Noël à la Française

Attention non-French speakers: Don't be afraid! Scroll down to the English version :)

Tom et moi avons eu de la chance d’être invité à Nantes pour partager Noël avec nos amis Catherine et Matthieu et leurs familles. Je suis vraiment ravie d’avoir eu cette expérience extraordinaire.

Pour le réveillon (le 24) les parents de Catherine nous ont accueilli chez eux. Il y a eu d’abord l’apéritif, avec du champagne et plusieurs choses à goûter, y inclus du caviar sur des toasts. Après, les membres de la famille ont offert des cadeaux. Nous avons été surpris quand les parents de Catherine nous ont offert un beau livre sur Paris.

Pour dîner, nous avons mangés de la foie gras sur pain d’épice et ensuite des huîtres (pour la première fois) avec du vin blanc. C’est vraiment une spécialité française et c’est sûrement une tradition française à ne pas manquer, même si ces deux américains n’apprécient pas ces délices comme les français. Un cousin à Catherine a rit à Tom quand il a essayé les huîtres, sachant qu’il ne les aimait pas trop. Pourtant, ce n’était que l’entrée. Comme plat principal, nous avons mangé de la dinde, de la purée formidable, et des haricots verts avec du vin rouge. Pour le dessert, nous avons savouré pour la première fois une bûche de Noël chocolat que Matthieu a confectionné. Et n’oubliez pas le vin ! Oui, encore du vin. Cette fois-ci c’était le vin que nous avons offert, un vin blanc sucré. Catherine a dit que le vin s’est marié bien avec le dessert.

Le jour de Noël, nous sommes allés chez la mère à Matthieu pour déjeuner. Il y avait moins de monde que la veille, avec les grands-parents de Matthieu et son frère et belle-sœur.

Comme la veille, on a ouvert les cadeaux après l’apéritif. Tom et moi avons offert des décorations de Noël à Catherine et Matthieu, et à la mère à Matthieu. Tom a reçu des bandes dessinées, Tintin et Astérix, et moi, j’ai reçu un livre de recettes pour les crêpes et les galettes, des spécialités de Bretagne, de la mère à Matthieu, et un livre de recettes pour les œufs à la coque (avec quatre coquetiers) de Catherine et Matthieu. Ça vous dit quelque chose ? Souvenez-vous ma première expérience avec la coque ?! Je serai content d'apprendre plus sur ce sujet!

Pour déjeuner, nous avons mangé encore de la foie gras, mais cette fois-ci avec du saumon, et de la dinde. La bûche était aux framboises, et même si j’adore le chocolat, j’ai préféré la bûche aux framboises. Délicieux !

Ensuite, nous sommes allés chez le grand-père de Catherine, qui est en fait le mari d’une amie de Madame N (mon professeur de français), pour prendre une partie d’une bûche et encore du champagne.

Des gens chaleureux la découverte des traditions françaises. C’était vraiment un Noël de nos rêves.

English Version!

A French Christmas

Tom and I were fortunate to have been invited to share Christmas in Nantes with our friends Catherine and Matthieu and their families. I am so excited to have had this extraordinary experience.

For Christmas Eve, Catherine’s parents invited us over. The night started with the aperitif, with champagne and several appetizers, including caviar on toast. Afterwards, the family opened gifts. We were surprised when Catherine’s parents gave us a beautiful book about Paris.

For dinner, we ate foie gras on gingerbread and then we had oysters (for the first time) with white wine. It’s a real French specialty for Christmas and definitely a French tradition not to miss, even if these two Americans did not enjoy these treats as the French do. One of Catherine’s cousins laughed at Tom when he tried the oysters, knowing he didn’t like them too much. Yet, that was only the starter course. For the main dish, we ate turkey, absolutely wonderful mashed potatoes, and green beans with red wine. For dessert, we savored for the first time a bûche de Noël au chocolat, a chocolate Christmas cake, which was made by Matthieu himself. And let’s not forget the wine! Yes, more wine. This time it was the wine that we had brought, a sweet white wine. Catherine said that it went very well with the dessert.

On Christmas day, we went to Matthieu’s mother’s for lunch. There were less people than the day before, with Matthieu’s grandparents, brother, and sister-in-law.

Like on Christmas Eve, we opened gifts after the aperitif. Tom and I gave Christmas ornaments and decorations to Catherine and Matthieu and to Matthieu’s mom. Tom got two comic books, Tintin and Astérix, and I got a crêpe and galette (specilites of the region) recipe book from Matthieu’s mom, and a oeufs à la coque recipe book from Catherine and Matthieu. Does that ring a bell? Do you remember my last experience with la coque?! I'll be happy to learn more about this!

For lunch, we had foie gras again, but this time with salmon, and turkey. The bûche de Noël was raspberry this time, and even though I love chocolate, I think I liked the raspberry better. Yummy!

Next, we went to Catherine’s grandfather’s (and actually her step-grandmother is an old friend of Madame N, my French professor) to share more cake and champagne.

Meeting nice, warm people and discovering French Christmas traditions. It was really a perfect Christmas experience.

Marchés de Noël. Christmas Markets.

