First Day in Milano

By some miracle my plane was on time and Teseo was there to meet me. Sweet! You never know how these things will turn out especially since I couldn't ever get through to him via telephone, and when he'd try to call me he ended up having conversations with an old man in Torino!

He really does live in the center of Milano, so we dropped my bags off and his mother immediately offered me an espresso- perfect! She did it with a little perculator (they call it a mocha) and I had a seat out on their 3rd floor terrace and soaked it in. I can't believe I'm here!

Then we did a little mini tour of Milano. The Domo is only about a 10 min. walk from his house. We didn't go inside, hopefully tomorrow. We walked through the Galleria Vittorino with all the fancy shops and then ended up facing the famous Scala theater. From there we stopped off at the Tourist Office so I could get some maps and info; then we walked through the Castello Sforzesco (which also has museums I'd like to visit, and for free after 2PM) and ended up at a beautiful park for a little rest. Teseo had been out until 4AM that morning and needless to say, I didn't get great sleep at the airport. There is a neat exibition of 100 photos (taken from an ariel view) of scenes of Italy by Antoino Attini and Marcello Bertinetti. It took us about an hour to look at them all and read the captions. Of course I'm even more looking to visiting Josh and Marina in Florence this Feb. after seeing the pictures from that region. They were spectacular!

We came back, took a little siesta, and by the time we got up, it was almost dinner time. Jaco, Teseo's younger brother came to spend the night (he's studying psycholog somewhere else), so the 4 of us had a wonderful dinner. We started off with green olives from Naples and garbanzo beens with oil and herbs. BTW, they kept laughing at the word garbanzo ALL NIGHT! It was histerical; they call them "chey chi" (I have no idea if that's how they're spelt, but that's how it sounds). Teseo had done a salad with porccini (again spelling ?) mushrooms, another type of red mushrooms that are apparenly very expensive (80€ per kilo; I think that's about 100 US dollars per pound), parmesean cheese and celery. It was served dry and we added oil, salt and pepper ourselves. His mom had cooked Risotto Milanesa (just my luck!) and we added truffle butter on top. I'm sure you can imagine that this entire meal was right up my alley! We also had red wine and fresh baked foccacia and ended up the meal with a type of peccorino cheese (not romano).

Teseo had to jet off to work at 9, but I ended up staying up with his mom and brother until 2AM! They both speak excellent French and English, so communicating was no problem. It was a fun night. I had thought I might head over to the club where Teseo plays after midnight, but by the time I realized how late it was I decided not to.

I woke up at 10 this morning (ahhh sleep in a cozy bed is wonderful), took an espresso on the terrace with Jaco and wrote some letters. Teseo needed to really get some sleep, so I got out the maps and headed over to the National Museum of Science and Technology "Leonardo da Vinci". Many exhibits are free, but this one was well worth the €8 I paid to get in. I spent about 4 hours looking at everything and will have some neet photos to post once I get back to France. I'm not exactly sure what is up for tonight, but maybe I will venture out. Guess that's it for now. Hope you're all having a nice week! Happy Halloween. Ciao, Elizabeth

22 Hours at the CDG Airport- check!

So.... it's been an interesting few days, and I have yet another keyboard to get used to. Whoo hoo. I got up at 6 AM Wed. morning to have a huge breakfast with Jesse before heading out to the TGV station in Nantes at 8. I got there no problem and boarded the train. We'd stayed up pretty late on Tues. so I pretty much slept until arriving at CDG around 12:30PM. Then my 22 hour kick off began. I thought about heading into the city, but it was nasty, cold and raining and I didn't want to have to spend the entire time seeking shelter. So, I read The Life of Pi and A Year in the Merde, walked around the shops, listened to Jesse's MP3 player she lent me, slept, and WAITED. Finally it was 9:55AM on Thurs. and time to board the plane!

