Rosetta: Lunch at Madame Deloffre's House

I just got back from Madame Deloffre's house. I ended up staying for lunch too 'since I would be alone if I went home'. It was actually very nice. Madame Deloffre was there as well as her son and his fiancé, her sister and husband and her sister's two kids and two granddaughters who were 8 and 6 years old. So it was quite a crowd but I was happy to not be alone all day. As much as I like to have the house to myself for a while it is quite nice to have some conversation in a day. The Ferrero Rochers I brought went over quite well and not just with the kiddos, I made the right choice (even though it was slightly more expensive than the cookies I was also considering).

We started in the sitting room with hors d'oeuvres: bread spread with fois gras and a cherry tomato on top and bread spread with butter covered in smoked salmon with a mini slice of lemon on top. Very fancy. Oh, and champaign to go with that. Then we moved to the table and hat boiled potatoes, salmon, and rice with a delicious white sauce over everything. And of course white wine to go with the fish. After that there was a cheese course with a choice of five different cheeses and bread. And a red wine. Then there was the pear pie and 'tart au sucre' a regional specialty. And after that we had coffee and the Ferrero Rochers. So you know, just a normal lunch in France. It all lasted about 3 hours. Everyone was very nice except they kept being very stern with the two kids which surprised me and probably would have made me cry at that age (or even now if someone used that tone with me) but the two girls practically ignored them. I offered to take the kids of their hands for an evening if they were interested and the grandma was very intrigued by this idea but the mom seemed to be uninterested so we'll see. For now, I am back at home about to curl up in bed and read some more, at this rate I should finish my book before school starts back up, but don't worry I have another one waiting for me when I'm done (not to mention a whole library full of fun and exciting books down the street).

Rosetta: Guest Etiquette

You know what I miss? That thing in the bathroom that holds the toilet paper for you while you unroll it. Here, in my new house, we don't have one of those.

Charlotte tells me that it is illegal to sell Stevia as a sweetener in Germany. What? Isn't Stevia supposed to be even healthier than sugar? Why would it be banned? Her response: it would put the sugar companies out of business. There you have it, they can buy Stevia in small quantities very expensively for uses other than as a sweetener.

I was invited to tea today at my landlady's house (the house that is right next store... or rather, the other half of our house, where she stays sometimes). Her son will be there. She already mentioned 'discreetly' that her nephew, who helped us set up our internet, is single. Good thing her son is engaged or I might suspect that this was a set-up. As it is, I think it is simply a nice gesture. I don't particularly want to go but I think it will be a nice gesture in return to go... Maybe I should bring something for her: Chocolate? Wine? Tea biscuits? I really have no idea what would be appropriate. I guess you can't really go wrong with chocolate (although it is pretty expensive here).

Tomorrow I am going to lunch with my English teacher and his family. I should probably bring something for them too. I'm headed shopping now so I think I'll pick up something suitable while I'm out. And a movie. I am going to pick up a movie while I am out too.

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I picked up some Ferrero Rocher chocolates. You can't really go wrong with those.

Rosetta: ORganic

I arrived home safely yesterday around 2:30 in the afternoon. I was traveling for about 6 and a half hours total but it didn't seem like very long because I had to change trains so many times it seemed like I was always doing something. When I got home Charlotte and I walked up to the library to borrow a movie for the night. After we picked out a film (the 6th Harry Potter) we walked to the grocery store. Along the way we stopped in a little boutique that reminded me so much of home. It had all kinds of organic and health products that I recognized, it would have fit right in Ashland if everything hadn't been in French. And, true to form, everything was super expensive. I think I might end up getting my cereal there anyway though because I have the hardest time finding cereal here, all the cereal I find seems to be packed full of chocolate or to be the junk food brands you find in the USA, in any case, not the sort of thing I feel okay having for breakfast... Dessert maybe, but not breakfast. There were a couple choices of healthy cereal in the boutique but they were over 4€ for one small box. For now I am sticking with Quaker Oats for breakfast but I am considering my other cereal options. The organic boutique made me homesick with how much it reminded me of Ashland and my mom. I wanted to buy a couple of the things I saw to send home to her so she could try them because I think she would like them.

Today I planned on having a lazy day and not doing anything special. However, our landlady had told us she was coming at 11 this morning to work out the internet crisis (that is the fact that my roomies don't have internet access in the house yet). I ended up waking up to Charlotte telling me we had about 10 minutes until Madame Deloffre arrived, so I hopped out of bed and went to have breakfast. Madame Deloffre (and her nephew) showed up a little early and I ended up not having time to eat first. About an hour later with the internet situation on the path to be fixed everyone left to drive to the store to buy a phone for our house (Madame Deloffre said she would buy it for us and so Charlotte hopped in her car to take her up on the offer). I then had breakfast and did my laundry. After that Charlotte and I walked to the library to exchange our movie and then I picked up my new book from the post office (it was able to find me even though I was required to put a number in the address line on Amazon.fr) and then I went shopping for groceries. After that, Charlotte and I rode our bikes by the beach. This would have been a much lovelier experience but the bike I had borrowed from Maria had a problem with the tire. After riding for about 20 minutes it deformed just enough that every time it went around there was a bump that pressed against the break pad. I rode it about halfway home and then the problem got worse so I got off and walked it the rest of the way home. It was a very annoying walk as every time the wheel got to that point in the cycle the bike would try to stop as if I'd put on the breaks. But I made it home, had dinner, and watched a film. After that I even finished my monthly paper for my internship and mailed it in. All-in-all it was pretty productive for a do-nothing day. I think I will try again tomorrow (perhaps with a bit more success as I think it will be raining and I know have two different books I want to read - one that came in the mail today and the other that I picked up from the library).

Meg: The Job

The term "teaching assistant" is quite vague.  Even in French "assistante de langue" confuses people, or, at least a assume it does, because whenever I tell anyone that is what my job is they give me a blank stare.  Quite frankly, before I started I didn't know what it meant either.  Ok, fine, I'm still not quite sure what it means, but this is a post about what it has been so far.  And by so far I mean the whole week and a half that I did anything before an awesome two-week vacation.  (On the side-- I've decided to use French Coins as a forum to discuss my job and my other blog, meginfrancetaketwo to talk about more personal adventures.)

My first classes were the easiest, and so far, the most fun.  They generally involved a sort of question and answer session where I got to talk about myself and answer some very interesting questions. (No, I'm not married, nor do I have children, I prefer 90's alternative rock, and I've never had the chance to meet Barack Obama.)  Then I pulled out my map and impressed the class by showing them how many states I've lived in and Texas- which is about the same size of France.  They're little eyes got wide and generally I felt liked and cool.  It was a nice introduction into French classrooms, however, I had yet to be left alone with them.

As it turns out, the children are not as interested when their teacher is not in the room.  And by not as interested I mean they generally become uncontrollable, talkative and a little mean (at times).  I think part of the problem is not only that I have no training what-so-ever on how to control a class, but the methods that my teachers may have used on me when I was in school are culturally irrelevant.  Because I'm not a full teacher, I don't have (and nor do I think I should) the right to punish the children for talking when someone else is talking or for general misbehavior.  To make things even more difficult in trying to make the children be quiet, some of the teachers have requested that I don't make it known that I speak French as well as I do so that they speak to me only in English.  This is hard for me for a number of reasons.  First of all, the town we live in (the students and I) is not that large and sooner or later their going to figure out that I must speak French in order to get by in daily life.  Secondly, the children oftentimes simply don't understand what I'm asking them to do in English and sometimes rephrasing does not work.  Thirdly, I hate the idea that the students think that I'm one of those people who visits a foreign country and expects everyone to speak English to me.  I don't.

