Recent Events in the 02

- I was finally given permission by my conseillère pédagogique to address her with the informal tu instead of the formal vous! It only took a little over a year. It's an interesting issue. I've eaten at her house several times, she knows a ton about me, and yet at the same time she is still my boss, so I didn't consider it abnormal to use vous with her for so long, although I guess I am a little surprised that it took as long as it did for her to decide that I could be informal with her now. I think that the complexity of vous and tu, like the genders of all the different nouns, is something that I will never fully understand even if I live in France for the rest of my life.

- Monoprix sells the type of Le Petit Marseillais body wash that I like to use in packets of two-for-one, except for the scent that I use. Why not mine? Let me preface this by saying that I have very sensitive skin, and what I'm sensitive to is added perfumes in lotion and soap products. This = disaster in France because everything, EVERYTHING, is heavily scented with perfume. Last year I tried lots and lots of different products, and even the products for sensitive skin have so much perfume in them that you stink like a hooker and break out in hives (I'm looking at you, Nivea). Back in June I finally I found a Petit Marseillais product with no artificial perfumes added, and I decided to try it out, still slightly sceptical. Luckily it was a successful experiment! Thank you Le Petit Marseillais! So I returned to Monoprix to restock, only to find that all the other scents of this particular type of body wash (which all have artificial perfumes added) are available in a two-for-one package but not this one. What's with the sensitive skin discrimination, France? We are deserving of cheaper body wash too! And on that same note, why the obsession with perfume-y body products? One can assume that if you're using these products in the first place you are interested in personal hygiene and don't stink, therefore not needing all the extra perfume to cover up unpleasant odors. Maybe the French have caught on to the fact that other countries think they all smell bad and so they've gone overboard trying not to be smelly? Have American stereotypes turned the French into paranoid perfume junkies? ;)

- this week I am going to join a local choir and a sculpting class. I'm writing it on here because I'm kind of nervous about joining, and if I keep this idea in my head I'll put it off and put it off and in the end just not do it. So now you are all morally obligated to check in with me and see if I've joined yet. I've been singing in choirs since 8th grade, reaching my peak choral involvement at university when I was in three singing groups and in rehearsals at least 12 hours a week. So joining a choir is nothing new for me, except that I know I'll be sick all winter again and not be able to sing. Sculpting, on the other hand, will be something new and challenging. I haven't been in an art class since 6th grade. I was never terribly gifted and my parents had to put up with a lot of lopsided, badly painted pinch-pots when I was in elementary school. The point of taking the class is mostly to meet some new people, so hopefully the other students won't be the judgemental type if my people look more like mushrooms!