Episode IX

FEUILLES FRANÇAISES EPISODE IX ~ February 1, 2010

Dear Friends,

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit! Happy February! I just have to get through a few more days, and I am on vacation, again… The French seem to be on vacation a lot, but I am not complaining.

Last week I got my troisiemes back, and so it was back to work, for the most part. I asked them each to do a presentation of their stage (job shadow), and some of them did very well (considering I asked for the presentation to be in English). I had some who shadowed at the military base, several who followed pharmacists and vets, I even had one kid do his in a hospital, and he was allowed to scrub in to observe a minor surgery, and another who (I cannot remember his field), but he ended up watching a autopsy, which he thought was the coolest thing (EW!!!!!).

Viola being touristy

A sunny, sunny day in Limoges, and that is the train station!

Famous Limoges Porcelain


Limoges, just strolling along the river


Saint Étienne of Limoges (same Saint as our Cathedral here in Bourges)


Following the seashells for a pilgrimage

Two Fridays ago, I went with Viola to Limoges, it’s about two hours south-east of here by train. Limoges is very famous for porcelain. The weather was AMAZING, sunny and warm, and we had a fantastic day just wandering around the town. You can’t miss one of the main architectural wonders, especially if you arrive by train. Limoges has one of the most beautiful train stations I have seen thus far. We took advantage of the nice weather and strolled through the parks and along the river bank. We of course visited the cathedral, which is along a pilgrimage route (St. James’ route which ends in Spain). This is kind of neat, there is a route through France following a pilgrimage, and the route is marked with large bronze scallop shells set into the roads, the first encounter I had with this route was in 2006 in Vézelay (http://monicasparispapers.blogspot.com/2006/03/paris-papers-volume-v-march-5-2006.html). I had completely forgotten about it until I (literally) tripped over one of the markers.

19th-century Porcelain oven



The three steps in the porcelain-making process, look at how much the tea pot shrinks!

Viola in the kiln surrounded by stacks of porcelain to be fired. (Sorry so blurry, it was very dark in there)

We also visited the last 19th century porcelain kiln in France. I learned a lot about making porcelain. I did not know how much it shrinks during the cooking process, nor that it is cooked twice. Le Four des Casseaux was an interesting little museum, but the coolest part was when you got to stand inside the ancient kiln, it was bigger than most dorm rooms I lived in in college.

In the evening, Viola and I had a little time before our train, so we wandered the shops and took a little more advantage of les Soldes, which are still on going (only to the end of this week though). Limoges was really fantastic, a great town just to wander around in.

Chow time, German style!

The next day, I was invited to Viola’s (and Gina's) apartment for a German dinner. After the success of American Thanksgiving, Viola wanted to do something similar, though perhaps on a slightly smaller scale (I did get a touch carried away). Viola (helped by her German friend, Christina from Blois) made a wonderful dish with chicken and mushrooms and cream sauce. There was also something called “rusti” (probably spelled terribly) which was sort of a large potato pancake. We had home-made German brown bread, and for dessert, real apple strudel and some sort of layered pastry which was quite yummy too! This really is one of my favorite parts of this experience, spending time with the other assistants and learning about their lives and cultures. And all cultural intrigue aside, they are just fantastic people who are fun to be around. Now the pressure is on for Gina to make an English meal, I am pulling for Bangers and Mash, which she assures me, is NOT as cool as it sounds.

Speaking of assistant adventures, I spent a little time with Anne (of Wisconsin) this blog-cycle too. She and I went and checked out the Wednesday morning market last week, this market was much more, middle-eastern really, lots of dishes, scarves, clothes, etc. It was neat, we both ended up with a couple of scarves, my collection is growing at an alarming rate, I came over with two, but now I have a different one for every day of the week (oops!).

More quilting... :o)

Something familiar... QUILTING! This was at the Arts & Crafts Expo

I am still sewing up a storm in my free time, but I have slowed down a touch, since my work schedule has gotten back to normal, however, I did manage to finish my third quilt top. Luckily, one of Marie-Paule’s friends found out about my quilting obsession and has commissioned me to make her one. So last weekend I got to go fabric shopping in Orleans. Sadly the store was closed, but there was an Arts and Crafts Expo in town, so there were several fabric vendors there, so I did get my fix but I didn’t buy anything. For my fellow quilters: be thankful that you have JoAnn’s. Fabric here (which is mostly the same as you get in the US) is 18 Euros a meter (which is just over a yard) and that translates to about $25 a YARD. Yet another reason why I could not permanently live in France; my sewing habit would bankrupt me in a hurry.

Last week I took another ride on the French bureaucracy run-around ride. I’ve been feeling off for a while, so I caved into the pressure of my friends, and decided to see a doctor, because here it is essentially free, because the French have nationalized healthcare. So I asked Gina about the process (she’s already been to a doctor here), and she said you just make an appointment, show up, show your Carte Vitale, and you are good to go. Except for the fact that I never received a Carte Vitale (which is your national insurance card), and without this card, you have to pay full-freight for the doctor, which will not be reimbursed. So, thankfully I went and got better on my own, because it took a couple of days to sort out the insurance mess. I have no idea how anyone gets ANYTHING done in this country.

