Blogging on McDonald's Wireless, woohoo!

Yessss ... I caved and agreed to get some food at the McDonald's drive-through last night (last time I was in France, I waited at least a month before going to a McDonalds), but as luck would have it, I noticed that they have free wifi internet access. This McDonald's is only a 15 minute walk from my place, so it might just become a regular hangout for me and the other assistants, as we are still all craving more regular internet access with our computers. It's not bad ... clean, bright Halloween decorations everywhere, and they play the latest music. So I'll take it!

The Coupe du Monde de Rugby has been going on in France for the past few weeks, and the French team made it to the semi-finals and played England last night. As is common with any country/sport in the finals of a tournament, new rugby fans (including myself!) have definitely started popping out of the woodwork. I went with a group of French fans downtown to watch the game last night, and even though we got there 2 hours in advance, we couldn't find a seat in a bar. But tons of bars had outdoor seating, and we watched the game on a big-screen outside a bar in a plaza; there were hundreds of people watching at each bar, and most had beer tents outside since getting inside was near impossible. The atmosphere was really fun, and it was a pretty close game until the last 10 minutes or so ... when it became pretty clear that England was going to win. We were supposed to go to a party afterwards, but everyone was so disappointed that the Saturday night atmopshere pretty much died out; guess that's how I ended up at McDonald's! I don't understand all of the rules to rugby, but I must agree somewhat with the French who say that it is more interesting to watch than American football; the action doesn't stop as frequently, and the brute strength of the players (and lack of equipment/padding!) does make American football look a little less hardcore in comparison. (Sorry, Alec, if you are reading this post!) So England will play the winner of South Africa-Argentina next weekend in the championship, if you're interested.

The Efficiency of French "Bureaucrazy" ughhg

Ok, I’ll try to keep this just a minor rant about all of the paperwork that I have been going through, but it has gotten slightly frustrating! First I need to get a residence permit that will validate my visa for a year; in order to get the residence permit, I need several letters from my school attesting to the fact that I work here, live here, have opened a French bank account, have an official French translation of my birth certificate, etc etc. So once I gathered all of this info, I went to the government office an hour before it opened to join the line of people already there … and it still took about an hour and a half to get it all done. However, this was just the first step in the process … next I have to send a letter requesting a medical visit; I will supposedly receive a date for this, and then will take my medical letter back to get one step further in the process. I think it will probably take about a month or so to get it all done. I also had to apply for a French social security number, in order to actually get paid for teaching; however, this is just a temporary number until I actually receive the residence permit. Basically, it is frustrating because to get one thing, you need several documents, which may or may not be available until you have finished applying for something else. And I just found out that to get my cell phone & plan, I have to have my permanent residence card, which based on all of the above info, probably won’t be ready for another month. But I will find a loophole for the cell phone and get it taken care of!

Good Day of French Conversations

There are definitely days where I feel like absolutely no one understands me in French … and then there are good days with little frustration stemming from the language barrier. But I had a day of solid, although random, French conversations, and that’s worth writing about! I was at the bus stop, and a man asked me a question about the schedule; when I responded he noticed the accent and asked if I was German. It turns out he was a reporter on assignment from the Congo, and we had a pretty interesting conversation about politics, culture in the US, etc.
The next conversation was with a French professor at the high school; when he found out I was American, he was enthralled and told me all of the places he loves in the US! I’ve never met anyone that excited about the US; he said that he thinks Americans are more friendly & open than the French, and his favorite place is Las Vegas, haha!!
The next interaction happened when I was walking to a party and got completely lost, so I stopped a couple to ask for help. There were super nice and went all the way back to their car to give me a map. I told them I was an English assistant at my school, and they thought that was great; another perk of working at the most well-reputed high school in the area … people respond pretty favorably when I tell them what school it is, so that always helps!
Ah, and I might as well throw in an example of a not-so-smooth French convo. I went to the little market nearby to buy some liquor for a party, and as I was buying Jack Daniels, I tried to explain to him the significance of me taking that to the party (I’m from Tennessee, etc etc). Well apparently he didn’t understand much because he asked me, in both French and English, if I was drunk! It was like Wednesday afternoon, and no, I was not drunk. Then he was really interested in knowing if American men are better looking than French men. Not my place to generalize on that one … J

