First of all, sorry for the lack of updates the past few weeks … computer time has been limited due to travel, etc … but that just means I’ve been having that much more fun J I have already had 3 American guests!!! Adam (we studied together in Rouen 4 years ago and then discovered last summer that we were both living in Minneapolis!) came to Rennes a couple of weeks ago as a stop in his 10-day French tour. He was brave enough to come to a few classes with me, and the students loved when he told them that he was from the same place as “Little House on the Prairie,” which has apparently been playing in France for years. Unfortunately, a large part of his time in Rennes was spent by us tracking the “progress” of the French train strike. Most trains (and all of those going from Rennes to Paris) were stopped for a couple of days … REALLY bad timing because Adam had to get back to Paris to see friends before his flight, and I was supposed to meet Heather at the airport! But we made the most of the strike and basically camped out at the café across from the train station to await the news … a marathon-like afternoon of coffee and beer in the sun. It’s not like you need an excuse in France to sit outside at a café for hours, but we’ll go ahead and blame this one on the strike! If you know anything about French culture/politics, then you know that la grève (strike) is an established and common practice in most professions here. I’m still not really sure what it accomplishes, but when it affects something as integral as the country’s train system, it disrupts a lot of people and activities. But after a day and a half, most trains started running normally again. Adam got back to Paris, and I was finally able to meet Heather (8 hours later than I promised her!)
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