I did my last minute Christmas shopping on the Champs-Elysées...while sipping my first Starbucks coffee in three months. I could see the spires of Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower as I walked back to the apartment where I'm staying.
Is this for real?...I must be dreaming...
Certainly a Christmas Eve to be remembered. :)
December 24, 2007
December 22, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Oh my! It's been exactly one month since I last posted - apologies to you, my faithful readers! December has been a crazy month and has truly flown by. Let's do a quick rundown:
- second group training for all of us primary assitants in the area in nearby Brest
- wonderful dinner at for all of the assistants I live with and I at the house of one of my very favorite teachers
- lesson planning like mad
- Christmas shopping like mad
- watching Quimper turn into the equivalent of a Christmas village with lights EVERYWHERE and an ice skating rink outside the Cathedral
- visiting a good friend from Western who is also an assistant in the nearby town of Nantes (so amazingly good to see somebody from home!)
- stuffing myself on the abundance of Christmas sweets in this country
That was a very quick summary, but it gives a little glimpse into the goings on in my life.
I leave today to spend Christmas in Paris, then if all goes according to plan, will be in Barcelona for New Years. It'll be very strange to be away from home for the holidays (it already has), but I think Paris is a pretty good runner up to being in the NW for Christmas. :)
Wishing you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. Much love, and I'll see you all in 2008!
- second group training for all of us primary assitants in the area in nearby Brest
- wonderful dinner at for all of the assistants I live with and I at the house of one of my very favorite teachers
- lesson planning like mad
- Christmas shopping like mad
- watching Quimper turn into the equivalent of a Christmas village with lights EVERYWHERE and an ice skating rink outside the Cathedral
- visiting a good friend from Western who is also an assistant in the nearby town of Nantes (so amazingly good to see somebody from home!)
- stuffing myself on the abundance of Christmas sweets in this country
That was a very quick summary, but it gives a little glimpse into the goings on in my life.
I leave today to spend Christmas in Paris, then if all goes according to plan, will be in Barcelona for New Years. It'll be very strange to be away from home for the holidays (it already has), but I think Paris is a pretty good runner up to being in the NW for Christmas. :)
Wishing you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. Much love, and I'll see you all in 2008!
November 22, 2007
What I'm thankful for...
Being in another country for Thanksgiving (as it did the first time, 2 years ago) makes me even more aware of how much I love - and miss - this wonderful holiday! And, it makes me more aware of those things I'm thankful for. Here's a brief list:
- family
- friends
- good health
- the opportunity to live abroad for a year
- an internet connection so that while I'm abroad I can keep in touch with everyone I love back home
- french pasteries
- the very kind and wonderful French people that have made the transition here much easier than it could have been
- life
- you
I wish everyone a warm and wonderful day full of great food, family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving!
PS A few other American assistants and I will be hosting our very own T-day dinner on Saturday, and are attempting to make it as authentic as possible. So no worries - I'll be joining you all (a few days late) in the Thanksgiving festivities as well. :)
- family
- friends
- good health
- the opportunity to live abroad for a year
- an internet connection so that while I'm abroad I can keep in touch with everyone I love back home
- french pasteries
- the very kind and wonderful French people that have made the transition here much easier than it could have been
- life
- you
I wish everyone a warm and wonderful day full of great food, family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving!
PS A few other American assistants and I will be hosting our very own T-day dinner on Saturday, and are attempting to make it as authentic as possible. So no worries - I'll be joining you all (a few days late) in the Thanksgiving festivities as well. :)
This country is crazy!
This morning I dutifully got up, took a shower, ate breakfast and was out the door around 9:15 - all ready to hop on the bus and be off to my first class of the day. I arrived at the bus stop and noticed a sign that said "Note that due to a protest, this bus stop will not be serviced today". Puzzled, I read the note a few times to make sure I understood. Ah, I thought...must be leftover from Tuesday's strikes, there were some protests that day - they must have just forgotten to take down the sign. Wait, no...I took the bus Tuesday morning. There was no sign and service was normal. As I continued to puzzle over the sign I noticed a large stream of students steadily pouring out of the high school, making their way down the street towards me. As they passed I heard "we're on strike, we're going to protest, come with us!". Not only have railroad workers, members of the Paris Opera, college students and most public servants gone on strike over this past week - now high schoolers are too! Long story short - I missed the bus and couldn't go to class this morning - Happy Thanksgiving to me!
PS I here this isn't even the 'major' strike season...apparently that one comes in May...
PS I here this isn't even the 'major' strike season...apparently that one comes in May...
November 13, 2007
Ready, set, strike!
In French society, when the going gets rough, the French go on strike; it's a part of society that is as integral as bread, wine and cheese. Not being French, or particularly adept at following French politics, I have to assume that on some level it works - because it is a frequent and widespread habit here. Tomorrow, the SNCF, which is the train company that keeps the entire country moving, as well as most metro lines in many major cities (Paris in particular) will be going on strike in protest of President Nicholas Sarcozy's proposed reform of retirement benefits (if I've understood the news and newspapers correctly...). Apparently the major French energy and gas companies might follow suit - even the Paris Opera is striking! Teachers and other public employees are scheduled to strike next Tues., the 20th, if they so choose. This is all occurring amidst a student strike already in full swing against the privitization of French universities which began a few days ago. It's been interesting watching the build-up to this week, as it's been all over the media. Apparently there's concern that despite widespread participation, striker's concerns may still not be addressed. Who knows...all I know that come next Tuesday there's a good possibility that I'll find myself arriving to teach at empty schools!
November 6, 2007
Castles and mustard and trains, oh my!
As before mentioned, I spent the last few days of October and the first few of November enjoying a delightful French invention called "La vacance de toussaint". It's a toss-up whether this is a good trade-off for halloween - I definitely miss seeing kids in costumes, carved pumpkins and even hearing "the Monster Mash", but who can argue with a week and a half of vacation? At anyrate, in this country they opt for days off over candy, and being that I'm hear to embrace the culture - I went right along and vacationed with the rest of France.