Yay! It's Almost Vacation Time (:

So the time has been flying by. I can't believe I've been here an entire month. Things are still going well, and I'm starting to get a little routine. I have to say I'm kind of irritated, though, b/c I came to school today for class from 11-12, went to the room and waited for 15 min. It seems kind of reciculous for me to have to hunt down the kids every time, but since I didn't have anyone, I went to find them. I interrupted the wrong class looking for them (but at least I made the effort), and one of the students said they had gone on a field trip today with their Bio teacher! Geez, I feel like I have a million things to do before I leave on Wed. and since my next classes aren't until 2, I could have used the morning much more productively. To top it off, there was another teacher in my room who wouldn't give it up and told me I could go somewhere else (not that it mattered since I didn't have any students). I had also done a lesson plan specifically for them since this hour only has 3 students (the rest of my classes are around 14-17 students). Oh well, now I have time to put up all my pics and write this.

Saturday I went to the market again. I just got grapefruits and some little olives this time. It was rainy and nasty, so we stayed inside, watched a movie (Finding Neverland- I love that one) and played some cards. Jenny has some games I've never heard of. Bernadet and her husband Christain picked me up for dinner at their place at 7. We started off the night with foie gras and Champagne!! Not bad. They are both histerical and very full of life. Rollanda (the German assistant) was there too and also their 20 yr old daughter. We had a fun time, the dinner was excellent and it was nice to spend an evening speaking only French. They have a very large cat with a lot of personality, and it's clear that he is very much a member of the family. He had his own chair to sit with us at the table and got fed foie gras off a fork! Haha. I got a kick out of this. They adopted him as a baby after he had been hit by a car and had 2 broken legs. Poor baby. But now, he's 14 and cute as can be.

It's noon now, and I'm goanna get some lunch and head back to my foyer before coming back for 2 more classes.

Musée Dobrée Dimanche le 22 Oct. 06

Some pictures from the Musée Dobrée on Sunday Oct. 22 (it's free on Sundays!).
It is the private collection of Thomas Dobrée who happens to have the same birthday as me, which I got a kick out of. Benjamin Franklin also visited Nantes, as I learned reading one of the signs.

I thought my horsey friends might get a kick (or scare) out of seeing the Medieval bits and spurs. Look at how long the shanks are! Jeffrey, the dominoes are for you!! They are from 15th century China. Sorry some of them are kind of dark; we couldn't use a flash (but hey, now I've learned how to turn the auto flash feature off).


The pics at the bottom are the outside of the museum. I couldn't really capture what a neat building this is.

Le trois-mâtes Belem sur la Loire

This is the oldest 3 mast ship in France. We took a walk along the Loire to see it. We had wanted to take a tour, but they didn't have any running. Hopefully, I'll get to take one another time. Jesse and Zoe are acting scared b/c there weren't any barriers to keep us from falling in the river (:

Stirfry Dinner and Park

This is the park where we go running just down the street from our foyer. It's absolutely beautiful, as you can see, and goes on for what seems like forever!

Les cartes postales

Post cards, post cards, post cards! I've been writing my little hand off this week. I put up a notice on myspace saying if anyone wanted a post card to give me their address, and I got some responses. Same goes for anyone reading this! You could leave me a comment with your address or just send me an email. Of course, I'd like letters too (wink wink) b/c it is a nice way to finish the work day by coming home to fun mail. My address is:

Mlle CLOERN Elizabeth
FJT Edit de Nantes, Chambre 115
1 et 5 rue de Gigant
44100 Nantes
France

Yesterday was the infamous medical exam for immigration. I had to have this done in order to apply for my carte de sejour in Dec. I got there a little early and all the nurses were buzzing around and giggling like school girls. It took them a minute to even acknowledge me. After taking my paperwork one of them lead me to another room and said, "Oh honey, this is your lucky day!" Turns out there were 5 rugby players also waiting for their chest x-rays. It was pretty funny to see how their presence had gotten all the nurses stirred up. One of them even took their picture (not so discretely walking past the hallway) with her cell phone! The process was quick and painless, and now it's taken care of. I feel pretty on top of things which is nice. Lex had her appointment just after me and so did one of her friends, so the 3 of us headed to a little cafe to just sit and enjoy the beautiful afternoon.

Then I headed to SNCF to change my train ticket reservation to Paris next week. BAD NEWS!!! The only other train with the 50 percent discount gets me into CDG 22 hours before my flight departs!! Ay ay ay. It's going to be a very very long wait, but it seemed the only way to be able to get to Paris on time w/o having to spend more money. The girl at SNCF looked at me like I was completly crazy (something I'm used to after being seen as the weird foreigner. Haha), but surely I'm not the first person to camp out at the airport. I won't have much luggage, so if the fare is good, I may just take the 40 min. bus ride into the center of Paris and walk around to make the most of my time.

