Things that have recently happened to me

1) I moved! Freedom from the YMCA tastes sweet! And, it smells less like mildew, which is always a plus in my book. My friend Heidi found us a flat on the top floor of a really adorable old French couple's house (who call us 'eidi and 'annah). There is a garden and we have our own kitchen, and it's just really great. I've been really loving being able to cook in a clean and private space, not to mention the fact that I am now allowed to have wine! To take full advantage of this, my first night I cooked a wine-soaked meal: coq au vin, pears poached in red wine, and Heidi made vin chaud. Yum city.

2) I went to Etretat, which was breathtakingly beautiful. It used to be a fishing village, but I'm pretty sure tourism is the biggest industry now. However, it felt much more real to me than Honfleur did; I could believe that people actually lived in the town. Maybe it was because there was only one postcard shop and only one rack of key chains with names on them. Interestingly, Etretat was made famous by impressionist painters and writers, like Monet and Maupassant. Heidi and I walked around for a while, climbed to the top of the falaises, and had some delicious crepes, to boot. As Heidi put it, it almost made me want to learn about geology. But not quite.

3) I realized how ridiculous so many of my days are. Friday, for example, I spent close to 2 straight hours singing "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes." I was out of breath by the time lunch rolled around and quite red in the face. My strategy with these little ones was to use flashcards to teach them the parts of the body and then move on to singing. I quickly learned that this was not going to work. For some reason, any image I showed them prompted them to say "eye." No, Auguste, it's NOT an eye, it's an ARM. No, Céline, not an eye, a NOSE. When flashcards weren't working I thought maybe drawing would help, but I was wrong. "Draw an arm," I would say pointing to the picture and pointing to my own arm. "Do you understand?" Despite their cheerful "oui, 'annah!"s, I looked around to see them totally confused. "I think she want's us to draw an eye," I heard them saying to one another. "Oh, ok, yeah, that makes sense." One of the kids was deep into a cityscape that centered around an eye before I stopped them and told them to put everything away. One girl stood up to collect all the markers, prompting others to cry out against the grave injustice that had just been committed. "It's not her turn to collect the markers! It's his! It's his!" The class was descending into chaos, as some of them had started standing up to pull on my shirt in an effort to beg me to do something about the marker duty-thief. "I don't care!" I responded, "We're going to sing, and it's going to be FUN!"

In my next class of first-graders, I didn't even take anything out of my bag; I went straight for the song...and I got into it. When I jumped around, they did too, and believe it or not, they were able to learn the song. Well, the rhythm, at least. When their teacher came back, she joked that I was teaching gym class. Little does she know...

Next week, it's going to be all Hand Turkeys, all the time. Whether they like it or not. I was hoping I could combine my lessons on colors and parts of the body for this little project, but I'm less sure now. Only time will tell!

On food...

It certainly wouldn't be profound of me to pontificate about the delicious qualities of French food, but I've seen enough things here that just wouldn't fly in the States to make me want to blog about it. I started thinking about this on Wednesday, when I went with my friend Nichole to the French equivalent of a fondue party. There were about 10 of us who got together for a dinner party at this kid named Maxime's apartment. Upon arriving, we learned that we would be eating raclette, and that's where the adventure began.

Raclette is made with special "raclette machines," which are basically hot plates with little trays in them. Everyone takes a tray, puts a piece of "pungent" cheese in/on it, and then shoves the tray back into its slot. When the cheese is browned and bubbling, you take it and pour it on prosciutto, saucisson, potatoes, etc. I don't think I've ever consumed so much prosciutto in one sitting, but I'd like to try again. Amazingly, the French people ate nearly twice what Nichole and I could hold down. I don't get it! Consider me sold on raclette...

In other food news, I would like to describe what "school lunch" means to these people. No chicken nuggets, no hamburgers, no pizza - instead, we eat steak frites, moussaka, and cassoulet. Also the meal is served family style, and on real plates. To start, there is some kind of salad, and not iceberg with ranch dressing. Last Friday, it was beet salad. It's pretty amazing to watch what comes out of the kitchens there.

Also of note, you can buy a bag on individually wrapped crab legs, just for when you're on the go and can't do without seafood. It comes with a little tub of mayonnaise, too!

Ah, la belle France!

Espana! Home of the all ham diet!

Holy moly, it's been a really long time since I've updated this thing! The most notable event since my last posting was my first vacation. Yup, after working for three weeks, I got 10 days off for Toussaint - All Saints' Day. In total, I get 7.5 weeks off, thanks to the amazing school break calender here. Sorry to all my friends working 12 hour days at home who get only Christmas and New Year's Day! I'll be thinking of you!

