Amsterdam is absolutely beautiful! We arrived yesterday (Wed) and leave for Belgium on Saturday. More to come...

Just another day in the south of France... exploring Monaco for the day. After visiting the royal palace and enjoying a lovely lunch, we found a rocky beach to catch some sun. What a perfect day...

Mon, Oct. 23rd

Today marked the beginning of my second week of teaching and I already feel like I have been doing this forever. Based of my vast experience (one week), teaching is a lot like babysitting, just with 25 kids instead of 2. I really do have the best job- I get paid to draw pictures, color inside the lines, play matching games and sing songs, much like babysitting, but I can be the cool, young, fun teacher who comes in twice a week and doesn’t have anything to do with boring math or discipline issues. Ultimately, in addition to teaching my kids basic English, my goal is to instill a desire to continuing learning English, especially after I leave at the end of this year.

I have learned that the French school system is very different than in the US; instructors don’t really believe in positive feedback for elementary kids, or for any students for that matter. The teachers are very strict, occasionally screaming at their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. During my first day of observation, teachers openly pointed out to me, in front of their students, which ones would give me trouble, saying “this one is the worst…this one is intolerable… this one is my favorite...” Part of me was appalled, but part of me was happy they did it, because now I try extra hard with those “problem” kids, so that they can perhaps excel in English and feel like they aren’t worthless anymore.

Just as with babysitting, my kids have attention spans about 30 seconds long. Therefore, I am also learning that lesson planning takes a lot longer than I expected, in order to keep the lesson fresh and interesing. And, so, I find myself singing and dancing and acting and transforming into Super-Julie when I am in front of my kids. It must be quite funny to observe.

My favorite song to sing so far is about the days of the week, but “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” is a close second. After Halloween break, we start a new song about the weather, which makes me laugh everything I listen to it, so we’ll see how that goes.

Speaking of Halloween break, we have 10 days off for All-Saints Holiday. Therefore, I finish this Wednesday, October 25th and I recommence Monday, November 6th. Not a bad way to finish my second week of teaching.

Wine tasting in Théoule Sur-Mer... 3 euros for all you can drink French wine and champagne. Good times...

Out in nice with other teaching assistants and random international friends... October 21st, 2006

LIFE IN PARADISE

 

Sun, Oct. 15^th

We had pancakes on the balcony for brunch this morning. They were edible, barely, but I guess it was excusable since I didn’t know the correct ingredient quantities, didn’t have baking powder and was working with a funny pan. In any case, the nutella made it all taste just fine in the end. Next time, I will just buy the box mix from the store. And some maple syrup.

Sun, Oct. 8^th

Running this morning, then exploring the market, coffee with Sara, and then off to Richard’s family get together, followed by frisbee at the beach and dinner with my roomie… today couldn’t have been much better. It actually started with a bit of cleaning, which made me feel like I a good roommate, especially after my party last weekend went a little over the top.

After cleaning, I felt the need to go exploring a bit, so I ran down as many new streets as I could in the middle of town, eventually branching out to the north and into the surrounding hills. I was perhaps a wee bit lost, more like in un-known territory, but ended up finding a pretty white-washed little church and having a great 2 hour run. I jumped back inside to grab my wallet and water and then sauntered down to the Forville market, which was clearly the place to be with throngs of people and loud vendors hawking their products. Ten euros later and my fresh produce shopping completed, I returned to our swank apartment for a fresh lettuce, avocado and tomato salad- it was a perfect morning.

I was happy to get a call from Sara (another American from Denver) so I invited her over for coffee chez-moi. It took us a second to figure out Richard’s super nifty café machine, but once we did, the little cups of coffee were so cute we just had to have two. Our oh-so French expresso was complemented perfectly by some good-‘ol-fashioned Skippy Peanut Butter (which I didn’t even know you could find in France!) and apple slices.

When Richard got home, Sarah left and we jumped in his cute little black Peugeot to drive over to his Grandparent’s house for a family birthday celebration. It is funny the things that are lost in translation, because I really thought it was his Grandmother’s birthday, but it turned out to be his mothers! I was a wee bit overwhelmed by the gaggle of French aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nieces and family friends, but mostly it made me think of my family gatherings at holidays and the hilarity that ensues. They made me feel very much at home and I was able to chat a bit with Mrs. Tounrniaire before we left, which was nice. Hopefully they all approved of me as the new roommate.

I was full of energy when we left and Richard needed to relieve some stress, so what else was there to do but play some frisbee… on the beach, of course! By the time we got there, the sky was dark navy and dotted with stars, but the street lights along the boardwalk made it possible to play anyway. It felt good to throw the disk again, however, it made me realize that I really miss playing ultimate, especially for Gung-ho at Northwestern. Happy and relaxed from tossing, I gave Richard a lesson in yoga at the beach for our cool down. He didn’t really seem to like it much, since he stopped after a few minutes, but props to him for trying. So I finished up my sun salutations and we returned home to make dinner and veg out, like we had been friends for ages.

Not a bad day in the south of France.

 

Waking up in Nice to lace curtains and the smell of the Mediterranean sea... not a bad way to start the day. 

Beginning of October

It was a fabulous first day in Nice. Mary-Beth (the only assisitant I knew coming into the program) and I arrived a day before the program's scheduled start date to explore and soak in the brillant sun. Mary-Beth found us a perfect little hotel, with a crazy red-haired, petite French landlady who chatted with us for about an hour about her experiences with hypnotism and cats.

