I couldn't think of an appropiate title, which is quite normal given that I'm blogging after..6 months! Think I should give this one up and create a whole new one?
I figured I'd blog now given that I'm exceptionally bored, well, bored is a bit of a stretch. Non-enthused, would be more like it, but you can't blame me, look out the window! (For people who are reading this much later, it's the monsoon season in Chennai and the rains have been fairly frequent this year) No one wants to work early morning when it's cool outside. The entire pace has slowed down completely and it's not just me. Everything and person at home is just feeling 'blah', and the cats, umm well, the cats are always like that, so I can't really spot the difference.
Coming back to what I am doing now, I am a French teacher and Course-coordinator at INaWORD Centre for Languages in Adyar. I work half the day and sleep off the rest. Teaching full time is HARD WORK! Well, the entire year's sort of been leading to this, what with teaching English first and now French. I work a lot more than I used to before!
I teach French to ICSE students and some StateBoard students. The ICSE program is fun in the sense that I get to set the portions and the paper (there is no textbook). For the people who followed the 'Mantra' at school, my God, isn't it the most boring book ever!?!
Course-coordinating as such doesn't really take up much of my time, I work from 9 to noon and I'm done, only to have classes again in the evening.
Besides all of this, I also managed to complete my 1st Level of German =), which I can assure you is not a big deal. But hey, I did pass (and well) and am pretty gut.
Guten Tag, Anusha!
Guten Tag, Herr Dr. Iyer!
Wie geht es Ihnen?
Danke, gut! Und Ihnen?
Sehr Gut!
Dr. Iyer, Sie haben ein lächerlich Gesicht!
Was?!!!
It's ok. We all make mistakes.
Unrelated note: If you believe, as I do, that listening to the right song can really change your mood, then : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpvNM9kj6d8
If you can understand Punjabi, that is.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
One more month to go.
For the unfortunate few who wait for me to blog regularly, here's my next bit of information. I've got exactly one more month here in Beaune and (even better) only two weeks of work left. I'm off to Paris on the 9th and then to Barcelona on the 16th. I've even been practicing (practising?) my Spanish, base stuff though, to help me find a road, find Karla if I lose her, how much does this cost?, thank you very much Sir/Madame/Miss, motherfucker and Where is my Latin boy? (Think this'll do?)
For the two weeks of work left, I've got parties (known as goutiers here) with the students planned for most of the hours anyway. The only problem is that I have to invite the teacher too. Other than that, I have last-minute presentations to make on India. For some reason, everyone's realised that the only Indian assistant they've had or ever will have is about to leave and they need to profit from her presence. Profites-en bien.
I've already seen Paris before, so I've scheduled another visit of the things I missed the last time although I'll be seeing la Tour Eiffel many times.
Last update, I got a tattoo =).
For the two weeks of work left, I've got parties (known as goutiers here) with the students planned for most of the hours anyway. The only problem is that I have to invite the teacher too. Other than that, I have last-minute presentations to make on India. For some reason, everyone's realised that the only Indian assistant they've had or ever will have is about to leave and they need to profit from her presence. Profites-en bien.
I've already seen Paris before, so I've scheduled another visit of the things I missed the last time although I'll be seeing la Tour Eiffel many times.
Last update, I got a tattoo =).
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Back from the holidays.
As much as I hate to admit it I'm back from the holidays to work for 5 weeks before the next set of holidays start again. I met Anbu and Ranjana (two other assistants) in Anbu's city (Dunkirk). I left with Jeff on the last day of school and came back on the 3rd of January.
Dunkirk's a nice city where the people are more fun than the city is. We went to Lille many times and even to Belgium and the Netherlands. For and Indian it's tough to imagine that one can visit 3 countries in just one day. The vacation seemed to pass off really well with shopping, sight seeing, ice skating, ridiculous-dip-in-the-sea on New Year's day (if I'd died of pneumonia, all I can say is that it would have been totally worth it), meeting new people, but, most importantly, speaking in uninterrupted english for 2 weeks. So much so that I'm still having problems settling back to French even now. Sigh.
Thanks to Anbu I managed to have Indian food for the 2 weeks, but I still would recommend Fish and Chips and Belgian Waffles over Chicken Biryani anyday.
I'll be updating the photos and videos soon. Look out for them on my orkut account.
