double rainbow will do the trick...

This morning I had a few frustrating lessons... a lot of kids were absent or are sick at school... several teachers were sick at school or seemed absent because they were thinking about their own sick children at home. I had one really excellent lesson with Martine's class (CP)... she's the older woman who doesn't know any English, but I just love her class. They're always so excited and motivated when I'm there... and without doing much outside preparation together, she's awesome to team-teach with. I also have the other CP class before hers, so I think, unfortunately for the other class, I kind of work out all the kinks with them and then give a great lesson with Martine.

Anywho, at lunch, I was a little taken aback because a teacher from one of the older grades asked me when I'd be coming to work with them. We had sort of talked about me voluntarily coming a few times to their classes sometime in the afternoon, but I figured they wouldn't bring it up until I asked them about it, which I was going to do today anyway. But besides her asking if I'd be able to come Thursday afternoon, I wasn't completely put off by it... she got the ball rolling for me. I gave her and another teacher my email address so we could work something out. Then, I used a pen that I saw laying on the table to write it out for others interested. While I'm using the pen, this other teacher was watching over me, waiting for something. I assumed he was waiting to write down my address and to talk to me about helping in his class... but nope. I was using his pen.... which he told me in French first, and then rudely in English. Woah- I thought, it's just a pen and I didn't know. Of course I didn't say this, just a quick, oh je suis désolée, but it put me in funk.

Nathalie, another teacher asked if I would go out with her and a few other teachers on Friday night, which of course I said yes... so that put me in higher spirits. But before I left she asked me how I was doing , if I had friends to hang out with and if I missed home. I said I had some friends and that I didn't miss home all the time.... but then of course it got me feeling homesick as I walked home. Ugh.

I came home and talked to my mom, which was helpful... then Victor, which also cheered me up.... but I just kept thinking about how frustrating it can be to live in a place so different than what I'm used to and how I missed certain things/people/activities I can't do here... As I was just about to eat a spoonful of peanut butter and wash my face (both easy pick-me-ups), I saw a rainbow right beside the castle of Saint-Priest from my window. I ran to get my camera and after taking a picture realized that it was a double rainbow!!! How lucky- and obviously made me feel like someone was watching out for me... double rainbow=double hope. It's natural to get down being so far away from home, but I just gotta have hope:)

Miss you all! Reste cool:)

Pants! What's the word for pond?

Hello mes amis:)

I finally got up on time and almost made the bus.... I think after having to get up extra early for the painters/electrician those last few weeks before break, my normal routine is thrown off and I take longer because I think I can, but I can't.... but all is not lost, I took the tram and walked. It was in the upper 40's today, so not quite as nice as this weekend, but I'll take anything above 38:)

I saw Sabine on my way in and she was fairly cheery, asking how my weekend went. I had a great weekend, up until the last few hours on Sunday when I was in the process of making dinner... and my electricity went out. I was using the stove, the oven, my computer, and had a few lights on.... which I guess over did it. I called Laurence, because walking around in the dark I realized I didn't know how to fix my little problem. I assumed I needed to just flip a switch somewhere, but where and how was my main issue. I also don't have a flashlight, just a few candles... so that didn't help me much either. She tried explaining over the phone, but with my expansive knowledge (not) of electrical vocabulary, I probably sounded more lost than ever to her. So, she said, "J'arrive, j'arrive," and was here in no time to walk around with her flashlight and turn my electricity back on:) It's a good thing she doesn't live too far away!

Anywho, I made my way up to my first lesson, Vincent's class (the one who had the sub). My goodness is this an entirely different class! All he has to do is snap his fingers very quietly when someone is acting out and they stop whatever they're doing. We had a discussion at the break about whether or not they were scared of him. The other teachers were laughing and saying, yep, that's why they're so good, they're scared! He said, no, they fear me, which is very close to respect. Lol. This lead us to comparing the US and France again... how American school teachers are much less severe than their French counterparts... they said they've always had the "if you're bad, you're punished and told to straighten up" system and that's what they were taught to do in their education classes. According to them, students should have a level of fear of their teachers.... whereas in the US, most teachers are a little bit more nurturing. I don't think these generalizations apply to everyone on both sides, as they are generalizations.... I work with 2 teachers at this school who I feel are very nurturing and much less severe, more fair, etc. But even with these 2 teachers, I have not seen one positive behavior system in a French primary school.... going over board to reward students for their effort, behavior, etc. It's interesting to see the differences between the 2 systems...

