There's no place like home for the holidays

Hello all. Sorry about the delays, I've been getting quite lazy about blogging. Anyhow, I am currently in good ole' North Carolina for Christmas and New Year's and am still a little shocked at how BIG everything is. Hah. It's been great to speak English, hear English, and see friends and family for the best season of the year.

Before leaving Nogent however, I did go on a weekend get-away to Strasbourg, the Capital of Christmas, with Emma, another assistant in Chartres. We had a great time browsing the hundreds of Christmas markets, eating way too much delicious French food, and attempting to stay warm. The city was decorated beautifully for Christmas, with a giant Christmas tree, lights on every street and all that. It really put me in the Christmas spirit and was a nice break from little Nogent.

On the Thursday of the last week before vacation, it also snowed! And I mean a good snow too, at least 2 inches, covering the streets and sidewalks and rooftops. It was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, school was not canceled so I still had to bike around to my schools, but everyone was in a festive mood and most of my kids made snowflakes instead of actually learning anything. "Fold here. Cut here. NO, here." They really enjoyed that and were amazed at how they could just fold some paper, cut a few times, and voila! a lovely snowflake.

Luckily, my flight out wasn't until Monday, so the travel delays and difficulties that the snow caused didn't affect me too much, other than stressing about it all Sunday night and slipping and sliding my way to the train station early Monday morning. But I made it home, on time and in one piece which was fantastic.

Bonnes fetes de fin d'annee a tous!

Ma classe de merde

Excuse my French, but that's almost the only way to describe my Friday class. Not listening, continually laughing and even making fun of me when I speak in English or in French. They were pretty bad today, and nothing I did helped. I even sent one kid out of the class, and they were quiet...for about 45 seconds. At least it's only one class that acts like this.

Teaching about Thanksgiving was really fun, the kids had never heard of it and I got all sorts of faces when I said we eat pumpkin pie! Definitely not a French food. My favorite scene from the week was, after telling the first Thanksgiving story about the pilgrims and Native Americans, one little girl asked "what's the name of this story?".... Actually, it's real history! So cute.

On a brighter note, the Christmas lights in Nogent have been turned on! Yay, now that Thanksgiving is passed, it's time to celebrate Noel! Pictures soon to come...

Time to put my mean face on.

At least, kind of. I have one class where the students don't listen to me at all, and this is because it's the only class where the real teacher is not in the room with me. After talking to the teacher, she said I just need to send the students out of my class and back to her. Time for the discipline to start! It just makes me feel like a terrible, terrible person if I yell at a kid to leave my classroom. We'll have to see how it goes next week...

Apart from that class, my other classes have been pretty good. The kids are cute, the teachers are mostly helpful and they're all excited to be speaking English. This week is Thanksgiving so I'm planning to do some fun activities with the kids, hopefully they'll learn something.

In other news, life in Nogent le Rotrou has been pretty chill, I've been hanging out with some other assistants in Chartres and eating some delicious food and in general just chilling out.

Au boulot!

Back to work for me! After a nice, relaxing two weeks it's time to return to reality and start teaching those youngsters some more English. But first, a rundown on my vacation in France...

During the vacation, I went on lots of day trips to places like Dreux, Paris, Chartres, and Tours.

Dinner party in Dreux with some other assistants. This is a "banlieu" of Paris, noted for its racial tensions and its former glory of being a classy, rich place to live. However, the centre ville is still really cute with lots of cafes and bakeries and shops, while the assistant there warned us against venturing farther outside of the center for fear of being "pebbled" (seriously...)

Paris is, of course, beautiful just to spend a day there and walk around, absorbing the people, language and culture. I spend a great day there, walking around Le Quartier Latin and seeing the sites a bit also. The real adventure begins once we miss the last train back home, and get the joy of spending the whole night in Paris. Luckily, there was a restaurant open 24h (rare in France) and since it was a Monday night, this was basically the only thing open. So after a "nuit blanche" in Paris, I caught up on sleep and relaxed in Nogent the next day.

I also traveled to Tours, a really cool university town about 3hr away from Nogent. The main attraction was Place Plumereau, the city's center square with tons of cafes and restaurants, and looks like a medieval town square. The cathedral was also amazing, as usual. We saw some university students dressed up for Halloween and selling clementines to raise money for something, so of course, we supported them. Speaking of Halloween, it's not really celebrated in France, but I did see a couple groups of kids going door to door as witches, ghosts, and skeletons at around 5pm (why so early?!) However, one old man at the door had no idea what they were doing and was like "non, I don't have any candy." So poor little kids had to keep on moving, in search of les bonbons.

