First Morning in Madrid

I slept well even though it rained just about all night, hopefully it’s done for the day!  Carly is at school right now for a few hours but she will be back for lunch and then she has an exam at 3:30.  After tonight, her midterms and over and she is free until Tuesday!  Woohoo!  We are going to have so much fun!  It is so nice being in a legitimate city.  There are actually a few skyscrapers and things to do.  There are so many different choices of restaurants and activities.  It’s refreshing.  Not saying I’d want to live in a city like this, but it is nice for a short weekend.  That is all for now, I am just going to be chilling in the apartment until she gets back!  It’s nice though to relax in a queen size bed.  I am semi jealous with this big bed!  I feel like I am still in college at home in my twin size bed!  More to come when I actually do something today!

A Torturous Day AKA Travelling to Madrid by Train

I am currently on my 9^th hour of travel if you started counting when I left my room this morning.  It hasn’t been too bad so far but I am sure these next few hours and going to be rough. 

My first train from Bellac to Limoges was 15 minutes late and I already started freaking out because I thought I was going to miss my next time.  When it finally did come, it was only one car, luckily it didn’t make any stops through are went directly from Bellac to Limoges (normally there are about three stops).

My second and third trains went fine.  I just listened to my iPod and dozed in and out of sleep.   Once I got off of my third train, I realized that I was in Spain.  I thought it was still France but after all I heard was Spanish I figured it out really quickly.  Seeing as I looked like a lost puppy, one of the workers approached me and asked me (in Spanish) where I was going.  *Remember I took a few semesters of Spanish three years ago.  I responded with a combo of French and Spanish and told him I was going to Madrid.  He then gave me directions in Spanish and by his hand motions and the few words that I did understand I figured out where I needed to go.  When I got on my fourth train, I noticed right away that the train is nicer than French trains and that there are TV’s on the train.  I soon figured out that there were outlets so I could use my computer!  The other three trains didn’t have outlets…which is ok.  It’s the most important that this train has outlets because it is a 6 hr ride and the others weren’t more than 3.  I watched the movie “The Tourist” that I borrowed from the German teacher (the woman I went on a hike with).  It was a good movie and two hours quickly passed.  The only thing that is bad is that there is  a Spanish lady sitting next to me who is bigger and she is in my seat a little bit…and she is sleeping and I am not that good at sitting still, especially when  I’ve basically been sitting all day.  I may be annoying but oh well, I don’t care at this point. 

As of right now (I am on train number 4), I have four hours left.  Ugh.  Can’t wait to just be there!

Spain is beautiful from what I saw so far from the train window.  We passed in between so mountains that had snow on top.  We also went through the country which was pretty as well but it even looked different from France’s countryside.  I just can’t pinpoint exactly how, I know there are differences, I just don’t know how to explain it.

The architecture is also different in Spain.  It seems that Spain is possibly more modern and “new.”   French houses are often old and have been remodeled. The houses that I see seem newer and the architecture is just different.  Once again it’s hard for me to figure out the exact differences. 

Ok, my back is starting to hurt and I want to relax for a little bit.  Can’t wait to start having fun and not be confined to this train!

____________________________________________________________________________

Ok, I am now in hour twelve and I am really wanting to get off this train.  My butt hurts from sitting here so long (personal problem and TMI…sorry).  I have one more hour until I am there!  Thank the Lord!

About an hour ago I started feeling nauseous and sick to my stomach.  Apparently I was just hungry.  I ate and felt much better.  I then watched movie number two (one I already saw when I was student teaching).  Nonetheless, it is a French classic and I watched it in French with French subtitles.  It is crazy how much more I understand when there are subtitles!   I wish that wasn’t the case but it is ok for now.  Hopefully at the end of my seven months here I will understand a lot more and not need subtitles anymore!

On the TV’s on the train there is some Spanish movie on and there are subtitles!  I can even understand a lot of the movie.  My brain is going to be going crazy while I am here because I understand a lot of Spanish but I can’t speak!  They always say is you don’t use it, you lost it.  And I lost my Spanish!  When someone speaks to my in a foreign language my first reaction is to speak to them in French and I am pretty sure that will not work here!  Oh well, I will be with a friend and I am really excited! 

