Adventures, x-rays, boots and melted cheese

I had envisioned a blustery day, the sassy chill of fall zipping through the ancient streets, twisting in between red roofs decorated with stove pipes and antennae, me in the middle of the city with a giant chest x-ray the size of a suitcase flipping violently from one side to the other, like a restrained kite, decorated with beautiful lungs.

However. I had not envisioned the rain in all of this. And in lieu of the large-scale model I received last year, this year I carried around a convenient A4 sized printed image that fit inside of my backpack. This time, I carried beautiful polka dot rain boots around in a paper sac that was precariously disintegrating as the day (and the rain) went on.

I sought out shelter in the centre-commercial, a cluttered wasteland of unnecessary goods with shiny packaging and well-designed window displays, slim, smartly-dressed mannequins and heavenly pastry smell wafting throughout. It was there that I met up with an assistant whom I had met a few weeks ago, a woman originally from Washington, who married a French man and then found herself sort of lost in the center of France. Over a bowl of pistachios, a chicken sandwich, and a fabulous glass of Coke ON ICE, we spent the early afternoon in her bohemian apartment, enjoying the indulgence of familiar language, experience & one could say, patrimony.

After passing an hour in the waiting room of the doctor's office for a 10-minute visit, I jumped on the tram and sped back towards the center of town, in search of the préfécture. The plan was to rush over to the "French office of immigration and integration" before it closed for the day, thus having completely achieved my goals of the day. But the little hitch came in Shakespeare's favorite form of tragedy; mis-communication. Having sent numerous e-mails spiraling out into cyberspace, and leaving awkward messages on answering machines, I had not managed to officially procure an afternoon appointment, and the office is only open "to the public" during morning hours.

But I guess I felt a little bit lucky, so I went anyway, hoping that it would just, in its own French way, somehow work out.

Which it did. As I was standing outside the locked door, contemplating my next move, an assistant from Texas came out of the door! In a whirlwind of American words, an extension of limbs, and an explosion of water droplets flung off an opening umbrella, I snuck my way inside and up to the fourth floor where the sneaky workers were hiding in their cube. Upon entering the room, after the obligatory "bonjour, madame," the next question was, "How did you get in here?" and I, of course, just laughed. French: 0. Me: 1!

Upon receiving the document that officially validates my visa and gives me permission to stay and impart wisdom to young minds (or something), I left the office in search of my friend/teacher Angie. I dashed into a flower shop and bought a nice bunch of fleurs, then met her at the tram stop in town and then sought repreive from the rain in her cozy apartment. A cup of hot tea, some French tv game shows, an apératif brought back from the south of France and a dinner of fantastic raclette (melted cheese, boiled potatoes and various meats) made for a perfect autumn evening!

I returned to M on the following morning, which was sunny and perfectly one day later than convenient.

Thursday and Friday were spent doing research, packing suitcases, and other random trip-preparation motions (plus a soirée at the local cinema, and a few beers at the Irish Pub).

In about 18 minutes I'm going to flee this center of learning and hospital-green paint, and travel down to the south of France, returning to the site of my first French séjour -- Nice!

Je sais que je l'ai déjà dit, mais la vie est tellement belle!

au passé, au présent, au futur

I'm not full of news, or great stories, but I AM full of HOPE for future news and stories!

I'm going to Nice on Saturday, and then off to a little lost farm in Provence to work for a week at a horse camp! I'm also going to be giving English lessons to the three kids in the family, and helping make dinner or build stuff, or whatever. YAY! There are 6 other workers like me who will be there, and I'm really looking forward to finally doing this! :)

In quick resumé of my last week, I've been watching a ton of Grey's Anatomy season 5 (in French), and teaching a little bit here and there. It's going okay, it just makes me think I don't want to teach foreign language. I like having discussions with them, and hearing what they think, but when they are so limited by their level of English (and so inhibited by their adolescence) it is kind of boring and basic. And somewhat less fun than teaching little kids who at least get excited about stuff. But oh well -- it's not bad. And I like the teachers that I work with! Plus... this is such a wild experience, sometimes I find myself walking down the hall and thinking, "Here I am randomly placed in the middle of France, SO FAR from home, and the French government is PAYING me to be here!" C'est dingue!

