Today the teachers are en grève. Today at school, I was the only other teacher, besides the PE teacher to come to school. And he left the school to take his class on a two-hour sailing lesson, at the National Sailing School, as planned. How strange for me... For my first hour, no students showed up. So, I dutifully filled out my attendance sheet with the entire class roster and walked it down to the office instead of hanging it on the nail outside of the classroom door. At the office, I joined an early pause café with the gestionnaire, chef, et sécrétaire. It was nice; relaxing. I of course answered their obligatory questions about striking in the US to the best of my ability, having never really participated in a strike myself.
For the past few weeks, teachers had been whispering to each other about whether or not they would join the nation-wide movement today or not. Students kept asking me, "Madame, vous êtes grèviste?" It was hard for them to hide their disappointment when I would answer, "Non, il y aura des cours d'anglais, ne vous inqiuètez pas!" (No, don't worry, there will be English class!)
So, here I sit in the teacher's lounge, listening to the few present students mill around in the hallway until "class" starts up again.
27 September, 2011
25 September, 2011
shopping and a new friend
Yesterday morning we skyped with Sophie for the first time in about a week or so. We have both been so busy with school, but finally had a chance to catch up on how everything was going for each of us. After we swapped stories about our classes, Sophie asked us what "projets" we had planned for the weekend. We told her that we had hoped to go to Lorient to shop. (Every French person in the area apparently feels compelled to explain the "ugliness" of Lorient to us... Yes, we know Lorient is not pretty. Yes, we know it was completely destroyed during "la guerre" and hastily rebuilt and frankly, maybe we could give them a little credit...?!)
Sophie told us that she has a good friend in Lorient who would love to meet us. So, we sent a text to Rachel, played phone tag a little, shopped a bit in H&M, then met up for a drink at a cafe, as it was quite nice and sunny this weekend. We had a great time talking with her for over an hour. She speaks English, and in fact, I thought maybe she was Irish! We chatted a little about our classes - she is also teaching English in the same grades that I am. I also discovered I am a few days behind in the lessons!! We traded some activities for our classes, joked about the colored-pen obsession, and traded emails. It was so nice to spend the afternoon with such a nice person. Sophie sure has some kind and welcoming friends!! We parted ways promising to meet up again soon.
Oh yeah, and we bought a few sweaters, too.
Sophie told us that she has a good friend in Lorient who would love to meet us. So, we sent a text to Rachel, played phone tag a little, shopped a bit in H&M, then met up for a drink at a cafe, as it was quite nice and sunny this weekend. We had a great time talking with her for over an hour. She speaks English, and in fact, I thought maybe she was Irish! We chatted a little about our classes - she is also teaching English in the same grades that I am. I also discovered I am a few days behind in the lessons!! We traded some activities for our classes, joked about the colored-pen obsession, and traded emails. It was so nice to spend the afternoon with such a nice person. Sophie sure has some kind and welcoming friends!! We parted ways promising to meet up again soon.
Oh yeah, and we bought a few sweaters, too.
24 September, 2011
Un Diner Presque Parfait *
* "Un diner presque parfait" is a show in which there are about 5 candidates who each host a dinner party at their home. The guests rate the person on their food, presentation, animation, etc.
Erin kept trying to have me read books about living abroad to brace me for culture shock. But I didn't see the point. Things will be different, I can fight them or roll with the punches. We did it when we moved to Hawaii and it wasn't bad. I enjoy new experiences, so I wasn't worried. But in DC they recommended a few books that dealt with living in France. Now that seemed something good - it would be better to know what's coming then to do my first load of laundry and spend all day searching for a dryer (hint: many French people don't use a dryer!). So I read it and it was good but some parts were mainly for people not even in the upper 1% but the upper 0.5% living in Paris. Or at least that's what I thought!
We were invited to a dinner at our new friends' house with some people from their English class, that the wife takes. I hesitated with what to wear but decided to dress a little nicer. And after being there for about 5 minutes I was glad I did. This was going to be a full on french dinner - 5 courses and all! We started up stairs and Erin and I sat on opposite sides of the room - not on purpose of course, she's my security blanket! But I ended having a semi-conversation with the husband and one of their friends. I managed to hold my own and follow most of what was said. I became the hit of the party when I busted out my key phrase: "Je parle comme une vache espangole" (I speak like a spanish cow) which is just a funny way of saying I don't speak french well (why they pick on the poor spanish cows, I don't know). But everyone was on the floor laughing.
We continued downstairs for the first dish of fois gras, followed by a beautiful dish of rice and chicken, a salad, some cheese, and dessert. Of course a rainbow of wine was also involved in the night, but I can't even begin to say what colors when. But it was a lovely night! So much fun and...well just lots of fun. We did speak some English, but most of it was French and it made me feel really good about the little progress I'd made so far.
