Joyeux Noel!

I'm lying in bed here in Toulouse and it is technically Christmas day.

I'm not sure if it's the lack of snow, decorations, and Christmas music that I'm used to in the States or if it's just that I'm far from home, but it certainly does not feel like Christmas to me. Even though I've been teaching lessons about Christmas and other winter celebrations for the last 2 weeks, it's just not the same. I guess it's to be expected, but it's a new experience none the less.

Although for some reason when I woke up today, I walked into our bathroom, looked at the pile of toilet paper rolls that has accumulated over the past 3 months, and I was struck by Christmas inspiration. My roommate found me coloring them green, asked what I was doing, and quickly joined in. We put on Christmas music and went to work. I went to shower and when I came back, she had even made adorable angels made of champagne corks. Yes... we made a toilet paper roll Christmas tree.

Those are empty pizza and cereal boxes we wrapped with grocery ads... they're empty.

While we were being oh so festive, our doorbell rang and it was Christophe inviting us to join him and his family for Christmas dinner tonight. I guess he had seen our light on, so he knew we were home and he didn't want us to have to be alone for the holidays. It was very nice of him and dinner was delicious. He even gave Anna and I copies of the classic French comic, Asterix. 

This is the one that I got!

We were also invited to have some light snacks at our neighbors tomorrow afternoon with her family, which we more than willingly accepted! We had dinner there last week and the company, discussions, and food were all fantastic, so I'm looking forward to spending more time with them! One of my teachers also invited me to join her family tomorrow if I needed somewhere to go. It's just so nice to see how welcoming and understanding people here can be. The French have a reputation of being cold and distant, but I'm finding quite the opposite during my time here. That's what the holidays are all about, right?

So, tomorrow I'm going to relax and enjoy my day. I'm going to get to speak some French and meet new people. I'm going to skype with my family and watch them open presents (and wish I was there with them).  It's strange being away for Christmas, but I feel such a strong and powerful love and connection to my family and being away has, if anything, made it exponentially stronger. I don't know where I'm going to end up in my life, but I know they will always be there somehow. Awwww.

I'm leaving on Thursday to travel around Europe (Ireland, London, and Normandy) for a week or so, but I'll update as soon as I can when I get back!

Happy holidays everyone and a happy New Year as well!

Newtown.

I know that this blog is supposed to be about my adventures abroad, but I need to talk about this. It's all I'm thinking about and I'm having a lot of trouble trying to move past and go on with my journey here. There have been many of these terrible incidents in my lifetime, but this hits so close to home. Literally. I live about 20 minutes from Newtown. I'm lucky enough to not know anyone directly affected by this tragedy, but I can't express how much I feel for everyone. Everyone lost, all families, the members of the community, everyone. I spoke to my Mom on the phone today for a while and I was just so happy to be able to hear her voice. I'm here and having a great experience and an amazing time. I'm meeting incredible people. But all I want is to be able to go home and hug my family. I'm not going to get into a discussion of what we should do now because this just isn't the time or place.

I guess all I can do is accept that it's okay to feel this way. It's okay to grieve. It's okay to cry. I don't need to move on right away. In fact, we shouldn't just "move on" from things like this. All I can do is keep everyone in my thoughts and hope that we can come together as a community to help each other through this terrible time. It's so strange being abroad while this is occurring. Everyone here is saddened by the event, but it's different when it's right next door. I know I can't let this ruin what I'm doing here. But, I can't pretend everything is okay. I'm going into school tomorrow and I don't know what I'm going to say to my students. How can I just give a lesson about the holiday's around the world like everything is okay? I'm sure they'll ask me about it, but what can I say? They likely know just as much as I do.

I just can't stop feeling for the families of those poor children. It's a sick world sometimes with sick people. It will always come as a shock when something like this happens in such a "safe" place. But, what can you do? You can't refuse to leave your home because of fear. I don't know what the answer is, but this will remain in my thoughts for some time.

I'll update you all with my adventures another time. But for now, I love you all very much.

When I wear a skirt.

When I wear a skirt-
It means that I like wearing skirts and I wanted to wear a skirt, so I wore a skirt.

When I wear a skirt-
It does not mean that I want French men yelling at me in the streets.
It does not mean I'm asking for people to honk at me.
It does not mean that you have the right to stop your car and hit on me.

I do not wear skirts for your approval.
I should not have to just tolerate your harassment just because "it's the French way."

