Saying goodbye...

It's my last week of work now.  In fact, I have 3 days left of work or 7.5 hours.  I'm not sad to leave the schools, I've been counting down classes for a while.  Not to say I don't enjoy going to the schools still... for the most part.  I've just been teaching songs and playing games and have stopped lesson planning.  I think the fact that I'm looking forward to being done is confirmation once again that I should not be a teacher, I have reconsidered being a teacher while being here, especially since one of the teachers I work with keeps asking me, "Are you sure you don't want to teach?"  :)

I am sad to leave Rodez, in a way.  I feel like in February I was really home sick, but this past month I've just been really enjoying my time here and grateful for this opportuniy.  (It probably helps that the weather has improved.)  Last night, one of my friends had a farewell dinner for me with the people I had met in the parish.  It was really great and it's almost like I didn't realize that this is the last time (probably) I'll see these people.  In Lethbridge, I said goodbye for 7 months, knowing I'd see them again, but this time that's unlikely.  Even if I do come back to France, would I come back to Rodez?  But as I said last night, I am very happy with my stay here.  I received everything that I wanted, had all kinds of interesting experiences, and really expanded my comfort zone.  When I get back to Canada, I won't have the homeless guys stopping me in the street to shake my hand and ask me how I'm doing, or hearing children yell, "Hello Janelle" when I'm walking.  (Rodez is a small town, so I run into my students and the people I've met at the drop-in center fairly frequently.)

So what have I taught my students?  Line dancing, and maybe some English.  ;)  I love hearing about how my students spend their recess line dancing and teaching other students how to line dance.  One day on entering the school yard I saw one of my students teaching 4 younger students how to line dance and he was using the English prepositions that I had used when teaching them.  J'étais trops contente!  (Side note, I think my written French has gotten worse since being here.)  I also saw a student of mine teaching the Tony Chestnut song at recess.

What have I been up to recently?  I've actually had the opportunity to travel more, especially since the weather is getting nicer.  The Wednesday after Easter I took the bus to Villefranche de Rouergue which is a little town with not much to see.  I spent 4 hours there which was plenty and visited a Carthusian Monastery. Since I was the only person visiting it, it was quiet and I reflected on the many monks that would have lived and meditated in that silence.

I also visited Lyon for a weekend.  It is a beautiful city, if you stay on the roads for tourists, as soon as you walk on other streets its the same old dirty Europe. :)  I really enjoyed visiting the Notre Dame de Fourvière church perched on top of a hill overlooking the city.  I also visited roman ruins of a theatre and Odeum (music hall) where I met three Canadian high school students on exchange.  Later, wandering around Lyon, I heard the song "Everything" and walked in that direction, I met a group of Christian missionaries acting out a skit and talked to one of the girls after.  I also am getting better at eating at restaurants alone, as long as I can people watch I quite enjoy my time.  Even walking around I'll make jokes to myself and laugh out loud.  I do meet and talk to people travelling though, especially since I've stayed at youth hostels and used covoiturage.

Speaking of covoiturage, I think Canada needs a site like this.  On this site people post the trip they're going on, the time and the price of joining them.  It's like carpooling with people you don't know.  It works really well and in general is cheaper and faster than the train (faster when you live in a town like Rodez).  However, I must say my experience coming back from Millau was a little scary.  The girl who was driving had hardly slept the night before because she had gone to a wedding.  She drove 140km/h (sometimes you can drive 130 km/h on the highway, but not all the time), had road rage, and answered her cell phone on several occasions.  I was praying that if I should die that God would receive my soul into His kingdom, hehe.  But, like I said, in general it's really good and people are super nice and friendly.  Which reminds me, I think I'm learning to not judge so much by appearance because I've met some rough-ish looking characters who have been very kind and helpful to me.

This past weekend a teacher whom I work with offered to take Ammi (the Spanish assistant I live with) and me on a trip.  So Saturday morning, the teacher, her sister, Ammi and I left to explore Southern France.  I must say, travelling in a car is convenient.  Here we were with people who knew what there was to see in each place and how to get there.  We went to Séverac le Château- there's an old castle in ruins; Avignon- saw the pope's palace and the bridge; Nîmes- saw the Arènes and other Roman temple or something; Montpellier- l'Arc de Triomphe, and Louis XIV overlooking the city.  It was funny because we looked up information to know who the statue was and found out it was Louis XIV, but that during the French revolution the statue had been taken and melted down to make two canons and that the stones the statue had been placed on where now in La place de la comédie under Les trois grâces, so it was all "fake" or at least not the original.  This seems to be quite frequent- during the French revolution buildings were destroyed or redesigned (ex: whitewashing over art) and now they are restoring these things.  The next day we went to Pézenas for Mass and then off to the sea at Cap d'Agde to walk along the port and the sea.  We had really nice warm weather, so it really felt like we were on holidays.  I really enjoy travelling, but what I'm finding now is that lots in Western Europe is the same after a while.

