Un film français

Today I saw this film:

I'm not going to lie, they were talking very fast and as a result there were whole conversations that I didn't understand, but I understood enough to follow the film (and even got the majority of the jokes) so that's all that matters really. It was a good choice in that sense, because it wasn't a complicated storyline, and was just a light-hearted, quite fun film to watch. Not a complete waste of two hours and complete immersion in French to boot :)

O Christmas tree

Apparently being overly enthusiastic about Christmas
decorations rubs off on people! Yay!

Christmas has arrived chez nous! And we've got the Christmas tree to prove it! Isn't she pretty and shiny and cute?

Christmas is a-comin'

It's December, and that means I feel legitimised in listening non-stop to Christmas songs and grinning in an overly cheerful manner every time I walk past Christmas decorations. There are a LOT of Christmas trees in pots in Orléans town centre and believe me, people seem to find it very odd when they see you walking down the street with a goofy smile on your face.

I spent last weekend in Paris with Josh on a mini-Christmassy-break which was extremely cold, extremely expensive and extremely awesome. I love Paris. I want to marry Paris and go on honeymoon with it in Paris at Christmastime. Oh, and spending time with my boyfriend is alright too I suppose.

We went to the Sacre Coeur which is my favourite church ever, walked through the Jardin des Tuileries where I had never been before, didn't recognise the Louvre until we were right on top of it, and decided to follow the Christmas lights to find somewhere to have dinner and accidentally ended up in a rather-too-posh area of town. I tried to persuade Josh to go up the Eiffel Tower but he is a baby and afraid of heights so we gave that one a miss.

That's not the Louvre, is it...?

In school for the past two weeks I've been teaching 'Jingle Bells' to my older classes because they're singing it at a Christmas concert they're doing in a couple of weeks. I feel there are both pros and cons to this endeavour. On the one hand, they know the melody because there's an equivalent Christmas song in French called 'Vive le vent' which goes to the same tune. On the other, bar the words 'jingle bells' there are some pretty complicated phrases which they have a bit of trouble putting together.

Me: Repeat: 'what fun it is.'
Class: 'What fun it is.'
Me: 'To laugh and sing.'
Class: 'To laugh and sing.'
Me: 'A sleighing song.'
Class: 'A sleighing song.'
Me: 'Tonight.'
Class: 'Tonight.'
Me: 'What fun it is to laugh and sing a sleighing song tonight'.
Class: 'What fun mumblemumblemumblemumble tonight!'

I also bought some Christmas decorations for my room yesterday (well, some lights and some tinsel and I made some paper snowflakes and put glitter on them). Last week I asked my landlady if she decorated the house and when she wasn't very enthusiastic, I told her we absolutely had to and I'd buy a tree myself if necessary. Apparently I am scary Christmas elf lady because yesterday she said that if I wanted we could go and buy one this weekend. So yay!

Alright, I think that's all my news. I'll try and de-Christmassify my next post a little. Actually, no I won't, because it's December and I don't have to for twenty whole more days!

The great 'tu' versus 'vous' debate

One thing I've really struggled with since being in France is knowing when to use 'tu' and 'vous' (informal and formal ways of saying 'you' respectively, for any non-French speakers reading this). Which do you use for your landlady? Your work colleagues? Your boss, who is also technically a work colleague? Some people were helpful at the beginning, like some of the teachers at my school, who said I didn't have to use 'vous' with them because we were colleagues. Other people I just had to guess with.

Those aren't so much of an issue anymore, because if I haven't been told at some point, I've just picked one and am now rolling with it. My main problem now is that when I was arrived, I was so used to saying 'vous' automatically that I was using it with everyone. This included the kids at school. And believe me, there is something a bit intimidating about having eight-year-olds look at you like you're crazy when you do that.

So for over a month I have been training myself out of automatically saying 'vous'. Unfortunately, as a result, I am now using 'tu' automatically, with taxi drivers, shop assistants, people who ask me things in the street... people I really should be using 'vous' with.

Then there are certain expressions that you learn in a certain way - for example, I'm so used to saying 's'il vous plait' that I can't make myself remember to sometimes say 's'il te plait'. Equally, I always say 'a tes souhaits' and never 'a vos souhaits'.

Basically, you just can't win with the French language.

Toussaint and a day in Paris

So apparently I’m pretty lax at this whole blogging malarky. Sacré bleu.

Much, much has happened since I last wrote! Most notably was the Toussaint holiday. (A quick note on the French school holiday system: they have far too many of them. As you were.) So, having only really been at work properly for about three weeks, I had a two week break over Halloween and All Saints Day (Toussaint to the French). So I packed my bags and went back to England.

