Nouvelle Vie: My New Life (after) France

9 - 5

2010-09-09T17:41:00.001-07:00

I was so tired after sitting around for a week doing nothing that I ambitiously found not only 1 but 2 jobs in one week. The first job was a server in a very up-scale restaurant in the next town over from me. Now, why I considered applying for this job, I have no idea. I always hated working in restaurants, not to mention that I'm a pathetic server. I thought maybe it could work because I had some knowledge of French cuisine and wine. Ha ha ha... So naturally I didn't last very long there. I worked Saturday and Sunday and by the second day I could already tell that I was impressing no one, especially the demanding owners. So, I decided hey, this isn't for me. I quit.
The second job is a little more to my taste. I found a temporary job in a bank doing administrative work. I'm already bored as hell and I miss my job as an English trainer a lot. I especially miss my co-workers. But I just need to keep telling myself "this is only temporary, I'll find something better".

Since I've been home, I've probably spoken French 5 times... I'm so afraid I'm going to lose my level. None of my friends speak French except the ones that I met abroad, but I don't talk to them on the phone that much. I'll just need to try to speak to my french friends as much as possible over skype. I also want to try to join Alliance Française but it doesn't seem all that active and it's also a little too senior... at least in my town. I'll just have to do my best to keep up my level. I just bought an awesome French dictionary that weighs about 5 pounds! I'm so excited!

After my 8 hour work day, I'm ready to go to bed. Goodnight.

The adventure begins

2010-08-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

I decided that the week I returned back to the US would be dedicated primarily to spending time with my family and friends since it had in fact been about 8 months since I've seen everyone. After a nice weekend with some college friends for one of their birthdays, I decided that I should start working on some more serious things. I've already been skimming the classified ads and craigslist for job opportunities the past few days, especially in the DC area because...well I'm not sure why but there just seems something right about it. For those of you still in France, the media isn't lying. THERE ARE NO JOBS in the US. Well there are but, it's not the kind of jobs that young people with an expensive college degrees are looking to do. For example, working at starbucks or being a data entry clerk for $8 an hour. But hey, these are the times we live in and we have to make do with, right?
So I'm taking the bull by the horns and making the jobs come to me. I've placed an ad in the local newspaper to give French lessons (let's hope at least one person calls!) and I've made an appointment at a local staffing agency. They've gotta have something for me! I'm not becoming too impatient yet, obviously because it's only been about 10 days since I stepped off the plane on US soil, but because of the job I had this past year in France, it seems like I've been doing a whole lot of nothing for a long time. I hope this will be a fresh start for me and that moving back in with Mommy and Daddy wasn't a huge mistake even though I didn't really have a choice.
I'll check back when I have exciting news to report. That might be a while from now.

A new beginning.

2010-08-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

As some of you have heard either from me personally or through facebook, I have moved back to the US. Even though I loved living in France for the past three years, my personal life didn't work out as well. I think everyone gets the gist, so anyway it's back to American life. Which means that this blog is going to take a different direction. It will be about looking back on my life in France and how my struggle adjusting to my new life in the US. I've moved back in with mom and dad and will be starting a tedious job search tedious search in this horrible economy. Let the adventure begin...

Volcano smoke disrupts European air travel

2010-04-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so how happy am I that I didn't get stuck in another country with no way of getting back home. Very happy! I know several people whose parents were visiting and are now either stuck in France or couldn't even come to visit in the first place. I could only imagine how upset and disappointed you would be in both cases. Luckily I was too poor to go anywhere for April vacation. And to make matters worse, the SNCF is still on strike so there are only a certain number of trains running. I don't think anything worse could happen, unless this volcano erupts for weeks on end. That's going to mess up many people's plans. I hope that it clears up soon. I've never seen anything like this!

Last week, my Australian friend finally made it to Besançon on Sunday and had to leave on Tuesday morning because I had to work all day on Tuesday. It was so great seeing her, especially after 4 years! It seemed like no time had gone by. Everything was still the same. We had a lot of great laughs remembering our time as students in France and the stupid things we did. It was really great seeing her. I tried to convince her to come back to France to be an assistant and she seemed pretty keen on the idea. So let's hope she'll do it! If not, I hope the next time I see her will be in Australia! I would absolutely LOVE to visit the country but there's always the small problem of finances. I've gotta start saving now, which will take a looong time since I don't even have enough money for a plane ticket home yet and it's already April! Thankfully I'm slowly getting some hours at work. Hopefully a few months I'll have enough money put away for some traveling expenses.

the SNCF once again ruins my plans

2010-04-10T07:43:00.000-07:00

I am finally on "congé" or holiday officially from work. Unfortunately for Christophe and I, our plans in Annecy have been canceled because of his work-load. That sucks because I was really looking forward to going but I guess it just wouldn't have been possible for him. But all is not lost because one of my friends from Australia, who I met while studying abroad in Besançon, is coming to visit this weekend! But unfortunately for us, the SNCF is once again, on strike. She was supposed to arrive today, but apparently there are no trains running to Besançon from Paris. So we have to put off our visit until tomorrow. Hopefully, she'll be arriving tomorrow and staying until Tuesday morning. What sucks again is that I leave at 6:30am Tuesday morning to go to work all day so we can't even have a goodbye breakfast in the morning.
Ok so here goes my rant...I'm all for people expressing their rights to strike in order to secure their jobs or to get what they think they deserve, but when you abuse that right by striking all the time! (this is the 3rd strike this year alone!) and when you directly fuck everyone over for their vacation plans, I'm sorry but maybe find a different way of expressing your anger instead of canceling trains!!! I don't know how many thousands of people are inconvenienced by these strikes but if this happened to me all the time I think I would go mad. So everyone cross your fingers that all goes smoothly for tomorrow. I'll be so disappointed if I don't get to see my friend after 4 years of not seeing each other and getting to have a long conversation about our semester abroad. So cross your fingers everyone that the SNCF will "sortir les doigts du cul" and get back to work!

It's finally Spring!

2010-03-19T04:44:00.000-07:00

This is the first day in such a long time that is sun is shinning bright and temperatures are in the 60's!!!! Thankfully for me, I don't have to work today so I can spend the day with my puppy!! (I did the same thing yesterday even though I had one class). What a difference the weather makes. But hours are picking up at work. This week I was sent to Morteau to teach 8 hours of class. It's a very beautiful village that is not far from Switzerland (thus very expensive). There is a sausage named after this village that is eaten by all Franc-comptois in the Franche comté region.

In a few weeks, our zone will be on April Vacation! Christophe and I will be spending 4 days in Annecy!! We've been wanting to visit this city for a long time and we are finally going. I can't wait to post pictures. Unfortunately since money has been tight lately, we couldn't go abroad during the vacation. Maybe next time. Anyway, just a quick update!

Dum dum dum...

2010-03-05T01:38:00.001-08:00

3 weeks in a row I've worked only 12 hours per week.....
I'm starting to go insane. You would think with all of the free time that I have that I would try to be productive. I've alway wanted to learn Spanish so this would be the perfect time to work on my vocabulary and listening comprehension, right? Have I done this...no.
Hey, this could also be a good time to work on my artistic side and do some drawings or write a story or something....have I done this? NO!
Or I could be making phone calls to schedule appointments, you know, important stuff that I should be doing but am not.
How is it possible that the more free time I have, the less motivated I am to do anything??!!
I could also be looking into masters programs as I've always wanted to do a masters. But I've kinda dropped that idea unfortunately because I would have no money to live on unless I worked at the same time which is apparently very rare in France and I don't feel the need to accumulate a huge debt to add on to my already $17,000 from college in the states.

I'm officially in the middle of my blah period. It always occurs between January - April. Not to say that I'm super productive the rest of the year but my attitude is definitely different.
But ok, I have good news. They are giving me 8 new hours next week in a company located in the Haut-doubs, a mountainous area about an hour away from Besançon. This will work out fine, as long as it doesn't snow because apparently it can be pretty dangerous traveling to this area. Great. So spring is just around the corner right? Apparently not because I saw on the weather
forecast today that it's going to snow this weekend and possibly next week :( WWHHYYY?

I guess it will be an...adventure? But hours are starting to come in slowly. (and when I say slowly I mean slowly!) Ok sorry just have to rant a little. It's very frustrating when you don't have work to do and especially when everyone else around you is very busy!

La Citadelle

2010-02-25T01:43:00.000-08:00

The Citadelle is probably Besançon's most famous landmark. The center of Besançon is surrounded by the Doubs river which forms the city into a "boucle" or a loop. The Citadelle is situated on a hill that separates the joining of the river. It's natural form created a strategic protection against invading neighbors. Julius Caesar, himself, commented on Besançon's shape in 58 BC:
" ... the river Doubs surrounds almost the entire town, as though traced with a compass. …the gap left by the river, no more than sixteen hundred feet wide, is closed by a high mountain in such a way that both its sides touch the river banks. A wall encloses the mountain, turning it into a citadel and connects it with the town". He made these observations during the Gallic Wars. At first a temple was built on the hall during the Roman empire. The ruins remained until the construction of the present day Citadelle int he 17th century.

When Louis XIV took over the Franche Comté region, he commissioned Vauban, the reknown architect at the time, to fortify the city against invaders. The possession of Besançon was juggled between Louis XIV and the Spaniards during the construction of the Citadelle. Besançon finally became a part of France in the late 17th century. After 30 years of collective work of all of the city's habitants to build the immense fort, construction was finally completed in 1711.

For the years to come, the Citadelle was used as a fortess, barracks, and even a prison during the wars to come: the Franco-Prussian War, the French Revolution, WWI and WWII.

During the Second World War, the Nazis occupied Besançon and took control of the Citadelle. It was used as an area for executing the resistants of Nazi occupation in the city.
In 1944, the Americans took control of the Citadelle and returned it to the French. The French Army then took over until 1953 when they gave it up to the city of Besançon. Since, it has become a museum.

Inside the Citadelle, there are a number of different museums and sites to see including:

- A Vauban exhibit
-Natural History Museum
-A Zoo which includes animals such as: monkeys, lions, kangaroos and more!
-The Resistance Museum (not for young children)

Having visited the Citadelle many times, it's always a joy to return to visit all of the museums and sites again and again. There's always something new to learn and to visit because there is so much history. My personal favorite site is the Resistance museum. Although it is very graphic, there are many photos, letters, and several objects and possessions of the Nazis and the Jewish prisoners dating from the war. It's very well put together and it brings out a lot of emotions.

Visit the official website to learn more about the Citadel.

(Thanks to the official Citadel website and to Wikipedia for the facts)
(Photo taken from the web)

Boredom

2010-02-22T00:09:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 weeks I've been working an average of 11 hours per week. This work schedule isn't too much different from when I was an assistant, which in other words means that I have too much free time and not enough things to do to keep me occupied . Ok it's nice that I got to spend time with Christophe who was on vacation for the past two weeks and to spend time with the puppy instead of leaving him alone for a few hours at a time. But this is getting ridiculous. I'm waiting on a few classes to start but until then, I'll be twiddling my thumbs, watching the same music videos on Virigin 17 again and again and glancing outside to see how crappy the weather is. The weekend I've been keeping busy and taking the puppy out for long walks and seeing friends. Yesterday we finally had a sunny, cool day in Besançon. Naturally everyone went outside to take the weekly "promenade de dimanche". I wish I just had some large amount of money set aside so that I could go away for a week to Florida or some other warm destination. I hate this weather. I don't know if I can live my whole life in this kind of climate. A tropical island might be my destiny.
I know that I could come up with several different projects to work on but when I have this much free time, the time just seems to drag on and I'm not motivated to do anything. And as I'm not working a lot, the next month's paycheck will be itty bitty so I need to be careful about what I do.
My father suggested that I write about the history of Besançon and about the sites here. It's an obvious idea but I just never did it before. Not only will this be good for readers who would like to know more about this city but it will give me something to do! So for next time, I'll have something posted about this wonderful city!

Joyeux Saint Valentin!

2010-02-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

It's Valentine's Day in France! I can't say that this holiday is any different than in the US. Restaurants are packed, stores are decorated with red and pink paper hearts, and boyfriends give roses and gifts to their girlfriends. Most french couples celebrate this holiday (to my knowledge) but there are many cynical couples who decide not to celebrate because it's a made-up, commercialized holiday. Christophe and I decided to semi-celebrate the holiday. We went out to eat at a Chinese buffet last night (yum!) and invested in some new dishes for when guests come to eat at our place. Yay, no more sad looking plates.

