And life goes on in Soissons

So, the last two weeks have been pretty typical.  I've been mostly in Soissons but I've been doing a lot of interesting things that you probably want to hear about.  So I'm going to throw them at you in a completely disorganized fashion and hope you enjoy.

First of all, the teaching.  Maybe some people want to know about that.  It's going really, really well!  I like working with the kids, and most of them are pretty well-behaved most of the time.  There are exceptions, but I haven't had any major discipline problems.  I'm a teaching assistant, not a full teacher, so I don't see the students every day.  Most classes meet with me once a week, a few every other week, so I go through quite a few students in every cycle.  I feel justified for not knowing all their names, although by now I'm getting a lot more faces.  My usual class consists of taking a part of the class to do some kind of conversation practice, or alternatively teaching to the whole class while the teacher is in the room.  I speak mostly in English, although for some things I have to switch to French.  The kids love me, too.  It's quite encouraging to hear the whole class get excited when I walk in!

What else has been going on in my life?  La foire!  There's currently a fair in Soissons, and we went.  It's pretty much like an American fair, except there a lot more casino-ish games and raffles and not quite as many rides, although there are still plenty of things to upset your stomach after you've eaten your fill of gauffres (waffles) and barbes à Papa (cotton candy, literally "Daddy's beard").  Sadly there are no funnel cakes.  I didn't do many of the rides yet, but there's time; it goes on until December 4th!

I realized the other day that I had exercised one time since I'd come to France.  I haven't been able to find a sporting event that interests me, since most sporting clubs here are geared towards children (although there are rumors of adult pickup basketball!  Keep your fingers crossed!), so I decided if I wanted to stay healthy, it was time to suck it up and run.  You should know this about me: I hate running.  I love playing sports--I will play almost any team sport imaginable, with varying degrees of success--but I hate running for its own sake.  I do, however, prefer exercising to not exercising, so I got my booty off the couch and took to the streets of Soissons.  My route took me to the north part of town, never knowing exactly where I was but always keeping the cardinal directions in mind (and if I do get lost, I can just wander around until I see the Cathedral towering over the skyline.  Convenient landmark).  I ran, and ran, and ran.  I was surprised at how well I was doing.  By the time I got back I'd been running for at least 30 minutes and had looped around the north part of town all the way to the river.  So I got back, tired but satisfied.  Until the next day.  My legs have never been so sore in my life.  For the first time, having a bedroom on the 3rd story really bothered me.  I stretched and stretched, but nothing helped.  The next day, I was still sore, but I'd recovered enough to run again (although only about half as far).  I hope to make a habit of it.

I also had one of the more amusing experiences of my life last weekend.  Orso was playing drums for a community musical, so we made a day of it.  Some friends and family came over for lunch (and I tasted the best champagne I've ever had...Ruinart, made by the oldest champagne house in the world), and I met a former professor of oenology.  It was very intimidating comparing wine notes with him.  Anyway, when we finally got to the musical, I was bowled over by the quality of the production.  All but two of the actors were in their 60-70's, and none of them could really sing.  It was so bad it was good.  Camille and I almost died when a 70 year old lady strutted on stage in a bathing suit.

Today was a big day for me.  My final immigration appointment.  The final test to see whether the country of France wants me.  Of course we had to go to Laon (about a 20 minute train ride away), it'd be too easy otherwise.  I frantically got all my documents in order and made it to our appointment without a problem, flew through the appointment with flying colors, and can finally say I'm a long-term legal resident of France!  After our appointment we went to lunch with some of the other assistants who were in the neighborhood--all seven Soissonais were there (5 English, 2 Spanish), as well as several from other cities, so we had quite a time.  We didn't do anything too exciting, just ate a nice crêpe lunch and had drinks, but it was a really nice day.  Laon was much more enjoyable when I didn't have to hike up the mountain (Fortunately, we found the tram.  Which is, incidentally, the only fully-automated tram system in the world.  It looks like a small, very slow, very low-key roller coaster).  Hopefully we're going to meet up with the other assistants some other time.  Several of them might be coming to Soissons for a historical conference in a couple of weeks.  Clovis, the first king of France, was baptized here, so to celebrate the anniversary of his death the city is sponsoring a free public historical conference.  I thought no one would want to go with me, so I threw away the flyer, but it turns out Blanca (who is the Spanish assistant at my high school, and a very nice person) is going and Hector wants to, too, so I'm signing up ASAP.  Can't miss the chance for some early medieval history!

And now, for the potpourri section.  It's gotten kind of chilly here, but when I went to church at the cathedral Sunday I was expecting a respite from the weather.  It turns out I didn't dress warmly enough; I didn't consider that a 13th-century cathedral might not have central heating.  Also, on a completely unrelated note, tomorrow (starting at midnight) is the Beaujolais Nouveau festival.  Beaujolais wine grapes have just been harvested, and it's become traditional to drink the new wine after about a week's fermentation (France sets the starting date by law on the 3rd Thursday of November).  The winegrowers only make their crappiest grapes into new wine, so it's not exactly high-quality stuff (especially since I don't like Beaujolais much anyway), but it's supposedly a fun tradition.  Tomorrow my high school is sponsoring a Beaujolais Nouveau party for the staff, which isn't that strange.  What is strange is that it takes place during the day (11:30-2:00) on campus.  Needless to say, attitudes about alcohol are very different here.  Also, I finally borrowed a guitar and have started playing for the first time in ages.  I used to play a lot, stopped during my last two years of college, and now with the encouragement of two musical host brothers have taken it up again.  We're playing at an open mic night, then we're learning a set to debut at their grandfather's birthday party in December.  It feels good to get my fingers all sore again.