I will wear a skirt any damn time I feel like it.
I don't care if you like it or not.
Leave me the hell alone.

Funny story that I forgot to share!

Sorry in advance to anyone reading this that's already heard my funny story (so anyone that was at the same party as me Saturday night haha)

So I completely forgot that this happened until about 5 seconds ago. Let me set the scene.

Anna and I met up briefly with some of the girls in town Saturday afternoon, but we'd already been out all morning and decided to go back home. Alice came with us and we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some wine and ingredients to make pasta sauce.

We decided to partake in a little bit of day drinking, so instead of Alice and I both getting 2 bottles of wine, we decided to check out the store's selection of boxed wine. Instead, we ended up buying a 5L barrel of wine to share (with plenty to give away to others).

By the time that Alice and I had left to go to a party, we'd both had enough wine to make us rosy cheeked and giggly. While the two of us were waiting for the bus, we decided to pass the time counting down the arrival of the bus like 5 year olds... you know what I mean- 5!...4!...3!...2!....1!.... BUS!! Well when that didn't work, we decided to distract ourselves by singing basically the entire soundtrack to The Sound of Music. Finally, the bus came. Little did we know, there had been someone on the other side of the bus stop blocking himself from the wind.... and by the look he gave us, it seems he heard the large majority of our... performance.

So for the entire bus ride Alice and I basically died laughing at our stupidity.


There's my funny story, hope you enjoyed it!

Tick tock goes the... calendar?

It's hard to believe that I've only been in France for two and a half months. It feels like I've been here for ages, but at the same time, I can't begin to express how quickly each week and month passes. I guess it helps that my next two week vacation is never more than seven weeks away. Yay for the French school system! I feel like I'm kind of getting into a groove with my lesson planning. I know I could make things a lot easier on myself and just not care about making the lessons interesting or trying to reinforce the language skills they're learning, but let's be honest- once a language teacher, always a language teacher. It would be nice to just not care for a little bit though. Oh well.









I'm trying to come out of my shell a little bit and talk to more French people, but the problem is, I just feel so awkward. It's like, I'll be enjoying talking with someone, but when one of us has to end the conversation, I feel weird being like... so can I get your number? I just want to practice my French. Nothing weird. I know I'm probably making it more awkward than I need to be. It just seems like I'm using people for their language. Which brings me to my next point. There are certain French people who are extremely eager to give me their phone number, but I never text/call them because it's even more awkward to make it perfectly clear that I'm just want to talk to them in French and that I share none of the same wishes that they do.




This week alone, I was prompted to the front of the bus by the driver. I thought I was in trouble or my card didn't work or something. So, I went up there, but no. He just wanted to ask me out for a beer. It's not like I was offended, but I generally just ignore French men. In this stance though, I felt like I had to go talk to him because you can't just ignore the bus driver when he tells you to do something. I'm no Rosa Parks here. So, I had to stand at the front of the bus until my stop and awkwardly talk to him. Thank goodness I got a new phone, because I am a terrible liar and I was actually able to tell him that I didn't know my new number yet. Now, I'm just waiting for the awkward moment when he's the driver again.

The next night, I was waiting for the metro (mind you it was actually 5 AM) and I was proposed to by an interesting young... gentleman. Thankfully, he took my rejection rather well.




However, I am slowly getting more comfortable talking to the people I work with and I'm making friends with friends of friends (you know how that goes). So, hopefully after another few positive French encounters I'll be feeling confident enough to propose a language exchange. AKA- getting a coffee and talking with a friend... real challenging...  I know.  In reality, I am getting more comfortable speaking French more often. I know I'm still going to make mistakes, but my conversational French is definitely becoming more comfortable at least. I'd really like to be able to have some more in depth conversations without having to stop and calculate my thoughts every ten seconds though. And in order to do that, I need to push myself a little further than quick conversations in the teacher's lounge.

It's definitely going to be my New Year's Resolution to become a French speaking machine, but I hope that I can take some baby steps there before hand. Or giant leaps. Whichever.

Also something cool- I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but on Tuesday nights I'm teaching this English workshop from 16h30 - 18h at one of the schools I work at. The school is actually paying me a bit extra to do it, which is great. It's not a ton of money, but every little bit helps, right? The only problem is, what middle schooler wants to take another English class after in school all day? Well luckily, at least one person does. There's two people signed up, but I haven't seen them yet. No one showed up last week, which is when it was supposed to start. This past Tuesday, one of my students (who isn't even one of the registered students) came and he sat there and talked to me for an hour and a half all by himself, bless his heart. So, I was planning on doing really fun awesome games to help them practice speaking, but unfortunately, they don't really work with one student.

