Today is the 20th birthday of Charlotte, who is an assistant from Scotland, so last night we all went out to celebrate. It was a really great night, but I'm not sure I can handle it every weekend! First we had crepes and cake for dinner at someone's apartment. It was about 15 people crammed in a tiny room full of smoke from the crepes. I got to meet a bunch of people I hadn't met before, including more assistants and others. We had lots of food and wine, and everyone looked like they had a great time.
After singing and cake and coffee, we all headed out to the Irish pub in Laval, O'Regan's. It wasn't very crowded, which was good since we brought a rather large group with us. We all crowded into a long booth and chatted over a fresh round of drinks. I was lucky enough to spend the evening hanging out with Laura and Michael, two lovely British people. We had a great time imitating each others' accents and getting to know one another better.
The final leg of our journey brought us to a club called Le Donjon (The Dungeon), which was empty when we arrived at 1 am and completely full (with a line of about 30 people outside) when I left at 2:30. It's a strange nightlife culture here. No one does anything on Sundays (I'll get to that in a minute). Because of this, people stay out all night, until 5 or 6 in the morning. Not exactly the kind of lifestyle I'm used to...but something to experience once or twice all the same. We danced a lot and had the DJ wish Charlotte a happy birthday. There were definitely some creepy guys there looking to dance with the young ladies in our group, but we were able to fend them off for the most part. I left close to 2:30 am, out of breath and ready for bed.
Today is Sunday, a day when everything in Laval closes and everyone stays home with the family. Since we assistants have no family here in town, we mostly lay around our apartments and came to the lobby to use the wi-fi. In a way it's a relief to have a day of compulsory rest on Sunday; no one can run any errands, so no one feels guilty that errands haven't been run. At dinner Laura and I sat with a group of French guys, and our conversation touched upon this topic. They asked about Sunday dinners in the United States, and we said that often, family dinners didn't happen, that it was more normal for everyone to grab something for himself in between work, meetings, etc. The guys couldn't believe that people actually had things to do on Sundays, especially work. I told them, "La vie continue, même le dimanche..." and we talked about how in the US, life/work/money/responsibility often takes precedence over family. I think we're a culture that values hard work and achievement, even if that takes away from a person's family life. This will probably come up again in my teaching experience, so I have no doubt that I'll reflect on the topic again here. It's just an interesting comparison to make....and a little daunting to think of all the Sundays I'll have to fill.
Tomorrow I'm headed to school, to record some poems for use in the classroom, I believe. Then I've got a meeting with the English department and I hear we're all going to go out for a drink afterwards. That should be an interesting experience!
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