Hot wine, baked goods, and Christmas lights. I have really caught the Christmas spirit this year. Perhaps it's because we're experiencing it in a very different way. The Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets) have been a delightful and exciting part of December. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed to find that most of the booths weren't selling originally, hand-made, or traditional items. Actually, we found pretty much the same things at each market, including magic scarves, magic wallets, and magic wooden boxes. Yet, it's been fun strolling around, drinking vin chaud and eating beignets. We even found a few Christmas gifts.


Marché de Noël Number 1: Champs-Elysées. Beautiful lights but we went on a rainy, muddy day. This is a picture of the little roller coaster and fake snow.


Marché de Noël Number 2: La Défence. This was my favorite one because the set up is like a little village. We went with our new friend Katie F, who took this picture of us with our vin chaud.


Marché de Noël Number 3: Notre-Dame. Very small but kind of cute.


Marché de Noël Number 4: Trocadéro/Eiffel Tower. Nice set-up and, obviously, great location. We also went ice-skating here, but Tom's supposed to tell you about that....

Christmas Markets take place all over France, but it's really a German tradition, I hear. The best ones in France are supposed to be in Strasbourg, a city on the German border. We're a little disappointed we won't be able to see Strasbourg at Christmastime, but we're really excited to be spending Christmas with a French family in Nantes! We leave on Wednesday.

Now, of course, a little vocabulary I learned or encountered at the Christmas Markets:

Le Chalet - Stand/Booth

Le Vin Chaud - Hot Wine

Le Chocolat Chaud - Hot Chocolate

La Barbe à Papa - Cotton Candy (literally Papa's beard! hahaha- by far my favorite new vocabulary)

Le Bonnet de Noël - Santa Hat

Le temps passe trop vite! 3 mois déjà!

Ça fait 3 mois déjà que nous sommes en France. C'est vraiment incroyable. Ma famille et mes amis me manquent, bien sûr, mais je ne veux pas que le temps passe aussi vite! Il nous reste à peu près 6 mois, mais il me reste beaucoup à faire. Surtout, il faut absolument que je fasse plus du progrès avec mon français. C'est peut-être une bonne idée pour une résolution pour le nouvel an? Je suis en France, je dois en profiter! Je parle déjà souvent français, mais il y a trop d’anglais dans les écoles et avec les autres américains au foyer. Il me faut de la structure. Oui, je prévoirai des temps pour parler et écouter le français. Après les vacances, je parlerai régulièrement avec ma partenaire d'échange, et peut-être je chercherai une deuxième partenaire. Je écouterai plus le français sur Internet. Voilà. Je m'y mets*.

Time is passing too fast! 3 months already!

We've already been in France for 3 months. I can't believe it. I of course miss my family and friends, but I don't want time to go by so fast! We have about 6 months left, but I have a lot left to do. Above all, I absolutely have to make more progress in French. Maybe that's a good idea for a New Year's resolution? I live in France, so I should take advantage of that while I can! I speak French pretty often already, but there is too much English in the my schools and with the other Americans at our residence. I need some structure. Yes, I will plan time to speak and listen to French. After Christmas break, I will regularly speak French with my language exchange parter, and maybe I will look for a second one. I will listen to more French on the internet. There. I'm going to do it.

Lots of great posts to come. Stay tuned. Monsieur Ayers might even write soon!

* Je m'y mets. I love this expression! I've seen it mostly in regards to a diet. Literally it means "I'm putting myself there." My translation is "I'm going to start/I'm going to do it."

These Teachers Know How to Party

There was a Christmas party at JF on Tuesday, and Tom and I were lucky enough to be guests. It started at 8pm and probably lasted long past 11:30pm, which is when we left to catch the last train headed back to Paris.

We tried foie gras for the first time and luckily we didn't hate it. Foie gras is a Christmas tradition for the French so I'm glad we (including picky Tom) were able to try this dish, although it's not something we would specifically request.

The rest of the party involved talking and laughing and drinking wine and champagne, maybe too much drinking thanks to Xavier who kept saying "rouge ou blanc," indicating we had no choice otherwise. There was also dancing. It was hilarious to see the teachers (and the principal!) I work with in this kind of context. Although this school is by far the most difficult that I work at, I really enjoy the company of these teachers. They are so encouraging and simply nice to be around- even when alcohol and dancing aren't involved.


Les Mecs. Funny guys.


Me with Sylvie, my partner in crime, meaning my partner for some of my English classes.


Tom braving the foie gras.


I'm not sure about this one...


It's almost Christmas break! Hooray!

Katie's Little Helper This Week

Why is this driving me crazy?

"Why is this driving me crazy?"
I am constantly preoccupied with what I should do with my life, which involves me looking into various unrelated graduate school programs, even though I won't be going for a while still.

"Because you plan and organize everything, and you can't plan this out right now."
- My husband speaking truth to me yesterday.

"Pourquoi est-ce que je deviens folle à cause de ça?"
Je suis toujours préoccupée de ce que je vais faire dans la vie, et ça veut dire que je suis toujours en train de chercher des divers programmes de Masters, même si je ne vais pas commencer pour quelques années.

"Parce que tu fais des projets et tu organises pour tout, et ça, tu ne peux pas faire des projets pour ça pour l'instant."
- Mon mari disant la vérité hier.

Seigneur, aide-moi avec cette préoccupation. Donne-moi de la patience et aide-moi à lacher mes soucis. Aide-moi à voir le monde, les autres, et ma vie avec tes yeux.

God, help me with this preoccupation. Give me patience and help me to let go of my worries. Help me to see the world, others, and my life with your eyes.

