Le week-end

Friday night, we went out to Tours to see some big-town nightlife. We met up with some surveillants--sort of the school police: responsible for attendance, hall monitoring, etc.--from Mehdi's school, and they showed us the sights. Tours is really a beautiful town, cobbled streets and half-timbered buildings, the river...

Saturday was spent taking it easy...we got ambitious in the evening and made fajitas. Watched Office Space. Ate peanuts.

Today--Sunday--I attacked lesson plans with a decent amount of vigor. Alan and I went to a concert at the chateau; they sure know how to have a Baroque concert around here--hold it in a 17th century royal palace. We heard two Brandenburg concertos, a Bach sonata, some Bach junior, as well as two French composers I hadn't heard of: Jean-Marie Leclair and Jean Barrière. We hit up La Scala for pasta afterwards, yum! Now it's off to read a bit before toddling off to sleep.

Week highlights

1. Snow. We've had it. Not a lot, but it still counts...

2. Two more tutorees. Before you know it, I'll be making more in tutoring than in classroom teaching.

3. Saw "C.R.A.Z.Y," which is well worth the money. Dramatic comedy about a family and specifically, the second-youngest son and his attempt to earn his father's love/convince his father to love him as he is. Pretty much hilarious AND heart-wrenching at the same time.

4. News that the parents are almost sure to be coming to France, which is just amazing.

Sunday

Today was pretty sweet...sunny and warmish. Alan and I roamed around town for a bit, generally basking in this crazy January, and then headed off to a (free) piano concert at a local church. Was nice...Mozart, Schubert, Ravel, Brahms, Poulenc, and a surprise Fauré. All four-handed pieces. We saw a couple people from our French conversation class, and I ran into a professor from school who says she takes piano lessons from one of the performers today. I told her I play and am on the lookout for a piano, and she said she'd have a word with the proviseur to ask if I could play the one at school. SWEET.

That pumpkin pie I've been meaning to make since Christmas...well it got made tonight. And it was darn tasty.

Progressing thru the weekend...

Went to see a movie today--Zone Libre--about World War II and and a family of German Jews taking refuge in France. It was a good challenge to watch a French film without subtitles--we normally put them on when we're watching films at the house.

For the record, I feel pretty impressed with French health care so far. A visit costs 21E, and 70% of that is reimbursed by social security. I got in the same day that I went to make the appointment, and heck, I just plain understood what the doctor was saying.

It is amazingly mild for January--a global trend, I know, but still. I'm running around in light sweaters and/or a vest coat.

Tonight, we made sushi. Mehdi found all the necessary ingredients at an Asian food store in Tours, so we gave it a shot. Turned out pretty tasty, but I gotta say, I'm still hungry.

I'm reading Madame Bovary right now, and it is going a bit slow. Vocabulary is harder than what I'd been reading previously--Les Echelles du Levant--and I am also taking to the semi-bad habit of reading mainly before bed, which involves me reading a couple sentences before falling asleep. Need to take active steps to read when I'm awake and energetic enough to give this attention--like, dictionary-in-hand sort of attention.

On that note, it's 1am and I'm going to take meself off to bed, but not before once again trying to make a little progress with Emma and the gang.

Success!

I felt like I was making progress today. Number one, I had a conversation with two kids on a moped today--as I was sitting on my bike at a stoplight. We were like the motorcyclists at home who chat over the roaring engines, automatically friends just because they own the same type of vehicle. Granted, my conversation revolved around the driver telling me I should lower my bike seat because it looked too high, but whatever! I understood and responded, "Yea, thanks...I'm not gonna do it now in the middle of the road, but you're right."

Two, I helped a prof at school and therefore felt like YES, I am the expert here. The fact that I was explaining a Weird Al Yankovic lyric makes it even better. "An amish with a tude?" Yes, "tude." I'd've been confused, too.

Three, I had two new classes today and they were great. They were secondes, the youngest kids at the school. I think they both went so well because they were younger--making me feel older and more in charge. Moreover, they asked questions. Questions. "What's the word for patinoire, madame?" "Do people in the US like George Bush?"

I must be getting a thicker skin or something. Some of the situations I get into would've made me very frustrated and stressed a couple months ago. Like, today, one of my new classes didn't have a room. I found the class--one of my new ones, so I guessed the large group of lost-looking kids was mine--and told them to stay where they were (the courtyard between buildings). I had to go from the professor to the proviseur-adjoint, finally found a room, got back to the class--who'd done what I'd told them--and just moved on and taught the class. Taking things in stride, it's so much easier after a couple months of having to do it.

Getting some green space

Well I took that walk yesterday, found that the chateau de Menars was a mere 9 km up the river. Rather ambitiously decided to walk it, which turned out to be great. I found a path that ran up the river right to the gates of the chateau. The walk up was flat the whole way, varied between fields and forested areas. Got to the chateau, which was closed as I suspected...it's no longer open to the public and serves as some sort of private school. Took a look around--as best as I could over the walls--then started back. Roundtrip took about 4.5 hours, not bad for 18 kms.

Today was spent lesson planning, with occasional interruptions for wandering through town or general potzing around. It was gorgeous today, blue skies and sunny, mild enough to just wear a long-sleeve semi-heavy shirt. Tomorrow starts the new semester, and with that comes a slightly different schedule for me, which involves starting at 8am, so this would be me going to bed early. 11:09pm. Almost early.