My roomie Alyse and I started off the vacay by taking a five hour train trip (plus an hour or so of layover) from Quimper to Amboise, in the heart of the Loire Valley. Amboise is an adorable and very touristy town located smack dab in the middle of all the must-see castles of the Loire. It also has it's very own castle, and is where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last days. We toured the castle and Leo's old home - both of which were really interesting (especially Leo's house - they've turned the grounds into a huge park with several life size, working models of his inventions).
Here's a pic of Alyse and I outside le Château Royal d'Amboise (it's just over my left shoulder)
Our second day in the Loire Valley, we decided to take a train to nearby Blois, where we visited it's local "chateau royal" in the morning. That afternoon we boarded a bus to take the thirty minute ride to quite possible the most incredible chateau. Ever. Now, I haven't seen a ton of castles in my life time, so maybe I'm not really the most qualified to call Chamobrd the most incredible chateau that ever existed, but I mean come on...just look at it!
Yeah...that's what I thought. Walking up to this castle is an overwhelming experience. It is absolutely vast and despite it's enormity (I'm quite sure that's spelled wrong), it's also quite intricate. It has somewhere near 400 rooms and 300 fireplaces (like I said, it's big - can you image heating that place?). It was built mostly for use as a hunting retreat for Francois I, although it was mostly his sons that used it (umm, I think Louis XIV and Henri something...I'm pretty sure I should know that for certain as a French major...). Anyway, it's absolutely enormous and is situated on the largest game reserves in all of Europe. The entire city of Paris could fit inside the walls that delineate the outer reaches of Chambord's grounds! What's more, the day we visited was the quintissential crisp fall day - gorgeous blue sky, trees all shades of orange and yellow, and a fantastic sunset in the evening that only hightened the golden hue of the foliage. C'était magnifique.
Our final day in Amboise happened to fall on November 1st - Toussaint itself. Because of this, there are very few public transportation options available anywhere in France. This posed a problem as the final castle, Chenonceau - and apparently the ultimate, must see chateau of the Loire Valley (I know what you're thinking, how can anything surpass Chambord?...just you wait...) - was not in Amboise, but was a 25 minute bus ride away. Now, we had originally planned to see Chenonceau the morning of our first full day in Amboise. Having read that there's only one bus a day to the castle and that it leaves around 10, Alyse and I were ready to go at 9, just to play it safe. We asked the woman at the front desk of the hotel if she knew anything about it, to which she replied, "I think it leaves around 10, but check at the tourist office". No problem. We make our way to the Tourist Office, but find that it doesn't open until 10. Again, no worries. Why would the ONE bus to the MOST VISITED CASTLE IN FRANCE leave before tourists have access to information like where and when to catch it? Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Well, that's how it worked. While Alyse and I leisurely whiled away the time in a café waiting for the office to open, our three euro, round-trip, method of transportation was on it's merry way to Chenonceau. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but if we wanted to visit Chambord, it was an all day afair that had to occur on Wednesday - and like I said, Thursday was Toussaint, which conveniently meant NO BUSES. We were to leave for Dijon Thursday afternoon. Lovely. So, we ask if there are ANY other alternatives. "Of course!" was the cheery reply from the kind office of tourisme employee, "a taxi, 20 euro's each way". Suddenly, our 3 euro visit (not including chateau admission) had just skyrocketed to 40. "Oh, you want to go on Toussaint? Well, they'll be an extra fare since it's a holidy." Nope, not 40 euros now...we were going to have to pay nearly 60 euros to go see Chenonceau. But you know what? We were on vacation, we had just received our first salary, and when-the-hell-else were we ever going to be back in the middle of France to see the most visited castle in the country? So we went right ahead and paid that 60 euros. And it was worth it.
While Chambord is absolutey stunning for it's size, Chenonceau hit's you with it's beauty. At Chambord, I could picture royal courts returning from the hunt, and important historical figures doing important historical things. Chenonceau is much more whimsical. It's the kind of castle that makes you feel like there's probably a dragon living in the woods, and a troll that hides beneath bridge over the moat. It's a castle that makes you think of princes and princesses and white horses and all those stereotypes bred into our minds by the fine people at Disney. And it's wonderful. Historically, it was called the "lady's castle". It's where King Henri lived with both his wife, Catherine de Medici, and his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, (although not at the same time...I don't think...). They both have gardens dedicated to them and their influence is felt throughout the tour of the castle itself. Again, we were blessed by INCREDIBLE weather, which only added to the peculiar magic of the place. All in all, it was an excellent way to end our tour of the Loire Valley.
From Amboise, we jumped on the train once again (I think at this point we were on # 5) and headed further east into the Bourgogne region of France - more specifically Dijon - known primarily for its mustard and its wine. We spend the first day of our time in Dijon touring the city. It has a very quaint style of architecture in it's centre-ville, as well as a very unique style of roof tiles on several of the buildings
Voilà the architecture, and I'll post a picture of the roof tiles in just a moment. As far as major sites to see, Dijon is like most other french cities. It has a Cathedral, Palais de Justice, Hotel de Ville, some nice squares and a lovely market, all of which we spent the day leisurely touring through. We also spend our fair share of time pouring over the vast varieties of mustard offered in Dijon, and ended up with the regional specialties "cassis" (black currant) and "pain d'épice" (gingerbread). Determined to treat ourselves to an all-out authentic bourgognian meal, we dined on escargots, coq-au-vin, beouf bourguinonne, a delicous apple tarte, and of course, red wine that night. It was delicious, and well deserved after our whirlwind tour of castles.
The next day we took (you guessed it!) another train into a smaller nearby town called Beaune. It was your typical super touristy, super quaint little French town. We happened upon it on market day, and spent a good chunk of the morning exploring the stands which took up the better chunk of downtown. After wandering for a while, we made our way to the towns main tourist spot, L'hotel Dieu. Basically, it was a hospice for the poor, in which the owners and nuns who worked there tried to give as much dignity to the dying as possible. The fanciest room was reserved for the poorest patients and instead of the standard set of wooden bowls and plates, they received their own set of pewter dishes. This is also the building that demonstrates most impressively the unique style of roof tile common to this area of Burgundy.
