i decided to take this year off from school in order to have some time to reflect on what i want to do in grad school and discover what direction im heading in for the next few years...but frankly, ive been here for almost a month and ive half-completed the application for the Peace Corps and thats about it. i am just uncomfortably undecided - but maybe the fact that i keep finding things that im interested to see in France (ie film festival in Belfort this summer) and things id be willing to do to stay here (start looking for an au pair job, at least one that would last the summer) is indicative of what i want: i want to learn to live in the moment and i want to un-learn the feeling that i have to compete my studies in the next three years and that i have to be locked on a career path in the states by the time im 24. life is short, ive not done all that much yet, and i want to see everything.
hanging out with george, the wine guy, is like having meditations on life once a week. he's awesome: he has a good business and his own vineyard, but he's not consumed by his work. he travels without itineraries. he travels to meet people. i want to be like that - grenoble this weekend was perfection bc we didnt have a checklist of things to see, we wandered around (mostly in circles) and that was fine. im hoping that most of my excursions this year will be like that - small towns with fun people, big cities with aloof waiters and random conversations in bars. sitting in tains for the afternoon is great - and when i leave, after 5 hours, it doesnt feel like i wasted my time. im just happy and feel connected to a place. im not knocking my punctuality and my city-smart-averted-eyes-ipod-blaring get-where-im-going-ness, but at the same time, im realizing that i need to let my guard down a little, to just soak up good moments without letting myself become distracted by thinking about what im nOt accomplishing.
but im not saying that i should just keep renewing this teaching assistantship job, working 12 hours/week and drinking wine all the time, either. i like my absurd work ethic and i like getting my hands dirty. i want to go back to school...but i want to go back and study everything. yikes. i guess i dont like that i dont know what im passionate about. i love speaking french, but thats lame. i would like to study translation, i want to plant trees, i want to help people be healthier...and i want to know more about different cultures, i want to speak 10 languages, i want to make lattes and sell wine and teach literature and sell kitschy-cool clothing. arrrgh, i dont know what to do! come back to the states,work, pay off my loans THEN do grad school? work/peace corps/grad school? PC and masters combined? translation studies first, or enviro stuff? which aspect of the environment am i MOST concerned about? everything. trees. i dont know. nothing. i could just go back and be a manager at freaking starbucks, and sometimes that seems like the best answer. except that that would kill my soul.
im too deeply entrenched in my comfortable, middle-class, western lifestyle. i NEED to shake it up. i need other continents, i need to push myself. this is a problem: i dont know what culture shock feels like. im living in a country thats not my homeland but feels more like home than dc ever did. i need a jolt..im pretty smart, im sure i have as of yet undiscovered skills that could help improve the quality of life for someone. but what are they? i guess this all amounts to the fact that i need to volunteer more, i should read more, or i should just shut up and find a job that will ship me somewhere out of my comfort zone. ideas, anyone?
i know i need to think about these things. i want to be someone with great experiences and stories, but right now, since im in france, i also need to be someone who knows how to stop over-processing and just enjoy. right now, c'est la belle vie. there are no expectations, cool things will happen when i least expect (hallmark cheese, but so true!). but i know for sure that i do not want to see the world and get my travel visas by stringing together a series of ESL jobs in exotic locales. too many people speak english as is...
jeudi 18 octobre 2007
notre premiere greve
there was the greve, and vying for headline space simultaneously, the big divorce announcement: sarko and cecilia are finito. and thank goodness for her, she looked like a very unhappy lady. here are some greve articles:
Les syndicats attendent un "message" du gouvernement, qui se dit prêt à les recevoir
LEMONDE.FR | 18.10.07
@import
url(http://medias.lemonde.fr/mmpub/css/blog.css)
LEMONDE.FR | 18.10.07
@import
url(http://medias.lemonde.fr/mmpub/css/blog.css)
dimanche 14 octobre 2007
je suis coincee!!
there are no words to describe how much i love grenoble. suffice to say, if i spend as much time there as i hope to (annnd love that it's ust 15E RT to visit), it might surpass paris as my first love in france. i mean, it has mountains. and guiliana.
mandy and i embarked on our first weekend excursion, taking the bus up to grenoble on sat morning. there was a crying kid in front of us, and the bus was basically a sauna, but it was worth it: we had the whole weekend to wander around and hang out with guiliana!! it was windy and chilly all week in valence, but the sun loved grenoble this weekend and it was warm to boot.
why i loved this weekend: we chilllllled out. lunch took at least 2 hours. primarily because the waiter was a jerkface and never brought our check, but hey! we had chosen to sit outside, so we basked in the sun and didnt worry on it because we had no real itinerary for the day. manuela, another italian assistant from Vieron, joined us, too. mmm crepes with eggplant and feta. yumm. we ambled around Place Victor Hugo and the shops there, wishing that we had money to splurge on boots and purses, but we restrained ourselves and resolved to come back at christmas time for shopping and snowy mountains. there are a TON of bulk tea stores. heaven. you can see teh mountains everywhere you turn. incredible. there was a cocker spaniel that jumped into a fountain bc he was thirsty. adorable. guiliana called us japanese girls bc we took photos every 5 minutes. whatevs, so worth it!
why i love this job: there are 200+ assistants in l'Academie de Grenoble, and we saw most of them at the stage the first week. On any given day wandering Valence, I run into one or two other assistants (and theyre fantastic) - and in grenoble it was the same. we ran into some german assistants at the Orange store when Manuela went to recharge her phone minutes and some spanish assistants were hanging out in front of Promod when we were shopping. i like our little 'yay language studies!' community.
what we were reeeally there for: the France-England rugby match (world cup quater finals). i dont know much about any sports, im not going to lie, but i know zip about rugby. (nerd that i am, i totally read up on it last week so id have an inkling of what was going on) soo will, an assistant in Romans (town just 10 min from Valence par train), and his two french neighbors, Yannick and Damien, drove up to meet us and watch the match. fantastic - we met for drinks around 19h, then guiliana and manuela went to grab warmer clothes (we were planning on watching the game outside. there we several screens being set up outside at Place St Andre). they promised to be back in an hour so we could grab dinner before the game,which started at 21h. riiiight. one hour in italian translates in 2 1/2 hours....needless to say, mandy and i set out with the boys to find something to eat without the others. kebab. mmm meat i cant eat! but it was fun, we chilled on a little street crowded with arabic shops and smelling of cumin. i ate figs. and was quite happy. then it was on to the couche tard (pub) for happy hours drinks (they do it right over here, happy hour is from 19h to 21h) and lessons in french-english cussing and commentary on how american-english sounds like we're speaking with marbles in our mouths. buut, the boys admitted that we three americans spoke french pretty well, so no worries. love it. rugby started (still pas d'italiennes), the bar burst out with la marseillaise and shouts of "allez les bleus!!" and we fell in love with rugby.
guiliana and manuela eventually returned, we left with them to eat some dinner (fries from the kebab stand), and then they left us for another bar, sans rugby, where we were to meet them later. back to the boys, and the game. it was just the best thing ever to watch the match outside with everyone going insane. especially because france led the entire time. until. the last. like, 5 minutes. seriously. then poopy england took over, and won. aieeeee, c'etait pas juste. oh zut! tears.
and then onto the Loco Mosquito, with guili and some other grenoble-based assistants. we for sure got lost about 10 times on the way there (ooh, yah, it's super close, they said....super close means 30+ minutes on foot, on some little back road. ooph), but at least the frenchy boys were outgoing and determined (they liked our little italian girls. oui, c'est comme ca) and asked for directions...omg. it was a madhouse. cute cute bar, super tiny, awesome music (lotsa reggaton and american pop), and PACKED. super hardcore. i was coinceed entre yannick et will pendant toute la nuit. so we danced until the bar closed, then the guys gave us a lift back to the hostel before they headed home. mmm long day, but awesome.
