I Found NPR online.

It has been raining continuously here in Lyon for the last 3 days. It has been off and on all week with rain and lots of gray overcast days. However the last few days have been continuous raining. So much that the metros and Tramways shut down early last night due to the amount of water that had fallen. So, what better to do on a rainy Sunday morning than read and listen to NPR. I found it on the radio stations on the Media Player that I accidentally found while trying to find some Jazz and Blues stations. So here I am updating my blog and listening to NPR.
I have been all over the place today online. Reading the headlines of the Financial Times that has become my favorite paper since arriving here in Lyon. Bouncing over to MLB.Com and The Boston Red Sox homepage checking out how the boys from Boston are doing. Then I started searching for English teaching positions in Spanish speaking countries. I really think that when I finish my degree and I am looking into Grad School I would like to go and learn some Spanish or perhaps Japanese or Chinese. I think about staying in Charlotte and I get depressed about the thought of it. I think that I am beginning to feel the reverse-culture shock before I get home. I have another year, maybe year and a half before I am finished up at UNCC. I cannot wait to be done there.
Americans have to stop being so lazy in learning other cultures, while they are not as bad as the English I still think that we are lazy. A little anecdote for you about how I feel. When I was at the Monticello I was working a banquet one night. The banquet manager was bringing up the food for the party. Apparently, he thought that he could make it all the way without needing hot mits or a kitchen towel. Jaime ( pronounced HI-ME), was standing near the chafing dishes organizing the crudites and plates, etc... Jaime has been working at the restaurant for a few months and is learning English on the side at a community college. He works hard and the restaurant abuses his inability to speak English and the fact he is an immigrant to puch him as hard as they can without opening up there pocketbook like they would for an American. The banquet manager begins yelling at Jaime "Caliente! Caliente!" as he is walking towards the chafing dishes. Jaime hears and so he clears out of the way and moves to another end of the table. I also move out of the way and watch, the banquet manager begins yelling at Jaime to open the lids and calling him an idiot. I run over and lift the lids for the manager and he drops in the hot pan. I return to the lower dining room and soon the baquet manager, after chastizing Jaime for not opening the lids comes down as well. He turns to me and asks me if I can believe what just happened. I begged his pardon because I did not understand his point. He says well I said "Caliente! Caliente!" and Jaime just got out of the way and I almost got burned because he did not open the chafing dish lids. He tells me how much of an idiot he is, la-la-la..... So, I am standing there when pick something up and yell "Hot! Hot!" and the banquet manager jumps out of the way and he doesn't open the door behind him and help me through. I ask him why, I put the dish down and ask him why he did not help me out? He says, you only said "Hot! How was I supposed to know you wanted me to open the door?" So obviously I retorted with well you expected Jaime to open up the chafing dishes and help you when you yelled the same thing at him. Just before all this the banquet manager is telling me how any immigrant is responsible for learning English because it is "our" country. What an asshole? I hear that all the time though, and not at NRA meetings either. I know that I am speaking from a bias having spent the last 8 months in France but really? No offense Kat but I am going to pick on you, people are taking sign language at UNCC instead of learning a Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian, etc. I have no problems with sign language at all, but as far as the number of people that you can communicate with and the fact that it is without conjugation and only vocabulary it seems just a way to be lazy and get around the pre-reqs. You are not the only person that I know who has done this but I chose to pick on you because you actually read this site. I know that you are headed to Portugal this summer and I hope that you are learning enough Portuguese for getting around a cafe or finding you hotel. OK, that's it I think that we as Americans need to get off our asses and quit worrying about getting our jobs and our lakeside houses and go see the World and all of the cultures out there.
That said, I am feeling better this weekend in comparison to last week. I still have a cough and some nasty phlegm coming up occasionally, but on the whole I am better. So then I decided on Friday night to go and meet my friends at Maddy's place for the Pimps and Prostitutes Party, changed to the anything with a "P" party. I was too sick in the week to get a costume ready and did not think I was going to make it so I had to go sans costume. However, I found a couple lipstick yielding femmes and became a "Playboy" with some nice kisses all over my face. I planned to leave early and after snapping a few photos I went to catch the last metro. I missed the thing by about 20 seconds. So, I bought a six-pack and headed back up. I had previously decided not to drink but since I had to stay I said what the hell. I kept taking photos and everyone was so happy that I came back. I finished up by ending the party at 3:30am when the neighbor that yelled at me twice from the streets to close the windows eventually came up as someone was leaving and asked me to please stop. He was very polite and asked me kindly to turn the music down so that he and his wife could sleep since they had to work the next day. I went in and told everyone it was over and turned the music off. Claire, not thrilled said that the guy was crazy and who cares. After a little convincing that the party was already a success at 3:30 in the morning she succombed. I decided to walk home through the rain back home even though I was getting over a cold or possibly Bronchitis. I got about half a kilometer and decided I may as well run home to save time. 30 minutes later, soaked and coughing, I arrived chez moi. Took a shower and warmed up before going to bed with some more great memories a few months before my departure. I'll post some of the pictures as well. Hope everyone is well, talk to you soon.