Rien à faire le dimanche: Part Deux

For all in need of a translation, the title is "Nothing to do on Sundays: Part 2." Too bad they don't have Lifetime out here...I got up at 10:00 Sunday morning and got dressed just to find that everyone else was still in bed so I went back to bed too.

My first weekend here without Mommy was pretty cool. On Friday after classes, I went home with Corine. We had dinner and then she and her husband Jacques went to Caen for their dance class. I watched 4 episodes of NCIS in French while they were gone. That show is really popular here and there are only 5 channels of free television available. When Corine and Jacques returned from Caen, we loaded up the car and made the 90-minute drive to Corine's mother's house in La Rondhaye.

I rolled out of bed around 11:00 Saturday morning, got dressed and went downstairs to have a bowl of cereal. Corine only buys chocolate cereal, which makes me very happy. After my breakfast, Corine and I went grocery shopping. Jacques was off fixing up a house that they plan to put on the market soon and Corine's mom Linette was out with friends.

After we got the groceries put away, Corine took me next door to her sister's house. Christine, a.k.a. Kiki, is married to Bénoît and they have 3 children. The oldest son is a 15-year-old army buff who gave me a bunch of pamphlets and a book to read about World War II and historical sites in the area. Reading material in hand, Corine took me for a drive.

First we went to the beach. There are 5 D-Day beaches in Normandy (Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah). The American military landed on Utah and Omaha Beaches. We went to Utah. There are a lot of memorials and statutes there and the beach is pretty. Utah Beach is located in the Manche department. Condé-sur-Noireau is in Calvados. In the picture to the left, I'm standing on Utah Beach looking at Calvados on the horizon.

Next we went to Le Musée de la liberté retrouvée (the Museum of Liberty Regained) in the town of Quinéville, about 10 minutes from Utah Beach. On the way to the museum, we stopped along the route to eat sandwiches. I ate mine inside the car as it was too cold out there for me, while Corine got out to get some air.

Anyway, the museum was "pas mal," as Corine kept describing it, or not bad. It's a small private facility dedicated to life in France under the German Occupation and the time period immediately following the end of the war. I thought it was pretty interesting. The museum sits on what was once a Nazi bunker with a great view of the beach. Corine was trying not to be photographed, but she got caught...

NOTE: I have more pictures that I'm organizing into a slide show to share with everyone when I get home in December, so don't worry about the limited shots provided in the blog.


After the museum, Corine took me to the town of St. Mère-Église. During the invasion of Normandy, as many of you already know, the U.S. dropped a lot of paratroopers into the region. One of these men got stuck on the church in St. Mère-Église and just hung there for many hours. He didn't die there though. Anyway, there is a paratrooping mannequin now attached to the side of the church.

The other title I was going to give this post was "I'm eating my way through France..." My mother's comment about bakeries and their proximity to the school deterred me, but if I keep hanging out with Corine, that's exactly what's going to happen.

I don't remember if I told you how good dinner was when Mommy and I ate there last week, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and Friday night was good too. However, Saturday was amazing. Corine and Linette made blanquette de veau (veal in a cream sauce), with potatoes, fresh veggies and a tarte aux pommes (apple tart) for dessert. One of Jacques brothers, plus his wife and 3 kids, joined us for dinner.

Much like the American South, Sunday only has one real meal and it usually occurs between noon and 4:00 pm. We went to Kiki's house and ate with her family plus a friend. Kiki made French fries, which you know made me very happy. She cooks in her fireplace. I mean she seriously has one of those iron pots hanging from the chimney over the open flames. We had coq (rooster, not chicken...). And then there was dessert. Kiki had gotten an assortment of things from a bakery that they love but are now boycotting. Since I wouldn't be able to have those things again, I ate plenty. Then there's the chocolate cake that Kiki made with three different chocolates and mousse. It was wonderful.

What was even better than all the good food itself, was the gathering of family. While I had a great time, both of those meals made me really homesick. Anyway, I'll apologize in advance for the lack of pictures of these people, the food and the farmland, but they already said I can come back anytime I want since I'll be around until spring, so I'll get pictures on the next trip. Kiki has a golden retriever that will give birth in the spring and Bénoît makes honey on their land. I want to see the puppies and the bees.

So now it's Monday. Today I met the philosophy teacher whose class I'll be "taking" on Tuesday mornings. I figure I can beef up my French skills by sitting in on real French classes. The flaw in the design is the students aren't supposed to know that I speak French. Anyway, I spent most of the morning burning CDs, for academic purposes of course. Joceline gave me a set of English teaching CDs and asked me to copy them because there is only one set currently being shared by 3 instructors. She saw me playing around on iTunes and figured I must know how to do this...

Then I spent the last 3 periods of the day in Vanessa's classes. I'm still not doing anything, but I'm here. I'm really impressed by the students' commands of the English language. They can carry full conversations. When I was 16, I definitely couldn't speak to anyone in French.

By the way, we can add 3 to the list of Black students I've seen. 2 of the boys have their hair braided. I wonder where they get it done...


