While living in "la petite chambre" as my French colleagues referred to it, I wrote a little bit on Microsoft Word, hoping to post, but never did. Until now. Here are my candid thoughts from my first full month in France.
9/26 – 9/27/08 – Vendredi et Samedi
After two long days at our assistant program orientation in Autrans, a mountain village near Grenoble, I hopped a train to Lyon. From there, a woman from the school and her husband picked me and my nine month’s of luggage up from busy Part-Dieu station. We drove through downtown Lyon on a Friday night listening to Rihanna’s “Disturbia” on the radio. I saw cafes, monuments lit by blue light, and restaurants half wanting to remain there in civilization. While we drove, the woman and her husband did their best to speak to me in English, but as tired and shaky as I was, I still wanted to speak French.
Every time I spoke, I realized how much I needed to learn. We eventually arrived to Chasse-sur-Rhone in the dark driving by the train station and the school in which I’ll teach. I met the directrice of my school and was shuffled to my room, attached to an apartment building ten feet from the schoolyard. I was told it’d be temporary and I’d be moving into a bigger place in November.
As I entered my new living quarters for the final days of September and October, I felt very tired. Even though the bed didn’t have any sheets or pillows and sported a prison-like steel bar from underneath, I wanted to dive into it and fall into a deep slumber. The kitchen is two feet away from my bed. The toilet is one foot away from my refrigerator. The shower is inches away from where I lay my head to rest on a pillow. Water from a shower I took crept under my bed last night. There is a window, but the shutters won’t open, so it’s pitch black during the day. I can’t see outside which makes me slightly anxious.
The husband looked at me with an expression that matched my own apprehensive one and said, “isn’t it a little sad? It’s dark outside, you’re alone, and in a new place.” I still don’t know why people need to emphasize the negatives while in situations like these. At least he wouldn’t let me carry my luggage and helped me practice using my keys. All around me, French flew in the air and finally the husband said, “she needs to sleep.” They left, but I needed to unpack and so didn’t go to sleep until midnight.
The positives? The directrice showed me the school the next morning, told me I could use as much paper as I wanted, and showed me my large classroom with all the materials I could ever need. She spoke a lot, made me feel comfortable, and I could understand most of what she said. After seeing my “emploi du temps” or timetable, I was shocked. French children don’t go to school on Wednesday and because of Monsieur Sarkozy, they now have Saturdays off too. Even stranger, I teach on only two of the four days of school per week. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Comment?????? Before I could say that there was some mistake, the directrice asked me if I was interested in taking French classes in Lyon at a university there on my days off. Suddenly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I quipped, bien sûr!
From the school, we went to Géant, one of France’s hypermarkets. Slightly overwhelmed with the mustard and cheese aisles, the directrice helped me so much that I couldn’t believe how full the cart was with food for my little kitchen. She assumed things that I needed or things I might like and we threw them in the cart as though I was a regular there.
After the supermarket, I ate lunch and headed out into the town for a little walk. It was nice to finally be alone and walking after three days of being surrounded by hundreds of people and my luggage. I found the train station, the post office, a cemetery, and the Rhône River on foot. Brick houses with shutters, sometimes, bright purple created a distinct French feel throughout the town. I got the goose bumps while crossing the highway, seeing signs for Strasbourg, Lyon, Paris, Marseille. I’m in France and happy to be here.
9/28/08 - Dimanche
It’s hard not having the Internet. I keep wanting to check my email. All I can do is listen to music, look at pictures, watch DVD’s, or write, so I’ve decided to keep a journal on what happens each day here. Then I can post them in my blog later.
I slept in until about noon today. Part of me doesn’t want to get out of bed, because my living space feels filthy and I don’t want to live in it. Another part asks, “what am I going to do when I get up besides shower with the shower head that sprays water in all directions tres fort, so much so that it can actually scratch my back with its power?”
Did some Pimsleur and am waiting for Sylvie to get me. Apparently, we’re going to the mountains today for some kind of outing. What it is exactly, je ne sais pas. Who is going to be there? Je ne sais non plus. I’m a little nervous, but I need to put myself out there. I’d be angrier with myself for not trying to speak French and holing up in my hole of a room. Bring it on.
The mountain excursion wasn’t really an excursion, but more of an “escort” to a mountain center where the 5 and 6 year old kids would stay for a week. Almost all of them cried while the bus pulled away. They made the appropriate animal sounds when we passed them and I got a kick out of hearing “coco-ri-co” when we went by chickens. I had my first “Kir” from the bartender at the center and a great dinner of lasagna, salad composee, cheese plate (of course) and ice cream. The best part was talking to Sylvie the entire way home (2 hours) in French. She’s been so great and helpful and she understands my situation, as she too learned English in the U.S.
