Week 1: Toulouse, France Part 1

I woke up on the morning of September 20th, my first full day of this French adventure.  Benjamin, my host, took me to the local farmers market before he left for work, after which I returned to bed to sleep until lunch. When he returned after work, Benjamin let me ride his bicycle, and we went for a ride along the canals.  It was beautiful!!!  The sun was beginning to set and gave a lovely golden glow to the autumn leaves.  We rode for about an hour, and right around the time I started to get sore, we returned 'home'. We had a lovely curry for dinner and then I went to bed, still a bit tired from the transcontinental traveling.

 

The second day I managed to stay awake until lunch, but fell asleep for a few hours after, still recovering from jet-lag.  I practiced my french and unpacked a bit, excited that we would be going to dance class that evening.  I had fallen in love with Zouk, a latin dance from Brazil based on the lambada, while living in Abu Dhabi.  It's considered a sensual dance because you use your senses to communicate with your partner - you hear the music, you see and feel their movements.  It's a wonderful experience, and my friends I'd met in Portugal were the instructors.  I had a lot of fun dancing with them again!

The third day I only took an hour long nap, after studying all morning and before I decided I needed coffee. Benjamin took me to the store to purchase necessities, and then we had a nice quiet evening.   watching an interesting French movie - The Untouchables, about the friendship between a paraplegic and his caretaker.  It was touching and actually quite funny!  I did my best to converse with him about it in my halting French. Then we watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox, also quite funny.

We returned to the farmers market on Saturday morning, my fourth day in France.  We purchased fresh produce and eggs, before exploring what other items the vendors had for sale.  After a simple yet delicious tomato salad for lunch, we set off for the near by city of Carcassonne.  I was SUPER excited about this adventure, because one of my favorite board games is Carcassonne, named for it.  Our first view of the walled city was breath taking - we turned a corner and suddenly there it was in all it's glory.  Awesome.  We parked and hiked up to the entrance, paused at the tourist center, then began to explore.  I found a copy of the board game in one of the souvenir shops and bought it.  I talked Benjamin into playing Carcassonne IN Carcassonne with me!  Then we wandered around a bit more before sitting down to dinner at a restaurant named for Camelot and King Arthur's round table, where I tried one of the local dishes:  Cassoulet - made from duck, white beans, and bacon.  It was delicious - I really enjoy French food.  Julia Child was NOT wrong...

My fifth day started early, becuase we were going hiking in the Pyranese Mountains.  We were a bit worried about the weather, but the forecast predicted it would be a nice day, so we ventured out.  It was lovely!  Quite steep for the first hour, and a much different terrain than I'm used to - lots of loose rocks, but I adapted, and was rewarded with brilliant scenes of sunlight streaming through forest and illuminating green landscapes.  We climbed up and up until we burst onto a meadow, completely surrounded by towering cliffs (which Benjamin called a cirque), with a streaming waterfall drawing us to the center.  We paused in the middle of the field on a huge rock by a stream flowing from the waterfall to enjoy our lunch and the surroundings.  Then we hiked the rest of the way to the falls, taking in all the beauty around us, before heading back down the trail.  I definately want to return!

   

Day six, Monday, was another quiet day for me with lots of studying and another long nap - it takes quite a while to beat jet-lag!  I practiced my French with Benjamin in the evening.  He says it's getting better, which is encouraging, but I still have a long way to go.  I have to ask him to slow down a lot, and many of the words sound exactly the same to my ear and I'm trying to use context clues to determine meaning.  I'm only right about a quarter of the time, but it's a start!

I finally ventured out on my own on Day seven, to explore Romonville, the suburb of Toulouse where Benjamin lives.  I found the local market and bought ingredients to make myself gluten free French Toast.  Ha!  I wonder what it's called here?  Then Benjamin and I rode bikes to the Metro Station, and went into the city to go to a Beat Box Quiz night, where the hosts started laying beats layer by layer until someone in the crowd guessed which song they were performing.  Everything from French songs to Lou Bega, Eminem, and FatBoy Slim.  Very entertaining!!!  

The next week promises to be just as entertaining.  I'll keep writing!!!

Adventures Between Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

I embarked on my journey to France at 5:45am Monday morning from my sister's house in upstate New York.  She drove me the hour to the train station in Syracuse, then hugged me goodbye before I boarded the  a train bound for New York City.  The train ride was beautiful - all mists and fall colors, reminiscent of something from a fairy tale! New York City was very crowded and busy but I still managed to run some errands around Penn Station without getting too lost, then took the metro to JFK International airport.  

