A long-awaited update

Hi folks! Meg here. That's right, it's me...for real...it's been awhile, I know, and I apologize.
In this post I'd like to give you the rundown on my English Christmas and my New Year's resolutions. So, grab a cup of java, sit tight and let me re-cap you on my past month!

Christmas break began quite quietly, as mine started on the 18th, but my train to England didn't leave until the 23rd. Those first days, however, quickly became crowded with fear that my very British Christmas would have to be canceled, as snow began to cover the tracks of the Eurorail, keeping half of the normal trains from running, slowing speeds, and leaving thousands of travelers waiting hours upon hours in line to cross the channel. Eurostar ticket-holders were advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary, leaving room for those who really needed the seat. I began to think my Christmas would be spent alone in my studio, streaming Christmas carols from my computer and re-reading my three Christmas cards over and over (awwwww). I googled Eurostar over and over during those first few days of break hoping for some kind of good news, but feeling more and more dejected when I came across an interview with some travelers waiting in line to take the eurostar from London to Paris. The interviewer spoke first with a man and then with a woman. The man told the interviewer that he had been waiting in line for hours to take the train across "the pond" on a business trip and expected to be back in London by the end of the day. The man said he knew that Eurostar was doing all that they could to fix the situation and that there was no reason to get upset about the wait. He was confident that everything would work out and had a smile on his face throughout. The woman had a similar point-of-view, saying it was a long wait, but there was no reason to get upset about it, as everything that could be done was being done. THAT was it. If a man taking a business trip lasting one day could be so optimistic about the situation, then I would be too! I was going to get to England no matter how many hours I had to wait in line.

Two days later Eurorail send an email to all ticket holders saying that their trains had gone back to normal boarding procedures and would only be delayed in arrival by 30-60 minutes. YATAAA! (Heroes? Anyone?) Anyway, I went to Paris with another American assistant who would be staying at our friend's house in England with me (we were also to meet another American assistant, who had arrived in London earlier that morning), we got through the check-in in less than 30 minutes and on the train in less than an hour! Easy Peasy, and we were on our way!

Our friend, Felix (whose family we would be staying with in England), met us as we arrived, along with the other American assitant, and we took a train to Godalming, a small town about an hour outside of London by train. I couldn't believe I was in England! I'd always thought of it as semi-non-existant, for some reason. I guess when you hear so many stories about a place like England over the years it just becomes a bit unreal. Felix's dad picked us up from the trainstation and we had our first ride on the wrong side of the road! It was a bit of a shock everytime a car drove toward us, before realizing it was, indeed, on the other side of the road.

Felix's family is amazing. His stepmom, Karen, is such a lively personality and she and Felix's dad, Sean, made us feel at home right away. It was really nice to be spending Christmas in a family's home (and one with carpets! yay! I don't think the French are big on them...from what I have seen thus-far). Felix's younger brother was there for the holiday as well and spent much more time with us than I would have had I been him at his age! Throughout the weekend we ate traditional English meals (on our last morning we had an English breakfast, which was amazing! I've never been much of a fan of sausage, but for English sausage...oh man...it melts in your mouth! Roast tomatoes, scrambled eggs, toast and jam, earl grey with milk...now THAT is the perfect way to end a vacation!). Below is a picture of my plate on Christmas. We had honey roasted parsnips, mashed parsnips (both...wow!!! Just...wow.), yorkshire pudding, turkey, jam (their substitute for cranberry sauce), pigs in a blanket (which are different from the American way. In England a pig in a blanket is a small sausage wrapped in bacon), brussel sprouts (which went SO well with the rest of the meal! yum), carrots, stuffing patties, broccoli, and champagne. I don't even know what to say after that.


We pulled apart the traditional Christmas crackers, which, for those who aren't familiar with the tradition are small capsules (see above my plate of food) that you grab the ends of (crossing your arms as in the photo below), and pull apart to find a crown, small very random toy (I got a mini deck of cards...probably the most normal toy of anyone...someone got a clip-on mustache and the night before, at the pub (another Christmas tradition in England is to go to a pub on Christmas eve), I got a comb for a barbie doll), and a very dumb joke (they're always, always dumb, or they're not a Christmas cracker joke). The Christmas cracker thing wasn't new to me, as my mom has always had them for us on Christmas, but for my two American friends it was a new experience and, actually, I'd never opened them the arm-crossing way!

On Christmas morning they even had presents for us to open! We hadn't expected anything at all, and their inviting us into their home had been gift enough for Tara, Phil, and myself, but I have to admit, it was really nice to have some wrapping paper to unwrap that morning! I got a "Little Miss Sunshine" coffee mug (not the one you're thinking of, see the link! And here's the back of the mug.), which was AWESOME! I also got a chocolate orange, YUM! And a tiny book of funny anecdotes, from "Father Christmas." ;)

Throughout our few days in Felix's home we played games (I found a new game that I'm ABSOLUTELY in love with called Pit...I hear we have it in the U.S. and will be buying it when I get back and forcing people to play it with me. Get ready!) We also watched the Queen's speech, which was really lame. She talked about sports and their importance to the well-being of the U.K., then she watched some choir boys sing. lol Yea...good stuff. We went to a couple of pubs in Godalming (which I wish we had more of in the U.S...I decided pubs are awesome.), went to a few shops (including a candy shop...and just check this place out! I can't even tell you how many things I saw in England that made me think of Harry Potter...this being one of them!).

