roast chesnuts and very naughty children

The children of France have clearly not heard about Christmas being a time of good will and love. As it gets closer and closer to Christmas their previously angelic interest in how to recite colours, numbers and shapes in English is transforming in an obvious hate for school and general disdain for their teachers, including me. Getting a child to actually sit in their chair for an entire class is now as likely as me swimming back to England in 9 days time. My anger now seems to trigger fits of giggles whereas before it would leave them dumfounded and in complete blissful silence. But don’t worry Santa, I’m making my list, I’m checking it twice and most of my kids are naughty, and no longer nice!

However, some of my less obnoxious students have still managed to supply me with some classroom entertainment. In class last week I had to, ever adoring, girls ask me excitedly if I like ‘twoilet?’ Sorry? ‘ toilette’? (do I like toilets? What?) ‘TWIIILITT!!’...oh Twilight! Ah I see the sultry blood sucking chalk board that is Edward Cullen has even managed to melt the hearts of France’s six year olds. How delightful. Elsewhere, as I was trying to introduce a group to word order using shapes colours and sizes one boy managed to point at a chosen object and announce with a furious enthusiasm that is was in fact not a big blue circle as I was lead to believe but a ‘pig circle blue’.

And for the record, the lyrics to one of my favourite Christmas songs are now in fact ‘jungle bells jungle bells, he is in the way!’ Hilarious.

I once again spent my Thursday night in the company of the lovely Swiss-German family. This resulted once more in me and my housemate being gently forced into trying some of France/Switzerland’s less delicate fusions of fruit and what I can only believe to be petrol.

And that brings me to the weekend. Strasbourg was quite simply amazing. The lights, the smells, the cathedral! We arrived on Saturday at midday and went on to explore the contents of a million little wooden stalls. With the frost biting at our ears and noses we were often obliged to charge towards vin chaud (mulled wine) stalls where we would guzzle down beakers of Christmassy delight followed by warm chocolately gaufres (waffles). 

vin chaud

beautiful cathedral

le grand sapin

As the night descended the crowds multiplied but so did the atmosphere. Every street lined with vibrant fairy lights, filled with the smell of roast chestnuts and general festive cheer. Before heading back to the hostel (which in itself was quite the adventure as the tram decided to go on strike, shock) we went found ourselves a warm little restaurant where we watched people eat, but did not quite dare try choucroute (not sure thats how you spell it). Instead I chose a steak in mustard sauce and Caitlin daringly tried the local vegetarian speciality, roast potatoes with white cheese (which tastes a lot like nature yoghurt). Back at the hostel we met our roomie for the night, a young German who was training to be a gardener who works with disabled people, in a village where they all live, interesting. Personally, I found it hard to get over the fact that she was a spitting image of Moaning Myrtle.

The next day we explored the cobbled streets of petite france where I got attacked by a large rodent, whose name I cannot remember – see pictures. Terrifying. Before heading home we dipped into a small literary café called ‘La Tinta’ – which I highly recommend. The interior was charming and quirky and the food was delicious, a chose ‘Le Tartine au Chevre’ which consisted of good french bread topped with honey, almonds, a slice of pear and lots and lots of goats cheese. NOM. 

It was a perfect Christmas weekend, until our train decided to collide with ‘une personne’ on the track at Montbeillard leaving us sitting in cold darkness for three hours whilst the body was ‘désengagé ’, delightful. This meant that our poor housemate had to come and fetch us from Besancon on a very cold wet Sunday night, sorry Ben!!

And I think that is all I have to share. Italian is going well, got three dinner invitations and one dinner party to throw over the next nine days, and then I am very much homeward bound.

Times are a changing...

In the space of two months...

la neige et l'abus !

Since my last post I have suffered both extreme weather condition and a intolerable amount of abuse from my students!!