Since I teach at two different schools, I've had a chance to experiment a bit with the language that I use in class.  Only one school has requested that I pretend so, for the first time the other day, I spoke in French to a classroom of students.  It made quite a big difference!  First of all it shocked the students when I switched, shocked them enough for them to stop chatting.  I saw several of them go grey when they realized that not only had a heard the conversation they were having about me to each other, but I understood them without a problem.  Actually, that moment was pretty fun, I enjoyed it.  For the rest of the class time they were better behaved and I gave them candy at the end, which seemed to make them happy.  (I was teaching about Halloween and so I made them all come up to my desk and "trick-or-treat.")  I think some (not all) of the chatting has been because they've been trying (with each other) to understand what I wanted them to do.  Which, leads me to another trouble of the teaching situation.

I really have zero qualifications for this job.  I'm happy to have it, but really, I think the French are a bit insane to hire thousands of recent college graduates with little to no teaching experience to teach their children.  I planned a lesson for the first time the other day, and it wasn't until I was in front of the class that I realized that I had no idea how to go about it.  It was awkward and I'm sure my nervousness showed to the students.  This was my Halloween lesson plan, so I found this activity on-line where the students would have to interview each other to find out if their partner was a werewolf.  I thought it was cute and kind of funny, but, I had no idea what their vocabulary level was, so I spent a great deal of the class time translating for them, which is something I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to do.  I should have something so that they can figure out what the words mean themselves so that they actually LEARN not just translate.  Secondly, I had a word search that was a little too dumbed down I think, and again, there should have been something they actually learned from it, instead of just playing a silly game.  I talked briefly about Halloween in the the United States and asked them questions about how they celebrated in France, but I needed to have prepared the speech ahead of time instead of just talking candidly so that I could have planned what words to write on the board so that they would understand me better.

I think when I get back (I'm in Nice now... yay!) I'm going to have to insist on a couple of things with the teachers.  1. I need to be able to observe some more classes without participating so that I can see how French teachers keep discipline in the classroom.  2.  I need to simply ask some questions about what to do when students are misbehaving, recently I've just been reporting them to their teachers, which works to some extent, but I think they need to view me as an authority figure in order to realize that class with me doesn't mean play time.  3.  I need to get the text books they use off the teachers so that I have a better understanding of their language level so that I can better prepare for the classes.  If anyone (including you Rose) has any advice for anything, I will take it.  I really want to do a good job, I don't want to half-ass lesson plans, it's really not fair to the students to have an unprepared teacher, even if I am only an assistant.  Hopefully I will figure out my place soon and am able to suck less at my job!

     

Rosetta: Day to Myself

            Today, as Charlotte had left and Muriel had work and Kenza had school, I had the day to do with as I liked. So, after sleeping in, doing my laundry, and showering, I headed out to explore Louvain-la-Neuve.  I found the main strip of entertainment/shops and went to see what movie I’d enjoy watching. I decided on Identité Secrète the new Taylor Lautner movie, in French. I still had some time before the movie started so I looked for the theatre so I could buy a play ticket for tonight. I found the theatre with a sign saying that the ticket office was open from 10:30-6:30 and as it was 2:00 I tried to enter the building. However, the building I was at was not the ticket office, it was just the theatre. So I decided to find the ticket office after the movie.

            At the cinema, I bought my ticket at the student price even though I hadn’t brought any proof that I was a student and I went into the completely empty theatre to await the film. About 5 minutes before the film was to start two other couples entered. All the films at this cinema start at the same time, so there is a 2:30 showing a 4:45 showing then some evening showings but you can get there at any of these times and then decide between all the films which one you’d like to see. 2:30 came and went and I was left wondering how come the movie hadn’t started yet. I convinced myself that it would start any minute and that this was probably normal. I was mustering courage to ask the people behind me if the film should’ve started already when a lady walked in to check on us and realized the film had not started yet.

            By this time is was 3:00 and she informed us that she was sorry but it was too late to start the film and all the other films we could’ve watched were already half and hour in. We were all reimbursed with two free movie tickets (even though I explained that I did not live in town and would probably not have time to use the tickets). I loitered outside the movie theatre and looked at my map because in fact the theatre I had tried to buy play tickets at was just one of two in walking distance so I thought I’d head to the other theatre and see if I could buy the ticket there.

            While I was looking at the map, two girls about my age came to see the movie times right next to me. I offered to sell them my two tickets for 10€ (a tidy profit of 3€ for me) and they seemed genuinely interested. However, neither of them had cash on them so it didn’t work out.

            I found the other theatre quite easily as there were signs posted all over pointing to the spots of interest, one of which was the theatre. The ticket office was indeed in the second theatre so I went in to ask about tickets. Unfortunately, they were sold out but I left feeling happy because the conversation had gone very well in French and gave me a sense of accomplishment even though I had been unable to buy a ticket.

            After that, I found the FNAC (the big chain book and appliance store) and entertained myself browsing books and movies. By the time I’d had enough I figured Kenza would be home from school and she was. She has some homework to do before we hang out but she promised me that it wouldn’t take too long and then she would have the rest of the evening to spend some time with me.

            I had a great day, I love being able to go at my own pace and enjoy getting lost or turned around when I am by myself listening to music and don’t have other people to worry about. Tomorrow I am going with Kenza and Patrick to a 24H bike something or another. I am not entirely sure what this entails except that Patrick’s son is playing music at some point and that it will take up most of the afternoon. I am excited to see what it will be. 

Rosetta: Belgium - Brussels and Ghent

            My first view of Brussels was from the train window looking out on the cityscape. Tall buildings, shops, and some graffiti were all I saw on the train towards Muriel’s house as the sun set and Charlotte and I sat on our third train and last leg of the day’s journey. We arrived at the Ottignies train stop just shortly after nightfall and found our way to the exit where Muriel and Kenza were waiting to give us a ride to their house.  After a quick discussion I convinced them that I did indeed want to speak French with them. Speaking English to students and English teachers all day, as well as my stint in Helen’s house, had left me feeling a bit lacking in the French-speaking department. I had a fabulous dinner of chicken soup, watched a bit of Harry Potter (in French), and went to bed under one of my grandma’s homemade quilts that Muriel provided to make me feel more at home.

            The next morning we watched a little more of the Harry Potter film and then we walked around Louvain-la-Neuve, went to the pharmacy, scoped out the movies at the cinema, and walked along the campus. Kenza had girl scouts at 1:00 so Muriel gave us a ride to Brussels and Charlotte and I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Brussels with the help of the directions Muriel had given us earlier and a city map. My favorite part of the Brussels excursion was in fact the Belgium Waffle. We had a nice walk around two of the different areas in Belgium and saw some big buildings, then we stopped for lunch at a Greek restaurant and each had a Pita. After lunch we found a kiosk selling waffles. Some people had waffles on plates covered in melted chocolate and powdered sugar but we decided to just go for a plain old waffle in our hand that we could eat as we walked. It turns out that there was no need for chocolate or sugar on the waffle. It was already very sweet and warm and delicious. I don’t think they use the same batter for waffles here as in the States, in fact once it had cooled a bit, it seemed more like the texture of a croissant than of a waffle. It was so good I had trouble walking and eating it at the same time because all of my attention was on the delicious waffle I was eating.

