Malade comme un chien

Add getting electricity switched to my name to the list of things I never thought I'd have to do in French. Oh la la. My French should be très bien by the time I leave this place!

I've started working with some of the classes on my own, which has been going quite well actually! They seem to respond better to me in smaller groups/without the teacher. I think this is where being so close to their age gives me an advantage.

But in other news, I am STILL sick. "Malade comme un chien" as the French would say. Most persistent cold ever. Who knew that wine doesn't help? But alas, I will survive. I would give just about anything for some Dayquil right now though. That French medicine just does noooot cut it.

But, I refuse to let being sick get in the way of seeing chateaus! I'm on break until next Thursday and so far have plans to explore the Loire Valley and go to Paris for a while. When you're so close and it's so cheap, how can you not?? We went to Amboise yesterday (Leonardo da Vinci lived there for a while) and are going to Langeais today (that chateau was the model for the Sleeping Beauty one!)

In other other news, I have not been homeless now for 10 days and it feels fantastic! I'm still in the process of making the apartment look cuter, but since I know you're all dying to see it, there are pictures on Facebook from my first day here. It looks a little better now!

Also, something that I did when I was on study abroad that I have failed to do so far is keep tally of all the cities I went to. So here goes. I haven't done a ton of exploring yet mostly due to the fact that Thursday will be my first payday, but alas, here's the list so far.

• Paris
• Orléans - Joan of Arc was from here. Saw her (rebuilt after being destroyed in WWII) house!
• Tours
• Amboise

As much fun as I'm having here, I've been forced to start thinking about what I want to do next year. I found out recently that first-time TAPIF applicants get priority over those who have done it before, so my odds of getting it are not so great since 2,100 people applied last year for the 1,450 slots. I think being here is really solidifying the fact that French is what I want to do for the rest of my life, but do I want to do it here or teach in the states? That is the question of the hour. I think I might take the GRE just for the hell of it so I can apply to grad school for next fall if I decide if I want to. But getting my master's in France sounds really appealing right now! Many of the teachers at my school started out as assistants, and I definitely feel like that's the path I'm headed down. One comforting conclusion that I have come to lately though is that I do not have to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life right this second. However, I probably do need to decide what I want to do a year from now! Oh la la la vie. On verra!

À la prochaine, mes amis!

This town is full of hairplanes and beautiful bitches.

Hello world, 
I apologize for my lack of blogging recently. I made a personal resolution not to blog until I was not homeless anymore which means... dun dun dun.... I found an apartment! I'll spare you all the minute details but it is not the one that I originally thought I'd end up with, it's better! It's quite large for a French apartment, 35 m² with a real bedroom and a living room all to myself and it's completely furnished - it even has a TV! It's in a residential area near the Jardin des Prébendes. It's all mine legally and I move in tomorrow morning!!! I am SO relieved to finally stop living out of my suitcases and be able to settle in a little bit because let's be real - I'm much cuter when I'm not homeless!


But for the past few days I have been staying with Madame Colette Vavasseur, a sweet little old French lady who hosts students/foreigners such as myself in her home. I found out about her through the awesome Canadian German assistant at Choiseul (my school). Unfortunately, she couldn't rent me a room for a long time because there's another student coming to take the one I've been staying in for the past few days, but it has been a great place to stay during my awkward transition phase! She's very sweet and when I told her what my name was she said "comme ma fille!" or "like my daughter" en anglais. Too sweet. And she is a fantastic cook. If you've ever had a French person cook you a meal, you know they are quite talented in the kitchen and if you do not completely clean your plate they ask you if you didn't like it. Really. And their portions can be quite generous! A couple nights ago it was omelettes with potatoes, bread (of course, c'est la France!), cheese, a crepe with honey, AND a pear. And when I said I'd eaten too much (you can't say literally "i'm full" or "je suis pleine" here because it means "i'm pregnant" - french lesson o'the day!) her response was "already?" Oh la la! They sure know how to eat over here! 


Work never fails to amuse me.  One kid asked me what the word for "avion" was yesterday and when I replied "airplane" she repeated "hhhhairplane" without even flinching. Another one asked me to name some French movies for a skit they're doing. He asked me because he "only watches American movies." Kid is obsessed with Brooklyn. Probably thinks I'm a waste of an American since I've never been to New York! Spent an entire class period last week discussing the difference in pronunciation between "beaches" and "bitches" because really, if you go to a town and you tell the locals it's full of beautiful bitches, it's not quite the same as beautiful beaches. Only say it if you mean it!