In other news, I don't have a lot of hours this month at work so my paycheck will be looking pretty sad. BUT, I just bought myself a cute little agenda to write all of my hours and weekly plans in. I have a little obsession with being organized and a small thing like this makes me happy. I'll just have to fill in my free time with other activities.

And winter is not coming to an end any time soon in France so I might as well try to make the best of it. The puppy is helping me get my butt out of the apartment and we've been taking long walks in the snow. This week I'm going to try to get to the pool and get back to salsa classes. I know, I've been saying that a lot but I'm really going to try this week. Hopefully my agenda will help to motivate me. If it's written down, I'll have to do it!

InterNations: Community for Expats

2010-02-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

I want to promote a new website called InterNations. This is a great website that connects expats from all of the world. You are able to meet other expats in your community, learn about local events and even ask question in your specific regional forum. I've just signed up for the Strasbourg community since I live fairly close and I'm hoping to meet other expats in the area. This site is designed much like Facebook and easy to navigate. I recommend it to anyone who would like to network and meet expats in their area!

La Percée: Part 2

2010-02-07T23:50:00.000-08:00

We had a great time at la Percée yesterday! The only negative thing was that it was a little too cold to be drinking outside for 6 hours straight, but hey, that's the tradition. When you pay your entrance ticket, you receive a wine glass and 10 "dégustation" tickets. With these tickets you can try different types of wine including Macvin, "Arbois Savignon (delicious!), Vin Jaune, Crémant, and other types of regional wines. I wasn't too upset about not being able to finish my tickets because I remember the feeling the day after from last year. Christophe is experiencing it now. He's got a huge headache and he's still in bed. I'm not too upset that I volunteered to drive. I still got to taste a lot of wine but instead of going crazy, I drank slowly. Here's a few pictures to recount the day.

Inside one of the wine caves waiting to be served

Poligny: look at all those drunk people!

Delicious Escargots! mmm!

Santé! Cheers!

La Percée du Vin Jaune

2010-02-04T04:29:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. Everyone in Besançon and in the Franche comté are talking about it. It's the Percée du Vin Jaune and this year it's located in Poligny in the Jura where Christophe teaches!
This is the annual festival where everyone drinks great wine until they can't stand up any longer. What a great tradition. Thankfully the organizers have thought about a small danger called drunk driving and have organized several trains that will directly go to and from the event. Unfortunately for us the last train available leaves Besançon at 9am we arrive in Poligny at 10. and the caves don't even open until 12! I have volunteered to the be the DD (designated driver) but I'm sure i'll regret it when everyone around me will have a happy buzz. I remember last year, after 3 hours my feet were so cold that I couldn't feel my toes anymore. I don't think I'll need to stay outside for more than 4 or 5 hours. That should do it. Plus one of our friends is doing us a huge favor and watching the puppy. I was thinking of bringing him along but I don't think he's ready to be in the middle of thousands of people. It will probably overwhelm him. Plus he still runs up to every person he sees. I would never be able to lift the glass up to my lips to taste because I'd be holding him back from jumping on people.

Not only is there great wine but there is delicious regional food as well! I'll have to be careful and not overdue it with the food as I tend to do. I love eating! There's nothing better than a great glass of Arbois with some comté and morteau sausage with potatoes. Yuumm. I'll be sure to post pictures when I come back on Sunday!

It's my 100th post!

2010-01-31T11:41:00.000-08:00

So this is my 100th post! I can't believe that I've been blogging for about 2 years now. I can't even remember when I started but it was when I first moved to France and I was feeling very lost and had a lot of anxiety about living here. Over time I finally settled in and realized how much I loved it here. As I was talking with some friends earlier, none of us would have ever thought that we'd be living in France 10 years from then. Looking back at myself in high school, I could have never imagined it. I have to be honest and say that I'm very happy with everything right now. I have everything that I could ever want: a great boyfriend, an adorable puppy, a nice apartment, a good job, good health. I realize that I'm very lucky. Even though teaching English was never my dream job, I'm happy with what I'm doing now. And I'm especially happy that I have time to do things that I want to do, which I probably wouldn't have if I was living in the US. I couldn't imagine working 40+ hours per week and having no time to relax to travel for a week or two at a time. It's possible of course but much more difficult.
I'm really happy that we decided to adopt a dog as well. Of course it's not easy but it's such a great feeling when he wants to be next to you and to give you lots of love and attention. My work schedule is the reason why we could adopt the dog. If I worked a normal schedule, it would have been difficult and probably not even possible. Thankfully France is a dog friendly country. Something, that the US is definitely not. I can't wait until the weather gets warmer and we can take trips around the region with the little guy. I love going hiking and discovering old ruins or historic areas. Guess I'll have to wait a few more months...

Winter blues...

2010-01-24T23:37:00.000-08:00

This past week has been an interesting transition from life without puppy to life with puppy and it's very different. I'm not longer able to sleep in past 7am and life revolves around the dog. He's growing so fast too! He'll be fully grown before I know it.
Work is pretty slow lately, I haven't got many hours so it's good because I get to spend more time with the puppy but bad for my wallet. I hope that February will be better. I'm ready for spring to come. I'm already so sick of the winter weather. I'm not being very productive outside of work. Comme d'hab. I was hoping to start a regular exercise routine. I'm going to start going back to salsa classes on Wednesday and hopefully go to the pool on the weekends. And besides that, the only other project is to train the dog to make sure that he's well behaved when he'll be an adult. I'm trying to be strict with him as much as possible. He's a really good dog and he's starting to listen to me when I tell him 'no' and I've taught him 'assis' or 'sit'. I want to teach him both french and english commands. I'll probably starting enrolling him in obedience classes since I have no experience with training dogs. That'll be my project for the winter. I want to start reading more too. I just want to keep busy this winter so that I won't get depressed like every year.

The new member of the family

2010-01-17T09:11:00.000-08:00

Say hello to Ethan! He loves people and he certainly loves you! Read my other blog about raising him:
http://ckcpuppy.blogspot.com/

Honestly snow, F*** off!

2010-01-10T11:14:00.001-08:00

I hate winter. It makes me depressed, I don't feel like leaving the apartment, and I become antisocial. And to make things worse, it's been snowing non-stop for a week! Please someone make it stop! I'm hoping that in a few weeks that the weather will become warmer (because every winter there seems to be a trend of heavy snow and then a week or two after there is spring-like weather that appears out of nowhere.) Well, I'm hoping for the freak, out of nowhere weather. And to make things even more worse, I'm working fewer hours this month because many of my classes are ending so I'll have a lot of free time, and I'll be getting a lighter pay check at the end of the month...
But let's recap the weekend to change the subject!
Ok I asked for opinions about getting a puppy from several people including readers, family and friends and I think the unanimious answer was to wait a little longer. So, even though I considered your advice and thanks so much for it... I didn't listen. We're getting the puppy! On Saturday we visited a breeder who was only 10 minutes away from the wedding we were going to that night. I had contacted the breeder last week, telling her a little about us and what kind of dog we were looking for. Apparently she has a puppy that is really to leave the nest, who is about 10 weeks old and is looking for a home. So Christophe and I stopped by her home to visit the little guy, and I think both of our hearts melted when we saw him. He was soo tiny and cute, just the sweetest little thing you've ever seen and he loved attention. He wasn't shy or scared of us which was a good sign, and he seemed to be very comfortable in our presence. I think he'll be a perfect fit for our lives. We'll be picking him up either next weekend or the weekend after. I know it might seem rushed but don't worry y'all I've been preparing to have a puppy for a long time and I know that I'm ready. I was just waiting for the "yes" from Christophe. And we won't be in this apartment forever. The good news is that by the time we move, he'll be potty trained (hopefully!) and we can find a much bigger apartment for all of us.

As for our money situation... We have one fonctionnaire in this house which means a guaranteed monthly salary, plus my salary and I usually do pretty well. We'll be able to provide everything this little guy needs! I'm so excited :)

Ring in the New Year 2010!

2010-01-04T01:06:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Unfortunately for me there was absolutely no celebration for the New year because our airline didn't think it was important to wish us a Happy New Year, nor give us a small glass of champagne. Yes, we "celebrated" the new year on the airplane coming back to France. I was really disappointed that I didn't get to celebrate the beginning of the new decade but oh well, we can't have cheap plane tickets and have an awesome New Year's eve party at the same time I guess right?
I'm going back to work today and trying to get over my jet lag. I think I fell asleep around 4am last night (10pm US east coast time) but I finally dragged myself out of bed at 9:30 this morning.
Spending Christmas at home this year was great! I was really happy to be able to share our Christmas traditions with Christophe (it was his first American Christmas). We stuffed ourselves a little too much though over there (restaurants, greasy food..too much food!) and since we've been back, we haven't been all that hungry. It was so nice to see my friends too even though it was kinda short. I was really happy to be able to come home this year and spend the holidays with my family. Christmas isn't the same without them.

So that puppy I've been wanting, I've been begging and making the poutty face and last night Christophe finally cracked. He said that we could get a dog!!! But now that he actually said yes, I'm really imagining the dog in our small apartment. Since I don't work full time, I have plenty of time to take it for walks and to train it but now I'm a little nervous. I've been wanting a dog for years and now that it's actually possible I'm putting the reality into my imagination. It'll also be my first dog. I know that the best place for a dog is a house with a yard but we're going to be moving around a lot because of Christophe's placement so we wouldn't be able to get a house for a while. But what do all of you think, especially those of you who have dog or have owned a dog in the past? I will be the only one taking care of the dog until the summer because Christophe won't have time for it and our apartment is a little small but if I have the time and the motivation to get this dog, should I still get it? It's all I've been thinking about for months and I really think I'm ready. Here's my future puppy (hopefully):

(Image taken from The Daily Puppy)

Isn't he adorable. So give me your feedback, considering our situation, is this the right time to get a puppy?

It's Christmas Time!

2009-12-20T06:43:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been absent for a very long time, I know. But I haven't had many things to write about until now. Tomorrow Christophe and I are leaving to go back to the US to spend Christmas with my family. I'm really excited especially since last year we weren't able to go home because of the cost. And even better is that it's looking like it will be a white Christmas! In Besançon it's been snowing non-stop for a couple days and there's about a foot of snow on the ground! It's so pretty! We visited the marché de Noel yesterday and it's by far better when there's snow. It makes it much more festive. It's been a calm Christmas because we haven't been able to travel anywhere. Going to the states is the big voyage of the season. Last year we visited several Christmas markets in Strasbourg and even in Germany but this year we just haven't had the time.
Here are some pictures we took this weekend:

Our balcony covered in snow!

Centre ville Besançon

the Christmas Market

Vin chaud? Yes please!

But unfortunately this will be a sad Christmas because my grandmother passed away a couple weeks ago which was a huge shock to everyone. It was very unexpected and everyone in the family is very sad. We're going to have a rememberance dinner while I'm home since I can't make it to the funeral. She will be missed.
RIP Grandma
I wish I could have said goodbye..

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T01:27:00.000-08:00

Another Thanksgiving in France! But tonight, we're not celebrating Thanksgiving because we need to move our fridge tomorrow, so we have to eat all of the food inside so that we throw out as little as possible. We are going to go all out with Thanksgiving dinner on December 5th at a friend's house so I'm looking forward to that. I think we are going to have a real turkey as well. Apparently in France, they don't start selling turkeys until Christmas time so hopefully by the 5th they will be in markets. So this weekend we are finally moving out of this apartment. I'm really happy to move but unfortunately we are moving into an even tinier space. It's my fault because I thought that the apartment was bigger than it actually was when I visited it. And I'm the one who wanted to move into a bigger space...I just hope that we can fit all of our furniture inside. But other than that it's a really really nice apartment. It's a year old and it's got a big balcony!
However, it gives me a good excuse to go to Ikea to buy some new things! We'll need some shelves to organize everything, a table and chairs and maybe some curtains finally!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

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2009-11-16T01:23:00.000-08:00

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Updates

2009-11-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, I've been really bad with updating the blog. I haven't found anything really interesting to write about and I'm also pretty busy at the moment (except on Sundays). So the weather has turned officially crappy here. Rain almost every day with cloudy skies, so it's not really the most wonderful time of the year. I'm excited for Christmas time because there will be lights, decorations, vin chaud!, chestnuts and Christmas markets! I love Christmas in France but I'm even more excited to be spending Christmas in the US this year with the family and Christophe. The last time I was home for Christmas was 2 years ago and it seems like soo long ago.

