The Eiffel Tower is old.

120 years old, to be exact.

The Eiffel Tower is celebrating its 120th birthday this year.  It was built back in 1889 for the World Fair by Gustave Eiffel.  Someone made the good decision not to tear it down after the fair, as they had originally intended, and it has since become THE icon of Paris.  (And of France, for that matter.)

In honor of this special year, the Eiffel Tower is hosting a beautiful light show four times every night until December 31st.  I went to see this show the other night, and got to see it twice.  The first time, I was alone and waiting for Peter and his friends to come meet me.  They were late, so I kept listening to my iPod and sat down by a statue to watch the show.

I was listening to my favorite German acapella group, The Wise Guys.  (Side note: My dear boyfriend bought me tickets to their concert in Hamburg this weekend…and he’s even coming with me, though he is definitely not a fan of their music.  Now that is love…! )  Anyway, so I was listening to The Wise Guys and enjoying the show, when some random man came and sat RIGHT next to me and decided he was going to hit on me.

“Bonsoir, mademoiselle, comme t’es belle ce soir, bla bla blah.” I could barely hear him above the music, but it got annoying really quickly.  “Who hits on someone who’s wearing headphones???” I thought to myself.  He kept talking, and it was getting even more awkward – I just wanted to sit and watch the show while waiting for my friends.  So I told him off.

Except that the first words to come out of my mouth were, “Lass mich tranquille.” Freutsch?  Frallemand?  (What does one call a mix between French and German?)  Well, whatever it is, the first two words were German (thanks, Wise Guys), and by the time I got to the third word, I realized, “Hey, I’m in France.  They speak French here.”

I wasn’t surprised when my oh-so-eloquent reply didn’t work.  He kept talking, so I stood up and walked further into the crowd, hoping he didn’t follow me.

There sure are some sketchy people here.  Luckily, he didn’t follow me, and Peter and his friends arrived shortly after.  Since it was such a nice night, we hung out at Trocadero, had a few beers, and stayed long enough to catch the second light show.

I took a few videos for those of you who can’t come see the show yourself.  It doesn’t quite compare to seeing it in person, but it’s still pretty dang cool.  Joyeux anniversaire, Tour Eiffel!

(There are more videos under the cut!)  (Please ignore the drunken laughing!  And…don’t watch these if you have epilepsy.  Seriously.)

“Fat words”*

The French are known for a lot of things: wine, cheese, champagne, fashion, history, philosophy, 35-hour work weeks and 2-hour lunch breaks.

But the French are also known for their cursing.  For example, take Napoleon’s frustration at losing in bowling in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

On my way home from work today, I shook my head at the outburst of some random guy who was, like everyone else at 6:00 p.m. at one of the busiest train stations in the city, was trying to make his way into the station.  I guess someone bumped into him (oh, the horror – such a thing never happens during rush hour!) and he shouted out, « MERDEUUUR!!! »  Basically, you sh*tty person, you.  Or maybe it was « emmerdeur », which comes from the verb emmerder, which means “to cover with sh*it”.  (Lovely, no?)

Heck, even the French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s  famed « casse-toi, pauvre con »** comment serves as proof for my aforementioned assertion.

Ohh, but the Americans.

We’re even worse with our cursing.  Anglophones (and everyone else, for that matter) all over the world are listening to songs that have more curse words in them than you’d ever believe possible.  It doesn’t really bother me most of the time, but there does come a point where it’s too much, if you know what I mean.  So, we Americans are not so different than the French in this matter.

Lots of non-native speakers of English know our curse words.  (Side note: I think it’s a rule in any foreign language that people learn the juicy stuff more quickly and readily than they do boring grammar concepts.)

But this time I blame it on a British woman.

I had just arrived to my second class of the day to teach some 10- and 11-year-olds (CM2).   The CD player I brought with me to play the audio part of the lesson broke – I’m not sure what happened, because it worked fine in my previous class.

The teacher went to borrow a different CD player from another teacher and was nice enough to help me set it up.  But instead of turning on the CD player to the CD setting, it automatically came on to the radio tuner.

