Sunday, September 17, 2006
I'll keep blogging. But not here.
http://thepetitegeek.blogspot.com
Yeah, I added a "the". I'm going to keep La Vie Nicoise as its own separate special entity. For further updates on me (it's all for you, Omar) please update your bookmarks.
Go to The Petite Geek's blog.
Yeah, I added a "the". I'm going to keep La Vie Nicoise as its own separate special entity. For further updates on me (it's all for you, Omar) please update your bookmarks.
Go to The Petite Geek's blog.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Back in Vancouver (a.k.a. "That's all, folks")
Well, I guess I should just admit it. This blog is over. I was re-reading some posts from January, and wow, was I on fire! But alas, I'm just so incredibly tired and culture-shocked from the last two months of travelling, that you couldn't squeeze good material outta me even if you rolled me up like a Colgate tube.
As a last word, however, I can say that my life is so sparkly and cavity-free shiny that I don't know what to do with myself. I'll be sticking around Vancouver longer than I'd thought (for the semester), but the plan is to head back to France in January, following which I will drag a certain special person back to The Homeland and stay put for the forseeable future.
Adieu, fair readers, I hope you enjoyed following my awkward and embarassing adventures as petitegeek de Nice. Now, call me so we can go for bubble tea!
As a last word, however, I can say that my life is so sparkly and cavity-free shiny that I don't know what to do with myself. I'll be sticking around Vancouver longer than I'd thought (for the semester), but the plan is to head back to France in January, following which I will drag a certain special person back to The Homeland and stay put for the forseeable future.
Adieu, fair readers, I hope you enjoyed following my awkward and embarassing adventures as petitegeek de Nice. Now, call me so we can go for bubble tea!
Friday, July 21, 2006
Not bombed yet!
Friday, July 14, 2006
Israel at war
I guess I got lucky with my timing, hey?
Well, don't worry. I'm well away from the Israel-Lebanon border, in the Holy City of Jerusalem. I've cancelled my plans to Haifa (luckily, since it just got bombed) and the Sea of Galilee. See? I'm playing it safe.
It also could be worse. Take Mattias, the super-nice gay pennsylvanian whose family owns a well-known hotel in Nice. Also my knowledgable Jerusalem-discovery companion for the day. He was working in Beirut for the last 6 months, and just happened to take a trip here for the week, where meanwhile his town was being bombarded with missiles from Israel. Now, with an israeli stamp in his passport, it's impossible for him to get back to his stuff in Beirut (forget about the whole Beirut airport terminal being demolished thing). Now he's kinda stuck. So really, it could be worse!
Jerusalem's Old City is magnificent. From the rooftop terrace of my hostel, I can watch the sunset over a view of the Mount of Olives and the beautiful golden Dome of the Mount. Sunday, I'm heading south to a desert town where I'm gonna try to score a camel ride.
This is the most unorganized I've ever been, but it's caused me to talk to everyone I meet. Traveller's are always happy to share information. Other must-do's:
- hike up for sunrise on the hills of Masada
- go to the spa at Ein-Gedi for a Dead Sea mud bath and a float in the famously mineral-laden water
- sleep in a bedouin tent
The last one will be the most challenging, but nothing's impossible eh!
Well, don't worry. I'm well away from the Israel-Lebanon border, in the Holy City of Jerusalem. I've cancelled my plans to Haifa (luckily, since it just got bombed) and the Sea of Galilee. See? I'm playing it safe.
It also could be worse. Take Mattias, the super-nice gay pennsylvanian whose family owns a well-known hotel in Nice. Also my knowledgable Jerusalem-discovery companion for the day. He was working in Beirut for the last 6 months, and just happened to take a trip here for the week, where meanwhile his town was being bombarded with missiles from Israel. Now, with an israeli stamp in his passport, it's impossible for him to get back to his stuff in Beirut (forget about the whole Beirut airport terminal being demolished thing). Now he's kinda stuck. So really, it could be worse!
Jerusalem's Old City is magnificent. From the rooftop terrace of my hostel, I can watch the sunset over a view of the Mount of Olives and the beautiful golden Dome of the Mount. Sunday, I'm heading south to a desert town where I'm gonna try to score a camel ride.