Dunkirk's a nice city where the people are more fun than the city is. We went to Lille many times and even to Belgium and the Netherlands. For and Indian it's tough to imagine that one can visit 3 countries in just one day. The vacation seemed to pass off really well with shopping, sight seeing, ice skating, ridiculous-dip-in-the-sea on New Year's day (if I'd died of pneumonia, all I can say is that it would have been totally worth it), meeting new people, but, most importantly, speaking in uninterrupted english for 2 weeks. So much so that I'm still having problems settling back to French even now. Sigh.
Thanks to Anbu I managed to have Indian food for the 2 weeks, but I still would recommend Fish and Chips and Belgian Waffles over Chicken Biryani anyday.
I'll be updating the photos and videos soon. Look out for them on my orkut account.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Beaune.
Marc's right when he says that I forget that I have a blog half the time. I was spending the morning blissfully browsing the net and looking at people's blogs when I realised that I, in turn, had things to blog about and that I did, in fact, have a blog. Given that I have the entire day off today having already finished my only class for the day (and it's only 11 AM), I don't work tomorrow and it's the weekend later, I decided that I do have enough time to blog.
The keyboard takes time to adjust to, so if any wise ass decides to scrutinise my blog for errors, get a life and bug someone else. What hurts is the fact that now that I'm finally OK with using the AZERTY format, I have to go back home and get used to the QWERTY format all over again. It's these little things that are going to annoy me when I get back, getting used to riding on the left again. Irritating.
I decided today to blog about (no guesses), life here. Everybody knows that I'm here as an English language assistant (Prashanth actually asked me if I'd come here to teach French, now wouldn't THAT be interesting?!) at a school. Now I know that that's about all they know about it. I'm here at a lycée (high school) called Lycée Etienne Jules Marey - Greta teaching students from the age of 16 to 20 (yes, 20). I’ve got classes where half the students are older than I am. Not good.
Having just turned 20 I figured it’d be easy to teach adolescents and that my classes wouldn’t be long boring sessions but would instead be more of conversation classes. I was right. The students are eager to please, make me laugh and are even fun to talk to. But, yes, here comes the ’but’, they suck at English. They tell me that they’ve been learning English for the past 3 years and when a student takes 2 whole minutes to churn out a statement that sounds like " ’E, ummmmm…’as gone to ze, ummmm..'ah merde, c’est pas ça’, ze..umm..librareee..", all I can say is that they must have had horrible teachers. It took a grand total of 2 hours to realise that they need help! They’re eager to learn, which I suppose is a good thing. I’m glad that they don’t see me as a teacher, but more of a friend. It makes it easier to communicate. When a student comes up to me after a class to say that she’s happy in my class and doesn’t feel scared to talk to me, I finally understand why people choose to be teachers. Trust me, this isn’t a profession I’d recommend to anyone, I never wanted to teach in the first place, but it does have it’s perks. What’s better is the fact that I have an open invitation at any time to go along with them to ’Operanite’ (which is the only attention-worthy discothèque here in Beaune. The 2 other language assistants (Stefanie for German and Karla for Spanish) are 22 and 24 respectively and the students secretly confessed that they find them way too old =).
Beaune. Very beautiful, picturesque and typically bourgoise. Ideal for a 2 week holiday, a big no-no if you’re going to live here, especially if you’re under 25. There’s nothing, no seriously, NOTHING that you could do here for more than a month that would classify as ’interesting’. There are a couple of decent discos, a really good cinema hall, wonderful places to walk around, nice cafés, but that’s about it. Dijon is the place to be, if you want to party. Which I suppose is a good thing if you’re new in the country and need a big break. Beaune, in very Goldilocks style, is not too big, not too small, but just the right size. The people are friendly, but there are only so many times that you can listen to the origin of wine and the different types of wine there are. The teachers are eager to help us ’have fun’, but I sincerely doubt if I’m having FUN at all the churches early on a Sunday morning. It’s the thought that counts, I guess.