All of a sudden, in the longest three seconds of my life, two single words of Lily Allen’s wonderful hit song were broadcasted loud and clear: “F*ck you!”

The teacher switched the setting to the CD, but the damage was already done.  Immediately, 4 or 5 kids repeated it, just the way they heard it sung.

Just when I was thinking, “Oh man, I hope they don’t ask me about that,” one kid did. I stammered a “We don’t say that, that’s bad” and then decided I had better distract them before they repeat it any more.  So I began class, and that (thankfully) worked.  I must admit, though, that is one of the funniest moments I’ve had in a class so far.

Kids will be kids.

My kids are already bad enough, though.  In my most difficult class, a group of 9-year-olds (CM1), there are a few students who continually change my teaching into bad French words.

For example, the word “put” became « pute », which is the shortened version of the word for “prostitute.”  (I’m sure you can think of the dirtier word on your own.)

The lesson on “pets” and “have you got a pet” (yes, ugh, I have to teach British English) became annoying when I realized they were giggling because the French word for “fart” is « un pet. »

I heard one kid (in that very same class) telling his classmate, « Tu me casse les couilles! », which means she was pissing him off.  But a literal translation is that “she breaks his balls.”  These are 9-year-olds.  Come on guys, seriously?  I gave him a dirty look and said, “You know I speak French, right?”

Well, in any case, voilà. A lesson in French cursing for you.  (Because apparently, you can take a teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t stop her from teaching.)

The end.***

* Literal translation from the French phrase gros mots, which means “curse words”

** “Get lost, you idiot.”  (This phrase is tricky to translate into English, because they use “con” in so many different ways…)

***If you felt offended by this entry, please accept my apologies and my advice never to move to France. 

Switzerland Vacation

Hey everyone!  I’m back, and wanted to share a few photos from Switzerland, even though most of you have probably seen them all on facebook already.  I haven’t been in the blogging mood since I got back.  I was getting re-acclimated to Paris & city life after some time in the fresh air and beautiful mountains of Switzerland.  First, here are a few photos from our weekend in Braunwald:

The common cold.

I bought this tea because it looked healthy. Surprisingly, it tastes quite good!

I’ve got a cold, which started yesterday.  I had to go out in the rain to buy some soup, some good tea, some clementines and some cold medicine.  After that, I could tell the medicine helped, but then I stayed inside all day on the couch with my computer set up on a chair in front of me, and I watched 13 episodes of Friends.  13.  Crazy.  But I didn’t feel like doing anything else, except peeing, because of all of the tea and soup.  I had 3 bowls of soup, and at least 4 cups of tea.  Good to stay hydrated, right?

Today I’m feeling a little better, but still don’t have much energy to do anything.  I went out for a quick walk to go to the bank and to the grocery store, and I felt pretty blah, just from a little bit of movement.  At least today I got out of my PJs and showered, dressed, and did some laundry.

I’m on vacation!!

Yay for getting sick, just in time for vacation!

Okay, all sarcasm aside, we’re currently in the period of the vacances de Toussaint – the week & a half vacation for All Saints’ Day.  School starts back up again on November 4th.  But because of my schedule, only working Monday & Tuesday, I don’t have to report back until November 9th!  What a lucky break!  (Did you get it?)

I have plans to go to Switzerland with my boyfriend.  When I return, I’ll have a few days back in Paris again before I have to go back to work.  I should try to go to a museum or something.  Could you believe I’ve been here for a little more than a month and I haven’t been to a museum yet?  Well, I’m going to get my carte professionelle that shows I’m a teacher here, and then I will be able to get in some places for free.  That’s definitely worth the wait.

Cold weather and paperwork.

fall leaves at the Notre Dame cathedral

Fall is definitely here in Paris.  The leaves are falling and CRUNCH on the ground when I step on them.  The air is cooler and crisper.  There has been some rain, but also some really nice clear blue skies.  Last night, I could smell that someone was using their fireplace.  I love autumn, and all these wonderful things about it.

