They don't call it the FRENCH kiss for nothing!

Ok so I admit that the title may be just a wee, tad bit misleading...let me forewarn you before you proceed...NO I am not going to dissect and discuss what makes a french kiss french (hello I have a bf!!) This title actually refers to the fact that I am officially convinced that the French take PDA to a whole new level hence being bestowed the prestigious  title of the 'French' kiss. What am I rambling on about? Let me show you an example....the below photo was taken yesterday from my (very crappy and lame) Blackberry Curve 8520 on full zoom while I was descending the escalator leaving a mall. Mind you, this is TAME compared to what I have witnessed here in Lille, France:

Now I do not go around snapping random photos of liplocked, embracing strangers like a  pyscho freak....weirdo ... stalker ...professional voyeur but this was truly getting ridiculous!! On the tram, (at least i can pretend to be interested in the sights through the windows), in the park, (at least I can veer in another direction) in the metro DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MY FOUR EYES  (where i am an in an enclosed space with NOWHERE to really look but in front of me at at the middle aged, {YES complete with wrinkles, grey hair, signs of maturity and CLEARLY a perfectly functioning libido} couple heavily making out with their hands ripping out each other's hair.) *PHEW* In hindsight I should have probably taken a pic as they wouldn't have noticed but the others sitting 1cm next to me surely would have. 
This all brings me back to yesterday on the very long escalator which takes about 3minutes to go down....So from before boarding the escalator I spotted this couple below (how could I not?!) sitting on the bench out in the open, cold public as people, families and children were leaving the mall. After fb posts expressing my shock at these SUPER BLATANT 'voulez vous coucher avec moi?' public scenarios I simply had to take a photo. I just had to! 
 I MUST STRESS that after the 3minute escalator ride plus about 1 minute of walking towards and past them and they did NOT  break their kissing embrace! I wondered if they were alive for a brief moment....or if perhaps they had somehow frozen together in that position....but all rational hypotheses were laid to rest when they finally broke apart (perhaps to inhale some oxygen into their lungs) and watched each other with googly eyes.
I probably sound like a hater and yes, yes I indeed am...I soooo am not!!  I do miss my bf and such affection but where I'm from, back in the Caribbean, we do NOT show such pda!! Holding hands, a couple pecks and lippy smacks, long hugs and embraces are all well and good (we ARE human not robots) BUT the heavy making out and petting and UBERLY loving and longing looks and EXCESS giggling and moaning noises (ESPECIALLY those within a 5cm radius) ETC ETC are those we like to keep PRIVATE (whether in a public restroom, a dark corner or the confinements of our own places!) NOT for the rest of the world to see! I am convinced that maybe Europeans in general are just freaks who get a thrill out of displaying their lack of amorous restraint for the world to see. I MUST admit however that it is quite refreshing to see the males in particular not holding back. They hold their partners' hands and commence the loving and longing looks, they whisper sweet nothings while in the busy metro {mon chou(my cabbage), ma puce (my flea), ma poulette(my little chicken)...I SWEAR to you these are all REAL, DAILY USED french endearments!!!!!} This lack of male bravado deserves kudos as Caribbean men tend to be a bit more macho in general. (Luckily I have a bf who happens to be a not too bad mix of virile macho man and sensitive suzy) So continue to be crazily in love and display it for the world to see!! For without you I would not have interesting fodder to share here! Better to be making love than killing each other in public I suppose....once the literal baby-making activites remain PRIVATE it's all well and good!
So thus ends my tale on the 'french' kiss. I'll be going to Italy in February....perhaps I should invest in an android? #professional voyeur. bisous!

"Unless it is mad, passionate, extraordinary love, it's a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in life- Love should not be one of them." - Unknown

A scene from one of my favourite romance movies of all time (after the Titanic and before Letters to Juliet.)

C'est la vie!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS!
Wow! The last time I wrote here was before leaving to come to France 4 months ago!! *hangs head in shame for 5 seconds* ok shame time's up! So I really have no idea where to begin! I have been so busy with my new french lifestyle, busy meeting great new people and discovering new places and things that I haven't been able (or have been too lazy) to sit down and write everything that's been happening around me! But anyways I have so much to say that I'm gonna try to say it all in a nutshell (walnut sized). So voilà (hec yea that's a french accent!!) my thoughts on life thus far in Lille, France as an english teaching assistant, presented in the most concise form ever!


Chelsea à la Lille:


1) European art and architecture fascinate me immensely <3


2) Dogs are everywhere! In hotels, restaurants, streets, trains, metros and trams!! And yes I do bend down to 
    pet them and talk to them in baby talk!! love doggies! (I am yet to see a single cat though.....hmmm)


3) I now see whey they call fries 'french fries'.....you can't  go to any restaurant and NOT be offered fries


4) people do indeed bathe here!!!! frenchies being stinky is such a myth (or perhaps I live in the somewhat civilized part)


5) I get sick almost every 2 weeks with the drop in temperature....one day 16°....next day 0°!! (all a huge cry from my 34° weather which I'm used to back home in Trinidad!!)


6) The house I live in was broken into the 1st week of  November and my  laptop, ipod touch and camera (all less than a year old were stolen) as well as other items from my other housemates' rooms...wasn't a very nice welcome but hey crap happens at least I'm alive and well! (had to buy the cheapest computer which is FRENCH with a FRENCH keyboard ugh and the cheapest digi cam which doesn't work at night....sigh c la vie!)


7) French keyboards take some getting used to but are awesome: éèçࣵ§ù XD


8) Nutella is EVIL and the DEVIL - finished a MASSIVE tub in a week, pants were too tight, felt ill...EVIL!


9) I've travelled to: London (England) Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux,(France) Brussels and Brugges(Belgium), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Cologne(Germany)...too many incredible stories to right here..AMAZING TIMES WITH AMAZING PEOPLE!!! I plan on going to Grenoble (south France by my trini friend), Geneva(Switzerland) and Milan,Verona,Venice,Florence and Rome in Italy for February Vacation, Spain and Portugal in April and wherever else in May before I return to the Caribbean!!


10) MY SLEEP(the basis upon which this blog was created in the first place) has VASTLY improved!!!!! still not perfect but i have made leaps of progress for which I am eternally grateful to God above!!


11) I am becoming DOMESTIC! I cook, do housechores, laundry etc...good housewife in the making! lol


12) teaching english to my students is an awesome and meaningful  experience and I love it!! I love the challenge of teaching teens and engaging them in fun learning activites that motivate them...I love seeing the difference from when they were disinterested and bored  towards learning english to being cheery and very friendly when they enter my class! YAY!


13) I immensely miss carnival, my beautiful, warm and vibrant islands, my family, my doggies and my bf...Europe is absolutely amazing and I would stay here ONLY if a) I was single or b) my loved ones were living here with me. actually naaaa I can't live here too long....love the food, energy and carnival too much!!!!!


So there is the very condensed recap of my life. For those of you who read my blog before and know about the issues I dealt with for the roughly 3 years before this experience, you would notice the INSANELY HUGE change in me....I am truly blessed and truly grateful for this opportunity...a big jump from where I was a few years a back to where I am now! I have learnt and grown so much despite the mistakes that I have made and despite straying a bit from the path I'm meant to take but life is like that. You falter and wander off but once you find your way back sooner than later, it's all good.....
'Barcollo ma non mollo': I may stagger but I won't fall (Italian Proverb) BISOUS!