Friday night we all went out to discover that by 9 pm, the town is asleep. We only saw two open bars, which is totally mind-blowing. How do they make money if they close on the weekends?? I don't know. Saturday, we ventured out to observe this crazy city rally that was happening... people were doing archery at the Costume Museum, riding go-karts in the parking lot of the swimming pool, and zip-lining from the Jacquesmart clock tower down to the mayor's office! Oh and the best part? Next to the cathedrale, they were fencing -- whilst wearing pirate costumes. It was the coolest random Saturday thing.

A bunch of the assistants went to Vichy on Sunday, which is a town about 30 minutes away by train. It was a really nice day trip -- beautiful sunshine, good company, and a chance to explore something different. Vichy is apparently known for it's healing waters... and the fact that the stores are all open on Sundays. I did see one thing that made me so happy I almost cried -- JACK O LANTERNS in the window of a chocolate shop! :) The fact that someone here is finally acknowledging Halloween makes my heart swell. Merci bien!

Tomorrow we're having a going-away party for Julien, one of our co-locataires who is returning to Paris on Sunday. He was here as part of his work experience and we will ALL be sad to lose our French roommate, who always translates and tries to explain inexplicable French things to us.

Wednesday I'm going to Clermont-Ferrand for my medical visit and I'm TOTALLY excited because I'll be staying the night with my teacher & her husband who is a CHEF who will be making us home-made French cuisine. Seriously? Could it possibly get better than that? I don't think so...

Notes on the weekend

1. Ghost Town
I live in one. Or, more like an anti-vampire town. There are lots of people out during the day time, but when the sun goes down, the people all disappear. Like a closed pop-up book, by 9 pm on Friday night, there was no one anywhere. And half the bars in town were shut down. Strange.

Friday afternoon blues.

It's Friday afternoon and we have all received a gift just slightly less precious than life itself; HEAT. They finally turned on the heat last night so I didn't wake up feeling like I was living in a green-speckled igloo anymore.

I feel like I need to have a focus while I am here this time. Last time, my focus was bettering my French... very vague, and qualitative. I feel like amidst the open-ended liberation that is the experience of being a language assistant with such a sparse weekly time-table, and an even less precise job description, I am CRAVING some kind of measurable, organized SOMETHING. And I think this is because I am starting to wonder what I'm doing. (I would add "with my life" but there are limits.)

It's possible that this is the American in me (haha or just me, the American) just wanting to know what the PURPOSE is, where I'm going next, how Point A leads to unknown Point B. Maybe a little part of me is trying to understand my own motivations for coming back. WHAT AM I DOING? And whyyyy is there such pressure to "Do Something?" I'm only 24. I should not be running towards some theoretical Finish Line with a 40-hour job and a Man and a fence and a dog.

But I'm also tired of the going out every night and drinking thing... it doesn't interest me. I want to do something meaningful with my time. I want to meet people and know what they think. I want to keep working on ME... I thought I came back to France to learn to ENJOY life. To take time for me, to just enjoy and not slave away every single waking second.

And that's such a nice idea.

The problem is that I like my solitude, but I don't really want to go it alone. You know? I would like to have the comfort of good friends and family all the while. And apple orchards in Michigan fall, with hot donuts and cold cider, and Halloween costumes, and chilly football games. In short, I just want it all.

Well, there it is. I'm hiding here, maybe. Because I can't make a decision at home... I don't know, maybe I'm afraid of failure, and I'm definitely afraid of getting stuck. But is it only the one or the other? Does it HAVE to be flinging myself to the other side of the ocean, ripping apart all the stitches I've made, and starting all over again EVERY TIME, just to avoid stagnance?