We won’t talk about my incredibly stressful journey home, which involved a taxi which showed up fifteen minutes late causing me to dash for my train, lugging an extremely heavy suitcase round a metro system with no escalators, and the loss of all record of my Eurostar booking. EVENTUALLY, I made it home for two blissful weeks where I could give my poor brain a rest and not speak any French at all.

The first week coincided with the half term week in England, which meant my mum was off work and so I spent the week with her in Bedford. My sister also came down from university at the weekend, which was nice, and we went Christmas shopping, which was even nicer (sorry, Natalie), and it was Bonfire Night (yay!) so there was fireworks-going as well. Then, on Sunday night, I gadded off to Leicester, to stay with Josh (who knew I was coming) and to see my housemates from last year (who didn’t). Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough off the mark to take pictures of their faces when they opened the door but believe me, the sight will remain with me for a long while.

 

So, activities during this week involved the celebration of Josh’s 21^st birthday, a bread-and-butter pudding date and a cocktail-drinking night out with my housemates, a Pizza Express date (that date was actually with my boyfriend), and... other things I think have already forgotten about. In summary, it was a very lovely week. It was a bit difficult leaving again, but I was kind of expecting that, and I was fine once I was back anyway. I do miss gravy though. Oh, and baked beans. And seriously, do they sell mince pies in France? I don't think they do, and it distresses me greatly.

Recent French adventures included a trip to Paris with Rachael at the weekend. I’ve only been to Paris once before and I’d forgotten how much I loved it. We did the sort of generic touristy bits – the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame – but there was also a slight Christmassy twist as there was a Christmas market along the Champs Elysées which we weren’t expecting and which I enjoyed immensely.  

I have no picture of the Christmas market so you'll
have to make do with the Eiffel Tower.

 We also visited this bookshop which is my new favourite place in the world.

Oh, books, how I love you.

And we even managed to find the most stereotypically Parisian café/bar place where we stopped mid-afternoon for crepes and mulled wine. Christmassy and French all rolled into one!

 

Finally, school anecdote of the week: after one of my lessons yesterday a girl came up to me and said “t’es belle” (“you’re beautiful”). My heart melted. Seconds later, another girl asked how old I was. When I responded with “21” (not that old!) she looked absolutely horrified and slightly sorry for me. You win some, you lose some.

A busy week (and a bit)

Sorry, sorry, I know this post is long overdue. I went through a few days where I couldn’t be bothered to blog; unfortunately, I kept doing things, which meant I had more and more I wanted to say and consequently could be less and less bothered to sit down and write it.

 

However! I am here now, and I am going to try and condense the last week and a bit into a succinct subtitled few paragraphs for easy reading and also so this doesn’t go on forever.

 

Josh and Laura’s weekend in Orléans/Paris

 

Last weekend – no, wait, the weekend before that – my boyfriend came to visit me, which was of course very lovely. It was a bit of a flying visit as he arrived on Friday evening and left on Sunday because he does a ridiculous degree which has far too many lectures, but it was lovely despite this. Unfortunately, it tipped it down with rain ALL WEEKEND, which made sightseeing very difficult. We did attempt it in Orléans on the Saturday and again in Paris on the Sunday, but the weather honestly was beyond belief and as a result we spent most of the time sitting in cafés and restaurants eating. Which I think is in fact an excellent way to soak up the culture of a country (keep telling yourself that, Laura).

 

Day trip to Blois

 

Blois is a really hard word to say. Whenever I say it it always ends up being like four syllables long.

 

Anyway, on Wednesday Rachael and I went to Blois. It was again raining. I swear, that’s all it’s done here since I arrived. However, despite the rain, it really was a gorgeous city with one of the Loire chateaux which I was very excited about visiting because I like castles, and lots of little cobbled streets. There was also a MAGIC MUSEUM (!) but it was sadly closed as it only seemed to open during peak season and school holidays. We were devastated and so consoled ourselves which (unjustifiably expensive) tea and macaroons. It even brightened up as the afternoon wore on, so all in all was a very nice day.

 

It was definitely hood weather.

Nearly all the streets looked like this!

Chateau!... + group of Spanish tourists.

A really beautiful, GIANT, church.

 

 

School trip to an art exhibition

 

I really have no patience for art. In another language, and at a level aimed at primary school kids, I think it is almost worse, but I think I did a good job at pretending I enjoyed myself.