I chose to spend this break in Spain, even though my Spanish knowledge is limited to "Si ves algo, di algo," from the subway posters. I flew into Barcelona for a few days of solo sightseeing. Barcelona was beautiful and warm, and the people were very friendly. I hit all the major touristy sites, including the Sagrada Familia, and Parc Guell. My greatest achievement was getting the EU discount at the Picasso Museum by speaking French to the guy at the welcome desk. Holla! The Gaudi architecture was really cool to see (obviously), and I was excited to see the sun and walk around in a t-shirt. I also ate many tapas, of course.

Next I took an overnight bus to Madrid to meet my friend Michael, who graduated with me from Wash U. He graciously agreed to host me for the weekend in his sweet apartment right off of Gran Via. There, I continued my strict regime of binge eating ham products. Delicious. Unlike in Barcelona, where I was alone, I went out to some clubs and "experienced nightlife" in Madrid. On Saturday we decided to celebrate Halloween and went out in costume until 8:30 am. Not too many others were dressed up, and Michael got called out on wearing green and gold. Who knew those didn't go together? The 8:30 am thing was tough for me - I won't lie. It was really fun to get to see friends from Wash U (additional shout out to Miranda for hosting me one night!), and of course, to take a break from my extremely strenuous work schedule.

Getting back to France, I had to go straight to my immigration appointments in Rouen, which involved a LOT of waiting. For some reason, something like 40 of us were scheduled for appointments at the same time and only one doctor was available to see us. What? Inefficiency in France? Quelle choque! Luckily, the doctor couldn't have been sweeter, which made up for the waiting. Also, I forced my friends to play lots of 20 questions with me while waiting, and it turns out that that game is still fun.







Back in Le Havre, back to work!

Ca va quand meme?

Quelle semaine! I don't know where to begin about everything that has happened to me in the past few days. Monday morning I was on the bus on the way to Mont Gaillard, the neighborhood where my schools are, sitting and thinking about what a nice weekend I had, and how I was finally starting to feel a little bit normal. Sun shining, oiseaux chirping, etc. When I turned the corner onto the street where the school is located, however, I saw two young men talking/arguing. When I got closer (probably about 20 feet away), I saw one of the men get on his knees and put his hands in the air. Then I noticed that the other man was holding a gun. I turned right around and walked as quickly and as quietly as I could away. I've never felt so terrified, and I'm still a little shaken up. (If you want to make me feel better, email me about your lives!!! hannah.mullman@gmail.com do ittttt)

My friends here and the inspectrice have been really nice and supportive, even if my contact person's initial response was to ask if I was sure that it wasn't a police officer holding the gun. Thanks.

ANYWAY, the greve continues. Here is an article about the situation courtesy of my mother: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/world/europe/20france.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1

Also, for the record, 1 jar of nutella down, how many more to go?

Day Trippin'

This weekend, I went on not one, but TWO day trips. I know, I know, I'm really outdoing myself out here. Saturday I went to Honfleur with some of the other English assistants. Honfleur is a small and picturesque fishing village about a half hour away from Le Havre. It's very touristy, but as usual, there's a reason for this. Some fun facts about Honfleur: it was the port from which French explorers left to go on and "discover" Quebec City and, drum roll please....the Mississippi River! History! It's happening all around us! Anyway, it was really really beautiful, and very fun to get out of Le Havre and play tourist. Then that night I went over to Nichole's house to make a delicious shrimp and avocado salad, complete with local cider. Yum. After eating we went upstairs and chatted for a while with Nichole's quasi-host sister and her maybe ex-boyfriend/current boyfriend (hard to say) about politics, American culture (aka movies and tv shows), French universities, and Paris. They gave us some Calvados, a local specialty, to try. It's a very strong apple brandy that's called a digestif because you're supposed to drink it in between courses/after a meal to cut through all the grease you just ate. Normand food is very buttery, creamy, and cheese-filled. Taking a few shots of alcohol could only help the heart, n'est-ce pas? It was a very fun and relaxed night.

Today Nichole and I went to Rouen for the Fete du Ventre et de la Gastronomie, aka Festival of the Stomach and Gastronomy. Never would I ever skip an event with such a title. We walked through the crowded streets of the old city (beautiful and charming) and tried samples of foie gras, onion jam, sausage, and cheese. Basically I took any sample I could get. Then we made a picnic lunch of Neufchatel, which is an amazing heart-shaped cheese, a garlic infused salami, baguette, and pear cider. Yum city. Oh, and a nutella crepe, of course.

All in all, a very successful weekend, I think.

La greve, la greve, toujours la greve...

