Dear friends,
Merry Christmas from England! I left Nevers on Saturday morning and luckily arrived here as scheduled! There was a TON of snow all throughout France and England (it was very pretty!), so there were all sorts of travel disruptions – a friend of mine who was supposed to fly out of Paris on Friday night didn’t end up getting home until Sunday afternoon. The Eurostar train – the one that goes under the English Channel – also stopped running for a few days after a couple trains got stuck in the Chunnel. I would have been SO terrified if I’d been there!
Christmas in England has been fun, but I never realized how many of their traditions are different from ours – my cousin and I went out to the pub last night (apparently Christmas Eve is a big going-out night), then we had turkey for Christmas dinner, pulled Christmas crackers, and ate Christmas Pudding! I spent Monday in London with 3 of my cousins, and it started snowing while we were walking through Camden Lock, a really cute area – it was so pretty, although very cold!
I haven’t done anything too terribly exciting since being in England, but it’s been very nice to relax and spend time with family. I’m looking forward to New Year’s Eve, when I’ll return to Paris and my friend is coming from the US to spend 2 weeks in France with me – we’re meeting at the airport, and I can’t wait!
I hope you’re all enjoying Christmas – I miss you all!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Orléans
Bonjour mes amis,
I’ve had another good week since my last post – it’s been busy and filled with Christmas spirit, of course! One of my classes was cancelled for a field trip on Tuesday – my longest workday of the week – so that was a nice surprise! I didn’t work on Wednesday, so I slept in very late and then tried to send a Christmas package home to my family. (Note the operative word there, “tried.”) I ended up going to La Poste twice on Wednesday and STILL ended up bringing the box home with me. I was just planning on buying one of the prepaid boxes at the post office, so the first time I showed up with a few wrapped presents and some packing material. Unfortunately the only option cost €35, which is about $50, which is more than the actual presents cost!! I left the post office, bought a box, packed the box, then went back to the post office to mail it. I didn’t have any packing tape, but I was sure they’d have some there that I could use to seal up the box (seriously, EVERY post office in the US has rolls and rolls of packing tape available for use). Unfortunately my assumption was unfounded and I was told that it wasn’t well sealed and that I’d have to leave and buy some tape to seal it up. It was super-frustrating to say the least, but I finally got the box sent on Thursday!
On Thursday night I went to the Maison de la Culture again to see “Tango Metropolis,” an Argentinian tango show. It was really different from Cendrillon, the only other show I’ve seen there, but I really enjoyed it! It was basically just 2 hours of short-ish tango routines, but there was also a live band – complete with a wonderful old man playing accordion – that added a lot to it.
Nevers had its Marché de Noël this past weekend, on Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. I went with a group of friends on Friday afternoon to have a look around – and enjoy some vin chaud, of course! It was much smaller than the ones in Lyon and Orléans, but I was pretty impressed. There were lots of artisanal stalls with mostly-useless-but-cool housewares – you know, the kinds of things you’d buy at craft fairs. There were also several vignerons (people who make wine) with stands selling wine, so one of my friends and I did a few tastings and ended up buying a bottle each.
On Saturday I got up WAY too early to take a day trip with 4 other assistants to Orléans. Our train left Nevers at 6:58, but it was definitely worth it, as we had a great – but FREEZING – day! We arrived in Orléans around 9 AM and spent a few hours wandering around the town – we visited the Hôtel Groslot, a gorgeous big house that was once the private residence of someone important and rich, and the Cathédrale Sainte Croix, the main cathedral in Orléans, where Joan of Arc attended Mass while she was in Orléans to liberated it from its siege during the Hundred Years’ War. Because she liberated the city from its siege by the English, Orléans loves Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) and there are statues of her all over the city – we even saw one of her naked?!?
We also visited the city’s art museum and then the Maison Jeanne d’Arc, the house where she stayed for a little while when she was in Orléans to liberate it. Like I said, it was absolutely freezing, so we spent much more time than necessary at every indoor attraction, meaning we were inside the 2-room Joan of Arc museum for about an hour, if not a bit longer… As Orléans is actually a city of some substance, there was also a lot more shopping than there is in Nevers, so that certainly gave us something to do for a few hours! We then went to explore the Christmas market, one of the main reasons we’d decided to go to Orléans in the first place. There were lots of stalls selling more cool-but-unnecessary things as well as food – so we ate dinner (and dessert!) at the market before finally heading back to the station to catch our train. Overall I really liked Orléans – it’s a very pleasant town, and it was decorated so nicely for Christmas!
Yesterday we had a Christmas party and my and Sarah’s apartment – it was a wonderful success! We started by making cookies for a few hours in the afternoon, then took a break to go to the Christmas market again, then came back and decorated cookies, made spiced wine, ate dinner and cookies, and watched Love Actually! We also did Secret Santa, which was lots of fun. It was my first time making Christmas cookies solo, and it was pretty hard without a pastry cloth or a rolling pin! (I ended up using an empty wine bottle…) I think they turned out all right, and it was fun anyways!
I can’t believe it’s my last week of work before vacation – I’m leaving on Saturday to spend Christmas in England with some family, which I’m looking forward to! My favorite school is putting on its own Christmas market tomorrow night, so I’m going with a few friends – I think it’ll be cute!
That’s all for now, I hope all is well with all of you!
I’ve had another good week since my last post – it’s been busy and filled with Christmas spirit, of course! One of my classes was cancelled for a field trip on Tuesday – my longest workday of the week – so that was a nice surprise! I didn’t work on Wednesday, so I slept in very late and then tried to send a Christmas package home to my family. (Note the operative word there, “tried.”) I ended up going to La Poste twice on Wednesday and STILL ended up bringing the box home with me. I was just planning on buying one of the prepaid boxes at the post office, so the first time I showed up with a few wrapped presents and some packing material. Unfortunately the only option cost €35, which is about $50, which is more than the actual presents cost!! I left the post office, bought a box, packed the box, then went back to the post office to mail it. I didn’t have any packing tape, but I was sure they’d have some there that I could use to seal up the box (seriously, EVERY post office in the US has rolls and rolls of packing tape available for use). Unfortunately my assumption was unfounded and I was told that it wasn’t well sealed and that I’d have to leave and buy some tape to seal it up. It was super-frustrating to say the least, but I finally got the box sent on Thursday!
On Thursday night I went to the Maison de la Culture again to see “Tango Metropolis,” an Argentinian tango show. It was really different from Cendrillon, the only other show I’ve seen there, but I really enjoyed it! It was basically just 2 hours of short-ish tango routines, but there was also a live band – complete with a wonderful old man playing accordion – that added a lot to it.
Nevers had its Marché de Noël this past weekend, on Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday. I went with a group of friends on Friday afternoon to have a look around – and enjoy some vin chaud, of course! It was much smaller than the ones in Lyon and Orléans, but I was pretty impressed. There were lots of artisanal stalls with mostly-useless-but-cool housewares – you know, the kinds of things you’d buy at craft fairs. There were also several vignerons (people who make wine) with stands selling wine, so one of my friends and I did a few tastings and ended up buying a bottle each.
On Saturday I got up WAY too early to take a day trip with 4 other assistants to Orléans. Our train left Nevers at 6:58, but it was definitely worth it, as we had a great – but FREEZING – day! We arrived in Orléans around 9 AM and spent a few hours wandering around the town – we visited the Hôtel Groslot, a gorgeous big house that was once the private residence of someone important and rich, and the Cathédrale Sainte Croix, the main cathedral in Orléans, where Joan of Arc attended Mass while she was in Orléans to liberated it from its siege during the Hundred Years’ War. Because she liberated the city from its siege by the English, Orléans loves Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc) and there are statues of her all over the city – we even saw one of her naked?!?
We also visited the city’s art museum and then the Maison Jeanne d’Arc, the house where she stayed for a little while when she was in Orléans to liberate it. Like I said, it was absolutely freezing, so we spent much more time than necessary at every indoor attraction, meaning we were inside the 2-room Joan of Arc museum for about an hour, if not a bit longer… As Orléans is actually a city of some substance, there was also a lot more shopping than there is in Nevers, so that certainly gave us something to do for a few hours! We then went to explore the Christmas market, one of the main reasons we’d decided to go to Orléans in the first place. There were lots of stalls selling more cool-but-unnecessary things as well as food – so we ate dinner (and dessert!) at the market before finally heading back to the station to catch our train. Overall I really liked Orléans – it’s a very pleasant town, and it was decorated so nicely for Christmas!
Yesterday we had a Christmas party and my and Sarah’s apartment – it was a wonderful success! We started by making cookies for a few hours in the afternoon, then took a break to go to the Christmas market again, then came back and decorated cookies, made spiced wine, ate dinner and cookies, and watched Love Actually! We also did Secret Santa, which was lots of fun. It was my first time making Christmas cookies solo, and it was pretty hard without a pastry cloth or a rolling pin! (I ended up using an empty wine bottle…) I think they turned out all right, and it was fun anyways!
I can’t believe it’s my last week of work before vacation – I’m leaving on Saturday to spend Christmas in England with some family, which I’m looking forward to! My favorite school is putting on its own Christmas market tomorrow night, so I’m going with a few friends – I think it’ll be cute!
That’s all for now, I hope all is well with all of you!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tea Salons and the Fete des Lumieres in Lyon
Dear friends,
I’ve had a wonderful week since my last post, so it might be a long one – brace yourselves! I finally got my checkbook from my bank on Tuesday, a whole 18 days after I ordered it (they told me it would be “une dixaine de jours,” or 10 days). I should have known it would have taken forever, but ce n’est pas grave now that I have it and can officially pay rent!
Two of the assistants had their boyfriends in town last weekend and for the beginning of the week, so we had a dinner party on Tuesday night so we could all meet them. It was really fun, but kind of challenging linguistically. For the most part, all the assistants speak English (and French, obviously) except for one, the Spanish assistant from Costa Rica. Sarah’s boyfriend is Austrian and speaks German and English, and Tish’s boyfriend is English and speaks English and a little French. We ultimately decided to speak in English for the night, but there were lots of little side translations into French and German going on!
My classes have been going really well, and I think the kids are really excited now that we’ve started working on Christmas vocabulary! We’ve also been practicing a simplified version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in a lot of my classes, as that school puts on a Christmas Market. The kids have been working on making Christmas crafts to sell there (they’ll also have hot chocolate, coffee, and vin chaud being sold on school grounds, which I’m pretty sure would NEVER fly in the US!) and they’ll be singing Christmas carols. I plan on going and bringing some of the other assistants with me, and I’m quite excited – I think it’ll be really cute!
On Friday afternoon I went with my fellow assistants Sarah, Mari, Lizzi, and Tish to Nevers’ cutest (and possibly only) salon du thé, En Apar’thé. It’s about the girliest place I’ve ever seen in my life, but it was a wonderful way to spend a cold December afternoon – it was all decorated for Christmas with a beautiful tree, and we all ordered the same tea, the Esprit de Noël. They also have lots of delicious little desserts that are served on beautiful china – we definitely plan on going back!
This weekend I went to Lyon with 5 other assistants for the Fête des Lumières, which is held there every year. It’s a big festival in which there are really cool light shows and light installations all around the city, and I really enjoyed it, even if it was SUPER crowded! We arrived in Lyon around noon and spent a few hours exploring the city – we saw the Place Bellecour, which is one of the biggest public squares in Europe, and climbed up the (VERY steep) Fourvière hill to visit the Basilique de Notre Dame de Fourvière, a beautiful basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In fact, the entire Fête des Lumières is in honor of the Virgin Mary, as she saved Lyon twice from terrible fates – once in the 1500s from the plague, and once in the 1800s from German invaders during the Franco-Prussian War.
On Saturday night we went into the very crowded centre ville to see some of the installations of the Fête des Lumières. The Fête’s theme this year was “Playing with Weather and Time,” so most of the shows/installations dealt with that in some way. One of my favorite installations were at the Hôtel de Ville, where lights shining on the façade produced the effect of the building being subjected to all 4 seasons in rapid succession – it froze, then cracked and fell apart, then there spring raindrops and flowers, then summer heat and fire… It’s kind of hard to explain it, but it was amazing to see! The other installation I really liked was the one at the Cathédrale Saint Jean, where the title was “La Construction de la Cathédrale.” The lights projected onto the façade first showed an architect’s hand sketching the plans, and then we watched it “being built.” All in all, it was just a wonderful festival, and I’m so glad I got to see it!
(You can read a little bit more about it and see some awesome pictures here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8401011.stm)
Lyon is a beautiful and lively city with a lot going on – it used to produce a lot of silk, so it has some neat covered passageways called traboules that were used to transport the silk between buildings without exposing it to the elements. These same traboules also came in handy for the Résistance during WWII, as they could be used to smuggle people between buildings. On Sunday afternoon we visited the Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation, an interesting museum dedicated to, oddly enough, the French Resistance during the German occupation of France during WWII and the deportation of Jews from France.
We were all also very glad to see that there was quite a sizeable Christmas Market, so we did a bit of wandering through there and I managed to buy some spices to make vin chaud, I think I’ll use them as a Christmas present!
I’m looking forward to this week and weekend, as I’m going back to the Maison de la Culture (where I saw Cendrillon) on Thursday night to see a show called “Tango Metropolis;” hopefully it’ll be good! Nevers’ Marché de Noël (which sadly only lasts 3 days) is this weekend, so I’m planning on going on both Friday and Sunday afternoons. Even if it’s not very big, it’ll be good to get me in the Christmas spirit! A group of us is going to Orléans for a day trip on Saturday, I’ll let you know how it goes!
I hope all is well with you, à bientôt!
I’ve had a wonderful week since my last post, so it might be a long one – brace yourselves! I finally got my checkbook from my bank on Tuesday, a whole 18 days after I ordered it (they told me it would be “une dixaine de jours,” or 10 days). I should have known it would have taken forever, but ce n’est pas grave now that I have it and can officially pay rent!
