The highlight of last weekend was going out for drinks with François and his native-speaker-fluent trilingual friend Carlos, who I've been hearing about for a while. We went to a little place a few blocks from Bellecour, where we were eventually met by their friends Marta (Spanish) and Roberto (Panamanian) and Carlos' roommate Ian (Canadian). It turns out I'm much better at understanding French when it's spoken with a Spanish accent, unsurprisingly - the extra enunciation helps a lot, not to mention the fact that non-native speakers talk much more slowly. Anyway, it was a solidly good night full of French and Spanish and English and a lot of laughing.

On Sunday François' sister Sophie and her boyfriend were in town for the day (after taking Anaïs to Nice watch American wrestling??), so we went to the Bargels' for the afternoon. It was really good to see her again after two years. I didn't talk to her boyfriend (Matthew?) much, but she seemed so happy I have to assume he's pretty great. She's planning to visit for a few days sometime this month, so I should get to see her more soon. Excellent.

Most of the week was taken up with apartment-hunting, and (that being largely an online affair) was somewhat boring. I did manage to make it up to the area around Fourvière (skipped the cathedral itself - I went in '07 and wasn't really in the mood for churches) and to the amphitheatre, so that was nice. The amphitheatre was built by the Romans and, while largely a ruins, is still used today for outdoor rock concerts and the like. Pretty cool.

One night (I forget which) François' friend Julie came over for dinner, which was really fun. I met her when I was here before, and this time was a reprise: lots of smiling and fun conversation, with her side conducted entirely in French and mine in English. I made fried potatoes with zucchini and peppers (easy, a staple) and they both repeated how good it was enough times that I almost started to wonder if they were teasing me. Sure, it was tasty, but not exactly exciting or special. . . Anyway, she's a primary school teacher now, so we talked about that for a bit and she helped me figure out my vacation schedule. Of the 212 days that I'm employed here (Oct 1-April 30), I am evidently expected to turn up for work a whopping 90 times. That's it. Partly that's due to my teachers having kindly scheduled me for four-day weeks, but largely it's due to the pattern of 6 weeks of classes, 2 weeks of vacation, 6 weeks of classes, 2 weeks of vacation, repeat. Crazy. (This isn't unique to schools, incidentally - if I were working Fridays, I would be working about the same proportion of days as everyone else. From what I've read, French people work an average of about 192 7-hour days per year, which makes 13 or 14 weeks off.)


Thursday was my first day of school, which I think went really well. There was something of a botch when one of the teachers had given me what she thought was a copy of my schedule but which turned out really to be a list of all the English classes being held, so I wound up starting the day with the wrong class and generally throwing things off. But no one seemed to mind too much, and anyway the original schedule has since been scrapped in favor of something I'm not sure about yet, so it's not as if there was much of a routine set up for me to get into.

There are four English teachers, three of whom are French and one of whom is from LA. The kids range in age from about 10 to 15, and are split into "Euro" and regular classes. Euro is, as far as I can tell, roughly analogous to GT - the kids are supposed to be learning more advanced material, and as part of that they start taking English at a younger age and (I think) start learning their third language sooner as well. (Note: Grades in France run backwards, such that you start middle school in 6th and finish in 3rd, with your third and final year of high school being 1st. Don't ask me.) In terms of English proficiency, the kids I've met so far range from absolute beginners who are learning to count to ten, to able to ask and answer questions in English if they aren't too complicated. But the kids I've met so far who were able to speak the best were (if I understood correctly) Euro-6th, and I'll also have Euro-3rd at some future point, so presumably I haven't met the kids who are best at English yet.