I had today off and slept in which is always soooo nice. I got a little knock on my door at 10 and it was my little fridge! Yay- now I can buy cheese, milk, yogurt, etc... This will make cooking all the more enjoyable. I just started reading The Life of Pi (something I've wanted to read since I took Hinduism Jr. year at USF). I'm already hooked. Jesse and I cooked a late lunch at 2, and then I headed to the library to check out their English selection. For me, it left something to be desired, but I ended up with 4 new books one being A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke. I'm not sure how much humor I will see in it since it mostly deals with French-British relations but it may well be worth a few laughs.

I feel kind of lame for not having visited ANY of the museums here (musée des beaux arts, musée d'histore naturelle, musée dobrée, or the garden of plants). I think Lex and I might go to the Musée Dobrée on Sunday since there's not much to do on Sundays. I know I still have plenty of time, but it goes by fast, and I don't want to leave having missed out on something.

Time to head back to the foyer. I think we might eat at the cantine (cafeteria) tonight and then hopefully watch an episode or 2 of Grey's Anatomy. I only have 2/4 hours of classes tomorrow since some students are on a trip to the U.S. I've been telling myself everyday I'd go and check out the swimming pool, so maybe it will actually get done tomorrow. Gros Bisous, Elizabeth

Relaxing Weekend

Well, it's safe to say that I have finally caught up on sleep and finally feel well rested. I did end up going out on Friday night, but that was pretty much a disaster. After a long (and unnecessary car ride) to pick up Jesse's friend at the train station (which is about 10 min. away, and we spent over an hour driving around looking for gas) and a huge group of rowdy assistants looking for a place to go out, I finally made my way home around 3 am sober, irritated and barefoot. So far, the whole night secene has been kind of a dissappointment, other than the pubs where it's nice to just hang out and visit with people; but even then I can only stay long b/c of all the smoke! The clubs just don't play music that I can get into at all, so I don't really feel like dancing, and I'm obviously not out to meet a guy either, so I may give it up for a while... we'll see.

I slept in late on Saturday and then headed to meet Jesse at the market with Zoe. It was amazing! You can seriously get ANYTHING there. All kinds of fresh produce, different types of bread (I bought a loaf of brioche, like really sweet thick bread, to make "French toast"), cheeses from all over the place, wines; I got fresh homemade pasta with an amazing red sauce. There are rabbits, pigs with the heads on... anything you could imagine. I think I will definitely go on a regular basis b/c the prices seem to be good, and there is a larger variety from our supermarkets here.

When we got back I made us French toast with the brioche and melted down raspberry jam with butter to pour on top. Not the best in terms of calories, but it was delicious and felt festive and fun for a Saturday breakfast. I was beat from a busy week and late night, so I actually went back to bed and slept until 5PM. Then we did, surprise, more cooking! Haha. There's no question that we use the little kitchen more than anyone else.

Courtney had very generously offered to lend us her laptop and DVDs to watch a movie since she was going out and we were staying in. We cuddled up in my bed and watched Girl with a Pearl Earring. I loved it! Since we'd slept all day, we weren't too tired so Jenny offered to lend us season 2 of Grey's Anatomy..... how happy did this make me? I can't even beging to say. I don't really think about TV here or miss it at all and hadn't watched anything until this weekend, but Grey's Anatomy is just soo good and I had finished season 1 on DVD just before coming here. We did that pretty much all day yesterday as well (there are 26 episodes after all!). But we did go out for a nice long walk early in the evening to see the oldest 3-mast ship in all of France; I think it's 110 years old. I took pictures, and will post them soon. It sits in the Loire, and I think you can take tours of it at certain times. I will look into that b/c it would be cool.

