Bonne année!

Happy new year, dear friends!

Despite my being sick for roughly a quarter of it, 2011 has been a wonderful year. I feel so lucky to be in France right now in my little town. At face value, it might seem that being placed in my town would, well, suck. In fact, one of my French professors told her (French) friend about my being placed in a small Breton town and the friend's reaction was "oh... well that's too bad."

It might seem like this would be an unfortunate placement for someone my age, however, the reality is that being here has exposed me to some wonderful opportunities that would have been harder to come by. Namely, I mean being welcomed so warmly into the Breton culture of my little town. I feel so lucky and I am so lucky. I've made great friends within that association and with other assistants. I will be sad to leave these people in May, but I know that it won't be the last time I see any of them.

This time last year, I was sitting in front of my computer going "shit... I actually REALLY really need to start writing this French essay for TAPIF." and "FUCK! What regions SHOULD I list??? And in what order?" and also "Really, MCJ? Really? You left this to the last minute. Really?" Luckily, it worked out and I got my second choice for academies (the Rennes academy, aka BRITTANY where the best students are).

Since I last wrote, the parents and I have visited: Bayeux, the Normandy beaches, the American cemetary, Mont Saint-Michel, Cancale (where we didn't eat oysters. oops), St Malo, Carnac (holy beeswax! them's a lot of megaliths), Guidel Plage/Larmor-Plage/everything in between, Lorient and, of course, Quéven. We've been putting some good miles on our rental car.

I hope the next year brings you as much joy as 2011 has brought me.

Bloavezh mad!

Much love,

MCJ

Les Vacances so far

As we prepare to leave Strasbourg in the morning, I thought I'd check in and say how wonderful it has been. Strasbourg is truly lovely and the apartment we're staying in is absolutely delightful. I would post pictures except it is in fact someone's home and that seems a bit too much into their privacy. We had tea with the owners and I have to say they are people I'd love to know better.

Strasbourg is situated on the Rhine, across the river from Germany, in the Alsace region. It's a great location to explore Alsace and the Lorraine. My parents and I had the chance to day trip to Nancy, Colmar, Kehl (Germany, the city across the river) and Basel (Switzerland). Strasbourg itself is host to several Christmas market and many, many, many tourists during the holiday season.

Apparently I got only one picture of these markets and the market is wayyy in the background. Here it is:

My favorite part of the Strasbourg leg (even with all the fantasticness of Strasbourg) has been being in an apartment with my parents and an oven.

We made candy cane cookies:

soup:

a tarte aux pommes:

and a fantastic Christmas chicken (not pictured, though the soup was made with its leftovers).

As someone who really likes cooking, it's been a joy. And it's been a joy to be with my parents and to share with them some of what I've seen and some of what little I know. It's been even more of a joy to discover new things with them, like Nancy, Colmar and Basel. All three of us speak some French and a little German so our forays into Deutsch-speaking zones have been funny misadventures. Sometimes those forays were just to the restaurant downstairs as Strasbourg still has quite a lot of German influence (and visitors).

Being in Strasbourg has made me think some more about the future. I'm still working out what I want to do, so stay tuned. :)

In the meantime, here is a picture from each of the places we visited.

Nancy: Croq n Jazz. If you go to Nancy, go there. It is apparently at 4 Rue Lafayette.

Colmar

Basel/Bâle, Switzerland: Outside the Art Museum

Kehl, Germany

Big bisous and huge hugs,

MCJ

Paris with the Parents

The parents arrived safely in Paris.

Forgetting how hard jetlag can be, I ran them around Paris to go to the Musée Branly. I've been wanting to go there for the past four years. The museum was really cool, as hoped (and freee for me), but rather dark inside. Darkness + places to sit + jetlag = sleeping dad. We rushed through Oceania and the Americas and to lunch at Les Cigales. Parents fading fast, we headed back to the hotel for a nap.

Post-nap, we headed to Théâtre de la Huchette to see Ionesco's first two plays. The nap got them through the first play admirably, but the second play proved a little more taxing, until the characters started yelling. It's the 55th year of these plays' runs in this particular theater and my third time seeing it. Mary the maid and the fireman have been the same actors all three times, I'm fairly certain.

Today, we head to Strasbourg.

Much love,

MCJ

VACANCES pt deux

Larmor Plage, the day after a storm

Courtesy of my sixièmes, snowmen

Monster Snowman

Bonsoir my lovely friends and family (except for my parents, who should be boarding their plane to France right about now)!

I'm sorry about my incredible lack of posts since the sickness. I'm all better now! Yay! I'd been putting off posting as I worked through an existential crisis.

I'm also very sorry to the personal friends that will get the next news from this rather than "in person." Also to said friends, LET'S SKYPE THIS WEEK!!! I will have access to wifi this week at all hours. Wonderful!

So, big news, I've decided not to apply to grad school in the US for next fall. I'm not 100% on my plans for next year aside from my hope that it be in France, Austria or Germany next year. I'm looking into grad school in France next year. French grad school is cheaper than American grad school, by which I mean the schools I've looked at are less than a thousand euros a year INCLUDING paying for social security to the state (which shouldn't really count). For the summer, I'll be back in the US. I'm looking into working with disabled children over the summer (or doing something similar that would relate to a future speech language pathology career). In the meantime, I'm researching grad programs here and prepping for the DALF exam.

I could write really profound things about this, but I'm le tired and I'll be getting up earlyesque to meet my parents at the airport!

Highlights from the last week of classes:

- Singing "You are my sunshine" for the Breton Association's end of the year soirée

- Getting a lovely card from one of my sixième classes.

- Going to an amazing dinner at one of the Spanish assistants' with her lovely, fun friends.

- Going to Lorient's Christmas fair (the rides were only 2Euros, what, like, half the price of the same rides at the Texas state fair/Houston rodeo)

- Giving my Monday primary kids American cookies. "Miam miam miam miam miam miam miam miam."

Much love,

MCJ

Being sick

Bonjour à tous!

I've been mildly sick for the last couple weeks, until last Thursday when my throat started to hurt. And then this weekend when I started to cough. I should prooooobably go to the doctor, but I have a special case of laziness about these things (see: last May when I had bronchitis for three weeks before going to the doctor or this summer when I had mono for two weeks before seeing the doctor because of the all-body hives that broke out). Being sick, however, has not prevented me from doing things. Except it's gotten me out of a lot of bisous (AH NON NON NON NON ATTENDS! JE SUIS MALADE). (I apologise to S whom I bisoued despite the sickness.)

