London in 3...2...1...

It's Wednesday so I had tutoring in Nice again, but of course things can't go as planned ever. I took my sweet time getting to Nice so I was really, really late to tutoring. Luckily in France being late isn't such a big deal and one of my pupils was ill so she didn't have her normal tennis lesson to get to. I'm not happy she was ill, but it made the situation less stressful all around. Tutoring went fine and I gave both pupils homework for during the vacation.

After tutoring I tracked Jescy down sunbathing on the beach and joined her. We leaned against a rock wall and caught some sun until the crashing waves came in close enough to soak the poor souls sunbathing next to us. We decided to start the next part of our day at that point- namely, having a glass of wine and a snack at a cafe. Yeah, I live in France...

The evening was spent shopping. Well, I mostly watched but it was still fun. My only complaint is that we didn't get to FNAC before it closed. I really wanted to buy some French books and look around. Oh well, I'll have to look for some English books in London and do my French book shopping when I get back in mid-April.

Tonight is being spent packing, sorting, throwing things away drinking a lot of tea, and eating a lot of food, of course! London on Friday! Woohoo!

Wah!

This morning I thought today would be a nice day. I got up on time, packed up the camping stuff I had to return to school, was on time to the campus for my first lesson and everything. Then my day started by being told my first lesson was cancelled but the prof couldn't warn me because his apartment is now filled with toxic dust or something... geeze!

OK, its a totally valid excuse, but this meant I had to sit around from 10:00 to 14:00 for my first lesson. My lesson was disappointing, because the kids were lazy, and I had a short fuse with them. Then my next lesson, mandated enforcement tutoring (it's not as scary as it sounds) didnt happen because the students stood me up. Hey, their teacher makes them come see me for extra help and I show up, its not my fault they need the help and are supposed to stay after class for it! Anyway, my next lesson is going to happen because I have seen the teacher today, but this means I will spend 8 hours on campus today but will only have taught for 2 of them. Then people wonder why I feel bored and useless in my job???

On that note, I submitted a short letter to each of my profs today informing them that I was leaving a week early. The reactions I have seen are that they really dont care. Why, you ask? Because they are anglophones and they dont really need an assitante. What is more, they have not made use of my time or abilities all year, save for a few rare occasions, so my absence makes no difference to them whatsoever. In fact, the only reason I continue to go to work at this point is because I dont want to risk losing my last paycheck and I have nothing better to do between my trips around Europe, so I may as well show up and look like I am working.

I leave for London and my spring break extravaganza on Friday evening after work. Before then I have a lot of packing and such to do, but it shouldnt be too difficult. London should be really fun because Jescy has found us a house/cat-sitting job for the weekend so we will have a free house to stay in not too far from the city center by train. We are hoping to entice some friends from around Europe to come see us there too and make it a multinational event of sorts, but at such short notice I doubt that will be possible. Either way I am looking forward to some good food, exploring some of the city without a plan, getting a haircut agreed upon in my native language, and maybe hearing some live music before catching my train to Edinburgh.

Since I have completed my travel plans for this holiday I have started making progress on my Morocco trip. I found a place to stay on hostelbookers, but I am a little confused by it because the website only lists expensive hotel rooms. I emailed them with a question and they wrote back with a reservation for me! Yikes! Hopefully I can sort this out or find another place to stay soon. I am also stressing out because I can't find a convenient place to leave my luggage in Marseille while I am in Morocco. There is a hostel really close to the St. Charles train station (where I will catch my train to Paris the day I return from Morocco) but they said their luggage room is too small to keep my things for 4 days. There is also left luggage at the train station itself but I am pretty sure they limit storage to 72 hours, so that would not work. I am currrently at a loss of what to do next. Maybe I should leave it for a few days and deal with the issue when I am less irritated by life.

OK, one more hour of work then I get to go home, relax, eat something and start packing up my apartment. I should really stop whining now because, even on days like today I know I have it pretty good. Maybe I just need a nap.

Cinque Terre

Ah, finally had my weekend in Cinque Terre after a disappointing attempt in October. My friend Jescy from Montana accompanied me to the Liguria region for a few nights of camping and a day of hiking under the beautiful Italian Riviera sun. It was magnificent. The little villages were a lot of fun, if not a bit over touristed (but what can you expect?). At each village we looked around and even bought some gifts for our friends and families (and ourselves!) back home. The hike was challenging because we kept up a fast pace to have some distance between ourselves and the Palm Sunday visitors and we took hundreds of amazing photos.

We had great weather and even a few fun surprises like happening upon a massive number of surfers in Levanto where we camped. We really enjoyed watching them catch waves at sunset and envied their chance to surf moderately sized waves in Italy. After my limited but fun surfing experience in Costa Rica I think I would really enjoy trying this beach. One more thing to add to my "possible things to do before I die" list!

The only down sides were things like having some trouble putting up the 30 year old tent we borrowed from a teacher I work with and being really cold at night because we were ill-equipped for proper camping (this is due to my living out of suitcases, not lack of knowledge of proper gear).

