When The Snow Falls, France Shuts Down

This past week the north region of France recieved about 3 inches of snow on Thursday. I took the train to Lille to finish up some Christmas shopping and the ride there was glorious! On the train I was listening to Christmas music and gazing out the window to the snow covered French countryside. However, since it snowed SNCF (French train company) announced that the trains will be running below high speed due to the snow. Now being from Minnesota this made me laugh out loud! While waiting for my train back to Fourmies I was watching hoards of people crowd around these heaters (there are only 4 of them in the whole station!) and I was just thinking...why aren't there more heaters!! I was freezing and shaking by the time my train arrived (later than scheduled due to snow). I read in the Lille newspaper that 25% of flights out of Paris were cancelled because of snow. Luckily the trains tend to keep running even though it snows :). Yesterday we recieved about 5-6 inches of heavy, wet snow...yay. I wouldn't've minded but I didn't bring waterproof winter boots with me which was really dumb but I was under the impression that this region didn't get much snow! Oh well. When I arrived home yesterday after an afternoon of baking failed peanut butter cookies I had to shovel my gravel walkway with a dirt shovel. To me this was insane because in Minnesota those just wouldn't work but alas I'm in France....it took me about 45-60 minutes to shovel my small, narrow walkway and I was furious after...Mainly because I don't have the proper footwear. Luckily I have 12 days until I'll be getting different ones back home. Since it snowed yesterday, Fourmies turned into a ghost town. There were hardly any cars on the road and if they were, they were stuck. On all sides of the road there were cars buried by the snow and I feel sorry for those people because they won't be going anywhere for awhile...hah. People were walking in the middle of the road to avoid having snow up to their knees. Also, there are no snow plow to be found....How do people get around?! This baffles me. Today there isn't snow falling so hopefully it's done!

Aperitif, A Duck and Chocolate Cake

Last night Krista, Nele and I were invited over to a colleague of their's at school named Valerie for dinner. Valerie picked us up at 7:30p and we all squeezed into her super tiny car...Honestly, it's amazing how these French people function with such small cars! Anyway, she lives in the neighboring town so it was a short drive. When we arrived I met her husband, Jean Michel who was very nice. Before dinner the French always have an 'aperitif' (a drink) along with some salty snacks. They whipped out about 7 or 8 different bottles of alcohol for us to choose from, talk about overwhelming! We chatted for a bit and then it was time for dinner. For dinner we had duck in a curry sauce, sliced bread, chinese noodles and of course wine. It was the smallest French dinner I've had here, I was surprised. At other people's houses there was a soup course first, then the main course, then a cheese and bread plate and then dessert with coffee or tea. After dinner twe had a choice of two desserts: a mango/coconut tarte or a molten chocolate center bundt cake. The bundt cake was freshly baked and it was heavenly! I thought I died. So delicious. After that then they served coffee or tea. Then after that (haha) we played a game called 'Times Up' . It's a type of card game where you play on teams and you are given two different actors/actresses/song writers etc on a blue or yellow side. You pick which one you want to play with. Next there are three rounds: the first one you describe the person, second you can only use one word to describe it and then lastly you act it out. It's similar to charades but better ( I think!). :) It was a fantastic night! Their house was very small and they kept all of the doors closed to all of the rooms which makes it difficult to find the bathroom.....hehe.

Only 3 more weeks until I arrive back home! Wow!

SNOW!

Today beautiful, white snow fell from the sky. It made me feel at home because it's so strange to go through November without seeing snow. I love it. It was only a light dusting though but I'll take it. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home. I wish I could be there. I miss the wonderful smells and the loud family and my family in general. I hope you all ate some extra turkey and pumpkin pie for me.

Gobble gobble.

22 more days.

Post Office

Two days ago I ventured out of my house to the town to mail a few important letters. I only had two of them stamped and I desperately needed stamps for other letters I would soon be writing. Upon arriving at the post office, the doors had a huge red tape X over them and there was a sign proclaiming it would be closed until DECEMBER 3rd! I almost died. How am I supposed to send letters now?? I was really upset because I do write a lot of letters and postcards AND they didn't post any notice of this closing....After this I quickly jumped to the conclusion that since the post office is closed that means mail must be stopping until the 3rd. That also sent me into rage. I know what you're thinking: 'Marie, you're overreacting, they can't close down the post office for two weeks'. Believe me, I had the same thought in my mind but then they very well could close it down...it is France we're talking about. Thankfully I have recieved a package and now I can rest easy.

Oh France. How I will miss thee and your crazy practices.

