at the end of my second day of observation of classes here at Marcel Pagnol- the middle school I will be teaching and assisting at for the next 8 months.
A few words before I dig in: I do not yet have internet at home because I need to run that by my landlord and she is out of town until next week. So I use the internet at school and facebook is blocked. and so needless to say that this weekend is going to be boring unless i can find a way to get online. oh enslaved are we to the great triple w.
wednesday: ridiculously early in the morning i got on a train for Montpellier from Bordeaux. the night was ok even though my room was incredible tiny and the bathroom was highly disgusting. check tripadvisor for a horrible review of the Hotel California Bordeaux, if you'd like. worst 60 euro i ever spent. monique, an amazingly kind lady i met this summer, met me at the station and drove me to the meeting of all the assistants at this one high school in montpellier. i was 2 hours late. i walked in and sat down and listen to a few people drone on about things i already knew. but i guess it didn't hurt to hear them again, reinforcement doesn't hurt. but qfter 2 hours, it was a bit painful. they then let us go for lunch and i cringed cuz that meant either eating alone or talking to people i didn't know. i really don't like approaching people i don't know.
but i went for it and as luck would have it i ran into 2 girls who teach in Béziers and one in Montpellier. The 2 Béziers girls are from america- elaine from santa cruz (small world) and becca from minnesota. they were very sweet and happily hilarious. funny thing was that 2 of them doesn't speak french too well and they still got into the program. we were told that there are more schools that want assistants than there are assistants and funding available. and that if we are being abused by our schools to remind them of this fact. lol, I can't imagine doing that even if they were mean to me.
after the meeting they split us into our language groups and we discussed some more stuff and ran through some teaching techniques and ideas. in english which i was happy to be speaking in france, something i haven't done before.
the day ended and monique came to get me and we went to have a drink in a central square area of Montpellier which was really nice. i had the oddest lemonade called a diablo. it had a mint syrup in it that honestly tasted like mouthwash. i had to consciously remember not to swish it around my mouth and spit. then we went back to her place where i showered and then we went out again for dinner. i had a cheese and mushroom omlette with fries (of course, everything in france is served with fries) and i couldn't finishe it. monique had some sort of raw fish thing that looked like ridiculously thin slices of salmon all laid out on a lettuce leaf. and she didn't have room for dessert. i do not think i would enjoy living with someone who ate as little as she does.
thursday: the next morning she drove me to Sérignan. she has a tiny two-door car and she drove at 190km; i felt like i was in a video game. at times her car would protest and she would just laugh and say that her friends tell her she's going to wreck her car if she drives too fast. she was sweet though cuz she asked if i get car sick before revving it up to that speed. we discussed CIFC and her camp CIFAS the whole way.
the rest in the post that follows cuz this one is already quite long.
craving: an awesome and spicy lunch
currently listening to: this tube light struggling to stay on
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