Alright, I don’t have much more news for me seeing as nothing happened and I am still sitting in the same seat I was 6 hours ago!

Monday and Tuesday PRE-MADRID

I haven’t done too much the past two days.  Yesterday consisted of downloading music and going grocery shopping.  I also did a lot of research trying to find a hotel to stay in when I am in Paris with Jordan.  I am learning that I really HATE planning vacations.  They stress me out and I always feels like I can’t find the best deal.  And when I do find a good deal, I second guess myself and convince myself that there has to be something wrong with the hotel and that’s why it’s cheap.  I can’t win.  Grrr.  I just remind myself that it will be worth it in the long run!

Last night I tried to take a shower and there wasn’t any hot water so I decided to wait until this morning.  This morning…still no hot water.  I  asked a worker if he knew why there wasn’t any hot water and he kindly told me they were doing work on the water and there won’t be any hot water until tomorrow afternoon.  Thanks for the heads up.  Reminder: I am leaving tomorrow morning for Madrid.  So, I decided to go for a run, get hot and sweaty and then take a quick shower.  The run went well and I discovered a great place to take pictures of the city.  When I came back I took a quick shower and froze my butt off.  The whole being sweaty part didn’t help too much, I was still freezing.  Sometimes you just have to suck it up, being stinky was just not an option!

Besides my cold shower and run I also decided to go for a walk back to where I ran and I took some pictures…Hope you enjoy the next few pictures.  I will write a caption above each one. 

This is the entrance I use to go to my room.  Only Jose and I use this entrance, the students use a different one.  (All French houses and property have some type of fence around them, I don't really know why, it seems like a hassle and a nuisance to me)!

This is a grave yard near my school.  Sometimes I think that there may be more dead people in my town than alive.  Maybe that's morbid but there are tons of tombstones there!

This is a really pretty house that I saw.  The red leaves are just beautiful.  (Notice the fence around the house).

The "rives de vincou"...Vincou River (not much of a river, more like a creek).  It is very pretty and very relaxing down by the water.  I am standing on a one lane bridge.  Cars take turns crossing it (it normally isn't busy).

As you can see, the "city"of Bellac is on a hill.  Meaning everytime I want to go to the river I have to go down a big hill and going back home is never much fun!  I get out of breath easily because it's so steep!

I thought this picture turned out really cool.  The tree is covering the house but you can see it's reflection in theriver.  Notice the pretty fall leaves floating in the river.

Here's a picture of me (in case you actually wanted to see my face) going "au naturel."

Hope you enjoyed all of the pictures.  Let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks for reading.

PS-Tomorrow I leave for Madrid so I am not sure when you will get an update on my vacation.  There will be pictures though, just be patient!

Sunday Funday! Bumming Around and a Hike!

Today I slept until 11:47...and for those of you who don’t know me, I don’t think I’ve EVER slept that long in my life.   I am such a morning person it’s ridiculous.  I didn’t go to bed last night until 2:30 (only because my internet stopped working) because I know I would be bored in the morning because there is nothing to do on Sundays and no one from home is awake yet.

After a morning of bumming around and cleaning a little bit, I got ready for a HIKE!  The German teacher at the middle school named Nicole invited me to go on a hike with her on Thursday.  She isn’t even my teacher but she befriended me and she is so generous and welcoming.  I think she realized how hard it is for me to be in Bellac with nothing to do.  I am very thankful for her.

We went on a 10km walk (6.2 miles!!) in the country side.  It was very pretty and peaceful.  My legs are now a little tired but it wasn’t too difficult.  Some uphill but not too bad!  Nicole’s son, daughter, and husband came with us.  I spoke with Nicole pretty much the whole trip and it was great to speak French so much.  It is very easy to talk to her because she makes me feel very comfortable.  I think I am going to start asking around to see if there is a conversation group or something I can join to speak French more often.  I know they offer French courses but I don’t need courses really (they are expensive I heard!), I just want to be able to speak French more often otherwise my French won’t improve like I want it to!  And seeing as that is the reason that I am here, I better get moving!

Here are some pictures from the hike today…enjoy!

Toussaint AKA Vacation #1!!!

