Oh my giddy aunt, it's snowing!! Can't quite believe it, in Provence and in March. Pros: Possible 'snow day' and no school tomorrow (everything really does grind to a halt here when there's snow on the ground) Cons: Wet feet- all of my boots and shoes have long ago lost their waterprooficity except my hillwalking boots but don't really fancy wearing them out and about. So if I do have school I will most likely have soaked socks and cold tootsies, *sigh*.
I have decided that I will just hope it will be a snow day tomorrow and instead of preparing for school, will write a blog post and try and keep this thing rolling. First, would like to briefly mention the weekend which consisted of a Friday night Algerian (i think) fashion show in a Maison Pour Tous which featured some amaaazing dresses, photos to be added sur facebook soon. After this, getting home about 11, S and I made a cake, a Shokonusskuchen (sp?) or chocolate nut cake, with rum, yum! It's now Sunday and most of it is gone, oops. So much for the regime. Anyway back to chronology, on Saturday we started off the day in a similarly regime-ruining way at Utopia with a breakast of croissants and biscuits and brownies, oh my! Followed by some short films about the current situation in Mexico which were very touching and enlightening. Then about 12 we had to rush home and change clothes, and put together a packed lunch before heading out in Cl's car to Fontaine de Vaucluse, where we climbed a hill with some of Cl's uni friends. It was a really great day, and at night we went back to one guy's house whos birthday it was and ordered pizza. That was what the Shokonusskuchen was for by the way, the birthday. And then today I've been working out how to go home in April, and for how long. I'm thinking of trying the train, which is sure to take all day but I'm bloomin' fed up of airports plus I can take as much luggage as I can carry on a train- no 15kg limit.
So that was this weekend. But I wanted to use this post to describe my holiday in Florence in early Feb. I went with S and with D, a Sicilian friend who's also an assistant, and we stayed there about 4 days. It was absolutely amazing and I took sooooo many photos which I am still in the process of uploading onto fbook. The hostel we stayed in was fine, a bit shabby but clean, although they did try and fob us off into a shared room instead of the private room we'd ordered, plus it was terminally freezing at night until they gave us a small storage heater which I hated leaving on, being a bit of a paranoid freak and thinking it was going to set fire to the place. But ca est allé as they say. During the trip I even learned a little italian, spoken not written so I can't really put it into the blog without looking like a misspelt fool. Nonetheless, rest assured that my Bonjournos and Bellissimos were fantastic *cough*. We visited all the usual tourist attractions, and even managed to take a daytrip to Siena, but what I really want to document (so that everyone can laugh at me of course) is that I had one of the most silly language barrier confusions of my life. We went to this amazing vege cafe named Brac (reccommended to us by an italian assistant whose sister works there) twice during our stay, and the first time, after our meal (a delish seitan tortellini for me) we decided to order coffee. Now, I am a relatively recent coffee convert, and can only drink the stuff with a fair amount of sugar and a lot of milk, but I've recently gone off milk and taken to using soya milk instead when I can, but it obviously isn't very widely available in cafes. But I had noticed that it was listed in the menu that coffee with soya milk was available and so, after D ordered two cafes, I ordered a 'latte de soja' vaguely remembering that that was what was written on the menu. Looking rather bemused, the waiter told me that they were out of soya milk, so i told him 'oh ok then i'll have just a latte' in french (he spoke french but not english). He still seemed a bit confused and said in italian 'latte caldo?' but i didn't understand so just nodded away...
Anyone who speaks Italian probably knows what's coming next. You might have guessed it anyway. The waiter brings D and S their expressos, and brings me a lovely glass of hot milk. At which I ask D 'why do I have hot milk? I ordered a latte?'. And she replies 'yeah that is latte.' And I cotton on that latte means milk and that therefore when I go into starbucks and ask for a soya carmalatte, they understand me because we're in a coffee shop and because in English 'latte' would usually signify coffee, but if I ask in Italy for 'latte' without saying 'cafe latte', I am asking for milk, and I will get milk. I drank it by the way, but forgot to take a photo to bookmark my shame, so here's a blog entry instead.
My embarassing experience in Florence... or something like that.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Friday, 26 February 2010
That Spring Feeling!
Well I am told it's officially Spring and this can really be seen today by the gorgeous, sunny blue sky, the little flowers pushing their heads out of the ground and the busy sounds of various people outside working on their gardens. I really need to get out today and benefit from the lovely weather, but not sure what to do exactly. It's too late for a spontaneous day trip, so it's either town centre (might have a quick look at the shops anyway, after all it was just payday!), Isle de la Barthelasse, or Villeneuve, both slightly north of Avignon and walkable.