I had 3 hours of classes today which went really well! I met with a prof this morning just to discuss what she hopes to get out of having me here, how she would like the classes to go (it's pretty much up to me), and what amount of French is appropriate for me to use in the classroom. Up until now, I've been hesitant to use any French at all, but I think it is sometimes necessary just to clarify or explain instructions of an activity. She was really nice and offered to lend me some teaching rescourses; I'll take anything I can get! I've been invited to the head of the English dept.'s house for dinner on Sat. night and am really looking forward to that. She has a daughter who will be going to the East coast for college. I've also been invited to accompany the students to go see Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest in 2 weeks. I'm still hoping to get to Italy next week, but have to finalize the details and make sure I can still get a reasonable rate.

Things are coming together here at the school; I only had 1 problem with a room today and am slowly learning the student's names and faces. It's a lot all at once. The lesson I had planned today was a total success. It took up the full hour almost exactly, got ALL the kids to speak and seemed fun for them. Now if only I could come up with something like that every week. I gave them 3 secnarios like: "Imagine you're trapped on a desert island. You can bring one person and 3 things. Who/what would you bring and why?". I found that if you give them 5-10 min. to organize their thoughts (not write out a paragraph or even sentences to read, just thoughts and vocab) they are more able and willing to speak in front of the class. Some of them gave funny/clever responses like bringing the US president b/c they would send out a search party for him immediately. The other scenario was planning a party. I told them they could have 2 bands, food/drink, pick a location, theme etc... and again there were some creative ideas. It was fun and easy to introduce new vocabulary (such as mingling, appetizers, skateboard park).

Tonight I think we'll... gasp... watch more Grey's. I'm almost done with my book, but Zoe lent me The Life of Pi which I've been wanting to read, so at least I'll have something new. I plan on doing a more thorough search through the library one day this week just to see what's available. Love to you all, Elizabeth

Karoke Night

Well, I got to school today at 9 only to find out this class is leaving for the States tomorrow and I won't start with them until mid-November. Works for me! I still have 3 more hours of class today, but that should be fine. I'm feeling a little bit better about lesson plan ideas, at least for now.

We ate in the cafeteria at the foyer last night and..... there was a disco ball full on with Karoke just starting up. I can definately say that this was quite an interesting experience. It's odd to me that the residence would even provide us with alcohol. But hey, I'm not about to complain. My impression here so far is that, yes they drink, but it really is in moderation. Glasses of wine are about 6-8oz. And unless you specify, you will automatically get a demi-pint of beer. They had 2 different types of hard ciders and this beer with tequila in it. And then the Karoke got a little crazy. It was mostly the guys who went nutzo; I'd say about half of the songs were in French, the other half in English. Ummm... we had about 3 songs to choose from and ended up doing "Summer Nights" from Grease with these 3 French guys singing John Travolta's part; he would have been so proud! Anyways this went on until about 11pm when they were just getting ready to go out. Us, "American Women" as we are called headed up to bed since we had classes today.

I have a break today from noon to 4, so Jesse and I planned to go for a little run and then cook lunch. I was planning on staying in tonight but don't know how that will work out since ppl are set on going out dancing. We'll see. If I can take a nap from 6-10, that might work well. They really do get things going late. I hope this movie we're about to watch doesn't give me bad dreams.... it's about a guy who murders his pregnant mistress and then dismembers her body.... odd that this should be shown in school, but it is for their Cinema class (BTW how cool is that, that they can take Film in High School?!).

A bientot, Elizabeth

Getting to Know La ville de Nantes

Wow! What a productive day it’s been; I can hardly believe it. This has been a great week, and I just keep feeling more and more settled as the days go by. I got to talk to my Mom and Dad yesterday, which was really nice. For one reason or another I just feel the need for a little contact from home. I also got my first 2 pieces of mail today (: which made me really happy. One was just from the bank- not too exciting, but the other was from Auntie Susan. Thank you for the note and beautiful bookmark!! I actually brought the turtle one you’d made me, which of course makes me think of Costa Rica.

I woke up this morning around 10 (sooo nice) and took a shower and headed across the St. to my school. I don’t have set rooms to hold my classes in which makes things difficult, so I needed to see what could be done about that. It was my 3rd time trying to get this sorted out and I think I was only 75% successful. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Other than the classrooms, things are going well. I devoted a couple of hours the past 2 days researching possible lesson plans and teaching tips online, so I feel pretty good about that. I have 4 hours of class tomorrow: 2 one hour classes and a 2 hour class where we’ll watch Rear Window at the teacher’s request… sweet! I was online at school when I got a text message from Courtney and decided to meet up with her to do some errands.

