Friday night was excellent. Someone had suggested on the Lyon language assistants facebook group that we meet up, but I don't think anyone was expecting the turnout that we actually got - over 60 of us eventually, I think, representing at least three different languages. We ended up going to a cafe/bar next to the Cathedral St Jean, where they actually managed to accommodate us all (though we had to sit outside, which got chilly).

A couple days ago Hannah introduced me to the Spanish assistant at her school, whose name is Ana (which leads to some amusement, because French people don't pronounce the letter H, so 'Annah and Ana are pronounced exactly the same). Hanging out with her is fun, partly because she's really sweet and partly because, since she doesn't speak any English, when she's around we speak French. So our little table of five or so wound up pretty much the only group out of all 60 that wasn't speaking either English or German. Very cool. I'm getting way better at speaking, now, which is really encouraging. I still only really use it when I don't have any choice, but speaking at all in those situations is a big step up.

It was also the first time I met any of Hannah's fellow German assistants, so I had fun talking to them a little in German as well. I don't have any trouble switching gears when it comes to understanding things people say in my various languages, but switching gears to actually talk is somewhat problematic. Fun, though, and there was a lot of laughing and general good times. Eventually we decided to go pick up some wine and head down to the river (we always do seem to end up there, but it's so pretty). A couple of French kids had turned up by then (friends of friends of someone, I think), so they decided to show us the best/cheapest place to go in the city . . . which turned out to be the same place I'd gone with Hannah and Jack last week. I had fun chatting a bit with a French guy named James, who is a liar for telling me my French is good, but that's okay. Funny moment when he introduced himself, because James is in no way a French name, and can only sort of be pronounced in anything like a French way. So one of the other assistants said something like "James? And you're French?" He replied (in French) "Okay fine, so I was born in England. But I didn't want to tell you because now you'll think I speak English and I don't! I moved when I was three! Please don't speak English to me!!"

I had to leave early to catch the last métro. Have I mentioned that the transit system here stops running at midnight? And that there are no extended weekend hours? As far as I can tell, once it gets later than that people just bike home. There's a bike-share program in the city called Velo'v, so that when you have a transit card (which I'll get soon) you can check out one of the city bikes and ride it free for the first hour, and for pretty cheap after that. Lyon's tiny, so there's no way it takes an hour to get from anywhere to anywhere else, so it's a pretty good deal. The downsides are that you have to ride in the street (scary!) or risk a fine; that half the time the rack is empty at your starting point and full at your destination (so you have to ride around til you find a rack with a space); and that, in France, bike helmets are apparently exclusively for kids. I have yet to see a teenager/adolescent wear one at all. But overall it's a pretty good deal. And anyway, once I move into my new place I'll be much more central, and I've even heard rumors of a night bus in that area. We'll see.

The theme of this past week has been overwhelming gratitude that I am not, in any way either mental or physical, in the same place as I was this time last year. The weather here is warm and beautiful, the people are friendly, I'm relaxed and have a job that makes people happy, there are no moose and no bears, I don't have to make any telephone calls, I get to sleep pretty much all I want, no one yells at me, my goals aren't physically impossible, it's nowhere near snowing, and I'm not in a constant state of exhaustion and only borderline functionality. I'm not in Alaska, in other words, and I never have to go to Alaska again. And that's a beautiful thing.


Now, pictures!

Ana and me. :)

Me, Hannah, and delicious kebab.

This is, hands down, the worst beer I have ever tasted. Undrinkably bad. Photographed as a reminder to myself and others never to buy it again.

Enormous mound of shoes! I have no idea why.

You might have thought it was. Don't be fooled.

I have no idea what this is or used to be. It's hidden away in a park up near the basilica Elephant.

Grapes (I think) at the Roman ruins.

Adam, this one is for you.

Cool fountain. I don't know what kind of ivy it is that comes in variegated colors like that, but I've always liked it.

Green space in Vieux Lyon, on a steep slope.

I don't know how this happened. It's weird to see concrete broken in that way. It looks like styrofoam.

I really like this shot. The bigger version works a lot better, so click for that.

That's it for now.