Living alone. Not easy. Point. I spent the first 2 weeks living like a slob, refusing diligently to clean up my room, eat the right things and feasting on chocolate, for the sole reason, that I finally could. Once I got that out of my system, I’ve become oh-so-propah and though none of my friends will believe me I have turned into the type that cleans everyday and is tidy, despite all of amma’s dark predictions that I’d be living in a sty. HAHA, I CAN live alone. It’s tiring, exhausting, frustrating and scary (I spent the first 10 nights sleeping with the lights on), but I know that I can do it. I think this 7 month period is great because living away from home is something everybody must absolutely go through before they officially ’grow up’ and move out. I can cook, Ok, I’m not an ace chef (all I do for now is boil the rice and heat the veggies and the chicken, but hey, it’s a start. People who know me will concur), but I can survive. I’ve decided to move on from the daily bread and butter and cheese (LOT’s of cheese) to rice and spaghetti and lasagnes, pretty much things that take time to cook. The sad part is, even though I’m getting used to it and getting better too, I sincerely doubt if it’s something I’ll ever get to enjoy doing. Cooking is a chore I’d rather do without. Too bad.
Being a tourist. It’s the best thing in the world. I’ve visited about a zillion new places already and I’ve learnt a lot here. I can’t wait for the new set of holidays (December 22 to January 8) to roam around again.
The one thing about being away from home is that I’ve become really tolerant. People aren’t kidding when they say that a month away from home makes you older by a year. This is the only way to learn. I’ve never been much of a patient type but I can say that I’m improving. I don’t even get angry that easily (Sharmi, that IS true).
That’s about it for life here in Beaune. I can’t wait to come back but I don’t want to leave either.
The keyboard takes time to adjust to, so if any wise ass decides to scrutinise my blog for errors, get a life and bug someone else. What hurts is the fact that now that I'm finally OK with using the AZERTY format, I have to go back home and get used to the QWERTY format all over again. It's these little things that are going to annoy me when I get back, getting used to riding on the left again. Irritating.
I decided today to blog about (no guesses), life here. Everybody knows that I'm here as an English language assistant (Prashanth actually asked me if I'd come here to teach French, now wouldn't THAT be interesting?!) at a school. Now I know that that's about all they know about it. I'm here at a lycée (high school) called Lycée Etienne Jules Marey - Greta teaching students from the age of 16 to 20 (yes, 20). I’ve got classes where half the students are older than I am. Not good.
Having just turned 20 I figured it’d be easy to teach adolescents and that my classes wouldn’t be long boring sessions but would instead be more of conversation classes. I was right. The students are eager to please, make me laugh and are even fun to talk to. But, yes, here comes the ’but’, they suck at English. They tell me that they’ve been learning English for the past 3 years and when a student takes 2 whole minutes to churn out a statement that sounds like " ’E, ummmmm…’as gone to ze, ummmm..'ah merde, c’est pas ça’, ze..umm..librareee..", all I can say is that they must have had horrible teachers. It took a grand total of 2 hours to realise that they need help! They’re eager to learn, which I suppose is a good thing. I’m glad that they don’t see me as a teacher, but more of a friend. It makes it easier to communicate. When a student comes up to me after a class to say that she’s happy in my class and doesn’t feel scared to talk to me, I finally understand why people choose to be teachers. Trust me, this isn’t a profession I’d recommend to anyone, I never wanted to teach in the first place, but it does have it’s perks. What’s better is the fact that I have an open invitation at any time to go along with them to ’Operanite’ (which is the only attention-worthy discothèque here in Beaune. The 2 other language assistants (Stefanie for German and Karla for Spanish) are 22 and 24 respectively and the students secretly confessed that they find them way too old =).
Beaune. Very beautiful, picturesque and typically bourgoise. Ideal for a 2 week holiday, a big no-no if you’re going to live here, especially if you’re under 25. There’s nothing, no seriously, NOTHING that you could do here for more than a month that would classify as ’interesting’. There are a couple of decent discos, a really good cinema hall, wonderful places to walk around, nice cafés, but that’s about it. Dijon is the place to be, if you want to party. Which I suppose is a good thing if you’re new in the country and need a big break. Beaune, in very Goldilocks style, is not too big, not too small, but just the right size. The people are friendly, but there are only so many times that you can listen to the origin of wine and the different types of wine there are. The teachers are eager to help us ’have fun’, but I sincerely doubt if I’m having FUN at all the churches early on a Sunday morning. It’s the thought that counts, I guess.
