Be back later

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Ile d'Yeu til Sunday...off the coast of Brittany, about 30 minutes by boat. The professor I'm going with, Françoise, and her friend Claire...we're all leaving around noon to drive to the ferry. Drive should take about 3 hours. Tea at a friend's house, then off to catch the evening ferry. They run two per day, one in the morning, one in the evening.

Once there, it's biking or walking...no cars on the island. There looks to be quite a bit of hiking, too. Billiard hall, yay. I'm bringing books, knitting, cards... Horseback riding, if it's not too expensive. Sailing too! Wish I'd paid more attention during yacht club in Scarborough...

Anyways, today was again quiet. Swept out the house, didn't hurt the cat, ate more soup, chatted online, potzed around in general. Got desperate for human contact in the afternoon and wandered into town on a Sunday...a truly desperate measure, as Sundays are dead here. Stopped at the bank to stock up for the week, wandered down an unknown street that took me up behind the chateau. Back into town, was ready to trek back when I ran into Allen, another American assistant. He'd found the one open boulangerie, so I followed his lead and bought some bread while I could. We wandered around town a little more, got some coffee. Parted ways, I headed back home to eat more soup with my bread. Talked to Dad and Lauren on the phone, yay! Packed for the trip, and now it's just knitting and reading and Jack Johnson until that coffee wears off. Dang French espressos.

On me own

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Got up late today feeling like potato leek soup, so headed out to grab the bike from the garage and head up to Leclerc. Well, the cat followed me out, so I pushed her back in, but noooo someone had to be stubborn and keep trying to run…she ended up getting pinned down by the garage door! So I sprint around the house, have to fiddle with keys to unlock the front door, run through the house, out to the garden, and wham hit the button to bring up the door. Aaah it was horrible. She was definitely in pain and I thought she’d broken her back the way she was writhing. I ran up to the office to see if M. Bride was in, but of course not. Why would I think that. So back I go, and the cat is moving fairly well, walking to the back of the garage. I figure she’s on the mend, probably needs some time to just get over the trauma…and I’m not gonna be able to get her to a vet on my bike in any case. So I just go to Leclerc, get the soup stuff, and trundle my way back. She’s out sunning herself in the garden when I walk in the door, moving around fine.

French mail might be amazing. I ordered two sets of train tickets on Thursday, one set came Friday, one came today. Speedy little whippersnappers. Also got mom’s package of hot cocoa, tea, ziplock bags (maybe I didn’t look hard enough, but I can’t find any here), and a memory card for my camera. Aaw mom.

Soup turned out well…too bad I’m the only one here to eat it. Lunch and dinner for tomorrow, I guess.

OK, the internet went down. WTF France Telecom. This is not making my girl-night-in any easier.

Had to buy cream for the soup, am contemplating a hot cocoa with cream added to the milk for dessert.

Get real paid

Paycheck is here!! YAY!!!

After a hearty breakfast of homefries, Rose and I set out again for Decathlon. We went in search of a petanque set (like lawn bowling), and came home with a basketball, a rugby ball, and a soccer ball. Took the bus over to Steve's place--he lives next to this amazing public sports complex, so we took our purchases over there and Rose, Steve, Mehdi and I all spent a couple hours kicking and throwing.

I have a love-hate relationship with school breaks. We went to get the bus back to centre-ville...it's a good 45-minute walk to our place from Steve's...and who knew, the bus we needed doesn't run during school breaks. So we made the trek back to our place, stopping for kebabs on the way, o my goodness so good. Questionable content, but so good. The three of them set off soon after to catch their 10:30 train to Tours, where they will take a night train to Spain.

So two days on my own, me and the dirty cat. I'm wondering how to give the cat her pill in the morning...considering implanting it into some sort of meat and trying to pull one past her. Lesson plans, knitting, reading, and general wandering around town when I get too tired of being in the house: those are the plans until Monday.

Toussaint starts...

The other night, we were walking home from a few games of pool at the Loch Ness, when we saw two girls haphazardly pushing a baby pram…it was out of control and finally just flipped over. Luckily, there was no baby in it. But still…the question remains, what were two girls doing pushing an empty pram around at one in the morning??

Today I bought yarn at a store in centre-ville; the lady in the store was nice but kinda clingy, like yarn store owners sometimes are. She just kinda hovered over me as I examined her yarn stock, and it was a bit unnerving…I figure she just wanted to help me in my selection, but at the same time, I’m thinking, “Does she think I’m going to snatch a skein and run for it?” Anyways, I settled for a cream sportweight wool/acrylic blend…washable yet soft…and have an aran blanket started. Will be a good thing to bring to Ile d’Yeu.

Rose, Steve, and Mehdi all set out for Spain this morning, and made it to Tours where they discovered the dangers of not booking a train south for the first day of Toussaint holiday. Not one train seat available. So, after some investigation and disappointment in the realm of car rentals, they returned home, much to the selfishly-guilty delight of me and my growing blanket. A good night of fajitas, beer, and cards ensued (Steve and I introduced the non-Midwesterners to the joys of euchre, as well as Kings).

They’re leaving for Spain late tomorrow, taking a midnight train (the first available). So that means lawn bowling tomorrow in the park, if we can manage to find a lawn bowling set. I’d personally like to see some ultimate frisbee take place, too.

Biking to Chambord

Yesterday was amazing. Rose and I set out around 11am, first stopping by the market to buy some fresh clementines. Crossed the old bridge--Pont Jacques Gabriel--and stopped again to pick up drinks and yes, Pringles. OK. Finally on our way, we find the bike path, which ran through everything from housing districts of Blois to fields to little villages, and finally, the domaine of the chateau.