On Monday morning we woke up at 6:00 because it had rained overnight and we were therefore sleeping in small pools of cold water as a result of tent osmosis. Fun! We spent the morning drying our clothes in the laundry room, packing our smelly stuff and taking an earlier train back to France and the comfort of my apartment. As per usual, my visit to Italy was filled with beautiful sights and yummy food, but not so much with the friendly people or lack of frustration. My lack of Italian was problematic at times and my French was useless. On our way back to France on Monday we found the civil servants to be easily distracted and useless and those those working in tourism made no attempts to communicate with us at all. However, I have become accustomed to these mixed emotions when traveling in Italy and have now twice experienced an intense sense of relief after crossing the French border after.

The Cinque Terre itself is lovely and definitely worth a visit, though I would encourage people to go during the week to avoid crowds, anticipate some gruff service, and splurge on a bed and breakfast to avoid waking up to a cold puddle :-)

Photos from Paris Weekend

As promised, a mini photo essay of the weekend for all 3 of you who occasionally read this.

Place de la Bastille, very near to the hostel where we stayed. The last time I was in Paris I somehow managed to miss this entirely, but this time I walked through or past it several times. It is very near to a nice neighborhood with very reasonably priced food and drink as well as a bit of shopping.

I was in Heaven with all of the boats on the Seine throughout the weekend and it was sunny and clear most of the time.

Of course, a trip to Paris is not complete without stopping by the Eiffel Tower. A nice guy offered to take our picture together, so we have a great touristic snapshot.

Before mass on Sunday we stopped by the Institute of the Arab World and looked through the [very impressive] book shop and marveled at the building, which has glass walls with tapestry shapes engraved in the windows. Gorgeous! This really got me pumped for my trip to Morocco.

Notre Dame de Paris. We attended the international mass here. The music was beautiful and I really enjoyed the chance to really see the cathedral. There was also a large group of Girl Guides sitting in front of us. They were really cute when passing the peace using their special Girl Guides handshake with one another.

Clara had to get back to Normandy for work Monday morning, so I was all on my own for the day. I went to Montmartre first to see Sacre Coeur and also saw this woman playing the accordian and a lot of artists who didn't want their photographs taken. Pity...

But Montmartre was goregeous. I had only seen it from the foot of the hill before. It is a completely atypical structure and yet still turned out so beautifully, not a hot mess like so many other innovative architectural attempts.

Weekend Escape to Paris

I arrived back in Antibes around 21:00 last night after a divine weekend in Paris. Throughout the weekend both Clara and I took a lot of photos, but since I am posting from the lycée right now I will have to post more of a photo essay in the coming days. Instead I would like to recap the experience thematically, because it was a great weekend full of discovery, as is common when spending time exploring a new city and getting to know a new friend, especially one from a different culture.

Languages:

Now that I have become acquainted with some people who do not speak English as a first language, but usually a second or even third language, I never fail to be in awe of the European education system. It is considered typical to speak two or three languages pretty well, if not extremely well, and it is atypical to not have enough interest in languages to speak at least a little bit of a second language. English is, of course, a very important language around the world, especially in Europe. It is often the single common language amongst a group of people. Clara's English is very good, though she commented that she doesn't think so. I told her it isn't perfect, but it is very impressive, and I really enjoyed listening to her accent and sentence structure. Her vocabulary is very diverse to the point where I often wonder who thought to teach her and her classmates some of these words (ex: "chatchki," as in the little figures that people use to decorate their houses- really?).

At one point Clara listed her language preferences (after German, of course) as 1- Italian, 2- French, and 3- English. She put English last because it is the language of work and business but French and Italian are languages of love and poetry. I tend to agree, especially since I have found that anglophones rarely speak English poetically or even very well anymore, while Europeans manage to insert the beauty of their mother tongues into English when speaking, so in this sense it is actually more pleasant for me to speak with non-anglophones.

Even though we communicated very well in English, it never seemed fair for one person to make most of the effort, especially when we both have an interest in French. Unfortunately my spoken French is very limited for anything beyond basic conversations and running errands, so English prevailed in the end. However, my experience this weekend has only propelled my interest in becoming more fluent through reading and speaking, perhaps even taking courses. I also want to improve my English, oddly enough. As a lawyer I write and speak well, but that is purely technical and lacks passion and poetry. I believe English can be a very beautiful language and I hope that with some effort I can learn to use it better.

Culture:

One of my favorite parts about befriending non-Americans is that there is always so much to learn from one another. If you find a certain harmony with a person it doesn't matter if you have anything obvious in common. After finding this harmony you can learn about one another's life experiences from different perspectives and simply enjoy their company. While it is interesting to hear about the differences, there is a unique elation that comes from finding similarities in the human experience. In the past five months or so I have found that certain things, like coming of age moments and hopes for the future, are universal and can make wonderful bonding points for cross-cultural connections.

