This is Nantes really happening, right?

I have somehow managed to fit my entire French life in two 50lbs bags, and one extremely heavy “dear God I hope they don’t weigh this” carry-on. Our goodbyes have been long and drawn out- starting with the German assistant in March at the end of her contract, the departure of another of “les filles”, our English friend on Tuesday morning, and finally myself tomorrow. Both the Spanish assistant and the other English assistant have extended their work contracts until at least the end of May. 

It’s unreal, and it makes my heart hurt, to think that this is really coming to a close. This has been an incredible opportunity that has helped me grow professionally, develop my French language skills, and further piqued my interest in the world and all the wonderful things it has to offer us. I did all the things you do when you first move out on your own and a few more- figured out health insurance, transportation, internet, cell phone, set up a bank account,  housing assistance, immigration, doctor’s visits… and I did it all in a foreign language. A foreign language I will miss dearly… it seems so odd to know that in just a days time I won’t be hearing, or speaking, or joking in French with anyone. I had some wonderful vacations with my family, a dear friend, and my fiancé… having spent time in 9 countries in the past 8 months (if you count France and the United States). I’ve made good friends with people who, had I not studied French, I would never have been able to communicate with and know and love like I do now.

While France and America are both western countries, I’m anticipating a bit of a reverse culture shock. Living here, I understand how and why expats are drawn to life in foreign countries. There are times when being an American here has been a little embarrassing… the time Rush Limbaugh called girls who use birth control sluts, the fact that America is even debating the issue of women’s reproductive rights, Gingrich’s campaign ad criticizing Romney’s ability to speak French, the moment Congress declared the limited amount of tomato sauce in pizza a serving of vegetables for school cafeterias… 

There are a lot of things I have come to strongly identify with concerning French life and culture. I love that for at least a short amount of time I got to live in a country that believes in…

• Access to health care as a basic human right
• Affordable access to education… everyone in the country does not finish their studies with thousands of dollars of debt.
• Buying locally from markets and small bakeries, developing a relationship with the people who are growing and selling one of our greatest necessities,
•  Raising cattle and poultry without the use of hormones or antibiotics
• Proper, well balanced school lunches
• Sundays truly as a day of rest. Without the option of grocery shopping or running errands (as everything is closed), it’s hard to feel guilty about sleeping in and spending the entire day perhaps doing nothing but being with your friends and family.  
• Butter. Sometimes I cringe when I think about what the little old French ladies who buy their butter fresh from the cheese woman at the market would think about our “I can’t believe it’s not butter” substitutes.
• 4+ hour dinner parties, different wines specially chosen for each course, and an entire course devoted to Cheese. 
• Paying a teeny small fee for a plastic bag at the grocery store. After forgetting my reusable grocery bags and paying 15centiemes maybe 3x, I got used to the idea of always taking my own reusable bag. So does everyone else. Save. The. Planet. 
• Reliable public transportation and bike paths. I lived for 8 months here without a car. I can’t imagine doing that in America. It would just be too inconvenient and too difficult.
• Les bises. I have come to expect, and to love, the double kiss on the cheek.
• Teaching foreign languages starting in primary schools. Language learning is so so important…

I am of course looking forward to coming home. I can’t wait to see le boy, my new house and be a normal, not long distance and 6 hour time difference, engaged couple… planning our wedding, showing off my ring, and generally just being together. I know that my Dad will make one of his famous brunches on Sunday. I’ll spend a significant amount of time the following week with my dog and my mom, sitting on the front porch with glasses of wine. I get to see my constantly growing up too fast niece and nephews, and I get to meet my new niece Gia who was born the week after I left. I look forward to eating what is always a delicious meal at the DeLiberato’s house, and spending an evening relaxing and catching up. I hope to sit around a bonfire with my siblings and a few beers. I get to hug all my aunts and grandma who spoiled me with cards and packages while I was here. And visit with all my wonderful friends of course. There is so much to look forward to.

La Cigale, Nantes, France

But for the moment, I’m spending my last few French moments with our little family here. I so appreciate the opportunity to get to know people from all over Europe and I truly loved being the only American in our little group of friends. Of course we are all so much more than our respective countries’ stereotypes…but I still learned organization and planning skills from the German, the value of a good siesta and the importance of staying out until 6am dancing from time to time from our Spanish friend, countless new vocabulary words from my English friends who I am positive don’t really speak the same language as Americans, every gros-mot in the French language from driving with my French friends… 

Merci  à tous. J’ai des trop bons souvenirs de ma vie ici à cause de vous. Il restera toujours un grand morceau de mon cœur à Nantes. Bisous Bisous

Les temps passent si vite

How fast the time has gone since the April vacations and my last blog post! I’ve tried to profiter bien of my final two weeks in Nantes, spending a significant amount of time hanging out with friends, or alone tacking off all the things I felt I needed to do before I moved from the city. 

