Overstimulation.

Recent French language historical moments in the life of Emily:
1. I returned an item at a local supermarche last week. The item was broken so I took it back and exchanged it for another one. The entire conversation took place in French, mind you.
2. I bought stamps at the post office last week. En Francais aussi.
3. I ordered a kilo of cherries from a dude at the outdoor market on Sunday. I had to repeat the number one (to reiterate that I only wanted 1 kilo) a few times, but he finally realized what I wanted. Note: my accent sucks.
4. Today, (I am soooo incredibly proud to mention this one as it took me weeks to complete) I made dinner reservations for Darin and my one year anniversary. Now, I did cheat a little. I still have problems understanding and speaking numbers so she did have to tell me the prices of the menus in English and I did give her my telephone number in English as well...but, I'll get there in time...mark my words.

Monday was too much for me.

First, this week is the Annecy Animation Festival. What a hub-bub! This town has become infested with animation lovers. Those who shelled out the bucks to attend this festival are donning lanyards of different colors advertising Autodesk. They are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. You can't escape them. So every night this week, there is free music and a free movie in the large grassy area next to the lake. Yesterday, a few of us sat on the grass and enjoyed the music (they played an Israeli song that I was very excited about) and then showed "L'Age de Glace 2". It was in French and I probably understood 30% of the dialogue, but I still enjoyed the movie. The director of the movie was there and introduced himself...in French. He was cute because he was pretty hesitant to talk. I didn't understand a thing he said though I think I heard him make a comment about his oh-so-wonderful soccer team. He's Brazilian.

Second, there was some volleyball tournament all weekend plus on Monday. Players and onlookers were infesting the same grassy area I mentioned above until it was time to prepare for the Animation Festival music/movie. Another holiday fell on Monday, but I have no idea what it was all about. The government has not yet made up their minds if it will be an official holiday or not. It seemed like everyone had the day off except...my husband. :(

Third, I'm about to cross the street (I'm in between the building that's housing most of the Animation Festival events and the grassy area where hundreds of volleyball players are enjoying the sun) to sit down in the park and enjoy my lunch before class. Just as I'm about to place my foot in the street, I start to look both ways before crossing. Yes mom and dad, I listened. I turn to my left and notice a very large group of cyclists, police cars, and brightly painted cars with bicycles on their roofs are coming towards the group of pedestrians that are also hoping to cross the street with me. I did know that the last official race before Le Tour de France was passing through Annecy sometime soon, but I had no idea that I would be at the crosswalk at the very same time when they would be passing through. It was coooool. I was not at all impressed by their speed, mind you. They were just cruisin'. Two of the guys were sitting up in their seats, hands crossed over there chests, just chatting away. I think they were discussing how much they're going to miss Lance this year.