I had purchased a ticket with Norwegian, a transcontinental budget airline - they weigh EVERYTHING (max 20 kilo for checked bags and 10 kilo carry-on total).  I was 4 kilos too heavy, so I had to rearrange and pay $60 for being over, but the ticket was so cheap (and I was bringing 3 bottles of wine and 6 cans of beer as gifts for my host), so I really can't complain about the additional charge.  What I can complain about is security.  I hate TSA in the USA. They're inconsistent and overly strict. I had brought a lovely squash bisque to eat for dinner before I boarded my flight, but it security did allow it through, and because I didn't want to throw it away, I was escorted back out to the check-in area and had to go through security all over again, without my bisque which I defiantly ate while waiting in line.  The flight itself was uneventful; I had a pleasantly short conversation with my seatmates before the plane departed and we all fell asleep. Norwegian charges for everything but water, so no meals or snacks were provided.  As I knew this ahead of time I had packed some snacks, but it didn't matter as I slept most of the flight.   

I had planned 2.5 hours between landing and the departure of my train from Paris to Toulouse, which I thought should have been enough time. We left and landed only slightly later than scheduled. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to get through customs quickly. My luggage was fairly fast, too. There was a slight hiccup when I attempted to purchase the metro ticket from the airport to the train station in Paris, when my debit card was declined (apparently because it's foreign), but the assistant helped me by escorting me to where I could pay with cash.  I took the tram into the city, and then managed to haul all 35 kilos of my luggage up and down flights of stairs to make my connections, too!

The trouble came when I was trying to leave the metro and enter the train station. Because my bags kept getting caught in the turnstiles, I elected to use the special gates for people with luggage or prams; the are open to let you in, but they close behind you and only open again after you deposit your ticket or scan your card.  I thought I could scan the QR code on my train ticket, but it didn't work - neither gate would open. I couldn't get through or back out the way I came.  I had to shout for help until someone came along to let me out, but it took a few minutes and but the time I figured out where my train was, it was time for departure and they'd stopped letting people on. I arrived in time to beg to be let through, then watched the train leave without me.

I was directed to the ticketing office.  Because I had gotten stuck in the metro gate, they put me on the next train for free, which was very kind because my ticket was non refundable. Then, while waiting for my next train, I was trapped in a bathroom stall, when the lock on the door jammed. I tried to open it several times then started knocking on the door until the attendant came and opened it with a screwdriver.  I spent the rest of the time sitting in large open spaces until the platform for the train to Toulouse was announced.

I was a bit confused when trying to find my carriage (the train was actually going to two different destinations), spilled coffee on myself in all the excitement, but finally found my assigned seat, only to discover that it was occupied. Wanting not to cause a fuss, I chose am empty seat close by (which I preferred anyway), and practiced my French during the 4 hour train ride. My host was waiting for me upon arrival, drove me to my new home for the next 6 weeks, and prepared a lovely late dinner for me.  Then, having traveled nearly 4,000 miles in 36 hours, I finally curled up in a comfortable bed and slept.  I had finally arrived and this was going to be a wonderful adventure.

Oh - I almost forgot to mention a most auspicious sighting!  When we arrived at my host's home, I saw a wild hedgehog - my favorite animal!  SO COOL!!!

Viva La France!!!

Hello again,
Wow.  It's been a VERY long time (years) since I've posted to my blog and a bit's changed with me, but mostly things are the same.  Last time I wrote, I was beginning my adventure in Abu Dhabi... And what an adventure it was!  So much so, that I didn't find the time to write about it.  In short, I met quite a few wonderful people, made amazing friends, and participated in some pretty cool things from Parkour to Zouk (and other forms of Latin dancing), TWO different choral groups, lots of boardgaming and meetups, cultural experiences, travel, and teaching some incredible kids.

So, as the title of this blog post implies, I am embarking on an adventure in France. Why France? I'm glad you asked... It all started back in December, when I decided that I wanted to teach in an International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP).  I firmly believe in the principles of the IB, and I've been teaching 5th grade in the Primary Years Program (PYP) for 3 years, but I have always been partial to teaching middle school students, and as AISA did not have an MYP, I submitted my resignation and began looking for MYP positions, figuring that six months would be plenty of time to find a new job in my desired program.  Turns out, I was wrong.  The school year ended, my 5th graders advanced to middle school, and I did not.  I found myself unemployed...

You're probably thinking, "Ok, so you're unemployed. What does that have to do with France?" Again, I'm glad you asked!  Well, when it became apparent that I would not be finding a teaching position this school year, I decided to take a 'gap year' and work on getting some additional certifications at the secondary level, which I hoped would help me be more employable in the long run.  Thinking that it would take a year of schooling to attain these certifications, and because I missed my family, I decided to return home to beautiful Washington State, USA. The plan was to substitute teach while I took online classes and studied.

"But that still doesn't explain WHY FRANCE!" Right.  Well, at the end of the school year I had scheduled lots of travel opportunities, because I didn't know what my future held, and I wanted to take advantage of being on the eastern hemisphere.  One of my destinations was Portugal, for a weekend of dance workshops, where I made friends with some people from France.  I met them again a month later in Spain, and followed them home to Toulouse.  We had such fun together that I was invited back.  As I am currently jobless, I have plenty of time on my hands, so I decided to take the opportunity to immerse myself in French culture for six weeks, with people who will help me learn the language and enjoy what this country has to offer!