Slice of Life

So many of you are probably wondering what do I actually do here when I only work 12 hours a week...?

Well, first of all, the job is pretty good.  Its like the holiday version of my normal job back home.  I prepare an activity for the class, go in, run it and walk away.  That's it. 

What kind of activities? Well, for the Secondes (Year 11 equivalent) I try and link an activity to what they are doing in their classes, e.g Murder Mystery.  Last week, I did an activity on what Christmas is like in NZ and this week we will sing the Pukeko in a Ponga tree song (The 12 days of Christmas - NZ version).  That will be probably be quite challenging for them but I'm sure it will be fun in the process.  Some classes are preparing for their Bac examinations at the end of Terminale (Year 13 equivalent).  This involves analysing a document in English for 5 minutes then having a conversation about it for 5 minutes, so I get sample documents and we practice this together.  They have a varied level of motivation, which can be interesting/challenging at times.  Another group I take for History/Geography in English and they have to research an idea then at the end of 6 weeks give a presentation to the class in English, which I mark. The last round was on NZ, and three groups talked about the Rugby World Cup! :) This same group I see again later in the week and we do games to improve pronunciation and to promote conversation.  I also have two groups of students who are post Yr 13 and are working towards a technical certificate but have to talk about their work experience in English for thier exam at the end of their course.  So I basically spend time talking to them in English, which is interesting as they are not very strong in English and it can take 5 minutes to get one sentence.  So that's 12 hours of my week.  I work 3 days and the gaps in between classes I use to prepare lessons, plus those days we have an hour lunch break when we eat a MASSIVE meal at the canteen.

I've also managed to pick up tutoring for two girls who asked for some help so that is a little bit of extra on the side.

So what do I do the rest of the time? Good question!!  So I have Mondays and Wednesdays free.  Well, I usually sleep in, catch up on emails/messages with friends, sometimes do my blog, plan my next trip or sort out photos from the last trip.  I often have to go into town to sort something out so I'll walk into town (about 10 mins walk) and look around.  I sometimes have to do my washing at the laundromat, so thats another trip into town.  Usually have to go to the supermarket and/or the boulangerie for food/bread/pastries.  The last few Mondays I've been away making the most of my three day weekend.  Sometimes I do Zumba or go running with my friend Sandrine.  I've been reading a lot of books.  Sometimes in the evenings, I'll hang out with my friends here, or we'll go to someone's place for dinner.  I don't know but somehow I seem to fill my days.

Most weekends I've been away, but the few that I am here for, usually Friday night I do something with my friends (this Friday it was the Christmas Party at our place), chill out Saturday, look around L'Aigle - Christmas Markets this weekend just been, watch DVD Saturday night and chill out again Sunday.  Sunday you can't do much as everything is closed.  But like I say, the weekends I am here are rare so usually I'm ready for a quiet weekend anyway.

Coming up... off to Paris this Saturday and early morning train Sunday to St Raphael where I will be until just after Christmas.  Then, heading to Toulouse on the 27th to catch up with my friend Nathalie, who lived in NZ two years ago, for New Years.  Looking forward to spending time with friends, to seeing Provence again and enjoying (hopefully) warmer/sunnier weather.

Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year, wherever you are.

One week closer to Christmas...

and I'm getting excited, after spending a lovely weekend with the wonderful people with whom I will be spending Christmas. 

My friend Miriam from Australia (we became friends while we were both living and working at Eau Vive in France in 2005) was in Paris for the weekend during her trip to Europe.  By coincidence, Jason (another guy who worked and lived at Eau Vive with us in 2005) and his wife Rebekah (both from the States) are also in Paris this year doing the same thing as me.  Our other mutual friend Laure (French) lives in Paris now too.  So, a reunion 6 years on was in order.  All was set for a reunion Saturday night.

I headed off to Paris Saturday morning.  I had some shopping to do and spent the afternoon with Rebekah, we were wandering towards the Centre Georges Pompidou, which I still haven't seen yet, but got distracted by the pretty christmas lights.  While heading towards the location of these pretty lights we spotted a little wine shop that was offering free wine tasting.  So we popped in for a bit. We had a fantastic time.  Nearly two hours later we had sampled a dozen or so wines.  I have never tasted wines so good!! We tried 3 cognacs (aged 10, 15, 25 years old), the sweetest Pinot Gris, Rieslings and Gwertz's from Alsace, and some sweet red wines.  We also tried a 1969 and a 1959 wine.  Just beautiful and you could taste so distinctly all the different flavours.

Saturday evening, after a change of plans, we ended up at Laure's place where Ian (our Irish friend who was also at Eau Vive with us in 2005) turned up as a surprise guest to our little reunion.  It was great.

Eau Vive crew reunited
Jason, Me, Miriam, Laure, Ian

Sunday was spent making the most of the fact that it was the first Sunday of the month, and all the monuments are free, by going to see St Chapelle et La Concergerie.  St Chapelle is an impressive chapel with amazing stained glass windows and La Concergerie is most famous for the fact it was one of the main prisons during the Reign of Terror during the Revolution, and many people such as Danton, Robespierre and Marie-Antoinette spent their last days here before being sent to the guillotine.

Then we sought refuge from museum fatigue and the pouring rain in a Salon du The, where we enjoyed mouth-watering tea and treats.

I was having such a great time hanging with friends in Paris that I hadn't got many of the things I needed to done, so I spent Monday morning doing some shopping, seeing the Christmas Markets on the Champs Elysees, then wandered through the streets past some things I wanted to see such as the Elysees Palace (where Sarkozy et co live) and the shop window displays of the big department stores Printemps and Galerie La Fayette. 

I was going to head back in the afternoon and then Miriam mentioned she wanted to see a movie, one I wanted to see too, but that was no longer playing in L'Aigle.  So, it was off to the movies to see Intouchables - highly recommended!  One good thing about L'Aigle (and there is more than one good thing about L'Aigle) is that the movies are half the price of the movies in Paris!

More time chilling out in Paris and then it was 7pm and I really needed to get back to L'Aigle so I got the last train back (thought at one point I was going to miss it - more running for the train).  I'll be spending Christmas with these people (minus Ian) and I'm very much looking forward to it.  Less than two weeks until the Christmas holidays.  My flatmate and I are hosting a Christmas party at our flat this weekend and the following weekend I'm off to stay with Laure in the South of France for Christmas and Nathalie in Toulouse for New Year's.

Joyeuses Fetes everybody!