Another day off means no excuse not to post a blog, though if I were smart I'd be working on next week's lessons rather than blogging. But there will be enough time for that later, especially since I don't even know what some of the teachers expect me to contribute to their lessons yet. As I mentioned before, this week has been abnormally lax for me between the strike and schedule mishaps, but next week I go into full gear (just in time for Fall Break the next week after that!). I've felt almost guilty on this second week of observation, as Fanny just had one week of observing classes and has started doing her own lessons already while I'm still basically just lazing about.
Lazing about and running a lot, that is. Last night I tried out the local running club, and if they're willing to waive or at least minimize their annual fee for me, then I'll definitely be joining. I think there's a men's and a women's division to the club, but it was only the women's club that met up yesterday. I don't know how many members there are, but last night five other women in addition to myself showed up. They were all super fit ladies in their early 40s decked out in fancy running gear (side note to self: I might want to get more running pants, since I have yet to see anyone here running in shorts... almost felt naked yesterday wearing mine), so I wasn't sure how I'd measure up and was feeling somewhat silly for claiming to want to train for the Marathon de Paris.
As it turns out, I could keep up and may even be among the fastest in the group! This is a feeling I'm definitely not used to... speed has never been my strength so much as endurance. It's really nice to have a group to run with, and if I get a physical done in time I can run with them in an 11k race next month (11k is an abnormal race length, but 11k on 11/11... oh so clever). I haven't had the chance to train for and do a race since last year's Thanksgiving Half-Marathon and haven't really trained for a race since high school cross country, so I'm looking forward to this.
There are also some new developments in the realm of transportation. One of the teachers at school, Françoise, offered to let Fanny and me use two bikes of hers that she didn't need in winter, so we decided to go pick them up today since schools are all closed on Wednesday afternoons. However, since the trains are still striking, this made for an interesting way to get down to her town. No trains (or at least very limited ones) were running, but we could still buy a train ticket and then use it to take a bus from one train station to the next. I don't know how this serves to help the strikers advance their agenda, but I'm glad we were at least able to get down to Montrond-les-Bains! The idea was to ride the bikes back up to Feurs, but we were sad to discover that one of the bikes has leaky tires that deflate as soon as you put weight on them. Instead, Françoise was nice enough to drive Fanny and me back up to Feurs with the one functional bike, so at least now one of us can run errands more quickly now.
And now for a random image from around Feurs:
The writing in the corner labels it as "FestiFeurs 2010," so I gather that every year at this festival (which I think is in summer, so I missed it) they paint a new mural around town. Perhaps a bit strange, but this guy seems like congenial enough company while you're waiting for the bus...
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