Oh hello, 2015!

Happy 2015, folks! 

I can't believe how TERRIBLE I've been at keeping this blog stuff updated. It has been a crazy couple months...scary, hectic, exciting, fun, frustrating, lonely, rewarding. You name it, there's been a day I've experienced it. It's all been mostly great, and that's really all I could have hoped for at the end of the day.

The last I left you all, I had just arrived in France. Yikes, major slacking going on. It seems like I just got here, got settled in, had a good night's sleep, and woke up in 2015. I'll try to catch you all up a little bit.

I work at 2 elementary schools and also teach at LPB, a center that offers English lessons for toddlers through adults. 

These days, a typical week looks like this:

:Monday:

11:15-12:00 CE2 at school A

14:00-14:30 CP at school A

14:30-15:15 CM1 at school A

15:15-16:00 CM2 at school A

18:45-20:00 Ballet

:Tuesday:

8:45-9:30 CE2 at school B

9:30-10:15 CM1/CM2A at school B

10:45-11:30 CM1/CM2B at school B

17:15-18:15 LJL at LPB

:Wednesday:

8:45-9:30 CM1 at school A

9:30-10:15 CE1 at school A

10:30-11:15 CM2 at school A

18h45-19h45 Jazz

:Thursday:

9:15-9:45 CP at school B

9:45-10:15 CE2 at school B

10:45-11:30 CE1/CE2 at school B

14:00-14:30 CP at school A

14:30-15:00 CE1 at school A

17:15-18:15 VEL at LPB

18:15-19:15 6ème at LPB

:Friday:

9:00-9:30 CP/CE1 at school B

9:30-10:15 CM1/CM2A at school B

10:45-11:30 CM1/CM2B at school B

17:30-18:30 EL at LPB

18:30-19:30 5ème at LPB

:Saturday:

9:00-10:00 FS at LPB

10:00-11:00 EL at LPB

Busy week but luckily things are a bit spaced out. My house is about halfway between the two schools I work at. It's about a 20 minute walk to each school. It's also about a 20 minute walk to LPB. Starting in January, I'll be adding two more hours, one on Monday and one on Thursday. Between the walking, classes, and the normal day to day stuff, I tend to stay pretty busy. I prefer being busy though. It's nice to be lazy from time to time, but staying busy gives me a sense of purpose. I like to feel like I'm really working towards something here. Regardless of what it is I find at the end of all of this, I want to feel like I used my time wisely. So far so good.

At my schools, each teacher expects something slightly different from me. Some teachers give me full control. In these cases, I'm responsible for planning the lessons, gathering materials, and carrying out the lesson in class with the students without the help of the teacher. Sometimes this even includes evaluations of students and a reward/discipline system. Luckily, I work with teachers who would be happy to help me if I ever needed it. 

Other times, it's me and the teacher working together to get the above result. All of my classes are great though. To be honest, it took me a long time to sort of adjust to my schedule and what was expected of me...only because it's not uniform across the board. It's always interesting after coming back from a break. I seem to completely lose my head the first week back. One of my schools is a little rougher than the other, but I am equally happy with both. Although I obviously use a bit of English in class, I have used so much of my French. It gets better and better each day. That is such a great feeling.

My students are the sweetest. They are always so happy to see me. Always fighting over who gets to give me a hug and kiss first and throwing out compliments every time they get the chance. Charming tiny humans, they are. They are so eager to please and try so hard in class. I have a couple students that give me a run for my money, but that's to be expected. I love those guys too...most days at least. 

I also found a place to take dance classes! I started that in October. It's been great. It's interesting to take dance classes in French. I have the best time though.

The first couple of months were kind of crazy. Lots of paperwork, documents to turn in, appointments, etc. The paperwork in France is a crazy nightmare. Things are always a bit slower it seems. Once I got through all the formal stuff, I was able to settle in and feel like I actually live here.

September was exciting. I had just gotten here. October was a bit rough. Once I had gotten settled in a bit and some of the excitement was gone, I really just felt like I missed home. November started out good but was a bit tough around Thanksgiving. Start of December,  everything started to feel normal. Now, don't get me wrong...I still miss home, but I also feel incredibly lucky to be living out this experience. I feel like things have balanced out more and I am able to enjoy and appreciate my time here like I should.

I'm just finishing my second long break. Christmas was spent in Italy. I was able to visit some of the greatest people and saw so so much! Had such an amazing time. I was able to visit Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Verona and Bergamo. It was fast paced and I would have loved to spend more time enjoying the company and the scenery, but it was a great introduction to the country. Couldn't have asked for anything better. 

Long post, but we are kind of caught up I think.

MERCI for reading this mes amis.

Miss you all and hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2015.

BISOUS.

Amiens Ready or Not

Bonjour, tout le monde! First off, if you're reading this...you're probably one of the people off the "I miss you so much" list. I MISS YOU! VOUS ME MANQUEZ! 

Now that that's out, let's talk about FRANCE. I made it to France. yay, finally here! I got into Paris late (9:30 pm to be exact) on the 19th of September. The plan was to rush from CDG airport to Paris Gare du Nord by 10:30 to make the last train to Amiens that night. That didn't happen. Mais c'est la vie.