Sorry- I keep getting off track! My lessons all went very well... I had several teachers ask me, however, why I kept calling pants, pants, instead of trousers as they all learned in school. Apparently, in British English, pants are your underwear and trousers are your pants. Which now explains why, when giving Julien this example sentence , "Ah, I can't find my pants!" he burst out laughing.... I thought maybe he just thought the word pants sounded funny.

After my lessons, I ate lunch at school. They had couscous, with an odd combo of meatballs, sausage, and veggies poured over top. There was also a mystery breaded patty of sorts. I'm beginning to wonder if I should just make my own lunches. Usually I enjoy at least 3/4 of the meal, but today... was too out of my comfort zone. We also had salad with carrots in odd dressing, plain yogurt (not my favorite), and chocolate wafer cookies. Not even one slice of cheese today!

During lunch, Vincent suggested that we speak in English. This lasted about 30 seconds after he said something wrong and everyone laughed. I didn't think it was that bad, but they're so hard on themselves! So instead, anytime they brought up a new subject, they'd ask me for the English word. They were talking about a pond behind the school (une mare) and I couldn't think of the word... I said puddle, but Sabine said she thought that was more like a flaque. I said I thought you could probably use the word puddle for both, only because I wasn't really clear on how big this pool of water was. And then... another teacher who's second language is German, jokingly said, "It seems to me that English is a very vague language..." Lol. Yes, let's go with that. (When I got home, I looked up all of these words and emailed them to the teachers with the title, les mots précises en anglais.... precise English words...hehe)

My not-up-to-usual-par French cafeteria food motivated me to go grocery shopping. I was almost out of TP, so it's a good thing I went:) I made myself an excellent dinner, if I do say so myself, and have yummy leftovers for tomorrow (tuna steak with avocado, mozzarella and tomato salad, and pear+cheese for desert). AND- my electricity stayed on throughout the entire making of the meal:)

Hope you had a nice Monday!

Reste cool:)

formation-ing

I thankfully woke up on time this morning (well, I did fall back asleep for another 10 minutes, but that's much better than my recent sleeping in catastrophes!) and got to my formation (in-service) 10 minutes early. Of course, nothing starts on time here, so I would have been fine if I had gotten there 30 minutes later, but oh well....

On the whole, today was ok. I felt like I got more out of the activities they showed us because I know what kinds of activities I need to keep an eye out for.... It's funny to think back to those first two in-service days. I didn't want to admit this then, but I think I kind of felt overwhelmed trying to figure out what it was that I was supposed to be teaching. We were given a confusing rubric... that some of my teachers seemed to be following and others not so much. But after getting to know my teachers and students better, I've come to understand that pretty much whatever and however I want to teach English (as long as I ok the activity with them first, which they usually do), I'm on the right track! I think for the most part my teachers are just glad to have some new/extra English input/support... so I don't try to stress myself out about it. But getting new ideas on how to use mostly visual and oral activities or games is always good... so I can't complain!

I'm back home now... ready to start my 3 day weekend, before another 3 day week:) Having a real 5 day/ 7:30-4:30 job with a 25 minute lunch break or less next year is going to be.... a big change. I better enjoy it while it lasts!

Reste cool:)

les trois petits cochons

I woke up with a renewed sense of confidence in myself (in terms of teaching English in this unique teaching position I'm in). I need to keep in mind that what I do doesn't matter, but that I do it is important (thank you Gandhi). I have 30 minutes with these students, and I may not always have complete respect or attention from the class, but I can do my best to entertain the kids with English experiences that their regular teachers wouldn't normally give them. And that's that! (Amazing what a good night's sleep can do!)

