Who's up for le Sud?

In brief this post is about: Tarot (the game not the fortune teller), Bergers, 4 hour hikes, 56 year olds dancing to M. Jackson, and making it...just in time to eat.

So, l'Angévine has made it back safely to the northern part of France. What's that you say? You didn't realize I had left the north? Ah yes, the trip to le Villaret, which is a small village in the south of France, lasted for one week. (The last one in October) I drove down with Tiphaine, and Ella (Who is a gal from the French house, and is studying in Strasbourg). We arrived in Montpellier on Sunday evening to pick up Allie, and then made it to le Rieu just in time for dinner. Le Rieu is the name of the house where we stayed. This house is deep in the Cévennes mountains, and uses Solar energy for light and gas for cooking. (For heat it's a good old fashioned fire place or blanket) Just us four girls in the mountains? I think not. We stayed with Tiphaines parents and her parents' friends. We were 20 in all, and man did we have a good time. Getting to know each other, having long meals, dancing, singing, hiking, visiting a shepard...you name it, we did it.
Zo, Day 1:

We wake up, bright and eary, but without any real concept of time. Tiphaine decides to take a bath in the waterfall just below the house. (Yes, it was cold) After having breakfast and getting cleaned up, we headed out for a one and a half hour hike to the Shepard's house. Why? Why not. He's a real Shepard and it might be kind of neat. So we met, Alfred. Great guy, offered us a glass of wine at 11:00am. (Homemade wine...not as great as you might think...we're not talking homemade chocolate cake here: now that sounds delicious)

We had back to the house for a lovely lunch. An apérotif to start and then lovely fooood. Don't remember what, just that it was good.

By evening time we all gather in the dinning room for some games. Tarot and Scrabble to be exact. Not just any Scrabble but FRENCH Scrabble. (I am not as good at French Scrabble as I would like, but I DO like to make up words..."But it LOOKS like French!"

What's Tarot? The closest thing I can think of is Uker. But it is not Uker, only similar to Uker. Kind of like how the French and the Americans are not the same but they are still part of Western culture. ;)

Day 2: 4,000 marches

Wake up time = 5:30am to be at the bottom of the hike by 6:30am. Woot! Who's ready for some walking? Climbing? Tiphaine, Ella, Allie, and I all head for the monumental 4,000 marches, which is a hike that ends at a meteorological lab on top of a mountain. So we drive to the starting point (approximately 30 min from le Rieu) we get out of the car and start to follow Tiphaine. There's the sign "4,000 Marches" we keep walking straight. At one point Tiphaine says, "I think we should have turned in front of the church"

She says it so casually, and with clear intention to continue going straight, that I wasn't sure if she was joking. So I say, "Really?"

"Yep, pretty sure" She keeps walking straight.

"Are we gonna turn around then?"

"Yep" She keeps walking straight.

"Um...when?"

"Now"

So we turn around, and away we go. We did the hike in 4h15min, which isn't bad. (Although we were surpassed by at least three hikers all much older then we, and when asked how long it had taken them they would reply with numbers like "hour and a half" Us flat Bowling Greeners aren't used to these here mountains." )

We get back home for another lovely lunch, which included Jean-Luc dancing like Michel Jackson (Jean-Luc is a 56 year-old dad...one of his daughters was present, the poor dear), and the three Americans singing the Beetles for everyone. Ahhhh...l'amour. After that?! Bathing in a celestial waterfall.

Day 3: A day of rest after a taxing hike

BUT we did make dinner. And we made a potato salad using sweet potatos. Most of our French friends there had NEVER EATEN A SWEET POTATO!!!!! How crazy is that?

Day 4: Into a town, into a town, and out of a town, and home BEFORE dark?

