Uhm I can’t even remember which school I go to on Mondays…

A few assistants work at multiple schools- especially those assistants working with little ones. The title of this blog post came straight out of the mouth of one of my friends, as we discussed the ending of the February vacations and the idea of heading back to work on Monday.

So what have I done with a week of zero responsibility in Nantes?

Bicloo

Nantes has this neat bike rental system. Bikes are stationed all throughout the city and Frenchies can choose to subscribe for a yearlong membership (29 euros for the year 20 euros if you have a public transportation pass, first 30 minutes of Biking free from any Bicloo station in the city) or one can subscribe for 1-7 days (cost 1-5 euros). The bikes have no locks, but when finished you simply click them into place at any Bicloo station, ready for another Nantais to use as they please.  We’ve obviously seen these Bicloo stations, commented on figuring out how to use them, and finally took advantage of one of our gorgeous February days to rent bikes for the day. 

I had a bike when I lived and studied in Grenoble, but biking in traffic is something to get re-accustomed to. I don’t know if I can speak for all Europeans but the French at least find it quite normal to share the road with cyclists. Bike lanes are all over Nantes, and I’m pretty sure we only broke a few minor traffic laws while determining our paths throughout the day (some terrifying large roundabouts were conquered). 

We are already discussing the endless opportunities these bikes can open up to us. Namely, on Saturday nights when we end up at Hangar Bananes we now won’t have to rush and make the long trek to catch the last tram home… we can instead rent our bikes at the Elephant, and after an uncomfortable ride home on cobblestone, click them into place at 8 Mai. I've suggested that we take a Sunday, when everything is closed and there is nothing to do, to bike to the neighboring town Clisson for a picnic- 1/2 hour train ride away. I have little to no faith that neither of these events will ever happen. But it’s nice to know the possibility is there. 

 

Day Trip: Rennes, France

Meet pretty pretty Rennes. I actually have been to the train station in this city before… two summers ago I had to transfer here as I traveled from Paris to camp, but my bags were too much for me to handle to do any kind of exploring. 

 

Rennes is a beautiful city to walk through. The capitol of Bretagne, it’s famous for galettes/crepes and medieval half-timbered houses. 

Fretting over the fate of my computer

I’ve spent a significant part of this week crying to my mother, worrying about my computer, and running countless scans only to come across a frozen screen. I’ve had some terrifying “failure is imminent” messages pop up. Yikes. The tech-savvy foyer employer took a look at it and it seems to be freezing less now… My computer is my biggest link to America while I’m here. I don’t love the idea of getting a new hard drive, inevitably a French one… although the technology vocabulary I would be forced to learn could greatly enhance my language development. I would prefer it not to crash at all, but if it must, it could do me a big favor and wait 11 weeks until I’m home in America. 

That’s right… 11 weeks. It seems so little when I think about it in weeks. I have mixed feelings about that number. Where has the time gone?  

Back to work on Monday... to wrap up my 3 day work-month.

Bisous, 

Steph

La Reine est trop Sportif

I had one reader mention that she was disappointed there was no blog post to read this past Monday, so I apologize for slacking a bit…

Sorry Mom :)

We’re back to the grind here in Rezé/Bouaye/Nantes… and as much as I felt like a small child whining about school starting back up again, it was good to get back on a routine. Of course, going back was made easier when I glanced at the calendar and realized I have 5 weeks of work before my “working” weeklong trip to London and the following two week “Winter Break”.  The French  know how to keep their teachers sane… just when the kiddos really start to drive you crazy, surprise! Two week break! Oui! Unfortunately most of my European friends will be returning home again for this February break to visit their chéries, but I hope to figure out some sort of travel for that time as well.

I've had some fun lessons since being back. I'm discussing the idea of an American roadtrip, the mentality of the idea, quotes from Jack Kerouac etc. with my "seniors" here. Today we talked about the importance of music on a roadtrip and I had them choose and explain a song to add to our own class roadtrip playlist. I lent out my ipod to some kids who forgot theirs, and my collection of Justin Bieber songs was questioned... if they scrolled down to the "O"s to see the number of "Original Broadway Cast" albums I have they chose not to say anything. I am obviously an insanely cool American in their eyes.

This blog post is going to be a little bit about sportz. You all know how athletic I am, and how much I love sportz. You are probably not surprised that this past week I went out and got a little exercise, and also attended a World Cup match. 

