le stage est fini!

Yesterday I finished the week of teaching the stage. I think it went well overall. The kids seemed to get a little bored and restless the last 2 days. 25 hours of English in one week is a lot. I read the evaluations they made about the class. Generally they all said they were satisfied with the stage and that I was a good teacher. There was one girl that probably should have been placed in a higher group who said that she didn't really learn anything new which was too bad. But I had to try and please a whole range of levels. I'm glad that it's over though. However, you would think that I'd be paid at the end of next month for this job? Wrong. Apparently there is a university pay system that ends at the end of August and all of the paperwork goes through after that. So I won't be paid until the end of November!! Which really sucks because I really need the money now. However, I did my follow up interview yesterday at the other job and I think it's a green flag. He said that normally I'll be starting training next week but since it was a Friday evening, everyone had already left and he just needs to talk with his co-workers to confirm. He was American as well which helped a lot I think when doing the interview. I was much more comfortable and able to joke around a little with him.

So keep your fingers crossed for me everyone!

Back in France!

I arrived in France two days ago! My plane ride went just fine but it was very tiring. Thankfully I gave myself the whole weekend to recuperate before I go back to work tomorrow. It'll be nice going back to work, but I just hope the kids will be as into it as I am. I'm teaching an English immersion course for 12 - 15 year olds who have already had up to 2 years of English. This will be a change for what I'm used to: kids who know very little English and are between 8 and 11. This will be the first time teaching grammar and I hope that I'll be able to explain it well enough.

My trip to the states was so great. I got to spend a lot of time with my family and friends; many of whom I haven't seen in almost 2 years! Here are a couple of photos to sum up my stay:

Krista's bachelorette party in NYC!

Visit to New Paltz, NY

Krista's wedding!

Some really good Sushi!

Visit to Rhode Island and Massachussets

All in all I had a great time back in the states. But it's really nice to be back in France with Christophe :)

Assez!

This health care debate is officially getting insane. I'm getting afraid that the democrats are going to back down against the opposition. Their voices are being drowned out by lies and screaming. I just don't know what to do about this country. We can't even agree that health care needs to be reformed? I can't wait to get back to France where life is simple and people don't accuse their president of being a Nazi when he wants to introduce universal health care. Sigghh.

My last week in the states is going to be pretty hectic. This weekend I have my friend's wedding which I'm très excited about. Then on Sunday I'll be headed for Massachusetts with my mom and god-mother. It's going to be really sad leaving CT but I must get back to my life in France. I especially need to start working. It's going on two months now that I haven't worked. I'm getting pretty bored and pretty broke. Tomorrow I'll be applying for an international driver's license to be able to drive in France sans problème. I hope it'll go well.

Christophe and I will also be moving in a few months. We are waiting until he gets his placement for his job. We know that he's staying in the region (yay!) but we don't know where exactly. I'm so excited to move. That means that we don't have to deal with our shitty neighbors anymore and that we can finally get a pet! I'm leaning more towards a cat now. I still want a dog but it's so much work. We'll see I guess.

It's good to be home

I've been having an awesome time back home in the states. I've been catching up with old friends and spending time with my family and just basically relaxing. I always laugh when people ask me the typical questions about France like "what do they eat over there", "Do the french have 'this' or 'that'" etc. I'm just happy that they are interested! I've eaten at almost all of my restaurants that were on my "must eat at" list. My chinese food craving has been appeased as well as my bagel craving.

I also got to go back to my college town with my college friends to relive our experience. We had an awesome time! Even though it was summer and the town was almost dead, we still had a great time. One of my friends will be getting married in a week so that will also been another exciting event with my friends. She'll be the first of all of my friends to get married. The seal has just been broken...

I've also been listening to the radio and the news over here and all I hear is negative stuff about Obama's health care reform plan. Most of it are clearly lies and misconstrued facts that mislead people into believing that the US is going to become a "socialist state" if the government reforms health care. My dad gave me a good idea to write to the editorial column of the local paper to explain the health care system in France compared to here to see what kind of responses I'll get. I think that I'm going to do that. I wish people would open their eyes and see the good in this program. I hope that if I do this people will get a better perspective of the world around them and maybe it will change their minds.

As the French say, wait and see!

Back in the USA!

Hey everyone! So I know I've been really slacking with the blog recently. I arrived in the US last Tuesday and I've just been all over the place since. I've been seeing friends that I haven't seen in a year and a half plus one that I haven't seen in over 3 years! It's so nice to see everyone and to come back to familiarity. I've been eating all of my favorite food that I can't find in France and hitting up all of the hot spots that are only located in America such as Borders, Diners, etc. I've been having a great time already and it's only been the first week! However, I just need to be very careful with budgeting because I've already spent a ton of money (it goes so quickly!) and I have two and a half weeks left! So just a quick update to give everyone. My week at the beach was great! We had really nice weather and traveled all over the bassin d'Archacon. A very lovely place! So I'm off to do more American things and to spend time with my family and friends. I'll give another update soon!