We stopped to rest on a log in The Middle of Nowhere, and I get a text message from Steve:
"How's the bike ride going? Hope you missed this rain." Uh oh. Reply: "What rain?" And no more than five minutes later, you here it coming down the field, that unmistakable rustling of leaves when water's hitting them, and Rose and I jump off the log and start pedalling as fast as our tired limbs can take us. Text reply: "Oh. That rain."

But it lightens up by the time we reach the chateau grounds, and we take the bike path approach...the grounds are immense and deserve a whole other day just to themselves. Finally, we sight the chateau, and reach a parking lot. No bike parking in sight, so we just hitch them to a post and resign ourselves to walking, when a parking monitor approaches us, tells us that there is bike parking right next to the chateau!! SWEET. We stop, eat some lunch on a bench, and then pedal on up...felt like we were driving home. Park the bikes literally 20 feet from the entrance.

The double stairwells have to be the coolest thing ever. They are these spiralling stairs that have two entrances to two different sets of stairs that run together, I guess so twice as many people can get upstairs at once?? Lots of tapestries and portraits of royalty, many fancy bedrooms. A hunting exhibit.

After a good hour and a half of wandering, we went back out to the town area, got chocolate/banana crepes and I went for hot cocoa. Exhorbitantly-priced but so worth it at that point.

On the way back, we took the road signs for Blois instead of the bike signs, which we determined led us on the scenic route. At this point, the only thing I wanted to see was my bed. Got home, collapsed. Later, we did make an effort to go find a pool table in town, but the one pub I knew of that had pool seemed to be throwing a private party. Rose and I walked by once, and I saw 4-5 of my students, which is kinda weird I have to say, so we kept going. Passed by again, saw MORE of them. Finally, we sat on a step waiting for Kristin, and more of my students kept walking by...some waved...and I was like, OK whatever's going on there, I can't go. Don't think we could get in anyway, there were two guys standing out front with their arms crossed, bouncerlike.

So we trudged our way back home, without pool. Bed was a welcome sight, in any case.

TGIF

Yesterday's classes were varied...had five of them. First two classes were nondescript. Third one was just way too rowdy, had started playing a game and they were cheating and not using English, so I was like, "We can do something not fun, we can read an article if you can't handle this..." And they were like, "We'll speak English..." So one more round, everybody yelling French clues, and there you have it, whopped em with an article about internet crime.

My math/physics kids are amazing. The ones that want to participate are really good, thinking critically about issues and trying to learn better ways to express these thoughts in English. The kids that don't really care so much, they at least sit quietly. We talked about Native Americans and I had them discuss an article about the Eastern Shawnee attempt to put a casino in Canal Fulton. Led to heated HEATED discussion about whether countries should encourage multiculturalism or one national identity. Just wonderful!

Last class was a bit uneasy. Older kids, 18-21ish, but their level of English matches my 15-year olds. Something about many of my male students here, there's very little respect for a young woman teacher. I asked them:

"Tell me your name, age, and--"
"--phone number??" they interject.

Ugh.

One of the girls gave me trouble too. I'd said my name and where I was from in the beginning of the class, written it on the board, and then gave them collages to work on. Everyone's working more or less on the activity, when this girl goes "I'd like you to please introduce yourself." Don't forget the snotty tone of voice. I said, "I already have, it's on the board...are you finished?" Silence, looks back at paper. Couple minutes later, "How old are you?" Thank you Elizabeth Bennett, I thought of you: "Old enough to have graduated from university. OK let's start this activity since we seem to be done." Haha heard her say, "Je ne peux pas faire concurrence avec cette madame." I can't compete with this lady.

After classes, went to meet my tutoree, Alexia, at a local café. Seems bright but hesitant to talk. Had her do a little bit of grammar--comparative adjectives--and then worked on a text her professor had given me. Read through it, went over words she didn't know. Used some of the unit questions as jumping off points to try to get her to talk in English. I think we're gonna focus on grammar from now on out, as well as go over her writing assignments when she has them.

Went out to the Latino Café with the assistants last night, funded by tutoring, yay!

Today has so far been absorbed by catching up on sleep, going to the educator's library to get an English grammar book, sorting out administrivia at school, and cleaning this dang house. I dunno it's me or what, but it just seems that things smell more in France. The garbage, the streets, the food, everything. Doesn't help that we accidentally bought a laundry bin instead of a garbage bin. Cleaned out the fridge, took out the trash, opened the windows, and hopefully things will be a bit fresher.

If the weather holds out, Rose and I will be biking to Chambord and back tomorrow. Yay for an adventure!

The horror

Past few days have been crazy.

After Monday’s classes, I have new-found sympathy for teachers whose classes just won’t speak. The first class wasn’t too bad, just a little quiet and a little rowdy. The second, I only had 5 students. One was 24 years old, the rest were 17-18. Confused about what the 24 year old was doing there, but was more confused when, in the middle of my lesson, he starts asking me questions like, “Where do you live?” and “Do you want to get a drink?” !!?? Not telling, and no, and back to the cartoon you’re supposed to be analyzing… Third class was worse—the teacher stayed in the room with one half of the class, I had 9 on my half of the room. Again, supposed to be examining a cartoon about white-collar crime. Now, this is partly my fault, but I had no idea that these kids would have such a low level of English, so I prepared to go right into the ideas discussed in the cartoon. Turns out, I needed to identify key vocabulary terms, like “white collar crime”. Tried explaining things, but they couldn’t even understand my explanations. Aaay. It was an hour of misery for both class and me.