How does this dinner relate to the TV show or the book I read? Well, we followed all the protocols for etiquette in the book. The seating was boy-girl and Erin and I did not sit next to each other (we can talk to each other every day after all), Erin (being the guest and a girl) was served first, which she hated because she didn't know how much or what to do. And if they were on the show, I would be forced to give them a 10. I probably should mark them down to a 9 since on the show they always have an activity, but I was grateful for not having one!
We talked about Thanksgiving and said we should do a dinner then - so hopefully we will. When we left I felt bad knowing how many dishes we had dirtied and how much cleaning they'd have. But I knew better than to offer to help. But we did follow the protocol, we arrived late (actually at the same time as another couple), we brought a trivet for them from Hawaii, and we wrote a thank you letter the next day. Good thing I read that book!
22 September, 2011
when yelling works...
I have learned over the past two weeks that scolding students, glaring at them with the famous teacher "look" and even writing a "mot" in their "Carnet" does not always work as effectively as we hope. French kids are very, very bavards. Even when I ask them to be quiet, yell at them to be quiet, etc. They stop for like two seconds, then continue on. They also touch each other all the time. Okay, this is not exclusive to the French, but is an international 7th/8th grade related problem, in my experience. It's an adolescent thing. Oh, and don't even get me started on how many rulers I've had to confiscate. "Boys, we don't play swords with our rulers..." Class, what is the rule about touching? "Don't touch neighbor!" Yep, my 7th and 8th graders back home have the same rule.
So, yesterday I had two kids who just couldn't stop picking at each other. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I've got quite a few tattle tales in class. Apparently, it is always the fault of someone else. "I turned around to answer him, Madame. It's his fault." After an hour of this, I was fed up. I finally said in my stern, but firm English "You know what? I don't care whose fault it is. You are both acting very childish and I simply asked you to not talk to each other. Stay facing the board, and do not talk to each other. Or, you know what I'll do, I'll make you sit together at the same table..." (Or something similar) The class was silent. Remember, I wasn't yelling, just stern. Finally, one of the girls in question said "Madame, je vous ai pas compris, mais tenez. Je pense qu'il faut que vous écriviez un mot dans mon carnet." I almost smiled. Message received.
(For those readers who are not French, the Carnet is a booklet of correspondence between the parents and teachers, in which teachers write about misbehavior, etc. The girl said - Madame, I didn't understand you, but here. I think you want to write a word in my carnet.)
So, yesterday I had two kids who just couldn't stop picking at each other. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I've got quite a few tattle tales in class. Apparently, it is always the fault of someone else. "I turned around to answer him, Madame. It's his fault." After an hour of this, I was fed up. I finally said in my stern, but firm English "You know what? I don't care whose fault it is. You are both acting very childish and I simply asked you to not talk to each other. Stay facing the board, and do not talk to each other. Or, you know what I'll do, I'll make you sit together at the same table..." (Or something similar) The class was silent. Remember, I wasn't yelling, just stern. Finally, one of the girls in question said "Madame, je vous ai pas compris, mais tenez. Je pense qu'il faut que vous écriviez un mot dans mon carnet." I almost smiled. Message received.
(For those readers who are not French, the Carnet is a booklet of correspondence between the parents and teachers, in which teachers write about misbehavior, etc. The girl said - Madame, I didn't understand you, but here. I think you want to write a word in my carnet.)
For every success there is at least one failure...
We've been here in France for a little over a month now and things have been wonderful! We've met so many nice people and I've had numerous successful interactions with people in french. We've seen some amazing things and have had more than a few adventures. I truly have been very happy here. But that's not to say that everything is easy. The other day I had a mini-melt down. Erin has been having a hard time with school - just getting used to the different system and the more..."energetic" students. And before school she started getting upset with me for not doing more around the house and just in general. And I broke down and explained how everything every day is struggle for me. That I can't do anything without constant fear. Its not that anything is really hard, but its that everything is so different and so things take so much longer. And heaven help me if someone asks me a question when I go shopping or leave the house! While the things I have to do are simple and easy for Erin, they are far from a vacation for me. If she doesn't understand something she can ask for an explanation and only fear a tiny blow to her ego. Me, I've stopped trying to ask questions. I did it a few times in the beginning but now I've learned that asking questions won't result in me learning anything - so I just walk around town hoping people think I'm a mute! Don't get me wrong, no one, not a single person, has ever been anything but extremely nice and helpful. But here are just two examples of some failed interactions when I mistakenly tried to communicate....
So I pulled into a parking lot to check the waves before meeting up with a friend (who speaks english). As I walked passed these two guys I hear: "excuse-moi, monsieur?" I ignored him twice but the third time I figured I should at least acknowledge him.
Me: "Oui?"
Him: "blah blah blah" (I think he asked me if the waves were good)
Me: "Je ne sais pas encore" (I don't know yet.)
Him: "...." (his face tells me I clearly did not give him an answer that made any sense. It was if he asked if I knew where the gas station was and I responded with 'whales are mammals'.)