 

I am exaggerating a little bit, in actual fact it wasn’t too bad. The kids had a bunch of questions to answer on two exhibitions, one on a local artist called Jean Feugereux and another on the geography and renewable energy resources in the area (I honestly have no idea how those are related). They then had to do their own watercolour paintings in the style of one of this guy’s paintings which was quite amusing to oversee although of course I am an educator and am not allowed to laugh at my educa-tees... (?)

 

Possibly my favourite part of the day was the coach trip which took us through some of the surrounding villages with names such as Trancrainville (the French just like hard-to-pronounce names), Auneau (‘Oh no!’) and Dimancheville (‘Sundaytown’). What I found a bit annoying was the fact that as we didn’t get back till two, I missed all my English classes because they’re all in the morning and in the first lesson after lunch, so I didn’t actually get to teach that day at all.

 

D’accord, I think that might do for now. Although perhaps I shall leave you with some of the most recent amusing conversations that I have had or witnessed at school.

 

Teacher: Who do you think decides what the school uniforms are in England?

Child: The Queen!

 

Child: Laura, how many names are there for children in England?

Me: Well, there are lots of different names.

Child: Five?

Me: No, more than five...

Child: Ten?

Me: No, a lot more than ten...

Child: (gasps) Maitresse! Laura says that in England there are more than ten names for the children!

 

Teacher: (talking to the children about food groups) And in England people drink a lot of tea, isn’t that right, Laura?

Me: Yes, tea is quite a popular drink in England...

Teacher: And everyone drinks it, don’t they?

Me: Well, not everyone, but I suppose maybe the majority of people do.

Teacher: But don’t you all drink it in the afternoon? With cucumber sandwiches?

 

The funny, thing is, they actually believe this is what we do, and I found it very difficult to convince her otherwise!

Those who can't, teach?

I’m possibly too tired to make this coherent this evening but I’ll give it a go: My First Day at School.

By the end of the morning I was thinking yes, this is great, I think I’m really going to like teaching. By the middle of the afternoon, I was really dying to go home. (Due to the fact I’m still having a palaver over how I’m getting home, I still didn’t get back till seven this evening.)

Fortunately, I don’t think this is because I’d decided I was going to hate it, but more because I’d been up since half six, trying to make myself intelligible to seven year olds in a language they didn’t really understand, and concentrating really hard on doing something I’d never done before. Also, the teachers/classes I had in the morning had me participating much more than the lessons I was in in the afternoon... although given that one of those was history and one was art, that wasn’t really hard.

However, the kids are (still) so lovely. It’s honestly like I’m a celebrity walking through the school, because they all want me to talk to them, and shout my name and say hello. I think I’m kind of a novelty for them but it’s still nice. Today one girl told me she liked my shoes and another boy remembered when my birthday was (I’d told him last week). And I got asked AGAIN if I'd ever seen the Queen. There’s also a girl in one of my classes who looks exactly like that little girl with the blonde bob in the Petit Filou advert.

Homesickness (possibly as a result of the stress of the past couple of weeks) has been creeping up on me a bit the past few days, but not too badly, and I’m hoping it will be alleviated with a visit from Josh this weekend which I am very much looking forward to. I may actually do the sightseeing thing round Orléans for the first time properly as a result and will hopefully feel refreshed and ready to face classrooms full of kids again on Monday!

Genuinely too tired to say much more now so to sign off, here is a picture of my favourite biscuits from Italy that I found in Carrefour (yes, I have only really been taking pictures of food since I got here).

Highs and lows

I’ve had a few demoralising experiences the past few days. Yesterday the woman I bought I sandwich from at lunchtime insisted on asking me if I wanted a drink in English that was clearly worse than my perfectly comprehensible French. A different woman who I bought a coach ticket from decided she didn’t want to accept a 20 euro note from me for a 10 euro-something ticket, and tried to get me to pay in change, then thought it was acceptable to laugh at me when I clearly wasn’t understanding what she was asking me for. There was also a meeting for all the assistants in the area on Monday where I realised that everyone else’s standard of French seems to be significantly superior to mine. Combine all of this with two long days this week – where yesterday we were out from half six in the morning till eight at night – and I honestly did not want to get out of bed today to do the mountain of chores that I still had to do. Also I tried to brush my teeth with soap this morning.

However, I am determined to not be all doom and gloom, so I have made a list of my recent small victories:

- I ordered a taxi over the phone in French. It totally turned up in the right place at the right time.

- I have a bank card AND a pin number! And I found blutack, which I have been searching for for a week and a half.

- I shouted at my letting agency in Leicester and they’re finally going to give me my deposit back next week.

- I actually have a lift to and from school which doesn’t seem (fingers crossed) like it’s going to be too complicated a journey.

