February 10, 1996

Dudes and Dudettes,

Well. It's been a pretty big week. Sunday was the first sunny day in a long while so we stole Melanie (she's 9) from next door and went up in the hills to do some hiking. The mistral had blown all the clouds away but also had dropped the temperature to around 43 and there was a lot of wind. Tuesday I bought my first baguette and some stamps and it was really rainy and yucky out. Wednesday I went to a photography club and met some nice (older) people and worked all day on my report for History on the American School System. I felt guilty about having my powerbook on all day but I was working and had to. It's an oral report, due Monday, and I don't know what I'm going to do for visual aids since Audrey is using the transparency pens. Maybe I'll just write on the blackboard or handwrite a bunch of handouts.

Thursday there was a job fair/college fair in Marseilles and it was like 50 below and windy like nobody's business. The fair worked something like this - you know what you're interested in and you try to find (TRY being the operative word) the station for that job where they tell you which university to go to. It was really badly organized and there weren't that many options -- Laurence wants to be a journalist but we spent a good 45 minutes going from one building to another. We finally found something similar but it wasn't the real thing. It's easier if you want to be a teacher like Geraldine or do advertising/fashion like Nadege or Guillaume. Universities are really awful right now because once you pass your Baccalaureate you can go to just about any university for free, no application required. It used to be that people who didn't do very well on the Bac didn't think of going to university but now everybody does and so classes are really crowded and people have to line up 20 minutes before to get a seat. There aren't any dorms so all students must live in apartments.Of course, this doesn't mean they're broke because university is free. However, no one seems worried about their future, maybe because they're only juniors or may be they just have faith in themselves and the system.

Thursday evening after school I went to photography and met two public school girls who looked like they were from Urbana High School. We learned how to develop B & W negatives but someone had put water in the developer bottle and so the film was ruined. The whole process took 3-1/2 hours and when I walked home at 8:30 it was way cold and the wind was blowing me from side to side.

Friday I bought some paper and batteries (finally!) at the grocery store near our apt. It was really nice - sunny, 55, no wind, and it's the same today (Saturday). There's a dinner party tonight for Geraldine cuz its her 17th b-day. It's at Guillaume's apt though -- he used to live in Marseilles in an apt that had a really good view of the sports stadium.

Oh I forgot. Friday during English after a debate over whether old values or new values are better, the class gave me a big (2 ft long) stuffed Dalmatian 'cause they know I miss Finnegan. He's awful cute and has a zipper in his belly to put pj's in for sleepovers. They also gave me a card that they all signed and a class photo. A lot of people look different now but I'll have lots of pictures of folks here when I come back.

Still no real hope for e-mail yet but people here aren't completely in the dark about the Internet so that's a good sign. Dad's mailing me my email so it WILL get here but heck you may as well write.

We're getting a basset hound puppy after vacation! We're going skiing the week of the 19th in some lower Alps place near Lyon and when we get back we're gonna get the doggie. Artur, who lived here last semester (from Germany) said that they told him they weren't going to get another dog, their old one died two weeks before I came, did I tell you that? We've still got Gandolf, Ignacio's kitten and he's causing all sorts of trouble by pooping on the bed. He gets away with it because he's so cute though. Ignacio is in Laos doing a Doctors w/out Borders thing to help villagers, kind of the same thing Maryam did.

I hope you guys are all living it up and having Fun. People here are the same in a lot of ways to you all but they're still not you and I miss you an awful lot. It's rough sometimes but on the whole I'm dealing well. I hope you haven't forgotten about me and I hope the letter's in the mail. :)

I yeah, I almost forgot. Teachers here in France are getting beat up by students. I don't know why. The principal of the public high school here got hit by a parent the other day and a boy in Marseilles beat a teacher who was in the hospital for two days. But anyway.

I love you,
Hank

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