Quelques Choses Avant de Partir*

*A Few Things Before Leaving

OK, so this is just a quick little post before I ship out to Morocco tomorrow w/ my roommate Molly. We'll be traveling around for 5 days.
I haven't posted in a while, although I had been keeping up w/ my NYresolution (made egg and cheese burritos last week, here's a pic:



but unfortch this week I've been too busy recovering from the flu and packing to do much cooking, so I've had to let it slide.)

I am however all better and I'm super excited and ready to go on this adventure.

Lately I've been really busy. I went to a local rock concert w/ Molly and her boyfriend Andrew a couple weeks ago. It was a lot of fun and the music was great. A funny thing was the groups (Elzed and l'Hurlements d'Leo) were the kind to attract a lot of 15 year old goth and emo kids, and we hung out w/ them in the "mosh pit" area (although there wasn't really any moshing going on). Here's couple pics of the bands and Molly and Me enjoying the music.

Elzed:



l'Hurlements d'Leo:



Me and Molly!:



Then I went up to Lyon for the weekend with a group of friends. It was a lot of fun!
Then I caught the flu despite getting the regular flu shot AND the h1n1 shot.

After recovering, Molly, Andrew, our friend Zoe, and I went to Les Monologues du Vagin (the Vagina Monologues) which a group was presenting in town. This is a show usually put on around Valentine's Day in order to raise money and awareness for V-Day, a organization fighting violence against women. I had seen it before at Augie, so I easily recognized and understood the skits, and so I learned some interesting new french vocab for sure! It was a very fun and empowering night in Bourgoin!

And now like I said before, I am shipping out for Morocco tomorrow. I'll be sure to write a few blogs and post some pics after my return.
Love you all!!
Bis!

So my third recipe for my New Year's resolution is Creole-Style Skillet dinner. It was interesting because we couldn't find Kielbasa (cuz this is France) so we just used sausage which ended up just tasting like bologna, we added cayenne pepper and paprika (my roommate Molly is like Rachel freaking Ray) and saved the dish. It was super spicy, but it was actually pretty good.

So I've just been working and hanging out. Nothing too exciting happening right now.

My parents and Amy are getting ready to come out and visit me in April. They got plane tickets and we just got train tickets (which was a big fiasco since the website was in French and Dad does not speak or read French.) But I'm getting super excited to show them around my town, Lyon, Grenoble, and this country I love. It'll be a great trip. Until then, I have planning my Morocco trip in February to keep me busy.

Woo hoo!

Hello!! I have some news!! So I already have another two-week break from work in February. And Molly and I have just booked our tickets to Morroco!! We'll be spending 5 days traveling with Molly's friends John and Kasey. We are flying into Casablanca, going to Rabat, Fes, and Marrakech! More details to come, but I'm really excited about this! This will be my first trip to Africa! Holla!
And Molly, Ellie, and I went to Lyon today to escape Bourgoin-Jallieu. We did a little shopping, a lot of walking around and stopped for lunch.
Then tonight, I made my second week's meal from my cookbook. Tonight's dish was Orange Chicken Stirfry. It was really good and easy to make! It's so easy, Linnea can make it!

Sorry it's been so long :(

OK, I’m not going to talk about how I’ve totally failed at keeping up with this blog, instead I'm gonna post this pic of me and our bonhomme de neige (snowman), Phillipe. SO with that, we're gonna just move right on to my topic for the day.

