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.
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