.

Kids say the darndest things. Example one: cute.

Little girl ran up to me just after recess: "Hello Katie!"

Me: "Hello!"

Little girl: "Delicious!"

Me: "Delicious?"

Little girl: "Le repas était delicious." (The meal was delicious- she said delicious in English in a French sentence.)

Me: "Ok... Great!"

More quotes to come, not all so cute though.

Il pleut à Paris

Il n'y a pas un seul jour pendant les trois dernières semaines où il n'a pas plus, au moins un peu. Je vous jure. Il y a deux semaines il pleuvait des cordes. Le tramway était en panne et alors nous sommes rentrés à pied. Nous étions complètement mouillés. Puis, la semaine dernière, nous sommes allés au marché de Noël aux Champs-Elysées, et il pleuvait encore. Le vent violent a rendu mon parapluie inutile. Nous avons marché dans la boue. Après, dans le métro, nous avons vu que nos jeans étaient couverts de boue jusqu'aux genoux! Mais je ne vais pas plaindre, parce que j'habite à Paris!

There hasn't been a single day in the past three weeks when it hasn't rained, at least a little. I swear. Two weeks ago, it was raining really hard. The tramway wasn't working and so we had to walk home. We were soaked! Then, last week, we went to the marché de Noël (Christmas bazar?) on the Champs-Elysées, and it was raining again. My umbrella was useless because of the strong wind. We walked in the mud. After, in the metro, we saw that our jeans were covered in mud up to the knees! But, I'm not going to complain, because I live in Paris!

Some vocabulary:

Il pleut. Il a plu, Il pleuvait. It's raining. It rained. It was raining.

Il pleut des cordes. It's raining very hard/It's raining cats and dogs.

Il pleut à torrents. It's pouring. (I heard a teacher say this as she rang the bell after only 5 minutes of recess).

Il fait du vent. It's windy.

La pluie. The rain.

Un parapluie. An umbrella (I thought for so long that this noun was feminine...)

What's up with this blog?

For some reason, everything that used to be on the left of our blog page (In France, Katie wants to..., followers, etc) is now at the bottom, under the posts. At least that's what we see. Is that what you see too? How do we fix this? In our layout mode, it is still on the left...

One Little Word

Si.

Yes, I said si. It's a French word, I promise! And I can't get it into my immediate vocabulary. I know how to use it, but can't manage to remember it fast enough.

What does it mean? It means "if," but also means "yes" in a special circumstance. Oui of course is the word for "yes" in French, but when you are responding "yes" to a negative question, the word is si. And I never get it. It always comes out oui, and as soon as that word slides out of my month I know it's wrong.

A Real Life Example from Yesterday:

French friend: Tu ne l'aimes pas? (You don't like it?) - referring to my new haircut

Me: Oui, je l'aime. (Yes, I do like it.)

French friend: Si. (She corrected me.)

Me: Arg! Je sais! (Arg! I know!)

Thanksgiving in the French Classroom

This week I talked about Thanksgiving in my classes. The older kids read about Thanksgiving in French and then they learned and wrote a few words like corn, turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and family. For the little kids, I gave a simple explanation, reviewed colors, and then had them make hand turkeys, which they kept calling poules (chickens). No! Not chickens! Turkeys!

Kiddies in my CE1 (2nd grade) class at JF showing their hand turkeys.


This was taken just before the one above. Shows how well they listen to me!

Grandma & Grandpa Swails in Paris

Tom's Grandparents visited us several weeks ago in Paris and I thought I should share some of our pictures. They were here for about 10 days, minus a weekend in London. They said they had a great time, which made us happy hosts. Tom and I were tour guides for much of the time and we loved it! We had waited to revisit many of the monuments and museums so we could experience it with the Swails.

They took us on a dinner cruise on the Seine for my birthday!


G & G Swails at the Louvre. Not quite like the Da Vinci code, though, huh?


A nice dinner together their last night in Paris. Toni had her crème brûlée and everything was perfect...except the wily waitor trying to charge us for a bottle of wine we didn't have and then asking if we wanted to leave a tip! Nous sommes américains, monsieur, mais je sais bien qu'on ne donne pas de pourboires en France! (We are Americans, sir, but I know that you don't give tips in France!)

Thanks for visiting!

2 months

It's already been two months that we've been living in France, so this is officially the longest I've been in France and away from home at one time. I decided this would be a good time to see how I'm doing on my list (over there, to the left).

speak French every day. Yes! I am disappointed that I'm not improving faster and I often get down about that, but I LOVE that I get to hear French and speak French every day. Somedays it's not very much because I speak English at my schools and with Tom (we're working on that). Other days I surprise myself by becoming a chatterbox in French, like the last conversation night we went to. Awesome!

become part of a community. Not quite there. This has been tough. We have been going to a church called Trinity, which is an international, mostly English speaking church. I like it ok, but... I don't know. There is an obvious community at our foyer (residence) and we cherish our community dinners, but there's something still missing, not to mention the fact that we are one of the few married couples here. Next week, I have an appointment at Secours Catholique about becoming a volunteer. Maybe I'll find my community there. Really, I feel the strongest sense of community when people with common values are all working together for a common purpose. I'll let you know how this goes.