We both had to go to our banks to pick up our ATM cards and checks etc… I wanted to get a library card and explore that. I got my 12-25 (youth discount card for trains, good for one year) and booked a round-trip ticket to Paris for the upcoming Toussaint vacation. If you buy the tickets in advance you can get a 50% reduction on the price. If you wait too long, you’re still guaranteed 25% off but not necessarily 50%. The lady who helped me was really nice and explained that even if I change these dates, I will still be guaranteed the 50% rate. So it seemed like the best idea. The card cost 49 Euro but has already paid itself off. Then we headed to the tourism office and I got a pamphlet of all the public pools in Nantes with their hours and rates, so I’ll be swimming pretty soon. Jesse swam in High School, I think, so I’m pretty sure we’ll go together some of the time. It was a gorgeous day, so it was nice to be able to spend it walking around outside.

Yesterday we had miserable weather; it’s funny how it can change so drastically so quickly. It wasn’t cold, so I went for a 40 min jog at the park but got drenched. It was a real thunderstorm. I used the computer lab at school to look up train prices etc… which is when I learned that it will probably be cheaper to fly to Italy rather than taking the train. At 4:30 Jesse had us over for goute (a late afternoon snack), and then I had plans to meet Liz (another assistant who did was here in Nantes last year) at 7 to chat. She’s really sweet and knows the area well. At 9 we meet up with 2 other assistants and just hung out and chatted. It was fun. I walked home by myself around 11PM and was surprised to see how many people (even little old ladies!) were our and about so late on a Wed. night.

Even though I’m only working 12 hours a week, I still manage to fill the days up completely. It’s nice to have some downtime and just get things together. I plan on putting up flyers to advertise babysitting/tutoring after the break for some supplemental income. Liz said she tutored two teenage girls for 2 families last year and that they always made her a huge wonderful lunch and were great to work for. Her schedule this year won’t allow her to do this, so she’s going to try and put me in contact with them. She says it’s a sweet deal, 20 Euro for an hour with a great lunch included! That would be perfect. I signed up to do the Yoga classes here at the foyer, but we need 11 ppl to enroll in order for them to run the class. I think I was # 8. Hopefully we’ll have enough participants to warrant holding the class.

Not much else to report. I don’t know what’s up for the weekend, but a swim sounds good. I’d also like to explore the library a little and maybe read up on the cinque terre. I have a feeling that I will be tired tomorrow, so maybe I’ll stay in…. but you never know. Hugs to you all. Hopefully I’ll have some cool pics to post soon; I just haven’t been taking my camera out with me too much. Have a great weekend!

-Elizabeth

Food Pictures and the Weekend

Well, as you can see we've been gradually testing out the kitchen. Our first meal consisted of instant soup (which we ate right out of the pots) salad, some bread, and wine. After our trip to IKEA we at least had plates and bowls etc... Jesse is quite the cook and whipped up some curry chicken with green beans, bell peppers and onion. It was delicious! Then Courtney and I did some pasta with tomatoes, garlic, onion, and a little white wine. It was not bad. The lettuce and veggies here are excellent so we've been taking advantage of those, though I think tonight we'll venture back to the cafeteria for dinner together.

The weekend definitely had it's ups and downs. Jessee went to Anges to visit ppl from when she studied there. She left Sat. Then Courney went with Zoe to do this sports day b/c they needed one more person at the last minute. I was feeling a little sad and lonely, but it was the nicest day since I've been here so I took a walk. I'm still feeling lousy, so I spent the afternoon in bed reading. Thank god for the book my Mom lent me just before leaving; I don't know what I'll do when I'm done with it. Some of the girls and I have talked about doing a book swap since we all have a limited selection. I was so ready for company by the time Courtney and Zoe got back. That is the night we did our pasta. Then we headed out to meet up with some other assistants at UNIQUE which used to be a cookie factory and now has been turned into a huge club/bar. It was interesting. There were about 10 German assistants (all speaking only German) and 2 other American girls. It was kind of odd so we didn't stay too long. Not a great night. Sat. night proved to be better: we met up with Suzana (from Ireland) and Garreth from Manchester to go to Buck Mulligins, an Irish pub. We had fun and then headed to a very swanky club called The Loft. Also interesting. It kind of felt like an underground club in Russia or like some vqmpire's lair.... I don't really know, but we still had a good time. I slept in yeterday which felt great since we didn't get back until 4 am. I had a magazine to read for my classes today so did that and flipped through the GRE vocab book I got before coming here. At about 3pm Courntey and I decided to venture out and find an internet cafe; we did that and then ran into Garreth and 2 more assistants from Northern Ireland. We walked around and hung out with them until 10pm. It was fun to really see the city and just hang out. On our way back we ran into Jesse just getting back from Angers. I missed her; she reminds me of Liesl, and we've hit it off right away.