On Monday as I was working away on the le monde anglophone with my CM2s, in, what I thought to be a rather and engaging way considering the topic, I was struck on the back of the head with a sponge! Yes. One of my petits-eleves had taken it upon themselves to simply launch something at me. Surely this isn't allowed? I was actually dumbfounded. I briefly interrogated the class until I realised it was doomed to be a futile exercise due to some form of class solidarity. When the teacher returned she was furious and insisted on a confession or a class detention, a sudden lack of class solidarity followed, but an apology did not. The accused did however get a face full of snow at break time and enjoyed the rest of his day with a red swollen eye.


Comment-on-dit 'karma'?


The pick-on-Kayleigh trend has continued throughout the week leaving me certain that both I and the children are very much ready for Christmas!!

And it is most certainly on its way! The Jura is smothered in a thick blanket of white powder leaving our fingers cold and our cars in the garage.

At the end of last week my housemates braved the artic conditions to head down to the river to enjoy un promenade dans la neige! It was quite simply, stunning...

Champagnole et la neige

Damn it, really fancied a swim

Snowy Wandering

Lac du Chalin

Last time we visited here it was boiling hot, we ate  a picnic, paddled in the water AND got sunburnt!

my five minute bonhomme de la neige

Routes

Before I wrap up I want to quickly share some fantastic translation blunders with you...

' five siz seven hate' - my kids simply cannot get to grips with the difference between 'hate' and 'eight'

'So, do your children get on well together?
Yes, but they tend to team up, be in pairs, and then they bugger a lot.
Bicker?
A yes. Bicker' 


'And then, one makes a little master, and the little master does his study and then he grows up and gets a job'  - a lovely friend of ours trying to discuss why its important to do a MA after your degree in France.

and finally...

'Yes, as you can see, my roof is very special' - a perfect example of the ever evasive difference between 'special' and 'interesting' siiigh.

Right, I must go and brave the weather, we are expecting up to 30cm in parts of the Jura today, should probably go and buy some form of nourishment.
Keeping my fingers crossed that my trains to Strasbourg won't be effected this weekend!!

A bientôt

x

first snow and french cows

First I would just like to note that I’m sitting writing this update wrapped up in my winter warmers next to the radiator and looking out over a SNOW COVERED Champagnole...I almost squealed like a child when I saw the first white scattering this morning!

So, not a lot to report but here goes... At the end of last week’s Italian class my housemate and I were ambushed by a very friendly Swiss couple who almost awkwardly asked us how we would feel about teaching four young boys English...?? This resulted in a dinner invitation and a very lovely Thursday evening. Despite gorgeous Italian food, interesting multi-lingual conversation the highlight was in fact the house itself! They live in a huge converted farmhouse, complete with what I can only describe as being a Wacky Warehouse in the loft! The house really was like something you would see on Grand Designs! At the end of the night we came to an agreement that we would dine with the family every Thursday after an hour of tutoring with the four boys, I think linguistically this could prove a very enriching experience!

We spent the weekend visiting another assistant in Dole, a small picturesque town about an hour’s drive away from Champagnole. We explored the town a little and ate a gorgeous dinner at La Bucherie, including the FIRST chips I have eaten since arriving in France, yes yes thats almost two months! Ha. I ordered a ‘franc-comtoise’ steak which was simply delicious! Afterwards we made our way to, simply ‘le pub’ for drinks, where we successfully introduced one of my flatmates to Long Island Iced Tea’s for the first time! (she will hate me for writing this, ha)!

Back in the classroom I feel certain classes are really starting to progress, whereas others I just want to slash have to scream at for the entire lesson. Earlier this week I had to suppress puerile laughter when an eight year old boy exercised his abdominal thrusts behind the teacher who was busying herself with the cd player. Elsewhere during a conversational class I asked a boy if he was a cow (in hope that we would say ‘no, I am a boy’ but in fact he confused the question with ‘what is your nationality?’ and responded quite eloquently ‘No, I am French.’

In other news I am eagerly awaiting next weekend when my housemate and I will explore the Christmas market in Alsace!! Incredible amounts of excitement!

pictures from La Foire

'i'll throw one at you'

I've really been neglecting my blog.