Fun with the Assistants

We have all continued to hang out and enjoy each other a lot. Usually during the day we don’t see other too much, but try to go to lunch together at the school’s cafeteria; we eat in the professors’ section of the cafeteria, and it’s a bit more comfortable to go with another assistant! We haven’t all gone out together yet, but have enjoyed just staying at our place at night, hanging out, talking, drinking, etc. The Russian’s first night did end up being pretty fun; we didn’t know him too well at that point since he had just arrived, but he walked into the kitchen after dinner and put a bottle of vodka on the table. Then he proceeded to cut up a huge bowl of pickles and bread, and also made a big glass of pickle juice. Then he said he would teach us how to drink vodka properly … basically just take a shot and then follow it with a cup of pickle juice or a pickle, to mask the flavor. We ended up each doing 4 or 5 shots, with each person toasting to one of them. Quality bonding, for sure J
I also found out that the Chilean assistant plays soccer and both of us brought cleats & stuff, so hopefully we can play sometime!The other night the school hosted a small champagne reception to welcome us, introduce us to the language staff, etc. It was really nice AND allowed us a chance to talk to the principal about a few concerns we have with our housing; they were really receptive to our little list of requests and said they would look into them. This includes: potentially buying us a washer & dryer (!!), fixing the stove so that we have more than the microwave for cooking, maybe turning on some heat, and trying to figure out how we can get internet here. So we’ll see what may come of that … J After the reception we went to a Breton creperie and then to a bar downtown.

"Welcome to Bacon Country"

Strange title, huh? Well, this is a direct quote – and actually the only thing said to us in English – by the academic director of the Rennes region at our Assistant Orientation on Monday. I didn’t take notes on the specifics, but I think the quote refers to the fact that the region produces a large percentage of French meat/sausage/etc. Fun to know, I guess. Anyway, the orientation was actually pretty cool; there were about 60 assistants there total, from all over – Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, India, Russia, Austria, Ireland, England, Canada, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, etc etc. First we all just introduced ourselves, got lots of administrative info, had lunch, and then split into language workshops where they gave us some teaching advice. In general the orientation was really helpful, but I left there a bit overwhelmed with all of the admin paperwork that needed to be done in the next few days.

Fun Stuff in Rennes

I live about a 10 minute bus ride from the city’s downtown area and have been down there a few times already. It is a REALLY cute city with lots of shops, restaurants, gardens, parks, bars, creperies, cafés; I love it! I already had a Breton galette at one of the creperies … super good. There are tons of different plazas around the city where it’s easy to meet up with people/hang out/etc. There is one main street with tons of bars on it, and I saw one called Le Tennessee Bar, so I’ll have to check that out soon. Apparently Thursday night is the big soirée night in the city since lots of students go home for the weekends. There was supposed to be a barbecue for foreigners my first Thursday, but it got rained out; but I was still able to meet up with a few American, English, and Irish assistants at a bar downtown. There are a couple of American assistants who lived here last year, so they are really good about organizing stuff for us all to do. But until I get a cell phone/have consistent Internet access, it will be difficult to get in touch with anyone besides my suite-mates. There’s an American assistant who has a French boyfriend (of 5 years – they met in high school & have been together since!) in Rennes, so she invited me to hang out with her bf and his friends on Friday night. It has always been pretty difficult for me to follow quick conversations among young French people (all of the young slang, etc), but after a few drinks it turned into a fun night! We ended up at an English rugby bar that had a very lively atmosphere since le Coupe du Monde du Rugby is going on in France right now. It was a great night until I walked home and realized that I was locked out of my school/dorm! No one has really given us clear information as to what gates/doors get locked at what times, and since most of the French students leave on the weekends, almost everything is closed around here on weekends. Luckily I was with some of the French people that I knew through the other American assistant, so I just stayed at their place. The next day I explored the area around the school and think I found a gate that will be open all of the time … hopefully!!

I actually opened up a bank account on my second day, since I need a French bankcard in order to get a cell phone plan. So my bankcard should arrive next week and then I can hopefully get the cell phone! Will keep you posted as soon as I get a phone number, address, etc, etc.

