Winter Break Partie Deux; Lyon!

This was a true adventure! So it wasn't the whole Fab Five. More like the Terrific Three lol. Me, Rob, Lalo, and a friend of Rob's, Joe, headed out for 4 days of mayhem in Lyon, France's 2nd biggest city (though some claim Marseilles.) I fell in love immediately. Such a clean beautiful city! I'm not gonna go into huge detail about it right now (its getting late here, I'll write more later, hopefully before another month passes) other than just to say that we decided on purpose not to book anything in advance and to just "wing it" because I always hear about people doing that in Europe. Well it worked PERFECTLY. We bought our train tickets that day, and though we did miss a connection in St. Etienne, the train ride through the mountains was beautiful and we didn't arrive in Lyon until around 930pm I think but we found a hostel immediately that was only around 16 euros a night!! AND it was in the Old Town on top of a hill overlooking the entire city of Lyon! We just sat out on the terrace each morning (And night) talking about life. Legend! Anyway I'll post the photos now but I'll go into more detail about the trip later, ok?

Lyon Photos!!

An Update...finally

So I'm finally gonna update this thing. Sorry guys I really don't have an excuse once again. Just been too busy living I guess. Anyway things have been going pretty well, I've been spending a lot of time with the "Fabulous Five" which consist of my British friends Rob, Dan, Chris, and Eduardo "Lalo" Gutierrez (A living legend) from Mexico. So anyway my Winter Break was absolutely amazing (other than the actually transportation, bleg). So the 10th of February I get up at 7:30 am to take a bus to Nevers (one hour). Then I wait about 30 minutes in Nevers for my train to Paris (2 more hours) then I think I had 5 hours to get from Paris Gare de Lyon (train station) to Charles de Gaulle Internation Airport. One hour flight to Prague, Czech Republic. Then 3 hours in Prague, before a 2 hour flight to Tallinn, Estonia. Finally arriving in Estonia around 10:30pm Estonian time. (+one hour) So pretty much just went to bed Saturday night. Went to this one club which was worthless. Anyway, I spent the rest of the weekend in Tallinn with Helen and her family which was nice. I never thought I'd say it but it felt SOOO GOOD just to get out of France for 10 days. I love it here but it just gets old after 5 straight months with no break. And of course practically everyone in Estonia speaks English (except Helen's parents lol.) Anyway then we went to Tartu for the rest of the week where Helen is at university and also the second biggest city in Estonia. I absolutely loved this city! It's like the Athens, GA of Estonia. Anyway we hung out there and Wednesday night went to this club to see the number one rock band in Estonia which was actually pretty impressive. I pretty much just relaxed and slept all day while helen went to class in Tartu and enjoyed my time off from work, but also walked around and took some photos. Long story short, I had a great time hanging out with her and her roommate, Liis. I actually met another one of Helen's friends, Liisi, who had spent a summer in Griffin, GA selling books. She had also spent a good bit of time in Macon!! I couldn't believe it, such a small world. She had a bumper sticker that said "Georgia on my Mind" It was great!! Took lots of photos, and ate a lot of really really good food. Took a bus back into Tallinn for the weekend where I took a city tour by bus with Helen and her family. Then went to Rakvere that night to meet Karin Kallam, another Estonian who was at my highschool in 2001. She now has a 2 year old son (!!). Saturday night Helen and I went to an authentic Russian restaurant where during the middle of our meal these people run out and start doing russian folk dancing with a full band! Great atmosphere! And then back to France! The trip back was even longer than the trip there because of a 4 hour layover in Prague. But I had plenty of time in Paris so I checked my luggage into a locker and set out for a nice 3 1/2 hour walk through downtown Paris. I made it as far as Notre Dame before I had to turn back for the Train station. But the weather was great and everyone was happy and you could smell spring time in the air and it truly restored my faith in Paris as I was in an incredibly good mood for the rest of the day. After that I took a train straight to Clermont-Ferrand to meet Rob and Joe, his friend from uni who is an assistant in south France. The next day we took a train to Lyon which leads me to part two of my Winter Break...