This weekend was very fun, rather relaxing (all good given my sickness' turn for the very present). Friday, S and I went over to Port Louis where we discovered that entrance to the citadelle was free for us. On the way there, we accidentally took one boat to and from the other side of the river because I thought it made two stops, the second at Port Louis (which is what it does on Sundays, the other time I'd been there). We did not walk into the water and we had to run after our bus because the busses switched numbers at the roundabout where we were waiting. The museums at Port Louis turned out to be rather fabulous. In fact, I have been incredibly impressed by all the Lorient-area museums I've been to. They are very well done. We also had lunch at a really lovely crêperie, where the lady gave us maps of the island and we had shrimp curry crêpes. Delicious.

Saturday, S, D and A came over to Quéven to visit me! My first visitors! Hahaha. Unfortunately, it was raining out which pretty much cancelled out everything I had planned for them. Instead, we bought tea and cookies at my Leclerc and watched music videos in my little room. Afterward, S, A and I went to the movies to see L'art d'aimer. There was some miscommunication, however, and two of us ended up with tickets to Les adoptés. We did not realise this until later, after the movie. We ended up watching Les adoptés and it was so, so good. It's definitely up there as one of my favorite movies I've seen so far.

Sunday, S, A and I went to Le Gandhi, a delicious albeit expensive authentic Indian restaurant. Samosas nom nom nom. I tried a hot sauce which irritated my throat and caused a coughing fit that led to tears. It was apparently very attractive.

Monday was the second stage for the elementary school assistants in Morbihan. I brought along a box of tissues and used them up during the all day stage. I also sneezed and coughed a lot. Luckily, the stage leaders are very very sweet. It was a lot of fun and gave me a lot of ideas for what else to do with my elem kids. Though I was sad to miss out on a day of working with my elem kids by doing this, I was very happy with what I learned.

Today, I'm still sick. Womp. As soon as I walked into the school, the lady at the welcome desk (who was talking with others at the time) said "Mais tu as l'air malade!" Me: Oh yeah, I'm a little sick, but it's not a big deal. The people she was talking with turned out and stared at me. Fun times. Then I went off and ad-libbed a lesson on Christmas with some 6èmes. Luckily, I had a nice long break between that and my second class of the day, so I went back and slept some more, apparently making myself look far less sick. Yay! In fact, at the end of my second class a student (a 4eme) came up and said I was very beautiful. Brown noser. I know I look like shit right now, but merci quand même.

Coming up today: more sleep and Breton class, where I will continue to not bisou people (I was sick enough last week not to, now I apparently look sick enough that no one will want to).

Friendly, germ-free smiles,

MCJ

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Or as pronounced by one of my kids, "happy sexgiving!"

The teacher and I had a laugh about that.

Bisous and hugs

MCJ

This post was supposed to be about Fest-Noz

But I failed in transferring the folder with the pictures and videos onto my usb this morning, so Fest-Noz will have to wait. Probably for the best given that I've got a little sickness going on.

Some scattered thoughts on teaching:

Teachers make an incredible difference. Without going into detail, how the teacher treats their class is fairly evident from how the class treats each other and how they treat me. This also tends to translate into how much time they give me to prepare something for the class. On the fly creation of lessons does not go well. When I have time to prepare something (and this really doesn't have to be a lot, it can just be looking up of games and such), the class goes much much better.

Rowdy kids can either be a blessing or a curse. When I've got a super energetic kid, I try to harness their energy and enthusiasm into something productive for the class. Let's be buddies, rowdy kid, work with me! When this works, it's a beautiful thing. Sometimes, however, the student just really doesn't want to do this. They don't give me a chance and frankly I don't see the collège kids enough to establish a rapport that could lead to fixing this.

Primary school kids are incredibly well-behaved. This is in part because there is zero tolerance for misbehavior. Primary school is where the children learn how to be students. Some collège kids decide to casually forget this once they've changed schools, plus there's the fact that they're becoming teens. Oh teens. Les ados. In my CE1 (first grade ish) yesterday, a storm started up outside. The classroom has a wall of windows that look out onto the playground. The teacher noticed that some of the children were distracted. "Oh is this the first time you've seen rain? No. This is unacceptable, you don't stare out the window for rain, for snow, for anything." But then he had all the class stare out the window for a few seconds so they could get their fix. "C'est trop beau!" one child cried. After that, the kids weren't distracted by the rain. Impressive.

Kids that don't try make me sad. Instead of trying and making a mistake, they just go straight to "sais pas" with puffed out cheeks and a little pop sound. Especially when it's something simple like "what's your name?" that all the other students have attempted and succeeded at before them. They're definitely able and the fact that they're not trying now only spells out a future of continued lack of effort. And that makes me sad. One day they'll probably just say "bah je suis nul avec anglais" or "I've just never been good at learning languages." Bullshit. You just turned yourself off to the idea out of fear of messing up.

And because this amused me a lot and hasn't been posted yet...:
Student [rifling through glossary at the back of her English book]: Miss, are you too' 'all?
Me [mightily confused]: too tall? How tall am I? [Gestures height]
Student: Uhhhh non non non uhhhh are you uhhh TAOWN ALL
Me [goes over to glossary, sees what student is pointing at] AHAHAHA
Student was pointing at mairie = town hall, trying to ask me if I was mariée = married.

Nope, I am neither town hall nor married.

Gros bisous,

MCJ

Mary, the American who likes Breton culture!

An article about me appeared in the Lorient edition of Ouest-France. You can see in the picture me with the rest of my class (but not the teacher... he got cropped out?). Breton is going well. I'm understanding more but am nowhere near producing anything on my own, granted there have only been four classes so far with two weeks off in the middle.

I love my Breton class a lot.

Also, I'm getting really good at bisous now. Y'all would be proud.

Bisous,

MCJ, l'Américaine qui aime la culture bretonne

Toussaint

Toussaint is November 1st every year (similar origins as Halloween <-- All Hallows' Eve, All Hallows <-- All Saints, All Saints = Toussaint). In France, it is a jour férié (no school, no work) where you pay respect to all the saints including those unrecognized. From what I saw it manifests itself in the visiting of loved ones' final resting spots and the laying of fresh flowers.

A vendor selling Toussaint flowers right outside the cemetary, for those who forget.

Walking up to the cemetary, it was a lovely autumn afternoon.

A view of one of the Lorient cemetaries.