We're also moving out of this apartment in 2 weeks and are still technically looking for a new one. I think that we've decided on one that is much farther from centre ville and is a tad smaller than the apartment we have now. But, it's in great condition (it's only a year old) and theres' a balcony and very few neighbors. However, it's across from a lycée (high school) so hopefully by 6pm all will be calm. One thing in life that I can't stand is teenagers. lol and now we might be living across from about 1000 of them. But it's still not definite.

I've been working a lot of hours lately (as I noticed in my last paycheck, I was very happy) and my paycheck should be even better for this month. That means, lots of gifts for everyone at Christmas. And most importantly, a large payment on my student loans for December! lol

After browsing over new phones for months, I finally treated myself to one that day I got paid because hey, it's been 2 years and I'd like a cooler, more high-tech phone. No, I didn't buy an i-Phone but its a touch phone and I feel very professional with it (and maybe a little snobby too).

Thanksgiving is also only about 10 days away but I'll be celebrating it on December 5th at a friend's place. I wish we didn't have to postpone it because it won't feel like a real Thanksgiving. But I'm really happy that I'll be celebrating with friends this year.

Permis de Conduire!

2009-11-08T05:36:00.000-08:00

Look who's got a french driver's license!!

Halloween in France!

2009-11-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Last night I had my first Halloween party in France. Yes, even though I'm beginning my 3rd year in France, I've never had nor have been to a Halloween party here. I decided that it was time! Everyone came in a costume (even the french guests!) and everyone said they had an awesome time! Who could ask for more. I didn't have a lot of time to cook unfortunately but I made a quiche lorraine and cut it into small bites and also made some cupcakes (but the icing was terrible!) I can never get it right. Oh well. Since I'm poor at the moment, I couldn't afford to buy a costume or to buy things for a costume so I looked through my closet and found something that resembled a cheerleader ensemble. That with a little zombie makeup and voilà; I'm a zombie cheerleader! Lol ok not very creative but I couldn't think of anything else. Other very interesting costumes included: a mummy, 2 witches, a goddess, légume man (does anyone know who is this?), the ikea fairy, Amy Winehouse and many others! I gave a bottle of Bethanie wine from the Jura to the winner of the best costume: legume man! He deserved it too because he worked on it all week!

In other news, work is going well. I'm getting more and more hours! Which means that I'll be rolling in the money soon. Ok, not really but I'll be making a decent salary. (Much better than the assistantship salary let's just say!) Which makes me happy!

Sluggish!

2009-10-20T02:47:00.000-07:00

Ca y est!
Summer is officially over. The morning are at freezing temperatures and our apartment doesn't heat enough to keep up with the sudden cold temperatures. It literally went from one week to temperatures in the 70s, to a drop into the 40s and 50s! I don't think that I'm really looking forward to winter as I never am. By January/February I tend to get really depressed. It's almost systematic. But this year, I should be working a lot of hours and seeing a lot of people and getting out of the apartment a lot. This wasn't so much the case last year. Christophe is almost always busy planning his classes so it can get a little lonely. Last year it was the same with his concours. However, my job right now is really slow. Maximum, I have worked 15 hours during the week. Then most weeks I work around 10 hours. This wouldn't be so bad if I had a fixed monthly salary. Unfortunately, I get paid by the hour. I'm anxious to start making a real salary and to be busy. I enjoy my job but so far my classes don't start until 4pm or 5pm which is a little late. The rest of the day I don't have much to do. For example, today I woke up at almost 11:30am! Just like back in college. I hate sleeping that late, but I guess that's what happens when you're day is empty. However, I'm very proud of myself because this year I've been consistently going to salsa dancing classes and also to the pool. At least I'm doing something regularly.

Halloween is also in 10 days so I'm really excited about that! We're having a party here on Halloween night and it's mandatory costumes! I'm going to bake a lot of traditional sweets and try to make a punch. My mom sent me a package with some decorations inside so that will be cool as well. I'm so excited! It's been so long since I've celebrated Halloween. I think it was senior year in college. :( I'll be sure to post a bunch of pictures.

And lastly, Christophe and I are going home for Christmas!! I'm so excited! I didn't get to go home last year because I couldn't afford it but this year is a totally different story! I'll miss New Year's eve though because I'll be on a plane. It was 200€ cheaper to fly back on the 31st than on the 1st. Oh well, we'll have a celebration on the plane!

Meet my car

2009-10-11T05:23:00.000-07:00

Isn't she cute?

The stalling queen

2009-09-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

My new car arrived yesterday! We bought it this weekend (well Christophe's mom technically paid for it) and I had to go to the Prefecture on Monday to get the Carte Grise and to buy insurance in order to drive it back to Besançon. The car is in really good shape. It's almost like the other car I was going to buy. It's a blue Peugeot 106 from 1997 and it only have 50,000km! It was owned by an older man who can no longer drive it because he has cancer in one of his legs. Excited as I was, I decided to test drive it last night when I got home from work.
Lately, I've been driving Christophe's car to work so that I can get used to driving alone. However, Christophe has a much nicer car with assisted steering and it's easy to shift. My car, is not easy to drive for a beginner. The pedals are very sensitive and there is no assisted steering so when backing out of a parking space, I need to turn the wheel with all my might!
We also tried to do a lesson on how to start up on hills...and I couldn't do it. I must have tried 10 times and each time I stalled so of course my natural reaction: I started crying.
It's very frustrating when you think that you've finally learned how to drive a manuel and then reality smacks you in the face. I've still got a lot of practice ahead of me.
With Christophe's car I hardly stall anymore but this new car is completely different. I couldn't afford to buy a fancier car so I guess I'm stuck with learning to drive this one.
Anyways, I'm just really disapointed in myself. I thought that I had (almost) mastered standard driving.

To talk about other things, I've been at my job for a couple weeks now and I really like it. My co-workers are all great and the clients are cool. I'm still waiting to get more hours but that will be when they assign me outside of Besançon and that means I'll have to drive!! This weekend will be used to practice on hills.

Oh and one last thing, my cavemen neighbors that I wrote about a couple weeks ago, they moved out!! We are so happy. It's soo quiet now; there's no more grunting or swearing or yelping. Too bad we are moving in 2 months...just kidding. I'm excited to move to a better apartment.

French Wedding!

2009-09-22T01:41:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I attended one of Christophe's friend's weddings in a small village in the Doubs department. Like any normal french wedding, the couple first gets married in the town hall - Mairie, then goes to the church to have the religious ceremony. Afterwards, the vin d'honneur is held for everyone for a couple hours. You basically just drink a yummy aperitif and eat hors d'oeuvres for about 2 hours. Then the celebration begins! The meal consists of 6 courses, two appetizers, or in French, 2 entrées the first usually cold and the second hot. Between the "entrées" and the main course, a strong liquor is served I guess to wake you up a little since the wedding ends near 4 or 5am! An hour later, the main course is served. The dancing begins as well the showing of slide shows of the couple. The next courses are of course, the cheese plate, then the dessert, and last but not least, another strong liquor and coffee! The French really know how to party and eat well. I think I much prefer French weddings to American weddings. There are no strict times frames and the food is much better!
Here are a few photos:

The grand entrance of les mariés
The churchle vin d'honneurMy place setting (with my name spelled wrong!)One of the yummy courses!

Dupped!

2009-09-16T02:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess that car was too good to be true. The people selling it called me the next day to tell me that their mother changed her mind and didn't want to sell it anymore. We were really upset because it was such a great car but I guess they are going to sell it more expensive which makes sense. But its ok, there are other options in view at the moment. Of course these cars have more mileage and more wear and tear on them but I guess I can't be expecting too much for the budget that I have.

In good news however, I was able to exchange my driver's license! I went to the prefecture yesterday and had all of the paper work ready and everything. The guy looked at the date of entry on my CDS and said it was ok. No questions asked! He then took my US DL and said it should be ready in a month. Yay! But I'm kinda upset. I really liked my US driver's license, it actually looks real and the French one looks fake! Now when I go back home I have to bring my passport with me everytime just to get a drink. I don't even want to know what will happen if I get pulled over by the cops and they ask to see my license. They'll laugh probably because they won't know what a french driver's license looks like. I guess it's sad as well because that was my last connection to the US. I mean I'm still a citizen and have my US passport and everything but it just emphasizes my permancy here, which is a good thing! But it's emotional in a way.

I'm a real frenchy now I guess :)

My New Car!

2009-09-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

For my new job, I was told that I absolutely needed a car if I wanted to have a lot of hours. I would have to drive outside of Besançon where there would be no public transportation available. Of course a lot of hours means a lot of money so....hell yea I'll get a car!

Thanks to a friend of ours who is a car dealer, he was able to hook me up with someone wanting to sell their car. It belongs to their mother who is no longer able to drive. Needlesstosay, this car is almost brand new. It's 9 years old, has about 48,000 km on it (which is nothing!) and barely has anything wrong with it! She apparently hardly ever drove it so it's like buying an (almost) brand new car. And the best part is that we're only paying 2,900€ for it! You can't find anything better than that. It's a red Peugeot 106 and it's so cute and tiny!

Now for the annoying part. I need to apply for a Carte Grise, which is a paper that says the car belongs to me, apply for car insurance, and last but not least, trade in my driver's license for a french permis de conduire.

I'm a little worried about trading in the license. Although I'm from Connecticut and there is a exchange between the state and France, I've been here for over a year so I'm afraid they'll refuse. However, this is my first permanent Carte de Sejour and it says that my entry into France was on 9/20/08. That was the date from when I had to go home and get a new visa so I hope that would technically be the beginning of my permanent stay here. I have another week until the year is up based on my residency card so I hope that I won't have any problems.

We'll be picking up the car on Thursday (if these people didn't scam us) and I should be really to drive it by Saturday if all goes accordingly.

Thanks Andre-Pierre!

New Job!

2009-09-12T03:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day training for my new job. It went really well and I felt really good about it. My last two teaching jobs, the assistantship and the week-long stage, I was left to plan my own classes with little to no guidance. This place is different. They have a teaching system already set up that focusing on learning through speaking. They also have their own materials and regular training so that you aren't just thrown into classes not knowing what you're doing. I'm happy that I'll finally have some guidelines and some structure to the classes. Some people might not like that, but for me it's easier and it lets me know what I need to do. I'll be regularly observed as well, but it's not to reprimand me but to correct what I'm doing wrong.

Apparently I'll have a lot of hours as well, as soon as I get a car. I've been browsing a lot of different websites and asking people I know to help me find a car. So far I've only seen one car and it wasn't great so that was a big no. This is definitely going to be a big headache. I'll start getting hours in about 2 weeks (as long as i'll have a car) so I need to get moving. I'm still kind of nervous about driving here in France because of the crazy roads and signs and I've still never driven alone. I better get used to it soon. I won't have a choice.

I think I'm going to like this job. And the best part? No more children!!

English Lessons at La Poste

2009-09-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to send out my dossier to the employer in Strasbourg this morning. I had about 20 papers to get together and send out. I had everything ready by last week but I was just waiting on my French criminal record report to come in the mail (and yes everyone, I've got a clean slate). So seeing as though my training is on Friday and it's already Wednesday, I still need them to send me my contract to sign before I start.
I knew that I would have to send it through 1 day express mail and was expecting to spend maybe 10 or 15€ on it. I asked the Poste man what my options were. He said either a 4€ envelope that would maybe get there tomorrow if not, Friday. Or a next day envelope that would cost 21€! Uhh why is there not an in between cost?? What the hell?
Seeing as though I'm almost in the red with my bank account since I haven't gotten a pay check since June, I was really hoping to not spend a fortune at La Poste.
But I figured this was pretty important and I shouldn't take the chance... sigh..so I handed over my debit card for the 21€ envelope.
I just don't know how I'll get my contract in time. But I'm sure everything will work out in the end.

At least the guy working there was very nice. He noticed the photocopy of my American passport amongst all of the paper work and started throwing all of the English words that he knew in the conversation when he was explaining how to fill out the expediter form. "Marquer votre numéro de téléphone, uhhh your téléphone here et uhh....your adresse here!"
I remember when I was first learning French and people would slip in a few English words here and there like I didn't understand the word in French and I would get really offended thinking that the French were trying to prove that they were better at speaking English than I was speaking in French. After a while, I figured out that they were doing it because they just want to try and impress us with the few words of English they knew, even as a way of being polite in their weird frog way.

He also mentioned that his daughter was a huge fan of the US and that she had a poster of all of the states in her bedroom. I guess he'll have a story to tell her when he goes home after work tonight.

My cavemen neighbors

2009-09-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

Christophe and I are truly convinced that we live underneath a couple of cavemen. It's a couple who live together who are rather, um, heavy, and don't know how to talk at a normal volume. All day long it's yelling, and grunting, and stomping, and swearing and from time to time when they aren't fighting... a witch cackle.

