Last Wednesday we had our big "Rendez-Vous" with all the other assistants in the Lille region. We had been gearing up for this since we got here because it is the unofficial start to our work schedule. We went into it anticipating lots of paperwork, teaching strategies and hopefully to make a couple more friends. It would be nice to have some other people to go out with on weekends or possibly on vacations. More or less this is exactly what happened.
The first real challenge of the day started before we even left the house. We needed to mark out the directions for Kathryn to find the Lycée Gaston Berger where her rendez-vous was taking place. My meeting was supposed to be at my Lycée Baggio. I was confident that there would be no problems locating the assembly hall, and all the other High School assistants. Luckily the school Kathryn was supposed to be at was only about a 10min walk from Baggio so we were able to take the tram/metro together, and get off at the same stop to make things a little easier. Once we had set the correct route, we departed with just enough time to arrive at the schools before the meetings were set to begin.
As we were getting off the train it became obvious we weren't the only assistants trying to locate the rendez-vous. As we were standing outside of the station consulting the map for a final time to get our bearings; we were approached by a couple of English assistant from Scotland who had printed out directions. This is where Kathyrn and I parted ways. She headed off towards her rendez-vous with the Scot's, and I went towards mine. Because of our semi-late departure I had just enough time to stop by the teachers' lounge to grab a café before following the posted signs to find the amphitheater. It was located on the 3ème étage of the main building (which in French is actually the 4th floor) and there were hundreds of assistants already waiting. This is where it got a little complicated. As I mentioned before I was under the impression that I was supposed to be at Baggio for the meeting. In fact, once I arrived I was told I was actually supposed to be back over at Lycée Gaston Berger just like Kathryn, and that the meeting at Baggio was for all the assistants teaching languages other than English. The French lady made some smart-ass comment about not reading the material that was sent to me (I never got a single thing in the mail telling me about the rendez-vous, and only knew we had one because of Kathryn) and so I just kept my mouth shut.
In my defense there were a number of very acceptable reasons for assuming that I was supposed to be at Baggio. The first of which was that EVERYONE that I have encountered in my trip so far told me I was supposed to be there. When we went to meet Kathryn's contact, while she was explaining to Kathryn where she was supposed to go, she said specifically that I was going to be at Baggio, and we would not be together for the rendez-vous. She was speaking in rather quick French, but I did understand her. Next, just to be sure of my location for the rendez-vous I posed the question to my contact René when we were going over specifics of starting to assist. He again reassured me that the rendez-vous, for me, was at Baggio. Even with all that assurance I ended up in the wrong place. I was not the only person to make that mistake either.
This led to a very fast-paced walk the 10 blocks or so back over to Lycée Gaston Berger. The only plus side was that in our planning for Kathryn, I knew exactly where I needed to go, and how to get there. On the walk over I ran into 10 or so other assistants who had gotten lost or were just unsure where they needed to be. By the time we got to the school we were only 10-15min late, and because it is France nothing had started yet. The only problem was that the people assigned to direct the incoming assistants to the correct building and rooms, were no longer at their posts. So we wandered around the campus trying to find where everyone was meeting. It turned out that they stuck us all (~300 assistants) in a building in the process of being renovated. There was scaffolding up the sides, the stairs were all torn up, and there was construction plastic over all the windows contributing to the intensely humid conditions inside. Aside from being slightly out of breath and sweating buckets, at least I was in the right spot and soon after I arrived we began with the presentations.
There were four women that spoke with us, and they explained that they would be rotating to make sure we did not get bored. First off was some paperwork to fill out. I got lucky because in showing up late I had to go sit at the very front of the classroom (it was the only seat left, not as punishment.) This allowed me to be the first person to sign my name and information to all the paperwork that was handed out. I was lucky because there were so many assistants in the room, and so much information to fill out on the 3 sheets they gave us, that most of the assistants sitting on the other side of the room either did not get the chance to complete them, or had to wait and fill them out later.