            The next day we had decided to go to Ghent. Muriel stayed home so she could take care of some things, so it was just Charlotte, Kenza, and I for the trip. Muriel had made us a very specific list of trains we’d need to take to get to Ghent as well as walking us into the train station and buying our tickets for us. Kenza, being under 12 rode free. Everything was super clear and easy and after helping Kenza with part of her math homework on the train we arrived in Ghent a little over an hour later.

            Brussels was nice in a big city sort of way but Ghent was just gorgeous. I am not often impressed by old towns because I was exposed to a lot of things at a young age and now when I see old towns I sort of just think, ‘yep, that’s old alright.’ But Ghent was really wonderful.  When we got off the train, we pulled out our map and picked the nearest park and headed towards it. The first thing I noticed outside the train station was that if I wanted to steal a bike, this would probably be a good place to do it. There were literally thousands of bikes left outside the train station most of them not even chained up. They were all leaning one on the other and they circled the entire roundabout (I didn’t know at the time but on the platform waiting for our train on the way back we would see a parking lot in the back of the station that was solely for bikes and was packed full of row upon row of them).

We never did end up finding that park even after asking three different people for directions (none of them had the slightest idea because they were all just visiting Ghent like we were).  Finally we ended up taking a trolley to the center of town. Up until then, Ghent had seemed pretty normal (aside from the bikes) but as soon as we stepped off the trolley in the center of town all that changed. The street was cobblestoned and the square was surrounded by old buildings. There was a church on our right, a bell tower just in front of us, and off to our left a ways a cathedral known as the cathedral of counts.

We spent some time trying to find the information office so we could have a good detailed map of the area and ask what we should see while we were there. On our search for the tourist office we stepped into a church because it was pretty and impressive. It was the Church of Sint-Niklaas. I have been in a lot of churches and seen a lot of statues but this one amused me immensely. The statues of saints were all in a monotone light gray and were fairly normal and what you’d expect save for that each one had in his hand an item in bright gold. There were saints with swords of course and crosses and a chalice and a book but the one that really made me smile was the one that was holding a very big, gold, saw. I also saw one that was holding what appeared to be a golden square (you know, that instrument you use in carpentry that looks like a big ‘L’ and you use it to make sure that what you’re building has a 90˚ angle).

We finally found the tourist office. Muriel had given me a tourist guidebook for the town but the map was a bit small which was why were looking for the tourist office in the first place. According to my small map it looked like the office should’ve been right behind this tall bell tower. We asked several people where it was and got different and confusing answers. The best one was when I was standing just in front of the bell tower and Charlotte and Kenza had stepped inside to see if the office was inside, and I asked a passerby where the tourist office was. She told me it was ‘just in that building’ pointing to the bell tower right next to us, then she chuckled with her friend and walked off. I went up the stairs to find Charlotte and Kenza walking out of the tower because that was not were the office was. We all went back in anyhow and asked the man behind the desk and he explained to us very nicely that the tourist office was in the same building but around back. So we exited, circled around, and finally got a map and a good walking route to follow.

Our route ended up taking us over the river that flows through Ghent and as Kenza pointed out, it is reminiscent of Venice because the houses butt right up against the water. It was absolutely gorgeous and the weather could not have been better. We walked for a bit and then stopped for a bite to eat. That was about all we had time for since it was Sunday and if we didn’t catch the 4:30 train we would have to wait for the 6:30 train and that wouldn’t get us home until after 8. We ended up getting home around 7 anyway though because our first train was late which meant we missed our second train and had to wait for the next one half an hour later and then that train was delayed while we were on it. But we did finally make it back home, all in all it was a quite a good day.

Rosetta: The French Shrug

            I spent a very fun day yesterday at Orientation. I was not expecting it to be so fun because generally I am pretty quiet and have trouble making new friends for the day so breaks and lunch are either spent awkwardly alone or feel a bit forced. However, with the other English assistants it is pretty easier to strike up conversation because we have so much in common as well as so much different. For example, we are all in a foreign country, placed in schools, in different towns, with teachers, from different countries, all good things to start conversations with.

            I ended up sitting with two boys from the United States and 3 girls from the UK. There was a girl from London, Clara, who was quit amusing and did a fabulous impression of the ‘French Shrug’ while narrating in an English accent, I wish I could’ve captured that moment forever. She was talking about how when you go in to talk to French people about things like setting up internet or buying train tickets and they decide they can’t help you they give a shrug. Now if it is just with the shoulders you have a chance but if they shrug while putting their hands palm up you are pretty much out of luck.  Clara went on to tell a very amusing story about trying to talk to someone about her train ticket and receiving the shrug (which is code for ‘I can’t help you, go away') and how when she didn’t leave the person behind the counter was thinking, ‘I gave the shrug, why aren't you leaving?’ and everyone behind her in line who had seen the shrug was thinking, ‘She got the shrug, why is she still just standing there?’ Anyhow, with this and other fun topics like actors, accents, and food we were laughing almost the entire lunch period.

            Add to that the fact that I actually enjoyed the subject they were teaching us during the day as well as the teachers and I had a very good day (the only downside was that I had woken up at 5:30AM and it was like an 8 hour day with several cups of coffee so I was very worn out and pretty giddy by the end). We were learning how to teach as language assistants and they gave us all fabulous ideas. I am all excited to try them out now but unfortunately this is the beginning of our midterm break and thus I have to wait another 2 weeks before I see the students again, I just hope I can remember all my ideas and maintain my excitement for the interim.

            I am currently sitting in the teacher’s room in Calais at the school where Helen works (Recap: Helen is the lady who was one of the teachers at Orientation and let me spend the night at her house so I could get to Orientation on time) and a teacher just approached me, “You are who exactly?” in French of course. I explained to her that I am the assistant from Le Touquet and that I had spent the night with Madame Baur, this seemed to satisfy her that I was okay to be in this room but I wanted to add some details just in case. So I added that I had the orientation in Lille but she lost interest as soon as she decided she didn’t need to expel me instantly from the room.  I think she might be the first person I’ve met who did not at least feign interest in what I had to say. 

Rosetta: Cup of Tea?

I first met Helen at orientation a little less than a month ago. She stood in front of a room full of over a hundred English assistants and explained to us in English what some had failed to grasp a moment earlier when the director had said it in French. She was very specific and forceful and I wasn't sure whether I liked her or not. After that my next encounter with her was in the classroom later that day after they'd separated us into more manageable groups. She made me take off my hat (they had mentioned that we would not be allowed to wear hats in our schools so I had asked one of the people in charge if I should take my hat off and she had said not to worry about it for the day. I had left my hat on because once I've put a hat on I end up having hat-hair if I take it off). At this point my opinion of her wavered toward unfavorable however class with her was fine and afterwards when I approached her with how difficult it would be for me to get to Lille by 9AM the next orientation day almost three weeks later, she offered to let me stay at her house and ride with her. In the end, I accepted and she picked me up at the train station when I arrived earlier today.

After a 30 minute drive to her house (she drove all that way just to get me, and even arrived right as I was getting off the train, very impressive) she walked me up to my room and pulled several tubs of stuff off a twin bed which she then made up for me. After that our next move was of course tea since she is English, so we walked down the hall past a bookcase packed full of mystery-thriller books and down a staircase piled to one side with other books and various boxes and other items. We squeezed through the kitchen and into an office strewn with more books, papers, knickknacks, and a cat. She invited me to sit in the only available chair as she went and got our tea (with milk and two lumps of sugar). We also had a lovely pastry know as a 'Réligieux', a puffy pastry filled with cream that is said to look like a plump nun, thus the name. After tea and a conversation about books in which she invited me to borrow any of her books I liked, she sat down to do some work and I sat down in her 'reading chair' in the living room with another cup of tea.