We decided to get up kind of late (8am), pack a picnic lunch, and then head to the gorge to eat it. We drove down, down, down, and then waded through a river to eat onTOP of a waterfall. THEN we head up, up, up to meet our French family in a tiny medieval village. We walked around the village, taking our time, soaking in that authentic FRENCH air. about 4:30 we decided, you know... we want to get back before dark, so we should probably go now. (It's not very fun to drive down our driveway at night...the driveways in Appalachia are very similar)

No problem though, we are no more then 30 min. from home, and sunset is about 6pm. We're only 30 min. from IF the road we want to take isn't closed. We had to drive back through the gorge, down, down, down, then up, up, up...it took us almost two hours to get back. HA. And the darker it grew, the more difficult it was to drive any faster, so we ended up just taking our time, and getting home...eventually. This was not without ridicule from the family of course. What road had they taken? Why were they home before us? They went another way, through another town. They had known the way we had taken would be blocked...and assumed we also knew. Bof. We made it home, again just in time to eat a fabulous dinner, and share a game of Tarot with the girlies.

Day 5: LAST DAY?!!!

We ended our trip by going to the most amazing Marché and hanging out with our new French family.

Present DAY: Now, I am back in Angers, it has been over a week. I'm studying for the GRE, and trying to do lesson plans. Not much else to report. Thinking of going to the Opera next weekend, which would be a nice treat. I suppose I did go to Tours last Saturday (the 7th of Nov), and hang out with the BG kids in Chinon, and Samur. Perhaps that should be another blog. Ta ta for now, Bekah

A visit with the past...

This past weekend, I went to the lovely Tours and had a visit with Kevin Kane, the onsite director of BGSU’s study abroad program. We went to two lovely jardins (gardens) at the Chateau de Villandry and Chatonièrre. We had an marvelous time and day for this. Fall is setting in here, which means a mixture of nebulous clouds, and sunshine and a fresh fall breeze to brustle the leaves about. Wonderfully charming.

Each garden was a bit different. Villandry is well known, and large with a heavy influence from the Italien Rennisance, it was built around 15th century. Now, the Chateau’s garden has not been kept the same for centuries, in fact a couple discovered the chateau, and had plans to use it for lab experiments. However, they fell in love with the chateau and decided to revamp it and it’s gardens, and eliminate all the extra junk that had been added over time.

As for the second, we were fortunate enough to have a guide, the Duke of the chateau (actually Spanish) with a tweed coat, and longish black locks, gave of us the low-down on who had lived at the chateau and why the gardens were redone. These gardens are nowhere near as old as the others maybe only a couple of decades, but its charm is not hindered by its youth.

The close of the day brought me back to Angers. Seeing the new undergraduates was an interesting experience, because that had been me not two years ago. Rather curious, but still fairly unaware of what awaited me. Many of them are struggling with their first bouts of culture shock, and watching them struggled I remembered how awful the first month had been. But as they complained, I promised they would feel differently in a month, and that as long as they keep on learning French, they will survive.

Now we are to the present, and I am getting ready for Allie Molnar, the friend from Toulouse, to come and visit me. If my sentences have become longwinded, it’s because I am reading Bronte’s Jane Eyre, I can’t help it!

Life in France Means Bureaucracy

Alors, salut à tous et toutes. (That means hello to everyone!)

I am in my second week in Angers, and let me tell you life is a pretty crazy thing. What have I done thus far? Spoken a lot of English.

"But of course" I can hear you say, "You are there to TEACH English."

Ah, yes but I am also here to improve my French, if people would let me speak it. You see, I have had about 4 people request that I teach them English, just in the Foyer. Okay okay okay...back up. What is a Foyer.

Let me tell a bit about life in Angers!

I moved here about two weeks ago (as previously stated) and it is a lovely town. I live in a Foyer which is kind of like a dorm, for young workers. Basically for people who can't afford an apartment and need some place impermanent to live. There are many types of people here. All interesting, and so far everyone seems nice. (Except for this guy who keeps pestering my friend Sarah, apparently he has a bit of a history)

Who is Sarah? Well, she's English and she too is an assistant, and she live on the first floor of the my building. We met the first day. And although we are both anglophones, we are eager to be immersed in the French culture. (We are quite the Francophiles if you will)

So, when I’m not off gallivanting about the French countryside, what am I doing? Well, not much…yet! I work at a high school as a language assistant to four different English teachers. FOUR. That means, FOUR different styles, and that means FOUR different mindsets about what is the best way for a French student to learn a foreign language.

I am finding that two of the teachers are really receptive to having a language assistant, whereas the other two see it more as a necessary evil. The students of the latter two teachers are also less receptive to me.