This is the most unorganized I've ever been, but it's caused me to talk to everyone I meet. Traveller's are always happy to share information. Other must-do's:
- hike up for sunrise on the hills of Masada
- go to the spa at Ein-Gedi for a Dead Sea mud bath and a float in the famously mineral-laden water
- sleep in a bedouin tent
The last one will be the most challenging, but nothing's impossible eh!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Transition
It's all been such a blur.
Sadly, I've been enjoying myself much too much to have the time to blog.
Happily, I've been enjoying myself MUCH too much.
From watching the beautiful, amber mediterranean sunset that made Cafe Del Mar famous, to experiencing the dangers of firecracker-happy spanish children in Barcelona, to breaking open and tasting fresh sea urchins off the rocky beaches of Corsica, to going from falling-into-the-street-bike-hopeless to biking down 100km/h highways..."night swimming"....
... to celebrating a FIFA Cup German victory over Argentina at the Berlin airport (german adults can get surprisingly fiesty), to jumping for joy with singing, insane Italian kids in front of St. Francis Basilica at midnight (post-semis in Assisi), to watching full grown Italian men happily falling to the ground in a joyous hugfest in the dirt of Circus Maximus (Rome, the night of the finale).
--
This morning I said a teary goodbye to Kenzo as he entered the gates at Rome's Fiumicino airport. The guy at the desk tossed me a concerned "Oh don't cry!" as I waved through the security glass. But today's goodbye wasn't the goodbye I had expected when I first told myself "Why not".
This morning we didn't say au revoir, we said "A plus tard".
For those of you who don't know, I'm going back to work in Nice, France for another several months till Kenzo finishes his degree and comes to Canada.
However, I will be back in Vancouver on August 19 for a couple months before I fly back.
Yeah, this stuff happens, eh?
I'll probbly get more chances to post while I'm travelling by myself the next 2 weeks. Today I landed in Cyprus and got a ride from a kindly old Cyprusian(??) man to downtown and the warm beach. He got in a couple good firm pats on my thigh before I said "Hey that looks neat! Thanks!" and got out. Nice man anyway, though seeing the durex box in his glove compartment disturbed me some.
Sadly, I've been enjoying myself much too much to have the time to blog.
Happily, I've been enjoying myself MUCH too much.
From watching the beautiful, amber mediterranean sunset that made Cafe Del Mar famous, to experiencing the dangers of firecracker-happy spanish children in Barcelona, to breaking open and tasting fresh sea urchins off the rocky beaches of Corsica, to going from falling-into-the-street-bike-hopeless to biking down 100km/h highways..."night swimming"....
... to celebrating a FIFA Cup German victory over Argentina at the Berlin airport (german adults can get surprisingly fiesty), to jumping for joy with singing, insane Italian kids in front of St. Francis Basilica at midnight (post-semis in Assisi), to watching full grown Italian men happily falling to the ground in a joyous hugfest in the dirt of Circus Maximus (Rome, the night of the finale).
--
This morning I said a teary goodbye to Kenzo as he entered the gates at Rome's Fiumicino airport. The guy at the desk tossed me a concerned "Oh don't cry!" as I waved through the security glass. But today's goodbye wasn't the goodbye I had expected when I first told myself "Why not".
This morning we didn't say au revoir, we said "A plus tard".
For those of you who don't know, I'm going back to work in Nice, France for another several months till Kenzo finishes his degree and comes to Canada.
However, I will be back in Vancouver on August 19 for a couple months before I fly back.
Yeah, this stuff happens, eh?
I'll probbly get more chances to post while I'm travelling by myself the next 2 weeks. Today I landed in Cyprus and got a ride from a kindly old Cyprusian(??) man to downtown and the warm beach. He got in a couple good firm pats on my thigh before I said "Hey that looks neat! Thanks!" and got out. Nice man anyway, though seeing the durex box in his glove compartment disturbed me some.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Walking alone in Nice = seeing the good in people
Funny how even after 9 months living in France, I still come off as the poor lost foreigner, unwittingly attracting the concern of French people, young and old alike!