I went on an adventure today to get a flu shot. It was my H1N1 shot actually and the French government was paying so I figured, “Pourquoi pas?” (why not?) Since I pay for the French Social Security out of my paycheck, and I had to get a longterm visa, I’m considered a citizen and I am included in the French Healthcare system and I have their social security. The way they handle vaccinations is they send you a letter and then you can go in and get one for free. So I received my letter right before Christmas break so I had to wait until after I got back to redeem it.
Then the fun began. The only address for the vaccination on my letter was “Centre Commercial de Champ Fleuri Rue J-H Fabre Bourgoin-Jallieu 38300”. OK this was the problem with that: (well actually, there were 4 problems w/ that)
1. In high school french class, “Centre Commercial” was the word synonymous w/ “Mall”. In reality in France, “Centre Commercial” is what they call a large building that contains 1 large grocery store and usually several other gift or clothes stores. Makes sense, right? Center of Commercial places, right? Ha.
2. There are 3 “Rue Jean-Henri Fabre” s in Bourgoin-Jallieu. Bourgoin is not that big, and seriousfully, that’s ridicule!! So Google-maps was very unhelpful in that respect.
3. I could have checked them out by foot, but we had gotten about 20 cm of snow and they don’t clear off the pavements, cuz that would be helpful for des petites americaines like me who can’t drive here. They also RAN OUT OF ROAD SALT, which isn’t a huge deal because it’s not like it’s the middle of winter or anything OH WAIT IT IS. So I just talked to Molly my roommie who got her flushot first. She gave me vague directions, enough that I could figure out where in general I was going. And actually it was better than I thought it was gonna be, since it was on a Bus Route. Holla!!
4. Ok, so I step off the bus and look around for the “Centre Commercial”. Hunh. Nope. Apparently they kinda throw around words like “Centre” and “Commercial”. No wonder Google Maps was telling me there was no such thing there: it was a Norma (a ghettotastic German discount grocery store) and a rundown daycare/vaccination place. Woot.

Also Funny note: once you arrive for a flu shot, you have to fill out some paperwork and then wait in like 13 lines before getting your shot. A woman who came in after me with 2 little monsters, I mean children, griped about filling out the paperwork, but the policeman in charge of the process just smiled and said, “Mais c’est la France!” I laughed, cuz this is France.
Oh and my New Year's Resolution this year is to make at least one new recipe from my new cookbook every week.
This week (weeek1) was Lemon-Basil Chicken! It was pretty tangy. Here are Molly and me, enjoying our chicken!



Anyways,
I do have some other posts I can publish from before Christmas so I promise to work on them and to post more often. Désolée, je suck.
So for now, Bonsoir et au revoir!!
Bis!!

Checking in

Salut!!
How's it going?
I know I haven't written in a while, but I've been busy. I've been working, I found an apartment, moved in and have had some adventures.
First things first: My job. I'm really having fun. I have 14 classes-- some I see once a week and some I see every other week. That's a lot of students I don't see very often, so it's INCREDIBLY difficult to learn names and faces. They're also all over the place in terms of their English abilities so it's been very difficult for me to come up w/ things to do to get everyone in the classes talking.
That said, the students are pretty nice. I mean they are 14-19 years old, so some are pretty snarky. They love to say "Hello!" to me in the hallways, so at least they seem to be mocking me only behind my back.
The teachers all have huge classes, so they send half the students to me for half the class and then we switch. For me, that's a lot of students at once (in some cases 20 students). I think it would def be easier if they were in smaller groups so I can handle them better, but also better for them because then everyone would have more chances to speak. I keep telling them I'm not a teacher so they have to be sympa to me and listen to each other, and that seems to work for the most part.

OK, my new apartment! It's a great place. Ellie and Molly are really great and we're getting along very well. They are like amazing cooks so they make sure I get fed (don't worry mom, I do my part by doing the dishes!). The apratment is actually a house. It has 3 bedrooms, a full kitchen (minus the oven), a living room, a WC (toilet and sink), and salle de bain (bathtub and sink). I did have to rearrange my room a little after a couple of days (moved my bed so it juts out into the middle of the room as opposed to being flat up against the wall cuz I kept elbowing and kicking the wood-paneling during the night. I also moved the bed closer to the radiator and put my desk in front of the french doors, so it gets the wonderful natural light that comes in). My room is the smallest and most awkward of the bedrooms (hello, wood-paneling!) so I pay less rent than the other 2. It just means I spend more time in the living room, which is fine.
Adventures: This Saturday we (Ellie, Molly, and I) went to Chambery, which is a city nearby (about an hour by train). It is a great town w/ lots of shopping (which we didn't do) and touristy goodness (which we did). It's an old town, with tiny, twisty, turny streets. It was fun to wander around and look at the old Cathedral and Chateau. We also walked the 1 km to see the house in which Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived during the 1730s. That was fun and cool. The view from the garden of the town below and more mountains above was amazing!
OK, that's about it for now. Tomorrow I don't work, but I am going back to La Tour to harass the bank (they deserve it) and have lunch w/ Astrid. I promise I will write again soon!
Bisous!

