My vacation is coming to an end, and soon it will be back to the grind, slaving away with French students 12 hours per week. Before this happens, let me recount some of the notable events of the past week or so. First of all, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome little Anna into the world. The mother who my girlfriend Lizzie is working for had a baby girl a week ago today. She was back from the hospital two days later, and as far as I know everything is going well.
I was a bit of a film addict last week. Lizzie and I saw "Kaboom," a bit of an avant-garde film that I think is most enjoyable, provided one is prepared to accept the inexplicable and absurd. We also saw "The Town," which wasn't half bad. Last Wednesday night I saw "The Duelists," an English film from 1979. It was set during Napoleon's reign in France, and although the period costumes were quite nice I didn't really get much out of the film. I had brought my banjo into Rennes center that night, intending to play at an open mic I had read about after the film. I found the bar where the "scene ouverte" was taking place, but it was not what I expected. The mic was, in fact, open, but it came with a full band. Indeed, I was invited to play my banjo backed by a drum set, a bass, and electric guitar. I decided to forgo playing "Liza Ray" or "Graveyards" (originals) and instead play some "Sweet Home Chicago". You couldn't really hear the banjo over everything else but it was fun. I then did "Wagon Wheel", which none of them had heard of. I suppose that song hasn't made it to France. I hung around and watched others sing Eagles and Beatles songs, and later sung "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and helped out with "Come Together." The evening reminded me of playing a live version of the video game "Rock Band" more than anything. Apparently that was the last evening they will be having the open mic until December, but I was told about another one that I intend to look into. I have decided that claw-hammer banjo doesn't really fit into rock music, so hopefully the next one will have a solo option.
My good friend Benjamin (old roommate from my days in Besançon) and his brother came to visit Friday, spending the night on their way to a wedding. Then Saturday morning Lizzie and I met my friend Iwan (old roomate from freshmen year of college) who just started work in Paris, and who was in Rennes with his car ready to take us to his parents' house in Lannion for the weekend. His parents speak Breton (the traditional language of Brittany) to Iwan and one another, which is closely related to Welsh. Experiencing the northern coast of Brittany was really interesting. We were able to walk along the coast in several locations and see gorgeous bays, islands, rock formations, and ports. I encourage you to check out the photos on Facebook. I was able to try a lot of seafood from the region, including oysters, shrimp, crepes with smoked trout, and mussels with french fries (the ever popular "moules-frites" dish).
Overall the trip was relaxing and very pleasant, which proved to be a stark contrast to the way back. Iwan had a train to catch at 9 pm Monday night, and we left Lannion around 6 pm. The drive normally takes 1 hour and 45 minutes, but Iwan did not factor in the large amount of people that were also traveling back towards Rennes as the vacation period was coming to a close. Traffic brought us to a crawl, and then a standstill. By 8 pm, we were still 68 kilometers from Rennes. We were beginning to doubt that Iwan would catch his train. The plan was originally to take the car to his grandfather's house and keep it there, with the possibility of me coming to use it later since Iwan could not keep it in Paris. By 8:30, Iwan knew that there was no time for this, and as the traffic had let up, he decided to race the clock to get to the station on time, and if he made it leave me with the car at least temporarily. I thought for sure we wouldn't make it! All three of us were in the car stressing unnecessarily about getting to the station while Iwan was cursing and weaving down the highway.
Unbelievably, we pulled up to the station just a few minutes before Iwan's train was due to depart. He jumped out, grabbed his suitcases, and ran into the station. I switched to the driver's seat. I would move the car to a nearby location and wait to make sure Iwan had caught the train. I cranked the engine. Uh-oh. The engine didn't start. I tried again. Cars in the drop off point behind me were getting impatient. I checked that the starter was on. It was. Still no luck. Lizzie pushed about 10 the car while I steered so we could let people by. I tried again. Then I got a call from Iwan, he made it on the train! I told him I was having some difficulty with the car. He assured me it would start if I kept trying. I was beginning to feel pretty anxious at this point, and unsure what to do if I couldn't get the car started. Finally I tried it with the starter off. The engine came to life! Now to figure out how to get from the center of Rennes to my school by car. I was surprised to find I managed it quite well! So, I currently have a car at my disposition, but I will use it as little as possible until I make sure I can be added as a secondary driver to the car or that it is fine for me to drive. At any rate, Iwan is happy for me to use it because otherwise it would be sitting in his grandfather's garage for as much as a year. This could come in handy!
Thanks for reading everyone.
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