Two of the assistants had their boyfriends in town last weekend and for the beginning of the week, so we had a dinner party on Tuesday night so we could all meet them. It was really fun, but kind of challenging linguistically. For the most part, all the assistants speak English (and French, obviously) except for one, the Spanish assistant from Costa Rica. Sarah’s boyfriend is Austrian and speaks German and English, and Tish’s boyfriend is English and speaks English and a little French. We ultimately decided to speak in English for the night, but there were lots of little side translations into French and German going on!
My classes have been going really well, and I think the kids are really excited now that we’ve started working on Christmas vocabulary! We’ve also been practicing a simplified version of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in a lot of my classes, as that school puts on a Christmas Market. The kids have been working on making Christmas crafts to sell there (they’ll also have hot chocolate, coffee, and vin chaud being sold on school grounds, which I’m pretty sure would NEVER fly in the US!) and they’ll be singing Christmas carols. I plan on going and bringing some of the other assistants with me, and I’m quite excited – I think it’ll be really cute!
On Friday afternoon I went with my fellow assistants Sarah, Mari, Lizzi, and Tish to Nevers’ cutest (and possibly only) salon du thé, En Apar’thé. It’s about the girliest place I’ve ever seen in my life, but it was a wonderful way to spend a cold December afternoon – it was all decorated for Christmas with a beautiful tree, and we all ordered the same tea, the Esprit de Noël. They also have lots of delicious little desserts that are served on beautiful china – we definitely plan on going back!
This weekend I went to Lyon with 5 other assistants for the Fête des Lumières, which is held there every year. It’s a big festival in which there are really cool light shows and light installations all around the city, and I really enjoyed it, even if it was SUPER crowded! We arrived in Lyon around noon and spent a few hours exploring the city – we saw the Place Bellecour, which is one of the biggest public squares in Europe, and climbed up the (VERY steep) Fourvière hill to visit the Basilique de Notre Dame de Fourvière, a beautiful basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In fact, the entire Fête des Lumières is in honor of the Virgin Mary, as she saved Lyon twice from terrible fates – once in the 1500s from the plague, and once in the 1800s from German invaders during the Franco-Prussian War.
On Saturday night we went into the very crowded centre ville to see some of the installations of the Fête des Lumières. The Fête’s theme this year was “Playing with Weather and Time,” so most of the shows/installations dealt with that in some way. One of my favorite installations were at the Hôtel de Ville, where lights shining on the façade produced the effect of the building being subjected to all 4 seasons in rapid succession – it froze, then cracked and fell apart, then there spring raindrops and flowers, then summer heat and fire… It’s kind of hard to explain it, but it was amazing to see! The other installation I really liked was the one at the Cathédrale Saint Jean, where the title was “La Construction de la Cathédrale.” The lights projected onto the façade first showed an architect’s hand sketching the plans, and then we watched it “being built.” All in all, it was just a wonderful festival, and I’m so glad I got to see it!
(You can read a little bit more about it and see some awesome pictures here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8401011.stm)
Lyon is a beautiful and lively city with a lot going on – it used to produce a lot of silk, so it has some neat covered passageways called traboules that were used to transport the silk between buildings without exposing it to the elements. These same traboules also came in handy for the Résistance during WWII, as they could be used to smuggle people between buildings. On Sunday afternoon we visited the Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation, an interesting museum dedicated to, oddly enough, the French Resistance during the German occupation of France during WWII and the deportation of Jews from France.
We were all also very glad to see that there was quite a sizeable Christmas Market, so we did a bit of wandering through there and I managed to buy some spices to make vin chaud, I think I’ll use them as a Christmas present!
I’m looking forward to this week and weekend, as I’m going back to the Maison de la Culture (where I saw Cendrillon) on Thursday night to see a show called “Tango Metropolis;” hopefully it’ll be good! Nevers’ Marché de Noël (which sadly only lasts 3 days) is this weekend, so I’m planning on going on both Friday and Sunday afternoons. Even if it’s not very big, it’ll be good to get me in the Christmas spirit! A group of us is going to Orléans for a day trip on Saturday, I’ll let you know how it goes!
I hope all is well with you, à bientôt!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Bec d'Allier, Cendrillon, and Thanksgiving
Dear friends,
I’ve had quite a great week since my last post – lots to talk about! To start with, I mentioned in my last post that a couple other assistants and I were going to take a walk to the Panorama du Bec d’Allier, the place where the Loire and Allier rivers meet, a little ways out of Nevers. We set off last Sunday afternoon for our weekly walk, knowing that this one would be a little longer than normal. When we left, the sky was blue and the weather was nice, just a little bit windy… After walking for about an hour and a half, we finally reached the Bec d’Allier, and I think we were all slightly underwhelmed, although we were glad it was another thing we could check off the list. About 5 minutes after we turned around to start back to Nevers, we started feeling light raindrops. We were all wearing scarves, so we wrapped them around our heads and continued walking – not too big of a deal yet! Over the next 45 minutes, however, the light rain turned into an icy, apocalyptic, torrential downpour that resulted in all 4 of us getting absolutely soaked to the bone and freezing. We were finally so miserable that we actually stopped at a random house (out in the middle of nowhere, of course) to ask them if we could come in and use their phone to call a taxi – mostly just because we wanted to get out of the rain! Of course, as soon as we stepped inside, the rain stopped and a double rainbow appeared – great. It ended up being an older couple living there, and the husband ended up driving us the rest of the way back to Nevers; it was so nice!! From the comfort of my warm and dry living room, our Bec d’Allier promenade was a hilarious adventure, but at the time it was pretty awful!
It turned out that my other Tuesday school wasn’t striking, so I still had to work, but at least I got an extra-long lunch break! On Tuesday night I went to Never’s Maison de la Culture with Lizzi and Tish, 2 other English assistants, to see Cendrillon (Cinderella). It was being performed by the Geneva Ballet, and I think it was the most interesting interpretation of Cinderella I’ve ever seen! Cinderella was an Asian woman, and instead of a Fairy Godmother she had 5 men wearing nothing but tighty-whities (with wings sequined across the butt), fluffy white socks, and glitter all over their chests…. It also ended with Cinderella topless on stage and the Prince wearing only a jock strap. Like I said, it was interesting! It was a much more modern interpretation than I was expecting, but I still really enjoyed it – and will be laughing about it for a long time!
I didn’t really do anything on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, but we did have a big Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment on Friday night for 11 people – all the Nevers assistants (as well as some out-of-town friends) – it was a smashing success! As I believe I mentioned in my last post, we had ordered a turkey from a butcher shop in town. I called them on Thursday afternoon to confirm that we still had a turkey and that we could pick it up on Friday morning. The man told me that yes, it would be ready for pickup on Friday morning, but that maybe it was a little bit bigger than what I had requested (I’d ordered one between 5 and 6 kilos, or about 12-13 pounds). Exactly how big was it, I asked. He told me they only had one turkey, but that it was 9 kilograms – almost 20 pounds!! (It was also going to cost €90 – that’s like a $130 turkey, as a reference point) Because we neither needed a turkey that enormous nor had €90 to spend on one, we decided to scrap the “turkey-as-the-main-dish” idea and get a chicken instead. We still had turkey – 2 turkey tenderloins – and all was well! We also had sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green salad, green beans, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and brownies. Everything was delicious, and it was really fun to share such a quintessential American holiday with our English, German, and Costa Rican friends.
Right now I’m looking forward to the next few weekends, as we have lots of fun things planned. Next weekend a few of us are off to Lyon for the weekend for the Fête des Lumières, then the Saturday after that we’re going to Orléans for the day, and then the next weekend our Christmas break starts! I’ll be spending Christmas with an aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins in Bedford, about an hour outside of London.
That’s really all the news I have for now, hope all is well avec vous!
I’ve had quite a great week since my last post – lots to talk about! To start with, I mentioned in my last post that a couple other assistants and I were going to take a walk to the Panorama du Bec d’Allier, the place where the Loire and Allier rivers meet, a little ways out of Nevers. We set off last Sunday afternoon for our weekly walk, knowing that this one would be a little longer than normal. When we left, the sky was blue and the weather was nice, just a little bit windy… After walking for about an hour and a half, we finally reached the Bec d’Allier, and I think we were all slightly underwhelmed, although we were glad it was another thing we could check off the list. About 5 minutes after we turned around to start back to Nevers, we started feeling light raindrops. We were all wearing scarves, so we wrapped them around our heads and continued walking – not too big of a deal yet! Over the next 45 minutes, however, the light rain turned into an icy, apocalyptic, torrential downpour that resulted in all 4 of us getting absolutely soaked to the bone and freezing. We were finally so miserable that we actually stopped at a random house (out in the middle of nowhere, of course) to ask them if we could come in and use their phone to call a taxi – mostly just because we wanted to get out of the rain! Of course, as soon as we stepped inside, the rain stopped and a double rainbow appeared – great. It ended up being an older couple living there, and the husband ended up driving us the rest of the way back to Nevers; it was so nice!! From the comfort of my warm and dry living room, our Bec d’Allier promenade was a hilarious adventure, but at the time it was pretty awful!
It turned out that my other Tuesday school wasn’t striking, so I still had to work, but at least I got an extra-long lunch break! On Tuesday night I went to Never’s Maison de la Culture with Lizzi and Tish, 2 other English assistants, to see Cendrillon (Cinderella). It was being performed by the Geneva Ballet, and I think it was the most interesting interpretation of Cinderella I’ve ever seen! Cinderella was an Asian woman, and instead of a Fairy Godmother she had 5 men wearing nothing but tighty-whities (with wings sequined across the butt), fluffy white socks, and glitter all over their chests…. It also ended with Cinderella topless on stage and the Prince wearing only a jock strap. Like I said, it was interesting! It was a much more modern interpretation than I was expecting, but I still really enjoyed it – and will be laughing about it for a long time!
I didn’t really do anything on Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, but we did have a big Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment on Friday night for 11 people – all the Nevers assistants (as well as some out-of-town friends) – it was a smashing success! As I believe I mentioned in my last post, we had ordered a turkey from a butcher shop in town. I called them on Thursday afternoon to confirm that we still had a turkey and that we could pick it up on Friday morning. The man told me that yes, it would be ready for pickup on Friday morning, but that maybe it was a little bit bigger than what I had requested (I’d ordered one between 5 and 6 kilos, or about 12-13 pounds). Exactly how big was it, I asked. He told me they only had one turkey, but that it was 9 kilograms – almost 20 pounds!! (It was also going to cost €90 – that’s like a $130 turkey, as a reference point) Because we neither needed a turkey that enormous nor had €90 to spend on one, we decided to scrap the “turkey-as-the-main-dish” idea and get a chicken instead. We still had turkey – 2 turkey tenderloins – and all was well! We also had sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green salad, green beans, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and brownies. Everything was delicious, and it was really fun to share such a quintessential American holiday with our English, German, and Costa Rican friends.
Right now I’m looking forward to the next few weekends, as we have lots of fun things planned. Next weekend a few of us are off to Lyon for the weekend for the Fête des Lumières, then the Saturday after that we’re going to Orléans for the day, and then the next weekend our Christmas break starts! I’ll be spending Christmas with an aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins in Bedford, about an hour outside of London.
That’s really all the news I have for now, hope all is well avec vous!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Medical visits, strikes, and turkeys
Bonjour mes amis,
Since my last post I’ve officially been medically cleared to stay in France for the entire duration of my visa, I’ve paid my first bills here, and helped cook an English Sunday roast with nothing more than one electric burner, two toaster ovens, and a microwave.
As I believe I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I had to go to Dijon on Monday for my visite medicale, a pretty important part of the process that allowed me to get my titre de séjour, a yellow sticker with my numéro étranger (basically like a resident alien number) that’s now stuck inside my passport. The OFII (l’Office Française de l’Immigration et Intégration), which handles the legal aspects of immigration into France, had set aside two days for all of the language assistants in the Académie de Dijon to have their medical visits and to get their titres de séjour, so half of the assistants went when I did, while the other half went the week before. I got the day off work because the visit is mandatory, so I took a morning train to Dijon, arriving there around noon for my 1:30 appointment. Once I got called in, the visit just consisted of a chest and lung xray (which had to be done torse nu, or topless), an eye exam, and then checking blood pressure and breathing. It was easier than I was expecting it to be, and I now have my very own xray of my chest and lungs, which is pretty cool!
On Wednesday night I ventured back to the Foyer Les Loges, where I lived for my first month and a half in Nevers, for a Repas Anglais. The Foyer organizes activities for its residents, and once a month they do a big group meal – each month is a different type of cuisine, and an individual resident organizes the menus for these meals. I have a English friend still living in the Foyer (her schools are only five minutes à pied from there, lucky thing!), and she somehow got roped into organizing an English meal for 20 people. Although I had hoped to never need to return to the Foyer again, I went with 5 other assistants, both as a sign of solidarity and to help with the preparation for the meal. As Lizzi, Mari, and I were waiting at the train station to meet another assistant to walk to the Foyer together, we received a phone call from Tish (the English girl organizing the meal), who shared the news that the oven and four burners weren’t working on the gas stove and that we would have to cook for 20 people using only two toaster ovens and one electric hot plate. While it took 3.5 hours to prepare the meal, it went better than I was expecting, and it ended up being pretty tasty as well!
My students still constantly amuse me with the hilarious things children say and do, and I laugh every time I swap stories with my fellow assistants about things that have happened in their classes. On Friday morning, for example, I was working on animals with my CM2 class (they’re about 10 years old). We were working on spelling English words, so I would say an animal and then they would have to write it on their little whiteboard and then hold it up for me to check. The first few went fine and most of the students got them right, but then we came to ‘polar bear.’ Out of about 24 students, no one got it right, but I was trying VERY hard to keep from cracking up – one kid had written ‘polar beer,’ but my favorite was the boy who wrote ‘paul webber.’ Close, kid.
