cultural things in 'n around Avignon

Good morning.

The Mistral is blowing something FIERCE right now - so much that it kept me awake most of the night - well, that and my intense fear of teaching. But yeah - the Mistral is laying the smack down and taking names.

So I've done some very cool cultural things around Avignon and I figure I better write them down before I forget. Forgive me for this list-y trip I've been on. Eventually I'll get around to writing in an eloquent way (let's hope) and it'll be more fun for your eyeballs and brains!

1) Avignon is the new Ann Arbor
What does that mean? Well, Avignon has its very own food co-op! On Wednesday night after our French class we all went to what we thought was going to be a pizzeria (and can I just tell you that if I don't have a pepperoni pizza STAT I might go freakin' crazy! - oh yeah - there's a Domino's here. And it may or may not be true that one of the assistants here has a discount card because she's a frequent customer... yeah buddy) and it turns out it's a food co-op kinda thing. Ca veut dire: it's open three nights a week, I think, and people sign up to provide food for the night. Ok, that's not clear, is it? Shoot, it's 6:30 am! What I mean is that you can sign up with a group of homies and present a menu to the people who own the place and say "Bonjour, on veut faire ca, s'il vous plait." And then you go rock that stuff in the kitchen. You can sign up as a group or individually so you get to meet Frenchies and all of that! And by Frenchies I mean the "let's all get our instruments and have band practice in the room over"-dreadlocks-hemp clothing-coop-peaceloving-AnnArborite Frenchies. I was feeling very at home. Almost like I was in Lester co-op or chilling on the diag. So I hope we do that sometime! And then I can go have French friends, too!

2) Church. Les deux.
Went to a Catholic church last Sunday.
Whoa.
I'm not going to go again. I'm glad I went because I got to hear church music and I got to hear liturgy (French) but I realized that it's definitely not what I'm looking for, no matter how church-y it is. Our plans for Protestant church-going had fallen through so we went to Catholic mass and we decided that it's not for us so...

Went to Protestant church yesterday.
It rocked.
It was so so simple. There was one celebrant and no one else up at the front. The church itself was like how Avignon usually rolls - you know, stone, tall, 'fortified'-like, old, etc. etc. The service was an hour long with a sermon that I could follow when I wasn't daydreaming (sorry, guys, my mind wanders no matter where I am) and it was beautiful saying the Lord's Prayer and the Nicene Creed in French. One problem: only three hymns! What the bananas? I go to church to sing! No matter, though - I'm glad I went.

3) Piano concert at the Opera Theater House on Saturday night.
Saw a concert pianist play and it only cost me 3 euros. He was stunning. The Opera House is bautiful and majestic and there are so many reasons that I'm glad I went. What's extra awesome is how there's still so much left to discover here (cue violins for this cheesy part) and I have so much time to really hunker down and live the Avignonnaise life... makes me happy.

4) Ice Skating
AssocEchanges is going ice skating on Friday night! Yeahhhhhhhh buddy!

In other news, I found Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong" CD and I've been listening to it on repeat. It's the only holiday music I have on my computer! I mean, it rocks, but I can't wait for more from home :)