Tuesday morning, I got up and went to Leclerc to buy tissues—yes, Rose and Catherine and Mehdi and Steve and I all have colds, it’s like a welcome-to-teaching gift. Anyways, in the check-out line, the cashier and the lady in front of my are chatting away about something, and I’m trying to listen to figure out what they’re talking about. Something to do with jobs and being fired. My attitude must have been one of interest, so they glance at me, smile, I nod, and voila, I am in the conversation now. I spend about 5 minutes smiling and nodding, hoping they don’t turn to me and ask my opinion because I would then have to explain that I’ve barely understood what they’ve said in the first place.

Classes on Tuesday were much better. First and third were HEC kids, so they were good to begin with. Had good discussions on stereotypes, showed them a photo book of Ohio, and discussed national language with the third group. The second class were secondes, the lowest level I’m teaching. Even so, they were enthusiastic, and also did well with the stereotype activity. Then I had them look at some vacation vocabulary and pair up to role-play as a travel agent and a customer. Went pretty well!

After my first class, three students from one of my classes last week came up and asked if I would like to go to a party with them. O dear. Somehow, I don’t think this would help me gain control or respect in any of my classes. Yet, past assistants have apparently socialized with students—so long as you don’t do anything illegal with them, you’re fine. But this party is outside Blois, which means I’d have to be given a ride by my students, which means I’d have no control whatsoever about my arrival and departure time. Dooon’t think so. It’d be different if it were in Blois, where I could arrive late, leave early, and maintain independence.

Fun day

Slept in a bit, not as much as I should have, considering bed didn't happen til around 5. Way too excited about internet for my own good.

Chatted with Mom, Dad, and Lauren today...amazing. After a lazy start and breakfast of pain au chocolat and hot cocoa, finally got into town to have a leisurely look around. Two of my students came over while I was browsing through the street book vendor stands and said hello. How darn cute. Walked past the chateau, where there was a huge huge line. Turns out Blois is this huge center of culture during this time of the year...lots of lectures, films, etc. So we picked up a schedule and went to the Conseil Général for a lecture on the representation of WWI in films--talked about Un long dimanche de fiançailles. Then Rose, Mehdi, and I went out and ate very well at an Indian restaurant...was delicious.

There's a book fair tomorrow in town, yay! We've also invited neighbors and assistants to a traditional English breakfast. Lesson planning also a necessity tomorrow.

Pics

http://www.winkflash.com/photo/public.aspx?u=franglaisqueene

Yay for photos!

Good ending to a crazy week

Friday, October 13, 2006

OMG. Internet in the house. I might cry for joy.

Today was amazingly productive...got my provisional carte de séjour, went to a lecture on Latin American politics, turned in my CAF paperwork, and had a good night of hanging out with fellow assistants. The bureaucracy here seems easier than people give it credit for--you go and sit in a small line, quickly receive an appointment so that you can return and promptly take care of your business. Compare to the lines at the BMV and it's amazing.

Party tonight was so fun...we had English, Spanish, and German assistants present, as well as our French neighbors. Crazy language mixture, but it all worked out.

We got our ethernet internet to work earlier in the day, and now for some unexplicable reason, the wireless is working on my computer, but on no one else's. Go figure. It's definitely almost 4am, and I'm just too excited by internet to go to bed. Only 10pm at home.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Today’s classes were pretty good! I’m getting the hang of this teaching thing. Be relaxed in a confident but not over-friendly way. And straighten them out when they need to be. Aaah one of my classes was rowdy and totally not listening, and I just pulled one of those typical teacher moves like “Excuse me, I can wait…” and they were silent as a grave. Amazing.

Some good energy in some of the classes…a willingness to speak and learn vocabulary, and they want to know about the US. It’s very encouraging. The teachers are getting used to me as well…I’m still mistaken for a student every once in awhile, mostly by the gatekeepers (ugh, these locked gates are killing me). But I now have a key to two of my own classrooms, and I feel like I’m actually doing some good. Get the kids talking, don’t be overly AR about their grammar and such, but just point out easier ways to say things. Like today, one girl talked about her dog having “baby dogs.” And I was able to help by telling her that the precise word was “puppy.” A nice way to end the school week.

One of the teachers also told me about a student who wants to take private lessons…so this is good. More experience, a little extra money, something else to do.

Tonight, had a girls’ night complete with pizza, peanuts, wine, and ice cream. Ironically, the English girls are introducing me to American drama series, specifically the O.C. Once I get past the cheesy predictability, it’s actually quite entertaining. Susan and I stayed up later to watch the rest of the episode…the others have seen it already…and yea, it’s sad how much we’re both gasping over who shot who or which couple’s going to break up. But my kids keep asking me about American TV, so maybe this is a good thing. :)

Tomorrow, no teaching, but I’m going to the prefecture early in the morning to apply for my carte de séjour. Then hopefully going to a history lecture at lycée Augustin Thierry, where Catherine and Susan teach. The CAF office will happen in the afternoon, if all goes to plan.

And HOPEFULLY our internet will begin working tomorrow. Can’t wait to do internet searches and chat on a proper QWERTY keyboard.

