Mont-Saint-Michel on a Sunday in February

Sunday morning, I was picked up by Katherine and her landlords. She is at a school on the outskirts of town, so she rents a room from a family near the school. They offered to take her and a friend on a daytrip to Mont-Saint-Michel, the abbey built on an ocean rock off the coast of Normandy.

View of Mont-Saint-Michel from the parking lot.

By highway, it took us an hour to reach the site, and we parked right at the foot of it. The wind was wild, but the sun was out, and once you made it inside the walls, you could take your coat off and feel the sun warm your back. We trekked up the hill on the only street on the rock, surrounded by tourists admiring the hotels, restaurants, and gift shops that lined the way. At the very top is the abbey, but you have to pay 9 euros to get in, so we decided to just tour the ramparts and eat lunch in a garden overlook. I'm pretty sure we walked every free inch of the rock, since we even found a little cemetary. A lovely way to spend a few hours on a sunny day.

The abbey at the top.

Shrine and French flag.

Cemetary cross and the abbey church.

We left around 3, and they drove us along the coastline. We saw a lot of little Breton towns and beaches and stopped at Cancale, the Point of Grouin, and Dinard. Grey skies took over and a rainstorm followed us home. I was dropped off around 5:45. To see all the photos, click here!

At the Point of Grouin.

Grouin.

Coastline of Brittany.

I packed a bag and took the train to Vitre and Pierre-Antoine for the night. The poor baby has a stuffy nose right before our trip to Prague!

This afternoon's stressor was a letter I had to send to my landlord in Andorra saying that I'm moving out at the end of May. You have to give three months notice (which means by today!) and send the letter with an "accusé de réception" so you can track it and get a receipt back because it's a legal document! So I had to pay over 4 euros to mail a piece of paper to Andorra... Boo!

By the way, this week and the next are school holidays!!! Yes, more holidays--as the couple who took me to Mont-Saint-Michel said yesterday, "The French teach their children to do nothing from an early age. And when they have to do something, they strike to get more holidays!" LOL!

So Pierre-Antoine and I are going to Prague Tuesday-Friday! You'll get a ton of photos and updates this weekend! :)

Vacation cont'd. cont'd.

Just a little update: Laetitia kindly took me to IKEA yesterday where I purchased two lamps, two tables, and a clothes rack. Today, everything is fully assembled and organized, so I feel like I'm home now! Pictures will come from Sunday's Halloween party, I promise ;)

More strikes predicted... Boo!!! And that's a sad boo, not a scary one! Laetitia said that she doubted students will show up back to class on Wednesday..

I started reading the French paper Le Monde to keep myself educated. Here are President Sarkozy's recent words on the retirement age issue, followed by a rough translation by me:

Interrogé sur le recours que le Parti socialiste veut déposer contre le projet de loi sur les retraites, M. Sarkozy a répondu : "Attendons que le recours soit déposé, attendons sereinement que le Conseil constitutionnel se prononce". 

[Questioned about the appeal that the Socialist Party wants to present against the bill on retirement, M. Sarkozy responded: “Let’s wait for the appeal to be presented, let’s wait serenely for the Constitutional Council to rule.”]

"Dans cette affaire, il n'y a qu'un seul vainqueur, la sécurité sociale", a estimé le président français. "Ce sont les Français, qui, une fois la loi promulguée, sauront que leurs retraites seront financées, que la solidarité ne sera pas un vain mot, que les retraités pourront compter sur leurs pensions de retraite."

 
[“In this affair, there is only one winner, social security,” assessed the French President. “These are the French, who, once the law is in place, will know that their retirement will be financed, that solidarity will not be a vain word, that the retired will be able to count on their retirement pensions.”] 

"Tous ceux qui partiront à la retraite dans les années qui viennent sauront que le système français de sécurité sociale, fondée sur la solidarité entre les générations, fonctionne. C'est tout", a insisté M. Sarkozy. "Pour le reste, des inquiétudes, souvent légitimes, ont été exprimées. Je les ai entendues, j'y ai réfléchi et je prendrai le moment venu des initiatives pour y répondre."

[“All those who are retiring in the coming years will know that the French system of social security, founded on the solidarity between generations, functions. That’s all,” insisted M. Sarkozy. “For the rest, the worries, often legitimate, have been expressed. I heard them, I reflected on them, and I will take the coming time of initiatives in order to respond to them.”]