So basically Thursday was three or so hours split across five classes, being asked questions (in English or French depending on level) and largely repeating the same information:

My name is Rosalie. I am 23 years old. I am from Washington. Yes, that really really means I am American [this information was greeted with the widest of eyes]. I also speak German, Spanish, and [gesturing] a liiiiittle bit of French [laughter]. No, I am not married. No, I do not have any children (in that order, both times). I have no brothers and one sister. Her name is Sarah. She lives in Philadelphia. She is 27. My parents live in Virginia. No, I do not have any pets. No, I do not know any stars. Yes, Barack Obama lives in Washington. No, I have not met. My hobbies are cooking, listening to music and traveling. I have been to Peru, Alaska, across the United States, and Europe. My favorite color is green. Yes, I like France. Yes, I live in Lyon now. Yes, I like French food. Yes, I like to watch "football." No, I do not play any sports. I do not have a favorite music group. My favorite movie is The Incredibles [not really, but it was the first thing I could think of - F and I watched it in French the other night]. Yes, I like Harry Potter. Yes, I like Bob Marley. Yes, I like the Beatles. Yes, I have visited Paris. I think Lyon is prettier, but Washington has my family and friends, so I don't know which one is my favorite. Yes, I have been to New York. Yes, I have seen the Statue of Liberty.

And this just to the Euro-6th, who understood enough to be told that I had worked "for Obama" [simpler to explain] in Alaska:
My job was to call a lot of people and say, "Please vote for Barack Obama." Then I knocked on doors [pantomime] and said," "Please vote for Barack Obama." No, most people in Alaska did not vote for him. Why? Um, it's complicated. Yes, Alaska is very cold.

I had a lot of fun with it, actually, especially given that I didn't have to plan for it at all - I mostly just fielded questions they threw at me, and when they ran out, asked them where I should go in Lyon. Apparently there is a Miniatures Museum that is very, very exciting. Also, the zoo. Also, the soccer stadium. Also, the mall.

Funny moment was when one of the girls asked if I had kids, not long after I had said I was 23. Several other kids laughed at her, so she turns around and says (in French) "What?! 23 isn't young!" Yes it is, you take that back right now! [I pretended not to have heard.]

It still isn't clear what I'll be doing once things get more settled. I think it will vary class to class. At least one teacher wants me to run some mini oral exams with them, which worries me slightly because it sounds like I would be grading them, which I'm wary of. I can also give presentations on whatever I want (DC, holidays, my hobbies, whatever) and show pictures and stuff, pretty much anything to get them talking. I'm not sure what I'll do with the kids at the most basic level, but I'm sure the teachers will have some ideas about that.

I spent a while this morning going through my photos for some that would be good to show, and I've got a good few, but I'm definitely open to suggestion on things that 10 to 15 year olds would like learning/talking about.


Yesterday's big excitement was finally finding an apartment! I'm really excited. Bullet points:
- Roommate, Marie, seems really friendly. She's French and an art student, non-smoking, no pets, speaks reasonably good English which she's excited to practice and therefore understands that I also want to practice French. I'm going to see if we can work out some sort of alternating-language-days situation. She also doesn't care if I have friends come to stay - actually, her reaction was "I would love to meet your friends! Tell me if you want me to stay somewhere else when they visit." No, I am not going to kick you out of your own apartment, but thanks for the offer?
- The building is not even a full block away from the metro. Seven minutes from the downtown spot where I usually meet up with friends, and 30 minutes or so to school, which is no problem.
- It's on the 14th floor, with a beautiful view.
- It's tiiiiiny, but so what? It's not like I have much stuff. The layout is a little strange - there's one bedroom, and one bedroom-by-night, living-room-by-day. I prefer the privacy, but she prefers the larger room, so that works out perfectly. I'll have to go through her room to get to the "kitchen" (mini-fridge and 2 burners, no oven) but not to get to the bathroom or front door, so that sounds fine.
- It's furnished. Yessss.
- There's a balcony!
- I'll actually be on the lease rather than subletting, which means that I can apply for a low-income housing subsidy which should cover somewhere between 20-40% of the rent. I'm not making much, so that will help hugely.
- There's a grocery store and a lot of little cafes really nearby, including at least 2 kebab shops (huge plus). It's a student area and seems pretty vibrant and (as far as I could tell during the day, anyway) safe. (I haven't heard anything bad about the area during the past 24h of telling people, either, so I think that's a solid assessment.)
- Hannah lives right nearby! I didn't find that out til after, but it makes me happy.

So yeah, that sounds like a win all around, especially since rent (before the subsidy) should come to less than 400€ even after expenses. I'm really pleased - not to mention relieved to have finally found something. :)

Next post: Awesome Friday night, and some pictures.