"La Bete Humaine"

Just watched this movie, based upon Emile Zola's novel, with Jean Gabin for cinema class. It was good! Morbid, but good. Jean Gabin is growing on me as an attractive human specimen. I'm beginning to develop a black-and-white crush. I got the DVD to work after about 20 solid minutes of rubbing it with the cloth that came with my Macbook...I guess to clean it, though I'm not really sure.

And I don't know if anyone is familiar with Arthur Rimbaud the French poet, but we read a poem by him in class today and "analyzed" it, i.e. listened to the Swedish girl garble around for some deep-rooted existentialist French vocab and laughed at the truly ridiculous questions the boy from California always asks.

Had dinner with my family (a weird quiche thing with sugar & bacon that I was more fascinated by than interested in, pan-seared meat and a potato au gratin thing, and melon for dessert, and vin rouge, of course) then smoked a cigarette with them outside and talked about the weather, my host father's travels, and video games. My dad wants to teach me how to make my own pasta this weekend, and I said that I would cook them some crevettes (scrimps - I want to blacken them but don't know how without adequate heat of the spice variety) sometime next week. Hopefully.

Tomorrow night I'm going to have dinner with Boyce from NHHS hopefully at this cool little bistro in the Latin Quarter that I discovered online. Prix fixe, 3 courses, master chef, good wine. I will be very pissed upon returning to the States that I cannot have vin with every meal like I do here. Even petit dejeuner sometimes. Which means "breakfast." Actually it means "little lunch," which explains the French desire to eat bread and have a coffee for breakfast. My family actually thinks it's weird that I want to eat fruit in the morning.

Luckily, the weather for the next few days is supposed to remain gorgeous. All the better to drink vin outside, my dear.

A bientot!