So my questions to you are:

• Does anyone have any suggestions for things to do with one or two students to get them speaking that won't bore them to death?? 
• How should I go about asking someone to talk to me once a week so I can practice my French?

I am currently missing home and my friends and family a lot, but I am so excited to see Jason in 3 weeks and my Mommy and Daddy in a month and a half! Anyone else who wants to visit- bienvenue!

Welcome Home!

So, I've done some more recent decorating. There's still so much more that I would love to do, but I'm on a limited budget here. As much as I would love to, it makes no sense spending a ton of money to make an apartment adorable so that I can live in it for 5 more months.

Now, without further ado (sp?)- let me take you on a tour of my apartment in Toulouse

We walk into the foyer... aka the hallway.

To the right, you will find the lovely and frequently busy kitchen.
 




Thanks to www.leboncoin.com, our kitchen is now complete with a fridge and a washing machine! No oven though.

One of the women in charge of the program let us borrow a table and chairs from her while we are here!








Our kitchen also comes stocked with a nice, roomy cabinet. That is now full of food.







To the left of the hallway, we have our living room!





We got the couches and table from leboncoin.com as well. Christophe let us borrow the fold out table and the TV is from the same women who lent us the kitchen table!

If you can believe it, this is the few from our balcony, which is right off of the living room. Not too shabby.




Down the hallway a little further to the right, we have our bathroom/shower. Unlike at home, our shower is separate from our toilet, which is at the end of the hallway.

And to the left at the end of the hallway, we have my room!

So, once again thanks to leboncoin, I was able to decorate my room! From this website, which is kind of like Craigslist, I got this awesome sofa bed thing that folds up like a futon. I also got a desk and chair that the woman was kind enough to deliver herself! I got the bedside table from Ikea and put it together myself. And the tapestry (along with the one in the living room) is mine from home.

      

Sorry it took so long for me to get those pictures up! It doesn't help that my camera is broken and my Droid got locked somehow, so it doesn't always let me use the camera.

I'm gonna go make some lunch and get to lesson planning! Tomorrow I'm teaching lessons about bullying, mythological creatures of the UK, and honey bees... wish me luck!

Back into the swing of things... pretty much.

Hello everyone!! I hope you've all been doing well and keeping busy since my last post! Things have been a little crazy on this end.

It seems like I was sick for the entire school break. After the worst of the cold was over, the cough and the runny nose didn't feel like going anywhere for a while, of course. So, I still looked and sounded sick for a while even though I felt fine. Then, all of a sudden, the symptoms were gone with one more weekend left in the vacation. Then, literally the day after, I started feeling really nauseous and having constant stomach aches. It came out of nowhere. And it did not go away for the rest of the weekend. I was supposed to go back to school last Monday and I wasn't able to get out of bed and make it to school until Thursday, where I still had to sit down to teach because I was feeling so dizzy.

You can be sure my teddy bear, Slappy, was by my side the whole  time.

So, that afternoon (with the help of my wonderful teachers) I made it to the doctor and got myself some medicine and a note excusing me from working the whole week. The verdict- an intestinal infection. Sounds fun, right? I stayed home and rested up the whole weekend. It was much needed. The worst part is I'm supposed to eat a really basic, bland diet and I'm getting pretty tired of plain rice and plain couscous. But, even my stomach still hurts now if I get even a little adventurous with my food. Hopefully i'll be able to spice it up soon.

I should have gone to the doctor sooner, but I was really nervous being so far from home and feeling so terrible. I haven't had my mandatory medical visit with the immigration office yet, so I don't have my social security here set up yet. I knew that any medical costs would be reimbursed to me eventually, but I wasn't sure how much it would cost me in the mean time. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to explain to the doctor what was wrong. I wasn't sure what doctor to go to. I was miserable and just wanted to be home. My poor Mama had to just sit there and watch me cry and skype while there was nothing she could do to help, as much as I know she wanted to. When I finally realized that I just need to make myself go, I e-mailed some of my teachers and they were all incredibly helpful, finding my doctors in my area and telling me all of the information I wasn't sure of. One of my teachers actually called and made the appointment for me and drove me to the office. I felt like a bit like a child, but at that point, I had so little energy that it was more than welcome.