Now my mom is coming to visit and we will travel in Southern France, Italy and see Barcelona before I return home.

Easter

Christ is risen, alleluia!

I had debated about whether or not I should stay in Rodez for Easter since we had a long weekend and I thought I could travel somewhere.  In the end, I decided to stay because I wanted to be in my home parish for the celebrations and to be focused on Christ instead of on travelling.

I really enjoyed this Easter Triduum, all the celebrations were so beautiful.  At the vigil, I reflected on how many generations of vigils had taken place there and how this would be the "only" (well you never know) time for me to celebrate in France.

Easter day I went to Mass in the morning and then I had invited myself over to the Franciscan sisters for lunch.  There have been families who have offered for me to come over whenever, but I feel like it's harder to take them up on their offers.  However, with religious I don't feel like I'm imposing, maybe because they have other people that they've invited as well.  When I got there most of them were gathered together in a room listening to the Pope and waiting for his blessing.  After, we moved into the dining room and I got to eat a delicious Easter lunch in the company of Franciscans and two priests.  I find religious are just so beautiful.  The sisters here are mostly elderly because it's a retirement home for them.  I really felt the joy of the Resurrection and thanked God for blessing me with this Catholic community.

In the afternoon, I went for a short walk in the park (I mostly sat) and admired the wild flowers that have sprung up everywhere.  The sun was shining and I soaked it all in before having a nap.

I woke up and googled directions to the friend's house who had me for Easter supper.  I think I've given up with google maps (I keep saying that and yet I keep using it hehe).  In any case, after walking in the wrong direction I asked a lady and was set back on the right path and only arrived slightly late.  I had a lovely dinner with her as well.  Once again, I felt so blessed by God.

Now only a 3 day week since I don't work on Wednesdays.

Montpellier and Sète

I went to Montpellier this weekend.
So it all started Saturday at 8am when I met my covoiturage guy at the train station.  He was a 54 year old guy with an old car.  It was his first time carpooling and you could tell.  He was super friendly though- he couldn't understand my French very well and in the mean time, he blasted an apparently famous French singers CD and sang along.  We got to Montpellier and I was dropped off somewhere, it was around where I wanted to be, it's just that I didn't quite understand where I wanted to be.  Everyone says the Odysseum is easy to get to and right off the highway so it's convenient.  So, I get out of the car and start walking towards where the signs say centre ville.  I also had printed off google directions- which I'm pretty sure are useless in Europe.  I think I walked around this one huge round-about a couple times before deciding where to go.  After asking several people for directions (I don't know what I'm going to do in Italy) I found my way downtown.  Turns out, it was very simple, I just had to go straight and it wasn't very far.
After picking up a map and some information at the Office de Tourisme I took the train (20 minutes) to Sete which is on the Mediterranean Sea.  I could tell on the way to Montpellier that I was getting closer to the sea because of how the vegetation was changing and everything was more green.  It was raining in Sete which helped me feel like I was getting a real experience of the sea, instead of a nice sunny vacation.  :)  The tourism office was closed, so I wondered around and climbed up this giant hill that had a beautiful view all the way around.  At the top, I stopped to pray in the chapel there.  Once again I was reminded to put God first in everything.  I left feeling a lot happier.
I got back to Montpellier, ate a kebab, and then found the hostel where I was staying.  It was great, right downtown.  I went out once more to walk around since I like European cities at night since they're all lit up and there's people out and about.
Sunday I wanted to go to the church dedicated to St. Roch and they have his remains there, unfortunately it was closed.  So, I went to the Cathedral for Palm Sunday Mass.  It was really beautiful.  Afterwards I wandered around the city eating my peanut butter and honey sandwiches I had packed to save money, and wearing my yellow poncho since it was still raining.  It's funny because apparently it's really strange for it to rain a whole weekend in Montpellier and yet it did for me.  This didn't change my mood though, I was happy the whole time and enjoyed the looks I got from people for wearing a yellow poncho.  Montpellier is beautiful, I visited the botanical gardens and other historical monuments.  It seemed like there was a treasure around every corner with little parks, fountains, and statues.  They have a new part of town that they designed after the Greeks and the path by the river is nice for walking and people watching.  :)
I also carpooled on the way home.  We had a hard time finding each other since we said we would meet at the Odysseum again.  This time I took the tram just to make sure I got to the right spot, eventually all 4 of us found each other and I arrived safely back in Rodez.

