My new life

This morning, I went with my roommate C to the farmer's market by the port. After we got back and snacked on a baguette, I went for a run along the beach (and today's motorcycle trade show, as it happens), which is all of three minutes from my house. Then, my landlady invited us to see the flamingos a couple of towns over, in Giens. On the way, I got to watch some Provence countryside pass by, though I don't know how much it counts if it's dotted with Hyper-Casinos. But apparently the pine trees that reminded me so much of Palo Alto are typical of the Mediterranean. Some highlights of the mini road trip: a wall with flowers growing out of it, spelling the town's name; people taking advantage of the Mistral that blows off the coast, windsurfing and flying kites; my landlady trying to stop in the middle of a one lane road during rush hour to let me get off and take pictures of the flamingos.

My landlady is really nice, kinda racist, and eccentric, but hopefully not outright crazy. She has two huge dogs who come up to my ribs, two basset hounds, and several parrots. She has also expressed on a few occasions how much she loves donkeys. On this trip we passed a couple leading a donkey each and she suggested mischievously stealing them for a night. Her husband was a naval officer so she's traveled all over the world, including Brazil. She explained to me how the nickname for speed bumps in French is gendarme couché, or sleeping police officer, and gave me the Portuguese name for it too, but I don't remember it.

I have lots of pictures I can show you of my house, but at some point it is just going to feel like showing off. It's this really old villa and because of some complications with previous tenants, I'm now in her guest bedroom, with an adjoining bathroom. To give you a sense of what it's like, I have a bell pull-like knob by my bed that lets me turn off the light overhead without getting up. The light overhead is a chandelier. What serves as a dresser is a marble fireplace with a gilt mirror over it. There's all sorts of bric-à-brac around the house and when I went to open up my nightstand drawer, I found a revolver. Which turned out to be a toy but just the same. It's in a great location and I'm living with one other American language assistant, Caitlyn, and three French-speaking dudes upstairs, one from France, one from Morocco, and one from China. There are drawbacks of course, like the generally unsanitary condition of the house, and having the dogs slobber mud all over my clothes any time I try to get past the door, but it's a fair trade in my mind.

Toulon

Y'all are busy so look at the pretty pictures instead of reading my post:

To Toulon

There are definitely moments when I think to myself, I can't believe I get to be here for nine months. In Europe, where the vibrant cultural scene is set against cobblestone plazas; in France, where they speak the most beautiful language; in Toulon, where I'll be minutes away from the beach. How will any other stage of my life after this ever compare?

Toulon is not like Paris. They're on the côte d'azur so they still get tourists and they still don't like Americans that much, but at least they are nice enough to answer questions and lend a hand. Dragging all my luggage from the train station in search of the the hotel, I met several people who happily gave directions.

Yet, I think because of my stay in Paris, this place doesn't feel foreign to me. My (mostly housing-related) vocabulary is growing fast and I easily imagine myself calling this place home. As soon as I can unpack my suitcase! If you haven't heard from me it's because I've been running around like crazy trying to not be homeless, but I think I've pretty much got a room now, if all goes well.

Making preparations/building expectations

Finally! I have everything I need for my visa application in order! I booked a ticket to Nice for September 20th that takes me through Chicago and Ireland, of all places, and I have beaucoup de photocopies of everything else. I even obtained a pre-paid self-addressed express mail envelope from the USPS so I can get my passport back from the French consulate without having to drive to San Francisco again. (Obtaining the envelope was an adventure in itself, but I explained my situation at the post office and they knew exactly what type of envelope was required).

This accomplishment was made possible by two very helpful websites, along with the assistant's handbook and Natasha's guidance:
http://www.assistantsinfrance.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=31868
http://www.consulfrance-sanfrancisco.org/spip.php?article624

And now I feel a little more free to start daydreaming about what it will be like on the French Riviera (and to start worrying about all the logistics of after my flight). Apparently though, Toulon is a bit "grungy" but with a character of its own, according to my predecessor. I got in touch with the girl who taught at my school this past year and have been getting great advice from her. She says I shouldn't expect Toulon to be as nice as other towns on the coast, but she did give me the name of a place where I could take painting lessons, and another for learning salsa. Perfect!

As for my actual job, it sounds like primary school, especially on a 9 month contract, will be a lot more responsibility than secondary school. The girl said she had to make all of her own lesson plans and teaching materials, and didn't get much help from the school in terms of navigating housing, social security, health insurance, and banking. I expect that at first it might be frustrating to be busy when everyone else is hanging out and making friends, but I think ultimately I will be glad to have a bigger job. I will be glad to walk away from this experience with a few solid skills. I'm looking forward to applying the ESL teaching principles I learned from TECC! Another warning I got was that teaching primary school makes it more difficult to find tutoring positions, but I'm sure if I'm proactive about it, I can find something.

Finally, of course I have plenty o' traveling goals! I basically want to go everywhere every weekend and holiday. And I'll add a point on our map for each trip!