Belgium 09

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Wow, so I just had a whirlwind of a weekend but such a great one...I managed to spend 100 euros in three days, clearly I was in the capitol of beer, chocolate, fries and all things yummy. This week is my first week of vacation from school (even though it's not technically vacation because I still have to teach my law classes and medicine classes because those campuses are on a different holiday schedule than me...blah). Anyways, I hoped onto a train Friday morning and headed up to waaaaay northern France to first visit with my friend Mel who Graham and I met on the green tortoise trip last year. Mel lives in a teeeeeny town called Bergues (which is just northwest of Lille) and I stopped by for an evening of fun and festivities as it was the beginning of their fall break as well (let me tell you, French elementary teachers going on vacation know how to throw one hell of a party). Mel and I ended up at her school around 7.30 for drinks, this is French custom, or apérétifs as they are called here, cocktail hour lasted good and long up to close to 9.30 when dinner was served and I was thoroughly blitzed...I am not responsible for the fact that it's rude to turn down good booze and they kept pouring it for me...besides alcohol helps when speaking french, which I was doing ALL night, I think if I'd been living in a small town like Bergues from the beginning of my stay I'd be pretty freaking fluent by now, though conversely and alcoholic, as like in Denton, when there's not much to do, you drink.

I spent the night schmoozing and bastardizing french, also teaching the locals how to hoe-down and properly do the YMCA...music, like most things in France, is about 20 years behind the times in getting across the ocean. One thing never to do, is tell a French person that their music sucks, then they will launch into a story about how it's all about the words even though that doesn't change the fact that sad sappy electronic back up can never be excused by any manner of poetry, not even if you're singing freaking Shakespeare to it. I finished the evening eating and drinking drove away watching the school headmaster take part in the ultimate French tradition of sharing a cigarette with his two mistresses at the same time...clutch.

The next day I headed off to Antwerp, a city in Belgium, to stay with my friend Klara who I met through Graham in Texas over a year ago (I love that people that I haven't seen in years I can just casually drop in on and visit with...Europe sure is great). Klara and I spent the day wandering around in the mist of Antwerp (very much like northern UK weather). The first thing I partook of in Belgium was WAFEL....oh my god the Ooey Gooey sticky caramelized sugary goodness topped with home made whip, strawberries and my own personal touch, chocolate. Talk about a foodgasm, I wanted to cry it was so good. After my sugar coma subsided Klara and I set off through the city exploring (as she has only just arrived in Antwerp about 2 months ago as well). I saw castles, looked at some hoes (and some of them I wanted to pay to close their curtains...talk about some ugly old women you never want to see in lingerie). Klara and I strode over to her favorite local jazz bar and started partaking of the local BEER which was AMAZING. Let me say, that I have never understood the need of having all the individual glasses for all the different kinds of beer, until now. People who take enough time to care that a specialized glass is developed so that at the point of conception their beer is like liquid mana in your mouth, should be awarded prizes of all kinds. I will never ever bastardize my beer again by drinking it in a less than worthy glass. Way too many beers later we schlepped ourselves over to the pizza parlor to partake of something to soak up all the hops:) It was a very good food and beer filled night indeed.

Klara and I headed off to Ghent the next day, where her boyfriend lives in the coolest oldest fashioned house I have ever seen...literally the heating is through little stoves that you burn wood in...it's awesome. The back yard is full of home grown lettuce and three wee chickens for egg producing and garbage eating...spectacular. However, before taking the train out to Tobais's house we wandered around Ghent all day. Seeing the old castles, eating Belgian chocolate, drinking more beer (see my decorative arrangement of glasses below) and touring the general city and admiring the architecture, seeing strange restaurants that hang meat from the ceilings...overall just having an awesome day:) When we got to Tobais's house later a homemade dinner, complete with home made Belgian fries was in the works...Belgian fries are better than anything you have ever had, especially when you smother them in home made apple sauce and follow them with 24% port and chocolate pastry of some sort...then when you wake up the next morning and actually have DRIP COFFEE FROM A DRIP COFFEE MACHINE IN A CUP THE SIZE OF YOUR HEAD, you will think you have died and gone to heaven in Belgium.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing vacation and break away from Tours, I was definitely not ready to come back and I am sad to be here right now instead of hanging out with my friends. It's so nice to see your people and get a little taste of home whenever you are far away. I'm finding that I am finally hitting my stride here in Tours, my days are really occupied and I have the pleasure of meeting new people all the time. I am hitting that happy medium and all in all really enjoying myself. Heading off to Portugal this weekend with all of the English lecturers, and apparently there is a big Halloween celebration there to be had. I am most excited to partake and spend some time with my new found friends here. Life is good today:)

I love you, I miss you

Sarah:)