Wouldn't you know it, but all this week there's been a strike here in France. Quelle surprise! That never happens here! Sarcasm! The French are very upset that Sarkozy raised the retirement age up from 60 and have, predictably, decided to strike. Because of this, my first week of real teaching has been a wee bit messed up. My favorite part about European strikes is that they are planned ahead of time and they come with clearly marked start and end times. To me, it doesn't really seem like there's much incentive to compromise if you know that your workers will stop striking tomorrow, but what do I know. Anyway, Tuesday I was supposed to go to Rouen for training, but the greve prevented this from happening, and I had to stay in Le Havre. Interestingly, this means that I have had zero training to date.

Yesterday I found myself caught in the middle of a very rowdy youth demonstration, and I won't lie, it was terrifying. I was walking to catch the bus to get to Mt. Gaillard, the neighborhood where I work, when all of the sudden a crowd of high schoolers chanting Seven Nation Army turned the corner and started marching towards me. It was a little tough to take seriously, given the song and the age of the demonstrators, but then I noticed that they were knocking sings over, throwing barricades into the street, and throwing things everywhere. Eeeek! When I got on the bus, they came up to it, pounded on the windows with sticks, and lay/stood in front of it so that the driver couldn't proceed. For a moment, I thought that it maybe wasn't the safest idea to stay on the bus, but then I remembered that if I wasn't there to teach gym in English, the French kids would have to take gym in French and that didn't sit right with me. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but as someone who was in high school not so long ago, I'm going to weigh in and say that these kids were just trying to miss class. Maybe it was Seven Nation Army, maybe it was the fact that they were all carrying Longchamp bags and holding Blackberries, maybe it was something else, but it seemed to me that they were being unnecessarily destructive.

La vie jacobine!

Settling in....?

Bonjour, readers of America! I've been in Le Havre for a week now, so things are slooooowwwwwlllyyyyy starting to fall into place. I still don't have a set schedule or routine, but I can see one on the horizon. Since I last wrote, I made some friends, explored a bit, and got a taste of my working life here.

Over the weekend I ran into some other English assistants at the YMCA, so we organized a dinner in town and got to know each other better. It was fun, and obviously great to meet some people my age. So far, I've met assistants from the States, the UK, and Australia. I saw some of the same girls later in the weekend for a coffee by the beach. There, I had my first weird food experience when I accidentally ate a gizzard salad. I didn't recognize the word for gizzard in French, but I went for it anyway, because the waitress said it was yummy. When the plate arrive, it instantly became clear that I was about to eat gizzards. Which I did. And they weren't bad!

Monday we went to Rouen (the administrative capital of Haute-Normandie) for an administrative kind of day. I thought we were going to be trained in how to teach English. But no. We filled out paperwork all day. I'm going to get so good at filling out paperwork by the end of this; the W-4 won't know what hit it. For the moment, my paperwork appears to be complete, though I the French keep telling me that I can never be sure. Also it's become clear that I will be receiving zero training, which is part humorous, part horrifying.

Tuesday I FINALLY found out what schools I will be teaching at, and Janick (my contact) took Faye (assistant from Michigan), Nichole (assistant from California), and myself on a tour. We visited the 8 schools we will be working at (2 for Faye and myself, 4 for Nichole. Incidentally, it is explicitly against the rules to work at more than 3 schools.) More surprises for me! I have been posted at high-priority/low performance/bad behavior schools. Honestly, the worst thing about this is that the schools are in the banlieus which are a loooong commute from the city center. When Janick told me they were farther out, my first thought was that they were going to be very fancy, but then I remembered that that is not how French city planning goes. The biggest plus: so many West African kiddies! Tuesday night I was kind of a big stressball though, but a lot of that came from the many hours I was assigned as a teacher for "Sportsday." Aka gym. (Evidently, my roles in this project include shouting words like "run" and "jump" at a mob of crazy 10 year-olds. Really France? That's what you want to use me for?)

Today I did some observation in one of my schools, and I loved it, even though I will mostly be doing "sportsday" there. The staff was extremely warm and welcoming and excited to have us there. Except for the "sportsday" teacher. He seemed just as confused as I am about why on earth I was there to "intervenir" in such a subject. Incidentally, another teacher actually wants me to teach English with her, so I'm going to try and get my schedule changed around, despite Janick's best efforts to keep me in "sportsday." And she is putting a lot of effort into it.

My first reactions to French elementary schools are really positive from my one day in the classroom. The teacher we were with was super progressive and into group projects and learning for learning's sake, etc. and the interest the kids have in our presence seems promising. One brave girl came up to Nichole and myself and asked where we were from. When I said New York, her response was to gasp "Oh! La chance!" A-dor-a-ble. Another red headed girl was less brave, and simply turned around in her chair to stair at us. For over an hour.

Tomorrow I will do observation in my other school, which seems pretty rough around the edges. Afterwards, I head to Paris to get my LSAT on. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

A la prochaine!