Dinner came at 9PM and consisted of lamb with mint sauce, beans, broccoli and cauliflower, and fries (chips). It was very good and also entertaining as Helen's husband is French so we held dinner conversation mostly in French. Dessert was Pomme Tatin (much like apple pie) and vanilla ice cream. 

After dinner I had my shower, not because I needed a shower but because it seemed expected of me ('Are you going to take your shower tonight or tomorrow morning?') When in truth I had been prepared to go without a shower until I reached Muriel's house on Friday. Clean and dry and in my pajamas, Helen brought me a cup of herbal tea and her husband set me up with the internet password. I think I am going to like it here.

Oh, and I've decided to accept every time Helen offers me tea, I mean how can you say no when a real live English person offers you 'a cup of tea?'

Rosetta: Exchange Rate

How much money should I bring with me to France? I think I bring $1000, in Euros of course so more like 700€. Perfect. Oh wait, I have a couple of hundred dollars left over, maybe I'll just go ahead and bring that too and I can change it in to Euros when I get there no problem. <----This all went through my head before I got to France. Once I got here I had enough Euros to live on for a while as well as a couple of hundred cash to change into Euros at some point or another no hurry. Well, when we landed in France one of the first things I did was look for a money exchange booth, they can be found practically everywhere in the Paris airport. Practically everywhere that is except for the path between the arriving flights, the luggage pick-up, and the exit. So, seeing no easily accessible money exchange, I shrugged and figured I'd just change my money at any bank whenever it was convenient. One month later, here I am in Le Touquet, I have my very own bank account and find that it would be nice to change my dollars now (I have a week left before my first paycheck). So today I walked my dollars down to the Poste (this is the name of my bank and it doubles as the post office). When I arrived they told me no problem, they could change my money. A couple of minutes later the man comes back and tells me that they don't take $100 bills. Um... Okay, is there someone around here who will change them? You'll have to go to a bank (here I got a bit confused because I was under the impression that the Poste is a bank but maybe not...) so I went to a bank. "Sorry, we don't change money, you can try the Poste. Oh, you've already tried that? Well try the LCC down the street." So I went to the LCC, "Oh no, we don't change money, try the Poste." At this point, I realized that it was useless. I am going to continue trying on my to Belgium, I hope to find a train station that will change my money... or maybe somewhere in Lille. But who would have though it would be so difficult to spend my money. I tried the library too but they don't open until 2PM today (who knows why) so I am headed back there. In the end the only thing I accomplished this morning was mailing a letter and finding out that the post office will hold a package for 2 weeks for me (remember that my bank doubles as the post office so this was all very convenient), this was good news as I am expecting a package but will be leaving town for two weeks, so I've got my fingers crossed that it will all work out.

Rosetta: Vacation? But I haven't started work yet...

            Today I was promised a work schedule at lunch (on Monday I will always start work after lunch), however the two other English teachers had not yet given Laurent their requests. So Laurent told me when I would be working with him this week, and when I saw Annie she told me that she would not need me this week because she hadn’t yet prepared anything for me to do with her students. I didn’t see the other teacher, so I could not ask her if she needs me. Laurent only needed me this afternoon (he does not work on Tuesdays and he doesn’t need me Wednesday morning which is my last time available before I leave for orientation and then vacation). Thus, if Marylise does not need me, or if I don’t find her to ask her, I am free as of now for my All Saint’s Holiday! However, I am going to try to find her tomorrow to see if she wants me. 

            Today, I met another two of Laurent’s English classes, every class asks the same questions, where are you from? What music do you like? How old are you? etc… And do you speak French? To this question I answer, “Yes, but I hope to speak it better after six months in France.” Today a student asked if I would say something in French for them, so I told them that I would answer their next question in French. I like this tactic because it gets their attention instantly and they can ask a question and me sure of understanding the response. As soon as I say I will answer the next question in French there is a rustle of interest and students who before had not spoken suddenly feel able to participate. The question I answered in French was, “Do you think this is a nice class?” -- 'Class' as in the students in the class (they have a separate word in French for the class – the course work – and for the class – the pupils. I replied that I did think they were nice.

            I am going to the library to tomorrow to apply for a library card. I just got my ‘attestation,’ which proves that I work in a school. With this proof I can get a library card for cheaper (and get into many museums and events free).  The library has a lot of books and a good selection of movies, which will be awesome because one of the teachers is going to lend us her DVD player. Tomorrow I think I will borrow a movie to watch on my computer, but I must remember to return it before I go to Belgium!

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Things I wish I new today (A.K.A. Things I knew at one point or another or could have figured out but could not bring to mind on the spot in class):

How many time zones are in the continental US? 4

Where is Boston? Massachusetts, NE USA

What is the capital of Washington? Olympia

Where is Washington DC? Between Maryland and Virginia

What is the capital of California? Sacramento

What is being built where the Twin Towers used to be? The Freedom Tower

What ingredients are in 'Stuffing'? Bread, onions, celery, raisins, apples, celery, turkey stock, butter

What scandal ended Nixon's Presidency in 1974? Watergate

How do you say 'Hipter' in French? Hipster... but none of the students knew what that was so maybe I should bring some photos next time. ("What big city does your state have and what it is known for?" "The big city in Oregon is Portland and it is known for its hipsters.")

Rosetta: Sunday Adventures

I have heard a lot of German lately. Why, you ask? Because two other German assistants spent the night here last night and so they and Charlotte talked to each other in German some of the time. They also all spoke French with Maria and I. Then, Sunday morning, we all piled into Charlotte's car and headed off on an hour drive to the nearby Cape, 'Cap Blanc Nez'. We dropped Maria off at the train station (she was headed to Lille) and picked up another German assistant on the way. At this point they all only spoke French when I was part of the conversation. That is a weird feeling, to know immediately that you being included in the topic because suddenly you can understand what is being said. We drove first to the Cap Gris Nez which is nearby but not quite as nice as the other, and then we drove midway and parked the car and walked to the Cap Blanc Nez. It was beautiful, the sun was shining, there wasn't too much wind, and the cliffs and seascape were so immense that I lost my sense of distance. What looked like just a short walk along the beach ended up taking FORever. We walked between the beach and towering cliffs all the way to the Cap Blanc Nez where we paused for lunch. Then we hiked up to the top to look out on the ocean (on a clear day you can see England, too bad it wasn't clear). After that we walked back to the car and drove home. Round trip we were out of the house 7 hours. Not bad for a Sunday, had I been left to my own devices I would've loitered in my pajamas most the day only possibly venturing out to hit up a store for supplies. But when in a foreign country it is good to explore the must-sees of the region so I am glad I had some impetus (in the form of a roommate) to leave the house. I am now completely exhausted though, and am glad that it is finally a reasonable hour to go to bed. And I am also glad I don't have to be to school until noon tomorrow.

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On an unrelated subject, I ordered the next book in a series on Amazon to be delivered to my new house in France. The only problem is that Amazon wouldn't allow me to put in my address because you are REQUIRED to have a number for an address. But, since I live in a villa, I have no number. I ended up just putting my address as 0 Villa L'orée des Bois. I hope it finds its way here even with that silly zero in front of the address. Hopefully the mail man will figure it out. If not I'm not sure I'll be able to order things online for the duration. We'll see. It wouldn't be too big a loss as I hadn't even thought of it until my brother mentioned it in response to my complaint that I had no way to read the next book in the series. And suddenly a new avenue of goods reopened for me, we'll see if it stays that way when I receive the book in the mail, or not.

