May 10, 2011
May 5, 2011
looking for a low-budget time machine
My trip home is at least three times more exciting than yours, and I don't even know if there's an in-flight movie yet.
I got an email last month about some awesome new changes to my itinerary. What was previously a boring old Marseille-Paris-Atlanta-home flight has become a fascinating trip all over Europe that treated the laws of time as loose guidelines: several trips from Marseille to Paris in a row, an overnight stay in Germany, and no transatlantic flight. I called the airline and they gladly remedied the situation. Here is the solution they came up with:
A flight from Marseille to Paris, followed by three different flights from Paris to Atlanta, all at the exact same time, and then from Atlanta to home.
I am tough to please. I called the airline again, and the customer service agent looked up my schedule. "Ah, yes, this is what we call a 'residue.'" she explained. "Please be aware that you will need to catch all three flights to Atlanta at once, or your final flight will be cancelled and you will not get your luggage."
I'm usually pretty optimistic, but I have low expectations for my ability to fly on three different planes at the same time, and when I explained this to the agent she said she would see what she could do and hung up on me. The next two did the same thing. There could be a problem with their phone connection, or maybe they just love doing everything in threes, or maybe they just love doing everything in threes, or maybe they just love doing everything in threes.
I got an email last month about some awesome new changes to my itinerary. What was previously a boring old Marseille-Paris-Atlanta-home flight has become a fascinating trip all over Europe that treated the laws of time as loose guidelines: several trips from Marseille to Paris in a row, an overnight stay in Germany, and no transatlantic flight. I called the airline and they gladly remedied the situation. Here is the solution they came up with:
A flight from Marseille to Paris, followed by three different flights from Paris to Atlanta, all at the exact same time, and then from Atlanta to home.
I am tough to please. I called the airline again, and the customer service agent looked up my schedule. "Ah, yes, this is what we call a 'residue.'" she explained. "Please be aware that you will need to catch all three flights to Atlanta at once, or your final flight will be cancelled and you will not get your luggage."
I'm usually pretty optimistic, but I have low expectations for my ability to fly on three different planes at the same time, and when I explained this to the agent she said she would see what she could do and hung up on me. The next two did the same thing. There could be a problem with their phone connection, or maybe they just love doing everything in threes, or maybe they just love doing everything in threes, or maybe they just love doing everything in threes.
May 3, 2011
you can taste it
I would describe Marseille cuisine as Kinder and goat cheese, but everyone else in the world would probably say bouillabaisse.
Now thanks to Fancy Fast Food, the traditional meal from the "seaside town of Marseille" (I love it when other people talk about Marseille) just got a thousand miles closer! Baja Fresh closer! The plastic mussels might make it somewhat less authentic, but a drunk homeless man isn't going to come over and shake you while you're eating it so, you're already a long way from authenticity.
Now thanks to Fancy Fast Food, the traditional meal from the "seaside town of Marseille" (I love it when other people talk about Marseille) just got a thousand miles closer! Baja Fresh closer! The plastic mussels might make it somewhat less authentic, but a drunk homeless man isn't going to come over and shake you while you're eating it so, you're already a long way from authenticity.
May 1, 2011
vous me manquez
I brought a camera to school on my last day to take pictures of my kids. If you saw how cute they are, you would cry, and they're probably going to be my desktop background for the next year and half, but since you can't see them, I'll show you some other pictures of my school instead.
That's the view from one of the classrooms. It's hard to tell because it's so gorgeous and sunny and I'm using a cheap camera, but they have a sweet view of the Marseille skyline, the sea, and the cathedral on the hill.
Lilacs in the staff room, next to a Marseille soccer ball (or football if you like that) and a French passive aggressive note about the scrap paper bin. At my other school the teachers are always crossing out misspellings on the signs in the staff room, hopefully I can get a picture of that later.
Hallway. This school if four stories tall. One of my other schools if five, but this one feels like it has more stairs for some reason.
All of my schools say on the outside whether they were a boys or girls school a hundred years ago. It freaked me out when I walked by them in September.
A street near my school. The best street in Marseille in my opinion, and I think that even after I've just walked up it. Which I will never do again. Just kidding, there's a gelato place on that street.
That's the view from one of the classrooms. It's hard to tell because it's so gorgeous and sunny and I'm using a cheap camera, but they have a sweet view of the Marseille skyline, the sea, and the cathedral on the hill.
Lilacs in the staff room, next to a Marseille soccer ball (or football if you like that) and a French passive aggressive note about the scrap paper bin. At my other school the teachers are always crossing out misspellings on the signs in the staff room, hopefully I can get a picture of that later.
Hallway. This school if four stories tall. One of my other schools if five, but this one feels like it has more stairs for some reason.
All of my schools say on the outside whether they were a boys or girls school a hundred years ago. It freaked me out when I walked by them in September.
A street near my school. The best street in Marseille in my opinion, and I think that even after I've just walked up it. Which I will never do again. Just kidding, there's a gelato place on that street.
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