All in all, it’s going okay, and I am slowly finding my French legs again. Some days are better than others. C’est la vie!

I want to leave you with the ONLY tip you need to enjoy France.

THE FRENCH LOVE ADMINISTRATION! As long as you understand that, you will have a great time. How do I know this?

Well, okay. In order to come and live and work in France, you must have a long stay visa. In the past this visa could not be obtained in the states, you had to first get a short (3 month) visa, and upon entering the country got the Prefecture and apply for the long stay, and have a medical visit.

That has changed. Now, you get your long stay visa in the States, when you arrive in France you send a form to the office of immigration and they send you the time and date for a medical visit. Usually that's sufficient.

Zo, "what's complicated about that?" you might be wondering. What's complicated is that because it's a new system, most people don't actually know that it has changed. That includes the CAF office, also known as the office that provided rent assistance if you are not making above the poverty line (which I am not). So the CAF still wants the old title.

Fine, I'll do both. WRONG again. I am not allowed to apply for the old one, because I already have the new one. Bon. The is nothing to do here, just sit and wait.

Mind you, this is only one tale of the French bureaucracy. Ask me about the bank sometime, and I can tell you much much more.

Bisesxxx

Bekah

From Snears to Reality: The Magic of Angers

So, Angers...

DAY 1: That Bag is in My Seat

What a day I had yesterday. It was a day of moving and change, fully of anxiety and fear!

Yesterday or Monday September 28th I left everything familar to me for Angers. Still struggling with the language, and still struggling to get directions right, I left early in the morning with my luggage that weighed a ton, too many bags and not enough arms, the first time I felt more American then ever.

At first I had no trouble because Tiphaine took me to the train, but from there I was on my own. Allie advised me to look helpless, and in doing so some Frenchman would surely help me. This is not my forte, I prefer to be an independant woman, and not look like such a foreigner. Well, if I'm going to be doing that I best start lifting some weights, because there was no way I could carry all that luggage myself.

It certainly felt like an not so good day. I felt everyone's eyes, watching me struggle with my luggage in discust and distaste. Silly, materialistic American, I heard over and over again. (Which was of course all in my head, but I only realized that because I was hearing it in English and not French)

Finally on the train towards Angers, I go to take my seat, and there is a large duffle bag in it. I think to myself for a moment. Should I ask her to move the bag or just take an empty seat? I wasn't sure because I didn't know how many stops this would take. So, I asked her to move her bag.

The young woman, probably age 25, looked up from her book just long enough to look me up and down give me a good snear, looked back to her book to say, can't you just take another one.

I was both taken aback and rather insulted, I have never been treated like that by a French person before, so I took another seat, and started worrying that maybe I had lost my touch with the French culture.

Once at the train station I exited the train to find that in order to exit the train station or la gare, I would have to go down a nice long set of stairs. They seemed to go on forever, and they were laughing at me. As stood there, and looked at the stairs, looked at my bags, and then back to the stairs. There's just no way. If I tried, I would likely find it a quick descend, with the help of gravety. Then, I thought about what Allie said; Just look helpless.

Within moments a Frenchman came over, and offered his hand, at the same time the controler came over and let me know that there is a ramp on the other side. Of course there would be a ramp, but this random Frenchman accompanied me just to the front of the Gare anyway. So the kindness of this person quickly negated the evil woman on the train, who was apparently having an awful day.

Finally I waited for Nadia, the person who is essentially my boss at my high school or un lycée. My school is called Le Lycée Emmanuel Mounier, and I will be teaching kids from ages 15 to 22.

Then I walked the town, and I felt my spirits lift a bit, and decided maybe this won't be so bad, sure I can do this! That was of course day 1.

DAY 2: THIS IS REAL

While I still have feelings of excitement about Angers, today I realized, that I have to teach real kids. Perhaps this would be obvious to most, but I actually met kids that I will be teaching, and have to make a lesson plan. Me? Make a lesson plan? This seems nuts!

Nadia was kind enough to take me around town today, and now to the lycée. And at this moment I realize something. This is in fact taking place. I am not dreaming, I am not on vacation, and I am not a student. I am working. Wow. Working eh? In France? Granted my schedule isn't awful, in fact I really only work 4 days a week, and Monday and Tuesdays are my heavy days, so Wednesday and Thursday are a bit lighter.

