More Tales from France to Animate Your Leisure

School has begun! Thank God Almighty! I believe my tactic--that of holding hostile the waiting room in front of my director's office--good luck, and the dogged persistence of a number of teachers at the IUP all came together in procuring my happily-ever-after. School started last Wednesday, the same day that Jonathan Carbin was born 22 years ago. :) Lucky day for me.

Class was excellent! I welcomed the group to "Autoformation," which is the term for the English software class, and then explained that the computers hadn't arrived and that we would be doing "un cours de la conversation" until they do arrive. That being said, I began our conversation class with a warm and chalorous "be on time and come to class" speech, plus a pity-pulling note about the difficulty of speaking in a foreign language in front of others and if I can do it, so you can you, and you better respect each other or I will judge as lesser people kind of a pep talk. They got my point. Class number one still required me moving someone to the front row from the back because of too much talking. Oh, times haven't changed since 5th grade.

My schedule works like this: I have 6 groups of Licence 3 students. Those are students in their third and final year of their License, which is kind of the equivalent of an undergrad degree. I have 4 groups of first-year Masters students, and 3 groups of second-year Masters students (the top-dogs at the IUP.) That makes 13 one-hour classes where I see everybody once a week. Each class has about 30 kids in it, and I'm at odds trying to have a conversation with 30 people at a time! The killer point is that the students are all at different levels of English, but I will admit that the License 3 kids seemed to be at a more consistent level than the Masters students. I've heard that the English programs in elementary and secondary schools has improved in recent years, and that could be the reason that the younger kids are more consistently good at English than the older students. Or perhaps it's senioritis among the ranks of the oldest kids at school... who knows. :)

After my introduction, I explained the exercise for the day. I drew an outline of the continental United States on the white board and introduced myself in English, "Hi, my name is Sarah, and a state that starts with "s" is South Dakota. Where is South Dakota?' We went around the room that way, introducing everyone with their first name and a state that starts with the same letter. I know now that there are no states that start with E, X, or Q, but I managed okay with the rest of the first names. I would interrupt on occasion to talk about the regions, labeling the Deep South, the Northwest, the East and West Coasts, the Great Lakes Region, the Southwest, the Northeast, and the Midwest in scrawling marker. I gave up drawing the shapes of the state the second half of the week when my futile attempts to place and squeeze in the east coast states into a tiny space turned into a disaster zone and an embarrassing jigsaw puzzle of "oh crap, there's no room for Pennsylvania" moments.

I managed to squeeze in a ton of random information first of all, to inform my students, but probably mostly because I was excited that I actually knew that much about the United States. Of course, it might have been unfair of me to quiz them on why the pilgrims came to America, but I thought it was vital they realized the country's origins. And maybe I should've stopped my soliloquy on the Alamo, but I couldn't resist, and man, it was fun to see the shock in their eyes when I detailed the route Jon and I drove this summer and all of the hours in between cities. The best moment was maybe when we settled down to talk about French versus American values. I did it just to get a feel of stereotypes--mine for what is important to the French, and theirs as to what they thought was important to Americans. My question, "So what do you think Americans value?" had an interesting response. "Guns!" "Oil." "Imperialism." "Hamburgers!" For the sake of cultural understanding and my personal patriotism, I felt called to help these kids get a better idea about what most of America is really about.

Our lists ended up something like this (not in any particular order of importance):

French Top 5:

1. Liberty
2. Food (I convinced them to change this to a high standard of living--the good life in other words)
3. Fraternity/Solidarity (exemplified by the strikes going on every week)
4. Equality
5. Family

American Top 5:

1. Liberty
2. Privacy
3. Family
4. Individualism
5. Competition

These were not all-inclusive of course, but it was interesting to see what they thought about it.

Week two was speed-dating which was an instant success, making up for my disappointment when the second-year Master students were baffled by my OU Daily editorials. Teaching is definitely a learning process.