The weather has been oddly and surprisingly nice here for the past few days, so this afternoon we’ve planned a walk along the path beside the Loire River, which, if you follow it for long enough, leads to the meeting point of the Loire and Allier rivers – it’s supposed to be very pretty.
I might get to become officially French on Tuesday! There’s a strike scheduled, and I already know that one of my schools will be closed because the teachers there will be en grève (on strike). Tuesdays are my long days, and I’m really hoping that my other Tuesday school, where I have 3 classes, will also be en grève.
As I’m sure you can imagine, France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so all the American assistants are a little bit sad that we have to work on Thanksgiving, for the first time in our lives! We’re planning a big meal though, and will be introducing the holiday to our English, German, and Costa Rican friends. They don’t sell frozen turkeys in the stores here, and the French really only eat turkey at Christmas, so even the first butcher shop I visited told me it would be impossible to get one for November 27. Luckily we found another, more accommodating butcher shop, and have ordered a turkey. I’m a little nervous, however, that we might just get a turkey with its head, feet, and feathers still on – I hope it’s at least beheaded and plucked!
That’s really all my news for now, j’espère que tout va bien avec vous!
Since my last post I’ve officially been medically cleared to stay in France for the entire duration of my visa, I’ve paid my first bills here, and helped cook an English Sunday roast with nothing more than one electric burner, two toaster ovens, and a microwave.
As I believe I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I had to go to Dijon on Monday for my visite medicale, a pretty important part of the process that allowed me to get my titre de séjour, a yellow sticker with my numéro étranger (basically like a resident alien number) that’s now stuck inside my passport. The OFII (l’Office Française de l’Immigration et Intégration), which handles the legal aspects of immigration into France, had set aside two days for all of the language assistants in the Académie de Dijon to have their medical visits and to get their titres de séjour, so half of the assistants went when I did, while the other half went the week before. I got the day off work because the visit is mandatory, so I took a morning train to Dijon, arriving there around noon for my 1:30 appointment. Once I got called in, the visit just consisted of a chest and lung xray (which had to be done torse nu, or topless), an eye exam, and then checking blood pressure and breathing. It was easier than I was expecting it to be, and I now have my very own xray of my chest and lungs, which is pretty cool!
On Wednesday night I ventured back to the Foyer Les Loges, where I lived for my first month and a half in Nevers, for a Repas Anglais. The Foyer organizes activities for its residents, and once a month they do a big group meal – each month is a different type of cuisine, and an individual resident organizes the menus for these meals. I have a English friend still living in the Foyer (her schools are only five minutes à pied from there, lucky thing!), and she somehow got roped into organizing an English meal for 20 people. Although I had hoped to never need to return to the Foyer again, I went with 5 other assistants, both as a sign of solidarity and to help with the preparation for the meal. As Lizzi, Mari, and I were waiting at the train station to meet another assistant to walk to the Foyer together, we received a phone call from Tish (the English girl organizing the meal), who shared the news that the oven and four burners weren’t working on the gas stove and that we would have to cook for 20 people using only two toaster ovens and one electric hot plate. While it took 3.5 hours to prepare the meal, it went better than I was expecting, and it ended up being pretty tasty as well!
My students still constantly amuse me with the hilarious things children say and do, and I laugh every time I swap stories with my fellow assistants about things that have happened in their classes. On Friday morning, for example, I was working on animals with my CM2 class (they’re about 10 years old). We were working on spelling English words, so I would say an animal and then they would have to write it on their little whiteboard and then hold it up for me to check. The first few went fine and most of the students got them right, but then we came to ‘polar bear.’ Out of about 24 students, no one got it right, but I was trying VERY hard to keep from cracking up – one kid had written ‘polar beer,’ but my favorite was the boy who wrote ‘paul webber.’ Close, kid.
The weather has been oddly and surprisingly nice here for the past few days, so this afternoon we’ve planned a walk along the path beside the Loire River, which, if you follow it for long enough, leads to the meeting point of the Loire and Allier rivers – it’s supposed to be very pretty.
I might get to become officially French on Tuesday! There’s a strike scheduled, and I already know that one of my schools will be closed because the teachers there will be en grève (on strike). Tuesdays are my long days, and I’m really hoping that my other Tuesday school, where I have 3 classes, will also be en grève.
As I’m sure you can imagine, France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, so all the American assistants are a little bit sad that we have to work on Thanksgiving, for the first time in our lives! We’re planning a big meal though, and will be introducing the holiday to our English, German, and Costa Rican friends. They don’t sell frozen turkeys in the stores here, and the French really only eat turkey at Christmas, so even the first butcher shop I visited told me it would be impossible to get one for November 27. Luckily we found another, more accommodating butcher shop, and have ordered a turkey. I’m a little nervous, however, that we might just get a turkey with its head, feet, and feathers still on – I hope it’s at least beheaded and plucked!
That’s really all my news for now, j’espère que tout va bien avec vous!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
A day in Beaune
Dear friends,
A group of 7 other assistants and I went to Beaune today, and it was amazing! 4 of us left Nevers at 7:23 this morning (it was a long day) and met the other 3 in Beaune. As I explained in my previous post, Beaune is already famous for wine, and every year it has a wine auction at the Hospices de Beaune, a really cool old building that was built in 1443 to serve as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the Hundred Years’ War. That wine auction is taking place this weekend, so tout le monde s’occupe du vin (everyone is all about wine)! We spent about an hour and a half exploring the quaint centre ville of Beaune before trekking 25 minutes through the rain to the Fete des Grands Vins de Bourgogne, a big wine exposition and tasting event (if that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is). For €24, we received a commemorative wine glass, a book with a list of all the wines to be found at the event, and unlimited tastings of any wine in the exposition – and there were over 3,000 different types of wine! It was in a big hall, and there were 14 different circular booths, each of which had many different wines, grouped by the communes in which the domaines (the wine houses, like the name on the label) are found. While I certainly didn’t love all the wines I tasted, I did find a few I really liked and would definitely consider buying at some point. We ended up staying for a few hours, and it was a wonderful way to pass a rainy Saturday afternoon!
In other news, Sarah and I had been having a lot of problems with our wifi in our apartment – it was going either really slowly or not at all, so I had to call the technical support line. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the technician, which was immensely more challenging en francais than it ever would have been in English! Luckily he was super-patient and even went through the process twice with us – once for my Mac, once for her PC. It all worked out well though, and now our wireless works perfectly! (Knock on wood for me, would you?!?)
I don’t have much other news à ce moment, I hope you all are well!
A group of 7 other assistants and I went to Beaune today, and it was amazing! 4 of us left Nevers at 7:23 this morning (it was a long day) and met the other 3 in Beaune. As I explained in my previous post, Beaune is already famous for wine, and every year it has a wine auction at the Hospices de Beaune, a really cool old building that was built in 1443 to serve as a hospital for soldiers wounded in the Hundred Years’ War. That wine auction is taking place this weekend, so tout le monde s’occupe du vin (everyone is all about wine)! We spent about an hour and a half exploring the quaint centre ville of Beaune before trekking 25 minutes through the rain to the Fete des Grands Vins de Bourgogne, a big wine exposition and tasting event (if that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is). For €24, we received a commemorative wine glass, a book with a list of all the wines to be found at the event, and unlimited tastings of any wine in the exposition – and there were over 3,000 different types of wine! It was in a big hall, and there were 14 different circular booths, each of which had many different wines, grouped by the communes in which the domaines (the wine houses, like the name on the label) are found. While I certainly didn’t love all the wines I tasted, I did find a few I really liked and would definitely consider buying at some point. We ended up staying for a few hours, and it was a wonderful way to pass a rainy Saturday afternoon!
In other news, Sarah and I had been having a lot of problems with our wifi in our apartment – it was going either really slowly or not at all, so I had to call the technical support line. I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the technician, which was immensely more challenging en francais than it ever would have been in English! Luckily he was super-patient and even went through the process twice with us – once for my Mac, once for her PC. It all worked out well though, and now our wireless works perfectly! (Knock on wood for me, would you?!?)
I don’t have much other news à ce moment, I hope you all are well!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Armistice Day and 22 :)
Bonjour mes amis,
I have now been living in my wonderful 1970s apartment for over a full week, and I’m so happy to call it home! We’ve already taken advantage of the fully equipped kitchen to do some cooking and to host a dinner party, and we’re already planning our big Thanksgiving meal…
I haven’t done too terribly much since returning to Nevers from Liverpool; I’ve worked a few days, gone for a few runs, and turned 22! Two other assistants and I went to a Festival du Chocolat on Saturday afternoon (yes, it was as good as it sounds!), where we saw chocolatiers making chocolate and got to taste about 8 or 9 different chocolates… for free! There were also several chocolate sculptures, as well as a man who was painting white chocolate plates with different-colored chocolate “inks” – very neat. I also finally got around to watching Hiroshima Mon Amour this weekend – it’s a 1959 French film based on a novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras. It’s a rather bizarre film, but the main character in the movie is a French woman from Nevers (of all places!), so it was interesting to watch it and look for familiar places…
As you may have figured out from this blog, France is all about les jours fériés (national holidays, days when no one works and most things are closed)… Armistice Day (November 11) is a jour férié, so none of the assistants worked. This worked out rather well, as my 22nd birthday was on Tuesday, so we were able to have a big party in our apartment that night! We had a few assistant friends come from other towns and spend the night in Nevers, which wouldn’t have been possible if schools had been open as scheduled on Wednesday. It was a great birthday, and it was wonderful to get everyone together and celebrate.
I’ve started doing tutoring sessions with Guillaume, the 16-year old high school student whose mother teaches at one of my schools. It’s not too much work – he mostly wants to focus on improving his spoken English, so we just chat for an hour, which I enjoy.
A big group of assistants is going to Beaune, a town about 2 hours away from Nevers by train, on Saturday. The town is famous for wine and its annual wine auction, held in November at the Hospices de Beaune. Luckily for us, the auction this year is this coming weekend, and the town becomes all about wine for the weekend. We’re going to spend the morning exploring the centre ville before heading to an exposition du vin, which features tastings of more than 3,000 wines! Even though I’ve already been to Beaune twice before, I’m really looking forward to Saturday – it’s always fun to visit places when they’re doing what they do best, which, in the case of Beaune, is wine!
I have to go to Dijon on Monday for my mandatory medical exam, which all non-EU citizens must have in order to get our carte de séjour, which allows us to legally stay in France for periods longer than a few months. It’s rather inconvenient that we have to go all the way to Dijon (which is 2-3 hours away from Nevers, depending on which train you get) on our own dollar (or euro) WHILE missing work, but I guess it’s just what has to be done.
I hope you all are well, à bientôt!
I have now been living in my wonderful 1970s apartment for over a full week, and I’m so happy to call it home! We’ve already taken advantage of the fully equipped kitchen to do some cooking and to host a dinner party, and we’re already planning our big Thanksgiving meal…
I haven’t done too terribly much since returning to Nevers from Liverpool; I’ve worked a few days, gone for a few runs, and turned 22! Two other assistants and I went to a Festival du Chocolat on Saturday afternoon (yes, it was as good as it sounds!), where we saw chocolatiers making chocolate and got to taste about 8 or 9 different chocolates… for free! There were also several chocolate sculptures, as well as a man who was painting white chocolate plates with different-colored chocolate “inks” – very neat. I also finally got around to watching Hiroshima Mon Amour this weekend – it’s a 1959 French film based on a novel of the same name by Marguerite Duras. It’s a rather bizarre film, but the main character in the movie is a French woman from Nevers (of all places!), so it was interesting to watch it and look for familiar places…
As you may have figured out from this blog, France is all about les jours fériés (national holidays, days when no one works and most things are closed)… Armistice Day (November 11) is a jour férié, so none of the assistants worked. This worked out rather well, as my 22nd birthday was on Tuesday, so we were able to have a big party in our apartment that night! We had a few assistant friends come from other towns and spend the night in Nevers, which wouldn’t have been possible if schools had been open as scheduled on Wednesday. It was a great birthday, and it was wonderful to get everyone together and celebrate.
I’ve started doing tutoring sessions with Guillaume, the 16-year old high school student whose mother teaches at one of my schools. It’s not too much work – he mostly wants to focus on improving his spoken English, so we just chat for an hour, which I enjoy.
A big group of assistants is going to Beaune, a town about 2 hours away from Nevers by train, on Saturday. The town is famous for wine and its annual wine auction, held in November at the Hospices de Beaune. Luckily for us, the auction this year is this coming weekend, and the town becomes all about wine for the weekend. We’re going to spend the morning exploring the centre ville before heading to an exposition du vin, which features tastings of more than 3,000 wines! Even though I’ve already been to Beaune twice before, I’m really looking forward to Saturday – it’s always fun to visit places when they’re doing what they do best, which, in the case of Beaune, is wine!
I have to go to Dijon on Monday for my mandatory medical exam, which all non-EU citizens must have in order to get our carte de séjour, which allows us to legally stay in France for periods longer than a few months. It’s rather inconvenient that we have to go all the way to Dijon (which is 2-3 hours away from Nevers, depending on which train you get) on our own dollar (or euro) WHILE missing work, but I guess it’s just what has to be done.
I hope you all are well, à bientôt!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Liverpool and INTERNET!