Impressive, isn't it? Exhausted from our nonstop trip, we spent a quiet evening in once we returned to Dijon. The next day we went to mass in one of the local Cathedrals (yep, there's more than one - this IS France, after all) and then spent the afternoon touring the art museum. We caught our train back home early in the evening and just barely (with minutes to spare) made our connecting train in Paris. We arrived back to home sweet home in Quimper at around 1 am, exhausted, but satisfied.
It was a good vacation.
My roomie Alyse and I started off the vacay by taking a five hour train trip (plus an hour or so of layover) from Quimper to Amboise, in the heart of the Loire Valley. Amboise is an adorable and very touristy town located smack dab in the middle of all the must-see castles of the Loire. It also has it's very own castle, and is where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last days. We toured the castle and Leo's old home - both of which were really interesting (especially Leo's house - they've turned the grounds into a huge park with several life size, working models of his inventions).
Here's a pic of Alyse and I outside le Château Royal d'Amboise (it's just over my left shoulder)
Our second day in the Loire Valley, we decided to take a train to nearby Blois, where we visited it's local "chateau royal" in the morning. That afternoon we boarded a bus to take the thirty minute ride to quite possible the most incredible chateau. Ever. Now, I haven't seen a ton of castles in my life time, so maybe I'm not really the most qualified to call Chamobrd the most incredible chateau that ever existed, but I mean come on...just look at it!
Yeah...that's what I thought. Walking up to this castle is an overwhelming experience. It is absolutely vast and despite it's enormity (I'm quite sure that's spelled wrong), it's also quite intricate. It has somewhere near 400 rooms and 300 fireplaces (like I said, it's big - can you image heating that place?). It was built mostly for use as a hunting retreat for Francois I, although it was mostly his sons that used it (umm, I think Louis XIV and Henri something...I'm pretty sure I should know that for certain as a French major...). Anyway, it's absolutely enormous and is situated on the largest game reserves in all of Europe. The entire city of Paris could fit inside the walls that delineate the outer reaches of Chambord's grounds! What's more, the day we visited was the quintissential crisp fall day - gorgeous blue sky, trees all shades of orange and yellow, and a fantastic sunset in the evening that only hightened the golden hue of the foliage. C'était magnifique.
Our final day in Amboise happened to fall on November 1st - Toussaint itself. Because of this, there are very few public transportation options available anywhere in France. This posed a problem as the final castle, Chenonceau - and apparently the ultimate, must see chateau of the Loire Valley (I know what you're thinking, how can anything surpass Chambord?...just you wait...) - was not in Amboise, but was a 25 minute bus ride away. Now, we had originally planned to see Chenonceau the morning of our first full day in Amboise. Having read that there's only one bus a day to the castle and that it leaves around 10, Alyse and I were ready to go at 9, just to play it safe. We asked the woman at the front desk of the hotel if she knew anything about it, to which she replied, "I think it leaves around 10, but check at the tourist office". No problem. We make our way to the Tourist Office, but find that it doesn't open until 10. Again, no worries. Why would the ONE bus to the MOST VISITED CASTLE IN FRANCE leave before tourists have access to information like where and when to catch it? Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Well, that's how it worked. While Alyse and I leisurely whiled away the time in a café waiting for the office to open, our three euro, round-trip, method of transportation was on it's merry way to Chenonceau. This wouldn't have been a big deal, but if we wanted to visit Chambord, it was an all day afair that had to occur on Wednesday - and like I said, Thursday was Toussaint, which conveniently meant NO BUSES. We were to leave for Dijon Thursday afternoon. Lovely. So, we ask if there are ANY other alternatives. "Of course!" was the cheery reply from the kind office of tourisme employee, "a taxi, 20 euro's each way". Suddenly, our 3 euro visit (not including chateau admission) had just skyrocketed to 40. "Oh, you want to go on Toussaint? Well, they'll be an extra fare since it's a holidy." Nope, not 40 euros now...we were going to have to pay nearly 60 euros to go see Chenonceau. But you know what? We were on vacation, we had just received our first salary, and when-the-hell-else were we ever going to be back in the middle of France to see the most visited castle in the country? So we went right ahead and paid that 60 euros. And it was worth it.
While Chambord is absolutey stunning for it's size, Chenonceau hit's you with it's beauty. At Chambord, I could picture royal courts returning from the hunt, and important historical figures doing important historical things. Chenonceau is much more whimsical. It's the kind of castle that makes you feel like there's probably a dragon living in the woods, and a troll that hides beneath bridge over the moat. It's a castle that makes you think of princes and princesses and white horses and all those stereotypes bred into our minds by the fine people at Disney. And it's wonderful. Historically, it was called the "lady's castle". It's where King Henri lived with both his wife, Catherine de Medici, and his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, (although not at the same time...I don't think...). They both have gardens dedicated to them and their influence is felt throughout the tour of the castle itself. Again, we were blessed by INCREDIBLE weather, which only added to the peculiar magic of the place. All in all, it was an excellent way to end our tour of the Loire Valley.
From Amboise, we jumped on the train once again (I think at this point we were on # 5) and headed further east into the Bourgogne region of France - more specifically Dijon - known primarily for its mustard and its wine. We spend the first day of our time in Dijon touring the city. It has a very quaint style of architecture in it's centre-ville, as well as a very unique style of roof tiles on several of the buildings
Voilà the architecture, and I'll post a picture of the roof tiles in just a moment. As far as major sites to see, Dijon is like most other french cities. It has a Cathedral, Palais de Justice, Hotel de Ville, some nice squares and a lovely market, all of which we spent the day leisurely touring through. We also spend our fair share of time pouring over the vast varieties of mustard offered in Dijon, and ended up with the regional specialties "cassis" (black currant) and "pain d'épice" (gingerbread). Determined to treat ourselves to an all-out authentic bourgognian meal, we dined on escargots, coq-au-vin, beouf bourguinonne, a delicous apple tarte, and of course, red wine that night. It was delicious, and well deserved after our whirlwind tour of castles.