sunday we slept...ummm...not as late as we would have liked to (bfast was until 9h30 and checkout at 10)...then mandy and i wandered around a market by l'eglise St Bruno until guili was up and ready for the world. which is to say that we were ready to take the bulles (gondola) up to the bastille, overlooking the city. the weather was a little hazy, but we could still see for miles out. wonderful. photos/descend/lunch/balade en ville/petit cafe sur la terrasse/train station - where we ran into Sophie, british assistant from valence, who'd come up to visit a friend from her university and was taking the same train home. at the valence tgv stop, the guy sitting behind us passed me a "youre cute" letter. hysterical giggles...and that was the weekend!
mandy and i embarked on our first weekend excursion, taking the bus up to grenoble on sat morning. there was a crying kid in front of us, and the bus was basically a sauna, but it was worth it: we had the whole weekend to wander around and hang out with guiliana!! it was windy and chilly all week in valence, but the sun loved grenoble this weekend and it was warm to boot.
why i loved this weekend: we chilllllled out. lunch took at least 2 hours. primarily because the waiter was a jerkface and never brought our check, but hey! we had chosen to sit outside, so we basked in the sun and didnt worry on it because we had no real itinerary for the day. manuela, another italian assistant from Vieron, joined us, too. mmm crepes with eggplant and feta. yumm. we ambled around Place Victor Hugo and the shops there, wishing that we had money to splurge on boots and purses, but we restrained ourselves and resolved to come back at christmas time for shopping and snowy mountains. there are a TON of bulk tea stores. heaven. you can see teh mountains everywhere you turn. incredible. there was a cocker spaniel that jumped into a fountain bc he was thirsty. adorable. guiliana called us japanese girls bc we took photos every 5 minutes. whatevs, so worth it!
why i love this job: there are 200+ assistants in l'Academie de Grenoble, and we saw most of them at the stage the first week. On any given day wandering Valence, I run into one or two other assistants (and theyre fantastic) - and in grenoble it was the same. we ran into some german assistants at the Orange store when Manuela went to recharge her phone minutes and some spanish assistants were hanging out in front of Promod when we were shopping. i like our little 'yay language studies!' community.
what we were reeeally there for: the France-England rugby match (world cup quater finals). i dont know much about any sports, im not going to lie, but i know zip about rugby. (nerd that i am, i totally read up on it last week so id have an inkling of what was going on) soo will, an assistant in Romans (town just 10 min from Valence par train), and his two french neighbors, Yannick and Damien, drove up to meet us and watch the match. fantastic - we met for drinks around 19h, then guiliana and manuela went to grab warmer clothes (we were planning on watching the game outside. there we several screens being set up outside at Place St Andre). they promised to be back in an hour so we could grab dinner before the game,which started at 21h. riiiight. one hour in italian translates in 2 1/2 hours....needless to say, mandy and i set out with the boys to find something to eat without the others. kebab. mmm meat i cant eat! but it was fun, we chilled on a little street crowded with arabic shops and smelling of cumin. i ate figs. and was quite happy. then it was on to the couche tard (pub) for happy hours drinks (they do it right over here, happy hour is from 19h to 21h) and lessons in french-english cussing and commentary on how american-english sounds like we're speaking with marbles in our mouths. buut, the boys admitted that we three americans spoke french pretty well, so no worries. love it. rugby started (still pas d'italiennes), the bar burst out with la marseillaise and shouts of "allez les bleus!!" and we fell in love with rugby.
guiliana and manuela eventually returned, we left with them to eat some dinner (fries from the kebab stand), and then they left us for another bar, sans rugby, where we were to meet them later. back to the boys, and the game. it was just the best thing ever to watch the match outside with everyone going insane. especially because france led the entire time. until. the last. like, 5 minutes. seriously. then poopy england took over, and won. aieeeee, c'etait pas juste. oh zut! tears.
and then onto the Loco Mosquito, with guili and some other grenoble-based assistants. we for sure got lost about 10 times on the way there (ooh, yah, it's super close, they said....super close means 30+ minutes on foot, on some little back road. ooph), but at least the frenchy boys were outgoing and determined (they liked our little italian girls. oui, c'est comme ca) and asked for directions...omg. it was a madhouse. cute cute bar, super tiny, awesome music (lotsa reggaton and american pop), and PACKED. super hardcore. i was coinceed entre yannick et will pendant toute la nuit. so we danced until the bar closed, then the guys gave us a lift back to the hostel before they headed home. mmm long day, but awesome.
sunday we slept...ummm...not as late as we would have liked to (bfast was until 9h30 and checkout at 10)...then mandy and i wandered around a market by l'eglise St Bruno until guili was up and ready for the world. which is to say that we were ready to take the bulles (gondola) up to the bastille, overlooking the city. the weather was a little hazy, but we could still see for miles out. wonderful. photos/descend/lunch/balade en ville/petit cafe sur la terrasse/train station - where we ran into Sophie, british assistant from valence, who'd come up to visit a friend from her university and was taking the same train home. at the valence tgv stop, the guy sitting behind us passed me a "youre cute" letter. hysterical giggles...and that was the weekend!
mercredi 10 octobre 2007
zut zut merde
bon, cette semaine devait ete celle ou je deviens une "vraie" prof...maaaaais. ce n'est que le chaos. ok, so first, commentary on the rest of the weekend: we had a nice english-assistant bonding day on sunday - it was beautiful weather, warm and sunny, and everyone met up for a picnic in Valence before heading out to St Peray to climb up to the Chateau du Crussol. We can see the chateau from town, but it's on the opposite side of the Rhone, atop some hilly-cliff whatevers. It was a decent climb up, and the views were totally worthwhile - you can see for miles! The chateau itself is in more ruins than i expected, but we had fun running around what remains of the fortifications (it was built in the 13th century).
ive decided that at this point, i like Marcel Pagnol, my so-called bronx school, the best. the kids are just too fantastic. julia was still sick, but i went in anyway, to hang out with Emily's classes again (les 5e) ... i didnt have any lessons planned, since i never really had the chance to observe last week, and i had told julia that i would just come to watch for a bit. but emily didnt let me off the hook that easily! apparently the kids really liked me when i visited last week, and she said they'd have been disappointed if i was there but didnt work with them...so she busted out a recipe for cupcakes, and i just read through it and we worked on cooking/food vocab and understanding american accents. it was a great idea, and took the entire period, between explaining words and then having the students recall all the ingredients and utensils needed. fun times. when the second period class came in, one girl (i need to lesrn names!!) walked up to emily, whispering furiously. emily laughed and told me that the girl was upset because she wanted to bring my cake, but emily hadnt told them ahead of time that i was coming...so i promised to stop by the class next week, in case she remembered to bring me cake. too cute.
monday night i was chilling, watching some french flick on tv, when i received an email that sent me spinning - mme conte, the prof i was supposed to co-teach with at Jean Zay the next day was sick,so id have to do the class alone. merde. over the last week ive realized that i definitely did NOT bring enough stuff with me from the states, and thats not just referring to all the wonderfully warm sweaters that are now sitting in endicott. id opted not to bring a whole pile of newspaperes, etc, bc i just didnt have enough room, and i figured i could always find what i need on the internet. BUT. i still dont have computer passwords and copier codes, so i cant actually print/copy anything at this point, and it's not as easy as you would think to catch these teachers during a free period. everyone evaporates as soon as they dont have a class to teach. [side note: these schools are kinda like mini-prisons, i swear! you have to find the right door at the right section of heavy-duty fencing and ring to be let in! it's soo weird!] soo i was like oh shit, what am i going to do with these kids, have i met them yet, what does 5e mean as far as vocab??? oh lord. so i found some activities that i figured would be ok not matter what (a worksheet questionnaire thingy and some creative-conversation starters) and centered myself for the next day.
