Jour Deux

Work has begun! It's taken long enough... after lots of bureaucractic silliness, I've finally started working at school and will officially be a paid French employee at the end of the month! The French system may have its drawbacks, but it's certainly all worth it for the "free" health care, the unbelievably cheap renter's insurance (12 euro for six months?!), and the almost-too-frequent vacations (my first one begins next Saturday, and is almost two weeks long).

Basic outline of my position: my title is "language assistant," but I'm really just the English teacher. Most of the elementary school teachers can barely speak English here anyway, so it's a huge relief for them to have me come into their classes and do all the nasty pronunciation work for them. I work at two primary schools and have a weekly videoconference with another in a town about 17 kilometers away. My classes range from barely literate (in French! Ils sont tous petits) to quite advanced (can hold very basic conversations about what they like and don't like, how they feel, etc.).

It's been quite a lot of work so far, but I know most of it is of my own doing. I have 10 classes in total, and so I've been spending an excessive amount of time organizing, copying, color-coding, etc., all of my folders, worksheets, and lesson plans. The introductions were basically all the same (my name, where I'm from, coloring the American flag), but now I need to start devising ways to creatively teach things like colors, days of the week, seasons/weather, numbers, and useful phrases, all at different levels. Once I get this stupid binder organized, I think I'll be ok.

The hard work is also tempered by all the free time I get -- 2 hours for lunch (which actually is a pain, since I live too far away to actually go home and eat), and Wednesdays off. It works out (ca marche) -- though it is a bit difficult to find things to do/somewhere to go during my lunch break. The banks, post office, pharmacies, some bakeries, library, culture center, and schools (seriously! the kids go home for lunch too!) are closed from 11:30 to about 1 or 2:30. Pretty much the only things open are restaurants and the church -- so I usually just go read in the church.

I wish I had some cute photos of the kids or the schools or something! I'll risk being misconstrued as weird and just take a couple someday. I suppose I do have seven months to do it...

Unrelated aside: I'm going to Provence for my first vacation! I've been in pretty regular contact with a French friend I met while traveling in Australia, and he invited me to come down and stay at his new apartment in Aix-en-Provence whenever I got the chance, since he obviously knew I was moving to France for bit. The region is considered one of the most temperature, lively, and beautiful regions of France, known for its olives, herbs (Herbs de Provence, anyone?), lamb, and seafood. I'm also going to be staying with a couple people I met through Couchsurfing.com, a website that helps travelers connect with locals to find places to stay while abroad. I came into contact with a young American going to school in Provence (who I'll be staying with the first two nights) and a young couple who are also both students (the next two nights). The following week I'll be staying with Remi, my French friend -- and all for free! The world is so tiny and amazing if you just know where to look, I think.

Again, I wish I had some pictures of me out and about, doing things in France, but all I have is this:

I started eating kiwis with the skins on because I heard that they're really good for you, even more so than the flesh (as are most skins of fruits and vegetables, I think... not animals). It kind of feels like your're biting into a beardy man, but once you get past that, it's not bad at all. It makes me feel better since I hate wasting kiwi flesh.