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It has finally turned FREEZING in France, of course not freezing by most normal people's standards, by freezing to me since I've lived in the sweltering sauna of Texas for the last three falls in a row. This week has been very eventful, teaching is getting easier and easier, and I'm slowly figuring out which classes I like the best, and how best to teach the ones I loathe...busy work is my friend:) I spend a lot of time in the classes outside of the English department speaking in French, as my students have no idea what I am saying most of the time. My law classes switch from classroom to computer lab every week, so it gives me a chance to have a lot of one on one time with my students. This is good because it forces us both into using languages were not necessarily comfortable with; it's very risky speaking French with your students, because your french will never be as good as theirs, therefore you run the risk of undermining yourself with the class. It's a very fine line to walk, but I think I am managing ok for the most part.

I have been sick this whole week which let me tell you, really sucks in a freezing cold apartment. We have heat, but we're trying desperately not to turn it on since it will cost a fortune...it's that old school radiator heating that is run by gas and either leaves you sweltering hot, or just not quite close to warm. Yet another lovely charming addition to my apartment stay here in France. Not to mention that last week when we turned it on for the first time our electricity went out at 10pm and we had to wait for our landlady to show up with her man/boyfriend/friend, we're not really sure what he is, but he always seems to show up when something (and it's always something) in the apartment goes wrong. How a skinny french man in slacks is going to be able to help us any more than we can help ourselves I'll never be sure. Anyway, being sick in a cold apartment sucks, since the only pleasure you can get each day is a nice warm shower, only to be abruptly ruined by the drafty hall and freezing cold bedroom you have to change in. This morning I just crawled back into bed with my clothes and let my body heat warm them up before I put them on.

Last night was the first French trivia night I have ever been to, and it was so.much.fun. It's held at the pale (the Irish pub that I love) and hosted by the Irish owner Warren (who happens to be a Floyd and Dead Head). Trivia goes all night and you are arranged into teams that have to guess questions on who the celebrity is in the child photo, what country that flag comes from, name that tune, guess that album cover, and my all time favorite, anagrams of french people (I sucked ass at that one, but I suck at anagrams even in english). So I spent the evening in the basement of the Pale shouting out answers to Trivia questions all in French with my team (team Maple....such a stupid name, but I didn't pick it). At the end of the night we walked home in search of a Mcdonalds, which was alas closed, but I got some great action photos of me and my friend Marcia doing ballet in the streets of Tours...:) I also got to add my name to the "List" at the Pale. The list is for serious beer drinkers only, after you have recorded drinking 100 pints at the Pale, you get your own drinking mug with your name on it, and 50 cents off each beer. I am aiming to have this accomplished by February:) At least I have goals:)

This week I got a little lonely one day when I had nothing to do, it's amazing how fast your mood can change. I can go from being top of the world in the morning, to pathetic looser in the evening with no friends and nothing to do. So I headed out for a long walk around the town (I've been doing a lot of this lately) and I found myself at a local music shop just inquiring how much a used guitar would be (since I'm so desperate to make any kind of music at this point) and the next thing I knew I was outside looking into the trunk of some French guy's car and buying a Fender acoustic that he just had laying there. So this week I've spent some time learning all the CM scales all up and down the fretboard, needless to say I suck and i won't be posting any music videos soon, but it's so nice to have some way for my creativity to manifest itself. It feels good :)

I also met a group of Russians this week. I was at my usual Monday night hang (Café des Langues) and it had moved inside because it was SO cold. But 150 plus people in the upstairs of a café is no bueno, I was left standing on a stairway chatting with my friend Antonia looking for a new group of people. Some guys looked over at us (as guys are always staring at Antonia...she's a blonde German) and started chatting us up. I headed outside with them to find a table and spent the latter part of the evening chatting with them. Turns out that one of them is French and met the others because he was their French teacher at Uni. Then he ended up being their student in Russian at Uni. IT was all terribly terribly interesting, especially when the Russians didn't understand something I said in English and instead of asking their French Friend in French, they asked him in Russian. It gives you a bit of an uneasy feeling, because sometimes you know they're just talking about you. Oh well, I managed to pick up a weekly private student out of the evening, so that's a couple extra euros for me each month:)

This next weekend is fall break, FINALLY, and I am heading off to Belgium to see some friends, heading back to France to teach my two Law classes (since the law school is on a different holiday system than the English school...very strange) then I'm heading off to Portugal with the other lecteurs for a very fun filled Halloween weekend of what I can only hope will be a great release of madness:)

So that's all for now, I love you, I miss you

Sarah:)

Siobhan and Sarah at Amanda's birthday party (Minus Amanda:)

Sarah and Marcia do ballet....