The differences can be very fun too, especially if attached to a stereotype. Over the past five or six months I have become desensitized to a lot of European habits, but I didn't realize that Clara probably doesn't get to spend much time with Americans. I found myself under a bit of a microscope at some moments, such as not using my knife to eat (Europeans hold their knife and fork throughout the meal, while I seem to be physically incapable of eating with my left hand), which I found to be an interesting experience after growing up in a huge country where most people are Americans or Americanized.

New Friends:

I rushed through high school, university, and law school very quickly with about 90 percent of my focus on finishing my studies. It is no wonder I only have a few friends I am still in contact with from any given experience. In fact, my closest friends today are the ones I have met randomly through work and travel. Because of this, for me, becoming friends with several new people at once, like at Taize, was an absolute treat for me. What made it even better was that I was able to extend at least one of those new friendships into the real world. I hope that this is a sign of good things to come in terms of extending my network of personal relationships for the remainder of my life.

In the past year or so I have become very aware of how I chose to spend my youth and in many ways I mourn the carefree years that I lost due to personal circumstances or gave away to seek accomplishment. Sometimes I fear that I will always be so focused on accomplishments that I will fail to experience my life as it happens. The truth is that I look impressive on paper, but diplomas and publications do not fill my heart in any way. These things are tools to be used to do interesting work, but it is family and friendships that I desire most so that when I look back on my life I will see a life filled with joyful moments shared with the ones I love.

Paris:

Before coming to Europe I knew I would see Paris but did not think I would like it any more or less than any other European city. I was told that Parisians are rude, the city is crowded and dirty, and not to expect too much. This was my second visit to Paris and, once again, it was divine. When I visited for Christmas with Leigh it was an unexpectedly fun time. We saw the major sights, absorbed the art and the sense of the city. I loved experiencing such a beautiful city with my best friend, even if we were bundled up in coats the whole time. However, we tried to do everything in about 4 or 5 days and were always tired. This time I wandered around with a new friend for the sole purpose of enjoying spring weather, taking photos, observing Parisians and visitors alike, and sharing stories. We had no agenda or check list of sights, which added to the Parisian spirit, I believe.

At one point Clara remarked, "I am in Paris, at an Italian restaurant, with an American girl surrounded by Spanish people. This is so Paris!" She was completely correct, and the sentiment was the same for me, the American Girl. Paris is a great city because, like New York, it is very international but, as it is Paris, it is still completely French and the non-French maintain their unique qualities to create a melting pot. I really love visiting this city and am happy to be returning just before my flight back to the States.

Alors, a very long post must end eventually. Photos to come soon!

The Week Flies By

Seeing as today is Wednesday, I had appointments to tutor in Nice again. Every Wednesday I ask myself why I give up my day off to ride the bus an hour each way to teach back-to-back lessons when I could be doing other things like going to the beach, sleeping, reading, etc. Then I remember 1) Nice is awfully pretty when it's sunny, so I get to enjoy the nice weather than has finally arrived, 2) I have been more than gluttonous with my weekend and holiday planning, so I don't really need my Wednesdays off, 3) if I stayed home I would just sleep and be lazy anyway, and 4) I get paid une jolie centime for this extra work. Plus I normally enjoy the time on the bus to zone out and rock out to my Ipod. For the past two weeks I have had Lady GaGa and The Cranberries slamming through my ears in a constant, if not a bit strange, rotation.

This morning was a little bit different because I had to get up at 6:00 to walk Damian to the bus for his flight this morning. He was a good sport about paying the tourist price for the shuttle bus to the airport rather than making me escort him on the "locals" bus that stops near the airport but doesn't really help if you don't know the area extremely well. I can't thank him enough for that because, seriously, I needed the mid-morning nap I took when I got back to the house at 7:00.

My tutoring lessons went well. I spent a fair amount of time reviewing the progress made with both "pupils" so far. The older pupil is speaking more confidently and her vocabulary for literature is growing because we have been reading and studying some pretty difficult texts, plus I have taught her three or four new verb tenses. Also, based on what she has said I am getting the sense that her English teacher at her lycee is reproducing my tutoring lessons for his own purposes in the class. I'm not sure if I should be annoyed, flattered, or amused by this. Annoyed because I took the time to put these lessons together for my pupil, not for his students, flattered because a professional teacher is stealing my work, but also amused because I found most of my teaching resources using a simple Google search. Seriously, how do these teachers get these jobs? In the States a teacher has to actually put effort into teaching before they have tenure because job competition is so fierce.....I digress....

In the next couple of weeks we are going to read Animal Farm and come up with a strategy for her to write essays comparing the book to the Russian Revolution, which is cool because it's an interesting topic and she is Russian herself. Hopefully this is the type of thing that will lead to her acceptance at the lycee of her choice. The younger pupil, an 11 year old, is showing signs of true absorption and I think he understands me when I speak a lot more than he did at first. What is even more important, he isn't afraid of me anymore and actually seems to enjoy our lessons! I am so lucky to have such nice pupils for these tutoring lessons.

