Auditorium, Baking and Creeper

TGIF everyone! I hope that everyone has had a fabulous week, and hope to have a wonderful weekend too. After having 3 full days of working in French groups with French kids (who talk very fast with a lot of slang) I am starting to understand what they're talking about! I still cannot jump into the conversation, but I'm not a lost puppy anymore. On Thursday, we had a full day of language courses. Going over grammar that I've studied before, understand and can use is rather frustrating. But alas, such is my life. Today we had the entire morning of AUDITORIUM! Which means all 300 kids are piled into an auditorium and talked "at" by the French professors, none of which I understand unless I pay super close attention, and even then it doesn't relate to me. So I usually do homework! But today the finalists were chosen for Project ESC and they had to give a presentation. The goal of this project is to create an event that the school can put on. We had to budget everything, plan days, call people, the works! I felt bad for my french group that I couldn't contribute, but c'est la vie! On the final day my group finally warmed up to me and we spent the entire day (instead of working, hence why we didn't win) talking about American TV shows, slang in English and in French, and a guy hitting on me!
Now, French guys are very different than American guys. There is no subtly in their ways. This guy literally said to me "you know, your french will improve so much if you have a French boyfriend!". As I'm sitting there stunned at what is going on. Actually, he's a really nice guy, just wears a lot of hair gel and was a little overly friendly. But after that outburst, a girl in the group stepped in and conversation continued.
So besides being bored to death in an auditorium, I got the O.K. to start my job at the bakery, I just need to go and talk to them about my hours. I'm very nervous to go talk to someone who owns a bakery and be like "hi, can I help out?". Although my french mother says he's very nice and very welcoming, it's still intimidating! I am thinking about taking the 3 am until 8 am on Sundays shift. That way I can actually bake! But that also means that I only have to get up that early 8 times! (I only need 40 hours to complete my project, and with me going away some weekends it should work out perfectly)
Speaking of being away for the weekend, I have planned my first vacation here. I get one week off at the end of October. I was really stressed over what to do, when someone in my group said that she wanted to go to Finland. From that point on I was sold! We booked out plane tickets from Paris to Helsinki the other day. My plan is to take a train to Paris, a plane to Helsinki, stay there for a couple days then take a plane to Germany to visit a cousin finally taking the train all the way home. It will be my first big adventure, and I'm really excited and nervous for it all at the same time.
Finally the last portion of this post mentioned in the title, creeper. Apparently Clermont Ferrand is the safest town in France, but walking to school this morning I did not feel that way. When me and a friend (walking together) we about to cross a busy street, there was a bus in front of us, we waited for the half a second for it to move, and in that half a second a man (a very tall man, and for me to say this, he was most likely a foot taller than I am) came in between us and put his arms around both of us as we were starting to cross the street. Once I realized I didn't recognize the person I quickly bent back his fingers to get him off of my and my friend got away as well. We crossed the street when I suggested we take a turn to keep on a more busy road. He continued to follow us, him jogging behind us, and us walking. My friend stopped, and I did to and watched him pass us. He then kept going, but turned back to give us a quizzical look. We quickly checked for our wallets and kept a brisk pace all the way to school. It was a mildly terrifying experience, but I am glad that nothing happened because of it.
On a lighter note, my French mother has been gone for the week in Paris to help with the new baby, so my French father has tried cooking the past few nights, with his expertise being the microwave. If i felt more comfortable in their kitchen I might have taken over, but he doesn't mind to "cook" and I don't want to have to give him a grocery list (since we're getting to very little food in the house). I think that he just went to the store now for the weekend because I will be fending for my self. But I can never be too sure about what they said!
My plans for the weekend are very exciting, with an early morning bus tour of the region until 6 at night. Then Sunday I am going to relax and maybe start reading this french book I have for homework. But maybe I will find something better to do!
Peace, Love and yay for still having my wallet!