French cemetaries are decidedly different from the ones I've seen in America. Generally each of the tombs that you see here is for an entire family, ideally generations of the same family. And, because they've had to be doing this much longer than Americans have, final resting quarters are somewhat more cramped. It was depressing to see signs up saying that the rent for a lot hadn't been paid and that one should address their queries to the townhall in order to avoid the loss of the spot. I'm not sure what then happens to the tomb/people within.

On la Flore

This past weekend, there was a music festival in Lorient, Les Indisciplinées. Three of the concerts were free, so being not exactly rolling in da cash, the language assistants decided to check out one of the free concerts, the last one. This last one was at one of the submarine bases built during WWII by the Germans. It's possible to get tours/go to museums there so we decided to get some culture and history before the concert. We decided on a visit to the submarine La Flore, the only one open that day (and happily the cheapest).

I was so impressed by this museum. It was artfully done and appropriately poignant. In the museum you learned in words what it was like to go on missions on a submarine (generally lasting 30 days) and then you actually went onto the submarine, La Flore, and could get a notion of what it felt like -- highly claustrophobic.

In the museum, with really cool screens. You can see that the one on the right has just flipped up so that you can see the map projected onto the far wall.

La Flore

The experience did not make me desire to work on a submarine, but it did give me a lot of respect for those who do. Sounds about right.

Happily, there was a lovely sunset.

Pictures from Bordeaux

So early morning the first Monday of the Toussaint break, I left for lunch in Paris. Regrettably, in the one tiny stretch of the walk between chez moi and the bus stop, I did not take out my flashlight. It was at this point that I tripped on... something? Probably just my own feet. In any case, I skinned my knee (and ripped the jeans that should have been protecting me) and sprained my foot and possibly ankle. I didn't reallyyy notice this last part until I got off the bus. But being me I decided to push on (and I'm glad I did). In Paris, I had lunch with one of my all time favorite professors at a really lovely place (after literally hobbling across the street from the train station to the monoprix to pick up something to wrap my foot/ankle with).

After this, I had to decide whether to hobble on to Bordeaux or to take the next train back to Lorient. It seemed like a shame not to go to Bordeaux so on I went! I passed the train ride with a pleasant enough grandfather who explained all the different agricultures seen on the way. By asking for the name of hay bales in French I think I might have given him the impression that they don't exist in the US. Whoops. He lives in a Paris suburb now, but was raised in the Bordeaux region where he still keeps a house. And, for Toussaint, he was taking some of his grandkids to said house. I got to meet them too. Very cute. Less cute was some of the xenophobic statements that were peppered in when discussing immigration. Even more so due to the fact we were sharing the cabin with two people who were pretty clearly immigrants who spoke French. Whoops. They just continued on with their conversation and I tried to change the subject... but it came up a lot.

And then, Bordeaux. Ah, Bordeaux with three exceptionally wonderful fellow English assistants (hello! if you find your way here :) ). They were incredibly understanding of my need for less speed and more hobbling and sitting. I appreciated that immensely. Like, for reals, y'all were the best. Also, we got Thai food for dinner that was actually legit. What's not to love about that?

So my time in Bordeaux was very lovely, if a little drizzly. It didn't transform me into a connaisseuse of wine, but ehhh, I enjoyed what I had:

At a wine museum, interesting stuff. It was followed by a tasting (dégustation) that was slightly less than impressive. On the other hand, we accidentally made the anglophone worker there speak to us in French the whole time.... It was a little awkard on both sides.

Impressive wine barrel

!

Hello, welcome to Bordeaux, look at our impressive array of wine. Next stop, Bordrunk. (I kid, I kid, even though some of us have very low tolerances.)

The Hôtel de Ville, note the rain

Bordeaux at night, a really lovely contrast between sky and shopping. I bet they do gorgeous things with Christmas lights too.

Bisous (more to come, I promise, Dr. LesMis)

MCJ

I have no idea

Today, I was working on lessons at the collège when one of the teachers came up to me. You need to go see l'intendance right now! There's a man coming to look at your heater. Oh... okay? I haven't tried to use it yet so I have no idea if there's something wrong with it or why this man is coming.... It's kind of like when someone came to put in a telephone line and then it was cut because I really don't need a fixed line.... Bizarre bizarre bizarre.
So I meet the guy and we go to chez moi. It turns out I do not have a heater, I have four. For my one room apartment. I have no idea. It's not like we're in a super cold place... it's supposed to rarely go below freezing. So from best I could understand (not because of the French but because no one really seemed to know), I'm getting a new heater so I don't use the water-based heaters as that would be using water from my neighbors' and I'd be adding to their bill. And then the electric heaters are apparently in crap places where they wouldn't help me at all... so I'm getting a fifth. For my one room. Five heaters. I have no idea.

Good stuff: http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving
Also, looking at Thanksgiving food when hungry is a terrible idea.... So hungry now.

I have Breton class tonight for the first time in a few weeks... wish me good luck, I haven't been studying and there's going to be "la presse" there tonight.

In which I ramble... a lot

I forgot to say a lot of things in this video... but I managed to fill up over ten minutes anyway. Sorry not sorry. I'm alive and slowly making a few French amis. It has become time where I need to stop acting like a newb in front of the actual teachers.

Classroom things:
- Currently preparing a lesson on Thanksgiving for the 6èmes (the littlests at the collège)
- Had a semi successful failure at teaching family words to one of the primaire classes. In class, it didn't seem like they were getting what I was teaching at all... but then they remembered everything today! I was amazed!.. and very, very happy. *
- Learned another baller Hello/What's your name song. I'm so cool.
- May have been exposed to a French form of pig latin.... the girl asked me if I spoke, what sounded to me like, Javanese. Uh... non. I am the English assistant. Then she started going off in something that her friend could understand. They looked pretty typically French, hence my doubts.

The Bordeaux pics will (or won't) be posted eventually. It was raining most of the time so they're not quite as jolie as I'd like.

I am now a card carrying member of the Leclerc loyalty family. It's like having a Kroger plus card only I'm not sure when the savings start to kick in.... Ah la France.

Massive bisous,

MCJ

Soup weather

Vacances are still going and I'm back chez moi. It's definitely been soup weather so today I made soup. It turned out rather well with onion, leek ("first you take a leek"), garlic, carrot, radish, cabbage, peas, chicken bouillon, shreds of chicken deli meat and of course noodles.