Living alone. Not easy. Point. I spent the first 2 weeks living like a slob, refusing diligently to clean up my room, eat the right things and feasting on chocolate, for the sole reason, that I finally could. Once I got that out of my system, I’ve become oh-so-propah and though none of my friends will believe me I have turned into the type that cleans everyday and is tidy, despite all of amma’s dark predictions that I’d be living in a sty. HAHA, I CAN live alone. It’s tiring, exhausting, frustrating and scary (I spent the first 10 nights sleeping with the lights on), but I know that I can do it. I think this 7 month period is great because living away from home is something everybody must absolutely go through before they officially ’grow up’ and move out. I can cook, Ok, I’m not an ace chef (all I do for now is boil the rice and heat the veggies and the chicken, but hey, it’s a start. People who know me will concur), but I can survive. I’ve decided to move on from the daily bread and butter and cheese (LOT’s of cheese) to rice and spaghetti and lasagnes, pretty much things that take time to cook. The sad part is, even though I’m getting used to it and getting better too, I sincerely doubt if it’s something I’ll ever get to enjoy doing. Cooking is a chore I’d rather do without. Too bad.
Being a tourist. It’s the best thing in the world. I’ve visited about a zillion new places already and I’ve learnt a lot here. I can’t wait for the new set of holidays (December 22 to January 8) to roam around again.
The one thing about being away from home is that I’ve become really tolerant. People aren’t kidding when they say that a month away from home makes you older by a year. This is the only way to learn. I’ve never been much of a patient type but I can say that I’m improving. I don’t even get angry that easily (Sharmi, that IS true).
That’s about it for life here in Beaune. I can’t wait to come back but I don’t want to leave either.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Tamilians everywhere!!
Ah man, Prahalathan sent me this forward through Yahoo. Just when my day was starting to get yucky (dont get me started) I get this. Read through this and if you're tamilian you'll be sure to be laughing or at the very least grin.
When the title says it's funny, it is.
The best part is that she wrote it on by birthday. Ok well that's not really the best part, I just couldn't help noticing that. =)
Superb! Tamil woman in U.S. - nice blog... read it when u need a break...really superb...!
The following is an excerpt from a blog (written by an Indian in America ) Wednesday, September 28, 2005
En per padum paadu!!! My full name is Kalaivani, but I call myself Kalai. This is not for scene, ....like how Madhavan does in Anbe Sivam (Anbarasu --> Ars).it has a looooong and pathetic history... I started hearing different versions of my name after coming to this country, and the painful fact is all the possible permutations and combinations of vowels in my name give meaningful words in tamil!!!
When I first joined the university, my professor wrote to me.. Dear KALAvani (meaning: thief; context: kalavani paya..) .... ... ... Sari adhuvachum typo nu free ya vittudalam..
Then after a year, I joined a company for internship.those people called me before I joined, to inform me about some test which I had to take.. "Hello is this Ms. Kizhavaani?" (meaning: old; context : kizha bolt..etc.) "No..this is KALAIvaani" "Ohh..am sorry KALAvaani" (Marupadiyum. ..)
Then I decided.periya pera irukkinala thane ivlo confusion?!! So, I started calling myself 'Kalai'... but the story continued.. I joined my full-time position in another company recently. On my first day, we had a meeting.. "Let's all welcome our new associate.Ms. Kulai" (meaning: bunch; context: kulai kulaiyai vazhaipazham kaaithadhu) CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! Followed by smiles. (Dei.ennangada. .. ellarum serndhu comedy panreengala? ??) Anniku arambichadhu. ..
Once my boss and I were talking about a project... after finishing the meeting... "Ok, Kali. Nice to have you here!" (meaning: last yuga; context: kali muthi pochu.) "That's KALAI" (Enakku idhu thevaya?!) "Ohh kAALi?" (meaning: goddess; context: badrakaali.. ) "Hee hee .very close" (Podaannnggg. ..!!) So, I stopped correcting my name after that..!
