Behind but spring is early!

I'm really behind on updating this, but that's just because I've been having a wonderful time and keeping myself busy figuring out the future.

Things occupying my time:
Work
Finally going on that roadtrip
Studying for the TCF (Test de Connaissance de Français)
Enjoying the crazy good weather (like, crowded beaches with sunbathers good)
Finally writing that lettre de motivation... oops.

Lettres de motivation are so... weird. So much of French writing is incredibly formulaic. I'll be taking the optional writing test on the TCF and it seems like the major component to succeeding that section is simply knowing how you're supposed to write French letters, des synthèses and other French arguments.

The day light savings shift means it is now light out at 9pm. This means that eating dinner even at 8pm seems way too early. Ahhh change.

Today I had to send a kid back to his teacher for disrupting the class. Sigh. I really don't like doing that.

Bisous!

MCJ

Teasers from les vacances

During vacances I:
visited Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent, Mechelen (Belgium) and Quimper
had lunch with a friend in Paris
saw plain clothes police officers pull out guns on a car thief
ate delicious Pho
ate delicious Indian food
ate fries and waffles
drank beer
saw many a musée
saw many a closed sign at many a musée
slept
made hostel friends
learned card games
did not get frostbite (because I)
bought gloves
celebrated a dear friend's birthday
discovered where France hides all its Disney princess birthday magic
wrote poetry
won.

Explanations and pictures to (eventually) follow.

During winter break, I'm gonna go to Belgium.

And you?

Why yes, the winter break is in February and, yes, it is this soon after Christmas break and, yes, it will also be two weeks long and, yes, I will have another two week break in April.

France is full of win.

So tomorrow morning, in the wee hours, I'll be heading off to Brussels where I hope to drink beer and eat waffles and fries. In the meantime, I'm going to teach another 4eme class about gonna, gotta and wanna. I wanna go home and pack, but I gotta teach this class. JK, I love hanging with the kids. Especially now that I've decided to teach them awkward turtle as a way to signal to me that they don't understand.

Random assistanting tip, if ever you are faced with a class that just won't stop talking, start doing something like the awkward turtle that they don't understand. They will fall dead silent trying to figure out what you're doing. It works like a charm. Also, if it actually has cultural significance, they really enjoy learning about what it is.

Last weekend, the roadtrip that wasn't, was a lot of fun, even though I finally caught the cold that my friends had been passing around. Much ligretto was played, cafés were frequented, Port Louis was visited (again) and a lovely dinner with a visiting Moroccan family was had. I didn't make it to the Super Bowl due to the aforementioned sickness, but my diligence in resting means that I won't be sick in Belgium. YAY MCJ! A sickness that lasted less than a week! I literally can't remember the last time that happened. Thanks mono, you bastard.

I'm hungry.

Big bisous,

MCJ

Il fait fucking froid

Bonjour les amis,

Winter has actually come to Brittany now and it is cold. This weekend it might even snow (extremely rare for this part of Brittany -- it can get cold, but rarely below freezing). While I am excited for snow, I am saddened because this means the roadtrip this weekend was cancelled. Sad faces all around.

It's probably for the best however, as I need to get serious about l'avenir. It also looks like I'll be going to a Super Bowl party (starting at midnight on Sunday, lasting until 4am... oy.). Luckily for me, the primary school is going to the movies on Monday so I won't have work. I just need to make sure I get on a bus home before my students start heading to school. I've taken an early morning bus home with them as they went to school and it was not quite pleasant.

I taught my classes awkward turtle today. This is now what they'll do if they don't understand what I'm saying. I'm actually very okay with that, seeing as I'll have a clue other than their blank faces. It's also a clue that makes us both laugh. Awkward turtles all around. I also had to try and explain awkward. They understood the hand gesture better.

It had better snow, is all I'm sayin'.

Bisous,

MCJ

ps Sorry I never post pictures.