Rosetta: $$$ (or as ABBA puts it 'Money, Money, Money')

              This morning we all woke up early to go attend our first patisserie class. We spent three hours in the kitchen making chocolate and lemon meringue pies. It was quite fun but very tiring and we were all disappointed in the end when we didn’t get to eat any of the pies (they were all sent off to be used by the waitress class, I’m not sure who ended up eating them).

              After class we looked into buying tickets for our October travel plans. So today was my first money shock. I managed to save up 1,000 dollars in the bank in addition to the cash money I brought with me. So I’ve been pretty lax with my budget since I knew I had plenty of money. However, $1,000 translates to 600€ and with my first months rent, plus the deposit and house supplies and food, the money is quickly departing. The good news is I get paid in 10 days so I should be okay but I am still going to need to budget (but don’t worry I have some extra money saved up that I wanted to save until my return but that I am willing to use if I really need it).

            After all that I was very tired this afternoon so I stayed in and finished my book and watched some TV (which usually I would feel guilty about but here since I watch TV in French it is like studying so it doesn’t feel as lazy).  Later we drove to the Carafour (the big cheap market in the neighboring town) and did some serious grocery shopping. Now I am exhausted and going to go to bed early even though it is a Friday night. I am a little sad to have finished my book since it is part of a series and I have a feeling I won’t have access to the sequel until I get back to the States (and the author did not resolve anything at the end of this book). In addition the next book on my reading list is in French, which is a bit more difficult and less like recreation, which is the main reason I read so I am not sure how quickly I will finish the next book.

Travel plans:

Wednesday: Le Touquet à Étaples àCalais

Thursday: Calais à Lille à Calais

Friday: Calais àBelgium

Monday: Belgium à The South of France

The following Monday: The South of France à Le Touquet

So as you can see I have a lot of train tickets to buy and travel plans to arrange. The South of France plans are still in the works but I hope it works out how I’ve sketched it here.

Rosetta: I Never Thought of That

Okay, so now that I am here in France and really starting to have conversations with people from here and other countries I am starting to realize there are a lot of things about America I've always just accepted and never really thought about.

•Newspaper machines: Maria (my roommate from the Canary Islands) and I were watching the Simpsons (in French) and there was a scene with a newspaper machine. Maria asked me if it was true that there were machines like that in America. I informed her that we do indeed have machines like that all over. She then asked if people could just put in however much it cost to open the door and take the rest of the papers and I told her that was easily doable if you wanted to. She then told me that this would never work in the Canary Islands because the first person to arrive would simply take all of the papers. I got the same reaction later when talking to a group of French teachers. I never thought about it before but the newspaper machines work very much on the honor system. I remember when I was younger I would always push the change return button to see if I could have any change and then I would check to see if the door would open. If it would open I would take a paper. However, I had a strong sense of morals even then and so I would close the door after having taken a paper and then try to open it again. If it opened a second time I reasoned that it was broken and I would put the paper back, if it didn't open the second time I concluded that someone had already put the money in but had not taken a paper so I justified keeping it. As flawed as that logic was, it was still an indication as to how our newspaper machine system works on honesty. Most of us in America just don't take more than the one newspaper we've paid for. The other justification occurred when Maria told me that the first person would take all the papers and my first thought was, 'why in the world would you want more than one newspaper?' In my everyday life in America I just don't have a use for a newspaper unless I plan on reading it (or I want to use it as packaging while moving but that only happens every once in a while and free old newspapers are not at all hard to come by), too many newspapers are just a nuisance.

Free coffee refills: My English teacher asked me if it was true that at diners you can have free refills on coffee. I informed him that you could get free refills on coffee at almost any restaurant I could think of in America. Free refills on coffee is an unheard of thing here in France where a thimble of black coffee costs about 3 dollars. But when I think about it, a restaurant that did not offer free refills on coffee in the United States would lose a good portion of its clientele who have grown so adapted to 'as much coffee as you can handle' with their breakfasts that they don't even think about how unheard of that is in other parts of the world.

Shopping carts: We went shopping for the first time as roommates a couple of weeks ago with the intention of buying not only groceries for ourselves but supplies for the house as well. Charlotte and Maria each went to get there own cart but when I arrived I thought you had to pay 50 Centimes (Approx. 75 cents) for a cart. Now I am used to having a cart free whenever I go shopping so you can imagine how this shocked me, 'You have to pay to use a cart here!?' But no, I had misunderstood. In truth you only had to put in the coin to release the cart and when you returned the cart you were able to retrieve your coin (it is a nifty little set-up where you use you coin to push the security chain out of the cart and then when you return the cart you use the security chain to push the coin out so the coin comes with you while shopping but is stuck in the cart until you return the cart to the lock up area). Some people even have nifty tokens they use instead of coins with the markets logo on them and everything. But here it is a need security precaution to stop the carts from disappearing. Now in America some carts have no security (and you do see a lot of carts floating around where they don't belong because they are easily taken) and some carts now have locks on the wheels that activate when you try to leave the premises. But I have to admit I was definitely flummoxed and then impressed when I first encountered the system here.

Radio/TV: Everyone here knows some America singers, bands, and TV shows. The TV they watched dubbed into French but the music they listen to English. Okay, so I knew that already but they also listen to music in German and Spanish. When Maria asked me what Spanish music groups I knew I realized for the first time that the only music I ever hear in America is in English. We don't have music come on our popular stations that is in another language and thus the only artists I know are American (or English). The same goes for the TV shows. You just don't come across a TV show that was filmed in another language and then dubbed into English, people in America are only interested in shows that were originally filmed in English. We therefore have no knowledge of what kinds of TV shows other countries enjoy whereas here everyone knows the Simpsons, Friends, Desperate Housewives, Tru Blood, etc.

Meg: Yep, I'm American

I've been feeling super American lately.  I see it in the clothes a wear, in my accent (especially when I'm with other English speakers), in how loudly I talk, and how much I miss having regular internet access.  Ok, maybe the last one can just be attributed to my age.  It doesn't help that at the moment I am sitting in McDonalds so that I can have access to the internet.  Actually, it was quite an adventure getting here today.

The first thing I should note is that I was super dumb when it came to my bank account.  I opened the account, and I picked up the card yesterday, but somewhere, between picking up my package from my mom in the Salle des Profs and my apartment I misplaced the piece of mail with my pin number on it.  Which means that I can't use said card in order to buy internet.  Which led me to the need to venture out to McDonalds today on my day off, because honestly, I miss you people too much not to be able to stalk what it is you are doing on a daily basis on Facebook.

All I knew was the general location of the McDonalds... I knew it was somewhere near the big grocery store that I believe would be about a five mile walk to get to... nothing with a car, but on foot on a very hot day (as it continues to be here) nearly impossible.  So I took a bus for the first time.   It was about noon by the time I got down to the bus stop because really, I'm not a morning person at all.  It was fun to watch all the school children run down the steps to catch school buses to take them home for lunch- something that just seems incredible to me, that a lot of them actually have lunch with their families everyday.  I think it's really nice but boy it must be a big pain!  I waited about 15 minutes for a bus (it never runs on time here so I never know when it's actually going to come), got on, only to have the driver to announce that she was only going as far as the train station, before she would take a 15 minute break.  Oh the joys of mass transportation in France.  So we get to the train station, where I spot a taxi!  I didn't have any cash, so I ran across the street to a bank, only to hurry back to find the one taxi gone.  I was sad and had to wait for the bus driver to be off break before I could continue on to the McDonalds.  The drive was quick and I spotted the golden arches off in the distance.  I was elated but then it took me awhile before I could figure out how to get here.  As it turned out, all I had to do was follow the magical road of trash from McDonalds, which led me under a bridge, on a sidewalkless street, and up a sketchy flight of stairs.  But here I am!  I ordered a bunch of food so that I can just let most of it sit so I don't get kicked out.  I plan to stay here until my battery runs out, which will be in about three hours.  I just hope my episode of Glee will finish downloading before I leave.  Otherwise I might cry.

