New Classes

I've got some new classes this semester now, and it is always interesting to see what sort of things they ask me. This time, there was no 'how tall are you?' just 'how old are you?' questions. When I told them 23, they all looked shocked, aparently I look 13 now with my haircut. Huh. That's just great.

Tuesday afternoons are always interesting because the room which was assigned to me by the school is nearly always taken by another teacher. I have to wander around the English hallway and hope to find an empty classroom. Today, no such luck, so I went down to the office where this type of logistical planning is supposed to managed. I had 9 students following me around like ducklings. 20 minutes later, we finally got a room in the basement that seriously resembled a prison. Fortunately, I was holding the keys.

PS- Mom- I went ahead and changed the language to English and changed the security on the comments link so that you do not have to have a gmail account to leave a few words!

Yummy Sushi

Had some good sushi in Biaritz, galavanted around with my friend Danielle from Bordeaux. Not too much. The weather was weird, though. It went from 65 degrees and sunny to 50 degrees and foggy in a time span of maybe 30 seconds. I've never seen the weather change like that! Fortunately, Danielle and I had already gotten in our café by the beach time. It was around 4 on a Sunday, so lots of people were just beginning to come out of their homes to enjoy the day. Imagine everyone's dispointment when the sun went away...permanently. muahahahaha!

Today is the first day of the new semester and I completely forgot about a class. I work 10 hours a week and I can't even be responsable for all of them. How will I ever work 40hrs/week again!?

Another early weekend

So, I worked 3 hours this week, finish by 4 PM on Tuesday. This left plently of time to do absolutely nothing. However, I did manage to squeeze a haircut into these prolonged days of nothing. I went from having quite possibly my longest hair ever to putting it comfortably right back around my shoulders.

The reason I'm not working today is because once again, I'm on strike! Yay! This time it's to protest the reduction of the number of teachers in France. The gov't is only replacing one out of every two teachers who retire. This could be fun for classroom size and new teachers looking for jobs!

I've been eating 'regional cuisine' lately, and let me warn you, it's not what you imgine French food to be. In the Southwest, there are a lot of duck parts used VERY creatively. Bofore coming to France, I was kind of a difficult eater, but I was really trying to expand my palate. However now that I'm here, there is no try, only do. There's nothing like an extreme sense of expectation mixed with a linguistic incapability to tactfully decline to coax me into eating things I normally wouldn't TOUCH much less put into my mouth. And, apparently wine made in the earely 90's is fairly common here and not impossibly expensive. Who'd of thunk it?

Not bad for a place to eat Oreo's and peppered sausage

Yummy sketchy Spanish peppered sausage.
Oreo- taste like Oreo's, look like Oreo's, must be Oreo's. Only in Spanish. Oh yeah, that and some white nugget stuff. Far less American.
Sunset at Biaritz
More sunset at Biaritz
Our little picnic area.

This one's for grandpa, notice the complete coverage of leather (where possible) plus helmet, not to mention the Pyranees in the background. We're probably about 45 minutes from Spain here.
We're in Biaritz here, on our way to find a good place to sit down and eat some of the random crap we bought tax free in Spain maybe an hour previously.
This is a misty view of the Pyranees, where it becomes Spain is blocked by the fog, but it is what is in the other direction of the photo taken of me above.
This is just plain pretty, we've found our place to eat!
This is the Rock of the Virgin. You'll notice on top of the rock with the brigde going to it, there is a statue of Mary on top.

I'm legal!

FINALLY got my carte de séjour, thank you France.

This weekend, I went to the Calypso Spa in Dax, it is a natural hot spring discovered by the Romans a thousand or two years ago that is now being used Jimmy Carter style as indoor/outdoor swimming pools of different temperatures with a the whole sauna and whatnot experience. Not bad, I must say!