Mon Boulot

(My Job)
So I started work at the lycee on Monday and it went rather well. I work only Monday afternoons, Thursday mornings, and Friday afternoons (and wednesday mornings every other week). It's really not that bad, although it was a bit intimidating the first day.
The profs just had me introduce my self briefly and then had the class ask me questions. The first class I was in, was a class called DEA. I don't remember what that means exactly, but it is an advanced group of English students who take an extra 2 hours of English per week: a conversation class (the one I help in) and a math class (in which I would not be any help). Only really the girls spoke (they really outnumbered the boys, so it might be better in small groups, I hope). They were cute and really got into asking me questions about myself and where I live. Then we got into films and tv shows, and actors. The girls were all obsessing about One Tree Hill, Zac Efron, and Robair Patteenzon ('E eez zo buteeful!!) Apparently French 15 year old girls are very similar to American 15 year old girls. And I was very pleased to learn some of the goth girls love Dollhouse (Ah, my people). It was very interesting.
The second class was a bit more subdued. These were also Secondes (10th graders), but this was a regular English class. I recognized a few faces from the DEA class in there as well (which is a bit awkward, because I might be having them twice a day in small groups too). The intimidating part was that in the second class there were 40 students. Apparently English is obligatoire at this particular lycee. But it went pretty well and I'm excite dto speak w/ them more in smaller groups and play some games and show them that English is fun.
And interesting tidbit- Have you heard that English is the hardest language to learn? I have, because there really aren't rules that are enforced and such. Anyways, they told me that French is the hardest language to learn. Maybe it's just a myth perpetuated by every culture that their language is the hardest to learn. Just thought that was funny.
Another bit of news. I will be moving into that apartment w/ the 2 American girls in Bourgoin-Jallieu. I just found out last night and I am figuring out how to transfer all my sh*t there. I might go there w/ some today since Astrid wants to do some shopping and then bring the rest tomorrow night after work and sign the lease then and get the keys. I am very excited to be done living out of a suitcase, it has been a cauchemar (nightmare). I can't find anything in the massive pile of clothes sitting in my humongous suitcase. Seriousfully, il est un bordel (slang: it's a mess).
Anyways, I better go. I will write again soon hopefully.
Love you all!!
Bisous!

Bonjour Tout le Monde*

I know, I know, I haven’t written since I’ve gotten here. Je suck.** There is no excuse for it. But I’ve been busy and I haven’t had reliable internet at all, so actually those are my excuses for it. So what have I done in the past 2 weeks here in France? BE WARNED: this is a very long post because, as previously stated, je suck.**