Our first vacation is coming up and I really want to take advantage of it and go somewhere. I kind of feel like doing something on my own since I haven't really done anything like it before and I think it would be a different experience from sticking with a group. I've never really planned out any trip and think the challenge would be fun and rewarding. I would ideally like to visit the cinque terre on the coast of Italy. Everyone I know who's been there says it's one of the most beautiful spots. I've looked up some flight prices and you can get flights from Paris to Milan for about 50€ round trip! It would be tricky and I would have to see about the costs etc... But I think the weather would be nice and there is a lot of hiking and nature to see- ideal for a solo trip. It also turns out that my friend Teseo who lives in Milan has a place about 10 km away, so it might be possible to meet up. I don't really know, but I'm afraid of not taking full advantage of the easy access to other countries.

After the vacation, I plan to scout out some sort of supplemental income (tutoring or babysitting). I guess that's it for nosw. I have 2 more hours of class today that I need to prep for and figure out which room we can use. So far, that has been a little tricky b/c not only do I have to ask for a room (as I just found out this morning) but then I have to track down the students to tell them where it is we're meeting. Hopefully something will work itself out and we'll get the room situation squared away.

-Elizabeth

Prefecture, IKEA and First Day Teaching

So... lots to report! Yesterday was a big day- went to the prefecture to start the process for my carte de sejour and hit up IKDA for sheets, a plate, bowl, trash can, and lamp.

Jesse and I headed to the prefecture around 11 and got there to wait in the line where we could get a number from the machine at 1:30. This meant that we had to wait in line for 2 hours just to get a # to wait in another line. We met another American assistant, Liz, who was there for the 3rd time! This is her 2nd year doing this, so she had some good info to share. She's having ppl over on Friday night, so I'll try to stop by.

Finally 1:30 was approaching and at 1:25 (no joke) an alarm sounded off! I was 6th in a line of about 30-35 ppl and the machine only distributes 20 tickets per day! I can tell you my heart was pounding like no other. I seriously couldn't believe it- 5 min. before we could have at least gotten a ticket. There was all sorts of chaos, of course, and I was trying to ask the security guard how they would regulate things to make sure ppl kept their places when we were let back in. I didn't want to have to start a fist fight at city hall, after all. When we were let in about 20 min. later the police guard made a little speach saying that everyone had to keep their place and maintain order or no one would be allowed in; believe it or not, I got the 6th ticket.

This next line was only about another hour wait and I have my appointment and a list of things to bring with me (no surprises- it's just what I had found online), but it's a really good thing that I got my birth cert translation taken care of as they do require one. I also have to get 4 black and white photos taken. Photos, photos, photos! Everyone needs them! So, I have my appointment on Dec. 13th which should be plenty of time to get a chest x-ray at the doctors before then.

After a successful trip, Jesse and I hopped on the TRAM to IKEA. I got a bottom sheet, pillow and cover, and a blanket for 16€- not bad. I also got a plate, bowl, lamp, and cutting board. We have a little kitchenette and have decided so share supplies (Courtney had pots and pans); so it looks like we'll be ablt to do some cooking after all! This is great b/c the meals at the foyer are about 6€, so I don't think I'll ever buy over the manditory 17 per month.

I had my first classes solo today from 10-12. I made sure to get a good night's sleep and get to school early; I can't get over how fortunate I am to live just across the street! Some ppl have over an hour commute by bus or have to make arrangements to get rides.

