February 26, 2021

Friday

My landlady invited me to come grocery shopping with her and offered to take me to pick up my package that arrived at the Villette. We left about 9:30. Our first stop was the bank, where she demanded they give me a debit card because mind had not arrived. They said there was nothing they could do until my appointment later that day. I was doomed to return for my 14h meeting alone. We swung through the grocery store where I was a bit more responsible and bought some of the vegetables I’d ignored earlier in the week in my blind search for comfort food.

As we were on the way to the post office, Anne asked me completely out of the blue if I knew there were a lot of immigrants in Pont-Chéruy. I said yes, because many of my students were the children of immigrants. Anne made sure to tell me that she wasn’t racist before she launched into a 20 minutes monologue about the problems that immigrants cause in France. She let me know that she thinks they’re a drain on the country, provide France nothing, and aren’t assimilated at all. She was frustrated that so many women wear “the veil” aka a hijab. She thinks they should be more appreicative of France and just stop complaining about how bad the country is. She also let me know that they should just go back home if they don’t like it here. But… yeah she isn’t racist. Hell- I almost felt like I was back at home listening to a Tr*mp supporter determined to ignore any and all nuance in immigration factors.

I was able to pick up my package at La Poste. It was full of all the essentials- yarn, mac’n’cheese, and a letter from a great friend! I can’t wait to get to work with these colors!

I made lunch when I returned home and set my little plant out on the window to sun itself. I waited for 13:45 to role around and met my neighbor Catherine by her car so that we could ride into the city together. I had my appointment with the bank and she had work until 17h when she would take me back home.

At the bank, the worker could give me no reason that my card hadn’t arrived. We added “chez Luc Petit” to the address line and hoped that it would make it within the next week. I wasn’t able to take out any money because apparently you’re only allowed to do that without a card in the morning. He said he hoped it wasn’t “urgent,” as if my only way to access my money wasn’t through him. Ugh!

After my appointment I had a few hours to kill. I walked over to the shopping center at Tignieu-Jameyzieu. I was sad to discover that the “culture center” was closed so I couldn’t buy any stationary or books to occupy my time with. I decided to mosey around and look for some spring shirts that I could wear to work, but I didn’t find any that were appealing to me. I figured I could go into Lyon next week to buy something if I really needed it.

I ended up just finding some trails and walking around looking at nature for a good hour or so. It was really relaxing. I got caught up on a bunch of podcasts while I walked.

When I’d had my fill of walking around, I decided to grab a snack and sit by the river. I got two coffee eclaires. It was awesome. I sat by the river and watched as families picked up all their kids at the end of the day. It was really cute.

When 5pm finally rolled around, I met Catherine at La Poste where she works. She told me that her friend is looking for English tutoring and showed me her house in case I was interested in working with her. As we went, she saw a hijabi woman passing by and sneered “I just don’t like those veiled women. My friend is Algerian, but she’s not veiled.” She asked if we have hijabi women in the US and seemed upset when I said yes. She showed me the house and we continued back home. On our way she showed me new walking paths that were opening as the weather got better. She warned me not to go into the woods because I could be raped by a woodcutter with his saw. Yikes. We got back and she said that she’d love to see more of me and that I should stop by to speak English together sometime. I told her that we could do that and that I’d just gotten some yarn in the mail so I could come crochet with her. She insisted I come in to see her sweater project.

I was ready for some alone time after my weird day. I went home to make some dinner. I enjoyed mac’n’cheese and had my second eclaire for dessert. I put on Taskmaster on Youtube and got to work on my new blanket that I’d started after finishing the blue one. I got to talk to my family and get some pictures of my cat later in the night because my sister was visiting home.