Dear friends,
I’m back in Nevers after a great week in Liverpool, which I found to be a really fun city and really enjoyed. It’s a big city, but it has a very manageable city center and it’s a good place for wandering, something I always like. Because Kathryn (the cousin I visited there) had class during the day while I was there, I had plenty of time to see the sights, and I think I managed to get through quite a few – I saw the Albert Docks, the Tate Liverpool museum, The Beatles Story museum (The Beatles came from Liverpool!), the Victoria Gallery, the Walker Art Gallery, Lark Lane and Sefton Park, the Anglican Cathedral, the Catholic Cathedral, a really cute nearby town called Chester, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and we also went to see a play (The Black Album) and a ballet (Giselle)! I managed to spend an entire week in England in which it only rained on my last night there, something I wasn’t sure was possible and which I think should count as a real achievement.
Liverpool is in the northwest of England, and it has historically been a big port city. It had lots of shipyards back in the day, and so lots of Irish people moved there to work on building the ships. The influence of this migration is still easily found today in the Liverpudlian accent, which I personally think should count as an entirely different language. Liverpudlians (or Scouses, as they’re also known) have a VERY strong accent, to the point that I often had trouble discerning if they were speaking English at all, much less understanding them! They seem to be generally friendly and laid-back though, although the 80s could learn a thing or two about how to tease hair from Scouse girls – I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much super-teased hair in one place in my whole life!
More seriously though, Liverpool is a lovely city with lots of pretty architecture, tons of free museums, and many different neighborhoods, all with their own personalities. I spent my first day exploring the area around the Albert Dock, a section of the Liverpool docks that’s been spruced up and now has all sorts of museums (like the Tate Liverpool, The Beatles Story, and the Merseyside Maritime Museum), restaurants, and shopping. It was really nice weather that day, so it was very pleasant to spend the afternoon down by the Mersey (that’s the river that goes through Liverpool, from which all the ships were launched).
Not only did I go to The Beatles Story museum at the Albert Dock, but I also got to see several true Beatles landmarks. While the real Cavern Club, where the Beatles played 294 shows, has been torn down, I walked past where the original entrance was and saw the bar they used to frequent before and after their shows there. I saw the hospital where John Lennon was born (it’s since been converted into a block of apartments), as well as the real Penny Lane! It’s really not a very exciting street at all, but the City of Liverpool has to specially bolt down (and replace!) the street signs there because Beatles fans steal them all the time! Kathryn and I also went for a drink in the Philharmonic Bar, a really cool old pub near the Philharmonic Hall – John Lennon used to go there as well.
Liverpool has two cathedrals, one Anglican and one Catholic, and they actually face each other – they’re at two ends of the same road – interesting, non? I visited both of them, and they’re like night and day. The Anglican Cathedral is absolutely massive (I think it’s one of the biggest Anglican cathedrals in Europe, if not the biggest) and really beautiful, both inside and out. It was designed by the same guy who designed the famous red phone boxes, and I think you can see the resemblance if you look closely enough at the two and think about it. The Catholic Cathedral, on the other hand, is very interesting. It was built in the 1960s, and it really shows. It’s circular and built of concrete, and it kind of looks like a spaceship or something out of Star Wars – you should Google it; it’s really hard to explain. It has a lot of stained glass though, which makes for some really cool light effects inside during the day.
Over the weekend, Kathryn, her flatmate Nina, and I went to Chester, a nearby town, for the morning. It was a really darling little town – there was an open-air market when we went (honestly, it was kind of like being back in France), and we spent the morning wandering through the half-timbered town center and browsing through some of the stores there.
In addition to all the museums I visited, we added a bit of culture to my trip by going to both the theater and the ballet. We got free youth tickets to see a play called The Black Album, which was about an English Pakistani who goes off to university and gets caught up with a group of Islamic fundamentalists, who disapprove of the romantic affair he’s begun with one of his professors. I’m pretty sure I missed some things, but it was interesting, and I enjoyed it. We went to see the English National Ballet perform Giselle on Sunday afternoon – I’d never been to a ballet before, and it was beautiful – I loved it! It made me really excited for Cendrillon (Cinderella), performed by the Geneva Ballet, which a group of us are going to see here in Nevers in a few weeks.
I left Liverpool early Tuesday morning, spent a few hours in Paris, then got the train back to Nevers. Moritz, a friend and fellow language (German) assistant, was on the same train as me, so it was a nice surprise to have some company for the 2-hour trip.
Sarah and I moved into our new apartment on Tuesday afternoon as well, so it was a very busy afternoon, getting all my stuff from the Foyer to the new place. I wish I could describe my new apartment to you all and do it justice, but I think I’ll just have to wait until I get a camera so I can take some pictures – it’s actually like you step back in time about 35 years. Every room has different wallpaper, and calling it vintage is putting it nicely. It’s super funky, and I’m pretty sure the carpet is also original (needless to say, I won’t be going barefoot). I really do like it though – it’s totally furnished and tout équipé (completely fitted-out) with everything we’ll need for the 6 months we have left – an oven, a microwave, all kinds of kitchen utensils, a vacuum, an iron and ironing board, even a TV!
About 5 minutes before I posted this, Sarah and I finally got our internet sorted out - I'm honestly like a kid on Christmas morning, bouncing around and doing all sorts of internet-y things! At first we thought there was a problem with our phone line, then I realized that the neufbox (our wireless router) wasn't actually plugged into the phone jack.. Clearly we're very intelligent!
That’s all for now, sorry for the monster post – j’espère que tout va bien avec vous!
I’m back in Nevers after a great week in Liverpool, which I found to be a really fun city and really enjoyed. It’s a big city, but it has a very manageable city center and it’s a good place for wandering, something I always like. Because Kathryn (the cousin I visited there) had class during the day while I was there, I had plenty of time to see the sights, and I think I managed to get through quite a few – I saw the Albert Docks, the Tate Liverpool museum, The Beatles Story museum (The Beatles came from Liverpool!), the Victoria Gallery, the Walker Art Gallery, Lark Lane and Sefton Park, the Anglican Cathedral, the Catholic Cathedral, a really cute nearby town called Chester, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, and we also went to see a play (The Black Album) and a ballet (Giselle)! I managed to spend an entire week in England in which it only rained on my last night there, something I wasn’t sure was possible and which I think should count as a real achievement.
Liverpool is in the northwest of England, and it has historically been a big port city. It had lots of shipyards back in the day, and so lots of Irish people moved there to work on building the ships. The influence of this migration is still easily found today in the Liverpudlian accent, which I personally think should count as an entirely different language. Liverpudlians (or Scouses, as they’re also known) have a VERY strong accent, to the point that I often had trouble discerning if they were speaking English at all, much less understanding them! They seem to be generally friendly and laid-back though, although the 80s could learn a thing or two about how to tease hair from Scouse girls – I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much super-teased hair in one place in my whole life!
More seriously though, Liverpool is a lovely city with lots of pretty architecture, tons of free museums, and many different neighborhoods, all with their own personalities. I spent my first day exploring the area around the Albert Dock, a section of the Liverpool docks that’s been spruced up and now has all sorts of museums (like the Tate Liverpool, The Beatles Story, and the Merseyside Maritime Museum), restaurants, and shopping. It was really nice weather that day, so it was very pleasant to spend the afternoon down by the Mersey (that’s the river that goes through Liverpool, from which all the ships were launched).
Not only did I go to The Beatles Story museum at the Albert Dock, but I also got to see several true Beatles landmarks. While the real Cavern Club, where the Beatles played 294 shows, has been torn down, I walked past where the original entrance was and saw the bar they used to frequent before and after their shows there. I saw the hospital where John Lennon was born (it’s since been converted into a block of apartments), as well as the real Penny Lane! It’s really not a very exciting street at all, but the City of Liverpool has to specially bolt down (and replace!) the street signs there because Beatles fans steal them all the time! Kathryn and I also went for a drink in the Philharmonic Bar, a really cool old pub near the Philharmonic Hall – John Lennon used to go there as well.
Liverpool has two cathedrals, one Anglican and one Catholic, and they actually face each other – they’re at two ends of the same road – interesting, non? I visited both of them, and they’re like night and day. The Anglican Cathedral is absolutely massive (I think it’s one of the biggest Anglican cathedrals in Europe, if not the biggest) and really beautiful, both inside and out. It was designed by the same guy who designed the famous red phone boxes, and I think you can see the resemblance if you look closely enough at the two and think about it. The Catholic Cathedral, on the other hand, is very interesting. It was built in the 1960s, and it really shows. It’s circular and built of concrete, and it kind of looks like a spaceship or something out of Star Wars – you should Google it; it’s really hard to explain. It has a lot of stained glass though, which makes for some really cool light effects inside during the day.
Over the weekend, Kathryn, her flatmate Nina, and I went to Chester, a nearby town, for the morning. It was a really darling little town – there was an open-air market when we went (honestly, it was kind of like being back in France), and we spent the morning wandering through the half-timbered town center and browsing through some of the stores there.
In addition to all the museums I visited, we added a bit of culture to my trip by going to both the theater and the ballet. We got free youth tickets to see a play called The Black Album, which was about an English Pakistani who goes off to university and gets caught up with a group of Islamic fundamentalists, who disapprove of the romantic affair he’s begun with one of his professors. I’m pretty sure I missed some things, but it was interesting, and I enjoyed it. We went to see the English National Ballet perform Giselle on Sunday afternoon – I’d never been to a ballet before, and it was beautiful – I loved it! It made me really excited for Cendrillon (Cinderella), performed by the Geneva Ballet, which a group of us are going to see here in Nevers in a few weeks.
I left Liverpool early Tuesday morning, spent a few hours in Paris, then got the train back to Nevers. Moritz, a friend and fellow language (German) assistant, was on the same train as me, so it was a nice surprise to have some company for the 2-hour trip.
Sarah and I moved into our new apartment on Tuesday afternoon as well, so it was a very busy afternoon, getting all my stuff from the Foyer to the new place. I wish I could describe my new apartment to you all and do it justice, but I think I’ll just have to wait until I get a camera so I can take some pictures – it’s actually like you step back in time about 35 years. Every room has different wallpaper, and calling it vintage is putting it nicely. It’s super funky, and I’m pretty sure the carpet is also original (needless to say, I won’t be going barefoot). I really do like it though – it’s totally furnished and tout équipé (completely fitted-out) with everything we’ll need for the 6 months we have left – an oven, a microwave, all kinds of kitchen utensils, a vacuum, an iron and ironing board, even a TV!
About 5 minutes before I posted this, Sarah and I finally got our internet sorted out - I'm honestly like a kid on Christmas morning, bouncing around and doing all sorts of internet-y things! At first we thought there was a problem with our phone line, then I realized that the neufbox (our wireless router) wasn't actually plugged into the phone jack.. Clearly we're very intelligent!
That’s all for now, sorry for the monster post – j’espère que tout va bien avec vous!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
October break!
Bonjour mes amis!
Well, I made it through my first 2 weeks of work and was rewarded with a 12-day vacation! I don’t have to be back at work until November 5, so I’m taking advantage of the break to go visit one of my cousins for a week in Liverpool, where she’s currently in dental school. I’m not leaving until Tuesday, so until then I’m bumming around Nevers, packing up and cleaning my apartment. Sarah (one of the German assistants) and I are moving into our new apartment on November 3 – the day we get back from break – so I have lots to do before I leave! I lied about being done with French administrative formalities; now that I’m moving, there are tons of things to be signed and taken care of… We’re currently working on getting internet set up for the apartment, so hopefully it will be set up and installed shortly after we move in! As you can imagine, getting internet in France is quite a long and involved process, as are most things. We first had to go to France Telecom to get our phone line opened (I honestly do not understand why this needs to be done), then had to go back to SFR (another phone company) to start the ordeal of ordering our Neufbox, which is basically our internet box/wireless router. It’ll be really nice when it’s all set up, because the Neufbox comes with a phone line, and as part of our €30 monthly fee, we get free calls to landline AND mobile numbers in the US – in addition to wifi, of course! I'm not pleased, however, that I received a text message from SFR this morning saying that our order for internet had been received and is being processed and that the "delai de mise en service est de 21 jours environ" - it could take up to 21 days for our internet to start working!!
Work has been going pretty well, although the kids were pretty wild this week because it was almost break. In almost all of my classes I talked about Halloween and how it’s celebrated in the US – we talked about costumes and trick-or-treating and learned words like “witch,” “ghost,” and “skeleton.” I also got to carve pumpkins the other day in one of my classes! I’m pretty sure it would NEVER be allowed in the US, but the teacher had told the kids to bring in spoons and knives (to empty and then carve the pumpkins, of course) to school. It was a fun Friday afternoon activity, and although I was terrified that someone was going to lose a finger, we managed to successfully carve 2 pumpkins without any injuries!
I’m going to be tutoring a high school student in English while I’m here in Nevers – he’s the son of one of the teachers at one of my écoles primaires. On Thursday night Madame Billot picked me up in town and brought me to her house to meet Guillaume (yes, his name is actually Guillaume) and the rest of the family. They’re really nice, and I’m excited to start working with them after the break (and to start earning a little bit of extra money!).
Well, I made it through my first 2 weeks of work and was rewarded with a 12-day vacation! I don’t have to be back at work until November 5, so I’m taking advantage of the break to go visit one of my cousins for a week in Liverpool, where she’s currently in dental school. I’m not leaving until Tuesday, so until then I’m bumming around Nevers, packing up and cleaning my apartment. Sarah (one of the German assistants) and I are moving into our new apartment on November 3 – the day we get back from break – so I have lots to do before I leave! I lied about being done with French administrative formalities; now that I’m moving, there are tons of things to be signed and taken care of… We’re currently working on getting internet set up for the apartment, so hopefully it will be set up and installed shortly after we move in! As you can imagine, getting internet in France is quite a long and involved process, as are most things. We first had to go to France Telecom to get our phone line opened (I honestly do not understand why this needs to be done), then had to go back to SFR (another phone company) to start the ordeal of ordering our Neufbox, which is basically our internet box/wireless router. It’ll be really nice when it’s all set up, because the Neufbox comes with a phone line, and as part of our €30 monthly fee, we get free calls to landline AND mobile numbers in the US – in addition to wifi, of course! I'm not pleased, however, that I received a text message from SFR this morning saying that our order for internet had been received and is being processed and that the "delai de mise en service est de 21 jours environ" - it could take up to 21 days for our internet to start working!!