Really weird…am currently listening to “This is a Low” by Blur, and got desperately homesick for Scarborough of all places. I miss the relaxed living abroad in England…language wasn’t a barrier, and in a way the expectations weren’t so high. No residency card, no crazy landlord, everything was a package deal. I know this experience is in many ways more valuable—it’s an actual job, in a country where I can develop in so many ways—but right now I just miss the carefree enjoyment I had walking to class by the North Sea, running down to the beach at all hours of the night, tea in our little attic of a flat, Liz’s ham and cheese sandwiches. From the first day, I was comfortable and at home. Yes, there were difficulties, but they were child’s play compared to the stuff I do here on a daily business. I’ve been here almost three weeks, and I’m still just trying to find equilibrium. Find the best places to buy food. Stamps. Screwdrivers.

But it’s still great. Not 100% yet, but it will be. I just know once things get settled, I’ll be able to relax and take the time to look at this town and my experiences properly.

The rain, o the rain

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Need to buy an umbrella. Really. I keep thinking that it’s just a little water, but no, it’s bucketfuls. Luckily today, I wasn’t going to class, I was just going to prepare lessons. But I can see myself turning up to class looking like a drowned rat—this would do nothing for my control over the classroom.

After a morning of running errands and an afternoon of lesson planning, I returned home, soaked, and changed quickly to go to Alain’s for an English teacher dinner. Two Françoises, one Beatrice, Alain, and I made up the party. We had a local sort of almost-wine for aperitif—forget what it’s called now, but it reminded me of cider, but sparkly and slightly alcoholic. Walnuts, pistachios, peanuts. Then started meal off with a homemade pumpkin soup, rosé wine. Main course: cooked vegetables (potato, tomato, peas…) and some sort of game meat, complete with sauce. Cheese platter—two of cow milk, one goat milk. Dessert: tart with two different fruits, kind of like big grapes but softer.

Conversation was completely in French, often fast and always animated. It was all I could do to just keep my attention on the person who was talking. I picked up on the part where the government of the region Centre is giving money to high schools to take their English students to England. There’s a new album out by Sting where he has reworked various songs from the Middle Ages. Apparently, Alain’s son plays in a band called Arcadya, and they’ve produced several albums. Might need to look them up!

Lots of gossip about various teachers at the school… One of the Françoises has a daughter who is studying near Madrid this year. There was a film out that everyone was excited about, revolving around the Algerian war. That was about as much as I could pick up. Literally sat there and just stared, trying to keep up listening. If anybody addressed a question to me, it took me time to just switch from listening mode to speaking mode.

Tomorrow I’ll have a whopping 5 courses, from 8am to 5pm. Oy. Can’t wait for that to be over.

Rough day

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

O my. What insanity today. Slept in late, went down to the bank and got my bank card, bought some phone credit and a stamp. All goes well.

Get to school, copy my things for lessons, go to the first class. HEC kids, they’re pretty well on top of things. Hehe we did a stereotype unit—asked them to think of stereotypes they had of America, and stereotypes they thought Americans had of the French. Got some great things: for positive, Americans have lots of money, and for negative, Americans want lots of money. George Bush came up under the negative side (along with “sorry” written in parentheses, how cute).

The second class I had—I thought I was going to observe and just do a short introduction of myself—but no. The prof was like, ok I’ll stay in the room, just do what you do. Aaaah. Sooo not prepared for that, but I ended up just doing introductions—and it took longer because there were 16 of the little whippersnappers—and then played “I like people…” I’m beginning to get sick of this game.

Then ran to the third class, who turned out to be quite good in English. Gave them intro stuff, then a short multiple choice quiz…things like, which state has the highest population of people with French ancestry…what is the national language…etc. Then had them read an article aloud about the national language issue in the US, then divided them in two groups, one pro-national language, one against it. Then the two sides had a lovely debate. They are very good at expressing their ideas, which is encouraging. Can do real issues with this class.

Came home, ate and ate and ate, and then just sat around talking for a bit. Tomorrow is a day off, but I will probably go to school anyway just to do lesson plans and try to find flights and/or trains to Scarborough and Zurich. CanNOT wait for internet at the house. It’ll save me so much time.

M. Bride is going to take the poor diseased cat to the vet tomorrow, so hopefully I won’t have to stress when I find her inside sitting on beds or chairs or towels anymore. It’s probably just dry skin or something, but I definitely would get it fixed and not contract any strange skin disease from our feline friend.

First class

Monday, October 09, 2006

Lessons went pretty well this morning…honestly, I think the really successful part was the “I like people” game, basically because it was fun. They didn’t get into the school uniform issue at all really, and the intro collage stuff was just ok. I think I’ll modify it for the next class…have them read the article aloud so that I know where they’re having real problems understanding. Also gets them more involved. I did have two students stay after class and ask me if they could come every week instead of just every other week…so cool! I said sure, but now realize that I am planning on using the same lesson again, since I’ll have the other half of their class. So they’d be repeating exercises…not too entertaining or informative for them. May say, don’t bother since they material will be the same, but I am going to organize an English club, so come to that every week. We’ll see.

Orléans went well…got a little lost but was still an hour early for my appointment. Got in early and was out at 3:30, the time my appointment was scheduled for. Awesome. The whole topless xray thing was a little unnerving, but ah well…c’est la France.

Nicholas drove us all to Cora to do some grocery shopping, then back here for pasta and bolognaise sauce, yum. We had company for dinner—Nicholas and Medhi—and spent a nice evening comparing lessons and school in general. Good times.

Tomorrow will be two HEC classes (Hautes Etudes Commerciales…businessy-type upper-level classes) and a terminale class (last year of high school, I think). Am quite exhausted, but luckily don’t start teaching til 1:00ish tomorrow.

vrai auberge espagnole

Sunday, October 8

Hehe this morning I awoke to a yell of surprise from Susan, who had returned from Paris to find Claire borrowing her bed.

