Kyle's has been in school a little over a month now. It's been a big challenge so far; we anticipated that the language would give him trouble, but never guessed that the material would be tricky. Thankfully his class is full of lots of friendly and smart students who record the course material like scribes. His classmates have become our friends. They've been nice enough to invite us over for dinner, play SingStar, have coffee (with a Senseo none the less!), go downtown for an evening, and watch Gossip Girl. They are just a lot fun to be around, and we hope to get to know them better this year.
Kyle & me downtown one evening
I started my job October 2nd. It was nice to finally have an occupation; I was feeling a little useless after a while. I had a lot of unanswered questions about what my job would be all about especially since I have had no training as an educator. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to worry the French government too much if you aren't a teacher. If your mother tongue is English, you are clearly endowed with the gift to instruct others in its spoken form. So I dove in headfirst at the elementary schools. I prepared a couple of classes focused on introducing yourself. It has been a delight as well as a struggle in each class--the children often look at me as if I have 3 heads when I speak. Occasionally, I'll want to throw in the towel when the class erupts in French murmurs and won't quiet down. Without a set curriculum provided by the school district or even a text book, I am coming up with it as I go and praying that the children will have learned something by the end of the school year. Thankfully I still have 8 months to get it right. I'm even more grateful that at the end of this week I get a 2 week vacation where I can create my game plan with each of my 7 classes in mind.
Introduction Worksheet for school
Now for the fun stuff...Kyle and I have been enjoying our little dorm a bunch. We recently conquered the conversion of the Nestle Tollhouse cookie into mL & Celsius. It was also tricky tracking down authentic brown sugar. Everyone will try to tell you that they know what brown sugar is...in truth they are trying to give you raw or cane sugar--not the same thing. Baking powder is also hard to come by. After many google searches, we were able to complete our homemade cookies. They were even a hit among the Supeleciens (supelec students). We will likely continue baking them as it is nice to have a treat that reminds us of home.
Highly coveted brown sugar (Vergeoise) and baking powder (Poudre a Lever)
Last week our internet went down for a day. It turns out that while we were cut off from the outside world, the weather decided to pull a 180 on us. We ventured to the grocery store for some much needed essentials. It was too cold to take our bikes, and we just kept commenting on how cold it was. When we were able to check the weather online, we were astonished to find that autumn had ducked out early and winter filled its place eagerly. Anybody who has lived in Europe knows to dread the highs under 10C and the negative lows. With the dawning of our six month winter, we are now actively shopping for a new coat and scarf for Kyle... preferably a plaid scarf.
Goodbye Fall!
We are really grateful for our American friends. I got to spend some time with one friend this week who is married. It was nice being able to talk about how your relationship is affected by this big move and adjusting to life abroad. Kyle and I also are getting more acquainted with Georgia Tech students here; everyone is so nice. We believe we are very fortunate.
Lastly, I have some prayer request. At some point during our move, I think I injured my neck. I've had neck and back problems for some time, but a new symptom has popped up. I am getting headaches that start in my neck and work there way up to only one side of my head. Sometimes it's the left side and sometimes it's the right. The right side headaches are really really bad. It hasn't occurred (thankfully) on a workday yet, and we're hoping it stays that way. We are just praying that they go away. If it gets worse, we are praying for a good doctor as well. We are also praying for better understanding with French, good health for both of us, and good friendships.
I'll be updating again very shortly on Kyle & my trip to Saarbrucken, Deutschland. Stay tuned!
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