Vacation is here!   I’ve only worked two weeks (and still haven’t met all of my students) and now it’s time for a two week paid vacation.  Bienvenue en France (Welcome to France). 

Friday, my first day of vacation, I went to Limoges for “Le frairie des petits ventres” AKA “the Merrymaking of little stomachs” AKA a sausage festival.  I hitched a ride with the Austrian assistant to Limoges and then hung out with some other friends and spent the night.  I had a great time and the girl who let me crash on her floor (Adrienne) was the best host ever.  So welcoming and hospitable!  When we got to the Sausage Fest there were tons of people…so many people that I felt borderline uncomfortable.  But, I pushed through the crowd and decided to eat a sausage…even though I knew that this sausage was made up of intestines and gross things that people should never eat.  I ate about 2/3’s of it and then gave it one more look, and just couldn’t finish it.  I was thoroughly disgusted and wanted to throw up.  BUT I can at least say that I ate the most disgusting sausage in the world.  Ugh, the meat wasn’t grinded up finely and I could see different textures and colors of the meat inside the casing.  That’s what got to me…the textures and nastiness. 

After this we went to a couple bars for some drinks and went home.  The bars were ok, but I’m starting to realize that I am almost “over” the whole bar scene and going out.  Or maybe it’s because it’s not going out with “good friends” more or less acquaintances.  Maybe that will change though…it just takes time! 

We then went to meet an older woman at a café that they met at a conversation group.  It was going to be a language exchange…30 minutes French and 30 minutes English.  Apparently, the woman thought that it was only going to be two people and was not happy when there were four of us who showed up.  Apparently the intentions of the meeting were not clear.  Regardless, we spoke there for a couple hours until it was time for me to take the train back.

When I got back to Bellac, I bought a Kebab (only my favorite thing ever…only my 2^nd one if France in a month…not bad if you ask me).  I  then went back to my room and took care of a lot of things that I’ve been wanting to do for a while (watch the newest episode of grey’s and private practice, send emails to a few people, clean my room, look up plane tickets from Venice-Paris, etc).  It was quite a successful and productive night!

***I forgot the most important part!  When I got to the train station I bought tickets to go to Madrid to visit a friends named Carly from college who is doing her Masters there!  It was a tad bit expensive (and the train takes 12 hours on the way there and 15 on the way back with a few short layovers of course).  This is the best time for me to go though because my other two vacations I will have people visiting me (Jordan, or my mom and Danielle).  Carly also has a four day weekend so it works perfect! I’ll stay 5 days and then I have two days of travel…and then my vacation is pretty much over!  I can’t wait to go, I am so excited to have a guide to show me around the city and to meet up with a friend from home!  You don’t realize how much you take friends for granted until you don’t have them around you anymore.   I will make sure I take tons of pictures and update my blog about my travels.  And of course to tell you how bad being in a train for 12 hours SUCKS! 

The Evil Laundry Lady

I did laundry for the first time in about a month. YES, I am not living in the Middle Ages anymore and I don’t have to wash my underwear by hand!  Major accomplishment!  But now, here is my “entertaining” or some kind of story about my first laundry experience here.  I will just add that in Avignon I never did my own laundry, Annick always did it for me and it was awesome. 

Here I go…so originally 3 weeks ago my teacher asked the laundry lady if I was allowed to do laundry and she said no.  Basically she was a jerk from the start but I sort of accepted it and said whatever. 

Last week Jose asked Manuella, the woman who is in charge of the boarding school, if we were allowed to do our laundry.  Surprisingly, she said yes but just said just give her a day to talk to the laundry lady.  So, I went back the next day and asked if everything was all set and she said not quite and that the principal had to speak with the laundry lady.  She also explained to me that it is not HER washing machine and that it’s not HER choice if we can use them or not.  So I figured out that there was some type of issue and (correctly) assumed that the laundry lady didn’t want us to use the machines.

The following day Jose spoke to Manuella and said that the principal spoke with the laundry lady but also said that the first time we do laundry that we should tell her (Manuella) and she can teach us.

Of course, Wednesday, the lady when we both want to do laundry, Manuella isn’t there because it’s her day off!  Jose and I decided to do our laundry without Manuella and approach the laundry lady ourselves and ask for a quick lesson.