Me: "Desole, je ne peu peu peu peu"
(I wanted to say 'I can't speak french' which has 3 'p' words back to back which is always a tongue twister for me!)
Me: "Je ne peu peu peu peu"
*Sigh*
(I take a inhale/exhale and try again slowly)
Me: "Je ne peu peu peu pe..."
His friend: "Tu ne peut pas parler francais?"
Me: "Oui! Merci! Desole!"
(and we all have a good laugh and I quickly turn and walk away!)
Then just tonight I was playing badminton. I go with our friend Andreas and his son Victor who both speak english. And the people we play with know I'm from Hawaii and they are very nice. But tonight I was playing doubles without Andreas or Victor nearby. And after the game I walked over to get the "volant" and then joined the other 3 by the net to say "bien jeue". The other three were talking in fast french and I had just met these three people tonight. So here's what how I heard the conversation:
One of the guys: "Daniel?" (pointing at me)
Me: "Oui, Dan comme Daniel" (Yes, Dan, like Daniel)
Them: ".....D'accord, blah blah blah"
(then everyone says oui so I do also and then we get in position to play another game)
After reflecting a little, I realized this is actually what they said:
One of them: "Le dernier?" (One last game?)
Me: "Oui, Dan comme Daniel" (Yes, Dan like Daniel)
Them: ".....D'accord blah blah blah (probably: Ok, well lets play then)
So basically they asked if I wanted to play again and I respond like Tarzan, "Me Dan". I can only imagine how much of a moron I sounded like! Erin had a good laugh but did say that "dernier" is close to "daniel" and since I was arriving late to the conversation etc. etc., bottom line "Me Dan!"
So I pulled into a parking lot to check the waves before meeting up with a friend (who speaks english). As I walked passed these two guys I hear: "excuse-moi, monsieur?" I ignored him twice but the third time I figured I should at least acknowledge him.
Me: "Oui?"
Him: "blah blah blah" (I think he asked me if the waves were good)
Me: "Je ne sais pas encore" (I don't know yet.)
Him: "...." (his face tells me I clearly did not give him an answer that made any sense. It was if he asked if I knew where the gas station was and I responded with 'whales are mammals'.)
Me: "Desole, je ne peu peu peu peu"
(I wanted to say 'I can't speak french' which has 3 'p' words back to back which is always a tongue twister for me!)
Me: "Je ne peu peu peu peu"
*Sigh*
(I take a inhale/exhale and try again slowly)
Me: "Je ne peu peu peu pe..."
His friend: "Tu ne peut pas parler francais?"
Me: "Oui! Merci! Desole!"
(and we all have a good laugh and I quickly turn and walk away!)
Then just tonight I was playing badminton. I go with our friend Andreas and his son Victor who both speak english. And the people we play with know I'm from Hawaii and they are very nice. But tonight I was playing doubles without Andreas or Victor nearby. And after the game I walked over to get the "volant" and then joined the other 3 by the net to say "bien jeue". The other three were talking in fast french and I had just met these three people tonight. So here's what how I heard the conversation:
One of the guys: "Daniel?" (pointing at me)
Me: "Oui, Dan comme Daniel" (Yes, Dan, like Daniel)
Them: ".....D'accord, blah blah blah"
(then everyone says oui so I do also and then we get in position to play another game)
After reflecting a little, I realized this is actually what they said:
One of them: "Le dernier?" (One last game?)
Me: "Oui, Dan comme Daniel" (Yes, Dan like Daniel)
Them: ".....D'accord blah blah blah (probably: Ok, well lets play then)
So basically they asked if I wanted to play again and I respond like Tarzan, "Me Dan". I can only imagine how much of a moron I sounded like! Erin had a good laugh but did say that "dernier" is close to "daniel" and since I was arriving late to the conversation etc. etc., bottom line "Me Dan!"
Dessin
I love my drawing class. I was nervous to join because I hadn't really drawn since high school, and was never that good then, but I did a pretty good job, non?!
20 September, 2011
Pulling My Own Weight
One of the most common questions I get asked is what I'm doing this year (actually am I bored? is probably the most common question, but I never can understand when someone asks me that question for some reason, so we won't count that question!). And everyone wants to help because I say I'd love to do something but I don't have the right to work and the last thing I want is to be sent home over illegally working! But nothing says I can't help people just because I'm nice. So I, and Erin especially, tell people if they need help to give me a call. So while we were in Rennes with "the parents", Erin's drawing teacher called and said her husband was having computer problems. When we returned to Quiberon, it was "au boulot" (to work!). Now, just so we're all on the same page - I've met the drawing teacher about twice and just told her "yeah I'm good with computers". I never met her husband or told her anything about my previous work. But they are in a panic because the husband needs his computer fixed by the next morning. He's a dentist surgeon.So I get in the car with him and Erin. I don't think any of us say anything during the ride into town. He didn't really know why these Americans were on his presqu'ile, Erin was exhausted and probably half asleep (you know how she gets in the car), and I...well, I don't speak french.
