Hello all
After three weeks of hard work, I am currently enjoying the first day of what will be a twelve day vacation from school. In France when one goes on vacation, one really goes on vacation. Rather than the American style, where you would have a three or four day weekend here or there to break up the monotony of the school calendar, the French system is much more consolidated. Just put all of those days together, throw in a few extra for good measure, and you have a recipe for a wonderful break. This particular holiday is called the "Vacances de Toussaint," as Toussaint (All Saints' Day) is on November 1st and falls toward the end of the break. It is a glorified fall break, halfway through the semester; so for those UGA students who remember what it was like to have both Thursday and Friday off for Georgia-Florida weekend and are still bitter over the loss of Thursday, just think that if you worked here you could start your pregame festivities an entire week before the game. And then continue for another five days after, regardless of the outcome.
So I decided to kick off my fall break with one of the most daring things I will ever do while I am here. I got my haircut. You may think I am exaggerating, but my last haircut in France officially ended my four year foray into the world of long, shoulder-length hair. Though it was probably a move for the best, at the time it was completely unintentional, unplanned, and ruined my confidence in foreign hair cutters.
I can proudly say that I not only survived my second French haircut, but came out of it positively impressed...well, at least I was not running home with my head in a hood this time. It may not quite meet the standards of say, Mr. Haircut in Athens, but it comes close enough that I know where I will go when it is time to do battle again.
Tomorrow marks the first of what I hope will be many exciting adventures and new experiences over this vacation. I have a trip planned to a beautiful island called L'Ile de Groix that is close to Vannes and is only accessible by ferry. Next week, I will be in Paris for four days, taking in the sights and seeing a couple of friends. After all of that, I still have five days left on break, with which I hope to do some sailing around Vannes, as well as a few other day trips to some incredible spots in Brittany. More on all that later, as it is time for me to hit the sack before I start my journey with a 5:30 am wake up call.
Salut
Tommy
p.s. A special thanks to Dave for credit where he knows is due
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
Live from Joan of Arc Street
Good evening ladies and gents,
This edition of "Where in the World is Me" comes from rue Jeanne d'Arc, which translates to Joan of Arc street for all of you uni-lingual English speakers. Rue Jeanne d'Arc is the street that I live on, and I am currently writing from my bed in my studio. Which means, as you may have put two and two together by now, that I finally have internet access here! It is a big moment for my France experience. You see, today is October 13th, and I arrived in France on September 25th; therefore, a little math tells me that I got internet set up in less than 19 days. So I suppose I have to give some credit to the internet company here, SFR, for beating their own deadline and connecting to me the vast world wide web in less than three weeks.
This has been a busy week for me. With the recent wifi addition to my apartment, I have been filling my free time with catching up on missed television shows, surfing the web, and of course, long skype sessions with more than a few friends and family. For those of you that are interested in not only reading my words but hearing my voice, feel free to send me your skype information so we can chat sometime. In addition to all of that, I finally have a fully operational bank account here, complete with debit card and pin number. Those two elements may seem complementary, but I received them separately; this meant that there was an awkward window of a few days where I had a card but no way of actually using it. However, all of that was resolved Tuesday, and now I am the proud owner of a Visa "Carte Bleu".
Most importantly though, this was my first full week of classes. I taught 12 hours, spread out working with 5 different English teachers over 12 different classes. So, as you can imagine, this involved many, many introductions, both on my part as well as the students. I have only come away with a few names memorized; they were either the ones who were particularly interested in English, or the one boy blessed with the same name as me. I am finding that my American accent poses problems for their comprehension, but having a white board on which I can write my words seems to work as a great neutralizer. I worked in small groups with some classes, entertaining questions about America and asking my own questions about Vannes and Brittany. In another class, I played a Phish song for the students, gave them the lyrics and had them fill in the missing words. I also watched a video presentation of the chef Jamie Oliver and had almost as much trouble as the students in deciphering his British accent.
My work week is now finished, as I requested my Fridays off. But for all of you worried about me becoming lazy, rest assured I plan to spend the day taking care of pressing laundry needs, as well as planning a Halloween presentation for next week's classes. So while the morning will certainly be spent underneath the covers with some well-earned sleep, the whole day will not be a wash. I hope to be back soon for another update before I head out for vacation, which starts next Friday for me. Until then, don't miss me too much, and holla at me if you feel an urge to tell me how your life is going.
Tommy
This edition of "Where in the World is Me" comes from rue Jeanne d'Arc, which translates to Joan of Arc street for all of you uni-lingual English speakers. Rue Jeanne d'Arc is the street that I live on, and I am currently writing from my bed in my studio. Which means, as you may have put two and two together by now, that I finally have internet access here! It is a big moment for my France experience. You see, today is October 13th, and I arrived in France on September 25th; therefore, a little math tells me that I got internet set up in less than 19 days. So I suppose I have to give some credit to the internet company here, SFR, for beating their own deadline and connecting to me the vast world wide web in less than three weeks.