Intro to My Schools & Teaching

For the first few days at school, I just met all of the English teachers and observed some of their classes. From what I can tell, the coursework will be pretty random. In one class I just introduced myself and had them ask me questions about American life/teenagers. Some of my favorite questions: “Did you have fun at your Prom? … Did you have an after-school job? … Do you know Green Day? … Is San Francisco a nice city?” I LOVE the random facts that they know about the US, and it’s pretty fun to be a representative of young-American culture. The second day I was here the school held a race for all the students at a nearby park; they had to get sponsors in advance who agreed to pay $ for each lap of the track that they completed … going to benefit education in Mali. It was a bit strange since I didn’t know anyone, but I ran with one of the groups anyway. Apparently the principal is a runner and was out there in full spandex running gear, something we probably wouldn’t see at an American high school. As assistants we are supposed to work 12 hours a week total in the classroom, so I’ve been told that I’ll have 4 hours at my high school, 6 hours at the technical high school next door, and 2 hours at a school for handicapped students. I think it will be great because all 3 schools will be very different; the school where I’m living, in the picture above, is the top public high school in the area so the students should be pretty motivated; at the technical school, I think the level of English will be a little bit lower but I’m not sure; and I really have no idea what to expect at the school for the impaired students. We still have a full week of classroom observation before our schedules are determined and we start teaching. However, one teacher already told me that she would like me to organize a PROM in December for 400 students!! When they teach lessons about the differences between French & American teenagers, the topic of prom always comes up and apparently they are very intrigued by it. So that is my big project for the semester … feel free to send me ideas!!

First Impressions

The TGV from Paris to Rennes was super easy, and then I took a cab to my high school where I was supposed to meet one of the English teachers. I felt a bit awkward sitting outside the school for a half hour with all of my bags, but that pretty much describes all of my initial encounters at the school! The English teachers are all really nice and spent the afternoon showing me around the school’s campus; there are 3 or 4 main buildings in addition to what look like temporary classrooms, almost like sheds. I think there are about 1,000 students at the school, and there are dorms for some of the boarding students. In the dorm, myself and the other assistants (7 of us total) live in one corridor by ourselves; we each have private bedrooms with bed/sink/closet/wardrobe, and then we share a kitchen, 2 showers, and 2 toilets. It is very modest, but we have no complaints since it’s free! In the kitchen we have a microwave, 2 small fridges, and one stove burner that works, no oven … food choices will be interesting based on what we have to cook with. The only problem is that the heat will (potentially) not be turned on until the end of October, and it has gotten pretty cold at night; after two nights of sleeping in all of my heaviest clothes, I bought a huge comforter which will hopefully help. Oh, and the other problem is Internet … at this point it looks like we won’t be able to get access in our rooms, even though we all have laptops here, but we might be able to work something out. Will keep you posted! However, I can’t justify too many complaints since my accommodation is free. I lived in the hall by myself for the first few days, not very exciting, but the others finally arrived a few days after me. Ah, now onto the other assistants … I am so excited about all of them and think they’ll be an awesome group of people to share this experience with! So I’m living with an English girl (Vicky, student at Oxford), Italian guy (Simoné, student from Milan), Chilean girl (Andrea, student), Portugese girl (Sarah, already graduated, professor), and Spanish girl (Maria, used to teach Spanish at Penn State). There is a Russian guy who still hasn’t arrived, but he will round out the mix! And it’s great because we all primarily speak French together, as it’s the most fluent/common language among us. I think their French is all better than mine (particularly the native Romance-language speakers), but they say that I’m not bad. Anyway, it’s good practice because I shouldn’t be intimidated to try saying anything around non-native French speakers, right?? We still haven’t hung out tons since they all just got here, but we’re going to go grocery shopping/cook dinner/explore Rennes together this weekend. If you’ve seen the movie l’Auberge Espangole (random group of Erasmus students living together in Barcelona) … that’s kindof the atmosphere around here, which is awesome! We’ve already had several conversations about language, European history, impressions of each other’s countries, etc etc … needless to say, I’m going to learn a lot from them!

Arrival, Etc

Arrival Etc
I don’t have anything too exciting to say about the trip over, but in general it was a lot easier to manage my bags than I thought it would be. On my flight from Philadelphia to Paris, I started talking to the guy next to me, and it turns out that he was going to Paris to be an assistant through the same program … definitely a fun small-world occurrence. Unfortunately his school didn’t provide him with housing, so he had a week to find a place to live in Paris, yikes. So although I was nervous about my dorm-style accommodations, I realized how lucky I was to have a free room provided by my school!
I took a cab from the airport (definitely NOT the most cost-effective way!) to the train station. Although expensive, the hour long drive into Paris was pretty cool … I was falling asleep on & off and then suddenly realized that we were circling the roundabout under l’Arc de Triomphe … I think that was finally my “Je suis arriveé en France” moment. From there, my stage of fatigued giddiness took over and pretty much lasted throughout my first week.