I went back to school today (I had yesterday off) and it went well. I got a bit dizzy and had to sit down during my second class, but I think that's because I didn't eat breakfast. I can't eat very much or very quickly at the moment, so rushing food into my stomach early morning just didn't sound appealing. I ended up working an hour more today than I was scheduled, but it will end up being easier. Instead of remembering which level I saw on what day, we're making it so that one Tuesday I'll work 5 hours and the next Tuesday I'll work 3 hours and this way it'll keep the classes at the same level.

Today was actually a really good day, but it started out a little hectic. I had to go to school early to print and make copies. This morning when I woke up, I remembered the my bus/metro pass expired yesterday. I left my apartment even earlier than planned with the intention of walking to the metro station to renew my card. (It's only a 15 minute walk, but before sunrise it seems much more daunting). Thankfully, before I got to the bus stop, I remembered that I could just buy a one way ticket that would let me use the bus and metro this morning. So I did that and renewed my card when I went home for lunch. When I got to school (at about 7:00 AM) I realized that I didn't have my computer or copier code on me. I called my roommate, Anna, who was still home, thank goodness, and she found them and gave them to me. After that, it was smooth sailing. I taught 4 classes in a row about Thanksgiving, which the students all seemed to enjoy. I went home for lunch and had a nap before going back to school at 3:30. For this class, I had taught half of them the Tuesday before break, and I taught the other half today. They were learning about Mt. Rushmore, so they asked me questions about Lincoln and Roosevelt (I was able to research the questions ahead of time) and we talked about the US election. These students are pretty advanced and they were able to have a pretty in depth conversation about the election that was enjoyable for all of us.

After classes were done, I met with the principal, who asked if I wanted to teach an additional English class on Tuesday nights for some extra money! Cool, huh? It's not going to be much extra, but it'll be some extra spending saving money. Right.

Also, I've been going kind of crazy trying to plan my travel plans for during the Christmas holiday. I've got my flight booked to Dublin, we have our hotel in Dublin and a hotel in Normandy booked. We still need a hotel in London and transportation between all of these places and back to Toulouse. It's a lot of work (and money) planning the trip, but I AM SO EXCITED! I hate hate hate spending money in large sums, but honestly, when am I going to get the chance to travel this conveniently again? I'm not. So, I've got to bite the bullet. Which also means saving as much money as I can while I'm here in Toulouse. As much as I hate spending large sums, I seem to love spending lots of little sums, which add up. I just can't help buying a kebab after a late night out, can you blame me??

Do you have any advice about my upcoming vacation? Any London hotel suggestions? Train/plane/ferry ideas? Let me know, I need all the help I can get!

I taught 4 lessons about Thanksgiving today. I can't even begin to explain to you how sad it makes me that I won't be home for this delicious festivity. However, we're trying to make the most of it here. We're keeping it simple Thursday, but we're going to have a big Thanksgiving lunch on Saturday so that our neighbors don't complain. A bunch of assistants/friends (American and English alike) are going to come over and bring food and we'll celebrate together. But, I hope you all have a fantastic turkey day with your families. I know I'll be missing mine. But, in the spirit of the holiday, I'm thankful to have such a supportive family and group of friends. I'm thankful that I have this opportunity and even though it's different being away for this long, I know how lucky I am to be here.

Oh, and I spoke a ton of French today and totally rocked it. Ouais.

Warning: I'm getting political.

