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?