Last Blog Post of 2012

And so, here begins a résumé of my Year Abroad experiences of 2012.

On Wednesday, 26th September (so two months and three weeks ago) I left my beloved family, friends and country to begin a new chapter of my life in France.

Significant High Points:
* Finding my friends at the MAJO, and the subsequent fun I've had and activities I've participated in. Two themed breakfasts, various spectacles (a comedian, a band, an ABBA homage), learning to play Flag Football and my first Zumba lessons, the town's Fun Fair, going to the cinema and much more.
* Outings to the region's châteaux. Currently checked off the list are: Chambord, Blois, Chenonceau, Cheverny and Amboise. I've also seen some stunning cathedrals, all of which are unique despite the overwhelming preference for Gothic-style architecture.
* Keeping on top of French bureaucracy and successfully opening a French bank account all on my own! It has taught me organisation, patience, and that I do not want a job as a pen-pusher who claims that the order has come 'from above'...
* Travelling around France. I have explored Orléans, Tours, Blois, Amiens, Bolbec and Le Havre among others, not to mention many train stations, during my outings! It no longer phases me to arrive in a town without a map, and just go for a wander based on my sense of direction and adventure. Public transport? No  problem.
* Finding my church. Not only for the support of the people there, and my realisation that God's family is worldwide, but also for all the dinner invitations!

I refuse to write a list of 'Low Points', because it serves no useful purpose and it is not a good idea to dwell on such moments. However, I concede that there have been occasions which have taught me much. Thus...

Significant Learning Opportunities:
* Living in France. As obvious as it sounds, these three words hide a wealth of information and experience which cannot be comprehensively summarised by my words. All I shall say is that to live in a foreign country without your family and friends being physically present is the most worthwhile way (I believe) to find out 1. what sort of person you are, and 2. how much more world there is out there.
* Teaching. The interaction with the pupils and the glimmers of banter that are emerging as we get to know each other better (after they've put me through the horrible experience of testing my limits in the classroom...) are incredibly rewarding. It is also making me a better role model, leader and someone who is more aware that each pupil, and person, is unique.
* Seeing other English Language Assistants. Travelling around and meeting up with old friends here in France, and making new ones, has shown me how each Year Abroad is unique and experiences cannot be exactly replicated. It has also shown me how fortunate I am with my situation here in little Romo, and that I need to take advantage of every moment! I have a great house, great friends, great schools and a salary that provides me with as much pastry as I want and finances my many adventures!

After achieving almost all of my pre-Year Abroad goals (live with French people, find a church, join a sports club - badminton, etc) I thought I'd make some New Year goals and resolutions:
1. Speak less French in the classroom and force them to ask the question in English before I give them the answer they want.
2. Visit further afield in France, namely the North East (Strasbourg and Reims) and North West (Nantes and Rennes).
3. Take advantage of my incredible situation and dare to have more sophisticated, topical conversations in French.

Signing off for 2012, Merry Christmas!

French-English Fusion

So this week, I had 1/3 of my lessons cancelled. At least the teachers warned me not to turn up this time...
However I kept myself entertained during the days by working on improving my French. I am getting far too into looking up new words, updating my mahoosive vocabulary table, and translating various online news articles. There's rather a hoo-har going on at the moment in France regarding marriage for same-sex couples (not just wanting the ceremony to be called 'marriage', but the same rights i.e. with regard to adoption of children), and I don't think they've yet sorted out who won the UMP political party leadership election (despite it happening several weeks ago), so there's plenty for me to keep up to date with!

The French band 'Revolver' - main three members.

My social life is still going strong too, I am glad to say. On Wednesday, I went to a concert by a band called 'Revolver' with some friends from the youth hostel. It was AWESOME! Too good a night to describe here with my comparatively limp and lifeless words. The band members are French, but they sing in English. I appreciated being able to understand the lyrics. At one point I was asked why I looked sad by a French friend, because they had no idea what the lead singer was going on about, whereas I was deep in my thoughts.

And so begins a teeny-tiny outburst of exasperation regarding the current fusion of French and English culture that I have been increasingly noticing over the course of the last week.

