Update from Laval

So it has been a while since I have updated you all so I don't even remember where I left off or what even happened last week. :/

Every assistant has a contact person here in France to help us out with finding our schools, planning and pretty much just make things easier for us. Mine is named Stéphane and he is the contact person for the elementary school assistants. There are five of us. Three Americans (Ashley, Sara and myself) and two British girls (Sophie and Louise). We all live at the foyer and pretty much spend all of our free time together. Which is good and bad because no French is spoken during those times which bothers me a little. I wish I spoke more French but it's hard to find someone to just speak French with at all times. Anyway.. Since we don't start actually teaching until next week we have been having meetings every few days to prepare and ask any questions that we may have. Stéphane is really nice and super funny so we usually have a good time. He has been preparing us in any way possible. On Thursday we all had to call our schools and inform the "directors" that we would be attending the school on Friday to observe how French schools work. Talking on the phone in a foreign language is always nerve racking because you can't see their expressions or read lips!! It went way better than I thought it would and the director was super nice.

For dinner the foyer had a "moules et frites" night which consisted of mussels and french fries. Judge me all you want but it was delicious! The mussels aren't exactly filling so I had chicken afterwards and then I felt like I was going to explode but guess who had dessert afterwards? YUPP! moi. :D It was an apple pie but as much as it's an apple pie it tastes nothing like an american apple pie.. it's a hundred times better. Then we all just hung out in the bar area and played pool and darts. That all quickly turned into sitting and talking because no one was really good at any of it.

On Friday I woke up early and got ready for the day. I made eggs for breakfast and headed out to the my main school. This school is called Badinter which is right next to the building where we meet Stéphane. On Thursday I went back into town and looked for it because I knew that it was close to the building but I wasn't sure exactly where it was at. I walked around the whole block to find out that it's right next to the building where we have been meeting for almost two weeks! haha I felt a little dumb but relieved that I knew where to go for the next morning. Back to Friday! So I took the bus to my school and of course I got there super early. The director had told me to meet him at 8:20am but I arrived at 8am because I didn't want to be late. I sat in his office and he didn't arrive until 8:30am. Oops! He explained that the school is particularly for troubled families and that sometimes things get intense and the kids get out of control. He introduced me to all of the teachers but no one was particularly nice to me. I asked him which class I should visit first and the youngest teacher said "why not?" in his best English.

I ended up going to his class first even though he teaches the equivalent to kindergarten which I will not be teaching but I just observed. The teachers in France are hardcore. At times I felt as if I was at bootcamp. They are so intense and so mean to the kids that it's kind of sad to watch at times because kids are kids! Anyway, I learned a few things about the school that will definitely help me later on. School starts at 8:30am and then they get a break at about 10:15am for 15 minutes or so. Then lunch is from 11:30am to 2:30pm ..yes two hours!! INSANITY. At 2:30pm classes start again with a break at 3:45ish and then school is over at 4:30pm. Their schools obviously get out later than they would ever end in the states but they also get a two hour lunch. Stéphane told us that in Laval EVERYONE takes a two hour lunch no matter where you work. I was able to go back to my apartment for lunch and then head back. On my way back the bus overheated so we had to get off and wait for the next one which almost made me late for my next class but I made it just in time! I was worried I would be late and make a bad impression but it was raining and I didn't have an umbrella so I didn't want to walk the rest of the distance.

Friday was such a tiring day even though I wasn't teaching, it was tiring being with children all day long. I got back to my apartment ate some pasta from the night before nd then took a nap. I only intended to take an hour nap but it ended up being a four hour nap. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a while so I downloaded Gossip Girl and How I Met Your Mother so I would have something to do in my room. I finally fell asleep at 2am which wasn't bad considering I woke up from my nap at 8pm.

On Saturday I woke up and packed to go to Tours for the weekend. Ashley and I wanted to get the rest of our clothes from Romain's so we last minute booked tickets to Tours. We arrived in Tours at around 4pm, quickly ran to a flower shop next to the train station, bought flowers for Romain's parents and jumped on the bus from Tours to Monts which took about 45 minutes due to traffic. It usually is closer to half an hour but the traffic was crazy. We finally got to Romain's and we went upstairs to Romain's room and woke him up from his nap. *Oops!* We watched a French (comedy) movie about some kids that go on a field trip and a lot of things happen throughout the trip and then we watched one episode of How I Met Your Mother. Afterwards we ate yummylicious dinner with his family and watched some TV. There was a singing show called "Sing Off" which was acapella singers but they were horrible. We cleaned up and then got ready to go out. Benjamin came over and then we headed out.

