Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Why I'm Here

This Tuesday, I had 5 hours of classes. Every two weeks, I will have SIX hours of classes on Tuesdays. It's a bit long, but also cool, because when I'm actually teaching in Canada I'll have to be at school all day, so it's good to get used to it beforehand. I taught secondes, premieres and BTS. Each group is completely different- the secondes are 14 or 15, and some of them have trouble understanding me when I speak because they're really not used to hearing English. As for the premieres, they're a bit more experienced, but they were really hesitant to speak, even though I knew that some of them are quite good at English (having taught them in a different class). It was a bit frustrating, especially since I was really tired and not in the best mood. I hope that they couldn't tell, because it was the first time I'd taught most of them and I want them to feel comfortable with me, and making a bad first impression really isn't the best way to go about it.... As for the BTS, they're my age, mostly guys, and the majority of them have about the same English skills as the secondes, or even less. I could tell that some of them were embarrassed when asking me to repeat myself, but at least they still asked. I hope that I will manage to make them feel like they shouldn't be embarrassed soon, because really, we're all learning together. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but I just have to keep going, fumbling along and hopefully getting it right most of the time. Yesterday wasn't perfect. There were silent moments. I had to let my BTS students out early because one of the websites I wanted to show them wasn't working. The lesson I planned for my secondes took longer than I thought, so I had to give them a small amount of homework. I was totally drained by the end of the day, but also really satisfied, because I tried, because I was challenging myself. The more I teach, the more I learn about my students and about teaching and planning, the better I'll be. That's why I'm here.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Toussaint, or the novel about trains

For the past week and a half, I have been on Toussaint vacation. I know, I know, I barely worked for one week and I've already had vacation! Well, that's France for you. I went to Lyon, Toulouse and Carcassonne, three completely different cities in different regions of France. It was fantastic!

First stop, Lyon. My train was an hour and a half late, so I got into town after the tourist office had closed, separated from my travel companions and with no idea how to get to the hostel. Enter the cell phone, possibly the best invention ever. After a few metro transfers, I met up with Jessica and Marie, two English-language assistants from Dôle, at Place St. Jean, next to the Cathedral. Jessica is from Texas and Marie is from the North of England, and before this trip I'd only briefly met Jessica at our stage days, and Marie not at all. We trudged up the Fourvière Hill to drop off my stuff at the hostel, a cardio workout I wasn't really expecting, and then vacation could really start.

We spent about four days in Lyon and had a blast, walking around the streets of Vieux and moins-vieux Lyon , drinking lots of wine, and doing a bit of shopping. We even managed to fit some culture in with a visit to the Musée de Beaux Arts, one of the best art museums in France. The city is gorgeous. It's situated above and at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers, and the main part of the city is an isthmus separating the two. Despite being a little cold, walking was really enjoyable. On Sunday afternoon we went to Parc de la Tête d'Or, a huge park on the north end of the city that has a lake in the middle, a zoo and a botanical garden. It was absolutely full of people; families, couples and groups of friends out enjoying the last of the nice weather. There were people on bikes, rollerblades, scooters, skateboards.... That morning on the banks of the Saone River, we saw a food market, an artisan market, and a book market, where I managed to score some really cool old postcards.

Lyon also marked my first experience with Couchsurfing! On Sunday night, we met up with Jake, an American lecturing in English at a uni in Lyon, at the Gallo-Roman ruins. He led us back to his place where he cooked us supper, an absolutely amazing savoyard dish called tartiflette, which is a bacon, cream, potato and reblochon cheese casserole. Absolutely heavenly. We sat around the coffee table in the middle of his studio apartment in St Georges, and talked about language and travel with him and Lucy, the English translator Couch-surfing with him. To finish off the night, we went to a local pub called the Smoking Dog, where I learned the noble sport of coaster-flipping. That was just a couchsurfing hangout, however. My real couchsurfing happened on Tuesday night. Jessica and Marie left for Dole that afternoon, and afterwards I wandered around Vieux Lyon in the rain, buying a few presents and absorbing the medieval ambiance. At one point, I actually stopped in the public library and read some of a Nick Hornby book (in English, of course) to escape the wet. Then I gathered my suitcase from the hostel and journeyed on three metros to Croix Rousse, an old neighbourhood on a hill overlooking the city. It was a bit of an adventure finding my host's apartment in the dark and the rain, but it didn't take long. Then I got to meet Kevin and Celinève. Celineve restores old books, and Kevin is a web and graphics designer, and that night they had a casual get-together with friends that involved delicious blinis and wine. I got to meet younger French people, exercise my french, which I really haven't been using enough outside of school, and learn a lot about la bise. Apparently, when you're visiting friends, as soon as you enter the house, you have to go around and give la bise and say hello to everyone in the room. The same goes when you leave. The whole experience was pretty cool, to say the least.

The next morning I got up early and walked around Croix Rousse a bit, then left for the train station in time for my 11:27 train. Then I got there, looked at my actual train ticket, and realized that my awesome first class ticket deal had been booked for 9:37, and that I'd been looking at a different ticket in my purse when verifying my departure time. Yes, I arrived at the station a full hour and twenty minutes after my train had left. Instead of having a meltdown, I went immediately to the line for the ticket counter and phoned Matt to tell him my news while I waited. I have to admit I was a little disappointed on missing out on first class, but more because I had to buy a whole new ticket that cost more than my original one, with the added bonus of a way less convenient schedule. I ended up on a train to Montpellier, where I had to wait for four hours for the next train to Toulouse! My original ticket had me arriving around two, and I ended up getting there just before eight! Fortunately, Montpellier was a relatively pleasant stopover. I got to walk around the esplanade without a sweater, eat ice cream, and sit in the grass reading French poetry.