So to recap, last weekend I spent a lovely weekend in Dijon with my housemate. We explored the Musee des beaux arts...where I found myself having a very long difficult conversation about one of the newest exhibitions, later to find out the man to whom I had been speaking was in fact english. win.
We explored the local indoor market, which I have been told is the largest in Europe!! Later we went to La Foire Gastronomique, which I can only really describe as being the most delicious place in the world. We ate in a stall owned by a local Fromagerie, we ate a buffet of salad, raclette, chacuterie and potatoes. As shown by the picture (see above) the cheese was actually bigger than my head and was slowly melted on a very interesting lamp as you ate it. Delicieux.

We also gorged on organic homemade macaroons and biere bretonne! I was fascinated by all the artisinale creations, chocolate crafted into slices of cheese, bread carved into delicate flowers, faces smiling from fruit shaped marzipan! As I was photographing a sea of sausages the man glared at me angrily and threatened to throw one at me...time to leave perhaps?


This week I once again returned to Dijon to meet up with an old friend, we shopped, ate beautiful food in a very nice restaurant and consumed quite a lot of wine! Meeting up with her really helped, having a nice catch up definitely eased the homesickness.

We spent the next day in Besancon, exploring La Citadelle, its zoo and its museum. Again, I will post photos soon.

On the teaching front, some classes never fail to amaze me, constantly craving cultural knowledge and asking for translations of sayings etc, whereas others seem to think the best thing about having a language assistant is that they can swear in class without me noticing.

And a little something for the boys back home...I was introducing colours to a beginners class earlier this week, they had never learnt any before and were struggling tirelessly to pronounce even the simplest words, until I held up the BLACK card, at which one little boy almost fell off his chair as he yelled 'ALL BLACKS!! I KNOW I KNOW ALL BLACKS!!! Like in Rugby!!!' Hilarious, and cute.

Thats about it for now folks

a bientot

greve off and STOP eating porc brains (late)

Unfortunately what should have been a very exciting week has in fact been quite limited by the wonderful people in France who have decided they would rather wreck their country rather than work an extra two years in order to support an ageing population and an ever increasing life expectancy...My suggestion, maybe you should all just take ONE hour for lunch break instead? Au mon dieu non!!

Rant over. The greves did not however stop us from moving into our lovely new home! We have carpet, sofas AND a cooker!! I am also very pleased with my new little room! See pictures below ( aka. look Mum I'm no longer living in a cave) We made use of the new kitchen on my birthday by cooking a jurassian dinner complete with beaucoup de vin et sticky toffee pudding. If I don’t stem the flow of fromage liquide and charcuterie soon I fear I will soon be waving goodbye to my size ten skinnies and donning the biggest jumper I can find for the rest of my time here!!

Mont D'Or et Morteau!

As for work, this week I was, without any prior warning, given a small group of ‘advanced’ students for a literacy class! *runawayhideunderatable* - How am I supposed to TEACH a language I’m still learning??? However, it turned out the kids were really sweet, we went through the work together and at the end one little girl came up to me and told me it had been a pleasure being taught by me! How sweet ha. So I will have that group on a weekly basis now, which whilst being quite daunting is actually quite comforting that the teachers are trusting me, and my French, to teach their gifted and talented!! I’m also now taking an older class on Thursdays for a purely conversational class which I’m to organise and teach alone, which again is both scary and exciting! Not to mention the adult ateliers de conversations which start after the holidays.


One hilarious, if worrying, observation I made in school this week was that French school teachers seem to be somewhat blind to any form of violence. At break I watched one kid throw a marble into his classmates forehead, another kids took a bloody punch to the nose, one girl took hold of her friends doll and dangled it tauntingly over a bin...and my favourite moment, as I was trying to get one group of boys to count to 100 one headbutted another in the back of the head making him fall of the chair whilst another kicked his friend firmly in the place one does not kick a friend!! Quelle violence!

Outside the classroom, I fully enjoyed my second Italian class! It is so encouraging when you realise that it doesn’t actually matter that the course is being taught in French!!