Been lesson planning in my PJs all day. I’ll have one class tomorrow—premières in basically remedial English. As far as I can tell, their grade levels are reversed from ours in the States, i.e. the larger the number, the younger the student. So premières are practically done with high school.

I’m going to do introductions—have them say their name, their age, and where they are from. This can also save me the embarrassment of butchering their names during attendance. They say their names, I check them off the list and figure out how to pronounce names like Idriss and Belhacem.

Then I’m gonna give them a collage I made of random pictures from magazines, and they’ll have to use one picture as a jumping off point to tell us something about themselves.

Then it’ll be on to a funny cartoon about school uniforms (these two kids walking down a hall with sagging pants, saying “School uniforms!...NO WAY! We’d be mocked!” And behind them, a teacher laughing hysterically at their exposed behinds). Can have them explain why it’s funny and the issue it involves. Next, divide the class in groups, have each take a section of a short article about school uniforms, and then summarize it. Segway into brainstorming pros and cons of uniforms, all together. Decided if I get students that don’t want to participate, I might have them all stand up, and then require each one to give me a pro or a con before s/he can sit. Harharhar.

If we’ve got any time left after that, I figure the “I like people” game is always a winner. Stand in a circle with one person in the middle, who has to say “I like people who…wear red shoes.” And anybody wearing red shoes has to switch spots with someone else wearing red shoes/the person in the middle. Goal is to get out of the middle. Whoever’s left over after the frantic running goes in the middle.

Didn’t realize how tired I was until we walked to Claire’s for dinner. Practically fell asleep at the table. I am feeling a bit worn out language-wise today. My brain just turned off for French, and anything said to me in French today went right over my head. It’s also very hard trying to make decisions and get information when you just don’t quite understand what people are saying. Very frustrating…I could ask people to write it and have better luck, I think.

Bed earlyish tonight, in the hopes that my brain will click on tomorrow. Gotta get the train to Orléans around 1:30 for the health appointment…hopefully no strikes are in the forecast.



Saturday, October 7

So that scene in L’auberge espagnole when the English girl answers the phone and is butchering a French explanation to Xavier’s mother (“Xavier neez paz eecee…”). Yea. It happened for real, today. I answer our phone, and hear “Blah blah blah blah Susan?” So I figure, ok Spanish. Susan was in Paris and had left us a little blurp to say, running along the lines of “Susan is in Paris. Call tomorrow.” So I dutifully and enthusiastically say “Susan esta en Paris. Llama mañana.” Reply: “BLAH BLAH BLAH SUSAN BLAH COLUMBIA??” My attempt at Spanish quickly deteriorated to “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Spanish” and the conversation ended when whoever it was hung up in frustration.

In other news, the weather is very fine—a rarity for this time of year, we hear—so Catherine and I monopolized on this by going biking along the Loire.

Went out in the evening with the other assistants…the Loch Ness is a Scottish-style pub in town, complete with billiards (which I have yet to play) and dance floor (which I have yet to frequent). People are crashing here tonight—a 30-minute walk in the early hours of the morning is a baaad idea.

Finally...a class

Friday, 6 October

Just sat in on my BTS math/physics class, and they seem fairly good. There are about three students that will reliably talk, and the rest sit there and stare mostly. I see two chatty ones, so gotta make sure I learn their names so I can call on them to add to everyone's discussion.

Feeling a little overwhelmed because I am getting professors confused. There's so many of them, and I'm forgetting what they wanted me to cover, what problems they had with my schedule, when they wanted me to meet them... Gaah!

Need to post pictures soon.

Thursday, 5 October

Another riveting day of orientation, after a quick run to school to apologetically cancel meetings with professors. I got to the orientation about 15 minutes late, sneaking in next to Catherine, who discreetly handed me a letter from our mailbox reading “Urgent.” It was a letter announcing that I needed to attend the meeting I was currently attending. Really now...

Got a good lunch, however, at the cantine…a public school lunch, and it was better than many a cheese log at B-W. Although I do like cheese logs.

Went to the CDDP in Blois—an educators’ library, full of books, videos, DVDs, tapes, etc. for teaching. Got a high school English textbook out to look for ideas, and if I had time to read the thing, that’d be great.

Ducked out early to go to the bank—this guy who works there is always in when I come to sort out some business or other, and today he just laughs at me, and I’m like “Yea, I know…I’m always here.” But he helped me figure out how to deposit money in the account—you don’t need a bank card, just the account number and a deposit slip, and you can do it by ATM.

Walked around a little, stopped to get a coffee, talked to Katie via phone (yay!), and got my head together. Then on to France Telecom, where I asked the lady why our phone wasn’t working yet. No solution, but I thought I’d switch some wires around when I got home and hopefully have some luck. Gave her the RIB so she can do direct withdrawal from my French account each month for the payments (hence the trip to the bank, so as not to get arrested for overdraft). The computer system was down, so she’ll call my cell phone and tell me when it’s gone through so I can come down and sign the contract.