Work has been going pretty well, although the kids were pretty wild this week because it was almost break. In almost all of my classes I talked about Halloween and how it’s celebrated in the US – we talked about costumes and trick-or-treating and learned words like “witch,” “ghost,” and “skeleton.” I also got to carve pumpkins the other day in one of my classes! I’m pretty sure it would NEVER be allowed in the US, but the teacher had told the kids to bring in spoons and knives (to empty and then carve the pumpkins, of course) to school. It was a fun Friday afternoon activity, and although I was terrified that someone was going to lose a finger, we managed to successfully carve 2 pumpkins without any injuries!
I’m going to be tutoring a high school student in English while I’m here in Nevers – he’s the son of one of the teachers at one of my écoles primaires. On Thursday night Madame Billot picked me up in town and brought me to her house to meet Guillaume (yes, his name is actually Guillaume) and the rest of the family. They’re really nice, and I’m excited to start working with them after the break (and to start earning a little bit of extra money!).
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Bourges
Bonjour mes amis!
I’ve now officially made it through my first week of work! My classes all seem great, and the kids are always really excited to see me – it’s very cute. As soon as I walk into a class, they all say, “Hello!!” As I believe I’ve said before, French children are hilarious. I was in a CP (cours préparatoire, so the kids are about 6 years old) class on Thursday morning and we were talking (in French) about French words that come from English, like “le weekend” and “un hamburger.” (In a class where the children are that young, the main objective is just exposing them to the language, so there’s not a whole lot of teaching that goes on…) The teacher asked the class, “C’est quoi le weekend?” (What is the weekend?) A little girl then answered, “C’est une petite vacance le samedi, le dimanche, et le mercredi!” (“It’s a little vacation on Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday!”) Only in France would a child tell you that Wednesday is part of the weekend…
Yesterday, a group of 4 other assistants and I took a day trip to Bourges, a town about 45 minutes away by train. It was a delightful little trip, and Bourges is a gorgeous and really charming town, with a beautiful cathedral (St. Etienne) and lots of half-timbered houses and little medieval streets everywhere. We spent a little while wandering around the Saturday morning market, where I saw the hugest wheel of Emmental cheese I’ve ever seen! Bourges is a rather rich town, and it’s wealth dates back to the 1400s, when Jacques Coeur, Charles VII’s finance minister, chose Bourges as the site for his personal chateau, now called the Palais Jacques Coeur. (Jacques Coeur was later arrested for embezzlement, and didn’t even get to enjoy his palais!) We visited the Palais Jacques Coeur (for free, as many monuments in France are free if you’re under 26), which was absolutely beautiful. None of the rooms are furnished, but everything is so ornately embellished that it was a still a great place to visit.
Bourges has a rather quirky little museum called the Musée des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France; it’s sole purpose is to display the work of those few French artists/professionals who win the Meilleur Ouvrier (best worker) medal in their field of work. The trade for 2009 is roof ornamentation, so we got to see a room full of roof decorations and miniature models of different types of roofs.
We visited Bourges’ main church, the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne, a 13th-century Gothic cathedral that’s just gorgeous. We also got to go down into the crypt, where our tour guide pointed out that during the cathedral’s construction, one of the craftsmen had carved des fesses (a human butt!) at the base of one of the vaulted arches! We also climbed up the cathedral’s northern tower, and the 396 (!) steps led to a great view of the town.
In other exciting news, I’m moving!! The foyer where I’m currently living is really far from the schools in which I work (45-50 minutes à pied – by foot), and I also have no microwave, oven, or table. One of the German assistants and I had been looking for an apartment together, because she didn’t love where she was living either, and we finally found one the other day! It’s in the centre ville, right on the banks of the Loire River, and it will cost me about €150 less each month in rent. It’s 2 furnished bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room – we also have a little balcony! It is EXTREMELY funky and old-fashioned though, and I’m pretty sure the wallpaper hasn’t been changed in about 35 years, but I think it will work out well for us.
I have one more week of work before our first vacation starts, I think I’m working on Halloween (and how we celebrate it in the US) with my classes this week, so I’m excited for that.
A bientôt!
I’ve now officially made it through my first week of work! My classes all seem great, and the kids are always really excited to see me – it’s very cute. As soon as I walk into a class, they all say, “Hello!!” As I believe I’ve said before, French children are hilarious. I was in a CP (cours préparatoire, so the kids are about 6 years old) class on Thursday morning and we were talking (in French) about French words that come from English, like “le weekend” and “un hamburger.” (In a class where the children are that young, the main objective is just exposing them to the language, so there’s not a whole lot of teaching that goes on…) The teacher asked the class, “C’est quoi le weekend?” (What is the weekend?) A little girl then answered, “C’est une petite vacance le samedi, le dimanche, et le mercredi!” (“It’s a little vacation on Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday!”) Only in France would a child tell you that Wednesday is part of the weekend…
Yesterday, a group of 4 other assistants and I took a day trip to Bourges, a town about 45 minutes away by train. It was a delightful little trip, and Bourges is a gorgeous and really charming town, with a beautiful cathedral (St. Etienne) and lots of half-timbered houses and little medieval streets everywhere. We spent a little while wandering around the Saturday morning market, where I saw the hugest wheel of Emmental cheese I’ve ever seen! Bourges is a rather rich town, and it’s wealth dates back to the 1400s, when Jacques Coeur, Charles VII’s finance minister, chose Bourges as the site for his personal chateau, now called the Palais Jacques Coeur. (Jacques Coeur was later arrested for embezzlement, and didn’t even get to enjoy his palais!) We visited the Palais Jacques Coeur (for free, as many monuments in France are free if you’re under 26), which was absolutely beautiful. None of the rooms are furnished, but everything is so ornately embellished that it was a still a great place to visit.
Bourges has a rather quirky little museum called the Musée des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France; it’s sole purpose is to display the work of those few French artists/professionals who win the Meilleur Ouvrier (best worker) medal in their field of work. The trade for 2009 is roof ornamentation, so we got to see a room full of roof decorations and miniature models of different types of roofs.
We visited Bourges’ main church, the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne, a 13th-century Gothic cathedral that’s just gorgeous. We also got to go down into the crypt, where our tour guide pointed out that during the cathedral’s construction, one of the craftsmen had carved des fesses (a human butt!) at the base of one of the vaulted arches! We also climbed up the cathedral’s northern tower, and the 396 (!) steps led to a great view of the town.
In other exciting news, I’m moving!! The foyer where I’m currently living is really far from the schools in which I work (45-50 minutes à pied – by foot), and I also have no microwave, oven, or table. One of the German assistants and I had been looking for an apartment together, because she didn’t love where she was living either, and we finally found one the other day! It’s in the centre ville, right on the banks of the Loire River, and it will cost me about €150 less each month in rent. It’s 2 furnished bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room – we also have a little balcony! It is EXTREMELY funky and old-fashioned though, and I’m pretty sure the wallpaper hasn’t been changed in about 35 years, but I think it will work out well for us.
I have one more week of work before our first vacation starts, I think I’m working on Halloween (and how we celebrate it in the US) with my classes this week, so I’m excited for that.
A bientôt!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
[Finally] Starting work!
Dear friends,
I started work on Monday, and I can already tell that this year will be something to remember! First of all, the French school system is VERY different from the American system, and French children are actually quite different from American kids as well. Even though I’ve only been in the French school system for two days, I’m already starting to see where the French bureaucracy and national obsession to detail comes from… Or maybe I’m seeing the result of French bureaucracy and a national obsession to detail – either way, it’s very interesting. Today, for example, I was in a CE2 (Cours Elémentaire 2 – the students are about 8 years old) English class at one of my schools. We were working on asking “getting-to-know-you” questions like “What’s your name?,” “Where are you from?,” etc., so the teacher asked them to make a table so they could record the responses of their classmates. I kid you not, every single one of the nineteen kids in the class got RULERS out of their pencil cases to draw their tables. I’ve also never seen a French person underline something freehand – they always get a straight edge or another piece of paper so as to be able to draw a perfectly straight line. Quelle absurdité!
I am also learning that certain phrases, which I always knew to be uniquement et typiquement français, are learned and utilized from a VERY young age. If you were to ask me for the two most typical French phrases, I would respond with 1) “C’est pas grave!” and 2) “Ah bah oui!!” If you spend any amount of time in France, I can guarantee that you will hear both of these phrases several times a day. In the past few days, I have heard 6-8 year-old French children saying both of these, something I find absolutely hilarious.
But a bit more about my actual job, now that I’ve started and can give you a more accurate idea of what I’ll be doing for approximately 10 hours each week (as I posted previously, they’re having trouble getting me to a “full” 12 hours…) I’ve been assigned to work in 4 elementary schools in Nevers, so my time has been split into 2 halves, and I’m working in 2 schools (Ecole de Mouesse and Ecole Claude Tillier) from now until mid-January and then in the other 2 schools (Ecole Jean Macé and Ecole Brossolette) from mid-January until the end of April. From what I’ve done so far, it seems that my job will consist mostly of working with small groups of students (about 4 at a time), playing games and reading stories – en anglais, bien sûr! According to one of the teachers, the kids always love the English assistants, because they never have to do anything with them but play games!! I also get to put together mini-lesson plans about American culture – for example, I have to put something together on how American children celebrate Halloween for my CE1 (Cours Elémentaire 1 – the students are about 7 years old) class next week. All in all, I think it’ll be quite enjoyable, although I have been warned that there can be some discipline problems in the schools to which I’ve been assigned. They’re all classified as ZEPs (Zones d’Education Prioritaire), which basically means that the kids come from more economically disadvantaged homes. Luckily discipline and punishment is not under my realm of responsibility, so I’m not too worried!
The other assistants and I have been trying to make the most of our time in Nevers and in France, so we’ve been doing all sorts of things we maybe wouldn’t do at home – especially if they’re free! On Monday night, for example, I went with 3 other girls to a dance class for which one of the British assistants had seen a flyer in town. When we walked in, we quickly realized that we were easily the youngest people there by about 30 years… We stayed for the whole hour and danced the cha-cha with old French men – I think we were all just trying to keep a straight face most of the time! (Making the story even better: all 4 of us were taller than about half the men there, something they weren’t shy to point out.) While I don’t think I’ll be going back, it’s definitely an experience I’ll remember (and laugh about!) for a LONG time!
I only have 6 days of work until my first vacation starts, when I’ll be going to Liverpool to visit my cousin for a week. Until then, a few of us are going to Bourges, a town about 45 minutes away, on Saturday – I don’t think I'll be trying to find any parks this time!
A bientôt!
I started work on Monday, and I can already tell that this year will be something to remember! First of all, the French school system is VERY different from the American system, and French children are actually quite different from American kids as well. Even though I’ve only been in the French school system for two days, I’m already starting to see where the French bureaucracy and national obsession to detail comes from… Or maybe I’m seeing the result of French bureaucracy and a national obsession to detail – either way, it’s very interesting. Today, for example, I was in a CE2 (Cours Elémentaire 2 – the students are about 8 years old) English class at one of my schools. We were working on asking “getting-to-know-you” questions like “What’s your name?,” “Where are you from?,” etc., so the teacher asked them to make a table so they could record the responses of their classmates. I kid you not, every single one of the nineteen kids in the class got RULERS out of their pencil cases to draw their tables. I’ve also never seen a French person underline something freehand – they always get a straight edge or another piece of paper so as to be able to draw a perfectly straight line. Quelle absurdité!
I am also learning that certain phrases, which I always knew to be uniquement et typiquement français, are learned and utilized from a VERY young age. If you were to ask me for the two most typical French phrases, I would respond with 1) “C’est pas grave!” and 2) “Ah bah oui!!” If you spend any amount of time in France, I can guarantee that you will hear both of these phrases several times a day. In the past few days, I have heard 6-8 year-old French children saying both of these, something I find absolutely hilarious.
But a bit more about my actual job, now that I’ve started and can give you a more accurate idea of what I’ll be doing for approximately 10 hours each week (as I posted previously, they’re having trouble getting me to a “full” 12 hours…) I’ve been assigned to work in 4 elementary schools in Nevers, so my time has been split into 2 halves, and I’m working in 2 schools (Ecole de Mouesse and Ecole Claude Tillier) from now until mid-January and then in the other 2 schools (Ecole Jean Macé and Ecole Brossolette) from mid-January until the end of April. From what I’ve done so far, it seems that my job will consist mostly of working with small groups of students (about 4 at a time), playing games and reading stories – en anglais, bien sûr! According to one of the teachers, the kids always love the English assistants, because they never have to do anything with them but play games!! I also get to put together mini-lesson plans about American culture – for example, I have to put something together on how American children celebrate Halloween for my CE1 (Cours Elémentaire 1 – the students are about 7 years old) class next week. All in all, I think it’ll be quite enjoyable, although I have been warned that there can be some discipline problems in the schools to which I’ve been assigned. They’re all classified as ZEPs (Zones d’Education Prioritaire), which basically means that the kids come from more economically disadvantaged homes. Luckily discipline and punishment is not under my realm of responsibility, so I’m not too worried!
The other assistants and I have been trying to make the most of our time in Nevers and in France, so we’ve been doing all sorts of things we maybe wouldn’t do at home – especially if they’re free! On Monday night, for example, I went with 3 other girls to a dance class for which one of the British assistants had seen a flyer in town. When we walked in, we quickly realized that we were easily the youngest people there by about 30 years… We stayed for the whole hour and danced the cha-cha with old French men – I think we were all just trying to keep a straight face most of the time! (Making the story even better: all 4 of us were taller than about half the men there, something they weren’t shy to point out.) While I don’t think I’ll be going back, it’s definitely an experience I’ll remember (and laugh about!) for a LONG time!