I also spent a lot of time in Chartres over vacation, since that's where several other assistants are placed and there's a lot more to do in Chartres than Nogent. It's cathedral is also amazingly beautiful and the cafe scene is excellent as well. I seem to drink a lot of coffee here... oh well.

I also met my contact person's family and they were awesome! They invited me to lunch, and then insisted that I stay and go to Paris with them the next day. So we went to Paris and visited the Centre Pompidou to see some modern art then walked around Paris and Les Halles a little bit more. It was really fun, and her kids are super cute- the littlest one, who is 10, was really excited to meet an American and discuss "Friends" with me and to see if that's really what life is like in the US. I said, yes exactly. hah :)

Then after such a lovely, relaxing time, it was back to lesson planning and teaching, which is going pretty well right now. Hopefully, that'll continue!

Les Vacances de Toussaint

Well, after 2 weeks of working, it is clearly time for a 2week vacation. Yay France and their love of time off! It's true, they do enjoy their breaks and really make sure they have time to relax. The only unfortunate thing about having a break this early is that I haven't been paid, so it's hard to go on any big trips. I'll mostly probably be just jetting around the area and doing some day trips in France (like Paris). I went to Dreux for a dinner party with some other assistants this weekend, and it was really nice to see another little town and experience another part of France.

My second week of teaching was pretty good. The kids are still really cute, and seem to enjoy English class. They always volunteer and usually listen to me, at least most of them. Hopefully, that trend'll continue after break!

Bonnes vacances a tout le monde!

Ca y est!

Well, survived my first days of classes still intact. Teaching is exhausting! I have 8 classes, with 3 different levels. The kids are pretty cute, and for the most part, well-behaved. There's only a couple classes where the kids talked and whispered and moved around, but luckily, those are the classes where the teachers are very involved in disciplining the kids.

I have tomorrow off, which means I can lesson plan for the next couple of days. If you have any helpful hints for fun games to learn basic English, pass them on!


Also, this past weekend, the other assistant and I went to Paris! It was fabulous, of course. We spent most of the time in and around Montmartre, which is by far my favorite part of Paris. There's so many good restaurants, bakeries and things to do. It was the Fete des Vendanges, which is a throwback to when Montmartre was a big vineyard and wine-making area. It was a really cool street fair with different booths for the many wine regions of France as well as traditional foods from those regions. There was also a parade and fireworks! It was fun to see the city so alive and full of people.

"Is England in Europe?"

"NON!"...at least according the instincts of the class I observed yesterday. Luckily, the teacher quickly corrected them and they all grew that much smarter. Anyhow, the observations went well, and I even passed by my school today when they were letting out, and the students recognized me and said "hello!" What cute little kids...

In other news, I've had a lot of time to walk around Nogent and see what it has to offer. The weather has been beautiful...at least after 12:00, once the sun comes out and warms up. In the mornings, it's so cold you almost need a winter coat and gloves, and then after lunch, you could wear shorts and a t-shirt and be quite comfortable.

Tomorrow is the big day of training, or "la formation". I will go to Chartres on Thurs. then Orleans of Friday to see what exactly I'm supposed to be doing here.

J'arrive!

Well, here I am. I made it to Nogent le Rotrou without any problems. So far, it’s been pretty great. It’s a really small town of about 5,000 people and rather spread out, at least compared to Montpellier. My contact person has been really helpful in picking me up at the train station, showing me around the town, and letting me use her mother-in-law’s bike to get around! I’ve already found a place to go running-not that I’ve actually been running yet- but it’s a nice path around a lake, le basin de loisirs. I have to bike to it, but it is really nice. I went there today and there were tons of people fishing and camping by the lake. I didn’t even know French people did that kind of stuff!

I’m currently living at a foyer des jeunes travailleurs, which is exactly like a dorm but for French workers who move to Nogent. I have my own room, but there’s a hall bathroom. They provide meals during the week, and then on weekends I can cook. The foyer is run by a super nice and welcoming couple who really try to make it like a home instead of foyer. They’re also really great about helping with questions about France.

I start observing classes at the elementary school on Monday afternoon, so I will get to meet the students and teachers I will be working with then.

Good-bye, USA.

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.

-Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth

Today's the day I leave! I'll be flying from RDU to JFK then to Paris, then taking the train to Nogent le Rotrou. I hope everything goes according to plan!

The countdown begins...

Less than a month (19 days!) before I leave for France on the 23rd of September. I'm super pumped about going, especially as I now have housing, provided by my school, and a schedule for the first week of orientation and training. Now I just have to wait for my visa to arrive so that I can legally work and live in France.

I will be teaching English at an elementary school in Nogent le Rotrou, which is about an hour west of Paris (I think). Any suggestions on teaching, fun English songs/games/activities or things to do while in France will be much appreciated. Also, I love to write post cards, so if I have your address you just might get one!