My housemate and I were also invited to a local book reading in an independant book store (could have spent my years salary there and then). We learnt a lot about Italian immigration in the surrounding area and were welcomed by everyone there. I even have a signed book as a momento!

I start les vacances with the prospect of a day in Lons-le-Saunier tomorrow, dinner at a friends on Tuesday and a long awaited trip to Besancon on Wednesday!!

p.s. I really don’t see why selling porc brains, horse or rabbits (with heads) in Casino is necessary, merci very much.

snakes or steak?

I’m afraid I cannot yet report an improvement in the food stakes but elsewhere things are truly looking up! My first classes last week passed without injury and I am really impressed by the level of enthusiasm shown by the majority of the children. On arrival I tend to attract what can only be described as a mob of eleves, during one riot I had about eight boys under the age of ten screaming questions at me like I knew the cure for cancer, when I gave up and simply stated that ‘Je ne comprend pas’ one worldly looking fellow spat ‘urgh, elle est bete’ – charmed I’m sure. For those of you who don’t speak French my little friend had quite simply deemed me ‘stupid’.

On Saturday my housemates and I enjoyed a long lazy day on the beaches of Lac du Chalin. The water there is crystal clear and the ducks incredibly greedy!! We lay around in the sun enjoying a picnic purchased from the local market (rotisserie chicken, goats cheese, crusty bread, fruit and local artisan cookies, om nom nom).

  

Later, with sun tinged noses we enjoyed a dinner party (bien arosé) at the house of a fellow English teacher. We ate a typical Jurrassian dinner including several aperitifs, Mont D’Or and Morteau sausage. For those who might be interested, Mont D’or is a cheese which one adds white wine to then cooks in the oven in a wheel of bark or ‘sapin’ creating a rich delicious cheese sauce which one pours over potatoes and smoked meats. Afterwards our host insisted we must try un digestif !! She pulled out an ominous looking bottle complete with hand written label ‘Genciane, 1981’ – the rest I’m sure you can imagine. I can describe the taste only as liquid fire. This particular bottle of traditional local liquor had been produced by her husband’s late father, you can imagine how awful I felt about be unable to finish it!!

On Sunday, with a slightly fuzzy head, I made my way to an ‘eco-truc’ festival, which translates quite simply as an ‘eco-thing’. Other than some rather interesting musical creations, as pictured here (avec un peu de chance) the festival was fairly unremarkable. I spent the rest of the day with a friends family exploring a local nature reserve speaking casually in French and almost getting used to this whole thing!

And that brings me to today, my first full day of work!! My classes are all wonderful and I actually quite enjoyed being interrogated by CM2! “Ow-ar-you?” (adorable) “Do you like Fish and Chips?” (bien sur, je suis anglaise, duh) “Do you have brothers or a sister?” and my personal favourite “Do you prefer snakes or steak?”!!

As I side note for a specific group of friends I must confess, teaching the kids to say ‘VERY GOOD’ in a certain way was simply irresistible! Haha!

The rest of my week includes a trip to the cinema with one school, my first Italian language class, moving into my permanent residence (with a kitchen!!!!) and a weekend in Dijon with friends to celebrate my 21^st birthday!

Bisous

dear france,

cold nameless grey beans, two hard boiled eggs and curry sauce does NOT constitute a meal !!

other than that, not a lot to report.

I`m definitely almost addicted to both Famille en d`or  and Le 12 coup du Midi...its tragic to say the least.

 Hopefully when I finally start work as of Thursday I shall have something much more interesting to share!!

an autumnal walk on a lazy sunday afternoon...

soggy cauliflower, abba and white stilettos

My last post left me somewhat alone and lost. Now, I think, I am almost found.

Early Monday morning I found myself suddenly with two fellow assistants – yay I’m not the only person mad enough to do this!!