Vacation cont'd.

I found the upside of retiring later for the French: Taking Early Retirement May Retire Memory, Too. And for all of us, I suppose... ;) I'm pretty sure that this month of not working has already declined my brain abilities, so I totally agree with this study's findings!

So it still isn't too exciting here... After my last post, I went on a bit of a shopping spree for a bathrobe, hat, and mittens to keep me cozy this winter. I also found postcards that actually show my apartment's windows!!! How cool is that!? I bought a ton to send and keep for myself. Also grabbed pasta and sauce for a lonely dinner. Most of the other assistants are out of town traveling for vacation, and the two in town were not feeling up to meeting me downtown since they live a ways out. It was fine to have a little chill time, and there was a band playing at a bar I could hear clearly from my windows. After "Hotel California" and some Beatles, I was plenty content.

This morning was exciting because I got two packages from Mother of clothes, Thanksgiving things, photos, and brochures for my classes. Thanks to her and Grandma Tucker for the thoughts and things! I also got a form back from my landlord (who lives in Andorra, so I got a cool Andorra stamp!) so that I could finally mail in my application for housing aid! Hopefully, that will go smoothly, and I can take advantage of this poor French government some more.

PA arrived around lunchtime, bringing me a microwave! How exciting! Plans for the afternoon include helping PA research grad school stuff, decorating my apartment for a Halloween party, and perhaps going to IKEA to buy a table, lamp, and clothes rack. How domestic my life has become...

Problem solved. For now...

As you know, I've had a misearble time trying to get my shower fixed. This included many visits to offices, some phone calls, and a lot of passing the buck.

At 8:30 this morning, the buzzer to my door woke me up. It was the apartment owner's brother asking if he could bring a plumber at 9! Hallelujah! So the plumber came and sucked up the water with a vacuum cleaner thing and told me that the shower drain was loose (design flaw, I suppose), so I should check it from time to time. Thank God for the lady at the bank who called all these people for me! She is the nicest person I've worked with here so far!

So hopefully the shower will remain intact. At least it wasn't a huge problem requiring days of repair work.

For the afternoon, I have to duck into work to see if anyone shows. Then, I have a hot chocolate date with an assistant!

Wish me luck!

STRIKE: Day 5

The strike goes on! Even Pierre-Antoine's university is on strike... And next week is a holiday week for Toussaint, or All Saints, so really everyone is just enjoying a nice long vacation with some demonstrations thrown in. I'm sure you've all heard of flights and trains being cancelled. I'm staying put in Rennes for now...

Still, I had to appear at work this morning so that everyone knew I was not striking myself (though why I could possibly care about French retirement ages, I don't understand). I chatted with English teacher Corinne a bit in the teacher's lounge and then headed back to my place. Pierre-Antoine (also free) and I went shopping for a universal remote for my tv and I also found some new black flats. I apparently scared him and the shopkeepers by how fast I picked them out and paid! I know what I want, I suppose...

So my only activity for the day is going to the bank at 4:30 to figure out insurance and how to fix my shower. It is just annoying because there is no leak or anything up here... so I'm probably going to have to coordinate a plumber visit with the neighbors. We'll see...

PA and I are going to try this restaurant called "Back to the 60s" near Place Sainte Anne. It has burgers and shakes in a 50s diner atmosphere! Just don't ask me why they chose the 60s as the diner era :/

A very bad day

Today made me not like being in France. I decided not to omit my frustration from this blog because it is also a legitimate part of my life here, and it deserves some forum of expression too.

So I waited all day for a call from the owner of my building as per the instructions of the agency. Around five something, the brother of the owner calls to ask about the problem and then just asks if he can come over and look at it. I say yes, and he is here in five minutes. He fiddles in the shower, and I try to explain that there is nothing to see here because it is leaking into the other apartment. I ask if he wants to talk to the guys downstairs, and he says no because it is up to my insurance to fix it.

He is gone without giving me any hint as to what I am supposed to do, and it is almost six o’clock when the bank/insurance place closes anyway. I wasted a whole day waiting on people to help me, and I got nothing fixed. I tried to look through my insurance papers, but I understand very little of what it says. I emailed my bank person to call me tomorrow, so I guess that’s all I can do for now. Besides not showering.

