This week, I got more tutoring students! One of Laurent's co-workers has a son who apparently is terrible at English, so he agreed to send the boy to me to see if I could fix him. He came over on Tuesday for an hour and a half and it went rather well. He and his parents seemed pretty happy. The next day I get a phone call from a mom with a daughter who is also terrible at English, saying that I had been recomended by the other mom. Turns out, the mom of the first student is a hairdresser and spent all the next day gabbing about her awesome new English tutor! Yay! So, this morning I had my first session with this girl. Hopefully I'll be getting some more phone calls when school is back in session in another week.
Right now, I'm in Pau being an innocent bystander to a Lan Party in Pau. For those who are not familiar with a Lan Party, it is where a bunch of people (in this case about 500) who love computers and the accompanying games drag their computers to a giant room where they exchange ideas and above all try to kill eachother in their little vitual worlds. I have no real interest in this weekend-long event, so I brought two books and hopefully it will stop raining long enough for me to take a walk downtown tomorrow!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Random Pictures
Here, I've got some pictures from the fasion show our little cousin was in and a day we went for a walk along the coast. This is not a very cohesive or even time-linear blog entry, but you know, these things happen.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Traipsing around
This weekend Laurent's sister came in from Toulouse. There was eating. Lots and lots of it. Then, we went out for a walk around a lake that was origionally created by Napoleon the 3rd as an irrigation source/diversion of flood waters. Apparently the origional pump with the crest of Napoleon was recently sold off to some collector, which the whole town already regrets, don't know who made that decision!
Last night we went down to Biarritz to see the grandparents where we had some yummy shushi. I've tried my hand at making sushi myself, but I must say the restaurants always make the Japanese rice better than me!
Today, the beautiful weather continued so we took advantage of that with a little walk to the lake that is just a little ways away and then come 7:30ish, we went to the dunes at the beach to watch the sunset.
This week I'll be starting up with my tutoring and I'll be dropping off my resume for a receptionist postion at a sports rehabilitation center for the injured athletes of this part of Europe. This could certainly be an interesting place to work, even though I know I'm not all that employable for the moment. I did have one break through this week - I think I've figured out what I'd like to end up doing! I've decided that I like the idea of teaching English to foreign adults in the setting of a private company. I think my problem with the idea of teaching has always been two-fold, one being the discipline aspect when working with children, another problem being the pandemic apathy found amongst students learning a foreign language. However, if I work with adults who have opted to return to the classroom, I think these problems might be resolved. So, my path will be to get a certificate in teaching English as a Foreign Language through a month-long course in Paris. We'll see how this works out for me!
Last night we went down to Biarritz to see the grandparents where we had some yummy shushi. I've tried my hand at making sushi myself, but I must say the restaurants always make the Japanese rice better than me!
Today, the beautiful weather continued so we took advantage of that with a little walk to the lake that is just a little ways away and then come 7:30ish, we went to the dunes at the beach to watch the sunset.
This week I'll be starting up with my tutoring and I'll be dropping off my resume for a receptionist postion at a sports rehabilitation center for the injured athletes of this part of Europe. This could certainly be an interesting place to work, even though I know I'm not all that employable for the moment. I did have one break through this week - I think I've figured out what I'd like to end up doing! I've decided that I like the idea of teaching English to foreign adults in the setting of a private company. I think my problem with the idea of teaching has always been two-fold, one being the discipline aspect when working with children, another problem being the pandemic apathy found amongst students learning a foreign language. However, if I work with adults who have opted to return to the classroom, I think these problems might be resolved. So, my path will be to get a certificate in teaching English as a Foreign Language through a month-long course in Paris. We'll see how this works out for me!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Back in the Landes
Some of you may remember that I swore to never take British Airways again because they make you change airports. Well, I also remembered this as I booked my tickets, but it was hard to argue with a price so cheap. Alas, I re-declare: I will never take British Airways again. This time I probably mean it.