Anyway- I was at Simon Signoret today, and much to my surprise, I didn't have my regular morning talk with Pierre... so I took advantage of the extra time and made copies for another school for next week (shh, don't tell them I used their ink for another school!!!). I met with the maternelle first (Corinne's class) and worked with a small group of students on numbers and colors. They're so adorable... I would ask them what a color was in French, then say the color in English, then ask if they could tell me the color in English, and they'd give me the color in French like they were so proud of themselves for knowing the answer haha. Oh well, I'm sure it's confusing to them on the whole. I also sang my good morning song with the whole class and they're getting pretty good at mumbling along with me.

In my CP classes, we reviewed the numbers and number songs (they're actually really good at mumbling/singing along to 1 little, 2 little, 3 little pumpkins...). Then I read the Three Little Pigs with them (trois petits cochons in French). They already knew the story, so I was hoping they'd get to focus a little more on the English. They picked up on "three" and "house," but when I'd ask if they were big or little pigs, they'd say big first... I guess I didn't think about how "big" and "pig" sound alike, so they got confused. They were cute though, especially when I couldn't think of the word for straw or chin in French to help translate a page (paille and menton, fyi).

In my CE1 classes, we did basically the same thing but had time to play telephone at the end. Telephone was one of the activities they mentioned at the in-service for helping children learn to listen and pronounce words in a foreign language. It turned out to be very entertaining... I only used very short 1-3 word phrases (seven, little pumpkin, three little pigs, five, etc.). By the end it usually ended up sounding like made up words (seenin, lilly pumd, fee pids, hive), but once I repeated a few, they got better and better at taking their time to pronounce the words and come up with something they had heard before (that was English and not gibberish). I've decided it really is a good game to play... and I could change it up.... like by showing them the picture along with telling them the word or just showing a picture and they have to come up with the vocabulary to pass along or they can find the right picture that corresponds to the thing they hear instead of having to pronounce it at the end.... the possibilities are endless:)

So, all in all, a really good day! Granted, most of my classes were missing several students because today is the last day of Ramadan.... giving me class sizes of 12-18 instead of 25-30, but... I'll just go ahead and attribute it to my fantastic lesson planning skills!

Speaking of lesson plans, I'm getting really excited for all of my Thanksgiving lessons. With this school, I'm going to explain Thanksgiving with pictures I copied from the books my mom sent and then have them make hand print turkeys to put on thank you cards to give to their parents. With Les Marendiers, I'm going to read the books I got from my mom to help explain Thanksgiving, and either have them organize pictures from the story in the right order (for the older kids) or color by numbers a turkey to review their colors in English. With the Berliet school, we're doing some of that stuff this week and next week we are making place mats (Amy's coming in to help). The mats will say Happy Thanksgiving and they'll draw thanksgiving pictures and write what they are thankful for... plus Murielle is going to take pictures of Amy and I working with the kids so that later she can put the real pictures on the place mats before she laminates them and gives them to the kids to remember the day! She's so great to work with:)

Bon mardi a tous! (Happy Tuesday to all!)

I miss having my own class

Once again... it was super awkward when I went in to school (Mondays I'm at Les Marendiers). I don't know why, maybe it's just because I'm there first thing Monday morning and they haven't had time to talk amongst themselves... but unlike at the other schools, where Murielle the directrice, and Pierre the director both greet meet and hold a conversation before I get started, I just sort of get my stuff out in silence and go to my first class.

My first class is with the longterm substitute. I thought after what happened last week, they'd remember that I mean business and not to be rude... but it turns out they forgot. They weren't quite so rude as they were just annoyingly noisy... between everything I said or question I asked, they'd make a comment or talk amongst themselves... it was annoying. And the teacher's soul method of getting them to quiet down is to say shh, which obviously still isn't working. I'm being observed at this school next week, so I decided I'd teach the class one little trick that sometimes works... I clapped my hands twice and had them repeat (this gets there attention and makes them focus on me long enough to realize I have something to say). It would work for the most part... except for the kid who kept clapping afterwards. It's just so frustrating because I'm only here for 30 minutes... how am I supposed to be able to gain any control of the class???