The next day we took (you guessed it!) another train into a smaller nearby town called Beaune. It was your typical super touristy, super quaint little French town. We happened upon it on market day, and spent a good chunk of the morning exploring the stands which took up the better chunk of downtown. After wandering for a while, we made our way to the towns main tourist spot, L'hotel Dieu. Basically, it was a hospice for the poor, in which the owners and nuns who worked there tried to give as much dignity to the dying as possible. The fanciest room was reserved for the poorest patients and instead of the standard set of wooden bowls and plates, they received their own set of pewter dishes. This is also the building that demonstrates most impressively the unique style of roof tile common to this area of Burgundy.
Impressive, isn't it? Exhausted from our nonstop trip, we spent a quiet evening in once we returned to Dijon. The next day we went to mass in one of the local Cathedrals (yep, there's more than one - this IS France, after all) and then spent the afternoon touring the art museum. We caught our train back home early in the evening and just barely (with minutes to spare) made our connecting train in Paris. We arrived back to home sweet home in Quimper at around 1 am, exhausted, but satisfied.
It was a good vacation.
October 26, 2007
Connected to the world, once again
You might be seeing a bit more of me here on blogger, as I've just recently gotten wifi access here at the house. Actually, it's been here all along, but I've only just received the code to access it. The man in charge of tech. services here at the school came by to set our computers the other day, and spent what felt like forever fiddling with mine before he declared it wasn't going to work. I asked him if he'd changed the security setting, knowing that since I have a mac I usually have to do so to connect to non mac networks. He replied - no, no...I'll come again and try tomorrow. I saw him again this morning, taking his smoke break, where he delivered the heart breaking news that he just didn't think my computer was going to be able to connect, seeing as he had succeeded at getting the other assistants up and running online. I asked for the password anyway and scurried back home to try it out. Sure enough, I entered the password, changed the security setting and was online within 30 seconds. I was quite pleased with myself, to say the least! Now I just might hold true to my word and post once a week...we'll see...
Now that I've given you the visual update of my life here in Quimper, let me give you one in words. I've completed my first three weeks of teaching, and I'm not sure yet whether or not you could say that it was successfully. For any teachers out there reading this, I have a newfound respect for your profession. I had no idea the amount of work and worry that goes into preparing a simple lesson! I teach a total of five different elementary school classes at four different schools twice a week. I also teach five classes a week at the high school I live at. So far I've only just started teaching at the high school; it's been the primary schools that have pretty much consumed my life. I have three first year levels, which I enjoy teaching because they are such a blank slate. They eat up anything I teach them and are so excited about learning! Then, I have a class with 13 second year students and 7 first year students...which I didn't discover until the middle of the first day when one of the older students kindly informed me "umm, those kids over there don't know any English yet". Great. But, thank goodness, another teacher has been coming in to work with them while I take the older kids. While I still feel as if these first few weeks haven't been terribly productive, it's getting better. My other class is the third year, about the equivalent of 5th graders. They're good kids, but I have a super hard time controlling them. First off, they're in their last year before middle school, kind of in the 'we're too cool to do work' stage. Secondly, it's been really hard for me to figure out what to do with them. They get bored easily and I never feel well enough prepared - even when I'm OVER prepared we either fly through everything and I'm left trying to improvise, or it takes so long for me to get control of them/explain the game (because I've got to do it in French) that we barely make it through one activity. I'm determined to make them interested though, and hope to wow them with something fantastic after the vacation.
Yes, I said vacation. Three weeks of work and one and a half off...not bad, huh? We have a vacation for Toussaint (All Saint's Day), and believe me, it couldn't have come any sooner. True, it's only been three weeks, but I am quite ready for a little relaxation! For the holiday, one of the roomies and I (Alyse) are going to the Loire Valley to see the chateaux, and then to Dijon, a total of three nights in each place. It'll be really nice to get away and to be able to explore France a bit.
Other than teaching and vacationing, life is going pretty well here. There's still adjustment, and I certainly miss things about home now and again (Halloween decorations, friends and family, to-go coffee, to name a few), but all in all I think I'm nicely assimilating into French life. Life can only be good when it's filled with copious amounts of wine, cheese and pastries.
All my best to you faithful readers. :) Have a happy halloween!
Now that I've given you the visual update of my life here in Quimper, let me give you one in words. I've completed my first three weeks of teaching, and I'm not sure yet whether or not you could say that it was successfully. For any teachers out there reading this, I have a newfound respect for your profession. I had no idea the amount of work and worry that goes into preparing a simple lesson! I teach a total of five different elementary school classes at four different schools twice a week. I also teach five classes a week at the high school I live at. So far I've only just started teaching at the high school; it's been the primary schools that have pretty much consumed my life. I have three first year levels, which I enjoy teaching because they are such a blank slate. They eat up anything I teach them and are so excited about learning! Then, I have a class with 13 second year students and 7 first year students...which I didn't discover until the middle of the first day when one of the older students kindly informed me "umm, those kids over there don't know any English yet". Great. But, thank goodness, another teacher has been coming in to work with them while I take the older kids. While I still feel as if these first few weeks haven't been terribly productive, it's getting better. My other class is the third year, about the equivalent of 5th graders. They're good kids, but I have a super hard time controlling them. First off, they're in their last year before middle school, kind of in the 'we're too cool to do work' stage. Secondly, it's been really hard for me to figure out what to do with them. They get bored easily and I never feel well enough prepared - even when I'm OVER prepared we either fly through everything and I'm left trying to improvise, or it takes so long for me to get control of them/explain the game (because I've got to do it in French) that we barely make it through one activity. I'm determined to make them interested though, and hope to wow them with something fantastic after the vacation.
