So the past few days haven’t been my best days in France, which I will get to in a bit. Tuesday we met with Mme. Dubroca to go to open a bank account. Alissa (the Canadian), Georgia (the Jamaican), and I all got our bank accounts open and now will have a French bank card and a French check book. Checks are still VERY widely accepted here in France where as they are starting to phase out back in the US I think. Wednesday we had a day off and then Thursday we were to start observing in our schools.

Thursday I got up and took the bus from the residence hall to St. Paul les Dax, which is a smaller city that basically touches Dax. We were only suppose to go to our first of three schools on Thursday and we’d visit our other schools on Friday and Tuesday as we have our orientation tomorrow (Monday). Well I got to my school and actually went into the maternelle (very young age) and was directed to the elementary school. I went in and found the principal’s office where a secretary was sitting. I told her who I was and she took me down to the classroom where the principal was teaching. Here in France, the principals usually are teachers as well. When the secretary explained who I was the principal become almost irate and I could tell she was very frustrated. She told me (in a screaming way) that I wasn’t expected until November and they weren’t ready for me and no one had told them that I’d be arriving that day. It was horrible. I was so embarrassed and I thought it was a horrible way of handling the situation. She told the secretary to take me to meet the teachers and then to tell them to meet me in the teacher’s lounge at 10:15 to make up a schedule. I met the teachers whom were extremely nice and even had a little kid tell one of the teachers that m French was so much better than the English girl that taught them last year. Though he was quite confused as to why I was teaching him English since I was an American and a little girl next to him quickly reminded him that Americans speak English.

I met with the teachers during the “recreation period” and we made a schedule that I quite liked for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Later when I told my contact that I had gone to the school and made the schedule she informed me that it was the principal’s task to put the schedule together by calling the two other principals at my other schools and that the way I went about doing it (which is how I thought I was suppose to do it) was wrong. That kind of bummed me out as I really do want to have a part in making my own schedule as the two other assistants in my residence hall got to put their schedules together.

After I was done at my first school Diana, my best friend from Belgium told me to come see her in Bordeaux since it has been 5 years since I’ve seen her. I ended up going and accompanying her to the ANAEM doctor’s appointment that all immigrants must do before getting their green card. As we waited I went up and asked if I could go ahead and do my appointment as mine was set for this coming Wednesday and it would save me time. The lady said she would see and I ended up getting mine totally completed. It wasn’t the best doctor’s visit I’ve ever had but whatever, I got to keep my chest x-rays. I did however get in trouble for leaving the “inspection” during school hours, which I didn’t know was a problem as I was finished with school for that day. I only stayed until around 5 something and then I had to take the train back and catch a bus as it was raining.

The next morning I got up and got ready to go to my second school. As I got out of the shower my phone was ringing. When I saw the number that was calling I knew what had happened before I even heard my dad’s voice tell me that my grandpa had passed away. I kind of in my heart knew that this could happen and when I last saw my grandpa I told him that I loved him very much and thanked him for everything he had done in my life. I cried then and I certainly sobbed when the words came out of my dad’s mouth. I was in such pain and I cried most of the day on Friday. I wrote Mme. Dubroca and told her what had happened and I wrote my school to inform the what had happened. I looked for flights to go back home on Sunday and return here on Wednesday or Thursday. I was devastated. If I decided to come home I’d have had to go to the inspection office and fill out some forms but since I decided that it would be so exhausting to make a trip like that and expensive, I decided that I wouldn’t return for my grandfather’s funeral. I’m still struggling with the fact that I’m not going home and I can’t go and hug my grandma and it hurts me to know that my grandma lost the love of her life. I know that grandpa would have told me to stay here and not worry about it. I’m not worried about him anymore, I know he is up in heaven with his maker and with his little girl, Karen.

Alissa came by and hugged me and told me how sorry she was and she even made me dinner Friday night which was really nice of her. We had been planning on going to a grape picking festival not far from Dax on Saturday and I decided to go so that it would take my mind of grandpa. A Scottish guy moved in the residence hall and we invited him to come with us and all four of us took the bus to Dax, looked around the market for a little bit and then took the bus to Monfort en Chalosse to la fête des vendanges. It was a lot of fun but when 3 o’clock rolled around we were ready to get out of there.