Having ended work about a week and a half  before my departure date, I had to say goodbye to all the teachers that have given me rides to school, the English staff, my class of teachers, and of course all my students first. I baked about 200 peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies in my small toaster oven all week. My final teachers class took me out to lunch at our normal class time, and then to one of the teachers’ houses when the expresso given at the restaurant at the end of the meal just wasn’t strong enough to get us through the rest of the working day. I spent an evening at my reference teacher’s house, the same house I spent time at before I was able to move into my foyer… things come full circle. We naturally had a 4hour dinner complete with champagne, mussels for the appetizer, beef/potatoes/veggies, and a crumble dessert made from locally grown strawberries. 

In true French high school fashion, my last class of the year just didn’t show up. I wasn’t surprised… It was odd that I worked one full week and one Monday after the April  vacations. Knowing that it was my last week with all the other classes I think they just thought I wouldn’t be there the following Monday. Except I was. And I took the bus all that way just to clean out my little cubbie and give the cookies meant for the students out to anyone on the staff who didn’t get them the week before. 

Clisson, France

I visited the chateau again to dit au revoir, and to check out the museum there. If you want to know anything about Nantes the Chateau Museum is where to go. You could spend at least half the day learning about Nantes as a port city, Nantes’ huge role in the triangular trade and slavery, Nantes during the wars… I probably should have visited at the beginning of my time here, but better late then never. 

 

Short, solo day trip to Clisson. A pretty little city about a 10 minute train ride away, Clisson is nice to visit for about 3 hours. It’s a pretty sleepy little place but the chateau ruins are neat and they have some beautiful gardens. I ventured there alone and simply walked around, ate a picnic, and read a bit outside in the grass by the chateau. Honestly my morning in Nantes visiting the new baby goats at the Jardin de Plantes near the train station was more thrilling. But it’s always nice to get out of town and see what else the area has to offer.

 Spanish soirée at the foyer, complete with delicious paella, sangria, tapas and salsa dancing. It was one of those nights that was just so good, with good food and good company, that it made me sad to think that those nights here are limited. 

 

8 Mai Market. I visited my lovely local market, the one that makes my heart so happy, for final picnic supplies shopping. I ordered my tranche de mizotte cheese and a moldy goats cheese like a pro from my standard cheese lady. I didn’t have to think too hard about how many grams of prawns I wanted for my dinner that night. I splurged and bought a giant brioche. I will truly miss the market culture that seems to thrive in France. 

My haul from my final visit to the market

 

Strasbourg with the Assistants. My little group of friends originally consisted of 2 English, 1 German, 1 Spanish and myself (which then grew to include the French and another Spanish girl). This small original group, sans the German, decided to spend our last weekend adventuring together to Strasbourg, a city on the German border that historically has been both German and French territory. Our journey began far too early with a 7am train. We stamped our tickets and sleepily climbed aboard only to find 4 people sitting in what were our assigned seats. This happens from time to time and we decided to take the group of 4 seats across the aisle from them, until someone came to claim those seats, and we had to confront the people sitting in ours. The interaction went a little like this…

“Excuse me, but you are in our seats”

“Mais non! These are our seats”

“No. Look at our tickets. You are sitting in our seats”

*they give each other some smug looks, do not take out their own tickets, and do not move from our seats

*my friend happens to see one of their tickets and exclaims

“Excuse me, but those tickets are for yesterday’s train. You are indeed sitting in our seats”

“This must be some kind of confusion. We bought tickets for this train today.” “First come first serve”

*They don’t move from our seats, people whose seats we are sitting in awkwardly hover around until they realize we're not moving and then go to sit in someone else's seats.

It’s wonderful to speak both languages in this kind of situation. They heard our accents and thought we couldn’t understand them… uhm yes sir we can hear you, and no, these are reserved seats, so they are not first come first serve. And now we are going to talk about you as much as we want in our own language because you have no idea what we’re saying about you. Unfortunately my friend didn't get to use his prepared "Avec respect Monsieur!" phrase that he had prepared for what we thought would be an inevitable heated debate. The conductor eventually came and made them move from our seats, after some of the other clients rallied with us because they wanted us to move from their own seats.