Jose and I went to the laundry lady and of course Jose politely says “after you” as we walk into the laundry lady’s room.  In other words, he fed me to the wolves and made me do the speaking to the evil laundry lady.  I politely said Hello (saying hello is very important in France, you say hello to the employees every time you enter a store or else you’re rude!!) and asked if we could do our laundry today.  She “kindly” (NOT) told us that she never agreed to this and if it were up to her we wouldn’t be allowed to use them because they are “professional” machines.  (Key Note: French washers are normally half the size of American washers, when she says they are professional washers, she means that they are actually NORMAL American sized washers!).  She then proceeded to ask us who gave us authorization to use the machines and Jose answered Manuella and the principal.  Then she asked Jose “well how did you do your laundry last year (in quite the condescending tone) and Jose politely answered that he didn’t live at the boarding school last year.  I then asked if she could show us how the machines worked real quick and she rudely stated that we should go ask the people who gave us permission to use the machines and that the machines are in the other room.  We said “ok” and figured out the machines ourselves.  What a BITCH!  She then proceeded to mumble underneath her breath that if we break the machines she is going to go tell some higher-up person…blah blah blah.  If you ask me, if she was truly worried about them breaking rather than being a cold-hearted bitch (pardon my French…get it?), she would have told us what settings to use!

Of course there were two different kinds of washers and two different dryers and my washer took about 30 minutes longer than the one Jose chose.  My clothes were still soaked and I decided to change washing machines and after changing all my clothes over I decided it was a bad idea because there was still water sitting in my machine.  Don’t worry eventually found the “spin” cycle (luckily Jose knew that word because I sure didn’t)!  The dryer also took me at last an hour (probably more) to dry my clothes!  Maybe I used the wrong setting? 

After two hours plus of doing one load of laundry, my laundry was complete and now I have clean clothes. AMEN it’s about time!  After that I felt like I just won a marathon or something, simple things become huge accomplishments when you are in a foreign country!

Posting Pictures and Videos!!

I just found out how to post pictures and videos!  It's about time!  Here is a video that EVERYONE needs to watch.  Pictures don't do the Eiffel Tower justice...but this video gives it a little more justice.  But personally, I think everyone should go see it in person.  Or maybe I am crazy but this was breathtaking!

Chateauroux, Teaching, Vacation, and a Making Friends at its Sketchiest

So I have officially decided that I am not very good at writing a blog. I am not disciplined in the least. I read my friend Anna’s blog who is in London now every day (she actually posts every day) and I love it! If feels like I am in London with her. And then there’s me…who is lucky if I write one post a week. I need to get better at this. I tell myself everyday “oh, I should blog” and then Facebook distracts me and I waste my life away.

Ok, so I guess I should skim my last post to see what I wrote about…

So now that I skimmed my blog and read my friend Anna’s latest post, I can fill you in on the past week. Or at least from what I remember.

Last Friday (6 days ago), I went to visit my friend Chelsea in Chateauroux. This is the Chelsea that I met in Avignon, France two years ago who just so happens to be from Hamburg, New York! She is living with a host family and teaching English but with a different program. I had a great time. We went to the movies and saw the movies “Drive” and “Sex List,” both of which were in French. And we understand the vast majority of it, although we both missed one part to Drive, but it wasn’t really important. It was really fun going to the movies and being able to relax (even though we constantly had to translate). It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be though. OH and what makes this even better is that her host dad owns the movie theatre so we didn’t have to pay!! SCORE!! We also did some shopping in Chateauroux. My goal for the weekend was to find a belt (because my jeans were dirty and stretched out because I didn’t have permission to use the washer at school) and a winter coat. AND check, I found both. I bought a 6 euro belt and a 60 euro coat. I love my new coat. It is a dark tan/light brown, long, down, sexy, slimming coat. It was a little more than I wanted to pay but it’s a coat and you can’t get them for much cheaper! Her host family was super nice. There was a mom, dad, and three daughters. The whole family was very welcoming and hospitable. They even invited me to come back and stay another weekend with them whenever I want to! The weekend left me jealous that there was actually things to do in her town and jealous of her host family. It was so nice to be around people and to be speaking French!