So there you have it, an American girl sitting in McDonalds in France, for the free internet.  Hopefully I will be able to get the pin again soon (they have to send it by mail) and procure internet for my apartment sometime in the next week before I head out on vacation!

Rosetta: School, Shopping, and Spanish

I still don't have a real schedule yet. The other assistants have theirs but the English teachers just haven't decided yet when they want me. I am feeling a bit unwanted on the assistant side of things here as of late. There are 3 main English teachers and 3 part-timers. So far they don't seem super enthusiastic about having me help them. Apparently, they learn British English here. So today I didn't have a class I had to be at until 4 and I went in for lunch with my roommates at noon. I threw caution to the wind and went in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoody. This is the first time I have gone into the building wearing jeans and the only reason I did it was because I wanted to wear my Rosetta Stone t-shirt that I got with my Grandparents when we went to visit the real Rosetta Stone. Some people where having trouble with my name so I thought the shirt would be a good conversation piece and it seemed like jeans were my best outfit match. However, as soon as I got on campus I felt absurdly out of place. To put it in perspective all the students where uniforms, the girls even wear skirts and high heals. No one commented on my attire, save for my roommates who both noticed I still had wet hair from the shower I had taken before heading to lunch. After lunch we came home to meet the man who was supposed to install gas heating in our house before I went back for class at 4. The first thing I did when I got home was change out of the jeans and hoody (I kept the shirt though). I think that is the last time I will wear casual attire to school, except for maybe if I am ever required to wear clothes native to my homeland (tomorrow is a Spanish festival and Maria is going to go to school dressed in a dress that is traditional garb for her country).

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I received my PIN in the mail today and delightedly went off to spend my first Euro on a debit card. I bought a 25€ coat and a 25€ pair of boots. Okay, a bit expensive for me but I was stoked, all the other boots I've seen in windows cost at least 100€. I'm glad to have the black boots now, my brown ones don't go with too many outfits, also I am happy to have a purple pea coat, I brought a total of two jackets; one is brown and very warm but not entirely stylish and the other is white, not very warm, and stylish, but it shows dirt incredibly well and ever since I got a black satchel I've been carrying around my white coat has had a permanent dirty smudge across the front where the strap rubs.

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I am very happy with my new roommates, already we are making travel plans and sharing our own cultural cooking with each other. I am learning Spanish with Maria but am feeling a bit less enthusiastic about it as of late, I think I need to find a good starting point, without one the prospect seems a bit overwhelming.

Meg: "Hi my name is ____ and I'm French and I'm from Tulle."

This is how the students introduced themselves to me this morning on my first morning of classes.  They were so cute!  Every single one of them told me that they were French, which I thought was completely adorable.  Their teacher had them spell their names for me and then I had to write them as they spoke, to see if I could understand what it was that they were saying.  (I couldn't always.)  Then they asked me my name, where I was from, what my occupation is and about my hobbies.  That class was actually the second of the day, and they were young students, but I was super impressed with their English.  I wonder if I was that cute when I was their age?!?  At the end of class, the teacher asked them what grade they thought they deserved out of two for their participation/how well they were understood/how much they chatted during the class.  I was pretty surprised that most of them gave very honest answers and how many times the teacher informed some students that they talked too much, or weren't clear enough.  That made me feel a little bad because my misunderstanding may have lost them a couple of points. 

The group I had earlier in the day was older and super enthousiastic about talking to me in English.  More than I thought they would be!  They were able to ask me more specific questions like how many brothers and sisters do I have and do I live in an apartment or a house.  I'm looking forward to getting to know them better, and I feel so much better now that I've actually started to work!  It seems that I will spend Mondays and Fridays here at Victor Hugo and Tuesdays and Thursdays mostly at Clemenceau.  Not that I have much of a scheldule with the other school yet.  It's only one more week until my break, which seems crazy to me!  I'm planning on heading south to visit friends, but I haven't booked anything yet.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get internet tomorrow, and then I can book it from my own computer, but if not, I'll just have to get on one of the school computers for a while.  I might even just go to the train station to buy tickets.

Well, I'm going to go get some lunch now and then try and talk to the secretary at my school to see how my mail will arrive.  Until next time! 

Rosetta: Being Outgoing

So, I told myself before I got here that if I really wanted to improve my French I was going to have to throw out the old habits and just go for it and speak. A lot. Well, Saturday night rolled around and I went out to the bars with three teachers and my two roommates. Old habits are hard to break. I barely spoke the whole time, not because I was being shy, but just because I literally could not think of anything to say. Okay, it was loud there and it would have been difficult to be heard so I felt like anything I might say should at least be fairly important or relevant because I was probably going to have to repeat it a couple of times. And then, this morning my roommate asked me if everything was okay. Apparently I hadn't said much to her and she thought that maybe I was mad. Nope, she caught me totally off guard, I am completely happy and content and I hadn't even realized she and I hadn't communicated much (we'd said hello, and had many other little conversations about housework and lunch plans, and daily plans), so it seems old habits really are hard to break.
 
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On another topic I was in a SNF (phone store) and I saw the device I need to put my pictures onto my computer for not too much money so I bought it. Now I have a way to put pictures of my life on Facebook. The downside is I don't know how to make them smaller files so it takes FOREVER to load them into an album, I'm currently at 7 out of 50 uploaded 364 minutes to go. And to make it worse my internet is sketchy so it will probably cut out before all the pictures are loaded. If not, you should check out the pictures.

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We made garlic bread last night because we had the teachers over for a glass of wine before we went out and so we had bread and cheese and garlic bread as little snacks. My roommates had said that they just use the dish towel instead of a hot pad to get things out of the oven. I had gone into the kitchen to retrieve the garlic bread and I was in a bit of a hurry because I wanted to get back into the sitting room with everyone. I grabbed the dish towel to pull the bread out of the oven but stupidly forgot that I should probably double or triple it before touching something hot. I have a nice burn on my thumb (but the bread survived) and I shall henceforth remember to double the towel AND check to make sure it's thick enough before pulling the tray entirely out of the oven and resting it's weight on my thumb. Interestingly, the burn on my thumb is in the shape of an S.

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I am looking forward to classes tomorrow. The teachers last night asked me if I'd sit in on a "European" class (this means that it isn't a language class but it is taught in a foreign language for example the class I will be going to is a management class taught in English). The others suspect that the teacher doesn't speak English very well. It ought to be fun. All my classes are fun here at least for now. And October 20th is the commencement of my first vacation. They have lots of vacations here. I am planning on going up to Belgium to visit Muriel (a friend of the family) and then to the South of France to visit Rachelle.

Meg: Still Waiting

First, I want to say that I am super happy that this site is not blocked by the school computers and secondly, because I am on a French computer, I do not have English spellcheck, so if things are spelled wrong, please forgive me.  I've had a fairly boring first couple of weeks here.  I've yet to start teaching, although I am told that I will have at least two classes next Thursday.  It feels as though that is forever away!  The teachers here keep telling me to "profit" but it's hard when I feel like I've been on vacation for so long.  I'm actually planning on talkng to one of them today to see if I really will have nothing to do until Thursday, because if that is the case, I think I'll take a trip to Poitiers, instead of sitting around here some more.