Earlier in the week I had my lunch in Paris and checked out Bordeaux with some great people. Unfortunately about five minutes after leaving my room I sprained my ankle so I cut my trip short, BUT I had a great time. Anyway, it's been a little rainy and wet across France, a good time for reflection. And soup. And going to the movies. And reading books.

Bordeaux post coming Friday when I can post multiple pictures. :)

Bisous

MCJ

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Vacances

It is officially les vacances de Toussaint (All Saints). This morning I slept in (until 9 haha) and ran errands. I finally sent off my paperwork to OFII so that in a couple months I won't become an illegal worker despite the visa in my passport. I have also finally gotten international stamps for post cards. I had been relying on the prestamped envelopes I got five years ago....

Then I stopped by my Leclerc where I discovered... red pepper pesto. Holy shit. I am just one chipotle mayo short of a California Connection. So that is what I had for lunch today (minus a tomato as well). Yum yum.

So vacation.... Monday I am leaving very early for lunch in Paris. Following that my plans are pretty open with only the stipulation that I spend some time in the sunny south. I will try and send updates along the way.

Bonnes vacances!

MCJ

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I have a French social security number

Working at the primaire is definitely making me rethink what age group I want to work with after France. I am so so in love with my primaire kids. Of course, here in France, I'm exotic and fun and only see them twice a week. As a speech language pathologist, my role would be somewhat different. It's something I'm definitely thinking about right now heading into application time.

Today was day 2 of teaching Halloween. It was a definite homerun. The six box game took the kids a bit of time to figure out, but hopefully later on they will remember and it will be a bit easier. We shall see. "Lazy" bingo was a success, like last time. Yesterday, I was at the collège and it went like -- pardon my French -- complete merde. Well, the first class anyway, the others were just meh. Yesterday, I worked with a class that has specifically been identified as learners with challenges. I won't describe it too much more because I don't want to inadvertantly harm any of my students or the school. If you work in a French school, you probably know who I'm talking about. Anyway, before yesterday morning I did not know that that would be the class that I'd be working with. I took half the class on my own. It went... okay? ish from my perspective. They stayed calm and in their seats. The only loud outbursts were from one that possibly can't help it. Anyway one of the students had forgotten something and had to go to the administrative offices to find it. I allowed a different student to go get it. Evidently, some of the things that had been muttered in the back of the class where less than savory and the student told one of the administrators. So, said administrator came and gave a talking-to to the class (NOT yelling and it was a very productive/positive-oriented talking-to). The final point here is that I will not be left alone with such a class again. A couple of the students in that class, I really feel for. For various reasons that I don't know, they are in that class and the unfortunate truth is that their peers won't allow them to get their full potential. Yesterday made me really sad.

The other classes yesterday were with older students. It seems that the older the students get, the less willing they are to go out on a limb and attempt English. I was asked to teach about cliques. I've got to say I don't know a whole lot about them, but I managed to put together a lesson on them. Unfortunately, the projector in my room didn't work so I wasn't able to show them Jena Lee's US Boy to start off the discussion. Luckily, enough of the classes watch/have seen Glee/High School Musical/Mean Girls so they had some sort of base to go on. I taught the word hierarchy. I think I also have made them all think that American high schools are the worst.... I tried, but I'm not sure I managed to convey that they were exaggerations of reality and not necessarily typical.

Today, however, today was just awesome. One of the teachers at the primaire had been an assistant in the UK and he said that I did a great job. It also just felt really right and good. Before leaving for France, a veteran teacher I know told me the secret to teaching children is to always have enough material for an entire class. I've been striving for that. I try to have a few activities during the time I have with them and switch them up enough that kids don't get bored. We'll see how it goes after Toussaint when I'm talking about non-Halloween words. Monsters are really easy to imitate, mothers less so (hi Mom!). Oh man... we are going to have a field day with the interdental fricatives oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Muzzer, fahzzer, bruhzzer and then of course we shall return to the problem of the short i with seeeester.

Also today, one of my students (now not so secretly my favorite) gave me Breton caramels (see start of post). My heart melted oh so so cute. I wanted to give him some extra stickers in return but unfortunately (or fortunately?) the students have a VERY strong sense of justice. If you give a sticker/candy/whatever to one student, you sure as hell had better have enough for all of them. I gave out candy corn during all of the Halloween classes. In the first one, I accidentally missed one kid and he was about near tears. Today, seeing as I had only used three quarters of one of my two bags, I decided to tell one class to take two candy corns. This was as they were exiting for recess. The kids from the prior class got wind that they were getting more candy corns and I began to hear little exclamations "mais POURQUOI are they getting TWO? We only got one!!" I decided to be gentille and give them more, because really I had more and it's better to give them away. I have discovered that I actually like candy corn. I never did before. Perhaps it's nostalgia?

I tried to get the kids to actually apply "I'm scared." The kids understand It's raining/it's NOT raining, but they haven't begun extending that to I'm happy/I'm NOT happy. So I put up the pictures of the monster/witch/ghost and also the fireman/mailman and cowboy. And started with an example, "When I (point to self) see (point to eye) a monster (point at monster), I'm scared (mime being scared). When you (point to student/s) see (point to eye) a monster (point at monster), how are YOU? (put up hands in questioning position)" I did this a few times with the witch and ghost. The students began to catch on, then I tried the fireman. It took a bit of time, but eventually they figured out "I'm not scared." We'll see how much they remember after Toussaint.

The primaire school is set up around a courtyard. Most of the buildings are one story (all of the classrooms are on the groundlevel) and you can pass from one classroom to the next in one long stretch (for most of the classes, the itty bitties are in another building not connected). So when I walk from one class to the next or to go to the teacher lounge during recess/before class, the little kids will see me and follow me outside. Then I'll hear "Maryyyyyyyyyyyyyy Maryyyyyyyyyy Maaaaary HELLOOOOOOOOO Maryyyyyyyyy!"

Today during the recess, one of the teachers taught me how to laminate so I could protect the drawings I've made for the classes. I was working at this when I realized that it had suddenly gotten very quiet. Whoops. Recess was over and I was late. Heureusement, it was not a problème.

Basically, right now, I'm really enjoying working with the primaire and thinking of ways to help them with English. It's a fun little puzzle. AND I feel really proud because a couple of the students in the primaire that have studying problems are really getting my lessons. When they figure out/remember things before the rest of the class that melts my heart as much as getting the caramels. French kiddos ftw.

Bisous,

MCJ

I'm very very very very vewy vewy vewy 'appeeee

Teacher: How are you?
Students: I'm very happy.
I'm so-so.
I'm cold!
I'm sick!
I'm fine.
I'm really happy!
I'm very very happy.
Student Z: I'm very very very very very ... vewy happy!