I also still don’t have a schedule for work. I cannot plan anything because I never know when I have to go in. This strike is ridiculous!

To sum up, I’m angry that there is no one to help me. I’ve never even dealt with insurance or apartment issues in the US where I can speak English to figure things out. I really hate not being able to understand everything is going on around me. Today was just a very bad day.

STRIKE: Day 3

Friday was another day of frustration--no students! But luckily, I ran into Julie and Laetitia who helped me moved in! Laetitia drove to Julie's place to pick up the beds (two singles I'm putting together) and take them to my apartment. After helping me carry those up, she also drove to PA's place and helped me move all my stuff out of there and into my now full apartment! I'm so grateful to her! She also lent me a comforter and gave me a bunch of French celebrity magazines to peruse ;)

So yesterday afternoon/evening was spent setting up the place for tonight's housewarming party! I just learned this tidbit on how to say housewarming in French, or une pendaison de crémaillère: "Crémaillère is the metal hook in a chimney were you hang the pot. Originally, when the pot was hung, you were ready to prepare a meal, therefore the house was ready to live in.
 
"If it's on a written invitation you'd write : 'nous pendrons la crémaillère le 16 octobre" [we will hang the hook on October 16] or simply "pendaison de crémaillère le 16 octobre'."

Sorry for such a short post, but I have some home-goods and food shopping to get done for tonight's soirée! I  wish you could all be there too!

Tired and tired of strikes!

Last night, PA’s friend Antoni invited us to go out to his class party with him—hanging out with people in his master’s program. Apparently, in France, classes of undergrad and grad students have class mixers out at bars and clubs. So we went to… Melody Maker! It was my fourth time there, so I guess it’s becoming my regular spot!

I had good beer and chatted mostly with PA and Antoni. Random classmates of his kept coming by to introduce themselves, and I had to say I was American and not in the master. Sometimes they would speak a bit of English with me. PA and I ended up in a bunch of their photos, even though we’re not in the program, haha!

Sadly, it is getting cold again here after a warm, sunny weekend. I was shivering outside in my fleece jacket last night, and today has a chilly autumn breeze.

This morning, I left around 11 to bring some cleaning supplies over to my apartment. I tried to call the water and electric companies to put them under my name, but I couldn’t understand what the recorded or real voices were saying :/ I enlisted the help of my apartment agent who kindly took care of it for me. She really is nice and helpful except when she has to enforce the rules of the building owner. Anyway, I have water and electricity now!!!

I had to run into work at 3 today, but right before I left PA’s apartment after lunch, I got a phone call from Catherine. My school has gone on strike against the raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62! So from now until the end of the month, some teachers will not be in school. This means that a lot of students don’t bother to show up for class even for the teachers who aren’t on strike. I was advised to still make an appearance at the school every day so as to not be considered on strike as well.

For those wondering about the process of a school going on strike: In the teacher’s lounge was a poster proposing the strike followed by columns with dates (today, tomorrow, next week…). If a teacher wants to strike on a certain day, they put an X in the column—no names so that no one gets in trouble. Many teachers, however, do not go on strike because they don’t want to lose pay for the days they miss; instead they support the cause by handing out flyers or demonstrating during their free time. And yes, there are often demonstrations in the street and on the main squares! Buses, trains, and planes are being cut back (but luckily, not the automated metro that I use). It’s a lot of inconvenience.

So I still went to school at 3 and saw Julie and Laetitia. Only two boys showed up for Julie’s class, so I tested my Tennessee powerpoint on them and let them peruse some menus of Cracker Barrel and Mimi’s Café to learn about Southern cuisine. Then, we just chatted in French about the strike and asked if the students were organizing. For the last few minutes we played some charades using English to describe the person. It was really fun!

As far as moving in goes, Laetitia offered her car to help me move things to my apartment tomorrow! And I should get my beds and a small oven from Julie on Sunday or Monday. After work, I scrubbed every surface of the apartment, so it is clean and ready to be inhabited. I definitely need a table and some decorations still…

When PA finished classes, we ran to buy groceries for fajitas (seasoning mix provided by Ma’s care package). I also turned in the last of my grad school applications this evening, so now it is just a waiting game.