Like Rose, I had my orientation last week, although we did it all in one day, so I don't have to return to Limoges until my doctor's/visa appointment.  I had a great time at mine though.  It was so nice to finally meet everyone that I had been talking to online all summer.  I enjoyed their company and I can't wait to meet up with them some more.  The information we got on that day was so-so, but it was all worth it to see everyone.  I'm hoping on planning weekend trips with everyone throughout the year, but that will be difficult until I get my internet situation figured out.  (I'm hoping to have it by Tuesday/ Wednesday at the latest, because that is when my card comes in.)  I should also be getting paid on Monday, which is pretty exciting, although it seems a bit silly because I am yet to do anything at all for the school, other than live in their appartment and use the internet in the prof's office.
 

Rosetta: Good, Now I Feel Oriented

            Hello beautiful new day! What’s that? What’s that you say? It’s still dark outside? It’s cloudy and just a little bit rainy? I have to leave the house at 6AM in order to drive to Lille for Orientation?

That’s just a brief description of how I felt this morning when I woke up at 5:30AM. My roommate drove us to Lille (a 2 hour drive) in order to get to our 9AM Orientation. Wait just a minute, you most undoubtedly point out, if it’s a 2 hour drive, why on earth didn’t you leave at 7 instead of 6. Well dear reader, we wanted to allow plenty of time for traffic and human error and boy am I glad we did. I ended up arriving just a couple of minutes before 9; traffic is thriving in Lille. However, we did not start until a bit after 9:30 so in this case you are very nearly right.

            Four hours of paperwork talk was more than enough to get us all very hungry for our cafeteria lunch (pasta topped with vegetables and a slab of meat but no sauce unless you count the mustard sauce which was delicious but I failed to grab enough of it to really drench my pasta because I was worried I might not like it). I sat with some pleasant young folk of near my own age. All the English speakers were together and I was surprised by the variety of countries of origin as well as accents. The girls from India had Indian accents, the Chinese girl from England had and English-Chinese accent even though English was there first language they learned it with the accent of their parents I guess. There was an Irish accented girl (I kept being surprised when she said serious things with an Irish accent because I kept expecting her to say the cliché things I usually hear in that tone), English accents, Australian accents, New York, Southern, even a Canadian, all accounted for.

            After lunch we had another two hours of activities to prepare us for teaching (mostly useless, or something I could have learned in a brief e-mail). Finally, at around 5 o’clock we started our 2 hour drive home, which took us almost 3 hours. After all that work, the most interesting thing I learned was that it is impolite to drink from a water bottle in public, or to even ‘chug’ water in public. This is why the French people have such small glasses for water at meals. The students are not allowed to drink water in class either. Our instructor told us today that ‘if it is a really hot day we can tell the students to set aside the rule for 5 minutes and pull out their water bottles, have a sip, and put them away. But definitely, under no circumstances let them drink water otherwise because they are just testing you. And if you don’t set down the rules they will be pulling out their cell phones next.’ All of this I found rather comical.

            So Orientation accomplished. Unfortunately, there are to be two more such events where we will work more with teaching ideas. Each language has their own dates for these next meetings, this means that I will be on my own to get to Lille (thus most likely taking a bus to Étapes and then a train to Lille the day before so I can spend the night there and make it at 9AM the next day. However, one of the instructors said that if I liked I could spend the night at her house and drive with her to Lille the next day. I will have to take a train to her the day before as well but I won’t have to pay for lodging so that is nice). 

           Another fun fact: for the first couple of days at my school people kept thinking I was the Spanish assistant (I happen to be darken than she is anyway). More class tomorrow morning, I'm going to try to find a Physics class or a French class to sit in on.

Rosetta: First Day of Class

So today I was supposed to meet with Laurent (my professor who is supposed to integrate me into the system) for lunch but since he had said around 12:00 or 12:30 or 1:00 as our meeting time and since I was all excited to cook my first meal in my new house, I totally forgot. I got two messages from him later (he had left the first one this morning and the second after I had missed our meeting) when I finally checked my phone for the first time all day. He was already in class, so I found his class and waited until he had a break and then I sat through one of his classes. Then I sat through a Spanish class. Then I sat through another one of his classes. He won't be there tomorrow but I am still supposed to go "observe" classes so I am going to go to a lower level Spanish class (the one today was the highest level and a I barely understood anything) and I am also going to try to go to a math class, just because that seems like it would be fun. On Wednesday I go to Lille for my orientation and then on Thursday I have a meeting with Laurent at 7:45AM (don't let me forget).
   
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I think I am going to start a list of funny things they teach their students in English class.
•It is a hotel school so they teach them a lot of random vocabulary that even I am not familiar with like a medium-range hotel (a hotel that is in the middle price range) and random other hotel vocab.
•The teacher keeps saying "Let's go" to start activities, which makes sense because in France they say on y va (let's go) all the time, but it sounds funny coming from a serious professor using it as a serious remark.
•Today he showed the class a picture of New York City and asked if anyone knew what district it was. There were a lot of sky scrapers and a bridge in the photo. The students guessed Manhattan. They were right. Why do they know this? Then he explained that it was the Brooklyn Bridge and it was the oldest suspension bridge ever built. You learn something new everyday.

Okay, that's all on my list for today but I am sure I will have more for next time. Oh, and by the way, that strange very specific vocabulary isn't just in passing. They are expected to memorize it and be able to produce it on command. Haha, a 'Family Run Inn' is super important to know how to say in English.

Rosetta: Internet and Paperwork

So the internet totally faked me out. It worked well in my room for about an hour and then it left again. Great, now I will be checking every five minutes to see if it is back. Tonight Charlotte made us some pumpkin soup. Well it wasn’t really pumpkin, it was an orange gourd of some sort and the closest translation we could come up with was pumpkin. It was yummy but it was puréed and I like to have something to chew on with my dinner. Charlotte says that we should have a different person make dinner each week. I wonder what I could make. I’m thinking fried rice… or pancakes. Although, I don’t even really like pancakes but it does seem fairly American. Pizza maybe, that would be fun.

Tomorrow I have to go to the school and give the secretary some paperwork. But I was unable to complete the paperwork because I don’t have French social security yet and I won’t get that until I mail in this other form and then go to the doctor and then receive the social security number in the mail and Laurent told me I have to turn in this paperwork as soon as possible so that I can get paid. So I am going to ask if I can turn it in without the social security thing and give that to them later. I also need to get a photocopy card from someone else at the school so I can make copies. Then I need to make copies of my passport and mail them off (which means also going to the post office), with a form, in order to live in France. If I don’t do that my visa will be invalid and I’ll have to go home. So much paper work! And it’s all in French.

I also need to go shopping tomorrow. And I wanted to go to the library but it is closed on Monday so that will have to wait until Tuesday. Lots and lots to do.

And now the internet is back so I get to post this!

Meg: "Bon Sandwich!"

