Un mois plus tard....
So, apparently I suck at keeping a blog. Oh well, I've been busy. And completely stressed out. I arrived in France safe and sound, only to encounter a world of problems in these past few weeks that could only happen to someone with my bad luck. I swear if something can go wrong, it will go wrong for me.
I arrived in France with nowhere to live. I wasn't too worried about this, because a lot of the other assistants were in the same position as I was. The difference - their schools then helped them. I am adminstratively attached to one school where I teach, but I also teach at two others. Barnave, where I am attached is supposed to take care of getting my social security number and making sure I get paid. I emailed this school through the whole months of August and September and never heard anything back until about three days before I left for France - in the form of a handwritten letter. Are you kidding me???? So I arrive to France and during that first week I probably sent an email every other day to this school saying "Hi, I'm here, and I'm homeless. Please help." You would think this would get a response. Nay, my friend. Nay. About two days before I left I finally heard from a very nice teacher named Dominique, so I decided to email him and ask for his help. He let me stay with him for two night, which was sooo nice of him. So I finally met the principal of Barnave and figured out why my emails were never answered. Cus she's a heartless beast. There's actually a dorm room at the school that I had to basically beg to see so I could stay there. They offered this room right away to the assistants the past two years while they looked for an apartment, but for some reason, this year, they decided they would just let me suffer. So instead, I stayed with another nice teacher rather than stay in that dungeon they called a room. A few days after I had started work, I met with principal and this is when she said I could look at that room. This is also when she said "you really should just call if you want to get in touch with us. We're too busy to answer emails." Oh really? But you have time to send me a HANDWRITTEN LETTER???? So all of my worries about being homeless were always met with "why don't you find another assistant to live with?" To which I would respond, "because they've all already found something." And they would then ask "how did they find something?" and I would retort "because their schools helped them!" I can not stress enough how unhelpful this school has been. I hate them.
The teaching thing is going OK. It's not as horrible as I thought it would be. Some of the kids are really bad, but some are really good. Most of the students hate Americans because they think we all love George W. Bush. I would like to take a moment now to thank all of you who voted for him. Thanks to you, I am able to walk down the street and have insults hurled at me just because of the country I come from. My students say "Hi!" then, as soon as I turn around they say "America, fuck you!" So thank you! I really hate feeling comfortable and welcomed, so keep on supportin' that war so life can be even more difficult for me. Merci! Moving on. Some of the kids are pretty funny, but I keep forgetting that I am the teacher and what they're doing is actually "misbehaving." As long as they aren't being disrespectful, I really don't care. But of course it's not like my schools have given me any information on what to do to discipline the kids, and the kids know this, so they feel they don't really have to take my class seriously. It gets frustrating at times, but it really makes me so happy when I have a good class that is excited for me to be there.
Other than the whole homeless thing, France has been really great. I'm really enjoying Grenoble. The weather has been amazing. I've taken a few trips up to the mountains which are absolutely spectacular, and I've gone to Nimes in the Provence region and hung out in an ancient Roman arena. I've met some great people who I hope to be friends with for the rest of my life. And things are looking up now that I've found a room! I'm moving in with a french teacher from Collège Chartreuse. She only speaks French, so it will be great practice for me. The apartment is right in the middle of Grenoble, so the location couldn't be better. The apartment and my bedroom are huge. One of the teacher at Barnave said to me "make sure you ask her if she'll rent the room to the assistant next year." So, apparently, now they care about what happens to their assistant and whether or not she has a place to live.
The French have absolutely no concept of personal space. Seriously, if you don't back up 10 inches I am going to scratch you in the face. I am so sick of it! And, honestly, a daily shower never hurt anyone. I have also never met people who are so rude to people who don't speak French as their first language. It seems like they're insulted that you dare to speak their language. I am not the only one who has this experience either, so for it to happen to many people more than once, I can only assume that it's quite common throughout the whole country. The French have no problem laughing in your face when you speak to them and they hear an accent. I have never seen this happen in America. I'm sure it does, cus there are a lot of jerks in America too, but I can't believe how often it has happened to my friends and to me. It's not even like I said it incorrectly. I say something and they start to laugh. It's very frustrating. So, overall, I love France, but I could really do without most of the French.