Tired and in a silly mood, my two friends were reading in French with a dictionary between them to look up unknown vocabulary words. We had a few discussions about some of the words, and were enlightened by a French woman listening in on our conversation. Indeed the word cleavage in French does not mean the same thing as in English…

At this point my friend said “We can only ever be two things here: a novelty, or something that pisses people off. In the last ½ hour we have managed to be both.” That about sums up the train ride. 

Strasbourg is lovely. Really lovely. There are loads of half-timbered houses, cute cafés to grab an expresso (which we had to do often), a river boat cruise, the European Parliament Building, a massive cathedral with a tower you can climb, and German/French food .Some of my favorite foods being the choucroute (sauerkraut) with German sausages I had one night for dinner, loads of gingerbread, and some spaetzle. We also some WILD STORKS. Neat huh.

 

I had the great luck of being in France for the presidential election, which just so happened to pass on our final night in Strasbourg. While walking to dinner we heard the roar of a crowd and entered a large square to see people gathered around a small tower in the middle, dancing and waving flags to celebrate the election of France’s first socialist president in 30 years. We decided then and there to stay and find somewhere to eat within the square in order to enjoy this fun atmosphere… while we were waiting to order the thumping of bass and a large car/truck with balloons rolled up to the tunes of “le changement” which was happily greeted by the crowd in the square. The truck stayed there until about 11:30pm, where the crowd of people danced and sang along, waved their flags, climbed up onto the small tower (at one point we saw a man in just his underwear dancing up there). We of course joined this dance party after dinner. Hands down one of the neatest things I have experienced while living here… a spontaneous street party, complete with a conga line and air horns, to celebrate a presidential election. 

The following morning we had another early train ride home, the last time I was to be “coming home” to my home in Nantes.

What’s more sparkly than all the Christmas Lights in Nantes, The Twinkling Eiffel Tower, and the Spanish Sunshine?

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but that’s not because I’ve had nothing to update about. It’s been an eventful couple of weeks… Foyer Christmas celebrations, Joseph’s visit, our vacation to Spain, and our engagement! 

 So grab half a baguette to snack on and a glass (or maybe a bottle) of your favorite wine, and read on. This may will take awhile. 

I considered smoking a cigarette in this, just to fulfill all the stereotypes

I’ll start by wishing you all a Joyeux Noël, a Feliz Navidad, a Merry Christmas! I hope your holiday was as beautiful as mine was. Cheers to the upcoming New Year! I apologize if you didn’t get this in your mailbox, or your email inbox, (as things were a little hectic) but I wish you all the best for the holiday season…

I know. You’re dying to hear engagement details. But let’s go through things chronologically and start with Foyer Christmas Celebrations.

My friends and I did our best to get into the Christmas spirit in this foreign environment, away from our own country and family traditions. School had a great Christmas lunch; the sea-scallops and the wine were delicious and a little fancier than what the cafeteria usually serves up. I spent a night making and decorating Christmas Cookies and watching Elf with other Americans… a far cry from the 8 hour day my mom, sister, aunt and I usually devote to this task, but a nice little piece of home-like Christmas preparations all the same. My good friends here did a small gift exchange with a 5-10 euro limit… this is what I received. A witty mug and a bank… giant, gold, and slightly obnoxious… it suits me. How these friends of mine have come to know me so well within such a short time is a little wild. 

Our Foyer also had a Christmas Party, with a huge spread of food and WINE, going against its own no-alcohol in the building policy (although whenever I make the trek to recycle my glass, suspiciously clanking through the lobby, no one ever says anything). Pere Noel was there, made out of a stool, a mannequin head, and a Santa suit. The whole event was loads of fun, but also a little confusing, as we weren’t sure if all the food first laid on the table (appetizers) was all the food we would get… it was not an easy decision when exactly to stop returning for seconds/thirds etc, and was the topic of more than one whispered conversation amongst the foreigners. There was also a band, not your typical holiday music, but reggae type music instead. I’m not sure why the French love this style of music so much, and whether any of the band members have any idea what they are singing about in English, but I’ve danced to more reggae music here than anywhere else in my life. 

Joseph arrived on a Friday, despite a hurricane-like storm that hit the French coast and cancelled all flights and trains the night before and the morning of. I have never been so addicted to the computer, constantly refreshing flight statuses. He had his own travel drama that involved sprinting through JFK as he was accidently in the wrong part of the airport relaxing and watching some football game… but all was well and he made it. Stephanie 1, Sports 0. 