I am so proud and happy and I feel like I've had a weight lifted off of my chest. I'm all the way in France and I was unfortunately unable to vote. You have to get your absentee ballot WAY in advance and I couldn't afford to take a trip to the embassy in Paris at the moment. I'll admit I didn't plan ahead as well as I could have. But, I was so worried that Romney would win and that I wouldn't be able to say anything because I didn't vote. Thankfully, that didn't happen.
As a woman, I am glad that my right to control my own body wasn't taken away. In my opinion, if you don't have a uterus you can't tell a woman what to do with hers. Even if you have a uterus, you can't tell another woman what to do with hers. There is absolutely nothing okay about claiming different levels of rape. Nothing. Claiming a woman should accept this "gift from God" is a ridiculous statement and immeasurably offensive.
As a bisexual woman, I'm happy that 4 more states voted to end marriage discrimination. Openly gay politicians were elected. With these changes, we're moving in the right direction. If I fall in love with a woman, I want to be able to have the same exact rights as any other citizen. Not a civil partnership. A marriage, including the right to raise children without being discriminated against.
As a young person who still has plenty of schooling ahead of her, it's important that I have a president willing to work with America's youth and help them with education. Everyone should be able to go to school. No one should have to miss out on the opportunities education provides because they can't afford it.
As a non-religious American, I strongly believe that we need to keep any kind of faith outside of politics. Christian beliefs should not have any connection to the laws that are created in our country. Church and state are supposed to be separate and that's how it should stay. We are a country made up of so many different beliefs and heritages. Believe it or not, not everyone in America is christian. Assuming everyone should follow laws set to one sector of faith is so absurd that I can't even fathom it. I will never disrespect anyone's religious views, but no God should have a place in the laws we abide by.

This is all my opinion and the great thing is, you're welcome to your own! There will never be a time when 100% of Americans agree on any topic. But, instead of sitting there fighting over these differences, we need to work together to make a change. If you want change- go do it. Go volunteer at a local shelter. Make telephone calls in support of what you believe. Pick up the garbage someone dropped in front of you. Our actions make a difference. You cannot sit there and be angry about nothing changing without trying to make a change yourself. It's time to work together.

 It was so interesting being in another country while the election was going on. The French are VERY pro-Obama. But, then again, so is a very large majority of the world. I've spoken to so many people who live in various countries throughout Europe and they were all just as terrified as I was at the possibility of Romney being elected. It's funny to me that the entire world is sitting there going, "really, America? What's the difficult choice here?" It just shows how our priorities are different I suppose. I even got an e-mail from one of the teachers I work with that just said "Obama! We did it!" And I laughed because he's French, but I feel so relieved at the outcome, along with the rest of the world.

Okay, back to France.

On the first Sunday of each month, all of the museums in Toulouse are free. We went to 2 of them this past Sunday. We saw the artwork that decorates the inside of the capitol building, which was really cool.
You can get married in this room:


































We also went to the Natural History Museum, which was interesting. I'm used to going to huge, really scientific and historically accurate museums in New York. Well this was not like that.
Unless they somehow dug this fossil up:

Although maybe not entirely historically accurate, it was still interesting to see a different side of Toulouse. You know, one outside of a bar. After the museums we went to a creperie called Le Sherpa and had tea, salads, crepes, and a couple pitchers of cider to share. I had a caramel banana crepe with whipped cream and it was too delicious for words. This place makes their own chocolate, caramel, and whipped cream and it is so yummy. The tea and salad were really good tea. And obviously the cider.

Currently there's not a cloud in the sky here in Toulouse. So I'm going to shower and venture to some of the beautiful gardens that this city has to offer. It also helps that gardens are free because, unfortunately, Tori needs to learn the art of budgeting. Oops. 

They see me trollin'...

I'm not feeling really well still, so I'm not going to complain for an entire post again, but here's a pic from Halloween before we went out!

Let me tell you... it took a longggg time to de-troll the hair the next morning. Ouchhh. 

First break thus far.

So, I am on my first school holiday and I haven't done too terribly much. I've hung out with friends as usual. We went and saw the new James Bond movie, which I though was pretty good. Wouldn't call it a work of art, but it was entertaining and action packed for sure. I will admit that we saw it in English.

Besides that, I have been staying in bed and resting a lot because unfortunately, I am sick. It's just a cold, but I'm trying to take it easy so that it just goes away and doesn't linger. But, that means during my break I'm not doing a whole lot so far. However, tomorrow is Halloween and I will absolutely be going out no matter how terrible I look/feel. Luckily, my costume does not require me to look cute at all. (Don't even ask, it's a surprise.) Unless I've already told you... then shhh!

So, last week Lori asked me if there was day light savings in France and I had no idea at the time. But, it turns out there is. The interesting thing is that day light savings in France happens a week earlier than it does in the US. Weird, huh? So right now, I'm actually only 5 hours ahead time wise instead of 6. But, when you guys turn your clocks back in a few days, it'll be 6 again.

The good news is that I have officially been paid! But, the bad news is, it's still really expensive to buy train and plane tickets last minute, so unless I find a good deal somewhere, I might just be exploring Toulouse for the next week and a half. Which is okay, there's still plenty here that I haven't discovered I'm sure.