Today was a primaire day. I love primary school days, the children are so 'appy and enthusiastic. I met two new classes today (a CM1 and a CE1) and met up with the class that I did professions with last time.

The first class, a CM1 went fine. I hadn't really hit my stride yet. My CE2 (the class I taught professions last week) was fantastic. For today, I planned and prepared materials on Halloween (as this week is the last I'll have before Halloween... next week is vacation, hollaaaa). The tricky thing with the primaires is that they can really only learn a few words at a time. By that, I mean six is pushing it. So for today, I chose: scared (as a new option to How are you?), witch, ghost, monster, pumpkin and CANDY (or, alternatively sweets... which I think is how I will say it Thursday).

After the English class ritual of How are you?/What's your name?/What's the weather like? I reviewed the professions from last week. Then I busted out the awesome drawings I made of the aforementioned six. I've taken to trying to portray sounds with my whole body. I think it's only semi-effective in improving accents, but it's hella-effective in making kids happy. Cowboy now has a jump (like a boiiiiing) at the end. We shall see if it helps them remember on Thursday.... For with I did a scrunched up face and tried to bare my teeth a bit to show them how to make the short I sound instead of weeeetch. Pumpkin gets two jumps for its two plosive ps! Scared comes along with mimed biting of hands and exagerrated s's. In presenting the words, I tried to jump back to the prior ones fairly frequently. Otherwise, they really don't remember.



After that, I drew a super basic Halloween story. And pointed to the objects/ideas they had just learned. What's that? Yes, PumPkin! very good! I wanted to show with the story how the kids go up in costumes to get candy without resorting to explain it in French. The first week at primaire, I spoke a lot in French. From here on out, I'm trying very hard not to. This will be a lot easier once they've learned how to play the different games I'll be using.

Speaking of games....


For the CM1s today I tried the game jeu à six caisses. The students are in pairs with the same six images. One student arranges their images from 1 to 6, the other asks "Number 1, what are you?" I made mine for if we had extra time I could quiz them on numbers. How many eyes (points to eyes) does the monster have? *I* have two eyes. How many does the mooonster have?

With my CE2s (who studied professions last week), I brought together the professions vocab and some of their new words from today for a modified bingo. Each kid chose three images and then I called out different images. The first to have all three called wins! Then they can either be they one to call out professions or whatever you like. Each student got one candy corn. I would have given them more but they all only took one. Mysterious kids. They were also all super well behaved and waited until the end of class to have their one candy corn. They also each got at least one sticker. Some that responded well got even more. Whoawhoaa. Even more mysterious, the kids *liked* the candy corn. I'm glad I brought it. Haha

My last class of the day was with the CE1s. This was literally their first English class EVER. Luckily, the extremely talented teacher did the lesson that day and I was more of a prop. It was so great to watch. Unfortunately, I've got to get off the computer/leave the school now, but I'll update more on that in the future.

Coming soon... la plage. Ah, the beach.

Rebonjour!

Three pictures, because I care:

At first I was not so happy about walking to work this morning in the dark, then I saw the sunrise and decided it was okay.

This house/these houses are behind chez moi and I really love them. Especially on this day when there was smoke coming out of the chimney and it was a super gray day.

I drew uniforms of different professions for the elementary kids. They are currently preparing a project for the mediatheque (library, more or less) in which they dress up in their parents' occupations' clothing. So I drew these to show some American uniforms and teaching them police officer/doctor/firefighter/cowboy and mailman (not pictured). Next week, when I cover Halloween I'll use them again. Perfect!

Oh hey didn't see you there

Today I bring to you a random assortment of thoughts:

1. Just about everything is cheaper for students/young people/people with small salaries. This includes everything from lunches for faculty to Breton lessons. When I arrived for my first Breton class (a group class) the teacher was like oh well... since you are a student (I'm not...), we will something out for you. Well, okay.... Pas mal.
2. Speaking of my Breton lessons, I love them. I've only had one so far, but the group is super amusing and even if I don't learn to speak Breton I'm going to have an excellent time linguistics-nerding-it-up.
3. I love French kids. Aside from half of one class (out of 30 classes at the middle school... so I won't see them often), the students are really lovely and wonderful. They're inquisitive and excited to meet a foreigner. They don't always like to speak English (they can be really shy about it), but sometimes they surprise me with their enthusiasm.
4. The primary school students... oh my goodness... they are so precious. Now that they all recognize me when I come into the school courtyard, a crowd of ten to twenty will run up and start asking me questions. Or just staring at me. I've gotten very used to being stared at. One little girl (a 6 year old, so she hasn't started English yet/won't have me in class) ran up to me today and asked if I was the one she saw at Leclerc yesterday. Well, little girl, I don't know what to tell you. I was at Leclerc yesterday, so maybe yes. Girl: huh? Me: It could have been me. I didn't see you, but maybe it was me. Girl: huh? Me: ... it was me. Girl: yayyyyyy! (runs off to friends)
5. The elem kids LOVE language games. I will describe some of them in an upcoming post.
6. When I mess up in French life, I don't mind too much because they lead me to Unique Speaking Opportunities (which I will now call USOs). Thus far, these have included a really nice chat with a taxi driver when I missed the last bus back to Quéven, asking a stranger about getting a taxi, talking on the phone with all sorts of people about bureaucratic paper-y French business. I like USOs. Because of USOs, I now say oui to surveys and don't get upset when I do stupid stuff like miss the bus because it came a minute early and wasn't marked the normal way. Who cares, I got back earlier than the bus anyway.
7. I now have a Tabac where the people know me, but no boulangerie. There are two and they seem to alternate being open late afternoons. As such, I have not succeeded in claiming one as my own and I feel super guilty for cheating on both of them. I'm sorry boulangeries, I've tried.

Okay, that's all for now. France is awesome, as always. I've finally met the other language assistants in the department and they're wonderful. I'm sure you'll hear more about them soon.

Bisous

MCJ

Chaque chose a sa place et chaque place a sa chose.

Every thing has its place and every place has its thing.

