Tehhhxaaaaaas (Update Mini Series Part 3/5)

While I wasn't planning to return to the States at all during my time in France and interview brought me back. I had applied to a program called “Texas Teaching Fellows” (TTF) which is an alternative teaching certification program. In their application process, they have a longer than average interview process. It seemed quite daunting at the outset, but turned out to be well run and reasonable. The interview consists of a 5 minute sample teaching session, a writing segment, a mock faculty meeting discussing current education issues and an individual interview. Given all these components, a skype or phone interview is not possible. So back to the land of large ice filled sodas I went. After some worrying delays and route changes, I ended up with a layover in Newark airport, waiting for my flight to Austin. It took quite a lot for me not to sneak out of the airport to the train and just show up in kitchen at home. I decided that may complicate things a but seeing as I was not ticketed through Newark on the return, and I had an interview in Austin in less than 16 hours.

Anthony picked me up from the Austin airport, and after a trip to Wal-Mart to get toiletries (Everyone who is returning fro abroad should go to Wal-Mart as their first thing back in the States because it is such a hearty “YOU'RE IN AMERICA”) and it was early to sleep.

The interview started around nine, though I got there earlier, and lasted until about 2pm. There were some breaks and a Q & A session in there though, so it wasn't excruciating, though by the end I was starting to fade due to jet leg. I didn't feel like it went the best, but apparently it did, because I week later I found out I had been accepted into the program! I'll be starting the “summer institute” on June 7ish, going through the end of July, and hopefully in a classroom in early August.

The rest of my time in Austin was nice and restful, full of English books, movies, tacos and ice cream. Leaving Austin wasn't too difficult because I was headed to see Orrin and only 5 days later, Anthony would arrive in France!

Carentan/ Cherbourg (Update mini series 2/5)

I met Lydia at the Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Michelle in Ouistreham and really clicked with her. She's got a great sense of humor, an even better knowledge of WW2 and is tons of fun. She was also part of the group that came to Coutances and out to Mont Saint Michel. It had been a while since we had seen each other, and since she was always challenging that Carentan is even smaller than Coutances, I had to go check it out for myself.

Turns out she really wasn't lying. It's not a bad city to be in, but it is small like Coutances. There is a beautiful like harbor/quai which is connected to canals leading out to the ocean. There's a park area around it, and the grass, trees and sailboats bobbing in the water make for a pretty site. She showed me the collège where she works and lives and also the lycée. The courtyard area actually has palm trees in it! It's a surprising site, but Normandy winters are usually mild enough that the palms can handle it.

After a pizza lunch and a tour of the town, we took a train to Cherbourg, only about 30 minutes away, to visit other assistants up there. Cherbourg is a pretty big city, important because of it's large harbor (the titanic actually stopped there) , which means a fair amount of Brits also come over easily to visit and there's quite a large number of shops and so on.

A number of the assistants live in a high school flat, with great accommodations like.... an extra bed and couch! As my travel continues my standards for what is required for a sleeping surface have degraded to “some floor space only slightly smaller than my body... or a chair” so a bed or couch seems pretty lush! In any case, my acquaintances Josh and James, Lydia and I headed to a cafe. The rest of the day/ evening/ wee hours of the morning were spent drinking one substance or another. We went from café, to bar, to another bar where a Couch Surfing meet up was being held, to night club, to kebab place and home. We didn't get in until around 4am, and all went to sleep fairly quickly after that. The next day Lydia and I were able to take the same train to our respective homes. James was a gentleman and walked us to the train station to wait, preceded by a trip to McDo for hangover fries, burgers and sodas. It was a really fantastic weekend and I have plans to visit again, well rested and ready to go out!

Parents Visit (Update Mini Series 1/5)

Update coming..

(31 March 2011) Sorry this updates comes nearly two months after my parents visited (!) Here's the down and dirty version, mostly told in pictures because it's easier.

Don't worry though, they got in lots of delicious food, pastries, breads, wines and a personalized tour of Normandy from yours truly (don't let them know I take everyone to the same places ;)

On Saturday with their late arrival into Coutances I cooked them (bought prepackaged) crepes and galettes for dinner, a gastronomic introduction into Normandy life. Don't worry, the meal was accompanied by cider as well!

Sunday we headed to the Bayeux Tapestry and since Mom and Dad had rented a car, a small driving tour of the different Normandy Beaches. I figured it was good I finally the whole stretch, not just the American Cemetery considering I'm a 7 month Normandy resident. Tensions slightly rose when I forgot that Mom and Dad don't like traveling like us young folk so they actually pay more than 5 euros for a meal and sit down to eat it. Luckily I spied an open restaurant (on a Sunday!) and we headed in for......... more galettes! That's ok. Cider and galettes always makes people happier.

Dad of course gave commentary on all the different places while Mom staggered in the wind and wondered how the hell she ended up on a cold windy beach while on vacation in France.