The second presentation was telling us about teaching methods, and how to stay in control of our classes. These were relatively important yet common-sense points like: if you want the kids to respect you, you must show them respect, and, you are the teacher and they are the students so make sure not to become too close or they will not respond to your requests. We were told explicitly that we were not to work more than 12 hours per week because any more than that we could not be paid for. Also they told us that we were there to assist with spoken English, and they were paid more than us, so it was their job to teach grammar. They also said for the first 24 teaching hours we were supposed to do nothing more than observe classes. The reason for this was to get a better understanding of how the class system worked, how the teachers interacted/controlled their kids, and to be more prepared to take on our responsibilities.
Our schedules were supposed to be set for us at least a week or two in advance so we could be prepared. By no means should teachers be calling us up, or emailing a day before asking to help in their class. I have already blown past this stage. As I mentioned in the blog about my first day at Baggio, I had about 10min of observation in the O.C. class before beginning to converse with students. As well, I had received an email the night before from one of the English teachers asking if I could assist with her 9am Thursday English class. There were lots of kids in the room that were concerned about their schedules, and how lackadaisical their contacts were being when it came to setting them up. I figured I'm much more of a "roll-with-the-punches/learn on the go" kind of student. I would much rather just jump right into assisting rather than sitting at the back of a classroom with nothing to do for two weeks.
One thing that really stood out was something called Devoirs des Reserve. This statute held that as teachers in France it was our duty to keep our opinions (political, religious etc...) to ourselves. If you were Christian and wore a cross you must take it off, as well, if you were Liberal try and illustrate opinions/positives and negatives of all views without giving too much away, and if you're Republican just keep your damn mouth shut no matter what (that was my opinion, I might have a little trouble with this "keep-your-politics-to-yourself" part). She then added that this was applied to the structure of teaching, in that, there was no reason to try and get this type of information out of the students. Of course there was one pompous kid who had to question this statute in the most asinine of ways. He was going to be teaching in a Collège, which means working with 12-14 year old students. His question was: "What if I want to ask the kids what they think about the job Sarkozy is doing?" The teacher's response was that the question was bordering too closely on the line, and that kind of question is not really appropriate for the classroom. My response was why the hell would you ever ask Jr. High kids that question? Your lesson plan probably won't stray any farther than holding up a picture and saying: "This is a GREEN DUCK, please repeat," or something along those lines. I had hoped this was the end of it, but he comes back and asked: "So...What if I wanted to ask them how they felt about the law stating that Muslim scarves were not allowed to be worn in schools?" Pompous American ignorance. I just put my head down and closed my eyes. (Sorry, just had to get that off my chest). I'm sure that I will never see this kid again in my life so who cares?
When the presentations finished we were given little tickets to use for our meal at one of the university lunchrooms in the city; then led out of the school to begin the 45min walk over to the cafeteria. I met up with Kathryn outside, and we walked together with about 400 total assistants over to the university restaurant. We couldn't get there fast enough, both of us were starving. Of course with so many people going together the line for food was pretty long, but when we finally got to the front the selection of foods was minimal to say the least. There were about four stations where you could grab items, and I was under the impression (because it said on our ticket: "good for one meal,") that I was at liberty to indulge in whatever looked good. I found out this was not the case when I got to the cashiers, and they looked sternly at me. Then stated "too much!" and then took my orange off my tray.
After lunch we had about an hour and a half before we were scheduled to reconvene. This time it definitely was at Baggio. We went to a little café/tabac that one of the other English professors from Baggio had taken me. The hope was to get an espresso to try and perk up before our afternoon meeting. It got the job done, but only for a very short while. This was in part due to the fact that the amphitheater we were meeting in was about 100degrees, and we had already been told most of the information that was being explained. So the last meeting was pretty much a waste of time, but overall the day was a great experience. We did get some good tips on how to be better assistants, and we met some very nice people as we had hoped. Now we have friends to communicate with and possibly go out for drinks, or travel with.
Oh and I forgot. There was a little bit of bad news. As I had told many of you (because I had our vacation schedule memorized) I was under the impression that we had a spring break from the 4th of February until the 22nd of March. Well all hopes of a 2 month paid vacation have gone out the window. Apparently it was a typo, and the vacation ends on February 22nd. Ce n'est pas grave, but still a little disappointing.