Due to lack of access to a kitchen we have been eating, for the most part, in the school canteen. This is worth discussing. First I must stress that the canteen is CLEAN and ORGANISED, to quite an impressive standard. For only 2.50 euros we get an entrée, a main, either a piece of cheese or a yogurt and a dessert. Great? ...well, yes, if you consider a plate of soggy spinach and overcooked cauliflower to be a main meal. Roll on the 15^th when our contract here ends and we get this modern thing called a kitchen...heard of one? They’re considered to be quite an efficient way of catering for oneself.

After a couple of days of this culinary cauchemare the other assistants and I decided to treat ourselves to a meal in one (of four) of the local restaurants. Here I pretty much devoured a bowl of Mobiflette, a local dish consisting of potatoes and ham in a rich creamy cheese sauce, delicious. The night was almost perfect, good food, good conversation and...Abba ? Yes yes throughout the whole meal we were forced to listen to ABBA’s greatest hits...on repeat. On hearing dancing queen for the second time we realised it was probably time to leave...

And this, surely should be the end of that night’s events? Oh no. In the freezing night air we in turn tried, and failed, to open our door. Our keys jammed and refused to let us in. Winner. This little spectacle resulted in us having to wake our neighbour, a French teacher, who we had yet to introduce ourselves to...and what an introduction it was...us half freezing to death apologising profusely in broken French, her in her silky red night gown trying desperately to protect her modesty.

One of Les Rousses very pretty views 

Today was less eventful, after a nice drive through the mountains to the ski resort Les Rousses we sat and devoured yet another meal in hope of avoiding more measly legumes. Our waitress amused me in her hooped earrings and white stilettos, a nice taste of England, right on the Swiss border. On the other hand the scenery here really is breathtaking; the trees are all just beginning to turn shyly into their red and auburn coats, ready to take on the wrath of a Jurassian winter!!

in the beginning...

After a nightmarish taxi ride to the station it was easy to find my platform and validate my ticket...less so to walk to the final (18^th) carriage with all my baggage. After a small disagreement with the luggage rack I found myself in my seat in plenty of time, sitting opposite a cat.

The change was somewhat more eventful...knowing I only had 10 minutes to change I almost cried when I realised the train had stopped before the station whilst another left late...this left me with a mere six minutes. I’d like to tell you what happened after this but I’m not entirely sure I can...I seem to remember a very steep ramp which I sort of fell down with my bag, and then another huge set of steps upto the platform...the next thing I remember is the delightful friendly face of the sncf man as he grabbed my case and shoved it onto the train as I and it left the platform. And so somehow, I made it.

On arrival I was picked up by Céline* and taken back to her house to meet her family and have, a very long, lunch. We discussed various children’s book with her adorable daughters, music festivals, theatre and food. At the table I provided hilarious entertainment to her two daughters by simply placing my bread on the edge of my plate instead of on the table itself and by talking ‘comme une suisse’ aka slowly.

The afternoon was another small disaster as I had no access to the toilets or kitchen – and even now I have no kitchen. My room however is very big, there is lots of storage and the bed is fairly comfortable. Yet I am told this is only temporary and that we are to be moved into a small house during the next two weeks. Céline* took my on a quick tour of the town, and to buy groceries, I also became a member of the library and tried the local cheese in the fromagerie.

On the walk back to ma chambre I almost stepped on a slug and so like a true girl exclaimed ‘ew slug’ in English...at which point Céline* got very excited and began to explain that she had seen an English film where the word ‘slug’ is used in a colloquial sense to express ‘s’embrasser’ – this puzzled me somewhat...when do we use slug to express any form of affection? In then dawned on me on what Céline had heard was ‘snog’, as I explained her mistake she found it highly amusing, as I’m sure will you.

Being left on my own for the first time wasn’t easy, it’s very easy to suddenly feel very alone and a very long way away from anything. However I’m feeling much brighter after a good night’s sleep and am looking forward to spending yet another meal with Céline* and her family, including her Italian father, so I’m told.

a bientot!!

stranded, squatting and saved in Paris

What a way to begin this year, entering France during a general strike...parfait :L ! The strike meant we still had to use our eurostar, but then couldn’t (easily) get any further, and trust me with the bags I had ease was high on my list of essentials. And so it was time to look for a hostel...amazingly a friend of mine, come life saver, promptly informed me that she actually had a spare room in Paris (huge sigh of relief)!