Yes, I said vacation. Three weeks of work and one and a half off...not bad, huh? We have a vacation for Toussaint (All Saint's Day), and believe me, it couldn't have come any sooner. True, it's only been three weeks, but I am quite ready for a little relaxation! For the holiday, one of the roomies and I (Alyse) are going to the Loire Valley to see the chateaux, and then to Dijon, a total of three nights in each place. It'll be really nice to get away and to be able to explore France a bit.
Other than teaching and vacationing, life is going pretty well here. There's still adjustment, and I certainly miss things about home now and again (Halloween decorations, friends and family, to-go coffee, to name a few), but all in all I think I'm nicely assimilating into French life. Life can only be good when it's filled with copious amounts of wine, cheese and pastries.
All my best to you faithful readers. :) Have a happy halloween!
A few more...
Perhaps there's a way that I could have put all of these in one post, but I'm a bit inept at blogger, so bear with me. Let's continue on with our tour of Quimper, shall we?
This is the core of downtown Quimper, with some examples of the adorable French architecture we Americans find so charming. :)
This a great path that stretches downstream along the Odet. On a sunny Sunday morning or late afternoon, taking a leisurely stroll along the path is THE THING to do. This was one such Sunday, and well...when in Rome, right?
This is a view of my French backyard. It's not much, but it's fantastic to have a little outdoor space of my own (or our own rather, since I've got two roommates).
Here is my room. It's a bit more decorated now, and considerably more messy...if it's ever clean again, I'll post an updated picture.
Finally, here are the other assistants I live with. Left to Right: Helene from Costa Rica, Deepak from India, Alyse from NY state, Amy from the UK and Birgit from Austria. Alyse and Helene are my roomies (we share a house just behind the school) and the other three live in an apartment on the top floor of the school. This was our first soirée, to celebrate Helene's birthday.
This is the core of downtown Quimper, with some examples of the adorable French architecture we Americans find so charming. :)
This a great path that stretches downstream along the Odet. On a sunny Sunday morning or late afternoon, taking a leisurely stroll along the path is THE THING to do. This was one such Sunday, and well...when in Rome, right?
This is a view of my French backyard. It's not much, but it's fantastic to have a little outdoor space of my own (or our own rather, since I've got two roommates).
Here is my room. It's a bit more decorated now, and considerably more messy...if it's ever clean again, I'll post an updated picture.
Finally, here are the other assistants I live with. Left to Right: Helene from Costa Rica, Deepak from India, Alyse from NY state, Amy from the UK and Birgit from Austria. Alyse and Helene are my roomies (we share a house just behind the school) and the other three live in an apartment on the top floor of the school. This was our first soirée, to celebrate Helene's birthday.
Pictures, finally!
This is the main Cathedral, in the middle of downtown. They're just finishing up restoration work, and took down most of the scaffolding a couple of weeks ago. I'll try and post an updated pic sans scaffolding sometime.
This is the River Odet which runs through town and out into the Atlantic, about 30 km downstream. It plays a large role in making Quimper the quintessential French town. :)
Here's more of these river. These little foot bridges (passerelles) cross the river at several places throughout downtown and are usually covered with flower boxes.
Here's a view of town from the top of Mt Frugy ('Mt." being used very loosely, it's definitely more of a steep hill).
Artsy flower pic with some cute Quimper architecture in the background.
October 10, 2007
Settling In
It boggles my mind that I've only been here in France for three weeks, as of today. It certainly feels longer. The nine months I spent back at home in Olympia between graduating from Western and coming here to France FLEW by. I had a routine, I had fast and easy access to most anything I needed, I had France to look forward to. It's an incredible change of pace to be here in a country where lunch breaks are two hours long, where Sundays are reserved almost solely for long, lazy meals with family and friends, where things get done when they get done - not neccessarily according to what might have been scheduled. It's refreshing and stifling at the same time.
Besides adjusting to cultural differences, the magnitude of change and the new things I've experienced also contribute to making three weeks feel like twice that. In three weeks I've :
- spent five days in Paris
- spent three days in a hostel
- moved into a new house
- met a ton of wonderful teachers and administrators
- adjusted to living with some great new roommates
- spent time aquainting myself with Quimper
- experienced three + years of teacher training crammed into a two day workshop
- travelled all over town to visit each of the four elementary schools I'm teaching in
- visited an adorable town on the sea called Concarneau with nine other language assitants from around the area
- waded in the Atlantic ocean
- taught my first day of classes
- been bombarded with more French than I thought possible
I can only imagine what the next nine months will bring!
Oh - I hope to post pictures soon, I don't have internet access at home, so it might take me a while to get around to it, but I'll do my best.
Besides adjusting to cultural differences, the magnitude of change and the new things I've experienced also contribute to making three weeks feel like twice that. In three weeks I've :
- spent five days in Paris
- spent three days in a hostel
- moved into a new house
- met a ton of wonderful teachers and administrators
- adjusted to living with some great new roommates
- spent time aquainting myself with Quimper
- experienced three + years of teacher training crammed into a two day workshop
- travelled all over town to visit each of the four elementary schools I'm teaching in
- visited an adorable town on the sea called Concarneau with nine other language assitants from around the area
- waded in the Atlantic ocean
- taught my first day of classes
- been bombarded with more French than I thought possible
I can only imagine what the next nine months will bring!
Oh - I hope to post pictures soon, I don't have internet access at home, so it might take me a while to get around to it, but I'll do my best.