When I was waiting for my bus home from Nice I was pretty put out by the huge crowd of people who approached the #200 when it stopped at the bus shelter. Two rather smelly women were waiting in line to pay the driver with handcarts filled with groceries. I had resigned myself to wait another 15 to 20 minutes for the next bus to avoid standing next to The Two Smellies for an hour when another, almost empty, #200 came up right behind the one that was loading up. What luck! This never happens and, what's more, only myself and a woman with her little boy even noticed this better option so we got on the second bus and each settled into our seats, sans Smellies.

The rest of my day was pretty chilled out including laundry, phone calls, etc. My friend Jescy landed safely in London this morning and embarks on her European adventure starting tonight. From what I gather she is hitting up Dublin, London, then Nice to see me. We are going to Cinque Terre for the weekend and then flying back to London at the start of my printemps holiday. Not a bad range of places and experiences for a three week, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants trip.

But I am getting ahead of myself because this weekend I am going to Paris- lovely, divine Paris, with a lovely new friend from Taize. I'm so excited to have a relaxed weekend in Paris since the last time was devoted to seeing the major tourist sights. Because we have both been to Paris before, this time I suspect we will walk around, eat yummy food and just enjoy the city. For the first time in a long time, perhaps ever, I am going away for a few days without having planned out each moment. All I know for sure is when I will arrive, where I will sleep, and when I will leave. The rest is left to the moment.

Ah, j'adores la vie francaise!

School Violence and American PTSD

I have never had a firsthand experience with real school violence, but I did grow up in the United States in the midst of Columbine and, more recently, Virginia Tech. In fact, the day of the Virginia Tech shootings I was living in Buffalo and nearly had to skip classes at law school to drive to Virginia to sit with Leigh's family because we could not reach her brother, who was studying architecture at VT at the time. The shooter went into the architecture building during his rampage but, luckily, Leigh's little brother decided to skip his morning classes and sleep in that day.

Between the time I was 13 and, well, today, life in the US school system has changed quite a bit so that now we all tend to have knee-jerk reactions to certain images, words and happenings. If you hear a kid saying really dark things or somebody seems overly reclusive, you tend to watch them more carefully. Images of guns and bombs have become taboo in schools, and the like.

Today I had a bit of culture clash in my own head. My French students are fascinated by American gun culture and our relationship with weapons of all sorts. As a good American who grew up in the south I appreciate the Second Amendment and what it stands for. I have contemplated owning a gun and learning how to use it, but I also have a very, very healthy fear of guns for obvious reasons. My students ask me about guns in the US and how I feel about them on a fairly regular basis. I do my best to explain why Americans view guns the way we do, I tell my own stories about holding and shooting a pistol, owning a BB gun as a child and being raised in a home with a gun for protection. My students listen with wide eyes, ask questions, and listen carefully to my explanations about how most gun violence in the US is committed using illegal weapons, so there is little correlation between the Second Amendment and gun crimes.

Today was a little different though. I was teaching a group of Prepa students on my own in a computer room when my dry erase marker started to fade out. I started opening cupboards and digging around for a new marker. I opened a cupboard that had a key dangling from its lock and saw the butt end of a pistol and the glint of its metal.

My heart stopped for a split second.

I pulled back a bit from the cupboard and then realized, not even two seconds later, that I was still in France where guns are illegal and that this was, in fact a toy gun.

Feeling releaved and a tiny bit foolish I stood up from my crouching/digging for a new pen position and confessed to my students what I had just found and the thought that went through my head. They got a good laugh out of it, begged to see the toy and were delighted when I obliged. I would only be so open with older students because I knew they would understand. They really seemed to enjoy observing the culture clash and confusion that I was experiencing internally, but was so obvious on my face.

The truth is that this was a really funny and interesting thing to experience. In spite of our many problems with gun violence in the US, I was raised to respect our right to bear arms and will continue to do so. In spite of years of observing and living certain fears as a child in American schools, I will continue to support our Constitutional right, hands down. This doesn't mean I don't believe in gun control, because I do, and it apparrently also doesn't mean that I am not at least a tiny bit traumatized from a youth filled with such unrest in our schools. At the end of the day, however, I am still an American and I will continue to try to relate the importance of certain freedoms to those who do not fully understand the correlation between American history and seemingly bizarre American rights and values.

This also doesn't mean that I will ever enjoy happening upon a firearm unexpectedly in any situation, even if it does turn out to be a shiny plastic one that makes a silly noise when you pull the trigger!

Weekend in Provence

Damian and I just got back from our weekend tour of Provence. We had planned to visit Arles, Avignon and Marseille, but had to skip Avignon due to exhaustion and lack of funds. Oh well, c'est la vie and, honestly, we had a blast with just Arles and Marseille.