This has been a busy week for me. With the recent wifi addition to my apartment, I have been filling my free time with catching up on missed television shows, surfing the web, and of course, long skype sessions with more than a few friends and family. For those of you that are interested in not only reading my words but hearing my voice, feel free to send me your skype information so we can chat sometime. In addition to all of that, I finally have a fully operational bank account here, complete with debit card and pin number. Those two elements may seem complementary, but I received them separately; this meant that there was an awkward window of a few days where I had a card but no way of actually using it. However, all of that was resolved Tuesday, and now I am the proud owner of a Visa "Carte Bleu".
Most importantly though, this was my first full week of classes. I taught 12 hours, spread out working with 5 different English teachers over 12 different classes. So, as you can imagine, this involved many, many introductions, both on my part as well as the students. I have only come away with a few names memorized; they were either the ones who were particularly interested in English, or the one boy blessed with the same name as me. I am finding that my American accent poses problems for their comprehension, but having a white board on which I can write my words seems to work as a great neutralizer. I worked in small groups with some classes, entertaining questions about America and asking my own questions about Vannes and Brittany. In another class, I played a Phish song for the students, gave them the lyrics and had them fill in the missing words. I also watched a video presentation of the chef Jamie Oliver and had almost as much trouble as the students in deciphering his British accent.
My work week is now finished, as I requested my Fridays off. But for all of you worried about me becoming lazy, rest assured I plan to spend the day taking care of pressing laundry needs, as well as planning a Halloween presentation for next week's classes. So while the morning will certainly be spent underneath the covers with some well-earned sleep, the whole day will not be a wash. I hope to be back soon for another update before I head out for vacation, which starts next Friday for me. Until then, don't miss me too much, and holla at me if you feel an urge to tell me how your life is going.
Tommy
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Coming at you from my favorite internet bar
Hello all
Welcome back to Vannes! I know you have missed me over the past few days, so I thought I would check in again just to let you know that all is well here. It has been a busy week for me, filled with work, orientation, and you guessed it, more French paperwork. The bureaucracy is rather impressive; I came here with an entire folder filled with photocopies of all of my important documents, and my stocks are depleted daily. I think filling out forms is some kind of national addiction. They just cannot get enough of it over here.
So my first week of work consisted of two long days at the high school. Now just a bit of background, this is a professional high school, which means that the students are all learning a vocation. Some are training to become chefs, waiters, mechanics, electricians, accountants, etc...the list goes on and on. What that also means is that these kids are not the academic types. In fact, many of them dropped out of other high schools to come here, and they are being prepared for a profession so that they do not have to go to college.
My first days involved me getting to know them a bit and answering questions about myself. They are very shy about speaking in English, but in each class there were at least a few kids who were outgoing and helped translate for the rest. I was open and honest, and of course, faced more than a few embarrassing questions; some of the more curious students wanted to know about my social life, and for the girls, whether I had a girlfriend or not. I fulfilled their dreams with each time I had to answer no.
Today I had an orientation with all of the other teaching assistants in the French department I live in. There are about forty of us teaching English, Spanish, and German. It was a good opportunity to meet some other young people living in the area and receive tips on how to approach the job. And for the French administrators presenting the information, it offered them the chance to get their "fix" of paperwork. I'm talking Social Security, additional health insurance plans, salary advances...you name it, and they've got a form for it.
Unfortunately, while there are many assistants in the department, only a handful actually live in Vannes. So my mission for tomorrow, which is my day off, is to head to the youth center here and find out where I can play sports, and see if this town offers any clubs suited to my cultured tastes. And if I get really lucky, maybe, just maybe, I can find someone in this town who knows how to throw a frisbee. More on that later; hopefully good things to report the next time I can find internet. Well with that, and my daily internet beer dwindling to its dregs, I bid you goodnight. Time for dinner, a good read, and some dvds before I call it a night.
Welcome back to Vannes! I know you have missed me over the past few days, so I thought I would check in again just to let you know that all is well here. It has been a busy week for me, filled with work, orientation, and you guessed it, more French paperwork. The bureaucracy is rather impressive; I came here with an entire folder filled with photocopies of all of my important documents, and my stocks are depleted daily. I think filling out forms is some kind of national addiction. They just cannot get enough of it over here.
So my first week of work consisted of two long days at the high school. Now just a bit of background, this is a professional high school, which means that the students are all learning a vocation. Some are training to become chefs, waiters, mechanics, electricians, accountants, etc...the list goes on and on. What that also means is that these kids are not the academic types. In fact, many of them dropped out of other high schools to come here, and they are being prepared for a profession so that they do not have to go to college.
My first days involved me getting to know them a bit and answering questions about myself. They are very shy about speaking in English, but in each class there were at least a few kids who were outgoing and helped translate for the rest. I was open and honest, and of course, faced more than a few embarrassing questions; some of the more curious students wanted to know about my social life, and for the girls, whether I had a girlfriend or not. I fulfilled their dreams with each time I had to answer no.
Today I had an orientation with all of the other teaching assistants in the French department I live in. There are about forty of us teaching English, Spanish, and German. It was a good opportunity to meet some other young people living in the area and receive tips on how to approach the job. And for the French administrators presenting the information, it offered them the chance to get their "fix" of paperwork. I'm talking Social Security, additional health insurance plans, salary advances...you name it, and they've got a form for it.
