Orientation in Caen

Caen, and my horrible photography. . .

Ak! Sorry that it has been over a week since my last post. Again. I have no excuse. I also have some interesting stories to tell about my time in Caen for my orientation with all the other English assistants in my area. It is not like I had nothing to write about!

Alright, so, last Monday I woke up before the sun to take a bus, and then a train, and then a bus, to a high school in Caen to learn about how the French school systems are structured and how to be effective in the classroom. I had heard from people who had done the program previously that it was going to be very dull, and not in the least bit helpful, so I wasn't really excited about the information, but I was excited to get to talk to some native English speakers, and to hear about other people's experiences.

When I got off the train at the station, I knew I had to take a bus to the school. I was a little nervous about getting there and was looking in the bus shelters when I heard raised voices, and saw a crowd of mostly girls chattering away in English. I walked over and said, "you guys are assistants right?" Of course they were. I met a Canadian, a few Brits and a bunch of Americans right away. They were all really nice, and it was a little weird to be able to speak English in full force for the first time. I know, it doesn't make so much sense that I was excited to speak English, but the English I have been speaking has been a little different. Mostly I speak either with students who have a hard time understanding basic English, French people who speak perfect but British English, or my boyfriend, who is great, but has a hard time understanding when I speak really fast, or with too many weird Americanisms. Ok, short story detour. One time (I swear I did not even make this up) I was sitting in our living room and Olivier walks in from the kitchen. He asks, "Are you ok?" I said, "Yeah, I'm just chillin'" He says, " Oh, do you want me to turn on the heat?" I laughed so hard, to myself. All alone. So you can see that speaking with other Americans was a change from my life right now. I was all over the place. I think that most people thought I was funny, but really I was just hysterical because I was so excited. It was fun. It was a lot like freshman year of college, actually. Everyone was talking to everyone, people were super friendly, and everyone was trying to tie down a best friend asap. It was a little crazy, but in a good English way.

The info part of the day was actually not half bad. They gave us free breakfast before they started and talked to us all (about 60 or so English assistants) in a lecture hall and told us about our region, Basse Normandie,  how it is special, why they need assistants and how the chain of command in schools works. It was kind of dull, but it was only an hour or so. After that they broke us up into groups depending on where we worked, middle school, technical high school, or general high school. I was in a classroom with about 25 other people and an English teacher from the region. We got to ask her questions and she ran down a long list of things we should know, things we could do, and things we shouldn't do. Apparently yawning in class is a big no-no. Oops. I actually learned a lot and got some good tips for controlling a classroom and some target learning goals set by the country.

My favorite part of the day though was the lunch. We got almost two hours for lunch, and it was free for us generously offered by the school. We got the French equivalent of hot lunch. It was of course, rediculously delicious. There was a choice of chicken, fish or pork, puree of carrots (with curryish spices) and something green and vegetabley that I can't remember now. With that came a salad (green and choice of tomato, cucumber or grapefruit) a fruit, a dessert (I chose creme brulee, and yes, even cafeteria creme brulee is amazing), a cheese and baguette,  and there were bottles of cider on the tables, and coffee for afterwards. It was really impressive for a school lunch. The cider in France is not the same as cider in the US.  In France cider is sparkling, and alcoholic, and it is delicious. Normandy is famous for their cider, and there is a lot available everywhere in France. They have two kinds, brut which is less sweet, and doux, which is more sweet. I used to like the doux better, but now I prefer brut. Yummm!

Of course I would spend a huge paragraph talking about the food, but besides the food, the best thing about the day was meeting so many people. One of the girls I met came and stayed with me last Thursday, and I am hopefully making plans to see another friend over the break that I have at the end of the week.

Yes, I have a two week vacation at the end of this week. Crazy, I know, but hey, I'm not complaining! It is Toussaint break (All Saints) and I am going to spend the first part of it celebrating four birthdays, and then helping one of Olivier's sisters work on her house. We promised that we would help out a few weeks ago but bailed like a couple of meanies, so we owe her some hard labor.

I always say this, but this time I swear I will write again before this week is over (and by that I mean Friday night).

Thanks for reading my ramblings, and kudos if you made it all the way through!

Talk to you soon!

Shoshana