good riddance (time of your life)

yes, i know that song has become a cliche. i'm sorry, but i find the title super-appropriate for my last blog from La Réunion. Because, on the one hand, i doubt anyone who's read this blog or communicated with me over the course of the year will be surprised to know that i'm ready to leave. But on the other hand, in many ways i have had the time of my life. I've done things i never expected to do, like paragliding, and setting off across mountain passes in the middle of the night. With Vanessa i've been in the closest thing that i've had to a functional long-term relationship since gradutating from high school ;-) (sadly, that's more of a commentary on my love-life than on my relationship with Ness). I've met some absolutely amazing people. So, to wrap up, here's my inventory of what i'll be leaving behind me when i take that plane on Sunday.

Things i won't miss:
-daily sexual harrassment, incurred just by being female and outdoors
-the ridiculous traffic
-the gratuitous pollution
-feeling nervous about my language abilities
-being an elementary school teacher

Things i will miss:
-the view of the ocean
-hiking
-the saturday market
-tropical fruits
-the weather (ugh, hello NY winters)
-my spanish class
-my children (when they're not being awful brats like my first class yesterday)
-speaking French (and franglais)
-my wonderful friends

and thus ends Moni in Reunion...i'm switching definitively to the new blog.

Au revior, et je vous aime!

short-timing

I know i haven't written in forever, but that's because i haven't had that much to say. As anyone who's gotten an e-mail from me since Mada knows, basically all i'm doing is reading, cooking, teaching, and counting down my days here. So not really much to write about. That being said, there is one exciting thing going on in my life.

Last week i got a voice mail message from my Spanish teacher, Alejandro, saying, "Monica, i have a friend who's searching for a feminine, anglophone voice. That is to say, i have a job to propose to you." Intrigued, of course, i called him back. It turns out Alejandro's friend Sammy is a documentary filmmaker who made a film about a scientific expedition to study fish populations in the Antartic. The film is going to be shown at a conference in England, so they want a version dubbed in English. Seeing as how 1) I have nothing better to do with my time and 2) I found the whole idea incredibly random and funny, I agreed to do it, and recruited my friend Julian to do the male parts. Last Friday i spent a few hours with Alejandro working on translating the script from French to English, which was surprisingly fun - nice to have a mental challenge beyond trying to come up with lesson plans. And tomorrow we're recording - my first time in a recording studio (except for visiting Sun Studios in Memphis). And we're getting paid 125€ for 1.5 - 2 hours of work (not bad), and will hopefully get a copy of the DVD so i can torment all of you with it! Awesome, right?

Switching gears, here's my schedule/contact info for the summer and beyond. The road trip/getting to New York details are still in the process of being worked out, but that's a general sketch. I'm not going to have enough time anywhere, but if i'm coming to your city and you want to hang out, let me know, we'll work something out.

Schedule:
July 1-12: Dubai
July 12-16: Paris
July17-August 1: Dallas, with probably the weekend of the 28th in Houston
(from this point all dates tentative)
August 2-6: Chicago
Aug 6-9: on the road :-)
Aug 9-11: Seattle
Aug 11-14: San Francisco
Aug 14-17: San Diego
Aug 17-18: Tucson
Aug 18-20: Tucson-Dallas, via Lubbock?
August 25th: Fly to New York.

Contact info:
American cell phone: 469-939-6989 (valid after July 17th)
Address for July and August:
1722 Southampton Drive
Carrollton, TX, 75007
Address as of August 26th, 2007 (excitement!):
D'Agostino Hall
110 West 3rd Street, #0901-B
New York, NY 10012-1074
new blog: moNY

love y'all, and see you soon!