I’m sleepy, and I’m supposed to go to school tomorrow at 9:30. Let’s hope some students show up!

Hanging out

Bonjour, y’all!

My parents have passed on your compliments, so thank you very much for reading and enjoying my blog :)

I last posted yesterday afternoon. That evening, PA and I rounded up some assistants downtown to go to a bar and play some pool. French pool has smaller balls and uses only red and yellow balls plus the black 8. It’s a random difference, I know… PA and I got to hang out with Seth, Berit, Nicholas, Georgia, and Julien (who actually French and works as a moniter in a school while studying to be a geography teacher). I prefer these smaller, intimate groups for getting to know people rather than the 20+ person mess of Saturday night. It was a good group and a good mix of French and English. Julien told us about his trips to Senegal every summer; he was in the Scouts (Europeans have a ton of different Scouting organizations), and his group works in a village there. Pretty cool! PA and I got back to the apartment early and just hung out with Wajd and Philouze, our roomies, and a girl that was over. A relatively quiet but fun evening overall.

Today, I went to the school for two hours. Actually, today was another strike about the raising of the retirement age, so most professors, staff, and students were out on strike. Catherine wanted me to come in anyway to discuss my schedule and get some administrative things done. By the end of the week, I will have my timetable until Christmas holidays! I will start doing my small group classes tomorrow afternoon, and I even have a key to my classroom. Things are progressing.

I also got the keys to my apartment! My plan is to clean it up tomorrow and start moving things over bit by bit. Mostly, I need my bed, so I’ll arrange things with Julie on its transport tomorrow.

Since then, I’ve been in the apartment reading and getting emails and such done. I’m excited about fajitas for dinner, since Ma sent me a care package of flavors from home. I’m also supposed to hang out with Caely at some point, and watch How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men with Pierre-Antoine.

Oh, the exotic life of France!

Aïe! Et j'ai mon appartment !

Last night, I said aïe instead of ow… I’m totally becoming French! ;)

Today wasn’t too exciting; I never left Villejean. I slept in, ate sandwiches for lunch in the apartment with PA and his friend Antoni, did laundry, bought food for dinner, and then napped some more. I just got a phone call from my agency that the paperwork is done, and I can get my keys tomorrow! FINALLY!

Other than that, I am mostly just glad to have English news channels, especially CNN! I’ve been catching up on the Chilean miner’s rescue, toxic mud in Hungary, North Korea’s new leader emerging this weekend, and the Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner. Not that I didn’t hear about these things on the French news—it was just hard for me to get all the details.

Well, I just wanted to share my good apartment news! I’ll be spending time setting that up this week now xD

Evenings out and grad school applications done

Saturday evening was pleasant. In a group of about 15 English and Spanish assistants, I ate at Place Sainte Anne in the unusually warm evening. Crêpes and wine and meeting new people while getting to know “old” (meaning I’ve met them at least once before) people better. We then went to a nearby bar that has a laundromat in it—I guess that’s a good idea, but it was a funny setting for hanging out. More assistants joined us there, and we took up basically the entire patio. I kind of got stuck in an awkward corner so it was hard to follow conversations and such… I was also sleepy from the wine. I left before 11 to head back to the apartment.

None of the roommates were in, so I listened to my iTunes and found some college friends on facebook to catch up with, Lin Lin and Daniel. After they had to go study or eat dinner or whatever, I watched an episode of ER and finally made myself go to sleep.

Sunday morning I slept late, but then became very productive! I submitted one graduate school application to American University, and I finished the rest except for inputting the name of one recommender that I am waiting to hear from. I am applying to MA International Affairs/Relations/Studies programs at American, George Washington University, University of Chicago, and University of Denver for next year. Depending on which school I go to, I will be doing either US Foreign Policy or African studies! Hopefully, all four applications will be submitted in this next week, and I can stop fretting over it.

After that, I started working on a powerpoint about Tennessee and Knoxville to present to my students when I start my classes. If any of you have lesson plan ideas, please send them my way! I’m planning on covering holidays, the school system, music, anything I think of!