They are both about 30 years old and obviously unemployed and don't like to leave their apartment all that often.

Ever since we moved in, we've been having to deal with these Neanderthals. Now as we are speaking, they are making rooster noises.... and now.... gigigtity noises. (Have you ever seen Family Guy?)

Whyy???

Oh and their favorite past time is using the vacuum cleaner. EVERY DAY.

Did I mention that we'll be moving in 3 months?? We just can't take it anymore.

Julia Child's "My Life in France"

2009-09-02T00:51:00.000-07:00

So as most of you probably know, in the US there is a movie coming out called "Julie and Julia" which is based on Julia Child's infamous cook book "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." Before all of the hype about this new movie, I hadn't paid much attention to Julia Child nor her cooking. But, during my stay back home, I went into my local Border's store and just saw a whole table lined with books dedicated to Julia Child and the new film. Among the books that decorated the table was of course "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" but also the book, "My life in France." I didn't know that this book existed and was instantly fascinated by it. Being the 'frugal' girl that I am, I went home and ordered the book off Amazon.com for half the price. I received it in the mail the day I left to go back to France. This is what I've been reading ever since I came back to France.

I'm half way through and I love it. It talks about her life in Paris, attending the famous cooking school, the Cordon Bleu, and beginning her career as a cook. Now, I've fairly recently took an interest in cooking (the past two years) so this book just furthers my interest and makes me want to try new things. It also makes my stomach grumble with hunger everytime I read it. (Note: do not read this book on an empty stomach!)

One inspiration from this book was making one of the most well known French dishes, Canard à l'orange (duck with orange sauce). We had a French couple over for dinner and I decided to attempt it. It was fairly successful but I had slightly over cooked the duck (it's eatten almost rare in France).

Books about people's lives in France are among my favorite type of books to read. I love to compare their experiences to my own. Some of my other favorite books include: "Almost French", "A Year in the Merde", and "On Rue Tatin".

So to anyone who has a little free time at the moment, I highly suggest reading this book. It'll make you want to become a French chef when you're through with it!

Salade de chevre chaud au miel and my new job!!

2009-09-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

Today I was really in the mood to attempt to make a goat cheese salad. Every time I go out to eat and order one it's so delicious! I thought that today would be a opportune moment to try it out because Christophe isn't here (he HATES goat cheese!) because he's at a teacher's meeting! La rentrée is tomorrow so all the kiddies are going back to school! Woo-hoo! Anyways, here's what I used for my salad (I 'm not listing any exact amounts of ingredients because I don't know):

*goat cheese
*baguette sliced
*lettuce
*tomato
*honey
*Walnuts and raisins

I put the goat cheese on top of the sliced baguette and drizzled some honey on top. Then I put it in the oven for about 10 minutes. I got the salad ingredients together and stirred up my own vingrette.

For the vinagrette:
*Honey
*Vegetable oil
*Balsamic vinagrette

I stirred it all together and voilà:
A yummy salad just like the kind you can get in a french restaurant. haha ok not quite the same. It still needs a little work.

Just to add one last thing: I got the job that I wanted at the language school! They called me up yesterday and told me that they wanted to hire me! Now I just have a pound of paperwork to fill in and send to Strasbourg so that I can sign the contract! I won't be poor anymore! :)

le stage est fini!

2009-08-29T03:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-07T21:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

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!

le Tour de France passes through Besançon!

2009-07-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

The day that I've been waiting for finally arrived today; the Tour de France came to Besançon! The whole event of watching the cyclists pass by took only a few minutes but it was still really cool. My parents recorded the tour today so that I'll get to see it when I come home in 10 days! Maybe I'll be able to see myself? Here are a few pictures that we took:

Tomorrow we are leaving to go camping in a village called Biganos which is right near the Atlantic and is not far from Bordeaux. I'm really hoping to have nice weather because this whole month has been very strange weather-wise. We're also going to bring the used bikes we just bought to bike around the area and to go to the beach. A day trip to Bordeaux will also be in order.

Then finally the day after we come back, I'll be leaving for the states! I'm soo excited to go home! It's been almost a year since I've seen my family and friends, and for certain friends, it's been a year and a half! I'm leaving plenty of room in my suitcase to bring back tons of American goodies to France. I probably won't have time to write an entry before I go back home so the next post will be sometime back in the states. A bientôt!

Bastille Day!

2009-07-14T02:35:00.000-07:00

Happy 14 juillet to everyone out there! I was hoping to have a picnic or watch the fireworks tonight in Besançon but with this rainy weather, I'm not sure I'll be able to leave my apartment today :(
Oh well, I'll just watch the parade live from Paris on TV. It'll be almost like I'm there in real life! No, not really...

A CDI in sight?

2009-07-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

I had my third interview yesterday with an international enterprise that is looking for native English speakers to work with their clients on learning English and it went really really well! After a disappointing interview the day before, this job offer really brightened my day. They said that they'd offer a CDI (aka a permanent contract) and that there are a lot of hours available. So, I would be able to make a decent salary at a real job. I would also get in-job training and regular raises every time I passed a new diploma! The only problem is that I'm currently only able to work in Besançon because I don't have a car to drive to their other work locations. However, since I wanted to try and learn to drive by myself officially this year, this is the real motivation to do it. I'm going to sign up for driving hours and possibly look to buy a used car. But I'll do all of this of course, if this job actually does work out in the end. I would be starting in September which is perfect. I'll be teaching at the other school the last week of August and then I won't have anything else. When I come back from the US then I'll be going back to for a following interview and teaching exam. I better start brushing up on my English grammar!

In addition, I already know someone who works there and she likes it as well. Things are really looking up! Hopefully we can finally move out of this apartment and we are even talking about getting a dog...but we'll see. That's for a later discussion.

Great News!

2009-07-06T04:24:00.000-07:00

I have awesome news to annouce: Christophe passed his concours!!! Which means that he'll officially be a professor in a lycée in the fall! We were both sooo shocked when we checked the website. He was certain that he didn't pass and was in a foul mood all weekend. I wanted to wait for the results but he was sure that he didn't pass. But on the website glaring at us in the face was: Vous êtes admis! A huge shock to both of us!

Woo-hoo!! I'm sooo proud of him! He worked so hard this year and he really deserves this! Now our financial problems are a thing of the past! Tonight we're going out to eat to celebrate this great news!

Vacances dans le sud here we come!

The début of summer!

2009-07-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I'm a day late but Happy 4th of July to everyone!

Unfortunately I didn't do anything special like roast marshmallows or have a barbeque, or set off fireworks. But I did do some fun marker-tatooing, with a fellow british friend, of our respective flags. I apologize for the following ridiculous picture:
Friday night was the Eurockéennes festival at Belfort and it was a lot of fun! Though we arrived rather late (it started at 4pm and we got there at 8pm) we stayed until (almost) the end. Among the groups we saw: The prodigy, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Cyprus Hill. The Ting Tings came on too late and we decided to leave before they came on to avoid the long line of cars at the end of the festival. It was nice getting out of Besançon for a night especially to see some good, live music. It's been forever since I've been to a concert. Here's a photo of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's in concert:

Officially unemployed

2009-07-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

I'm on day two of unemployment and oh my god, I'm already bored.
So far, I've baked cookies, cleaned the apartment, sent out more resumes to language schools and watched a whole lot of tv with the laptop glued to my lap.
But just now, I got a phone call from one of the languages schools that I applied to yesterday! And I've got an interview for next week!
However, I'm a little worried because she asked me right away if I had a car or a french driver's license and I had to reply "no" to both of those questions. So that might eventually count against me in some way.
This year I'm going to learn how to drive a manual car and I'm going to get a french driver's license. But, as long as I have no money, I'm not buying a car.

Christophe is away in Lyon taking his test. We won't know if he passes or not until next week. I'm trying not to stress about it but I know that he is. We'll just have to wait and see.

For the last day of work, I went with one of my schools to have a picnic in the park and to watch the kids play. It was a nice way to end the year. However, I was hoping to get a little something since afterall I was at the school for two years, but nope, nothing. Not even a card. Oh well, no use getting upset over it. But at one of my other schools where I had the demon classes, the other teachers went out a bought me a cute tunic! It was really sweet and I felt really appreciated for the work that I had done this year.
Tonight I have my one and only end of the year dinner at my troubled school and I'm really excited about going. I don't know if they will get me anything but if not, I don't mind. I enjoyed working at that school because the kids were really sweet, though it was difficult at times. I also got along really well with my co-workers.

So the question in, what am I going to do all month?? I need to be extremly frugal but I've already started spending more money that I should have.

Tomorrow if Christophe is up for it, we might go to a festival in Belfort called Les Eurockéennes. Every year this music festival is held for 3 days and ton of well known groups come from all over the world. If we go tomorrow, this is the line up: Cyprus Hill, The Prodigy, The Tings Tings, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Noisettes, and other groups.
NTM, the notorious french rap group was also supposed to be there Friday night, but Joey Starr, one of the rappers, got sent to prison.

The other nights, Saturday and Sunday, Kanye West and Slipnot will be performing. I'm not a big fan of them so I'd rather go Friday night. For more info, go to the official website: Here
Tickets are still on sale!

Not sure what the future will bring

2009-06-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my last day of teaching. Don't get me wrong, I'm sad that it's ending but I'm happy as well. I'm ready to move on and find something else but I'm scared about what will happen afterwards. For the end of the year, one of my schools is having a picnic in the local park so I'll get to say goodbye to the kids and the teachers and probably drink a little wine while doing so.
In other news, I was contacted by another language school for an interview. So that could be a possibility as well. I hope that they'll actually have work for me!
The ad that I put in the newspaper didn't get me anywhere; no one contacted me. In this city, it's very hard to find individual students on your own. Most people contact schools to get their lessons.

Christophe's oral exam is this Wednesday and Thursday. We're both really nervous about it. If he passes then I don't have to worry as much about finding a job quickly and we'll know that he'll have a permanent job. If he doesn't pass, he's going to look for a job in another sector. After all of the hard work he put in this year, I really hope he'll be rewarded for it.

And finally, my dad told me yesterday that my poor cat has apparently disappeared. I swear my parent's home is cursed. This is the third cat that has disappeared in 15 years! We live near the woods and there are a lot of wild animals so I'm afraid that that's what happened. No more cats at that home, ever!

The Interview

2009-06-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

The interview finally happened this morning at the language school. The outcome was essentially that I was not assured to have a stable working condition this fall. I will most likely be teaching an intensive English course for secondary students at the end of August but as la Rentrée comes around, I'm not guaranteed work. They will call me when they need me but nothing contractual. They were completely honest with me and said if you work here, you can't make a living off of it. You will need to have a job elsewhere. So I'm basically back to the drawing board. My friend who works at the other language school I was applying to, just told me yesterday that she's being laid off so I guess I have no hope left there. I starting to get a little scared. But hey, there's always being a vacataire in the public school system right?? :(

When can I start a real job that I enjoy?

Oh and the soldes are starting today! I already stopped by a few stores including Galaries Lafayette and bought a couple of things for over 50 percent off! But I need to pay extra attention at the amount of money I spent now that I'm unemployed. Last thing to buy before I run out of money, a new pair of flats! The ones I wear now have a gigantic hole on the side and it's not very professional. For those readers in France, Bonnes soldes!

La Fête de la Musique!

2009-06-22T01:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was June 21st, the first day of summer, which in France also means, the nation-wide festival of music in the streets! It's celebrated in every village, in every city of France to mark the shortest night of the year with music that lasts until 1 or 2 am!
All over the center of town there were groups of every kind of musical genre, each having a small crowd encircling them: reggae, rock, punk, hard core, jazz, techno, etc.
Of course, the night wasn't complete without drinking a couple beers and dancing in the street to loud booming techno music.
My ears are hurting a little this morning...

It's now officially summer! But why is it only 57° outside?

8 days left

2009-06-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

As the assistantship comes to a close, I'm getting more and more excited about my trip back to the states but becoming increasingly worried about my job situation this fall. Even though I did have a sort of interview last week at the language school, there was a little problem with the actual interview itself. The man did not show up because he was in a car accident. So we changed the interview date to sometime next week. I was hoping they would need people for July since I'm free all that month, but apparently they are looking for people moreso for August. *Problem!* I will be home for the whole month of August. However, I'm considering changing the date on my plane ticket to come back to France earlier in order to work. Since it's really well paid and I really need the money, it would probably be the smartest idea. I hope it's not too late to change my mind since I already told the woman that I wouldn't change my ticket.