At 5am on Saturday morning we were up and getting ready to walk to the train station in Antibes. By about 9:30am we were arriving in Arles, just in time for the Saturday Market and to see a few Roman sights. The market was truly impressive completely with giant fruit and vegetables, handcrafts and clothing items that were most likely stolen. I bought a small gift for Leigh and 5 pain chocolat for our hostess for the weekend. The pain chocolat was only 1.60 euros for all 5! This is unheard of in Cote d'Azur, where a single pastry is typically 0.80 euros or more.

I was in love with Arles from the start, then we went to the Roman ruins and it only got better. We visited the old amphitheater and the arenas, both of which were interesting and impressive. I got a wicked discount on the dual ticket with my Carte Professionelle too! Damian and I spent a few hours snapping pictures to our hearts' contents and enjoying the fantastic sunny weather. Around 16:00 we started toward Marseille by train to call it a day and to finally meet our enigmatic hostess, a fellow English assistant I met via Facebook. Our hostess, Becky, is a nice girl from London who was kind enough to show us around and even took me to an "Irish Pub" in Vieux Port with her friends while poor Damian was passed out finally from jetlag. It was fun to meet a few of her friends and see the city at night.

Sunday was lovely and lazy after such a long Saturday. Since nothing much is open in all of France on a Sunday we all alternated between sleeping, listening to ipods, reading, and chatting. Around noonish Damian and I were just too hungry to stay indoors any longer, so we went for a walk around the city with Becky in search of food and fun. We wound up at a really nice Boulangerie near Vieux Port with indoor seating and a great selection of pastry type things and yummy coffee. Damian and I ordered enough food to get us through the day (i.e. make us feel fat for the next two days), then we walked back to the apartment for more alternating between sleeping and other lazy activities.

Around 18:00 I got dolled up and headed toward Le Dome for my concert, The Cranberries reunion tour! I have loved The Cranberries since I was 13 years old and my life turned upside down. This band had put out a fantastic, soulful album that gave words and music to my feelings. I have never stopped loving them since then. This reunion tour was my second show with them. I saw them once before when I was 14 and it was epic. The concert last night was no less wonderful, as I was transported back to how liberated I felt the first time I heard many of their songs and felt like my attendance of the concert was my way of paying homage to the album that gave me so much comfort and the young girl who was so lost once upon a time.

Aside from my sappy feelings, it was a great show. Dolores O'Riordan spoke a good deal of French with an adorably thick Irish accent, which the audience seemed to appreciate, and danced quite badly as she always does. When the band played their harder pieces her dancing made a bit more sense based on the music played, but otherwise it was just strange and served as a reminder that her great talent is singing and songwriting, but not so much with the dancing :-)

Monday was supposed to be the day we went to Avignon to see the Pope's Palace, but the train tickets were just too steep and we were pretty tired from all the traveling, so we decided to hang out in Marseille instead. Our lovely hostess also had the day off from teaching due to a greve (ah, la vie en France!) at her school, so we decided to play tourist for the day. We took a tourist trolley up the hill to Notre Dame de la Garde, complete with French and English commentary (some of which was extremely comical due to poor translations). After visiting the beautiful cathedral and taking tons of pictures of the city from above, we went back down to Vieux Port for a chocolat chaud and people watching, a la francais. Around 14:30 Becky headed home while Damian and I hit the shops. Well, Damian hit the shops while I gave a running commentary on which shops had good prices, nice clothes, etc and watched him spend his "grownup" money, consoling myself with reminders that (a) I have no space in my luggage for more stuff to take home and (b) I am going to Paris next weekend, so more clothes from H&M are NOT what the doctor ordered.

After shopping we got a little lost and had to haul ass to the St. Charles train station to get back to Antibes. Now we're back in my apartment, resting up after a long fun weekend and I am mentally preparing myself for my work day tomorrow. I think the rest of my time in France will be like this- hectic, fun, and full of moments where I must remind myself that I do, in fact, have a job to get to on Tuesday mornings!

Vos Ours- update

So, the odd note found its way back into my mailbox at work yesterday. The note had been folded, unfolded and refolded a few times since I last saw it, so I can only assume the other teacher with a name similar to mine pondered the note for a few days before pushing it back onto me. I thought I would write it verbatim for anyone with an interest in French, grammar, or weird notes.

"Mlle MAAS [sic],

En raison des Oraux de Section Espagnole, vos ours des 11 et 12 Nous auront lieu en salle ECRIVAINS.

Merci de votre comprehension.

Le CDI."

So there it is in all its grammatically incorrect, utterly confusing glory.

Commence March Madness

Yesterday I took off my afternoon classes to I could go to the airport in Nice to meet Leigh's and my friend Damian from Buffalo. He had just flown overnight with two stopovers, so I expected him to be totally out of it but he was amazingly alert and chipper from the moment he stepped off the plane. We eventually made our way to Antibes, which took a really long time thanks to the TAM bus schedule and many, many stops along the way, and ran some basic Welcome to France errands like getting euros from the ATM and some groceries. We ate dinner at home, of course, consisting of main dishes from my favorite patisserie near the train station and frites from my freezer with kriek beer and chocolate for dessert- very French, eh? I was pretty proud of myself for successfully hosting and feeding another person, even if I didn't actually cook any of the food!