I only have 6 days of work until my first vacation starts, when I’ll be going to Liverpool to visit my cousin for a week. Until then, a few of us are going to Bourges, a town about 45 minutes away, on Saturday – I don’t think I'll be trying to find any parks this time!
A bientôt!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Clermont-Ferrand
Bonjour mes amis!
Yesterday a group of 6 of us (4 English and 2 German assistants) went to Clermont-Ferrand for the day. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:57AM (it’s about an hour and a half from Nevers), but I think there were some strikes (or “perturbations,” as the SNCF likes to call them) in the system, so our train was delayed 30 minutes, and we didn’t end up leaving until 9:30. I think we were all slightly sad to think we could have slept for 30 more minutes! We arrived in Clermont-Ferrand, which is in the Auvergne region, south of Burgundy, around 11:15 and headed in to the centre ville, which was about a 15-minute walk from the train station. Clermont-Ferrand is situated in a chain of extinct volcanoes, so it’s really hilly, and we had to do a lot of walking up and down some pretty steep collines (hills)! Its location in an extinct volcanic range also means that it has some very distinct architecture – the main cathedral in town, Cathedrale de Notre Dame de l’Assomption, is built out of black volcanic rock. Because the rock is so much lighter (because of the air bubbles in it), it means they could build the cathedral higher than with regular stone. Its huge size, coupled with the fact that it’s jet-black, makes the cathedral pretty imposing!
Although I’d heard from several French people that Clermont-Ferrand is an industrial town (Michelin is based there and they have a tire factory there), it had a very pleasant centre ville with some pretty places and lots of impressive statues. In the Place de la Victoire, for example, where the cathedral is located, there’s a big statue of Pope Urban II, who actually launched one of the Crusades from Clermont!
Clermont-Ferrand was originally two separate cities, Clermont and Montferrand, but they were combined in 1630 by an edict – Clermont definitely got the better end of the deal! We took the tram out to Montferrand (it took about 10 minutes) and explored for a bit – not that there was much to explore, it’s very small!!
As I said above, the main cathedral in Clermont-Ferrand is very tall, and you can climb up to the top for a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains. We climbed to the top, which was 252 steps (!), but the view was gorgeous!
After we climbed the cathedral, one of the other assistants and I decided we wanted to walk out to the Parc de Montjuzet, which was recommended in both of our guidebooks – it’s on the outskirts of the city and at the top of a pretty steep hill, and both books said that it was “perfectly manicured” and offered amazing views of the city and cathedral. Let’s Go France 2009, my guidebook, claimed that it was a “15 minute walk northwest of the cathedral.” This, however, turned out to be a blatant lie, and I no longer trust the walking times quoted in the book, as it turned out to be approximately a 35-minute hike up a VERY steep hill. By the time we got to the park, it was already time that we needed to turn around to get back to the train station to catch the train back to Nevers. It turns out that we were actually a bit further away than we thought we were, and we ended up having to full-out sprint through the streets of Clermont-Ferrand to make it back to the station in time. We got on the train with about 2.5-3 minutes to spare; it was very distressing! Even with that traumatic experience, it was a great little day trip, and I’m looking forward to our excursion to Bourges next weekend.
I finally start work tomorrow, so I’ll be observing my first class at the Ecole de Mouesse tomorrow afternoon! I’m mostly excited, but also slightly nervous, because I don’t really know what to expect!
Yesterday a group of 6 of us (4 English and 2 German assistants) went to Clermont-Ferrand for the day. Our train was supposed to leave at 8:57AM (it’s about an hour and a half from Nevers), but I think there were some strikes (or “perturbations,” as the SNCF likes to call them) in the system, so our train was delayed 30 minutes, and we didn’t end up leaving until 9:30. I think we were all slightly sad to think we could have slept for 30 more minutes! We arrived in Clermont-Ferrand, which is in the Auvergne region, south of Burgundy, around 11:15 and headed in to the centre ville, which was about a 15-minute walk from the train station. Clermont-Ferrand is situated in a chain of extinct volcanoes, so it’s really hilly, and we had to do a lot of walking up and down some pretty steep collines (hills)! Its location in an extinct volcanic range also means that it has some very distinct architecture – the main cathedral in town, Cathedrale de Notre Dame de l’Assomption, is built out of black volcanic rock. Because the rock is so much lighter (because of the air bubbles in it), it means they could build the cathedral higher than with regular stone. Its huge size, coupled with the fact that it’s jet-black, makes the cathedral pretty imposing!
Although I’d heard from several French people that Clermont-Ferrand is an industrial town (Michelin is based there and they have a tire factory there), it had a very pleasant centre ville with some pretty places and lots of impressive statues. In the Place de la Victoire, for example, where the cathedral is located, there’s a big statue of Pope Urban II, who actually launched one of the Crusades from Clermont!
Clermont-Ferrand was originally two separate cities, Clermont and Montferrand, but they were combined in 1630 by an edict – Clermont definitely got the better end of the deal! We took the tram out to Montferrand (it took about 10 minutes) and explored for a bit – not that there was much to explore, it’s very small!!
As I said above, the main cathedral in Clermont-Ferrand is very tall, and you can climb up to the top for a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains. We climbed to the top, which was 252 steps (!), but the view was gorgeous!
After we climbed the cathedral, one of the other assistants and I decided we wanted to walk out to the Parc de Montjuzet, which was recommended in both of our guidebooks – it’s on the outskirts of the city and at the top of a pretty steep hill, and both books said that it was “perfectly manicured” and offered amazing views of the city and cathedral. Let’s Go France 2009, my guidebook, claimed that it was a “15 minute walk northwest of the cathedral.” This, however, turned out to be a blatant lie, and I no longer trust the walking times quoted in the book, as it turned out to be approximately a 35-minute hike up a VERY steep hill. By the time we got to the park, it was already time that we needed to turn around to get back to the train station to catch the train back to Nevers. It turns out that we were actually a bit further away than we thought we were, and we ended up having to full-out sprint through the streets of Clermont-Ferrand to make it back to the station in time. We got on the train with about 2.5-3 minutes to spare; it was very distressing! Even with that traumatic experience, it was a great little day trip, and I’m looking forward to our excursion to Bourges next weekend.
I finally start work tomorrow, so I’ll be observing my first class at the Ecole de Mouesse tomorrow afternoon! I’m mostly excited, but also slightly nervous, because I don’t really know what to expect!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
I don't work Wednesdays!
Bonjour mes amis!
Well, I didn’t start work this week, but I did go in to all 4 of my schools to introduce myself the other day and I’ll be starting on Monday! For those who have been following this, my contract begins on October 1. I won’t actually report for my first day until October 12, and our first vacation starts on the 24th. I’m getting paid for the entire month of October, when, in fact, I will only have worked 8 days! (Also, I’ll just be observing my classes for at least 4 of those days!) Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE France?
I was supposed to go meet the directeurs of the schools the other day, but apparently there was some big meeting that morning for all the directeurs, so 3 of the 4 people I was supposed to meet weren’t at the schools! I got my schedule on Monday, and luckily it looks pretty good. I don’t work at all on Wednesday, and the only day I have morning classes is Tuesday (which is actually a super-long day, but I think I’ll be able to use my Wednesdays off to recover).
I’m working in two of my schools from Monday until mid-January, and then in the other two from mid-January until the end of April. They’re pretty far away from my apartment, but luckily they’re all pretty near each other, and I can buy a monthly bus pass for €15 (for unlimited rides), so I don’t think it’ll be too bad of a commute.
I’m supposed to work 12 hours a week, but because of the way English classes are scheduled in the primary schools, my responsable (the woman who is kind of “in charge” of the primary assistants in Nevers) is actually having a hard time getting me to 12 hours! For the first half of my contract (from now until mid-January), for example, I’m only with the kids for 6 hours and 15 minutes each week!
I’m finally getting all of my administrative tasks taken care of – I got my forms sent in to the French immigration office this morning, and once I turn in forms on Friday for my salary advance, I think I’ll be all set!
In other exciting news – I FINALLY have a bank card! When I opened my account, I was told to come back 8 days later to pick up my card. I went back so many times to check if it was there that the man at the front desk (his name is actually Pierre, and he’s very helpful) now recognizes me and doesn’t need to ask my name anymore! In short, it took 14 days for the card to arrive, although I am now pleased to say that I have a bank card AND a pin code (they send it to you separately in the mail)!
Sadly, my camera has died unexpectedly, and I’m very distressed by the fact that I’m now camera-less! I’m hoping to get another one soon so I can continue documenting my vie en France!
A group of us from Nevers are taking a day trip on Saturday to Clermont-Ferrand, a city about 2 hours away by train. It has a cathedral built out of volcanic rock (it’s in the middle of a range of extinct volcanoes), so I’m sure it will be a fun excursion!
Well, I didn’t start work this week, but I did go in to all 4 of my schools to introduce myself the other day and I’ll be starting on Monday! For those who have been following this, my contract begins on October 1. I won’t actually report for my first day until October 12, and our first vacation starts on the 24th. I’m getting paid for the entire month of October, when, in fact, I will only have worked 8 days! (Also, I’ll just be observing my classes for at least 4 of those days!) Have I mentioned yet that I LOVE France?
I was supposed to go meet the directeurs of the schools the other day, but apparently there was some big meeting that morning for all the directeurs, so 3 of the 4 people I was supposed to meet weren’t at the schools! I got my schedule on Monday, and luckily it looks pretty good. I don’t work at all on Wednesday, and the only day I have morning classes is Tuesday (which is actually a super-long day, but I think I’ll be able to use my Wednesdays off to recover).
I’m working in two of my schools from Monday until mid-January, and then in the other two from mid-January until the end of April. They’re pretty far away from my apartment, but luckily they’re all pretty near each other, and I can buy a monthly bus pass for €15 (for unlimited rides), so I don’t think it’ll be too bad of a commute.
I’m supposed to work 12 hours a week, but because of the way English classes are scheduled in the primary schools, my responsable (the woman who is kind of “in charge” of the primary assistants in Nevers) is actually having a hard time getting me to 12 hours! For the first half of my contract (from now until mid-January), for example, I’m only with the kids for 6 hours and 15 minutes each week!
I’m finally getting all of my administrative tasks taken care of – I got my forms sent in to the French immigration office this morning, and once I turn in forms on Friday for my salary advance, I think I’ll be all set!
In other exciting news – I FINALLY have a bank card! When I opened my account, I was told to come back 8 days later to pick up my card. I went back so many times to check if it was there that the man at the front desk (his name is actually Pierre, and he’s very helpful) now recognizes me and doesn’t need to ask my name anymore! In short, it took 14 days for the card to arrive, although I am now pleased to say that I have a bank card AND a pin code (they send it to you separately in the mail)!
Sadly, my camera has died unexpectedly, and I’m very distressed by the fact that I’m now camera-less! I’m hoping to get another one soon so I can continue documenting my vie en France!
A group of us from Nevers are taking a day trip on Saturday to Clermont-Ferrand, a city about 2 hours away by train. It has a cathedral built out of volcanic rock (it’s in the middle of a range of extinct volcanoes), so I’m sure it will be a fun excursion!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Dijon and orientation
Bonjour mes amis!
I just got back last night from Dijon, where all the foreign language assistants in the Burgundy region had an all-day orientation meeting for our job. It was a lot of fun, and it was really nice to get to meet all the other assistants from the region. There are more English language assistants than any other language, but there are also assistants for German, Spanish, Italian, and even Russian! Nevers has at least 11 assistants total, including myself, making it one of the places in Burgundy with the most assistants. (There are at least 7 English assistants, 2 Spanish assistants, and 2 German assistants.) I arrived in Dijon on Thursday afternoon with 3 other English assistants from Nevers, and we spent about 2 hours exploring the city of Dijon – which is a lovely city – before getting the city bus out to the Centre des Rencontres Internationales (roughly, the Center for International Encounters), where we were fed free food and given a room for the night. About 25 of us walked into the centre ville of Dijon on Thursday night (we had nothing to do until Friday morning, when our orientation started) and found a bar where we could sit and chat. (As a side note, at a bar in Dijon, France, I heard ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ The band had changed the words, however, and was singing, “Sweet home Barack Obama, yes we can!” It was ridiculous.) It was really great to get to talk to people from all over the world – there are lots of Brits and Americans, but also quite a few Australians, a couple New Zealanders, and even people from Costa Rica and Colombia.
Our actual orientation was held on Friday and lasted most of the day. Most of what we talked about I already knew or had already taken care of, but it was definitely still very helpful in that it laid out exactly what steps we need to take to get ourselves officially settled. Of course, in typical French fashion, all these steps involve mountains of paperwork and TONS of photocopies – I can tell you already, the French are NOT too concerned with saving the trees!
We got some information about our sécurité sociale (social security), and even the most basic benefits are great! Even as non-citizen assistants who work only 12 hours per week, we’re eligible for French social security. Doctor’s visits cost €22, and everyone has the right to be reimbursed for half of that, meaning that with even the most basic social security, you can have a doctor’s visit for €11!
The apartment complex where I live is called a Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs, and it’s essentially just apartments for young people under the age of 30. It has an office staff and occasionally organizes different events so the residents can meet each other and get involved, etc. On Wednesday night, 2 other English assistants and I (one of whom also lives in the foyer) went to one of the events – it was ‘un repas africain’ (an African meal), and anyone who wanted to come could help cook and then (obviously!) eat it. About 20 people ended up coming, and I got to meet 2 French girls who are in Nevers for their BTS, which, from what I understand, is similar to an associate’s degree… The French education system is super confusing, which is not good, as that is who’s employing me for the next 7 months!
