Creepiness Not Appreciated

I’m listening to an Angels game for the first time since I arrived in Bordeaux – I don’t think I can explain how excited this makes me. It’s great to hear the guys, even if Rex isn’t jumping off the walls with them.

Anyway. So there have been a couple of strange experiences since the last time writing. The first one I promised to write about, so here it is, just to clear up any confusion or worry. (Not that I’m saying that this isn’t a worrisome occurance…) So yesterday around three or four, I was outside of the café near the dorms, using the internet and uploading pictures to Facebook. I hear a car pull up behind me and a middle-aged (maybe late thirties) guy asks if I know any cafes that are open on Saturdays. I apologize and say that I don’t, since I’m from California and don’t know the area that well. He keeps talking to me, not taking that and leaving, asking me very personal questions such as where I was living, what building I was in, where in France I had gone, what I was studying, how long I was going to be in France… for most of these, I just plain lied, since he was definitely giving off a creepy vibe. At some point, he decided that he would pull off and park so we could continue talking, and I told him that it was quite unnecessary, I was going to be leaving soon anyway. There had already been a couple of moments where he had wanted to shake hands, which would involve me getting close to the car. Granted, I was talking to him through the passenger window, and there were a lot of people around so I doubt he would grab me and kidnap me, but I did have my laptop in my other hand, so he easily could have grabbed it and driven off. For these reasons, I was quite happy in keeping my distance.

But he came and parked anyway, and at this point he kept asking if I wanted to get a coffee right now (non merci, I think I’m going to be going out with friends now), if I was doing anything later in the evening (I wasn’t, but I told him I was and I really wasn’t interested in watching the football game with him), and if I wanted to meet him tomorrow (in which I quite firmly told him I wasn’t interested). He seemed to be really missing the message, though, and kept standing close enough to me that I’d back up, then he’d move closer, then I’d back up… You get the idea. So he stated that he’d come back to the café at 3pm tomorrow, despite that I told him quite clearly that I wasn’t going to be there. I left right after he did, incredibly creeped out and thoroughly mentally molested. Needless to say, I made sure to be on the other side of Bordeaux at 3pm, and have been very careful to avoid that area.

So! Other interesting, less-creepy things. The weekend has been a lot of fun, very very busy. I can’t wait, really, for a day when I can just lounge around and do nothing, maybe read a bit – I have a French manga! So Friday after class we ended up meandering into town, I bought my bus pass (less than 30 euros for unlimited tram and bus use for a month – not bad at all!), we wandered around, we continually lost each other. At a comic book store, filled with all sorts of geeky things which I expect I will buy for geeky friends back home (<3), I bought the first volume of Kobato – the newest CLAMP manga, not yet released in America! Started reading it, it’s adorable as usual. Definitely a fun challenge, though. Then Friday night we all went out to the Cock and Bull, an English bar… Friday is cocktail nights, you can buy a big cock for 7.50 euros or a small cock for 5 euros. (Teehee.) I got a Sex on the Beach, for anyone who’s wondering, and it was delicious. A good time was had by all.

Saturday I spent the first part lounging, after sleeping in until ten or so. Then later in the evening (I feel like I did more than this on Saturday – must verify) me and a couple of calmer, more mature friends (who do NOT fill the “loud, rambunctious, annoying American” stereotype) went out and hung out with some French guys who they had met at a party a couple of nights before. A very good time was had – they bought us some wine (my first red wine here! It was absolutely superb, I’m a cheap date), we talked for a good couple of hours, and I talked about space and general relativity in French! It doesn’t get much better than that. Today, Sunday, was considerably less interesting – we got up, we went to the apartment to start bringing stuff over, we hung out there for a bit (the girl who was living there before left peanut butter and pasta… these must be investigated for consumption), then went to IKEA, which was cool but really more effort than it was worth.

Interesting musings, interesting musings… Food. Food is an amazing, amazing thing. I haven’t eaten enough of it in Bordeaux, and I can definitely tell that both that and all the walking are already doing me some good. But when I do eat out, it’s definitely good. I’ve had all sorts of things – lots of sandwiches (eggs, pickles, turkey, ham… all sorts of things on those buggers), a kebab (except in burrito form, with French fries in it. Sounds weird, but it was REALLY good), some Thai food (which was not that great, it was a Thai express), one Nutella Panini (it was rather good, actually), a waffle at IKEA… Looking forward to Thursday night, when we have a final program dinner at an actual restaurant, and we don’t have to pay for it! Score. For the rest of the time though, I continue to live on babybells, canned vegetables, baguettes, apples, and pasta. Delicious, delicious.