Photos:
Winter Break in Estonia Volume I

Winter Break in Estonia Volume II

Also, Fabulous Five Photos
Volume One
Volume Two

snow!

YAY!! IT SNOWED!! so yeah im a loser but im from georgia so just let me be excited. it actually was a huge pain in the @$$ because the buses werent running this morning and i had to WALK to Yzeure for class..took me like an hour..needless to say i was late and SOAKED when i got there thanks to the cars going by sloshing dirty wet snow all over me...anyway heres about 3 billion unnecessary pictures that i took today. enjoy

SNOW SNOW SNOW NEIGE NIEVA SCHNEE!

New Year's in Paris

So yeah....this is almost a month late...but hey, as they say, better late than never right? So anyway, I'm not gonna complain too much but I won't sugarcoat it either...New Year's in Paris was pretty disappointing. Basically the city of Paris did NOTHING for New Year's. No Fireworks, no countdown, no music or concert or anything. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Rien. I paid more for my hotel and train tickets for nothing. All those years back home watching the Eiffel Tower explode on TV for the 31st and the one time I'm there..yeah. So me and Sandie were there in front of the eiffel tower with a few hundred thousand other people...11:55...waiting... midnight....ummmm happy new year. People started getting agitated around 12:10. Everyone started filing out angry and disappointed. Good thing we got out quick I heard there was some low-level rioting on the Champ de Mars after we left. So off to the champs elysées to find somewhere to party. Yeah...either 30 euros or so entry or just flat out refusal. Ok so maybe we're aiming too high. of course the champs elysées is where some of the most chic clubs in the world are found. Not to mention the fact that there were 400,000 people on the champs elysées, drunk nasty people everywhere, and you literally couldn't step without touching broken glass...Fights everywhere. Not at all the party spirit. People were either sad or pissed off. So we head to another quarter St. Germain-des-prés. at this point we just wanted to find a nice quiet bar to have a drink and mainly just to get off our feet. We´d been walking all day... but no most bars were closed because they didn't want to have to deal with the drunk obnoxious new year's crowd. So back to the hotel to sleep. Blah. Also the museums were closed the 31st and the 1st, and then the 2nd (tuesday) was the normal closing day for all the museums (other than orsay) ANYWAY the rest of the trip went well except for the horrid weather. (cold and rainy). Day two was Musée d'Orsay which is mostly impressionism and other art (mostly French) from 1848 to 1914. I love this museum. Impressionism is one of the only forms of art that i "get." lol. that night we went up the Arc de Triomphe. Day 3 was getting up super early to go to the eiffel tower to beat the crowds. Worked well, we were in the first group up. We went to the first and second levels by stairs then to the sommet in elevator. After that, we went over to the latin quarter to lunch on a kebab, then to the Musée national du Moyen Âge de Cluny which is the Museum of the Middle Ages...Wow so firefox just crashed and i lost half the post...lets see...where was i. I appreciate that...So I love this museum because i love middle age culture. There are also some Roman baths from the Roman Empire days. After that it was deep deep down into the Earth to the catacombs! I don't know if you've ever seen pictures but I had and I knew what to expect but apparently Sandie didn't know what to expect...she wigged out. She was expecting some walls with a couple of skulls embedded here and there. Not 5 kilometres of walls MADE out of the skeletons of millions of parisiens. Basically during the late 18th century, paris was really running short on space so they took the bodies that were already improperly buried in mass graves and put them deep under the earth. The tour is only a part of whats really down there but even then, it took 45 minutes to walk through a 2km section open to tourists. really amazing stuff. That night we went to l'Hôtel de Ville to see a free exhibit of the French photographer Robert Doisneau. He took all his pictures in black and white and only in Paris between the 30's and the 80's (I think. not sure about when he stopped) a lot of them a pretty well known such as The Kiss by l'Hôtel de ville. pretty cool since the exhibit was in the hotel de ville. Just look up Doisneau on google images. there's tons. The last day we just did some shopping in Les Halls which is the big commercial quarter of Paris. You could spend months in there! Anyway in the end we caught up pretty good I believe considering it was kinda lame at first. Here are my photos for those who haven't yet seen them:

Paris I; Le Jour de l'an

Paris II; Musée d'Orsay, Arc de Triomphe, La Tour Eiffel

Paris III; Bateau-Bus, Musée du Moyen Âge, Catacombs, Doisneau

peace out talk to ya soon!

