It's not just strangers on the street, man.

4 Nov 2009 Wednesday

What a day, what a day, what a day. And it’s only 7 pm- I still have lots of HW to do! But at least I am eating a super delicious salad filled with cantaloupe, almonds, cucumber, fried eggplant, couscous and strange things we don’t find in the US like bananas that must be cooked. Now, where to start?

When’s the last time you considered, just for a brief moment, killing a kitten. Now, I may be exaggerating, but this kitten is driving me insane. It cries and cries and cries and cries. I feed it and it eats and then cries. I pet it and then set it down and it cries. The second I pick it up it starts purring and the second I set it down, it starts crying. Right now, for example, it is curled up in my lap, purring and keeps looking at me and meowling. It just doesn’t stop. Youma was super right- don’t take the pity kitten. Point taken.

So onto my absurd day. It started off delightfully with me forcing myself out of bed and going running. Skip ahead a few hours and I had a really great conversation with Youma. We talked about the Martiniquais and the French and the different manners of thinking and humanity in general, making a difference in the world, etc. She told me a little Martiniquais story: All of a sudden, a fire starts in the forest and all the animals start to run, fleeing from it, except the little Kolibri (hummingbird). One of the animals stops and asks, “What are you doing?” as the Kolibri plunges it beak into the heart of a flower and pulls a tiny “goutte” of water and drops it on the fire. “Je fais ma part,” Kolibri responds.

“I am doing my part.”

That story stuck with me today and will come in to my day, but later. So, I left the house at 11:20 for an 11:30 class and was promptly picked up by a very nice woman who 1. Picked me up from hitchhiking and 2. Was nice enough to drop me off all the way at campus even though it was out of her way. Did I mention the bus driver’s strike last time I wrote? It’s been over a week now.

Class was interesting- today was my last Camus course and we had an interesting lecture with a little discussion. After the class I started a conversation with my professor on the book and some of the different ways of analyzing Meursault in the context of literary theory (for example Freud or Althusser/ Derrida). It was very engaging and we talked about the book in the context of humanity and in the context of Camus’ life, etc. Part way through the conversation, we moved from the noisy outdoor walkway to his office and continued the conversation. Normal, right? I should mention that this is the same professor who is unreasonably touchy-feely with students and gives bisous (which no other professor does) to his students and just is sort of too affectionate. Well, today was the worst. In fact, I might ask you, the reader, when the last time you were pretty sure a professor tried to sleep with you. Yes, I am 107% serious. In his office we continued talking and he asked me about what I study and my family and all that nonsense which is normal for me, as an international student. People are interested. What is not normal is putting your hand on my face and caressing my cheek with your thumb, Monsieur. What is also not normal is taking my arm, standing up and pulling me up across from you with your arms on my shoulders and your hands clasped behind my head. But, I assure you, I stood at my full height (which is pretty damn tall) and stared him right in the eye (which is hard because he wears darkly tinted glasses- but I noticed a week or two ago that even though he is very darkly black, he his VERY light blue eyes. Strange, huh?). Where was I? Stared him right in the eyes with the most confused/horrified/”you are so making me uncomfortable and crossing a big line” look I could come up with. There was the classic sort of “bon” and the “well, I have to go study at the library now.” He said two or three times “on va manger” which is ambiguous in that “on” as a subject can mean “people” the sort of royal “we” or literally “we.” I assured him I had already eaten and was going to study at the library so he walked me there and I asked him if he was going to eat lunch with his wife (since he wears a wedding band) and he said he was going to check something out at some house in Fort de France and asked me if I was coming with him. For the final time, I assured him I was going to study at the library.

I talked to Youma about it tonight and she surprised me by telling me it’s not unheard of at the University, one of the reasons she doesn’t like it. I cracked a classic “guess I passed up an automatic A” joke but she said it was good I didn’t play his little game. In regards to him asking if I was coming to Fort to France, she said that in this game “if you said yes, you won’t say no.” It was interesting and hilarious but I’m still feeling pretty uncomfortable by the whole thing. It just shook me up and took me by surprise. He’s my professor, you know? I’m just not okay with that.

Thanks to the continued bus strike, I walked home from Campus after FREEZING in the library due to air conditioning. I guess I shouldn’t complain because I love it when it’s super hot outside but sometimes it’s just way too cold in there. On my walk home, within the last 10 or 15 minutes, I was charging my way up the big hill that leads to the homestead and passed an older woman struggling with a huge sack and using her umbrella as a cane. She was going very slowly and clearly struggling so I asked her if I could help her out. After assuring her I was going up the hill, too, she let me carry her bag and we slowly made our way up the hill, complaining about the bus strike, talking about how she had to go down to Shoelcher and she told me about her tendonitis in both legs, etc. I carried her bag all the way to her house (after assuring her it wasn’t out of my way and I didn’t mind at all) and she was kind enough to give me a few bananas (that require cooking) as a way of saying thank you. She had a pretty garden with lots of plants and really cute chicks running around chirpring. Precious. I was in a super good mood so that when I passed the usual punks on the street corner and they asked me who was accompanying me (on my walk), I told them “moi-même” with a big smile. “Pourquoi?” they asked and I assured them, “parce que j’ai pas besoin des autres” and continued walking, laughing. It was funny. I’ll leave it to you to translate because I really need to read this speech by Obama, his inauguration speech and catch up on the second article of the constitution and the civil rights movement. Plus, I have this kitten sleeping on my lap.

I will end with saying that I was fortunate enough to be volunteered by Youma to help Youma clean up the dog shit everywhere and you know I loved that. Plus, my continued quest to kill as many mosquitoes as possible continues as they continue to bite me all the time…

But, life is hilarious and pretty alright. Plus, I’m going body boarding Friday- although I’m thinking about trying Surf instead. We’ll see!
Love,
Bethany

p.s. I forgot to mention the dog harassing me on my walk home from school. It was sort of funny but also scary because I couldn't tell if it had rabies and it wouldn't let me pass and kept jumping on me. GAH.