How will we ever be "ready" to start this exchange?!?
Yes, I have written and read dozens of emails. I've completed my online orientation. My partner, Sophie, and I feel like old friends already. I am so eager and excited to be there already, and yet, I have a hundred lists of things to do. We are three weeks away from meeting Sophie and all the other Fulbrighters in Washington DC. After a week-long orientation and some East Coast family time, we will head back to Waikiki to help Sophie settle in. We'll spend a few days with Soph, then "on y va!" ...off to France!
What's been going through my mind?
Are my flights booked? (pretty much...pending confirmation of our visa appointment)
Are all my documents prepared, filled out, and stamped?!? (Who knows, at this point... I hope so! I'll feel a lot better once I actually have my visa!)
Is my classroom ready for Sophie to make it her own? (as ready as it can be...)
What can I get rid of in our condo? (Actually, trying to de-personalize and prepare our condo for Sophie has been like a much-needed Spring cleaning. I have made several trips to GoodWill where I dropped off clothes and things that I always thought I couldn't live without. Turns out, I can. And I will!)
What will I pack?!? (OK, maybe I am getting a little ahead of myself - I do have three weeks left! But the thought has crossed and recrossed my mind. After having a much-needed and anticipated skype conversation with Sophie, I learned that teaching in jeans all year would be perfectly acceptable. Hmmm, not sure if I'll feel acceptable... Actually, Dan and I will have to do some shopping upon our arrival in France. The weather in Quiberon will be mild, but for us, that means COLD. I know, I know. Coming from PA it's not cold, but having spent the past 6 years in temperatures that barely dip past 70 or climb above 88... 50 sounds freezing!)
Am I ready to teach English? (and I mean English English!) (Hmmm, good question! I do need to brush up on my British vocab ["lorry," "loo," "jumper"...] but teaching my own language will be interesting and likely quite challenging. In many ways, I expect teaching English to be similar to teaching French - they are both languages and certainly must have similarities in the way they are taught and learned. My Shippensburg English degree focused a lot more on literature...maybe I can incorporate some T.S. Eliot or Robert Frost into class?)
Yes, I still have tons to do and plenty to worry about, but overall I am simply excited! I can't believe I am going to trade lives with Sophie, a "real, live French person" to teach her classes. She is going to live in my condo and I will live in her cottage. I am going to work with her colleagues and she with mine. "My" students will now be "hers." Her neighbors and friends will soon *hopefully* be mine. And I finally will get to a have a kitty!! I can't wait to meet my new feline companion, Nausicaa!
So here's to three weeks and counting.....
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