Just Embrace the Rain

When awoken to the gray skies and the softly falling rain this morning, I couldn't help but be a little sad that my relaxing, warm, sunny weekend was over and it was back to work like every Monday. However, with one of my favorite quotes taken from my favorite winterguard show of all time, I threw myself out of bed and told myself to just embrace the rain.*

In effort to save money for longer travels after I am done teaching, I have decided to not travel as far and as much as I have during the past semester. This weekend, Amy and I decided to go into Avignon to see our friend Alison. Although I had already experienced les soldes on Wednesday, Amy wanted to tinker around so off we went on Friday to shop. After successfully finding a few new things, we all sat and enjoyed a drink at the highly anticipated Milk Shop. I had heard about this place from several people in Avignon and was so happy that I finally got to experience it this weekend. It is a cute, little café which serves sweet stuff, but mostly American style sweets - this place is not your typical boulangerie. What they are known for is their milkshakes, which are very hard to come by over here. Having a hankering for chocolate, I ordered a chocolate milkshake and was very impressed by the rich creamy concoction that was given to me. Not bad for the French trying to imitate something American! They also make awesome cakes/pastries on special that change every few days, coffees, teas and hot chocolates. Needless to say, I think that this won't be my last visit to the Milk Shop!

How do you say.. delicious?

We spent much of the day with Alison, catching up after the long holiday break and walking in the sunshine, under beautiful blue skies. At night, Alison took us by the Université d'Avignon. As Avignon is a university town, there are many young people that live there and go to this establishment. It was so beautiful to walk around the small campus at dusk, seeing that the two buildings really embody French culture at the moment - one old and architecturally preserved and one new and technologically updated. Respect for the past and pushing to the future. Alison also took us to an amazing lookout point, where we got to see the University as well as the rest of Avignon from a higher view.

Blue skies and sunshine in Avignon

Old building at the University

Avignon at dusk

After all that walking, we really had worked up an appetite. We proceeded to grab ingredients and go back to Alison's apartment to make homemade pizzas with her roommate Vivi. Although Amy and I were especially happy to be cooking with an oven (reminder: we don't have one of those), after several attempts it did not look like the pizzas were cooking. We changed a setting and continued to sit and wait, talking and drinking glasses of our Côtes-du-Rhône. I started smelling something funny ... sure enough, Vivi's pizza had burnt to a crisp! As all of our pizzas were quite big, there was more than enough to go around, and then some! After scarfing down our food, we sat down to watch a little Les Miserables before drifting off to sleep.

My pizza. Note the lack of cheese, my kinda pizza!

Cajun style pizza!

Saturday, Amy, Alison and I explored the market in Avignon briefly, which surprised me in how much smaller it is than the Apt market. We next said goodbye to Alison and many thanks for hosting us. It is nice to be able to get away from home a bit, do something different and meet new people. I was happy that I got the chance to go to Avignon on Friday. The rest of Saturday was really just a lazy day. My back has been pretty painful lately, so that left me pretty bed-ridden Saturday and Sunday**.

The major problem of this weekend was an unknown smell from our drains in our toilet room. After speaking to my parents and learning it could be dangerous, Amy and I took precautions by opening up all windows to let the smell out and contacting the only person we knew, my coordinating teacher Cathy. Typical France: this was a Saturday night, meaning that we couldn't get anyone out here to help us and wasn't able to contact anyone Sunday. After many conversations with Cathy on the phone, we decided to wait until Monday and talk to someone in the office about it, though Cathy felt so bad she even offered to have us come stay on her couch if the smell was too bad that we couldn't sleep. She is so kind, not to mention that after the several conversations with her on the phone these past few days, my French via phone has certainly improved. Score!***

It was hard crawling out of bed to teach this morning, but found that my classes were incredibly enjoyable, with each student fostering interesting opinions and ideas and starting to be a little more confident in showing them. Today's topic was home-schooling in America, something that does not exist in France. I think I am getting better on finding things that get them talking and asking me questions - here's to more successful lessons!

This afternoon, I had my business English classes as well, where we discussed controversial topics with food (genetically modified food, dieting, etc) and email etiquette. I was impressed with both groups today, as I could rarely get a word into discussion because they had so much to say and were talking/debating each other. I took time to say this at the end, asking them if they realize how much they have improved. They blinked as if they couldn't believe it, thinking that the holidays had tripped them up. On the way home from the lessons, I found myself talking in constant, consistent French with Alain, with ease and clarity - though he did manage to teach me a new word: roublard****. I guess my students aren't the only ones improving!

*Missy, I really hope you read this. I'm really missing the pickles right about now! <3
**Besides a brief walk on Sunday.
***Update: Talked to the office today, they sent someone to come check out this situation. Amy thinks that he said that it isn't sewage gas but that he would come back to work on it. Hoping so, can't deal with this much longer!
****Translation: cunning or clever, but in a more derogatory way. Calculating.

A Week Fit for Kings

Happy Thursday night from Provence! I love Thursday nights here, because it is officially the beginning of the weekend for me! Lounging in my room with a glass of wine, a plate of pasta and some baguette and tapenade all the while reflecting on a great first week back in France makes this evening even better.

Monday was a tiring day. Not because of teaching, I didn't even teach at the lycée on Monday, just my private lessons. No, I was tired because of this lovely thing called le décollage. Translation: JETLAG. Sunday night, I tried to be responsible and go to bed at 11pm, setting an alarm to wake up at 10 am at latest. I proceeded to toss and turn until 7 AM, garnering a good 3 hours of sleep before I awoke and started my day. Ever since then, I honestly have still been rediculously tired, though it is still difficult to sleep at night. I am so glad I went home for the holidays, but this whole readjusting to the time thing kinda sucks!