It's just a week since I got back from my February holidays spent in Florence and Glasgow and already I'm really missing C. Have to say that this long distance thing's not exactly my cup of tea, and once I'm back home in July, I don't plan on ever being apart from him for this long again. My hippo teddy with Superman t-shirt C gave me for my 18th birthday provides some comfort but it's not exactly the same. At least he's coming soon in March even if it is only for 2 days. We're planning a futuristic party for the night he gets here and I'm still not sure if it's a great idea and if he wouldn't rather just have a quite evening in but he says he doesn't mind and I've already suggested a costume to him of Captain Kirk which I think would be great. Haven't actually thought of a costume for myself yet. Read online some suggestions including wrapping self in tinfoil and/ or clingfilm but that raises the questions of what one wears under it, and whether we are in fact likely to go around dressed up like sandwiches in the future anyway.
Since I've been back in Avignon I've still only been working one day a week so have spent a lot of time 1) listening to the Glee soundtrack bought in Glasgow 2) Watching Gilmore Girls 3) Watching the Tudors 4) Reading mindless chicklit 5) Cooking and 6) Sleeping in. Did go out on Tuesday and Wednesday night, plus had mini dinner party (ok not really a dinner party when there are just 2 hosts and 2 guests, but still) last night, but not really getting very far on accomplishing my goals of vastly improving my French, improving my German and doing more creative writing. On the last front I did do a new plot outline at 1am one night which was bizarrely inspired by some experiences with ants in the house (thank goodness not yet in our part of the house, but still poor colocs downstairs) and could take this with some paper and a pen today and go to Isle, sit on the grass and work through the plot to see if I actually had some inspiration or just wrote some late night rubbish. It would be nice to do some writing outdoors on the grassy banks of the Rhone with the sun shining down... could take a French book with me and if the writing came to nothing could try and accomplish other goal of improving French.
Not sure... on the other hand lounging about on facebook in my pyjamas and having long Skype calls with Chris is tempting, but I really think I oughta get out for a bit. At the very least, I've got a washing hanging out so if nothing else I'll go bring that in, but I think a voyage a little further afield would be good for my soul... or something like that.
It's just a week since I got back from my February holidays spent in Florence and Glasgow and already I'm really missing C. Have to say that this long distance thing's not exactly my cup of tea, and once I'm back home in July, I don't plan on ever being apart from him for this long again. My hippo teddy with Superman t-shirt C gave me for my 18th birthday provides some comfort but it's not exactly the same. At least he's coming soon in March even if it is only for 2 days. We're planning a futuristic party for the night he gets here and I'm still not sure if it's a great idea and if he wouldn't rather just have a quite evening in but he says he doesn't mind and I've already suggested a costume to him of Captain Kirk which I think would be great. Haven't actually thought of a costume for myself yet. Read online some suggestions including wrapping self in tinfoil and/ or clingfilm but that raises the questions of what one wears under it, and whether we are in fact likely to go around dressed up like sandwiches in the future anyway.
Since I've been back in Avignon I've still only been working one day a week so have spent a lot of time 1) listening to the Glee soundtrack bought in Glasgow 2) Watching Gilmore Girls 3) Watching the Tudors 4) Reading mindless chicklit 5) Cooking and 6) Sleeping in. Did go out on Tuesday and Wednesday night, plus had mini dinner party (ok not really a dinner party when there are just 2 hosts and 2 guests, but still) last night, but not really getting very far on accomplishing my goals of vastly improving my French, improving my German and doing more creative writing. On the last front I did do a new plot outline at 1am one night which was bizarrely inspired by some experiences with ants in the house (thank goodness not yet in our part of the house, but still poor colocs downstairs) and could take this with some paper and a pen today and go to Isle, sit on the grass and work through the plot to see if I actually had some inspiration or just wrote some late night rubbish. It would be nice to do some writing outdoors on the grassy banks of the Rhone with the sun shining down... could take a French book with me and if the writing came to nothing could try and accomplish other goal of improving French.
Not sure... on the other hand lounging about on facebook in my pyjamas and having long Skype calls with Chris is tempting, but I really think I oughta get out for a bit. At the very least, I've got a washing hanging out so if nothing else I'll go bring that in, but I think a voyage a little further afield would be good for my soul... or something like that.
