23h40 - 26/9/96
residence universitaire, caen

i think i forgot to tell you that i met the first 'stinkin mouth' frenchwoman ever! it was yesterday and damn her teeth were yellow! i also discovered this morning that the french also put up signs reading "beware of bad dogs" except in french it's "chien mechant" (bad dog). i saw it on a gate on my way to the 'stage'. interesting, huh?

there is so much work to do at the workshop it's not funny. one lecture after another for the most part in french with a few interjections in english here and there. i am getting lots of insight into the french psyche. the driving force of each student is supposedly to succeed at their studies. there is no time for play, for partying, etc. of course there are exceptions but for the most part 'ca y est!' even at the university the place is so dead that i was surprised tonight when i heard macarena being played and some voices shouting, "hey! macarena!!!" that's more than likely the only part of the song that they know, like myself here. i am getting more and more comfortable with the language and with the english assistants i have to meet up with at the stage. almost all of them are british with so many accent variations that i have to acclimatise my ears and concentration to each one - scottish welsh irish english and many others.

i myself try to speak clearly so they can understand because i imagine they have the same problems i have. i think i follow their accents better than they do mine since i have watched more british and american films than they have jamaican films. it's amazing how many of them think that jamaica is all sun and white sands, like in the brochures, and rastamans with spliffs and cocks standing at attention! i have to be setting them straight. it's like educating them to a whole new world!

once a group of us - an american, an irish, and myself - was discussing geography, etc. the american mentioned something about maine, a state in the u.s. and i said, "oh, that's stephen king country, right?" as if i didn't know. and she is asking me, "is it?" she says she's never even read one of his books so that explains it. i couldn't quite figure out how someone could pass through life without reading a stephen king novel!

it's been on my mind since day 1 to finally write my letters. but i'm waiting until i go home to the family i'm staying with, which is tomorrow evening. by then i'll feel more settled. besides that, my hair is so dirty. it needs a wash badly. and some of the girls said they were going out tonight and asked me to come along. i overslept but, trust me, it was more important to be warm. oh how i need my live blanket!