Taize - Lisieux - Alps

Well, I’m back from my third two week vacation. 

Taize

                The first week of my holidays was spent at Taize.  I took the bus with a group of high school students from Aveyron.  I was a chaperone with this group.  We stopped in some town and celebrated Mass after which we ate lunch.  We continued the drive and only got to Taize at 5:15pm and we had left at 8:30am.  It took a while to get settled in as 80 teenagers had to be roomed with their friends.  I felt compassion for the priest with our group who was handling all of this.  I probably would have just said, “You’re sharing a room with these people, deal with it.”  In the end, I only had 3 teenagers in my room and they were all great, coming in at curfew every night, so I didn’t have any problems with them.

                Everyone complains about the food at Taize, but it’s really not bad.  Seeing as I heard this from French high school students though, I’m not too surprised they didn’t like the food.  I thought it all tasted good.  The only problem was that they don’t give you very much food, but I think that helps cut down on waste from the fussy people.  The first night waiting in line for supper I met girls from Lithuania, Korea and France.  I was rather happy to meet some young adults amidst the chaos of high school students. 

                After supper we had prayer and I had a hard time entering in as I was at the back and so there was more noise.  For the remainder of the week I sat close to the front. 

                Everyday starts with Mass at 7:30am which is optional of course.  The first day there were 20 priests and 2 bishops celebrating Mass and it was amazing to hear so many voices joined together during the consecration (as we weren’t in the big church area you could actually hear everyone and not just those using a mic). 

                At 8:20am, there is morning prayer.  (I found that the prayer times had quite a few of the elements of the Liturgy of the hours.  The three daily prayers have songs, a scripture reading, and a 7-8 minutes of silence.)  Then there is breakfast, followed by a Bible introduction and small group discussions.  I was a small group leader with a couple other ladies.  Everyone asked me how this went and how the discussion was and to be honest I don’t really know.  We were usually in a room with several other groups and so it was loud and if I can’t hear French well I have no idea what’s being said. 

                Midday prayer is at 12 ish and then lunch to follow, I usually had about an hour of free time from 2-3pm where I would go for walks in the country before meeting again with our small groups.  Before supper they often had workshops with a talk, followed by supper at 7:30pm and then evening prayer. 

                Now for some stories: 

There were two Korean Dominican sisters with our group.  One day there was a group of students from Korean who were travelling around Europe and stopped for a day in Taize.  At supper, a man was trying to get everyone to quiet down and then we see a youth from that group and these two sisters in habit busting out the “gannam” style move and more.  One of the sisters was already older and one was younger.  I found it so beautiful and different from how I usually view religious.  Even though it seems like every time I actually get to know religious I see how human and how much fun they are.  My thought: Christ has such beautiful spouses. 

                At one lunch I met a high school student who afterwards started tagging along with me, so as I was going for a walk to pray the Rosary, I asked her to pray it with me.  She wanted to sing the Hail Marys and it was really a beautiful experience.

                After lunch one day with a few of the girls I had met we played ninja, frozen tag, and rock paper scissors with cowboy ninja bear instead.  Gotta love being a kid again.

                I met other young adults from all over: an Australian lawyer who quit his job to spend a year at Taize, a Korean lawyer who also quit her job to travel once more and stay at Taize before getting married, a girl studying to be a pastor in Sweden, a Chilean dentist, a German woman who had studied linguistics and had learned about Michif, and the list continues.  English is definitely the universal language.  It’s great meeting people from other countries and learning about how life is there, I think that’s one reason travelling is such a great education, plus I think you remember it more when it’s something you’ve lived rather than learned from a book.

                My general impression of Taize:  I’m glad I went and I felt a lot of peace while being there.  However, I still don’t know how I feel about it.  Everyone (who I’ve talked to) who has been there is very positive about the experience, but I just don’t know what I think.  I think I need to learn and understand more.  It is a truly beautiful experience in terms of the prayer with song, the simplicity, the service, the community life, etc.

                My experience was different than the “typical” experience because I went in the winter with a group of high school students and I didn’t have any chores to do.

Lisieux

My next stop was Lisieux and I got to take one of those high speed trains.  I totally sat in someone else’s spot upon getting on the train, I think this happens a lot, so I found my place and whizzed through the middle of France to Paris where I had to change train stations by using the metro.  I was able to do this no problem and felt very proud of myself. 

