Thursday, June 01, 2006

everyday living is exhausting

First of all, when I went downstairs this morning to see Steph off for the day, the thermometer said 16C (or 62F)... INSIDE THE HOUSE. The calendar says June 1, is someone playing a cruel joke on me?

I was Errand-Running Woman yesterday. Steph came home Tuesday evening and announced that the brakes were shot so I learned a new word (frein = brake) and visited the local garage after dropping Steph off at his rendez-vous point yesterday (he's carpooling with another teacher from Brienne le Château). After much gesticulating, smiling, trying not to sound like a jackass or tutoyer the owner of the garage (whoops!), I managed to get the parts ordered and make an appointment for Friday morning. One thing done.

I had a quiet morning, finishing part one of my SSCSP and a tasty lunch, and then it was off to Troyes. First stop was to do some grande surface shopping. Since the bank card expired yesterday, I was determined to stock up as much as possible. I loaded up my cart with dry goods and visited the ATM on the way out of the store. Then it was downtown to see the Bank Dude.

Our bank is just in front of the préfecture in Troyes, where they are in the middle of building a massive underground parking right between the two. I may have mentioned in passing last year that construction was halted after they broke ground and discovered a centuries-old cemetery, so archeologists were called in and the construction site became an archeological dig for almost two years. Now they're back on track and I stood there on the edges of the construction sight, along with about twenty other people of all walks of life, mesmorized by the enormous bulldozer digging up ground 100 feet below the surface. Wish I'd had my camera....

Anyway, at 3:30 on the dot I walked into the bank and told the secretary that I was there to see Bank Dude. Next thing you know, Bank Dude comes out and says that our appointment was the next day. Instead of being embarrassed, I was mad; even if I'd misunderstood the date, when I hung up the phone with him, I'd said "A demain," which means "See you tomorrow!" and he replied, "Oui, à demain!" so WTF, Bank Dude? So I told him that I wouldn't be able to come back the next day because I wouldn't have a car but was going to suggest rescheduling for Friday when he told me he had a few minutes before his next appointment and ushered me into his cubicle. Then he asked me once again (although, to be fair, it has been nearly two years since I saw him last) where I was from and once again told me how he loved New York City. How nice. Then he ran around like a poulet sans tête, running to the secret office in the back to get his manager's approval to get us another bank card (even he didn't know why it wasn't sent automatically), I signed a couple of pieces of paper and that was it. Can't wait to see how long it takes to get a new bank card; I am not particularly inspired by his apparent lack of organization.

So I flew home, threw the shopping bags in the house, and grabbed an empty gas tank (our Easy Bake Oven runs on gas) and another shopping bag, and went to one of the local groceries to replace the gas tank and buy some fresh veggies and meat. Then I picked up Steph at the rendez-vous point, drove home and fell over.

I couldn't figure out why I was so exhausted until I realized that I'd spent the day running errands like Normal Everyday People instead of hiding inside my house all day. Huh. Maybe I'm finally starting to emerge from the Immigrant Blues?

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