I was thinking about this phrase today when thinking about where to
get rechargements for my mobicarte (a SIM card that is pay as you go
from the carrier Orange). There are many differences between France
and US and one of the places this is clearest is in the day-to-day
shopping experience. In the US, I would go to a place like Kroger or
occasionally one of the giant-has-everything Targets. At both of these
places, I could buy, in addition to food and drink and bath stuff,
newspapers, magazines, make-up, drugs (haha), gift cards, trashy
novels, sometimes things like phones and if we really consider the
Target then... well... everything short of a car. Even in the giant
Leclerc near me, it's pretty exclusively food and "parfumerie"
(shampoo, soap) with a small section of pens and paper with four
random books. If you want your newspaper, magazine or tobacco, you
have to go to your local Tabac/Presse/Tabac-Presse. If you want drugs,
you first need to go to the doctor (or have him come to you), get a
prescription then mosey on over to the pharmacy, which does not sell
makeup or snacks. If you want a phone, better find a FNAC or a carrier
store. I hear that more and more the PAYG phones can be found in
Carrefours (a Target-esque store). Supposedly there is a Carrefour
near me but I'm not totally sure where it is.

As such, I went into Lorient to get my phone. I wasn't sure if I had
actually managed to unlock my iPhone and didn't fancy buying a SIM
card only to cut it up and find otherwise. I went into a FNAC to
browse what they had. All of their options were with "avec engagement"
(with a contract, usually 12 or 24 months). Non merci. I went to the
Orange store next door since I knew a bit about the mobicarte and
figured I might as well go with what I know. I went in and no helpful
but persistent Orange employee descended on me, only some guy trying
to choose a picture to put as his background. He kept taking really
crappy pictures of the picture in his keychain that were completely
blurry and asking if they were okay. Ummmm non. After a while of
staring at phones, I decided to go up and find an orange employee. My
name was taken down and I waited some more. After a while, "Madame ou
Mademoiseille Goam-sõn?" "Je pense que c'est moi?" I always mess up G
(pronounced in a way that rhymes with jay) and J (pronounced in a way
that rhymes with gee). Luckily, it was me. I am going to call this guy
Miguel because I'm not sure what his name was and he was tan. Ça vous
va? Bon, d'accord. I explained to Miguel that I wanted to get a
Mobicarte microSIM for my iPhone but I wasn't sure if it was unlocked.
Miguel went and got such a Mobicarte. Malheureusement, after a long
wait for the iPhone to start back up it was clear that I had not
succeeded in unlocking the phone. Tant pis. I said, it's okay, I'll
just buy another phone. You get a decent discount on phones with a
mobicarte. I ended up selecting an HTC Wildfire. Apparently there were
two different versions of this, one slightly more expensive. Miguel
accidentally brought me the wrong (more expensive) one. Since I said
it was okay, he said the store would give me a case for the phone. Pas
mal du tout. Not bad at all. So, he rang me up as I prayed that my
card would work (it did). Then I skipped off to a park with my pretty
new HTC to try it out. I desperately need to get rechargements for the
Mobicarte so I can add plans for internet, etc. Also so I can call
people... right now I only have 3 minutes or 15 texts. Whoopses. When
I do get internet though, I can use my phone to create a wifi hotspot
for my computer. Success. Other awesome things about my phone: it came
with tetris, it's pretty and light, it has an FM radio (finally I can
listen to the news!). I like it mucho.

When I was in the park, a train of cars from a wedding also came by
honking their horns and I had another DNC-style conversation with an
old lady. I said "c'est bizarre quoi." but secretly I wanted to say
"comme c'est bizarre, comme c'est curieux et quelle coincidence!" but
I didn't. Lorient seems very nice. I found a Tex-Mex place. I will
have to go check it out and see if it's actually Tex-Mex.... I have my
doubts. I also found the (tiiiny) ethnic section of LeClerc. I have
access to Asian-style noodles and pre-made tortillas! Though,
admittedly, I have to imagine I would make them better.... Sigh. So
much effort.

Today, I'll be checking out Quéven's market and hoping the Tabac (1)
is open on a Sunday and (2) sells Mobicarte rechargements. Otherwise I
am SOL until Friday afternoon.

Bisous,

MCJ

Monday morning

The Tabac is very open on Sundays and the cashier remembered me from
last week when C and I came in to ask about bus passes. I asked to buy
thirty euros of Mobicarte and she asked if I wanted 25 or 35, because
they come with 5 euros free. I like France. She showed me the numbers
to call and told me to come back in if I had any trouble. So nice. I
also bought a Tatiana de Rosnay book, "Le Voisin" (she wrote Elle
s'appelait Sarah/Sarah's Key). It was a good, relaxed Sunday and I
went on my first run since having mono this summer. I probably
should've gone earlier than sunset or at least wearing brighter
clothing than dark green. Oh well, I survived and the countryside was
beautiful.

Last week, I had the pleasure of having dinner at a French family's
home. Thursday afternoon I had a meeting at the elementary school to
meet the people I'll be working with there. I was definitely left
feeling a lot more intimidated about that than the work with the
collège. Luckily, one of the people at the meeting is an education
Inspector in charge of helping me (and new teachers and old ones...
basically any teacher in need of help) throughout the year. She will
be at the elementary school this afternoon while I begin to prepare
for being in the elementary school classroom. After the meeting, we
chatted a bit and she invited me to her house for dinner. Because
there was lots of time beforehand, we went over to her grandmother's
house. I really enjoyed all of her family and my time there. Many
bisous were exchanged. Ten points to me.

Also on the menu today: getting a phoneline installed chez moi for
reasons not immediately clear to myself.

Anyway, France is great.

Bisous,

MCJ

Brittany kind of likes me

Hello everyone!

First off, I have uploaded pictures here.

Wednesday, C and I returned to the bank for my official appointment. The very sweet teller explained everything to me and I signed a lot of papers without reading them thoroughly (I went ahead and trusted the teller in what she told me they meant). I learned how to do a French deposit and about all the many coverages I get from the bank. If I lose my passport or keys (or something bank related, of course), they will cover the costs for me to get them replaced. Pretty nice, right? Sometime in the next eight days I will have to return to pick up my card and checkbook. The particular card I have (which is geared toward people my age in partnership with the television channel M6) allows me discounts at various stores (including the fast food restaurant Quick, as they were quick to point out to me.... everyone, absolutely everyone, is under the impression that I as an American adore fast food. Not so.). I actually do have to go back to the bank tomorrow (Thursday) as I was given back a paper that I was supposed to have left there. Whoops. No matter, I’ll either go on my way to the primary school or earlier in the day and pick up another baguette from across the street. The teller was incredibly helpful and stressed that if I ever had any questions I should either email her or call. Pas mal. (Even C was exclaiming over how nice she was, so she must have been particularly helpful even for typical French service.)