I arrived in France with nowhere to live. I wasn't too worried about this, because a lot of the other assistants were in the same position as I was. The difference - their schools then helped them. I am adminstratively attached to one school where I teach, but I also teach at two others. Barnave, where I am attached is supposed to take care of getting my social security number and making sure I get paid. I emailed this school through the whole months of August and September and never heard anything back until about three days before I left for France - in the form of a handwritten letter. Are you kidding me???? So I arrive to France and during that first week I probably sent an email every other day to this school saying "Hi, I'm here, and I'm homeless. Please help." You would think this would get a response. Nay, my friend. Nay. About two days before I left I finally heard from a very nice teacher named Dominique, so I decided to email him and ask for his help. He let me stay with him for two night, which was sooo nice of him. So I finally met the principal of Barnave and figured out why my emails were never answered. Cus she's a heartless beast. There's actually a dorm room at the school that I had to basically beg to see so I could stay there. They offered this room right away to the assistants the past two years while they looked for an apartment, but for some reason, this year, they decided they would just let me suffer. So instead, I stayed with another nice teacher rather than stay in that dungeon they called a room. A few days after I had started work, I met with principal and this is when she said I could look at that room. This is also when she said "you really should just call if you want to get in touch with us. We're too busy to answer emails." Oh really? But you have time to send me a HANDWRITTEN LETTER???? So all of my worries about being homeless were always met with "why don't you find another assistant to live with?" To which I would respond, "because they've all already found something." And they would then ask "how did they find something?" and I would retort "because their schools helped them!" I can not stress enough how unhelpful this school has been. I hate them.
The teaching thing is going OK. It's not as horrible as I thought it would be. Some of the kids are really bad, but some are really good. Most of the students hate Americans because they think we all love George W. Bush. I would like to take a moment now to thank all of you who voted for him. Thanks to you, I am able to walk down the street and have insults hurled at me just because of the country I come from. My students say "Hi!" then, as soon as I turn around they say "America, fuck you!" So thank you! I really hate feeling comfortable and welcomed, so keep on supportin' that war so life can be even more difficult for me. Merci! Moving on. Some of the kids are pretty funny, but I keep forgetting that I am the teacher and what they're doing is actually "misbehaving." As long as they aren't being disrespectful, I really don't care. But of course it's not like my schools have given me any information on what to do to discipline the kids, and the kids know this, so they feel they don't really have to take my class seriously. It gets frustrating at times, but it really makes me so happy when I have a good class that is excited for me to be there.
Other than the whole homeless thing, France has been really great. I'm really enjoying Grenoble. The weather has been amazing. I've taken a few trips up to the mountains which are absolutely spectacular, and I've gone to Nimes in the Provence region and hung out in an ancient Roman arena. I've met some great people who I hope to be friends with for the rest of my life. And things are looking up now that I've found a room! I'm moving in with a french teacher from Collège Chartreuse. She only speaks French, so it will be great practice for me. The apartment is right in the middle of Grenoble, so the location couldn't be better. The apartment and my bedroom are huge. One of the teacher at Barnave said to me "make sure you ask her if she'll rent the room to the assistant next year." So, apparently, now they care about what happens to their assistant and whether or not she has a place to live.
The French have absolutely no concept of personal space. Seriously, if you don't back up 10 inches I am going to scratch you in the face. I am so sick of it! And, honestly, a daily shower never hurt anyone. I have also never met people who are so rude to people who don't speak French as their first language. It seems like they're insulted that you dare to speak their language. I am not the only one who has this experience either, so for it to happen to many people more than once, I can only assume that it's quite common throughout the whole country. The French have no problem laughing in your face when you speak to them and they hear an accent. I have never seen this happen in America. I'm sure it does, cus there are a lot of jerks in America too, but I can't believe how often it has happened to my friends and to me. It's not even like I said it incorrectly. I say something and they start to laugh. It's very frustrating. So, overall, I love France, but I could really do without most of the French.
posted by Maggie @ 7:28 AM
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