I’ve hit a block in working, so I’m going to take a break now. Sundays in France are so boring! No stores are open, not even grocery stores! Just some cafés and restaurants, but I don't want to spend money to be alone at them. Luckily, PA will be back from his Normandy trip at 7:30 tonight. And I don’t have work until Tuesday at 12:30, can you believe it? I need to find some hobbies, like a yoga studio, ASAP! Or if I had my apartment, I could be working on setting it up.

All in good time...

Observation and frustration... Followed by fun!

This blog seems to be turning into a daily journal… so don’t feel obligated to read all the mundane details of my life. I think living abroad makes every little problem or success more dramatic by virtue of it being dealt with in French and by myself. So sorry for the silliness I may describe.

Yesterday, I went to school for three hours in the afternoon to sit in on three classes. Once again I had to present myself, answer questions, and talk a little about Tennessee and Knoxville with Google images to aid me. Two of the classes were terminale (last year of high school) comprised of electricians who have just returned from month-long internships in businesses as varied as home electricians to maintenance in hospitals. It was cool to hear their stories of work and see that they do know some English already.

One class was listing what they wanted to discuss with me when I have my own classes, and one guy mentioned basketball. I told them I watch a lot of basketball, so they asked my favorite team—the Lakers! That earned me some grins :)

After the three hours, I was definitely tired from looking attentive and deciphering broken English. I also had to bring financial forms to the secretary to set up my automatic salary payment—I should get 80% of my salary at the end of this month instead to having to wait until the end of November.

Then, I went downtown to drop off PA’s rent check at his agency and stop by my agency to see the status of my apartment. Now that we had a snafu with the last financial guarantor, the agent wanted to talk to them first. I had to convince her that it was all set up and that she should send the paperwork right away. Hopefully, it will all be done by this weekend; I am to await her phone call to get my keys. It was a rather frustrating afternoon.

I met PA back at the apartment and enjoyed a healthy dinner of delivery pizza (ham, egg, potato as toppings!) and brownies that I made from a packet (denser and darker than ones in the US). Around 9:30, I texted some assistants to go to a hookah bar downtown. So me, PA, Seth, Georgia, Caely, and Carolyn (who is placed in St. Malo) enjoyed Melon and Lemon-Mint hookahs and sugary mint tea. I really love this group of assistants—it makes the stresses of work and paperwork easier to bear when I can joke around with them afterwards. Well, and Pierre-Antoine helps a lot too ;)

Also, I finally found some peanut butter here… in the foreign food aisle with burrito kits and teriyaki sauces!

Today, I am going into work for an hour to just hang out with another English teacher, Laetitia, and see some more of the workshops. Catherine is busy the rest of the week, so we’ll see if I have much more to do.

I’ll also put up some photos of the school that I’ve taken! I’m so lazy about doing that :/

Orientation day

Today was the orientation day for all of the language assistants in this départment (county) of Ille-et-Vilaine. I had to brave the pouring rain to get to a nearby high school (one metro stop and a 10 minute walk) at 9:30. Everyone was soaking wet and FREEZING! They haven’t turned on the heat yet, and it’s so chilly! In the 60s and rainy :/

Some stats from the meeting today to share:
-227 language assistants (English, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese) in Brittany.
-5,600+ assistants in France this year.
-Brittany makes 40% of France’s milk.
-Brittany provides 55% of France’s pork.
-Brittany accounts for 45% of France’s fishing industry.
-Brittany is mostly rural with 70,000 agricultural workers but also hosts many high-tech industries.
-Brittany has a population of 3 million, which is 5% of France’s population.
-The Académie de Rennes has the best student retention rates of the country and is among the highest in baccalaureat scores (the final exam French high school students take).

The morning was spent hearing welcoming speeches from all the top officials and language inspectors of the region. A news crew actually showed up, so I’ll probably be on French tv (because I was sitting front and center) and maybe even in the Ouest France newspaper! After that excitement was done, we got info on all the forms we have to fill out to get paid, get our residence permits, get social security, get free transportation, get housing aid… There is so much paperwork in France—that stereotype is definitely true! I have to go take identity photos and copy my passport, birth certificate, and work papers for all of these things.

