The Red Sox Win The Pennant, New York City hospitals treat millions in shock...

Well, if the saying " The Red Sox will beat the Yankees when pigs fly. " Then you better go out your cars in the garage before they get a ton of pig doo on them. I am ecstatic that we finally lived down that curse. The only sad part is that I am 4500 miles away and I cannot go to the World Series or hang out with my Dad, brother and friends watching the Series.
In order to watch and more appropriately listen to the game due to the fact that the internet feed was too poor I had to stay up until 2am just so see the beginning. Nearly 4 hours later I was so happy and thrilled I counld not sleep. The only problem is that it was 6am and I had to work at 8:30. The kids were taught a lesson in American baseball rivalry today.
Lyon is awesome although I have not had any money for almost three weeks. Now, I have a little but I am still waiting on French bureaucracy to work my paycheck into my account. That, or waiting on the bank to put it into my account. They tend to hold the deposits a few days longer here to make some interest on the money while in transit, and there is nothing that I can do about it. It has been very good for me though because I have been forced to do things very cheaply like walking the city. I have walked at least 40 km but probably closer to 50 km in the last 2 weeks. I think that I have lost about 5 kilograms as well. That is 10-12 pounds to you and me.
I have had some interesting experiences as well. On Monday I had an appointment at the Prefecture. This is basically a police or government building where we have to go and get a carte de sejour for our stay here. I let the UNI make my reservation and went. I am also a language assistant as many of you know and so I had to explain that when I arrived there. I did and then was given a list of things to obtain like a 55 euro tax stamp and my student ID. This is where it got difficult. After meeting with the Academie I learned from another assistant that we do not pay for the OMI timbre, tax stamp. This is what I thought and so I returned to the Prefecture to fix the problems. I snuck in the back and they let me spill my problem. After basically telling them they were all wrong, ten times they went to ask the woman in charge. She said that I had two choices, stay there and pay for the stamp, be forced to get a work permit, or schedule a new appointment at another office where the assistants go. Guess which I chose? That was a day wasted away from work and way too much stress to have gone through. The upside, I did it all in French and they told me I was pretty good too after I apologized because in order for me to have convinced them I had to tell them no and explain things several times. That was a real motivator and confidence booster for sure.
That is all, I am going to try and post some pictures but it is going to be difficult since the BloggerBot is on my pooter in the States.

TOUT A L"HEURE!!!

One month in, no regrets.

Bonjour toutes le monde!
I have now been in Lyon for almost a full month and I feel like I am definitely having a blast meeting people and learning French. It is not always as easy as I would like it to be, but I am adapting all the time. My roommates are both French students in there first year of university. So, I think that I am like the big brother of the flat.
I have met a ton of people including friends of Noémie, the international students ( so far I like the Aussie and Kiwis the best .) the Americans mostly are annoying right now. A lot of them fit the stereotypical "L'auberge Espanol" classification for Americans and as a result I do not hang out too much with them. I am going to Paris next weekend and as long as the advance from the assistantship comes through I am also going to Prague at the end of the month. Kat, I have two students that I go to class with from.........drumroll.......Krakovia, Poland!!! Can you believe it? Maybe I will make it there after all.
Some of the differences here are amazing. The food is very cheap, red bell peppers by the kilo are 3 times cheaper than the States, the cheese is amazing too. Also, I have purchased a cell phone and I am paying 53.50€ per month for 4hours anytime, 6 nights and weekends. The unlimited concept for nights and weekends has not taken affect here and it is expensive. That is what happens when the largest shareholder of France Telecom is still the country of France. Also, the computer labs here are a joke, as well as the process for DSL or dial-up access. At the UNI you must sign in and then you only have 1 hour to do any work or emailing that you need to do. That is the hardest thing when I can just go to UNCC back home and pik one of the hundreds available on campus. Then again, it is free here, school I mean. So that causes a lot of difficulty. I have no choice on class times and I did not receive my schedule until the day before classes! Oh, and to get internet access you have to "open" a telephone line for 23.00€ and then pay 13€ per month to keep it. This has no internet access yet, it is a seperate transaction for that and it will be about 15.00-20.00 € for that. Oh, since I have a phone I can at least call people right? As long as it is to a land line, yes. Cell phones cost more, by the minute. Someone tell Nextel that there is a fortune to be made here if they get some competition.
Just a little look at the differences that I have encountered, not good or bad, just different. The teaching has just started and I think all is going to be fine now. Money is getting tight like the Presidential Race, hope they both work out to my favor.
Well, I am running out opf time here in the lab so I will post again when I have some free time. I have tons of pictures as well to download here and at the Niners Abroad site too.

à tout a l'heure,

Sean Murphy