Trains, trams and doctors

Yesterday morning I had my doctors appointment in Lille. I had to go to this appointment in order to 'validate' my long stay visa. I took the train from Fourmies to Lille yesterday morning and then I took a tram into one of the suburbs of Lille to the OFII office. I arrived early at the office and I discovered that they were closed! Luckily I remembered that they are closed until 1:30p for lunch - whew. I saw a couple of other assistants that I had met at orientation so that was nice. Also, there were about 25 other assistants there doing the same thing! I was really nervous for this appointment because of the horror stories that I heard...everything from naked chest exams to the doctor poking you speaking in rapid French. Thankfully it was so much better than that. First they took a chest exam that wasn't topless (whew!) then I saw another doctor who took my height and weight and I did a mini eye exam. After that doctor I went to the last one who evaluated my x-ray (no TB for me! haha). Finally after that I got my 'stamp' which is actually a sticker saying that I'm good to stay in France. I'm so glad that's over with! All of the people there were really nice and they spoke some English which was great obviously. Hehe. As an added bonus, I got to keep my x-ray! What am I going to do with it you ask? Answer: no idea. Haha Its a good souvienr though!

Nice is Nice

SO sorry for being so behind in this blog. Two weeks ago I was in Nice/Cote d'Azur for the Toussaint break. I went there with two other assistants who work in Fourmies: Krista and Nele. Our travels started on October 24th when we had to get creative on how to get to Paris because of the major transportation strikes that were occuring all over France. Eventually we made it to Paris for our flight that was leaving the next morning. We slept at the airport which was an absolute disaster! At around 1a the cleaning people came around and one man was using a machine that had a large, blinking yellow light on it and then whenever he backed up the machine beeped! Needless to say I didn't sleep at all. I was actually really surprised at how many other people there were sleeping around us. Once 4:30a rolled around I was so happy because we could check in for our flight. After checking in and going through security we waiting for about 45 mintues until they finally started boarding us. By this time I was ready to be on that flight! We were all transferred down to a bus that took us to our plane. When the flight was all set to go they announced that we couldn't take off until 10:30a (our flight was supposed to leave at 7:55a) because of air traffic control problems. Luckily we snuck into an earlier slot and we arrive at Nice on time (8:30a). Whew! When we arrived we took the bus into the center of nice and then we walked from the train station to our hostel. Our hostel served free breakfast, had dinner every night and free internet! One night I had duck for dinner. It was actually pretty good! The day we arrived it was rainy and cold and we thought to ourselves 'we should've stayed home in Fourmies because it's the same weather!'. The hostel was so nice and we had a great experience there. It was located only 2 blocks from the beach! That day we explored Nice a little bit. The next day we went to Eze and Monaco. In Eze we toured a Medieval town and a perfume factory. Also in our group we met a girl from South Africa named Mariska who was traveling by herself so she joined us along with a girl from Austrailia named Bonnie. Both of these girls were fantastic and I'm so sad we couldn't spend more time together. In Monaco we saw Monte Carlo, walked on the famous racetrack and particpated in a carnival they were having right on the port! We also hiked up to see the royal palace. We had beautiful weather that day so once we got back to Nice we went down to the beach and watched the sunset - incredible. Words can't describe how awesome it was. The next day we went to Cannes and we walked on the beach and saw the theatre where they hold the Film Fesitval. It was really relaxing. We had to take a bus from Nice and it was only supposed to take an hour but it took almost 2!!! Oh the French... Our last day in Nice was spent by walking around and trying to soak in the last rays of the sun. The next morning Nele and I had to head out early to catch our flight back to Paris. Our flight was delayed twice and we took off about an hour later than we were supposed to. Once we arrived we had about one hour and a half until our TGV train was leaving to take us to Lille. By this time I was exhausted! We finally arrived back home in Fourmies. I was happy to be home because then I could lay around. It sounds ridiculous I know but after walking for hours for 4 days I was worn out. Overall it was a fantastic trip and I can't fully describe it. I'll try to update more often! I still don't have internet or telephone at my house...after 2 months!

Until next time...