Once we get to his office, he points me to his computer and turns it on and nothing happens. It's "bloqué". Awesome. So I start to work the normal way - just trying to figure out what's going on and what does work etc. Erin's bugging me with questions about what I'm doing and what the problem is. What the problem is? Really, I just got here. What I'm doing? Ok, you wanna know I'm in the BIOS seeing what the boot order is and now I'm checking to see if there are any indicator lights on and now I'm checking to see if there's a boot loader - does that help?!?! But then she explained to me what it looks like for this poor dentist who is at the office at 8pm on a Sunday (an unheard of event in France!) with someone who is, for all he knows, maybe making things worse and best of all, the guy (me) doesn't say anything! So I pull it together and I try to explain some things to him - basically that I have no idea and I'm just checking everything out first.
Well it must have been my lucky day because BAM it started to work. What did I do? Ha, don't ask. All I did was tell the computer to try and boot off of a CD before booting off the hard drive (essentially nothing) - but it worked. So he was extremely excited! So we head back to the house and they tell me their home computer isn't working either. So I sit down and realize they have a bad virus infection - but tell them I'll come back the next day to fix it. So I grab my coat and Erin tells me we're going to have an apéro with them.
So they break out the bubbly and celebrate our new friendship with some delicious little pupus (appetizers) and just talk for a couple of hours.
The next day I come back to fix the computer at 10am - long story short, the virus is awful! So I need the Windows install CD - which they don't have. But they know a guy who might have it. So we head into town and for some reason we sit down at a restaurant......OK, that's not what I was expecting. So they order me this awesome fish dish - yummy yes, but I'm not sure how that will help the computer. The chef comes out and he chats with them and then he comes out with the Windows CD. Ah yes, of course, the chef had the Windows CD! So we head back home, after dessert of course, and I spend the next couple of hours fixing it. Finally it works.
So a simple virus infection that should have taken 2 hours to fix took from 10am until 4pm! But in addition to the working computer, we also have very good friends! So yes, everything takes longer here and we could complain about the inefficiencies, but it's because relationships matter more. We're slowly learning that and enjoying it. So I may not be pulling my own weight with money, but I am making us rich with friendship (did I really just write that?!).
Once we get to his office, he points me to his computer and turns it on and nothing happens. It's "bloqué". Awesome. So I start to work the normal way - just trying to figure out what's going on and what does work etc. Erin's bugging me with questions about what I'm doing and what the problem is. What the problem is? Really, I just got here. What I'm doing? Ok, you wanna know I'm in the BIOS seeing what the boot order is and now I'm checking to see if there are any indicator lights on and now I'm checking to see if there's a boot loader - does that help?!?! But then she explained to me what it looks like for this poor dentist who is at the office at 8pm on a Sunday (an unheard of event in France!) with someone who is, for all he knows, maybe making things worse and best of all, the guy (me) doesn't say anything! So I pull it together and I try to explain some things to him - basically that I have no idea and I'm just checking everything out first.
Well it must have been my lucky day because BAM it started to work. What did I do? Ha, don't ask. All I did was tell the computer to try and boot off of a CD before booting off the hard drive (essentially nothing) - but it worked. So he was extremely excited! So we head back to the house and they tell me their home computer isn't working either. So I sit down and realize they have a bad virus infection - but tell them I'll come back the next day to fix it. So I grab my coat and Erin tells me we're going to have an apéro with them.
So they break out the bubbly and celebrate our new friendship with some delicious little pupus (appetizers) and just talk for a couple of hours.
The next day I come back to fix the computer at 10am - long story short, the virus is awful! So I need the Windows install CD - which they don't have. But they know a guy who might have it. So we head into town and for some reason we sit down at a restaurant......OK, that's not what I was expecting. So they order me this awesome fish dish - yummy yes, but I'm not sure how that will help the computer. The chef comes out and he chats with them and then he comes out with the Windows CD. Ah yes, of course, the chef had the Windows CD! So we head back home, after dessert of course, and I spend the next couple of hours fixing it. Finally it works.
So a simple virus infection that should have taken 2 hours to fix took from 10am until 4pm! But in addition to the working computer, we also have very good friends! So yes, everything takes longer here and we could complain about the inefficiencies, but it's because relationships matter more. We're slowly learning that and enjoying it. So I may not be pulling my own weight with money, but I am making us rich with friendship (did I really just write that?!).
19 September, 2011
Mont Saint Michel
Our first real trip was to visit Sophie's parents near Rennes and from there to go to Mont St. Michel - an old abbey that was built on a piece of land that during low tide is a penninsula and during high tide is an island. Its a fortified city with the abbey in the center - a must see if you come to France. We left Friday night and headed to Rennes (a 2 hour drive). We got lost (a requirement when driving here) but had a lovely dinner and chat with the parents before turning in early (early is relative since dinner is around 8pm, early means 11pm or midnight) so we could get up and head out early.
