la vie en France - c'est beau

I am still having a lovely time in France. Alice's family is really wonderful and they have been feeding me all sorts of French goodies. The other day I went into town with Alice and her mother. Alice had an appointement to get her hair done and her mother had to go to work in Cyrillus, a clothing store. So, I had a few hours on my own to wander around taking pictures, drink some coffee, and do a little shopping. My basic French was good enough to get me through the day and get everything I needed. In the evening we went out for some drinks and catch up on each other's lives, which was really great. I saw a long island iced tea on the menu at one bar, so I decided to order it. The bartender had to call someone and ask a question in order to make it. The result was rather unorthodox, with about half of the drink consisting of coke! Then he said "if it's too bitter, let me know and I'll add more cola". Right. I think they missed the point of that one... I should know better than to order American cocktails in Europe because it never works out right!

Yesterday was also a lot of fun. I went to Ikea (Alice's parents needed a few things to complete their new Ikea kitchen) and then to the grocery store. In the evening, we were invited to dinner with the former neighbors and still friends of the Gondry family, so I got to experience the culinary wonders of yet another French family. This couple has two children, Marine and Vincent, ages 6 and 8. The kids were happy to demonstrate to me that they can count to ten in English. Well done! The dinner was the most interesting part, as it consisted of about 5 courses of appetizers. The first was a martini glass filled in layers- first guacamole, then a sort of tomato salsa with scallops, and some sort of herbally flavored cream cheese on top. It was very interesting to have such a Mexican seeming concoction with seafood in it. After that there were little pieces of bread with all kinds of unidentifiable things on top that were also très deliceaux. My favorite came towards the end though- Have you ever seen a prune with a piece of bacon wrapped around it baked in the oven? Neither had I!!! All that and about 3 glasses of Champagne later, I was enjoying myself but beginning to miss Austria, where I am actually capable of fully participating in a conversation. French is hard, but I suppose that I've studied German a good deal more and that makes a huge difference.

Today looks like another adventure in the making. I neglected to mention earlier that I am in the heart of the Burgundy province, which I a sure you are all aware is quite famous for cuisine and wine. Alice's friend Caroline (also from Dijon) and her American husband Connor are in town for the holidays, and they are coming to pick us up for a wine tasting tour of the province. Watch out Burgundy, here I come!!!

In France

Hello Everyone!

I've arrived safely in France, and so far I have some mixed impressions of the place. I will try not to let this awful French keyboard influence my opinion too much! For an example, I will type "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" as I normally would on an American keyboard: "the auick brozn fox ju,ps over the lqwy dog:" Right; so, slow going on this computer. On my flight, I sat next to an elderly French couple and decided to practice my French a little by talking to them. I explained that I am an American living in Austria and that my German was much better. They were very friendly. The husband went on a long diatribe, which, from what I could understand, was complaining about how the younger generation has no respect for Americans. He said he was 84 years old and had lots of respect for our country because of WWII. They helped me find the train station in the airport once we landed. Then, the impression got a little worse. I went to buy my train ticket, and the clerk was typically snobby and answered my carefully prepared (and not incorrect) sentence in English. Also, there was dog shit smeared all over the floor in the station, and the restroom had a sign saying it would be closed for the next 15 minutes. Not exactly what one wants to hear after several cups of coffee on an airplane, and such things simply do not happen in the German speaking world. The TGV was fast and effective, but not as nice as the ICE high speed trains in Germany and Austria. Those are always impeccably clean and modern. The French version was kind of stinky. No matter though, I made it to Dijon to meet Alice and her parents. They are very friendly and wonderful people. They took me on a little auto tour through the city, which looks beautiful. It has 200,000 inhabitants and lots of pretty old buildings. Alice's family just built a new house last year, and it is very nice. They gave me my own bedroom, with a real double bed!! That makes it a true vacation to me, since I've never been a fan of twin beds. Alice and I will venture into town today, and I'll be sure to take some pictures. You will have to wait until I am back in Austria to see them though, since my camera cable is still there. I've pretty much had it with this keyboard, so that'll be all for now. Hope you all had a lovely holiday time and all that rot :)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I love christmastime! Everyone is in such a good mood, and tomorrow is my last day of teaching before the break. I have been doing lots of lessons on Christmas in the United States, which is a little bit different. This being a wholly Catholic country, (about 85% of the population is Catholic), there are many traditions that come along with that, like the Advent candles, and St. Nikolaus early in December. St. Nikolaus is sort of like Santa Claus, but on the 24th Austrians are not visited by Santa Claus, but rather the Christ Child himself brings the gifts! The tree doesn't go up until the 24th, (brought by Jesus, of course), and that is also the day they open the gifts.

I came home from school today, found a letter from my mother in the mailbox and a package from my Grandparents in the office. Hooray! I took my loot up to my room, and about 3 minutes later came a knock. I said "Moment!!" and opened the door. There was no on there, but rather a laundry basket with red ribbons wrapped around it and a card attached. I laughed. I yelled down the hall: "NINA!!! I know that was you!!! You can come out now!!!" I heard a giggle from her room, and she said "Scheiße!!" and appeared. She had seen me doing my laundry using my suitcase to haul it to and from the basement, so she got me a laundry basket. I thought that was very sweet!

