La Vie en Rose

There's so much to update you on and yet nothing really at all. I met up with my friend Erin, with whom I worked at French camp this past summer, for five days in Paris two weeks ago. Erin is currently doing her student teaching work (to complete her education degree) in Luxembourg, so we met up halfway between our cities, which happened to be Paris! Erin had never been to Paris without her family, so we had a blast just running around and seeing things with different eyes! We went to a lot of the touristy stuff, just to see it, but we also spent a lot of time just walking along the streets, looking at things. We did go to the Paris Catacombs, which is something that neither of us had ever done, and up to Montmartre and the Sacré Coeur, which is something that Erin had never done. The Catacombs were amazing and, as long as you don't become too faint of heart when looking at skulls and bones deep underground, I definitely recommend checking it out!





I had never before been to Paris in the fall and the colors just amazed me! Everything looked the same and yet so different than the last time I was there in the winter or spring.




Now that I'm back in Cusset, things have slowed down a bit. Allana and I have gotten to know Vichy a little bit better; but it's quite a bit bigger than Aurillac, with lots of little side streets that are easy to get lost on. We've started attending a weekly Spanish class at a small independent university in Vichy. It's an hour and a half long, with just adults in the class, and we like to tease about how we learn "à la française," meaning that we haven't necessarily started with the very basics but have instead sort of jumped right into good pronunciation and reading. And we are learning things, just not necessarily in the order, or at the speed, that we normally would in the States. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but I don't think it's necessarily the best way to learn a language either (which might be why the French complain about their lack of English skills-- I've seen how it's taught in the public schools, and teaching middle school kids about Agatha Christie's life and novels instead of good conversation techniques doesn't seem to be working...)

Anyway, now that we've gotten involved in that, as well as the climbing club, things are becoming a little more lively and fun around here. But I'm going to make a huge generalization here, are you ready? The people I met in Aurillac seemed to be a lot more open and friendly and less... bourgeois maybe? But like I said, this is a bigger place, a city-city rather than a country-city, and maybe that has something to do with it.

However, my teachers are amazing and the students are pretty good. At the middle school, they're a lot younger and more easily manipulated to act the way you want, which makes discipline easier. Then I have several EURO classes, which are high school students who choose to take a couple extra hours of English a week instead of math or chemistry, etc. And these students are generally good English-speakers, pleasant, and willing to work. In fact, they WANT to learn English, which is why they've opted to take it five to six hours a week instead of just two. Needless to say, they've been pretty fun to work with so far.

Allana and I went down to Aurillac last weekend to see friends and collect the bikes we'd left there over the summer. It was wonderful seeing all my friends again, or going climbing at the gym (because it's much, much bigger than the one here in Cusset).

When I'm not in class teaching English, I'm applying for grad school and studying for the GRE and GMAT exams. I'm trying not to get too stressed about it all, but it's a lot of work. But come January, when applications are turned in, and Feb/March when I've taken the tests, things will be easier. Though at the same time, with only 12 hours of work a week, this things are keeping me very busy!

Here are some pics of around Vichy! That sheet (with green lettering) was hanging outside of my middle school for a couple weeks. It says "No to this UNFAIR reform," and was put up during those never-ending weeks of strikes. Then the tile-bathtub-looking things hold water from natural springs. This is what Vichy is known for: it's healing water. With a prescription from the doctor (saying you have been diagnosed with anything from rheumatism to arthritis to cancer) you can come once or twice a week and drink this pure spring water, in the hopes that this will help cure your illness. The fountain you drink from depends on what particular illness you have and which bit of natural water is most likely to help you. Pretty cool.








More sooner rather than later, I hope.

Bisous xoxo

vacation

Long start to the vacation, staying in Cusset/Vichy and studying, writing grad school essays. Now I'm off for four nights, five days in Paris with my friend Erin, a colleague from camp this past summer, who's teaching in Luxembourg at the moment.
Pictures to come! Back on Thursday to three hours of teaching, then I'm off for a weekend in Aurillac! Finally things are happening!
Kisses

First Fortnight in Cusset

Hello!

15 days in France and I am pretty much settled in and continuing the life I left here in Europe four months ago. And it feels great! The French are still crazy (but so are Americans) and stubborn (Americans too) and sometimes ridiculous (USA, yep) but after eight months here last year I have learned how to better deal with this and "be French."

I was technically supposed to start classes last week but my contact here said "eh, we'll have the assistants start next week because we don't have your time tables ready," so I had a lot of extra time to sleep, get to know my surroundings, and STUDY! I have recently decided to take the GRE and the GMAT in February, in order to better my chances in certain graduate school programs for the fall. Math is not necessarily a strength I possess, so I have spent a lot of time reviewing and learning, but I think it will be worth it in the end. Anyway, this extra time last week gave me lots of time to work on applications and study guides.

This Monday I had my first class and though I stayed in the classroom with the prof the whole time, I was in front of the kids, answering their questions. This was all at the middle school and they're so much younger than what I'm used to and, so far, pretty cute. Once they enter the classroom, the kids stay standing in front of their desks until the teacher tells them to sit. And if an adult knocks on the door, the kids stand up IMMEDIATELY when he or she opens the door, just like in the movies! LOVE IT! I think this is how it was for my friend, Allana, last year in the grade schools; the kids didn't stand for her but they did for the teacher and the principal.

