6 posts tagged “home”
Yesterday my friend Grant emailed me, saying, "I already read the ice cream thing weeks ago so get off your ass and write something cool." Simmer down, Grant.
But he's right, of course. I haven't written anything in over a month, mostly because I was in the States for over three week. Mostly in New York, with a quick three-day visit to my maternal grandparents in Los Angeles. Even though this trip was significantly longer than most of my trips home, I still didn't get to see everyone or do everything I wanted to. I was particularly looking forward to catching up with one of my childhood friends, Jade. She's one of the friends I mentioned back in this post, and we haven't seen each other in way too many years. Hopefully next time . . .While I was in New York, I reached the three-year anniversary of my arrival in France. It was hard to celebrate while not in the country, but it is amazing to me that I'm still here. And entering my fourth year of teaching! So, happy third anniversary to me.
I don't think I've actually written here about what I'll be doing this year. Back in January, when my job with the cool educational non-profit fell through, I had less than a week before the last deadline for the assistantship. This program is what brought me to Paris back in 2006. Technically, you're only allowed to do it twice. Which I have already done. In 2006 I was accepted through the US embassy in Washington, DC, and then my contract was renewed for the 2007-2008 school year through the rectorat in Paris. The program is so insanely disorganized, however, that I thought there was a pretty good chance that there is no master database, and so I figured I’d take a shot at applying again. I had to rush to get my recommendations and fill out the paperwork, but managed to get it done in time. It’s funny, ‘cause when I applied in the winter of 2005 I spent SO LONG on getting the application just right, and this time around I just threw it together. I didn’t think it would work, especially because the supposed overnight express envelope that I sent ended up taking two nights, and so my application got in a day late.
The stars were shining on me, however, because I was accepted. Once I moved apartments, I called up the lovely new lady at the rectorat (I’m still sad that Madame Dionis is gone, but the new Madame Couetdic seems to be more on the ball) and asked if it was possible to assign me a school near my new apartment, rather than the one they had on file. She said she’d see what she could do, but no promises. And then, score! The high school I’ll be working at is a 12-minute walk from my place!
I went by to meet the headmistress back in July, and we really hit it off. Then yesterday I met the English teacher in charge of me, Solange. We had already spoken on the phone and emailed a few times, mostly to discuss my scheduling preferences. I have been nothing but impressed with the school’s organization, so far. I already have my finalized schedule for the year, and received all my paperwork from the intendance and secretariat. I’ve been given a tour of the school, my own whiteboard markers and attendance book (ooh, the power I wield!), and met three of the six English teachers I’ll be working with. All of this makes me think that I’ll probably hate the students, as in my experience it’s impossible to like both the staff AND the students in one school.
I’m really happy with my schedule, too. Every other week I have to work one hour on Fridays, from 11 am to noon, but other than that I have four-day weekends and never work before 9 am or past 4 pm. And eight of my 12 classes are in the same room, which is really nice. Of course, the other four classes are in the amphitheater, which will be interesting, to say the least, but you can’t have it all.
Tomorrow is orientation, which I’m not looking forward to that much since I have a feeling I’ll know most of the information. But I can just play Scramble on my awesome new iTouch.
I’ve already had two hours of tutoring since being back: one with Lucas, and one with the hot pilot. Both went really well, and I had a huge smile on my face when I rang the doorbell at Lucas’ house and heard him squeal “it’s SOPHIE!” His reading has advanced so much; I have a feeling that soon I won’t have much more work to do!
I’m still in the process of scheduling all of my private lessons. I have to turn down quite a few people, since I won’t have the time or energy to take on all the clients that contact me. I’m having trouble figuring out how many hours I should do in addition to the twelve hours of classroom time. It’s a bit frustrating, because if you break down the pay by hour, I get paid literally twice as much to tutor as to be an assistant, but I need the assistantship for the working papers and the paid vacation. It’s really a pretty good deal.
And I am SO relieved that my 15 months of being a sans papiers are over. I think the only reason I don’t feel guilty is that I earned this! Living illegally takes dedication.
So last night was my first night in my new apartment, and it was an absolute disaster. Sandra, the girl who lived here before me, had said that the neighbors are really great, that there were no real problems, and she was just leaving to move in with her boyfriend.
Well, no way in hell was that true. I was kept up ALL night by shouting in some obscure language from the couple next door, and then the guys across the hall came home at like 3 am, smoking so much that my apartment still smells today.
On top of all that, when I flushed the weird "sanibroyeur" toilet, it dumped water all over the floor. And the refrigerator's motor is unbearably loud.
Basically, I'm going to need to wear earplugs constantly. I'm so bummed.
In exactly six days, I will begin my descent into the New York City area. I can't wait. The past month has been a crazy rollercoaster of highs and lows. I've gained hope that I might be able to stay, and gained frustration at the way things work. I am still positive I want to be here long-term, but I am ready for a break.