1. Take, for starters, the lack of English lyric comprehension on the part of the French audience. I have found it increasingly bizarre that the French are not highly pissed off at the amount of English language music in circulation over here. Radio stations, shopping centres, even the canteen at the collège, play music with English lyrics. Sylvan was singing a song the other day in English, and I asked him if he understood what he was saying: "Non", was the reply.

After listening to Carine's selection of Thai and Japanese pop music in her car as we whizzed around the French countryside (namely lots of flat, open spaces for crops and the occasional scattering of houses), I admit that I began to appreciate how you can enjoy the melody and overall effect of a song without fully understanding what someone is singing about. Nonetheless, I still think the Union Jack fashion craze (see below) over here at the moment takes it a bit too far.

I know it's a quality flag, but... really, France?

2. So, for our main course, take a glance at a recent episode of 'Le Juste Prix' (AKA 'The Price is Right'). As a prize, they gave away a living room suite decorated with HUGE Union Jack flags. Add to this the presence of T-shirts etc with big, bold Union Jack flags on them in at least 3/4 of clothes shops. It doesn't even end there; kids at school have pencil cases and satchels with the British flag all over them. Can you imagine British schoolchildren with the French flag emblazoned on their chests, happily carrying their school books in bags patterned with blue, white and red stripes?

3. With our selection of local wines and cheeses, please consult the inappropriate use of English by clothing manufacturers. In most clothing shops, you can find a T-shirt with something scrawled in English on it. These scribbles aren't even always spelled correctly. I got incredibly frustrated finding spelling and grammatical mistakes on a pyjama set decorated with cookie making instructions - not to mention the designer's ability to miss out step 6 between steps '5' and '7'. It's not like France uses a different numerical system here. And to top it all off, why bother going to the effort of writing 'Soutien-gorge'* on the product packaging, when you immediately follow it with 'Super Push-Up'?
*bra

Miss France for 2013, from the Bourgogne region. 

4. And to cap it all off with a morsel of dessert, I present the Anglicisation of the French language. Words and rules I learnt at school are swept aside as French people ask each other if they would like to 'luncher' (go and have lunch). It is now acceptable to say 'un challenge' (it sounds horrific with a proper French drawl) instead of 'un défi', which I had carefully memorised in class all those years ago. The verb 'to realise' is no longer only expressed as 'se rendre compte de' but also as 'réaliser', despite being expressly told by teachers (back in the day) that 'réaliser' refers to directing a film, for example. The nationwide beauty pageant which was on TV at the weekend is called 'Miss France', as opposed to 'Mademoiselle France'. There was a banner at Orléans Christmas market (where I successfully went today after a Language Assistant training day) saying 'Made in Orléans'. Just why?

To bring this blog post to a close, recent days have highlighted for me the extent of the fusion of Anglo-French culture which is currently à la mode. The music, the clothing, the words, the Union Jack merchandise... All this combined with my improvements in speaking the language, from time to time I forget which country I am actually in. I am certainly not saying that this fusion is a bad thing, and I know that we equally use French expressions and vocabulary, but at the very least I find it confusing that I am becoming increasingly incapable of differentiating between English and French!

P.S. to try and render this blog post less whingy, and more amusing, please see below for a Light-hearted Digestif:
On Thursday, I had dinner with a couple from church and thoroughly enjoyed chatting extensively in French. Their four year old daughter had problems saying my name, so for the purposes of the evening I was re-named 'Choozy'.
On Friday, IT SNOWED! I love hearing the crunch of fresh snow beneath my feet. However, I do not like having only trainers as semi-appropriate footwear, and consequently having to teach with wet shoes, socks and feet, and then slipping and sliding my way back to the house because it was just a little bit of snow which melted into slush quickly.
On Saturday, Carine and I saw 'Un Plan Parfait' at the cinema. Absolutely brilliant, and I can't wait to buy it on DVD. We also went clothes shopping, and I bought two nice tops because I've decided that now (not least because I now have a set monthly income) is the time for me to stop wearing jeans and jumpers every day and to try and make a bit of effort concerning my appearance. Better late than never, eh?
I'm also currently in a state of personal pride at my efforts over the weekend at trying French cheese which smells like feet, and not gagging. I also put up a very good show at trying all the different wines I was offered; this was perhaps the reason my French was flowing so smoothly...

