So, the Thanksgiving feasts are over and everyone's looking towards Christmas now! We American Assistants got together last Friday night, invited some "foreigners," and we each made a dish to pass to share as much of the Thanksgiving tradition as we could. We ate picnic style at Tom's apartment, and he supplied paper and markers so that we could all make handprint turkeys (see above for mine [left] and my friend Lana's [right]). It was lots of fun! We even had pumpkin pie (pumpkins are NOT easy to come by around here...and it was made from a real pumpkin too)!! We even took a few minutes before eating to go around and say what we were thankful for, so that was really nice.

Then yesterday I went to the Marché de Noël (Christmas Market) in the Parc des Expositions, which was super cool. They had food, cotton candy, Santa!, Moving displays of woodland creatures doing random stuff in houses...kinda weird...see photobucket for pics, crafts for sale, and these really creepy singing space people...creepy...REALLY weird. It was tons of fun, and I even got to get a Santon, which I'd heard about for years in French classes. I've wanted one ever since my French class in high school! :-D


It snowed ALL day yesterday, and it was coming down pretty hard too, which resulted in a couple inches of snow and a full stop to all public transportation, which means no work for us assistants today! Snow day! :-D Patrick was right. When I first moved here and asked him about snow, he said, "If it snows two inches, everything shuts down." I'm liking this :)

Also, this snow is SO beautiful! It's the first time I've really noticed the beauty in a while, since in WI it's beautiful for about 2 seconds, until you realize you'll have to shovel it, drive in it, and trudge in it. Speaking of trudging, I DEFINITELY need to buy a pair of winter boots! I was slippin' and slidin' all over the place last night on my way home. Luckily I DO have a sturdy umbrella now.

I also bought my tickets last night for the eurorail to London for Christmas. Turkish delight, here I come! :-D Well, I'm being observed tomorrow morning by our program coordinator, so I'd better go over my lessons again, and do my French homework. A few paragraphs on what I think about France so far. I'll try not to let my homesickness do the talking.

À bientôt!

Meg

P.S. There are tons of new pictures in my photobucket album, if you're interested!

Working on Turkey Day...WeIrD!

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging more often like I said I would. I'll try to get better about that.

The Thursday after my last blog we had the day off due to a national holiday, so I took a trip with a couple of friends of mine to Tours, where my friend Stevy lives. My friends spent the day with Stevy and me before heading back to Orleans, but I stayed at Stevy's for the next couple of days. Tours is a great city! From what I saw of it, it seems a bit busier than Orleans, and definitely with more to do! It was really nice to get to ride around in a car, too. Actually, as Stevy and I were driving around I felt like I was back in Madison, which was really nice, since I've been really, really homesick lately. I dunno what it is exactly, but I've never felt this homesick in my life! I've actually never really had problems with homesickness, that I can remember. Naturally there have been times where I've missed my family and friends when I'm away, but never in a way that aches like this and makes me wish time were going faster. I really, really hope this feeling goes away soon, because I still have 6 months here...and I'd rather enjoy my time in France and appreciate how lucky I am to have this opportunity.

The Friday that I spent with Stevy was particularly cool, as we got to see Amel Bent in concert...for free! Stevy is a gospel singer, you see, and the bass player that plays with them also plays with Amel, so he got us free tickets and backstage passes...I'd never had a backstage pass before in my life, so that was really neat! lol Unfortunately Amel was in the shower when we were back there, so we didn't get to meet her. We did, though, get to talk to Stevy's bassist (super cool guy!) and the backup singers and the other musicians. It was really neat!

Then this past weekend I got to go to Madrid to visit my friends Noelia and Pilar, which was great! I flew out of Paris on Thursday night and stayed at Noelia's apartment. On Friday I did a bit of exploring on my own while Noelia and Pilar were at work, and then the three of us met up and went to lunch, and then they showed me a bunch of the city. Harry Potter opened in Spain that night, so Pilar went to that and Noelia and I hung out just the two of us. I can't wait to see Harry Potter, but it's not playing in English in Orleans, so some friends and I are going to wait to see it in Paris, assuming we can find a place in Paris that's playing the English version. I almost went to see it tonight in French, but after watching the trailer I just thought it'd be too odd seeing it dubbed before seeing the original version. I'm not a big fan of dubbed films. Subtitles are a much better option, as it gives those who understand the original language the option of listening to the dialogue in it's original tongue and those who don't the chance to read the dialogue, but I digress...hardcore. ;)

Saturday we got to go to yet ANOTHER free concert, and this time of one of my favorite Latina artists, Julieta Venegas! I couldn't believe it when Noelia's roommate told us that she would be playing for FREE in one of the city plazas! What a great birthday present! It also happened to be the first concert she had given after giving birth, which is pretty cool. The reason she was in Madrid was because there was a Mexican Revolution Anniversary celebration going on in the plaza, in fact we had walked through it the night before and heard a mariachi group playing! At the sides of the stage were food stands serving traditional Mexican foods, too. After the concert we waited in line 45 minutes at least to get some food...it was worth it, though. Unfortunately I got a fever about 2 hours after the concert and was unable to enjoy doing anything else the rest of the weekend...which meant I spent my birthday (Sunday) doing little to nothing (we went to a market in the morning and then to lunch, but I just felt like crap and ended up sleeping the rest of the day pretty much). Sick or not, it was nice to spend my birthday weekend with good friends and in such a beautiful city! I'd love to go back to Madrid!