And then there is the problem of companionship. I am too easily irritable. I'm too afraid that I will change who I am for someone else, so I don't compromise and then I am a horrible "half" of a relationship. It's a nightmare. I need constant challenge. And adventure! If I can't go off every day to a new situation, I have to find it some other way -- in books, conversation, in questions, cuisine! I don't know... it's just, I only get one chance to LIVE. I don't want to waste it being secure and boring, marking days off on calendars and always thinking of a different time.

And there... what is worse? Looking forward, or looking backwards? Either way, it seems like a waste. It seems like there should be a better way.

This is all seriously very tiring. And kind of lonely at times.

Earth's rotation, Plink-o, Swimming Pool, Autumn ramblings

It is known that the Earth, much like the tea cup ride at Disney World, is whirling around at an incomprehensible speed, and we're all held down by the grace of gravity, two essentially mind-blowing things that we rarely stop and think about. But sometimes, it seems like you just become overwhelmingly AWARE of the processes happening all around you, at the crazy fact that things keep happening, and that the rate of change is extreme.

Indeed, today I noticed.

Having spent three days, officially, teaching at my schools I started to think of my life much like a whimsical game of Plink-o. Pick me up, drop me down, see where I roll. Drumroll please... dah dah! Here I am -- in a town even more random than le Puy, extremely less mountainous, and maybe less exotic. Maybe the wonder of the first-time everything is gone; or maybe there are the latent comparisons I try not to make, and told myself I would not make, but do anyway -- the ones that can never be fair, and never be won. But alas, here I am, teaching and making metaphor, speaking French and eating much more dairy than I probably should.

Monday was my first official day teaching at A. Collège (middle school), and it was a bit rough. It seems like an impossible experiment; the classroom is not at all an ideal setting for scientific study. So for whatever reason, it wasn't that great, and it wasn't that fun.

But then yeseterday, I went to my other school (A.B Collège) and had a fantastic day! I just observed classes all day, but I met my favorite teacher so far -- a lady I already think of like a grandmother, who is totally welcoming and hilarious, exactly one year from retirement, married to an American and totally afraid of spiders -- and had lunch with a crazy bunch of teachers. Fabrice showed me more about the miracle of the Smart Board, which is literally the coolest thing I have ever seen in a classroom. I read about them in education textbooks at GV... but never, ever saw one till now!

The teachers let me go an hour early because of a messed up schedule this week, and on my way home, I ran into a long line of middle schoolers and a teacher I vaguely recognized. We started talking and he invited me to join in on their visit to the cathedrale in town, where they were going to learn about a famous ancient painting from an anonymous painter that has been in M for approximately 507 years (except for when it was moved to a nearby city during the occupation, for safe keeping). The painting was exquisite, and the lesson fascinating. I had already visited the cathedrale several times, but I never even knew the painting was there. It was a very nice surprise! :)

When I got home, I was exhausted... but my roommates told me they were going to the pool, and I couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to stay home. So I swam myself skinny (or haha I tried) and felt like it was a wild success because I didn't see anyone I knew while I was wearing a bathing suit.

School at A. today went great! The students were funny and interesting/interested, and it made me really excited about the possibility of working with such small groups. And definitely about working with these kids :)

I also went for my first run of the fall, and wouldn't you know, I not only found a beautiful trail that runs along the river (and over the beautiful ancient bridge) but ALSO a cool park that's perfectly at the turn-around spot of my new running route. It made me feel so good to run again! (Haha even if I was basically dying during the last 20 minutes).

I've heard that I will most likely get my "advance" at the end of the month, which will be fantastic! But if not, I have decided to pursue other, less expensive pursuits. Namely, reading a ton (specifically, books about French historical figures and history, plus "classic" literature that I have never read) and getting back into knitting. I really want to make a pair of mittens... and seeing as how we are counting the days until our heat will finally be turned on (t-minus 17) I could really use some nice, thick socks.

