Arrival

I've been in France for a couple of days now, and unfortunately, I can't say my transition has gone entirely seamlessly. After flying from JFK to Paris, I took a cab to a train station to begin my journey to Le Havre. It turns out I waaaaayyy overestimated how long everything would take and I found myself with 5 hours to kill. Due to my 3 bags, I couldn't really move anywhere so sat down on the ground as soon as I was close enough to the tracks. Waiting was fine, except for the fact that I think a pigeon touched me. I am not kidding when I say that I think Hitchcock was onto something...I'm waiting for the day when "The Birds" really does happen. In any event, I made it onto the train and promptly fell asleep. For some reason, I thought I saw that the train was only making three stops (Le Havre being the last), so by the time we were at the third, I woke up, saw everyone standing up and getting their things, and I hurried off. When the train starting pulling away from the station, my bachelor's degree helped me deduce that this was not, in fact, the last stop. I was not in Le Havre, but in a small, rural town. And, to add insult to injury, as I had this epiphany, it started to rain. Luckily,there was a man from my car who graciously helped me out. I explained to him that someone was waiting for me at the Le Havre station, but didn't have her number, and he actually took the time to talk to the agent in the station, get one of his friends to look up my contact's number in the white pages, and call her. So nice!

I got to Le Havre on the next train, got picked up, and made it to the UCGJ (YMCA in French). My living accommodations leave a lot to be desired, and are probably causing the most stress for me right now. I'm essentially in a freshman dorm with way more rules, way more dirt, and way more mildew smell than Lee, my dorm at Wash U. Also the mattress recalls my Malian mattress too closely. I would like to move, but just one day here has shown me that everything in France is controlled by rules and paperwork and more rules. There even appear to be rules saying that I have to stay here (at the Y) for 2 months, the logical basis of which I cannot figure out. At the moment, the thought of applying to rent an apartment seems pretty daunting. Another roadblock to moving is money. Holy cow, Europe is NOT cheap. But also, because of paperwork and processing, etc. I won't get paid until the end of November, something that would never fly in the States.

Anyway, we spent all of yesterday filling out paperwork in various offices throughout the city of Le Havre. I found out a teensy tiny bit about my work responsibilities, as well, though they are subject to change. Did I mention that I start next week? As of now, I will not only be doing the English thing, but I am evidently going to be a sports teacher. Yep. It's unclear to me whether that means I'll be teaching sports in English or just teaching English sports vocabulary. Either way, I don't really think I'm qualified to do this. Time to invest in polyester track suits and a DVD of the Giants winning the Superbowl.

And now, time to end on high notes:

The two other assistants I met are really nice. I hope to get to know them better, and I imagine that I will.

At the moment, it looks like I will not be working on Fridays.

Normandy is the home of Camembert and other cheeses.

More to come soon...I look forward to your emails (not so subtle hint).