I won’t go into too much detail here, because my approximate 7 readers consisting of: my mother, my aunts, my sister in law, my mine as well be mother Kelly, and some of my best friends, already know how we got engaged.

If you are a mystery reader who doesn’t comment on the blog, I will tell you that we got engaged in a quiet local Creperie in downtown Nantes, in an old pedestrian-only part of the city with tiny winding streets near the castle, over a pitcher of wine and a delicious regionally-traditional meal. It was absolutely perfect. We are so excited. 

I of course had no idea. When I questioned the boxy square size of his travel man-bag, and why he was even bringing it out with him to dinner in Nantes when he could leave it in my apartment, I accepted his answer that both his phones were in there, and he just wanted to have everything with him. 

I am also very thankful that we didn’t go to the pizza place I suggested as a quick and easy meal, knowing how tired Joe must have been from traveling. (As delicious as it is, it just doesn’t have the same ambiance).

That night was spent calling our immediate families and packing for Paris. I am so thankful to our families for keeping things quiet and off the social media network, because coming back home to Nantes and calling our dear friends, sending emails to those we couldn’t reach, and telling everyone ourselves was too much fun to miss out on. 

So we started our second European vacation as an engaged couple. It was actually pretty nice to be away from everything… cell phones, constant internet access, and instead just take a week to focus on us, with no outside interruption. 

Our trip began a little crazily, as we left for the train station in Nantes at about 5:30 am… making the 10 minute walk to my tram stop with our luggage before I realized I didn’t have my passport with me. It’s not something I carry around for my every day living here, and in my defense my mind was a little preoccupied by the giant sparkle sitting on my left hand. We made our train with 5 minutes to spare. 

Our vacation began with a day in Paris-  Joseph and I have already been to Paris, having spent a few days there summer 2010, so we weren’t on a strict itinerary to see and do a million things. We went ice skating by City Hall, visited the Christmas market at the Eiffel Tower, saw the Christmas tree at Notre Dame, put a lock on a Parisian bridge, and visited the Champs Elysees to see Paris’ most famous street all lit up for the holiday. Quite a relaxing start to our vacation… until jet-lag kicked in and Joseph spent most of the night watching Lord of the Rings in French while I peacefully slept.

I have wanted to visit Spain for some time now, I really felt like it was one of those places I had to visit while I was young. Spain was delightful. The food, the drinks, the colors, the sunshine… really lovely.

One of my biggest surprises concerning Spain was its aversion to speaking English. As a language person, and a fairly experienced traveler, I like to think that I can get myself around fairly well in a foreign environment, and that I tend to respect the language and cultural barriers that travel brings. However, knowing we were visiting two large cities, Madrid and Barcelona, I was expecting little to no difficulty communicating despite my lack of Spanish. 

Had it not been for Joseph and his high school + 1 UD semester of Spanish, I'm not sure I would have known what most of the menu said, would not have been able to order my coffee at breakfast, ask for directions etc. I was quite impressed with his Spanish skills!  

We're not married yet... but he already knows coffee is the necessary start to my day, even if he has to order in Spanish

I am American. I am a King/Queen of the world. Speak my language.

 Most of Europe has truly embraced the dominance of English- sometimes in large cities in France I will speak French and because of my accent the response will come in English. My Spanish friend here mentioned that she thinks that the Spanish, including herself, have a “block” when it comes to speaking English. She took classes in school, even at the university level, but the only time I have heard her try to really communicate in English was when she met Joe in our foyer. After a beer or two she once asked me why Americans think they are the kings of the world and that everyone should speak our language- ironically we were with an English friend who was not blamed for his native language’s dominance in world culture. The world has an interesting opinion of us… and I can only hope that I do not fulfill every American stereotype out there. I’m not saying that Spain’s aversion to using English is a good or a bad thing- it’s not like America goes out of our way to learn world languages to welcome people to our country and make their travels easier- I’m just commenting on my surprise in finding that even in the large cities language truly was a barrier.  

As far as our other opinions of Spain, Joseph preferred Madrid and I preferred Barcelona… although both were wonderful. In Madrid we went to a soccer game- a huge part of European culture that I would have missed out on had it not been for Joseph’s interest. It was so fun to be there, to see the waving scarves and hear the whistling boos when the hometeam did not perform as hoped. We acted as the locals, taking large lunches (usually involving wine), going home for an afternoon siesta, and eating dinner late, around 9 or 10pm. We drank a lot of sangria, ate a lot of paella, had a lot of ham or seafood tapas, tried churros con chocolate (delish). 