September 26, 2007
Quimper
Ok, so I'm officially at my new home-away-from-home in Quimper, France. I've been staying at a hostel for the past two nights, and only have two more to go before I get to move into my new French home (thank goodness). Not that the hostel's been bad, but it will be really nice to settle into my own space, finally. Quimper is the quintissential French town - super old, huge cathedral in the center, cobble stone streets everywhere, river running through the center of town crossed with footbridges that are covered in flowers. I will post pictures as soon as I'm settled into a more reliable internet connection, but trust me, it's pretty darn cute. Aside from that, it's been a little lonely around here. I don't exactly know ANYONE, and we can't be in the hostel between 11 and 5, so that leaves me to wander alone for hours on end. I had a few small breakdowns (one in front of the incredibly nice hostel front desk lady, much to my chagrin), but think I'm doing better now. There's an Austrian girl staying at the hostel who's going to teach too, so it's been nice to have at least one other person who sort of understands what I'm going through. The other English assistants should be getting here either tomorrow or Friday, so my friend base should be growing - S-L-O-W-L-Y but surely.
Quimper really is adorable though and all things considered, I'm glad to be here.
Quimper really is adorable though and all things considered, I'm glad to be here.
September 21, 2007
I'm here!
I safely arrived in Paris about 2 days ago. I don't have a ton of time, but here are some highlights:
- FInd out my luggage is lost when I arrive in Paris. Annoying, but I'm too tired to care
- When my luggage does finally arrive at the apartment of the friends I'm staying with, I CANNOT for the life of me figure out how to open the door. Seriously, there wasn't a regular handle so I spent a good 10 minutes apologizing to the kind man from Charles de Gaulle airport, trying desperately to get the door open. I couldn't, he kindly ended up signing for me and just left it on the doorstep. Due to jet leg, this just about made me start bawling (but I kept it together in the end)
- My friends in Paris live within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower and when I went to get bread and wine with them the other night for dinner, the sun was setting behind it. C'était magnifique!
- I've been mistaken for French twice now. One guy on the metro started telling me about how great the film "Sicko" was and said I really should see it. He was talking about how messed up the American health care system is, and when I told him I was American he was super apologetic. I didn't mind at all (Lord knows our health care sucks) and had a nice little (very brief) convo with him about it.
- I've really suprised myself with the amount of interactions I've successfully had in French, let's hope it continues!
OK, c'est tout for now. More soon. Lot's of love to those of you who have wondered onto my blog to see what I'm up to :)
- FInd out my luggage is lost when I arrive in Paris. Annoying, but I'm too tired to care
- When my luggage does finally arrive at the apartment of the friends I'm staying with, I CANNOT for the life of me figure out how to open the door. Seriously, there wasn't a regular handle so I spent a good 10 minutes apologizing to the kind man from Charles de Gaulle airport, trying desperately to get the door open. I couldn't, he kindly ended up signing for me and just left it on the doorstep. Due to jet leg, this just about made me start bawling (but I kept it together in the end)
- My friends in Paris live within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower and when I went to get bread and wine with them the other night for dinner, the sun was setting behind it. C'était magnifique!
- I've been mistaken for French twice now. One guy on the metro started telling me about how great the film "Sicko" was and said I really should see it. He was talking about how messed up the American health care system is, and when I told him I was American he was super apologetic. I didn't mind at all (Lord knows our health care sucks) and had a nice little (very brief) convo with him about it.
- I've really suprised myself with the amount of interactions I've successfully had in French, let's hope it continues!
OK, c'est tout for now. More soon. Lot's of love to those of you who have wondered onto my blog to see what I'm up to :)
September 15, 2007
4,897.82
That's how many miles away from Olympia, WA I will be this time next week. It'll probably actually be about 5,000 miles, seeing as I'll be in Paris this time next week. But when I do finally settle in to my new life à la française, it will be 4,897.82 (approx.) miles away from here.
I'm feeling a crazy mix of emotion at the thought of beginning this next chapter of my life. I'm ecstatic at the thought of going back to France, but if I think too much about the details of it all, it starts to terrify me a little. I can't wait to speak French again. I can't wait to eat fromage blanc, and crèpes à la nutella. I can't wait to see old friends. I can't wait to shop for my produce in an open air market. I can't wait to settle back into a slower pace of life. I'm not looking forward to the inevitable periods of homesickness, to feeling like an idiot when I can't find the right words in French, to spending my first Christmas away from home...
When it comes down to it though, I know without a doubt that it is my time to spread my little wings and move along to something new. I am blessed beyond belief that my something new is a year of living abroad in France. I mean, come on. Sometimes it's a little hard for me to believe that I'm actually doing this. Every now and again I just have to stop and convince myself that, yes, this IS my life.
Whatever the experience, I'm determned that it will bring perspective, growth, an increased sense of self-confidence and some kick-ass French skills.
I'm feeling a crazy mix of emotion at the thought of beginning this next chapter of my life. I'm ecstatic at the thought of going back to France, but if I think too much about the details of it all, it starts to terrify me a little. I can't wait to speak French again. I can't wait to eat fromage blanc, and crèpes à la nutella. I can't wait to see old friends. I can't wait to shop for my produce in an open air market. I can't wait to settle back into a slower pace of life. I'm not looking forward to the inevitable periods of homesickness, to feeling like an idiot when I can't find the right words in French, to spending my first Christmas away from home...
When it comes down to it though, I know without a doubt that it is my time to spread my little wings and move along to something new. I am blessed beyond belief that my something new is a year of living abroad in France. I mean, come on. Sometimes it's a little hard for me to believe that I'm actually doing this. Every now and again I just have to stop and convince myself that, yes, this IS my life.
Whatever the experience, I'm determned that it will bring perspective, growth, an increased sense of self-confidence and some kick-ass French skills.
July 24, 2007
Summer Update
Based on my blog activity, you're probably thinking that nothing of note has been happening in my life since May. Not true! I reappear on the blog scene tonight to set the record straight.
June marked the half-way point of my employment at Macy's, and I've been counting down the days left ever since the 1st (five weeks as of thursday).
Near the end of the month, several of my best friends from high school made their separate ways back to Olympia. We're all on very different paths for our lives, but it's always nice to reconnect with people with whom so little changes despite long passages of time.