St. Mere Eglise

The stained glass in St. Mere Eglise that commemorates the paratroopers

Monday I taught classes! (Unusual occurrence, I know) but I met up with Mom and Dad for lunch (real restaurants and I didn't have to pay for them?! win!) Dad was qualified to give the Coutances tour after his December visit, so he showed Mom all the attractions (Cathedral, Garden....ummmm- aqueduct?)

Tuesday my cold/sickness/general grossness finally came to be useful. My throat was unaccustomed to all the talking I had been doing and rebelled by disappearing. Needless to say this makes being a conversation assistant rather difficult. So I showed up to my first class to let Patrick know that it wasn't going to work out and that I wasn't showing up to my afternoon class. Since, well, I couldn't talk.

We headed to Château de Gratot, only a few kilometers from Coutances, but since it's often rainy I hadn't worked up the courage to take my bike over there. The sun was actually out and the place was really interesting. Pretty much you would expect an old, little known château to look like.

After that we headed over to Agon-Coutainville to find out what the Atlantic looks like from this side (blue). It was nice to just walk outside and enjoy the relatively nice weather. We had lunch at some Michelin Guide listed place that Mom wanted to go to. Let's just say that it was very froofy. Off season isn't the best time to go anywhere, but I don't think this place was really on their A game anyway. Oh well, it was certainly an experience.

Wednesday we headed to Mont Saint Michel, with a picnic lunch featuring sandwiches and desserts from the fancy bakery in town. Mom looked like she was ready to hire a donkey to the top (if only! I wish they had donkeys there!) but persevered and made it up those many, many stairs. We did the audio guides which I think really add to the tour, otherwise you're pretty much walking through big empty stone rooms.

Fee des grèves? Must be how I keep missing so much work!

Thursday I had one class? I think another got canceled, so we were able to head to Rouen a bit earlier. We had an interesting time finding the hotel but once we got up to the room it was amazing! Since there were three of us we got a suite and it was perfect. There was a pull back curtain wall dividing the king bed from the other space, a table/desk area with a twin sized bed/couch in the corner. It was certainly bigger than any other French hotel room I'd been in (not that I have many to compare with). Best of all- for free!- there were over 40 on demand movies IN ENGLISH! I think in the less than 24 hours we were there I managed to fit in 3 movies.

Oh! So the actual city of Rouen- you want to know about that? Well, maybe I've just been in France too long, but it gets my typical review: the "old city" section was very nice, with its cobblestones and timbered buildings and narrow streets. The town cathedrals were beautiful as well. I actually really liked the cathedrales, they were different from the usual Gothic architecture which was nice. Dad also put up with me and Mom popping into a lot of shops.

Friday we headed to Mom and Dad's friends, the Westgates, about 30 minutes away. Sadly shortly into dinner Dad was struck by some poorly cooked salmon from lunch and retired early for the evening.

Saturday the parents headed off to the airport :(
I hung around a little longer with the Westgates and took a train from by them to Rouen, took advantage of the short layover and bought some shoes and a new scarf, a little of retail therapy. I arrived back into Coutances in the evening, happy because of the amazing week, but also extremely sad as the great visit onl highlighted the loneliness of the living in Coutances.

Sunday I put off writing lesson plans as usual and it was back to the "grind."

I was so happy though that I was fortunate enough to share a slice of my life hear, take advantage of their presence and visit some different places and try some new restaurants.

Road Block

Why were a bunch of kids late to school on Monday?

There were horses stranded on the road between St. Lo and Coutances- HAHHAHAHAHHAH

I basically live in the French boonies.

Ben l'Oncle Soul and Brunch!

Thursday night I headed to a concert in St. Lo with some lovely ladies from choir. The ticket was only 20 euros and I figured it was some good bonding time as well, so despite not knowing the performer at all, i decided to go.

What a good choice it was! The concert was fantastic! Turns out that Ben l'Oncle Soul is actually pretty big- as in I was cooking dinner the other day and his music video came on!

Here's one of his most famous songs "Je suis qu'un soul man" (I'm just a soul man)



The concert was particularly fun as Bea picked me up and then we headed over to pick up Monique and Francine. They had a whiskey before we got there so they were laughing and quite loquacious.

The concert had young and old people and it was actually kind of funny to see such an age range in a crowd. The group put on a really energetic performance as well. To be honest it was actually one of my favorite nights I've had since getting to France. Live music, a good energy, people actually talking TO me and although it was something small, it just really made me feel as if I was part of a group.

Well that wonderful group of women continues to be wonderful. This morning we had brunch chez Bea. Brunch is a foreign concept, but with the guidance of "quiche counts for brunch as well as fruit salads" we ended up with a nice spread. Bea lives and her husband runs an organic dairy farm. So we were a bit out into the country, and they just built there house a few years ago and it's a really interesting departure from a typical french home. It's got mroe of an open floor plan and a spiral staircase leading upstairs!