We also walked through the old medieval part of town, visited the Royal Palace (included a visit to the armory and the pharmacy), the Cathedral, and visited a bull-fighting themed bar, complete with taxidermy Bull Heads on the walls and graphic photos of gory bullfights. 

We like sportz and we don't care who knows

 

Barcelona brought on long walks on La Rambla (the most important of which was when we saw a bulldog), morning visits to the market for fresh fruit juices, more tapas and sangria late night, and a day dedicated to the architecture of Gaudi… something I’ve been wanting to see in person for years. I found a “Free”/pay what you think is appropriate at the end Gaudi tour… Joseph was a good sport and agreed to this… and we spent one of our mornings learning about the greatness of Antoni Gaudi’s works with 15 Asian tourists, some of which were studying accounting. Despite it taking a bit of time to get there, I think Park Guell was my favorite. I just really enjoyed the coloring and the mosaic works there. But Sagrada Familia was also completely overwhelmingly amazing. There are things I wish we would have had more time to see in Barcelona, and I wasn’t quite ready to leave when we did… but I tend to feel that way about a lot of Europe.

 

 Coming home to Nantes brought the fun of calling our good friends and giving them our engagement news. It was a special treat to call my college roommate in Morocco- I haven’t heard her voice in almost a year and I am so thankful we got to actually talk with her. Of course it was a little hard to understand her, as well as some of my other college roommates, over their excited high-pitched congratulations. Another favorite involved trying relentlessly to get a hold of my best friend from high school, finally calling her boyfriend who thankfully answered, and who she was with at the time. I demanded why she had not been answering her phone, she asked me what was wrong and if I was ok, and when I reassured her everything was fine she screamed “well then you’re engaged!” 

Looking like a native Frenchman

Our four days in Nantes were very relaxing…we did some city specific things like visit the castle and the machines gallery, but we also spent a lot of time going to the market, watching movies, playing bananagrams/cards/pingpong. Our Christmas this year was probably the most relaxing one we will ever have, as we had no where to go, and not much to do but skype our families, eat delicious food, and drink a little too much wine :)

I’m looking at a few lonely days here at the foyer, seeing as my good friends are European and not coming back to Nantes until work starts up after the New Year. The day Joseph left I did what any normal recently engaged girl would do in my situation… cried in bed for half the day, then decided to cook myself one of my favorite meals (duck Mmm), bought a bridal magazine, and attempted to make cookies in my toaster oven. The cookies could have been better, but they have mysteriously dwindled in number since yesterday nonetheless… 

Féliciations on making it to the end of this long long post. Did you figure out what was more sparkly than the Nantes Christmas lights, the Eiffel Tower, and the Spanish Sunshine?

My ring, duh.

Bises Bises,

Steph

Bus Drivers and Beauty Queens and Sea Monsters OH MY!

I hate to use every Sunday as a simple recap of my week in France for you all, but since I don’t get to talk to you nearly as much as I wish, this is the closest thing I get to a conversation with most of you. You should get Skype. But continue to read please. 

I also am usually procrastinating on lesson planning each Sunday and quite enjoy updating the blog.

 I’ve been teaching French and American stereotypes in two of my classes. One of my students tried to tell me that one stereotype is that French people are hospitable. Well kiddo, either you have your vocab mixed up or you really have no idea that Americans think French people are snooty and rude. (My explanation of “snooty” as a vocabulary word usually involves me walking around the room, trying my best to look important, with my nose in the air). When I told people I was moving to France, the reaction was usually some sort of wrinkled nose and a “but aren’t they mean to Americans?” 