So, I officially start Thursday, but in a few minutes I will find myself talking to highschoolers that I will be teaching. This should be interesting...

From Tours to Toulouse and back to Tours...again

Hello once again, I write from Tours. This will be a longer post, because I didn't have much internet access when I was in Toulouse so now I can update all of you. I will try and make sections so you can start and stop when you like.

I. The Details

First: Bag update. My bag arrived to me safe and sound 36 hours after I arrived, which is a great improvement from the last time my bag got lost for 5 days.

Second: What is Tours? A place where they give tours of France? No. It's a smaller city about one and a half hours west of Paris. It suffers from Paris syndrom, which means it won't get much bigger, but everyone who can't afford to live in Paris lives here, while they work in Paris. It's actually a great size, large enough to feel anonymous, but small enough to be recognized from time to time. I am staying with my friend Tiphaine who lives in a wonderful apartment above Place Plume (a little place with a ton of cafés and Medieval architecture).

Third: I decided to visit my friend Allie Molnar in Toulouse at the last minute. She and her friend Jordan are doing the same teaching program there that I am in Angers, France. I went down to tour the town with her and see her new apartment.


II. My Trip to Toulouse

When: The 21st of September to the 25th.

My first few days in Tours had been soo gray and raining, and according to the weather station just as I was ready to leave the stratus clouds were to part and the weather was to improve. Weather forecast for Toulouse: rainy and gray all week.

So I thought, "Oh well it will still be good to see Allie and Toulouse"

My train down to Toulouse (Which is south centre France) took about 6 hours, which is not bad, and I slept most of the way. (The jet lag is still omnipresent at this point) Upon arrival Allie and Jordan took me to their appartment, and we just hung out there until sleep time.

So, Toulouse is, like most French city very ancient. However it had a special place in the Roman Empire, and was granted Roman citizenship. Toulouse is known as the land of d'Oc or Occitan, because during the Empire the common language was latin. But over time it developed into a sort of hybrid language known as Occitan. A few decades ago the Mayor of the city made it illegal to learn Occitan in the schools, so almost everyone speaks French now. But it remains a sort of legend.

Although they speak French in Toulouse, the accent and even the slang they use is soooo different in the north. I found it incredibly jarring to try and place an order and then not be able to understand what the server was saying to me.

Wednesday: Allie and I set out to do EVERYTHING in Toulouse.
Okay, maybe not everything, but we did have a list, and we DID do things in an order. It worked pretty smoothly. We went to la place de Capitole to visit the Capitole building. Allie found some shoes in an outdoor market just out side the building.

We walked in, and found many types of art. But my favorite was the Henri Martin, an impressionist painter who chose to do the different seasons to cover the four walls of this grand room. I can't really describe the enormity of the paintings using a tiny screen, so you will just have to come visit me and we can go together!

What is the capitol building exactly? It's the place where 8 state representatives do governement work, go over new laws ect... The 8 representatives used to be called Capitoles, but after the French Revolution that "government was overturned" of course the only people at the time that knew how to run the city were the 8 people in office, so they remained in office even after the Revolution. :)

After a lovely stroll through the Capitole, Allie and I had a picnic lunch, where Allie made a new friend. He seemed so nice, and willing to give good information on the best places to ski. Allie seemed enthused at first, but as this elderly Frenchman continued to talk, he seemed to be getting too friendly. It was at the point when I was done with the conversation when Allie asked, "What's the best way to get to the Pyreniess" to which he replied, "If you give me your phone number, and I give you mine, then I could just drive you, I go all the time"

RED FLAG: Type NEVER give an old French/or any old man except your grandfather your phone number, and definitely don't go with him for a car ride to remote mountainous places.

I watched the exchange take place, and as we walked away, Allie whispered, "I just gave him a fake number" I was like phew! I knew she was smarter then to give him her number, but you never know.

We continued our stroll to the museum of old Toulouse, where we learned many of things I have already mentioned, about the language, the change in governement, and the role Toulouse played during the Roman Empire. The best part was the tour guide we had slowed down so that we could understand everything. It was a great experience and gave us some history for all the buildings and bridges we saw.