Monday, 1 February 2010
Lack Of Posting
Is entirely inexcusable after everyone was so nice and left me some comments! Going to Florence in a week and I'll be sure to try and update afterwards to give my news on the trip. I don't know why I never have time to post when I only work one day a week atm (contract problems) guess I'm just lazy. Also my internet's too slow to update pics onto the blog, and after all a picture says a thousand words, so if there were more pics I'd not have to do so much typing! We had an 80s party the other night which was a lot of fun, looked an absolute state in multicoloured apparel and with 'boosted' hair haha. I definitely go to a lot more parties here than in Glasgow!
Furieuse
Feeling pretty down today after the landlady came into our kitchen and practically accused us of living like pigs, sure the bin was a bit too full and there were some crumbs on the table but the kitchen was essentially clean and tidy, not, as she suggested, 'a health hazard'. Even if it had been dirty, since we're renting it it's none of her business. It was particularly directed at me as well 'Oh don't worry Stefanie I know you're clean, but after all there are two of you." This is after the comment a couple of days ago when having a late lunch that we're 'always eating,' really rude and not true. Really just wanted to say excuse me, stay out of our business and if you don't have anything nice to say don't bother saying anything to us. Can't remember the last time I was so angry at anyone!!!
Friday, 18 December 2009
Comments
PS I know I barely write in this thing but I haven't had a comment in like forever! Will give homemade shortbread for comments (well, if I'm within a 5 minute walk of you will give shortbread, shortbread doesn't travel well!)
Noel en France
Just found an extra brownie in my cupboard that I didn't know I had- score!!
Well, I'm writing this a day before I head back to Glasgow, as I can't pack my case yet- the femme de menage is cleaning my room. The past month has been pretty eventful- went for a walk in Orgon, went to Nice, Chris came to visit, saw the festival of lights in Lyon, and had various fetes at peoples houses, plus plenty of flat drama. I also know almost all the words and actions now to a German song about flying like a plane (und ich flieg, flieg, flieg wie ein flieger!), have found out that two of the schools I've been teaching at aren't in my contract and don't have insurance to have me there, I've learnt how to (well watched Stefanie) make mulled wine, and have found out what the 13 deserts of Provence are, have learned French for Christmas tree (Sapin, lit. pine tree,- not 'Arbre de Noel' as I was originally saying!), elf (lutin), snowman (bon homme de neige, makes sense), and reindeer (reine).
As well as the many good experiences there have been, there's also been some, well, not necessarily bad, as much as, bizarre (love that that word works in English as well as French, probably my most overused word here!). For example, one Tuesday night me and S and another friend, N, decided to go out and try some salsa dancing at some free classes advertised in an Avignon club. The 'free' part is disputable, had to book our coats in at 2euros, and when we went in the place was practically empty, the class was in full swing and everyone there had clearly been coming for some time and knew all the rather complicated steps. At one point there was a break and we asked the instructor whether there was any classes for beginners, only to be told 'no, these sessions aren't really for beginners', which is not the impression we got from the posters pasted all around town. To add to this though, there were people at the back of the room watching us and apparently taking photos as well. When we left, one guy came out and told us we were being watched for an anthropology project for uni- don't people need your permission before they do that kind of thing? Anyway, we left and headed to another bar which does salsa classes, even though you have to pay, to check it out. At the bar N met someone she knew and was chatting with him, and we were standing there for maybe 10 minutes at most when the proprietor of the place came right up to our faces and said 'what are you having to drink ladies?' I wasn't sure how long we were staying so didn't reply, but he just kept asking, and eventually we said we weren't sure yet, nothing at the moment. To which he shouted right in S's face in French that we had to leave. I couldn't really believe it until he said in English "Go Away!". It was the rudest thing ever and I still can't believe he treated his customers that way. Anyway me and S left and vowed never to go back again. If you live in Avignon I'd advise avoiding the bar with the initials B C, the proprietor is very rude!!
As mentioned above we've also had numerious flat dramas generally involving our landlady (nicknamed LoLo) and one or other of us very nice tenants. The current, biggest flat goss is that one of my colocs has acquired a kitten, and it states in the terms of us being here that we've not to have pets for 'hygeine reasons', which is hypocritical as LoLo has her daughters dog Sam over for days on end every other week (Sam barks maniacally every time he sees you, and once scared me half to death by barking at me when I came out of my room into the corridor... he has been a small source of flat drama himself) but nobody is quite sure what will happen when she finds out about the cat. I for one am really happy to have a moggy in the house, and I even got to babysit him in my room last night :D. Makes me even more excited to see my own kitties when I get home tomorrow- can't wait!!