Here, in no particular order, are the things I most want to eat when I get home:
- a medium-rare cheeseburger, with cheddar and sautéed onions, from JG Melon's
- sushi from Roppongi
- shredded beef Schezuan and Moo Shu chicken from First Wok
- sesame noodles from Tang Tang
- curry seafood flat noodle soup from Bo Ky
- mom's lasagna
- mom's sweet-and-sour brisket with orzo
- mom's spaghetti with meat sauce
- mom's curried lima bean soup
- mom's Chinese noodles
- mom's gunky chicken
- a grilled cheese sandwich, made with white bread, Kraft singles, and served with Campbell's tomato soup
- Diet Dr Pepper
- a tuna melt, again with Kraft singles, and way too much (Hellman's) mayo
- the house salad at Cosí
- a mild chicken banh mi at Nicky's Vietnamese
- dates wrapped with bacon and baked brie in puff pastry at Salt Bar
- whatever it was that I ordered when Jeff and I had lunch at that random place in Chinatown
Here are a few quick snapshots of my place in the 17th. It's not all done/organized/clean/set up yet, but you'll get a general idea.
View from the entry way into the living room:
View of my bed in its little bed nook:
I've spent a lot of time in this bed the past few days, as I've come down with a pretty bad cold. The transit strike is keeping me in my neighborhood anyway, and besides plans for coffee with Lisa this afternoon, I have a whole lot of nothing going on. It's starting to get a bit lonely.
I never posted any photos of my home in Paris, despite many requests. I also somehow neglected to take any until I had completely packed and my apartment was empty. Tant pis.
Here are the photos I did take. Use your imagination to add decorations.
The facade of my building, which was built in the 1600s, on Rue Dauphine:
This past Tuesday I learned how to ride a bike. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that this is a huge deal. Anna and I went to the Luxembourg, I strapped on a helmet, and after an hour and 20 minutes I had started the bike myself 3 or 4 times (that is by far the hardest part for me), biked 100 meters dozens of times, and stopped without falling every time. I did end up with massive inner thigh bruising, though. Anna is at least 10 inches taller than me, and although she lowered her bike seat as far as it would go it was still way too big for me. Every time I swung a leg over I banged myself, and had some impressive navy welts. I tried taking a picture, but the true beauty of the bruises cannot be captured.
I definitely need more practice, and if it ever stops raining we will go back out. But the main hurdle has been jumped, and I'm excited to get even better. That night I had delicious moules frites at my favorite cute-waiter-infested resto, l'Academie de la Biere, with Mike and some of his friends. Anna joined us for a bit, before a hot date.
The next day I got my last houseguest, Ward. We met at our hostel in Split, and since he's traveling around Europe for 10 weeks I invited him to crash chez moi when in Paris. He treated me to an evening at the Moulin Rouge, which was hilarious. The show was too long, but fun. There were more themes going on than I've ever seen on one stage. We had musketeers, India, Thailand, the circus, pirates, Siamese twins, comedic drumming, and some acrobatics. I might be leaving some stuff out. It went a little long, but the bottle of champagne helped things along. We didn't get home till ridiculously late and slept in the next day before going to the Musee du Quai Branly. It was completely overwhelming, but amazing. It's definitely the kind of museum where an audio or tour guide would be very helpful, cause there's just so much to look at.
I had dinner with the Lamberts after tutoring Benjamin and Juliette. I was so impressed that they spoke in English the whole meal! Although everyone in my family speaks or understands French, I just can't imagine talking to my parents in another language. The food was delicious, but even better was just talking to all of them. Benjamin is spending a few weeks this summer with a family in Nashville, and I'm really hoping they find a way to send him to New York for a weekend. I haven't corrupted any youth in a while, and have a quota to fill.
Here is the family, after dinner:
Friday Ward and I went to the Louvre, and walked around a bit. Here he is, a bit museumed out:
Yesterday Anna and I went to Tang Freres, an Asian supermarket in Chinatown. I got fresh sugar cane juice, which was surprisingly tasty. We went back to her place and made scallion pancakes, or rather she made scallion pancakes while I made hair and facial appointments for my return to New York.
Last night was Le Nuit des Musees, when lots of museums are open for free till late. I made my way to the Marais the long way, and watched the sun peek through some clouds for about 10 minutes from Ile St Louis.
Today I had lunch with the Augustes, before another knitting lesson with Lee Ann. Today I learned how to purl!
This coming week holds a lot of errands and packing (eek!), and just general wrapping things up. The weather has been really lousy, cold and rainy and pretty depressing. I hope I get a few more nice days before I have to head back to New York.
I'm actually really looking forward to going home. I'm ready. I don't want to go through the next 10 days of
goodbyes and packing and stress. I just want to be there. But I'm also still pretty set on coming back to Paris next year. I might even get desperate enough to look into au pair situations. I found one family with a house on the Adriatic who spends half the summer at the beach and the rest in Venice. How bad could that be?