France is starting to feel more and more like home every day. I have mastered the bus system and people have even asked me for directions lately! It's hard to believe I've already been here for almost 4 weeks. And I've only got one more week before I get a 2 week break for the Toussaint holiday! The French love to take breaks. I get six weeks paid vacation during the school year - not counting the summer. Vive la France. They also love to grève (strike for you Anglo-Saxons) just as much as their reputation leads one to believe. I've officially survived a bus strike and a school strike on the same day! Only in France. The school strike was actually quite impressive. The high schoolers must've stacked about 30 trash cans in front of the entrance. It looked a lot like this, only more impressive.  


In other news, I have come down with what appears to be a common cold, a very rare occurrence for me! The unfortunate part about this is that in France you have to go to the pharmacy to get any kind of medicine at all and you have to describe to the pharmacist exactly what is wrong with you, which is great practice for my French, but this is the time that I just want to curl up in bed the most, not practice describing my cough! And as per usual in la France, pharmacies are closed on Sundays so it looks like I'll be making a trip there tomorrow!


After tomorrow I'm probably not going to have internet for a while because I have to sign up for it which could take weeks because let's be real, this is France! So I might disappear from the blogosphere for a while. À bientôt, mes amis!

The one with the German last name, the French first and middle names, and the American passport.

Alors, I am STILL homeless in France. Turns out French bureaucracy really does live up to it's reputation. I'm still trying to get that apartment I found a week ago. There is a series of hoops to jump through first though. First, I had to open my French bank account which was not an issue except that I had to get a letter from the people I'm staying with, a bill in their name at their address, and a copy of their passport. Well, the bill was in the man's name but the copy of their passport was in Fred's name. Oh là là. French bureaucracy does not like this. So I was supposed to go back to the bank today to turn in the copy of the correct passport but I forgot one little detail - I started work officially yesterday! So while I was supposed to be at the Banque Populaire, French high school kids were asking me if I like beer. And alas, you have to make an appointment to go to the bank in France. And they're closed on Mondays. All. Day. Also, found out that Janet, the director of the English department at Lycée Choiseul (my school) is basically a saint and offered to sign as my guarantor without me even asking - so I went back to the rental agency yesterday thinking I had basically everything I needed. No no no no no. They ripped me a new one. I got a list with about ten items I needed from her including but not limited to everything I had to get from the couple I'm staying with, plus her work contract, her last 3 pay stubs, and her tax records from TWO YEARS AGO. Really, France, really? Apparently this is normal for here though! Also the kind couple who probably thought I'd be here for about 3 days has told me they need my room by Saturday since someone is coming into town, which is fine and completely understandable - I've been here a while now! But that poses a little bit of a problem because I have orientation in Orléans all day on Friday and I have to take a 7 a.m. train that day and won't be back until at least 9 p.m. probably, so really this means I need to be outta here Thursday, not Saturday! Did I mention the place I'm moving to isn't furnished? So that's a whole other obstacle because I obviously don't have a car here, and even if I did, French cars are usually no bigger than my Civic. Ikea delivery, anyone? But I don't have to work tomorrow, so hopefully I will have some keys by then, god willing.

But work is great! There really is wine in the teacher's lunch room - no joke. Vive la France. Kids seem to think I'm cool because I've been to California and like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Of course one of the first questions every class asked me (I've been to 6 different ones and still haven't even seen all of them yet - never going to learn all their names!) is whether or not I speak French. They're not supposed to know I do. Oops! So I went with the "yes, I speak French, but not with you" tactic. The thing that's going to be tough I think (other than getting them used to my American accent since they're so used to hearing British English...) is being an authority figure and not their friend since I am so close to their age. Realized today I'm the baby of the staff. I think the next youngest person seven years older than me! It is kind of cliché though, isn't it? Twenty-two year old girl pursues lifelong dream of living in France. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I got placed at a fantastic school in a wonderful town and have made friends with lots of other assistants! Canadians, Brits, Scots, other Americans, Germans, Austrians, and of course, the French!

Other funny questions the kids asked:

• Have you ever seen Barack Obama? (I actually went to one of his rallies in Atlanta in 2007 when he was campaigning, so that was pretty cool!)
• Is it really hard to get into aaaar-vaaaar (Harvard)?
• Do you like Irish pubs?
• Do you like swimming pools?
• What is prom like?
• Did your university have sororities? (these kids watch too many movies!)
• And my personal favorite: Do you like France?/Why did you come to France? To which I was like, why would I not come to France, the pay is just a bonus! Though I suppose if I'd had a French assistant in my high school I probably would've asked her why she came to America. Grass is always greener syndrome. 

Sidenote: Friends with Benefits is in theaters over here and its French title is "Sexe entre amis" - literally "sex with friends." I guess there's no translation for that.

Sidenote deux: Spelling my last name for French people is my new favorite thing. It usually results in laughter and a muffled "ooolz-auzen." Ouiiiii, c'est ça.