When I was in the hotel in Soustons I had received an e-mail from my first host mother telling me that a tragedy has struck my second host family and that my host sister had passed way the night of the 19th and morning of the 20th of September. I was sitting down in the restaurant area of the hotel when I read this and I had to get up and go to my room as I was struck with such grief. I had not idea how she passed away but after talking to my host brother and hearing that it made national news I researched it and found out just how tragic it was. My host sister and I think her boyfriend were crossing a double bridge (each direction is it’s own bridge) and my host sister’s b/f lost control of the car and it slammed into the side of the bridge. They quickly got out of the car so that they could climb over the bridge railing to safety in case another car came and hit them. They chose to climb over the middle railing which faced the other bridge. What they did not know was that there was no platform in between the bridges and when they climbed over the wall they fell 165 feet to their death on railroad tracks below. I’ve written my second host family and given my condolences but I don’t know how one can ever say sorry for losing someone in such a fashion. I fell asleep last night crying thinking about my family and my second host family and mourning the loss of my grandpa and second host sister whom I liked a lot. This has been a very rough few days and I look forward to the future when things will get better.

This post is stored in the category of Made in France, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Alissa Morano, American English, ANAEM, Aunt Karen, Bank Account, Banque Populaire Sud-Ouest, Belgium, Bordeaux, Car Accident, Dad, David Bell, Dax, Diana Barger, Fête des Vendanges, Flights, French, Georgia Irving, Grandpa, Heart Attack, Mme Dubroca, Monfort en Chalosse, Observation, Orientation, Passing Away, Scottish, Second Host Sister, Soustons, St-Paul-lès-Dax, Tragedy

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Well, I’ve been in France for a good two weeks tomorrow. A lot has happened since I’ve arrived in the south west part of the country. Last tuesday I took the train from Paris to Dax where my coordinator, Madame Dubroca, met me at the train station. I had reserved a night at Hotel du Centre in Soutons. Mme. Dubroca took me to Soustons and we drove around and she showed me the tiny little town and also the school where I’d be working. We spent some time looking for a cheap apartment and found that there wasn’t anything in Soustons cheaper then €450/€500 per month. Since I’m only being paid €784/month I can’t really afford to pay all that. Mme. Dubroca told me that I should check into a roommate situation in a city called Bayonne that I had told her about and she would see about me living in a city called Dax in a residence hall. We departed and I pretty much hung out for two days in the little town of Souston watching French and Basque television and checking up on things back home.

Mme. Dubroca called and told me that I would no longer be living or teaching in Soustons and that the “rectorat” (which is like the board of education) was going to move my appointment from Soustons to a school in Dax. Mme. Dubroca came and picked me up last Thursday and brought me to my new home in France. It is about a 15m squared room with bathroom and shower and a kitchenette with a mini fridge, two burner stove top, and sink. I have a table, desk, closet, bed, shelves and cabinets. I’m paying around €325/month for it but after I get my carte de séjour (kind of like a green card) I can apply for the CAF, which is a thing that will give me a percentage of my rent back to me each month. Mme. Dubroca said it would be around €150 which means I’d only be paying around €175/month for rent and this also includes electricity and water!

There is a Jamaican and a Canadian living here as well. The Canadian, Alissa , lives right next door and the Jamaican, Georgia, lives in another part of the residence hall. The residence hall has internet but it is SOO slow and not that good so I’m tying to get this thing called a neuf box, which is a package deal where I get internet, tv (120 channels), and phone (with unlimited calls to over 55 countries) for €29,90/month. It is a really good deal. The only problem is I have to have a number to set it up which is a bit of a problem as the hall director here doesn’t have the number for room and there is no such thing as free customer service numbers in France!

The center of town is a 20 minute walk, 5 minute bus ride and the super market is just as far. I’ve gone to the grocery store twice thus far. In France you have to bring your own bags and bag your own stuff so I’ve used my duffle bag and book bag to go grocery shopping with. It is a long hall and takes at least 2 and a half hours to do the whole walking there, shopping, then walking back. My schools are actually in a town connected to Dax, called St. Paul Les Dax. I’ll have to take the bus to get to my schools. I don’t actually start teaching until the 10th of October. I’ll be teaching in three elementary schools. Tomorrow I have to go observe some classes in my first school, Friday I have to go to my second school to observe and next Tuesday I go to my third school to observe. Monday we have our orientation and we will get to meet all the other assistants in our area. I don’t teach Wednesdays as the little kids are off during this time and next Thursday Mme. Dubroca is going to go over what we are to be teaching in the schools.

I haven’t had really any difficulties after arriving in the residence hall. Things are going pretty well. It is weird not having a dinning plan anymore and having to shop and cook for myself. I’ll do all right I suppose. Well for now that is pretty much all that is happening! I’ll be sure to write soon and hopefully get into a routine where I can begin podcasting again!

This post is stored in the category of Made in France, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Alissa Morano, Bus, CAF, Canadian, Dax, Georgia Irving, Hotel du Centre, Jamaican, Made in France, Mme Dubroca, Neuf Box, Paris, Residence Hall, SFR, Soustons, St-Paul-lès-Dax

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