After shivering in the drafty amphitheater for hours, we had a free, hot lunch in the school cafeteria—with a main course of a pork and veggie skewer, it was definitely higher quality than US public school food. I ended up at a table with Germans, Spaniards, and an Austrian. The common language was French, but I heard them talk amongst themselves as well. We had to play the “Where are you from? Why are you here? Where are you teaching?” questions game, so no cultural insights there for today. And after that we moved to a classroom for coffee, cookies, and more conversation.

The afternoon orientation session was split by languages, so I was with Americans, Irish, and Brits for info on what we are actually doing as assistants. Basically, we need to encourage oral expression as much as possible, so we need to be creative! You can take an advertisement and turn it into a lesson on cultural stereotypes. You have to give them vocab and then give them an opportunity to use it, particularly in comparing their culture with yours. As assistants, we are proof that the language they study is alive and useful. We even give credibility to the scenes they have seen in American movies. It’s really quite cool :)

Tomorrow I will go to the agency to inquire as to the status of my apartment, and maybe I’ll even get the keys! Then, I have to go to work at 1:30 for one class and not again until (maybe) Friday. That gives me two days at least to set up my apartment and go bed shopping.

Bisous!

Solutions

Phew! What a nail-biting weekend!

I would like to announce to you all that I once again have a home! I found a financial guarantor, and I will most likely get my keys by this weekend. The next challenge is buying a bed and getting it there… :/ Pictures ASAP! And visitors ALWAYS welcome!

This weekend was fun, showing Deepa around town in the constant rain of Brittany. We ate a lot of crepes and shopped. Last night we met Seth, Georgia (an assistant from London), Nicholas (asst. from NC), Megan (an au pair from Ohio), and Jackie (a Spanish asst. from Guatemala) for bar-hopping! Cool people, fun times! Possible yoga buddies if we can find a good studio in town.

Deepa just left to return to Rouen, and I’m waiting for PA to come back from Vitré—his basketball team won again against Fougères Saturday night! Tomorrow is my orientation day with all the assistants of all languages in this department of Ille-et-Vilaine (like a county). Then, I go into work at my school on Tuesday!

School visits and some trouble in paradise

Sorry for the delay in postings, but this has been a very busy, stressful and rainy few days. On Thursday afternoon I went to my school for a meeting of English teachers. My prof picked me up and drove me over at 3:30. We first met the principal (who is new this year) and the assistant principal who chatted for a bit. Then my prof had a run in with a student who was mad at her for not being around to sign a paper for him. She chewed him out for being rude, and when he found her later to get the signature, he was totally submissive. It was kind of funny…

I was also introduced to the student counselors who will control discipline if I need help and some other profs in the teacher’s lounge. We finally made it to the meeting where she laid out a spread of cookies, chocolates, and marshmallows to accompany the tea. The English teachers filtered in, speaking in both French and English to me. The ‘meeting’ never really got started, however, because everyone just gossiped, especially when the new principal and the assistant principal showed up and turned it into a joking contest… While it was nice to see people informally like this, I was also anxious to discuss what I am supposed to do this year!

At the end, after two or three hours (I don’t remember anymore), it was just me, my prof Catherine and another English teacher Letiticia and we actually made some plans. I’m going to work three hours for four days a week—Tuesday through Friday. I will rotate groups of six from their English classes for oral practice, where I will be expected to use the grammar and vocab they are learning in class and also incorporate American cultural lessons and games. If anyone gives me a problem, I send them directly to the disciplinarians, and they are cut from my services. There are over 1,000 students in the school, so each trimester I focus on a different group—seconds (second grade here is equivalent to 10^th in the US because they count down not up—these are kids in their first of three years at high school), then firsts, the ‘terminals’ who will have me right before they take their big final English exams. That is all I know now.

Then Catherine took me to a few of the buildings. The school has some boarding students during the week, so we saw them at dinner in the cafeteria. She introduced me to staff and groups of students at random; one group had some deaf kids in it who were confused at what she was saying, so to help out, I signed my name! In elementary school, a bunch of my friends and I learned the sign language alphabet in order to ‘talk’ during class, but I only remember the letters of my name now. So that was mildly impressive, I suppose… Historical note here: “Interestingly, however, American Sign Language shares many vocabulary terms with Old French Sign Language (LSF) because a French Deaf man, Laurent Clerc, was one of the first teachers of the Deaf in the U.S. in the nineteenth century. So if you know ASL, you're better off taking a vacation in France than in England!” (Source: http://www.deaflibrary.org/asl.html)

Catherine led me to the infirmary and we ended up at the retirement party of one of the nurses! So I got introduced to all kinds of teachers and staff and got handed a glass of champagne. We did not leave until 8:10! And I had invited some assistants to PA’s apartment for a game night with French people that started at 8, so I was getting nervous about them showing up to a party without a host! Luckily, I arrived right when Seth and Caely did.