9/29/08 – Lundi
Met the other teachers at my school today. Seem nice, but some are hesitant to talk with me. Went on the Internet and got a tea/coffee kettle thing. Went back to Geant to get slippers, sticky tack for class, shampoo, and tissues. Started planning where I want to go for All Saint’s Holiday. Belgium? Germany?
9/30/08 – Mardi
Spent virtually the whole day with Corrine in both Chasse and Vienne dealing with paperwork/etc. She seemed concerned with Chasse. The teachers, she said, don’t seem very nice and/or willing to speak English. (which is fine with me BTW…the less English, the better). It was cool to practice speaking with her in French, but by the end of the day I was exhausted.
Some observations:
French bread is hurting my mouth. It’s ripping up the roof of my mouth and it’s a little worse each day.
I shouldn’t buy a whole slice of Brie. It’s going to put on extra pounds and I can’t eat it all before the expiration date.
The slippers and actual shower gel (non hotel kind) have made my day.
The Office has also been a savior.
10/01/08 – Mercredi – Dad’s Birthday!
Tried to get a bank account today at the post office of all places. Everything seemed to be going well until Sylvie and me received word that I can’t get one after all, because I’m not a citizen of the European Union. From there, we went to Geant where we set up an appointment with another bank for tomorrow. This all seems a bit too much. I keep telling myself that I have to make this year worth it.
I have been extremely tired (only in phases though) throughout the day and had to collapse into prime napping form at about 3pm. Sylvie talks so loud and so much that it’s kind of an effort for me to respond sometimes. She’s been the most helpful person to me here by far, so I guess that’s a small price to pay. As I was getting out of the car, she asked if I was going to come to the school tomorrow. I said, yes, imagining that’s what she would want to hear. She responded with, “good…last year the assistant didn’t come out of her classroom, never smiled, and didn’t say a word to anyone. That’s why her French didn’t progress at all.” On that hint, I think I’ll be putting on my friendly face tomorrow and trying to make friends with my colleagues.
Today, Sylvie told me that it’s obligatory for everyone in France to put those bright yellow safety vests on the seat of their car. She said it’s even more enforced in Spain. I always wondered why people put them on the seats of their car.
Trucs to note:
I now have an address 118 rue Jean Moulin and a boite de lettres.
And a fresh jar of Nutella.
Went for a short walk until I was too tired and too hot to go on. The scenery is beautiful here. There are vineyards, gardens, and stone houses with bright violet shutters.
My eyes teared up a little bit when I looked at the U.S. section of the International aisle and there was peanut butter, oreos, Pepperidge farm cookies, and marshmallows. Weird. I’ve only been here a week.
10/2 – 10/8
I’ve finally gotten my first day of teaching over with and feel better about having worked at least one day in the past three months. Time off is so much better when you’ve worked for it…that’s sure.
So, I’ve been to Grenoble this past weekend and had a great time with Lindsey, Leslie, Liza, Allison, Gearoid, Paul, AJ, and Rory. There were tons of people there, and we all intermingled at London Pub Sat. night. We went up in the Telepherique, or balls, walked around, had some kir and fromage blanc in a café, had kebabs, walked around, and went out.
Teaching was kind of uneventful. I woke up and didn’t feel the slightest bit nervous. I just wanted to be prepared because everyone’s been so helpful. Some of the kids were too noisy, but I tried to take care of that by establishing the sticker system right away. And then taking away their stickers. It seemed to work better with the younger kids. I’ve got a full day ahead of me tomorrow. We’ve just been doing name tags, English names, faces, and “What’s your name?” dialogues.
I was proud of my morning errand running today. I got up, took out the trash, went to the post office, then to the library (where everyone is incredibly nice) to get a card and some books. I got “A Year in Provence” by Peter Mayle and a book on Lyon and the countryside around it. I was going to go for a run as well, but it’s been raining since I got up this morning. And it’s coming down harder now.
Vendredi October 24, 2008
Long time no freaking write. I’ve not been in the greatest mind set to write lately. I’m a little frustrated with my living conditions and life in Chasse in general. I kind of expected people to be a bit more hospitable, but that really hasn’t been the case. I’m trying to be friendly, but it’s hard when I’m so not confident with my French.
On my walk a la poste, puis la gare, I noticed that people were cleaning the tombstones in the cemetery with mops and buckets. I mean, really scrubbing. For most European countries, the Fall Holiday encompasses visiting lost loved ones, lighting candles by their tombstones and remembering. Will be in Belgium over “Toussaint.” And Leslie and I are going to Chambery tomorrow to visit G and AJ.
Cemetery in Chasse
Bridge reflection 
Me at the bottom of the stairs in the Casemates.
Hillside garden
Monastery
Fairytale-like street
Luxembourg in full autumnal splendor
Church steeples
Raindrops
Park stream
Main square of Brussels at night.