My final update: in a sudden flash of inspiration, I decided to come home for Christmas.  Originally Mom and Dad were coming here, but after we decided it'd be easier, cheaper, and better for me just to go home.  I miss my extended family, my dog, and my diet Sunkist, so it's just going to be more practical for me to come to them than vice versa.  But I'm returning to France in time for the New Year, which is never very exciting at my house in Alabama, so I get the best of both worlds: quality family time for Christmas, and fun friends time for New Years.  Yay for having friends on both sides of the Atlantic!

Back to Where I Started

To all 3 of my dedicated readers out there, I apologize for the delay posting.  As you recall I've been on a big multicity vacation so I haven't exactly had lots of time to blog.  Plus it's hard to write a good blog entry on an iPhone (I left my laptop in France).

So, a quick summary of my vacation.  I met up with Elena in Vienna, and we spent the afternoon market hopping.  She turned in for the night rather early, so I walked around Vienna for a while on my own.  Vienna is a really great city, very modern but at the same time with a ton of history and culture.  I also got to make a surprise day trip to Budapest to see two old friends, Kristin and Amelia.  Budapest was originally part of our itinerary, but then I thought Amelia was going to be too busy (she goes to grad school there), but the night before I found out via Facebook that Kristin was getting to come, so Elena and I hopped on the train early the next morning for our Hungarian adventure.  Hungary was a different world.  The language is absolutely foreign to me--it's one of three European languages that isn't related to the rest (the other two are Finnish and Basque).  We climbed a hill and surveyed the city, eventually ending up at a little Hungarian restaurant that served one of the best meals of the trip, despite our complete lack of communication.

Back in Vienna, things kind of got worse.  I somehow got a weird stomach bug and went to two pharmacies looking for a remedy.  I wasn't feeling better, so my last day in Vienna was spent in an Austrian hospital getting an IV to ward off dehydration and lower my fever.  I still managed to tour the Hapsburg palace and see a few other things, but I had to miss going to the Vienna opera, which I had really wanted to do.

Next on our trip was Salzburg.  I wanted to go to Salzburg for the sole purpose of getting Mozartkugeln (a delicious chocolate-pistachio confection), but I found out when I got there that "The Sound of Music" had been filmed there, too.  Pleasant surprise.  Salzburg was my favorite stop on our trip.  The city is gorgeous, smallish, and very quaint.  It also helped that I was starting to feel better at this point.  I would love to go back to Salzburg and stay a little longer (and maybe do one of the cheesy "Sound of Music" tours because let's be honest, that movie is awesome.  And probably the reason I sing too much...)

After Salzburg we went to Munich.  To be frank, I didn't particularly like it.  Our room smelled disgusting and it seemed like the only thing to do is drink beer.  I think beer is just about as appealing as drinking antifreeze, so I was up beer creek without a paddle.  I was pleasantly surprised to find perhaps the most important museum of Greek sculpture outside of Greece, though.  Thanks to this museum, I have now seen about 75% of the pieces I studied in my Greek art history class.  I also ended up buying a poster for my room with busts of all the Roman emperors, 27 BC - 476 AD.  Total geekout.

Next was Prague.  Oh Prague, what an adventure.  We got in quite late and took a taxi to our hostel, paying 980 Czech koruna (about 39 Euro, or $55) for a 5-minute taxi ride.  Needless to say, we fell victim to a tourist trap.  We also had trouble finding our hostel, and when a random man came up to us on the street and said, "What hostel are you looking for?" I got a little scared.  Elena wanted to follow him, though, and it turned out all right--he actually was the hostel owner.  We had quite an experience in Prague.  The city is great, if a little touristy.  There's a lot to see in terms of sights, although the museum scene wasn't that great.  Nightlife, however, was.  That was the only time I went out on the trip, since it was more of a culture-y vacation for me, but at the same time who can say no to the largest nightclub in central Europe?  I love to dance as much as the next guy, even if I end up looking like a paralyzed octopus.  I think it was too crowded for anyone to care, and our awesome new Canadian friends were too nice to say anything.

The next day Elena and I went with another guy we'd met in the hostel to Kunta Hora, a small city about an hour by train from Prague.  It's known for one thing: the most macabre church I've ever visited.  The city was the site of an early Cistercian monastery, and one of the monks brought soil from Jerusalem to sprinkle in the church's graveyard.  This made the little cemetery the trendiest place in Bohemia for your bones to make their final resting place...unless you were one of the unlucky people whose skeleton was turned into a decorative altarpiece or chandelier after the Hussites burned the old building.  Yes, you heard me: the church is decorated with human bones.  Weird...