Our first day back was spent sleeping, but then we went out and explored the town of Montauban. Cute place really. Laurent and I were staying with his sister and it got a little bit crowded as his mom and her boyfriend joined us all out near Toulouse. We had a lovely time and now I'm back on the coast.
Monday, May 26, 2008
And the teaching continues
Last week I started teaching a three year old English. I was a little unsure if she was going to be interested or not, but she seems to enjoy it. I'm using a book that came with a CD. After two lessons, she knows a few animals and likes to say 'What a noise in the zoo!' Hopefully some of this will stick even after I've left the country....
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Spain pics
We stayed here one night. Not bad for a view!
This is a big chuch in Barcelona. It's been under construction since 18something and it's architect (Gaudi) was runover by a tramway in 1920 somethingafter having been on it for forty years. They're still working on it!
This is Barcelona's Arc de Triomf. It makes a great hat.
Laurent immitating the flamenco dancers we just saw.
Me on a bike in Barcelona. Aren't I pretty?
Vroom vroom!
Just got back from a little vacation in an RV. We spent a couple beautiful days in Bordeaux, but it was a holiday so none of the trams were running. This was very convenient as we could take the bicycles through the city on the tramway without having to worry about traffic or pedestrians. After Bordeaux, stayed in Foix and saw an enormous old castle. It was preserved extremely well, not at all in ruins even though the first foundation stones were laid sometime in the 11th century. I wondered how this could be, but it turned out that this castle was never attacked. It cost tons of money and time but it was never used. Haha!
After Foix, we went to Andorra. It is a tiny little country in the Pyrenees. The lanscape is so rugged it was easy to see why neither France or Spain wanted it! Let the Andorrans dig themselves out the avalanches! It's a good place to go to stamp a passport because it is not a part of the Schengeun States. That was handy for me, even though all I got was tourist stamp, so I doubt it will count as valid. Hopefully I don't get deported. We also bought gas for about 40 cents less per liter (this is a BIG difference, what, a euro fifty per gallon?) We left Andorra on the Spain side which was good because Laurent had bought tons of tax free cigarettes in Andorra and wanted to avoid French custums. He plans on reselling them in France . In Andorra it was fifteen euros per carton while in France it's fifty. OUCH!
Soon we were in Barcelona where we toured a bit on our bicycles. The highlight was definately the Flaminco dancers! We didn't spend time on the beach as we had planned because it was RAINY. We headed a little north where I saw the Salvador Dali museum. It was amazing to see the diversity of his talents, but I was a little disappointed when I realized many of his most famous works (or at least many of the ones I'm familiar with) weren't there. But never fear, there were plenty of melting clocks. Unfortunately, Laurent got kind of sick and he wanted to come home, and with the rain it made sense. So, here I am back in Capbreton where there isn't a cloud in the sky! Not too shabby!
After Foix, we went to Andorra. It is a tiny little country in the Pyrenees. The lanscape is so rugged it was easy to see why neither France or Spain wanted it! Let the Andorrans dig themselves out the avalanches! It's a good place to go to stamp a passport because it is not a part of the Schengeun States. That was handy for me, even though all I got was tourist stamp, so I doubt it will count as valid. Hopefully I don't get deported. We also bought gas for about 40 cents less per liter (this is a BIG difference, what, a euro fifty per gallon?) We left Andorra on the Spain side which was good because Laurent had bought tons of tax free cigarettes in Andorra and wanted to avoid French custums. He plans on reselling them in France . In Andorra it was fifteen euros per carton while in France it's fifty. OUCH!
Soon we were in Barcelona where we toured a bit on our bicycles. The highlight was definately the Flaminco dancers! We didn't spend time on the beach as we had planned because it was RAINY. We headed a little north where I saw the Salvador Dali museum. It was amazing to see the diversity of his talents, but I was a little disappointed when I realized many of his most famous works (or at least many of the ones I'm familiar with) weren't there. But never fear, there were plenty of melting clocks. Unfortunately, Laurent got kind of sick and he wanted to come home, and with the rain it made sense. So, here I am back in Capbreton where there isn't a cloud in the sky! Not too shabby!
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