Speaking of Harry Potter, Felix's dad also showed us a school in Godalming that made it into the top 5 choices for Hogwarts in the movies...pretty cool! Also, for those of you who have seen The Holiday, with Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, and Jack Black, the scene where Cameron is in England and goes into a grocery store and drinks a bottle of wine as she's shopping...that was shot at a grocery store in Godalming.

What else did we do? We made mince pies (which I always thought was a meat pie...turns out it's a fruit pie with raisins and stuff...sad times, but a cool cultural experience!). And then, on our last day in England, we took a day trip to London, before taking the eurostar back to Paris. London was great as well, but I prefered the quaint small-town life that we had in Godalming. In London we saw Trafalgar Square, The National Portrait Gallery (sounds kinda lame, but it's not at all! It's Felix's favorite museum in the city and with reason. Each portrait has information about it's subject next to it and the portraits are done in different mediums by many different artists and their subjects are contermporary through ancient and fascinating). We also went to the National Gallery and spent a short while being deep and artsy before wandering a bit more. We saw Westminster Abbey, Parlament, Big Ben, the London Eye, and the street where Hermione disapparated Ron and Harry to after the wedding in the more recent HP movie! hahaha No, but seriously, pretty cool.

We finished the day with a late pub lunch, where I finally got my English pub meal of meat pie, potatoes, peas, carrots and cider. How many times can I say "YUM" in this entry before it gets annoying? YUM!

Then we were back in St. Pancras Station (not without stopping at King's Cross Station to try and find platform 9 and 3/4, of course! No luck...I don't think it's actually between 9 and 10...oddly enough), and on our way back to France.

What a very merry Christmas, indeed!

Next: My New Year's Resolutions (but for now I have to go to work)

"Oh My Log!"

Highlights of the past week or so, in no particular order:

-I moved my bed and desk (to the only other place they fit...not a whole lot of interior decorating options in here, lol) and now it feels much more spacious in my room!

-Something seemed to click with me yesterday when I was at my troublesome school. It just felt better...though the kids were the same.

-The teachers in my schools all of a sudden started talking to me more this week! I dunno if they finally realized I'm gonna be around all year and they may as well speak to me, lol, or if it's cuz of the Holidays, but I like it!

-One of the teachers I work with invited me to her house on Thursday for coffee!! I was SO excited cuz I've heard of other assistants whose teachers invite them to do things, but it hadn't happened to me.

-I lit my two candles last night, turned on my mini string of christmas lights and read a French tabloid last night in the warmth of my little studio. It was great.

-A little 6 year old today instead of saying "goodbye" when I left shouted "I LOVE YOU!" hahaha I was laughing so hard as I walked out of that school.

-Harry Potter is officially coming to Orleans in English tomorrow! Guess I'll get to see it earlier than I thought :)

-Went to an amature improve night at the community center the other night and before the show we had to write a sentence going along the theme "end of the year" and then put it in a hat. During the show they had random audience members pick out the pieces of paper and read them. I got chosen to choose a paper and out of the probably 100 pieces of paper in there chose my own! CRAZY!

-Last week after one of my French classes my friends and I walked past a bar that we like and saw that there was music inside, so we decided to check it out. It was an American Folk Music night! With a guy from Indiana and a guy from France being the two artists. REALLY cool! It reminded me of the Root Note (which everyone here says I talk about too much...haha EUROPEAN PUBLICITY!)

I'm sure there is more, but those are the ones that come directly to mind. I have some pics on my phone from the Marche de Noel that I'll post on my photobucket account soon. Post coming soon: A Day In the Life Of Meg, France Edition.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Noel!

Hey guys! I feel like I've been miss negativity lately...sorry 'bout that. France has been rough for me the past month and a half, as you can tell, but I'm trying really hard to get past the homesickness and just enjoy what I have here. French class is going well and our teacher is a lively personality, indeed! My students are all really antsy and chatty lately because of the holidays, but I can feel the classroom/teaching thing getting easier for me...though I still have lots of problems with my CM1s and CM2s, but my "advisor" or sorts is coming on Monday to observe my CM1 and my CE2 classes in that school and help me figure out what I can do to achieve a more stable classroom with these kids.

One of my CE2 kids made me something the other day and gave it to me at the beginning of class. I was so tickled! It's supposed to be the American flag (which I taught them about during the first week of class), but he thought that 50 stars would be too difficult a feat for him, so he just drew one big one (this is what he told me), hehe. The back is supposed to say "Pour Meg....Mathieu," but it ended up saying "Pour Meogge" with the last "e" crossed out. It's great! :) I'm going to hang it on my wall.
As I mentioned in my second to last post, Christmas markets are big in France, and the Christmas market in our city center finally began (after about a week and a half of setting up) on Wednesday! It's great! (Expensive as all get out, but really fun!) They even have an ice skating "rink"...it's not really a rink, but more of a path, seeing as the entire market is located in a small plaza. It's 5 euros to reserve a spot on the rink (you have to call ahead to reserve a spot, as they only let a certain amount of people in at a time), so I'm thinking I'll be leaving the Christmas market ice skating to the families. Anyway, it just wouldn't feel like real ice skating without the risk of falling through the ice into a freezing pond of water and dead fish. Now THAT'S Christmas.

My friends and I tried to see Harry Potter in English the other day, but apparently the internet lies sometimes, and the local theatres didn't have it in English. I talked to the people I'm going to England with for break and we've decided to see the English version there. I'm so excited to finally be able to see it! I've heard good things...

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Never will I be a teacher.

This is how I feel in my CM1 and CM2 classes. I REALLY wish I could quit that school. It's not in the inner city or even near that, but it feels like this. I don't understand how some people CHOOSE to teach in these kinds of classes.

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!