First Day Downtown

Well, I met up w/ Lex and another assistant, Shanita who studied in Nantes for a semester in 2004 yesterday. I was so happy to get to explore downtown and use the TRAM (kind of like the Muni light rail in SF). We made our way to the prefecture only to be told that you have to go before 1:30 and make an appointment to make an appointment... ok. I wasn't expecting this to be easy anyways. It was raining on and off so we sought shelter at a little café/bar that was open and hung out for a couple of hours; it was just what I needed. I must be crazy, but it just hit me that I have to start a whole new life here and establish myself. How I just realized that, I don't know!

Today I will sit in on 2 more classes that I will have on my own next week since Sophie will be on a school trip with another class in Sweeden for 10 days. Then we are supposed to meet up with the Canadian assistant at noon and take a full tour of the school. After that I hope to meet up with Lex and then will take the tram to meet up with Marie Claude at 5 and spend the weekend with them. They will bring me back to Nantes on Monday morning, and if all goes as planned I will move into my room! I can't wait to get all set up. That's all for now. I miss you all!

Les moules sans frites ne sont pas des moules!

Well I made it to France! Just a couple disclaimers... the keyboard is very different, so please disregard any typos! The title translates to: mussels without french fries aren't mussels!

So I arrived in Nantes after about 18 hours of travle time. I was tired and anxious. I was so dissappointed when my luggage didn't turn up, but the most important thing is that Sophie (Mme Blouin le Nabec, the English teacher) was there to pick me up. We filled out a form for my luggage and were on our way. I think I was in bed by 11:30 PM.

I woke up at 8 the next morning to accompany her to class. Typically the French either have no school on Wed. or at least a very short day. I sat in on her 2 one hour classes. These students are about 16 (seconde, or Jrs in high school). She just introduced me and let them ask me questions. They seem like a great bunch, and I will most likely have them as one of my classes which would be great. There are about 8-10 English teachers with only myself and a Canadian assistant (Rodney who arrives next Mon.), so we will probably work with 4 teachers each. I'm glad I'll be working with Sophie at least a little bit b/c she's great!

We checked up on the housing situation to make sure all was well (it is) and then headed home for lunch. By the time we got there, my baggage had been delivered. Fantastic!! Sophie and Thiery (her husband) have 3 children: Maxime who's 16 and lives at school during the week (so I'm staying in his room); Agathe who is 13; and little Sacha who is 8 and cute as can be. Sophie was busy playing schoffer much like typical American moms shuffeling the kids to soccer, tennis, drums lessons, and a birthday party!!! She kept saying "les mecredis sont comme ça" (Wednesdays are like this).

We ran some quick errands and since I had mentioned I liked mussels we picked some up for dinner. When we were driving Agathe to her party, we got a little lost. There was a man riding a bike on the road and Sacha goes, "Hey mamma, you can either ask him for directions or run him over. Whichever you want". I thought that was pretty funny! They have a ping pong table in the back yard and have 1/2 of it folded up as a wall so Sacha can play with himself; he's pretty good too. I played with him a little before taking an aperitif (my first one here!). I had a dry white wine with a blackberry currant liquour... it was yummy!

Well I've managed to connect with Alexis (another assistant) online here so had better head out to meet up with her. I think we're going to try and find the prefecture this afternoon to see about our carte de sejours. I'll write more soon. Love to you all and feel free to leave me a message or shoot an email.

Gros bisous, Elizabeth

Comments

Ok, so I think I'm all set to receive comments here! I had to do some adjustments on the settings, but it should be good to go, so show me some love (-:

Fun Times

Well I had a smashing birthday and and have been having fun these past 2 weeks. Jeffrey and I had a fun time up in San Francisco this past weekend, and I continue to play around with my camera, experimenting with taking pictures. I had to take Monday off work to get my birth certificate translation approved at the consulate. The weather was beautiful which was unexpected. In two years of commuting to the city every day for class, I have to say it was more often nice and sunny up there than not.

We had a little after work get together on Tuesday. It was fun. I went home earlier than some of the girls, and it looks like they had a really fun time. It was nice to get to hang out with everyone outside of work and say goodbye.

Tonight I'm meeting up with my Mom and Ehmie to go over everything concerning Pokey. Things are starting to get finalized as the days go by. I've started making plans to get together with friends and family one last time. I think this will be the hardest part of this whole process, and it's getting a little sad for me. I know things will be better once I'm in France getting settled. Right now I just see and am reminded of all the things that I will miss about life in California.

The weather is changing too, and we're starting to have some fall days. It's starting to get a little chilly in the mornings. I imagine it will be even cooler in Nantes, though I'm looking forward to experiencing a different climate.

I'm 25!

Wow, what a fun weekend! I kicked off the 3-day celebrating my birthday with friends by going out in Palo Alto. Jenny, Kathryn, and Tania (friends from the pool) came over to pre-party. They made me the most precious (and histerical) scrap book; it was so thoughtful. They also gave me a CD with all the pictuers stored on it. I haven't had a camera, but luckily my friends have always been so good about sharing pictures with me. Now, I have my own, and am so excited. The timing couldn't be better since I am sure there will be so much I want to capture during my trip to France.

I spent Saturday morning at the barn and got to see Jessica all tan and refreshed after spending 2 weeks in Hawaii for her honneymoon. It was nice to catch up, and I hope we can go for some rides together these next weeks. Then it was off to the Apple store for some assistance and off to meet Jeffrey to head over to my parent's house. Dinner was delicious; I think Lasagna is one of my favorites! Thank you all for the cards.

Sunday was filled with the barn and errands. I think I was running around all day until 9 PM, but the good thing is I got a lot of stuff done. Then yesterday, I did stuff on the computer, played with my new camera, and ran a couple of more errands before heading over to Josh and Marina's for dinner. We hadn't seen the boys in a while. They are so cute and fun. Josh cooked an amazing meal complete with custard and strawberry filled crêpes topped with whipped cream for desert! Now, I'm back at work catching up on stuff here. I can't believe how fast the past 6 months have gone by; it's just crazy. I'm anxious, nervous, and excited for the upcoming months in France. Hopefully, I'll have some exciting things to share soon.

Love, Elizabeth