Our lovely brunch consisted of granola bars (made by Lisa, and American), sausages (made by Felicity and Richard- Brits) banana bread (me!), teurgoule (amazing), 2 quiches (though the dog got into a bit of one of them), 2 fruit salads, homemade yogurt (Bea- she lives on the dairy farm- remember?), a prune/apple crumble, bread/regular/savory/toast, and a chocolate mousse. Needless to say- I absolutely stuffed myself. As I said to Lisa, not all concepts of the brunch translated well (chocolate mousse) but I think that actually worked out for the better!

Felicity and Richard invited me round afterward for tea and a nice walk. It was nice to be in homes all day rather than a dorm room (though I've done my best to make it my own). Felicity and I took a nice walk to digest all of that lovely food along a path that used to a train track in Cambernon. I think you could potentially walk all the way up to Cherbourg on it.

The fun of the weekend is over and now I need to work on lesson plans :(
On the brightside- Mom and Dad visit in 6 days!!

Lesson Planning

I don't feel like lesson planning, so what does that mean for my students? I get to play taboo for three hours tomorrow!

St. Malo and Rennes!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I've been away and then lazy getting back to writing.

My one Thursday class last week had been canceled, so I had a five day weekend! Wednesdays are for swimming and choir, so I left Thursday morning on an hour late train to St. Malo in Bretagne (Brittany).

St. Malo is a coast city, about 2 hours away (south and then west) from Coutances. It's a walled city, and you can actually completely walk around the old city on the ramparts. It's beautiful to look to the left and have the beach, and to the right lovely little streets.

St. Malo (like many places) is better in summer and spring, when you can take better advantage of its beach proximity. I read about it in my guide book, and had recommendations from some the of the Breton teachers here. I spent the day wandering around the city, eating galettes made with blé noir, drinking cider, smelling the ocean and scarfing down kouign amann (literally translated as “butter cake” and attempts to give you diabetes as quickly as possible) . 

It was chillier than usual, which was exasperated by the wind the whipped my hair around. I did take refuge and thought to expand my brain a little with a visit to the St Malo museum. 

Turns out that was a mistake. I'm pretty sure the museum was put together by several members of a knitting club getting together and realizing that they had some old shit in their attic they needed to get rid of. Well, I tried to enrich my mind! 

 

In the evening I took a bus to Rennes to meet with Julia, an assistant in Rennes. Julia kindly answered my request for a host on the “Assistants de Rennes-TAPIF” fbook wall. It turns out that Julia went to Beloit and studied abroad in Senegal with the Baobab center a year after me. We know some people in common and we got to revisit great Senegal memories through out my visit. 

As a proper introduction to Rennes Julia took me out to meet other assistants at one of the many bars. I had a great time and more real live English conversation than I'd had in weeks. The next day I headed out to explore the city a little by myself while Julia took care of some errands. I visited the old city areas and took advantage of “les soldes” (huge sales which happen twice a year) and being in a city with shops! I got a stripey shirt for 3 euros and some gloves for 2 euros- I had left mine at home expecting warmer weather.

Julia also knows all the best places for food. My trip to Rennes was constant eating. I left her apartment with instructions for the proper bakery for a “fourrée aux almandes” which is a chocolate or regular croissants filled with almond paste and amazing. I met up with her and other assistants at a high school for lunch followed by a lovely walk in the nearby park. Soon after Julia and I met up with 3 other assistants at a tea shop, “Apple Pie”, run by an Irish woman. It was like being in someone's home and lovely. I enjoyed some tea and an amazing scone.
 

I went for a walk with Katherine, another assistant to who had responded to my fbook post, and we met up with Lauren who is (can you guess?) another assistant.

The three of us met back up with Julia at her apartment for a drink and then headed out for a galette dinner. The deliciousness continued.

We quickly rushed over to a lecture being held by the feminism group that Julia is part of. It was an interesting lecture about women and safety in public in Rennes. It was fairly interesting but all of us who attended agreed that it needed to go further into issues and was too much of a beginner's intro in the subject. 
 

Julia had convinced my to stick around on Saturday, rather than taking the early train out so that I could experience the amazingness that is the Rennes Market. I'm so glad I took her advice, and I headed back to Coutances with a tiny but rich chocolate cake, galettes to prepare at home, brussels sprouts, and nems (Vietnamese spring rolls).

It was a fantastic few days and a great break from the usual in Coutances. It also reminded me how much good food rather than night after night of pasta can affect my mood, along with the importance of conversation.

Study abroad in Senegal was a lesson in learning to be with people all the time, while France has been a lesson in largely being alone. I don't regret anything, but I have certainly learned that I do prefer the former.

Now to prepare some lessons, and hopefully more timely updates this week!