Carnaval

The last couple days have been filled with a relatively large amount of productivity. That is, relative to most days. Friday I finally got some new shoes. Nothing too special or anything, but shoes that I'm thinking will take better care of my feet than my boots have been. In Lure, the boots are just fine. But there's no way those boots will allow me to enjoy every place I go between now and Italy. Hopefully I'm set. I spent the remainder of my Friday night helping a friend with some homework, so to speak. You know who you are, and you're welcome. ;)

Yesterday in Lure was Carnaval. I wasn't sure if I was going to go. I felt pretty lazy all morning. But I needed food for my little kitchen. It was looking kind of empty. And I knew if I didn't get to the store yesterday, it wouldn't be until Monday that I'd fill my fridge because France loves cutting people off from normal life on Sundays. I guess it's a nice thing. It's a good excuse to relax, which I guess is the point. But anyway, as I was leaving, I saw tons of people getting ready for Carnaval outside. I really wanted to stop and watch what was going on. But I didn't know how long it would last, and I needed my gorceries. So I went as fast as I could to the store, keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn't miss all the activity. Afterall, this type of excitement is pretty rare in Lure.

I made it back just in time. With my full grocery bag hung over my shoulder, I stopped along the main street in Lure to watch the parade. I was pretty glad to not have missed it. Four years ago, I missed carnaval in Pau completely (while my friends all went!) due to having too much homework. So this was great! Basically the parade lasted all of 10-15 minutes, but it was worth it anyway. There were people of all ages (really!) walking down the street in constumes ranging from not-very-strange to completely crazy. I thought to myself, "What's the point? They're all dressed up for no reason. Spent all this time and money on costumes, only to march down the street for 15 minutes." Then I realized we kind of do the same thing for Halloween. Granted, kids go trick-or-treating. But parties that adults go to... Anyway, you get my point. There were people throwing confetti by the handful. They'd just walk up to a person and dump a big ol' handful over their head. Even I fell victim to the confetti-throwers.

And this guy was one of my favorites. Looks like he's having a blast. Just funny.

Here's a look down the street after the parade. Soooo much confetti!

I headed back to my room to drop off my food. In doing so, I dragged quite a lot of confetti with me. It was all over my hair, not to mention in my grocery bag. So I now have some new room decor all over the floor. I've picked up what was near my "kitchen," but this morning I was still finding it in random places of the room. I might leave it for a while. It adds some life to this room.

I went back to the center of town and found everyone carnaval-ing it up near one of the elementary schools/library/auditorium. There was a stage, music, food, and lots of costumes. It was fun to just watch everyone mingling and being crazy. I basically just wandered around and sat watching people, soaking it all in. I later found out Mario and Corinne were there. I should have done my grocery shopping earlier, then I'd have known and met up with them! Here's a video I took while I was just walking through the crowd. I know it might make you a little seasick (sorry!), but it really gives you a good idea of what it felt like to be there.





And these guys were awesome. Little kids would pick up handfulls of confetti, sneak up behind them, and toss the confetti at them when they turned around. Then, the kids would run away screaming when the men turned and huffed at them. It was cute. And I liked (as awful as this sounds) the little girl I saw dressed as a princess who cried hysterically and had to be carried away by her mother. It was cute. Sorry. :)

And that was carnaval. Now if I ever do this in class, I'll actually e able to speak from experience. And that's exacty why I'm here in the first place!


I can't believe I only have five weeks left of work. I don't feel like I've been here too long at all. And when you look at the number of times I've seen each group of kids, this point in time (after being here for six months) is about equivalent to the second week of school in the United States. That is, I've only seen each group about eight or nine times. And that doesn't take into consideration all the classes that have been cancelled. I don't think a teacher in the second week of school at home could say they've had too many great memories with their classes or that they know the kids really well. By the end of a month, maybe. Two weeks? Pushin' it. And I'm at the two week mark. Ha. Oh well, what can ya do? Here's to the next five weeks going well and quickly! (Quickly so I can get my travel on again!)