I normally sleep in on Friday mornings because I dont have to work until 13:00, but I wanted to show Damian around a little bit before leaving him completely on his own for the day. We first went to the train station to buy his tickets for our trip this weekend, which was very quick (no lines!?) and easier than I had imagined it would be. Then I pointed out a few major landmarks, gave him a map of the town and walked him to Vieille Antibes. We strolled through the Marché Provençale to take in the sights and smells of olives, spices, herbs, stinky cheese, and the like. I was pointing out a great touristic shop for him when I remembered the Absinthe Bar is right below it. No, I did not have an absinthe at 10:30 in the morning, but we did go downstairs and have some coffee there. The bartender took our picture and Damian took pictures of the bar, which is very picture-worthy. Close to 12:00 I had to get my bus to work, so we walked back to Place du Gaulle.

I am pretty sleepy now and missing my extra hours of morning laziness, but I must admit that getting up and out of the house by 10:00 on a Friday was very liberating. I had more than enough time to accomplish my goals and I even did something fun before work. What a novel concept! Tomorrow is another early day as we are catching a 6:15 train to Marseille then changing trains there to go to Arles for the day. Our kind hostess, Rebecca, will meet us there for a lovely day of market browsing and wandering around Van Gogh's old stomping grounds. Then Sunday is THE CRANBERRIES in CONCERT... eek!

My only sadness is that Leigh cannot be here this week with us. She and Damian are close friends and this weekend we are doing things I know she would enjoy as well. All we can do is take great pictures and share our stories with her and, maybe one day soon, plan a trip we can all take part in.

Well, that is all for now. More info on our trip this weekend when we return and then I can look forward to my hasard weekend trip to Paris (oh la la).

A Great Day of Emails

Like everyone else, I receive several emails per day and on the days I only receive advertisements I feel pretty sad and lonely. Today I received a handful of emails from people I actually know. Two emails in particular really made an impact and even gave me a sense of elation and joy regarding the current, and presumably the future, state of my life.

Leigh wrote to me late last night on the East Coast of the USA so I received the email when I got online between classes this morning. The email started by saying, "I just wanted to write to let you know how much I adore you. :)" Not a bad start, eh? She then said how proud she is of me and how I inspire her with my ambition to live life to the fullest. She also said how excited she is for us to start our adult lives together (real jobs, a home, etc), a subject we talk about pretty frequently these days because we are 3,500 miles apart.

Last night, after learning that I am traveling solo to Morocco for a few days in April, my father sent me an email telling me to be careful and not buy any hashish from anyone. I replied saying I was doing research and would be careful, not to worry. This evening I came home to this email:

"In case you wonder when I will start trusting your instincts, I have since you were three years old.

In case you are wondering when I will stop loving you and worrying about your safety, never on this earth and I doubt when I am in Heaven.

In case you wonder if I would rather have a daughter who never left her home town and clung to just the familiar; absolutely not. I am very proud that you grab chunks of life when you can... I think we agree that you only get one ticket for this ride so better enjoy it.

Love,

Dad"

OK, so the cheese factor is present and accounted for in both emails, but these are the kinds of messages that give a girl the boost she really needs. There have been times this year when I have felt truly guilty for having so many opportunities and for taking such full and unabashed advantage of them, then I get messages like this reminding me that life is a gift that should not be wasted, especially not for the sake of vanity. When I have these wonderful experiences I have them for my whole family, my current and future friends and my future children. The more I learn and grow the more I can offer to those in my life and the more I honor the people who have played a role in my development.

For me especially, messages like these are incredibly important due to my difficult past with family situations. The message from Leigh is very important because we have not had a perfect courtship. In spite of all of my many flaws, one of them being not so great at marriage/being settled/remaining stationary, she can still see my better qualities and cherishes me as a friend first and foremost. What's more, she sees these qualities sometimes even within my flaws and relishes in them, something that must be essential for a marriage to last, don't you think?

My father's note tells me that, while I may not be any semblance of the daughter my mother had hoped for, I am exactly the daughter my father wants me to be today. Even though my family may be fragmented and often sounds like a sad story, I have a handful of strong, loving relationships to keep me going and the strength of those relationships gives me the hope and courage to attempt to form bonds with new acquaintances.

I don't mean to go on with my mushiness, but I wanted to share the positive impact that these two messages have had on me today. I also want to encourage any reader(s) to be open with the people they love and tell those people what they mean to you. In the end we all just want to feel like we belong, are loved, and are cherished by others; whether it's only in a small way by a friend or to know that you complete another person's life. It seems cheesy and, yes, sometimes might be a bit awkward, but I suspect that we are all looking for some encouragement from those who are close to us.

