Bon Voyage

It will soon be my time to leave France and head on to other adventures. I have less than a week left, which doesn't seem possible. It has been an amazing 7 months. I have spent time with people I love, met new people that I adore, and tried my best to get these French kids to speak English. I hope to return someday and live here again, because what can I say, I love France.

Here is what I have learned these 7 months. My French has improved ten fold, which means I'm probably half fluent - I'm taking my French book on our travels so I can keep studying - I still haven't mastered verb tenses and my grammar. I realized I wasted a lot of time watching shows on WatchTvSitcoms.com instead of taking advantage of the only time I'll probably ever work 12 hours a week. Even without a real TV I'm addicted. I learned how to make cheesecake without cream cheese, I've made 4 since I've been here. It doesn't turn out the same (lighter), but its still delicious. I've learned how bad the US is in terms of farming GMOs and small farming in general (thanks Barbara Kingsolver and Vincent) and what its like to live in a farming community. Dad, you won't believe it, but I think I could be a farmer one day. I've realized how Seattle and Bellingham are not the norm, and I how greatful for that. I've learned if you ask someone "Comment-allez vous?" they will think you are from Quebec and therefore that the French we learn in school doesn't always work in France. I have learned that I use French-isms frequently when speaking English, so I'm sorry if I call a bag a sack, answer the phone with a "Allo?" or get a little "pompette", bear with me while I recuperate my English. I have learned that people are generous the world over, and I hope to be able to pay forward their incredible generosity whenever they or others come to visit me.

I will continue this blog as I travel, though it might be harder to upload pictures and such. I hope you will continue to follow along as Bryan and I explore Thailand, Australia and Fiji. You should definitely check out his blog as well, as writing is his profession and he has a much better way with words: wheresweimer.blogspot.com.

Last but not least, I have received the long awaited letter from Seattle University. Unfortunately, it is not my time to start school there. But I am looking forward to the opportunity this gives me to take some more classes, look into some different schools, and not shell out a ridiculous amount for one year of school. I've been enjoying life so far without a real career, I can wait a little longer.

A bientot!

Sisterly Visiting

I'm sorry I've been a bad blog writer...I've left you all hanging for these last few months. To be honest, I haven't done that much sight-seeing until now. I went home for 2 weeks, which was wonderful. Then I worked for 2 weeks and realized how little time I have left here. Then Charlotte came to visit and this last week has been a whirlwind! She leaves on Wednesday and takes all my stuff with her, including this computer - so I realized I better get some pictures up!
We visited Paris and Toulouse during her visit (in addition to Loches of course). We had some nice spring weather which really made it easier to explore these cities. Tomorrow we head to Paris to send her on her way. It was a great week - I don't think we've spent this much time together since I lived at home, and that's been a long time. I am proud of who she is, though driven crazy at times by her teenage-self. It made me feel old, realizing the difference 10 years can make when it seems like only yesterday I was the one in high school. How times have changed! Though I'm still in high school - just on the teaching end.
Here are some gems from our trip...

Angers - (Pronounced An-j not Angers)