The last weekend in June brought my first (and incredibly overdue) trip back to glorious Bellingham since I graduated back in December. My old roomie Charissa and I decided to celebrate our birthdays together (hers the 3rd of July, mine the 5th) by spending the weekend in our favorite city of all time. We hiked to Fragrance Lake, had a beer at Boundary Bay, perused the Farmer's Market, kayaked the Bay, had lunch at La Fiamma, lounged for hours and watched the sunset at Boulevard and visited some dear friends - pretty much had the quintessential bham weekend. Damn, that city is a good lover.
July brought the beginning of my 23rd year, a year I'm hoping will be pretty good. I think it's shaping up to be (considering the majority of it will be spent in France ). The middle of the month was a lot of HOT weather followed by A LOT of rain. Thrown in there amongst the weather oddities another best friend from high school, Christine, returned from Austria; my parents and I hiked at Mt. Rainier; Lakefair came and went; the college roomies and I spent a wonderful (and hilarious) weekend at Mason lake; and - possibly the most profound moment of the month (or maybe the year) - Harry Potter 7 was released. Seriously, I can't even describe the excellence of Rowling's conclusion to the epic series! It was absolutely satisfying and so good that, yes, I have already started rereading it. She managed to tie everything up so artfully, and brought everything together without being trite about it - the story never suffered, the characters stayed true to themselves - pure genius. :)
Well, there's my summer. Sorry about the lack of photos. My computer has died, and thus my access to pics and such is somewhat limited.
Hopefully I'll post another couple of updates before September, but knowing me, don't count on it...
June marked the half-way point of my employment at Macy's, and I've been counting down the days left ever since the 1st (five weeks as of thursday).
Near the end of the month, several of my best friends from high school made their separate ways back to Olympia. We're all on very different paths for our lives, but it's always nice to reconnect with people with whom so little changes despite long passages of time.
The last weekend in June brought my first (and incredibly overdue) trip back to glorious Bellingham since I graduated back in December. My old roomie Charissa and I decided to celebrate our birthdays together (hers the 3rd of July, mine the 5th) by spending the weekend in our favorite city of all time. We hiked to Fragrance Lake, had a beer at Boundary Bay, perused the Farmer's Market, kayaked the Bay, had lunch at La Fiamma, lounged for hours and watched the sunset at Boulevard and visited some dear friends - pretty much had the quintessential bham weekend. Damn, that city is a good lover.
July brought the beginning of my 23rd year, a year I'm hoping will be pretty good. I think it's shaping up to be (considering the majority of it will be spent in France ). The middle of the month was a lot of HOT weather followed by A LOT of rain. Thrown in there amongst the weather oddities another best friend from high school, Christine, returned from Austria; my parents and I hiked at Mt. Rainier; Lakefair came and went; the college roomies and I spent a wonderful (and hilarious) weekend at Mason lake; and - possibly the most profound moment of the month (or maybe the year) - Harry Potter 7 was released. Seriously, I can't even describe the excellence of Rowling's conclusion to the epic series! It was absolutely satisfying and so good that, yes, I have already started rereading it. She managed to tie everything up so artfully, and brought everything together without being trite about it - the story never suffered, the characters stayed true to themselves - pure genius. :)
Well, there's my summer. Sorry about the lack of photos. My computer has died, and thus my access to pics and such is somewhat limited.
Hopefully I'll post another couple of updates before September, but knowing me, don't count on it...
May 28, 2007
More poetry
I guess I'm on a bit of a poetry kick. Here's a lovely one about sand:
Beach Sand by Raymond A. Foss
Maybe it is the memories
the change of pace that brings us there
the sense of vacation
maybe the smell of the place
the sights of the gulls, the dunes, the grasses
but oh it is the feel of it,
the crunch and slide of it
the feeling of beach sand
so different from dirt, soil, loam
no, not earthy, moist, rich,
but oh so granular and gritty
even when wet,
moveable paper spreading under toes
sliding beneath the soles
smoothing my skin
clearing my mind
unburdening me of the rest
drawing me to the tactile, the feel
of beach sand.
I've recently decided that the life of a beach bum sounds pretty appealing, and that my future life must include a cabin on the water.
Also, here's a great one by E.E. Cummings:
i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
Such a sweet poem!
Share any fave poems you have in the comments section :)
Beach Sand by Raymond A. Foss
Maybe it is the memories
the change of pace that brings us there
the sense of vacation
maybe the smell of the place
the sights of the gulls, the dunes, the grasses
but oh it is the feel of it,
the crunch and slide of it
the feeling of beach sand
so different from dirt, soil, loam
no, not earthy, moist, rich,
but oh so granular and gritty
even when wet,
moveable paper spreading under toes
sliding beneath the soles
smoothing my skin
clearing my mind
unburdening me of the rest
drawing me to the tactile, the feel
of beach sand.
I've recently decided that the life of a beach bum sounds pretty appealing, and that my future life must include a cabin on the water.
Also, here's a great one by E.E. Cummings:
i carry your heart with me
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you
here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
Such a sweet poem!
Share any fave poems you have in the comments section :)
May 23, 2007
I love the rain
Well, it's not raining today, nor is it April, but I stumbled upon this wonderful Langston Hughes poem and had to share:
April Rain Song
Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.
Langston Hughes
I love the rain too, Langston. One of many reasons I love it out here in the PN-dub!
April Rain Song
Let the rain kiss you
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops
Let the rain sing you a lullaby
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.
Langston Hughes
I love the rain too, Langston. One of many reasons I love it out here in the PN-dub!
May 13, 2007
Mother's Day
My Mom and I went to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge today to walk the 5 1/2 mile Dike Trail for our Mother's day activity. It wasn't sunny, but was nonetheless gorgeous and great to spend some time outside with my lovely mother. We even ran into a few more mothers celebrating with their children along the way!
May 8, 2007
May 7, 2007
It's official...
...I'm going back to France! I received my letter today and here are the basics: I'll be in the Brittany region (NW France) and will teach English at an elementary school from Oct. 1 - June 30. Pretty dang excited to be heading back, updates will be posted as I learn more!