On our way back I got on the most crowded train I've ever seen.  It was completely packed; every compartment was full, and the hallways were jammed with friendly Czechs, so naturally me, Elena, and Clay (our travel buddy) squeezed into the train bathroom.  It's okay; if anyone had needed to use it, they couldn't have gotten there anyway.

After Prague was Amsterdam.  This is one of the most unique cities I've ever visited.  Canals are everywhere, every coffee shop reeks of (completely legal) marijuana, and EVERYONE speaks English.  Amsterdam has a really rich culture, with a number of cool museums (highlights: Van Gough and Tropical Museum).  I saw a 50,000 Euro jewel at a diamond factory, strolled around the Red Light district, and went to Anne Frank's house.  I tasted Dutch pancakes (twice) and took a canal tour.  I stayed a hostel the size of Soissons.  Amsterdam is definitely worth a visit, even if you're like me and don't want to smoke pot or cavort with one of the (completely legal) "ladies of the night."

But alas, all epic trips must come to an end.  I had a great time, but I was completely exhausted and ready to get back to my life here in France.  I got back on Thursday night and worked Friday morning, took Saturday to rest, and then Sunday went off to Disneyland Paris with my family and our guest for the week, Elie's German pen pal.  Eurodisney was AMAZING.  Being in Disney in Europe was a taste of America.  American flags fly over most of the park, and the music they played in line for Thunder Mountain was a sort of "Greatest Hits of American Folk."  And by that, I mean the songs every good southern child learns by heart: "On Top of Old Smokey," "Polly Wolly Doodle," "Home on the Range," etc.  I wanted to square dance but the other 2,000 people in line might not have liked that.

Otherwise, Eurodisney is a lot like Disneyworld; it's laid out the same, and the rides are comparable, although Space Mountain is better in Paris.  When I got back, I crashed into bed rather early.  Which sounds appealing right about now.  So goodnight world.  Pictures are coming soon!

Reims, Paris, and the start of my Periplus

The last week has been relatively uneventful, except for a couple of day trips I made.

Last Sunday, I finally got the chance to go to Reims. If you don't know about Reims, it's the capital of the Champagne region, a relatively large city, and an important college town. It's also where Benoît's parents live, so the perfect place for a grand family reunion and a chance "meet the American." There were tons of people there...somewhere around 20...sO it was quite the party! We ate delicious French food until we were sick (salmon patiné, pasta with meat, a full cheese tray, two desserts, and champagne), then decided to load most of the family up to go play laser tag. No that's not a mistake-laser tag. 13 of us played, from the youngest cousin and Nathan all the way up to 3 of the 4 grandparents. I came in 3rd thanks to my stereotypically-American shooting skills and mongoose-like reflexes. I would have won but I absentmindedly wore a white shirt...ok probably not but we'll pretend that's why I didn't win.

After our laser quest the Samsons went home, leavings with Camille and the grandparents for the rest of the evening. We went to the Reims cathedral to watch a laser-light show...it's hard to describe, but essentially they used the cathedral face as a projector screen for all sorts of lighting effects. It sounds weird but it was actually really cool...the building is beautiful, And with all the light effects it was even cooler.

I made it back to Soissons late that night and headed off to work the next day. I had the good fortune of having my Wednesday classes cancelled again, so on the spur of the moment I decided to go to Paris for the day. It was a typical day in Paris--I went to the Wine museum, which was kind of disappointing. The lack of organization and the blatant product placement at the end (Grand Marnier is not by any stretch of the imagination wine) overshadowed the few interesting artifacts. I was also frustrated by the cashier's refusal to speak French to me...I know I'm American, but if I'm speaking French I probably want to speak French. Oh well. The rest of my day was much better.

I got lost in the 2nd arrondissement for a while before I finally found what I was looking for: the Cabinet des Monnais. This was a real treat: it was free, and the collection of miscellaneous artifacts there was astounding. Highlights: some Byzantine ivory carvings, "Charlemagne's" chess set, and several nice Greek vases. Just like the old days :)

After that I made my way back to Gare du Nord to head home. The train was really full, and I got lucky with my seat mate--I made a new French friend! Speaking of French friends, one of my friends from Aix (where I studied abroad in 2009) now lives in Paris, and we're going to meet up soon after my vacation.

I've referred to my trip before--it finally started today! I'm currently in the airport in Vienna waiting for my friend from Vanderbilt Elena. I think her plane might be in too, so I should go; more info on my trip soon!

Hopping around Northwestern France

So, it seems like a long time since I've posted, when in fact it's only been a week.  I'll start with a recap of my day in Amiens:

I managed to catch a bus to the place where my meeting was and got there quite early (and of course the orientation didn't start until 30 minutes late, so I could have taken the train that morning and saved my night in a sketchy hotel).  The orientation was pretty typical, although there were a few surprises:
1.  There were these amazing people who took care of all our complicated paperwork for us; I had no idea this was going to happen so I was shocked when I could weeks' worth of red tape cut in one sitting
2.  Our free lunch was delicious!  We got a three-plate sampler of a galette au four, some pain de viande, and something else really excellent (and I kind of made up the names of those dishes, but if you know French cuisine you'll get the idea).  Throw in a tarte aux pommes and a cup of cider and altogether it was quite nice.
3.  I got to visit the cathedral during our 2.5-hour lunch break.  The cathedral at Amiens is really famous, and rightly so; it may be the prettiest church I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them.  It's bigger than Notre Dame and much, much less somber.  The stained-glass windows of the cathedrals in Picardy got bombed out over the course of the two world wars, so they were repaired with cheaper clear glass, and I think it's an improvement.  You lose the symbolism in the windows, but I think the brightness compensates...there's plenty of other iconography inside to see without dark stained-glass windows.  I even got to see a relic: the head of St. John the Baptist.  Even if it's not actually his head, it's super important because in the Middle Ages people would come from all over Europe to revere it.