However, that's only work for this summer. For the fall I still have no clue. I would rather not do the vacataire position but if I have no choice...

In terms of my masters, I think I finally have clear path. I want to try to get into an interpretation school. There are a few really good schools in France that I will apply to next spring. I think it's a job that I could be capable of doing, plus it's reasonably well paid and I wouldn't have to teach! But yes there is a catch, you need to know a third language. This was exactly my problem last year. For those who read my blog last fall, I was enrolled in school here and struggling with spanish classes that were waaaay too advanced for my beginner level. So, this year, I'm going to give Spanish another try. There is a two week intensive debutant course in July at this same language school where I might be working. Then in the fall, there are night classes available at the advanced level. I've started to review my vocabulary and phrases but I still don't know how to conjugate most verbs.

My goal for next year, 2010...start a masters program!

I'm PACSed!

2009-06-12T05:43:00.000-07:00

Yay it's official! We went to the tribunal this morning, handed in our paperwork and were given our PACS certificate!! In addition, the man who processed everything was very very nice and gave us no problems whatsoever! It all went very smoothly. Two of our friends even met us afterwards to take pictures and throw confetti as we were walking out of the Palais de Justice. Last night when we went out for a drink they said they would come by this morning but we didn't know if they were kidding or not. They weren't! After the confetti throwing we went to get some champagne to celebrate at a local bar where we know the owner who is English. He knew about our PACSing and gave the champagne coupes to us for free! How nice of him! Then this afternoon, two out of three classes were cancelled so now I have the whole afternoon to myself. And finally tonight, Christophe and I are celebrating by going out to dinner! What a great Friday! :)

What a headache

2009-06-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

Before going to babysit today, I stopped over at the prefecture to ask for the specific documents that I would be to obtain the Carte de séjour Vie Privée Familiale. The woman at the welcome desk made me nervous because she told me that she didn't know if I would be able to change the card status or not. But then I thought to myself, no it wouldn't be her who would know. She then sent me to ask her colleague at étrangers sans rendez vous. The woman there asked me immediately how long I've been living with my boyfriend. I told her since May 2008 and she said that if I had proof to back it up then there would be no problem in getting this new card. However when making the appointment, the woman at the desk gave me a little attitude when I asked if we could schedule the rendez vous the earliest possible date. She said well since your card expires July 30th we don't need to rush. I made sure not to mention that I was hoping to find a job for July cause I guess that looks bad. But now I'm nervous about my legally working status here that the language school might not hire me. I guess i'll find out tomorrow when I have my interview. There are a beautiful pair of sling back shoes that I'm considering buying for the interview and for the PACS date. It's been sooo long since I've bought a nice pair of shoes. But 100 € seems a little cher... Should I or shouldn't I?

I've got an interview!!

2009-06-09T03:38:00.000-07:00

After not hearing from either school for almost two weeks, I decided to take action into my own hands. Yesterday afternoon I wrote one of the schools an e-mail saying that I was still very interested in this job and that I wanted to know if they were still interested in my application. I got an almost immediate response back from them saying that they would like me to come in for an interview this week!! Now obviously, this doesn't mean that I'm hired but it's a good sign that they are at least considering me. I'm nervous that they might be hesitant in hiring me since I don't have the Carte de Sejour Vie Privée Familiale yet. I'm going to go to the prefecture this week and ask for the list of documents that I need to order to apply for it. I think they will give me a recipisee immediately if I am PACSed? right? I hope that it won't be a problem for them to hire me. I hope that by July I'll have the new carte de sejour. The Besançon prefecture seems to work fairly quickly. I'm a little nervous. But I'm excited either way!

Is the assistantship over yet?

2009-06-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

I started the week off with another one of my bad schools, except the difference between this school and the other that I blogged about last time is that these kids are little wealthy, white bratty kids who think they can get away with anything. Thankfully I only have two classes with them on Monday and Tuesdays, but honestly, I'm so sick of these kids' bad behaviors that I'm ready to give them a two day evaluation and then finish up the year by giving them things to color and crossword puzzles to complete. I can't even do any games with them because they don't listen and they basically do what they want to do. I can't stand these kids.

Whooo...ok that's said. Sorry about that, I'm just frustrated and sick and tired of the same bullshit week after week. Thankfully theres only 2 1/2 weeks left!! which means 6 class sessions left with these brats.

In other news, this past weekend was very eventful. Obama came to France and was all over French TV. The journalists even stalked him during his visit to Paris and inquired what the president ordered at dinner! La crême brulée! Wow, how interesting....

I was also fairly busy. I was out everynight to dinner and had a fellow assistant over for dinner last night. I feel like I actually am starting to have a life!

Wednesday night I'll be out to dinner eating SUSHI with a french girlfriend!! I'm so excited! It's been ages since I've had sushi, especially since it's not a huge hit here in France.

And of course Friday is the big day!! We have our PACS rdv at 10am. I'm not quite sure what I should wear to an event like this. Jeans? A Dress? Dress Pants? I'll do my best and try to make myself look presentable. I still haven't told most of my friends and family back home that we're PACSing because no one really understands what it is. It's complicated and I figured that I'll tell them when I'm home for the summer. It'll be a little surprise.

Oh and I almost forgot to add, I still haven't been contacted by the schools for a job either for this summer or next fall. I just wrote an e-mail to one of the schools but I'm afraid that here in France they don't like the aggressive tactic like we do in America. They prefer that you wait and for them to contact you first. Oh well...it's a little too late.

Yay for the weekend!

2009-06-05T07:39:00.001-07:00

Phew! I'm wiped out. I just came back from my difficult school and I'm like physically exhausted. I ended the day with a very behavioral challenged class. They are just not capable of being quiet or listening or being polite. It's really impressive, in a bad way. They are my class of CE2 and every time I have class with them, I feel like taking a nap afterwards. So punishments don't work, neither does threatening them with bad grades. They don't listen. So I tried to do something different. It worked pretty well the first two times and then today, the effect wore off. I told them that if they were good, I would give them a small gift at the end of class. I wanted to try positive reinforcement and it has worked better than any of my other methods. But today, they were not good so it just wasn't possible and I left without giving them anything. I feel bad but in a way, maybe that will make them think a little and the next class will be better. I mostly feel bad for the 3 kids that are actually good and listen and are good students. They are the ones getting hurt in this situation. I might give them something special at the end. But if the other kids find out, they might not be very nice to them. They are not at all nice within their group. The students in this school call each other horrible names and insult each other to the worst degree. It's very upsetting but in the end, what can I do about it? I just try to be the good, cheerful assistant. I think they all like me which makes me happy, and I know that some of them try harder in class because they like me. But it's not the case for everyone. I just hope that I made an impression on these kids and that they'll have some kind of future in front of them.

Oh and btw, I haven't followed my challenged as I had planned. I cut down on the internet to a degree, but I definitely wouldn't say I only spent between 30 -45 minutes online per day. I would say probably double or even trible that. Ok so I'm an addict, and I admit it. It's like having your coffee everyday, you need it to get through the day!

My Personal Challenge

2009-06-01T11:35:00.001-07:00

Ok, I need to admit this to myself. I spend waaaay too much time online. I have a problem. I check my e-mail at least 15 times a day and go on facebook twice as much. Then I read blogs for about an hour, browse the New York times online, and look at masters programs and/or jobs for another couple hours. In other words, waay too much. Instead of contributing to my well being, this is driving me nuts! It stresses me out and makes me feel anxious about my job situation and everything else. The result, I feel unproductive and stressed. I have waay too many days off and I don't work enough hours in the day. I'm going to put myself up to the challenge.
30-45 minutes per day max until next Sunday! Yes, I can do it....can I?
I guess we'll find out.

However, I don't only spend my days online. I do other things as well. Yesterday I went to a Cave! It was called La Grotte d'Oisselle. I've never been inside a cave so it was extremly impressive. It was discovered over 500 years ago but it's thousands of years old! There are even traces of torches that were used during parties hundreds of years ago! Here are a few pictures:

Eventful week?

2009-05-29T01:19:00.000-07:00

My day in Paris went according to plan this time. I was originally supposed to go on Tuesday but there was a train strike (comme d'habitude) and they canceled my train. Luckily since Thursday I only teach in the morning at one of my schools and I've only missed one day of class at that school, I decided to call out and push my ticket to Thursday. All in all, I worked two days this week. Today and one class on Monday (I'm not counting babysitting though which usually involves watching movies or playing online). I feel like I had another vacation. And I have only 4 weeks left of the assistantship!! I'm excited but at the same time very nervous. The school hasn't replied to me after I sent them my CV and cover letter. I'm afraid they didn't like what they saw. I also applied to another English language school here in Besançon. I have a friend who works there already so that could open the door for me.

Oh and the very good news!! Christophe passed the first part of his concours!! He was one of the few in his class who passed so I'm very proud of him. Now he needs to take the oral part next month. This is the most difficult part. He went to the oral last year but did not pass it. I think this year he is much more prepared she he'll have a better chance!

Ok back to my trip to Paris: My adventure at the US embassy wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, maybe because I'm a US citizen. I feel so bad for those who either want to travel or study in the US and are practically interrogated as to way they want to go. I understand that we are being overly cautious to protect our national security but maybe we could be a little more polite? But I guess being polite don't make people nervous and fumble into saying the wrong things. I did get slightly interrogated at the end when I went to pick up my certificat. What is this PACS, why are you doing it? etc. But in the end I got the official stamp and was good to go! I even had a few hours before my train left for Besançon so I went to the Halles and did a little shopping. There is a starbucks there so since it's been about a year since I've had starbucks, I treated myself to a 4,50€ iced caramel machiatto coffee. And it was delicious! I also bought a beach dress from H+M for 10€! Great deal!
Ok that's enough for now. If I have something more interesting to talk about other then what I bought then I'll post it. I wish everyone a bon weekend and à bientôt!

A job in sight?

2009-05-27T10:24:00.001-07:00

I have a chance of being hired for a summer position at my former language school where I took French classes. Apparently they are keen on hiring anglophones as teachers even if they aren't certified in teaching English. I think I have a good chance of being hired at least for the summer because I have some experience teaching. I have a friend who worked there as well and she said that they would definitely hire me and according to her, they pay well! I have all of July with absoluetly nothing to do so I pray that I get this job!

In other news, I'm heading to Paris tomorrow to pick up my Certificat de Coutume in order to be Pacsed. Yes it's official! We'll be PACSed on June 12th! I can't wait. I don't know if we are going to have some kind of party or something. We talked about getting some champagne coupes in a bar possibly.

Everything seems to be falling into place. I was soo stressed before about what to do for the future. I didn't know where to live or what to do with my life. As long as I find a decent job for the fall, I'll be satisfied and I won't be too disapointed that we can't go to Paris right away. I know that I don't want to teach English forever, but I think that if I teach adults then I'll be much happier and I'll feel challenged. Plus, I won't have to be acting as "la police" everday in class. That's a French expression they use for disciplining and yelling at the students during class. I think it's pretty accurate.

It's Hot!

2009-05-25T07:02:00.001-07:00

Wow, France is in the middle of having an extremely hot heat wave. For the past week it's been soo hot! Today it's up to almost 100 degrees in direct sunlight!! It's not even June yet. Thankfully tomorrow it will be must cooler, in the 60's. It was so hot that we even went swimming yesterday. I'm up for an early summer, but only if the fall doesn't come early as well...

I'm spending the afternoon in front of the fan, because when it's hot like this, you can't do anything.

A 54 ans, je suis trop émue par les ours

2009-05-21T07:51:00.000-07:00

I came across this cry for help in an advice column this week in the magazine Version Femina. This might be mean on my part, but I find this really really funny. Here is the dilema:

A 54 ans, je suis trop émue par les ours:

Toute petite, j'ai toujours préferé les ours en peluche aux poupées. Aujourd'hui, j'ai 54 ans et j'aime toujours les ours, mais les vrais. Mon problème, ce sont les émotions que provoquent en moi les reportages à la télévision sur ces animaux. Quand je vois une maman ours et son petit, panda ou ours polaire, je pleure, je pleure...Je ne voudrais pas que mon mari ou mon fils me surprennent. J'ai honte d'être bouleversée et je me cache. Aidez-moi à comprendre ce qui m'arrive. Est-ce dû à la periode délicate de la cinquantaine.

I'm sorry, when I read this, I laughed, a lot. I apologize if I offended anyone with making fun of this woman's problem. I hope that she gets the help that she needs. :)

I'm in love!