In the third class, with Sabine, her class is less chaotic, but still difficult. As soon as Sabine steps out- all hell breaks loose. The kids are cute, but can still be rude. Sometimes I have flashbacks to when I used to substitute.... you're in a class full of kids, whose names you don't know (I maybe know 1-2 in each class), whose personalities and abilities you don't know, and you don't really know the regular behavior system. I'm probably making it sound way worse than it is.... I know the kids are learning what I'm teaching (colors for this week), but I miss having a class of my own... When you're with your own class, you set the rules, you set the tone, you know your kids, you learn how to solve problems, etc. But tant pis, this is my job for now... and I need to figure out how to do it to the best of my ability:)

Anyway... sorry for my internal reflections.... after my next three classes, that went fairly well, I went out into the pouring rain to get my lunch at the cantine (have I mentioned that the cantine is always in its own building?). It was actually a very yummy lunch, scalloped potatoes and a stew with pork (plus baguette, cheese, yogurt, and fruit). And while we ate, I not only understood the teacher's lounge conversation, but I added something to most topics:) I even brought up that I'm going to see Audrey Tautou on Thursday and some of the teachers were like... NO WAY!!!! At the end, I got all of their email addresses so that planning would be a little easier. I left feeling accomplished... if not with gaining control of my classes, certainly in my ability to speak French and to feel like "one of the gang."

After school was over, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things.... now I'm home to plan, plan, plan for next week. I want to make sure I have everything set up before Amy comes!!!

Reste cool:)

Reflections (this is probably going to be boring, FYI)

Although today was a National strike (la grève), I left around the same time as yesterday and got to the formation 5 minutes faster than I did yesterday morning (I took the tram to the metro because I didn't know if the buses would keep their regular schedules). Not everyone strikes on these days and the transportation system isn't hit quite at hard as when there are transportation specific strikes (which unfortunately, Victor and I have experienced...it's almost impossible to get anywhere, so let's hope they keep their transportation workers happy over the next few months!).

The in-service seemed to go on forever today. I'm not sure if it was because I knew what to anticipate or if it was because I was sitting next to someone who didn't bother showering before coming in today... but it dragged. I opted not to drink the free coffee at the break time, so I'm sure I was also a little less focused. But for a while, I was trying hard to think of excuses to get me out of there (of course I would have never used one because I'm too much a rule follower to try to get out of a mandatory meeting).

At lunch I ate and talked with some of the same folks from yesterday... and it started me thinking about why I am here. There are a variety of people doing this program for a variety of reasons. Some, especially those from England, are here as a way to continue their studies in French. Some are fellow, already-graduated French majors with little idea of what they want to do with their French degree or are using this opportunity to get better/use their French. And then there are others that like French... and who are just using this as another year to fill time before they figure out what they want to do next with their lives. And then there is moi. I'm definitely the only one with a degree in teaching, and might be one of the very few interested in pursuing it as an actual career.

So- I started thinking... why am I here? Is this really the best program for me? I already know how to teach. No, I'm not a veteran teacher, but I've been through student teaching, I've been through courses that explain why and how to teach children certain things at certain levels, I've had real time experience with different age groups and with different needs, etc. It is true that I've never taught English to a class of non-English speakers, so that's new... and some of the activities that we went over today and yesterday aren't new to me, just new to me in this context... so it hasn't been totally wasted time.

But, all the way home, it bothered me that I couldn't remember why I was here. Yeah it's cool to say I've lived abroad, but I don't really care about that. I could have easily gotten a teaching job and had a real salary if I had stayed home. And yet... I'm here. It isn't easy, I miss my family, I miss my boyfriend, I miss my friends. I talk to them as much I can, but it's not the same as if I were really there...

Of course, to add to my frustration, as soon as I got home, I realized my phone line had been cut off. I freaked out... trying everything I could think of to get it working again, unplugging and replugging things in... I called Victor frantically... I called Laurence to ask for French phone line advice... and then we figured it out- I don't have very much money in my French bank account, and I've been using my land line to call cell phones at home (my unlimited international calling is a little more limited than I thought, it costs 0,27 euros/minute to call a US cell phone, yikes! Free for US landlines only, stupid fine print...). Turns out they must have some sort of automatic link between my phone and my bank account.... and it cuts me off so I don't go over?

