"Comme d'Habitude"

Christmas in Saint Etienne!

....is a phrase I first learned while studying abroad that means "as usual". It hit me the other day that things are finally becoming habitual and normal for me.... I mostly know what to expect from each day I teach, whether online or in class, and what to expect from my au pair position each morning and night. I mostly understand how the public transit, banks, post offices, and schools work and I know my way around my suburb and city, finally. And even better, I have a favorite bakery (one for bread and one for pain au chocolat), restaurants I love, bars I prefer, and I know where to find the best crêpes... and I'm the first to admit that I take advantage of that way more than I should. People at these places have begun to recognize me and greet me with such warmth and curiosity that I often end up talking to them long after I have made my purchase.

Thanksgiving en France

When I asked my students what they thought Thanksgiving was, most replied that it was a fête for Christmas and we ate turkey... Well, they got it half right at least! I spent the majority of my lessons over the last two weeks discussing the history and traditions of Thanksgiving and teaching any relevant vocabulary or phrases... and the more I talked about it, the more I realized how sad I really was not to be home for it. 

Luckily, I wasn't alone in feeling this way so a bunch of my friends got together for a Francegiving chez Maria's! This was surprisingly hard to pull off, for a few reasons...
1. Food-- most of what we are accustomed to eating for Thanksgiving is not readily available. Turkey? Not until closer to Christmas, so 3 rotisserie chickens took its place. Pumpkin/Cranberry in any form? Nada, so we did without. Pies? Nope,so we got an apple tart and some cookies.
2. Cooking-- not only had none of us ever done Thanksgiving on our own... none of us had an oven at our disposal!
3. Timing-- well, it's not a holiday here, so we had to work the Thursday of, so we switched our Francegiving feast to Friday.

Deux Semaines de la France

... where do I even begin? Well, two weeks ago I arrived in France and it's been pretty hectic since day one. I plan to make some dedicated posts soon in regards to my experiences being an au pair as well as the TAPIF program, but for now I wanted to provide a quick update about some of the fun stuff... traveling!

Place Jean Jaures in Saint Etienne.

I have made it a real point to explore my new city of Saint Etienne. I really have already come to love Saint Etienne and appreciate that it isn't as large as I may have initially wanted. It's still big enough that it feels like a city, but not so big that it's difficult to walk all around. In my 14 days of being here, I have already made it into Saint Etienne 7 times, so I am starting to develop a pretty good idea of the different areas.

There are so many different squares that are so nice to sit at for hours. Just the other day I had some time to kill between appointments, so I went and had  lunch all by myself in Place Liberation Peuple where it was sunny, quiet, and I read a book and people watched. To put a cherry on top, I ordered a nutella crêpe afterwards-- perfect day and perfect 2 hour lunch.  I need to take some more pictures next time I am downtown, but I've been holding out for blue skies. Next step is discovering the nightlife a bit because I have heard good things, but that's easier said than done when living in suburbia... it will happen though! I am incredibly happy that I was placed in this region and am really excited to explore some of the nearby towns more-- the train really makes that so cheap and easy, so there are plenty of day trips in my future.

Je suis arrivée!

Day 1:
September 19th I arrived at O'Hare 3 hours early to be on time for my 8 hour flight at 6:10pm. The flight arrive in Paris around 9:15am the next day, but I had to wait until about 1pm for my second flight to Lyon which got in around 2:30pm. I was greeted at the airport by Gui, the father, and V, the 4 year old son. The drive home provided me with a 45 minute view of the Loire valley-- which is incredibly hilly, so driving a stickshift here should prove to be interesting. When we arrived at the house, which is a little removed but only a 15 minute walk to the train, I was greeted with bisous (kisses on the cheek) by So, the mother, and G, their 2 year old son. They had been in the midst of picking raspberries from their backyard for their goûter (afternoon snack). All in all, I ended up traveling for almost 17 hours!

My day wasn't over yet, though, because it was only just after 4 in the afternoon when I got to their home. I was determined to stay up until at least 8pm to try and ward off most jet-lag and kept busy until about then so that I was truly exhausted by the time I did sleep-- so we all hopped in the car to go to a nearby park. I see now why Gui and So told me I COULD walk to pick up the boys from daycare, but it'd be easier to drive... the Loire hills would be pretty intense to deal with 2 and 4 year olds. We all played on the jungle gym of the park for what seemed like a long time, but it was probably just my jet-lag kicking in. I picked up a few reminders of phrases that might be helpful for me when handling les garçons (the boys) on my own!

France... Encore!

It's hard to believe it's been just over two years since I last lived in France! Now that I am officially returning for the next school year, I figured it was time to start posting again to document this experience.

The whirlwind of preparations has already gotten underway! A professor of mine told me about the Teaching Assistants Program in France (TAPIF) years ago and I knew that it was something I would have to pursue after college. This program would allow me to combine my two passions-- teaching and French. While I began looking into it and considering it a long time ago, the application process started in September and I finally my application for consideration in mid-December. I knew not to expect any response until mid-April sometime, but come the afternoon of April 1st I had received notification of my acceptance! I was half convinced it was a joke until I received follow-up information in the days following. I was told I would be teaching English to elementary students somewhere in the region of Lyon, which had been my first choice.