In other news, I think I am officially immune to French bureaucracy. I have been confused, shocked, and shuffled around enough to have the equivalent to a vaccine against this disease of inefficiency that seems to run rampant here. That was harsh. I love the French, don't get me wrong, but when I left one office to go to another--all in the aim to finalize my visa process--I didn't even blink when the secretary said the Office of Immigration was closed for the day. It being only noon, I sighed and said I would come back tomorrow. "Ooooh," she responded, "tomorrow isn't good either because it's the strike. And Wednesday, you know, of course, we're closed for the whole day. So Thursday?" And I responded, "I will be there in the morning," I said, mentally reserving 8:45-12:15 in my head for the task.

This morning, I was hit by a car that took a turn too quickly as I crossed the street. I knew the street was dangerous already because when the pedestrian light goes green, cars only have a "caution pedestrian" light instead of a stop sign. Leads to things like this morning when my right knee was rudely interrupted mid-step by a middle-aged woman driving a sedan and her son in a Scream mask in the back seat. My knee is sore. I already pictured myself years from now in a doctor's office saying, "It all started when this lady ran into me in France," holding my bum knee in one hand and a crutch in the other. As I limped away from the scene cursing to myself, I imagined this lady looking at her car five years from now with a mechanic saying, "...and this dent is from where I ran into that American that one day, and this one was from a tree, and...". Life is funny box of chocolates. I just got a coconut when I wanted cherry I think.

Speaking of chocolate, my cakes are out of the oven. Tomorrow is my American friend Kasie's birthday and I made her a dozen mini-cakes with a recipe from my French host mom. I'm wishing I had used my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook because they turned out a little dry. Hopefully no one will mind :).

Some good things that are happening/have happened:

1. Dad is coming into Paris this weekend!! I can't wait to see him. I leave Friday after my classes to take the train to Paris, and the two of us will be traveling back into town on Sunday evening. Pray for safe travels and for no strikes!

2. I volunteered with the Red Cross in a hospital last week. We pushed a cart with about 40 books on it around the hospital and offered to rent them out to patients who were here for a long stay. I met some very sick people, but I also met some very joyful ones who inspired me to keep things in perspective.

3. Some running, and a lot of dancing. My ballet classes are going well and are a great thing to look forward to in the evening.

4. I've had a lot of fun hanging out with the American, British and Irish exchange students here. We've done dinners together, outings together (like a Tunisian restaurant one night, and a French one the next...) and baked cookies one afternoon. We're planning a Thanksgiving at my place and I have two ideas for dinner parties to do in the meantime (a vegan meal and then a Tex-Mex one for the Great Britainers.)

5. Rotary is continuing to help me get settled here in Clermont. Margarethe lent me a layaway bed for when Dad comes this week. Also, I've been invited to speak about Oklahoma for a nearby Rotary club in a couple weeks. Looking forward to it.

Things are going great. If all goes as planned, I should be 100% done in the beginning of March. I have to remember of course that my director could change his mind, or the students could go on strike for two months, or who knows, the school could change my contract. Regardless, I'm looking forward to the possibility of being home a little earlier than expected.

Love you all and talk to you soon!

Stories from weeks 2-4 of French life

Preface: En lieu of teaching which has yet to start, I am writing, taking ballet classes, and running. Here are a few of the other things that have happened since my last post.

Last week

I went to a “weekend d’intégration” with my school and it shocked my poor little eyes. We arrived at 9:30 or ten in the evening having still not eaten dinner. In my experience, the French are always willing to eat dinner as late as 11:30 at night, but never ever earlier than 8 o’clock. And so it was that we gathered around a sumptuously laid table garnished with red napkins and carafes of red wine and rosé, and yet we didn’t sit down to it. There were bisoux to be made, and aperitifs to be poured before we could imagine sitting down. It took 20 minutes to move from the lobby to the table despite the fact that all of us (me especially it seemed) were starving. At the time, I excused it, but now I realize that this was merely indicative of how the rest of the weekend was going to go down. I admit, the director, who at first scared and intimidated me, was the most gentile at the table that evening. Unlike many when a stranger is à table with them, M Chenevoy looked me in the eye when he talked, even if it was a story he was telling to the whole table. His inclusion of me was one of the first, and therefore most appreciated by yours truly. We even talked about Oklahoma for a good while, which pleased me. He told us how he shocked all of the Normanites by his behavior. I wasn’t surprised J.