So I put on my running shoes and my sweat suit and literally ran to the bank to deposit more money. As soon as I got home, everything worked again. GAH!

On this little running adventure, a woman, maybe in her 40's, asked me if running made me feel good. I was like, yeah, it helps me get rid of pent up energy when I'm frustrated... and it's healthy I guess. She said, hmm, I've never done sports before, but I think maybe I should try something because I have arthritis. I said, hmm, maybe you shouldn't run, but swimming might be good to try. And then we went on about our banking business. I thought, huh, first of all, cool, I just had a coherent conversation in French without her really knowing I'm not French... and second of all, I'm glad I could encourage someone to try something new.

On my run home, I thought, that's why I'm here! (No, not to give running pep-talks to the French.) I'm here for the cultural exchange. I'm here to learn about their culture, their food, their language, and then to share it with my friends and family. I'm also here to share my culture, my hobbies, my ideas, and my language with the French so that they can share it with their friends and family. (The link between the running story and my sort-of epiphany isn't that magical, but tant pis, that's how it happened).

Although my original reasons for coming to teach in France were to get better at my French (that I studied so hard to learn) and to learn how to teach a foreign language... I think my objectives for being here have changed a little. I know when I come home there will be limited teaching-of-a-foreign language job opportunities at the Elementary level. I also know that I won't be able to keep up with the level of French that I acquire once I return home. But, what I can bring to the table is my newfound cultural experience. I can teach my kids to raise their little fingers instead of their hands. I can insert little French phrases with them or with my own children. I can teach them songs in French. I can start an after-school French club. I can invite friends and family over for a typical French dinner party. I can "right" the "wronged" stereotypes about the French culture. I can show people pictures and write a blog about the amazing new places and interactions I have all over Europe. And hopefully, before I leave, I can impart some newfound cultural experiences to the students I work with, the teachers I collaborate with, and other intrigued bank-goers around the Lyon community, who are wondering why I'm running around Saint-Priest at dinner time to make a deposit at the bank.

Anyway- this may have been painful to read, but I feel like I needed to make it known why I'm here. I hope, for your sakes, that tomorrow, I go do something fun, so that I can blog about it:)

Miss you all. Reste Cool:)

How do you say.... uhhh...

Over the past few days... I've begun to realize just how much French I've lost in the last year doing my Master's in Education. My first 4 years of college were centered around my degree in French, with a few education classes on the side. My last year was only and intensely centered around Education... making it difficult for me to keep up with my French. I tried my best... read the newspaper in French, did a project on the French Education system, but that's not really the same as taking at least one French class, if not two, or three.

So... as I'm trying to get directions or get a library card or hold a dinner conversation in French... there are times when I feel so stuck. I can't find a word or think of how to conjugate a verb. If I have time to think about what I want to say and go around a word I can't remember I do just fine. But when I'm in the middle of dinner with Laurence's family going back and forth in slang or just plain fast French, I'm at a loss. I know I'm only going to get better and I will gain back the confidence I've lost... but I feel frustrated. I can't believe I have a degree in French and all I have to show for it is the ability to write mostly grammatically correct emails, to understand 3/4 of what's going on at dinner (or less depending on how many hand gestures or facial expressions accompany the talking), and respond to questions directed at me with difficulty and lots of pausing.

Although I said I wasn't going to do anything today, I did actually clean the apartment and go to the mediatheque (library with dvds, cds, and books). I looked around to see if they had free internet usage, but no... however they do have a million movies I can rent and of course plenty of books. I actually sat in the children's section for a while looking at a "My First English Words"

book so that I could make sure I at least knew those vocabulary words in French. Sad, I know. Besides not using my French for over a year, I also just never needed to know or remember certain words for my advanced courses in French literature... like the word for blocks (les cubes) or the word for kitchen sink (l'evier). But, talking with Laurence tonight made me realize that the little kids aren't going to know much English at all, so I'm going to learn French as I continue to immerse myself into the culture.