BRRRR!

So im happy to say that winter has finally arrived here in Moulins. I have two more days before Christmas break! IM SO READY FOR A BREAK!!! I need a minute without having to deal with screaming kids. They are great and full of heart, but it shows that they need a break just as much as I do...they have been a handful this week. This past week its been around -5C in the mornings which is around 23F. in the afternoons its only getting up to 2C which is 35F. I knew it was gonna happen like that all at once because everyone kept saying they'd never seen Moulins so warm in November, then all of a sudden BAM, Freezing! anyway, Im gonna go to bed now, but i'll be back around mes potes.... Bonne Nuit est Bonne Vacances, Joyeux Noël, et Bonne Année à tout le monde!

My Crib

Finally, as promised, I was un-lazy enough to tidy up just a bit and post some photos of my new studio.... and Here they are!!

Photos from my schools.

So far I've only taken photos at one school, but I will post photos from the other 2 as the week continues. Except for Les Champins because my class is cancelled thursday afternoon so It will have to wait until after Christmas Break.

My Job! My students and schools.

talk to you all again soon! A lot of you heard from me last night, those who didn't probably will soon. Like I said, leave me a facebook message or email at elklips@gmail.com with your phone numbers! Free calls to the USA people, FREE!!

YAY FOR BROADBAND!!!

OK! So i don't want to say it was worth the wait, because i shouldn't have had to wait a whole month BUT!!! My broadband now works and yes....it was worth the wait...averaging about 4megabit download (~500 kb/sec) and up to 8megabit (one megabyte per second...meaning an mp3 in 3-5 seconds and cd's worth of data (700mb) in less than 12 minutes. ok sorry...the nerd is happy...let him be happy. Even my upload is one megabit! ok so, also the phone works GREAT! I have unlimited FREE calls to the US, Canada, and 25 other countries including all the european union so, if u want me to call u, leave ur number either here or on facebook or email me and you shall be summoned. So i dont really have time to write a huge post now because i want to upload some more pics and make some phone calls but here are the pics I've uploaded so far, And be sure to revisit because I haven't added all the descriptions yet.

Clermont-Ferrand II -- Various Clermont Photos (with a couple Moulins shoved in)

Clermont-Ferrand III

Joyeux Noël de Moulins et Clermont-Ferrand

Tété

Le Reste....La Fin de L'Année 2006

check back often on this last on as I will be adding more photos (probably tomorrow, I should have time)

Love you guys and I should be in touch more from now on!! Bye!

Updates! Updates! Updates!