Teaching this week has gone well…I just have two more classes left for the week and then I am on vacation for the next two weeks! The bad part is that I really don’t have any plans yet. I wanted to go to Madrid but it ended up being too expensive because I am a last minute Lucy and didn’t book early enough ahead. Tomorrow I am going to Limoges and am hopefully going to spend the night (even though I don’t have a place to crash yet, I am working on it though). I was also invited to go on a hike or go swimming with the German teacher from the middle school and was invited to spend a few nights at one of my teacher’s houses near Limoges. People feel bad for me. It’s pathetic but I am thankful. I also may tag along with some friends to go see some medieval town (that doesn’t have cars) in the area. But I would be just that…someone who “tags along.” I don’t want to be annoying and intrude but I don’t want to be bored stiff either. We will see, everything will work out, I know it!

Yesterday I met up with a French girl who found me on Facebook. It very sort of random but seeing as I don’t really have friends (especially French friends), I didn’t have anything to lose. She was very nice and showed me a couple of pretty places in the area and then we went to her house and had tea and I met her parents. We then went to visit her horse and the horse really seemed to like me. Maybe I will get to ride it soon? The horse is very friendly and loved getting attention. So I guess we can say that I made two friends! She also invited me to go on a short trip with her on November 11th with her and a friend to the Atlantic coast. It’s not too far and it is going to be a cheap trip! Woohoo, one more weekend that I don’t have to make plans for! Overall, it was totally worth it to put myself out there and meet someone that found me on Facebook.

I think that is all for now, I hope you enjoyed all of my updates…and I will try and be better about updating more often!

Catching Up Once Again. Limoges, Teaching, and a Great Day

A Weekend in Limoges!

So I have been slacking and not keeping up with my blog. I really do like to write but I haven’t made time for it (I don’t know what I have been doing instead)! So here I go…

Last weekend was awesome (not Friday so much seeing as I did nothing), but Saturday I went to Limoges and spent the night at another assistant’s apartment that I RUDELY invited myself to spend the night. She was gracious enough to let me stay, and even reassured me that it wasn’t rude and “ya gotta do what ya gotta do” when you are in a foreign country without friends! I had a great time in Limoges. We met up with a bunch of other assistants (American, Irish, British, Mexican, Spanish, Austrian, etc.) and had a party for one of the Spanish assistant’s birthdays. I met a bunch of new people and by the end of the night I was invited to come back and stay with about 5 other people. Woohoo, now I have multiple places I can crash at on the weekend and don’t have to constantly bug the same person! They all felt bad for me…the American girl living in a small ass town with no car! But oh well, they were all so nice and told me to contact them whenever to spend the weekend there!
Saturday night we had a party at the birthday boy’s (and 2 roommates) place then went to a few bars/clubs. I didn’t get to sleep until 4:30 or 5 in the morning. FYI that is super abnormal for me!!! All in all, I had a great weekend and my options for the weekends are increasing. GO ME.

Teaching in France

This week I also started teaching. It’s not too bad, a little disorganized at the moment (a few of my classes were cancelled because the teacher forgot to tell her students and some students thought they had a class but they really didn’t). Also my class had 32 students yesterday…and I am not supposed to have more than 16 at a time! It is a really good thing that I went to school to be a teacher and knew how to handle that many students. Don’t get me wrong, the students were chatty and a little misbehaved but it wasn’t too long. Another slight issue I had was that in one class we were in a big classroom with about 40 desks and only about 16 students. They all sat in the middle to back on the room! When I told them to move and that no students were to sit behind a certain row, NOBODY moved! I had to get a little “big” with them to make them move. It was very disrespectful and I got annoyed (not going to lie) when they just sat there and looked at me when I was standing right in front on them telling them to move. I didn’t stutter…and I’m pretty sure that it something called INSUBORDINATION. Oh France. And they were all French girls, go figure. But on a more positive note, I have had a couple classes that went very well and that the students really liked to participate. BUT in the majority of my classes there are a few students who will not SHUTUP and are so chatty! And it’s funny because it is the boys that are the chatty ones! Another positive note is that I really like the middle schoolers. In the middle school I stay in the classroom with the teacher which is nice seeing as there is still a teacher in the classroom! They are so interested and actually think it is “cool” to have an American in the classroom. For the majority of them, I am the first American that they have ever met. Even though their French is super weak, at least they try to speak and are interested. Who knew that I would actually like middle schoolers?! I previously thought they were all annoying…guess I was wrong!
Now I am caught up to today. Woohoo!