May 2, 2007
J'adore la France
Ah, la France. As many of you know I've applied to be an English language assistant in France next year, and it is officially the month in which I'll find out if I've been accepted and (if so) get a rough idea of where I'll be placed. I'm ridiculously excited about this, as I feel as if my life has been one big waiting game since I applied in December - it'll be nice to (hopefully) get accepted and have some solid plans for the future!
April 27, 2007
Life lessons
I guess I'm not very good at this blogger thing. I had kind of envisioned myself writing all sorts of witty posts about life, but everytime I've sat down to write so far, I just end of feeling kind of whiny and then sign on to facebook before ever posting anything. So, that's my way of saying I'm going to try and be better about posting updates and random ramblings...oh, and Britta, if you're reading this, you're patience post inspired this one :)
Life has been pretty up and down lately - normal post college doldrums (or so I'm told) - and I've found myself questioning many a time if I made the right decision to move home. I live with my parents, work at macys and have no social life to speak of. Umm, yeah...why didn't I move to Seattle with all the rest of my friends? So then I get depressed about that for a while until I remember that there IS actually a reason I decided to move home in the first place - to save enough money to allow me to move to France in the fall to teach English - oh yeah. Suddenly the tiny little sacrifice I'm making doesn't seem so bad. And then I realize I probably need to learn a little more about sacrifice, or at least realize that's what life in the "real world" is, essentially. Give and take, and learning when it's worth giving up something in order to gain a better something. But I guess it's a good lesson I'm learning. This is probably the longest period of time I've had to endure a not so great situation in hopes of acheiving a great one (ok, and "not-so-great" isn't really that bad at all). And that wait will only end up making the results that much better (hopefully). I found a great Bible verse that really sums up this particular struggle, which I'll share:
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised" Heb. 10:35-37. I don't actually peruse the Bible that often, but I think God might have had something to tell me because I was the first thing I stumbled upon when flipping through it the other day during a particularly low moment. I don't know that going to France is necessarily the will of God, but it feels right for the time being, so I'm going to go with that until he tells me otherwise. Perseverance seems to be the name of the game, and is something I'm not so good at. I like quick results, I like tangible results, and I tend to get distracted if my goal is too far in the future. That's probably why I'm not such a great distance runner (try as I might to be one). But I think I'm getting better (I don't really have any other choice!), and I think it's for the best.
Ok, this is getting a little heavy...and if I was more technologically adept I'd leave you with a compliation of scenes from "the office" set to JT's "Sexyback"...but I don't know how to add video to the end of a post, so you'll just have to check it out yourself if you're so inclined: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8WUcnsIBT0
Cheers
Life has been pretty up and down lately - normal post college doldrums (or so I'm told) - and I've found myself questioning many a time if I made the right decision to move home. I live with my parents, work at macys and have no social life to speak of. Umm, yeah...why didn't I move to Seattle with all the rest of my friends? So then I get depressed about that for a while until I remember that there IS actually a reason I decided to move home in the first place - to save enough money to allow me to move to France in the fall to teach English - oh yeah. Suddenly the tiny little sacrifice I'm making doesn't seem so bad. And then I realize I probably need to learn a little more about sacrifice, or at least realize that's what life in the "real world" is, essentially. Give and take, and learning when it's worth giving up something in order to gain a better something. But I guess it's a good lesson I'm learning. This is probably the longest period of time I've had to endure a not so great situation in hopes of acheiving a great one (ok, and "not-so-great" isn't really that bad at all). And that wait will only end up making the results that much better (hopefully). I found a great Bible verse that really sums up this particular struggle, which I'll share:
"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised" Heb. 10:35-37. I don't actually peruse the Bible that often, but I think God might have had something to tell me because I was the first thing I stumbled upon when flipping through it the other day during a particularly low moment. I don't know that going to France is necessarily the will of God, but it feels right for the time being, so I'm going to go with that until he tells me otherwise. Perseverance seems to be the name of the game, and is something I'm not so good at. I like quick results, I like tangible results, and I tend to get distracted if my goal is too far in the future. That's probably why I'm not such a great distance runner (try as I might to be one). But I think I'm getting better (I don't really have any other choice!), and I think it's for the best.
Ok, this is getting a little heavy...and if I was more technologically adept I'd leave you with a compliation of scenes from "the office" set to JT's "Sexyback"...but I don't know how to add video to the end of a post, so you'll just have to check it out yourself if you're so inclined: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8WUcnsIBT0
Cheers
April 16, 2007
I was a little shocked, to say the least, to hear of the massive shooting this morning at Virginia Tech. Maybe it struck a chord because it was on a college campus, surely it struck a chord because of the horror of such a large tragedy. Please keep those affected and the students, staff and faculty of Virginia Tech in your prayers.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.shooting/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/16/vtech.shooting/index.html
March 19, 2007
Introducing...................the Apple iRack
A hilarious look at where we are after 4 years of war in Iraq, from our friends at MADTV.
March 11, 2007
I have finally arrived...
...to the blog scene. Honestly, I've wanted to jump on the bandwagon for a while now, but could not do so without a proper blog name. For weeks I'd click on the "create a blog" link and just stare at the prompts to input a name and web address...yet feeling little inspiration for the right title, I'd sadly exit my browser and move on to more important endeavors. Well, fortunately I got past that and as you're all well aware, now have a blog title, and thus a blog. I wanted a title to capture my place in the world, as well as in life - something a little bit hopeful, and a little bit vague. I think "pure potential" fits the bill nicely. As I look out at my future, I have big, yet undefined plans for my future - and an infinite amount of ways I can go about living my life. When I'm at my most optimistic, all I see is potential, and when I'm feeling down at the other end, it's the potential of something great that pulls me back up. So, for better or for worse, I am pure potential, and can't wait to see what the future holds.
That being said, thanks for visiting! :)
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