After dinner, I went to go to bed. One of the two teachers that befriended me asked, “Aren’t you going to the night club?” and I was like oh my gosh you’re kidding. We had just driven 5 hours to get to this place literally marked middle of nowhere on the GPS and it was close to midnight. Of course, I went to the boîte de nuit, and that was where my puritan eyes and sensible head were shocked. The students, 450-500 in number, were completely wasted. At parties, I was used to seeing the one person who didn’t control himself, but here, every. single. person. was trashed. Glossy eyed, drooling, stumbling, sobbing, slurring, trashed. What maybe surprised me the most was that the students were in such a state around their teachers and the administration who were all standing around watching. The French, and the IUP, are going to have to excuse me, but no, I don’t think this was a great way to get the students to approach their teachers without feeling intimidated. Drunk students, even if they’re more honest and courageous when it comes to talking to their profs, are still drunk students. When the teachers patted themselves on the back for a “calm” weekend at the end, my jaw dropped. Only three trips to the hospital, only two broken ribs, only one case of drug overdosing, only two girls who strip-teased, and only one breach of security. Oh my lord…

Some of the teachers have taken to calling my country “puritan.”   That was when I realized exactly how puritan I was. I was happy to go home, back to my meager meals of potatoes and peas, my 10 o’clock bedtime, and my innocent novels.

_________________________________________________________________________

September ish

A sparrow just hopped into my room from the open balcony window. He even stayed a minute when I jerked up from my bed, wide-eyed and half-asleep. He only left when I stood up, and then just to the sill of the door. I moved closer and he flew to my balcony railing, and when I stepped outside to watch him, he flew off. I felt like I was in Disney land! Compelled to ask him to be "my very best friend" and then to sing together, I managed to just say, "Hi there!"

It was just the weirdest (but coolest) thing.

_______________________________________________________________

September something

I did nothing today. Absolutely. Nothing. It was like a movie. Seriously—you know those montages that show that time has passed by by shots of the person in one position, then in another corner of the room, and then laying, then staring out the window? That was me. There was me pacing, me cooking, me cleaning, me laying down thinking, me curled up trying to sleep, me standing, me eating, me cleaning, me staring out the window, me back to the wall and my knees curled up underneath, me eating again, and mostly me hitting refresh on Facebook. Omg, this is getting bad.

October 4th, 2010

I want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm in McDonald's because (I'm so excited) they have free wifi! As you might know, internet chez moi is unreliable and moody. And I don't know what it is I'm smelling here in McDonald's but it's like a hint of a hot, toasted, warm peanut butter and oozing jelly sandwich. And I want one. Maybe it's just the aroma of home--America--that I recognize here in this chain of all chains. How funny that I rarely set foot in McDonald's and here I am, probably coming back tomorrow and again after that to use their internet. Oh but how nice to have wifi that works!

I went into school today and learned a few things. First, the good news, is that my question about being paid was answered the same day it was asked!! I am thrilled. But I still have to wait until next week to have my pay check for last month... Thank the Lord Almighty that I really like rice and beans haha. 

Second, I learned more about my class. A month ago, I would have been depressed to learn what I learned today, but right now, I'm strangely calm about it. My class hasn't started yet: you may know that because I told you or because I haven't written in my blog. Nothing happens means nothing to write about... In any case, this job is a lot more humble than I anticipated. Mme de Borges, a very friendly teacher at the IUP, explained to me that I will be in charge of the Autoformation, or in other words, the computer class for the students. About 10 hours a week, I will be baby-sitting as students complete an English software program on computers. I guess the reason I haven't started is because they're waiting for the computers to come in. I asked if I could teach an actual class, but there is nothing settled as far as additional classes goes. I am hoping against hope that I'll get to teach: as Mme de Borges explained this to me, visions of my beloved books that I bought--books about teaching, books about the American culture, about American expressions--and lesson plans that I had drafted--went out the window. Gone. I hope I get to teach supplementary classes. Part of the good news--I may not have to teach the alternances. That means I'll be done in March. Is that good news?  I don't know. Altogether, it's a little disappointing. Of course I'll keep you updated, but my autoformation class won't start until the end of the month. I'm looking for volunteer positions, and I asked permission to work in other schools of English. Pray for me!

Love you all, I'll be in touch (maybe from Germany. With all this free time, why not travel a little?)