It is starting to get quite cold, though.  The trench coat-style rain jacket I took with me is definitely not enough anymore.  It took quite a few layers (try 4-5) under that jacket to keep warm outside.  There are a few good reasons I didn’t bring my coat with me:  1) I needed a new one anyway (I finally got rid of the coat I had all through college, the one with holes in the pockets & through which I could stuff all sorts of things into the liner of my coat.)  2) There was not enough room in my suitcase.

So this week, I was on a quest to find a good winter coat.  Something that would keep me much warmer without as many layers on underneath!  After looking in several stores, and finding nothing that was warm enough, or ones that were far too expensive (150-300€), I finally hit the jackpot at Decathlon.  Not only did I find a nice winter coat, but I also found four fleece sweatshirts, two pairs of hiking socks, one pair of warm ski socks, and a set of lights for my bike.  I spent approximately 145€ for all this…but that is not bad at all when you consider that the coat I almost bought at GoSport cost 155€!

The outside is gray and has some really cool snaps!  The liner inside is this awesome pink color with a fun design.

Paperwork, and staying legal.

I also dedicated this week to doing some major paperwork.  I needed to send the OFII form to the immigration office to let them know I am really here and to register myself so my visa stays valid.  That is sent, and they will be mailing me back a convocation to an obligatory medical visit and to present all of my papers in person.

Apparently, I also had to enroll in social security so I can start taking advantage of the universal healthcare here.  I went to the local CPAM office (centre assurance maladie) and was able to fill out all the paperwork there.  In fact, something happened that was really helpful but that probably should never happen: the lady made photocopies there for me of my documents. That was QUITE a pleasant surprise!  That never happens.  I’m still blown away by that; I do know, however, that I can never expect that to happen again.  This time was pure luck.  Well anyway, I filled out the form and handed over the photocopies and they will be mailing me a temporary social security number until I get my carte vitale.  (The personal card that shows I am part of the system and can get cheaper healthcare.) 

Now all I need to do is to make sure I have my dossier ready for this Monday so I can give all the documents necessary to the Inspection to get paid for my teaching!  I won’t get paid until November.  Good thing I have some money saved up from working this past year.   Otherwise, I would be freezing and starving.  And thanks to my shopping yesterday, I don’t have to worry about either of those.

Quick update.

It’s always hard to write about everything that happens, when it happens.  It’s a good thing: it means I’m living life.  It also means I’ve been busy, both with work and recreation.  Still, I would like to attempt to catch you all up on what’s been happening here.

Friday, Oct. 2: Orientation

I took the wrong train and got a little lost on the way to orientation, but I was only 1/2 hour late.  The lady who was leading the orientation went over the massive amount of paperwork we had to do; the problem was, she went way too fast.  Now I’m sitting here up to my ears in paperwork and I’m not quite sure what to do next.  It’s one of those “you need this to get this, but you can’t get that until you have that.”  How do you break into the catch-22 system?

There were 15 of us there, all primary school teachers.  10 were British, 5 were American.  There was only 1 guy.  I went to McDonald’s for lunch with a couple of British English assistants and learned all sorts of fun words like “jumper” and “maths.”  The second half of the day was devoted to actual teaching.  A teaching advisor gave us all sorts of great ideas and advice on how to teach English to French kids.  That was really helpful, and made me feel a lot more confident about teaching.

Saturday, Oct. 3: Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche in Paris!  T. arrived that evening, and we went out and hit the town.  Here are some of the things we saw:

We stayed out until 4:30 in the morning.  There were quite a few cool and random things to look at, but it it wasn’t as much as it was the last time I went to Nuit Blanche.  It was still fun, and I’m glad I went.

À l’école

Teacher's lounge at the afternoon school.

Yesterday, I had my first day at my school.

The answer to my question in the last post is yes: the school is, in fact, attached to the town hall.

I met my contact lady around 9:00 a.m..  She is the one who will oversee everything, and she is super-nice.  She is in charge of the adults who teach, including the language assistants, of which I am the only one this year.  (I will hereafter refer to her as my advisor.)

