Last-minute craziness.

Today Madame Camus gave me a little mug as a going-away present. She calls it a souvenir "of France and of Marie-France" (her first name). This afternoon Heather and I walked to Leclerc so I could buy a new suitcase; my old one broke on the way here. I managed to withstand the temptation of the McDonald's in the Leclerc parking lot by reminding myself that 1) I had a goat cheese pizza waiting for me for dinner, 2) I'll probably go to the McDonald's in Charles de Gaulle Airport on Monday before I leave, and 3) in a few days, I'll be back in the United States and going to McDonald's won't be a big deal anymore.

Today I had the most awkward encounter with a student ever. It's almost too painful to write about, but here goes. The student sees me in the hall and asks what we would be doing next week. I tell him that next week I'll be back in the United States. He feels obligated to tell me goodbye, and it's important to note here that in France, you usually kiss someone when you tell them goodbye. Or when you tell them hello. There are a few teachers at the lycée who have felt obligated to kiss me whenever they see me (and that is one thing I will not miss), simply because it's normal and it's what they do for every teacher here. It's never stopped feeling uncomfortable to me, and the minute I see this student lean toward me one fraction of an inch, I take a big step back and offer my hand for a handshake, explaining that this is the way people say hello and goodbye in the United States. Did I mention this student is about 16 and looks vaguely like Adam?

Sara is sitting next to me right now, translating a list of words into Chinese. I just asked her if she was studying her French, but no, she's studying German. She's so damn diligent, I always feel lazy next to her. I've changed my journal icons again, but I'm not sure how long I'll stick with these; I think my new default icon is pretty boring. Tomorrow I’m concentrating all my efforts on packing and running the last few errands.

How do you pick up the threads of an old life?

In the last 48 hours, Rebecca has....

• Bought three goat cheese pizzas and eaten two. Also had Heather take pictures of me eating the pizza. (Yeah, we all know what I’m going to miss.)
• Bought a chocolate bar, a bag of nougat (it's a little different from what we know as nougat in the US; it's little white cubes of dough with peanuts in it, and damn, is it delicious), and two île flottant desserts (these are basically meringue with English cream and caramel sauce – so good). I’m determined to stuff as many French desserts as I can into my body during my last few days.
• Donated the English-language books that I can’t take back with me to the médiathèque.
• Made three visits to the bank to arrange to have my money transferred into my American bank account. The third time I came in, I said, “Okay, this is the last time, really.” The woman who sat at the front desk all day said, “Oh, but we’ve missed you.”

The left side of my neck has been very stiff lately. I thought I might have slept on it at an odd angle, but there also seems to be something wrong with the left side of my jaw, which is sore, and my left ear, which feels funny, like I have a head cold or something. The teeth and gums on the bottom right side of my mouth are also sore, but I think this is from my last appointment to the dentist. It wasn’t really painful this time, but there was a lot of pressure on my mouth.

A list for future reference:

( Songs I Want to Add to My iPod When I Get Back )