Then we went to the CTRL office so I could pick up a young person bus pass. CTRL is the local transport system. Once again, he took the time to explain everything. As I was getting a monthly pass, both he and C told me many times not to forget to buy a new pass at the starts of the month. I think I can handle that. He even gave me a clear little pouch to put it in. Youpi! The man even got me a giant map from the back (“to put on my wall”). It is, in fact, a very good map and tells the stops of all the different schools and pools and post offices, etc. and it marks where the Gare SNCF in Lorient is. Very useful.

As we were getting back into the car, C asked me if I’d like to see the sea. Mais bien sûr! So we drove to Guidel-plage where we stopped and walked around a bit. It is very beautiful. We stopped where a river flows out into the sea. On the other side of the river is the department Finistère (fin de terre, end of the world, we are in Morbihan which probablyyy means little sea in Breton. Bihan means little and mor I believe means sea -- armor means coast). It was very beautiful, apparently the sky is rarely this blue. “The weather must be this nice to welcome you.” So you see, even Brittany is giving me an amazing welcome. We stopped by the restaurant “Les Fauves” (the big cats -- like tigers and panthers and lions) and had ciders. Mine was apparently more sugary. Anyway, I liked it and it was very nice to look out on the sea sipping on a cider. Then we drove along the coast to the Fort Bloqué where we stopped so I could take non-blurry pictures. There were people out swimming and sunning on the beach. Like I said, the weather has been very beautiful and warm since my arrival. Pas mal for the end of September. She dropped me off around seven and I made some drunk pasta (only not so drunk as I haven’t bought any wine yet... I knowww don’t judge me). It turned out pleasingly well. Yay for bouillon cubes. The little pit of pasta I put in was practically bursting with flavor. Yumyum. It was less fun to clean out the pot this morning.

Already today, I ate lunch at the school. Let me put it this way, the French have no idea how lucky they are. For serious. Then there was a loooong series of meetings trying to figure out my schedule. It has not yet been figured. Instead I'll get a new one every week. That's okay though because it means I'll be working with more classes which hopefully means I can reuse more lessons. On va voir. In any case, I will have my Monday mornings and Friday afternoons free!

Still on the schedule for today:

- Another visit to the bank

- Meeting the elementary school people

- Sending papers to OFII by registered mail and buying stamps while I’m at it

- Going to Lorient (if there’s time) to get a 12-25 card

Also, I got up at 4am today and somehow managed to be busy the whole time until lunch. Comme c'est bizarre.

Bisous

MCJ

On dit toujours bonjour

Bonjour à tous!

My first day in France was really wonderful. Even with all the
difficulties from my bags (one
rolling suitcase, one carryon duffle and a backpack -- together they
did not appear to be
much but I apparently just have exceptionally heavy belongings), I
loved the traveling. In
the second train (from Le Mans to Lorient), there wasnʼt any space for
my luggage in my
coach and there was an older lady sitting in my seat. As the train was
about to start, I
decided to leave my bags in the entry way (outside of the path of
people) and sit in one of
the seats there (those have no reservation -- theyʼre really intended
for people who step
out to take phone calls and such). If there was a problem with this, I
knew that the
comptroller would tell me. After some time, a woman came and asked
what the number of
the coach was. I told her "20." Evidently, she had been looking for
her seat and it didnʼt
exist in that coach. So, she sat down with me and we began to talk. We
were there
together for two hours and we talked about politics (American and
French and EU),
traveling and many other things. I explained Ricky Perry to her
multiple times (we spoke a
lot about Texas, religion in the US and executions in the US, he just
naturally came up a
lot). She got off before me but perhaps I will see her again when I go
to her city.
When I got off, the other descenders began to ask me about myself and gave me a
"Breton welcome" (they carried my bags). My contact teacher, C, was
waiting on the
platform for me. Apparently I really looked beat because she suggested
we stop by a café
before heading to the collège. We both had Perriers, to my surprise I
actually enjoyed the
carbonated water. New things everyday!

At the collège, I met a lot a lot a lot of people. I donʼt remember
many of the names, but
luckily I do remember those of the principal, vice principal (he and
his wife are my
neighbors!) and gestionnaire (who is in charge of my apartment). We
collected the key
from the gestionnaire and headed over. So... my room! It is on the
small side, but not
claustrophobic. Furniture-wise, thereʼs a bed (with sheets and
pillow), giant shelves,
cushioned chair, desk and desk chair, food cabinet (with all the
utensils and fooood), dish
cabinet (complete with dishes and pots and pans), fridge, microwave
and hotplates. The
studio has its own bathroom (with a bath, not a shower) and a hot
water closet (with
cleaning products which I have actually used. yay!). It is a very
comfortable room and now
that Iʼve organized my things in it and put up pictures, Iʼm very happy with it.
So at this point I had not eaten since the plane. Whoops. Luckily the
collège had left me
with food (they are some of the greatest people). Iʼm not going to
lie, my first meal in
France was not particularly glamorous and it was suspiciously like my
last meal in the
states... a sandwich. Ah well, I was tired and hungry. Then I
apparently passed out while
writing an email.

Today (being Tuesday), C and I went to the bank to open an account. I
decided to try
Crédit Agricole first. The teller we met with was so nice and helpful
and I have my official
appointment to open an account with her on Wednesday. In an unexpected
way, I am looking forward to it. Following that, she kindly took me
shopping so I could buy heavy things. Most importantly, so I could buy
my 2 liter water bottles. It would seem in France one doesn't drink
tap water even at home. Luckily because of this six packs of 2L water
bottles are fairly cheap. Then we went to the boulangerie so I could
finally get my French baguette. I got a demi of the house speciality
(the something Gana), that is made completely by hand. It was very
good with hummus later.

Earlier that day, three workers came by to bring me a microwave, a
wash basin for the dishes and dish towels. I managed to embarass
myself by taking a few dozen tries to open the door. They didn't laugh
at me. Such nice people. They only asked if the dish towels were okay.
I really can't get over how incredibly nice and welcoming everyone has
been.

As I don't start work until Monday I am "en vacances." There was a
teacher strike yesterday (Tuesday) and some of the teachers were
amused when I came to the school when I am not even working yet; How
very French, they said, to come when not working to school during a
strike. And yes, I know you were wondering, the middle school students
do also go on strike.

I seem to be having trouble in uploading my pics so those might have
to wait until I have internet on my phone. Tant pis.