I don't know if it's fall that makes me like this, or the fact of being in France, the slant and color of the sun, or the smell of the air and the crunch of the leaves, but I feel so full of gratitude. Thank you for reading. :) Thank you for letting me float off on my own, a speckled pink balloon sailing across the blazing skyline.

Bisous

On second thought, it might also be that I have not eaten ONE SINGLE French pastry since arriving in this magical land 2.5 weeks ago, and, in light of my recent physical activity, will be rewarding myself tomorrow with an exquisite pain au chocolat. La vie est belle, my friends.

La Cuisine Française

In my quest to make the most of this year, I had visions of learning fantastic instruments, fancy dance steps, and creating masterpieces reflecting the marvelous architecture that decorates the horizon. Alas, I am finding some limitations to my folly, in the most uninteresting and tangible form: money. Apparently, it is expensive to be interesting.

However. I am discovering a love for French cooking. And I would be ridiculous to claim that I was not in any way influenced by Julie & Julia (because I totally was). But, I can attribute this also largely in part to the mentoring of my host family from last year.

Last night, all of the assistants met up for a potluck dinner. For an hour and a half, my hand-peeled, garlic-covered, swimming-in-butter, potatoes sunbathed in a toasty oven, then made the trek across town where they were devoured with a delicious Bordeaux and a spread of other various dishes, by a bunch of hungry foreigners. I'm sure the host mom's ears were ringing, and her mom's, too, because the potatoes were the party favorite and I gave credit where it was due: back to the heart of Auvergne. <3

Aside from that, I have been lax in giving news of the daily grind. Mostly because it has been pretty much the same... I did a ton of paperwork, sat in a bunch of classes, did some cooking, and then got sick and stayed in bed for basically two days.

Today is my first day of actually teaching and I'm really nervous!! But I have done quite a bit of preparation... so I'm hoping everything will go okay.

Wish me luck across the ocean!

Plink, Plonk, Pétanque

It happened. In one of those rare, cosmic accidents, the plans actually went exactly as they were constructed and, on Wednesday evening, we all rendez-vous'ed at the flat dirt span that is the spot where many elderly French gentleman who daily pay homage to the practice of pétanque.

And just as I had thought, we got tired of it after about 7 minutes. It's exactly the same as Bocce ball... but the balls are metal, and in lieu of being painted different colors, they all have patterns etched into them. Consequently, it takes a lot more concentration. And that's funny because they all drink ricard, which has a very strong licorice taste and is horrible. I'm definitely not a fan of the game or the drink... but it was a pretty fun five minutes anyway.

Back to Work!

First day of work: done.
Everything else: looming ahead.

The day got off to an interesting start while I waited for my other half of the morning rendez-vous to show up, thinking she was late. When I got hold of her finally she said she thought we had said we were going to meet yesterday, which would have been while I was still sleeping. And not answering the phone in the hallway, even though it woke me up.

When I got to school, no one really knew what I was going to do so I just kind of got dropped off at Fabrice’s class, which I definitely didn’t mind as he is insanely good-looking. But I think he hates me now because his class was seriously out of control (and as I was sitting there observing, I realized that having a stranger in the room always causes such a distraction that I didn’t think anything of it) but he really sheepishly said something to me about it later. A good start there. Anyway, he kind of bugs me because he looks like Motorcycle Yoann. Haha of course, THAT’S fair criticism.

Oh, but Fabrice also left me in the teacher’s lounge where I was totally intimidated and overwhelmed by the millions of teachers I didn’t know and awkwardness of being in a totally new place, knowing no one, and seemingly having no set role. This was a frustratingly familiar sensation… which should make me feel better realizing that I felt this way last year, but by the end had made a place for myself. But still… it was no fun.