2009-05-20T09:05:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love a boy who makes me delicious strawberry tarts? I wish I could upload my picture that I took, but my camera is broken :(.

If you could see it, you'd be jealous :)

Comme je suis bête!

2009-05-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I guess I got a little ahead of myself for the Paris dream. I should have known it's not as simple as one, two, three. After some thankful feedback from some follow expat bloggers, I realized that I can't just pack up my bags that quickly or that easily.
I'm just really anxious to begin a job that I enjoy, that I actually want to do and that I can excel in, and that most importantly, pays a decent salary. I've got student loans to start paying off very soon. I've already deferred them for 2 years now...
So again, I've made a decision lol. Paris will have to wait...for now. We've decided to keep the apartment in Besançon for a few more months. That way, we will know what Christophe will be doing in the fall, we'll be able to keep our residence commune, and I will be able to take advantage of my connections here. There is a possibility of being a vacataire in the secondary schools, which is a basically a sustitute for the English teachers in collège and lycée. Apparently it would pay about the same as the assistantship but I wouldn't be paid during the vacations. Hey, if it's only for a little while, I'll do it.

I'm also starting to panick about money. I'll have a salary until the end of June but afterwards I'll have no more source of income. I just asked the dad of the little girl that I babysit for if they would need me this summer and he gave me a pretty straight answer, "well the kids will be away at camp so we won't need you."
Shit, I really needed the extra money for July. I guess spending a week at the Mediterranean this summer is out of the question.. I wanted to have at least 2000€ saved for next year. It will be a lot less than that.

But I do have some good news, Aer Lingus is having a sale to the US this summer so I jumped right on that wagon. I'll officially be spending August back home in Connecticut! Yay! I bought a round trip ticket for 550€. Is that even possible to find airfare that low in the middle of the summer? If any readers out there are looking to go to the US from France (or even from Europe) the sale is going on until May 28th. Here's the site:
Aer Lingus USA sale from Europe

Well better get back to watching cartoons with the little girl. Thanks again to KSam for her helpful feedback.

Paris calling...?

2009-05-18T01:15:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking long and hard about where I want to be when September rolls around this year. During the winter months, I think I went through a slight depression and maybe it was the election of Obama that gave me a newfound pride of being American, whatever it was, I was almost certain that I was going to go home next fall.
Since getting a job in France is sooo difficult and most of the time not very well paid, getting a good job back home would be a better idea. Furthermore, I'll have $20,000 worth of student loans to pay off starting in November. What am I going to do?
Obviously I miss my family and friends soo much, but I'll be home all this August so I'll have a month to catch up with everyone. I also have one of my friend's weddings to go to which I'm really excited about.
Ok so here's the decision: drum roll please.....

I'm moving to Paris! Ok yes, it's one of the most expensive places to live but it's also the city where all of the jobs are! I'm sick of teaching English so what other choice do I have if I want to stay here? Plus the idea sounds soo exciting!
Also, I say 'I' instead of 'We' because we still don't know about whether Christophe passed his concours or not. So the plan is basically, I'll be moving to Paris definietly and Christophe will either be starting his job as "professeur de lycée professionel" ou he'll be doing a formation to work in a restaurant and he'll be joining me later on.
Besançon is great and all, but there's just no job opportunities here, plus I'm ready for a change!

Christophe and I were thinking about either going back to the US or staying here. I had a hard time deciding. He said he would come with me back home if I wanted to go.

I made the decision to stay here instead of going home because I realized that I LOVE the french way of life. Who doesn't like 5 weeks of vacation per year? 2 hours for lunch at noon? Almost free health care? The fabulous food and wine? I'm sorry but I've come to love it here, I don't know if I'll ever be ever to live in the US again. Maybe one day. But the most important thing that the french do best: they enjoy life! They don't work themselves to death like us!

But the most obvious reason for why I'm staying is for Love, most importantly. I'm truly happy here with the life we have. Unfortunately money is a huge issue so this is why my mind is focused mainly towards working at the moment.

I love my neighbors (not!)

2009-05-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

So since we've moved into this apartment, we've had nothing but problems with the neighbors. Whether its constant noise or gossiping or snubbing us when we say "bonjour", it's just not a good ambiance in this building. A great example of how unfriendly these people are happened yesterday morning.

Saturday night, we had a going away party for one of our friends who is going back home to South Africa. There were moments during the evening when we broke into song and laughed pretty loudly so I understand that we were not the most quiet of people. However, I made it a point to make everyone go out into town by midnight. That's reasonable right? I mean it was a Saturday night, no one here works Sundays, so they can sleep in the next day. That's what I thought but apparently not everyone thought that way. Bright and early at 8:30am the next morning (I had gone to bed at 3:30am) we get a taste of classical french music blasting on the other side of the wall, accordion and all. Our lovely elderly neighbor decided to take her revenge on us by blasting the music as loud as possible to wake us up. And it lasted for 2 hours!!! She then decided to demonstrate to us that she really wasn't happy by banging a few things against the wall and slamming the door several times. All at 8:30am on a Sunday morning. Me having a slight hang over the next day, I was not a happy camper at all.

What a miserable old hag. I can't wait to leave this apartment in July!

Has anyone else had any similar experiences with crabby neighbors?

Refused.

2009-05-07T12:26:00.000-07:00

Ok so out of the 6 jobs I applied to, I finally got a reply from a university lectrice position in Beauvais.

Nous sommes au regret de devoir refuser votre candidature au poste de maître de langue à l'Université de Picardie Jules Verne.
En effet, la loi nous interdit d'embaucher comme maître de langue des personnes n'ayant pas obtenu un MA.
Nous vous souhaitons bon courage et bonne chance dans vos futures démarches.

Apparently they refused me because I don't have an MA but I do have a Bac +4 which is the equivalent of the french Masters 1. They probably just found someone more qualified than me..

But to be honest, I don't want to teach again next year so this doesn't make me too sad, but still I don't like being refused.

My weekend in Paris

2009-05-06T03:19:00.000-07:00

So the vacation is officially over *tear* and I've started work again. However, I'm only working 2 days this week, Tuesday and Thursday. Monday I missed class because our train got in at 10pm. I wasn't too sad about not going to my least favorite school where the kids are bratty as hell. The teachers were cool about me missing class. I offered to make up the classes later on but they said "no, don't worry about it." Ok I won't. Today, I don't work because the kids don't have school on Wednesdays and Friday I don't have class because its May 8th, the end of WWII. So it still feels like les vacances. I only have 7 weeks left of teaching and afterwards...??? I still have no idea. I applied to 5 jobs both here and back home and I've gotten no reply. I still haven't bought my plane ticket home for this summer. I just haven't got a clue what I'm doing. At least I've still got a couple months left. I hope something will eventually fall into place.

Ok back to the topic of this post. Paris was great! The weather was not horrible but not as nice as we had hoped. It was very cloudy (typical Parisian weather) and only about 15° C (about 55-60° F). It didn't rain thankfully but it was a little chilly. Among the highlights of our trip, we visited: Versailles (and waited 3 hours to buy our tickets!! which we didn't even need because we got in for free) Note to anyone wanting to visit Versailles: either buy your tickets early, or if you qualify for the free entrance, go wait in the other line which is much shorter). It was pretty much as I remembered it when I went in 2001. Although this time my pictures are much nicer thanks to the invention of the digital camera.

We also visited, the Musée d'Orsay, Les Invalides, took a boat ride on the seine at night!, and went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. All very typical tourist stuff but its always fun, even the second time around. 3 days is obviously not enough time to visit the city but it's enough time to get swollen feet and to be extremly fatigued.

Here are a few photos chosen out of a couple hundred!

Day 1: Versailles

Hall of Mirros

The Gardens of Versailles

Boat ride on the Seine!

The Tour Eiffle light up at night!

Day 2: Musée d'Orsay

Les Invalides (Napoleon's tombe)

Visiting the Tour Eiffel

Paris, here I come!

2009-05-01T03:43:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Paris this weekend marks the end of the two week long vacation, and the last one of the school year. Unfortunately the weather has announced the weekend to be not as warm as I hoped and very cloudy. My last trip to Paris in September 2007, right before I began the assistantship was amazing because we had perfect summer weather! I guess I can't win every time with the weather. Last week in Provence was absolutely perfect! People we actually in bathing suits, tanning on the beach! A a few courageous people actually swam in the Mediterranean as well!

I arranged a campus visit with the American University of Paris on Monday morning because I'm very interested in their masters programs. Unfortunately, the price of tuition is almost equal to that of a graduate program back home, which has been putting me off from actually deciding if I want to do a masters or not. I will finally begin paying my loans off this year when I get a real, full time job. I still don't know where yet... I've applied to quite a bit of jobs and not one has contacted me. I still might be a little too early since I can only start working in France in September, and in the US at the end of July.

This weekend however, I don't want to think about the future. I just want to enjoy my weekend in Paris with Christophe. I really want to do a night cruise on the Seine (but without the dinner because we can't really afford that) and all that typically touristy stuff that is so much fun.
I also hope to visit Les Invalides, Musée d'Orsay, Le musée du Moyen Age (The Middle Ages Museum), Versailles, and go to the top of the Eiffel Tower (the last time was with my parents 3 years ago).

I'll be back Monday night, (I told my school that I wouldn't be there and they didn't care!) and I'll recap my stay! Bon weekend everyone!

Memories of the beautiful Besançon weather!

2009-04-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Today the beautiful weather streak has come to an end. Rain has been announced for the rest of the week. I made sure to take a lot of pictures of Besançon while the weather was nice. I'm posting these in order to feel better about the shitty weather outside.

Return from Provence!

2009-04-24T03:24:00.001-07:00

Bonjour everyone!
We're back from our short trip to Provence! We managed to have a great time with a limited budget. I didn't get to do my wine tour which had a minimum price tag of 55€ yikes! But I did buy a bottle of wine from the vineyards of Aix-en-Provence! We had beautiful weather and even spent a little time at the beach! People were tanning and everything...I should have thought to bring my bathing suit! Oh well.
Among the sites we visited:

Avignon, the former domain of the Popes during the 14th century, a beautiful mid-evil city.The Pope Palace

Aix-en-Provence- known for the artist Cezanne who lived and worked there.

Les Baux de Provence - deemed the most beautiful village of France because it is placed on top of a mountain.
Cassis - a small touristic village au bord of the Mediterranean, a mini Cannes.
La Ciotat - another pretty town on the Mediterranean.
Les Calanques - A valley of limestone that lines the Mediterranean. We took a short hike around.
And Le Moulin de Daudet:

We spent two nights in a hotel chain inside a industrial area which wasn't anything special but the third night we spent in the countryside in a small hotel owned by an old couple outside of Marseilles. We were hesitant about it at first but it turned out to be very quaint and provincial. At night I left the shutters open to listen to the frogs and the cicadas.

Voilà a short résumé of our trip. In a week we'll be leaving for Paris! I can't wait :)

My Dream Voyage

2009-04-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

As someone who has caught the travel bug years ago, I'm always searching travel sites for the best deals on vacation packages anywhere in the world. I have one destination in mind that I always hope to find a great deal for: Cairo, Egypt!
Since I have soo much vacation time and I'm technically not that far away, I could plan a trip to my dream destination. Only one problem: Not enough money!
Every "deal" that I've come across is at least 900€ which I guess is not too expensive but for my small monthly assistant salary of 780€, this trip would cost more than what I make in a whole month.
I've never been to Africa and I would love to go to another continent that is not Europe or North America. I want to see something completely different.
However, there is a risk in traveling to this country There have been several terrorist attacks and a kidnapping incident that took place last September. But there are soo many tourists that I think the likelihood of anything happening would be rather low.

So maybe eventually I will make it to my dream destination to see the Pyramids, the Nile, the ancient hieroglyphics, and the Sphinx; but for now, my travels within France are suiting me just fine.

I'm curious to know from those who read my blog, what is your dream destination?

Image taken from this site.

15 jours de vacances!!

2009-04-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Finally! After counting down the days and rushing through countless badly prepared lesson plans, the day finally arrived: Saturday, April 18th! The first day of April vacation! I spoke with one of my friends from home today and told her that I was on vacation starting today. Her reaction: "Again! You're always one vacation!" And it's true. We had 5 weeks in between the winter vacation and this spring vacation which isn't a lot at all. Before that, we had about 7 weeks in between Christmas vacation and February vacation. My friend is right, we really are always on vacation. But hey, I'm not complaining.

So here's the agenda:

April 20 -23: Spend a few days in Provence visiting Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and a few villages along the Mediterranean. (This was a last minute plan!)