We were on the road and Erin promptly fell asleep (she always sleeps in the car!) and we saw a sign for an American cemetery (from the war) and decided to stop. It was quite impressive. The land was donated to the US and is maintained by the US; I think the DoD, and you can tell with the grass trimmed short and the edges cut perfectly straight. There is always an English speaker to give information about the cemetery - it was a little piece of home. And then to see the rows and rows of white crossed was very humbling - but to hear the parents describe how small this one was compared to the big ones in Normandy was just amazing. From one of the buildings we got to see how the invasion took place and since we were driving passed these places, or saw them while planning this trip, it made it much more real than its been before. Very sad and hard to imagine.
We continued up to Mont Saint Michel and we could see it in the distance and it looked like a magical island in the distance. But I'll be honest when we parked the car just a short 5 minute walk on a well built road I was a little disappointed. The city looked as I had imagined but the semi-island didn't look like it ever was an island. But that was due to the fact that we came at the lowest low tide of the year, so next time I go, I'm going to make sure its during high tide!
We were lucky because it was the weekend that all monuments in France were free to enter. So we all went into the abbey and walked through it - it was the first time the parents did the tour since it normally costs around $15/person. It was quite impressive.
We grabbed a quick sandwich and then got in the car and the parents took us along the scenic route to the next town and I'm sure it was beautiful....but Erin and I were fast asleep :) The next town we went to was St. Malo which was another fortified city right on the water. We walked through the city and then along the old ramparts. It was awesome! They even have a pool that you don't see during high tide and then during low tide you can swim in it - and the water just cycles out with the tides. What a beautiful city. When we were leaving they were having a demo for water sports and we saw Da Kine, a Hawaiian company, and had to take a few pics.
Our final city for the day was Dinard. Following the theme, an old fortified city. We just walked around and marveled at how this buildings from the 1300s still were standing! Some people with the older houses I guess wanted to have some fun with all of the people taking pictures of their houses, so they put up posters of people in the window to startle photo takers - I thought I had accidentally taken a picture of a lady getting dressed!
We had pizza for dinner and Erin got her first accordion lesson. The next day we went on a tour of Rennes - another old city...but it is quite big now. We went to Sophie's grandmother's place along with the old sections. The parents also showed us a small monument where an American airplane had crashed and Sophie's grandmother remembers hearing the plane crash from a few fields away. It's really sad and interesting to hear stories about the war.
We headed home - exhausted - but really excited about the wonderful weekend! And coming home, we didn't even get lost!
We were on the road and Erin promptly fell asleep (she always sleeps in the car!) and we saw a sign for an American cemetery (from the war) and decided to stop. It was quite impressive. The land was donated to the US and is maintained by the US; I think the DoD, and you can tell with the grass trimmed short and the edges cut perfectly straight. There is always an English speaker to give information about the cemetery - it was a little piece of home. And then to see the rows and rows of white crossed was very humbling - but to hear the parents describe how small this one was compared to the big ones in Normandy was just amazing. From one of the buildings we got to see how the invasion took place and since we were driving passed these places, or saw them while planning this trip, it made it much more real than its been before. Very sad and hard to imagine.
We continued up to Mont Saint Michel and we could see it in the distance and it looked like a magical island in the distance. But I'll be honest when we parked the car just a short 5 minute walk on a well built road I was a little disappointed. The city looked as I had imagined but the semi-island didn't look like it ever was an island. But that was due to the fact that we came at the lowest low tide of the year, so next time I go, I'm going to make sure its during high tide!
We were lucky because it was the weekend that all monuments in France were free to enter. So we all went into the abbey and walked through it - it was the first time the parents did the tour since it normally costs around $15/person. It was quite impressive.
We grabbed a quick sandwich and then got in the car and the parents took us along the scenic route to the next town and I'm sure it was beautiful....but Erin and I were fast asleep :) The next town we went to was St. Malo which was another fortified city right on the water. We walked through the city and then along the old ramparts. It was awesome! They even have a pool that you don't see during high tide and then during low tide you can swim in it - and the water just cycles out with the tides. What a beautiful city. When we were leaving they were having a demo for water sports and we saw Da Kine, a Hawaiian company, and had to take a few pics.
Our final city for the day was Dinard. Following the theme, an old fortified city. We just walked around and marveled at how this buildings from the 1300s still were standing! Some people with the older houses I guess wanted to have some fun with all of the people taking pictures of their houses, so they put up posters of people in the window to startle photo takers - I thought I had accidentally taken a picture of a lady getting dressed!
We had pizza for dinner and Erin got her first accordion lesson. The next day we went on a tour of Rennes - another old city...but it is quite big now. We went to Sophie's grandmother's place along with the old sections. The parents also showed us a small monument where an American airplane had crashed and Sophie's grandmother remembers hearing the plane crash from a few fields away. It's really sad and interesting to hear stories about the war.
We headed home - exhausted - but really excited about the wonderful weekend! And coming home, we didn't even get lost!