learn to cook. I made an effort. Then I put it on the back burner. I went to a few Ateliers Cuisine (Cooking Workshops) here at the foyer, but I really just followed other peoples' instructions and had no clue what I was doing. When we move to the new foyer in a month or two, where we'll have our own kitchen, I'll give it another shot.

make French kids like English class. Yikes. Some of the classes, those that are more "under control" because the teacher is with me, actually get the opportunity to have fun. In fact, one of the teachers told me that they get excited every Thursday and ask if I'm coming. :) In the other classes, the kids might like English class, but it's because they think they can walk all over me and talk the whole time. That's not the reason I want them to like it.

visit Nantes. Maybe next month?

find the best coffee in Paris. I am removing this from the list because, really, coffee just isn't the same here. I'm very picky. I learned to like coffee at Mocha Joe's and can't come to like much else now.

go back to Franceville. In the spring! Maybe with my dad, sister, and B?

read more. Yes! It usually takes me ages to get through a book even if it's a good one. Since being here, I've read two novels, La méchanique du coeur by Mathias Malzieu, a wonderful story that I've mentioned before, and La jeune fille au pair by Joseph Joffo that I stumbled across in the library which made my metro rides to work a little more enjoyable. This past weekend I started French Colloquial Grammar. What I really need to do is start reading more news. I've gotten really bad about this, especially since I don't have class in the morning anymore and thus do not grab Direct Matin, one of the free metro newspapers.

assess my level of French, then improve it. See the first goal. I had thought about taking an assessment like the Test de connaissance du français to see where I am and then improving my French. But the TCF is expensive. According to my Sorbonne class certificate, I have excellent comprehension and very good expression. Maybe I'll just get really awesome first and then look into taking the TCF before coming home?

visit the Loire Valley. Done! We would like to go back to visit Orléans and some more castles, but we already have a long travel list.

learn more Spanish...or German. I'm not really sure what to do about this one. French obviously has to be the priority this year since I'm in France. But, since we are hoping to go to Germany in June before returning to the States, I might take a few private German lessons later on.

So readers, what do you think? How am I doing?

Time to learn some vocabulary. C'est parti!

Voilà quelques mots et expressions que j'ai appris et que j'entends souvent. Attention! Je ne vous donne pas les traductions du dictionnaire, mais ce que j'ai compris par ces mots. (Here are some words and expressions I've learned and that I hear frequently. But beware! I'm not giving dictionary translations, but what I've understood them to mean).

C'est parti! I have heard this about a million times over the past two months! I can't think of one good way to say it in English. Several possibilities are: Here we go! And we're/they're/it's off! Ready go! It's begun! I also saw that this was used in the subtitles of the movie Away We Go when Burt says "Play ball."

Turbulent. Wild, noisy, crazy. As in: Les CE2s sont toujours turbulents. (The 4th graders are always wild, noisy, and crazy.) Yes, I learned this word from a teacher. I did cheat here and looked up the actual dictionary translation, which is boisterous, but I like wild, crazy, noisy better.

Se débrouiller. To manage, to make it. Several people have told me concerning my French "Tu te débrouilles bien." I'm only managing? :( Not excelling? ;)

C'est chiant! That's annoying! This is very familiar and maybe vulgar (?), but I hear it all the time. The first time I heard it was when my French friend Julie said it. I said I didn't know that word and she kind of smiled when she explained it to me.

Tranquille. Calm, relaxing/relaxed. I've heard people say this when answering to ça va? (how are you?) and comment s'est passé ton week-end? (how was your weekend?).

And now I sleep in.

Today was the last day of my French Oral Expression class at the Sorbonne. It was for five weeks, 8-10am, four days a week. So, in 40 hours of French Oral Expression, what did I learn? Well, not as much as I'd hoped, and I'm not so sure I've progressed much in speaking French.

I was really disappointed that we didn't have much lab time. A few times we went to the lab, had a more or less natural conversation with a partner, and then the professor corrected us. I wish every class had been like that! Another thing I really appreciated was learning more about the different language registers. Not only do you have to distinguish between tu and vous, but you use different language and expressions depending on who you're talking to and the setting. I think I will try to learn more about this on my own.

Now that the class is over, what do I plan to do? Sleep in (a little more) in the mornings! But to work on my French, I am going to continue going to the conversation exchange group on Tuesdays, and I'm going to try to find a language exchange partner. Some one-on-one French time would be very helpful. I also will, eventually, start reading French Colloquial Grammar by Rodney Ball. En plus, I am looking into volunteering, something I miss doing.

It's time for dinner and then that conversation group! Send French thoughts my way!

Châteaux and more

Tom and I had the chance to get out Paris last weekend and go to the beautiful Loire Valley. We based our stay in Tours.

On Friday, we discovered Tours and had an amazing dinner. We both had poulet au miel citronné (Chicken cooked with honey and lemon). Tom had rillettes (a type of pâté special to the area) as his entrée and he actually liked it! He is very picky, so I was happy.

The restaurant, Grill du Roy (with the old spelling for king- Roy instead of Roi):

On Saturday we visited two châteaux near Tours. The first was Chenonceau in the village of Chenonceaux.



This castle's history is dominated by women: Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici, and Louise de Lorraine. My favorite room was Louise's just because it was so interesting. She was in mourning when she lived at Chenonceau, and she went beyond black and white morning clothes. Her room was solemn, with painted crown of thorns and silver tears on the walls.



