Starting Work

So, where to start?

This past Thursday I went to a training/greeting for the new assistants in the académie of Dijon. It was pretty nice to back on the old stomping grounds, and I even got to go back to my favorite Irish pub, Flannery's and eat at the university. I met up with some English english assistants from Sens (about 20 mins away) and some other guys from OSU and we had a pretty good time. However, the training/greeting was also an opportunity for the French authorities to unload a metric ton of paperwork on all the non-european assistants. So, I've made friends with the school's copy machine and I'm thinking about filing a complaint against the French government for my developping carpal tunnel syndrome.

Saturday morning we were back in Joigny and an English professor was nice enough to take all the assistants to the town market and point out his favorite stands and goodies :) He also had us over for a 5-course "lunch" which was out of this world. We also had good fun gathering hazelnuts and walnuts from his garden and went to Guédelon, which was super, super cool. I think you would particularly like going there, Uncle Ernie.

Sunday I pretty much stayed in and slept. All this stuff has been really tiring for me, and a day of rest did me good.

This week I've been basically sitting in on classes and trying to get a feel for what will work to motivate the students. There isn't a lot of excitement in most of the classes to learn English, and I hope if I sprinkle in a few themes or subjects that really speak to the kids, then they might work a bit harder in the their classes. The levels really vary, there are some students that speak English really well, and others that struggle a lot, especially in oral expression. It seems that the French system in general has much higher expectations for students in written English than in spoken English. I guess my job is to help them out on their oral comprehension and expression. I've got some ideas, I'll keep you posted.

The search for internet continues. Everyone in the apartment wants to have internet installed; the issue is that we have to contact France telecom and get a landline and see if we can get a deal on the intertrons there. If not, we still have to go through France telecom to get a landline, then shop around for internet deals. The issue? the France telecom boutique is a good 40 walk or a bus ride away from the apartment...we went today and the workers are on strike!
How French.
Looks like it'll be a couple more days on that one.
On the other hand I did open a bank account today so I can get PAID :) :) :) at the end of the month...
It's gonna be an international fiesta with beaucoup de VIN
so good BTW- there's a little shop nearby that sells local appélations direct from the viniculteurs starting at 3€50. not bad at all, huh?
Also I'm excited about going to a free wine tasting this weekend in town with the other assistants. We're finding things to do.

Anywho, questions? comments?

I hope y'all r doin' real good back home.
à plus!