Cote d'Azur

For the Toussaint Vacation Krista, Nele and I decided to go to Nice for 4 days. We had to spend the night in the Charles De Gaulle Airport in order to catch our 7 a.m. flight this morning. It was fun for about 2 hours but then the over-tiredness sets in and pretty soon you'd kill for a bed. Oddly enough there were a lot of people doing the same thing we were. A guy next to us snored the whole night and not to mention there were cleaning crews buzzing around us...some on machines with flashing yellow lights!! Needless to say I didn't hardly sleep. Our flight was scheduled to leave Paris at 7a.m. this morning but once we got loaded on and we were ready to go the captain said that air traffic control weren't allowing us to leave until 8:30a.m.! Fortunately we left shortly after that announcement and we arrived on time in Nice. We were happy campers! Unfortunately it rained all day today. We took a walking tour of Nice, the beach too and we checked into our hostel. Its a great hostel and I'm really happy with it. They even serve dinner and breakfast is free...score! It was an awesome day and I'm ready to go to bed but its only 3:34p.m.! Tomorrow we're headed to Eze and Monaco for the day. I have already been to both but I loved both of them. Its so odd going back to places that I was three years ago. For example, I found the same gelato place in Nice that I had visited when I was here with Providence...haha! Thats it for now. Its going to be a busy 4 days but it's nice to get out of Fourmies.

Love

Thoughts About the Schools

So it's been about a week since my last post and nothing much has changed besides that I have finally observed classes at my other college (middle school). In both of my colleges there are major discipline and respect problems; I really can't believe it! The kids don't care and some of the teachers don't either. A perfect example of this is one of the teachers at my other school, Joliot Curie, doesn't care at all about teaching the kids. While I'm there he usually writes random english phrases on the board that they're supposed to translate. Meanwhile, he's chatting me up and being a grumpy puss about teaching. His name is Mathieu just fyi. The other teachers that I work with at Joliot Curie are nice and welcoming. One of them, Marilyn, has purple and blonde hair....setting a nice example there lady. She has difficulties controlling her class as well. My favorite of the three is Valerie. I observe her class last on the days that I'm there (Tuesdays & Thursdays).

The walls in this school are either bright pink, orange or green. I often wonder how they came to pick those terrible colors? Did the designer really love those colors or did the principal of the school pick those colors in order to punish everyone who enters the building hah! Instead of bells they plan a string of classical music to signal the end of that particular learning experience.

I witnessed my first English test this week as well and it is actually teaching me something. The students are learning all the right names like: direct object, indirect object etc, and to be honest some of those things I don't even know!

So far its been a good experience for me and it makes me realize how lucky we are to have good schools in the United States!

*More Soon*

Whoa Adventures!

Well, it's been too long since my last update and I'm sure a lot of you have been dying for me to update you...well here goes!
I have been in Fourmies for 2 weeks only and it feels like I've been here for a lifetime. The landowners are fantastic people, they have been so kind and welcoming to be. Especially with the internet problem...I still don't have internet at my house and they have given me a key to their house so I can come over whenever I want to use it - wow, talk about trust!
Fourmies is a small town of 13,000 people and it has everything you need for daily life :) I won't lie to you but the first few days of my living here alone was quite a shock and I missed home terribly, just like anyone. Most of all I missed my family and the loudness that my family makes (haha) but I have been advised to drink this all in for two reasons: 1) I may never be back in Europe again and 2) as soon as I arrive home, there will be noise. God has really helped me through the rough days and my parents as well with their unfailing encouragement. But enough of that..
I started work officially on Friday and this Tuesday and Thursday I will be working the full days at both of my schools. I have been at the school right around the corner from my house several times now and all the teachers have been so welcoming to me, I didn't expect that at all. Spending time there has helped me get over the whole lonliness part of the trip. The students are very interested in me and America and of course I'm happy to share with them!
My work schedule is: I work full days Tuesdays and Thursdays and that's it! It's great for doing side travels.
In a couple of weeks I plan to go to London for 3 days during our first school break called Toussaint. I'm really looking forward to it.
My house is perfect and I really have come to like the quiet and I have a routine down for the night. I have been keeping daily journal entries which have helped jog my memory about what to write here for all of you.
Overall, it's been a great experience already and I've only been here for 2 1/5 weeks. I'm trying to take one day at a time and to have a planned activity for everyday so I won't lose my mind!
This week on Wednesday we have orientation for all the assistants in Lille for the entire day, it should be interesting.
I miss the US a lot and the familiarity of everything but I'm in Europe so it's time for me to start to enjoying it right?!
Please email me and give me updates about your life! I will try to get keep updating this as much as possible.

Love to all!

Why?

This post will be giving more information about this English assistant assistantship - whoa confusing. Anyway,it will detail the who, the what, the where and the how- so brace yourselves, it could be a bumpy ride.... !!!!