The second castle we visited was Amboise. And we just realized we didn't take a picture of the outside of the château. Oops! However, by visiting the chapel of the castle, we stumbled across the (presumed) tomb of Leonardo da Vinci, who spent his golden years in France.



We also had a great view of the town of Amboise that we visited briefly after the château. We also found a place to déguster (taste) and buy some Loire Valley wine.




Despite having a terrible headache on Saturday, it was great. Sunday, we weren't sure what to do. It was Toussaint (All Saint's Day) and everything was closed in Tours and busses weren't running to castles. At the Tourism Office we found that there was a guided tour of Tours. Tom, being the great husband that he is, accompanied me on the two hour walking tour in French. I loved learning about the architecture of the town. We saw the place where Joan of Arc got her armor before heading to Orléans, another city in the Loire Valley where Joan had her great victory. The houses where you can see the wood are from the Middle Ages- at least the style is, and they've been restored. I don't know pretty much any architectural terms, so I can't really describe it, but I enjoyed hearing about it anyway. The guide talked a lot about how dangerous this style of building was for fires, and how the more affluent Tours residents reconstructed their homes (back in the day). Luckily for us, some weren't able to and we still get to see the original style.

The Loire Valley will do just fine

Après avoir appris que les billets pour l'Eurostar sont beaucoup trop chers, Tom et moi avons décidé de ne pas accompagner ses grands-parents (qui sont venus pour visiter Paris) à Londres. Donc, hier, nous avons décidé de venir à Tours, dans la Vallée de la Loire. Et nous voilà! Nous sommes arrivés cet après-midi, et les visites des châteaux commencent demain matin.

After learning that Eurostar tickets are way too expensive, Tom and I decided to not go with his grandparents (who came to visit Paris) to London. So, yesterday, we decided to come to Tours, in the Loire Valley. And here we are! We arrived this afternoon, and visiting the châteaux (castles) starts tomorrow morning.

Pictures coming soon! (Also coming soon-ish: more posts about everything else we're up to!)

appy alloween: So glad it's vacation

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve updated the blog. I’ve actually been really busy with 12 hours of teaching plus 8 hours of class (not to mention all the time I spend on the metro getting to and from class and work). Unfortunately, this post is not the most positive. I truly do have a lot of positive things to write about, but my current mood has led me to vent about the negative things that have occurred in the past week.

First of all, there’s the bank situation. During orientation day, bank representatives came to help English assistants open a bank account. It wasn’t mandatory, but I jumped at the chance because I’ve heard it’s hard to open an account without the most obscure documents I probably don’t have and without money to deposit. These representatives understood that we don’t have money and helped us through the paperwork. A month later, I still haven’t received anything in the mail. No welcome letter, no bank card, and most importantly, no RIB. The RIB is something I have to have to get paid, since it’s direct deposit. After probably having waited too long, I went to a branch in Paris on Wednesday. The lady looked up my name and there I was in the computer. She told me I would have to go to the bank in Créteil to get my RIB, since that’s where I opened my account. You can’t exactly do business at any branch like you can in the states. I called the bank in Créteil and explained my situation. This lady told me I’d have to come there with the documents I had already given them a month ago! At this point, I still don’t know if I even have an open bank account.

Second of all, I’m stinkin sick again. Maybe it’s better to be sick on vacation since I can rest, but Tom’s grandparents are coming on Tuesday and I don’t want to be a sick hostess.

Third and last of all, these children are already driving me crazy! A few classes in particular in which I have about 15 kids on my own. Maybe they were rambunctious because it was right before break. Maybe they’re taking advantage of me because they think I don’t speak French (since I’m supposed to stay in English as much as possible). Whatever the reason, they would not stop talking!

I think the best part of the week, though, was when I saw light bulbs go off as some of the students understood “Spiderman” for the first time. I was teaching about Halloween. I showed them pictures of American kids dressed up in different costumes, including Spiderman, who they all know and love, except they pronounce it “Speederman.”

Later I showed them the picture of a spider, and I got only blank stares. So I showed Spiderman again. “Spiderman.” “Spider.” The looks were priceless. One kid came up to me afterwards and said he understood why he was called Spiderman- because of the spider that bit him. He was so excited! So, maybe the kids will continue to say “appy alloween” despite my best efforts to teach the “h” sound, but at least they will remember the word for spider. Little victories.

Learning French from Kids

Après que je me suis présentée aux élèves d'une classe CM1, une fille a dit « Je n'ai rien pigé. » L'enseignant, Monsieur D, a expliqué que ça veut dire « Je n'ai rien compris » mais c'est familier.

ABC

Today I had my first “observation” day at JF. All of the teachers are super nice, and in fact I get to work in a team! There is a teacher’s aide who will be working with me in all of my English classes. She has never taught English before, but she is an experience teacher’s aide and she speaks English well. From what I saw today, I don’t think the kids will be too “difficile.” I did spot one or two troublemakers, but that’s expected. Most of the classes seemed excited when I said I was from the US and would be teaching them English. That’s the good news of the day.

The bad news is that I’m completely overwhelmed! At just this one school (and mind you I have two others), I’m teaching 3 classes on Tuesdays and 4 on Fridays, without seeing any of the same classes or kids more than once a week! On top of that, I’m not just teaching one level. No, no, no. I’m teaching CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, and CM2 classes. This is equivalent to 1^st-5^th grade. Yikes. That means preparation will take quite a bit of time.