Goals for the first holiday break:

-get some lesson planning done!

• Thanksgiving
• Presidential election outcome... eek!
• American vs British English

-stop being sick!

-visit some local museums/places more cultural than just bars

-clean the apartment

-take more pictures (too bad my camera hasn't been working very well.)

-read, watch tv, and movies in FRENCH instead of English

-go see Kirikou in theaters 

On an entirely different note- I've been trying to keep track of the storm going on at home. I know a lot of you don't have power right now and probably won't see this, but I hope everyone is safe and dry! I've seen some scary stuff on the coast. I'm hoping everything isn't quite as bad in New Milford since it's inland. But, still, stay safe everybody! If you're able to lend a helping hand, do so. The true strength of communities really shows when these things happen, but you've got to make an effort to make a difference.

I just thought this was humorous since I love Grease so much.

The weather here has been fine. It's dropped down in temperature a bit, but it's still not too bad. Some parts of France have gotten some snow, but here in Toulouse it's still been pretty sunny for the most part. I'm glad I've got my scarves and hats though!

I'm going to do some Harry Potter reading (in French of course) and try to take a bit of a nap. I hate being a complainer when there's such worse stuff going on at home. But, all I want right now is to have my mommy and a bowl of noodle soup and to feel better.

I guess Slappy and Harry Potter will have to make due though.

Help from abroad?

Hello my darlings!
I've got a few questions for you all that could help me in the next upcoming weeks:

• What is an easy Halloween costume I can make with mostly just clothes I already have? I don't mind going out an buying a couple of things to finish it off, but keep mind, there aren't any costume/party/halloween stores here, and I'm running pretty short on cash until I get paid. And who knows when that will be? Halloween isn't celebrated here (which is super lame), but us anglophones aren't gonna let that stop us! Suggestions?

• Where should I visit while I'm in France? I kind of blew it for this upcoming break travel-wise because I did not plan ahead at all. I really wanted to go to Paris and/or Barcelona for this first 2 week break, but by the time I got around to looking up trains and flights, they were pretty costly. In my defense, I had a lot of other things to keep my mind busy this first month besides making travel plans, but I definitely could have put a little more effort into it. That's where you come in! I don't want to mess up all of my travel opportunities while I'm here, so help me out. Where would you go? I will absolutely be going to Paris, Barcelona, and Italy at some point, but besides that, I'm open to suggestions. For this first break, I'm going to try to find cheap train rides to other areas of France that hopefully won't be as expensive. 

Amerricuhh

• What are some interesting/important "American"things I simply must tell my students about? It can be anything from holidays, traditions, songs, food, geography, etc. It doesn't matter. If it's something where I can get the kids interested and talking while simultaneously learning about culture, it'll be perfect. I am working on both the presidential elections and Halloween right now. I will absolutely be teaching about Thanksgiving when we come back from break. I'll be the popular teacher that brings in yummy food! But, what are some other things you think are important? I know I'm probably going to miss some things that could lend themselves wonderfully to my lessons. Is there a monument I should talk about? Some different customs? An era of music? I've already taught them that we're not all fatties that carry around guns constantly. What else can I teach them??

Besides using your opinions for my benefit, I haven't been up to too much. Teaching is getting into full swing, so I've been much busier lesson planning and making teaching materials, blah blah blah. I suppose that is why  I'm here, so I guess it's okay. But, I preferred going out with my friends every night. Which reminds me!

  This is Kyle! He is our Bahamamamian! It was brought to my attention that on my blog I only ever talk about my English friends! I've been leaving out our important friend from the Bahamas! I'm not going to tell him I did this. I'm going to wait and see if he sees it (because he secretly reads my blog) and see what he says. This is my apology to you, Kyle for leaving your presence out of my blog for FAR too long. It feels much more complete with you here.

I hope everyone at home is doing well. I miss you all terribly, but don't worry, I'm loving it here at the same time! I wish you could all be here with me though. Keep me updated on your lives please. I can only find out so much through facebook, after all. Thanks for keeping up with me here, it means a lot. And thank you in advance for all of the suggestions I know I'm going to get. (Did that intimidate you into responding?) Yes? Good. A bientot!

Lunch Break

Hello all!

