Winter Vacation, Pt. 1

After being in France for over four months, I FINALLY have had a chance to see a family member!  My Dad arrived in Guingamp on Thursday, February 10, and my vacation started around noon on Friday.  We spent Thursday evening and Friday afternoon exploring Guingamp, then picked up our rental car and headed to our adorable rental cottage.  The cottage is located in the countryside and is made of stone.  My room is a loft with a spiral staircase and the window faces the sunrise.  I wish we could stay longer, and spend more time here, but we had lots to see!  This entry will be about our week in Brittany, but I’m going to keep it very short, because we saw a lot of different things!

Day 1:  Binic, St. Quay Pontrieux, Paimpol, an attempt at Plougrescant, Ploumenac’h, Trébeurden

This part of the coast is closest to where I live, and it’s beautiful!  There are many beaches, and some of the sites that I wrote about in October.  We saw the pink granite coast, the beach I went to my second day in France, and some other beaches I hadn’t seen yet!  It was a chilly day, but very sunny.  On the way back to our cottage we went shopping at the grocery store, which allowed Dad to see the differences between a French and American grocery store, plus we picked up some steak and duck for our upcoming dinners!

Day 2:  Carnac and Quiberon

            Most things in France are closed on Sunday, so we decided to take a trip to the southern coast of Brittany.  We had a beautiful drive through the countryside and arrived in Carnac around lunchtime.  Carnac is a seaside resort town, but it is also known for its Alignments.  We ate an excellent lunch at a crêperie, saw the Atlantic Ocean, and then headed in search of the Alignments.  The Alignments are rows and rows of megaliths (standing stones) in fields.  There are three or four main sets in Carnac and the surrounding towns, plus singular ones on their own in the countryside.  It was something I had never seen before and I would definitely recommend going there! 

            Next we got in the car and headed towards Quiberon, which is a “presqu’île”, or almost island.  It juts down into the Atlantic and reminded us a lot of the Outer Banks.  We drove back to the mainland via the “Savage Coast” and it was beautiful!  During our entire trip we spent a lot of time getting in and out of the car to walk on paths along the coast, and the views were impressive each time!

Day 3:  Fréhel and St. Malo

            This time we decided to drive along the coast in the other direction in Côtes d’Armor.  This included a stop at Fréhel and Cap Fréhel.  This part of the coast is called the Emerald Coast and it is also very beautiful!  Cap Fréhel is a cape that sticks out into the Channel with two lighthouses on the end, and a fort to one side.  After spending some time at Fréhel, we headed towards St. Malo (via the coast of course!).  Even though it was a Monday, we had a difficult time finding a place that was open for lunch, and ended up getting a terrible baguette to share in one of the towns (I didn’t know it was possible to have a bad baguette, but it is). 

            We finally arrived in St. Malo, and there I was able to show Dad all the things that I saw while I was there, plus we were able to have the amazing Kouing Aman they sell at one of the stands there.  It was cold and cloudy, but the sea was calm.  After picking out some chocolates at a shop I read about, we decided to head for home.  That night I made duck with orange shallot sauce for dinner, and it was delicious.

Day 4:  Presqu’île de Crozon and Pointe du Raz

            These are two of the three parts that stick out at the end of Brittany.  We saw many amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean and the bays surrounding the peninsulas.  There are great hiking trails all around the points, but we only walked a little way on a few of them, it was very cold, and very windy!  We also saw some more Alignments near Crozon, only these ones are right next to where the land drops off into the ocean.  Next we drove along the coast to the Pointe du Raz, which is the point the furthest West on the French mainland!  I really enjoyed walking out onto the point, some people were much braver than we were though and were near where the water was hitting the rocks!

Day 5:  Plougrescant and Sillon de Talebert

            Plougrescant is the site of the Gouffre, which is one of the places I wrote about in October.  We couldn’t find it on Saturday, so I was determined to get it right this time, and we did!  It was somewhat stormy, so the waves were crashing against all the rocks.  Next we drove to the Sillon de Talbert, which is a 3km long arm of sand that reaches out into the Channel.  They think that two rivers heading inland on either side of the “presqu’île”, which pushes the sand up to form the Sillon.  When we went it was low tide, so it didn’t have the same effect as official pictures, and we found that the sand is pretty difficult to walk on, even with good shoes.  Hopefully I’ll be able to take another trip there at high tide.

Day 6: ???

            We decided to have a quiet day and enjoyed the cottage in the morning, I finally read a little bit, and then we took a drive through the countryside.  We didn’t really have a plan, and were a little lost.  Not too exciting, but we were able to find a dolmen and a few megaliths near Guingamp. 