No, I'm not talking about me promenay'ing in bad quartiers and getting the oh-so-tired "Vous-etes etudiante?" or "Hello, what is your name?" (that's right, English. Dammit, I can speak this country's language, alright?!)
Instead, today I must have looked exceptionally lost in Carrefour's legumes section, 'cause 3 (THREE!) older french people gave me advice, even to the point of physically stopping me from getting the expensive bag of onions. (Mais pourquoi vous prenez ca?)
Yup, I'm hopeless.
After finishing mes courses (grocery shopping) at 21:30, I lugged my 15 kilos of stuff 10 mins to the bus stop. Whew! Thank goodness for public transit...and I then realised that buses stop at 20:05.
As my friends would say, je me suis fait OOON-ed. 1,5 kilometre walk home with all my groceries in hand, great. I trudged home, using the occasion to work my biceps by lifting them as I walked. I'd been getting pudgy anyway. Then I hear a low voice to my right: "Un coup de main?" (Want a hand?)
I looked over, and, not to be stereotypical or anything, but it was a 25-ish african dude with an earring... Now, you have to understand; night had already fallen and I've become used to ignoring comments from men on the street unless they're old or cute. So I said
"Non c'est bon, merci." (No it's ok, thanks)
- "T'es sure?" (You sure?)
He actually looked rather friendly (ie. lacking that look of 'hey baby' blood-hungryness), so I handed over two bags, relieved, and now expecting to have the usual "Where are you from, are you a student" conversation.
But nope, apart from asking which way I was going, silence!
Just a guy wanting to help out, and nothing more. Brilliant. :)
No, I'm not talking about me promenay'ing in bad quartiers and getting the oh-so-tired "Vous-etes etudiante?" or "Hello, what is your name?" (that's right, English. Dammit, I can speak this country's language, alright?!)
Instead, today I must have looked exceptionally lost in Carrefour's legumes section, 'cause 3 (THREE!) older french people gave me advice, even to the point of physically stopping me from getting the expensive bag of onions. (Mais pourquoi vous prenez ca?)
Yup, I'm hopeless.
After finishing mes courses (grocery shopping) at 21:30, I lugged my 15 kilos of stuff 10 mins to the bus stop. Whew! Thank goodness for public transit...and I then realised that buses stop at 20:05.
As my friends would say, je me suis fait OOON-ed. 1,5 kilometre walk home with all my groceries in hand, great. I trudged home, using the occasion to work my biceps by lifting them as I walked. I'd been getting pudgy anyway. Then I hear a low voice to my right: "Un coup de main?" (Want a hand?)
I looked over, and, not to be stereotypical or anything, but it was a 25-ish african dude with an earring... Now, you have to understand; night had already fallen and I've become used to ignoring comments from men on the street unless they're old or cute. So I said
"Non c'est bon, merci." (No it's ok, thanks)
- "T'es sure?" (You sure?)
He actually looked rather friendly (ie. lacking that look of 'hey baby' blood-hungryness), so I handed over two bags, relieved, and now expecting to have the usual "Where are you from, are you a student" conversation.
But nope, apart from asking which way I was going, silence!
Just a guy wanting to help out, and nothing more. Brilliant. :)
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Don't play with knives
I cut myself today.
I know what you're thinking... Angelica, that's what you GET when you don't blog anymore. Fine, so I was trying to slice a chorizo with Kenzo's newly sharpened japanese knife, missed, and cut my thumb.
Now, I've never experienced a fainting spell or unconsciousness, but as I bent over the sink with my thumb under running water, BOOM. Blackness closing in, dizzyness... I even lost my hearing for a few minutes. Weird.
Anyhoo, this is me jumping for joy that I'm now officially DONE. Summer!!!!!!
Yours truly,
Angelica
I know what you're thinking... Angelica, that's what you GET when you don't blog anymore. Fine, so I was trying to slice a chorizo with Kenzo's newly sharpened japanese knife, missed, and cut my thumb.
Now, I've never experienced a fainting spell or unconsciousness, but as I bent over the sink with my thumb under running water, BOOM. Blackness closing in, dizzyness... I even lost my hearing for a few minutes. Weird.
Anyhoo, this is me jumping for joy that I'm now officially DONE. Summer!!!!!!
Yours truly,
Angelica
