Silver Lining?

In another effort to look on the bright side and see the silver lining in the Parisian clouds, (since I, of course, didn't even have time to go to that yoga thing that I posted about last week and that I thought would align my shakras and help me meet tons of fantastic people with common interests), I realised that I only work at my main job a total of 39 days per semester. That's 78 days total for the 2 semesters. 78 out of 365 days means that I only spend approx. 20% of my time teaching. Although this certainly doesn't reflect grading and prepping, this is still a very small pleasant ratio.

I teach 3 long intense days per week at one university and then have a day off when I should do some class prep, and I often do, but I also sleep late, relax and really just need a recovery day in general. My 3 days a week are LONG and I have an hour commute each way as well, adding 2 hours total. They used to be well balanced: 5-6 hours each day over 3 days, but now they're a little different: 7.5 hours 1 day, 4.5 the following day and 5 hours the 3rd day. This leaves me pretty tired by Thursday, the recovery day. Then Fridays and Saturdays I work half days and Sunday is a day off. I'm starting to appreciate this schedule a lot and I couldn't really imagine working 9-5 in an office Mon-Fri. I love my job on Fridays and I plan to ask them for extra hours this week.

So that's work. For life in general, I really have to get serious about half marathon training. The Paris half marathon training group has their first official training run next Sat (Nov. 5th). I'm looking forward to that and plan to train with them as much as I can (although I work most Saturdays when their long runs are).

I also have some fun things to look forward to in the next few days. I don't really do much of anything during my brief work week, but last night I had a drink with a friend which I enjoyed a lot and I'm looking forward to seeing some other friends (who I haven't seen since before summer vacation!) this Sat. and I'm going to the comédie française this Sunday. To see a tragedy (Bérénice), which I should read first. I don't really have time for French classes, so decided just to go to the theater and read the plays in advance.