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)!
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