I don’t actually have to start teaching at JF until the 20^th since I have more training days and observation to do. But in the meantime, I have to choose a méthode (curriculum/teacher’s book) to use. At this point, I think I’d prefer just to use the méthode as a reference, but create my own materials. On verra.

I guess another piece of good news is that, at least at JF, I’ll have a good amount of freedom and independence. For the 7-month contract, which I have, assistants are supposed to be mostly a support to the teachers. I was worried that I would be underutilized and bored, especially after having so much freedom and responsibility with my VISTA year at the Red Cross. Well, I certainly won’t be bored!

Highlight of the day: The directrice was telling me that the kids must vouvoyer me, to keep some distance and make sure they respect me. Another teacher who was there said that sometimes the youngest kids tutoyer their teachers just because they don’t know any better. One day she corrected one of her CE1 kids, who replied, « Mais pourquoi est-ce que je dois te vouvoie quand tu es toute seule? » (Why do I have to use “vous” with you when you’re all alone ?). Quick lesson for those of you who don’t speak French. There are two forms of “you.” You use “vous” when you are talking to more than one person or when showing respect (such as to a stranger, an older person, or a TEACHER). You use “tu” for friends, family, etc. Hahahaha, c’est rigolo ! I guess French grammar is hard for the French too.

And now I’m watching two French guys play a dancing Wii game to the Jackson 5 ABC song. What an appropriate song for someone who will soon start teaching the ABCs and counting. But also hilarious to watch. Yes, this day has ended well.

Cultural Awkwardness: La Coque

Before coming to Paris, I stumbled onto a blog belonging to the patron of a quaint looking salon de thé in the 13th called L'Oisivethé. Shortly after our arrival, Tom and I decided to try it out for lunch. This place is adorable, but not the cheapest place to have lunch. We both decided to order the cheapest thing on the menu: la coque. I wasn't sure what this was, but I mistakenly thought it might be some sort of grilled cheese sandwich. Now I know that I was thinking of Croque Monsieur. Not the same thing.

We were each presented with 2 eggs and mouillettes (strips of bread).

Here is an outline of my thought process as we attempted to deal with this strange new meal.

Oooook. So le coque is not a sandwich. So it's hardboiled eggs.

Let's see how to eat this. That lady over there took the top part of the shell off.

Ooooh, not hard boiled! Runny! Soft boiled. I guess this is why we have these tiny spoons.

Doesn't taste bad. But not great either.

Are those old ladies staring at us?! Are we doing it wrong?!

At least my tea- thé noir aux quatre fruits- is delicious.

We returned to L'Oisivethé on Tuesday, but not for another round of la coque. There is a French/English conversation group organized by Tempo Time on Tuesdays. We spoke in French for 45 minutes, played Taboo in both languages, then had 45 minutes of English conversation. That will definately keep us coming back! It was a great way to practice French and meet Parisians.

My First Non-Backyard Badminton Experience.

This will be short and sweet. Mainly because it was only a couple of hours of badminton.

Badminton reminded me of playing tennis. The motions and strategies are very simular. This was pretty much the same group of people I played football with couple of wednesdays ago. Although they did not yell at me when I messed up, no they laughed WITH me. So lets just say there was a lot of laughing at first. Once I got the hang of it and the strategy, I was doing great. I was paired up with an British person who I believe was half asleep. He was nice but not very into any game or conversation. Only a couple of people there were truly badminton players, which meant all rules and regulations were in. All other three minute matches were just plain having fun. It is awesome how laughter means the same in at least four different languages.

Tonight, Nuit Blanche

Next Wednesday of sports is Volleyball. Katie is signed up to play that one with me. So I am very excited for Wednesday. Someone pretty to translate for me. :-)

Mon premier jour comme assistante d’anglais

Note: For the English version, scroll down.

Aujourd’hui est le premier jour de mon contrat, mais ça ne veut pas dire que j’ai commencé à enseigner. Attendez, il faut reculer un peu…

Hier j’ai eu le stage d’accueil avec les autres assistants d’anglais dans l’Académie de Créteil. Pendant trois heures, les présentateurs ont parlé du système éducatif en France (dont je dois écrire plus tard), nos droits et devoirs en tant qu’assistant, et les choses administratives. C’était d’avantage les choses administratives, et effectivement ennuyant, mais en même temps brumeux. Pourtant, je sais que c’était nécessaire et les inspecteurs étaient très serviables.

Après le déjeuner, nous nous sommes retrouvés dans des petits groupes, organisés par département et degré, où j’ai rencontré deux autres assistants qui travailleront à Maisons-Alfort, mais dans des écoles différentes.

Alors, retournons à aujourd’hui. J’ai eu un réunion avec Monsieur H, mon conseiller pédagogique (qui travaille pour l’Inspection Education Nationale de Créteil et qui est très très gentil) et les directrices de mes écoles.

Je vais travailler dans trois écoles, mais deux sont voisines. Je vais les appeler PA et PB. L’autre est JF. J’ai vite appris que ces écoles, ce qui sont très proche l’un de l’autre, sont très différents. Je me suis sentie bien accueillie par une directrice. Mais, je m’inquiète que les autres seront un peu difficiles. Il me presque semble que quelques-uns entres les enseignants préféreraient de ne pas avoir une assistante. L

En tout cas, je vais travailler le lundi, mardi, jeudi et vendredi après-midi (il n’y a pas de cours le mercredi dans les écoles en France), ce qui me permit de suivre un cours le matin. La journée n’est pas passée trop mal. En fait, j’ai eu l’occasion d’aller d’une école à l’autre en scooter avec Monsieur H !