i arrived well before the start of class and begged the grumpy secretaire to make some copies for me, and headed to the teachers lounge to chill before class. i ran into some of the other english teachers, very nice, then went to my room. there was no one there. class started at 13h30. it was 13h35...ok...so i went to "la vie scolaire" where kids are supposed to go when they have a free period and asked the surveillant if my kids were there. not so much. apparently, kids can just peace out when they want if they dont have class (this was a shocking realization to someone who never even had that luxury senior year of high school!)...there were three girls in study hall, three!, from a class of 30 (i was planning on working with half the class). at first i was like, it's prob not worth it to do anything with them, but they were willing to come with me anyway, sooo the 4 of us hung out for an hour, filling in my little questionnaire and talking about pop music. whatever, it was certainly a letdown (i mean, i was dressed all teacher-like and everything!), and i didnt want to put the girls on the spot since there were so few of them and i still have no idea what im doing, but at the end of the day, they spoke more than they would have otherwise, so whatevs. i did my job.
today i screwed up - apparently i missed the memo that i was supposed to work from 8h - 10h, the 11h-noon, and i came in at 9h, which is when i thought i was going to start. oops. i was on my own again, for an hour, with some very chatty 3e (14 yrs old)...it was fine, they def spoke to much in french (i probably was too lax on my first impression and will suffer the consequences next week), but starting next week, when i have them for 2 hours, we'll b working on projects, so that will be better. it's pretty hard, preparing for a class where you dont know their level or how much they like talking, which is what ive been doing all week. so im looking forward to next week, when i'll just be helping them with writing and whatnot. and i do have more of a sense for where each level is at (i observed a 6e class today, too - like 11-12 yrs old - and they were barely grasping numbers), and im definitely going to bring articles for the olders ones, so that they stay focused and then we can have debates or something...i dunno. Pagnol teachers are younger and more fun, and seem to understand that i dont have a teaching background, so they have anticipated co-teaching for the first few sessions - i mean, im excited to work on my own with the kids, but i need to be comfortable with them first, and at Zay the teachers were like "no, no, you dont need to bring anything, no worries" so i thought id be co-teaching, but no! i just had to wing it sans fiches. ooh la. we'll see.
samedi 6 octobre 2007
T.I.F.: la ou l'air sent le chocolat et on goute du vin en bon compagnie
this shall be, im sure, one of the most flat-out fantastic days ever. seriously. lets just put it out there in the most simple terms: valence is one stop away par train from a Tain l'Hermitage, a town that is renowned for its wine and chocolate. you know what youre getting for christmas. so mandy was all like lets go taste wine and a few of us assistants were planning on going, but of course everyone bailed bc they wanted to sleep in or something (the bus to Tain left at 10h45). well tant pis for them and tant mieux pour nous deux...we arrived around noon, right in front of the Valrhones Chocolatarie. we inhaled cacao as we stepped off the bus, i kid you not. and omg, free samples. it was amazing. i guess you can tour the facilities, but we just poked around the shop, tasted some of the most beautiful, fresh chocolat ive ever come in contact with, and picked out the things we planned to buy on the way home.
i had looked up some addresses of caves in the area, but we headed to the bureau de tourisme for a map, all the while gushing about how freaking cute the town is - it's just very quaint and flowery, all next to the river, with hills criss-crossed with vineyards rising up on the rive droite (je crois...). so we set out, guide to the caves of Tain in hand, but TIF (this is france): most everywhere was closed for 2 hours for lunch. grr. we looked around the plaza where we were standing, contemplating how to kill time until free wine tasting started back up again...in front of us, serendipitously, a little wine shop. whatevs, maybe we can sample here too, so we wandered in. best decision ever.
the owner, a middle-aged guy from greece, immediately asked if we knew anything about the wine from the area, and as soon as we said no, not really, he pulled out glasses and asked if we wanted to taste red or white. we looked at each other, and in the moment that we hesitated, he made the decision for us: "lets just try both," he said. So he swirled three glasses with some white wine, dumped out the wine, and poured three small glasses. it was very light, dry and had a hint of floral and honey (yah, we totally had to play the "what do you taste/smell game,which im hooooorrible with). then we tried a young red (you dont say "ca pique" if you want to talk about it being sharp, you say "c'est aggressif") and theeeen the nice, aged red came out. we finished the bottle, that right. we'd been standing, chatting, but he invited us to sit and started talking about food pairing...and then we waxed poetic for a bit: the best way to enjoy wine is not to worry about the quality of the grapes or the accuracy of the food pairing, but rather the company you have. because, of course, in good company even mediocre wine tastes wonderful, just as the best bottle can be ruined if shared with the wrong company. and the best food pairing is good bread, and cheese. So he went and brought us a fougasse de chevre (basically like a white pizza made from goat cheese), which we had with the white (bc white is better with chevre, and red with cows milk cheeses). Finished off that bottle, too.
We spent the better part of three hours with George, he shooed away potential customers once or twice, but had to sell to some persistent Norwegians - but during this transaction, Mandy and I totally got to play translator/wine experts! It was awesome, they bought a lot, and then George served cafe and Chartreuse, a powerful (but tasty!) digestif. We hung out a while longer, listening to classic rock'n'roll and traditional Greek music, chatting about wine, France, his kids and the trip Mandy and I are planning to Greece. The afternoon ended with the best offer ever: not only did he ask that we come back soon (and hey, if we ever want to borrow his car to visit other vineyards, just let him know), but would we come and work as translators for his international shipping work and tutor him in English. omg, we looked at each other, looked at him, "seriously?" ,"yes, please, come back wed or sat!" and we high-fived, and it was a deal. this is how we do, and it is fantastic
sooo we left all giggling and a little tipsy (at least i was) and dehydrated and ecstatic, and went to sample some more wine at another shop nearby (muscat, mandy's favorite, but rather too sweet for me), buy some chocolate, and catch the train back to valence. we had intended to chill in a pub and watch the france-new zealand quarter-final game (rugby world cup), but we were both too crapped out to do anything, so i just stayed in and worked on travel itineraries...alors, TIF dans le sud: spending time relaxing, hanging out with new friends, enjoying a glass of wine or some chocolate...im getting used to it!
i had looked up some addresses of caves in the area, but we headed to the bureau de tourisme for a map, all the while gushing about how freaking cute the town is - it's just very quaint and flowery, all next to the river, with hills criss-crossed with vineyards rising up on the rive droite (je crois...). so we set out, guide to the caves of Tain in hand, but TIF (this is france): most everywhere was closed for 2 hours for lunch. grr. we looked around the plaza where we were standing, contemplating how to kill time until free wine tasting started back up again...in front of us, serendipitously, a little wine shop. whatevs, maybe we can sample here too, so we wandered in. best decision ever.
the owner, a middle-aged guy from greece, immediately asked if we knew anything about the wine from the area, and as soon as we said no, not really, he pulled out glasses and asked if we wanted to taste red or white. we looked at each other, and in the moment that we hesitated, he made the decision for us: "lets just try both," he said. So he swirled three glasses with some white wine, dumped out the wine, and poured three small glasses. it was very light, dry and had a hint of floral and honey (yah, we totally had to play the "what do you taste/smell game,which im hooooorrible with). then we tried a young red (you dont say "ca pique" if you want to talk about it being sharp, you say "c'est aggressif") and theeeen the nice, aged red came out. we finished the bottle, that right. we'd been standing, chatting, but he invited us to sit and started talking about food pairing...and then we waxed poetic for a bit: the best way to enjoy wine is not to worry about the quality of the grapes or the accuracy of the food pairing, but rather the company you have. because, of course, in good company even mediocre wine tastes wonderful, just as the best bottle can be ruined if shared with the wrong company. and the best food pairing is good bread, and cheese. So he went and brought us a fougasse de chevre (basically like a white pizza made from goat cheese), which we had with the white (bc white is better with chevre, and red with cows milk cheeses). Finished off that bottle, too.