After our orientation Alex, Hector (the Mexican assistant who lives with the other English assistants in the boarding school), and I made our way to the Gare, only to find that the trains were on strike because a conductor had gotten stabbed.  After a shorter-than-expected delay of 30 minutes, we caught our first train, then our second, but the third had been cancelled.  SNCF to the rescue!  SNCF is the French rail company, and it is AWESOME.  The trains are always clean, usually on time (barring a grève, i.e. a strike), and not too expensive.  They also payed a cab for the three of us from Laon to Soissons, a cab which cost 90 Euros.  Thanks nice man at the Laon station!

So that Saturday I set off with Benoît, Irène, and Camille to run some errands/do some sightseeing.  First we went to one of the Parisian suburbs to drop off some packages for a lady to deliver to friends in Senegal (the customs department in Senegal is so corrupt that nothing valuable can get through the post, so everything has to be sent by a courrier).  Next, we went to Vaux de Vicomtes, which is the castle that inspired Versailles.  I'll bore you all with a quick history lesson (omit the bracketed part if you don't care):

[begin history lesson

So once upon a time there was this guy named Foucquet who built this uber-extravagant palace north of Paris.  He was one of the finance ministers of France under Louis XIV, who was really jealous of this chateau (Vaux de Vicomtes).  Another one of Louis's finance ministers (named Colbert, incidentally) made some really shady deals and got caught, but blamed it all on Foucquet.  Louis was so jealous of his fancy house that he rigged the trial, stuck Foucquet in prison then exile, then built Versailles just to show him.

end history lesson]

After our little afternoon at the chateau (where Tony Parker and Eva Longoria got married, incidentally), Benoît asked me if I wanted to go to Paris for the evening to catch some sights.  Of course I said yes, so we hopped on the freeway and soon were driving along the Seine.  It was surreal to be in Paris like that; it's always such an ordeal to get there the other times I've been that just waltzing up casually was strange, but in a very good way.  I grabbed a couple of pictures in front of the Eiffel tower, but other than that we never left the car.  We stopped on the outskirts to have dinner in Bercy Village and found a very nice crêperie that served Alsacien cuisine, including both crêpes and their cousin, the pizza-like flammekuche (Alsace used to be part of Germany, if you didn't already guess from the word flammekuche).  That was one of my favorite meals since I've been here, even though I was about to fall over from exhaustion.

Sunday, Katie and I went to the Protestant church in Soissons.  There's only one, and it was TINY.  There were somewhere around 10 people there, out of a city of 28,000, so a far cry from the packed-out cathedral last weekend.  However the service was very nice, the pastor spoke very clear, comprehensible French, and there was actually a sermon instead of the mini-homily thing the bishop gave at the cathedral last week.  The members were also very friendly and glad to see 2 young people; one nice gentleman even gave us his business card and said to call if we needed any help.  He had his two adorable kids with him, and Katie wants to babysit them.  It was a very nice, welcoming experience, and both Katie and I want to go back in two weeks (the pastor works in Soissons every other week, and goes to Laon on the other Sundays).

This week's teaching has gone really well; I even got to introduce one class to a Taylor Swift song ("Picture to Burn" for for my curious readers) and then guided them through translating it into French.  Today I had to go to Laon, the capital of the départment (which is roughly equivalent to an American county), to have my immigration medical visit.  At 9:15 am.  Not counting travel time.

I met up with Marlene at the train station and we made our way to the city of Laon, just a 25 minute, 3.50 Euro jaunt down the track.  We then realized that to get to the hospital, we had to climb to the top of the hill where the old city is.  And when I say hill, I mean small mountain.  I'll post a picture later, but suffice it to say it's enormous.  Fortunately it was cool enough that I arrived not disgusting, but we were out of breath.  The medical visit went really smoothly.  The hospital was modern, well organized, and staffed with friendly people.  It was a huge contrast from the time I went to the hospital in Greece.  And of course I have to tell that story, but it's not that important so I'll put it in brackets again:

[start digression

When I was in Greece last summer studying, I accidentally took a dip wearing my insulin pump.  A few days later, it died completely and I had to order a new one.  The problem is, Greek customs officials are not exactly the most efficient in the world, so I had to get some long-acting insulin to fill in the gap.  So Manuel, our fellow archaeologist/driver/translator, drove me to the hospital in new Corinth to begin our afternoon-long odyssey for long-acting insulin.  Inside the hospital we didn't know where to go, so we wandered around aimlessly, occasionally asking for help, until we got to the wing we wanted.  The hospital was very shabby, with equipment that looked straight out of the 1970's, faux-wood paneling and all.  We sat down in the doctor's office to wait for him to come back from lunch or siesta or who-knows-what, and the grouchy charge nurse came in and started, quite literally, screaming at us.  Manuel screamed back.  I sat in terror.  Even though I knew shouting is much more culturally acceptable in Greece, it still scared me a little.  Eventually the doctor showed up, gave me a prescription but no instructions, and sent us on our way.  The good part: we didn't pay a dime.  Although maybe they could have used my dime to start updating their mustard yellow shag carpeting (forgive my exaggeration; of course they didn't really have carpet.  But it would have gone well with the rest of the decor).


end digression]

Anyway, after a quick chest x-ray and interview with the doctor (Have you had your tetanus booster in last 10 years?--yes--Do you have proof?--no--Oh well, I'll sign anyway), I met up with Marlene again and we wandered back down to the bottom of the city to catch a train and made it back to Soissons without further adventure.  One of my afternoon classes got cancelled (the third one this week), so all I have between me and my big weekend of concerts, champagne house tours, the discothèque, and a family dinner is 3 hours of work tomorrow.

But before I sign off, I need to throw in a couple of random points.

1.  If you're tempted to eat at an American restaurant in France, just don't.  The family has taken me to McDo's twice and Buffalo Grill once, and each time I have been disappointed.  Buffalo Grill is a really kitschy French chain that serves hamburgers, steaks, salads, etc, trying to imitate an American steakhouse, but it really doesn't cut it.  I ordered chicken, expecting to get a nice bird hot off the rotisserie (or maybe battered and friend in lard to its crispy golden perfection), but instead I got something in between.  Clearly the man who invented Buffalo Grill has never eaten at Loveless Café, or KFC for that matter.  There's too much delicious food floating around here in France to waste a meal on subpar American cuisine.

2.  Vacation starts next Friday, and I've got a grand adventure in store!  I don't really know the details yet, but I do know where I'm going and when.  First I jet off to Vienna, where I'm meeting up with my friend Elena from Vanderbilt.  We're seeing a bit of Vienna first, then going to Salzburg (I just really want Mozartkugeln), Munich, Prague, and finally Amsterdam before heading back to Paris and/or Soissons.  It's gonna be quite the adventure, and I'm going to try to make the entire 2-week trip with only a carryon suitcase.  Wish me luck.

3.  We're already making epic plans for Thanksgiving dinner here at the house.  We're going to do it the day after Thanksgiving, since obviously the French don't get the week off, and it going to be great.  I've already started plotting how to get the North American ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and turkey. I'm inviting everyone I know, so it looks to be quite the evening.  Also, if anyone knows how to pipe the Black Friday football games to France via the tubes (aka the internet), let me know.

4.  I miss American football and all my favorite TV shows a lot.  I'm about to cut loose and start buying them off iTunes because I can't seem to trick my computer into thinking I'm still in the US.  But as Auburn isn't quite having a championship season (nor is Vandy, but then again I had no hopes for that), it hasn't been as painful as it could have been.

Anyway, why do I wait until 2 am to finish my blog?  Probably because I'm less antisocial that way.  Sleep is for weaklings anyway.  I thiiinkzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Photo Update

So just a little update on pictures:

First Album
Second Album
Third Album

There will be more, don't worry!  Enjoy!

En route to Amiens

A trembling American empties his pockets into the hands of a large Russian man in front of him, while a gang of foreigners looks on.  Sound like the opening of a mob movie?  In fact, this happened to me tonight.  But I’ll explain later in this post (in journalism, this is what is called a “hook.”)

I really should be sleeping right now but I just had one of those days, so I have to put down my thoughts now.  First of all, a recap of my last couple of days is in order.  I started teaching Monday, and it’s been going quite well!  On the whole the students are well-behaved, and some of them are even interested in what I have to say.  This week has been a series of introductions to the various classes, so I’ve gotten to show them pictures of my friends, family, hometown, etc., all the while highlighting differences between France and the US.  Of all the classes I’ve had so far (7 in total), I’ve only had one student who’s ever been to the US, which kind of surprised me.

I already have favorite students, too.  One of them was a delightful young lady who sat on the front row in a class of 10^th graders.  She smiled a lot, was well-behaved, and asked good questions, and when her turn came to answer my query (What is your favorite hobby?) she rattled off a paragraph-long sentence in nearly perfect English describing a swim competition two years ago.  The craziest thing: she didn’t have a French accent.  She was far above any of the other students I’ve met, of any level.  I found out later that she was a German exchange student.  But never fear, I also had a very strong native French girl in the BTS class I taught today.  The BTS is the rough equivalent of an Associate’s degree in the US; these students are learning about management, etc.  They’re a little older and more mature, and this girl was quite strong in English, too.  Overall, I think I’m really going to like teaching these classes.

Earlier this evening I left Soissons to make my journey to Amiens for the district-wide orientation.  I caught a train with Alex, one of the English assistants in town, and everything went smoothly.  Until our train stopped in the middle of the track in some small town.  I didn’t catch much of what the conductor said, but Alex thought he said something about running over a drunk person with the train.  I wasn’t sure if she was right until we went down the tracks a bit and the conductor hopped out, joined a group of policemen, and sprinted back to where we’d just been stopped.  I didn’t see anything, but I can’t think of any other explanation.  Odd.