Day 7:  Paris, with a side trip to Cancale and Mt. St. Michel

            Today we drove to Paris, and stopped at Mt. St. Michel on the way.  I had read about the coastal road leading from St. Malo to Mt. St. Michel, so we opted to take the time doing the extra drive instead of actually visiting Mt. St. Michel.  The drive included a few walks and a stop at Pointe du Grouin.  If it had been a clear day, we would have been able to see the Mont from the point.  We got lost a few times along the trip, but saw a lot of interesting sites in Brittany and Normandy.  Also, we learned that if you want to travel to Paris and not pay tolls, it’s slow going sometimes, and I appreciate being able to take public transportation to the airport much more now, it wasn’t too much fun driving around the edge of Paris on a Friday afternoon!  Now I am sitting in my hotel, getting ready for the next leg of our trip: Berlin (which means more updates are coming)!!

I'm still here!

January has already come and gone and I barely wrote in my blog!  I think I’ve just been settling in to life here and don’t really feel like I have very many exciting things to write about.  Hopefully that will change soon since I have a vacation coming up.  My dad is coming to visit me for two weeks, and he arrives one week from today!  We will be spending a week in Brittany visiting the coast/everything that you need a car to see, and then we are heading to Berlin for four days!  I’m really looking forward to having a break; the one elementary school that I work at on Monday’s has been very frustrating the last five weeks.  I feel as though nothing is getting accomplished there and I don’t have the teaching experience/training to know how to fix it. 

Now, I think the best way to play catch up for January is to list the main things I’ve done.

1.    My boss observed me at the Monday school, and it didn’t go very well.  The good news is that she recognized all the problems weren’t because of me, and gave me some tips to get things to go more smoothly.

2.    I visited Paris again!  I did another day trip in Paris like the one in November.  It was a lot of fun, and I got some cool stuff from Deyrolle, an interesting store near Saint-Germain-de-Près.  They are known for all of their taxidermy animals and their maps of French products.  I also visited the Opera and the Post Office Museum, and enjoyed both!

3.     One big thing in January in France is the Galette des Rois, or King Cake.  We had a King Cake in our apartment and I won the fève, the porcelain statuette that is baked into the cake.  This meant that I was “queen” and got to keep the crown that comes with the cake and the fève.  Our boulangerie’s fèves are firemen, but I’ve also seen Scooby Doo, TinTin, and the Laughing Cow. 

4.     My voice will now be used in elementary English lessons in the Côtes d’Armor.  Two fellow Primary Assistants and I went to Saint-Brieuc last Wednesday to record our voices reading stories and skits for the teachers to use in the future.  This will help them a lot because unfortunately there will be no more Primary Assistants next year.

5.     I  received my first gift from a student.  It was a piece of candy, but it was super cute when he gave it to me!

6.     I’ve been a little bored lately so I’ve started knitting again… and finally finished a project!  It’s a grey cowl/scarf and I really like it.  I’ve also been reading a lot, applying for jobs, and doing Sudoku and word searches to keep myself busy.

7.     I have plans for my first week of April break!  I’ve been accepted into a volunteer program through a company called Vaughan Town where I will be helping Spanish business people with their English conversational skills.  I just found out that I was accepted on Monday night, and have been doing lots of travel planning since then!

8.     After being paid last Friday, I finally got up the courage to get a hair cut in France.  I went yesterday, and I survived!

Prague Pt. 2 and getting back to the real world...

I realized in my last blog I didn’t define “we”!  I traveled and stayed with a fellow Susquehanna alum and English teaching assistant, Shayna and was also able to meet up with a fellow Académie de Rennes assistant, Erica!  It was great to have company and see some familiar faces when we were so far away from home for Christmas.

Monday was our second to last day in Prague, and we decided to take a day trip out of town to Kutna Hora, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  The main attraction there is the Ossuary, a church that is decorated with over 40,000 human bones.  The town is also known for its wine, and silver mines.  The first coins for the Austro-Hungarian Empire were coined in Kutna Hora because of the abundance of silver.  On the day that we visited Kutna Hora was like a ghost town, but it was definitely worth a visit to see the Ossuary. 

A bone-crest in the Ossuary (it was at least 5 feet tall!).

Tuesday we visited a few things that we had been meaning to see, including watching the Astronomical clock one more time.  This was the one day where we made our tourist mistake and ended up paying more for a slice of ham at the Christmas market than we paid for our delicious Christmas dinner!  To remedy this mistake we headed back to the Globe for dinner where I had peach juice (it was more like a smoothie than juice) and a burrito.  It was probably the only chance I’ll have to eat some tex-mex while in Europe and it was worth it!  We also took a piece of carrot cake to go (with real cream cheese frosting!).  The Globe is definitely worth a visit if you’re in Prague.

We started our long voyage home on Wednesday morning, and I finally arrived in Guingamp on Thursday night (it was a LONG day and a half!).  I was then able to spend New Year’s with one of the teachers that I work with at the middle school and her family, along with their friends.  It was fantastic!  We ate wonderful food and drank great wine and champagne.  This morning I learned that it is a tradition in France for the youngest people in the family to call the older family members and wish them a Happy New Year.  Although I like the idea of that tradition, I won’t be taking part in it this year, so this blog will have to suffice!  Work starts again on Tuesday so it's back to teaching until my Dad's visit in February.