Bon baiser,

Mlle. Alicia

I'm famous!

I've been here for exactly 7 days and I'm already in the paper. I know, you're all wondering what crime I could have possibly committed already. Maybe she left some uncouth graffiti on the side of a church, maybe she stole some bread from the local boulangerie, perhaps she went cow-tipping in all the many fields surrounding this town...

No, I got interviewed! I knew it was coming because the principal told me last week but I forgot. So today when I came to the teacher's lounge, I was surprised when a confused faculty member told me that a reporter was looking for me. Nicole Vallé (left) from the newspaper Ouest France wanted to talk to me about where I'm from, what brought me to France, how I discovered this particular opportunity, where I'm living while in France, etc... When it prints, I'll be sure to send copies home.

This was the initial setup for the welcome gathering. It was quite nice. Monsieur Duval, the principal, made a nice little speech and told us not to hesitate to ask for anything that we need and he hopes we find a welcoming environment here and he has no doubt that we will fit in well. Then we posed for some pictures for the newspaper and mingled, which offered me an opportunity to get to know Andrea.

If you're trilingual, you speak 3 languages. If you're bilingual, you speak 2 languages. If you're monolingual, you're...AMERICAN.
Meet Andrea (right). She is 22 years old and in her last year of university studies. She's the German assistant, teaching half of her hours here in Condé, and the other half in Flers, about 20 minutes away. She speaks German, her native language, French and English. The fatal flaw of the American education system is the lack of emphasis it places on foreign language education. In other countries, language studies are compulsory. In the U.S., you're lucky if you take Spanish. Anyway, I didn't get to speak with Andrea for very long, but we did exchange contact information and we're going to hang out after work on Monday and Wednesday because those are the days that our schedules are essentially identical.

Since I had all five of them in the same location for the first time since my arrival, I took a picture. This is the English faculty here at Lycée Charles Tellier.

Julie, Vanessa, Joceline, Dominic and Corine

All of my scheduled hours are with Vanessa, Julie and Joceline in the general high school, but I will also put in some time with Dominic and Corine in the vocational school. Today, Julie showed me what I will be working on with her and Joceline starting next week. It involves some acting and creativity on my part...

After watching for 4 consecutive days, I have concluded that French news is terribly depressing. Why? Because it's American news. The government, the economy, the upcoming election...It's all there. From my conversations with people, this is all French President Nicolas Sarkozy's fault because he is a liar who blames all French problems on the United States. I'm sure this claim warrants further investigation on my part, but that's what I got from three different people.

I'm staying with Corine's family somewhere in the French countryside this weekend. I'll have to get back to you on the name and all that. Anyway, it's about an hour and a half from Condé-sur-Noireau. On the drive, we were listening to the radio and there was some French rap song playing. Next thing I know, Foxy Brown is rapping on the track. The extent of the American influence over here...

That's all for now. I'll have details about my weekend and photos up as soon as possible.


Tout à l'heure,

Mlle. Alicia

Celebrate Good Times

The teachers here are so nice. This is what the lunch hour looked like today in the teachers’ lounge:

Vanessa says they love to find reasons to celebrate good things (and drink a little but not too much because they have to work…), so lunch will be like this again tomorrow. Today was for a teacher’s birthday; tomorrow will be for me and Andrea, the German teaching assistant. I still haven’t met her but she does in fact exist. Andrea has a flat in Flers, near the other school on her assignment. I think that I like not having to worry about commuting and remember twice as many names…

I accomplished the following three important things today:

1. I got my work schedule and I really like it because my hours aren’t spaced out throughout the day and I have Fridays off.
2. I opened a bank account. This is important because you can’t get access to that paycheck without it. I am the newest customer of Crédit du Nord. Having this account also means I can request a pay advance after completed item 3 on this list…
3. I signed all of my employment paperwork. This means I am now officially an employee of the French government, working at Lycée Charles Tellier.

When I came back to the flat this evening, I was surprised to find I had been kicked out of my room. This is not really the proper way to say it but that’s almost what happened. All of my belongings were removed and I’m temporarily living in the smaller room next to mine while they finish painting and wallpapering my room. Given the work I’ve observed since my arrival, they’ll be in there until next Monday.

This was a pretty short post, probably because I posted yesterday as well. But fear not, I will post again very soon.

Bises,

Mlle. Alicia

Jet Lag...

Does anyone have any advice for how to adjust to a new time zone? For whatever reason, my body is not liking this nine-hour difference. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Bonne nuit,

Mlle. Alicia

Lessons in Culture (Shock)

What is this???

This little man greeted Mommy and me at the restaurant Tuesday night. It really kinda threw me. At least his lips aren't that super bright red color. He doesn't look very happy though.

Did you know that the French all love Barack Obama? Too bad they aren't allowed to vote. I've been told that my presence might be quite a shock for some of the students in this school. The teachers were concerned when they found out I was from California. Why would anyone from California want to be out here in middle-of-nowhere France? Oh, but she is Afro-American and therefore not your typical Californian so she will be fine. For the most part, Blacks are hard to find out here. Of the approximately 600 students in the school, maybe 10 of them are Black, making them less than 2% of the student population. I've only seen three of them so far. Mommy says she saw three but I think she saw the same ones as I...