Anyway, dinner with Laruence's family was entertaining as always. She made couscous. I thought couscous was just the little grains plus some veggies or whatever else you put in it. Tonight, we had plain couscous grains with a sort of beef stew on top. When I asked what I was eating she called the whole dish couscous. So... who knows? Maybe I just don't know what couscous is? During dinner, I listened to the usual family discussion about how Laura (the middle daughter) doesn't have a job or plan for school, how Margot (the youngest daughter) doesn't eat vegetables, or much at all, and Jeremy (the son) forgot to tell his mom he needs a quiche for tomorrow (yes, this is the 21 year old son who's going to engineering school... however I shouldn't complain too much, I did get some quiche to take home). I also met Jeremy's girlfriend who is a real English teacher at a primary school. But unfortunately, she does not have any assistants to help her teach...

It's so funny talking with them though... we tell each other the stereotypes we have for each others' cultures (pepe le pew, baguettes, han han han, sacre bleu, and wine for the French; Clint Eastwood, Stallone, fat Americans, and fast food for us). Pretty much every reference they have for America or English-speaking cultures comes from films or books. Most of the major American/English films are shown in movie theaters here and many major novels are translated into French (Twilight, Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, etc.) Laurence thinks it's great fun to try to speak in English, but she never studied English...and most of her knowledge comes from a tiny phrase book she bought to visit Laura in Scotland. So she'll say something in "English," Laura will correct her accent and look to me, and then I correct her accent. Some things are

hilarious... they can't say the "th" in "three" and instead say "tree" or "free." Laurence tried to say "tired," but can't really get out the "r" sound, so she says "tuyerd" or something very strange sounding. Of course when we have our little English lessons, I feel sufficient at something, so it's fun... but I kind of wish we could have little French lessons for me... although I guess it's all just one big French lesson isn't it?

I sneaked some pictures of Laurence and Laura. I'll try to get the whole family sometime.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting Laurence and Alexa (the other primary school English assistant in Saint-Priest) before we have our first orientation meeting at 13h30 (1:30pm). I'm excited to finally hear more specifics about what I'll be doing. I see and hear these adorable little French kids and get more and more excited about working with them. Laurence and I did talk a little about what my schedule might look like... work Monday, Tuesday, and half day Thursday or something like that... So sounds like I definitely don't work on Saturday which I was a little concerned about, and I will have plenty of free time for traveling.... And when I'm not traveling... I guess I'll just be planning awesome lessons or giving private English lessons? Je sais pas (I don't know).

More later. Miss you all! Reste cool!

Complications, Observations, and Explorations!

Bonsoir! (Good evening)

Complication #1: Today has been a good day all around… however, if this weefee (wifi) doesn’t start cooperating I’m going to pull my hair out. It worked all day yesterday, not at all the day before, and on and off today. I’m writing this in a word document in hopes that I can quickly post it into my blog before it shuts off!

Complication #2: This morning I was awoken bright and early at 7:10am by my alarm clock, which I promptly turned off and then fell back asleep until 8am… Laura (Laurence’s daughter) rang the buzzer at about 8:35… so oops. She was early, I was late. She was very kind and waited on me to get ready, but I sure can’t wait until I’m back on a regular sleeping schedule.

Complication #3: It rained off and on all day (perhaps this is the cause for my poor wifi signal?). Thankfully I packed an umbrella, so I didn’t get too wet, but it was so windy that several times my umbrella turned backwards… which was very amusing to both Laura and I… and the occasional passerby.

Complication #4: Credit cards in France are different than our credit cards. They don’t necessarily have a strip on the back, but a small chip on the side. Therefore, the credit card machines are a bit different, and in some stores they are all together unable to use my cards. I haven’t had too much trouble so far, if I can’t use my credit card, I can find an ATM to withdraw money. But, this morning, Laura took me to the bank to begin the process of opening an account. The woman was extremely friendly and patient with her explanations of the system and the documents required. I’m pretty much all set at this point, I just have to wait 8 jours (a week is 8 days, not 7 in France) to acquire the actual credit card.