We are rather miffed at our landlord—phone is still not working, and we got our nice French neighbor, Xavier, to take a look at it. He brought his phone over and it didn’t work either, so we pretty much figure the phone jacks—all three of them—are bad. Or France Telecom screwed up somewhere, but I asked the lady today about it, and she called the switch-phone-on service, and they said it’s on. Maybe we’re just missing some sort of master switch to make the phones work, but in any case, it’s frustrating. We also found out, through our neighbor, that we are paying significantly more for our house than they are, and it’s the same identical house. We figure M. Bride upped the price because he did provide a refrigerator and oven, and we are foreigners and will leave in seven months. But after all this money we’ve given him, he will not give us the garage door opener:

Rose: “Can we have the thing to open our garage door?”
M. Bride: “Why? You have a car?”
Rose: “Well no, but if we have a friend to stay, they’ll possibly have a car and would want to put it in the garage.”
M. Bride: “Well there is parking right in front of the buildings, they can park there.”
Rose/Me:

According to Xavier, the garage is included in the rent, and since we pay even more than them, we BETTER have use of the garage. We think M. Bride doesn’t want the cat who he’s put there running out. That’s all very well, but the cat is his responsibility, and we’re meanwhile bleeding money to pay him deposits and rent in cash. Moreover, have we received the receipts repeatedly requested for such exorbitant expenses? No. Cash payments, and no receipt. There is a recipe for disaster.

Anyways, after feeling very bitter and tire-slashy about the landlord, we ate pasta with pesto and went out for a drink at the Velvet Jazz Lounge. Very snazzy little bar with vaulted ceilings—looks like an old chapel really—and rather expensive cocktails. I settled with a half-pint Guinesss for 3 euros.

The number of people that honk and yell when they see a group of girls is amazing. I don’t remember this happening in the States like this. Yea, the odd car here and there, but here it’s definitely once a day at least.

After brioches with jam and a good attempt at understanding the various educational systems—French, English, and American—it’s definitely time to sleep. Up in 5 hours to get ready to meet my BTS math/physics students with Alain tomorrow. It’ll be the first class I meet, and I’m really quite ready to have contact and a routine. I hope he’ll let me sit in on the class as well.

Orléans

Wednesday, 4 October

Today was the orientation in Orléans—we had an early start, train leaving at 7:52. The strikes didn’t really effect us, so we got there in plenty of time to buy a pain au chocolat along the way. Wouldn’t you know it, we get there and they are handing out pain au chocolat for freeee along with several other kinds of tasty French pastries.

We went through introductions of important people in the educational system—I was struggling to keep the eyes open during that bit. Had an hour and a half to wander around Orléans—Rose and I saw the river, got a café, went into a Brittany-themed store that sold lots of pirate things, and wandered past the cathedral. Then back for lunch—très bien! It was buffet-style, but we still had salads, beef, French cheeses, bread and champagne.

Then we divided up into languages and levels—thus I was with English secondary school assistants—and we talked about the general idea that we are essentially ambassadors for our respective countries. The image here of Americans isn’t what I thought it would be —it’s not the bad image I thought we had of being pushy and rude—but that we are in fact scared of the world. They had an issue last year with an American assistant who felt her area was too dangerous to even go out at night because the area had a strong anti-American feel (apparently due to a large Muslim population). The way it was presented, I felt like it wasn’t that the area was so very dangerous, but that she was American and female and therefore scared scared scared. I dunno.

It’s hard to be sitting in a lecture room with maybe 60 people of various nationalities—but you’re all there for the same purpose of teaching a common language—and then feel so divided from these colleagues because you are given an image that is partly deserved and partly unfair. I’ve never been really gung-ho about waving my American flag or singing the national anthem, but when all of a sudden the country I know and love is reduced to a single negative blip on everyone’s radar, it makes me frustrated. I guess that’s part of the reason I’m here though; someone’s got to change their minds that the US isn’t full of difference-fearing recluses. Still, it’s tricky. I never really believed the thing in class when they said “if you go abroad and you show yourself not to be the stereotypical American, they’ll only label you as an exception.” Weell, I do now. I am “not a real American” because I don’t act the way they think Americans act. How the heck do I show them that I am in fact representative of—not an exception to—my country?

Tuesday, 3 October

The needy cat has taken over my jacket and my bed. She’s actually sleeping IN the jacket, in the middle of the bed. Nice.

Helped Susan get a bank account today, got my carte de séjour process started, and bought internet/phone/television connectivity. Forget the budget. It’s just not worth the struggle of doing all the math.

Took the dang cell phone up to Leclerc, where they simply plugged it in and it charged just fine. So it’s a problem with our plugs in our house. We had dinner at Claire’s (another English assistant from England) and après, we came back here and I tested the plugs. Voila, they don’t work. Whhhat. I found one that did (the one where my lamp is plugged in, so I KNOW it works), and now the phone is charging. Super.

Met the German assistant today at school (didn’t know we had one!), who I saw again at France Telecom while we were signing up for internet etc. Also got my contract signed and all the paperwork is now done for my salary advance. Yay!

I met Katy, the English teacher that works with HEC kids—Hautes Etudes Commerciales—students in business who are looking to go to the impressive grandes écoles. Sounds like I’ll take two of her classes in a sort of rotation—I’ll see half of each class the first week, the second halves the second week, and then back to the first half for the third week, etc. For one, I’m going to work on stereotypes for the first week—what are French stereotypes of America, and what do they think the American stereotypes are of France. Great, considering we did exactly that in Commercial French last year. Wish I had my notes here.

The second class, I’m going to make up a multiple choice quiz about the United States in general, revolving around topics that can be spun into discussions. Need to brainstorm about good topics, but it’s really late to be thinking about it, especially as I have to get up in about 5.5 hours to catch the train to Orléans for the orientation. Merde.

Day gets better...