We spent the better part of three hours with George, he shooed away potential customers once or twice, but had to sell to some persistent Norwegians - but during this transaction, Mandy and I totally got to play translator/wine experts! It was awesome, they bought a lot, and then George served cafe and Chartreuse, a powerful (but tasty!) digestif. We hung out a while longer, listening to classic rock'n'roll and traditional Greek music, chatting about wine, France, his kids and the trip Mandy and I are planning to Greece. The afternoon ended with the best offer ever: not only did he ask that we come back soon (and hey, if we ever want to borrow his car to visit other vineyards, just let him know), but would we come and work as translators for his international shipping work and tutor him in English. omg, we looked at each other, looked at him, "seriously?" ,"yes, please, come back wed or sat!" and we high-fived, and it was a deal. this is how we do, and it is fantastic
sooo we left all giggling and a little tipsy (at least i was) and dehydrated and ecstatic, and went to sample some more wine at another shop nearby (muscat, mandy's favorite, but rather too sweet for me), buy some chocolate, and catch the train back to valence. we had intended to chill in a pub and watch the france-new zealand quarter-final game (rugby world cup), but we were both too crapped out to do anything, so i just stayed in and worked on travel itineraries...alors, TIF dans le sud: spending time relaxing, hanging out with new friends, enjoying a glass of wine or some chocolate...im getting used to it!
rugger bugger
ive been working-ish on lesson plans for my classes this week, meaning finding fun dc facts to incorporate into some kind of game or something, since i still dont know what im doing...but anyway, here are some fun facts about valence (procrastination is so much fun)...
- valence is a town situated in the Rhone Valley, in the Drome departement,in the Rhone-Alpes region (i cant figure how to do accents on this, which is merde)
- valence major (the city and the 'burbs, including Bourg-les-Valence, Portes-les-Valence, among others) has a population of about 115,000
- as far as weather goes, Valence is kissed by the Mistral wind that comes from the north, bringing pleasant summer weather and very chilly winters, but there's not usually too much snow. it marks about the highest reaches of the Med's sunniness, but may and october are the rainy months. (we're doing pretty well so far, though, with just one big rainstorm and a few drizzly days)
- there's a significant Armenian population (at least 10%), dating back to the refugees that arrived here during the armenian genocide in 1920-ish.
- during WWII, the northern half of the city was wiped out, so the prefecture and surrounding buildings are all modern.
- there are 10 colleges in town (i work at 3, and im pretty sure the others are without english assistants, quel dommage...) and the city has recently established several universities. theres also an Ecole des beaux arts...
- theres a lot of farming around here, esp apricots, peaches and kiwis apparently....local delicacies include various brioches (pralinee, parfumee a la fleur d'oranger) and this faux-gingerbread man cake, "la suisse" thats basically brioche with almond and orange flavoring. i dunno, theyre cute, but it sounds like fruitcake to me...i'll try it eventually...
- for such a small city, theres a lot of diversity, mainly north african influences, but also lebanese and turkish...we found a super sweet lebanese restaurant mmm delish hummus and baba!!
- valence is a town situated in the Rhone Valley, in the Drome departement,in the Rhone-Alpes region (i cant figure how to do accents on this, which is merde)
- valence major (the city and the 'burbs, including Bourg-les-Valence, Portes-les-Valence, among others) has a population of about 115,000
- as far as weather goes, Valence is kissed by the Mistral wind that comes from the north, bringing pleasant summer weather and very chilly winters, but there's not usually too much snow. it marks about the highest reaches of the Med's sunniness, but may and october are the rainy months. (we're doing pretty well so far, though, with just one big rainstorm and a few drizzly days)
- there's a significant Armenian population (at least 10%), dating back to the refugees that arrived here during the armenian genocide in 1920-ish.
- during WWII, the northern half of the city was wiped out, so the prefecture and surrounding buildings are all modern.
- there are 10 colleges in town (i work at 3, and im pretty sure the others are without english assistants, quel dommage...) and the city has recently established several universities. theres also an Ecole des beaux arts...
- theres a lot of farming around here, esp apricots, peaches and kiwis apparently....local delicacies include various brioches (pralinee, parfumee a la fleur d'oranger) and this faux-gingerbread man cake, "la suisse" thats basically brioche with almond and orange flavoring. i dunno, theyre cute, but it sounds like fruitcake to me...i'll try it eventually...
- for such a small city, theres a lot of diversity, mainly north african influences, but also lebanese and turkish...we found a super sweet lebanese restaurant mmm delish hummus and baba!!
vendredi 5 octobre 2007
je suis en train de devenir vraiment francaise!
LA CARTE DE SEJOUR...oh man, this is one of the most important things anyone from outside the EU needs to take care of, because without the carte, we cannot apply for CAF. and clearly receiving money back on housing is one of the most attractive things in the world, so yah, that needs to happen toute de suite. I had received a convocation for yesterday at 15h30, so I went, looking all professional-like, with my binder of documents and more photocopies than you could count on both hands, bracing myself for the typical long wait, disorganization and confusion. But I'm finding that Valence is full of pleasant surprises: I was in and out in under 30 minutes, assured that after I went to the doctor, I could just mail in that form, and told that I could mail in some documents I was missing. Since we've all been overwhelmed with conflicting advice, I had figured that taking my rental contract would suffice as my proof of logement, particularly since I dont have any bills here in my name. But no, I need a copy of a bill from the Payrichou family, as well as a letter from them saying that I'm paying them rent...or something like that.Whatever, I have a month to mail that in...But yah! I have my interim residency card and my working permit! I'm, like, legal! Awesome!
jeudi 4 octobre 2007
mardi 2 octobre 2007
est-ce tu preferes la france ou les etats-unis? France, clearly
aight, i've a few meetings under my belt, several introductions to various levels of english classes, and im learning more about france every minute. and staving off a headache, too.
moving to france is something ive been dreaming about seriously since my semester in Paris. after 4 months in the best city, and realizing as i was leaving that it took all 4 months to appreciate the advances i had made linguistically, i knew that i needed to 1) become a french major and 2) spend more time in france. as finding a job here is difficult (the current economic climate is not very hospitable to the hiring of foreigners for just any old job), the assistantship program offered an easy in as far as obtaining a long stay visa and residency and INCOME, even if such bliss was only to last for a few months. I'll take it, and work on the permanent move once ive finished graduate studies, no?
that being said, applying for the job and the visa was the easy part. now that we're here, the assistants have a dozen different circles to run, especially those of us hailinig from the good ol' US of A. EU residency cuts paperwork in half - americans need to apply for residency, which means piles of applications, a medical visit, an appointment at the prefecture, countless photocopies of passport and visa...thus far i have: signed my housing contract, mailed the notification of arrival so that i can be called in for my medical exam (yuck), opened a bank account (shockingly easy and yaay carte bancaire internationale = no more withdrawls from my DC account, hopefully from mid-oct til the end!), filled out the securite sociale forms (mailing them tomorrow, hopefully with all the right attachments!), received my convocation to the prefectre (jeudi a 15h30), and filled out my direct deposit forms (to be turned in at Pagnol, my main school = ecole de rattachement). then, if all goes well, i'll have my medical exam and send in that info to receive my carte de sejour (residency); i'll get my insurance card (securite sociale) - the french loooove insurance (even Happy People has insurance!); with these pieces of information, i'll be able to apply for the CAF (caisse d'allocations familiales) = dinero towards rent expenses since im poor. all of this should be finalized by....febuary. oh lordy.