However. One of the other teachers, Marie-Paule, invited me to stay in her class for two hours. The students are funny and interesting, and I’m really excited to work with them! They were learning about biographies today, and I actually learned quite a bit about Agatha Christie. And Claude Françoise who is this super-famous French singer apparently… they couldn’t believe I didn’t know who he was, so they played one of his music videos for me. I basically died laughing at the crazy dances and wild outfits, plus the fact that all of the students had the moves memorized. It was seriously so awesome haha!

I came home for lunch and then met up with Angelique, the teacher from my other school. We went to a café and talked about school and everything, and then she showed me where she is going to “pick me up.” I’m a little bummed about how much transit time this is going to require (30 mins drive + 30 mins walk to meeting place, each way), and how spread out my schedule is… but hopefully when I get there tomorrow I’ll feel better about everything.

It just seemed like a long day. I went grocery shopping again tonight, and then made dinner and did laundry. Normal stuff, you know.

Tomorrow, I have to leave at 7 so I can meet up with Angelique at 7:30 and go to school. I’m hoping tomorrow will be a good day. AND I’m hoping this form I’ve been waiting for will finally be done for me (I’m waiting on someone who doesn’t want to do this) so I can finally go take care of all my paperwork and get paid at the end of the month!

Perhaps there will be a game of pétanque in the cards tomorrow evening, as well? On verra.

Bon soir à tous!

Bisous

See What I Mean?

Since we finally got our router (pronounced "rooter" by my lovely English friend) working, I can show you a bit of what I have been talking about. It's painfully complicated (er... it just takes a long time) to upload photos so I'm giving you the Viewer's Digest version. They also uploaded in the opposite order that I wanted them to... so you might be best off if you start at the bottom and then scroll up. Happy viewing! :)

I decided not to use anyone's names because I feel weird about doing that. So instead, they are all named by where they are from.

Louisianne et moi. Waiting for food in Clermont.

Sun set :)

At the top! (L to R: Matthieu, Caroline du Sud, Angleterre, Louisianne, et Allemagne)

Les paraponts!

Almost at the top! There is an old defunct radio tower at the top, which "They" are in the process of debating whether or not to get rid of it.

The view is incroyable! You can see SO FAR. And it is just so quiet...

Bien à l'aise en Auvergne :)

Auvergne is the most beautiful place in the world! I LOVE IT!!

Driving to the Puy-de-Dome! (Regardez les moutons!)

View of Le Puy-de-Dome from the top of Notre Dome de L'Assomption in Clermont. It is a cathedrale made out of volcanic rock, and thus, has a beautiful black color. Like a cathedrale made of charcoal :)

There was a cow from Salers in the square near the cathedrale!!! What a GOOD DAY! :) J'aime bien les vaches!

The M girls in Clermont! (Caroline du Sud, Allemagne, Louisianne, Angleterre, et moi)

Co-locataires! <3

Assistants in Clermont-Ferrand.

Some of my co-locataires (Chilie, Angleterre, Allemagne!)

The other part of my room, plus my window with a view.

My room. (There are two very small beds, my hideous sheets, which do not match the hideous blankets and hideous walls... haha this place could totally use a make-over. Mais bon. It's nice for 100 euros a month.)

My bath tub/fish pond.

My bathroom.

Et voilà. You have now seen my roommates (mostly) and a bit of what I have seen in the past few days. Tomorrow I will be going to visit both of the schools where I will be working, and will try my hardest to get everything taken care of so I will get paid at the end of the month! (Sooo much paperwork!) I'm excited to meet my students and teachers! :)

Thursday is the first day of the ballroom dance classes they offer in the town right next to ours! I'm going to try and find out if there is anyone who drives there from here, or if there is a bus that I could take... if NOT, there is an art class that also starts on Thursday! So I'm going to go m'inscrire to learn something new. And... I also stumbled upon an ACCORDION SCHOOL in town, so I might try and check that out. The traditional French music always involves accordion, so if I spent all of my free time practicing, I could join a Trad band!!!! :)

I was very proud of myself tonight; I made some French cuisine and, true to form, I burned it so bad I thought I was going to have to buy a new pot for our apartment haha. But... the jardinage was DELICIOUS, and the pot, eventually, cleaned. I kept thinking that my host family would die laughing knowing that even still, I can't do it right. Haha heuresement, I have lots of time to practice.

