So I guess I'd better explain the photos down below for anyone who was wondering what they are looking at.

The ones that look like an apartment, is my apartment. The one of clothes hung everywhere is to demonstrate the five days that it took for our laundry to dry, since the dryers downtown at the laundramat are .50 cents for 5 minutes, and we wanted to avoid that.

Then you'll see a train station...that is the train station at Orleans; the big one that takes you all over the Loire valley; Bordeax, Tours, etc...even back to Paris.

The man standing at the control is Iowhen...no idea if that's actually how you spell his name. It's a very region-specific name, or so he told me. Anyway, it's a pretty funny story how I met him, however, and I'm inclined to share it with you all.
I arrived at the train station about an hour before it was scheduled to depart. I was supposed to meet some other assistant friends of mine down the tracks, at Blois, on the way to Tours. I was the farthest one out, so I had to take the train for a few stops on my own until we got to theirs.
Anyway, I bought my tickets and was sitting on the bench, until the track number appeared on the electronic train schedule above us. It said track 3. I look at track 3 and saw a pretty odd looking train sitting there. It was blue and gray, and only had one car...it looked sort of like a commuter train, or a really old tram. I said to myself, "that can't be it....that doesnt look like any of the other trains...." right then one of my French friends, Younous, who's from Madagascar, called to see what I was up to, so I asked him, "Have you ever taken the train to Tours?" "Yes, I think so," he replied. "Is it a tiny little train thats only one car, that's half blue and silver?" "Blue and silver? Yea, that's it," he said confidently.
Taking his word for it, I marched over to the train. I saw a man with blue jeans and a white striped shirt getting into the contraption, and I said, "Is this going to Tours?" he looked down at me curiously and said, "Yes." But he didn't move out of the way. "Oh ok," I said, "I have a ticket for Tours..." Wondering when he would direct me onto the train...he acted like he was in charge.
He responded in rapid French, something about "over there", and pointed past the door where he was at. I looked, and assumed he meant I was supposed to get in at the other door, on the other side. So I walked down to the other end, and tried to open it. But it was locked. Now I was thoroughly confused, and couldn't figure out why a few people were staring at me.
The same man opened up the other door, and looked at me curiously, a big grin on his face. "Oh, you want to come with me?" he said jovially. I had no idea what was so funny and repeated, "I want to go to Tours." "Yes, so you've said," he responded, and reached out his hand. I took it, and he helped me into the contraption.
I saw a huge metal control pannel with levers and switches everywhere, and a huge windsheild that reminded me of being inside an airpline. 'this is strange,' i said to myself. 'what a strange train...its not very comfortable to bring people all the way to Tours.' Right behind us, there was a tiny door, and I assumed the center part of the train was where all the passengers sat...which, admittedly, wasn't a while lot of space...maybe there wasn't a lot of people that normally went to Tours...
"So where are you from?" he said casually, as he went about his business at the control pannel. I was a bit confused, but sat in a stool beside him. We still had 30 minutes before the train left, so I was up for some chatting beforehand. "I haven't ever heard your accent before."
"I'm American," I replied.
"Really? What are you doing in France? Are you a student?"
"No, I'm here to teach English," I said.
"Oh wow, that's interesting," he replied, chuckling a bit. "I can't speak a word of English. But your French is good...and your accent doesn't sound that American."
"It might be because I spent 4 months in Senegal," I said. "I lived with families, and picked up the Senegalese French accent." He agreed that made sense.
All the sudden, we started to move. I watched the platform move slowly by us, and we continued to the end of the platform. "Aren't we scheduled to leave at 12:50?" I said. "Yup," he rseponded nonchalantly.
Then he asked if I wanted to follow him to the other side of the train. I said sure, not really sure why....but I got up and followed him as he opened the small door. Expecting to see rows and rows of commuter seats, I saw a huge engine which blasted hot air at me. "Be careful not to touch anything," he yelled from in front, "this is very dirty back here, and it will ruin your shirt."
Now I was VERY confused. The front of the "train" was another control pannel, just like the one we had left. He saw the confusion on my face, and laughed.
"Now we wait for the train," he said. I had already got the impression a while ago, when we started to move toward the back of the platform, that we weren't in the train. But what WAS this thing? "So what is this thing for?" I said. I imagined it was important, having the engine inside it and all, but I had no idea how these things worked.
"You don't know?" he said, looking sideways at me, inquizzitively. "Haven't you ever seen a train before, in the U.S.?"
Slightly ashamed at my ignorance in the locomotive realm, I said, "We don't really use public transportation in the U.S. Everyone has their own car, in general. The only real experience I've had with trains is the train I take to get into the city of Chicago, and occasionally Amtrak." I explained how in both these circumstances, the platorm is constructed in such a way, that funnels the passengers into the train without any opportunity to move around. I have never seen either end of an Amtrack train....just from the station, to the platform, directly herded like cattle into the car they want you to get into, depending on your destination.
I always was under the impression that trains these days were one long metal snaking thing...one piece in the middle, with the engine and conductor connected to it. I had no idea that the engines disconnect and re-attach to the train. Silly me:)
So the next 30 minutes was spent with this guy who showed me the control pannel, how trains worked, and when the train rolled in beside us and rumbled up to the front of the platform, he showed me how he connects to the back end of it. It actually turned into a pretty interesting random adventure.
So then I took his picture, so he could "be a celebrity in the U.S.", and he helped me back down onto the platform. I ran off to the train and got in, just as we were about to leave for Tours.
:)

My friends got on at Blois, and we continued on to Tours. It was a bigger, cleaner version of Orleans, with a mideval district that was pretty touristy. We got drinks, ate Indian food, and explored the city. Of course there was a cathedral, gardens, and old palaces...the typical:) We had a great time, and those are the photos below that you see.

More later:)