The Accent Problem

This afternoon I was contemplating studying some French (I'm working on French Level III on the Indo-European Languages French tutorials website) and was feeling a bit discouraged about my pronunciation. It seems that no matter how well I think I understand the rules of French pronunciation the sounds simply do not want to come out of my mouth properly most of the time. Plus I tend to association with people from a variety of first language backgrounds, so mimicking another person's French pronunciation is not always the answer.

So I did what I always do- I turned to the Almighty Google. After browsing a few websites about accent reduction for learning English, I happened upon this study about Reverse Accent Mimicry.

Basically, the study says that the fastest way to break through that accent and pronunciation wall in a second language is to mock a native speaker's accent in your first language. The process includes four steps (assuming you already have some functional use of the language):

1. Find a reverse accent model- a person who speaks your first language well with a heavy accent that is based on your desired second language. So I would want to find a French person who speaks English comfortably but has retained his/her French accent.

2. Mimic your model in your own first language- ask your model to speak a bit, in English in my case, maybe even something scripted for ease of memory. Then mimic your model's habits. You are essentially mocking them in an animated fashion, taking on their character, etc. Use facial expressions, gestures, vocal changes and intonations. Camp it up. Sometimes it is better to mimic a TV show or movie if you don't know someone who will find this funny rather than insulting.

3. Transition into your second language retaining the mimicry- keep your animation, expression, intonation, and pronunciation but start speaking in French (or your second language). This can work with conversation but is often easier if scripted.

4. Guided use and generalization- use in one-on-one interaction with a speaker of the second language (preferably native). Again, using a script can be good and having a coach or teacher doesn't hurt either.

Since becoming a teacher in France I have often found myself mocking my students' accents in English (out of love, of course, and because it makes my stories funnier) but I have never tried slipping into French in the middle of my performance. This is definitely on my list of linguistic experiments. I am also very excited to try this out on my newest tutoring pupil/conversation practice buddy. Maybe we'll take turns mocking each other and see what happens, but the goal of the meetings is to improve her conversation abilities and reduce her accent, so I see myself being mocked a good deal in the very near future. Should be fun!

Post #2 of today, I really need to get a life (I will soon, I promise- starting Wednesday!)

Third Sunday of Lent

Last night I attended "Peine d'amour perdue/Love's Labours Lost" with my Canadian Counterpart in Nice. It was a nice show, well acted, and I even laughed several times in spite of the language barrier. Trying to keep up with the story was beaucoup des peines, but being able to truly get into the rhythm of the French language was an amazing experience. Here in Angloworld my French is typically interrupted in English, at work I mostly hear English with smatterings of French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian and walking through town there is the constant bubbling sound of the French language, but no true immersion. However, attending the play was easily the most intense and longest lasting French immersion experience I have had yet.

I got home well after midnight, so it was difficult for me to get out of bed in time to make it to church this morning, but I did it. The final motivator was remembering that I won't be able to attend any church next Sunday as I will be someone's guest in Marseille and I will have Damian with me. I think it might be both difficult and a bit rude to drag other people to attend a church I don't normally attend in a city where I don't actually live. Anyway, the service was fine. Just morning prayer. I met a nice young lady from Stockholm who says she has just moved to Cannes and decided to check out the church out of curiosity.

The sermon had an interesting note that basically underlined some things I heard at Taize: there is no type of person in this world or any sin so terrible that they are barred from the Grace of God. It's interesting that I have heard that same lesson twice in less than a month and yet growing up in the US there always seemed to be qualifiers for God's Grace. While I believe that this is true for God, I find it nearly impossible to believe that other people are kind enough to adopt the same notion for others. Not only do most people come with qualifiers as to the sorts of people they want to have in their lives (I include myself in this statement), but most religious people I have met in my life seem to have a mental checklist of the types of people they would rather not be blessed with God's Grace or people they simply cannot believe will be allowed in God's presence. Maybe it's just PTSD from growing up in the Bible Belt and seeing a lot of screaming about Jesus, fire and damnation on television rather than intelligent conversations about faithful living. Even though I was raised in a lovely little church that strayed away from the typical Southern messages, I have very early memories of feeling shunned by other Christians for many reasons (being Anglican in a Southern Baptist world, coming from a broken family, my liberal ideas, and later my own marriage), so I still often feel unable to trust people in religious settings for fear of judgement.

Anyway, I'm sure the message was meant to bring hope, but for some reason it got me feeling really blue today. Maybe I just need to find some silence, something that has been completely absent from my life this week between my students, my busy apartment, the liveliness of the church I've been attending (that's a good thing overall), crowded buses, motor scooters, the recent development of howling winds and crashing waves due to spring storms on the Med, and the list goes on... There really is no silence in Cote d'Azur.

