Making friends and trying new things

Last week went a lot quicker than the first week- I think probably because I had more things to do. In the week I was fairly busy- went swimming Tuesday night with the daughter of one of the teachers at the school and her friends which was lovely. It was really great to be able to actually spend some time sort of messing about and not having to be an adult like I have to do at school the whole week! It was her 18th birthday as well so we partook in some of the things which you might usually do on an 18th...Plus I met them on wednesday in the afternoon and we went for a couple of drinks and played pool (thanks Vodsoc pool nights for making me not entirely hopeless) with another couple of their friends. I hope I'll meet up with them again a few times because it was lovely being around people my age!

At school we had an interesting experience on the Friday- we went to the nursing home which is fairly nearby to sing some songs we'd been learning over the past couple of weeks, and to give some happy new year cards to the residents. The kids did really well to sing the songs mostly off by heart, but it was a bit harder when it came to giving the cards... Some of the residents seemed to be pretty senile/ unaware of what was going on, some were sleeping and one person even ripped up the card in front of the girl who'd made it and given it to him. Needless to say she ended up crying, cause they'd made the cards over 2 weeks and put a lot of effort into them! 

The weekend was fairly uneventful, although I did manage to open a bank account (at the bank called BNP- I giggled inside about this), do my laundry for the first time (more expensive than I imagined-better buy more clothes), and finally pick up the courage to go to a proper boulangerie. I can assure you, the fear I might be kicked out for not being French enough was worth overcoming for the gorgeous croissants and pains au chocolat I got. The truth is, I've never tasted any pastries anywhere near as good!! (it's true what they say about the French). I also went to the gym which is in the swimming pool complex for the first time- it's pretty small and fairly municipal but it was good to get some exercise, especially seeing as the weather's been awful recently (and i've been eating too much French food). Towards the end of the weekend a sore throat started coming on and since then I've been feeling pretty rough. Made it into school today (partly because of the fear of having to call in sick for the first time in my life, and having to do it in French) and hoping it'll pass but I am a bit scared because some kids in the school have had the flu, and just overheard that one has meningitis?!!? 

Wish me luck, et à bientôt. 

My first week of teaching

This first week has been pretty crazy- so much going on and so much that's new to get used to. I've been very lucky, however, people have been incredibly friendly towards me, whether it's the teachers at the school, or the girls who i'm living with, or even my landlady (who's been sympathetic to the fact my Comenius grant got messed up and only arrived yesterday!). I've felt very welcome here very soon, and although it is a very small place and there isn't an awful lot to do, I appreciate the amount of French I've been able to speak. Most people here don't speak any english, or a very minimal amount, so all the conversations I've had have been in French. I only speak English whilst I'm teaching, and then I have to do a lot of on-the-spot translation into French so the kids understand; they really don't speak much English. I guess that's to be expected though- especially considering the teachers don't speak English much themselves. Plus the end of this week I had to help out in a French reading and comprehension class, which was pretty tricky, because I had to try and help the little French kids in their own language, explaining words I didn't fully understand myself... It's pretty challenging but I do love seeing the kids achieving something themselves. 

I've also been shocked by the differences between the French and the English education systems- here kids start school, proper school, at 2 YEARS OLD! It seems insane, and (as far as I can tell) they have a full school day like the other children in the school. Some of them do have a nap in the afternoon I think, and some do go home at lunchtime. They have been the trickiest children to teach, as most of them sort of look at me wide-eyed, saying nothing, either in French or English!! I've had to try lots of different techniques to get them to say anything- songs, reading them a book with flaps, and they've still been pretty quiet. I guess they just have to get used to me. The other thing that's very different about the system here is that the children are very used to everything being incredibly formal- no games, no fun, just sitting down, listening and writing. That's pretty difficult to get used to and the kids have a lot of unused energy, so they do get told off a fair amount for 'messing about'. I'm going to try and break down that formal aspect and get the kids to have fun with English, because i reckon that's one of the best ways to learn. I have many games, songs and activities up my sleeve- i'll let you know how they go!

I'm appreciating something which is great about France too- despite what I thought last time I came here, it isn't too bad for vegetarians... in comparison to Russia!! They have houmous, lentils, couscous, quinoa, tofu, pulses, all in my local supermarket. The only downside is that to get quorn I had to go to Belgium (don't worry, only 20km down the road). Plus, in Belgium, I found proper alpro soya milk, heinz beans, speculoos and speculoos spread and really cheap proper belgian waffles. I'm also benefitting from some pretty cheap accommodation- only around £240 a month for my room with a kitchenette and shared bathroom, which includes electricity, heating, water, all the bills. The only downside is that the internet is a bit of a minefield but *fingers crossed* i've got it figured out finally! 

The only thing I've gotta sort out now is trying to find something to do with all my time (I have wednesdays and thursday afternoons off, and the girls in my house go home every weekend) so I need to find some friends/ activities... this may be harder than it sounds considering the population of this tiny 'town'!! I did go to a choir with a lovely teacher from my school this Friday (the same one who gave me a lift to Belgium) which was good fun- although most of the songs were 80s french hits... and they sing without music so it was pretty tricky! 

All in all, I'm having loads of fun, and living here really is a very interesting experience- and very different to the one I had in Petrozavodsk!

A very overdue update....

Ok so I'm not going to lie; I have not updated in ages, clearly because I've been having too much fun :P I think the problem started around reading week, when I had a lot of news to talk about and I basically never got round to it. The short version I'm going to give you is that I went to St Petersburg and Moscow, it was amazing, I saw lots of lovely churches, buildings, museums etc and had a generally enjoyable time immersed in capitalism at its best and most shockingly expensive. Anyway, I finished my time in Petrozavodsk, having a lot of fun with all the amazing people I was there with, and we did many more ridiculous walks, went out on the classic thursday night and had a final night train back to St Petersburg after which we went home (finally)! 

Anyway I guess the thing everyone cares about now is France. Christmas went crazy fast and that was totally unexpected- I barely had time to think before I had to get back to packing and organising (it now transpires I probably should have taken a lot of things I haven't). I arrived yesterday, via Eurostar, which was a lovely easy experience and about 10x better than flying. I turned up in Aulnoye-Aymeries, which is around 20km from the Belgium border, and is a small town next to Berlaimont, the village where I'll be teaching. I got picked up by the teacher who is basically tasked with looking after me (helping to find somewhere to live, organising my timetable etc) and she took me to my accommodation where we met the landlady. I have a room with a kitchenette and sink and I share a bathroom with 3 french girls who are also students but were typically away at the weekend so I haven't met them yet! Anyway, the teacher then showed me the way to the school, and offered to take me to the supermarket as on Sundays (very infuriatingly) not even the supermarket is open, and shops are only open in the morning if at all. In the evening, she offered to take me for dinner, for the classic "specialité du Nord"- les frites! It was lovely, and her and her husband very kindly paid for it! I will also be lucky enough to have free lunches every day I'm at work, which is really amazing. 

I did find it a bit difficult diving straight back into speaking French, and I definitely haven't done as much of it as I should, but apart from a couple of slips of Russian (потому что and только kept trying to sneak in) it's been pretty good. I embarrassingly managed to forget my ticket when I bought it at the station, and forgot the word for sheep, but other than that I've had no choice but to speak and listen to it a lot. I have a television in my room too, which is great to have on in the background, and it's a very good way to keep up to date with stuff and get French in your head. Anyway, I'll shut up now. I'm having fun already, and settled in if anyone cared- i'm sure i'll be bored enough in this little town to keep updating more often :P 

A bientôt