April 27 - May 1: Babysitting and making mucho mulh-la for Paris!

May 2 - 4: Weekend in Paris!!

I'm really happy to being doing a little traveling and not staying in my unfriendly apartment building for 2 weeks. Hopefully the weather will be nice!

Note: I need to update my blog my often and think of taking pictures everytime I cook something new!

Bonnes vacances à tous!

Happy Easter everyone!

2009-04-12T05:01:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter and leave you with this cute picture:

Image taken from this site.

Beautiful Spring Weather!

2009-04-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Today we had the most amazing weather in France! It was 22° degrees (72° F!) with blue skies and sun! Because I'm excited about my trip to Paris next month and because I didn't take any pictures today, here are some of my best photos of Paris in spring.

Ahhh Paree! :)

I hope that the weather next month will be exactly the same as it is in these photos!

Jobs Jobs Jobs!

2009-04-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

In addition to freaking out about paying taxes in two countries, now I need to start applying to jobs for the fall. I've already sent out a few applications in the US; one in Washington D.C. and the other in New York City. Thanks to Christophe's editing skills, I'll soon be sending out my French cover letters and CVs to French employers. I'm going to apply for a few English lecturer jobs at some Universities around the Paris area. Also in Paris I'm applying for a few manager positions in some Anglophone companies. In case you haven't heard of this great site for English speakers in Paris, I'll put it up here: FUSAC.FR. I've been religiously looking at the employment section of this site to apply for most of the jobs that are posted. Unfortunately they all ask for working papers which I don't technically have (yet) but there might be a way around that.

In any case, I'm very stressed. Thankfully there is spring vacation coming up in two weeks! I love the French education system. :)

And it's the weekend! :)

It's Tax Time!

2009-03-28T06:48:00.000-07:00

April 15th is approaching and every American knows what this day represents: Taxes are Due! Not giving too much thought to paying American taxes since I haven't lived there in almost 2 years...I was close to forgetting all together about my patriotic duties as an American citizen.

I realized somewhat recently that even though I'm living and working in France, I do indeed still need to pay US income tax! Ahhh...and the confusion begins. I'm looking at the Assistants in France forum to read about how other assistants did this. Apparently there is a special tax form that exists for Americans living abroad. As an assistant I worked only 7 months last year in 2008, which means that I made about 5,600€ = $7,400. Apparently if I made less than $8,000 than I won't have to pay taxes. Now, this is not including the money that I made at the internship this past summer. I was paid 300€/month x4 months. The question is whether I should include this money on my taxes forms? It wasn't registered on any official form and it was paid in cash. Maybe I shouldn't even be writing about such a subject on a blog. LOL

And even more confusing than paying US taxes abroad, is paying French taxes. I have to track down a specific form from the rectorat (I think) and fill it out similarly to a US tax form. However, it's not over yet. I also have to pay a Taxe d'habitation from last year. I was supposed to have recieved this form in the mail but I never did. I moved out of that apartment last April and apparently I didn't give any follow up address. So with me risking a lot of problems in France if I'm still here in the future, I should probably contact the nice tax people and tell them to send me the tax form. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't owe too much.

Tonight is also Daylight savings in France or L'heure d'été (the hour of summer) which means summer will be here soon! I can't stand these long winters. I think i'm destined to live in a tropical island because I honestly wouldn't mind living in 85° weather year-round.

If anyone has any advice about filling out either US or French tax forms, please feel free to leavd a comment. Bon weekend!

Are Americans wasteful?

2009-03-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

I can't help but admit to thinking ever since I starting living in France, how wasteful we Americans are. Such normal actions for the French such as bringing reusable shopping to do your grocery shopping instead of accumulating wasteful plastic and paper bags at the super market are such easy gestures to help decrease wastes but for some reason, its something that we cannot incorporate into our daily lives.
Buying large quantities of food that will just end up in the trash a few weeks later is also another wasteful American habit. In France, people have smaller fridges so they buy less food. They are forced to buy only an near exact amount of food that will be almost completely eaten by the end of the week.
One fellow teacher at one of my schools told me a story about his stay in the states with an American host family. During dinner one night apparently the wife slightly overcooked a whole chicken in the oven and just threw it in the trash like it was chard black. I was pretty embarrassed by that story but I think that throwing away a slightly burned chicken is a little extreme and not many people would do the same thing.
Even unused electricity in apartment buildings is conserved in France and most of Europe. When there is no one in the hallway, the lights turn off automatically. When you need light, you push a button and voila. Why do we need to have 24 hour lights in hallways when they are not being used? But both in the USA and France there is the great invention of the motion sensor for both indoor and outside lighting. I think that we're catching on to that trend!

The list goes on and on. European's having smaller cars and thus burn less gas. They also have only about 1 television per household compared to about 3 or 4 for a house in the US. Even the toilet paper in the US is more wasteful then in Europe. Americans like to buy several layered, perfumed smelling toilet paper while in France, there is only one layer and no perfums which equals less trees cut down and less waste in the sewers. I read in a newspaper that Americans use 4x more toilet paper than Europeans! And I'm pretty sure that Americans don't go to the bathroom more often than the French lol.

Thankfully, since times are changing and since wallets are becoming lighter and lighter, people's lifestyles are changing. Now I'm not saying that this economic crisis is a good thing with all of the job layoffs and people loosing their homes, but I think that we can see something positive in this whole situation. We need to change our lifestyles. We could not keep spending and consuming like we have for so many years. This is the time to realize that most of the things that we buy we don't need. Why do you need 10 different body-sprays when you can buy just one that's actually a good quality? And the same goes for many other every day wasteful buys: shoes, clothes, makeup, home decor, etc.

Don't we all know the saying "Money doesn't buy happiness"?. Are we trying to prove to others that we are better the more wasteful we are just because we can be?

I admit to being one of those wasteful Americans once. I would leave the lights in my room on for hours even if I wasn't there. I would throw away tons of food because I didn't feel like saving it to eat later. And to think of all of the Starbucks paper cups that have gone in the trash when I could have brought a reuseable mug? But it's not just living in France that made me change my lifestyle, but by starting to pay bills and educating myself.

So the point of this post is basically, rethink what you buy and what you use. Always ask yourself, "do I really need this?" or "can I buy a less wasteful product?" Etc etc.

I'm curious, what do you all think?

A Manifestation and some Peanut Butter Cookies!

2009-03-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

Today I have the day off because the teachers at the school are on strike. This morning around 11am I headed into town and took a few photos of the protesters who had all gathered. In total, I heard there was about 10,000 people who came to the manifestation! That's 1/10th of the Besançon population! Whoa. I took the opportunity to take some pictures.

Then when I got back home, I had a craving to eat some peanut butter. I know, really random. I found a cookie recipe online and hop, made some homemade American peanut butter cookies. French people are not fans of peanut butter, and Christophe especially, but thankfully he likes the cookies. So I guess they were somewhat of a success. Woo-hoo!

Spring is Coming!

2009-03-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Spring is FINALLY coming to Besançon. We've had about 5 beautiful days in a row and I've been soo happy! During the past two winters that I've spent here, the first time that I was able to break out my spring jacket was in May! And if I remember correctly, last March we had a couple snow storms and it was the first time that it had snowed all winter! But as spring arrives, decisions have to be made. Where will I be living next year and what will I do? Well, that's another subject for another time.

On another note, I didn't get to celebrate St. Patrick's Day like I wanted to this year, since of course, the French don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day mostly because there is not a big Irish population. I did however, do an easy English lesson with my students on Tuesday. I don't think they actually learned the words, Leprechaun or Shamrock, or Rainbow or Pot of Gold, but they got to color and make cool book marks. Oh well, I tried.

This week I only have two days of teaching because Monday, I didn't feel like going so I called out (I know very irresponsible), Wednesday there is never school, and Thursday there is another Grève for the same reasons as the last one except people are even more pissed off. Furthermore, Sarkozy did a recent trip to Mexico to deal with a small problem with a French citizen and stayed at the one of the most expensive hotels in the country. Sooo the French are not very happy about that news when people left and right are loosing their jobs and having trouble putting food on the table.

Even more of a slap in the face is the news about the AIG bonuses. I've been reading every day in the newspapers just how outraged everyone back home is. And I really hope that our government does something to reverse their "contractual obligations" which is a load of bull.

Voila just a few updates. I know that I need to be better about updating this blog. I'll try harder from now on. Bonne semaine!

Back to Work...and my Normandy Vacation!

2009-03-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

Allo everyone! So, ça y est, vacation is over! Back to teaching the darling children which I'm not too excited about but in a way it's a good thing. I'll be occupied again with a normal routine and I'll avoid spending money out of boredom. Last week was the Besançon - Normandy road trip and I had a great time. We ended up cutting Versailles out of the plan because we didn't have enough time and I was out of money. We divided up our week by spending two days in Normandy, and two days in Rennes, Brittany at Christophe's friend's apartment. The remaining two days were used as travel time. Since we had a very limited time to visit the region, we picked a only a handful to sites to visit.

First on the list was Deauville, home of the annual American film festival and the location of the film "Un Homme, Une Femme". It was a very classy city and a little too up-ity for me. We got to walk along the beach and the famous boardwalk.
Next city we visited was Caen. We didn't get to spend too much time in the city itself but we took a brief tour of the center. What we really got to see was the Caen Memorial Museum, a World War II museum dedicated to the memory of the French liberation by the American and British troops.
There was a vast collection of American war equipment and vehicles like the tank in the photo above. I was a little surprised that there was almost absolutely no mention of the Holocaust but since there was a large number of elementary school groups, the museum probably decided to tone down the atrocities of the war for all age groups.

On the way to the Normandy beaches we stopped in Bayeux to see the famous Tapestry. Ok, taking photos wasn't allowed but we did it anyway.This tapestry is over 1000 years old and in several scenes tells the story of how William the Conqueror took power in England in the year 1066. Not only it this thing really old but it's really really long too! It's 70 meters long (229 feet!). Très impressionnant!

Next we visited two of the American landing beaches during D-Day, June 6, 1944. We visited Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. Here are a few photos:
The Pointe du Hoc was really impressive. There were tons of German bunkers that had been abandoned, one was even in pieces. There were also hundreds of craters in the ground from the dropping of the bombs during Operation Overload.
Well voilà, that was all of the highlights of my vacation in Normandy! Hope you enjoyed!

Ski Trip

2009-02-27T16:06:00.000-08:00

I went on my first French ski trip yesterday. Today, I'm in a lot of pain. I think I did fairly well (I fell only about 10 times) not bad I think considering that it's been 4 years since I last skied.

You can see the Alps in the Distance and the Mont blanc!

C'est les vacances!!

2009-02-22T03:01:00.000-08:00

These past few weeks have thankfully passed by very quickly. I'm finally on vacation! Woo-hoo! Unfortunately to begin the vacation, I have 6€ which won't go very far. Thankfully February is a short month and I'll hopefully be paid within the next few days. I'll need it to go to Normandy for the following week. Christophe and I and a friend are planning on doing a France road trip from the east to the West coast with a stop over to Versailles. Last year I did a similar trip to Brittany to visit Rennes and the Mont St. Michel, but this year we're driving a few kilometers farther to visit the Beaches of Normandy from WWII and to also visit some museums and well known cities. On the agenda is visiting Caen, Deauville, and maybe Cherbourg. Other than this voyage, a ski trip might be in order this week. The monthly budget will have to be strictly followed during this vacation or I'll quickly find myself with 50€ for all of March.

In other news, Christophe and I bought a mixer/food processor to facilitate our cooking. We also bought electric beaters so I think i'm going to attempt to make a soufflé of some sort. I found a video cooking blog on the NY times website and I've fallen in love. I'm going to attempt some of his recipes. I need to remember to document my attempts so that I can post pictures to the blog.

Lastly, this week, my students celebrated Carnavale, the annual event where people dress up in crazy costumes and faire la fête (party) in order to prepare for Lent. It was so cold but the kids had a blast. I also ate one too many beignets, a traditional Carnavale snack, which I guess is the equivalent to small pieces of sugary fried dough. I had a pretty bad stomache ache at the end of the day...

To those who are en vacances (on vacation), enjoy!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

2009-02-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I decided to do something different this year and take advantage of my new oven to make an edible Valentine's Day gift for Christophe. Thanks to Leesa's post on her heart shape sugar cookies, I decided to try to make my own version. Here's the process in pcitures:

They came out soo yummy! So thanks again Leesa! Other things on the Valentine's day agenda besides baking cookies? Christophe and I are going to dinner at a popular thai restaurant that we've been meaning to try for a while. I can't wait!