The party was fun—five of PA’s friends and two assistants showed up. We had drinks and snacks to share! Just as we were getting ready to play De Pommes A Pommes—the Apples to Apples game that PA translated—the power went out in just our apartment! After lots of confusion and fears that it had been cut off for not paying the electric bill, PA managed to flip a switch in the stairway and save the party! We played De Pommes A Pommes and Time’s Up, a version of charades. Everyone writes down a few names of real or fictive people and throws them in a bowl. The first round, you can use words to make people guess the names; round two, you can only use one word (usually referring to jokes made in round one); and in round three, you have to act out the person. The game is fun, except when there are too many French references that I don’t know. Luckily, this time I had two other Americans to sympathize with me!

And all that was only Thursday! Here is how Friday went…

I went to the school again to meet Catherine at 10:20 in the teacher’s lounge. She was late, so I talked a bit with a few of the English profs I had already met. They all did British English, so it is even a bit bizarre to talk to them in English sometimes. Catherine then took me around to some of the professional studios (because, remember, this is a professional high school, not a traditional college prep one). I saw future electricians at work and the audiovisual work space where a class on setting up the lights and sound for big events was taking place. It was all very impressive. I was introduced to tons of groups of students and profs again!

From there, I went to Catherine’s English class of seconds, who are already pretty decent at speaking basic English phrases. They asked me questions about where I was from and what high schools were like there. It helped me understand how to talk with them and help them learn at their level.

Before I left, I gave the principal’s secretary the name and number of my apartment agent because he was supposed to negotiate with her on a “Financial Guarantor” that I do not have. Apparently, in France, young people with no or low salaries need to have a Financial Guarantor to support their rent payments if necessary—and this person has to be French so that they could be taken to court in France if it comes to that. Since I have no family or close friends with a salary in France, I have no guarantor. I had assumed at this point that the school had found a way around this, or at least had found someone willing to do it for me. This was not to be the case…

I went to the agency after lunch, thinking I would be getting my keys and moving in to my apartment yesterday. At first, the keys weren’t there because the inspector still had them—I was to come back in an hour. I went and bought cleaning supplies for the place. I go to get my keys after an hour and mention that my school should call about the guarantor, and the agent said that I cannot have the keys until she knows who the guarantor is. She calls the principal directly who says he will call her back in a bit. I am instructed to come back in another hour.

Let me note that it is pouring down rain, and I am carrying heavy bags of cleaning supplies. I was so angry that this paperwork issue was getting in my way.

After another hour, the agent says she has no good news. The principal has nothing for me. She called the apartment owner, but he will take nothing less than a guarantor. I have until Monday to find one, or I’m out.

So my family is tracking down all leads to France at the moment. To be a guarantor, you have to send in salary and tax info, so it is a bit invasive. Yet, there will never be a problem because I and my parents will take care of the rent. It is all so frustrating to have no legal standing as a foreigner in this matter and have no one to help me.

This is where I am now—on the brink of losing my dream apartment because I need a French name on the books. We investigating other options like paying more up front or using an insurance program (if I can qualify). We shall see come Monday.

For today, I have Deepa, a friend from middle school who is an assistant in Rouen, coming to visit. I actually need to go pick her up from the train station in a bit, so I will sign off here.

Au revoir!

I HAVE A HOME!!!

I just got the most amzing apartment ever!!! I live on the main square of the historic center--full of restaurants and bars and a metro station! I live above a pizza shop :)

The yellow awning to the left, and I'm on the 3rd floor!

An interior view of my 35 square meters!

I get to move in Friday!! Stay tuned for more photos then!



Exploration

Hey all!