Happy New Year and here’s hoping that 2012 is as amazing as (or better than) 2011!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year I celebrated my second Thanksgiving away from home (the first was in 2009, but I was able to spend it in Paris with my Dad).  With all the lessons I’ve had to teach, Thanksgiving has been/will be spread out over three weeks.  My first lesson was two weeks ago Monday, and my final Thanksgiving lesson will be next Friday!  It has been interesting to teach the kids about Thanksgiving, because it doesn’t exist in France, and even many of the teachers don’t know much about it.  Some questions I’ve received are, “Do you receive gifts for Thanksgiving? Why would you eat turkey?  Do you celebrate Christmas or New Year’s?”  One student at the elementary school finally understood that I am from the US because of the Thanksgiving lessons.

I have made hand turkeys and reading a children’s book with almost all of the elementary school classes (I still will do two more next Friday) and one or two kids said they were thankful for me, which was nice!  With the older kids I’ve been giving more factual lessons – history, vocabulary, and traditions. 

I’m lucky to have Wednesdays and Thursdays off because that meant that Karen and I were free to cook a real Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday!  We started in the morning with the pumpkin pie (with a few mishaps).  A second crust had to be bought because the first one was too crispy, and we learned that the can opener in the apartment doesn’t work AFTER I started mixing up the pie, but it worked out OK, and the pie was delicious of course.  We also made stuffing, green beans with shallots and almonds, squash, mashed potatoes, gravy, duck (instead of turkey), and served cranberry sauce and rolls.  It was a delicious dinner and we were happy to share it with our roommates, who had never experienced Thanksgiving before, and loved the food!

As much as I missed being with my family and friends for Thanksgiving, I am incredibly thankful to have this opportunity in France.  I am constantly learning new things, and it is really exciting to be able to spend more than half of a year living and working in France, traveling around Europe, and working towards my future career (whatever that may be!).  And of course I am thankful for my wonderful family, my friends (old and new), and as someone wrote on one of their hand turkeys, “the life”!

Karen and I showing off our hard work!

This is what I woke up to this morning...

There is a second rainbow to the left that is a little harder to see.

Bonjour Bretagne...three rainbows in one hour this morning!

My favorite questions from elementary school children this week have been:  How do you say your last name in French? and Do lots of people speak English in America?

Apartment Tour

This is post one of two today... this first one is some photos of my apartment, it's not much to look at but rent is only €50/month.

Lycée Pavie

Hallway..and phone for those of you who've called me.

Kitchen... yes five of us share this space!

Our living room complete with "couches" and TV.

My Room!

Ma vie en France

I’ve now been in France for almost two weeks, but with limited internet access I haven’t had a chance to post anything to my blog... this is the shortened version of what I've been up to!

I have finally arrived in France after months of planning.  Monday, the day of my flight was very stressful.  I arrived at the airport an hour and a half before my flight as instructed, only to be told that my flight to Philadelphia was delayed, but it should take off around 2:15.  I finally decided to say goodbye to my parents and go through security because it was getting busy, only to find that the flight was actually delayed until three.  When we finally landed in Philly after the loudest plane ride (it was basically a prop plane) I found that the bus connecting the terminals wasn’t running due to construction and was forced to walk the entire way, and go through security AGAIN.  The second time there was apparently a problem with my shoes.  I got to my gate about fifteen minutes before we boarded the flight when I thought I would have three hours.  The flight to Paris was uneventful, and after I picked up my bags I made my way to the train station and got on a train to Rennes and then to Saint-Brieuc, the biggest city in Côtes d’Armor. 

I spent my first few days in France with my contact person and it was wonderful.  I was able to relax and we went to the beach.  My first glimpse of Guingamp was on the Thursday after I arrived and the town is very cute.  I met some teachers at the collège (middle school) and got the key to my room.   I am living in an apartment with another American, a girl from Switzerland, and an Italian.  This weekend a Spanish assistant is moving in with us, but she has been in Guingamp for three years already.   Our apartment is pretty bare bones but it is cheap, linens are provided, and our kitchen has almost everything we need, even if those things don’t work very well.  We also have a TV, but no internet.

                       The view of Guingamp from my window.

I spent the first two days of this week in Saint-Brieuc for orientation, the first day was orientation for elementary assistants and the second was for everyone in middle and high schools.  I am assigned to three hours each at two elementary schools (one is pretty far away!) and six hours at the middle school.  I’m really looking forward to starting my routine on Monday!  I will also be helping other teachers with their English one night a week for six weeks starting in November.  It was great to meet other assistants, and we finished a lot of administrative work, so I now have health insurance and am set up to receive part of my salary in October instead of waiting until the end of November to receive some of my salary.  I also almost have a bank account open (still waiting for the card in the mail along with the pin and information for online banking). 

So far I love being in Bretagne and am very happy with my placement.  This town is great and so are the people I’ve met so far.  I’ve had some setbacks but that’s part of moving to a new country.

À Bientôt!