So until the next post....toodles!

La Percée

2009-02-04T01:16:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a great day that was spent outside tasting wine and getting frostbite on my toes. We attended the event by train and after, a navette bus was provided to get to the small village that was 15 km from the train station. About 50 "caves" wine cellars were opened to everyone to taste and buy wine. Upon entering, you were given a wine glass that you could wear around your neck with 10 wine tasting tickets placed inside.
Regional food stands were allowed in only so there were no kebabs to be found (thankfully). I ordered a Tarti' Mont d'or for my lunch which is a regional dish that consists of potatoes, ham, and mont d'or cheese. Very yummy.

40 wine tickets spent, and 2 bottles of empty wine bottles later, we were ready to go home. It was a great event and I hope to attend next year.

January 29th - Jeudi Noir (Black Thursday)

2009-01-29T06:12:00.001-08:00

All across France today, millions of french workers are protesting the political policies of Nicolas Sarkozy. The SNCF, public schools and La Poste are all on strike as well as many other public sector work places. My school is closed today and all of the teachers are on strike. The french are pissed and letting the government know about it!

They are pissed for the following reasons:

*The government gave french banks millions of Euros after announcing to the public that there was no more money to invest in employment or other areas to ease the financial crisis, but the banks are not giving out loans or higher interest rates

*The elmination of thousands of french jobs, however the salaries of Sarkozy administration have risen and average french salaries have not.

*The overall costs of french buying power have decreased while the cost of everday expenses has severly increased

I'm very sympathetic for this cause so this morning I went to the manifestation and showed my support. Here are some photos:

Lazy Sunday

2009-01-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

After a few days of horrible high winds that has currently put parts of southern France and Spain without electricty or drinkable water, here in Besançon the sun has come out and the winds have calmed. To continue the tradition of my lazy Sundays which sometimes includes a trip to the pool, I'm typing a blog update and refusing the leave my apartment because I know that if I do I'll end up spending money in a bar. I have 7 € left until I get paid sometime this week. Hopefully I will wake up tomorrow morning and the money will be in my account. Ha! I'm dreaming because French banks aren't open on Mondays. So I'll probably expect my money on Tuesday.

I'm very excited for a regional event that will be taking place next weekend called La Percée du Vin Jaune! It's an annual celebration that takes place in a Juracian village (located in the department of the Jura in the Franche Comté) where you visit many wine cellars to taste the new batch of regional wine. It's one of the most touristic events of the year for the region. The New York Times even wrote an article on the event last year. Here's the link to read it:

NY Times Article

So if any of you fellow expats living near or are visiting the Franche Comté by chance next weekend (January 31 and February 1st) I highly urge you to go to this event.

Here's the official event website.
http://www.percee-du-vin-jaune.com/

Bon Dégustation!

Bagels Really Do Exist!

2009-01-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

Something amazing happened today. My boyfriend bought me bagels! I know, it's doesn't sound like any exceptional except that I've never ever seen bagels in France...ever! I was giddy like a little girl and so so happy! So for those of you who are having bagel withdrawl, go to your local LIDL and maybe you'll find what you're looking for!

New Year's Resolutions...RATE!

2009-01-14T13:13:00.000-08:00

So much for my resolutions. It's January 14th and not once have I stepped foot in the gym, nor picked up a book, nor drawn a picture/ wrote anything!

I'm online/ in front of the TV just as much as before the new year. lol so much for that idea. Maybe one day I'll pick up my lazy ass off my couch.

But seriously, it's really freaking cold outside and it's winter. Who wants to do anything besides sit in front of the TV at this time of the year.

Ok and I'm just lazy.

It's my birthday!

2009-01-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

et alors...? lol

I'm 24 now. yipee...

Looking back on 2008

2009-01-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Besides 2008 being the worst year for the economy since the Great Depression, there were also a lot of things that were not crappy about 2008.

The first thing that comes to mind is the election of Barack Obama. Finally America has come to it's senses and realised that maybe things aren't going very well with the Bush Administration and the Republican Party. I'm anxious to see what Obama's first year in office will accomplish.

The second thing that comes to mind is my stage this summer in Banyuls sur Mer. Although the job was pretty tiring since I worked more than 40 hours per week and made only 300 euros per month, I didn't mind since I lived on the Mediterrean Sea and had free room and board plus met lots of great people. I'll always be able to say that I lived in the South of France for a summer.

Thirdly, I was able to travel. This year I went to Barcelona twice, Bretagne (Brittany in English), Germany, Switzerland and Rome. Not bad in one year.

And lastly that most important thing about all of 2008 was that I had good health my boyfriend who loves me.

Let's hope that continues in 2009.

Happy New Year Everyone!

New Year's Resolutions

2008-12-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

Christmas is already over so I need to start thinking about the New Year. Unfortunately New Year's is not only about partying the night before and having a killer hangover the next day but about making resolutions for the year to come. Like most people who make New Year's Resolutions, I rarely stick to the ones I make. But I'm really going to try this year. Honest.

So drum roll please...my New Year's Resolutions for 2009 are:

1. Exercise regularly

2. Read more books (and spend less time on the internet!)

and

3. Work on my artistic side (Writing and drawing/painting)

These are all self explanatory but I want to explain a bit more in depth.
1. I've been meaning to do a sport at least 2 times per week. I began salsa dancing and I realized that when I night was over, my legs were sore but it felt good. I stopped playing sports in high school and became lazy. Getting back in shape and have a physical activity to do every week is something that I NEED to do. So I might start going to a gym because at least inside, its heated and I really don't like the cold. One of my excuses for not going running or biking outside is that it's too cold out.

2. This is really self explanatory. Frankly I spend too much time on the internet and not enough time reading. It hurts my eyes and usely I don't really look at anything interesting anyway.

3. And lastly, I want to do more writing and drawing. I used to write often in college and now I only write for this blog. Drawing I also enjoy but I don't do it often. I need to substitute the internet and TV for these activities. They stimulate the mind more

So there you have it! The same three things that I want to start doing every year but just can't seem to get around to doing them. I just don't have enough time in between my working 12 hours per week and babysitting and going online.. It just won't be possible. No really, this year I'm going to try. Wish me luck and good luck on all of your New Year's Resolutions!

Buon Natale!

2008-12-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

We're back from Rome and we had a wonderful time! Beautiful weather, no lines, it was the perfect week to visit Rome. Here are a few pictures from our trip:

The Colosseum at Night

The Pantheon

St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican

Trevi Fountain

The Roman Forum

Inside the Colosseum

The Colosseum and The Arc of Constantine

Outside the Colosseum

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling

And last but not lest, a giant Christmas Tree!

The Countdown to Rome!

2008-12-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

This Christmas is going to be different from past ones.
One reason is that this will be the first Christmas ever that I haven't spent with my family. Because of my constant fiancial issues and that of my parent's, it wasn't really possible to come home this year without putting another $600 on my credit card. I don't want to deal with that later on. So I decided to do a mini-voyage au lieu de coming home. Of course I'm very upset about not spending Christmas with my family but due to other reasons I'm also a little relieved.

So, Christophe and I decided to do a little trip to Rome for a few days before Christmas. We found a great deal through EasyJet.Com. We booked a trip from December 21st-24th, including flight and hotel stay at a 3-star hotel for only 200€!! Probably 1/3 of the price of a ticket back to the US.

It's not Christmas at home that I look forward to every year but I guess Rome isn't too bad either.

I can't wait!

Sunday in Freiburg and Colmar!

2008-12-08T02:32:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Yesterday Christophe and I spent the day at two Christmas Markets. The first in Freiburg, Germany and the second in Colmar! Since we are so close to the German border we decided to take a trip to Freiburg since I've never been there. The Christmas Market wasn't exceptionnal but I thought the city was beautiful so I took as many pictures as possible. It was fun being in Germany for a few hours. The streets of Freiburg all have this strange canal-ish system on the edge of the roads. It's really cool looking.

Since we finished the Freiburg Christmas market early, we decided to go to Colmar which was only a half hour away. Much more impressive! The decorations were beautiful and it was twice as big! Here are my pictures.

The Christmas Season Has Officially Begun!

2008-12-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

The first thing I saw before I turned on the lights of my apartment tonight was this:

This crazy house and their flashing Christmas lights! Ahhh! Is it just me or is this going a little too far? I'm all for a few lights around a bush or two or outlining your house with lights but really..this is just too much. I don't even need to decorate my own apartment with this scene outside of my window. They already did it for me.

But in keeping with the theme of the post..Christmas time, here are some pictures of the Besançon Christmas Market happening all month long.This year they have a Quebec theme which explains the weird sentence.

Like any Christmas Marché (Market) in France you can buy a variety of foods and gifts including spiced, hot wine; churros, gaufres, marrons chauds ( chestnuts). Gifts including clothing, house hold objects, hand made toys, wine and regional foods. Besançon is known for not having one of the better Christmas markets. In the region, Montbéliard is the winner. It's about 10 times the size of the Besançon market and has so much more to offer.

This weekend I might be doing a day-trip to Freiburg, Germany to see their Christmas Market. I love Christmas time!

My Attempt at Thanksgiving Dinner

2008-11-30T02:58:00.000-08:00

I was unable to do a blow-out Thanksgiving dinner for Christophe and I because I was at a "stage" (assistantship workshop) all day long. I started the dinner at about 5pm which everyone knows is too late to even think about cooking a turkey, so chicken it was. I bought a whole one, ready to cook thankfully because I had no desire to pull out the giblets. The chicken took about 2 hours to cook so at the same time I prepared a walnut pie, which was supposed to be a pecan pie taken from Milk Jam's recipe. However, I could not find pecans at the french supermarket so I replaced them with walnuts.It came out yummy despit the change in recipe. And to top this dinner off, I opened up the can of cranberry sauce that mom sent from the US! Though it wasn't the same as Thanksgiving back home, it was still fun nonetheless. Christophe was able to experience his first Thanksgiving and I cooked my first Thanksgiving meal.

My apartment

2008-11-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

Now that I finally have interet access à la maison, I can upload pictures of my new apartment! Yay! I want to do a before and after effect, before when the apartment was empty and after, after we moved in our furniture. C'est parti!

The Entrance/ Hallway

The Living Room

Before...

After!

Living Room/ Kitchen
Before...

After!

The Kitchen
Before..

After!

The Bedroom
Before...

After!

The Bathroom
(it hasn't changed)

Well I hope you enjoyed the tour of my new apartment. It's a little small but thats just a synonym for cozy!

I'm back!!

2008-11-17T06:42:00.001-08:00

Ok I just got home from my horrible CE2 and CM2 classes and just wanted to look at the livebox for a nice laugh (That blinking light is like a smack in the face) and i see that it stopped blinking! OMG i have internet again!! Yes almost after one month of calling countless orange representatives who apparently had no idea what was going on and using up all our phone credit, magically we have internet again. UGGG!! Well I can't say that I'm not happy. Now I can replace my hours in front of the TV with hours in front of my computer screen once more..lol.

No internet

2008-11-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Orange we have not had internet in our new aparment for about 3 weeks now. Can someone please explain to me why it is so hard to move a few wires to make internet work in a new apartment? They are telling us that at the end of the week we should have it back. HA! Mon oeil! Until then... byebye

I am in awe

2008-11-05T01:21:00.000-08:00

I barely slept this past night because I was so nervous about the election results for the next morning. Even though Obama has been ahead in the polls for quite some time, I feared that the race factor would still determine the election. Thankfully it did not. Everyone got out there to vote this year for a just cause. We need change in their country and Americans have proved that we are ready.
This is honestly one of the few times in my life that I can actually say that I'm proud to be an American. Not only is this man going to change America for the better but he will change our poor reputation around the world. I am so happy that we have crossed this racial barrier and have elected someone that reflects the diversity of America.
I am overjoyed!

Funny Story

2008-10-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

During my activity today in my CE2 class (3rd grade), I was trying to explain the words girl and boy to them because we were doing English names. In order to demonstrate who is a girl and who is a boy I pointed to each student and said boy, boy, girl, boy, girl, etc. Then I passed out the English names based on their gender when out of the corner of my eye I see a hand raised. Yes? I asked.
The student replies..."But I'm not a girl, I'm a boy."
I had accidentally counted him as a girl because of his long curly hair and slightly feminine face.
"Uhhhh, ok." I quickly rushed and gave him a boy's name and changed the subject immediately.

I can't believe I did that...I feel terrible and I bet this kid will be scared for life!

La honte totale!