Don't stop till you get enough

I don't have my internship situation sorted out quite yet, but it's being worked on.

These past few days have been very busy:

Thursday evening B and I went out to a very nice restaurant L'art de vivre to celebrate our anniversary. We were the only ones there (lunch is much busier and Thursday nights are apparently very slow) but the two waiters were very nice and the food was delicious. We decided to order wine by the glass since we weren't going to finish a bottle and on the page of "cheap" wines (as in 15-25€ a bottle) there was only one AOC Corbières as opposed to several bottles for the other AOCs. When I asked for it, the waiter hesitated at first because it's normally not sold by the glass, but then he said he'd open one specially for us. B asked for a recommendation and the waiter started talking about other wines we'd like if we liked the Corbières, and in the end we both had the same wine. It was a really nice red wine that wasn't too strong like some reds can be. It was at this point that I admitted to B that I knew nothing about Corbières and had only picked it because there'd be less confusion. Good thing my random choice turned out so well!

Friday night we went to a house warming/yay we're pregnant party at the home of one of B's colleagues. The partner of B's colleague found out she was pregnant a few weeks ago, so we were kind of celebrating everything. We can't believe B's colleague is going to be a father since he's the kind of person who can't remember what time he's supposed to be at work tomorrow, but maybe in 9 months he'll be ready. He collects rocks and minerals, so we saw all his precious gems and got a refresher course in the chemistry of gems and the formation of rocks.

Then Saturday night we picked up this same couple to carpool to a different colleague's 20th birthday. The birthday girl moved out of Toulouse to a tiny village with her boyfriend so they could have a 90m2 house with a garden for less than 500€ a month. Except that it's 50 minutes from Toulouse. We saw lots of bunnies on our drive out there through the farm fields but finally found the salle des fêtes. When I told my mom that it was a big party with all her family, she didn't understand why it was such a big occasion for her 20th birthday. I had to remind her that since 21 isn't the drinking age in France, they celebrate decades much more than random numbers (is it me, or is that not obvious?). Has anyone else been to a 20th birthday party in France? The two I've been to have been big deals with all the family there, a big meal, music and dancing, and big presents. We even got dragées (favors) in two colors of pink tulle inside a sandal.

Then Sunday I spent the day volunteering for the Toulouse Marathon. If I can, I'll try to write a whole post about that experience because it was really neat. I hope I can participate again next year. In the evening there was a party held for all the volunteers at a local bar that is very branché, and we had tapas à volonté and an open bar with sangria à volonté. I lost count of how many glasses I had! I made it home alone though, in much better shape than the time I called B to meet at the metro to help me home. While eating lots of jambon cru on bread and tomatoes with garlic I chatted with the other people I knew who'd volunteered. Everyone agreed that it was a really great experience and that we want to do it again next year.

After four nights of partying, things are back to normal. Today I went to the bank to ask why B's last name still shows up when I connect to my account online. I got some bogus answer about how my name was correctly changed for my account but that the internet system was different and couldn't be changed and couldn't I just live with it? I asked if there was an address I could write to and the guy said no.

Then I went to the Pôle Emploi to show my new récipisé de carte de séjour so they don't kick me off the list and I asked about my problem with my last employer. The last official work I did was tutoring for a family that paid me with chèque emploi service. As my employer they're supposed to fill out an attestation assedic for me, but the mother was convinced that it was the organization that runs the chèques services that does that. Besides talking to her on the phone, I also sent two emails with the details of what she had to do, but I still hadn't received anything, so a week and a half ago I sent a lettre recommendée. The woman at the Pôle Emploi said if I still don't get anything I can ask for my file to go to committee, with the Prud'hommes being the end of the line of course. All this to get just a few euros in unemployment. Technically I could have my file validated without declaring the work, but since one day worked equals one day of unemployment, I'd lose a week of benefits. We'll see how this goes...

Now it's time to get some rest. I tested the "Fitness Power" class at the gym today and it was a really good workout. I think most of my body will be sore tomorrow based on the number of squats, bicep curls, and bench presses I did.