So after many tearful goodbyes a short hop across the channel with some ridiculously heavy bags we found ourselves walking thought Gare du Nord and seeing a very friendly face standing at the end of the platform!! Our friendly face came with us in a taxi to aforementioned spare room...and oh the taxi ride – I was excited as a three year old...first thing I saw was ‘Keira Knightly’s’ breast exposed in a somewhat more explicit Chanel poster than we tend to find in England! After that cultural experience we actually drove right past the Louvre and spotted the Eiffel Tower proudly reaching its head up over the top of the skyline and making squeal a little in excitement!

We spent the rest of that day exploring Montmatre and Sacre Coeur; which, as it happens, was my favourite part of Paris. The views, the street performers, the market of artists who were intent on drawing any passing face, the graffiti and cobbled streets. And...the best crêpe I’ve ever eaten, fact. As the evening drew in we popped into a small franco-italian resto to devour both the moules frites and the sounds of the piano.

The next day we had to sacrifice our tour guide to her university classes and so braved the metro alone, and survived! After having managed to a)buy a rail card b)refunded our tickets and c) bought new ones we rewarded ourselves to a nice meal in a small restaurant à la place de la Bastille. Followed by a huge walk from the Eiffel tower, down the Champs Elysée, trought Les Tulleries and finally around the Louvre.

It had been a whirlwind trip of Paris, that night we crashed into our single bed (being careful not to kick eachother in the face) and awaited the next morning...it was time .

ca y est, c'est le grand jour!!

and so it begins.

I leave this morning with a butterfly filled stomach after a restless night!
I will arrive at my friends house in Ascott around lunch time and will say, without doubt, a tearful farewell to my parents soon afterwards.

Preparations are made for a quick stay in Paris, with one friend showing extreme kindness by letting us squat down in her spare room for free (thankyouthankyouClare).
Hopefully by Saturday the grèves  will be over and I will finally arrive at my home-to-be for seven months.

I will report back about my Parisian adventures very soon!

these boots are made for walking

I'm quite sure that spending a lot of money on new boots isn't supposed to make you feel any better about leaving your friends, family, city and home for seven months...but somehow it does.

In all seriousness, as my pile of warm clothes, books, lesson plans, school resources and shoes accumulates I am beginning to feel a lot more prepared, and therefore more relaxed.

Saying bye to Sheffield this week wasn't easy. During my (hellish) train journey home I had time to think about my time there. It's easy for many to say that University was/is the best time of their lives...but since my arrival in Sheffield two years ago I really have gained so much. The people I have met are now securely my best friends, the city itself never fails to make me smile, I have learnt so much (!) not only in my subject but about life in general, and myself.

Lets just hope Champagnole can live up to The Steel City!!

11 days!!

the fear

has definitely set in
hello sleepless nights!

lac chalin

Can't wait to visit this!

I've heard the locals skate on it in winter and swim in it in summer!

Au revoir...

I spent last night celebrating my 'early 21st' at an Au Revoir Party!








The surprises starting rolling in early on Friday, when my best friend walked into the bar I work in! We then spent a lovely time having dinner with my family and catching up (we had spent a whole 4 days apart!)
The next day was a manic rush as we tried to cram 21 balloons into the car, decorate 72 cupcakes (!!) and set up enough tents to house my awaited guests!
Friends from far and wide trickled in throughout the day, despite nightmarish transport issues! It was so lovely to know they had all made the effort!
From there the night spiralled out of control; my dad was forced to do Jagerbombs!!

The party carried on back at home and resulted in the majority of my friends sleeping in a tent that was pitched, on a trampoline!!

Saying goodbye wasn't easy but being surrounded by so many encouraging people with lots of best wishes definitely gave me a little bit more courage!

17 days til take off!