On that note, I'm going to try to use this rare semi-quiet moment in the apartment to relax and maybe regain some of my centeredness (is that a word?), which will most likely result in a nap :)

le weekend

It's Friiiiidddaaaaayyy! Today most of my lessons were cancelled to I went to Biot with my Canadian Counterpart to buy some blown glass for friends and family. 125 euros later I had a few gifts taken care of and had purchased a few things Leigh and I had been contemplating since our first visit to Biot a few months ago.

Around 16:30 I had made my way to the lycee to teach my one and only lesson of the day, which was both easy and interesting complete with a very polite protest by one of my female students. She basically said that she did not think the lesson their prof had assigned them was appropriate for school. The lesson was about pocket money/allowance and kids' spending habits. It tends to be personal in nature, so I had to agree with my student that the lesson was not as useful as it was embarrassing for the students so we digressed and chatted in English for the remainder of the lesson. I must say that, due to the students' deferential demeanor while expressing her opinion, I was very pleased with her little rant. She remained calm and polite but still got her point across. She was even willing to continue the lesson when I offered to change topics, but I made the executive decision to have a more enjoyable experience rather than forcing the students to continue on a useless lesson.

This is pretty much my last weekend of peace and quiet until I go home to America. Crazy, eh? Originally I had no plans at all, then next thing I know I have a little something going on each day. I think it's best when it happens like that so it's spontaneous and fun without being too overwhelming. Tomorrow, Saturday, I will spend some time outside if it is as sunny as promised by the forecast and then in the evening I will attend a play (in French) in Nice with my Canadian Counterpart. On Sunday I have church in the morning and then perhaps will go to the Picasso Museum (if the weather is decent). Monday I should probably run errands, but I have "Monaco" written in my planner because I failed to go last Monday (lame!).

Leigh's and my friend Damian flies into Nice this Wednesday afternoon! His flight lands in Nice just after I finish tutoring a few bus stops away, so it's perfect timing. I am sure he will be exhausted, but of course I have lots of plans during his week in southern France including beaches, museums, and the like. Plus next weekend we will venture to Arles, Marseille, and Avignon. It's a lot of time on the train but there is a lot to see and do in that part of Provence, so I think it will be a nice way for Damian to see a bit of the region. The next weekend I run off to Paris, the week after that I will host Jescy for about 10 days, likely including a side-trip to Cinque Terre, and then I'm moving out of my apartment and running off on a very long, complicated holiday.

*PHEW* I can't believe I'm doing this, but as I always say- I wouldn't have it any other way : )

Poll Closed

I have removed my Weekends in March poll because, well, I've planned all my weekends in March.

Votes were as follows:

Paris- 4 votes

Morocco- 1 vote.

Thanks to all who showed an interest in my life decisions. As a pure extrovert I found this very helpful. I am, indeed, going to Paris for a weekend and I am still strongly considering Morocco, though if I go it will not be until the end of April. See sidebar list of upcoming trips and events for full details of my plans and whereabouts, if you so desire.

Work Weirdness

I had a pretty good day at work today. Tuesdays are really busy for me now that I see a tutoring student just after lunch. It works out perfectly that way so I don't have to make a special trip for the lesson and the poor girl doesn't have to have an extra lesson on her day off or at the end of the week. I also found out that all but one of my Friday lessons is cancelled due to the bac blanc (practice end of degree exam) and that all of my classes are cancelled for the Friday just before the printemps holiday. The latter news is especially good because that is also the day I move out of my apartment and the day I fly to London, so my schedule was just decompressed in a significant way.

One truly weird thing that happened today was when I saw a note in my mailbox at school. I thought it was from a prof whose class was cancelled today for an inexplicable reason. However, the note read as follows:

"Mlle Maas [sic]: En raison de oraux examens de section Espagnole nous auront vos ours de 11h - 12h dans la salle Ecrivain. Merci pour votre comprehension. Le CDI (bibliotheque)."

Translation:

"Ms. Maas [sic]: Due to the oral exams for the Spanish Section, we will have your bears from 11:00 to 12:00 in the Writer's Room. Thank you for your understanding. - The CDI (Library)."

Obviously the only truly weird part of this note is the reference to my bears. Just to clarify, I don't have any bears- real, stuffed, photos, etc. If I did have a bear of some sort, rest assured I would not bring it to school for any reason as my students are too old (i.e. too cool) to get any sort of kick out of such a thing.

I literally stared at that note for a good five minutes trying to figure out if I just couldn't read the person's handwriting very well. I tried substituting a letter here and there:

"gurs?"

"eors?"

"ouvs?"

None of those combinations create a proper French word. I was at a loss, so I asked another American to read it who agreed that the note does, indeed, refer to my bears.

Still at a loss all I could do was assume the note had been left to me by accident, as there is a prof at my school with the last name Maase. So I did what anyone would do and I left the note in her box so it could perplex her and, I am sure, then be placed back into my box. At some point in the near future there will be a group of bears waiting for someone in the Writer's Room from 11:00-12:00 and, I believe, nobody will show up to collect them.