Back into the swing of things... pretty much.

Hello everyone!! I hope you've all been doing well and keeping busy since my last post! Things have been a little crazy on this end.

It seems like I was sick for the entire school break. After the worst of the cold was over, the cough and the runny nose didn't feel like going anywhere for a while, of course. So, I still looked and sounded sick for a while even though I felt fine. Then, all of a sudden, the symptoms were gone with one more weekend left in the vacation. Then, literally the day after, I started feeling really nauseous and having constant stomach aches. It came out of nowhere. And it did not go away for the rest of the weekend. I was supposed to go back to school last Monday and I wasn't able to get out of bed and make it to school until Thursday, where I still had to sit down to teach because I was feeling so dizzy.

You can be sure my teddy bear, Slappy, was by my side the whole  time.

So, that afternoon (with the help of my wonderful teachers) I made it to the doctor and got myself some medicine and a note excusing me from working the whole week. The verdict- an intestinal infection. Sounds fun, right? I stayed home and rested up the whole weekend. It was much needed. The worst part is I'm supposed to eat a really basic, bland diet and I'm getting pretty tired of plain rice and plain couscous. But, even my stomach still hurts now if I get even a little adventurous with my food. Hopefully i'll be able to spice it up soon.

I should have gone to the doctor sooner, but I was really nervous being so far from home and feeling so terrible. I haven't had my mandatory medical visit with the immigration office yet, so I don't have my social security here set up yet. I knew that any medical costs would be reimbursed to me eventually, but I wasn't sure how much it would cost me in the mean time. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to explain to the doctor what was wrong. I wasn't sure what doctor to go to. I was miserable and just wanted to be home. My poor Mama had to just sit there and watch me cry and skype while there was nothing she could do to help, as much as I know she wanted to. When I finally realized that I just need to make myself go, I e-mailed some of my teachers and they were all incredibly helpful, finding my doctors in my area and telling me all of the information I wasn't sure of. One of my teachers actually called and made the appointment for me and drove me to the office. I felt like a bit like a child, but at that point, I had so little energy that it was more than welcome.

I went back to school today (I had yesterday off) and it went well. I got a bit dizzy and had to sit down during my second class, but I think that's because I didn't eat breakfast. I can't eat very much or very quickly at the moment, so rushing food into my stomach early morning just didn't sound appealing. I ended up working an hour more today than I was scheduled, but it will end up being easier. Instead of remembering which level I saw on what day, we're making it so that one Tuesday I'll work 5 hours and the next Tuesday I'll work 3 hours and this way it'll keep the classes at the same level.

Today was actually a really good day, but it started out a little hectic. I had to go to school early to print and make copies. This morning when I woke up, I remembered the my bus/metro pass expired yesterday. I left my apartment even earlier than planned with the intention of walking to the metro station to renew my card. (It's only a 15 minute walk, but before sunrise it seems much more daunting). Thankfully, before I got to the bus stop, I remembered that I could just buy a one way ticket that would let me use the bus and metro this morning. So I did that and renewed my card when I went home for lunch. When I got to school (at about 7:00 AM) I realized that I didn't have my computer or copier code on me. I called my roommate, Anna, who was still home, thank goodness, and she found them and gave them to me. After that, it was smooth sailing. I taught 4 classes in a row about Thanksgiving, which the students all seemed to enjoy. I went home for lunch and had a nap before going back to school at 3:30. For this class, I had taught half of them the Tuesday before break, and I taught the other half today. They were learning about Mt. Rushmore, so they asked me questions about Lincoln and Roosevelt (I was able to research the questions ahead of time) and we talked about the US election. These students are pretty advanced and they were able to have a pretty in depth conversation about the election that was enjoyable for all of us.

After classes were done, I met with the principal, who asked if I wanted to teach an additional English class on Tuesday nights for some extra money! Cool, huh? It's not going to be much extra, but it'll be some extra spending saving money. Right.

Also, I've been going kind of crazy trying to plan my travel plans for during the Christmas holiday. I've got my flight booked to Dublin, we have our hotel in Dublin and a hotel in Normandy booked. We still need a hotel in London and transportation between all of these places and back to Toulouse. It's a lot of work (and money) planning the trip, but I AM SO EXCITED! I hate hate hate spending money in large sums, but honestly, when am I going to get the chance to travel this conveniently again? I'm not. So, I've got to bite the bullet. Which also means saving as much money as I can while I'm here in Toulouse. As much as I hate spending large sums, I seem to love spending lots of little sums, which add up. I just can't help buying a kebab after a late night out, can you blame me??

Do you have any advice about my upcoming vacation? Any London hotel suggestions? Train/plane/ferry ideas? Let me know, I need all the help I can get!

I taught 4 lessons about Thanksgiving today. I can't even begin to explain to you how sad it makes me that I won't be home for this delicious festivity. However, we're trying to make the most of it here. We're keeping it simple Thursday, but we're going to have a big Thanksgiving lunch on Saturday so that our neighbors don't complain. A bunch of assistants/friends (American and English alike) are going to come over and bring food and we'll celebrate together. But, I hope you all have a fantastic turkey day with your families. I know I'll be missing mine. But, in the spirit of the holiday, I'm thankful to have such a supportive family and group of friends. I'm thankful that I have this opportunity and even though it's different being away for this long, I know how lucky I am to be here.

Oh, and I spoke a ton of French today and totally rocked it. Ouais.