[note: as much as i love france and all things french just for so-being, one of the hardest things for me to adjust to, besides la fermature du dimanche, is the "work to live, not live to work" mentality. i like everything fast, punctual, specific, high-speed...mandy and i waited in the post office for 30 freaking minutes the other day to buy stamps bc the man decided to go around to the back and chill with his coworkers after every transaction.i almost died. and im here to "work" for 12 hours a week? whaaaat?]
papers aside, this week ive been spending some time in the classrooms, too. our first week is reserved for observation, so we can see how the teachers interact with the students, what their levels of english are, etc. ive only seen a few minutes of actual class, however, since the students are very curious about newcomers; ive had a lot of Q & A sessions in the last 48 hours.
im working in three colleges, Marcel Pagnol, Paul Valery and Jean Zay. College,in france, is a rough equivalent to middle school in the states. the grades count backwards: sixeme = 11-12 yrs old, not much english
cinquieme = 12-13
quatrieme = 13 -14
troisieme = 14 - 15
then they go on to lycee (high school). I will work primarily with the 4e and 3e students, since in theory they have a better grasp on english and might best benefit from interaction with a native speaker, although several teachers have remarked that generally the younger kids are more enthusiastic about foreign languages and the older ones are more frustrated at not being able to express themselves as clearly as they would like. ive met kids from all the age groups, and based on the initial interactions, i'll be thrilled to hang out with any of them.
monday morning i headed out to Pagnol, bright and early, since i was supposed to be there for the 8h section of EU (kids that are taking 5 hrs/wk of english rather than just 3 - they tend to be more engaged in language studies and get to do more fun projects) with julia, the teacher i had met on friday. well...she was out sick, so instead i met Emily, another teacher, and hung out with her sections of 5e from 8-10h, and then i sat in on Annique's 6e class. we did q & a, half in english, half in french...the kids were fantastic,i forgot how cute and awkward 13 was...in all the classes i visited, kids would ask if i like france or the US better (france, of course, and then they'd be all smiling), if i speak french (yes, and theyd look all relieved, then ask how hard it is to learn another language), if i was rich, new celebrities, had visited france before, had a boyfriend, what are my sisters' names, do i know 50 Cent, do i have a gun (seriously. i looked at Emliy like, did he really just ask that? and she was all "you should have said yes, to strike some fear in them! omg, hilarious). oh, and then the best part, besides their super-cute "do we get to see you all year?": 3 little girls in the 6e class asked for my autograph! and they gave me theirs, and then they just sat and examined my handwriting...and i remembered that not only with my accent be different for them (they learn british english. i HATE hearing "have you got..." but i'll have to adjust), but my penmanship is different, too.
today, tuesday, i had a meeting at Paul Valery at 15h45; Jean Zay had simply sent me the hours they wanted me to work, but i hadnt actually talked to anyone, so i headed there in the morning,to see if i could sit in on a class or two. the secretary advised that i come in during the lunch break, but as i was heading out of the school to find somewhere to hang out for an hour, a teacher walking into the building asked me if i spoke english - it was mme conte, one of the teachers im working with. she is possibly the cutest thing ever - she burst into english, was super psyched that im from dc, we talked about my hours, she introduced me to the principal (and then laughed behind his back when he didnt understand that "she's from washington" meant the US, told me about her daughter and boyfriend (british, of vietnamese origin, didnt like living in france so he commutes between his job in london and her in valence)...omg, what a hoot. i met another english teacher, as well, but they were both so excited and flustered that they sent me home after that, rather than having me stay for class. buut i'll be back there for an hour tomorrow, with mme conte! cant wait!
and then there was one..clg paul valery. it's a nice facility- the school building is U-shaped around a sunny courtyard, and the classrooms all open onto open-air walkways. the day was perfection and they'd opened the doors to catch the afternoon breeze. the principal (very nice guy) dropped me off in a 5e class for the last 15 minutes of the period, and i got to do another q & a section, and then i conferred with the english teachers about my hours. sadly for them, id already set up my days at Pagnol and Zay, so they need to meet on their own and see where they can fit in...chaos! i then spent about 2 minutes being interviewed by a section of 3e (the oldest kids) - they are so loud and nosy! the teacher for that section, christine (she was actually the only teacher that replied to my emails this summer, so bonus points for her), is great, though - she just gives them this dry sarcasm and stares down the chatty cathys. but yes. i love these kids. i know i have no idea what it will be like working with them, and im sure i'll cry some days and be well tired of it all come april, if not sooner, but it's heartening that these first few days have gone so well. the teachers are open and eager to help and the kids dont seem put off by an american standing in front of them to teach them english. im going to start doing some research and reflecting so that i can do real things with them rather then falling back on bingo all the time. i mean, i truly loved learning spanish and french, and my teachers were mostly boring in middle and high school, but im not boring, right?! no, it'll be good for me to think outside the box about activities and tying in their lessons in memorable ways. and to learn to enunciate and speak loudly.
last thing that was great: i found my place. you know, somewhere that you know youre destined to visit often (like politics and prose for me in dc)...it's a cafe called tasse & glace. it's a small cafe tucked in a corner near the theater, with bright green walls and good music and an AMAZING tea menu, as well as coffee, sirop, juices and (love it) ice cream. i just drank my fruity tisane (served with a bowl of sugar cubes, haribo candies and a mini-macaroon) and read for an hour. it was so nice to enjoy a coffeehouse for a change, rather than being behind the bar (not that i was tired of my job or anything....)! i love it, and no doubt will be a regular, especially once the cold sets in. and it's so nice to feel at home here. the town is cute - theres a great park with a fountain and a kiddy train and a little zoo, i have the Happy People, i found a post for yoga classes that i should pursue, there's ice skating and swimming, good buses (even if they stop running ridiculously early), theres an artsy movie theatre, i live with a fat cat named Kiwi...ive already been asked for directions and stopped traffic so some random dudes could hit on me. im speaking french....sigh. after the most dragged-out move ever (berks to ny to takoma, still waiting on the security deposit...blahh) and living out of suitcases for the better part of 2 months, then the hectic-ness of orientation last week, it is sooooooo nice to just feel comfortable and know where everything is and to be in one place. ahhhh la fraaaance
moving to france is something ive been dreaming about seriously since my semester in Paris. after 4 months in the best city, and realizing as i was leaving that it took all 4 months to appreciate the advances i had made linguistically, i knew that i needed to 1) become a french major and 2) spend more time in france. as finding a job here is difficult (the current economic climate is not very hospitable to the hiring of foreigners for just any old job), the assistantship program offered an easy in as far as obtaining a long stay visa and residency and INCOME, even if such bliss was only to last for a few months. I'll take it, and work on the permanent move once ive finished graduate studies, no?
that being said, applying for the job and the visa was the easy part. now that we're here, the assistants have a dozen different circles to run, especially those of us hailinig from the good ol' US of A. EU residency cuts paperwork in half - americans need to apply for residency, which means piles of applications, a medical visit, an appointment at the prefecture, countless photocopies of passport and visa...thus far i have: signed my housing contract, mailed the notification of arrival so that i can be called in for my medical exam (yuck), opened a bank account (shockingly easy and yaay carte bancaire internationale = no more withdrawls from my DC account, hopefully from mid-oct til the end!), filled out the securite sociale forms (mailing them tomorrow, hopefully with all the right attachments!), received my convocation to the prefectre (jeudi a 15h30), and filled out my direct deposit forms (to be turned in at Pagnol, my main school = ecole de rattachement). then, if all goes well, i'll have my medical exam and send in that info to receive my carte de sejour (residency); i'll get my insurance card (securite sociale) - the french loooove insurance (even Happy People has insurance!); with these pieces of information, i'll be able to apply for the CAF (caisse d'allocations familiales) = dinero towards rent expenses since im poor. all of this should be finalized by....febuary. oh lordy.