Let me take this time to talk about my favorite group of French people I have met thus far, a group who completely refutes this stereotype… the night service bus drivers. I have taken the night bus 3x now, with two positive experiences and one average unremarkable experience. I guess if you are driving a bus late night, sometimes on the club route, you’ve gotta have a good sense of humor. You do not, apparently, need to understand different accents though…My first experience the bus driver got on his microphone to tell the “Italians” that the stop we wanted was coming up… this was after we awkwardly pushed the stop-demand button too soon and no one got off the bus. We then proceeded to shout out our 4 different nationalities on repeat, none of which are Italian, and with a final “Bonsoir!” the doors closed behind us. Good night indeed. The next experience was far quirkier, on our way home from Miss Nantes (which was a far quirkier experience, which I will of course get into later). As a bored bus driver with now 5 people to entertain him, we hear over the microphone… you have accents, where are you from? Again, proud shouts of 4 different nationalities, 5 if you count my English friend who joke-insisted he was Japanese… which sparked comments from the driver such as “The world is living in harmony!” “Peace!” “There is hope for the world; there is friendship, not politics between you!” He then went on to sing a song that none of us knew, was upset that none of us knew it, took a request for “La Marseillase” and proudly and loudly did not sing it properly as he did not know any of the words. We got a little confused, missed our stop, and he let us off in the middle of the street near my beloved dog and now hedgehog sighting field. The French are battling the “we’re unfriendly” stereotype one night bus driver at a time, and I’m glad.

        

I love a good babyhat

                 I mentioned Miss Nantes, and I would hate to leave you hanging for details on that once in a lifetime cultural experience. Turns out beauty pageants are about the same everywhere… and I’m not sure I can call myself a feminist anymore after politely clapping for young girls in evening and swim wear as they paraded around on stage. It doesn’t take much to become Miss Nantes, you just have to be able to introduce yourself, wear a pretty dress (or an ugly one, there were some unfortunate clothes in the mix), and look good in a swimsuit and high heels. My favorite parts of the competition:  our decision that it was appropriate to eat pastries at this event (provoking a lot of incredulous stares), the “concert” involving performances of Jason Mraz’s “In Yours” and The Black Eyed Peas “I’ve gotta feeling” while the judges made their own big decision and we all applauded the singers ability to pronounce the h’s in these fine songs, and a fashion show that showcased some sexy lacy numbers and featured a few babyhats. We also got to see Miss Nationale, the Beauty Queen of France herself. Our general consensus about the entire thing is that we all have seen prettier French girls out and about in Nantes, we were sad that one of the contestants (one of the Spanish assistant’s students) was pronounced runner up, but pleased that we had gone out of our way to experience an odd little nugget of French culture.  

 

Continuing on in our cultural pilgrimage we visited the Machines, a Nantes tourist attraction, on Saturday afternoon. It’s a museum full of neat machines that humans get to operate, and it’s sea-themed. Science and Animals… I’m sold. Because I jumped up and down like a small child I was chosen to help operate the sea monster- given the task of operating the movement of the eyes, the gills, and also the steam that is meant to give the impression of an angry fire-breathing monster. We also saw the Giant Elephant walk by but all rides were sold out for the day. Heyo future visitors, I bought a yearlong access pass, so guess what we are doing when you are here? 

Earlier in the week my Foyer created a “Lipdub” the idea being that everyone lip-syncs a song and we film a type of music video for it, in one shot. I’m not sorry for polluting some of your inboxes with this video. And I’m not sorry for posting it again here.  Go ahead, click it.

Rock Stars, Foyer Style 

Believe it or not, this little gem took quite some time to create. If you do not find it amusing, you can at least see some features of the building I live in, like the small library, the elevator, and the laundry room. We had a few complications seeing as they chose an American song and there are 3 people in the video who speak English. That’s including myself. We also couldn’t hear the music all the time.I wore my silver moon-sneakers for the occasion, cause they are clearly party shoes.

Quick things about this week that are also worth noting:

I got a tv. And I figured out how to connect it to my tv/internet box all by myself. This is a huge feat considering that I am terrible with technology (I don’t know how to turn on the tv at Joseph’s because there are about 4 remotes), and that I did this in a different language. I was not desperate to have television but was offered one from a teacher and it will be good to hear more French. There is a show called “Questions to be a champion” which I think is a little like Jeopardy but with a more original name.

I used Kenny Chesney’s “She thinks my tractor’s sexy” to teach about American Country Music. Watch the music video and imagine that you are learning about country music for the first time. It was far too much fun.

Friday night we were at a bar that was serving a punch/jungle juice, which I thought nothing of until Joseph pointed out that this is a little strange for anything but a house party… but I guess one would also say that the idea of being approached by a man with a plate of crepes, followed by a man carrying a pot of honey and offered a free snack at this bar could be considered a little strange too. Is this real life?

I received a letter from Immigration and my final step to legalizing my presence here is scheduled for Wednesday morning. Yet another official-looking stamp in my passport is just an excused day off work and a quick medical visit away. It will be a relief to be done with this paperwork nightmare.