Spent the weekend in the company of various assistants! I last left off on Saturday evening, when I left to meet Caely for a (romantic) delicious Italian dinner downtown. We then found Seth at Place des Lices and searched for a bar. I had a glass of wine at a classy little place called L’Endroit (literally, The Place) and then we walked to Republique to await assistant Emma from Maine to arrive via metro. We went to an Irish pub named Kilkenny’s where I had a Kilkenny—delicious dark Irish beer. Emma studied abroad here last year, so she had tons of suggestions on restaurants, bars, clubs, and educational/cultural activities, of course. Good to get to know another person.

Had to metro home, and I was the only one in the apartment that night! So it was kind of a let down to go from socializing to solitude…

Yesterday, I slept in. Caely texted about a lunch/photography outing, so I went to her place right near Parlement in the historic center. It was pretty perfect location-wise and came furnished, but it is on the top floor so the ceiling is half sloping, and you have to bend down to get into the bathroom! Still a nice place for what an assistant needs to live here. Speaking of which, I lost a perfect apartment yesterday but found two more great ones today. I’ve left messages and emails, and one guy responded to say a person ahead of me gets to decide by tomorrow—so keep your fingers crossed that he or she turns it down!!! Or that I hear back on the other opportunity!

So anyway, I wandered around the pretty medieval parts of town with Caely and Seth with their fancy cameras putting mine to shame. I’ll share some of my takings with you in a post to follow. We managed to find the tourist office and got free maps and a look at the little history exhibit inside it. We also found some churches and other picturesque streets I had not seen before. I headed back in the evening to meet PA, fresh from another basketball victory, and we just cooked dinner and watched tv movies until late since he does not have class Monday mornings.

Which brings me to today—I met assistant Katherine at Ste-Anne to walk around some more. Got a kebab, took pictures of the city and the big park, Jardin des Plantes. We tried to go to a hot chocolate place recommended by Emma and Seth as the best in the world, but it was sadly closed on Mondays. Back at the apartment, I’ve been chillin’ and nursing myself to recover from this cold… PA has a class at 6, so I’ll run and buy food for the week and anxiously await responses on my apartment.

By the way, it is so cold here already! It only gets into the 60s here, so I'm wearing layers. I'm pretty sure it is still in the 80s and even 90s in Knoxville... :(

I promise my life will be cooler when I get a place downtown and start working. Then I’ll have anecdotes from working city life to share! ;)

Ces soirées-là (Oh What a Night)

Yesterday, PA went to Vitré for his basketball practice/game this weekend, and I stayed in Rennes to organize a soirée of assistants! Using facebook and texts on the phone I had just purchased, I invited everyone to meet at Place Sainte-Anne at 7. Five of us dined at Creperie Ste-Anne, and a sixth met us afterwards. We roamed the streets in search of a bar, and we even sampled some light French beer at the one we chose. Three people left by 11, so us three leftover night owls found a hookah bar to chat some more. I was home by 12:30 so that I wouldn’t miss the metro closing for the night at 12:45. The newbies I met were Katherine of Chicago, Caely of California, and Seth of DC/Montreal. Of course, we had to exchange basic info on our first meeting, but hopefully our conversations will warm up soon :)

I think I’m still rather stressed out here in general… Just having to deal in French. Like this morning I had to go to a laundromat where I had to decipher the machines and systems just to get my laundry done. I ended up jamming the payment machine with a 5 euro bill (which was recovered by a woman half an hour later who gave it back to me) and had to go to the Subway next door to beg for coins to use. I eventually asked some guys for help on how everything worked and that solved my problems.

I really do need to get better about using my French confidently and asking for help from strangers. One of the other assistants stopped to ask a woman for directions on the street yesterday and ended up with an apartment at a good price! Lucky break!

Today, I looked at more apartment announcements, but since it is the weekend, I cannot really contact anyone. I found a PERFECT place that the individual was selling herself (as opposed to an agency), so I did try to call and email her. I hope I can get it because it is gorgeous, furnished, and in a perfect location! *fingers crossed*

I was just invited to crepes for dinner made by Alexandre, but I am headed downtown again tonight after organizing another assistants’ night out via a massive facebook and text recruiting campaign. I have one confirmed for dinner, and three interested in drinks afterwards. I hope to convince everyone to go to O’Connells for Irish beer—oh, Smithicks/Kilkenny, how I miss you!

Until tomorrow my faithful followers!