18 September, 2011
A beautiful day in the neighborhood...
I have been going to a drawing class on Wednesday mornings for the past two weeks, and I love it. Some people do yoga...I now draw! I found out about the art class at the Forum des Associations several weeks ago - kind of like a club fair for the town. It was there that I met my drawing teacher. It turns out that she lives in the same small village that we do, about a 3 minute walk away! What are the odds? Through casual conversation, she learned that Dan "used to be" informaticien/programmeur but is now a "French language learner." She promised to call if ever they had a problem. Turns out, they did have a problem - two, in fact.
My drawing teacher's husband is a dentist and something had happened to his computer at work so that he could not even get the computer to run any programs. It turned on, but that was about it. Dan and I went to his office with him on Sunday afternoon, after we returned from a weekend with "the parents" in Rennes. It was a real head-scratcher for Dan. He spent a lot of time looking here and there, pressing this and clicking that. I realize now that I was not helping the situation- Dan was plenty stressed already- but I kept getting him to talk a bit about what he was doing and what was going on. Imagine how M. le Dentist felt: Here is a strange American that my wife met, this man is supposedly a computer expert, yet he can't communicate with me. I have no idea what he is doing - he could be stealing my patient files, for all I know...
Dan eventually got the strange but brilliant idea to try a CD in the CDROM drive. We still don't know why, but it magically reset the computer so that it worked again. Dan remembered seeing this once before and thought, "Why not give it a try, nothing else is working...?" So, the dentist stopped sweating bullets and practically embraced Dan. We happily rode back home where his wife tried to offer us an apero to celebrate. "Actually," I said, "Dan would really like to have a look at your home computer" That experience was a longer one and is Dan's story to tell :) Long story short, he didn't fix it just then, but we did stay for a champagne aperitif and met their sweet daughter, "Dove."
What a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
My drawing teacher's husband is a dentist and something had happened to his computer at work so that he could not even get the computer to run any programs. It turned on, but that was about it. Dan and I went to his office with him on Sunday afternoon, after we returned from a weekend with "the parents" in Rennes. It was a real head-scratcher for Dan. He spent a lot of time looking here and there, pressing this and clicking that. I realize now that I was not helping the situation- Dan was plenty stressed already- but I kept getting him to talk a bit about what he was doing and what was going on. Imagine how M. le Dentist felt: Here is a strange American that my wife met, this man is supposedly a computer expert, yet he can't communicate with me. I have no idea what he is doing - he could be stealing my patient files, for all I know...
Dan eventually got the strange but brilliant idea to try a CD in the CDROM drive. We still don't know why, but it magically reset the computer so that it worked again. Dan remembered seeing this once before and thought, "Why not give it a try, nothing else is working...?" So, the dentist stopped sweating bullets and practically embraced Dan. We happily rode back home where his wife tried to offer us an apero to celebrate. "Actually," I said, "Dan would really like to have a look at your home computer" That experience was a longer one and is Dan's story to tell :) Long story short, he didn't fix it just then, but we did stay for a champagne aperitif and met their sweet daughter, "Dove."
What a beautiful day in the neighborhood!
13 September, 2011
Vannes or Bust
On Saturday we met Sophie's friend Elodie in Vannes. We had an awesome time with her and she showed us all around Vannes and took Erin shopping and then made us dinner and we ended up talking until almost 1am with her. It was a great time!
I didn't get a chance to fo to FNAC to buy a CD player or browse for books, but feeling pretty good about how to get there again, I figured why not go to Vannes today? Great plan. I dropped Erin off early and then came home to get ready to go. I hopped in the car and remembered I needed gas.....well diesel actually. So I went to the one station in Quiberon that I knew, but they were closed (I've stopped asking why a place is closed, places close at random times all during the day). So I headed to Vannes and figured I'd get gas on the way.
I didn't get a chance to fo to FNAC to buy a CD player or browse for books, but feeling pretty good about how to get there again, I figured why not go to Vannes today? Great plan. I dropped Erin off early and then came home to get ready to go. I hopped in the car and remembered I needed gas.....well diesel actually. So I went to the one station in Quiberon that I knew, but they were closed (I've stopped asking why a place is closed, places close at random times all during the day). So I headed to Vannes and figured I'd get gas on the way.