2 octobre

O my, today at school was one of those days. I went in, and I always feel a bit awkward in the salle des profs—teachers’ lounge—because I feel like I look like a student. But anyways, I run into Alain, he shows me my locker, and then the proviseur of the school—basically the principal—comes up to me and wants to say hello, shake my hand, etc. Well dang it, I’m overtired and pretty much just not with it, and I thought he was trying to get by me to the other end of the room, so I scooted out of his way. And he followed me, hand extended. And I kept trying to scoot out of his way. Finally I figured out what was going on and said good morning to the poor guy. Really, it’s quite comic when you take a far-away look at the whole scenario—but at the time I was mortified…and still am to some extent.

I’ll supposedly sign the contract tomorrow (on Thursday, they said I’d sign it today, so I am feeling skeptical). Also bought a meal plan—30 euros for seven lunches, I’m beginning to feel that I’ve been duped. It’s a bit much for a school lunch. Although perhaps a French school lunch is worth it? On verra.

Spent time online getting emails sorted and train tables found for Wednesday and the trip to Orléans. Alain invited me to go to his house for lunch, which was nice of him. I tried pâté, which was quite tasty, and we had beef, tomatoes, grapes, fresh figs from his garden, and yogurt. My first real French lunch.

M. Bride came by this evening to have us all sign the housing contracts and to do an inventory of the house. Yay for that being over. Once all our rents are paid, we’ll be really official.
Nicolas—who we met at the neighbors’ party and who is sort of seeing Catherine now—came for dinner. He speaks Spanish as well as English, so could talk with all of us in our native languages…gotta love trilingual people. We had a very nice chicken potato curry over rice, and a tasty red wine.

We’re going to try and plan a housewarming party for the weekend of the 14th, I believe. Can invite our neighbors as well as the other assistants. There’s supposed to be a Spanish assistant at my lycée, but haven’t heard anything about him/her yet.

Catching up...

1 octobre 2006
Try as we might, we could find nothing in the way of bedding for Susan today. Most stores are closed in Blois on Sundays, and the ones that were open didn’t stay that way for long. We walked into town to have a look around and stopped for coffee at a café, where I bought more credit for my cell phone. There went the budget for today. Ah well.
We spent a lazy afternoon chatting, reading, and learning salsa from Susan. My hips don’t work right for salsa, but it was fun nevertheless. I tried to teach them a little swing dance, and Catherine taught us the charming “chicken tango,” which might just be the best dance ever.
We invited Medhi to dinner—he’s an English language assistant from Florida. Feasted on pizza and wine. We’re all planning to meet somewhere in Blois on Wednesday so that we can catch the train to Orléans for our orientation.
Tomorrow, I’ll go see M. Bride with Susan so that she can sign her contract and get an “attestation de loyer”—proof of residence, so that she can get a bank account. I’m meeting Alain at school around 10am, and then I don’t know how long I’ll be there. I’m not sure if I’m sitting in on my classes tomorrow, or if I’m just doing more paperwork. But in any case, I’ve got my RIB—bank information—so I can turn that into the office and apply for the salary advance. Yay! And get on the internet for free. Another yay!
Having to speak French now that it’s the only common language between the four of us is great. Even after one day, I feel so much more confident in my ability to communicate, to find ways around the holes in my vocabulary.


30 septembre 2006
There was a little thunderstorm today! I love thunderstorms.
Called home, it was so nice to hear familiar voices. My sister’s birthday was today…it’s weird not being around for it.
Catherine bought a bike today, however, by the time we got it all the way home, we discovered that it was misaligned somehow. The back wheel scrapes the frame, making it virtually unrideable. So after much potzing and a good bit of frustration, it seems the only option is to return the dang thing.
While walking back from Leclerc, a guy stopped us to ask for directions—turns out he spoke Spanish, so all of us were relying on hand gestures to make things clear. Too bad our fourth housemate wasn’t already here!
I rode around a bit, down to my school and then into town. As a directionally challenged person, I figured biking would at least make my aimless roaming a little less tiring. Not so. Those hills are steeeep.
Both Catherine and Rose are out tonight, but the fourth housemate, Susan, arrived this evening from Columbia. I had my first French phone conversation with her contact person, who was picking her up from the station and then dropping her off here. I actually feel I understood him fairly well. Giving directions to the house was another story, but he got here, so it must not have been that bad!
Susan speaks French and a very little bit of English, so it looks like we will become a real French-speaking household! We have a whiteboard for shopping lists and such, and I changed it over into French from English so we can all read it. Or at least be able to look up the words. I feel bad, she has no bedding and got here too late to go out to buy any. Called Rose to get another idea of what to do, and since she’s not coming back tonight from Paris, she offered to let Susan sleep in her room. Problem averted. I just hope Leclerc is open on a Sunday so we can go get her things tomorrow.
I did very well with my budget today, bought a lightbulb for the room, a candle and some matches, all for 3 euros. Just ate what was around the house, so that means I’m even under budget for the day. Score. Things will work out better than I think—I’m just planning for the worst. The advance will probably work out fine, so by the end of October, I won’t be freaking out so much.


