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.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
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?)
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?)
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