- I successfully managed to communicate to the pharmacist that I needed some form of bonjela equivalent. I know it was successful because he sold me what I am pretty sure is some sort of bonjela equivalent.

- Due to the fact that I can’t walk past a patisserie without going inside, I have eaten many many pastries, and also tried macarons, which I was convinced could not taste as pretty as they looked (their aesthetic qualities were really the main reason I bought them). However, despite the fact that they are sort of a strange hybrid between a cake and a biscuit, I have decided that I approve very much.



Seriously, who could resist?

In other news, a very lovely assistant who I spoke to yesterday let me know how completely stupid I was being vis-à-vis my lack of a camera cable, because I can in fact just put my memory card in my computer and upload photos that way. Why, Laura, you might cry, that doesn’t sound TOO stupid of you. Well, unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I’ve done it that way before.

So, moving swiftly on, I shall leave you with some photos of my current home.

Beaucoup d'information

The past couple of days have been busy busy busy stressful busy. Actually, mainly yesterday. Wednesday was my birthday. Rachael and I had to make a quick dash to the bank in the morning, and in the afternoon we met with a lady called Marjorie who is going to drive us to her school in Toury every morning, and who drove us around following the bus route to find the easiest way for her to pick us up in the mornings. Getting in a car and driving round a place you do not know with a lady you do not know is a fairly odd experience. Aside from that, I had a very nice day. I made myself breakfast in bed (well, no one else was there to do it for me) and opened my presents from my family on skype and had cake with my dad and Anita and Rachael and went out for a very nice dinner. I then proceeded to get a bit weepy when I had to say goodbye to my dad, as he was going home very early the next morning, but it was all alright really. It didn't really feel very much like my birthday, but seeing as I had already celebrated it with everyone several times before I came abroad I don't really feel like I can complain!

Yesterday Rachael and I had our initial meetings at our schools. She's the assistant at the school in Toury, whereas I'm a bit further away in Rouvray. I don't know the finer details of the arrangement myself yet, but basically, Marjorie is giving us a lift to Toury, and then I am getting another lift from there to Rouvray. Toury is about forty minutes away from us, Rouvray maybe another ten. The gist of it is - we were up at 7am and didn't get home until half past six.

We both spent the morning in the school in Toury, and at lunchtime the conseillere pédagogique (I don't know what that is in English - like, educational councillor/advisor?) of the region, a lady called Catherine, came to meet us there. She seemed very on it, which was reassuring, but she gave us a LOT of information in one go which I'm not 100% sure I can remember. She then drove me to my school in Rouvray. One conversation we had in the car amused me very much: she told me it was a tiny village but a very big school. When I asked her how big it was, she said "oh, it has six classes".

Yeah, so it was a pretty tiny school. It was lovely when I arrived though; the kids were on a break and were obviously waiting for us, and when we walked up to the gates they bore down on us like a swarm of bees, going "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" (With the occasional "Bonjour!")

Catherine introduced me to the teachers and once the children had gone in, we went round and she told all the classes individually who I was, and then had me introduce myself to them. For the younger classes, I did it in French, but for the older ones I tried it in English and then asked them how much they had understood - they all seemed to get it pretty well. Once I'd done that they had a chance to ask me questions and, well, that was it. A selection of the questions I received:

"Have you met the Queen?" (Unfortunately not.)
"Do you know David?" (David was their last assistant - no, England's quite a big place.)
"How do you say my name in English?" (They seem to be obsessed with this.)
"Why do you like the colour red in England?" (I have to say this one threw me. I said I didn't think that we did like the colour red that much in England, and he pointed out that our buses and letterboxes and phone boxes are red. Touché.)

The loveliest was the little girl who put her hand up straight away when the teacher asked them if they had any questions and just said "Elle est jolie" (she is pretty). She is already my favourite. I have a gold star ready for her.

All in all, it was a very lovely welcome, but by the time I got back to Toury it was quarter past five (the school days are 8.30/9.00-4.30 in France) and Marjorie didn't finish till quarter to six, so I was absolutely shattered, extremely hungry, and had a terrible headache from the amount of information in French I had had to absorb, by the time we got home at half six.

Fortunately, I now have a weekend with nothing particular to do ahead of me, so I'm going to watch Downton Abbey and Doctor Who and sleep, before it all starts again on Monday. A plus tard!

Touchdown

I've been slightly neglectful of this in the last couple of important weeks leading up to my departure from England. I want to say it's because I've been really busy all the time doing tons of exciting things, but that would be a lie. I have, however, been enjoying my last days with my family and boyfriend for a while, before leaving to discover if I am actually as self-sufficient as I apparently think I am.