By Monday afternoon I was back in Orleans and planning lessons. That night I went to a gathering of Foreigners in Orleans (namely university students and language assistants), but didn't end up meeting anyone new, as it was a pretty cliquey night. Then on Tuesday I finally started taking a French class! (In fact, I have a bit of homework to do tonight before going to bed...once I'm done preparing my classes for tomorrow that is...though all I have to do in that regard is color/cut/paste some flashcards and draw a handprint turkey, lol) It was a great class. I learned a lot in just the 2 hours that we were there, and it was nice to be in an academic sort of environment again, even if it is just a community class. Plus it only costs 15 euros for a class that meets two hours a session, two sessions a week until June! Good deal!

So, tomorrow is Thanksgiving...and another reason for homesickness. I'm teaching my kids a little bit about the holiday...but not going into any "Pilgrims and Indians...nice, friendly dinner" crap. Just keeping it simple and traditional. Then at night I have the French class, where we'll actually be having a "Thanksgiving" party-type deal (just bringing in treats and dressing up as either a celebrity or a stereotype from our countries). Friday the other American assistants and myself will be doing a Thanksgiving dinner as close to American as we can get it. Since only a few assistants have ovens handy, we'll be spread out around the city trying to cook for it, but everyone is bringing a dish, and mine is greenbean casserole...if I can find the ingredients. I'm pretty excited for that, but I miss my family (though my family's all spread out at the moment, it's not just me who isn't home).

Anywho, a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you are all well and that you enjoy your national holiday tomorrow...while I'm at work ;)

Back to school, Back to school

Coucou tout le monde!

Well, I'm back after a two week "All Saints Day" break (during most of which I had the flu, though seeing as I had no plans anyway, it was okay). My mom and step-dad met me in Paris last Mondayand we spent three days touring the city, after which we took the train back to Orleans, where they stayed with the same people I stayed with when I first got here. They left on Saturday and I miss them very much, but it was nice to have them here! (Particularly since I won't be able to make it home for Christmas...:( I saw a christmas display in a shop window today and teared up. No family at Christmas?! It's going to be weird.)

So I had my first day back at school today and it was a MESS. Three classes, two disasters! The kids in two of the classes that I teach in one of my schools just absolutely refuse to listen to me. I'll ask the class to settle down, they continue to talk. I separate students, they yell across the room or start kicking their new neighbor. I ask everyone to listen, they all start asking me questions...no raised hands, no correlation to the lesson, just blurted out nonsense. I wanted to talk with one of the instructors today (who is also the principal) to see what I could be doing better. What I could be doing to maintain order in the classroom. See, I take the class in halves into an adjacent classroom, so she's not there to provide the discipline. I feel like in her classroom her mere presence makes the kids shut up, whereas it seems my mere presence induces chaos. I was never trained as a teacher. I don't speak their language fluently. And they don't understand my language.

I have absolutely no idea what to do. I'm going to go in early next Monday (usually I go there again on Thursday, but this Thursday is ANOTHER holiday! hahaha) to talk to the other teachers about it and see if they have any ideas. In all fairness, they COMPLETELY warned me before I started teaching at that school. Even they have trouble maintaining order in their classrooms. I don't know why they still teach. Lack of other options, perhaps? Cuz I can't see anyone loving that job.

On another note, I still haven't found a club or anything to join, but I'm going to keep looking. I know there are options, it's just a matter of me getting my but to the youth involvement bureau and picking up a pamphlet. I was interested in taking these Indian dance lessons, but it turns out they're 300euros for now until June/July. Er...no thanks...I'll find something else. I'd just really like to get some more French conversation time in (I'd like to maybe sign up for a French class here...they have community classes that are cheap, and would be nice because it'll push me to work more on grammar and new vocab!) and I'd like to meet more French people. I know a few, but not many, and not well. If I'm ever going to understand this culture better and accept the differences that are currently so frustrating, I'll need some French friends to help me get there!

And on another random note: I'm officially going to Madrid for my birthday weekend! I bought my ticket the other day with Ryanair out of Paris. I'll be staying with a friend of mine (one of last year's amities from La Crosse, for those of you who even know what an "amity" is), Noelia, and will get to see Pilar too! I can't wait. I love those ladies and I'm SO excited to speak Spanish and see their city (even when I studied in Spain, I never visited Madrid)!

Well, I guess that's it for the moment. I'll try updating more often so I can go into more detail.

A Bientôt!