My town is small

...and therefore kind of boring. Some of the other assistants and I tried to go out the other night (on a Wednesday) and there really was no one in town. Ok, so not no one, but only old men. Where are all the young people? Where are the wives of all these men that were in town? So many questions and so few answers.

So I taught a couple of lessons today, and they pretty much both bombed, but I've come to accept the fact that there will be some bad lessons. Unfortunately, those were the first lessons that I actually planned out for my classes. I don't know if I'm actually cut out for this kind of job. How am I supposed to teach kids about Halloween in English if they don't know how to say Hi. I haven't figured that part out yet, but hopefully I will, or else the rest of my time here is going to be pretty much worthless.

I went to Lyon this past weekend, and it was good except I was kind of sick, so that made the walking around for hours part kind of sucky. I did go to Ikea to get some stuff to decorate my room, so it looks slightly better, and feels less like a prison. Although, I do have to unlock three separate doors to get to my room, so it makes me wonder what the school is trying to protect us from. I already no one ever leaves their house here, that really is the big mystery.

I'm glad that I've been able to make friends with some of the other assistants in my town, because apparently, no one in the states is email capable anymore. Oh well, I guess more things changed than I thought would when I came here.

At least the weather has been nicer here. And I started the process to get my residence card, and that seems like it's going to go okay. If I don't go to Germany for part of break, I'm at least going to go to Paris, because it would be nice to see some old friends. Maybe this is what it's like to be homesick, another new experience for me.

As for this weekend, I think I'm just going to be staying around town. We borrowed a soccer ball from the gym, so that should be some good entertainment. Cheap, if nothing else. I think pretty much all the other assistants are laying low just waiting for our paychecks, and since I don't like to do everything by myself, I guess I'll join them and live cheaply for the next couple of weeks. Except, of course, for vacation.

My first week...

Ok, so I know that I said that I would update fraquently, but today is my first day finding internet. Well not really finding it, but being online. And just so you know, I am dying using the french keyboard but that is life.

So, I got here on Thursday night after way too much waiting in airports, but Veronique picked me up and she took me to a hotel for the first night, and I slept. Not very well, because eventhough I was really tired jet lag over ruled me, and my body was convinced that it was the middle of the day. I'm not gonna lie, the getting up in the morning was really rough. But I got up, and Veronique took me to the high school where I live.

Yes, I live at a high school. Advantages: close to the middle of town, and other assistants live there, and we all get along well, and we can eat decent food in the cafeteria for cheap. Disadvantage: there are stupid bells that go off all the time. Really, I do like staying here so far, and the price is definitely right.

Friday my big adventure was getting a cell phone. Yay! so you all can call me when you want, cause incoming calls are free. Of course you can not find the number here, but it will be readily available by email.

Saturday I went to Carrefour, which is like super walmart but so much better. The rest of the day I tried to battle jet lag by going to bed early.

Sunday I went up to Dijon with my other assistants for a giant meeting. That lasted until monday night, and the meeting itself was pretty boring, but it was great to meet people.

I got back to my little town last night, right before the strike started. Ok, so I don't really know what the strike is for, but there seem to be a lot of high school teachers participating, as well as train people. The buses in Macon are running, so I'm not sure. Basically, this is how the strike affects me: the cantine is closed. It's actually pretty sad, and that is the reason that all I've eaten today has been a small peice of bread. The real reason that's all I've eaten today is because I was running late this morning, and hve been lazy since I got back.

This morning I went to one of my schools and met the English teacher there. She's really nice, and I spent three lessons and a coffee break with her. I taught most of the last lesson to the equvilant of third graders, and it went well for the most part. I'm definitely getting more and more excited to start teaching, and it gets better and better here everyday as I get more and more settled in.

My town is cute...it's next to a river, and it's already really cold here. But more on that another time! For now, I have things to do!