[note: as much as i love france and all things french just for so-being, one of the hardest things for me to adjust to, besides la fermature du dimanche, is the "work to live, not live to work" mentality. i like everything fast, punctual, specific, high-speed...mandy and i waited in the post office for 30 freaking minutes the other day to buy stamps bc the man decided to go around to the back and chill with his coworkers after every transaction.i almost died. and im here to "work" for 12 hours a week? whaaaat?]
papers aside, this week ive been spending some time in the classrooms, too. our first week is reserved for observation, so we can see how the teachers interact with the students, what their levels of english are, etc. ive only seen a few minutes of actual class, however, since the students are very curious about newcomers; ive had a lot of Q & A sessions in the last 48 hours.
im working in three colleges, Marcel Pagnol, Paul Valery and Jean Zay. College,in france, is a rough equivalent to middle school in the states. the grades count backwards: sixeme = 11-12 yrs old, not much english
cinquieme = 12-13
quatrieme = 13 -14
troisieme = 14 - 15
then they go on to lycee (high school). I will work primarily with the 4e and 3e students, since in theory they have a better grasp on english and might best benefit from interaction with a native speaker, although several teachers have remarked that generally the younger kids are more enthusiastic about foreign languages and the older ones are more frustrated at not being able to express themselves as clearly as they would like. ive met kids from all the age groups, and based on the initial interactions, i'll be thrilled to hang out with any of them.
monday morning i headed out to Pagnol, bright and early, since i was supposed to be there for the 8h section of EU (kids that are taking 5 hrs/wk of english rather than just 3 - they tend to be more engaged in language studies and get to do more fun projects) with julia, the teacher i had met on friday. well...she was out sick, so instead i met Emily, another teacher, and hung out with her sections of 5e from 8-10h, and then i sat in on Annique's 6e class. we did q & a, half in english, half in french...the kids were fantastic,i forgot how cute and awkward 13 was...in all the classes i visited, kids would ask if i like france or the US better (france, of course, and then they'd be all smiling), if i speak french (yes, and theyd look all relieved, then ask how hard it is to learn another language), if i was rich, new celebrities, had visited france before, had a boyfriend, what are my sisters' names, do i know 50 Cent, do i have a gun (seriously. i looked at Emliy like, did he really just ask that? and she was all "you should have said yes, to strike some fear in them! omg, hilarious). oh, and then the best part, besides their super-cute "do we get to see you all year?": 3 little girls in the 6e class asked for my autograph! and they gave me theirs, and then they just sat and examined my handwriting...and i remembered that not only with my accent be different for them (they learn british english. i HATE hearing "have you got..." but i'll have to adjust), but my penmanship is different, too.
today, tuesday, i had a meeting at Paul Valery at 15h45; Jean Zay had simply sent me the hours they wanted me to work, but i hadnt actually talked to anyone, so i headed there in the morning,to see if i could sit in on a class or two. the secretary advised that i come in during the lunch break, but as i was heading out of the school to find somewhere to hang out for an hour, a teacher walking into the building asked me if i spoke english - it was mme conte, one of the teachers im working with. she is possibly the cutest thing ever - she burst into english, was super psyched that im from dc, we talked about my hours, she introduced me to the principal (and then laughed behind his back when he didnt understand that "she's from washington" meant the US, told me about her daughter and boyfriend (british, of vietnamese origin, didnt like living in france so he commutes between his job in london and her in valence)...omg, what a hoot. i met another english teacher, as well, but they were both so excited and flustered that they sent me home after that, rather than having me stay for class. buut i'll be back there for an hour tomorrow, with mme conte! cant wait!
and then there was one..clg paul valery. it's a nice facility- the school building is U-shaped around a sunny courtyard, and the classrooms all open onto open-air walkways. the day was perfection and they'd opened the doors to catch the afternoon breeze. the principal (very nice guy) dropped me off in a 5e class for the last 15 minutes of the period, and i got to do another q & a section, and then i conferred with the english teachers about my hours. sadly for them, id already set up my days at Pagnol and Zay, so they need to meet on their own and see where they can fit in...chaos! i then spent about 2 minutes being interviewed by a section of 3e (the oldest kids) - they are so loud and nosy! the teacher for that section, christine (she was actually the only teacher that replied to my emails this summer, so bonus points for her), is great, though - she just gives them this dry sarcasm and stares down the chatty cathys. but yes. i love these kids. i know i have no idea what it will be like working with them, and im sure i'll cry some days and be well tired of it all come april, if not sooner, but it's heartening that these first few days have gone so well. the teachers are open and eager to help and the kids dont seem put off by an american standing in front of them to teach them english. im going to start doing some research and reflecting so that i can do real things with them rather then falling back on bingo all the time. i mean, i truly loved learning spanish and french, and my teachers were mostly boring in middle and high school, but im not boring, right?! no, it'll be good for me to think outside the box about activities and tying in their lessons in memorable ways. and to learn to enunciate and speak loudly.
last thing that was great: i found my place. you know, somewhere that you know youre destined to visit often (like politics and prose for me in dc)...it's a cafe called tasse & glace. it's a small cafe tucked in a corner near the theater, with bright green walls and good music and an AMAZING tea menu, as well as coffee, sirop, juices and (love it) ice cream. i just drank my fruity tisane (served with a bowl of sugar cubes, haribo candies and a mini-macaroon) and read for an hour. it was so nice to enjoy a coffeehouse for a change, rather than being behind the bar (not that i was tired of my job or anything....)! i love it, and no doubt will be a regular, especially once the cold sets in. and it's so nice to feel at home here. the town is cute - theres a great park with a fountain and a kiddy train and a little zoo, i have the Happy People, i found a post for yoga classes that i should pursue, there's ice skating and swimming, good buses (even if they stop running ridiculously early), theres an artsy movie theatre, i live with a fat cat named Kiwi...ive already been asked for directions and stopped traffic so some random dudes could hit on me. im speaking french....sigh. after the most dragged-out move ever (berks to ny to takoma, still waiting on the security deposit...blahh) and living out of suitcases for the better part of 2 months, then the hectic-ness of orientation last week, it is sooooooo nice to just feel comfortable and know where everything is and to be in one place. ahhhh la fraaaance
lundi 1 octobre 2007
la premiere semaine: au bout de souffle
ok, im cheating on this first entry and just posting the mass email i sent the first week...dommage, mais c'est bien plus facile pour moi!
sept to avril, j'suis:
10 F Rue Jean Vilar
26000 Valence France
011.33.6.42.74.16.58
Sept 22 was the day that was never supposed to come. i mean, i want to live in france for a nice chunk of time, but i dont really do cool things like that, right? and besides, i hardly know dc, ow can i leave now? and what about grad school apps? and the f-ing coffeeshop, that i love and hate so much it gives me a headache (or maybe thats the caffeine withdrawl kicking in...) but there it was, out of nowhere, time presses on, bla bla bla...and until next summers were said and i was way more drippy than i thought possible and then...the airport. here we go
i made it over in one piece, but my edges were frayed, im not going to lie. Seriously, this was one of the longest travel days ever - and there weren't even any real delays! the trip started with a good omen - i had basically been hyperventilating all saturday morning about my luggage and how it was over the 50 lb limit for free check-in baggage, (but truly i have no sense of weight) so i figured that of course if they were over 50 lbs then they were over 70 lbs, which is the absolute max weight for suitcases, and then i'd die...seriously, i never knew i was capable of freaking so much over such little things until this trip. BUT i got to the SAS check-in at Dulles, the entire family in tow (love and thanks for playing nice all day!) and the guy soo didnt charge me anything! awesome, because my dad and i had tracked down a ghetto-ass scale at cvs before heading to the airport, and while we determined that the suitcases were under 70 lbs, the were waay over 50, and at 10euro/kilo over, that was going to be annoying. as soon as my bags were out of my hands i started to breathe easier...but i had a nasty, fidgety drunk old guy sitting next to me on the flight from DC to Copenhagen; he read newspapers (well, more accurately he skimmed the headlines of at least 6 different papers) for the majority of the time, drinking heartily and elbowing me every 5 seconds. so that was awesome...
the transfer to geneva went without a hitch. my hour layover in Copenhagen was uneventful, but just so you all know, the first thing you see when you walk into the main terminal for transfers is a 7-11. Hilarious. The real fun started in Geneva (yet another airport that doesnt stamp passports. seriously kids), though, as I was officially on my own with my 2 monstrosities of suitcases. i had to hop a local train to the city center and then transfer at that station onto the TGV heading to Valence. At this point, i wanted to call the family im living with, since they'd offered to pick me up at the station...but the number i was calling wouldnt ring through, which was disconcerting. the train to Valence was supposed to take less than 3 hours...but. well, i actually got a little taste of DC on this train ride bc we randomly stopped on the tracks at least three times, a la Red Line: apparently the train was too cold? i dont know what happens, but eventually we made it to Valence, an awesome guy helped me with my bags, and i turned my attention back to not being able to call this family. Called Sara, and she found their # for me in my email, ,bc of course i had the wrong # in my address book. classic.