So anyway, we finally arrived at Amiens and were immediately met by a crew of men who started scrubbing guts off the front of our train (okay, I might have made that last part up).  I caught a cab to my hotel, about 15 minutes outside the city center, and went to the automatic cashier machine that takes the place of the reception desk after hours.  I had no problem finding my reservation, but I met another problem: my American card wouldn’t work in the machine.  European bank cards have a microchip in them that American cards don’t, and this has started causing me problems (and my French card doesn’t get in for another few days).  So here I am stranded in the suburbs of Amiens, France, 15 minutes and 15 Euros away from anyone I know, with no access to my hotel room.  Fortunately, there was a man standing next to me who was having his own problems with the machine.  He had a large beard and wasn’t wearing deodorant, which screams “Russian” louder than a can of caviar.  He agreed to pay for my room on his card, and I payed him cash, hence me handing over money.  The foreigners: other people waiting for the machine.  Why was I trembling, you might ask, if I wasn’t being mugged?  My blood sugar was low.  So, all-in-all, my evening was a lot less exciting but a lot less dangerous than a mob movie.

In other news, Camille found me on Facebook and has started reading this blog (Hi Camille!).  I also cooked an American meal for the family yesterday (turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and sautéed zucchini), and it went over very well.  Kudos to my wonderful mother for the recipes!  Everything is going swimmingly.  But I must head off, a long day of orientation tomorrow.  And I think I left my iPhone at home, so no Angry Birds to distract me.

Voilà Notre Américain!

So I'm going to start with the bad and move on to the good.

Bad:  I came in 3rd in a bicycle race today.  Oh, and I broke the bell on my rental bike.

Good:  I've had two of the most interesting days of my life.


Want more detail?  Well, I think I explained the "Bad" category adequately, so let's move on to the good.

Two nights ago I met up with the three other English assistants who were here.  It was really funny to hear so much English!  They all three live together at a high school.  I found out that two of them sing, so we're going to look for a choir together!  I'm going to church with Katie (one of the three) tomorrow, too; I hope my two years of Episcopal church will help me navigate the liturgy in French.  But in any case the big guy upstairs understands English.

Yesterday was scary but exciting.  I went to the high school to meet my colleagues/get my work schedule/etc.  I only work 12 hours each week, so I get to start late every day :)  For Monday, I'm preparing a presentation for my 3 classes on myself, my city, my state, American culture, etc.  I can't wait to talk about how awesome Florence and Nashville are.  There are 9 English teachers, 8 of which I'm working with, and all of which seem very nice.  One of the younger ones invited me out for drinks after school!  The place we ended up going was closed, though, so it got postponed.  Instead I went home and played some more Monopoly.  I love making Monopoly jokes about the American mortgaging his property (hypothèquer).  But fortunately for me, my housing bubble didn't burst and I won.

Today is when things get really fun.  The family decided to spend the day riding bikes and touring the city of Compiègne.  We drove to Pierrefonds, where Irène's parents live, and headed off to the bike path (piste cycable) along with Grandma, but not before noticing the enormous castle that overlooks the town.  I'll post a picture later when my internet connection is better.  We then proceeded to bike a leisurely 13 km, finally arriving in the picturesque city of Compiègne.  I've never seen such pretty houses; we must have come in from the nice part of town, because everywhere we looked there were enormous 19th-century villas overlooking the broad tree-lined boulevard.  But we weren't there to look at houses; we were on a mission to eat.

The restaurant we went to was one-of-a-kind.  Not because of our main dish--it was really good, but not as exciting as dessert.  Today was the day I learned what à la volonté means.  It's the French version of "all-you-can-eat," and it's almost unheard of.  But at this little bistro in this smallish city, you can order profiteroles à la volonté.  All-you-can-eat puff-pastry-thingies with vanilla ice cream in the middle, smothered with melted chocolate.  You'll be happy to hear I stopped myself at 4.

After lunch we visited the centerpiece of the city, the chateau.  It was built by Napoleon, but it reminded me a lot of Versailles, except not quite so extravagant.  But still pretty dang over-the-top.  Seriously Josephine, you need golden angels to hold up your bed curtains?  No.  You don't really even need bed curtains.

We'd noticed a rather oddly-dressed girl walking around the chateau while we were inside and I had tried in vain to snap a picture from a distance, but I didn't succeed.  At least not until we caught her at the gate and, in a flurry of French I didn't quite understand, was told to stand beside her for a picture.  Then we danced a waltz with no music.  It was very nice but very odd, until I realized why.  Bachelorette parties in France aren't like those in the US.  Instead of going to Chippendale shows, the brides-to-be go to public places and do silly things, like dress in period clothes and dance with strangers at castles.  I knew this from my study-abroad program in Aix, where I'd been snatched from the doorway of the cell phone store, stuck on a scale, and kissed by a bride-to-be on a quest to kiss 1000 kilograms of men, but this time I was thrown off by the location and the period costume.  Glad I figured it out eventually.