Unfortunately, while there are many assistants in the department, only a handful actually live in Vannes. So my mission for tomorrow, which is my day off, is to head to the youth center here and find out where I can play sports, and see if this town offers any clubs suited to my cultured tastes. And if I get really lucky, maybe, just maybe, I can find someone in this town who knows how to throw a frisbee. More on that later; hopefully good things to report the next time I can find internet. Well with that, and my daily internet beer dwindling to its dregs, I bid you goodnight. Time for dinner, a good read, and some dvds before I call it a night.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Vannescast
Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! This page will be your access to all things my life for the next seven months. I will try and keep it short, concise, and interesting so as not to bore you, or fill you with too much jealousy, but as you are taking the time out of your day to read about my life, I assume you must have some kind of interest in my whereabouts. I have never blogged before, so you will have to bear with me as I get used to this new-age concept...and maybe my posts will improve over time to keep you entertained.
I know there is at least one reader out there who gets my title, (that's a shout out to you, Buck) and I hope there are more. For those of you that do not, I will not explain it other than to say I am sorry, and just know that you will find regular updates here on my experiences and attempts at making it in my new hometown of Vannes, France.
This blog has been a long time coming, mainly because France is not shall we say the most consumer-friendly country in the world. I am currently writing from a bar/cafe around my corner that has free wifi-with the purchase of a beer-because I do not have internet yet in my apartment. And it could take up to three weeks for that to happen, though I put in the order three days ago. You see, rather than serve their customers immediately here, the French internet service prefers to wait, have a coffee, watch some passersby, and smoke a cigarette. Then repeat as many times as they like for the next 21 days. So my posts might be irregular for some time, but I hope that situation will be resolved soon and I can pester you with updates on my life as much as I like.
So my week in a nutshell...Started with a stay for 5 days at Francoises' house, a fellow teacher and mentor at the school here. Her family was incredibly gracious to me, served me their delicious French food, and housed me with my own private shower until I got my own apartment. And I have to admit, I cannot give myself much credit for that, as I am renting a studio that she owns in town. So really I owe her everything for making my first week go as smoothly as possible.
I had my first day of work today, which was long and somewhat bewildering but nonetheless I sit here sipping on a Leffe feeling accomplished. Five hours of class later, no terrible experiences to recount, and just a lot of introductions to remember. Apparently, being an American here is a hit with the young ladies, or so every teacher feels compelled to tell me....never mind the fact that they are all fifteen years old. You hear that, my fellow American dude friends, you should come to Vannes!
Well there is much more I could recount, many small anecdotes that I am sure I am forgetting now but will remember as I sit in my apartment. Too bad for you, I do not have internet there so I won't be able to post them all. So if my goal is not to bore with too much information, then maybe the French internet is subtly helping me. With that in mind, as well as a strong desire for some chicken, I am out. Hope you enjoyed your read, give me some feedback, and kick it well for me back home.
Au revoir
Tommy
I know there is at least one reader out there who gets my title, (that's a shout out to you, Buck) and I hope there are more. For those of you that do not, I will not explain it other than to say I am sorry, and just know that you will find regular updates here on my experiences and attempts at making it in my new hometown of Vannes, France.
This blog has been a long time coming, mainly because France is not shall we say the most consumer-friendly country in the world. I am currently writing from a bar/cafe around my corner that has free wifi-with the purchase of a beer-because I do not have internet yet in my apartment. And it could take up to three weeks for that to happen, though I put in the order three days ago. You see, rather than serve their customers immediately here, the French internet service prefers to wait, have a coffee, watch some passersby, and smoke a cigarette. Then repeat as many times as they like for the next 21 days. So my posts might be irregular for some time, but I hope that situation will be resolved soon and I can pester you with updates on my life as much as I like.
So my week in a nutshell...Started with a stay for 5 days at Francoises' house, a fellow teacher and mentor at the school here. Her family was incredibly gracious to me, served me their delicious French food, and housed me with my own private shower until I got my own apartment. And I have to admit, I cannot give myself much credit for that, as I am renting a studio that she owns in town. So really I owe her everything for making my first week go as smoothly as possible.
I had my first day of work today, which was long and somewhat bewildering but nonetheless I sit here sipping on a Leffe feeling accomplished. Five hours of class later, no terrible experiences to recount, and just a lot of introductions to remember. Apparently, being an American here is a hit with the young ladies, or so every teacher feels compelled to tell me....never mind the fact that they are all fifteen years old. You hear that, my fellow American dude friends, you should come to Vannes!
Well there is much more I could recount, many small anecdotes that I am sure I am forgetting now but will remember as I sit in my apartment. Too bad for you, I do not have internet there so I won't be able to post them all. So if my goal is not to bore with too much information, then maybe the French internet is subtly helping me. With that in mind, as well as a strong desire for some chicken, I am out. Hope you enjoyed your read, give me some feedback, and kick it well for me back home.
Au revoir
Tommy
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