For today: setting up the bank account, buying a bus pass, figuring
out the busses to Lorient and taking pictures of Quéven. Also,
mastering the French keyboard. Tomorrow: figuring out my schedule at
the collège, finally hearing what they expect of me and meeting
someone from the elementary school.

à plus tard

MCJ

Bienvenue!

Just a quick post to say I arrived and am having an amazing time. Everyone is so nice! A nice long post has been written with photos of my room (I have failed to take any others whoops).

Things I have done:

• had a two hour long dnc style conversation covering such topics as the death penalty, Perry, the EU and even Boehner.
• bought a demi baguette at a boulangerie
• started a French bank account
• met lots and lots of teachers
• passed out a couple times
• faire d la bise
• drank Perrier and liked it

General takeaways

• everyone is insanely nice
• QUEVEN is very charming. :)

Bisous

MCJ

Bon voyage!

Boarding is imminent. :) Gumby and his arch nemesis are ready to goooo!

Out the door and on my way

In classic MCJ style I was packing until the last. Also am desperately hoping that no one weighs my carry on and "personal item."

Later, USA!

MCJ

faire ses choux gras

faire ses choux gras is a French idiom meaning to profit or take advantage (of a situation). According to my handy book La puce à l'oreille which is full of the histories and meanings of French idioms, this originated in the middle ages when the poor only had vegetables -- more or less -- to eat. The idiom literally means make one's cabbages fatty. The cabbages (choux) were quite common in idioms originating during that time due to their prevalence in the poor's cuisine (thanks to their ability to survive all sorts of weather). When one was doing well, they were able to fatten their choux, hence faire ses choux gras meaning to do well.

I am hoping this year to faire mes choux gras. I leave on Sunday and am getting pretty nervous (still excited, of course). Even though I spent the past four years away from home, this is entirely new adventure. This is the first time I'll truly be on my own. Luckily, my contact teacher has been excessively kind and it seems like she's really preparing things for me (asking me about preferred foods, allergies, etc).  It's going to be strange to be at the mercy of other people's kindness and patience, it will be humbling, it will be a great experience. As someone that wants to work in an occupation of helping others to regain (or improve) their language abilities, it will be very good to put myself into a situation where I won't always be fully able to articulate my needs and confusions. It is good to be humbled.

Additionally, I will have limited access to the internet this coming year (don't worry! I'll have enough to update my blog regularly, it just may be that the photos come in sporadically). This will make the challenge of figuring out how to contact home/skype particularly interesting. This, too, is a good thing. I need to learn how to keep in contact with friends and family. My family can easily attest to the fact that I'm terrible about calling home or writing. This year will have to be different. Without 24 hour access to the internet, too, I won't be able to spend all day on the internet. This, too, is a very good thing. I'm not going to France to facebook, I'm going to experience France.

All the fears I have (meeting people, opening a bank account..., not committing too many social gaffes and so on) will ultimately strengthen me as a person IF I force myself to overcome them. As I see it, there is no other option than to ignore my fears and stride boldly on. In that vein, I have a few goals for myself:

1. Couchsurf at least once when traveling
2. Attend some sort of meet up with mostly French people soon after arrival
3. Strike up a DNC-style conversation on a train (my favorite French professor with whom I traveled twice to France, DNC, had an amazing knack at conversing with anyone and everyone, I hope to be fearless like her)
4. Learn how to eat seafood. Despite spending many summers in Maine, I never learned how to eat oysters or lobster or anything beyond fish, kind of. I'm sure I eat boned fish wrong. In any case, as I will be on the Breton coast this next year, I should become better acquainted with seafood. I hear it's exceptionally exquisite.

This is an incomplete list, certainly, but one to get me going so that I can faire mes choux gras. Bonne chance à moi!

Peach Chicken Tacos

I've been slowly preparing for my move to France. I've been going through my things, trying to get a few more key cold-weather pieces and staring confusedly at my suitcase. It's smaller than I remember, a lot smaller. Luckily, I enjoy the challenge of packing lightly. Two of the big things I've been thinking about is also: what to introduce my students to about my two home states of Kentucky and Texas and what to give to my contact teachers as representation of these places. With that in mind, it's quite understandable that I would be craving some Tex-Mex. It also just so happens that a lot of Tex-Mex can be made with just a stovetop... or hotplates.

So today, I attempted making tacos (including the tortillas) from scratch. Due to not wanting to buy new groceries, they were somewhat non-traditional but delicious nonetheless. Aside from skimping a bit on the flour for the tortilla dough, they were a success. They also could have used rice to cut through the sweetness of the peaches and tomatoes. Next time....

I used the following two recipes as a basis for this meal:
Flour Tortillas from the Homesick Texan (I followed this recipe exactly, aside from halving it and making smaller tortillas.)
Shredded Chicken for Tacos by Mark Bittman (He has quite a few more taco filling recipes here.)

Peach Chicken Tacos

Yields 2 smaller servings (I would recommend making rice if you're serving this to others)

(I'm not posting a recipe list as this is very open-ended to what you're craving/have on hand. For recommendations to get you started, check out the links above). [Now with suggested changes from 14 Sept.]

1. Slice up one peach. 

2. Season a chicken breast with cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper, cajun seasoning and sea salt. 

3. Place chicken breast and peaches in a plastic bag or aluminum foil, seal up and place in fridge. 

4. Prepare tortilla dough. See recipe. My only note on this is, if after kneading it seems too sticky, you need more dough. [A 2:1 ratio of white:whole wheat turns out well.]

5. Chop up yellow onion, garlic, tomato [green and red bell pepper] and chili pepper (to the amounts you desire, I used 1 onion, 3 cloves garlic and ~6 oz of canned tomato and chili pepper... didn't have enough fresh tomatoes on hand). 

6. In a medium-sized sauce pan, sautée onions and garlic in a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. [Shortly after, add in bell peppers.]

7. Form tortilla dough into small balls. See recipe. 

8. Add in tomato, chili pepper, chicken breast and peaches into the sauce pan.  Add water so that the chicken is barely submerged. Top with bay leaves. 

9. Bring mixture to a boil then let simmer. 

10. Roll out tortilla dough and cook in dry skillet. See recipe. 

11. After ~30 minutes once the chicken is tender, use two forks to shred the chicken. 

12. Turn off the heat and drain out most of the liquid. 

13. Place the peach chicken filling on the tortilla and enjoy!

Also thinking of Texas as another fire has broken out, this time right outside of Houston: http://www.click2houston.com/news/29173094/detail.html