One fine morning, I was working. "Hey kiLai (meaning: branch; context: marakiLai) .howz it going?" "Yea good" (Sollitu thirumbitten. Nammaluku edhuku indha per thiruthura business nu...) "Is that how you say your name?" (Aaahaa arambichutanya. ..!!!) "Uhhh. It's KALAI" "Kolaai?" (meaning:pump; context: kozhai adi sandai.) (Venaaammm.. .) "Kolai?" (meaning: murder; context: kolai panniduven.. ) (Venaam!) "kaLai?" (meaning: weed; context: kaLai pudunguradhu.) (Valikkudhu. .. azhudhuduven. ..) "May be I'll get your name with practice. Haha." (Idhellam remba over da dei... Tamil la paatha rende rendu ezhuthu thaan da!!!)
Ennada, Chandramukhi la thalaivar 'durga' perai nakkaladikkira maathiri... namma per ayiduche nu nenaikkum podhu... my friend came up with a brilliant idea! Adhavadhu... to compare my name with a word.so I started using this word 'kaleidoscope' ; which has the same pronunciation as 'kalai'! So, I started telling everyone. 'Kalai as in kaleidoscope' !. Ippo kooda romba ellam ozhunga solradhulla. They are saying 'kalaai' (kalaaikiradhu).. "Hey Kalaai!!" "Yea?" "Just trying to say your name. Ha ha ha" "Ohhh ..how sweet!" (thooo thEri..)
Yedho vaandhi edukkira effect la per irundhalum.. . my life was in peace... until few days back... My net connection was down, so I called up the customer service (En kiragam. Madras call center ku pochu!) Enakku andha vishayame theriyala. So I started in complete American accent... "Your name ma'am?" "Kalaai" "What? Can you repeat ma'am?" " Kalaai as in kaleidoscope" "I didn't get that ma'am. Can I have your number? I can check the records" (Sigh!... and gave the number) "Ohh, Kalaivani, right?" (in a sarcastic tone.) ( Ada paavi makka... nee nammooora??! !! All American accents stopped. Back to Indian accent.) I could clearly see what he was thinking... per paatha 'urs pammingly' nu podra category maathiri irukku... scene podradhu mattum princess Diana range kaa... "Anna... naan sathyama andha maathiri illeeengana. ..
When the title says it's funny, it is.
The best part is that she wrote it on by birthday. Ok well that's not really the best part, I just couldn't help noticing that. =)
Superb! Tamil woman in U.S. - nice blog... read it when u need a break...really superb...!
The following is an excerpt from a blog (written by an Indian in America ) Wednesday, September 28, 2005
En per padum paadu!!! My full name is Kalaivani, but I call myself Kalai. This is not for scene, ....like how Madhavan does in Anbe Sivam (Anbarasu --> Ars).it has a looooong and pathetic history... I started hearing different versions of my name after coming to this country, and the painful fact is all the possible permutations and combinations of vowels in my name give meaningful words in tamil!!!
When I first joined the university, my professor wrote to me.. Dear KALAvani (meaning: thief; context: kalavani paya..) .... ... ... Sari adhuvachum typo nu free ya vittudalam..
Then after a year, I joined a company for internship.those people called me before I joined, to inform me about some test which I had to take.. "Hello is this Ms. Kizhavaani?" (meaning: old; context : kizha bolt..etc.) "No..this is KALAIvaani" "Ohh..am sorry KALAvaani" (Marupadiyum. ..)
Then I decided.periya pera irukkinala thane ivlo confusion?!! So, I started calling myself 'Kalai'... but the story continued.. I joined my full-time position in another company recently. On my first day, we had a meeting.. "Let's all welcome our new associate.Ms. Kulai" (meaning: bunch; context: kulai kulaiyai vazhaipazham kaaithadhu) CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! Followed by smiles. (Dei.ennangada. .. ellarum serndhu comedy panreengala? ??) Anniku arambichadhu. ..
Once my boss and I were talking about a project... after finishing the meeting... "Ok, Kali. Nice to have you here!" (meaning: last yuga; context: kali muthi pochu.) "That's KALAI" (Enakku idhu thevaya?!) "Ohh kAALi?" (meaning: goddess; context: badrakaali.. ) "Hee hee .very close" (Podaannnggg. ..!!) So, I stopped correcting my name after that..!