I finally went to my 3rd school today. I was supposed to be there at 8, but I got lost on the way and didn't get there until about 8:45. I was going to just go to the class for the last 15 minutes, but I didn't know where the room was and the secretary told me there wasn't an English class until 9:00. When I went to the class at 9, she told me the students in her 8:00 class were really disappointed that I wasn't there. After explaining everything to her, she was fine, but I was a little worried at first. I was literally walking around Toulouse looking at every map I could find. I knew I was ridiculously close, but I just couldn't get myself turned around and going in the right direction. And it was raining. 

Besides that, the classes I was in this morning went well. We talked about the upcoming election and the students were pretty knowledgeable about what's going on. I feel really out of the loop in what's been happening with the debates, so I'm glad we opened the floor to questions outside of politics. The second class I had was a ground of 11 year old's. They are the cutest, sweetest kids in the whole world. They were so enthusiastic and almost all of them asked a million questions. Even after the class was over, they were following me in the hallway asking more. 

I get my own classroom in this school too! It's just big enough to hold about half a class, which is pretty much all I'm going to be working with at a time. I've got my computer sign in name all set up and even my own photocopy code. I was really surprised at how organised and ready to go they had everything for me today considering how long it took from me to hear from them at all. I don't get the same warm and welcoming feeling from the teachers at this school, but that class of youngsters melted my heart. 

I've got to go back to the school for an hour at 3:30 to teach one more class, but I had a 3 hour break before that, so I came home for lunch. I stopped at the store really quick on the way home to pick up some essentials. 

How French am I?

I made a not very French lunch (hot dogs w/ cheese and mustard along with some grated carrots) but I had a super French second half to my lunch!

Orangina, Camembert cheese, and olive oil and vinegar to go with some of my baguette! 

I've got to go do the dishes before heading back to the school. I was going to take a nap during this lunch break, but it had been a while since I posted, so blogging won. I am DEFINITELY taking a nap when I get back though.

Oh, do you want to know the most amazing part of this post?? 

I'm not at McDonald's. I'm in my living room. With my feet up on my coffee table. With the balcony open. 

BECAUSE I FINALLY HAVE INTERNET!!

Okay, gotta go clean. Talk to you soon, mes petits choux! 

It's a twister, it's a twisterrrr!

The past three days there has been such a ridiculous wind nonstop. It is called le vent d'autan. And it is also known as the wind that can make you crazy. (le vent qui rend fou). And let me tell you- I can understand why. I think the past three nights I have gotten a total of 4 hours of sleep. It is so loud and the shutters shake and it sounds like your apartment building is going to be lifted off of the ground and tossed on it's side. The noise is by far the worst part, in my opinion, but as I was walking home from the metro the other day, it was literally pushing  me backwards. I am not exactly what you would call a small person and this wind was seriously challenging me. Walking by itself challenges me, I don't appreciate the extra obstacles.
The wind has pretty much died down, although it is generally a pretty windy city in the first place.

I have finally started teaching and have a somewhat regular schedule. I have only been to two of the schools to teach so far, but I will be going to the third school on Tuesday morning/afternoon. It's weird to me how long the school day is in France. I was telling some of my students here that in CT our school day ends around 2:30. They were quite jealous. Then, I told them that we started around 7 and only got 30 minutes for lunch. These students get an hour and a half to two hours for lunch each day. It's REALLY different then what I'm used to. I sit there and absolutely scarf down the food and the other teachers are peeling their apple still. The food that they serve at these schools is so good. I had duck yesterday. Duck. It was so good. Then, we went back to the teacher's lounge and had coffee and chatted. It's sometimes difficult to understand everything they're saying, but it's nice to be able to see my communication improving each day. Even though all of my friends here speak English, teaching allows me to use my French a lot more often.
I have to speak French in France? Why did no one tell me this?! Just kidding. Kind of.

Since the last time I blogged I've done a few things, but not much has changed.


I went to iBar, which is an amazing deal for girls! It's a pretty good deal for guys too, but definitely better for us. It cost 2 euro to get in (and 2 euro to check a coat/bag) and you get unlimited food and drink from 7-10. They only do this on Wednesdays and the food changes every week I guess. When you first get there, you give your ticket to the bartender who gives you a cup (full of a liquid of your choice) and you keep the cup all night. The food this week was hot dogs and pasta salads, so nothing special, but definitely a good deal. At about 9:00 dancing started and it was a wonderful time. I'm not a big fan of dancing in general, but it was great to meet some new people and have a new experience. Anna, Ashley, and I went and met up with some people there, but our other friends will absolutely be joining us next week. Yesterday, we went to Place St. Pierre to start, followed by Jager Bar and ended the night at Arty bar. At this point it's necessary to walk the hour back to my apartment, but with company it can be one of the most funny parts of the night.  