And now I'm here! I travelled down with my dad, who is staying in Orléans till Thursday so I won't be lonesome on my birthday. It was also nice to not be alone on the plane, as I really do hate flying - although the flight was much shorter than I was expecting so it wasn't too bad really. We flew to Paris Orly and drove down to Orléans - taking quite a bit of a detour due to the complicated airport exit system and my terrible map-reading skills. Test of Laura's French No. 1: asking for directions.

So I arrived at my house at about 1.15 yesterday. My landlady was here to greet me. Her name is Anita, she was very welcoming and she honestly seems really lovely and helpful, which I have to say was quite reassuring on first arrival. After chatting to her to a bit, unpacking, and having a quick chat on skype with my mum, I decided to do something really exciting and - have a nap. Well, I had been up since 4.15 that morning. Later in the evening, I was a bit more adventurous and went out with my dad for dinner, having a bit of an explore of the city at the same time.

Today, Test of Laura's French No. 2: trying to find a phone deal. Fortunately I wasn't on my own for this one - I went with my housemate, Rachael, who arrived last night, so we were able to back each other up. However, one of the conversations still went like this:

Rachael: Bonjour, nous cherchons un SIM prépayé pour faire les appels internationaux... (Hello, we're looking for a pay-as-you-go SIM to make international calls with...)
Phone shop man: ...do you speak English?

Never mind.

I've taken a few photos which I intended to put on the end of this post, but I have just this minute discovered that I have in fact forgotten the cable which connects my camera to my computer. I'll try and sort that out... however, this may be a photo-less blog for a while.

A bientôt!

Stress is a four-letter word

A list of things I have not done yet:

1. Booked my flights/Eurostar tickets.

2. Decided whether I am travelling by plane or by Eurostar.

3. Sorted out my Erasmus mobility agreement (because I DO NOT UNDERSTAND IT).

4. Received my translated birth certificate in the post.

5. Bought some insurance.

6. Spoken to my bank.

Basically I think I have reached that stage where everything is so complicated that I'm going to try and ignore it for as long as possible in the hope that maybe it'll go away, and instead I will have a breakdown a nice cup of tea.

Hyperbole aside, it really does feel like it's creeping up on me now. However, I have a number of nice things ahead of me which mean I'm not just fixating on my upcoming departure the entire time, which is quite reassuring. Tomorrow I'm going to Leicester with my boyfriend, ostensibly so he can move into his house for next year but really it's just an excuse to go to the rugby (for him, not for me). I also have two (TWO) pre-birthday celebrations before I leave, as my birthday will be the week after I've left for France. Counting the two I have already had, that will make five birthdays this year - can't be bad, really.

I'm also pushing firmly aside my aversion to the idea of e-readers and have asked for a Kindle for my birthday. Theoretically, I still think that they are a poor substitute to a real book and MUST NOT CATCH ON under any circumstances. However, practically, it really makes more sense for me to have one this year, as I have limited luggage space and absolutely no intention of not taking any books with me. Considering how much weight taking paper books would use up in my suitcase - and even if I go by train, how much space they'd take up - having a Kindle is the more sensible option, and will also let me keep on buying English language books even while I'm abroad if I want to.

How I get on with it will remain to be seen, but I'm keeping an open mind (honest).


I know it makes sense, but look how much prettier the books are!

The countdown begins

So it's September now and that means it's getting scarily close to the time where I actually have to leave the country and move abroad for seven months. I should probably be more excited. Actually, when I let myself think about it at all, I'm just very, very nervous.

I'm teaching English in a primary school in a tiny village called Rouvray-Saint-Denis which is about a 50 minute car journey out of Orléans, the place where I'm living. I had the option of living either there, or in another town called Toury which was a fair amount closer to Rouvray, but from what I could glean from Wikipedia (admittedly not much), Toury is not actually that much bigger than Rouvray and is really a big village rather than a town. I figured it would be better to live in a city where there's more to do as we are only contracted to teach 12 hours a week anyway, and that I'd worry about how to get to and from the school later. This is actually something I still haven't worked out yet.

I should also point out that I've never taught before, ever. Two of my main worries are that either I'm going to be really, really bad at it, or I'm going to hate it. Possibly both, but let's not go there. However! In an attempt to be vaguely optimistic in my first blog post of my year abroad, let's go through some positives: I finally have an address in France, I have a housemate who's also on the assistantship programme from Leeds University, my landlady seems very nice and helpful, I've sorted out the majority of the documentation I need (I think), and French schools seem to have an absurd (but delightful) amount of holiday.

Everything else, I'll figure out tomorrow.