This is one of Sophie's classes that I am covering since she's in Sweeden. I had one class split up into 2 groups, each one hour. She had a worksheet on "prejudices and stereotypes". It was fun. I gave them 10 min. to write down cliches about Americans (while I scrambled and ran 4 flights of stairs to try and locate a white board marker!). Then I wrote them on the board and we discussed them. Then I did a list of my impressions of the French (they like Levis and Chuck Taylors, are full of life, are worldly, work hard in school etc...) and we discussed them. It went really well, and I think they had fun. We did some vocab and one of my stereotypes was about "red tape" so I got to share my story from the prefecture yesterday, which made them laugh. Of course, I don't expect all classes to go as well, and they're probably still on good behavior b/c they don't know me, but it was a good start.

Next week, I'll have the whole class together for the full 2 hours, and we'll watch Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. I'm looking forward to it and did some research online to get the date, trivia facts, etc... Bernadette (head of the English dept.) also lent me Bread and Roses to watch and we're going to have a viewing of it at the foyer, so that should be fun. No plans set for the weekend; I think I may check out the market tomorrow morning. I would like to walk around, find the pool, and maybe take some pictures. Things will be in full swing next week, so I should prepare for classes too.

I've been having luck chatting with friends online and catch Jeffrey here and there on Messenger. I definitely miss you all back home, but am excited about all the new things there are to learn and experience here. Money's tight which always makes things interesting. I feel like the kid who can't afford to buy lunch at school, stuffing the bread and yogurt froml my lunch into my purse. Haha. Whatever works... I got to try some wine from Saumur (not to far west from Nantes). It was 1, 26€ and good! Hope things are well with you! Bisous, Eli

My Room and Its Vew

View to the right, left, and below outside my window.












My bathroom, desk and bed.

Random Pics from Grandchamps

A
They had a whole little cage of these rabbits, but lost many to a sickness this year. Some of them had been vaccinated and survived. This is miracle bunny who escaped from his cage and now lives outside. He wasnt't vaccinated but survived!

To the right is the "pretties mailbox in town". I thought this was just too French.

Alain had a little wine cellar. There was a little tasting table in the room. Some of the bottles are over 30 years old!

Horse Pictures from Grandchamps des fontaines

The first race started at 8AM; it was pouring! Map of the various loops making up the endurance course.

Alain and Gayla. They lent this mare to a young girl to use in her first endurance competition, and she finished the course!

3 generations of horses (above)!

Marie Claude with a 2 yr old (above left).

Vacation Dates

In case anyone is planning a trip or would like to visit, here are my vacation dates:

Oct. 25- Nov. 6 ALL SAINTS (I'm thinking about trying to go to the South- maybe Marseille or Nice, but we'll see since I don't know if I'll be paid by then).

Dec. 23- Jan. 8 CHRISTMAS BREAK (Haha, this is still acceptable to say in France. No plans as of yet, but I would love to go to Spain).

Feb. 10- Feb. 26 WINTER BREAK (I will be in Florence with Josh and Marina! Whoo hoo; I can't wait!)

March 31- April 16 EASTER BREAK

Last day of school is April 30; I'm here until May 13.

Of course I would love visitors! I can not have guests in my room. I know, boo! But there are youth hostels and cheap hotels. I also could possibly make arrangements with a friend who has an apt. or something.

Orientation

So we had our orientation w/ all the English assistants in the region of Nantes today from 930-430. All in all there were about 110 of us! We had pain au chocolat, croissants, coffee, tea and orange juice. It was my 2nd breakfast (I met with Jesse from Seattle for juice and bread this morning since we get it free b/t 710 and 815 at the foyer). Hey, I'm all for scavenging! The orientation was kind of pointless, but I guess we get paid for it; it was basically a review of anything you could have read online and a bunch of foreigners freaking out about paperwork. But we got a free 2 hour lunch at the university which was actually pretty good.

Last night was fun! They have a drama class on Monday nights which I tried with 3 other Americans: Zoe, Courtney, and Jesse. I think there were about 10 of us and we did various exercises and "picture" improvs where you just do a shot or pose. It lasted about an hour and a half, and I think I will make a point to go again. I guess there's yoga too that we get a discounted rate for; it's only 10€ for 4 classes which seems pretty good to me and may be one of my few luxuries.