I got to Lisieux when it was already dark and realized I had printed off the wrong directions to where I was staying.  Luckily Lisieux isn’t very big and after asking at one place where “le Foyer Louis and Zelie Martin” was I found my way.  I stayed with consecrated lay women who have this home to welcome pilgrims and it’s a really nice place to stay, maybe even nicer since there were hardly any pilgrims there so I had a whole floor to myself. 

Lisieux is beautiful, there seem to be flowers and song birds everywhere, plus the sun was shining during my stay.  I visited the Carmel and the relics of St. Therese.  It is so great to pray with saints.  I went to the Basilica built in her honour, which is massive and really beautiful, but I hardly stayed in there because it was so cold.  In the crypt of the basilica are the remains of St. Therese’s parents, Blessed Louis ad Zelie Martin.  Behind the basilica you can pray the Stations of the Cross that are set up on a little hill.  Under each station is a line by St. Therese which I found really helpful in my meditation.  I also visited the home where St. Therese lived before entering the Carmel. 

I think St. Therese really helped my prayer life when I was there and I was able to really focus and enter in.  That being said, I did have some little things that sure preoccupied me.  First, I lost a mitt somewhere between Taize and Lisieux and I needed mitts or gloves to go skiing so I ended up trying to walk to this intersport store one afternoon and then gave up because it seemed too far.  Second, I put in the wrong pin number on my French bank card and so it locked on me and I was no longer able to use it.  I didn’t have a credit card because mine had expired, so I was left with cheques and my Canadian debit card, which ended up being fine, but it’s these little things that distract and make me worry.

One night it was just me and one other pilgrim for supper and we got to talking.  This guy is a Parisian so he really talks quickly, my goodness.  When he found out that I’m 22 and want to get married and have kids, I found his reaction funny.  He was like, “If you’re already 22, you should have your kids soon because it’s best to have your kids young so you can raise them... etc.”  I thought this was funny because I’m so used to everyone telling me I’m young, that someone telling me I need to hurry and get married and have kids was surprising.  He was fairly young (early 30s I’d say) and secular which also made his reaction interesting.

Luckily, it was the day before I had to leave that the train schedules were changed because of a  “mouvement social” so I was able to get to the Alps without any troubles. 

Alps

                I got to the Briancon in the Alps and quickly found a store that sold gloves and bought some before rushing back to catch the bus to where I was staying/skiing.  In the end, a lady ended up offering to take me to my hostel.  Usually, I would have said, “No.” for safety reasons.  I agreed though, which was good since I don’t know if I would have found the hostel otherwise. 

                The first night I sat down at a table with high school students and that’s when I realized, that almost everyone at the hostel was either high school students or a family.  So I was sort of disappointed because I was hoping to meet more people my age.  However, the next day, I got a roommate from Russia and we ended up skiing together for some of the day.

                The first two days of skiing, the snow conditions were great but the visibility was terrible with clouds, rain, and snow.  The last day was clear, sunny, and beautiful with great snow conditions.  I really enjoyed it.  The Alps are different than the Rockies.  I think the Rockies have more trees and there’s more runs off the chairlifts.  It seemed at the station I was at they could have a chair just for one run.  The mountain was huge too and I really only got to ski half of it.

                After another 12.5 hours of travelling, I arrived back in Rodez.  I now have only 5 weeks left of teaching.  I’m excited to go back to Canada.  I have enjoyed my time here- the free time, volunteering, praying, travelling- but I miss Canada.   

Rocamadour

Yesterday, I took a trip to Rocamadour.  I made my way to the train station for my train at 6:27 am.  Now it just so happens that everyone walks home from the bar at 6am extremely drunk.  I had one guy stop me and ask for a kiss, after saying, "No," he left me alone.

Now the train station for Rocamadour is about a 4km walk from the town.  This means that at 8:10 am I stepped off a train into the middle of no-where Southern France.  This train station wasn't open, but I thought maybe that was because it was still so early in the morning and it looked like there was a hotel/bar across the street.  (These details will become important later.)

I start off in high-spirits toward Rocamadour, thankfully the walking path to Rocamadour is well marked because otherwise I think I would have gotten lost with my google maps directions.  I couldn't help but feel like I was back on the Way of St. James as I walked between fields.

I arrived at Hospitalet and was lost, luckily a gas station was open and the man gave me directions.  I also met a stray dog who followed me around for a bit.