We went back into Tours and headed to Place Plumereau (the usual place) and met up with some friends, Frank, Delphine, Thomas/Toto, Cindy, Aurélien, Amandine and another girl but I forgot her name. :( I wasn't feeling very well so I didn't drink anything the whole night because I didn't want to make it worse. After Place Plum (pronounced ploom not like the fruit) we headed to le Pacio (the usual club) but It was only Romain, Benjamin, Aurélien, Ashley, Amandine and me. We all went in but the music was horrible so we only danced for a few songs and then we left. Romain kept apologizing for the music always being terrible when we go but it was obviously not his fault. We were going to go back to his house and watch How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) but we decided to go to McDonald's instead to get McFlurries. Since I can't have milk products I got a small fries but they were the size of a medium so I could barely finish them all. We sat in Romain's car and Aurélien and Amandine sat in her car so we rolled the windows down and talked like that. Very random but it was fun. :) When we got home we all went straight to bed because Romain (Roro) & Benjamin (Choco) had soccer the next morning. I hadn't been to a soccer game in forever so I wanted to go watch. I slept for a total of three hours and then woke up to go to the soccer game. It was freezing cold out and raining so Romain's dad lent me a rain jacket (what a cutie!). Since I had plenty of time to spare I sat down and talked to him about rugby and soccer for about 20 minutes while we ate breakfast and while Roro got ready.

The game was in a small town outside of Monts called Azay le Rideau. It was at a new stadium that had just been built and had astroturf. It was actually super nice but they don't have bleachers which I didn't quite understand. Anyway, I sat on the turf and watched the boys play soccer in the windy and cold weather. They don't understand how I can have fun watching them play soccer but I actually love it. Roro ended up scoring at the very last second of the game and then we went back to his house and looked at pictures from his parent's recent trip to Turkey. There are some crazy things in Turkey! We ate lunch right after ..a delicious lunch. I don't know what it is but everything here is so delicious. We could eat the same thing in the states and it wouldn't taste as delicious. Roro's parents are the sweetest people ever! When they host us they go above and beyond to make sure we are comfortable. The only thing they don't change is how quickly they speak. Which is nice to know that I can understand it but when I can't I feel bad having them repeat it. I really do wish that I had more opportunities to speak French and perfect my accent.. which I understand that will never disappear but I wish it would sound more natural when I speak.

ANYWAY, after lunch we helped Roro's mom clean up and then we packed our suitcases and watched yet another episode of HIMYM. Then we all headed to the train station. Roro's train to Paris left five minutes after ours so they helped us get our big luggage onto the train and then he went to his train.

When we go to Tours from Laval or vice versa we have to connect in a city called Le Mans. I had originally thought that our connection time was around an hour because that what it had been the past few times but luckily I checked again and it was only a ten minute connection. Of course we had to go down a ton of stairs and back up a ton of stairs to get to the next train which hadn't arrived yet. You never know how long the train will stop for so you have to hurry up just in case it only stops for a few minutes. Of course we had assigned seating and our car was the second to last. There you have Ashley and I hauling our huge bags through the crowd. When we finally got on the train I was sweating and the place where you store luggage was completely full. Since my suitcase has four wheels I couldn't just leave it and go sit down. I also couldn't lay it on it's side because it would have blocked the aisle. I stood on the train trying to not fall over for forty minutes until we finally arrived in Laval. Luckily the train station is no more than 10 minutes away from the foyer so we made it back alright. I only have one flight of stairs to go up to get to my apartment but Ashley has four...and the biggest suitcase in the world with one working handle. I brought my bag to my room and went to help Ashley. She was pretty much half way there by the time I arrived but I helped her carry it the rest of the way. I don't even know how she got it as far as she did. I would have given up for sure. I unpacked a bit and then headed to bed.

Today we had a meeting with Stéphane to recap on what had shocked us at our schools and to give us some tips on how to create a lesson for our classes. After our meeting we all came back to the foyer and then headed to the big super market Carrefour. I bought some more groceries and some things that I had realized that I needed for my apartment that I had forgotten before. Now my apartment is more complete with place mats and coasters (Thanks to my mom for making me feel like I cannot live without them!). Hopefully it's the last time that I have to shop until I at least get paid. Tomorrow I have to go into the bank and get my French debit card. ;) so pumped! and then I will be getting a new cell phone. WHOO! We are also going as a group to get our social security stuff figured out. I hope it all works outtttt. :D

Happy birthday to PAO!!! My beautiful sister :D :D :D I wish I could celebrate with you but we are on complete opposite sides of the planet right now.. :( Have a great day at Universal Studios with momma and George!

Hopefully tomorrow I have more time to give a more detailed description on my observation at school. ;)

love ya'll
Valé

gros bisous <3