We finally got out and did something touristy this weekend! Angers was a place I wanted to visit since the last time I was here (Sophie had studied there and my Professor studied and teaches there). We (Emma, Christine and Jenny) took an early train on Saturday and arrived in Angers where the weather had luckily changed from rain to cold and sunny. We started with a trip to the Office du Tourisme and a little cafe to grab some caffeine and warm up. Then we began our day of tourism.
The Chateau d'Angers is more of a fortress. It was a nice change from the more royal and fancy chateaux in the Loire area. It was a nice mix of beautiful stone walls and architecture and geometric gardens. There is also the Tapestry of the Apocalypse, which apparently is really amazing - but I'm not a huge fan of tapestry. I find it amazing they've kept them intact for so long, but other than that - not so much. I think there are much more amazing and beautiful things from long ago.
After the Chateau we visited the Cathedral, a must for any trip to a French town. It was beautiful, like most, had a beautiful carved (I don't know what - place where people go up and sing) and organ. Since it was Saturday there was only people visiting it, so it was pretty quiet.
After lunch, we visited the main site I wanted to see in Angers. The Carre Cointreau is the museum of Cointreau - the original triple sec. If anyone has had a real margarita or high class Cosmo - this is the liqueur they're putting in. It is made from the oils in orange peels (both sweet and sour oranges) and is the first brand-name liqueur of its sort. We had to take a bus to get there and it took all afternoon, but it was worth it. Like most liquor museums it gave us a run down of the making and the history. They had all the marketing pictures from the 1775 when it was started. They also had all the bottles of counterfeits who had tried to use Cointreau's unique bottle style and label. Of course, the best part was the end when we got to try some. We started off with it pure, then with ice, then the bartender showed us how to make two of their cocktails (they're trying to market it now in order to get more brand recognition). We made a Cointreau-politan, which is Cointreau, lemon juice and cranberry juice shaken like a martini. Delicious. Then they gave us a parting recipe book and a breathalyzer for the driver. We didn't have a driver, so I tried it. After completing the test (after a few false starts and difficulties) it showed that I was apparently just fine to drive. Unfortunately, it wasn't until hours later when retelling the story that we realized I had misread the directions and completely ruined the test and results. I guess those are my results right there. We took the evening train back to Tours and passed the rest of the weekend back in our "normal" assistant lives. (PS Thank you to Jenny for some pictures with me in them!)

Loches Sous La Neige

When I arrived back from my winter vacation, it had started to snow in France. We had one day of snow that lasted more than a week because of the freezing temperatures. It was sunny and beautiful all week, but because it was so cold the snow didn't budge. I had never seen snow last that long without it snowing again. Now it is wet and rainy, though they've forecasted more snow this week. Last time, the buses for school didn't run the entire week, so each day at school was pretty boring. I'm hoping the panic doesn't set in again this week if it does freeze. Its a different experience living in the country, because 60% of our students are bused in from small towns. When the buses don't run, the in-town kids know that the majority of students won't be there, so they don't come either, but the teachers are required (except if absolutely unable) to show-up. Anyway, it was interesting to see Loches in the snow. Especially this fountain...

Grevin' (Greve = Strike)

As you may be aware, France is famous for its strikes. They are much different than the strikes we're used to in the United States. The most prominent in my memory is teachers' strikes, because I would not have school for weeks while the teachers' went on strike until they got their demands or worked out a compromise. In France, at least in the schools, there is more than one union, so its not always a unified movement. Strikes are usually organized for one day, to show the disapproval of something the government has done. In this case, Sarkozy is just screwing things up left and right - he's kind of like Bush. They are reforming the school system here, taking away teaching jobs and trying to get other teachers to work more hours in place of having co-workers (sound familiar?). Usually the teachers' strikes just mean I have no class for a day and then it all goes back to normal...except we talk about the cuts every single day.

Since I've been here there have also been various other strikes, like AirFrance pilots which disrupted many travelers and the garbage men in Orleans, which meant piles of garbage on the streets (those lasted more than one day I believe and therefore in my mind are more effective - because it forces negotiation). On January 29th there was a nation-wide public and private general strike to show the government that the people are not happy. I got permission from the school to not come to school, because I found out that neither teachers I worked with that day would be there. I thought it would be much more interesting to attend the manifestation (protest) in Tours to see what it was all about.

It started around 10, and we arrived to film (Emma is a journalist for her university) and see how they got organized. It was freezing! It was kind of like a parade, with each union/group organizing in the middle street (there are side streets along the main road - for parking and smaller vehicles) and then starting the march towards the end of the main street. It was flat, so it was hard to see how many people were there - but it was a lot. We waited around an hour before heading forward ourselves, with some of the teachers from Loches. And there were lots of people behind us. Many people asked me if this was my first strike/protest or if we had these in America. Christine is from Philadelphia and she said it isn't very often to have a protest like this. I was reminded of my high school days, marching from GHS downtown for different causes ranging from the WTO Conference to the annual MLK Day March. I was proud of my Seattle leftist roots. We left once we reached Place Jean Jaures to go get some lunch and warm up - yes, we were not real activists - we played the "not really French" card and decided we'd done our part. On the way back to Christine's we passed by her school, which had been barricaded early that morning by the students - in an attempt to close the school. If they can't get in, then they're not liable for being absent. We heard one kid that was hanging around the blocked entrance say to his friend who was asking his whereabouts (via cell phone) that he was guarding the barricade. Pretty great day for experiencing French culture.