Hope my beloved masses are enjoying the season as much as I am :)

Yours Always & Holiday Greetings-

Arthur

Monkeys Emasculated

Showed up at the Gymnasium today, all fresh and ready to teach my worst monkey-class, the 4th form. Just as I walked in, Andrea said "Ah! There you are. I just left you a voicemail. I have to leave right now. You'll be on your own for the 4th and 7th forms." To this I replied, "Um, I brought some comic books.... should be no problem..." "If they get too noisy, there's another professor next door or threatening to send them to the Direktor should do quite nicely." Right. Luckily I still had an hour to drink some coffee and collect my courage. The 4th form is notoriously difficult to control, even though Andrea is always there sitting in the back and helping me scold them. My plan for the day involved lots of Calvin & Hobbes, but I began by explaining to them very clearly that I would be VERY angry if I had to seek the help of another teacher to control them.I had some overheads of some of the best cartoons to demonstrate and explain the premise of the whole thing, and I got some volunteers to read out loud the parts of Calvin, Hobbes, the mother and father, Susie, etc. After that, I split them into about 5 groups and gave them each a book. I told them to find a comic strip they all really liked, and then describe it. First, the setting & surroundings, then the characters, then the plot. Also, I had them write why they chose this specific comic. Of course, group work is always a bit noisy, and that's fine as long as they stay on task. So I wandered around the room asking them questions and explaining vocabularly and helping with sentence structure, etc. But, once it was time for the groups to present their little summary to the rest of the class- they didn't want to get quiet again. I raised my voice. Everyone got dead silent except for one girl. I walked up to her and yelled "EXCUSE ME!!!! IS THIS LESSON INTERRUPTING YOUR CHATTING???"

They all got serious after that.

I reigned the classroom.

It felt good.

party party

Me at the Fachhochschule Christmas party with Nina :)

A Day In My Eyes II

Ready for another photographic adventure? Here we go:


This is definitely not my favorite time of the day.


I had enough time to walk today. In the snow.



Just the sight of the train station along the way. As you can see, the trains that run through Eisenstadt on the regional (read: middle of nowhere) line are miniscule. Just one diesel powered car/engine combination thing!


Just another sight along the way. Peter rabbit had best avoid this garden. Check out the skull above the gate!



Ah, here's my destination. The Höhere Technische BundesLehrAnstalt. Usually just abbreviated to HTL, although it says HTBLA on the wall. A nightmare of 1970's architecture.



First things first: A cigarette with my colleagues in the teachers' lounge.


"DO NOT FORGET YOUR CLASSBOOKS (This is a service provided by one of your forgetful colleagues)"


The students in the schools here are not allowed to wear their street shoes. They have to change into slippers when they come in so that the floor doesn't get so dirty. Hence the funny sign here. Teachers, thankfully, wear their street shoes.


Austrian students are required to stand up when the teacher enters the room as a sign of respect. I love it!


Finally on my way out... to the:


Grocery store. And then:


In bed, relaxing with a book. Ahhhh.

That's a typical day for me. Hope you enjoyed!

A Day In My Eyes I

I finally got a new battery charger for my camera. I decided to make a sort of photo-diary of my day. I didn't take as many pictures today as I would have liked to, but I was in the Gymnasium today and the opportunities didn't present themselves as much as would be the case in the HTL. So, here's what I have for today. I'll do it again tomorrow in the other school, hopefully with a few more pictures (including the classrooms).

Haircut

I got a haircut today. I just sort of went in and said "please make my hair shorter", and I came out with a style known as the 'fauxhawk'. Indeed.

Christmasy Eisenstadt Nights

Conversations, the Future, Sweeping Generalizations

Sorry to all for the reduced frequency of postings. My life has developed a comfortable rhythm to it, meaning that I am no longer filled with new impressions and observations to share with my beloved masses. However, a sense of belonging and comfort are certainly nothing for me to complain about. I've decided to do everything I can to stay here as long as possible. I told the Direktor of the Gymnasium of my intention to apply for a second year as a teaching assistant, and he was very encouraging and readily agreed to write a recommendation for me. After that, I'm considering going to an Austrian or German graduate school to become a full-fledged teacher or professor. I talking this over with Sandra, she noted that I must really be in love with Europe. (I'm sure of you back home can confirm this). She then noted, however, that it is difficult to make sweeping generalizations and about entire continents. I countered that some things could certainly be said, such as 'Europeans are more environmentally conscious than Americans'. She replied: "Well, the French and Italians aren't so great about it. The French throw all of their nuclear waste into the ocean". I noted that the United States has a few nuclear power plants, but the great majority of our electricity comes from coal-fired plants. She was shocked, saying "Das ist aber so... hinterweltlich" (That's so.... third-world). She also said, "Doesn't that pollute the air? There's so much CO2 in the smoke from coal!" I explained that the power plant closest to Athens was about an hour away, and the wind blows in the other direction (I think- correct me if I'm wrong). Austria, with its law against nuclear power, seems to get almost all of its electricity from Wind and Solar plants, which power a well-utilized railroad network in addition to everything else. So, there's my sweeping generalization about two continents. Say what you will, but I love it here and really don't want to come back. Sorry to disappoint everyone back home, but I am following my dreams and it feels great. Of course, I am an American and nothing will ever change that, and I do have a certain degree of pride in that. There are definitely some very good things about the US, but in my perspective they seem to be outweighed by the bad, especially in this day and age.
Speaking of American-ness, I was feeling fat and lazy and went to McDonald's again. This time I noticed a new menu item that was highly un-American: baked camembert. Vivé la France.