After the chateau, we went back home on the bike trail, this time riding as fast as possible.  I was tired by the time we got back to the car, but in a good way.  After a quick drive home and a much-deserved shower, I went off with Camille, Orso, and two friends to grab dinner at a kebab shop.  The rest of the family had gone to a party (of course I was invited), but I wanted to stay close to home.  After dinner, I ended up jamming with Benjamin and Orso.  I was in high demand as a singer (since I know English and half the songs they like are in English), but I also played guitar for the first time in a while.  Of course the first song I teach them is "Sweet Home Alabama."  It turns out we're going to play it at an open mic night somewhere down the line!

In other news, I finally got my French phone in the mail this morning.  The mail lady had asked for a "Madame Ray," which confused Camille, but I fortunately caught her before she left with my package.  I've been playing with it some, and it seems nice, but it's no iPhone.  But that's okay, because who needs an iPhone when you have a 1400-year-old country to explore out your back door?

Picardie, je viens d'arriver

So I'm here.  Whoot!  Which means it's time for a play-by-play recap of days 1-2.

Somehow, I managed to fit 7 months of clothes into 3 suitcases.  The lady at the Huntsville Airport was nice, so I only had to pay $60 in overweight baggage fees.  After a quick jaunt from Huntsville (best airport ever, by the way: security took me all of 15 seconds), I arrived in Chicago.  For my last meal this side of the Atlantic, what else would I choose but Chili's?  I had a craving for their yummy honey-chipotle chicken crispers.  After all, what's more American than chicken tenders?  Nothing.  I also found a host gift at the Chicago airport.  What is more appropriate than fancy chocolate?  Fancy chocolate from a company started by a Vandy grad that uses a French tag line (Haut Chocolat, which translates roughly to "fine chocolate." Ok, you probably could figure that out).  And yes, this is the same company that makes bacon chocolate.  If you don't know about that, ask me sometime.  It's exactly as perfect as it sounds.

So after a nice little flight of 7.5 hours, I landed at Charles-de-Gaulle.  Interesting note: the French prefer to call it "Roissy."  I met another assistant on board; she was going to Lille.  Next: the train.  I found the train station without much trouble, but I had to wait in line for my ticket.  I had to change trains during this ride, which doesn't sound too bad, expect that I had at least my own weight in luggage to tote around.  I got on the first train, made it to the Gare du Nord (the station at Paris), and proceeded to wander in vain looking for the trains to Picardy.  I started to panic; they were nowhere to be found, and there was no master schedule in sight.  But finally after floundering around like an overloaded pack mule for a while, I found my train.  All that stood between me and Soissons was a 1.5 hour train ride.  Oh, and a flight of stairs that looks a lot more imposing when you're running on essentially no sleep and have bags larger than 8-year-olds.  But somehow I conquered them, plopped down on the train, and made it to Soissons.  Brigitte (my contact at the school) met me there, took me to lunch at a nice little French bistro, and showed me around my school and town for a while.  Finally we made it to my host family's house.  I had NO idea what to expect.

I was greeted by a very nice French lady named Irène and her middle son Eli (14 years old).  Just behind the door lay the most beautiful little courtyard ever; perfect green grass, a sweet dog named Patch, a chubby bunny (no, literally a chubby bunny) and tons of space.  Their house is on one side of the courtyard.  On the first floor, there's a great kitchen, living room, and TV room.  They even have a pinball machine!  The second floor belongs to the parents, Irène and Benôit (who is a dentist and shares his name with the French version of the pope's), but there's a foosball table there, too.  The third floor houses my bedroom, the three boys' bedrooms, a huge bathroom, and a video game area.  Since there are three boys (Nathan is 8 and Olso is 16 I think), they have a TON of games.

The kitchen

As an aside, the cat hair isn't bothering me at all.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I took a shower and a nap, then that evening we had a nice dinner with the whole household, the sister Camille (who's at college at Reims but came back for the evening), her boyfriend and friend, and Irène's parents, then we went to a concert that Olso and Eli were playing in.  They're in a rock band, and it was really fun.  "Tu dois crier!" Camille told me, so I screamed.  Afterwards we walked home and I got a well-deserved sleep until late this morning.

French version of European monopoly: Guess what the equivalent of
Boardwalk is?
Yes, you guessed it--Paris.

Today, we had Benôit's work partner over for lunch.  After that I went cell-phone shopping with Brigitte, with no success, and went to track down another one of the assistants.  She turned out to be busy, though, and I got a chance to wander a little for the first time.  During these wanderings I realized I'd forgotten the word "apostrophe" in English, since I couldn't find it on the French computer I had to use.  One home, we started a game of French monopoly, rented a movie (with English subtitles!  yay!), had crêpes for dinner, and now I'm here blogging about it while the rest of the family sleeps.

Moi, je ne parle pas l'anglais...

So now for the most exciting news--a little tidbit I saved for everyone who's read this far.  No one in my family speaks English.  Not the parents, not the children, not the bunny.  This has demonstrated to me that my French is WAY rustier than I was expecting.  This is great in the long run, because I'm here to work on my French, so I have no option but to practice, but in the short term it's made for some humorous moments.  I really hope I'm not bugging the family to death with my terrible pronunciation and even worse grammar.  So everyone keep your fingers crossed that everything comes back to me, and more.  I'm the first American anyone in the family has ever met, so I need to leave a good impression :)

Well, it is quite late.  I need to rest up for my big day tomorrow!  A bientôt!

