Bienvenue à Orléans

I don't know where to begin! Except maybe that it's easy to pronounce "gare" (train station) as "guerre" (war) and also  that I am beginning my first evening in Orléans in McDonald's! I haven't been to a McDonald's in at least 10 years, but on Sundays in Europe, especially France, nothing is open, and since I moved into my Foyer on the weekend, I have not yet met with the Foyer's supervisor to sign my internet contract...and McDonald's has free internet! I was so nervous about ordering food (and also, I only have 5 Euro on me at the moment, and all the meals here are upwards of 6 Euros...needless to say I broke into the Reeses I intended to give my students, but reasoned that there 'wouldn't be enough for all of them so it wouldn't be fair'). I ended up just sputtering out...."Je voudrais un jus d'orange." And, yes, mademoiselle, that is all. This is before I noticed that there is another completely different counter that is a McCafé, where I could have gotten something a little more appetising, and also, somehow for some reason a coffee would make me feel more entitled to hang out in a restaurant than an orange juice for some reason...but this is a McDonald's, so there are no rules?

My flight to Paris was very short and comfortable, and I found my friend Jordan who traveled from Basel to meet me, and who will also be an assistant, without a problem. I made the executive decision to splurge a little and take a taxi to our hotel, because taking the trail/metro with our our luggage seemed a little tricky. The girl at the desk of our hotel was very sweet and asked if we wanted to speak in French, which was very sweet as most Parisians usually switch to English automatically when they hear English accents or foreign hesitation.

We arrived at the hotel at about 8 PM, but decided to go out for a stroll anyway, because, when in Paris—one must roam?

First we grabbed some dinner in a crowded café (which we figured meant it was good)—I had an omlette which was vraiment magnifique, and then wandered to along the Seine and to Notre Dame.


The next morning we went to the train station (decided on splurging on taxi again, those metro stairs are toooo difficult with a year's worth of stuff, but otherwise parfait), and took the train to Orléans and Blois (some miracle man appeared and helped me lift my stuff onto the train)! I got off first, Jordan was a sweetie and helped me get my bags off.

My supervising teacher Isabelle and her ADORABLE (4 year old?) son Kylian were waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. Isabelle is SO MAGNIFIQUE. First, we went to the boulangerie to buy something like nine baguettes. Isabelle's son Kylian wanted 8 for himself, haha. She told me: "We usually get about 10 and eat one in the car!". She then brought me to her daughter Manon's (9 years old) football (soccer) tournament. It was so nice to be out in the open air, hearing French all around, and seeing children everywhere, and sitting with a bunch of families. I know it sounds kind of crazy, but it just made me feel so at home right away! My brain started to do this thing called IMMERSING. Luckily, for some reason, I can understand nearly everything everyone says-—except if they mumble or speak in slang or really really really fast. But I can even understand most of what Isabelle's children say. The problem is producing speech. Even though I can rehearse and put together words naturally in my head, when I try to actually say something, I always stumble and hesitate. But this will get better with time. I'm glad that I'm giving myself this challenge this year. It's really waking up my brain and making it work again. And I think because I want so badly to communicate, because I'm not here with friends like I was in Geneva, I will find a way to communicate. I feel like everyone should feel how hard my brain is working, however, I feel like while I'm walking around or when I was sitting in the bleachers at the soccer tournament, people could hear my brain working really hard. In some ways, immersion is a very egocentrical process, hahaha. You're always working within your self and you can't understand why everyone else isn't as preoccupied with your process as you are! hahahaha.

After the tournament, we went into the forêt! Isabelle, her husband, and two children, wanted to bring me there to hear the songs of the "cerfs"...the stags. It's mating time in the forest and the cerfs make these echoing rumbles throughout the forest to attract the biches (the does).
On our way through the dirt roads in the car, Franck, Isabelle's husband, let the children sit on his lap and steer the car! It was adorable. I love their family. There is so much love among them and I was so glad I could be a part of it.

Sure enough, as we wandered down the forest paths, we heard the rumbling of cerfs. It's a sound I can't describe in words. After a bit of wandering, we sat down for a picnic, and I tried my first paté on baguette! Also some jambon.
When we started walking again, I had this funny thought "Here we are wandering around the forest, following the patriarch of the family, stopping and becoming silent whenever he signaled, and we've just feasted on pig." I felt like I'd gone back in time and was in touch with my inner hunter-gatherer. And then, moments after I thought this, Franck stopped us. Pointing through the trees he moved from side to side, trying to catch a glimpse of something moving. It was a pack of sangliers—wild pigs!!! Which, can be dangerous. Isabelle asked me "are you a good runner?" Luckiliy, the pigs all ran off into the forest. When we were making our final forest loop back to the car, we saw another wild pig down the path. Franck stopped and called out to provoke it to run away. Manon grabbed onto her mom in fear, and I followed suit and grabbed her other arm.

As the call of the stags became louder and deeper as the sun went down, we made it safely out of the forest. I heard the stags, saw wild pigs, and saw a doe run across a clearing!

Here is a fun song we sang on the way home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfSJZtWNMTw

The next day Isabelle and I talked about what I will be doing at the school and she prepared me for everything I will have to get done over the next few days—open a bank account, get a phone, get a tram card, etc. We ate a beautiful Sunday lunch together and then Isabelle drove me to the foyer. I was also met by Emily, the assistant who had my position last year, and will stay here for at least the next six months because she now has another job teaching English to adults. And, I actually just ran into her at McDonald's! It's the only place really open on Sunday.

Here are some pictures of my room. It is small, but good, with a tiny bathroom attached which is great. My sheets were kinda gross, so I'll have to go buy some when it's not a Sunday. Isabelle gave me the quilt and some other supplies (she hates the flannel blankets they provide, she said).

I then wandered my way to McDonald's, as you know. Here are a few pictures from my wandering,(I found a nice little park not to far from my apartment building!)  but there are many more beautiful things to see!

Tomorrow I have a meeting alllll day long with all the other assistants, and I am supposed to meet with the director of the Foyer to discuss my contract. The next day, I will go the the Lycée, meet with the headmaster, and stop into a few classes to introduce myself. I will observe classes this whole week, and then the week after I will begin teaching. I have some classes I teach alone, and others I just assist. Since it is a professional school, I will be teaching the future boilermakers, secretaries, and other professionals of France! On Friday, the music teacher (haha, I think they did this because they know I'm a singer) from the other school I am teaching at will pick me up and bring me there to see the other school. I will always spend Fridays at the collège.

McDonald's is getting very busy, so I should depart! I LOVE you all and miss you and the moment I get internet chez moi I hope to catch up and see your faces sur mon ordinateur!

xxxx
Kay