My first day as an English Assistant

Today is the first day of my contract, but that doesn’t mean that I started teaching. Hold on, we need to back up…

Yesterday I had orientation with the other English Assistants in Créteil. For three hours, the presenters talked about the education system in France (which I should write about later), our rights and responsibilities as assistants, and administrative things. It was mostly administrative things, and therefore boring, but unclear at the same time. Yet, I know that it was necessary and the “inspectors” were very helpful.

After lunch, we broke into small groups, according to our department and the level that we’re teaching. I met two other assistants who are going to work in Maisons-Alfort, but in different schools.

Ok, let’s get back to today. I had a meeting with Mr. H, my mentor (who works for the IEN- I really don’t think there’s an equivalent in the US- and who is very very nice) and the principals of my schools.

I will be working in three schools, but two of them are actually in the same building. I will call them PA and PB. The other is JF. I quickly learned that these schools, although very close to each other, are very different. I felt welcomed by one of the principals. But, I worry that the others will be a little difficult. It almost seems that some of the teachers would actually prefer not to have an assistant. L

In any case, I will be working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons (they don’t have school on Wednesdays in French elementary schools), which will allow me to take a class in the mornings. The day didn’t go too badly. In fact, I had the chance to ride with Mr. H on his scooter from one school to the next!

My first weekish in Paris.*

*The weeks and days are still a blur.

Well I have a lot of catching up to do. well to get to the place where Katie is anyway. I feel like I have gotten through the jet lag phase finally. All I wanted to do was sleep for the first couple of days but when I laid on the bed, my back yelled at me. Not a comfortable bed at all. I think I have gotten use to being in a different bed now and different country.

I have been told that the culture shock takes a couple of weeks usually, but I feel that I have prepared myself for it rather well. Everything I see so far, I have learned about in the states. Or I just ask Katie. She's my guide. :-) So I will let you know how I feel in a couple of weeks. As of right now, I miss my family, co-workers, friends and the little life I had in Indiana.

À Paris,

For a person who speaks very little French, I feel that I have been doing well. Luckily I can read and figure out what most of the signs instruct and pick out the important words. Thank God for gestures and tone of voice.

The first wednesday, I got to play indoor football (soccer, I haven't meet one European that likes American Football) with a bunch of French guys and some other Europeans. Only one could speak English and he was not much of a talker. Little tip for American soccer players when playing Europeans: Never hesitate when playing. The few times the ball was passed to me, I stop only long enough to look up to set up a cross (I hesitated). As mentioned before, I don't speak French but I could definitely tell that I was being cursed at and by gestures and by the Frenchman making fun of me, one should set up the play before the ball arrives at your feet.

Today was the second day of French class for me and it is going well. I am still not sure what level I'm in or what the professor is saying. It is all in French, no English allowed. I'm not complaining just informing hopefully encouraging others like me reading this. If I can do it you can too....probably. Many that I have spoken to here in the foyer have told me "It takes time and then it just clicks" or "So and so got here not knowing a lick of French and two months later he or she speaks very well." As for me, I am still waiting on that "click" thing to happen. In the meantime I will continue to listen and speak as much as I know and can. Maybe in a month I can write these blogs in French like my awesome Frenchy wife (she's not really French).

Well this Wednesday I will be playing Badminton which is a sport that I have only played in the backyard. Katie and I are going to a meet up group where they speak 45 min of French and 45 min of English, so it is nap time for me. Till I write again......

Cpt. Tom

Demonstrators and Books in the Latin Quarter

One day last week (I think it was Tuesday but the days are kind of jumbling together right now), Tom and I decided to follow one of the walking tours in our Michelin Green Guide. We decided on the Quatier Latin because Tom wanted to see where he would soon be studying.

As soon as we got off the metro, we heard a commotion. What looked like a rather depressing parade was, in fact, a manifestation- a demonstration. We caught a glimpse of the banner. “Contre la privatisation de la poste.”




For the past week, I've been trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Here's my summary, with no promise that it's exact: the French postal service has to, by EU regulation, liberalize and become open to competition by 2011. Postal workers are worried that this means that the postal service will be privatized and will not be able to contend with new competitors. And so, as this is Paris, they went on strike, called grève in French. This confuses me a bit because I've read that they went on strike the 21st, yet we've seen trucks out and about, delivering mail. I've also read that French citizens are voting from today until October 3. But what for? I think that it's a vote to have a referendum (so maybe it's like a petition, demanding a referendum?). It's not a vote held by the state. I need to get in the loop some more.

After finding l’Institut de Langue et de Culture Françaises, part of l’Institut Catholique and Tom’s school, we set out towards the Seine. Our walking tour started at Quai St. Michel. We didn’t get too far until I spotted les bouquinistes- secondhand book sellers that have booths along the Seine.