Well there's loads more wee stories to tell that'll have to wait for another time- I really have to pack! But my New Years Resolution will be to write in my blog more often (along with a resolution to actually think a bit about what I'm going to do about getting a job after the diploma... so hard to be motivated as it seems so far away!).
Well, I'm writing this a day before I head back to Glasgow, as I can't pack my case yet- the femme de menage is cleaning my room. The past month has been pretty eventful- went for a walk in Orgon, went to Nice, Chris came to visit, saw the festival of lights in Lyon, and had various fetes at peoples houses, plus plenty of flat drama. I also know almost all the words and actions now to a German song about flying like a plane (und ich flieg, flieg, flieg wie ein flieger!), have found out that two of the schools I've been teaching at aren't in my contract and don't have insurance to have me there, I've learnt how to (well watched Stefanie) make mulled wine, and have found out what the 13 deserts of Provence are, have learned French for Christmas tree (Sapin, lit. pine tree,- not 'Arbre de Noel' as I was originally saying!), elf (lutin), snowman (bon homme de neige, makes sense), and reindeer (reine).
As well as the many good experiences there have been, there's also been some, well, not necessarily bad, as much as, bizarre (love that that word works in English as well as French, probably my most overused word here!). For example, one Tuesday night me and S and another friend, N, decided to go out and try some salsa dancing at some free classes advertised in an Avignon club. The 'free' part is disputable, had to book our coats in at 2euros, and when we went in the place was practically empty, the class was in full swing and everyone there had clearly been coming for some time and knew all the rather complicated steps. At one point there was a break and we asked the instructor whether there was any classes for beginners, only to be told 'no, these sessions aren't really for beginners', which is not the impression we got from the posters pasted all around town. To add to this though, there were people at the back of the room watching us and apparently taking photos as well. When we left, one guy came out and told us we were being watched for an anthropology project for uni- don't people need your permission before they do that kind of thing? Anyway, we left and headed to another bar which does salsa classes, even though you have to pay, to check it out. At the bar N met someone she knew and was chatting with him, and we were standing there for maybe 10 minutes at most when the proprietor of the place came right up to our faces and said 'what are you having to drink ladies?' I wasn't sure how long we were staying so didn't reply, but he just kept asking, and eventually we said we weren't sure yet, nothing at the moment. To which he shouted right in S's face in French that we had to leave. I couldn't really believe it until he said in English "Go Away!". It was the rudest thing ever and I still can't believe he treated his customers that way. Anyway me and S left and vowed never to go back again. If you live in Avignon I'd advise avoiding the bar with the initials B C, the proprietor is very rude!!
As mentioned above we've also had numerious flat dramas generally involving our landlady (nicknamed LoLo) and one or other of us very nice tenants. The current, biggest flat goss is that one of my colocs has acquired a kitten, and it states in the terms of us being here that we've not to have pets for 'hygeine reasons', which is hypocritical as LoLo has her daughters dog Sam over for days on end every other week (Sam barks maniacally every time he sees you, and once scared me half to death by barking at me when I came out of my room into the corridor... he has been a small source of flat drama himself) but nobody is quite sure what will happen when she finds out about the cat. I for one am really happy to have a moggy in the house, and I even got to babysit him in my room last night :D. Makes me even more excited to see my own kitties when I get home tomorrow- can't wait!!
Well there's loads more wee stories to tell that'll have to wait for another time- I really have to pack! But my New Years Resolution will be to write in my blog more often (along with a resolution to actually think a bit about what I'm going to do about getting a job after the diploma... so hard to be motivated as it seems so far away!).
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Update
Super vite update!
So I am not very good at keeping a blog, that much has been established. Been here for two months now! Time has flown in, but at the same time feels like aaages ago that I first arrived with my parents and a massive amount of stress about finding a house and having to teach for the first time. Now I have an appartment with great flatmates (including our newest edition) and standing up in front of the class is no longer a big worry- lessons can even be a lot of fun! Nevertheless, there will always be challenges, like today when I was dropped off a little late for the bus home and missed it, meaning I had to wait two hours standing in a dark cold street in the middle of nowhere for the next bus- after the first hour I was contemplating hitchiking, but really I would never do that unless the only other option was to lie down and sleep in the street! So basically it's not been an easy day. In fact the kids at school today were great, and I'm really impressed by my CM2 in particular- I'm excited that I'm starting to get them to speak an actual sentence as opposed to just a word. Hurrah! Also looking forward to starting Christmas lessons. Only 3 weeks of school left so I might start Christmas next week!