She introduced me to the school principal, or Monsieur le Directeur, and then I got to meet the other teachers in the teachers’ lounge.  They all seemed excited to meet me.  Then my advisor loaned me some curriculum books and other materials: posters, flashcards, CDs, and storybooks.  We also hammered out my schedule:  I will work in that school in the morning, and another school in the afternoon.  I will teach 8 classes two times a week for 45-minute class periods.  That means 4 classes back-to-back at the first school, eating lunch, walking to the second school, and teaching 4 more classes back-to-back, two days in a row.  It will make Mondays and Tuesdays very exhausting, but at least it gives me quite a lot of time for lesson planning and allows me to be more flexible with travel plans for the weekends!

Classes:

I met two out of the four teachers at my first school, where I will teach in the morning.  My advisor had set up an agreement with a different school to let me observe some of their English classes being taught, but then there was a problem with that school.  The principal was absent due to sickness, and the other teachers refused to do it because they were not told in advance.  (Apparently the principal didn’t pass it along to her colleagues.)

But this worked out in my favor, because I ended up getting to go to my second school in which I will actually teach!  So I went there in the afternoon and met a lot of the teachers there.  I ate lunch with three of the teachers whose classes I’ll be assisting.

Overall, I will have mostly older classes.  Ages 9-10.  But I will have one little class (8-year-olds, I think) – this is their first-ever English class!  I even got to introduce myself to all four of my afternoon classes.  The little kids looked a little scared, but at least they giggled when they couldn’t understand me.

Mantes La Ville

I finally mustered up the courage to call my contact at my school in which I will be teaching, instead of simply emailing her a response.  She was extremely nice on the phone, and I’m glad that I called her.  She explained to me in more detail how to get to the school from the train station.  That sounded a little complicated, but not overly so – it helped a lot that she gave landmarks, things to look for to know I was going in the right direction.  That always wins.

Since the validity of my passe NaviGO began yesterday, I decided to do a practice run of my commute.  That way, come Thursday, I will know exactly where to go and what to do, and the only thing I’ll have to worry about is catching my train on time.

So I walked to the Gare Saint-Lazare, trying to figure out what the best route would be en vélo. I plan to use my new bike to commute from here to the train station, to cut down on my commute time.  That didn’t work too well, as I ended up taking a longer route that was out of the way and led me back toward my former host parents’ apartment.  (At least I knew the neighborhood.)

When I got to the station, I passed by the grandes lignes, knowing that those were the ones that went to farther away cities than the suburbs of Paris.  I quickly found the right quay…but where was the place to validate my ticket?  Not wanting to miss my train, I decided to risk it and just board the train anyway.  My ride wouldn’t be entirely illegal, since my passe NaviGO does pay for all zones, but the chances of having a contrôle de billet, where transportation police check everyone’s tickets to make sure they paid for the trip, were very slim.

So I caught a “free” ride to Mantes Station.  It wasn’t too difficult to find the school.  In fact, it was super-easy.  You pretty much just turn right out of the train station (to make sure you’re actually going to Mantes La Ville and not Mantes La Jolie, a different town) and take the first big street you come across.  From there, it’s a few minutes’ walk straight down that street until you come to la Mairie, or town hall.  The school is right there.  In fact, could it really be possible that the school is in the same building as the Mairie??  It sure seemed like it.

Well, I turned around and walked back to the train station, taking a few pictures on my cell phone of the surroundings.  I almost took the wrong train on the way back, but I noticed it just in time.  More accurately, it would have been the right train to go back to Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, but it was a more local train that made twice as many stops.  Anyway, I am pretty proud of myself that I figured this out, and I’m also glad that I did a practice run when there was no pressure.  I will be far less stressed on Thursday morning when I go for my first day of work.

Did I mention how beautiful Paris is at night?

Une excellente journée.

This Saturday was AWESOME!

In the afternoon, we attended a meet-&-greet with other language assistants at the Jardin des Tuileries.  It was nice to meet the other assistants, but I wished more of them would try to speak French instead of English.  Language preferences aside, I did meet some nice people.  I only remember a few names, but hopefully some of them will become friends.