Limoges

Those were the last words that Rachelle called at me after she and Rose helped me get onto my train.  It feels like it was an eon ago that I was chilling in Paris with those two, so I guess I want to thank them both for the great time that we had, because thoughts of it have gotten me through this last week.  (I should also add that the sandwich was very bon.)  When I booked my train from Paris to Limoges I accidentally booked a bed instead of a seat, which was interesting on a train that traveled in the middle of the day.  I thought it would be a little silly that I had a bed, but mostly I could just chill.  Nope, I fell asleep, exhausted from watching Rachelle and Rose haul my luggage to the train station.  (Ok, I helped, and I had gotten up very early that morning.)  Before I knew it the conductor was announcing that we had arrived in Limoges.  I was shocked!  I had been asleep for two hours, when it had felt like only five minutes.  I rushed with the full weight of my bags all to myself for the first time and emerged into what I was discover to be the very hot Academie of Limoges.  I had decided to stop in Limoges so that I could rest a bit and not be completely overwhelmed and tired from a day of traveling when I arrived in Tulle.  It wasn't the best plan I'd ever made, as I wasn't properly thinking about my luggage situation.  Rose wrote briefly about her theme for the blog, for me, I think it should be stairs.  My apartment in Paris was five stories up and my hotel room was three stories up, and those are nothing compared to what I have to contend with now, but I'll leave that until a little later.  Anyway, I finally get a cab to my hotel and the very nice man at the front desk let me leave all my things downstairs so I wouldn't have to haul them up and down the stairs.  I explored Limoges, and overall, enjoyed my time in the city, even though it was Sunday and nothing was open.  Before I knew it, it was time to leave for Tulle, or, more accurately, Brive, where an English teacher from my school would be picking me up.

Here is where I met mistake number 3 the of trip (remember the bed instead of a seat and the stop over in Limoges).  When I first booked my tickets and e-mailed the teacher what time I'd be arriving, I booked for the wrong day.  I quickly realized my mistake and fixed it, not realizing that the times were different.  Therefor, I told the teacher I would be getting in at 8, when I really got into 6.  After about an hour of waiting I started to panic.  I had stood/sat in the station trying to look as American as possible, and I was worried that she had forgotten about me.  Thankfully, I decided to check, and I called my mother and had her check my e-mail and we discovered the problem.  And the teacher came right on time and gave me the warmest best welcome I could have ever asked for.  I stayed with her for two nights before moving into my apartment on campus.

From my window, the other middle school across the hills.

Here's where you get to learn about stairs.  The city of Tulle is nicknamed, like Rome, the city of seven hills. They weren't kidding about the hills.  The center of town is in a valley and on the two hills across from each other with town in the middle, is perched my two middle schools.  On different hills.  I've counted the stairs up to my apartment, which happens to be 182.  I haven't climbed the other hill yet.  My sister said, and she's right, that I'm not going to need a gym membership this year.  Not only are the hill steep and embedded with stairs, but it was been ungodly hot this last week.  We've been in the upper 80's every day.  Every. single. day.  Everyone at the school keeps talking about how great the weather is and I just silently sulk while they talk about it.

STAIRS!

The last things I need to mention in this very long post is that while my apartment has all the furnishings needed: cooking utensils, comfy chairs, a table, bedding and towels provided, it does not have what I crave the most.  Internet.  I can go and check my e-mail on one of the school's computers, where Facebook is blocked.  I didn't realize how much I needed/wanted Facebook until I had to live a week without it.  However, the solution to this problem is the same as Rose's, which is to get a 3G card.  Unfortunately, to get one of those, I have to have a bank account, which I don't currently have.   I'm working on it though, and I hope to have full internet access by next weekend.  Or the weekend after that.

That's it for now, I'll probably write more before I go to bed tonight (I'm in Limoges, in a hotel, with wonderful, wonderful WIFI).  Until the next time... every time you have to climb stairs, think of me!

Rosetta: Internet is Good

My bed is very comfortable, which I am happy about. It is a little warm for now but I am glad because it is going to get COLD, and when it does I will be glad to have such a warm bed. I woke this morning when Charlotte left her room at 9:30. I could tell it was very bright outside even though my curtain was down. The sun shines right into my room in the morning so if I ever want to wake up with the sun all I have to do is leave the curtains open.

            We don’t have internet in the house yet. Joker man from last night recommends a USB card with 3G. He says it works really well here in France. It would cost about 20€ a month. I am interested. We are going to Orange on Wednesday to look into it. It might be worth paying to have internet anywhere I go. And it is possible that Madame Deloffre with help pay for it. We’ll see. For now I will have to go to the school for internet or to an internet café.

            Today I am going to take all my laundry to the lavatory (that’s what they call the room with all the washers and driers here).  We have a washer here but it is very small and there is no drier. Thus, since it is a lovely day outside again today, I am going to walk to the lavatory and run two or three loads of laundry (and dry them!) and then hopefully they won’t have any more wrinkles.

            ************************************************************************

Haha, so it turns out the lavatory sign (which I thought pointed towards the bathrooms but which Charlotte said was the Laundromat) actually pointed to the bathrooms, there are a lot of British people here. I ended up bringing all my laundry to the public toilet and then giving up and just washing it at home. But, since we don’t have a dryer, it is now all hanging from my bunk bed and outside and all over the place. I do have a fondness in my heart for driers.

So I just found that I’m able to access the internet from my room. This is awesome and ironic because I agreed to have the worst room in the house because the others down right refused it. It is the worst room in the house because you have to walk through it to get to the other bedroom so there is no privacy. The other room you have to walk through to get to my room and the last room but it is better because it is bigger, has plenty of storage space, and a big bed. Anyway, I agreed to have this room because it was the only way the three of us could stay in this house. I swung the bunk beds around so they make a sort of hallway and hung a blanket from the side for privacy. It works okay except for now my room is really small and I have to walk sideways to get into it past the bunk beds. Also, the only storage space is a drawer along the bottom of the bed, this means my bed side table needs to be pulled away from the bed whenever I want access to my clothes. But I manage. And now I have internet in my room I couldn’t be happier!

Rosetta: The New House

          The funny thing about moving into a house with two other girls: the first thing we did was clean… a lot. And then we went to store to get more things to clean with. Now we are all installed in our own rooms (although Charlotte and Maria are going to change rooms in two months because they both favor the far room that no one has to walk through ever), I moved the beds to give myself more privacy but it made my room seem much smaller. It’s okay though, I’d just get my room all messy if it were bigger, this way I have to keep it very clean. I was a bit worried about where I would put all my stuff but so far it all fits (I hung all my jewelry on the corkboard and that worked great.

            The house is great. It was a bit dusty when we got here but it is fairly clean now… though still old. Right now we are listening to a very old fashioned radio, but it still works. There is a big sitting room and a new television, which is nice. Also, I really like our landlady so I am glad we picked this place. Today I spend 87€ on food and sheets (my bed didn’t come with any… of either). I bought extra sheets because I thought I could use them to cover the comforter, which was also bare. Turns out however, that I accidently bought two packages of fitted sheets. Each package came with two sheets… so I ended up with four fitted sheets. The funny thing is that while I was staring at my sheet options, I realized that drapes housse meant fitted sheets, I just didn’t look at what I’d picked out close enough. All’s well that ends well though because I ended up being able to fit two fitted sheets around the comforter. One fitted sheet I put on the bottom and I have one fitted sheet left over for the top bunk bed.  Now all I need is a top sheet and a comforter cover for the top bed and I can have company stay the night up there.

            We had the Spanish professor, Florie, come over for the contract signing to help facilitate everything. She is super nice. After we invited her over for the evening to have a glass of wine and christen our new house. She brought with her a male friend, I don’t know his name but he was another teacher. Having just watched the Dark Knight recently I was very amused when he kept doing the lick the side of his mouth thing much like the Joker does. He did it a tiny bit quicker and smaller but it still definitely reminded me of the Joker in a sort of creepy way. He was really nice though.

            After our evening here we went out for a drink at a bar. I didn’t really want a drink but I went for the experience. I ended up ordering a Pepsi (which cost my 4€), which I didn’t really enjoy but it was worth it for the experience and company.  It would definitely be an expensive habit if we were to do it often.