So today was a great day. This morning I was super sleepy but when I went to the teacher’s lounge I had a package waiting for me from Jordan’s mother with some Halloween candy and a very cute book mark saying “the world is a book, and for those who don’t travel real only one page.” I personally think that is so true. I have such a greater appreciation for other cultures ever since I studied abroad. I am who I am because of my first trip to France. France really helped me figure out who I am and who I wanted to be and I am so thankful that I am privileged enough to be able to travel to a foreign country. I am not saying it is easy (because it is so not), but it is an adventure and a never-ending challenge!

Ok so after I got my package, I had a class this morning that went ok (not terrible but not perfect). Then I went back to my bedroom and took a nap and watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy online! I just found a site where I can watch American TV and movies yesterday and I already have caught up (4 episodes) in Grey’s Anatomy. I love the internet.

Around noon the Spanish assistant knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to get a coffee with the English teaching assistant from last year who is an older Welch lady. I went out for a coffee (AKA a Coke for me) and spoke with Jose and JoAnne the previous teaching assistant. She is a lively woman and was very insightful. She lives in France and she has done the teaching assistant program for 3 years now. Basically she is a pro! After the “coffee” she offered to take me back to her place to show me some of her lesson plans and at her house we ate lunch and talked for a while. She is so awesome and so hospitable! I really appreciated her company. We then went for a little drive around the countryside and she showed me around a neighboring town. She told me not to hesitate to call her and that I am more than welcomed to come back and spend a weekend there. That was the type of hospitality that I have been missing since I got here. What an awesome lady! I will definitely take her up on her offer sometime, it was so refreshing to talk to her in English!

So that was my great day. Sorry my post is so long but I hope I didn’t bore you too much!

Yet another Emotional Roller Coaster

So I go between stages of being 100% pessismistic (WAH, I have no friends) to 100% optimistic (WOOHOO, I am in France and living my dream).

It is now Friday night and I did absolutely nothing. I stayed in by myself and skyped home. Karina is at her house doing something and Jose (not Rose like I thought) is with one of his friends from last year. Leaving me, the american girl without a car or friends to fend for myself. Don't worry though, I survived my night seeing as its 11:32 and I am still awake.

Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow I am going out with some acquaintances (maybe I can call them friends by tomorrow?). And I invited myself over to spend the night (extremely impolite and I already apologized to her for that) but when you're in a foreign country with few friends and living in a MICROSCOPIC village, desparate times call for desparate measures. And this was mine. She was super nice and said don't worry, it's not impolite, you are more than welcome...blah blah blah. I am lucky that us Americans stick together in times like this. I will let you know how the night goes on Sunday when I come back! Should be exciting. We are celebrating a Spanish assistants birthday...should be fun. On verra (We shall see)!

Ok it is officially bed time for me. Goodnight and I will let you know how the weekend pans out. Hopefully be Sunday I can say that I made some new friends!

A Day of Mixed Emotions

So today was an interesting because my emotions were all over the place. Was worried to super happy, to stressed and then ended the night content with my life and my boyfriend. Let me just say...I have been freaking out at least once a week (usually more) and he has been my rock when I am freaking out. He constantly reminds me that is just the beginning and that everything will be ok. Even if I get annoyed at him when he tells me that, he has this soothing way of making me feel better and calming me down. And I love him so much for being there for me even when I am the one who walked away from him in the first place and decided to come here!

Ok, so enough of the mooshy gooshy stuff. The reason why today was hard was that I thought out last night that the German teaching assistant Karina moved out and found an apartment. While this is great news for me and I knew she was looking for a new place to live (I would be too if I was 27, financially stable, had a car, and had to live with the students instead of my room secluded from the students), I was almost hoping she wouldn't ever find a place! How mean of me. Regardless, the reason why this is hard is because Karina and I were exploring everything together while Rose the spanish teaching assistant is already a pro because its his second year doing this. He already has friends, a family near Bellac that basically adopted him into their family and all in all he knows what he is doing. While that is great, he is often busy with other people/friends leaving me bored and alone here at the boarding school. I am sure it will be easier tough when I start teaching next week and I am busy planning and such! I just need to give it a chance. It's just hard when this afternoon I sat in my room waiting for Jordan to get out of class and occupied myself by searching on the web and taking a nap. How fun. Haha.