Enjoy your upcoming Thanksgivings. I am thankful for You! And that you read this. And for France.

Bisous,

Steph

Officially a “prof” in France

…which sounds so much fancier than the English “teacher”

I have been observing classes, but this week was my very first to lesson plan and interact with the kids on my own. It’s been a big learning week for me… here are some questions that came up…

What do you do when your entire class of kids doesn’t show up?

Day 1 of teaching, Class #3 just doesn’t show up. Not even one student who was too scared to get in trouble for skipping. I didn’t know what to do so I waited for about 10 minutes, memorized my schedule because I looked at it so much, then went down to the teachers lounge hoping to run into one of the English teachers. No such luck. I stood awkwardly on the outskirts of a conversation between two profs I had never met until one of them asked me if I needed something. Yes. I need my students.

I was sent to speak with “la vie scolaire” (counselors/attendance office) and they said that sometimes the kids need to be reminded that my classes are not an option for them, they are compulsory. Well. Ok.  Stupid kids. I waited around for you. And now I’ve missed the bus and have to wait another hour. Needless to say- they do not get the option of voting on the topic they would like to study. And I will tell them that. And pick something that I want to do instead.

What do you do when you unlock your classroom door to find another teacher already using it?

You tell your students to hang tight and then run and bother “la vie scolaire” again. They send you to another room that is also being used. Run back to office. Finally they will send you to a tiny room with no technology…  Since I couldn’t use my planned lessons I instead discussed the crazy zoo event that happened in Ohio this week. God Bless you, interesting current events.

What do French kids immediately think when they hear the word “USA”?

I wanted to know what the kids knew already about America, so I put USA on the board in a circle and asked them what comes to mind right away. McDonalds was always in the first 3 things mentioned. One brave soul said “eunh, fat people”. New York always made the list. And Obama.  Also The Simpsons. And that’s how the world knows us, folks. 

What do you do when the fire alarm goes off in French high school?

Thankfully, you do the same thing you do in America. You get the kids out of the building and you shut the door behind you. You are also supposed to remember the attendance sheet- which I forgot. You should also probably know what the alarm sounds like, or else something like this will happen

Me: “ok! Whose cell phone is going off?”

Kids: “eunh Madame, we have to leave”

Me: “Wait what? Oh my gosh is that the fire alarm!”

Thanks to all who offered suggestions for my chapter themes with the kids…  here are the topics chosen by my 9 classes of First Years

American High Schools: 1

Hollywood & PopCulture: 4 (one of these groups is also interested in American sports. Ughhh. Fake it ‘til you make it right?)

French and American Stereotypes: 1

American Holidays: 1

*I did not see two of my classes of kids this week- the class that skipped and one that was cancelled for a meeting*

My 2 classes of “terminales”/ seniors are more serious and want to talk about American Politics and Government, Social Classes in America, Travel in the US, and Stereotypes

I will have two classes where I will be working with teachers who want to improve their English. Most are doing this for fun, some are doing this so they can practice to take an exam so they are certified to teach their discipline in English. The amount of language learning that goes on over here is incredible to me… bah American Education you are so far behind.

I asked all the teachers why they were taking that hour with me and one said “I want to improve my English so I can speak to tourists and people that I meet from other places.” Immediately a bumper sticker I once saw in America popped into my mind “Welcome to America, Speak English!” (Miraculously I somehow resisted the urge to rear-end the vehicle) … If everyone instead thought like this Frenchman, our world would be a better place. 

But I have survived my first week of teaching with many ups and downs.  And now I have a two week vacation!

Interesting social life tidbits from the week:

Crepes and cider in Trentemoult, which is a lovely little once-fishing village at the end of my bus line. We ate at a restaurant right on the water and it was quite charming.

Salsa dancing. We thought there was a lesson in the basement of this bar… nope, it was just in the middle of the bar. This tiny Latin American man led us speaking a mix of Spanish and French, Salsa music was cranked up loud, French bar patrons looked on, and we all stepped on each others’ feet as we “danced” for an hour. Kaitlin and Tracie- the way this man danced reminded me a little of UD Intermediate Jazz Dance with Gary 2007… figure eights? Still look real awkward when I attempt them.

