n(ICE) n(ICE) (baby)

--N-I-C-E--

Fountain in Nice. Blue skies. There you have it.

Highlight 1:
- I feel the need for a disclaimer here, just remember that I've been in France for 7 months...(I maybe wouldn't have done this if we were only in Nice for a week vacation)... We got burgers and good beer at an American-inspired restaurant! Ahhhh! It was sooooo good to have a taste of home!!

Tim, Nikki, and Treasyri taking a photo at the market

Highlight 2:
-Lots of English speakers all around, it was crazy! Went to an English bar where all the staff (and basically all of the patrons) spoke English! So weird ordering--oddly simple, go figure. Met up with a couple French friends, who said THEY felt like the outsiders. waaahahaha Plus, live music, performers were Australian..? Played ALL the fun dance-along-sing-along hits!

Olives. They're crazy about 'em down here in the south.

Highlight 3:
-Enjoying the morning open air flower/vegetable market. Gotta love Europe.

Beefheart tomatoes patiently waiting for a happy home

I love asparagus. Don't you?

Three cheers for spring veggies!

Highlight 4:

-Amazing breakfast restaurant. Big wooden picnic-style tables. Good breads (well, sort of a given...) plus yummy jam selection on the table. High ceilings, tall windows, rustic-clean feeling, kinda like Portage Bay in a way...mmm yeah

Nikki at our fav breakfast spot

After we'd had our fill

Highlight 5:
Randomly running into a friend who's living in Nice for the year. We met up again and hung out at the beach together! :)

Oh my GAWD it's Evan!

Highlight 6:
Deciding to STAY an extra night!! Finding an awesome hostel and getting beds for 1/2 price cuz of our awesome hook-up, Evan. :) Met up with other English assistants on their way back from Italy, and convinced Bernadette to stay an extra night with us!

Nikki...in ITALY!

Highlight 7:
Our 20-minute trip across the border!!! Yeah, well, it wasn't originally going to be only 20 minutes, but with the train strikes (arg), we took the one afternoon train over...and found out (once we got there, of course) that the last train back over to Nice for the night was in 20 mins!!!! And so, naturally, hilarity ensued. Wanting to make the very most of our 20 Italian minutes, we RAN down the street from the train station, and grabbed a VERY quick espresso and gelato! mmm :)

Mon-a-co!

Monaco!

Snipits from the travel book:
Current ruler: Albert II, who apparently attended Amherst College in Connecticut (Tim's alma mater.)
Monaco is less than a square mile in area. Has 35,000 residents, only 5,000 of which are Monégasque citizens.
Monaco is indeed where Philadelphian film star Grace Kelly came in 1954 to film To Catch a Thief, and ended up capturing Prince Rainier's heart.

I took an overnight trip to Nice last week with Nikki, Treasyri, and Tim (other American language assistants). Despite some rather ridiculous train strikes that lasted the week, we were still able to make it over to the little principality known as Monaco for an afternoon visit. :) Above is the view from the palace.

Treasyri and Nikki in the train station

And, of course, the Monte-Carlo casino, and our Rolls Royce parked out front. ;) Nikki and I are in the crosswalk, posing for all the paparazzi

The Monaco flag flying high, reminding all the Monogaskins (as we named them) to have principality pride!

Yes, Monaco is a lovely place. And YOU can live here too! You can buy your own STUDIO apartment, as shown here, a whopping 25 square meters (roughly 270 sq feet, for those of you non-metrics out there), for the LOW LOW price of 820,000 euros (yeah, so that'll be about 1.1 million USD).

Ferrari. Cuz dats how we roll in Monaco.

Locale of the Grand Prix. Coming up in May

Remarkable mix of old-style southern France/Italy inspired architecture, with touches of NEW (e.g. clean, flat, sidewalks, newer apt buildings, etc), if I may say so myself. And as my travel book says Monaco "possesses a mix of royal glamour and medieval charm." Yeah, I'll go with that.

Island in the Sun

Day Trip to Porquerolles

Tryin' to keep it brief, seeing as I have a tendency to be long-winded. Plus, the photos are what ppl wanna see anyway, right? Just finished up a lovely 2-week vaca (yep, yet another 2 weeks off from work). I hung around town with friends, went to the doctor (details in last blog post), and went on a couple smaller trips.

Last Saturday, we took the ferry over to the island of Porquerolles (same as blog post from October). Lovely island, lovely weather, good time had by all.

Hanging out at beautiful beaches...