Thursday morning was a little hectic. I am still battling with this whole getting up at 7am deal so I showed up to Baggio for my class with about 2min to spare. Thinking I was late, I ran up to the classroom to find it completely empty. This was because all of the students had been locked off the grounds by security, because of the unusual hours that classes commence. Now I haven't gotten the schedule down yet, but if a class is set to start at 8am it actually starts at 7:55am, and for my class, which was scheduled for 9am, it did not actually begin until 5min after 9. The problem here was that some of the other classes that are scheduled for 9am do not actually start until quarter after. This meant the security guard refused to let any of the students into the building until 9:15 so everyone came into class about 20min late. This gave me a little more time to prepare, but it was so early, and in my haste to make it on time, I did not have an opportunity to grab a café. I was too tired, and had a very difficult time speaking in French. I could understand things just fine, but when it came to asking even the most simple of questions I just couldn't find the words. J'étais très fatigué!!
When the kids did show up, they were all prepared for our conversation. As homework the teacher had assigned them to come up with questions. It, again, was not a class that I will be regularly working with, but they were in the process of learning the basics like: what is your name? how old are you? do you like cats and dogs? and things of that nature. The most difficult part of the class, besides getting the kids to stop talking to each other and pay attention, was making sure I was speaking slowly enough so they could understand. This is actually much harder than I had imagined. They have such a rudimentary understanding of the language that not only did I have to speak very slowly, but I needed to choose my words carefully. It all went well and luckily the teacher was in the back of the room to yell at/scold the kids who wouldn't shut up.
The class ended at 10am, and my schedule was clear for the rest of the day. I called Kathryn hoping that she would be in my area because it was supposed to be her first day of introductions, and visiting the two schools she will be assisting. Unfortunately right before heading out she received an email from her contact saying the schools were not ready for her, and she should just take the time to rest and get over her illness. This was not totally unexpected because in true French fashion, the directions initially given by her contact were: "Just show up, you pick the time, you pick the school, just tell them who you are. They should be expecting you." So instead of starting work she came into the center of Lille and we met up for lunch. We went to a little brasserie just off the main Grand Place. We chose this estaminet because it had Magret du Canard (medallions of duck) on the menu. Kathryn had the plat du jour which was grilled ham with steamed potatoes, and I had the duck (obviously) which was covered in a peppery cream sauce that was unbelievable. The only problem was I could not remember how to ask for it cooked to my liking, so it was a little over done. This did not make much of a difference, but next time I'll make sure to get it right. It was delicious. After lunch we just walked around a bit more then went home. I was so tired from getting up early, and walking back to the city center from my school (Kathryn needed "about" an hour to get ready, so I decided to walk rather than waste one of my metro/tram tickets.)
Friday we had nothing planned, and Kathryn was jealous of my duck from the day before so we went back into the city with the intention of getting some more canard. We got going a little later in the day which gave Kathryn more time to get ready, and me more time to sleep in. This time we chose a place just down the block from the one we ate at Thursday. They had a very good looking menu, and it was slightly less expensive than the other place. Kathryn got the duck which again was delicious, and I had Osso Buco that was falling off the bone tender (Still not as good as my Mom's, but very tasty.) After lunch we had a grand café to perk back up, and Kathryn wanted to do some shopping.
Her one goal was to find a beautiful French coat to try and look more European. We had stopped in probably 10 different stores throughout the last couple weeks trying to find one that not only looked great, but fit our price range. I figured I was in for the long-haul. Quite to the contrary though, the very first store we walked in had the perfect coat. It was a thick, black, wool, belted, trench-style coat that actually fit! (Seeing as we are bigger than the average Frenchie, finding something that fit was a challenge in itself.) She looks very beautiful, and with the purchase of a lovely scarf to accompany the jacket, now looks incredibly European. No one will be mistaking her for an American. I on the other hand was wearing my black Air Jordan jacket that John Poplar gave me when I was in Jr. High, and some sneakers. I felt out of place and jealous.