Besides school, I've been really busy. Yesterday I went on a walk with some other assistants to Orgon, and walked 13km which I think is pretty impressive, although somewhat painful in my flimsy trainers. Parents are sending me walking boots and a rucksack in Chris's case for when he comes on Saturday, so next time there's a walk I'll be prepared. Then last night went with Stefanie, Claire and Claire's friend Coralie to see "micmacs à tire-larigot", a film by the same director who did Amelie Poulain, and it was really good. Didn't understand a lot of the speech but the gestures and actions in the film meant that mostly I got the plot.
I've also done some travelling- last weekend I was in Nice visiting my aunt and family. Had a really nice time- we also went to the movies- saw the Petit Nicholas, a really cute and funny film, and that time I did understand most of what was said as it was spoken by primary school children. We also went to an archaeological roman ruin site and the Chagal museum (I got in free- being under 25 and showing ID in France can do wonders in museums, works at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris too), and had a nice pub dinner. Look forward to visiting again at some point next year!
Thursday night before I went to Nice we had a wee soiree at the flat, using my bedroom as the salon since the kitchen really isn't big enough. It was a really nice relaxed calm night, with good food (none of it made by me- my contribution to the evening was to tidy my room!) and good company.
There's been quite a lot of other dinners and parties at people's houses, and it makes me really glad to be in Avignon where there's so many lovely people. There's another one tomorrow night, and then on Saturday Chris will be here :D! Can't wait to show him my little town (compared to Glasgow, Avignon is not exactly a city) it's the first time he'll have been here. Hopefully I'll remember to keep this updated and write up how everything went after the weekend!
So I am not very good at keeping a blog, that much has been established. Been here for two months now! Time has flown in, but at the same time feels like aaages ago that I first arrived with my parents and a massive amount of stress about finding a house and having to teach for the first time. Now I have an appartment with great flatmates (including our newest edition) and standing up in front of the class is no longer a big worry- lessons can even be a lot of fun! Nevertheless, there will always be challenges, like today when I was dropped off a little late for the bus home and missed it, meaning I had to wait two hours standing in a dark cold street in the middle of nowhere for the next bus- after the first hour I was contemplating hitchiking, but really I would never do that unless the only other option was to lie down and sleep in the street! So basically it's not been an easy day. In fact the kids at school today were great, and I'm really impressed by my CM2 in particular- I'm excited that I'm starting to get them to speak an actual sentence as opposed to just a word. Hurrah! Also looking forward to starting Christmas lessons. Only 3 weeks of school left so I might start Christmas next week!
Besides school, I've been really busy. Yesterday I went on a walk with some other assistants to Orgon, and walked 13km which I think is pretty impressive, although somewhat painful in my flimsy trainers. Parents are sending me walking boots and a rucksack in Chris's case for when he comes on Saturday, so next time there's a walk I'll be prepared. Then last night went with Stefanie, Claire and Claire's friend Coralie to see "micmacs à tire-larigot", a film by the same director who did Amelie Poulain, and it was really good. Didn't understand a lot of the speech but the gestures and actions in the film meant that mostly I got the plot.
I've also done some travelling- last weekend I was in Nice visiting my aunt and family. Had a really nice time- we also went to the movies- saw the Petit Nicholas, a really cute and funny film, and that time I did understand most of what was said as it was spoken by primary school children. We also went to an archaeological roman ruin site and the Chagal museum (I got in free- being under 25 and showing ID in France can do wonders in museums, works at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris too), and had a nice pub dinner. Look forward to visiting again at some point next year!
Thursday night before I went to Nice we had a wee soiree at the flat, using my bedroom as the salon since the kitchen really isn't big enough. It was a really nice relaxed calm night, with good food (none of it made by me- my contribution to the evening was to tidy my room!) and good company.
There's been quite a lot of other dinners and parties at people's houses, and it makes me really glad to be in Avignon where there's so many lovely people. There's another one tomorrow night, and then on Saturday Chris will be here :D! Can't wait to show him my little town (compared to Glasgow, Avignon is not exactly a city) it's the first time he'll have been here. Hopefully I'll remember to keep this updated and write up how everything went after the weekend!
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