I’m excited to start working, and I have another meeting on Monday afternoon with my responsable, the woman who oversees all the primary school assistants in Nevers. Hopefully I’ll be getting my schedule then and starting on Tuesday, but one never knows in France!
I went to the market this morning and bought homemade blackberry jam with a hand-drawn label... How cool is that?
I just got back last night from Dijon, where all the foreign language assistants in the Burgundy region had an all-day orientation meeting for our job. It was a lot of fun, and it was really nice to get to meet all the other assistants from the region. There are more English language assistants than any other language, but there are also assistants for German, Spanish, Italian, and even Russian! Nevers has at least 11 assistants total, including myself, making it one of the places in Burgundy with the most assistants. (There are at least 7 English assistants, 2 Spanish assistants, and 2 German assistants.) I arrived in Dijon on Thursday afternoon with 3 other English assistants from Nevers, and we spent about 2 hours exploring the city of Dijon – which is a lovely city – before getting the city bus out to the Centre des Rencontres Internationales (roughly, the Center for International Encounters), where we were fed free food and given a room for the night. About 25 of us walked into the centre ville of Dijon on Thursday night (we had nothing to do until Friday morning, when our orientation started) and found a bar where we could sit and chat. (As a side note, at a bar in Dijon, France, I heard ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ The band had changed the words, however, and was singing, “Sweet home Barack Obama, yes we can!” It was ridiculous.) It was really great to get to talk to people from all over the world – there are lots of Brits and Americans, but also quite a few Australians, a couple New Zealanders, and even people from Costa Rica and Colombia.
Our actual orientation was held on Friday and lasted most of the day. Most of what we talked about I already knew or had already taken care of, but it was definitely still very helpful in that it laid out exactly what steps we need to take to get ourselves officially settled. Of course, in typical French fashion, all these steps involve mountains of paperwork and TONS of photocopies – I can tell you already, the French are NOT too concerned with saving the trees!
We got some information about our sécurité sociale (social security), and even the most basic benefits are great! Even as non-citizen assistants who work only 12 hours per week, we’re eligible for French social security. Doctor’s visits cost €22, and everyone has the right to be reimbursed for half of that, meaning that with even the most basic social security, you can have a doctor’s visit for €11!
The apartment complex where I live is called a Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs, and it’s essentially just apartments for young people under the age of 30. It has an office staff and occasionally organizes different events so the residents can meet each other and get involved, etc. On Wednesday night, 2 other English assistants and I (one of whom also lives in the foyer) went to one of the events – it was ‘un repas africain’ (an African meal), and anyone who wanted to come could help cook and then (obviously!) eat it. About 20 people ended up coming, and I got to meet 2 French girls who are in Nevers for their BTS, which, from what I understand, is similar to an associate’s degree… The French education system is super confusing, which is not good, as that is who’s employing me for the next 7 months!
I’m excited to start working, and I have another meeting on Monday afternoon with my responsable, the woman who oversees all the primary school assistants in Nevers. Hopefully I’ll be getting my schedule then and starting on Tuesday, but one never knows in France!
I went to the market this morning and bought homemade blackberry jam with a hand-drawn label... How cool is that?
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Vichy -- and Barbie!
Dear friends,
My day trip to Vichy on Thursday was a success! The town is lovely, with lots of Belle Epoque architecture that reminds me a lot of Nice, just not quite as Mediterranean. The weather was amazing and warm, and I spent most of my 4 hours there just wandering around the town. There’s not a whole lot to see, but it was very cool just to be somewhere that has served such an important role in history. Interestingly enough, I did not see one single mention of Vichy’s role as the WWII headquarters of Pétain’s government. Apparently there’s a small monument to the citizens of Vichy who were deported during the Occupation, but I didn’t see it. France has a very complicated and uncomfortable relationship with this part of its history though, so it’s not really surprising that Vichy chooses not to emphasize its role in the Occupation.
I visited the Halle des Sources, a pretty glass-walled building in the Parc des Sources where they have all of Vichy’s healing waters (les sources) on tap. Anyone can go in and walk around in the Halle, but you have to have a swipe card to get through the barrier to where the taps are – people have prescriptions to drink from different sources to cure various ailments. Apparently they all taste pretty terrible, but there were still a surprising number of people going in and out!
Very randomly, one of the stores along one of Vichy’s main shopping streets had a Barbie exhibition in their side windows. I’m not sure exactly why it’s there, but it was to commemorer les cinquante ans de Barbie (to celebrate Barbie’s 50th anniversary). It was very cute and had a rather extensive display of Barbies from the 1950s to the present.
I’ve gotten to do even more exploring of Nevers and am getting a really good feel for the town. The centre ville (the main part of town) is just darling, and it’s very charming. It’s also super pedestrian-friendly, which is a plus!
That’s all my news, au revoir for now!
My day trip to Vichy on Thursday was a success! The town is lovely, with lots of Belle Epoque architecture that reminds me a lot of Nice, just not quite as Mediterranean. The weather was amazing and warm, and I spent most of my 4 hours there just wandering around the town. There’s not a whole lot to see, but it was very cool just to be somewhere that has served such an important role in history. Interestingly enough, I did not see one single mention of Vichy’s role as the WWII headquarters of Pétain’s government. Apparently there’s a small monument to the citizens of Vichy who were deported during the Occupation, but I didn’t see it. France has a very complicated and uncomfortable relationship with this part of its history though, so it’s not really surprising that Vichy chooses not to emphasize its role in the Occupation.
I visited the Halle des Sources, a pretty glass-walled building in the Parc des Sources where they have all of Vichy’s healing waters (les sources) on tap. Anyone can go in and walk around in the Halle, but you have to have a swipe card to get through the barrier to where the taps are – people have prescriptions to drink from different sources to cure various ailments. Apparently they all taste pretty terrible, but there were still a surprising number of people going in and out!
Very randomly, one of the stores along one of Vichy’s main shopping streets had a Barbie exhibition in their side windows. I’m not sure exactly why it’s there, but it was to commemorer les cinquante ans de Barbie (to celebrate Barbie’s 50th anniversary). It was very cute and had a rather extensive display of Barbies from the 1950s to the present.
I’ve gotten to do even more exploring of Nevers and am getting a really good feel for the town. The centre ville (the main part of town) is just darling, and it’s very charming. It’s also super pedestrian-friendly, which is a plus!
That’s all my news, au revoir for now!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
My first strike, among other things
Bonjour mes amis!
Nothing too exciting has happened here in Nevers since I posted on Sunday, but I do have a few updates to share! First of all, I read in the paper yesterday morning that the guy I saw stuck under the bus did survive – he was wearing a helmet, which saved his life! Also, apparently the bus didn’t hit him – it seems he lost control of his motorcycle and flew off the bike and under the bus.
There are a good number of administrative details that have to be taken care of in order to live and work in France for 7 months, so yesterday I ran some of those errands. It only took about 45 minutes for me to open my bank account, which was kind of a nice surprise – I was expecting it to take much longer! I did have to initial about 35 pages worth of documents, however, and it’s a very involved process. Now that I have a bank account already, this means that I can apply for my salary advance at the end of October, rather than having to wait until the end of November to get paid!
Any long-term visitor to France has to have a medical visit in order to be approved for a “carte de séjour,” (which allows you to access the French social security system, among other things), and to schedule this visit you have to mail a form to the French Office of Immigration in your region. As I was paying for the postage on the envelope at the post office, the man behind the counter asked me, “So when does this need to get there?? They’re on strike today…” I’ve only been here 5 days and I’ve already experienced my first strike! Apparently the letter carriers are striking to oppose a possible privatization of the postal service; I actually saw them demonstrating in town yesterday. I think they might have better luck getting their way if they didn't play such AWFUL music during their demonstrations! Imagine, if you will, the most stereotypical Euro techno music you can... Then make it worse! That's what it sounded like.
Yesterday afternoon my mom and I went to see if we could find one of the schools I’ll be working at – it is NOT close! I did get to see some of the other parts of town, though, as well as the Loire River, which was lovely. It’s about a 45-minute walk, but maybe I’ll be able to figure out how to get there on the bus… On the plus side, I’ll be getting all sorts of exercise!
Mom left to go back home at 7 this morning, and I don’t think either of the other English assistants is coming until Friday, so my plan is to take a little day-trip to Vichy tomorrow. While it was originally famous for its hot springs, most people now associate the town with the Nazi-controlled collaborationist regime led by Philippe Pétain during WWII. (Yes, I am kind of a history nerd.) It’s only an hour from Nevers by train, and it should make for an interesting little trip.
I also bought my SNCF Carte 12-25 this morning, which is a card offered by the French national rail service to give you a discount if you’re between the ages of 12 and 25… So I’m ready for discount travel now!
Hope all is well with all of you!
Nothing too exciting has happened here in Nevers since I posted on Sunday, but I do have a few updates to share! First of all, I read in the paper yesterday morning that the guy I saw stuck under the bus did survive – he was wearing a helmet, which saved his life! Also, apparently the bus didn’t hit him – it seems he lost control of his motorcycle and flew off the bike and under the bus.
There are a good number of administrative details that have to be taken care of in order to live and work in France for 7 months, so yesterday I ran some of those errands. It only took about 45 minutes for me to open my bank account, which was kind of a nice surprise – I was expecting it to take much longer! I did have to initial about 35 pages worth of documents, however, and it’s a very involved process. Now that I have a bank account already, this means that I can apply for my salary advance at the end of October, rather than having to wait until the end of November to get paid!
Any long-term visitor to France has to have a medical visit in order to be approved for a “carte de séjour,” (which allows you to access the French social security system, among other things), and to schedule this visit you have to mail a form to the French Office of Immigration in your region. As I was paying for the postage on the envelope at the post office, the man behind the counter asked me, “So when does this need to get there?? They’re on strike today…” I’ve only been here 5 days and I’ve already experienced my first strike! Apparently the letter carriers are striking to oppose a possible privatization of the postal service; I actually saw them demonstrating in town yesterday. I think they might have better luck getting their way if they didn't play such AWFUL music during their demonstrations! Imagine, if you will, the most stereotypical Euro techno music you can... Then make it worse! That's what it sounded like.
Yesterday afternoon my mom and I went to see if we could find one of the schools I’ll be working at – it is NOT close! I did get to see some of the other parts of town, though, as well as the Loire River, which was lovely. It’s about a 45-minute walk, but maybe I’ll be able to figure out how to get there on the bus… On the plus side, I’ll be getting all sorts of exercise!
Mom left to go back home at 7 this morning, and I don’t think either of the other English assistants is coming until Friday, so my plan is to take a little day-trip to Vichy tomorrow. While it was originally famous for its hot springs, most people now associate the town with the Nazi-controlled collaborationist regime led by Philippe Pétain during WWII. (Yes, I am kind of a history nerd.) It’s only an hour from Nevers by train, and it should make for an interesting little trip.
I also bought my SNCF Carte 12-25 this morning, which is a card offered by the French national rail service to give you a discount if you’re between the ages of 12 and 25… So I’m ready for discount travel now!
Hope all is well with all of you!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Bonjour from France!
Dear friends,
Bonjour from France! After a VERY long journey (detailed below), my mom and I arrived in Nevers on the afternoon of Friday the 18th. While our trip was very smooth, it was quite eventful at the same time! We left from Nashville at 6:00 AM on Thursday the 17th, first flying to Charlotte, NC, then on to JFK airport in NYC, before flying to Dublin, and then (finally!) to Paris – our total traveling time was over 24 hours! It was at JFK that one of my life-long dreams was fulfilled at the age of just 21 years old – my suitcase was the first one off the conveyer belt at the baggage claim! Ever since I’ve been flying, I’ve always wanted my suitcase to be the first one off, and this time it was! We had about 6 hours before our flight to Dublin left (which is too early to check in for a flight), so we ended up sitting on the ground in the airport for about an hour and a half, then finally getting checked in so we could check our bags and go through to the departures area. As we were going through security to get to our gate, there was a thin, really pretty girl in front of me in line, and my first thought was, “Wow. She’s pretty – I wonder if she’s a model??” Nope, not a model, just the Miss Ethiopia contestant from the 2009 Miss Universe competition!
After an easy 6.5 hour flight from New York to Dublin, we were ready for the last flight of our journey. Our flight to Paris left Dublin around 7:15 AM, and we were on the ground in Paris by 9:40 (there’s a one-hour time difference). While this flight was short and easy, it still added to our adventure – there was a medical emergency on board! (I actually didn’t realize anything had happened until the stewardess got on the intercom and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, as you are aware, there has been a medical emergency on board.”) There was supposed to have been an ambulance waiting for our plane when we landed, but I think that some group critical to that endeavor may have been on strike… Seriously, I heard the stewardess tell one of the French airport officials, “I know there’s a strike, but we need an ambulance here!”
In order to catch our train to Nevers, we had to get into the center of Paris to the Gare de Lyon. Our original plan was to take a train into the subway system and then take the subway to the Gare, but we decided instead to take an Air France charter bus directly from the airport to the Gare de Lyon – it’s much more convenient, and only costs a few euros more. The rules of the road are a little bit different in France – any car coming from the right has the right-of-way (except when at a roundabout). This rule also applies when vehicles are merging onto a freeway. As our bus was merging onto the freeway that goes around Paris, I looked out the window to my left to see a car that was precisely in the way of where our bus was about to be. I thought in my head, “Gosh, I hope the driver sees that car and doesn’t hit it, because it really looks like he’s about to run right into him.” I thought we’d passed the car and gotten safely over, because I few seconds had passed and I figured we would have hit the car by then if we were going to. Wrong. Literally right as I thought, “Well, I guess we’re safe,” I heard a crunch, a good deal of honking, and something shouted in French by our bus driver. He then yelled, in French of course, “The person on the right ALWAYS has the right-of-way!!”