We'll start at the very beginning when my cousin (aka worldtraveler) Ben suggested that I apply for this program where they send English speakers to public schools in France to help teach English. The application process included filling out the typical application and then providing with it a 500 word essay (in French) detailing why you want to be an assistant. That had to be the easiest question I have ever had to answer - so I was psyched that they didn't ask something difficult like "Why do you like English" or something wacky like that. In my essay I listed all the reasons: 1) I am obcessed with everything French, 2) I love France and their culture, 3) the way they live their lives (slowly and deliberately) just astounds me, 4) I like kids and I have ample experience with them and 5) It is my dream/my passion/my everything to live in France! After I got that squared away I had to then translate my essay to French. Now, if it hadn't been for my cousin Ben (wow, two mentions in one post Ben... haha.) I would have absolutely and epically failed at the essay. Anyway, after about 3 hours of grueling translating we finished!

After submitting the application in the middle of January the countdown to April started. To my surprise, those months flew past until the end of March was upon us, then the weeks started moving like molasses......

FINALLY, on April 6th I recieved in email from Carolyn Collins from the Embassy in Washington D.C. announcing that I had been selected as an English assistant for the Academie de Lille (very northern France). And that I would be looking forward to recieving my placements in the next couple of weeks. Lo and behold they finally came along with my Arrete de Nomination (work contract; which I needed to get my long-stay visa). I have been placed in two colleges (middle schools) in Fourmies, France (about 3 hours out of Paris and right on the Belgian boarder). Also, the town is about 13,000 people - not too shabby!

I have been in contact with this wonderful older couple - Annette and Bernard who live just outside Fourmies. Annette has actually worked at one of my schools as an English teacher and she's wonderful. She and Bernard found me a great little house for me about 4 minutes walk from one of my schools. They have been so helpful to me and I cannot wait to meet them (finally) in two weeks!

After a mound of paperwork and emails I scheduled my visa appointment at the French Consulate in Chicago. Thankfully, my grandma was able to accompany me to this appointment. We flew there early in the morning for the appointment and then did some sightseeing and then hopped on the plane that same night! It was a hectic day but it was great to get that over with.

Now that my visa is safely with me I am now free to go! I am scheduled to leave (with my grandma) on September 14th in the morning and then I'm coming back on December 18th for 9 days for Christmas then I will officially be back sometime at the end of April. Its going to be a wild and crazy adventure and I'm getting excited!!

Stay tuned for the adventures!

Sister City!!

Today on Wikipedia I discovered that Fourmies' sister town is Fridley, Minnesota!! How sweet is that?!

26 Days & Counting

Today marks the 26th day until I leave the U.S. for France. I looked at the calendar last night when I couldn't fall asleep and I realized that I have about 3 and 1/2 weeks left before the big day. Needless to say I was a little shocked... there is still a lot that needs to happen before I leave! Too many people to say goodbye to still, my job needs to end, my siblings need to start school, I need to buy train tickets from my grandma and I and I need to purchase a lot more stuff!! The to-do list is slowly getting shorter...

This past Sunday my aunt and uncle threw me a going away party with all of my relatives and it made my leaving more of a reality. Most of the guests at this party I will see at Christmas, but the other half I won't see until I don't know when, that being said, WOWZA that's crazy. But it was great to see everyone before I left and to have a toast in my name :)

I have mixed feelings about leaving in 3 and 1/2 short weeks. I'm abandoning everything I know here at home (family, friends, school etc) and I'm putting my faith and trust in God. From the beginning I have asked God only to give me this opportunity if it was the right thing for me to do and that I could survive it (haha..), when I recieved the answer "yes" I knew this was something I had to do.

This assistantship combines my three loves: France, French and children. My French skills are more than a bit lacking I find as I continue my French lessons at the Alliance Francais in downtown Minneapolis. It is disheartning and it makes me even more nervous but there is no where to go except forward!

For some of you, you know how much of a struggle these past few weeks have been. During these past weeks I have become stressed out to max... I've been dealing with paperwork, lists, planning my first few days in Paris, planning other excursions with friends, booking plane tickets etc etc. In the end it will all be worth it I keep telling myself! When I first signed up for this Assistantship, I didn't realize at that time how much work and stress it is moving your life to a different country but I thank God for the people who have helped me in more ways than one with getting things situated. One of these people has been this couple, Annette & Bernard, who live near my town (Fourmies). They have helped me find a house to rent only a 4 minute walk from my house and they have called French government offices to ask my questions. Having a place secured now it was such a relief off my shoulders and my parent's as well. I'm so excited to see it and to get accquainted with the town.

Let the countown continue - 25.....

Catch you on the flip side ~
Marie