Rocamadour is beautiful and at this time of year completely dead.  Apparently, they receive 1.5 million visitors a year, but yesterday there were only a few other people around.  The entire town is closed down and everyone is on their yearly holidays.

A hermit's body was found well preserved in Rocamadour and since then numerous miracles have happened there.  The town was built to accommodate the large number of pilgrims arriving (this was during the middle ages).  They have a statue of Mary (Our Lady of Rocamadour) before which many prayers have been answered.

The town has three levels, the town site  the sanctuary (which has the basilica and 6 chapels, only the basilica and chapel to Our Lady were open), and the Castle.

First I visited the sanctuary area and attended daily Mass.  The sun was shining and I was enjoying the beauty of my surroundings.  After Mass I made my way up to the castle and walked around the ramparts which was a waste of 2 euros, but such is life.

Then, I prayed the Stations of the Cross walking up the hill to the Castle.  The stations are set up on switch backs all the way up and it's absolutely beautiful.  It started snowing while I was praying and I just really appreciated the beauty of the moment.  It was completely silent (as I was the only one on the trail), the landscape is beautiful, and the snow was falling gently.  I was thinking, "Wow, how blessed am I to experience this.  If I were to come in the summer, this place would be loaded with tourists and the prayerful atmosphere would be absent.

At around 3:30 ish I decided to head back to the train station as it was snowing quite heavily- this was  a mistake.  I got back at 4:30pm and the train station was still closed and locked, furthermore, the hotel/bar across the street was also closed for it's yearly holidays (my plan was to read and journal while I waited for the train).  I should've looked at the sign that morning, I made the same mistake my first night of the Camino of not looking closely at signs.  So what to do, it's cold and nothing's open.  I end up walking around for another hour just to keep warm, but I'm exhausted.  Then I just wait in the shelter for the train for like 1.5 hours listening to a talk about Fatima, which was really good.  I wish I would have known all that before I went to Fatima.  So basically I was super cold and finally my train arrived at 7:12pm and I made it back to Rodez.  An adventure it was and I learned that train stations in the middle of no-where aren't open with heat.  

Toulouse

I went to Toulouse today.  I arrived shortly after 10am and headed directly for the tourism office.  I find that's a good way to travel: go to a city, go to the tourism office.  At the office ask for a map and what there is to see.  Proceed to what they say there is to see omitting museums, unless of course you like museums.  I find that the French are well educated in terms of politics, news, and art.  Maybe this is because of their long history and the amount of museums.

The first thing I went to see was city hall and there was a violet festival going on which basically means that people make stuff with violets and then sell it.  Later in the afternoon I think there was also some cultural performances of sorts.  I walked through the different huts set up and sampled violet crepes, cookies, and cake.  It's pretty good stuff.

My plan was to then head over to the main Cathedral in town but ended up stopping by the Carmelite chapel.  It was beautiful- the entire thing was covered in paintings.  One thing that saddened me though was that it seemed to be out of use, like it was more for tourists now than for the sisters, but maybe the impression I got was wrong.

Next St. Sernin Cathedral:  Wow.  I had been there once before for Mass but hadn't really had a chance to look around.  On the way there, I saw several people begging for money.  I entered and saw a picture of Blessed John Paul II.  I remembered his words, "Be not afraid."  I really wonder how much I live and act out of fear.  I've been reflecting on the homeless and the poor lately.  It seems to me that they don't need money that will last them one meal.  They need help, lasting help.  I also think of St. Francis of Assisi and how he gave something to everyone who asked of him.  If we all gave what we have to others- to the poor, that would make a difference.  But we don't.  For various reasons, I think mostly because we want to look out for ourselves because we fear not having enough.  If everyone looked out for others instead of themselves that could work.  Were the poor St. Francis encountered different than the poor of today?  I don't know.

With these thoughts in my mind I started walking around the Cathedral and first found a line of bust reliquaries.  The first saint: Saint Vincent de Paul.  The second: St. Benoit-Joseph Labre, patron saint of the homeless, outcast, and poor.  I think God's trying to show me something here...

Anyways, this Cathedral is full of relics of saints such as: St. John Vianney, St. Cecilia, St. John Bosco, St. Francis Assisi and St. Claire, and many more some whom I learned about for the first time.

Then, I headed out in direction to the Japanese Gardens, it started to rain so I ended up eating my packed lunch inside this mini-mall type building, actually next to a guy whom I'm pretty sure was homeless.  Before when seeing homeless people, I would ignore them out of fear.  Now I'm learning to look at them, smile and say hi.  Then I'm reminded of the scripture verse that's like, if you see a brother who's in need and you say go in peace that's not good, you need to help them (my paraphrasing).  I'm trying to learn how to help.