It was a lovely day in France! And I am a very happy lady :)

Back

I'm back in my town! Haha this time for more than one night. :)

The stage in Clermont went really well and we had a blast staying the weekend there.

Basically, the first day of training was 90% useless and boring aside from the fact that we got to meet all of the assistants in Auvergne (there are about 120 of us). The second day was way more useful and interesting, happily. The assistants here are totally fun and I REALLY enjoyed spending a few days just getting to know people from basically everywhere.

Friday night most of the assistants had already left, but the five of us from our town stayed until today (Sunday). We've gone out every night since Tuesday so I'm basically a dead person walking right now haha.

Saturday, one of the other assistant's friends drove us up to Le Puy-de-Dome, and we hiked up to the highest point in the Auvergne National Park. The view from the top is totally insane! I took tons of pictures, especially as the sun began to set as we headed back down, and I'll post them as soon as I get them loaded onto my computer.

Bisous!

The Lost Blog of the First Day

I wrote all of this on my first day in my town (last Tuesday) but then when I tried to upload it, I lost everything. So... here is the official lost blog of the first day.

29 Sept 2009 --

Bonjour from France!

After a crazy journey, I am finally here. There were a few times in the past 3 days that I said to myself, “Whoever said that what is important is not the destination, but rather the journey” obviously never traveled stand-by.

There are definite pro’s to this kind of travel (namely the cost of the tickets and the chance of flying Business Elite!) but this is a thing meant for a gambler, and I am still not for sure that I fall into that genre.

But first, I should back up and explain how this works. Stand-by means you fly if there is room on the plane; if there is not, you change all of your plans and wait at the airport until there is an open flight. It is somewhat chaotic because none of this can be known until the very last minute, and many of the agents are very hostile towards stand-by flyers. We are also known as “Non-Revenue Passengers” or “Non-Revs” for short (very original). Our bags are marked with special colored tags identifying us as the risk-takers, as the ones who may be left behind, or in my case, WILL be left behind. Normally green means go, but in this case it means, “Wait and see… and then only put the bags on if you feel like it.”

I got to Atlanta after missing only one flight. And I was actually on that flight for a second, while the miscounting was happening and one passenger was in the bathroom, oblivious to the fact that the neatly-coiffed, perfectly made-up flight attendant was simultaneously giving up her seat. Alas, it quickly became clear that there was no more room and I had to exit the plane as 200 people watched me leave. Just like being the last one picked for the kickball team… and then, after further reflection, actually being kicked off.

But I managed to keep my spirits intact and danced my way down the walk-way on the second flight. Atlanta was warm and sunny when I arrived, and I got to see the sun’s slow crawl across the sky and slow descent as it turned the sky fuchsia and plunked down below the horizon. Three flights left me waiting in Georgia, before finally my seat, 33G opened up and I hunkered down in my place, prepared to fight off anyone who might challenge me.

The man sitting next to me would tell you that I slept the whole way, but I can attest that it is not true; I watched part of an intriguing Eddie Murphy movie, ate some chicken and spaceman salad, and woke up shivering a thousand times, shaking beneath the napkin of a “blanket” they hand out in economy class. However, I did regain consciousness once to an awareness of a disgustingly oily face and completely disastrous hair-do, which is solid evidence that I slept at least a little bit.

When I got to Paris I was filled with joy at the realization that I hadn’t regressed so badly as I thought I might in my 3 French-less months of summer in the great U S of A. I confidently addressed the customs agent, and inquired as to the correct location of the luggage claim.
My bubble was suddenly and severely broken upon realization that although I had arrived in a safe and timely(ish) manner, my luggage was telling a different tale, still sitting somewhere on American soil.

“Oh, Mon Dieu ! Ce n’est pas possible!”