Overall, my day went ok. Not stellar, not terrible. I also introduced myself to 4 classes this morning and the students seem nice, but just at a very low lovel. I then met with a teacher at the middle school and my schedule is set in place now. Still with Fridays off and Monday morning free. A pretty awesome perk except the rest of my hours are sort of weird. I'm sure being the over-achiever that I am it will take me a while to plan lessons though!

The middle school teacher Laetitia was nice but not very good at making conversation. We talked a little bit and asked the basics and tried to engage in conversation but it was really hard. I try to be outgoing but I am can be so outgoing in my second language...if she would have spoken to me in English it would have been different, and seeing as she is an English teacher that would have been nice of her. One thing I will say is that she is very pretty and is fashionable. I am sure classes will be fine, it was just a little awkward. Maybe it will be beter next week when I start teaching!

Ok, its almost midnight now and I suppose I should go to bed. Bonne nuit mes amis!

The Weekend and Orientation Day!

Ok, so you can obviously tell that I’ve gotten busier (and made friends WOOHOO) since last week seeing as I’m not writing as much. I had a great weekend and was pretty busy! Friday I went with the other two language assistants Rosé and Karina to Limoges and started to get used to the city a little bit. I saw some the major things (movie theatre, church, bars, tourism office, the “mall,” etc). Saturday I went to a beach and got a little bit of a tan. The lake we were at was beautiful, and it felt like summer! It’s been between 75 and 80 the whole time I have been here but it’s going down to 65 soon. Regardless, it’s still beautiful weather. After the beach we went into Limoges again and went to a café where I had a lovely dinner. It was super gourmet and super French. Ice cream obviously!! I also had a drink and mostly we just sat there and talked with some other people Karina (the German assistant who is really Austrian) knew. It went well and we spoke only French. I have been speaking French a lot, and it’s awesome and I am sure it will really help me! Can’t wait to see what my French will be like at the end of 7 months! And that’s the real reason I am here. It was then getting late (11:30) and we still have a 45 minute drive home so we said goodbye and walked to the car WHEN the car decided to not work. And of course, it’s Europe so there were prostitutes in the parking lot. AWESOME. So I went up to about 5 different men in cars and asked for the “things that connect cars together because the car doesn’t work and I think it’s the battery.” Of course I never learned the work for jumper cables, but you know what, even though I sounded like an idiot, everyone knew exactly what I meant! No one had them but after talking to some other men who kindly helped us, we pushed the car and it started…so by 1AM we were finally home safe. And boy did we sleep well! In France, if you didn’t already know, NOTHING is open. It is truly the day of rest which is awesome for France, but hard for Americans to accept this idea, it just takes time to get used to it. I talked on Skype for a while and caught up with a friend who is in Madrid, Spain right now, talked to my parents, and the boyfriend. By that time I was sick of talking so Karina and I went for a walk and went to a café and did like the French…just sat, had a drink, relaxed, and talked about anything and everything. It is so nice to finally have someone to talk to and do things with! And that was my weekend.

Now to today, Monday. Today I had orientation with all of the language assistants (German, English, and Spanish). I met tons of people and made some friends…now this is awesome because of weekends there is truly nothing to do here and now I have places to go and visit and people I can do things with! I got a lot of ideas for lessons I can teach and learned more about the French school system. And of course filled out some paperwork. After the orientation, I bought some things for my room at the 2 euro store and then went to a café again with other assistants and pretended like I was French once again. When in France, act like the French! Right? That’s how I really can learn the culture! That’s what I tell myself at least. Eventually we left there and ate some dinner and then came back. I had a great day, spoke tons of French, met new people, and got motivated to start teaching. I am finally feeling good about my decision to come here, today definitely reassured me that this is what I needed to do before finding a “real” French teaching job. Ok it’s after midnight now and it’s past my bed time. Bonne nuit tout le monde (Good night everyone)!