After schmoozing with the crowd for a while, a small group of us broke off from the main crowd and had lunch at a café nearby.  I had an incredibly messy tuna sandwich on a baguette, but it was delicious.  Afterward, Peter’s potential future roommate, Katy, accompanied us back to our house after a nice sunny walk along the Seine.  Then we hopped on the métro to go meet my friend Jacqueline at her French boyfriend’s house.  Jérôme wasn’t there, so we all chatted in English for a while until he arrived.  He ended up inviting us to go have some drinks at the Champs de Mars by the Eiffel Tower.  Not wanting to miss the chance to make some potential French friends, we gladly accepted.

It was a nice evening on the Champs de Mars.  Lots of people were picnicking, drinking, and sitting amongst friends, with the Eiffel Tower serving as an incredibly surreal backdrop to the festivities.  This glowing Parisian icon stood out even more as the sun was setting, especially for those magical first 5 minutes of every hour, when thousands of lights sparkle from its surface.  (It used to be the first 15 minutes of every hour, but they cut it down to save energy.  Go France!)

While we waited for his friends to arrive, we watched a group of Michael Jackson impersonators dance to his songs.  There was one guy who even had the same hair style as the King of Pop, and a shockingly similar red jacket.  The dancers weren’t that good, but it was still amusing to watch.

French kissing.

Jérôme’s friends got there, and then the kissing began.  French kissing.  No wait.  I mean, that thing that the French people do to say hello to friends.  The classic greeting of a kiss on each cheek: la bise.  It’s always a little awkward doing this to complete strangers, but it is considered rude not to faire la bise to everyone in the group.  As you’re doing la bise, you say your name to those whom you don’t know, and they return the favor.

That is how I met Sandrine, Manu, Laëtitia, Héléna, and Marie-Christine.  We all sat in a circle and passed around potato chips, Pringles, mixed nuts, and some sort of bizarre crunchy snack that was quite similar in texture to Cheetos, but was peanut butter-flavored.  Ahh, the French apéritif.  We drank Coca, beer and some extremely sweet white wine.   (Note to self:  I don’t like sweet wines.)

We were originally going to stay only long enough for a drink before Jérôme’s friends went out to dinner.  But then they invited us along and, once again, pourquoi pas? Why not?  I definitely wanted to make more of an effort to speak French to actual French people, and they were really nice, so that made it easier.  We took the métro over to Saint-Michel and somehow managed to get a table for 10 right away at this fondue restaurant.  (We had impeccable timing!)

Appareil à raclette

I ordered the raclette.  It was the first time I had used the appareil à raclette to make my own raclette at the table.  Jérôme explained us how it works: you get a plate of cheese and charcuterie (salami, ham, bacon and other cold meats), and a bowl of potatoes.  You put your cheese on a little pan and stick it into the machine, which melts the cheese.  Then you scrape the cheese off onto your potatoes and meat, and then enjoy the deliciously heavy meal.

We did enjoy, and we were stuffed.  Jacqueline and Jérôme left, and then Katy and Marie-Christine left too.  The rest of us went to a pub for another drink.  It was called O’Neill’s, and is located on Rue des Canettes.  (Seems to be one of the best places to go on a Saturday night for partying!)  I had a Panaché, which is a beer cocktail of white beer mixed with lemonade.  (There was also a Tango, which is grenadine syrup mixed with white beer, and a Monaco, which is the combination of grenadine syrup AND lemonade.  Yum.)

It was nice hanging out with French people and speaking only French.  It was a ton of fun.  Even more exciting was the fact that Laëtitia is an elementary school teacher in the same area in which I will be teaching!  She was really great to talk to; she gave me some invaluable tips on teaching the young ones.  She told me not to hesitate to use only English in the classroom.  Even when they’re that young, they will understand when you talk slowly, make big gestures and movements, and sing songs (apparently they LOVE the alphabet song in English).   She encouraged me to use pictures to teach them the English words for things; that way, they won’t be translating from French as much.  I felt much more at ease after talking to her.

What a great way to spend my first real weekend in Paris.  Looking forward to my second weekend in Paris…T. arrives next Saturday, and then there’s Nuit Blanche.  I have a feeling that will be even better!

But that will have to wait for another post.