It is not just that aspect that is taking time to get readjusted. Though my first day out of the apartment I surprised myself with how seamlessly I re-entered into speaking and understanding French seamlessly, since then I have had many a blunder and confusion. I am chalking this up to being away for a bit. However, I have known for a while now that I need to be more active in improving my capabilities and finding every opportunity to do so. Plus, it didn't help that I had the most communication over the phone in French that I have ever had in my life during these past two days*. I know that I truly am improving here (whether my extremely self-critical mind realizes it or not) but sometimes it is hard to not get down on yourself.

Monday during my private lessons, the boss's wife handed me a little green box with a short "bonne année" as she sat down for her lesson. They had gotten me a little box of nice chocolates from town! I was so touched by the gesture, but also confused that they had given me a gift in honor of the New Year but not for Christmas. From what I have observed here, the New Year almost has a greater significance to the French, with every single one of my teachers and students throughout the week shouting at me "Happy New Year!"

Mon cadeau!

Tuesday was my first day back teaching. As I walked to my first class of the day I noticed all the students piled in the classroom with one of the Italian teachers. When I came in and looked bewildered, the teacher explained to me that the teacher I worked with was on maternity leave now and they were not sure if there was a replacement teacher yet. Excuse me?! All my American readers would be shocked by this, and even though I know that substitutes are generally not done in France, I was surprised to know that they didn't have a replacement for someone on a medical leave. After telling the students to go home, we went to the vie scolaire to confirm what we already knew: there is no replacement for that teacher and they don't know when there will be one. Awesome. C'est la France!

After classes on Wednesday, I went to Avignon to experience the day I have been anticipating for a while: the start of les soldes d'hiver!** The streets were packed with eager shoppers (though not as many as the beginning of the summer sales in Aix two years ago), the stores were filled shoulder to shoulder with people and the signs in every store window emblazoned the capitol letters of SOLDES alongside 40, 50, 60% marks. I did get quite a few things, but I however did not break the bank because everything was so marked down! I enjoyed getting out of Apt in the middle of the week, and Amy and I are going to take a trip there tomorrow as well, as she was not able to see the deals on Wednesday.

Translation of sign: Shopping should be reimbursed by social security..

Thursday, my busiest day of teaching, is normally the day in the week where I break down a bit. The day that is filled with the most classes, plus my most badly behaved ones. However, today surprised me - I had a wonderful experience with each and every class. Especially my premier class I have in the afternoon, my fourth class of the day. I showed up, realizing that it is the same class where the teacher is on maternity leave. Another English teacher approached and said that they had found a replacement and that he was supposed to be there. The six students and me waited, and after finding out he truly wasn't coming, I suggested that the six of us just have class instead. They were willing and we ended up have a great time, with them learning a lot of English, me learning a bit of French, reviewing the past and future tenses, and discussing opinions. It is moments like that which I am glad to be a teacher, whether it is in a foreign country with my native language or in my native country with a foreign language.

Tonight after classes, the administration organized a little party for the teachers and workers at the lycée. It was in honor of the New Year, but more specifically, Epiphany, which they heavily celebrate here in Provence due to the King's Cake, or Galette des Rois, which originates from this region of France. Complete with champagne and cider to drink, all of us milled around and made conversation while eating the two different varieties of galettes - one is made from an almond paste/marzipan and the other is a brioche. Tradition is that two pieces, or fèves, are hidden inside the cake. Whoever eats the piece with the fève, is the King and gets the crown, but also has good luck for the year. I ate two pieces of cake, so I could try each kind, and both times got the fève! Guess I'm pretty lucky, eh? It was explained to me that Epiphany is a pretty big deal here in France as it is the official end of the holiday season, it is the holiday to end all holidays. Either way, this queen is pretty excited to be back, knowing how lucky I am to be here!

Pouring the bubbly!

Galette des Rois - this is the brioche kind topped with candied fruit. Notice, it's in the shape of a crown!

*Why so much phone conversation? I have finally set up private lessons with a young boy from the collège (middle school) for one hour on Thursdays every other week. Though this was no easy task, after many missed calls and voicemails, and a call speaking directly to the mother and the student, it is set. Excited for this new experience!
**Translation: winter sales!

Returning to La France

Bonjour from the South of France! It hasn't been a day since I've been back and I already feel like I am getting back into the swing of things, with everything unpacked, a load of laundry in the wash, and planning lessons for the next week. Christmas vacation in the U.S. was amazing, but I do have to admit that it made it much harder to come back to France. I love being here and this experience, but I realized how much I love home, family and friends too - I miss you all back home and thanks for taking time to see me while I was there!

Also, the whole climate shock thing, it's real folks! I just spent the last week in South Dakota and Minnesota, with copious snow and temperatures averaging -15 degrees Farenheit. This morning, I woke up to the most beautiful Southern Provencal sunny day, with a high of 53 degrees Farenheit. To help you with the math, thats almost 70 degrees of a difference! I'm burning up over here!

Woke up to this beautiful blue sky, can't complain!

Traveling here was exhausting, with a total of 36 hours of traveling starting from Minnesota. I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep on the plane and nodded off during the train. But when I woke up at noon today, realizing I had slept 14 hours, I knew my body (and mind) sorely needed it!

On the docket for this week is nothing special - business English private lessons tomorrow with teaching Tuesday-Thursday. However, les soldes* start on Wednesday... so I might be making a small trip to Avignon on that day. Gotta get the best prices AND choices on the first day! And maybe a few more shopping trips later on in the week - the sales only last so long!

*Translation: the sales!