School last week was also interesting. One morning, there was a bit of snow and ice (I nearly died trying to navigate cobblestones slick with freezing rain), and I arrived at school at my normal time (7:45) for my 8:10 class. When I arrived, I was the only one at school, which is somewhat abnormal, granted teachers come and go as they please (if they are not in class, they do not have to stay at school) here in France, but usually there is someone there when I arrive. That was a little odd. At 8 a couple of teachers trickled in, but not many, and then first bell rang. So we went to collect our students in the courtyard (students line up by class), but there were no students (usually they are milling around outside). All of the students are still out side (Renoir is gated, and students need to be let in the gate by Vie Scolaire). Apparently there were no people from Vie Scolaire, and no administration, which meant that we, as teachers, did not have the right to let the students into school. Apparently it was a liability thing. So eventually one of the teachers decided that we could not leave the kids standing out in the cold, so we brought them in and herded them into the central corridor while someone tried to get in touch with the administration (no one had a home or cell number for either of the principals). I really, REALLY wonder how the French EVER accomplish anything.

That same day, I received a new crop of students who I had not worked with before. With this new crop of students, I uncovered a MAJOR flaw in the French Educational System. For starters, I should mention that I am lucky if I see a class list before I start working with a new class, I am even luckier if I get to talk to the regular teacher and be brought up to speed on topics the class has already covered. So this new class comes in, and I do my usual first-class stuff: go over my expectations, goals, and rules, and then I present myself: my name, hobbies, family, age, etc (in English). If there is time, in an effort to get to know my students and start learning names, I go around the room and have each student present him- or herself. Usually I ask for name, age, and one interest. Not hard, even for beginners. I am going around the room, and it is going well, and I reach this one girl. I asked her to present herself, and she looked at me terrified. So I (in French) encouraged her, but still she said nothing. Eventually I gave up, thinking she was shy, and continued around the room. When the bell rang, the room emptied, but another student came up to me and explained that the girl would not speak because she CAN’T, not in French, nor in English. She is essentially mute. I was horrified and enraged. Horrified, because I cannot even begin to imagine how terribly I must have made that poor girl feel, and enraged because my colleagues could not be bothered to inform me of this. Apparently targeting the needs of students with disabilities is not a priority in France. I also have another student this semester who arrived in my class with a 50-year-old man as an aid, and no preface from my colleagues. In the US all of my students with disabilities would have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) explaining their disabilities and the necessary accommodations. Not in France. So goodness knows how many other students I have with learning difficulties, because apparently it is not something the French system thinks about. Granted, I thought it was odd that I did not seem to have any students requiring accommodations before, but I figured that such students would be exempted from English as a requirement, WRONG.

To top it all off, another one of my favorite things happened, I showed up, and had no students. My class was MISSING. And no one seemed to be able to tell me where they were. My co-teacher had warned me she would be absent, but she asked me to take the class anyway. Normally, in the absence of the teacher, students would be in Permanence (study hall), so I checked there, no students. I asked Vie Scolaire, they didn’t know, and neither did the principal. A school LOST 25 children. In the US, heads would roll. Apparently the students were at the movies. I know, I know, WHAT!? This is sort of cool: every year the French Government pays for all students to go (one class at a time) to the cinema, basically it is one way of ensuring that children of low-income families get to go to the movies a couple of times. But I just could not believe that no one knew/remembered where these kids were, what if a parent had needed to find their child? Ugh. So needless to say, I am more than a little frustrated with the school system right now, and am very glad to be going on vacation soon.

Anne rocking the less extreme variety of Aladdin Pants... some are so huge you could fit a SmartCar inside each leg.

With les Soldes winding down, I suppose I ought to mention French fashion a bit. Everyone here always seems more chic than in the US. I almost never leave the house in my hoodie; because that is just not something they do here. Very popular is the leggings and short sweater-dress business. Also, the skinny jean is still in (gag), but then new collection is showing a swing back towards a wide-leg jean (thank God!). But on the flip side, something that can only be described as Aladdin pants are also very popular. Teal seems to be the most popular color this year, and knee-length boots are the latest must-have.

On Friday I will head to Paris, where I will catch a flight to Athens and rendez-vous with an old High School friend. I met Erene as a Freshman or a Sophomore at MHS. She is half Greek half American, and grew up in Greece, but chose to do her last two years of high school in the USA, and her aunt lived in Merrimack. She’s invited me countless times over the years, so now it is time to take her up on the offer. She lives in the North, Thessaloniki, but I cannot be in Greece and miss out on Athens (Parthenon here I come!!!!!!!), so I will be seeing both. In my spare time, I am feverishly trying to memorize as much basic Greek as I can, just so I can say things like: hello, thank you, and I don’t speak Greek. I firmly believe that if you want to visit a foreign country you should be obligated to learn the following in the native language: hello, yes, no, please, thank you, excuse me, I don’t speak (insert language), do you speak English, and goodbye. I think it is extremely rude not to even try with the basics.

Speaking of which, I have to dig the Italian file out of the archives of my brain while I am thinking about languages, because, the second week of break, I have a visitor coming: Drew, my boyfriend, will be making his first trip across the pond, and we will be paying a visit to Venice. (Pretty soon I am going to have to make a new bucket list!!!) So, unfortunately, your next episode will be pushed back a week, but it will be a doozy, I guess you could call this upcoming trip the Great Adventure 2010 (3 countries in 2 weeks).

Despite all the pitfalls of the French system, my life is still pretty fantastic. Well, I suppose I should sign off and think about packing (don’t throw things at me, its not nice).

Until next time, I remain your multicultural voyager extraordinaire,

~Monica :o)