I love MacDonalds

And More ballet...:)

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Well here it is finally, a little more than a month into my stay, here comes all the things that piss me off about France.

Thank God I had the good sense to bring drugs with me to France; my face feels like it's about to explode from the pressure inside. I suppose it's a good thing since I have the next two days off. Other than feeling sick though life is pretty good right now:) I am finally set at school, no more classes to be added, no more surprise changes of rooms or time, and I have finally taught all of my classes at least once (that only took three weeks). My students for the most part are lazy as hell, but I've got a couple of good eggs in each class so that helps me out. I'm teaching an american culture class as well for students that are interested or are already enrolled to travel abroad, so I think I really enjoy that class the most, although it does take the most preparation. I spent the last week in that class explaining the differences in the university systems in the states versus the system that they're a part of here in France...I really do enjoy shocking the hell out of them, it's a lot of fun to make them realize how easy they've got it. The university I teach at here is about the equivalent of a step below community college, the kids don't even have to pass every class each semester to go on to the next level of any given class; grades are averaged from all the classes each semester and then you have a total semester average (you either pass the semester or don't). They've got it pretty easy here, but a degree from the university isn't exactly looked on as a grand accomplishment in the business world when searching for a job.

I've done a lot of exploring this week since I was given law classes on a campus about 45 minutes from our apartment. I've learned how the bus system works and have been bopping around town. I finally found the GIANT grocery store (basically the equivalent of Sam's Club) and have since gone on two BIG shops. It's nice to have found a place that doesn't charge and arm and a leg for chicken breasts. I've learned that in France, commodities that are most expensive in the states (cheese, snacks, wine, gourmet chocolate) are most inexpensive, however that things I took for granted (chicken breasts at 2.99/lb) are ass expensive here. You have to make the mile and half hike (or take the bus, or mooch a ride off your roommate's boyfriend) to the large grocery store, and you can buy 6 chicken breasts (note: this does not mean whole breast, it means half of one) for around $13. This is a good deal. However, gourmet chocolate that would run $3-4 a bar in the states, you can buy a pack of 6 for $4. It's really going to be difficult for me to try and not get fat.

The last couple days have been quite an adventure. Last night was my friend Amanda's birthday (she's the youngest of the lecteurs, just turning 23) and bless her heart, her mother came in to see her, but also surprised her by brining her 80-something gran with her (and her wheelchair). For those of you that can't understand why this would be a problem, I invite you to recall what I said to you about train stations and apartment buildings here in Europe, and how there are most times NO elevators. Since Amanda's gran coming was a surprise, her mother of course didn't know that the elevator in Amanda's apartment (where she lives on teh 4th floor) is out of service for the next month (most things seem to go out of service and never get fixed here, so I'm still skeptical). So last night and this morning Zach and I trekked over to Amanda's apartment to help haul her up and down the 8 flights of stairs while she sat in her wheelchair princess style. Did I mention we had to do it at 7.30 this morning? After Zach and I had been out celebrating Amanda's birthday without her because she had to go home with her Gran and Mum last night instead of coming out to the surprise party we had planned for her. Lovely. We still had a great time at the party sans (without) Amanda, although we had to talk only in whispers because our friends neighbors threatened to call the police the last time we had too many people out...

Speaking of which, I'm going to have to learn how to call the police here so I can report my jack-ass of a neighbor upstairs who thinks it's appropriate to have a party in his house at 5.30 in the morning, complete with music and skanky girls clacking around in high heels above my ceiling. A complaining foreigner with no command of the language doesn't do much good, even if you go to his door in full pj's, hair a mess, wearing flamingo socks with earplugs in hand to show you just how loud he is. Grrrrr. Apparently when you do call the police here (because there is a noise policy that is enforced) it's a 160 euro fine on the spot. Next time I'm waking up Siobhan's (roommate) boyfriend Flo (who is French) and am sending him upstairs...as she and I have both learned that when little foreign girls complain nothing gets done, but if you send an actual Frenchie, you'd be surprised at how accommodating the French are willing to be. Freaking Frogs.

So other than lack of elevators, unmotivated students, school schedules that change and you can find solutions to, loud neighbors and the fact that I still DON'T HAVE A BANK DEBIT CARD AND CAN'T USE MY MONEY, everything here is lovely:) I'm heading to Belgium in two weeks to visit friends from mine and Graham's green tortoise adventure last summer, and I'm going to Portugal with all the lecteurs the week after that. I'm starting to find that three weeks is about my limit, and then I need to go out of town and get a breath of fresh air to start again:) I'd love to hear from you if anyone has the time for an email or a letter

103 rue george SAND

37000 Tours, France

I love you, I miss you

Sarah:)

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Wow, so it's been a super full week, my first full week of teaching, made lots of new friends. Slowly but surely gaining assurance in France and confidence. I don't even know where to start, I've met so many great people, and had such a great time meeting up with all of them; not to mention learning the do's and don'ts of who and who not to give your number to and what that really means in France. (Needless to say I've hit on way too many French people without realizing it).