The Final Countdown (plus some sentimental stuff)

So, with 6 days left on this continent, I felt like it was time to update.  Before this week there was little to report; I drilled some metal, lost some softball games, and won some frisbee.  I've often wondered how many pounds of steel I turned into helpless little chips over the past month.  The metal got its revenge though; a substantial percentage of those shavings turned up in my hair, my shoes, and my fingers (the latter is my least favorite).

But enough about life in Florence.  This blog isn't called "I'm already here, Alabama."  You probably want to know about France.  My last few weeks have been consumed with the roller-coaster ride that is finding housing.  When I first talked to my contact, she gave me three options for housing: two high schools and a very French-sounding option called "Foyer de Jeunes Travailleurs," aka "Young-Workers' Complex."  Well, just like my typical softball game, I went 0-3; none of the three had a room for this poor American assistant.  Brigitte (my contact) has been trying incessantly to find me a place, and finally she found a family that was willing to loan me a room in exchange for tutoring the kids in English.  It's perfect--it's inexpensive, I don't have to worry about going to the laundromat, and I get to hang out with real French people from the get-go-- but there's a catch.


(Thanks to Yanjing Lu for this stock photo)

Yup, a cat, the one thing I'm really allergic to.  Achoo.  So the first few weeks are going to be an exercise in antihistamine overdosing.  But other than that I'm really excited about my living situation, even if it is just temporary.  I may be apartment hunting soon, but we'll see.  It depends on how well I can hold my Benadryl.

I've also been running in circles doing all the little things one does before moving to Europe for a year.  I've made eye appointments, closed bank accounts, and sent my entire collection of dress shirts to the cleaners to be pressed into stackable, packable little squares.  I'm buying most things when I get to France, but some I have to bring: all my diabetes supplies, a few books, and eight sticks of my favorite deodorant (apparently European deodorant is formulated a little differently, and I don't want to take any chances).

I went to Nashville for the last time last weekend, and that's when everything really started to sink in.  I've been incredibly excited about moving, but it wasn't until then that I really got my head around it.  I love my family, and Florence is still a nice town, but Nashville has really been my home over the past four years.  Needless to say, it was hard to leave, even harder than at graduation.  Monday TV nights with my friend Josh are a thing of the past, frisbee with the Alumni lawn crew is done, and I'm no longer a choirite.

But that's okay.  I know it'll be a big adjustment, but it's time for the next chapter.  Especially since that next chapter is in France :)

But anyway, time to enjoy American TV while I still can.  Zooey Deschanel's new show comes on in a few minutes, and I don't want to miss it.  Next time you hear from me I'll be in France, and hopefully have some pictures from my new camera (thanks Mom and Dad)!  A bientôt!

Getting Ready

TAPIF has been very helpful when it comes to logistics, so I decided to heed item number one on the pre-departure instructions very carefully.  See the picture below.



Now you understand why I decided to live and work at home for the summer.

My job search taught me two things.  First, networking is key.  Second, it's hard to find an entry-level job when unemployment is 9.whatever%.  I finally got a spot as a server in a restaurant, grâce à some hardcore networking, and did that for a while.  But despite my best efforts to keep everyone's glasses of iced tea filled to the brim, my hours slowly dwindled.  The place got really, really slow so I wasn't surprised to be laid off after about a month (I was the last one hired, so I was the first to go).  Last week, I started working for my dad in his machine shop.  What does that entail?  Turning large pieces of metal into smaller, smoother, more functional pieces of metal.  Hundreds of times.  It's very tiring, but I'm pretty good at it.  There's something very satisfying about getting grease and metal splinters everywhere.  You feel like you've accomplished something at the end of the day--soon, my parts will be manufacturing wire for your house.  *cue evil laugh*


Besides work, I've been playing sports quite a bit.  My parents' church started a softball team, so I am now the starting shortfielder for the Pleasant Hill Holy Rollers (ok, that's not really our name, but I thought it was clever).  I'm pretty terrible, but since I was one of two who showed up to every practice (the other being my nephew) the coach decided we could play every inning of every game.  The coach is also my dad, but of course there's no favoritism there.  We lost our first game 10-2; I recorded a grand total of 0 putouts and 0 hits.  I also found out a bunch of guys from my high school play ultimate frisbee pretty regularly, so I've joined them quite a few times.  Ultimate is my favorite sport, so I was really happy to find people who played.  On an non-athletic note, I've started singing with my church choir.  My 13-year streak of being in choir continues.  If only I could get string together a 13-game hitting streak in softball...

I've been running a lot of other errands to get ready for my departure--buying my plane ticket, applying for my visa (which I'm still waiting on...), converting my money to euros, etc.  There are several other assistants in my town, so I've been trying to get in touch with them too (hey guys if you're reading this!).  Hopefully packing won't be terrible.  After all, how much can you fit in 3 suitcases?  I guess I'll find out soon enough.