The gardens throughout town where all locked up today which was rather unfortunate as from the outside they looked very beautiful despite it being winter and already the tulips, crocuses, and daffodils are up.

Then, I went to the Jacobins Cathedral, where they have the remains of St. Thomas Aquinas.  I was like, "Oh my goodness, how blessed am I to have celebrated the feasts of St. John Bosco and St. Thomas Aquinas this past week and now to visit their relics."

I visited one more church before being so overwhelmed that I decided to take a walk down by the river.  The rest of the day I spent walking around, saw a couple other churches and they're all so beautiful.  I'm just like how can people not be practicing Catholics here?!  Yet I know, the churches are seen more as museums displaying art and history.  The tours and the information about the churches focus on the artists and history of the building of the church.  What is being portrayed in the art isn't the focus.  It's sad.  That being said right before leaving I popped into one church where Eucharistic Adoration was being held.  I was like, "How beautiful to come in from the busy street to this peace."

That was my day.  Good night.

Impressions of the French from a Canadian

Well where to start, basically this post is going to be a bunch of random events or impressions of my experience here thus far.  I think I will begin with French men being too forward.

Yesterday, I was in the laundromat putting my things in the wash and a man comes in who's probably at least 30-40 years older than me.  In general, it seems like it's common courtesy to say a, "Bonjour" when entering a place, so when he starts talking to me I'm fine with it.  Of course he immediately notices that I'm not French, one word out of my mouth and people know I'm an anglophone.  So he asks me where I'm from, etc.  Then he asks if I'm planning on going back to Canada and I say, "Yes."
Him, "So you don't like France?"
Me, "Well I miss Canada and my visa is only for eight months anyways."
Him, "How about we get married and then you could be a French citizen and stay here?"
Me, "Hehehe... No."
Him, Repeats the same thing, thinking this is funny or a good idea or something.

I can't quite remember how the conversation finished, but let it suffice to say that I am not engaged.  :D  To be honest, from a Canadian perspective having random guys: suggest marriage to you (this is the second guy this has happened with), ask you out for drinks (although this has been very hypothetical drink asking out), or suggest other furthering of your "in passing" relationship is extremely odd.  I never know quite how to react, I want to make sure they know I'm saying, "No."  But I really don't know how seriously any of them take this. Perhaps this is why French girls lament the fact that French men are unfaithful.  (Meanwhile French men lament that French girls are unfaithful :P)

Alrighty onto the next topic of discussion, people don't look old here.  It's true that people smoke here.  In fact, it seems like almost everyone does.  However, I'm always surprised when I find out people's ages because they're a lot older than they look.  Most people in their thirties I think are in their twenties type thing, but it continues even with middle-aged people.  I have two hypotheses to explain this: 1) Not enough sun exposure (it seems like it's always cloudy here) 2) They aren't stressed (I think this is the more likely reason).  Now I don't know if this looking younger thing only applies to rural France, or rural France around Rodez.

Schools in Rodez (I feel like I should specify place since I don't want any of you readers to be generalizing.)

Elementary schools do not have school on Wednesdays.  They start at 8:45 and finish at 16:45, however, they have a two hour lunch break and their recesses tend to be longer than the allotted 15 minutes.  You see, the school bells are not on timers here, so the principal just rings the bell at around the same times everyday. I'm not sure if one school I'm at even has bells.  The teacher just claps her/his hands to get the kids to line up to go inside.  The school yards here are a lot smaller too and are completely paved with asphalt.  I think the reason for this is because with all the moisture grass just wouldn't work, it would be mud.

Another thing I noticed is that in all my classes except for one the desks are arranged to face the front and are in rows or partners.  The classrooms are very simple, they don't have fancy bulletin boards like in Canada and there's practically no technology in the classrooms.

Now, the one class I'm in that has the students desks arranged in groups is the best behaved class.  They're perfectly quiet, they're all focused on me and trying to understand.  The teacher doesn't have to say anything to get them to be quiet, they just are, she sits at the back and does her marking or whatever work she has to do.  I've noticed that she also gets her students to do classroom management for her, so to quiet the class down, she has a student do a clapping rhythm of their choice.  I think everyday the student changes.  Walking up the stairs to the class, it's the student leader who reminds the other students of the rules for walking in the hallway.  And it all works so well!

I think this experience in France would be excellent in helping student teachers become comfortable and confident in a classroom.  I became very comfortable, very quickly with being in the schools because I'm in four schools and in multiple classrooms in all four.  So there's just so much exposure to different schools, students and staff that you have to become comfortable.