Now, I was under the impression that when you get in an accident, you move the vehicles to the side of the road if there are no injuries and if the vehicles can still move. Wrong again! Rather than pull over or go to the next exit, our bus driver promptly got out of the bus (we are now just stopped in the middle of a busy Parisian freeway) to go talk to the driver of the car. After a few minutes, the police showed up and escorted us off the freeway, where I imagine they took care of insurance and other details. After this little delay, we luckily made it without further hassle to our train station.
The train ride to Nevers was uneventful and easy – almost exactly 2 hours, and no stops before ours. After the train ride, we took a short bus ride to my apartment building, where I finally got my apartment! It’s pretty nice – it’s a T1 Bis, which, translated from French apartment lingo, means that I have a separate bathroom, a separate kitchen, and one room for living space (I have a little nook for my bed). It’s a furnished apartment, which is nice, but I don’t have a kitchen (or any kind of) table! Isn’t that odd? I also don’t have a shower curtain, but that’s not so odd for the French. There’s a big Monoprix-style grocery store about a 10 minute walk from my apartment, which is GREAT. They have all sorts of essentials, so my mom and I have already made 2 trips there to buy things like cups and a pot for cooking (and food, of course!).
We walked into town yesterday after sleeping for a glorious 15 hours (I live about a 20 minute walk outside the centre ville, or main town), and as we were walking in, we saw several ambulances and police cars go past us. I kind of wondered what the emergency was, but then forgot about it and kept walking. Soon enough, however, we came upon the reason all those emergency vehicles had been speeding past us. We can’t figure out exactly what happened, but somehow a motorcyclist had been hit by a city bus and then trapped underneath it! (Maybe I should avoid buses while I’m here??) There were policemen and medics everywhere and they were trying to get him out – I hope the guy is OK!
Well, that’s all for now – I have a meeting this week to sign some papers for my apartment, and then I have an orientation meeting for my job next week – I’m looking forward to meeting some of the other assistants!
Au revoir for now!
Bonjour from France! After a VERY long journey (detailed below), my mom and I arrived in Nevers on the afternoon of Friday the 18th. While our trip was very smooth, it was quite eventful at the same time! We left from Nashville at 6:00 AM on Thursday the 17th, first flying to Charlotte, NC, then on to JFK airport in NYC, before flying to Dublin, and then (finally!) to Paris – our total traveling time was over 24 hours! It was at JFK that one of my life-long dreams was fulfilled at the age of just 21 years old – my suitcase was the first one off the conveyer belt at the baggage claim! Ever since I’ve been flying, I’ve always wanted my suitcase to be the first one off, and this time it was! We had about 6 hours before our flight to Dublin left (which is too early to check in for a flight), so we ended up sitting on the ground in the airport for about an hour and a half, then finally getting checked in so we could check our bags and go through to the departures area. As we were going through security to get to our gate, there was a thin, really pretty girl in front of me in line, and my first thought was, “Wow. She’s pretty – I wonder if she’s a model??” Nope, not a model, just the Miss Ethiopia contestant from the 2009 Miss Universe competition!
After an easy 6.5 hour flight from New York to Dublin, we were ready for the last flight of our journey. Our flight to Paris left Dublin around 7:15 AM, and we were on the ground in Paris by 9:40 (there’s a one-hour time difference). While this flight was short and easy, it still added to our adventure – there was a medical emergency on board! (I actually didn’t realize anything had happened until the stewardess got on the intercom and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, as you are aware, there has been a medical emergency on board.”) There was supposed to have been an ambulance waiting for our plane when we landed, but I think that some group critical to that endeavor may have been on strike… Seriously, I heard the stewardess tell one of the French airport officials, “I know there’s a strike, but we need an ambulance here!”
In order to catch our train to Nevers, we had to get into the center of Paris to the Gare de Lyon. Our original plan was to take a train into the subway system and then take the subway to the Gare, but we decided instead to take an Air France charter bus directly from the airport to the Gare de Lyon – it’s much more convenient, and only costs a few euros more. The rules of the road are a little bit different in France – any car coming from the right has the right-of-way (except when at a roundabout). This rule also applies when vehicles are merging onto a freeway. As our bus was merging onto the freeway that goes around Paris, I looked out the window to my left to see a car that was precisely in the way of where our bus was about to be. I thought in my head, “Gosh, I hope the driver sees that car and doesn’t hit it, because it really looks like he’s about to run right into him.” I thought we’d passed the car and gotten safely over, because I few seconds had passed and I figured we would have hit the car by then if we were going to. Wrong. Literally right as I thought, “Well, I guess we’re safe,” I heard a crunch, a good deal of honking, and something shouted in French by our bus driver. He then yelled, in French of course, “The person on the right ALWAYS has the right-of-way!!”
Now, I was under the impression that when you get in an accident, you move the vehicles to the side of the road if there are no injuries and if the vehicles can still move. Wrong again! Rather than pull over or go to the next exit, our bus driver promptly got out of the bus (we are now just stopped in the middle of a busy Parisian freeway) to go talk to the driver of the car. After a few minutes, the police showed up and escorted us off the freeway, where I imagine they took care of insurance and other details. After this little delay, we luckily made it without further hassle to our train station.
The train ride to Nevers was uneventful and easy – almost exactly 2 hours, and no stops before ours. After the train ride, we took a short bus ride to my apartment building, where I finally got my apartment! It’s pretty nice – it’s a T1 Bis, which, translated from French apartment lingo, means that I have a separate bathroom, a separate kitchen, and one room for living space (I have a little nook for my bed). It’s a furnished apartment, which is nice, but I don’t have a kitchen (or any kind of) table! Isn’t that odd? I also don’t have a shower curtain, but that’s not so odd for the French. There’s a big Monoprix-style grocery store about a 10 minute walk from my apartment, which is GREAT. They have all sorts of essentials, so my mom and I have already made 2 trips there to buy things like cups and a pot for cooking (and food, of course!).
We walked into town yesterday after sleeping for a glorious 15 hours (I live about a 20 minute walk outside the centre ville, or main town), and as we were walking in, we saw several ambulances and police cars go past us. I kind of wondered what the emergency was, but then forgot about it and kept walking. Soon enough, however, we came upon the reason all those emergency vehicles had been speeding past us. We can’t figure out exactly what happened, but somehow a motorcyclist had been hit by a city bus and then trapped underneath it! (Maybe I should avoid buses while I’m here??) There were policemen and medics everywhere and they were trying to get him out – I hope the guy is OK!
Well, that’s all for now – I have a meeting this week to sign some papers for my apartment, and then I have an orientation meeting for my job next week – I’m looking forward to meeting some of the other assistants!
Au revoir for now!
Friday, September 11, 2009
6 days!!
Dear friends,
6 days!! I can’t believe it’s almost time for me to leave! I’ve gotten my housing arranged – finally – so that’s a huge relief. I sent in my depôt de garantie (security deposit) yesterday, so I should be able to move in next Friday, the day I arrive, which is great. There are already so many administrative hoops I have to jump through when I get there and I’m so glad that finding housing is no longer an issue!
I don’t actually know anyone else who’s going to be teaching in Nevers, but I’ve been emailing back and forth with a few of the other assistants, so I’m hoping that we’ll be able to meet up once we all get there – it will be nice to have a group of people all going through the same thing!
I’m starting to get a little bit worried about the actual English teaching part of this whole experience – the websites all suggest that we arrive in France with one or two lessons planned for our students so we don’t have that to deal with when we get there… But I still don’t know how old my students are, so I don’t know what/how much English they’ve learned, and I don’t want to waste my time and show up with something that’s either way too easy or way too hard for them! I’m thinking I’ll just put together a lesson about numbers or animals or colors, something pretty basic, just so I have SOMETHING. I am technically only an assistant, so I’m working with a real teacher, which is good – hopefully they’ll have something in mind that they want me to work on!
Something I think is really cool: in one of the brochures/information packets we got about this program, it says that Anglophone assistants could be responsible for ‘making recordings to enrich audiovisual materials in the school.’ I could be the voice of those listening exercises you always have to do when you’re learning a foreign language – how neat is that?!
Also, does anyone have any ideas of things that would be cool for elementary school children?? We’re supposed to bring ‘a variety of authentic teaching materials’ with us, so I have some tourist brochures from various middle Tennessee attractions, a map of Tennessee, American currency… Can you think of anything else that would be fun?
6 days!! I can’t believe it’s almost time for me to leave! I’ve gotten my housing arranged – finally – so that’s a huge relief. I sent in my depôt de garantie (security deposit) yesterday, so I should be able to move in next Friday, the day I arrive, which is great. There are already so many administrative hoops I have to jump through when I get there and I’m so glad that finding housing is no longer an issue!
I don’t actually know anyone else who’s going to be teaching in Nevers, but I’ve been emailing back and forth with a few of the other assistants, so I’m hoping that we’ll be able to meet up once we all get there – it will be nice to have a group of people all going through the same thing!
I’m starting to get a little bit worried about the actual English teaching part of this whole experience – the websites all suggest that we arrive in France with one or two lessons planned for our students so we don’t have that to deal with when we get there… But I still don’t know how old my students are, so I don’t know what/how much English they’ve learned, and I don’t want to waste my time and show up with something that’s either way too easy or way too hard for them! I’m thinking I’ll just put together a lesson about numbers or animals or colors, something pretty basic, just so I have SOMETHING. I am technically only an assistant, so I’m working with a real teacher, which is good – hopefully they’ll have something in mind that they want me to work on!
Something I think is really cool: in one of the brochures/information packets we got about this program, it says that Anglophone assistants could be responsible for ‘making recordings to enrich audiovisual materials in the school.’ I could be the voice of those listening exercises you always have to do when you’re learning a foreign language – how neat is that?!
Also, does anyone have any ideas of things that would be cool for elementary school children?? We’re supposed to bring ‘a variety of authentic teaching materials’ with us, so I have some tourist brochures from various middle Tennessee attractions, a map of Tennessee, American currency… Can you think of anything else that would be fun?
Monday, September 7, 2009
T-minus 10 days!
Dear friends,
As you all know, I am heading to France in just 10 short days (eek!) to spend 7 months as an English Teaching Assistant in 4 different primary schools in Nevers, France. Nevers, a town of about 40,000, is located in the Burgundy (Bourgogne, en français) region of France, about 2 hours south of Paris by train. For those who are interested, you can learn more about Nevers (and see pictures!) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevers or, for those of you who speak French, at http://www.ville-nevers.fr/.
I am VERY excited to start this amazing adventure, but it would be a lie to say I’m not a teensy bit nervous at the same time! I’m actually moving to a country that’s famous for its inefficient bureaucracy – case in point, I start work at the beginning of October, but it’s quite possible that I won’t receive my first paycheck until the END of November!
On the upside, the French get a TON of vacation time. My contract is for 7 months (I only work 12 hours each week) and I get SEVEN WEEKS of paid vacation. Seriously.
I’m planning on living at a “foyer” once I get to Nevers – it’s basically an apartment complex just for students and “jeunes travailleurs” (young workers), so everyone living there will be under 30. Hopefully it’ll be a good way to meet some people; I’ve heard good things about it from a girl who lived there last year while doing the same assistantship I’m doing.
Obviously, I won’t be using my American phone while I’m in France, so I won’t receive any calls or texts to my number after September 17. I do, however, have a French phone already for those who just HAVE to talk to me – email me if you want the number and I will certainly send it your way. I can also always be reached by email or skype (which is free! My user name is gkeenan09). That being said, I’m not sure what my internet access situation will be in Nevers, especially when I first arrive, so it might take me a while to respond to emails, etc., but I’m NOT ignoring you!
For those of you who are still in the Franklin/Nashville/Middle Tennessee area, I would love to see you before I leave! For all who are reading this, thanks for your support, and PLEASE keep in touch!
PS. The blog title is kind of a play on the name of the James Bond movie and the name of the town...
As you all know, I am heading to France in just 10 short days (eek!) to spend 7 months as an English Teaching Assistant in 4 different primary schools in Nevers, France. Nevers, a town of about 40,000, is located in the Burgundy (Bourgogne, en français) region of France, about 2 hours south of Paris by train. For those who are interested, you can learn more about Nevers (and see pictures!) at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevers or, for those of you who speak French, at http://www.ville-nevers.fr/.
I am VERY excited to start this amazing adventure, but it would be a lie to say I’m not a teensy bit nervous at the same time! I’m actually moving to a country that’s famous for its inefficient bureaucracy – case in point, I start work at the beginning of October, but it’s quite possible that I won’t receive my first paycheck until the END of November!
On the upside, the French get a TON of vacation time. My contract is for 7 months (I only work 12 hours each week) and I get SEVEN WEEKS of paid vacation. Seriously.
I’m planning on living at a “foyer” once I get to Nevers – it’s basically an apartment complex just for students and “jeunes travailleurs” (young workers), so everyone living there will be under 30. Hopefully it’ll be a good way to meet some people; I’ve heard good things about it from a girl who lived there last year while doing the same assistantship I’m doing.
Obviously, I won’t be using my American phone while I’m in France, so I won’t receive any calls or texts to my number after September 17. I do, however, have a French phone already for those who just HAVE to talk to me – email me if you want the number and I will certainly send it your way. I can also always be reached by email or skype (which is free! My user name is gkeenan09). That being said, I’m not sure what my internet access situation will be in Nevers, especially when I first arrive, so it might take me a while to respond to emails, etc., but I’m NOT ignoring you!
For those of you who are still in the Franklin/Nashville/Middle Tennessee area, I would love to see you before I leave! For all who are reading this, thanks for your support, and PLEASE keep in touch!
PS. The blog title is kind of a play on the name of the James Bond movie and the name of the town...
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