Have you ever been in a European salle de bain (bathroom)? I ask because it is quite a different experience from those that we have at home. I have a shower with a bathtub. There is no shower curtain and the French don't take baths. And somehow this is normal. You cannot take baths because the French are very big on conserving water at all times. But even if you're lucky enough to have a shower with a curtain or a partition, it does not encompass the entire shower. What I'm trying to get at is the fact that I make very big messes when I shower...I have requested a shower curtain.

In France, no one ever discusses money. Suzy (that is the correct spelling of her name) asked me if I would be opening a bank account and whether or not I had a salary for my position. She prefaced all of this with a statement along the lines of "Sorry for being so inquisitive but..." I learned from this conversation that money is the one thing no one can ever really discuss without being considered rude here. I explained to Suzy that in the United States, while it would be rude to outrightly ask how much someone makes or how they do this, that and a third with what they have would be quite offensive, there are ways to politely and tactfully gather the information you wish to know. Here, it is not possible (lol). You know how someone will say, "No disrespect, but..." and then say something terribly disrespectful as if it is now alright because they forewarned you? Well, the French have a phrase similar to it. They essentially apologize before asking the question that they know is rude to ask according to their cultural standards.

Last night was my first night in the flat. Mommy went back to Caen and stayed in the hotel by herself because she had to catch a train to Paris at 5:15 am so she can make her flight back to the good ol' U. S. of A. I was so pleased to find out that the heat works in there and I have my own personal thermostat for my room. Well, it's not really a thermostat like I'm used to at home, but it works to manage the temperature in my room. I actually got hot during the night, which is a really good sign. It is very cold out here, and now rainy, and I've previously commented on my temperature preferences so I'm quite pleased. Now all I need is a rug in my room because the floor is still very cold.

Today, I attended 4 English classes from 8:00 am until noon. Wednesdays are minimum class days for the students so they are always done at 12:00. All of the classes were taught by Vanessa (left), who I promised I would tell you more about. Well, I don't know much about her personally except that she has daughters and she teaches English at this school. I can tell you a little about what she is currently teaching though.

The two subjects that are currently the focus of Vanessa's classes are emigration and slavery. One class read a Newsweek article from 2001 about an illegal Mexican immigrant while another class read an excerpt from Queen by Alex Haley. What I found most interesting about the latter were the subsequent exercises. The students were given a quotation of "Negro dialect" and asked to translate it to proper English.

Next up, the students will be learning about Jim Crow and segregation in the United States. Any of you who wish to create first-hand accounts to share with the students are welcome to put them in comments and/or e-mail them to me. In January, in observance of the Martin Luther King holiday, the students will present an exhibition on what they have learned.

In conversation with Vanessa, I learned the following two things:

1. Racism is much more prevalent in the small towns and villages of France because they lack the diversity of larger cities (not shocking), and Condé-sur-Noireau is no exception. Vanessa uses these subjects to challenge the students' thinking processes and broaden their horizons.
2. There is a Black man named McNair who lives in Caen and teaches baseball. That alone is not particularly interesting. What is interesting is that in the 70s, he hijacked an airplane, supposedly for the Black Panthers. The French government refused to extradite him back to the U.S. where they feared he wouldn't receive a fair trial, so he was tried and sentenced here to 5 years in prison. I need to remember to get his first name and Google to confirm this information. At any rate, Vanessa wants to invite him to speak to her students in the morning and then play ball with them for the afternoon, hopefully one day in February as part of Black History Month.

The students in the senior class were much more talkative and interested in talking to me than the other students. One of the boys asked a lot of questions and one of the girls, whose course of study places on emphasis on English language, lives on campus as a boarder and wants me to eat with her and her friends everyday. I don't think I'll be eating with the students everyday, but sometimes it will be nice I think. Her name is Olivia, by the way. I also met three of the student supervisors. They are all currently university students and roughly my age. I wonder if there are any women filling these positions because so far, I've only met men.

French teenagers are not much different from their American counterparts. They seem to have their cliques and they hold their side conversations in class. Some seem interested in their coursework, others appear bored and focused on other things. There are a few girls who look like they try really hard to get dressed for school in the morning with their skirts and their heels and their makeup, but overall, most of the kids don't seem that interested in fashion.

A word about fashion: Scarves are the hot accessory, so don't be surprised if you get one for Christmas. They're worn with sweaters, their worn with short sleeves. They're worn when its freezing, they're worn just to be worn.

Alright folks, I'm off to the library. Maybe I'll be back to post more later tonight. Don't forget to leave your comments.


À bientôt,

Mlle. Alicia


P.S. I forgot to comment on how easy it is to get French fried potatoes here. I've had them with almost every meal and I have yet to set foot in a fast food restaurant...I think things are going to be just fine here.