Fascination

11 August 17:38

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bookworm. Still, I thought I’d have more than plenty of work to keep me busy throughout my trip. So, I thought bringing two books from home would be more than enough. Ha ha ha. Trying my best to read slow and conserve, I finished one book yesterday, and have about one-hundred pages left to go in the other one. I needed a bookstore! Also, I know the whole point of this trip is to immerse myself in the language. I also know that it’s only Tuesday, and I’m already starting to forget things. Sometimes, escape literature solves all problems.

So, when I had the internet at school today, I looked for some addresses of bookstores in Hyères. I didn’t have a lot of luck. But anyway, I went to the post office to mail some post cards, and then planned on checking out some stores. I was a little upset to find out the first store was for little kids. My French isn’t that good, but it’s better than that! The next one was a natural healing/witchcraft kind of place. Strike two. From across the street, though, I could see the bookstore next to it looked small, but semi-normal. Halleluajah! Even better, when I got up close, there were two signs on the door: “We have English books,” and “Wir haben deutsche Bücher.” Oh my gosh, an oasis! I ran in there like a fat person runs into the queue at McDonald’s. Okay, bad example. Fat people probably don’t run to McDonald’s.

Anyway, they didn’t have any books in English or German. Stupid French liars. They did have the Twilight series, though. I mean, let’s face it. I’m a little bit sick of Bella and Edward. I’ve read the series about ten times. But, something worked for me when I was learning German. Back when my German was crap like my French is now, I started reading Harry Potter in German. I knew the story well, and I knew the way JK Rowling wrote. Even though I didn’t understand half of what I was reading at the time, I got the picture. I read through the whole series. And I began to catch on. It was a slow process, but it helped, and I didn’t have to use a dictionary all too often.

So I figure, hey, what the heck? I seriously doubt I’m going to find anything in English or German here, so why not some escape lit in French? “Si j’avais eu l’allure d’une fille de Phoenix, j’aurais sans doute pu en tirer avantage.” Oh Bella, you need some more self-confidence if you wanna snag that hottie vampire! Come on, what could be more escapist than that?

As a side note, I wish my host mother would stop coming into my room in the mornings and closing the wood shutters. I get that you wanna keep things cool, but it makes the room smell like butt. Then, I’ve got to keep the windows open just so I can breathe fresh air, which is more than counterproductive. Oh the French.. they really need to pick up on some German efficiency, I tell you!