Devoured Oysters (not just by me)

There are always evening activities at the foyer where I live and this week was themed “Energy Week”. I had a lot to do with lesson planning, but on Thursday I went on this odd little field trip: drove to a wind turbine about an hour away, looked at it, and then had a sampling of oysters in the middle of the wind turbine field by the glow of car headlights. First time with Oysters- and I think I was a little overenthusiastic… it was delicious but by the time we got home all I wanted was some bread and water. What do oysters taste like? My friend’s first reaction was “Oh Gahhh it takes like something you would accidently swallow when you are swimming in the sea!” I liked ‘em. They are salty. And you slurp them right out the shell. 

I’m leaving tomorrow to meet my parents and my aunt in Rome. We will then explore by cruise Rome, Sicily, Athens (as long as the political situation has calmed), Crete, and Ephesus Turkey. I am so excited to see my family, but am especially proud of my dad for braving that transatlantic flight for the first time. I am so excited to share this big travel experience with him, and also share it with my wonderfully adventurous mom and aunt.

Bises,

Steph

Foyer Grand Voile

I am finally settled into Le FOYER Des Jeunes Travailleurs, Grand Voile, where I will be living for the school year. (email me if you want to be my penpal I LOVE letters). We don’t really have Foyers in the States, but it’s essentially government subsidized housing for young working people ages 16-30. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I have my own bathroom and kitchen area in my room- basically a studio. There is also some shared community space and they run programs every week. When I studied abroad I had a sink, a bed, and a desk to myself and everything else was communal. So I’m quite happy with my housing situation. This is where I live now…

The walls in my hallway are RED and so is my door- 224 Housies you know how gemmy and wonderful that makes me feel.  

This is my room! Excuse the ugly brown blanket, but it was free. My initial trip to the grocery store I bought all the essentials- toilet paper, a 3 euro bottle of Bordeaux, cheese, baguette, and some sunflowers. It’s not my home until I have flowers.  I also got a small pumpkin. Happy Fall!

 My big complaint is that there is no wifi in the rooms… DUMB. There is supposedly wifi in the lobby downstairs but my computer has yet to find the network. There is a computer room but it is locked up on weekends… and Skyping on a computer with someone else right next to you is awkward anyways. This will seriously hinder my communication… I am going to figure out a better internet situation in November when my to-do list includes more things like “drink wine” instead of “register with immigration”.

I’ve been busy busy since being here. I have been to my high school and there are seven English teachers there! One of the teachers is Polish and is very interested in how Americans with Polish roots celebrate their heritage. He thought it was quite funny that my family eats Kielbasa on special occasions like weddings, parties, holidays. I have yet to tell him that my brother flies the Polish flag on his boat… I’m sure he will get a kick out of that. He also really likes English phrases like "Whats Up" and "See You Later".

I still don’t have my schedule worked out yet, but I heard that I will mostly be observing classes until the All Saints vacation at the end of October. So I’ll observe for 2 weeks and then have a 2 week vacation. Yes please! My high school operates from 8am-6pm Mon-Tues-Thurs-Fri but closes at 12 on Wednesdays. (I will not be working all those hours, and teachers don’t work all those hours, they each have a unique schedule). Some French high schools have classes on Saturdays… I am lucky that mine does not!

I have a French bank account! I don’t know why this is so exciting to me, but I feel legit now.  I will hate this French bank account when I leave for home- I hear it’s a nightmare to close them. 

I’ve figured out transportation and have been into the city a couple of times! I also finally went to the transportation office and bought my monthly pass and applied for an identity card.  I did a hop-on hop-off tour with some other language assistants who are living in my building. It’s going to be a fun year, in a fun city. My favorite- Nantes is famous for this giant mechanical elephant that you can RIDE! I can’t wait for visitors so I have someone to go with me!

I also had dinner and a little tour with one of my French friends from the camp I worked at last summer.  We had crepes and cider and looked at the CASTLE (yes, there is a castle in my city. With a moat.) Magic.  A lot of assistants met up at the castle with bottles of wine this weekend too. There is no open container law in France so I always keep a corkscrew in my bag for situations like that, and in case I ever need to defend myself I feel safer with it. 

 There is still so much to do- apply for health insurance, sign up for French social security, finish registering  with  immigration, and get a French phone…  bah. The French are notorious for all the paperwork required to just… well do anything here. They love passport sized photos and photocopies of everything.  I am still feeling overwhelmed and have never more enjoyed crossing things off a list!

I leave you with this. Look at these cookies. You probably know that I cannot wink. It is an unfortunate genetic disability that I unsuccessfully tried to defeat with two years worth of New Year’s Resolutions.

                                                Bises Bises,

                                                                    Steph