French Expressions (That I'm going to try to use more.)

N'importe quoi
Par contre
Pas de soucis
Using "si" instead of "oui" to answer questions
Starting sentences with, "Normalement"
désolé
c'est dommage
Salut (to say goodbye)
coucou (It's how they say hi, but I find it strange because I always think of a coo coo bird and how when you're zoned out people say, "Coo coo."  I was actually kind of insulted the first time I heard it before I looked it up.)

Well that will be all for today.


 

People are People

I think one of the things I am learning here is that people are people.  It might seem obvious, but I'm learning that before saying what I think, I need to listen and understand the other person.  I've been finding that in conversations with people I don't need to give my opinion on what I think the other person should do, or on their lifestyle, but that I need to listen and ask questions.  I think I quickly assume where the other person is at and what they need to hear, when I need to take time to understand them and to see their struggle.  What I'm finding is that after that I don't actually need to say anything.

When I came to France, I noticed that they do things differently here.  It makes sense really, being a different country and all.  I saw that how they do youth groups here or even how they play ultimate here is different.  My thoughts tended to be that they should actually be doing this instead (because this is the way I'm used to it and that's better).  Not thinking of course that these people know the needs of their youth and have been doing this ministry for half of my life or more.  (This is not to say that new suggestions aren't useful and good, but I think I need to first become acquainted with how things work and why before giving suggestions.)

My séjour in France has so far involved interacting on a regular basis with people between the ages of 6-80ish.  It's interesting because no matter the age, people are people.  Just because they're young or old doesn't make them so different from me.  Today, I had lunch with the Franciscan sisters, most of whom are old since this house is for "retired" sisters.  There was, however, one sister there in her early thirties and I was struck by how she interacted with the other sisters and even how the other sisters interacted with me.  It's like age doesn't matter, or is irrelevant because we're all people.

I also volunteered at the "homeless shelter" here in Rodez today.  In talking to these people in difficult situations, I'm starting to understand them, starting to see them as people, people who need to be shown love and care because some of them don't have anyone.  And instead of seeing the "sketchy" looking man on the street in fear, to see them as a person, just like me or you.

So, I'm learning to humble myself and get off my high-horse of thinking that I know best and start listening.

My last three weeks...

Well it's been over a month since I wrote my last blog post I guess, so it's about time for an update.  I'll give a day by day account of my trip again and then write about Adam's visit. (How's that for an introduction?  I can sure tell I haven't written a paper in a while.)

December 22nd

I started my day by doing this "covoiturage" thing to get to Montpellier where my flight was leaving from.  So there's a site online where people post where they're going and a price to carpool with them.  There's other details, like if they're travelling with animals, accept baggage, talking in the car, etc.  I was a little bit nervous about this, but it turned out to be great.  It was way cheaper and faster than taking a train and he dropped me off at the airport.  I took a plane from Montpellier to Charleroi airport and then a shuttle bus from Charleroi to Brussels.  I sent Greg a text saying I'd be at the hotel in about an hour.

Once I got off the shuttle, I looked at my google maps directions.  The problem with these directions is that they always start by telling you to walk North or South, East or West on a street.  The problem is that I never know where N, S, E, W is.  So anyways, I probably spent half an hour wandering around this train station area carrying a backpack on my back and front with an umbrella since it was raining.  My second problem arose because I forgot a very vital asking for directions tip, ask for a main place that everyone knows about that is on the way to where you want to go.  I met some very friendly Flemish speaking people who told me I had to take a bus to get to where I wanted to go.  Yeah, they had no idea what I was asking. :P  Anyways in the end, I found our hotel and went upstairs to greet Greg.  We walked around a bit that night and had supper.

December 23rd

We went to Mass first thing in the morning (which ended up being 11am I think :P).  Then we saw the sights of Belgium- the Mannekin Pis for example.  The Mannekin Pis is really small, like I saw replicas of the statue made of chocolate that were bigger.  We also went chocolate shopping and boy did we get chocolate.  I think overall what I experienced in Belgium was waffles, chocolate, and beer.  There's a reason Belgium is known for these things.

December 24th

We headed to the Brontforts (a family that adopted Greg when he was in Belgium).  They live in the countryside of Belgium.  That night we had a Christmas Eve dinner like I've never experienced before.  There was always lots to drink.  Then, at least 3 appetizers, soup, main course, and 3 desserts.  We were eating for over 4 hours I think.  The table was so fancy too, it was like it was for a wedding.