Karine (my roommate), Aurelie (older sister) and Sasha (cousine) came to get me, we crammed all my stuff into their tiny euro-car and drove me to the house. i met the parents, isabelle and bruno, who normally work in Paris and come back on holidays. they seem friendly (i just had dinner w them - crepes - yumm AND despite being unable to think coherently - or write, for that matter - they're all impressed w my french?! accent/comprehension/vocab...woohoo) Isabelle offered to drive me around the town in the morning (monday) before i head to Grenoble, just to get a sense of direction...according to Bruno at least 2 of my schools are characterized by their "difficult" kids (College M.Pagnol, esp - Bruno compared it to the Bronx. we'll see). as if 14-15 yr olds weren't hard enough...but whatever, it's only a few months.
The house where I'm staying is pretty sweet - i've finally had time this weekend to settle in, hang up some pictures (the decor in the room is uninspired pastel, but luckily i brought my own stuff for the walls) and unpack. it's perfect, really: the 2 bus lines that run in front of the house are the 2 that i need to get to my schools, i have wireless and my own bathroom, a tv (w cable!!) outside my room, and the town has two train stations, including a TGV (all love) stop. a
So monday i left for Grenoble, a city ive only heard the most lovely things about. I had been emailing with one of the other assistants in Valence, Mandy, throughout the summer, and we had planned to meet in the Grenoble train station - but neither of us knew when we'd be getting a train, so we were just going to wait until 17h30 to see if we crossed paths. My train got in at 15h30 (it's just over an hour ride), but there was a train coming in from Valence at 17h27, so i figured she'd be coming on that one - i chilled and read; the train was delayed half an hour, but i still waited bc i was so excited to see a semi-familiar face...it was funny, though - i couldnt remember how she had described herself, aside from short, reddish hair, so i scrutinized everyone that came off the train...a girl walked by that had the requisite hair-do, but i kid you not, she gave me such a nasty look that i literally took two deep breaths before going up to her and asking if she was mandy. .and it was! but seriously, she's super nice, and im glad i waited bc it was more confusing to find the hostel than id anticipated. so we ran around grenoble for a bit, trying to get to the hostel and find food (im in love w the city and will be going back a lot since we didnt really have time to explore)...the majority of the people staying in the hostel were other assistants; we were rooming with three others, and immediately made friends with an italian girl, giuliana, who'll be living in grenoble.
Tues to Thurs was orientation in Autran - i thought that was going to be a suburb of Grenoble, but turns out it's a teeny tiny village an hour away. Luckily id packed a sweater and scarf bc it was soo cold, and of course theres no heat anywhere in france. love it. we had an absurd three hour meeting tues afternoon, the had to wait on the curb for an hour before the buses came to drive us to autran. Overall orientation was rather a bust - we broke into groups by language (there were assistants for english, italian, spanish and german) and level (elementaire, college or lycee), and generally be area where we're teaching - but im the only college assistant in valence, so i was with other people at colleges that im basically never going to see again. so as far as networking, not terribly awesome. still met cool people, but im meeting valence people through mandy (she's teaching at the elementaire level and was actually in groups with people working here in town). we did get some fun ideas for what to do in class, but they were mostly games, and that will only work some of the time, you know? but whatever, we froze, sat in classes for 8 hours a day not really learning anything, ate bad cafeteria food and bonded over how much paperwork we (especially the americans) were going to have to do.
blonde moment #1: we arrived back in grenoble around 5 on thurs afternoon, and a bunch of us were going to be on the 18h20 train to valence...mandy, jonh (adorable mormon) and i grabbed some food and were chilling in the station when we saw that it was super timetogo. i hopped on the train at the first platform faster than those 2, since i just had a tote bag and they had proper suitcases, but before you know it, the doors are locking in my face and mandy's mouthing "this ones not for valence!!!" omg. and i so had her ticket in my bag, too. shit. so my train was heading to l'universite de grenoble gare, where i hopped off and waited around for an hour until the next train came through (the station manager and i soo bonded, he was amazing). i wasnt worried about myself (embarassed, yes), more so about mandy - what if my new friend ended up in sncf jail on my account?? i was holding my breath until 19h30, when their train arrived, and she texted me to let me know that they never even checked tickets on her train. thank the lord.
Since then, we've been settling in here in Valence. I met with a teacher in my main school, Clg Marcel Pagnol, and she seems excellent - she's young, energetic and wants me to work with the kids in the "Union Europeenne" group, which apparently are the kids that actually care about learning another language, since these groups meet for 2 extra hours of class a week. Im going tomorrow morning (7h45, wooooot) to meet one section...then on tues i have a meeting with another school, Clg Paul Valery. The principal totally called me to be like "Hey! We'd like to, you know, see you sometime?" But he seems nice, and the one teacher that took the time to email me this summer was from that school,so im excited. the third school, Jean Zay - still no word from them, so im thinking about just dropping in tues morning to see whats up. the other thing thats strange to me is that im basically in charge, or so it seems, of making my schedule - many of the other assistants had theirs done by the schools already, buut if im allowed to set up my hours myself, i think im going to try to have either friday afternoons or monday mornings off (weekend travels!), but of course since im only working 12 hous a week, i guess i shouldnt be too picky (seriously, teachers, like the real ones, have such a sweet deal:only 18 hrs/max with the kids/week. plus holidays, summer break, tout ca. oh man).
So the assistants here are pretty fantastic, which is a relief, even though i wont be working with them much, but the other best thing about valence is Happy People. honestly,i know, what am i doing associating with a group called happy anything? it's a group of random people, students, language assistants, au pairs, whatever, that was formed last jan so that people from all over could hang out/exchange cultures and get to know valence better. it's cute - we went ice skating on friday and last night was a soiree avec les crepes - there were about 30 people crammed into this tiny apartment, and just hung out, speaking french, english, spanish, german, polish...everyone's young, under 30 easily, and many have been in town for a while, so they'll be good resources, you know? les Happy People meet evey wed night, as well, at this cute bar,so we're planning on going as often as possible - speak some french, get to know the other assistants, esp the non-english ones, fun times. so yes, j'aime bien les Happy People.
Ok! long enough, but hey, it's sunday and thats the one thing i dont think i will ever learn to like about life not in the states: everything shutting down for the day. that, and the fact that the buses stop running here after 20h and there's only one taxi at the train station after 9, i kid you not. poop. luckily it's just a 25 min walk from the centre ville chez moi.
gros bises!
sept to avril, j'suis:
10 F Rue Jean Vilar
26000 Valence France
011.33.6.42.74.16.58
Sept 22 was the day that was never supposed to come. i mean, i want to live in france for a nice chunk of time, but i dont really do cool things like that, right? and besides, i hardly know dc, ow can i leave now? and what about grad school apps? and the f-ing coffeeshop, that i love and hate so much it gives me a headache (or maybe thats the caffeine withdrawl kicking in...) but there it was, out of nowhere, time presses on, bla bla bla...and until next summers were said and i was way more drippy than i thought possible and then...the airport. here we go
i made it over in one piece, but my edges were frayed, im not going to lie. Seriously, this was one of the longest travel days ever - and there weren't even any real delays! the trip started with a good omen - i had basically been hyperventilating all saturday morning about my luggage and how it was over the 50 lb limit for free check-in baggage, (but truly i have no sense of weight) so i figured that of course if they were over 50 lbs then they were over 70 lbs, which is the absolute max weight for suitcases, and then i'd die...seriously, i never knew i was capable of freaking so much over such little things until this trip. BUT i got to the SAS check-in at Dulles, the entire family in tow (love and thanks for playing nice all day!) and the guy soo didnt charge me anything! awesome, because my dad and i had tracked down a ghetto-ass scale at cvs before heading to the airport, and while we determined that the suitcases were under 70 lbs, the were waay over 50, and at 10euro/kilo over, that was going to be annoying. as soon as my bags were out of my hands i started to breathe easier...but i had a nasty, fidgety drunk old guy sitting next to me on the flight from DC to Copenhagen; he read newspapers (well, more accurately he skimmed the headlines of at least 6 different papers) for the majority of the time, drinking heartily and elbowing me every 5 seconds. so that was awesome...