I stayed in Lyon for 5 days, mostly walking around, getting over jet lag, doing a little shopping, but mostly walking, drinking coffee and Orangina, and eating bread and various pastries. I also went to McDo (Mcdonald’s) kinda often¬ to use their free wifi (cuz I wasn’t going to pay for internet at a Cybercafe). I also got in contact w/ Mme Manson. She is the mother of a friend of a friend. She and her family live in L’Isle d’Abeau, a little French town outside of Lyon. I emailed her, and she called me and invited to her house for the weekend. I didn’t want to intrude, but she was very nice and insisted. While I was hesitating, her daughter called me (Marie is my age and works in Lyon) and we met up and talked about stuff, and I asked her questions I had about the train station in town (in French it’s La Gare and that’s shorter than the train station, so I’ll probs just type that from now on). She also insisted I go to their house for the weekend so I’m not alone in Lyon (une tres grande ville). So I agreed. I called her mom and we agreed to meet up Friday night because the whole family was going to a concert in Lyon.
Thursday I also went to visit the town of my lycée(high school), La-Tour-du-Pin (the tower of pine) and meet w/ the English teacher there. Mme Barbier (Laurence) was very nice and I had some time after to walk around the town a little bit and to meet some of the other teachers and staff at the school. She suggested I not live in the town there because it is too small and the assistant last year got lonely and tired and homesick and ended up going crazy and left early. After she told me that, I agreed I should look for lodging elsewhere. She suggested a town nearby (10 minutes by train) that is a bit bigger and has more to do. It’s called Bourgoin-Jallieu, which is a mouthful.
So Thursday night I went back to Lyon and Friday, I prepared to meet Marie for the concert. I had no idea what type of concert it was gonna be but Mme Manson said her son was in the concert and I knew Luc (the youngest child in the family and my friend of a friend) was a music person, so I thought maybe it was a school concert. WRONG! I met up w/ Marie in Lyon, and we met up w/ a friend of hers, Julian, and we went to a bar. You see, the concert was a rock concert held in the basement of a bar and her oldest brother Baptiste is lead guitar in the band. It was really fun, just to hang out and talk w/ Marie and Julian in a mixture of French and English.
After the concert they dropped me off at my hostel and the next morning picked me and my baggage up at the hostel. Actually, Mme Manson called me and asked if she could pick me up across Lyon because traffic was horrible (c’est normale en France). So picture me dragging 100+ lbs of luggage across busy crowded Lyon on Saturday morning. And then my duffel bag strap broke. It was tres difficile. But I survived and didn’t even break down and cry. Be proud.
Then I stayed in L’Isle D’Abeau until Tuesday morning. The weekend was a lot of fun. The food was gorgeous and they were all very nice. I went to the movies w/ Marie and Mme Manson and saw the Proposal en Francais, and then again the next night to see Le Coach, a French movie about a life coach who is hired to fix a an incompetent businessman and hijinks ensue. It was a lot of fun and the weekend was really good for me to get back into thinking and speaking in French.
Monday I also went to visit a friend from Augustana who is studying in Grenoble for the semester. It was good to see her and Grenoble again. I missed Grenoble. I am vraiment (really, truly) in love with the town. I also got to see Miranda. Miranda is the AIFS director in Grenoble, so she kept me alive and happy when I studied in Grenoble. It was good to see her again and she is a veritable goldmine of resources, so I was glad to get back in contact w/ her. She even invited me to Thanksgiving w/ the AIFS students!! Yay!! (You see, I was worried I would be alone in a tiny apartment on Thanksgiving, eating a ham sandwich).
So Tuesday, I left the Mansons and moved in the temporary housing my school offered. It is a tiny apartment in La-Tour-du-Pin on the campus of a lycée horticole (a gardening and animal oriented high school… I have no idea what that’s all about) down the street from my lycée. It is small and gross (filled w/ spiders and spider webs, and goodness knows what else). But it’s free and I’m poor.
Tuesday night my temporary roommate also moved in. Her name is Astrid (awesome name, n’est-ce pas?). She is a German language assistant at the same lycée. So she speaks a little English, but not much, so we speak French to each other.
Anyways, Wednesday, we went to Bourgoin-Jallieu to check out some residences, since she is also seeking logement. We walked a little, and there is a residence w/ other assistants living there that isn’t too spendy, 320 € a month. It was a fun little trip and afterwards we returned to the apartment and watched some movies. We watched 10 Things I Hate about You and Finding Nemo, both in French, so we could both enjoy them.
Thursday, we left for Grenoble where we would meet up w/ all the other Assistants du Langue in the area for a 3-day long orientation in Autrans (a little town in the mountains). It was a fun orientation, where I learned some things about what I will be doing and what I should be doing. The best part though was meeting the other assistants. I found a group in which I fit and could speak English (which felt weird), and we had a really fun time hanging out w/ everyone. We found the local pub in the little town and had a very fun game of “Jamais, est-ce que je n’ai jamais…” (Never have I ever…) w/ 30 other assistants from lots of different places.
Saturday we returned to Grenoble and left for our various places of residence. I actually went to the apartment of 2 other Americans to see the third room of the place. It’s actually a house, w/ 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, and living room, and garden. It’s fully furnished and I HOPE that I can move in w/ them. They needed to talk to their landlady about it, and there was another girl who wanted to see it too, BUT I HOPE THEY CHOOSE ME!!!
Anyways, now it is Sunday afternoon and I am at McDo yet again, connecting w/ their Wifi and skype-ing w/ my folks.
I start work at the lycée tomorrow, so I am nervous and excited!! Hopefully I will be able to wifi more regularly in the coming days, but I have no idea.
So that’s about it, I think, but there are pictures forthcoming (I don’t know when, but eventually).
Love ya all!!!
Bisous!!

*Hey I’m in France, so I’m gonna be writing in some French. When the type is ...ummm... Bolded, it’s a French word or phrase. If I don't translate it for you, and you can't figure it out from the context, go to wordreference.com, and look it up.
**That’s not actual French. That’s something I like to call Franglish. Or Franglais.