Frohe Weihnachten and Happy New Year!

This winter break was filled with traveling. I had to take advantage since I will be going home in February for a few weeks to make up some travel time.
Christine and Connie, two assistants from Tours, and I went to Paris to see the Christmas lights and get into the Christmas spirit before we all parted ways for the holiday itself. We went to the Musee Grevin, the wax museum and had fun posing with all the statues. We also walked around town, looking at the different lights that were put up for the holidays - from Galleries Lafayette, the big department store, to the huge Ferris Wheel in the Place de la Concorde, to the Tour Eiffel, light up like the EU flag - it was an incredible sight.





The next day I took the train to Goettingen in Germany to meet up with my former German assistant friend Lotta, whom I met in Tours the previous time. We spent a couple days in her college town. The first night we had a potluck with her friends where everyone brought uncooked food and then we came up with the dishes together - I found it really creative and fun. Then I got some time to see the city and settle in to German life. I'd really like to learn German now, it seems like it wouldn't be as hard as French because many of the words I can read and understand already.
We then moved on to Bremen, where she grew up and her family still lives. It had a beautiful Christmas market that spanned many parts of the city - the more modern one that held many items I'd seen in France as well, to the Middle Ages one, where people were dressed in costumes and the goods were truly handmade and original. It was quite a sight. Christmas Eve was the main holiday, we had an amazing dinner and spent the whole evening talking and opening presents. The house was beautifully decorated and the tree had real candles on it! Christmas Day we walked into downtown Bremen and saw the old part of town as well as the empty square where a few days before the market was held. The next day we went to visit their family friend who lives outside Bremen. She was so vibrant and funny, she's traveled to Australia many times and I really enjoyed meeting her. She even had a Native American raven painting on her wall that I'm pretty sure came from Washington, which she had visited also.










The following day I said goodbye to Lotta and her wonderful family and went to Berlin to see the sights. I had the luck to see a Paul Klee exhibit which got me hooked on his beautiful paintings. I also took a walking tour of the city and learned a lot of the history. It is a beautiful city and I needed more than a couple days to really explore it, but it was a lovely taste and I can't wait to go back.





From Berlin I flew to Edinburgh where I met up with Barbara and Kurt, some friends from Bellingham. We had a great time exploring Edinburgh! It is a beautiful city. It is all in the center, so it is very impressive when you first arrive. Plus, there was a carnival set up for the big New Year's Eve or Hogmanay celebration, so it was really interesting to see the juxtaposition between the modern and the historic. (I had to do it B!) We visited the sights, Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, did a walking tour, and took an excursion to Loch Lomond and Stirling Castle. As well as went to the massive street party on New Year's Eve, which was way too crowded, but fun all the same - huge fireworks show which really made it worth it. On New Year's Day we took a walk in a beautiful park that gave us views of the city. It was quite a trip.










Barbara and Kurt flew out the 2nd and I went on to Glasgow to visit another former teaching assistant, Claire. Glasgow didn't have the same outright beauty as Edinburgh, but it is called the people's capitol and it definitely was less toursity. They had some interesting museums and a strong focus on Charles Rennie Mackintosh, an art nouveau designer. I love art nouveau, so we spent much of the time going from place to place seeing his work, since it is spread out over many places. It was also nice to relax at Claire's house before making the trip back to France to start work again. I definitely took advantage of English speaking television - much to Claire's annoyance when I turned into a zombie the first night. Luckily, I recovered and we had a nice time the rest of the nights, I even got to watch some Red Dwarf! (Thanks BBC!) I flew back from Glasgow, and of course my flight was delayed due to the crazy weather that finally arrived. I had to run from baggage claim to the train station, plead my way in French and English to the front of the line to pick up the tickets I'd already reserved, and made it finally to my train. As I traveled home, I got to enjoy the view of France covered in snow, a sight I'd never seen before. And it's still here - it's been so cold. It hasn't snowed since Monday, but everything is still covered.





All in all, it was a wonderful vacation and I don't think I could have had a nicer time seeing old friends in new places.