One fine morning, I was working. "Hey kiLai (meaning: branch; context: marakiLai) .howz it going?" "Yea good" (Sollitu thirumbitten. Nammaluku edhuku indha per thiruthura business nu...) "Is that how you say your name?" (Aaahaa arambichutanya. ..!!!) "Uhhh. It's KALAI" "Kolaai?" (meaning:pump; context: kozhai adi sandai.) (Venaaammm.. .) "Kolai?" (meaning: murder; context: kolai panniduven.. ) (Venaam!) "kaLai?" (meaning: weed; context: kaLai pudunguradhu.) (Valikkudhu. .. azhudhuduven. ..) "May be I'll get your name with practice. Haha." (Idhellam remba over da dei... Tamil la paatha rende rendu ezhuthu thaan da!!!)
Ennada, Chandramukhi la thalaivar 'durga' perai nakkaladikkira maathiri... namma per ayiduche nu nenaikkum podhu... my friend came up with a brilliant idea! Adhavadhu... to compare my name with a word.so I started using this word 'kaleidoscope' ; which has the same pronunciation as 'kalai'! So, I started telling everyone. 'Kalai as in kaleidoscope' !. Ippo kooda romba ellam ozhunga solradhulla. They are saying 'kalaai' (kalaaikiradhu).. "Hey Kalaai!!" "Yea?" "Just trying to say your name. Ha ha ha" "Ohhh ..how sweet!" (thooo thEri..)
Yedho vaandhi edukkira effect la per irundhalum.. . my life was in peace... until few days back... My net connection was down, so I called up the customer service (En kiragam. Madras call center ku pochu!) Enakku andha vishayame theriyala. So I started in complete American accent... "Your name ma'am?" "Kalaai" "What? Can you repeat ma'am?" " Kalaai as in kaleidoscope" "I didn't get that ma'am. Can I have your number? I can check the records" (Sigh!... and gave the number) "Ohh, Kalaivani, right?" (in a sarcastic tone.) ( Ada paavi makka... nee nammooora??! !! All American accents stopped. Back to Indian accent.) I could clearly see what he was thinking... per paatha 'urs pammingly' nu podra category maathiri irukku... scene podradhu mattum princess Diana range kaa... "Anna... naan sathyama andha maathiri illeeengana. ..
Friday, October 12, 2007
Phew, finally made it!!
My first blog after coming here. It has to be long and it's taking a long time and lot of patience. I for one am not a frequent blogger but i'm doing things that need to be blogged about. you can forget the punctuation for a few sentences here since i'm using the azerty keyboard and i dont have the patience to get the punctuation right; getting he right spelling is already a big deal for me, i cant be bothered with the punctuation too.
For that limited number of people who do read my blog, you must already know that i'm supposed to have left for france on the 26th september. now this is what happened after the 26th. i left chennai on the morning of the 26th with a lot of baggage and no idea of what to expect. ananth, viren and mika came over to my place on the 26th morning to see me off and i met cyco at the airport. for the first flight i thought it was the worst experience ever. fortunately it didnt last very long and i reached delhi slightly sick and pretty cold too. delhi was fun; it was new delhi so i suppose that made a difference. the conference was fun, its nice to have met all the other assistants and finally meet kripalinee seeparsad in the flesh (for all the 'help' she gave us before leaving). they gave us some last minute advice on what to expect and that was pretty useful (one of them actually said that meals could sometimes last even 5 hours here, for which we all laughed. oddly enough, it is true. a simple dinner at one of the prof's houses lasted from 8 pm to 1 am). i met himanshu at delhi and even did a bit of the sight seeing and had, which was undoubtedly, the best panneer tikka and beer ever!
the stupid people at the embassy took us to the airport at 8 pm for a 2 am flight (what were they thinking?) and left us there on our own. not that we needed much help anyway. i was asleep at the airport on anbu's backpack at midnight when the whole jing bang decided to wake me up and celebrate my birthday. that was fun, but its odd having coca cola and lays at midnight at the airport with a bunch of strangers on your birthday. finally we got into the flight at the indira gandhi airport at delhi and headed off to milan. we stopped at milan at 8 am and took the next flight to paris at 8 40 am, with just about enough time to freshen up a bit, look around the airport and take a few photos. i remember watching ocean's 13 on the plane and we reached paris CDG at 10 45 am, slightly ruffled and quite excited. people at paris are very friendly to foreigners, especially if you can speak in french. i had to take the TGV from the airport at 2 pm and i hadnt the slightest idea where it was. anyway we managed to make it in time and when they say that the TGV is fast, trust me, it IS fast; there were raindrops on the window outside whose streaks were parallel to the base because of the speed. i slept on the way to lyon and managed to get into the train to beaune in time. the train to beaune was a lot slower and more relaxed and i could see the landscape well. bourgogne (the region) is known for wine and right enough, youcan see vinyards everywhere. i reached beaune on time and met mme jocelyne guillot and the conceirge for the school, joe, at the station. the rest is a blur, reaching the appartment, meeting the room mates, partying at jocelyne's house till midnight and collapsing on the bed. thankfully the room mates let me sleep till about 11 the next day. mr michellon and his son took us out shopping for food the next day and i managed to get myself a coat and see a bit of the place.