Sorry its been FOREVER guys i gotta do better, ive just been busy and i know thats no excuse but i just really dont sit down at my computer very often, mostly because having only dial up internet makes me wanna off myself with a bazooka blast to the colon... anyway, still waiting on my ADSL which could be AFTER christmas now....blaggle...at least i have dial up though... So seriously though im sorry and i will update more often... oh and by the way...Neuf Télécom says they wont be performing the dégroupage of my number from France Télécom until the 25th of décembre. So where as they told me the maximum delay would be 21 days, i put in my command for the dégroupage on the 20th... so that makes more than a month...blarg what can i do?? So where to begin?!? I've been going to Clermont-Ferrand every weekend now for a month straight...all the assistants there are a blast and theres a lot more to do, but im definately staying in Moulins this weekend because its the birthday of Lizette and Trésor. We´re all gonna go out to eat at trésor's restaurant, La Gloria, then probably go to the small nightclub Le Pressoir here in Moulins. So the freaking SNCF is worse than France Télécom...its almost two weeks now that they've been en grève which means on strike... I swear people here just quit working if ANYTHING goes wrong...so SNCF is Société Nationale de Chemins de Fer which is National Railroad Company. It surprises me that there aren't more trains in the USA because here it can be cheaper and quicker than taking a car. It costs me €7.40 to go back and forth between Clermont-Ferrand and Moulins and it takes about one hour and ten minutes. but normally its 14.80 i get the discount because of my 12-25 card which gives discounts to young people. so weekend before last i RAN to the train station to catch my train only to find out that they were on strike, so a friend of mine who works as a librarian in moulins 4 days a week but lives in clermont, Sandie, let me crash at her place and we took the train out monday morning. apparantly there were some disgruntled employees who had laid down onthe railroad tracks to prevent even the trains that should have still been operating from departing...and already its one train out of 3 that is running, and the grève is STILL going on right now...which leads me to my next note of interest!!!!! PARIS!!!!! Yes you are all jealous right now because I, Patrick Ladue, will be spending december 31st through january 4th in PARIS! Yes that is correct, I will be spending four nights (including new years eve!!!) in the fabulous 2-star resort (lol jk) Hôtel Malar. (click to see the location). Which is pretty cool because Its the same hotel i stayed in the last time I was in paris before going to montpellier so i know what to expect. Its small and quaint but located in between the Champs élysées (main strip) et the Champ de Mars (eiffel tower). just a 5 minute walk from each! Most of the other assistants are going home (to germany or Great Britain) for Christmas but I'm just gonna stay here and celebrate with Lizette and Santiago (US and Argentina) since we are too far to go home. So as far as the Christmas Decorations here in Moulins...wow....I think its not even worth the effort. I'll post pictures as soon as I get my internet but I tried to post some pics with my dialup and its just not worth it, waiting 45 minutes just for it to glitch out at the end to upload 5 pictures...just know that when i get my dsl you will have a LOT of new stuff to look at :) but contrary to Moulins, the Decorations in Clermont Ferrand are spectacular! On the main place (Place Jaude) there is a HUGE Sapin de Noël (Christmas Tree), and an even bigger Ferris Wheel...and when i say ferris wheel i dont mean some petty county fair crap, i mean a full blown Ferris Wheel...I will post one picture here, but just know that there will be a lot more soon.
So voilà, there you have it, Place de Jaude full blown Noël style... Also this past weekend I went to a Concert in Clermont Ferrand which was AWESOME considering the time I've been in France is definately the longest i've been without seeing a concert in the last four years. I went to see a French singer-songwriter named Tété (click for website) If you want to listen to some extraits, click on Tété on the bottom left of the site, Tracklisting, and then Try out Fils de Cham, Madeleine Bas de Laine, La Relance, Caroline, La Croisée des Chemins...hell the whole album is excellent. Also from another album, absolutely BEAUTIFUL is A La Faveur de L'Automne... I recommend the download to anyone interested in French, or just in good Music. but the words are truly amazing. I might also go see Grand Corps Malade which is the "Slammer." Slam is somewhat like rap, but more resembles poetry. Check out the website here, the track Les Voyages en Train is my personal favorite, he compares peoples love stories with travelling by train... and my other favorite is Toucher L'instant where he talks about poetry and writing's ability to overcome evil and pain. The visual metaphors are amazing in this song...

On a trempé notre plume dans notre envie de changer de vision
De prendre une route parallèle, comme une furtive évasion
On a trempé notre plume et est-ce vraiment une hérésie
De se dire qu'on assume et qu'on écrit de la poésie
Il existe paraît-il, un instant dans l'écriture
Qui oublie la page blanche et efface les ratures
Un véritable état second, une espèce de transe
Qui apparaît mystérieusement et s'envole en silence
Que l'on rape ou que l'on slame, on recherche ce moment
Il allume une flamme qui nous éclaire brièvement
Cette flamme est la preuve, laisse moi t'en faire une démo
Qu'il est possible de combattre le mal par les mots
C'est tout sauf une légende, on espère juste toucher l'instant
Les quelques secondes du poète qui échappent à l'espace-temps
Les moment rares et irréels que la quiétude inonde
Rouda, n'oublie jamais notre parole du bout du monde

