To Be Continued…

Derby de Mayo was a festive holiday in NYC.  I went to French class, and then came home to get ready to go out.  While I was in class, S had brought me home cake-flavored vodka (!) and made me a cake-vodka-seltzer while I showered and got ready.  We went out to our local, me in my long black dress, red heels, and derbylicious hat (no I don’t have pictures, but it was the same hat I wore last year to the actual Kentucky Derby, with a different dress/shoes.)  We had drinks, watched the Derby, no horses broke their legs or died, and "I’ll Have Another" won, so we had another.  And another!

And then we went to the Dar Williams concert at NYU, still in Derby attire.  No one else was dressed up, and I was trashed after three drinks and sitting in the front row in a huge hat.  Grrrrrreat.  There was an opening band, like a hipster rip-off of Barenaked Ladies, and then Dar came on.  I think the magic has worn off.  Her new album professed to be about Greek Mythology, which I’ve been obsessed with for probably 25 years, and I thought it was a wonderful idea for an album, but she really has no deep knowledge of the subject at all, or at least none she chose to share in her lyrics.  So sad.  She played some oldies and it was nice and all but I just don’t see her as a creative force anymore.  It was kind of devastating.  

So we went out a bit more, came home, and I decided to cut my own hair.  Drunk.  With pinking shears.  Sounds shockingly stupid but didn’t turn out too badly.  I thought I might have to make an emergency visit to the salon, but it came out fine.  I may get it layered or something after I get back from vacation, but for now it’s fine.  Except that I hate short hair.  Even shoulder length, which is probably the best description of mine right now.  Oh well.  I almost wish it came out crazy looking so I could justify getting extensions.  

The rest of the week was surprisingly uneventful – I refrained from laughing in the face of everyone who complimented my new "haircut" and got through the week.  Put together an unnecessarily elaborate PTO plan because I wasn’t sure if I would have good internet access, and got everyone totally stressed out at the prospect of having to cover my work.  Win!  

On Thursday, we went to the spring gala for the NYC Ballet which was amazing.  There were three components, the first "Mes Oiseux" by Peter Martin, super-gorgeous, with costumes by Gilles Mendel.  Very short, but completely beyond.  The next was by Benjamin Millepied, "Two Hearts," with costumes by Rodarte.  I don’t love these designers, they seem like crazy recluses and looked like crap in person, but the costumes were okay.  Ballet was very nice, interestingly they had a singer, not just instrumentals like usually, so that was cool.  The last section was my favorite, very traditional Balanchine "Symphony in C" with oodles of frothy white tutu-d ballerinas and men in sleek black leotards.  I think they put some LED lights in the costumes, they were ridiculously sparkly.  (As if there is such a thing as too much sparkle!)  

I will admit, one of the best parts of the evening for me was seeing Grace Coddington, tall with frizzy red halo chatting with Drew Barrymore, tiny in a long white dress and black blazer. To me this was huge since I think Ms. Coddington is one of the top great creative talents of our time.  I would love to see the world through her eyes.  Here is a photo of the Gala from above.  I love to see everyone in a beautiful space with colorful long formal dresses, and I love this blurry cellphone photo, blurry like a Seurat:
 

The next night we saw The Avengers which was good, then came home and had tofu with orange ginger sauce with red pears, baby spinach, and brown rice.  So delish.  And almost unbelievable that I actually cooked.

The next day I felt like crap and barely managed to pack, get to JFK, and make my flight to Nice/Cote d’Azur.  I was all out of sorts with allergy sickness, being a baby and not wanting to travel by myself, to a new place, and a different language adding to the degree of difficulty.  But S was a dear and helped me out and didn’t mind my craziness too much.  He snuck onto the security line with me for a bit, and he clowned while I went through the metal detectors.  (Or whatever they’re detecting these days.)  Flight was uneventful, I watched "Columbiana" and tried to get some sleep.  I was really congested and uncomfortable though so didn’t sleep much.  Before long, they were coming down the aisle with coffee and croissants so I switched my watch to local time and got on with the morning.  

Blew through customs and I had booked a driver beforehand, I think this is the first time I’d done this for personal travel. He met me with a sign at baggage claim, and made conversation that I struggled to hear through my ears that felt like they were wrapped in cotton.  And all in French.  Oy.  But it was fine, I checked in and had great intentions of going to the grocery, walking my route to school, etc, but really I just fell asleep for the next twelve hours.  And then I washed up, set my alarm, and went to sleep until the next morning, when I had to be at class by 9am.  

I found my way to school (all hills, like San Francisco caliber hills!), drank an Orangina, had a tour of the town, took the written and oral placement tests, and all was good.  Found the ATM for my bank (I am so cheap I walk 1.6k out of my way to use my bank’s ATM to avoid a fee), went to the grocery, ate bread and brie for my first food in over 24 hours, and then went to sleep again. Navigating smaller towns panics me, it’s not like you can just jump on the metro if you get lost. 

Got up, ate a pear and some bread and took allergy medicine.  Walked to class, the first part of class was just answering conversing on various topics, I think the teacher needs to speak with everyone intensively to gauge whether you are in the right level, which is good.  Everyone in my class seems around my level although some have been studying for years, but I think having a good vocabulary and learning spanish first helps a lot, although sometimes I get the words confused.  We spoke for two hours, did some written stuff, received homework, and took off.  I made it home successfully which I was proud of.    I ate lunch, and meant to go for a run along the water because it’s so close here, but I fell asleep and didn’t wake myself up until 6am local time.  

I woke before the alarm, had coffee, ate bread and a banana, showered, and did my written homework.  Walked to class and again the weather was so lovely. Class today was good and even if I am 100% grammatically and vocabulary wise, I really need to improve my accent. This class is much more challenging than my school in Paris, and a very different mix of nationalities.  Almost all Scandinavians and Spaniards here, everyone likes the beach and the sun.  I love the sea but hate the sun.  On Monday, it was very sunny but for fifteen minutes in the afternoon, the rain came down strong even while the sun was shining!  

Received lots of homework because tomorrow is a holiday, also the Cannes Film Festival starts today and everyone says it rains during the festival each year.  So much grammar homework, stuff I don’t even know in English except instinctively, which reminds me once again, I wonder, why do I bother trying to learn other languages when I still haven’t mastered my native one?  Oh well.  Here’s some photos to reward you for reading this far through my insanity.  Not that I ever had a normal life but as I get older and older I am reminded at how different my priorities and life experiences are than practically everyone I know.  For me, I guess this is just the way that it goes.  But I love the way it’s going:
 
Why is no one swimming?!
  

Porte of Antibes:
  

View from my balcony for the next few weeks:

Okay, I just had lunch of bread and olives with some rose and the wind is blowing in as I type this.  I need to go to the grocery to get provisions for tomorrow and make plans for tonight.  It’s going to be a great next few weeks here…to be continued…