on wednesday after that weekend the three of us (karla, stefanie and me) went to dijon to meet all the other assistants for our conference at the CRDP. i met the other english assistants in bourgogne there and turns out there are only 5 in beaune (my city). 3 english assistants (jeffrey, georgia and me) and karla (for spanish) and stefanie (for german). that evening after the conference we went to our first discotheque and oddly enough they kept playing many songs of the beatles.
we came back to beaune the next day and i started work at the lycée the next day. a lycée, isnt a grammar school (damn all the french teachers back in india who told you that); its actually a high school with three levels, starting from the sécondaire, primaire and then the terminale (that is the order). the terminale students after their studies take up their baccalauréat (thats their equivalent of our 12th board exam) and then get into either the university, or specialisation school or get a job. the lycée i am at, called the lycée E. J. Marey has about 800 students. thats not much by indian standards but still a lot here. the professors are friendly and i work with a great set of english teachers: the reason i say great is because they've given me fridays off ("you have to travel here!!") and most of the time let me prepare my own class ("i've given you the 'carte blanche' ") and are very helpful whenever i need them. (eeeee)
they've seem to take it upon themselves to keep us in good shape here. jocelyne inspected the house once and decided that we didnt have enough food, so all the professors keep inviting us to their houses for food! its exhausting, but a lot of fun too. the first time we went shopping here, it was after getting all our clothes from the laundromat, we went to a place called the casino and the three of us lost complete control and shopped to the extent that we could barely walk back. fortunately for us one of the professors saw us struggle back and even sent word the next day that all we had to do is give her a list of things we need and she'd buy them for us (what's wrong with the people here??).
the classes are a lot of fun. not all the time, because some of the students are really shy. they take forever to bring out two small sentences (which sound like french in the first place) and keep giggling a lot, and that annoys me terribly. on the upside however there are a few classes where the students are very eager to talk, however bad it is, but still, they try. i came here with no experience whatsoever in teaching (i did take tuitions for a couple of months before, but thats different) and i just assumed that they'd listen to everything i say and understand it as and when i said it. too bad that never happens. the first thing i learnt is that you have to think on your feet and visual aids always help. they love to discuss things about india, (there's a student here who's absolutely convinced that Buddha was from Pondicherry and that all the people in India worship cows). Nothing i said could diffuse that belief. one day i even played that song 'folk you' (junkyard groove) for them with the lyrics (although part of it has tamil and malayalam) and they loved it! they've got the oddest ideas in their heads about indians and when they were told that i was an indian they automatically assumed i dont eat meat, that am already married, that i worship cows, that i listen to classical music and that i hate rock. that was funny.
sight seeing in beaune doesnt take more than 2 days, 3 if you're slow. i've seen the hôtel dieu (an old hospice), the remparts, the palais de ducs, the église de notre dame, the centre ville, the shops, the bank; the old fort, everything! now i want to get out of beaune, try dijon, lilles (anbu's at Dunkerque) aix marseilles and even paris later. i have the holidays from the 27th to the 8th so i suppose i'll try to do something then.
whoever said that living away from home is easy and is a great experience obviously chose not to talk about the first few months. its not easy to wash your clothes, to clean up your room, to make your own food, to shop alone, to prevent spending excessively, to find your way around the city on your own, to remember to NOT sleep on the couch and then to head off to work in time every single day. but fret not, once you get into the groove, you're good to go. its the first week thats painful (i mean painful exactly as it is).
all that aside, i cant believe that its only been 3 weeks so far. well i've finally updated my blog, something i should have done a LONG LONG LONG time back, and i'm not really looking forward to doing it again in the next few weeks.
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