Saturday afternoon, while Mary-Beth rested for a couple hours after her long international flight, I took a two hour walk to orient myself to the city. I explored along the rocky coast, through major shopping districts and down winding little alleyways, with flowers spilling out of windowsill boxes and laundry fluttering from close lines. Both still jet-lagged, we found a cheap place to eat and then went out for a coffee, before finally relaxing in our tiny but clean room. The morning started with sunlight streaming through our lace curtains and quiet, deserted streets, since everything is always closed on Sundays. We wandered off to the morning market, which was a sea of flowers, bright laughter, pungent cheese, vegetable stands, vibrant paintings and colorful fresh fruit.

After buying fruit for our breakfast, we hiked up to the park on top of La Colline du Chateau and then wandered, by accident, into the lovely Vieux Nice, or Old Town. Exhausted from exploring all day, we arrived at the International Hostel to meet everyone else around 6pm and spent the night chatting and socializing with assistants from over 20 different countries.

Thurs, Oct. 6th

Today I started training in Nice for my teaching assistant program. Thank god I lived in Paris for 5 months and suffered then for my language skills because that suffering is paying off now- I already feel like I am a million times ahead of where I was two years ago and, while it is still difficult to go from fluency to infancy in a language, it is coming much easier this time around. For example, I chatted with a lovely Parisian lady on the street today about the best markets in Cannes and the agreeable surrounding countryside, something I could never have done before. And tonight, when Richard’s girlfriend comes over for dinner, I will actually be able to understand and contribute to the conversation.

So back to teaching, Richard dropped me off at the Institute d’Education Nationale at 8:30 and I met my responsible, Madame Heiblot. She must have thought I spoke as little French as the other assistants because she started off in barely understandable, very broken English. Once she understood that I could understand her, it went much smoother in French. As it turns out, she was a teacher for 20 years and now instructs professors as well as counsels the Director of the Education System in Cannes, so she is a wonderful person to have as my primary contact.

After a few formalities, she drove me to two of the three school at which I will be teaching, one of which, Ecole Mero, is literally a block away from my apartment: at most a 5 minute walk from my place. How can I be so lucky!? The second, Ecole Jean Mace, is right in downtown Cannes, a mere 15 minute walk from chez-moi and next to all of the best shopping. The last school, where I will have the majority of my classes (10 per week), is not quite as well situated, but still only about a 20 minute walk. Today I was just expecting to observe the classes and meet my professors, but one actually asked me to start teaching in front of her 4^th graders! Despite my unpreparedness, they must have liked me, because after class, one of the girls gave me a kiss on the cheek and another showed me pictures of her pet iguana. French kids are so cute!

The view from our pretty balcony encompasses the Place Stanislas round-about full of pink roses, the private k-12 school which is noisy in the mornings and evenings, a small corner grocery store, a family-owned cafe with colorful umbrellas covering their outside tables and trees that are still as green as in mid-summer.

Voila, my dope apartment in Cannes. The morning sunshine pouring into the living room is a happy way to start the day and the contempory decor suits my tastes perfectly. Richard and I have dinner at the counter together almost every night, either he cooks or I try to make somethingAmerican for him (which doesn't always turn out), he mocks me for my American accent and I ask him to explain why the French accent is so difficult.

Wed. Sept. 27th

Fabulous five course meal, as usual, with my Paris host parents, Monsieur and Madame Camus. They are absolutely amazing people, once you get past the chilly Parisian exterior.

Wed, Oct 5th

From the moment I left lovely Chicago, encountered airline strikes in Switzerland and arrived jet-lagged and blissfully happy in Paris, I knew this year was not going to be a run-of-the mill adventure. Oh no. This year is going to be a fabulous, nutella filled, bare-foot, sunny sand Mediterranean adventure- the kind of stories you tell your grandkids someday.

In any case, it was exactly a week ago that my French roommate, Richard, picked me up from the train station in Cannes. My arms were trembling as I rode the escalator up to the station, I don’t know if it was sheer exhaustion from traveling alone for more than 32 hours with over 100kg of luggage or if it was apprehension about meeting my new roommate- probably both. I happened to look up just at the moment when the top of the escalator came into view, and there he was. The 27-year-old Frenchie that I knew only through his unbelievably considerate emails and a photo sent the day before I left. The connection was instant. He wasn’t smiling but his eyes were crinkled on the sides- I now know the look he gave me was one that is familiar on his face. I am sure I flashed a smile, as I am wont to do, and voila, the start of a friendship. I will have to ask him someday what he thought when he saw me… I knew immediately that I was going to happy with him as my roommate.

I have since learned, after meeting the other assistants, that I am beyond lucky to have found a nice, clean and considerate person to live with, who likes to cook and is not charging me my entire salary to stay here. Most of my fellow assistants are paying at least half-over what I am paying for studio aparts that are farther away from town and lacking the French language component. I have to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming- I really do live in a gorgeous, newly renovated, chic apartment, in Cannes, with a cute French boy, five minutes from the Mediterranean ocean. La vie est belle...

Airline strikes in Zurich meant lots of planes at the airport but no pilots to fly them. Over 30 hours of travel time and jet-lagged as hell. Sweet. 

And so my blog begins. Sorry I haven't written anything about my fabulous French adventures- I don't have internet at my apartment yet! In addition, the French keyboards are infuriating. Therefore, I have all my first impressions and entries on my laptop and will post them once I am connected.