Cement-town claustrophobia

I am starting to get bothered by the way this town has very few green spaces...I mean, we're in the middle of the French countryside, for goodness' sake! There's the river, but it's overshadowed by the town; there are parks, but not really on the way to anywhere I'd go on a regular basis. I was spoiled by Scarborough...walking along the coast to class, the moors within sight. Every view reminded me that I was in the middle of something bigger. In Blois, it feels too easy to be isolated from the rest of the world.

Gonna get out tomorrow, somehow, somewhere. We were going to go to a chateau, Chaumont-sur-Loire, but just checked their website and it's closed until April. Argh. There's talk of going to Tours for shopping...it's the infamous "soldes" here in France. They have big sales only twice a year, and one of those times is now. Although I'm tempted to find somewhere to bike or hike.

We watched "Rien du Tout" tonight, from the same director that did "L'Auberge espagnol." It was funny...about a guy who takes over a department store, improves employees' situations, etc. etc., but ........then he finds out that the company sold his store before he even took it over.

Back in the groove

I know I've only been back two days and thus shouldn't judge too hastily, but I feel quite a bit better back at school this week. Maybe it's that we're all rested from break; maybe it's that I finally picked up an English grammar book and now understand the rules that will help them learn the language; maybe it's just me getting used to the situation. In any case, both Monday and today felt like successes in the classroom.

This morning, I finally got myself down to Blois Accueil, where they offer French language courses. Alan and I went, took the 1.5 hour conversation course. Meets every Tuesday morning. There are people from all over: Venezuela, US, the UK, Portugal, Thailand, Japan... People's situations are different, too: some are married to a French spouse and have recently moved here to live; others took their retirement in France; others are studying here. In any case, this class is serving a double purpose for me: yea, learn French. But also, observe someone teaching their own language. I'm hoping to pick up some methods to keep this semester on a good path.

Last weekend of break

Saturday, I went to the market to try my hand at buying fish from the poissonnerie...ended up with three whole dorade, a kind of fish we'd eaten on Ile d'Yeu. It rained on the way back...really really fun on a bike. It was a fairly calm afternoon, involving things like euchre, knitting, and reading. We did make chocolate mousse, which is no small feat. I have a new appreciation for kitchen appliances; beating egg whites into stiff peaks by hand was a three-person job. But we did it, we could turn the bowl upside-down and nothing moved. We had ham/cheese/egg crepes for lunch, then dorade and potatoes for dinner. Chocolate mousse for dessert, followed by more euchre.

Today--Sunday--the château in Blois is open for free. We're heading down shortly. I'm making a New Year's resolution to do more things that involve me listening to/speaking French. Love being around all the Americans and Brits here, but I'm just not improving my French as much as I'd hoped.

London for the New Year

Natalie and I took a verrry early taxi to the station on New Year's Eve. Got into Paris and took the opportunity to see some things, including Notre Dame and this nifty little bookstore, Shakespeare and Company. It was a Sunday, so Notre Dame was in the midst of a service while we were there. It was PACKED. Kinda bizarre, really. It's one thing to see a cathedral in the middle of a service, and it's a whole new thing to see a cathedral in the middle of a service, with hundreds of tourists snapping photos of it all. I was one of those tourists, I admit, but it still felt like we were all kind of invading.

The Eurostar got into London with no hitches, and we made our way--in the rain--to the hostel. Found Alan, found our room, found some food at a little Indian restaurant down the road. We hung out in the room talking and playing cards with our hostel-mates...three French girls and two Australians. We all headed out to talk down the Thames toward Trafalgar Square to see fireworks, which were set off from the London Eye. Super cool.

Monday, we spent a good portion of the day in the Tate Modern, where they had--get this--slides. As in playground slides. We were a bit late on the draw and therefore didn't get to go down--you have to get tickets that tell you a time to show up at your particular slide. After the Tate, we headed back to the hostel for some dinner, then headed back out to Leicester Square, where we wandered around until we found a movie theater...saw "Stranger Than Fiction," which I really enjoyed. It plays with the relationship between the characters in fiction, their creators...and what makes good fiction.

We spent Tuesday almost entirely in the British Museum. I love the early British stuff...reminds me of good times in Oldrieve classes. It still pops into my mind when I see this stuff: "What connections can we made from this? So what?" We took a lunch break at a snazzy little Thai restaurant, Busaba Eathai. Had this amazing chicken--marinated in garlic, coriander root, and ginger for a full 24 hours, then cooked in pandan leaves. Back to the museum, saw some sketches by Seurat of parts that would become the Grande Jatte. There was also a piece that seemed more in place with the Tate, but was cool: a huge table containing two curtains of prescription medicines: contained something like 14,000 pills, the average number of pills taken by one British person in a lifetime. Around the curtains were pictures of events from everyday life, birth certificates, a glass of wine, etc. After, we headed back for dinner, then hung out at the hostel, packing up, going down to their bar to play some cards, and generally relax before travelling the next day.

Wednesday was smooth travelling, again. I walked to Waterloo from the hostel, about a 30-minute hike, but it was worth it. Amazing view of the river, plus I refused to pay four pounds for a one-way trip on the tube. Got a quick sandwich at Waterloo, then boarded. Off in Paris, caught the metro to Gare d'Austerlitz, and immmmmediately jumped on the train for Blois. I had all of two minutes to buy my ticket and run onto the train. Got back into Blois and walked the home stretch, thankful that I packed light.