29 septembre 2006
Today I slept in and it was WONDERFUL. Sylvie had managed to get under the covers and slept nestled up against my side.
I gave my caution of 460 euros to M. Bride today, so we are one step closer to getting individual keys. Apparently, all four of us have to pay our caution (and maybe our first month’s rent of 290 euros? it’s hard to understand him) before we get keys. Sigh.
Suzanne isn’t here yet, and I’m writing this at 5:00 pm on Friday. Hope she’s all right!
Catherine and I went into town to shop a bit—I got a sweater, as well as a bag that will fit folders and things. Got them on the cheap too, because wow the money is flying fast. I hope this whole advance thing works out, otherwise I’m looking at 4 euros a day for the next two months for food, 6 euros if I don’t buy a bike. But of course the taxi fares that are adding up probably justify the bike.
My mandatory health appointment is going to be on the 9th of October in Orléans. Good to get that over with so I can get the carte de séjour asap!
Feeling slightly stressed out today, mainly about money. We’re talking about getting internet in the house—which admittedly I want desperately—and it would run each of us about 25 euros a person (assuming Suzanne has a computer and wants in on it—if not, more like 33 euros a person). The line would include TV, phone, and internet for 100 euros, which sounds quite reasonable. I don’t want to shirk on things for the house—the other girls are going to want me to pitch in for things like placemats and posters, but really, food is just going to have to come first. I can live very cheaply on my own with bread, peanut butter, jam, etc. Sharing food is all good and well, but we need to knock the price levels down a bit if we’re going to do this continually, I think.
Time for a nap, so that at least overtiredness doesn’t become a factor in my stress level!
Later…
We have keys! M. Bride was walking out of the office as Rose and I were going out, and he gave us individual house keys as well as a mailbox key. Nice to have freedom.
I bought a bike for 89 euros, so that’ll hopefully earn itself back in evaded taxi fares. Better to buy it early. Plus, there’ll be more to do than go around town spending money. Catherine and I are talking about biking along the Loire tomorrow.
After a dinner of chicken vegetable stir-fry, we went into town to meet up with another British assistant, Claire. On the way, we heard someone call “Hi girls!” and we were amazed that we must obviously be so non-French. Actually, it was Nicolas, who we met at our neighbors’ last night. So cool to have someone know us.
Went to two places tonight: Latino café and l’Etoile Tex. The second one is a sort of bar/internet café, and also has a pool table. Yay!


28 septembre 2006
The last few days have been such a blur that it is hard to tell where one starts and another begins. The plane rides were uneventful—always good—although this was the first time I really noticed the cramped quarters in economy class.
Meeting up with fellow assistants in Chicago was great. Just being with other people that were in the same situation made it easier. When we got into Paris, we tackled the train situation together, and voila, I made it to Blois. M. Mirq—“call me Alain” he says—picked me up from the train station in Blois and drove me to my house. He also gave me my unofficial timetable—looks like I’ll work Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Wow.
M. Bride, who owns the housing complex, is very nice. He speaks quite fast, which made me very grateful that Alain was there to translate after my near-24 hour jaunt. The house is in a sort of gated community—about 8 houses in all. Ours comes with 4 bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, dining room, living room, garage, backyard, AND…a cat! We’ve dubbed her Sylvie, and she is a completely needy little personality. She’s pregnant, so we excuse it and are taking turns giving her homes on our beds.
I had a choice between an upstairs double bed that would share a bathroom with two others, or the downstairs single that had its own. I chose the upstairs double. It’s spacious enough for what I need, and comes with closet, bureau, desk/chair, another loungy chair, and two night tables.
The first day, Catherine and Rose were already here (both English). Suzanne, from Columbia, should arrive today sometime. The three of us went to E Leclerc, a megastore that has everything from bikes to peanut butter. I got bedding, and we collectively got a tea kettle, dishes, and other kitchen necessities. Our oven wasn’t working yet, so we also got two take-out pizzas from the in-house pizzeria. Delicious. After our taxi ride back, we devoured said pizzas and a bottle of the local wine. One of our neighbors came by to say they were having a fête Thursday night, and wanted to make sure any noise would be ok.
Thursday was more business. Rose and I talked to M. Bride about fun things like where to put our garbage for pick-up and what the code was to open to door to the complex. We then walked into town, where she showed me the bank she and Catherine had opened accounts at. I made an appointment for later that afternoon, then we walked around town, saw the river, and I had my first cup of real French café. Amazing.
We eventually met up with Catherine for lunch—quiches—and then shopped a little before moseying back to the house. The man was there to fix our oven, GREAT. I left to go do paperwork at the school—Alain introduced me to the other English teachers, the librarian, the office staff, the head of the school… I filled out lots of papers, and then got a chance to jump on a computer! We’re probably going to get internet at the house, but until then, the staff room at school works.
Went back home, then off again to Leclerc for food and assorted items. We saw bikes, and I think I’m going to get one. We want to do a bike tour of the chateaux, and it’ll be handy around town in any case.
Back home, we ran into our neighbor again, who invited us to their fête! We made chicken/cheese/salsas tortillas for dinner—during which process our electricity went out and we had to go over to a neighbor and ask for help. She lives next door and was very nice and helpful. Dinner down, we got up our nerve to go to our first French party, and came bearing a bottle of wine. It was gratefully accepted and we were led out to the garden/patio, where there were lots of people milling about. Xavier, who seemed not to speak very much English, gave us some orange-rum punch, and after a glass we were talking in very confidently botched French. Benoît, another housemate, spoke decent English—the deal is that we’ll speak French and they’ll speak English, and we’ll all correct each other. He gave us a jar of his grandmother’s strawberry jam, with strict orders to buy good bread to put it on. It was such a fun evening—a time to relax and just embrace the fact that we’re in France and don’t speak French perfectly, but can still get along.
Now, I’m sitting here typing this, and Sylvie insists on sitting on my lap (she apparently has to not only be inside but be actually physically in contact with someone). Tomorrow I have nothing official to do—unless I want to go get my carte de séjour started or give a RIB (relevé d’identité bancaire—allows you to do direct deposit of your paycheck to your bank account) to my school office. We’re planning on going shopping tomorrow, and I personally am counting on sleeping in, organizing my room, and hopefully getting a key to the house (with two keys and three people—soon to be four—it’s a bit difficult).