On ressent comme une coupure dans la nuit, comme un rêve
On oublie les coups durs de la vie, comme une trêve
C'est un phénomène puissant, je ne te parle pas d'inspiration
Mais d'un souffle plus profond comme une seconde respiration
On voit et on entend l'encre devenir vivante
On goûte et on sent la saveur d'une rime errante
On touche du doigt l'instant qui nous enveloppe de sa puissance
C'est sans cesse la renaissance de l'essence même de nos cinq sens
C'est le moment où on passe de l'autre côté des paysages
On sympathise avec le vent et on tutoie les nuages
Il fait jour en pleine nuit et il fait nuit en plein jour
Profite de cet instant, il ne durera pas toujours


C'est tout sauf une légende, on espère juste toucher l'instant
Les quelques secondes du poète qui échappent à l'espace-temps
Le moment où le voile se lève et la magie s'élance
Là où j'ai croisé Souleymane au bout du sixième silence
Si on a pas atteint le Nirvana, on doit en être au seuil
Pourtant je suis simplement assis là devant ma feuille
Peut-être que cet instant n'existe que dans mon esprit
Et que je suis complètement mythomane lorsque j'écris
Mais laisse moi mon stylo, y'a pas moyen que je m'arrête
J'ai une envie d'écrire comme t'as une envie de cigarette
Et pour m'enlever ce désir je te demanderais de repasser
Car tant que je pourrais écrire je continuerai de penser
Que c'est tout sauf une légende, on espère juste toucher l'instant
Les quelques secondes du poète qui échappent à l'espace-temps
Les moments que l'on redécouvre, que l'on connaît plus ou moins
Tu l'as déjà touché Jacky, j'en suis témoin
On a trempé notre plume dans notre envie de changer de vision
De prendre une route parallèle, comme une furtive évasion
On a trempé notre plume et est-ce vraiment une hérésie
De se dire qu'on assume et qu'on écrit de la poésie.


I also love where he says J'ai une envie d'écrire comme t'as une envie de cigarette. One day im gonna translate all this stuff into english and post it on here... Definately this song though. The only reason i hesistate to go is because i dont think hes coming to clermont ferrand and also, i find it touch to pay 20 euros or more just to go watch someone talk...there isnt really much value in the "Live experience" with Grand Corps Malade. Getting back to Tété however, the concert was AMAZING the venue was the Coopérative de Mai in Clermont Ferrand where the concert hall wasn´t much bigger than the Georgia Theatre in Athens, so it was pretty intimate, which i really like, i hate huge arenas for concerts. it was great though he talked in between all the songs and had everyone laughing, and at the end he even hushed the crowd and turned off his mic and amp, and sang the last song completely acoustic which was awesome because not one person in the whole venue so much as coughed while he sang. The Song was "La Croisée des Chemins" which is one of my favorites. The guy who opened was pretty awesome. It was some guy from Australia named Jeff Lang who played slide on this dobro type instrument but it was very much NOT australian music at all. it reeked of bluegrass and had a good bit of derek trucks-ish slide action so if course i was glued. so if u get a chance, check out Jeff Lang on the internet. Also the guy couldnt speak french at all which was pretty funny when he tried to talk to the crowd. ok its official im rambling. but just to let you all know im doing really well, ive been living it up on the weekends either here in moulins, or throwing down with the assistants in clermont-ferrand. My classes are going pretty will im definately getting more used to that, and am finding that its not too terribly difficult. There are still moments when i wanna rip out my entrails with a golf club but other than that its pretty straight. as far as speaking french, its starting to get kinda scary...like the english speaking assistants we dont even speak english anymore..its like 100% french now. i definately think in french when im walkin around or layin in bed or what not. It doesnt bother me to read english or hear it, but to speak it or write it seems kinda weird, and i can already tell im gonna have trouble when i come back home getting used to everything again. anyway i will try to update more often with more banal things and not try to cram 3 weeks into one post next time. bye!

photos!!!

ok i realized that you CAN in fact still share facebook photos so here are the most recent
for you non-facebook users (ie. people with real lives):

http://uga.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131001&l=bf1e3&id=4923654

http://uga.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131007&l=384d8&id=4923654

I have a lot more i want to upload but as im limited to public computers for the moment i dotn really have te chance so be patient with me!!!