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.