My Internet Works!

Dimanche, Sunday, 25 Janvier 2009. 6:54 am. My Balcony.

Good morning, dear friends.

I am sorry for the inconsistency in posting. You see, I lack a student ID, which would give me the right stuff to get on the internet in the room. Like I mentioned, the phrase I’m learning is “It’s a tropical island…ananana” (saying “ananana” is like saying “yada yada yada”). I should be all set up tomorrow, but we’ll see.

I’m really enjoying Reunion. I am having trouble adjusting to sleeping here, hence why I’m posting so dang early in the morning. It’s literally too hot to sleep through the night most of the time, even with my balcony door open sleeping on top of the sheets. It’s sort of hard to believe they don’t have air conditioning here- it’s not like they don’t know it’s going to be this hot in summer. Last night in particular I had to rinse off in a cold shower in the middle of the night to keep me cool enough to sleep. Weirdly enough, it doesn’t bother me. I really don’t have too much to complain about. It would be nice to have the internet, but that’s about it. I’m used to having more structure and information upon orientation, but again, that’s just the American in me. It’s sort of nice for life to move at such a slow pace.

For the past two mornings, I’ve been up fairly early. I start my days with a slow walk down the street to the supermarket, Le Jumbo. It’s currently my favorite place on the island. I have such a good time wandering around, buying local produce, comparing American brands and learning about Creole and French foods. I think it’s the best way to get to know a culture. Being France, it has an entire section dedicated to yogurt, another for cheese, five aisles for wine, and a quarter of an aisle for Nutella alone. Nutella is a hazelnut-chocolate spread that is all over the place in France, and also here in Reunion. Here’s my typical breakfast: a chunk of a baguette with La Vache Qui Rie (The Laughing Cow, a spreadable cheese), a mango or a few bananas (local produce!), cane sugar yogurt (also produced on the island) and some tropical juice (includes: pineapple, mango, oranges, guava, etc). I actually think all of that is from the island, perhaps with the exception of the cheese. Going to Jumbo is always an experience. There is always a crowd (about 50 people) outside of Jumbo gathered to be the first customers. It’s lightly air conditioned, so that can’t hurt, but it’s amazing how busy it is no matter what time of day one goes.

So far, I’ve gone over my syllabus with my ISEP (International Student Exchange Program), and I’m taking several French classes and then one on Comparative Creole Culture and one on Ethnologie of Ethnic Minorities. I also think I’ll be picking up a surfing or snorkeling class. Because you can do that here J. Classes don’t start for another week for my department, and you can attend any class you want for about three weeks and then you register for the classes you want. There are so many I want to take, like Volcano Studies, Tropical Botany, Canyoning, and Creole Writing, but we’ll see!

Us Americans have made a few new friends, too! Erasmus is the European version of ISEP, and so there are several students here who are staying for the whole year. Germans, Quebecois (from Quebec), British, Italians, etc. They invited us out to go to a bar with them the other night. It was really fun. A great reggae band was playing and we spoke French the entire night. We had to walk back to campus because the buses and taxis don’t run that late, but it was worth it. It only took about 45 minutes, but I’m told it can often take longer, so that’s not bad. It’s all part of the experience.

Yesterday, Luke, the last American arrived. He’s from Georgia. Who would have imagined four Southerners coming to live in a tropical island on the other side of the world? We could be the butt of so many jokes, but to our credit, I think we’re doing quite well. None of us have gotten homesick yet, which is good. Last night, the four of us made dinner (du riz et grain- rice and beans, creole style) and sat and talked. It was SO weird to speak in English for that long. Us girls have been forcing ourselves to speak only in French, but we indulged ourselves last night and spoke English. It was very weird. I felt guilty- like I was cheating on French. It was even weirder to laugh as much as we did. Since our comprehension is still developing, understanding jokes is really, really hard. I didn’t realize how much I wasn’t laughing until I did last night with Katie, Stephanie, and Luke. We know we can’t do that again, or else we’ll never learn French.

Today, we’re all going down to Le Chaudron to the open market that happens every Sunday to buy fresh fruits and vegetables and other stuff. After that, we’re going to the beach with the Erasmus students. The best beaches are on the west side of the island, and so we must walk to Le Chaudron, take a bus to downtown St. Denis, then use Car Jaune, a service that drives out of the city. The commute could take about 40 minutes by car, but since none of us has a car that could fit 10 people (I doubt a car bigger than a Rav 4 exists on this island, come to think of it), we take public transportation, which may take between 1 and 2 hours. As a result, to get a full beach day, we are leaving at 9:30. I can’t wait! Don’t worry, I’m wearing lots of sunblock, although, it’s ironically really hard to find on the island.

I’ll try to post picture soon, but I fried my camera’s battery charger (apparently my converter didn’t cover that one piece of electronics), so I’ll figure it out eventually.

A short list of things I really miss (note I said “things” because of course, I miss all of you, family and friends): sweet tea, air conditioning, free laundry, Fruit Loops, running (it’s too hot here, honestly it never gets below 80-85 degrees and 75% humidity- but don’t worry, Coach, I’ll get up the gumption to try eventually), cheap pizza (a large costs about 15 Euros here), cracking jokes, country music radio. Things I don’t miss: not being 21 (doesn’t matter here!), having to drive everywhere, cold weather, rigid schedules, Pearsons/Isaac’s.

A bientot,
Chelsea