Then I had lunch in the cafeteria with one of the English teachers and we ate in a separate room that's reserved just for the teachers, which they didn't have at my school last year! So not only did we not have to eat with the kids, we got to cut line to get our food AND to take our dishes back, which we didn't get to do last year either. Oh, and this is the best part: there were bottles of red wine on the teachers' tables, provided by the school! Wow! Can you imagine our teachers in grade school and high school having WINE with their LUNCH at SCHOOL!?!?! Pretty cool.




Yesterday (Tuesday) the teachers were on strike about the new reform regarding retirement age, so that meant that I didn't have class. Lisa, one of my flatmates, and I walked into Vichy a little before 3pm to watch the protesting. There was someone with on a loud speaker and people with signs and they were all hanging out in front of the post office. Then a little after three, they all walked through town and finished in front of City Hall. It was the first time I'd seen a "manifestation" in person and it was a neat experience.

And then today the STUDENTS were on strike! I arrived at school a little before 8 this morning, finding it strange that no one seemed to be around; it turns out they were protesting outside of the school gates, blocking the doors, preventing people from coming in. There were about five or six policemen, just hanging out, making sure that everything remained peaceful. It was all pretty cool because that kind of thing just doesn't happen in the States! I went out a couple hours later and watched them: large groups walking the perimeter of the campus, chanting about the reform and how they weren't going to let it affect their futures. Then one kid actually got a huge wooden crate and they positioned it in front of the main door. It sounds like schools across the area were protesting, probably around the country too. Even major newspapers didn't publish today or yesterday because of the strike (that is said to last all week).

Everyone outside of the school gates meant that I had two of my four classes today (from 8 to noon) and even in those two classes there were only 4 students each and I just stayed with the teacher and we did a whole lot of nothing. Kind of a waste of time, but I got paid to watch English youtube videos so whatever.

Allana arrives in Vichy tomorrow afternoon then we are going to Aurillac for the weekend. I am so excited to see all my friends, go climbing, and get my bike! Then it's one more week of school before our first two-week vacation! I'm considering going to southern Spain with Allana to see her bf, Austin, and climb and camp. We shall see!

A bientot (see you soon!)

love K

bienvenue chez moi

Hello, Bonjour!!!

I have safely arrived in France (5 days ago--it seems so much longer!) and have successfully gotten situated, acclimated, what have you. No more jetlag. I thought I was "stationed" in Vichy but am actually in Cusset, about 2km away. The two cities mesh, more or less, but insist on being two different entities. my high school is on the outskirts of Cusset, though, so only about a 10 minute walk to the train station in Vichy, and about 17 minutes into the center of town.

As you can see from my first post, the high school where I live is just lovely! It used to be a public park and still has that feel about it.

Not much to report here because I haven't started teaching yet. My contract technically started yesterday but since it was a Friday, the teachers said to wait until Monday to come in. I'll have one week of observation, though since this is my second year it's very possible that they'll just throw me into the classroom! On Wednesday the assistants in the department of Allier, where I am (last year I was in the Cantal), have a one-day "training" session in a town about 30km north of here. My roommates (German and Colombian) and I will take the train up there and will get to meet other assistants from towns around us, which should be really great.

Things are going well with the roommates. Unlike last year, I live in an actual apartment in the school. Instead of a VERY small room on a hallway (with a kitchen and bathroom at the end of the hall) I live in an enclosed space of three bedrooms, living room, bathroom, toilettes and kitchen-- with an oven AND a microwave, neither of which I had last year!!! The only problem (so far) is it looks like we aren't allowed to have guests stay the night as Claudia, the Colombian, got "in trouble" for having a friend up for the weekend. Boo! Not sure how to react to that!

The three of us walked into Vichy on Thursday to sign up for/buy internet service in order to have wifi in our apartment. The woman said that the company says it takes 8 to 12 days, but really it takes about 5, but I got a text saying that it was ready to be activated TONIGHT, just over two days later!!! So we have happy internet in our apartment and now I can email and blog and apply to grad school and study for the GREs (though this last one I'm not really looking forward to).

Today the ladybugs decided to invade my room; it faces west so gets a LOT of afternoon sunlight and I think they like this. After a couple hours of looking to the ceiling near one of my windows (I have two!) and seeing 10, 20, 30 ladybugs huddled around, I decided I couldn't handle it anymore and got the insect spray. Ladybugs are generally nice and I hated killing them off this way, but I couldn't even open my window on such a nice day without them flying in. And enough is enough! Now every once in awhile, several hours later, I hear a light "splat" and know that a ladybug has fallen from who knows where and found its imminent death on my floor. Ohhhhhhhhh dear. But really, enough is enough, I say!

Well, just wanted to say hi! I shall now go back to drinking wine and eating cheese haha!

Much love
xoxox

pictures from my town (the first three are from my high school campus- isn't it beautiful?)