December 25th- Christ's birthday

We woke up at noon and headed to another family's house.  I met a lot of people that were all either related or friends and it's far too complicated to explain.  We had more appetizer-like things there and lunch.  Some of the things I tried include: foie gras (this is disgusting, in my opinion, both the idea of it and how it tastes), an oyster that was still alive (They told me to chew it and then swallow.  After, they told me I had to chew it to kill it.  I wasn't a fan of this either.), and blood sausage soup (this was really good, but I was too cowardly to try blood sausage on it's own).

The countryside there is beautiful and I went for a little walk in the afternoon.

That evening we went to a different family's house for supper.  Supper consisted of a couple appetizers and then bread and cheese.  However, it was a feast because there was like 25 kinds of cheese and 10 kinds of bread or something.  We also had dessert of course.  Then, we played this fun game that was sort of like charades and taboo with some memory game together.  It was super fun.

December 26th

We headed to Liege where Greg used to live.  We walked around the city, stopping for some Peket- a liqueur from Belgium.

December 27th

We went to Brugges.  There's this Sacred Blood Basilica there with a relic of Christ's blood from when Joseph of Arimathea cleaned Christ's body before laying him in the tomb.

We went to the Cathedral that holds Michelangelo's "Madonna and Child."  Other than that, we saw what there was to see, it was raining a lot.  This city is super touristy, apparently there's more tourists than locals there in general.

December 28th- Aachen

Aachen is a very nice city, there's a lot of green space for a European city.  We saw the Cathedral which is covered in mosaics on the inside, really beautiful.  This Cathedral apparently holds the relics of the swaddling clothes of Christ, Mary's garments, and a cloth that held John the Baptist's head.  I was skeptical.  They only take these relics out every seven years to show to the public.

Aachen is Charlemagne's city.

We finished out stay off by having a large ice cream dessert.

December 29th

It was a day of travelling to get to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.

December 30th

The sun was shining today.  Greg's friend from Spain joined us which made going around the city much easier.  We went around the old city and walked along the beach and I swam in the ocean.

December 31st

We went for a drive into the mountains of the islands and it's really beautiful there.  We had a nap before midnight and then got up to eat our 12 grapes.  I didn't manage to eat mine on time with the donging of the clock, partly because I was laughing too hard.  We then walked along the beach while random fireworks were going off everywhere.  We went back to our hotel where there was a little dance going on in the lounge, and then went to bed.

January 2nd

We explored the Bandama volcano today.  It was really beautiful and I had never been to a volcano before.  We also went to the beach.  Greg sat on the beach with a sweater on and my towel wrapped around him while I swam.  It's a good thing I'm Canadian and undaunted by cold water and weather.

January 3rd

We went to Playa del Ingles- the Southern and touristy part of the island.  I ordered a hamburger with onions and Greg ordered one without, when they brought the burgers out they gave the one with onions to Greg.  Geez way to stereotype eh?  hehe

The sun was shining and we both quite enjoyed our time there.  We went to the beach which has huge sand dunes, it looks like a desert.

January 4th

My last day in Las Palmas and it was sunny and glorious so we spent the day on the beach, laying in the sun and swimming.

January 5th

I started the long trek home, I left the hotel slightly before 5am and got to my place in Rodez at 10pm.  I was really happy I made all my connections that day.

January 6th

Adam was supposed to arrive at 1:25 pm and I was so excited, but he missed his flight :(.  He ended up getting here the next day in the morning.

The rest of the week...

Adam and I had a lovely time together.  He came to two of my schools and watched me teach.  On Tuesday we went to Millau which is in a regional park to go for a hike.  The weather forecast was for 15 and sunny.  Well it was a lot colder, cloudy, and foggy.  We still went for a hike though and probably checked out the majority of the bakeries in town.  Every time we passed a bakery Adam wanted to go in.

Monday evening we had gone to daily Mass and the priest who arranged Adam's accommodation said Mass.  Afterwards he told us to keep Wednesday afternoon open so he could take us to Conques.  So Wednesday we went out for lunch with Father Bernard and then drove to Conques.  Father took us up to a couple look outs but it was foggy again so we didn't get to see too much.  I was thinking, "You know you're in a Catholic relationship when a priest takes you and your boyfriend on a date." :P  During this afternoon I got to practice my translating skills as Adam doesn't speak French and this priest doesn't speak English, yup lots of work.

Other than that we stayed in Rodez, I showed him the churches and the park and we cooked multi-course meals. :)

So that's me update... (Great conclusion eh?)