I went to the big SuperU just off the presqu'ile and got it there. I first parked and got out my trusty atlas to make it look like I was lost and I observed how others paid with cash since our cards are no good here. Then I got to the pump and freaked! It didn't say diesel anywhere but I had seen it on the big price sign and it was in yellow. I saw a frenchman finishing up and I quickly got out and said "excuse moi, monsieur, c'est disel n'est-ce pas?" and pointed at the yellow pump that read "Gazole" and he said "oui, c'est gazole". Oh awesome, the pump that says gazole is gazole - thank you mille fois! But I confidently (ok, if I was the captain from Emily Travis' pirate joke, I would be asking for my brown pants) put $20 in knowing how the french hate coins and all I had were 3 $20 bills.....well, I missed $20 and landed on $20.01 - chouette! So now I have no idea if the car will explode from the wrong gas and le mec taking my money will throw 3,000 daggers at me with his eyes. So I get in the car and very hesitantly I start it.....cool, no explosion. I make my way up the the guy and hand him $40 for $20.01 - I say "je suis desole" and he asks me to see if I have any change. Oh yes, I just felt like giving you $40 for $20.01 of gas (that might explode on me at any second) just for fun! I say no, sorry, and he grumbles and then gives me my change. We say au revoir and I fumble with the change but then realize I should get far away from others as quickly as possible so when the car explodes I'm the only casualty. Finally I get on the road and after about 10 minutes I decide that if it was going to explode, it would have by now.
Now its Vannes or bust.....but I feel pretty good that I won't bust!
After I bought the CD player I went to carrefour and oh la vache it's huge! So I spent about an hour in there and decided to buy butter, cheese, and a baguette and make my own sandwich. I get back to the car and start assembling my sandwich as half of the country decides to park next to me or walk past my car. Yes yes, I'm the pathetic american ripping my baguette with my fingers and scraping slivers of butter off of a huge block of butter. Once my sandwich was made I found a place all to myself in the shade (the only place I knew a frenchman wouldn't walk by me and stare at my awkwardness) and slowly ate my sandwich savoring the fleeting calmness.
I got in the car and headed home and stopped along the way to watch the waves at mane guen, port blanc, and port bara. I also stopped at the war memorial in portivy. Then I made it home. I got an email from Erin saying she would get a ride home and that she had to stay late for a psuedo open house. I was tempted to go out surfing since the waves at mane guen were nice - but I just didn't have the strength for that today. So I fed kitty and opened my CD played and then watched TV and tried to rest.
Just to summarize, I endured a day of stress and awkwardness for a 19e CD player....nothing is easy!
02 September, 2011
la Rentrée
The beginning of the school year is always exciting and nerve-wracking. I usually have a week or so of weird, sometimes scary dreams, usually in which I either forget to get fully dressed for school, or that the kids have staged a coup and have taken over my classroom. My normal "forgetting to get dressed" dreams are equally terrifying if I am in jeans instead of dress pants. Yes, at least I would be wearing pants, but jeans are *sadly* never allowed. I keep working on it though ;)
I did not have the regular dress-code dreams this year, because to my grand pleasure, jeans are allowed for teachers. Really, anything goes, as long as you still look respectful and are dressed at least as nicely as the students.
The Pre-Rentrée was the Friday before classes started, when all of the teachers came together for a meeting. We went around the room and introduced ourselves; there are only about 20 or 25 teachers and staff members total, about the size of our foreign language department in Hawaii. However, about half of these teachers only teach at our collège part-time because they are also stationed at one or even two other schools. Oh, and often, the "other" school is Belle Ile (aptly named "Beautiful Island") and they have to take the ferry to get there each day. Can you imagine that commute? So, it will be hard to get to know all of the teachers who actually teach in the school.
We also received our temporary schedules and rosters. I had been having anxiety attacks for weeks because school was starting in three days and I only now was getting my schedule and rosters, but I played it cool ;)
The neat thing about the teachers' schedules is that you don't necessarily teach every day. For example, I have off on Wednesdays and hope to take an art class that morning. My other four days are pretty full all day. An example: Mondays I have 6 hours of teaching - an "option" (which is like an elective), two classes of 6e (6th grade), two classes of 5e (7th grade) and 3e FIBRE. FIBRE stands for Formation Intégrée aux métiers de Bouche et la Restauration. Mondays are my hardest days. On the other days I generally teach 5 hours a day, with at least one one-hour break. It will take some getting used to, but I am excited for school to start!
I did not have the regular dress-code dreams this year, because to my grand pleasure, jeans are allowed for teachers. Really, anything goes, as long as you still look respectful and are dressed at least as nicely as the students.
The Pre-Rentrée was the Friday before classes started, when all of the teachers came together for a meeting. We went around the room and introduced ourselves; there are only about 20 or 25 teachers and staff members total, about the size of our foreign language department in Hawaii. However, about half of these teachers only teach at our collège part-time because they are also stationed at one or even two other schools. Oh, and often, the "other" school is Belle Ile (aptly named "Beautiful Island") and they have to take the ferry to get there each day. Can you imagine that commute? So, it will be hard to get to know all of the teachers who actually teach in the school.
We also received our temporary schedules and rosters. I had been having anxiety attacks for weeks because school was starting in three days and I only now was getting my schedule and rosters, but I played it cool ;)
The neat thing about the teachers' schedules is that you don't necessarily teach every day. For example, I have off on Wednesdays and hope to take an art class that morning. My other four days are pretty full all day. An example: Mondays I have 6 hours of teaching - an "option" (which is like an elective), two classes of 6e (6th grade), two classes of 5e (7th grade) and 3e FIBRE. FIBRE stands for Formation Intégrée aux métiers de Bouche et la Restauration. Mondays are my hardest days. On the other days I generally teach 5 hours a day, with at least one one-hour break. It will take some getting used to, but I am excited for school to start!
