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.
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.
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