I feel a bit sorry for Tom when we come across a bookstore. Whether it’s Borders or it’s these adorable stalls in Paris, whether it’s new or old, I love looking at books. And I take forever to do it. I didn’t have anything specific in mind, I was just looking for an author or a book that I’d heard of. I ended up buying A la recherche du temps perdu: La prissonière by Proust, which is where the title of this blog comes from, for 3 euros. I soon discovered that I might not be ready for this one. A few days later, at Fnac, I bought La mécanique du coeur, a sweet story that is a little easier to read.

Our tour ended at the Panthéon, but we got there right as it was closing. Another day ☺

How Being Exhausted Wreaks Havoc On My Emotions

Hurray for (more) regular Internet access! We do not have wifi in our room, but we bought an Ethernet cord, so we can now use the common room of our foyer to get online. I wrote the following post on Monday, and am just now getting to typing and posting it. Still playing catch up.


Aujourd’hui, c’est le 21. Nous sommes arrivés le 18. Je ne sais pas si j’ai fait face au « culture shock » ces 3 derniers jours (puisque normalement le choc ne vient que des semaines après l’arrivée). Mais si oui, je ne l’ai pas reconnu, ou les étapes ne sont pas comme j’avais appris. La première étape, c’est l’enthousiasme, « la lune de miel. » C’est vrai que j’étais vraiment ravie quand j’ai vu encore les sites de Paris de notre navette (notre chauffeur agissait aussi comme guide). Mais en arrivant au foyer, après avoir signé les papiers et apes le tour, je me sentais tout d’un coup déprimée. J’avais un sentiment de peur. Qu’est-ce que je fais ici ?! 10 mois ?!

Nous avons fait un somme, pas très longue, mais ce n’était pas une bonne idée. Quand je me suis réveillée, le sentiment s’est élevé et j’ai pleuré. Lune de miel ? Je crois que non. Peut-être c’était à cause de la fatigue, je ne sais pas.

Apres le somme, je me suis installé pour rendre notre chambre un peu plus comme chez nous. Les sentiments ont commencé à disparaître, peu à peu. Et Tom, il va bien depuis le premier jour, au moins il le semble. C’est moi qui a étudié le français et demeuré en France pendant 6 semaines, et c’est moi qui parle français (au moins conversant). Mais c’est lui que n’as pas peur. Il est vraiment un soutien merveilleux.

Maintenant, nous apprenons toujours cette ville (ou bien notre quartier) et le foyer. Nous avons trouvé un marché pas trop loin. Il y a aussi un centre commercial près d’ici. La, il y a Casino, où nous avons acheter les serviettes de toilettes, un sèche-cheveux, et d’autres choses que nous avons laissé chez nous parce que les tailles de nos valises ne les ont pas permis.


For the Anglophones

Today is the 21ist. We arrived on the 18th. I don’t know if I’ve encountered culture shock or not these past 3 days (since normally culture shock doesn’t come for a couple weeks after arriving. But if I have, I didn’t recognize it, or the phases are not like I had learned. The first phase is enthusiasm, or the honeymoon phase. It’s true that I was really excited when I saw the Parisian sites from our shuttle (our chauffeur also acted as our personal tour guide). But when we got to our foyer, after signing the papers and the tour, I suddenly felt depressed. I felt scared. What am I doing here?! 10 months?!

We took a nap, not very long, but it wasn’t a good idea. When I woke up, the feeling grew and I cried. Honeymoon phase? I don’t think so. Maybe it was because I was so drained, I don’t know.

After the nap, I unpacked to make our room feel a little more like home. The feelings started to melt away, bit by bit. And Tom, he’s been doing well since day 1. I’m the one who studied French and lived in France for 6 weeks, and I’m the one who speaks French (at least conversational French). But he’s the one who’s not scared. He is really a wonderful support.

Now, we are still learning about this city (or at least our neighborhood) and the foyer. We found a market not too far away. There is also a mall close by. In the mall there is Casino (a supermarket, not a casino) where we bought towels, a hair dryer, and other things we left behind because our suitcases wouldn’t permit them to come.

Nous sommes à Paris

Nous sommes à Paris...mais toujours fatigués et il nous faut partager un ordinateur pour le moment. Alors, je promets d'écrire plus la semaine prochaine!

We're in Paris...but we're still tired and we have to share a computer for the time being. So, I promise to write more next week!

Cutting Out Some of the Stress

Several months ago, a fellow English Assistant pointed me in the direction of this very useful site. You can use this to get public transportation (bus, metro, RER, and/or tramway) directions within Paris.

We had planned to use public transportation when we first arrive, to get to our residence hall from the airport. I used that website to see what that would involve: a 47 minute ride on the RER (Réseau Express Régional, Regional Express Network) and then taking a tram and some walking. I have absolutely no opposition to public transportation. In fact, I'm thrilled that I'll be taking the metro and buses and walking a lot more (so sick of driving!). But due to previous horrific experiences of taking trains and buses whilst lugging around a couple suitcases, I decided we could "splurge" on a shuttle.

Thanks to the Michelin Green Guide that French Professor S gave me a few days ago, I found ParisShuttle. I made a reservation today. It was 36€. Not getting off on a great start of saving money, but I think I've saved us a lot of stress. We'll have plenty of time to experience public transportation.

On a side note- I'm not sure if this blog is functionning correctly (maybe something to do with the administrator) and I'm not sure comments are working. So if anyone is out there reading this, please try to comment. If it doesn't work, drop me a line at katherine.ayers@gmail.com. Thanks!