This led to our next adventure which was trying to find something that would fit me, and make me look more French. First up was trying to find a nice jacket. This actually did not take too long, but apparently being a Large in the States means I am a XXL here in France. Luckily for me there were plenty of coats in that size. I was able to buy the coat that I originally wanted back in college, but was unable to get because of Chibuike. What I wanted was a double breasted, button up, black wool pea coat, and that's exactly what I got. Now I can pretend I'm straight out of the movie The Boondock Saints. Next on the list was finding a pair of shoes. I had only brought 2 pairs of shoes and one of them was heavy Timberland boots to be worn in the snow and rain. The others were the sneakers for working out/running/playing sports etc... No one in France went out of the house in gym shoes or heavy boots so it helped me stand out even more (being 5inches taller and about 30lbs heavier than almost everyone contributed as well.)
Finding a nice pair of shoes was not the hard part. The challenge was finding anything in my size. The first store we went into had a great selection of men's shoes, but I had no idea what 13's in US sizes translated over into European sizes. So once we found a pair that I liked we went over to the sales clerk and asked if they had a device to measure my foot. I don't think she understood what we asked, so I decided to check the tongue of my sneakers to see if they had a conversion. In fact they did...47.5. When she saw this her expression changed very rapidly and she said: "Non, nous n'avons pas cette taille, peut-être les baskets!" This is translated roughly into "Of course we do not carry that size! Your only chance is basketball shoes you freak!" Well this was a little discouraging, but I hoped that it was only this particular store. Again, I was wrong. From that point on our strategy changed to simply asking if they had size 47's because we were wasting too much time picking out nice shoes only to be turned away. The next 8 or 9 stores we tried had the same results with varying degrees of astonishment from the sales clerks ranging from the simple "non" with bewildered eyes to "Oh la la la, Absolument NON!" After this last one we thought the best idea was to just ask where we might find shoes of that size, and were directed to a mall complex around the corner where "big" people shopped. I'm not sure if we actually found the right mall they were talking about, but I did finally get a great pair of comfortable, brown, casual/dress shoes. I had to settle for a size 46, but they fit just fine. Also in our short conversation with the sales clerk, when she found out we were Americans, she explained how excited she was that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, and that we had the Greatest President in the WORLD! We agreed! If only the rest of America could realize how lucky we are to have him and stop bitching and criticizing every little thing he accomplishes, good and bad, maybe he would be able to get more done and truly earn his award....Back to the point. Kathryn and I, now dressed as sharp, hip Europeans, will never again be mistaken as Americans...at least until we start speaking.
We didn't do anything on Saturday. Kathryn was sick, and I was tired so we hung around the house, and went to Carrefour and picked up some groceries and just took it easy.
Today got started a little earlier, but I was still able to sleep in. Our main goal was to get to Wazemmes for their Sunday market. It was supposed to be the biggest in the city with everything from food, to clothes, to anything you could think of. And boy, they were not joking around. In an area of about five or six square blocks there were vendors selling everything from shampoo and bathroom supplies, to cell phones and DVD's, clothes, underwear and lingerie, to whatever may have "fallen off the truck." It was anything you could find in Walmart or Target for at least 75% off the original price. I don't know how they do it, but you can't beat their prices anywhere. It was so much fun just wandering from aisle to aisle looking at all the different merchandise as well as the people lining up to buy everything.
After a full run through of the market we started getting hungry, and decided to stop into a little Thai restaurant that had a line outside that went almost all the way down the street. Lucky for us everyone was waiting for food "to-go" so we were able to bypass them all and get a table to ourselves inside. It was nice after weeks of French food to have something a little different. Now I love French food as much as the next guy (maybe not as much as my Dad) but Thai was a good change. Now we can go back to a couple more weeks of heavy cream, cheese and baguettes.This upcoming week should really be the start to our teaching adventures. In true French fashion the rules are being thrown out the window, and I believe I begin conversing with students on my own tomorrow. Kathryn has another training day, and hopefully will get some classroom work in the days that follow. Besides getting structured, finalized, schedules for at least the next couple weeks, we are hoping to explore some other parts of Lille, make new friends, and begin gearing up for our first vacation that starts on Oct. 24th. We haven't fully decided where we will go, but we have narrowed it down to either Paris, to visit my friend Yann, or Amsterdam. Stay tuned and I promise to try and keep these posts coming on a more regular basis. (As long as interesting things keep happening.)
À Bientôt,
Jor and Kathryn
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