To end the day Allie and I enjoyed a glass of wine near the Pont Neuf, and watched the sunset. OH! I forgot to tell you. As for the weather forecast, it was wrong. And from Tuesday afternoon, until I left on Friday, the skies were clear, and the sun did nothing but shine. So...we had a sunset. My first in France 2009!

After a long day of touring we return, tired, but happy, and settled in for a nice evening of sleep and more sleep.

Thursday: GOALS
1. Ikea for a cheap duvet for Allie
2. Musee des Augustins
3. Piano Concert

So Goal one didn't really work out, Allie and I took the metro to the end of the line to try and catch a bus to go to the end of the bus line. We got up especially early, but it took us so long to get to the bus stop. We ascended the bus and asked the bus driver if her was going to last stop, he said no, the next bus to go that far would be at 12:20. We were both unhappy with that news. Wait an hour, to take a half hour bus ride to take five minutes to buy something and then wait for who knows how long for a bus? No. We turned our butts around and headed for some lunch. When in doubt in France, eat or get a coffee.

We visited the lovely museum of Medieval art, and then decided to get coffee a the BEST little café called, Tom Pouce. The crema on top of my little espresso was marvelous.

Our final event of the day was a professional piano concert in Les Jacobins, which is actually a beautiful cloister. Here's what I love about French concerts: 1. They are cheap for students, Allie and I paid 6 Euro each for 19 Euro seats. 2. They have syncronized clapping at the end of a performance they really like. Our performer got 3 Encores. (The second of which was my absolute favorite) He did a full concert of Chopin pieces, and he really felt each and every piece.

Friday: Time to Go Back to Tours

As difficult as it was for me to say goodbye to Allie, we had to do it. We had a great time in Toulouse, and have already begun to think about meeting halfway between Angers and Toulouse.

Now I am back in Tours and just trying to catch up on little things, like opening a bank account, looking at the CAF (Which is a way to get government assistance since I will not be making much money) And having some time with my friend Tiphaine.

If there is more, I'm sure I will have to write it in another post, as this is already a lot to take in. Again, I hope all is well on the other side of the ocean, and send me news!

The First Adventure: Getting to Tours

Well, I find myself in LA FRANCE once more. My flight went fairly smooth. Of course after boarding the ginormous aircraft, and with empty seats to my right and left, I thought, "life is good". I waited, to be sure, I didn't want to give my hopes up. Then the attendant announced that boarding was completed. I blew a sigh of relief as they shut the doors, and I could stretch my legs out for the eight hour flight.

Then, a flight attendant passed by me, eying the seat to my left. My stomach sank. The next thing I new, a middle aged Russian woman is talking in my left ear, "how stupid, they put me right between two men! They should really think these things through."

C'est la vie. I still have my seat to my right.

Once in the air, the movies pop on. Everyone's screen seems to be working, all except the one to my left where the Russian woman is sitting. So, she asks me to move over. So, I move. Oh well. I went from having an open seat on either side of me to none. That's what I get for counting my lucky stars.

The flight as I said, went smoothly, but I couldn't sleep at all. And every now and then I would look over in envy as the woman next to me got to spread her legs across two seats. Again, what can you do?

Arrival in Frankfurt: Nothing much to report just a LOT of walking, and waiting in security.

Flight from Frankfurt to Paris: Nothing much to report. (For some reason I had not trouble sleeping during this flight.)

Once in Paris, and after a lot more walking, I found the baggage claim area. Now, after my last experience going to Europe (Italy) I was nervous about my bags arriving, but I caught sight of my little purple suite case and felt confident that it would all be okay. Of course after waiting, and watching one bag after another go round and round and be picked up, I became more nervous. Finally, the only two things left at the baggage claim 3 were myself and one large blue suite case that looked an awful lot like mine, but was not.

So, I began that too familiar process of making a declaration of lost luggage (Which I had done not two months earlier)

Contrary to popular belief the French are NOT as rude as one might think. The woman that helped me was kind enough to let me borrow her phone to call the friend I was staying with so that I could get her address.

What now?! I wait. I wait for news on my bags. Wait and meanwhile have a glass of wine with some close friends. What more can one do in La France.

I hope you are all doing well, and I will talk to you soon.

-Bekah