Beginnings

Hello hello hello!

A lot of people have asked how things are going, and I keep putting off answering. My week in Pennsylvania went extremely well. I surprised my dear friend Liz by jumping out of the back of her friend Jen's car. She didn't know quite what to think. She couldn't believe we had kept the secret from her for over three months. I don't know how Jen and I did it either to be honest. Liz took me to the airport in Philly the day of my flight.

I was really anxious about all the things I would need to take care of once arrived in France. I arrived at the airport in Paris only to find that they had lost one of my suitcases. I've been wearing the same pair of jeans for the past week! Luckily, they found it. I'll have it back tonight, and then I can go and wash some clothing, and CHANGE out of these jeans! Actually, their losing my bag made my trip from the airport to the train station much easier, as I had to take the metro/subway by myself, and I don't think it would have been possible with two big suitcases and a carry-on. As it was, I was lucky that many people were so helpful in helping me drag my bags up and down the stairwells of the metro.

I made it to Chartres a bit later than I had expected, but was met at the train station by a friend of my landlady's. She and a friend of hers drove me to the studio. She and I went upstairs to do a quick run through to check the state of the apartment and it's furnishings. She was kind enough to bring me enough food for my dinner the first night, and to take me on a walk through town, to show me around a little bit. The first day in town, I spent most of the day running errands.

Saturday I went back to Paris to meet with the Rotary Exchange Students and the Rotarians responsible for them. We spent the day running around Paris, keeping track of about 25 young people (both foreign students and French students who just returned from a year abroad.)

I returned Sunday afternoon and went on a walk through town. Everything is closed on Sundays, and almost everything is closed on Mondays as well. On Monday morning, I woke up very late (after having slept nearly 11 hours. The third time I've done that in the past week!) Monday I was able to run very few errands, but I was able to go on a long walk through town. I went to the river Eure, at the bottom of the hill. The Cathedral and town centre (where I live) are on top of a hill. In the past, this was so that Pilgrims coming to the Cathedral could see it from miles away. I descended a long stairway that branches off from my street and is near the backside of the Cathedral. I walked along the river, and afterwards I followed another stairway up the backside. There is a little "Pâtisserie" or bakery just on the corner of my street, where I go to get bread and sometimes a little sweet snack. The owner is a very kind woman who always seems to have flour on her face and in her hair. Yesterday her dog, a big german shepherd named "Shark" came downstairs and stood in the hallway with his head cocked to the side, trying to figure out who this new stranger talking to his owner was.

I've been trying to get creative with what little "kitchen" space and utensils I have. (A hotplate, one saucepan, one pot, no lids!, butter knives...) I have made myself a lot of rice and pasta, and sandwiches. I miss having an oven! My favorite foods are baked, with cheese melted on top!

I will be going to visit friends this weekend, and then I go to Orléans for an orientation for the teaching Assistants the following Friday. The week after that, I will have two training days in a couple of schools, then the week after that I should start. I learned today that I will not actually be teaching in the school they had listed on my contract...In fact I will be spread over 3 schools in Lucé, a community that is part of the Chartres Metropolitan area. It's not very far. I could walk there in 30 minutes, or I can take a bus. We'll see what I end up doing, but I've rather enjoyed my long walks around town. This will probably change once it starts to rain!

I think that's all I have to report for the moment!

Departure and a Surprise!

I left California behind on September 8th, but I'm still in the states! I hopped on a plane to Harrisburg, PA, then I got a ride to Carlisle about 30 minutes away. My dear friend Liz is going to school here, and her best friend from University and I have been plotting for the past 3 months to give her the biggest surprise of her life!

I had told Liz that I was "leaving California" on the 8th, but that I was sending her a big package before then. So the Thursday before my arrival, I texted her and let her know that I was sending the package. On the 8th, we texted each other during the day, when I was on layovers, and then I stopped texting back after I told her I was getting on my last ride before my final destination.

Jen picked me up at the airport, and we went and parked near their school campus in Carlisle. Jen went and found Liz, and I set myself up in the trunk of her Jeep, under a blanket, next to my suitcases. When they came back and opened the door, I sat still for a few seconds, and then lifted the blanket. Liz started to jump up and down and scream immediately. What a hit! We pulled it off somehow. 3 months of keeping a big secret like that was no easy feat!

I'm so excited to be here visiting this week.

I'm off to France on the 15th, and I'll be at my studio in Chartres on the 16th!

I'll have to update you all again from there once I'm settled in.

Plans

Oh, how slowly this has seemed to crawl up on me. Suddenly, every day seems to go by at increasing speed as the day of my departure approaches! I've cleaned my room (though it could use another purge before I pack). I need to find cardboard boxes to pack my life into while I am away.

I've been trying to search for a studio or a small apartment in Chartres, France, where I will be living and teaching for the next 9 months. It's too hard online, and it seems I will have to just believe with all my might that showing up and staying in the local youth hostel until I can snag a permanent place to live is going to work out.

There are so many things to think about! I will qualify for a few different social programs to help me with an apartment. First, there is a program called LOCA-PASS, which enables me to borrow the money for a deposit on an apartment, interest free. The people that organize this also act as gaurantors for my rental agreement, basically stating that if I can't pay my rent, they will. The second program is through the French Government, and it's called the CAF. It's basically a housing subsidy. From their aid calculator online, it looks like I will be eligible for about 200+ euros of government aid each month. This is good news. It means I will be able to save some of my money, I hope!

I have to find a studio fairly fast, in order to get a bank account. If I have a bank account and fill out the appropriate paperwork with my elementary school by October 10th, I should get a pay advance of my first months salary. Which I will need sorely!

I have started talking with a few of the other Teaching Assistants in Chartres online the past days and weeks, and I think we all are antsy about not knowing where we are living.

In any case, I am excited about this new adventure! I can't believe I am headed back to France to spend another year over there. Today I read something on a friend's blog that made me tear up a little. She wrote that when she was in France on her Rotary Youth Exchange, she did everything on auto-pilot. She made friends, went to school, went to coffee, etc etc etc. But since her return, she has lost touch with most of her French contacts, including her host families, and her school friends. I think she and I both feel that the first time around, we didn't really take full advantage of our situation. We were living in EUROPE! And we just lived our every day lives as if nothing was different.

"I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life...to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." ~Henry David Thoreau