Bike parking
Renting bikes for the afternoon was definitely a highlight! Bike riding is so much more fun than you might think, or remember from the last time you went bike riding. Gives you that "dog-with-its-head-out-the-car-window" excited feeling :P
weeeeeeeee!
Tessa and Tina catching a bit of sun
Picnic lunch. Yeah, they don't call it the "cote d'azur" for nothin'

You know it's really vacation when you go for the ice cream
bon voyaaaaaage

Gimpie Takes Action (Albeit Slowly)

Take a guess: What do all of the following have in common?

• Dot
• Mama T
• Fish
• Teeny
• String Cheese
• Teen Wolf
• T Bomb

If you don't know, maybe you don't know me very well...or else you just call me "Tina." That's right, it's a sampler list of my nicknames! And over the past 3 weeks, I've earned a new one to add to the list: Gimpie.

It's a derivative, of course, of the noun form of "gimp" meaning, in this context:

"a person who limps; a lame person."

Haha, works on two levels. And, yes, I have rightfully earned the title. I have been walking about the same speed as all the old folks in my town...step, pause (while left foot catches up)...step, pause...step...pause...

Where does it hurt?

Here.

And the story? Well, that's been part of the problem. I'm not sure what happened. (Which makes me sound, if you ask me, like either an alcoholic or an amnesiac, neither of which, I assure you, I am.) But I've had my theories:

1. Coulda been the sexy new heeled boots I bought. Pictured here, poised on my windowsill:

2. Coulda been somebody who stepped on my foot, yet, as I've indicated, I don't remember anyone squishing me.
3. Coulda been the sandals I haven't worn in 6 months, seeing as they've been hiding in the closet waiting patiently to make their grand entrance to officially announce the arrival of spring.

Solving the mystery of "The Cause" has been of little importance in comparison to the solving the mystery of "The Cure." Because, as it turns out, walking like a gimp is only funny for so long. Especially when walking is my only real option of transport around town, other than the bus, which has become (literally) a pain to get to.

So sometime around Saturday, March 20th, the top part of my left foot started hurting. Just kinda achy, sore when I bend my foot/put weight on it. And so I stopped going to the gym, started gimping (and complaining), gained a new nickname, and iced it for a week. Not better. So I've been heat-soaking it for a week, still gimping (and still complaining), and...still not better. Everyone says "go to the doctor" but really, it's not thaaaaat bad, plus he/she'll just tell me everything I know..."ice it, rest it, get some cream, blah blah blah."

Today was the day! I've finally had enough. Probably smarter to NOT wait until the breaking point, but hey, such is my approach. Cuz even if the pain isn't thaaaaat bad, it still wears on you. So Gimpie took action! I gimped down to the foot doctor, became discouraged when the secretary said I couldn't be seen for another week (how am I supposed to last another week like this? I am here for a quick fix, people!) She tells me to go to another doctor for a cream prescription to reduce pain/swelling, and gives me directions to a general practitioner.

I hobble down the road (in the wrong direction, mind you), but finally find the building she was talking about. So I go into the bank (I swear she told me this building), and wander around looking for the stairs (cuz the sign said the doctors are on the 2nd floor). The banker man comes out of his office and asks me who I'm looking for. Well, the doctor!, of course! Silly Banker Man, why else would I be in the bank? He tells me I have to exit and go through the other door. Well that makes more sense.

I find the doctors office, and then Nice Doctor Man sees me in his little office. I find it works to my benefit, when speaking with French professionals, to start off with a phrase like "I'm not from here" so then they go easy on me. If they have the impression that I only "can get by" with French, then they're either:
1. not surprised if I don't understand and start staring at them like an idiot, or they're
2. pleasantly surprised when I DO understand and CAN express myself, and I am always happy to receive the compliment, "Oh, but you speak French so well!" ;)

Alright, so Nice Doctor Man did in fact do everything as I predicted -- he confirmed that, yes, it is a problem with the tendons (I was right!), and prescribed me some cream stuff (haha, right again), tells me to take it easy (oh doctors, you are so predictable! Three points for Gimpie!).

And the cool thing about healthcare in France: all doctors cost 22 euros to see, and now I just need to send in this form and I can get reimbursed.

So even though Nice Doctor Man did not tell me anything profound, I'm glad I went. It's nice to have confirmation that there are no broken bones, and that it was in fact the sexy new boots that did it. They'll be resting in the closet for a bit, and in the mean time, I'll be creaming up my foot 3 times daily. Yipee :)