in grand total, there is a girl from Mexico, a girl from Costa Rica, a girl from China (Xiao Lu, whom I mentioned earlier), and Florence, the older woman (aka my late night tv watching partner) is still here.  She's leaving tomorrow, and I'm sad about that.  Though, I had a bit of an exciting time when she first re-arrived.  See, when I got here, she had left for a few days to wrap up business in her hometown, and she left her bedroom door open.  I noticed that she had a little plastic drawer unit that I did not, but I figured she brought it herself.  But once I realized that some of the other rooms had such units as well, creating valuable storage space that I did not have, I borrowed hers.  She was gone for an indeterminable amount of time and no one quite knew when she was coming back or when she was leaving for good.  So, anyways, I borrowed hers.  Less than five minutes after I placed it in my room, she returned, and noticed it was gone.  So I have now stealthily (pure stealth) placed that unit in the bathroom, and I am planning on sneaking it back after she leaves, I guess.  How silly it all is, really.

Anyways, I have now successfully obtained a cell phone (and received exactly one (1) call on it!), and mostly opened a bank account.  We're going back at 2 today to finish signing papers, etc, so assuming all goes well, which it very well might not, I should be able to be paid toward the end of October, which will be very welcome.  Yesterday, we opened an internet account for wifi in our apartment, and that should be set up "within the next two weeks."  Cross your fingers, folks, because I'm really craving me some wireless.  Also, I really want to put up pictures that I've been taking.  I've taken over 90 since I've been here, and I even have selected which ones I want to put up on my blog for you all to see. 

But for now, I wait in patience.

In other news, last night I stayed up late (til 11:30 pm!) watching a documentary in German, dubbed over/subtitled in French, about the history of sex and sexuality in Germany in the 40s through the 70s.  It was very interesting, actually, and they talked about the pill's debut and the Christian resistance to it, and there was some stuff about Communism.  And they kept mentioning Marx but I don't know exactly what he had to do with anything, really.  Oh well.

And this morning, like yesterday morning, I watched 7th Heaven in French.  Life is good.

Until the next time,