- I've met almost all of the 8 English teachers I'm supposed to be working with (8 teachers, 12 hours...interesting!) and only met about half of the students due to tests, teacher strikes, a quick US trip, and a week of student strikes. The teachers (and everyone else in town) are very nice, though I must admit that I'm at a loss for what to do with the students. I've got some ideas, but still have no clue what their levels are.
- My apartment is freezing cold. On nice days like today, is noticeably colder inside than outside. W e are trying to figure out what to do because our tiny space heaters suck electricity and the school refuses to turn on the radiator. I will be drinking a lot of tea and eating a lot of soup this winter. Pictures of the apartment coming soon, hopefully (see below).
- I spent a quick 4 days out of France to be the Maid of Honor in Brian and Emily Derlunas' wedding in Gettysburg, PA. It was a beautiful wedding and everything went swimmingly, though there was a serious possibility that I would not be allowed back in France after because I'm still in the process of getting my visa validated. I spent two weeks contacting everyone under the sun, in France and the US, in order to obtain a return visa or find someone who could tell me I would be allowed back (people here were telling me just to "forget it" and not be "too disappointed," which was not a possibility). In the end, as usually happens, the border police did not even glimpse at my visa, just looked at my picture and stamped a random page. Worrying about this issue occupied about two full weeks of my life and thus nothing else got taken care of. Oh, and due to national train and metro strikes, I barely got to Paris for the flight and barely made it back to my town. Too close for comfort.
- I spent an awesome Saturday afternoon picking grapes in a small vineyard an hour away and then picking squash in some gardens. Incredible. There are lots of pictures and hopefully a post coming about that.
- There's neither gym nor Zumba in Semur, so I'm trying to develop an exercise routine. The Maison Pour Tous (kind of like a community rec center) has a Thursday night step aerobics class which my German roommate, Monika, and I tried. Though I extremely dislike step aerobics, it was good to sweat and do something physical, plus it's not too expensive if I sign up for the whole year. The biggest problem? The instructor has the workout "choreographed" to music from 1999 and worst of all, can't hear the beat or cues in the music so instructs people to move against the beat. For this lifelong dancer, it's obvious and obnoxious. But it's something to do, so I might just keep up with it.
- Last week the students were on strike and now we are on Toussaints Holiday (a 10-day holiday for All Saints' Day) until November 4. I spent the past few days in Dijon with some other assistants, exploring, hiking, and drinking tea. If I lived there, it would be dangerous financially :) I wanted to travel somewhere on my travel list (it's pretty long...), but we are still awaiting our first pay check and after my quick US trip, didn't think it would be smart to leave again.
- I miss Senegal a lot, but the more time I spend here and experience certain aspects of France, the more I understand about Senegal. That's definitely a blog post. I also found a HUGE population of Senegalese selling at the 3x/week market in Dijon and was super creepy listening to their conversations in Wolof. Also, it's not as fun to just talk random nonsense with Senegalese in France as it is with Senegalese in Senegal.
- NO ONE can pronounce my name here, sauf a few English profs. Most people who ask my name just stare at me blankly, then look with confusion at whoever introduced us thinking it's a joke, and it's uncomfortably awkward until I tell them that my name is "BeTTani" instead. [I kind of expected this to happen, but it's a little worse in France than it was in Brussels, Paris, or Senegal.] A few have resorted to calling me Bettina (a la my Belgian host mom Adriana), which just may be easier.
- I'm constantly exploring Semur and life as a Semuroise. There's not a lot to do in town, so I walk around a lot and try and stop by any market or festival going on. Last weekend was the "Journee de la Pomme" which was basically a gymnasium full of tables of various types of ancient apples and some things for sale, but I wound up sharing lunch with a sweet older French lady after I bought some cidre from her. She was friendly and chatty, confused about my crazy accent (America meets Senegal, Brussels, Paris, Burgundy, etc), and had somethings to share about her opinion of the Sarkozy and the strikes. I also ran into one of the English teachers who has offered me use of her bike when I need it and showed me the giant house she is in the middle of renovating. There's a movie theatre and a regular one, both of which I've attended on two separate occassions each. I'm trying to be more spontaneous and let little Semur surprises guide my days.
The other side of Semur