The following day was absolutely beautiful so we went for a MOTORCYLE séjour to SPAIN. Yay! My first time across the border! I brought my passport and all that thinking someone would be looking at it, but the only thing that marked the change of county was an abandoned customs office. Lots of people from France go to Spain to take advantage of the tax-free gasoline, cigarettes, and alcohol. It is kind of like how at the border between one state that allows fireworks and one that doesn't, there are always massive fireworks stands on the legal side. All the signs for the stores were in French because that's the only clientelle they have there, so it wasn't exactly what I'd call an authentic experience, but I was in Spain, and I think I heard a couple of employees in the store speaking Spanish with eachother. Good enough! The real joy of the experience was the motorcycle ride, mid 60s and sunny. On the way back, we stopped at the coastal town of Biaritz and I caught some pictures of the sunset. That's one thing I like about the west coast of anywhere...if you want to see a beautiful horizon, you don't have to literaly wake up at the crack of dawn to take pictures of it, you get to wait until the sun sets.

I'm back to work today, there is always such a big contrast between wherever I spend my weeken and Aire. I've decided I really, really like the coast in the southwest of France, very beautiful.

More pictures

Here are some pictures of Paris that one of my friends took on his cell phone. This is on the Champs Elylées with the Arche de Triomph in the background.
This is the biology teacher who invited me with her and her husband, and we are trying on dresses we could never afford in the Galaries Lafayette in Paris. I don't think the dressing room attendant like having a man take pictures in the woman's changing area, but she can just deal with it!
This is the Hôtel des Invalides, where Napolean is burried.
Notre Dame, enough said.
Sacré Coeur

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Addressing your concerns:1) Food. You can very, very easily come and eat nothing but bread. In fact, I would prefer not to have to share my yogurt and cereal with you.
2) Cost. I live on about $75 per week. Considering you do not plan on eating fruit, you can manage with $6.
3) Language. I hang out with anglophones. We can go to the English sandwhich shop, contintue for a soda at the English café, and then spend the evening in the English night-time establishment with my American friends and the English bartender.
4) Looking funny. French people are skinny with light skin and dark brown hair. They wear jeans and sneakers and polo shirts. Sound familiar? GET YOUR PASSPORT NOW. IT TAKES 2 MONTHS. TELL ME WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR TICKETS.

Ugly Pattern Party!

Welcome to New Years Eve in France! We all went to Toulouse for a party where everyone was required to wear Stripes, polka dots, or flowers. As you can see, we got rather creative with our choices. In the picture with four of us, it is my friends Céline, Arnaud, Laurent (another one) and me. Then, my dear friends and family, is the plate we had to eat. It consists of: Smear of 3 Fish, Duck Liver Paste, Imitation Crab Circle, and Breaded Hotdog Pâté. YUMMMMY! I think this is the real reason Andrew will not come and visit me. I don't really know the guy in the last pic, but his costume was just so fantastic I had to show you.

I heart being a bum.

So, Paris finished up nicely as I finally got to the top of the Eiffel Tower after 23 years of waiting! Whew! We went to Cirque d'Hiver (like Cirque de Soleil but for the winter instead of summer) for free because the French couple had a friend whose girlfriend was dancing in it. How's that for a shaky connection for free tickets?

Earlier that day, I just happened to bump into my friend Mitch, who is another assistant I met while over here in France. It was very surprising to find someone I know on a corner in Paris! So, that night we went to a restaurant together and had smoothies. Yum!

After Paris, I spent the week of Christmas in Bordeaux with assistants. It was a nice time, all week we pretty much stayed on the Anglophone circuit- sandwhich shop, café, and night time establishment all run by English speakers. It did not do good things for all the progress I had made with my French in Paris!

This week, I have been with some French friends in Capbreton. It is a beach town on the Atlantic that is famous for its surf. We are staying in a sea side apartment that belongs to one of their grandparents. How EVER did I get so lucky???????

Back to school tomorrow after almost 3 weeks of being away from home. What am I doing here again? Teaching? Huh. Could have fooled me.