So here continues the pattern of train troubles and arriving in a place after the tourist office closes, with no idea where the hostel is. At least this time I had the number, that Matt had phoned England and gotten his mum to look up, and he waited for me at the station after his train had arrived from Montbéliard so that we weren't separated at any point. On the way over on the train, I'd had a passing thought that perhaps if we were really late, the hostel would have given away our beds or else be otherwise locked up for the night. Visions of sleeping on a park bench began to dance in my head. Luckily, the hostel reception phoned me almost as soon as I arrived at the train station, so I assured them that we were coming and also got directions. Thus began our trudge through nighttime Toulouse. It took us a little longer than we thought to find Petite Auberge de Compostelle, owing to rather vague directions, but we got there just before nine o'clock, when the reception closed. We were so happy to be in Toulouse and to have beds to sleep in that we went out for a celebratory meal of crepes and cider.

Here, owing to a really bad cold and some unfortunate weather, things get a little fuzzy. Toulouse is a really interesting city, completely different from anything that I've seen in France so far- everything is made of red brick, a little gritty, some of it a little rundown, but still amazing. It is full of students and didn't seem to have too many tourists at this time of year, which was nice. We spent a lot of our time just walking around in the streets of the main part of the city, near the uni, the Capitolium (home of the local government) and the main square. We visited the Abbatoirs, a modern art museum in an old abbatoir, and the Fondation Bemberg, a small-scale but quality art museum housed in a former mansion. We also walked along the Garonne River several times, which was oddly shallow considering how high the bridges were and how wide it was. Matt and I spent a lot of time trying to stay out of the rain, unfortunately. We also had to deal with colds and a lack of sleep caused by interesting hostel residents who decided it would be a good idea to play the piano at 4 in the morning. They only did once, thank goodness, or I may have committed verbal assault....

We left for Carcassonne on Saturday morning, a mercifully short journey. Unfortunately, once there we had to walk for half an hour across town with our bags in order to get to our hotel, which pretty much destroyed any energy I had for the day. Sunday was better- the sun was shining and we walked all around the old, walled city. It was a ruin for a long time, but got redone in the 1800s, and it is absolutely amazing. It's super touristy, full of little over-priced boutiques and restaurants, but the actual place, the buildings, the chateau, the basilica, the twisting cobbled streets, the ramparts and the battlements, is incredibly cool. My favourite part was walking around in the morning, before the hordes of tourists choked the streets with their dogs and their voices, and it was quiet and peaceful and I could get more of a feel for the place. We visited the chateau (you had to pay to get in) and the Basilica, and it was really unfortunate how loud the tourists were in a place of worship (it is an actual consecrated Basilica)- I found it pretty disrespectful how they walked all over the sanctuary and took pictures with the flash on. The chateau was really interesting- I found out there that the City has been added to so many times over the centuries that they're not really sure what it originally looked like, and how its present incarnation isn't quite accurate, owing to the artistic license of the architect who oversaw the reno.

We also walked around in the lower city, which was built when the walled city fell into disrepute. It was a bit run down, and some of the architecture reminded me of what I'd seen in Cuba, kind of colonial Spanish. We planned to go for a bike ride next to the Canal du Midi that runs right past Carcassonne, but unfortunately Monday, the day we picked, was windy and cloudy and it seemed like it could rain at any moment. Fortunately we were able to walk along it for a while on Sunday afternoon. The Canal was gorgeous, lined with some kind of gum tree on one side, and then forest on the other. River cruises and house boats passed us a few times, and there were lots of people biking on the path as well. I definitely want to go back to Carcassonne in summer, or spring, when I actually have money to rent a car and stay in a guest house in the country. There are loads of vineyards and little villages around the city, and there's actually an airport as well!

We left Carcassonne yesterday, and spent about 8 hours each on trains getting back to our respective homes. First, we spent just under six hours getting to Dijon on the TGV. Despite the fact that it was pouring rain most of the time, watching the countryside and architecture change every twenty minutes or so was absolutely fascinating. We also read a lot of magazines and newspapers, however! Then, we spent an hour in Dijon waiting for our train to Besançon, buying our tickets while we waited- I had to choose a TER to Morteau that left only five minutes after my other train arrived, or else wait and hour and a half until the 8pm train. When I got to Besançon I had to sprint to the main part of the station to check which platform the TER was on, because the TVs with the platform listings in the tunnel were all turned off. Then I had to run back down the stairs, through the tunnel, up more stairs to the platform and onto the train, all with my suitcase and backpack! I made it, completely out of breath, just before they closed the doors.

This vacation taught me a lot: Check your train times. Then check them again, and make sure you're looking at the right ticket! Bring lots of things to do on the train, because it will be boring. Pack light (I'm getting pretty good at it at this point). Stay calm, and retain your sense of humour. Make sure you know the address, directions and phone number of the place you're staying before you get there. Bring Cold FX. Everything is going to be okay.