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!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
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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