The most interesting part of teaching this week is that I actually taught an entire class by myself without the teacher being there. I thought the teacher was coming back, but she never did haha. The students behaved themselves and participated in the lesson well. We talked about embarrassing situations that have happened to us (practicing the past tense) so it was pretty funny. I wasn't planning it for this class, but I had it planned for the class before it. It definitely helped that I had a solid plan set up, otherwise I don't think they would have been so respectful. I'm actually not supposed to have a class to myself, so the class after that I just stayed in the teacher's lounge and did some brainstorming, but it was nice to see that I was able to do it on my own (even if I'm not allowed to) without it going completely horribly.

For this week I've got to plan lessons on:
-the upcoming election- can someone please tell me how to explain the American electoral process to French middle schoolers using very basic English? 
-the President's featured on Mt. Rushmore- I literally had to look up who they were... oops.
-Halloween- I can't even begin to explain to you how excited I am to do this lesson. I'm going to be teaching multiple classes using this lesson and it is probably going to be more fun planning it than it will be teaching (or learning). 

 I finally heard from my 3rd middle school (after being MIA forever) and I guess I'll have my own classroom with a computer and I'm allowed to decorate it. I doubt I will, but it'll be nice to have my own space for planning. And they offered me some additional English classes that will pay, so I have a chance to make some extra money! I would love that, but I also want to travel and I don't want to give that up for a little extra cash. I'll talk to them Tuesday and see exactly how it would work.

I'm currently watching the Arsenal game with a few Brits. I don't know what's going on, but they're angry. And I am currently wearing my New England Patriots sweatshirt... I've gotta represent REAL football while I'm in France, right?

lazy blogger apologies

First of all, I am really really sorry that it's been so long in between my posts. We did finally sign up for an internet plan, but it takes about a week to activate. So, once I have internet in my apartment I'll be able to post a lot more often, I promise. So to those of you who have been checking this daily and finding nothing new (Grandpa and Mommy) I'm sorry!

Super French things I've seen since I last posted:

Old men with FANTASTIC moustaches and berets

poodles! (although not wearing berets)

I went to a rugby game!

Pistachio Macaroons are delicious!

I also saw a woman breast feeding in McDonald's, but I won't put a picture up of that. You're welcome.

Things that I've accomplished:

-bank account and bank card

-made friends

-furnished apartment

     -fridge

     -washing machine

     -bed

     -couches

     -living room table 

-went to a football game

-went to a rugby game

-bought internet (though it still needs some set up)

-started teaching

Things to do still:

-get a phone plan (I know which plan I'm going to get and I went in and talked to someone today, in French, and figured out everything. I just need to have more money before I can actually get it.)

-teach at the rest of my schools

Teaching:

I went in on Friday to "teach" at one school. I "taught" 4 classes. The reason I'm saying "taught" is because I did the same thing in all 4 classes, which was introduce myself and answer their questions, which I don't really consider teaching. But, it went well. The teachers are really nice and the students don't seem like they'll be too much trouble.  I've almost got my schedule all set up. 

School 1- I'll have an alternating schedule where one week I'll work all day Monday and the next week I'll work all day Tuesday. 

School 2- As far as I know now, it's Thursday mornings and I'll be working with a drama class, which I'm really looking forward too, but I don't know exactly when that'll be yet.

School 3- This is the school I already taught at. I'll be working 4 hours on Friday, but every other week (including tomorrow) I'll be working an hour on Wednesday morning instead of one of my afternoon Friday hours. 

So the schedule isn't something that is set every week and some days are going to be earlier than I'd like, since I need to leave my apartment about an hour and a half early to get there on time with bus, metro, bus transfers. It'll definitely be interesting to see the differences between the students and schools and be able to get my hands into actual teaching. The assistant from last year left a disc for me with all of her lessons and materials on it. I'm gonna take a look at that later and see if I can use anything or make some material my own. (I was told a lot of it was a little on the dry side, so hopefully I'll be able to spice it up a bit.) 

Well, that's it for now, but I promise promise promise that once the internet works in my apartment I'll post much more often. Which will hopefully be soon.

A bientot!