the transfer to geneva went without a hitch. my hour layover in Copenhagen was uneventful, but just so you all know, the first thing you see when you walk into the main terminal for transfers is a 7-11. Hilarious. The real fun started in Geneva (yet another airport that doesnt stamp passports. seriously kids), though, as I was officially on my own with my 2 monstrosities of suitcases. i had to hop a local train to the city center and then transfer at that station onto the TGV heading to Valence. At this point, i wanted to call the family im living with, since they'd offered to pick me up at the station...but the number i was calling wouldnt ring through, which was disconcerting. the train to Valence was supposed to take less than 3 hours...but. well, i actually got a little taste of DC on this train ride bc we randomly stopped on the tracks at least three times, a la Red Line: apparently the train was too cold? i dont know what happens, but eventually we made it to Valence, an awesome guy helped me with my bags, and i turned my attention back to not being able to call this family. Called Sara, and she found their # for me in my email, ,bc of course i had the wrong # in my address book. classic.
Karine (my roommate), Aurelie (older sister) and Sasha (cousine) came to get me, we crammed all my stuff into their tiny euro-car and drove me to the house. i met the parents, isabelle and bruno, who normally work in Paris and come back on holidays. they seem friendly (i just had dinner w them - crepes - yumm AND despite being unable to think coherently - or write, for that matter - they're all impressed w my french?! accent/comprehension/vocab..
The house where I'm staying is pretty sweet - i've finally had time this weekend to settle in, hang up some pictures (the decor in the room is uninspired pastel, but luckily i brought my own stuff for the walls) and unpack. it's perfect, really: the 2 bus lines that run in front of the house are the 2 that i need to get to my schools, i have wireless and my own bathroom, a tv (w cable!!) outside my room, and the town has two train stations, including a TGV (all love) stop. a
So monday i left for Grenoble, a city ive only heard the most lovely things about. I had been emailing with one of the other assistants in Valence, Mandy, throughout the summer, and we had planned to meet in the Grenoble train station - but neither of us knew when we'd be getting a train, so we were just going to wait until 17h30 to see if we crossed paths. My train got in at 15h30 (it's just over an hour ride), but there was a train coming in from Valence at 17h27, so i figured she'd be coming on that one - i chilled and read; the train was delayed half an hour, but i still waited bc i was so excited to see a semi-familiar face...it was funny, though - i couldnt remember how she had described herself, aside from short, reddish hair, so i scrutinized everyone that came off the train...a girl walked by that had the requisite hair-do, but i kid you not, she gave me such a nasty look that i literally took two deep breaths before going up to her and asking if she was mandy. .and it was! but seriously, she's super nice, and im glad i waited bc it was more confusing to find the hostel than id anticipated. so we ran around grenoble for a bit, trying to get to the hostel and find food (im in love w the city and will be going back a lot since we didnt really have time to explore)...the majority of the people staying in the hostel were other assistants; we were rooming with three others, and immediately made friends with an italian girl, giuliana, who'll be living in grenoble.
Tues to Thurs was orientation in Autran - i thought that was going to be a suburb of Grenoble, but turns out it's a teeny tiny village an hour away. Luckily id packed a sweater and scarf bc it was soo cold, and of course theres no heat anywhere in france. love it. we had an absurd three hour meeting tues afternoon, the had to wait on the curb for an hour before the buses came to drive us to autran. Overall orientation was rather a bust - we broke into groups by language (there were assistants for english, italian, spanish and german) and level (elementaire, college or lycee), and generally be area where we're teaching - but im the only college assistant in valence, so i was with other people at colleges that im basically never going to see again. so as far as networking, not terribly awesome. still met cool people, but im meeting valence people through mandy (she's teaching at the elementaire level and was actually in groups with people working here in town). we did get some fun ideas for what to do in class, but they were mostly games, and that will only work some of the time, you know? but whatever, we froze, sat in classes for 8 hours a day not really learning anything, ate bad cafeteria food and bonded over how much paperwork we (especially the americans) were going to have to do.
blonde moment #1: we arrived back in grenoble around 5 on thurs afternoon, and a bunch of us were going to be on the 18h20 train to valence...mandy, jonh (adorable mormon) and i grabbed some food and were chilling in the station when we saw that it was super timetogo. i hopped on the train at the first platform faster than those 2, since i just had a tote bag and they had proper suitcases, but before you know it, the doors are locking in my face and mandy's mouthing "this ones not for valence!!!" omg. and i so had her ticket in my bag, too. shit. so my train was heading to l'universite de grenoble gare, where i hopped off and waited around for an hour until the next train came through (the station manager and i soo bonded, he was amazing). i wasnt worried about myself (embarassed, yes), more so about mandy - what if my new friend ended up in sncf jail on my account?? i was holding my breath until 19h30, when their train arrived, and she texted me to let me know that they never even checked tickets on her train. thank the lord.
Since then, we've been settling in here in Valence. I met with a teacher in my main school, Clg Marcel Pagnol, and she seems excellent - she's young, energetic and wants me to work with the kids in the "Union Europeenne" group, which apparently are the kids that actually care about learning another language, since these groups meet for 2 extra hours of class a week. Im going tomorrow morning (7h45, wooooot) to meet one section...then on tues i have a meeting with another school, Clg Paul Valery. The principal totally called me to be like "Hey! We'd like to, you know, see you sometime?" But he seems nice, and the one teacher that took the time to email me this summer was from that school,so im excited. the third school, Jean Zay - still no word from them, so im thinking about just dropping in tues morning to see whats up. the other thing thats strange to me is that im basically in charge, or so it seems, of making my schedule - many of the other assistants had theirs done by the schools already, buut if im allowed to set up my hours myself, i think im going to try to have either friday afternoons or monday mornings off (weekend travels!), but of course since im only working 12 hous a week, i guess i shouldnt be too picky (seriously, teachers, like the real ones, have such a sweet deal:only 18 hrs/max with the kids/week. plus holidays, summer break, tout ca. oh man).
So the assistants here are pretty fantastic, which is a relief, even though i wont be working with them much, but the other best thing about valence is Happy People. honestly,i know, what am i doing associating with a group called happy anything? it's a group of random people, students, language assistants, au pairs, whatever, that was formed last jan so that people from all over could hang out/exchange cultures and get to know valence better. it's cute - we went ice skating on friday and last night was a soiree avec les crepes - there were about 30 people crammed into this tiny apartment, and just hung out, speaking french, english, spanish, german, polish...everyone's young, under 30 easily, and many have been in town for a while, so they'll be good resources, you know? les Happy People meet evey wed night, as well, at this cute bar,so we're planning on going as often as possible - speak some french, get to know the other assistants, esp the non-english ones, fun times. so yes, j'aime bien les Happy People.
Ok! long enough, but hey, it's sunday and thats the one thing i dont think i will ever learn to like about life not in the states: everything shutting down for the day. that, and the fact that the buses stop running here after 20h and there's only one taxi at the train station after 9, i kid you not. poop. luckily it's just a 25 min walk from the centre ville chez moi.
gros bises!
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