I'm slowly getting things settled, but I desperately need sheets, a blanket, and some kind of rug or bath mat.... hello IKEA land of discount shopping and 2€ lamps!! Needless to say my first night here was not too cozy, plus I'm achy from being sick. My voice is almost 100 percent gone. I tried to use my curling iron just for my long bangs this morning and... surprise! it didn't work even with the converter and transformer b/c it has automatic shut off... ahh gotta love European outlets. Guess I'm wearing headbands everyday.

I did end up getting a cell phone b/c it made the most sense. It's not at all like home: no manditory contract, you just pay to put minutes on your sim card which I would be doing anyways for a phone card for phone booths (but you have to find one that is free and not broken; I bought a card and called someone for 1 min and it used 4 or 50 credits!). So I got a good deal on a phone and the sim card was free (normally they're 30€) and just put some minutes on it. The really impressive thing is that, unlike the U.S., it's FREE to receive calls!!! So you only use minutes when you make calls (essentially like calling from a phone booth). So Mom and Dad (or anyone else) you can call me whenever you want.

Mom- I love the book you gave me and have enjoyed reading it every night, so thank you! Gotta go get my grub on! A bientot!


Portable 06 85 34 69 12
To dial internationally to my cell: 011 33 6 85 34 69 12
Elizabeth Cloern
Foyer de Jeunes Travailleurs
L' Edit de Nantes Chambre 115
1 et 5 Rue de Gigant
44100 Nantes
FRANCE

Weekend in Grandchamps des fontaines

Well I had a great weekend and hope you did too; things have been a little hectic to say the least, but hopefully I will have pictures to post soon!

I spent the weekend with Christine's aunt and uncle (Marie Claude and Alain) in their beautiful country home just outside of Nantes. It was originally a barn that they have turned into a lovely custom home over the past 30 years. I thought it was just wonderful. Marie Claude had, to my understanding, a lot of input, and her brother is an architect, so it is something quite special! There are lots of large windows, so even when you're inside you have the feeling of being outside. They have 4 horses, a man-made pond with fish and frogs, a rabbit coup, and imported fallow-dear. I don't know what the equilivant would be for us, maybe something b/t a deer and a raindeer; I really couldn't say. They were extraordinary. The male is in his mating prime right now and must be a happy fellow with 5 females! There were also some babies about 3-4 months old. I guess the male looses his antlers each spring and Alain has found and collected them for the past 5 or so years; it was really neat to see. Of course I was in heaven being around all these creatures, and MC and Alain couldn't be nicer or more interesting people. I am sure I will see them again soon.

As it turns out they are quite the horse ppl. Alain was president of a group that does endurance competitions for the past 15 years, and I saw ribbons and trophies their daughter had won. Turns out I couldn't have visited a better weekend as their neighbourhood hosted 110 horses yesterday for an event. Alain and MC along with 4 other families had built a huge and professional indoor arena for themselves and their childreen (bigger than Indian Hill!) along with some land. There were several races yesterday: 90km, 60km, 40km, and 20km. I got to do one of the vet controls where you stop to check the horses' heart rates, check for dehydration, lameness etc... It was pretty cool.

I moved into my foyer today which is better than I expected though it will cost more than expected too; you have to pay over 100 dollars each month for 17 meals and put down a security deposit and a deposit for the keys etc... However they have internet access (also a manditory monthly fee though not too bad and you have unlimited access provided there is an open computer). I have a toilet, sink, and shower in my room so that is great. There is a washer and dryer down the hall- also fantastic. I filled out paperwork etc... with Valerie and she will also help me apply for financial aid for housing once I have my CDS (carte de sejour).

I met one of the teachers I will be working for and sat in on 2 of her classes. All the students are very bright, and I look forward to getting to know them. Guess that's it for now. My Mom seems to be doing great with Pokey and had her first lesson. Today is Oliver's 4th birthday- wish I could be there to eat some cake with him! Love to you all, Elizbeth

Oh, here's my address:

Elizabeth Cloern
Foyer de Jeunes Travailleurs L' Edit de Nantes
Chambre 115
1 Rue de Gigant
44100 Nantes
FRANCE