There were quite a few other assistants on the flight from Reykjavík to Paris. That was nice to meet people in the same boat as me. They all seemed to be really sweet. I'm sure I'll run into them again at some point. Back to the airport shuffle. I wouldn't have minded spending the night (or maybe even the weekend) in Paris. I love Paris. Who doesn't? At that point, I was so ready to be done with all my luggage. Between that and the pain radiating from my knee, I decided Paris would probably be better saved for another weekend. So, like I said, that didn't happen.

The good news is Nancy and I (Nancy is the girl I shared a cab with into Paris) got a little ego boost on our French. We started speaking french immediately. Nothing like jumping right into it. So I'm hauling my bags around Gare du Nord and decide to go to McDonalds to loiter (free wifi). I wouldn't typically recommend loitering (especially not in front of Gare du Nord), but what can I say? Desperate times my friends. 

I managed to get a hold of my friend Ahmed. We already had a back up plan in the case I missed the train luckily, so I didn't have to scramble around looking for a hotel for the night. I let him know I was coming over and then made my way back across the street to Gare du Nord where I snaked my way down the escalators and tunnels of what is the Paris metro. Found myself on the train for about 30 minutes. I made it just in time before the line closed. Woo...

It was great to see Ahmed. We laughed a lot. And he let me have an apple and a banana and some fruit juice. I hadn't really eaten anything since the soup I had at the Reykjavík airport. The next morning, Ahmed helped me haul my stuff to the metro platform. Made my way back to Gare du Nord, got a ticket for Amiens...and there, I MADE IT! Je suis arrivée.

I was greeted at the train station in Amiens by Amilda & Claire, 2 of my new roommates. We made our way to the house where I met Kevin (said with a french accent) and Fabian. So it's us 5 for the year. I feel like my housing situation is going to be like the Friends series (but a lot less money and a lot more french). I will have to post a video of my house soon. It's very european...creaky stairs included. 

I got unpacked and have just been spending a good deal of my time doing what I believe is the #1 extreme sport in France: paperwork. Ooh la la la la

There is a paper to fill out for everything it seems. French bureaucracy is a funny thing. I'm glad I had housing figured out. In order to get housing, you need a bank account. In order to have a bank account, you need an address. In order to get a bus pass, you need an address. In order to get a cell phone (a plan at least), you need a french bank account and an address, etc etc etc. Not to mention forms for health care, forms for any sort of housing aid, the list could keep going. It's not as horrible and negative as it may sound. I'm in France and I'm filling out papers so I can have a life in France. That's not the worst thing to happen to someone. It's just a bit overwhelming at first.

So, at this point I am:

1) unpacked in a house---check

2) waiting for my phone card with Free---check

Free is a french cell phone carrier. It's great though. I can stop it at anytime. I have unlimited calling/texting in France. It also included unlimited international calling to the states and some international texting. All that with a data plan for under 20 euros a month. And I finally got the phone card without a french visa card

3) have an appointment to open a bank account this Thursday---check

4) Got a second job---check

I'll also be teaching at Les Petits Bilingues. Less stress about money is always a good thing. My first class is Tuesday!

5) seeing old friends, meeting new friends---check

So far I've gotten to see quite a few of my friends from last summer. I have also met new french friends and made friends with some of the other assistants working in Amiens. Kelsey (NYC girl born in Colorado) and I have spent an impressive amount of time lingering around the cafés and bars...using each other as soundboards to vent about the paperwork. Like I said, it's not that bad. It just helps to not keep all of the questions swirling around in our heads.

6) speaking french!---check

I speak better some days than I do others. I think my brain is freaking out a bit, but it's getting there. As hard as some days can be, I always notice an improvement.

7) planning lessons---check

8) missing people---check

Hi, I'm Taylor. That's what I do.

9) watching some netflix---check

It's like comfort food for me right now. Netflix is finally available in France and Gilmore Girls just happens to be coming to Netflix. Obvious choice. It really will help to have these small familiar things when I am really missing home from time to time. In my defense, I have watched some french movies.
10) Skyped with Ashley & Baby Ryker---check
One of my oldest and bestest friends had her sweet little boy. So happy for her growing family. Made my week to see their sweet little faces. 

11) breathing---check

This week I go into my schools to introduce myself. I will hopefully have my schedule after that because I am starting that job next Monday. I also have an orientation to go to on Friday. Between now and then, I'll be taking a few more laps in the paperwork pool, planning lessons, and reminding myself that I CAN DO THIS. Lots of change all at once. Huge leaps followed by small steps have become the key to happiness in ma petite vie française.

I will hopefully get better about updating this as important things happen. Not every post will be a novel...unless it's all novel-worthy of course.

Kelsey and I went to the movies the other day. We saw Gemma Bovery. It was cute. No subtitles but easily comprehensible french with english mixed in. Good little boost. We understood. Now I'll stick to movies on Netflix because tickets alone are 11 euros. You all should go see it if you're able to!

My First Week in Pictures