Well, this has been quite a week.

The job is going well. It is hard trying to feel out the kids, and where they really are at in their level of English comprehension. Some of them know the words, but they have no idea how to use them. Like numbers. The little ones know the English words, and can count, but when it comes to quantifying things, there is trouble. So I am working on it. It’s like that with a lot of different words. The older ones know colors, but when I ask them to apply it, it is hard for them. It will probably take me a little while to feel them out, and really make progress.

School is good. The classes are going to be interesting. I am so excited about my Literary History of Paris class. And I thing I am going to learn a lot from my Written French class. Like practicing my verbs. I am not sure yet how my oral class is going to be. For the time it seems like I am above the level in my speaking abilities, but I could just be fooled. We’ll see.

This weekend was awesome. On Friday night, I went to Amanda and Sylvana’s. We decided to get Pizza, and rent a movie. Alex (Amanda’s boyfriend) bought a DVD player, so we can watch movies. We watched a movie called Caché , by a French filmmaker named Haneke. It was the kind of film that would make David Lynch’s brain say “ouch”. There was a lot of political symbolism in it, so if you decide to watch it (which I do recommend if you like unconventional things), I would definitely try to understand the French-Algerian conflict.

On Saturday, it felt like we were all over. We started to night near my place. Nell, who is another girl in the MICEFA program, was having a little get together at a bar for her birthday. So we started there at about 6, to take advantage of the happy hour specials.


Then we met up with Alex, and went to one of his friends house for some wine before we went out. And then we went to this Chinese food restaurant. It was pretty awesome, because there was a wedding reception that was happening there, and it felt like we were the only white people in the room. The best part was the had a Chinese singer, and she sang La Bamba. It was a truly international experience.

The food was awesome too. Me and Sylvana had spring rolls, which were incredible, and I had sweet and sour pork.

But Sylvana started to not feel well, and wanted to leave. I didn’t think it would be a good idea for her to go home by herself, so I went home with her. I ended up crashing there for the evening.

Sunday was just a boring day. I went home, and worked on my lesson plans for the coming week. It is hard to plan lessons while I am still feeling the kids out, but I am working on it.

The mornings are a bit strange to me. I have to leave my apartment at 7 in the morning on the days I teach in order to get there a little early so I can prepare for the day. The sun doesn’t start to come up until 7:45. It’s still dark. And all of the restaurants along my street are receiving their deliveries, so it’s almost like I feel like I am seeing the backstage going ons to the city.

It’s also just odd to me for it to still be dark that late in the morning. Winter should prove to be interesting.

And to help with my train rides, I would like to take this time to restate my love for my iPod, and the awesomeness that is iTunes. I got sucked into Grey’s Anatomy back home. And now, it is on iTunes, so I don’t have to miss out. And Desperate Housewives. So I download them on Monday nights, watch Grey’s Anatomy on Tuesday’s train ride, and Desperate Housewives on Friday’s. It’s like I have tricked myself into looking forward to the train ride.

And I feel like I have control over the weather. I have figured out the key to stopping rain, and that is keeping my umbrella with me. The only times it has rained since I got stuck in that downpour coming out of McDonald’s have been when I am inside, or I forgot my umbrella. It has not rained at all when I have had my umbrella with me. Winter will be an interesting time for me to prove my theory.

The seats in the Metro stations aren’t made for short people. They only serve to make me feel shorter. Sitting in the seats, my feet dangle. I thought of my tall little brother, and how much he would love to see it, so here are some pictures of my dangling feet.



I still get giddy about going to the bakery every day or ever other day and getting fresh bread, and sometimes desserts. This week I got a brownie. It was awesome. Not the most French dessert, but it was a dessert in France, so it counts.