The 3 point plan.

It's been an unexpectadly busy week.
I did in fact manage to complete all my goals for Wednesday! I did real business and created a link between Juan's company in BA and a language school in the UK. Wooo! And I washed my clothes, talked to people, and most interestingly, went to the African dance workshop.

I seemed to have accidentally developed a 3 point plan of action for integration into a new community, and it's amazingly effective!

1. Dance...

The workshop was really fun and I've talked to the school and they will pay for me to go so I just need to work out how much it'll cost and sort out the paperwork. It's really energetic and the music's really fun.
I trailed a bit at the end of the class and was chatting to the girl who was running the class on the way out who very kindly offered me a lift home since she was going through the centre too. Turns out she's also a couchsurfer and was also planning to go to Saint Etienne at the weekend so we exchanged numbers with the thought of perhaps meeting up. I already had plans but she was going to a Salsa bar, I'm not one to turn down a good Salsa if there's a chance of dancing... In the end I ran out of time/energy on friday and we didn't meet up but I've asked her to let me know next time she's going and I can plan it in. She lives in the next village across but she also has a car, so hopefully I've got a potential friend there!

2. Meditate...

Thursday night, I managed to find the meditation event that beardy yoga man had mentioned. It was hosted in an alternative cafe/living room just round the corner from my flat and everyone there was lovely. As usual. I guess it could be described as a sort of spiritual humanism. The two group leaders had learnt in a Buddhist environment but it was advertised as a secular group to avoid any of the worries and dogma of religion. There was a cat, lots of soft furnishing and tasty home made biscuits with chocolate fondu. Very cosy and welcoming. There was another woman there who hadn't been before (although she was friends with some of the regulars) so I was happy not being the only novice. Turns out I wasn't the only foreigner either; one of the leaders was American and the other newbie just so happened to be...... Argentine. From Buenos Aires no less! So I gave my Spanish an airing and after the session, stuck around to chat to the woman who owned/lived in the house/cafe who was involved in some interesting projects which I'm going to try and help with.

3. Couchsurf...

As planned, after school on Friday I headed off on the bus to Saint Etienne. I found Helder's flat fairly easily (where I would be couchsurfing) and after waiting a little while for him to finish his class, we met and headed off to the couchsurfing games night.
As usual, everyone was super friendly and extremely welcoming. Most of the group were French, happily for me and despite being a non-native French speaker I held my own fairly well, even playing Dixit, a imaginative story telling picture card game with just enough strategy to keep it interesting and a team aspect that keeps everyone happily playing together.
Since we had been running late, Helder and I hadn't eaten anything before the soirée so when we got back to the flat at 12, it was dinner time. We sat around eating and chatting, together with one of his flatmates until 3 am until it was defintely bedtime.
The next day I met one of the other flatmates, who turned out to be.... Dtdtd duuuuh!.... Colombian! From Bogota! So I got another chance to practice some Spanish, and without me mentioning anything about my previous travels he asked me about the Argentine accent. Ooops... :D
Saturday was chilled until I headed out with Helder to climb un crassier, or a spoil heap, left over from Saint Etienne's days as a mining town. It was pretty steep and hard going, but from the top it was impressive. I'm sure the view is great on a clear day, instead we were surrounded by a thick grey fog which completely obscured the town and made the place look like Mordor.

It was a great atmosphere hanging with Helder and his housemates so I ended up staying the Saturday night too and going to a party with them. I think I'll go back to visit them a few times in Saint Etienne, they were really open about having me stay and really welcoming which was lovely. Definitely what I wanted from my weekend and another great couchsurfing experience! :)

So between all those activites I've found some nice gateways into a few lovely communities of people with similar interests! Yay!