Did I pick up running? Tennis? No. I went and played LAZERGAMES. Curious as to whether there were any differences between American Laser Tag and French LAZERGAME, I celebrated the return of my foyer friends by donning all black and attempting to shoot them with lasers. French laser tag isn’t much different than what I remember from 13 year old American birthday parties of my past doing the same thing. Really, no big differences, including the language. It was a bit strange hearing “DANGER! DANGER! The base is under attack!” in English while playing. In fact, I am almost sure I paused and was subsequently killed the first time I heard it. Another thing I found bemusing was the list of players’ names… each laser vest & gun truc kept track of the players’ stats and you had to remember your assigned name to see how you performed. I was Batman. Some other random (mostly) American names included: Terminator, Pikachu, Chuck Norris, Yoda, Legolas, Frankenstein, Shrek… odd yes? 

I’m sure you’re all at the edge of your seat waiting to know just how well I compete in laser war. Round One I ranked 14/16. Yikes. I was consoled when I realized our little group of foreigners took places 13, 14, 15, 16. I picked up my game and dominated Round Two ranking 8/16.

The weekend brought on the second sports venture… the COUPE DU MONDE BABY-FOOT. What, you may ask, is Baby-Foot? It is the French’s adorable way of saying “Foosball”. In England they call this Table Soccer, in Spain they call this Futbolín, in Germany it’s probably something with a ridiculous amount of consonants… but I think France takes the cake for best word here. I figured: “When else will I ever get to personally watch a world cup event?” “When else will I get the chance to watch a serious foosball game?” “I brought all this left over 4th of July stuff with me, when else can I wear that sparkly star crown and the mini American flag in France?” I am not one to let an opportunity like this pass me by. And thankfully, despite having about 4 hours of sleep the night before, my friends thought the same. 

I was disappointed to find that America was no longer in the running (but that didn’t stop me from chanting USA USA, waving my tiny American flag, when I walked past the team sporting their uniform USA windbreaker jackets). Sometimes I think it’s the French that don’t know how to handle my at-times-overwhelming enthusiasm, but I got some weird looks from the American Foosball team as well. Sorry for supporting you when you are in a foreign country ‘Merica, geez. 

So the game I did get to watch, the women’s finals, I cheered for La France. France vs. Germany. A professional foosball game, by the way, takes 2+ hours. That’s a lot of sport for me… but the occasional camera shot of the crowd and the desperate attempts to get on some obscure EuroSports TV Channel pulled me through. One thing I found interesting was that they played one round of the match on a French made table (wood), and the next on a German made table (plastic). The rules were surprising more extensive than I imagined… and were upheld by two, that’s right TWO referees. Deutschland took the gold which made our German friend quite happy.

All in all an oddly positive experience. It was fun to spend a Sunday afternoon cheering “Allez Bleu!” while waving around those inflatable extendable-arm noisemakers. To top it off I got this poster…a little baby-foot guy, telling you to stop messing around. You better believe this will be framed if someday Joe wants a sports-themed room in our home.

On a non-sports related note, France celebrated the Epiphany with a tradition I was quite happy to take part in, and one that I will bring with me to the United States when I return home. KING CAKE. Mmm.  It’s a puff pastry cake filled with apple compote or frangipane with a tiny porcelain figurine baked in. Whoever gets the slice with the figurine is the king or queen, gets to wear a paper crown all night, and chooses his or her king/queen. I got to be the Queen (at the school cafeteria, and yeah, I wore the crown through the cafeteria as well as into the teachers’ lounge). Being named the Queen wasn’t too big of a surprise considering I had about 5 pieces of King Cake at different points throughout the week. 

My Spanish friend calls me “The Queen” often because of a long standing joke from a time she accused all Americans of thinking they are the “Kings or Queens  of the World” because of our expectancy to find English speakers throughout the world. This Queen idea was only reinforced after Joseph proposed, adding quite a bit of sparkle to my Miss America/Queen wave. Which I do quite often.

Seriously. Look at this Pastry Saturday Find.

Are you wondering how I am doing with my Resolutions? We’ve been hanging out with some French people from the foyer lately, even meeting up with them this past weekend at the bars… so while I don’t have a language tandem (this is proving more difficult than I imagined), I feel I am still integrating a bit more already. I didn’t start reading anything in French yet, but I did go see another movie (Les Lyonnais, a French “gangster” crime film with a lot of violence and a plot I am still not sure I really understand). I also researched and found a French-American organization in Cleveland. Once I make the big move home it will be easier to pretend I still live in the land of extensive vacations, grèves, and Macarons the size of your face, but with the added bonus of my own chérie located geographically closer. 