Observation #1: St. Pree-est is a very cute and friendly town. Almost everyone, especially little old women, say Bonjour in passing. The man at the reception desk of the bank was also very friendly- he even asked if I was interested in tutoring the children of his friend in English…noting that private English classes are very expensive… which means that I’m sure my going rate wouldn’t be half bad. But, I told him I’d wait and see after I started working what my schedule was like.

Observation #2: The transportation system is very accessible and very clean. Laura told me that the tramway is only about 2 years old and the metro has been refurbished over the last few years. The tram is kind of like an above ground metro or a modern looking trolley. They had them in Paris and they were my preferred way of travel because they were so clean and you could see the happenings around you. In Paris, you couldn’t take the tram into the heart of the city, just around- however in Lyon, there is a tram right by my apartment that goes straight into Lyon Centre. I can also take a bus to the metro and take it into the city when I get fancier and know of more places to go in Lyon.

Complication#5: Transportation’s not as inexpensive as I was hoping. For students, the price of a monthly pass is something like 31 Euros. However, as I am unfortunately no longer a student, it will cost me a whopping 50 Euros! (like 75-80 bucks! Yikes!). So until I know exactly how often I need to use the tram or bus, I’ll just purchase the 13 euro carnet (book of 10 tickets, each ticket lasting you an hour of use).

Observation #3: The French eat, a lot. Maybe not snacking so much, but their idea of lunch involves a salad, a large omelet with ham, and yogurt and cheese for dessert… or some variation of that. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy eating this much, but it’s something I have to get used to. Tonight I went into the village of St. Priest to find a cute Patisserie I saw earlier while bank hunting, and I got a quiche au jambon (ham quiche) and a tartelette au citron (lemon tart). As I gazed into the glass of endless pastry choices, I felt like saying, “I’ll take the lot!” But then I remembered, 1: I am not in a Harry Potter movie, and 2: I don’t have enough money or room in my tummy for everything all at once. All in due time thoughJ

Exploration #1: After getting back from practicing the buses/metro/tram with Laura, watching a very French film at Laurence’s house (Amèlie, one of my favorites), taking a quick cat nap while watching the movie, and a quick look around for a Laundromat (no luck yet), I discovered that while I was gone, I had been given my new hot plate-stove top, atop the oven I thought was broken. Laura and I played with the “stove” and I decided I better go out for my dinner tonight.

Exploration #2: The last “exploration” was an exploration of the stove top, if youwere wondering. But it also leads into the exploration of the village when I wentout for my pastry dinner. The village sits behind the Chateau, so I guess I just didn’t go far enough the other day. It’s very cute. Lots of shops, a fountain (yay something to show my dad- he loves fountainsJ), a school of music, and a

beautiful church. Pictures to come . . .

Observation #4: During our search for the Laundromat, I discovered that the médiathèque (fancy library) and Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) are on the other side of town, right behind my apartment building. But what was really cool to see, as these buildings aren’t very interesting, was a car procession for an Arab wedding. All the cars were decked out and honking all the way down the street to the town hall (this is apparently something everyone in France does for a wedding). Then, as the bride got out of the car, men dressed in traditional garb started beating drums and blowing these huge brass horns (an Arab tradition). I didn’t have my memory card at the time, but later, on my exploration of the village, I saw the bride getting pictures taken at the Chateau…so of course I took a picture to show youJ

Well that’s about it for today. I bought a map of Lyon so that tomorrow I can begin the real exploration of the big city. Laura said she would “give me a shout” later in the weekend to go to the movies. So wish me luck navigating the tram and city without her!

Reste cool!

Ps: I thought you would be interested to know, in one of our cultural conversations about France, Laura informed me that the French do not actually say “Sacre bleu” and “han han han.” But instead they sigh heavily and say something that sounds like “buff.” When I said that all my American friends impersonate the French like that, she said, “Oh because of Robin Williams?” I don’t know about that, but thought it was funny nonetheless.