01 September, 2011
Leaving the Presqu'ile!
Well, I'm not going to lie, after the incident with the neighbor's gate, I have been very hesitant with driving. But with Erin itching to do some sight seeing and shopping, I knew it was only a matter of time before we'd have to make a long drive. Each Thursday I've been playing badminton which makes me drive and so I finally gave in and we made plans to go to Carnac to do some sight seeing.
Carnac is a cute small town not too far away but Erin wasn't allowed to talk except if I asked her something (I couldn't be distracted!). We stopped for gas on the way and then once we made it to the village, panic set in. Driving is no problem, the problem is parking. Who knows where I'm allowed to park, if we have to pay, how long we can stay, etc. etc.! In some parking areas you have to use a magic disc to show what time you arrived. It's all so simple....if you grew up here! :) But luckily there was a large lot right on the edge of town, so we parked there. Phew! The hard part was over!
After we toured the cute town we visited the tourism office. We went to a prehistoric museum. Then it started to rain and we almost went home, but at the last second we decided to go see one of the largest groupings of the megaliths. For kilometers (whatever they are!) these standing stones are lined up. Its really quite a sight. I've heard it been called the stonehedge of France (which makes sense since this area has celtic roots).
Having successfully gotten us to Carnac and back, I figured Erin would be happy not leaving the presqu'ile for at least another 3 months - I was wrong! She is not embracing the quiberonnais lifestyle of staying on the presqu'ile! Therefore, a few days later we met some new friends, Kim and Jorn, and Kim made the mistake of telling Erin about H&M and Zara in Lorient (which is about an hour away). So after Erin begging to go and me spending an hour on google maps, we go.
Lorient was completely destroyed during the wall and it was rebuilt quickly, because....well this large city had thousands of people who wanted to have a place to live. But if you ask a Frenchman about Lorient, it's an ugly city. If you ask us, it's nice! It has large roads (a plus in my book!) lined with trees and at least one nice large park. So after a little panic with the parking (I'm beginning just to accept that parking will always mean stress) we walked to H&M and Zara. We did some shopping and Erin came home with about 4 new tops and I came home with my first european pants (meaning they are tight!) and also a scarf. I figured when in France...(I haven't worn the scarf yet, baby steps!)
No one we told about Lorient was very impressed; they all said how ugly the city was. But now we might go and visit one of Sophie's friends in Vannes which isn't as far and is also not ugly and has more shops. I'm even talking about driving to the Loire valley to see some chateaux....but we'll see how long of a drive that is first!
Carnac is a cute small town not too far away but Erin wasn't allowed to talk except if I asked her something (I couldn't be distracted!). We stopped for gas on the way and then once we made it to the village, panic set in. Driving is no problem, the problem is parking. Who knows where I'm allowed to park, if we have to pay, how long we can stay, etc. etc.! In some parking areas you have to use a magic disc to show what time you arrived. It's all so simple....if you grew up here! :) But luckily there was a large lot right on the edge of town, so we parked there. Phew! The hard part was over!
After we toured the cute town we visited the tourism office. We went to a prehistoric museum. Then it started to rain and we almost went home, but at the last second we decided to go see one of the largest groupings of the megaliths. For kilometers (whatever they are!) these standing stones are lined up. Its really quite a sight. I've heard it been called the stonehedge of France (which makes sense since this area has celtic roots).
Having successfully gotten us to Carnac and back, I figured Erin would be happy not leaving the presqu'ile for at least another 3 months - I was wrong! She is not embracing the quiberonnais lifestyle of staying on the presqu'ile! Therefore, a few days later we met some new friends, Kim and Jorn, and Kim made the mistake of telling Erin about H&M and Zara in Lorient (which is about an hour away). So after Erin begging to go and me spending an hour on google maps, we go.
Lorient was completely destroyed during the wall and it was rebuilt quickly, because....well this large city had thousands of people who wanted to have a place to live. But if you ask a Frenchman about Lorient, it's an ugly city. If you ask us, it's nice! It has large roads (a plus in my book!) lined with trees and at least one nice large park. So after a little panic with the parking (I'm beginning just to accept that parking will always mean stress) we walked to H&M and Zara. We did some shopping and Erin came home with about 4 new tops and I came home with my first european pants (meaning they are tight!) and also a scarf. I figured when in France...(I haven't worn the scarf yet, baby steps!)
No one we told about Lorient was very impressed; they all said how ugly the city was. But now we might go and visit one of Sophie's friends in Vannes which isn't as far and is also not ugly and has more shops. I'm even talking about driving to the Loire valley to see some chateaux....but we'll see how long of a drive that is first!
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