I can't believe I've been here for 2 months already!! To recap: I've visited a ton of museums, parks, cultural centers, and expositions (but there's still so many more!!). I've become close with a lot of the other English and Spanish assistants in Toulouse who I see several times throughout the week around town. Some of us have formed a weekly dinner club called Mangesters Inc. that convenes Mondays and Thursdays. I've gotten to know my roommates, Gisele and Gabby, better. I've also managed to make some French friends, which I'm very happy about. I've been lucky enough to be invited to several professors’ homes for meals and even weekends. October was a bit rough with the strikes disrupting school. Then, at the end of the month I took a trip up to Rennes over the Toussaint vacation and visited my old host family and my friend Emma from study abroad. In the beginning of November we celebrated Armistice Day and had another long weekend during which I stayed in Toulouse, went out quite a bit and met many more new people, and last week I had a lovely Thanksgiving with the other assistants at Lauren's house. Overall I would say I've been motivated and going out a lot, both during the day to explore the city and also of course at night.
However, all this being said, now I am feeling like some of the novelty is wearing off and I need a bit more stability in my life here. I've been meeting a ton of new people and doing new things all the time, which is wonderful, but now I need to change gears a bit and find more of a routine.
I decided to start with injecting new motivation and organization into my job. Since I've arrived here I haven't had too much trouble planning lessons...first I did introductions where I talked about myself and my life in the states, which led to a lesson talking about the differences between American universities and European universities, then it was Halloween, With November came Election Day and we talked about that, and finally last week was Thanksgiving which gave me plenty of material. This weekend, upon realizing I was lacking an American cultural holiday to fall back on, I decided I wanted to get more organized with my classes. As I mentioned before this is a feat considering that I see my students very irregularly. Some classes operate on a week A/week B basis meaning I see the students every 2 weeks, and with some of those classes the teachers send me a different group out of their class each time so it can be a month before I see the same students! I also realized that I don't even have lists with my students’ names, or any way of really keeping track who I see and when I see them!
I decided to go in Monday to ask my teachers for more clear direction on what to do with the students and also for complete lists of the students in a last ditch effort to get organized before we break for Christmas. The first teacher I asked told me that this was a good idea and she understood why I would want a list of the students and she apologized for it being so confusing what with the strike messing up the usual order of the groups etc etc. Oh but wait, she told me, the groups would be changing anyway next week. OK. I still proposed my plan to my other professors and asked to set up “bilans,” or evaluations with them before for Christmas so that I could make sure I was doing what I'm supposed to. I left Monday feeling slightly more organized and ready to take on my Tuesday students and teachers with my renewed plan of organization. Au contraire. I came home to an email from the teacher I teach with Tuesdays saying she was sick and therefore I was relieved of my teaching duties. The other teacher I am supposed to teach with that day I met back in October and he told me he would contact me after the Toussaint vacations (around Halloween) but never did. I've since heard from other teachers that he is behind with his classes because of the strike. Now, I’m a bit sick and will be missing morning classes on Thursday. So, needless to say, I'm feeling slightly deflated in regards to my classes. I really want to teach my students something and feel like I have a handle on their language level and progress, but I just don't see that happening. Maybe I'm misinterpreting my role, and should just be happy with simple lessons and not seek out continuity or necessarily knowing who I will be seeing each week. I guess I just envisioned seeing the same students every week, and being able to build off previous lessons, but I'm not sure that will happen. I'm more a bonus for the students than a fixture in their English curriculum, whatever I do with them is something. Hm. Its hard sometimes always feeling like I don't quite know what's going on.
In other news, I spent way too much time at grocery store again on Tuesday. Specifically, in the dairy aisle. Can someone please tell me the difference between crème fraiche and fromage blanc? Fromage frais and petites suisse? I know it would be just as overwhelming for a foreigner trying to understand the difference between the plethora of American products we have in our grocery stores, but I swear the French have a good 8 more staple dairy products that we just don't work with in the US. As I've mentioned before, the grocery story is always an adventure, for me at least. About twice a week I go a very large store (called Auchan) slightly outside the city as its less expensive than buying from the mini-supermarkets in town. Other than that I buy my produce and bread from my local market and bakery a short walk from my house. I always spend at least an hour roaming around inside this place. When I have finally sifted through all the variations of products and have my cart assembled, the hard part comes: the checkout aisle. My palms begin to sweat as soon as I get in line, and I’ll explain why. You see, the concept of grocery-baggers never really took off in France. So forget having a leisurely conversation in line, or flipping through a trashy magazine while being rung-up. As I inch forward in line I’m trying to figure out how to make the quickest moves to arrange my products into my backpack and bags the moment I pass Go at the cashier so as not to cause a pile up of disgruntled customers behind me. My first time I was not prepared at all as the accustomed French in front of me made it look so easy, carrying on a conversation with the cashier the entire time they deftly whisked things into their plastic bags they had brought from home, finishing grandly with a “Bonne journée” before leaving. When it came to me, I was completely unprepared for the speed at which cashiers operated and managed to break a sweat while holding up the line behind me as I unceremoniously stuffed things into my bags. I’ll tell you it wasn’t pretty. So, here are some words of wisdom: as you approach the cashier, you must keep several things in mind: 1. You must have your aforementioned sacs en plastiques in hand, lest they charge you 3 cents per plastic bag they give you, thinking you didn’t come prepared, 2. You should also to have your credit card and store card on hand. You also don’t want to be rifling around wasting time looking for that as the groceries pile up. 3. Never forget to say “Bonjour” to the cashier, it isn’t polite, but don’t let this guise of conversation fool you, as soon as these words are exchanged the race is off. Scuttle over to the other side of the cashier to start receiving the goods they’re scanning at rapid fire, bob up for a few seconds to have your card scanned, and its back to work while the receipt prints and if you’re lucky you’ve cleared out of the way for the next person. Phew. I very much prefer my shopping experiences at the smaller outdoor markets in town. The market in my neighborhood, St. Cyprien, is open every Tuesday-Sunday and the marchons know my name and slip me extra fruits and veggies once in a while. Picture Belle in the opening scene from Beauty and the Beast… “Bonjour, good day!” :)
In some of my more trying moments here in France I’ve come to the realization that I don't think navigating life as a foreigner is so different from being old. I now understand why old people are so set in their ways, why they ask for the same bank teller or the same server at a restaurant, it's because, when you finally find someone who understands you, you are so relieved you just want to stick with that person, even if it defies logic and there are several other people who could help you just the same. Funny.
There is a light at the end of my frustrations this week, John is coming next Tuesday which I am very excited about. I’ve been trying to think of things we can do. I think we are going to go to Roquefort with my colleague Martine for the weekend (where I stayed back in October) and also try to get a day of skiing in Pyrenees in. I leave to come home 2 days after John leaves for the winter vacation and then when I come back on Dec. 26th I’m bringing my 2 cousins Dyan and Loren with me. They will be staying in Toulouse for a few nights then we are going to Paris for New Years!!
I know I’ll find a more regular routine here soon, I’m setting my sights to make some changes in January after the Christmas vacation. Stay tuned.
A bientôt!
Lindsay