A super weekend

This weekend was one of my best yet in France. It started out with cookie baking chez D, dinner and drinking chez D's colleague and ended with a party chez G. I discovered that D's colleague was supposed to have come to Rice as a French lecteur during my sophomore year. He had his visa ready to go and everything when he decided to switch career paths slightly. Tant pis, but I've met him now. It was nice to tell a French person I went to Rice and have them recognize the name. It was an emphatic first. Many, many fabulous people were involved with this Friday night. The real end to the night was finally seeing "my" night bus driver again for the first time in 2012. It was extremely exciting, I got to wish him and his family a bonne année. When I went to sleep on Friday, my cheeks were actually sore from laughing and smiling.

Saturday, S and I finally went to see The Artist. Due to its success in America, it has been rereleased in French theaters. Damn is that a good movie and damn do I wish Jean Dujardin weren't married. That man is talented. And attractive. Very attractive. We were supposed to go ice skating with some others but ended up making a dinner and eating bonne maman ice cream instead (so there was still ice involved... sorta).

Sunday, one of my Breton classmates invited me to lunch with his family. This being in France, it was a six hour affair. For the apéros, we had a white wine with andouille and a rillette made of something seafoody whose name I forgot. We discussed politics and diwan schools. I got to learn a bit more about Breton politics and the different Breizh separatist parties. I also learned that back in the day, my little town (and quite a few nearby) was communist. For the meal, we started with langoustines (prawns). I know how to eat them now! It's pretty simple to get at the meat and they are quite delicious. The main dish was lotte fish in a tomato sauce and for tea/coffee/dessert we had a trio of a madeleine, far breton (a cake) and dentelle-topped beurre salée (aka caramel, aka you never want it to leave your mouth it tastes so good). Oh yes, and prior to that there were the cheeses. It is clear that France has not yet made me a big fan of cheese. I'm slowly getting there, however. Very slowly.

After the meal, they took me to see Gavré, another lovely coastal town in the region. They then dropped me off in Lorient where I hung out with friends at the one place (an Irish pub) open on Sundays.

So yes, an excellent weekend.

Next weekend is looking like it could top this one's. I might just be going on a roadtrip.

Bisous,

MCJ

Eyeliner

Apparently wearing it prompts "you're so pretty!" remarks from French friends and students.

LOL

T'es belle aussi, France.

What's the haps?

Bonne année et bonjour à tous!

Welcome to my blog, the 2012 months. La rentrée has been fairly calm and nice. Since it is now the bonne année, that means that bisous are now happening to me at school. Luckily, I have long since shed my bisou-angst. It's nice to see that people want to share bisous with me. I'll take from it that.

A couple days ago, I was en route to Lorient to return some late library books and walk around a lake with my friend S. The bus was pretty crowded and the last free seat was now the one next to me. An older South-Asian man starts walking down the aisle and looks mighty familiar. He looks a LOT like the man that served my friends and me at the restaurant Le Gandhi in Lorient. And he sits down and the bus goes on. I start wondering if he just looks familiar because frankly I don't see nearly as many brown people here as I did in college and so maybe there's something psychological going on. When the man next to me turns to me and says "Excusez-moi... do we know each other?"
Me: "Oh... do you work at Le Gandhi?"
Man: [laughing] oui! C'est ça! And you were with friends right? There were three of you?
...
And so on. We ended up talking about how he ended up in Lorient (kind of), as it seems like a strange destination for recent immigrants (in the past, it made a lot of sense, there's a reason Lorient is called Lorient). We parted ways, but I imagine I'll see him again at his restaurant. Then at the library I found out you don't pay fees for late books. Excellent. I will now never turn in anything on time (kidding, kidding...).

Breton and dance classes started back up this week and both with cider and snacks. In Breton, one of the other students brought a galette des rois and his home made cider. In the dance class, it was one of the instructors' birthdays and he brought a full apéro for after the class. Fun times to be had by all. Consensus from the dance class is that I should not leave France (this was not prompted by me). Aw shucks.

Today I am officially not applying to SLP programs for Fall 2012. It's admittedly scary to be heading away from that path right now, but it's the right decision for this year. In the meantime, I'm still trying to figure out whether to take the DALF at the C1 or the C2 level and looking at French programs for the next year.

Gros bisous,

MCJ