Mais si. C’est possible.

I had a nice little chat with the AirFrance man who assured me that it would arrive the following day at 6 am and that the airline company would do nothing to help me with that situation. Since, of course, I was “Non-Rev.”

In my sleep-deprived state, I struggled to focus on the logical options: I could continue as planned onto my town and settle in, and then just pay the 40 euros it would cost me round trip to get back and forth to Paris plus the 17 euros it would cost to take the RER to the airport. Or… I could stay at a hostel in Paris, see a few sights, and just finish the journey the next day. The second option won and I went to the very closest possible hostel which was 25 euros for a bed, shower and breakfast. I wanted to start out my Paris trip with a shower but soon realized that my travel experience has, essentially, taught me nothing: in my carry-on I had neglected to pack shampoo, pajamas, nor a toothbrush.

So off I went into the city of lights, in search of cleanliness and a view of La Tour Eiffel. It was a perfect day in Paris, a soft 70 degrees with a slight breeze, and the sky turned honey-colored sparkling off the Seine, and highlighting the rust color of the fluttering autumn leaves. I decided to walk to the tower, snaking my route around some of Paris’s most famous icons: Notre Dame, the Louvre, the musée d’Orsay, the Jardin des Tuileries, and, finally, La Tour Eiffel herself. I picked up my necessities along with a tomato-and-mozarella Panini from a little shop around the corner, then plunked down on a bench just beyond the base of the tower to dine.

As the sun began to set, it seemed like a good idea to sleep, and the shampoo was burning a hole in my bag. So I headed off to the Métro, and was basically unable to believe the uncanny circumstance that was crossing the street toward me : an old friend from college with whom I’ve traveled a kind of rocky road, shall we say. But alas, there she was with a bottle of wine, and there I was with two days’ worth of grime covering me, and there was the Eiffel Tower.
So back I went, and we watched the tower sparkle for the first time that night!

The next morning (today, amazingly) I woke up to a breakfast that was definitely worth what I paid for it – theoretically, nothing. I actually skipped breakfast for possibly the first time in my life.

Getting my bags back was pretty easy, and shockingly, my plan worked out perfectly; I ended up getting to the Gare de Lyon about 30 minutes before my train was scheduled to leave.
The train ride was easy, as was getting a taxi and finding my new French home – the high school! I arrived weirdly at the same time as two other assistants so we were taken to our rooms together. Just like the school where Lizzie and Esther lived last year, our rooms are on the top floor of one of the school buildings. We each have our own room, and we share a kitchen. I actually have a bathroom in my room, as well as two extra beds, desks, and dressers (but seemingly no roommate!). Altogether, there are 8 of us living here and makes for very little space in the refrigerator.

But, the school lets us eat dinner at the cafeteria Monday thru Thursday for only 3,50 Euros which is less than the cost of a simple sandwich, and includes salad, an entrée, cheese and a dessert. No wine, but what else is new?

The people I’ve met so far seem really cool. Here in the high school, we have 2 Americans (myself included), 2 English people, 1 Chilean, 1 German, and 2 French people. There are two more American girls who live in the town, but I haven’t met them yet.

The ONE thing I have frustration about is the fact that we don’t have Internet. We can access the computers downstairs when there are no classes going on, but the computers are old desktops and they have no Skype or webcams or microphones. I discovered a really weak signal for wireless provided by SFR, one of the communications companies here, and am thinking about finding out how to use this. Theoretically, as long as I am an SFR customer I can use their Internet connection; I haven’t bought credit yet for my cell phone, so I might just make a switch. But we’ll see.

Someone from the school said he would try to see about getting us at least a land-line hook up. He also told me that it’s illegal in France to have wifi in high schools, which is either a little known French fact, or is absurdly untrue. I really don’t know.

Tomorrow I am going to try and answer some of these questions, and then I’ll hop back on a train and head to the Big City for the orientation program.

Bon nuit!
Bisous