Classes this week went smoothly, until Thursday. My students in my Wednesday evening class came up to me and asked (since they are in my Friday evening class as well) if I could possibly move the time (since it's at 5.30pm), I was unaware the schedules could move at will, but here apparently they can. So very politely I went to kiss some secretarial ass to see if my class could be moved per the request of the STUDENTS (this is most important since we're still trying not to anger the secretaries). Sure enough they said it could, and that they would email me the changes (since I still don't have online access to my schedule and I can't check it). Sure enough I came in Thursday morning, after having checked my email five times the night and morning before, and my class had been moved, to Thursday morning at 8am (meaning I had missed it completely) since I arrived at university at 11am to teach my 12pm class. Oh france, how I love thee. So now I'm a week behind in one of my phonetics classes and I've had two law, yes as in the US political system and British parliamentary system (which I know nothing about), added to my schedule this week...I need to go study.

This weekend was lovely, although Friday night I learned an excellent lesson, 50cl pints of beer are bigger than 16oz pints in the US, you can not drink as much as you think you can, especially when you make friends with Irish laborers at the local Irish pub. Needless to say I don't remember much about that evening accept for the fact that my friend Jamie told me that he knew I was in trouble when I looked over at them from the bar at quarter to two smiling and cheers'ing them with a full 50cl pint of Paulaner in my hands...that was a rough morning on Saturday, I think my liver was confused by the presence of hops in my system, since it was just getting used to all the distilled fruit:) I've spent the rest of the weekend eating and wandering around with some of my new frenchie friends, chatting about life, love and the ever-important question of what are we going to eat.

It feels so good to finally feel like I'm making headway in my life here. Tomorrow I will have been gone exactly 1 month and it's hard to believe because so much has happened, but it feels like it's also just been the blink of an eye as well. This whole experience has already been such a journey into self exploration. I had such a great epiphany yesterday while walking around a 500 year old cathedral staring at the architecture that not 8 months ago I had to give a presentation on in French class; it's that seeing all these wonderful things, these old buildings and new culture, that's not what changes us, it's the experience and journey of getting there. For instance, to go see said old chateau, you have to buy a ticket online in french, go to the station, validate your card, get the train, meet people, talk in French, get to the city, ask directions, find food, get lost, etc etc, you get the idea. But it's the fact that what is changing me is what it takes for me to be able to do that. When you loose your language, let alone your culture, it's so hard to not feel like you're drowning and to not freak out because you really don't have any control. Every thing that you do every day is a little victory, because every little thing is new and different, and you've never done it before because it's in a different language. You grow, you learn, and you force yourself to just get on with it. It's a very strange thing to be at a point in your life where you can actually sense the change, as if it was something tangible that you can wrap yourself up in. You find ways to take care of yourself that you didn't realize ever before, everything becomes very real, as you find yourself on the path of who you were to who you are becoming.

That being said I'm finally finding new ways to cope, since some days are really hard, lately I've been listening to a lot of (gasp) country music, I find it very amusing and very difficult not to laugh while traversing the streets with dixie chicks blaring in my ears, it feels very wrong, but in a good way that's hilarious if only everyone else knew:) Everyday is so fun because there's always something new to find. Today I found an antique car show of old, OLD cars in the old district. It was being run by a bunch of french people from Bretagne (farthest western point, full of celtic culture and it's down indiscernible dialect). There's just something so fun about sitting in a Citroên 1923 car (this is the french equivalent of the model-T) trying to understand strange dialect while autumn leaves pumps over the sound system (although sung terribly in French) and sausages cook under the tent next door. Sometimes the different way of life here really can just take your breath away.

Last weekend I took a day trip to Amboise (where Davinci) lived the last years of his life and died. Such a really cool place, old chateaus, one of which was actually Davinci's where they have manifested all of his inventions and displayed them throughout the immense gardens. I found myself standing over his grave Sunday morning and traversing his footsteps on Sunday evening. Standing on a spot where history has actually taken place seems to always have some kind of awesome power over me. I've attached some of the photos on the bottom (sorry for the quality, I forgot my camera and had to buy a dinky disposable one and then have the film developed onto a CD...another fun adventure with vocabulary I didn't know). It seems that everyday when I leave the house, depending on my activity planned for the day, I spend a good 10 minutes with my online dictionary learning new words. I also find it very hard now to switch between the two languages (I keep trying to write things in french on this blog:).

I love you, I miss you,

Sarah

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