Bises and Love from this Queen

Steph

Almost forgot, if you happen to be looking for a great read, I recommend “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern. It’s a wonderfully magical book with a love story and a hint of darkness that is just perfect. 

Also, to those of you who have been lighting up my mailbox here with holiday mail and engagement congratulations... thank you. So much. 

Trop Contente

Bonjour Blog Readers are you out there? If you are, and you’ve been reading… send some comments my way. It brightens up my inbox! (Are my posts too long? I know I know. I write a lot…)

It’s been almost a month since the big Au Revoir and my dramatic entrance into France via 5 planes and at least 10 airport mental breakdowns. 

Things I am missing (besides your face)

Internet : This has been more frustrating than all the paperwork required to live in France. I’ve finally figured out my wifi in the lobby, but that’s only because I spent about 2 nights camped out in the lobby waiting for a computer guru to walk by. The problem was I knew what he looked like but did not know his name…

I have since purchased internet for my room. But I have to wait for at least 10 days to get my router/box technology thing. Unfortunately this box will probably come when I am on vacation with my family and I am afraid that if I don’t pick it up they will send it back.

I am also missing…

A kitchen that has more than 2 hot plates, 1 pot, 1 pan, 2 plates, 1 mug, and 2 bowls. I have mastered the art of making a pizza in a frying pan. And I’m eating like a college freshman again. Pasta Pasta Pasta. Lazy nights it’s just honey and baguette. I was planning on toughing it out and only using the hotplates for my time here, but I think I may make the big splurge on a toaster oven once the Department of Education fills up my French bank account a bit. I would really like to experiment a little with duck and also snails while I am here… maybe even rabbit if I can find something at the grocery that doesn’t actually look like a rabbit… 

Clothes Dryer. We have one at the foyer, but one of my friends used it and it worked for 2 hours and he thought his clothes were less dry afterwards. All of my clothes are currently spread on every possible surface of my room to “dry”. This makes things a bit uncomfortable when friends stop by- hey welcome to my room, there is no space to sit because my clothes are hanging off all the chairs and my desk and my kitchen table and every door handle… and yea, that’s a display of my underwear over there.

Things I am loving

The fact that my pants are feeling a little looser. Cheers to optimism and ignoring the fact that I haven’t put my jeans in a dryer for 3 weeks now. But the amount of walking I do over here is fantastic.

Kebabs and frites (gyros and fries) are the Cousin Vinny’s of France. There is a “restaurant” conveniently located at our tram stop and its open late night.

I have a lovely view of the field next to my building…. I tend to do a lot of watching out these windows. There’s a cat with no tail that frequents it quite often. There are a lot of bunnies that chase each other around. I see dogs and their owners and am jealous of them. We also had a homeless man for a brief spell of time and I could see his red tent in the woods next to the field (He has since packed up and moved away).

Canadian Thanksgiving. I celebrated the holiday for the first time here, and it was really one of my favorite nights thus far. We met up at another foyer and the Canadians prepared chicken (a turkey is hard to find and involves a lot of planning), taboulé (it’s kind of like stuffing right?), vegetables, mashed potatoes, salad, wine wine wine. I love Thanksgiving because its celebrations involve food and people you love… and this year I felt so grateful to be able to share this meal with people from all over the world (I think we had 6 different countries represented).  Community. I love it. The best part about Canadian Thanksgiving? We get to do the same thing all over again in 6 weeks for American Thanksgiving. The Americans are determined to have a turkey.

Free Fridays: I finally got my work schedule, and this girl has 3 day weekends every weekend. I am also finished teaching by 12 on Wednesdays.  But I have classes at 8am Mon/Wed/Thurs… and I have an hour commute. But I’m not complaining. I will teach for a week next week and then start our two week All Saints/Fall Vacation. 

And finally, I found this postcard to decorate my room: It’s a bulldog, with a glass of champagne tipped over, and the dog is wearing a sparkly red babyhat. I am warming up to the idea of a bulldog because Joseph is slightly obsessed, but I really do love this particular bulldog  because we both understand that every good party clearly needs a dog, some champagne, sparkles, and an amusingly small hat.

I shall leave you with that image. A Bientôt!

Bisous,

Stephanie

I wrote this post before leaving for the market this morning… I got home and almost deleted all of my “things I am missing” section. I forgot my camera this morning, so more on the market in a later post…

But this morning while shopping for fresh fruit and cheese and bread I said to my friend “Really, is there ANYTHING wrong with our lives right now? Because this is perfection”. Somehow no matter how many times I visit, France seems to recapture my heart in a new way. I’m quite Happy.

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