Orléans Christmas Market!

Cracking open my Advent Calendar yesterday morning sent several thoughts running through my mind:
1. Chocolate in the morning for the next 24 days! Woohoo!
2. How is it December already? A year ago, I had recently submitted my application to be a Language Assistant in France to the British Council!
3. The First of December? That means Orléans Christmas Market with the Blois girls! Boom!

I had been looking forward to this outing for many, many days. I would be taking the bus at 7.50am from Romo SNCF to Blois, chatting with Erin in her apartment and then meeting Harriet and Amy and we are all going to get the train to Orléans and indulge in the Christmas market. I sat at the SNCF station, finishing off my pain aux raisins, and feeling slightly unnerved that the bus still hadn't arrived, but told myself it had been late the first time I had taken it. Wouldn't it be funny if I had misread the bus timetable?! Hah.

I had misread the bus timetable. On Saturdays, the bus comes at 7.34am not 7.50am.
Oh well, adapt and overcome, as they say. I left an apologetic message on Erin's mobile, and bought myself a train ticket to Orléans where I would meet the Blois girls there.
12€ and missing out on two hours of chats/gossip with Erin = the price of not checking the timetable again thoroughly last night.

Suzie's #1 Transport Planning Tip for Novices:
Make sure you know what time your transport leaves. Particularly if there are only two buses a day.

The dream...

ANYWAY, apart from that small hiccup, here comes forth my ode to the wonders, delights and delicacies of Orléans Christmas Market 2012.

Only.... I might have made a mistake there as well. I am convinced that on Orléans' Tourism website, it said that the Christmas market started late November. I swear. So we all arrive at la gare and are re-united with bises (saying 'hello' takes so long here) and make our merry way into the town centre. As we walk, we remark that it's not particularly busy; it's probably because the entire town's population are amassed at this astounding Christmas market. We found the market. Or, rather, and closed-up stands which are due to become the Christmas market on 5th December. Oh dear. The Christmas lights weren't even turned on because it was daylight.

...the reality.

Nonetheless, the day was still wonderful. We spent the time chatting and catching up, comparing being a Language Assistant at primary or secondary level, and shopping. The Christmas decorations in the shopping centres at least made me feel a bit more festive, and I bought a new hat
which has flaps to keep my ears warm. Definitely my best purchase since my arrival in France. For lunch, we had an Indian (three courses for 10€) and then I indulged in four tiny macaroons as well.

Then we headed back to Blois, clutching (/wearing) our purchases and set about figuring out 1. how to navigate an online order for Domino's in French and 2. what the heck we wanted to eat. Domino's in France describe pizza sizes with how many people it supposedly feeds, not how many slices there are. A 'four person' pizza - how big really is that? And how big are the people? Amy found an online article from a veteran of French Domino's, saying to back yourself and go bigger, so we did. We definitely made the right choice: 'four person' clearly means four skinny French girls who don't even like pizza. We ended up with three pizzas (Hawaiin, Veggie and 'Groovy Bacon'), two sides and a bottle of fanta for the festive price of 7€50 (£6) each. On the way back from collecting our order at the Domino's store, we were nearly back at the apartments when we were waylaid by two Mormon girls who wanted us to come to their church. End result? None of us are now mormons, but our pizza was a bit cold by the time we made our getaway. The evening was capped off by watching 'Magic Mike' i.e. staring at Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer's abs, and me and Erin talking til 3.30am even though I was waking up at 7am to catch my bus at 8am...

So yes, we didn't really embrace Frenchness on Saturday (spoke in English all the time, had Indian food for lunch, had Domino's for supper while watching an American film) but I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the three of them and I got my new hat! Now, it's back to lesson plans for tomorrow, and updating my vocabulary list. Next weekend brings yet another adventure, but you'll have to wait for my next blog post to find out what it is!
                                 ***
(see left:) an image of a hat resembling my new hat. Except mine is better, not only because it has cords hanging from ear-flap-ends so I can tie said hat under my chin like a bonnet. Side effects may include looking like a prat, but being soo cosy.