La Journée Parfaite

Yesterday was the perfect Saturday. It started at about 9:00am, when 2 friends -- Fred and Johan -- and I headed out to go skiing for the first time this season. I hadn't been skiing in a few years, and was pretty nervous about how it would go - especially since I've never skied on mountains anything like the Alps. But, it was great! I forgot how much I liked skiing. Dad, if you're reading this, thank you for all the years you spent teaching me how to ski. I am sure I gave you hell sometimes about not wanting to go, but I am happy you were patient and took us skiing year after year.


After skiing, everyone took a break and Johan went to work. I had decided a few weeks ago to cook "Thanksgiving dinner" with Fred. He's been exceptionally nice to me the past couple months - he's cooked some French food for me, and his house has really become a second home. So I was pretty excited to share some Americanisms (and eat some familiar food!) Since it was just the two of us, it missed some of the jovial ruckus that usually accompanies a full day of cooking, drinking, and eating. We also didn't watch any American football. BUT, we did eat stuffing, mashed potatoes, chicken and gravy (turkey is hard to find here), and pumpkin pie. So, while as Americans we all know there is about 100 ways to make stuffing, I learned there are only really two ways to make the traditional French dish Quiche Lorraine - cheese at the bottom or no cheese at the bottom. We also have endless ways to make gravy, and even mashed potatoes have variations. It's something I probably don't give America enough credit for - but I actually love that flexibility. French cooking seems more definitive and, well, rigid (albeit delicious). Sidebar: Much like the food, the English language is flexible. It's hard to learn, but once you know it, it's expressive and adaptable. We have more words than almost any other language on earth, allowing for a multitude of nuanced ways to say essentially the same thing. Anyway, Fred is going to cook my stuffing recipe (Thanks, Diana, for finding that!) for his family at Christmas - which of course, I think is awesome. Globalization- gotta love it!

While cooking dinner, we got the added bonus of fireworks! We didn't know why they were going off (found out it was for a Christmas lighting ceremony), but in my mind they were to celebrate Thanksgiving. After dinner we watched Lord of the Rings (!!!) while eating pie and drinking something like Champagne and discussing how great of a day it was. (You probably know, but in case you don't - Champagne can only be called such if it is from the Champagne region of France, which is in the Northeast. Everything else is sparkling wine.)


So, like the title of the post says: The perfect day. Skiing, thanksgiving dinner, pumpkin pie, champagne, and Lord of the Rings!

What's more is that I bought my ticket home for 2-week March vacation. I will be back stateside February 25th and I am very excited to see you all again soon!

I went to Paris

Last weekend I went to Paris for four days. It was great to greet big-city life once again. My friend Jacob, who is studying in London, met there on Thursday. We rented someone's apartment in The Bastille district. It was a nice little studio, and the owner Valerie was exceptionally nice. It ended up being perfect for our needs.

I ended up seeing Musee D'Orsay, the Pompidou Center, Sacre Coeur, The Eiffel Tower (I went to the top!), Notre Dame, the Luxembourg Gardens, and lots of magnificent buildings the significance of which I do not know. Pics are on Facebook.

Some of the highlights were an unanticipated art fair by The Bastille, the Eiffel Tower at night, hearing live music in Montmartre, seeing the Champs Elysee lit up at night with blue lights in the trees that lined the boulevard - and having a drink at a chic bar there, and cafe breaks (the simple joy of which should not be overlooked).

It would be really fantastic to live in Paris at some point, although I know that (like any big city) I couldn't do it forever. Also, Paris is incredibly expensive. Major bummer.

As for mountain town, it's been snowing like mad here which I would normally be upset about. Since I get to go skiing in the Alps this weekend, I am letting it slide. However, I am still upset that the weather conditions caused the cancellation of a Jamie Cullum concert I was supposed to see last night in Lyon. Over 5 hours in the car for nothing. Tant Pis!

Hey, teach!

I have gotten some questions from friends about what exactly I teach - whether it’s chosen for me or if I create the lesson plans. The answer to this is: it depends. I teach over a dozen classes over the course of two weeks, which include all the 3 years of general high school plus students called BTS students who are post-BAC (again, BAC is basically equivalent to GED). There are two years in the BTS course, which means I teach 5 years of students, ages 15-20 roughly, although I do have a few BTS students who are older.

Some students are focused on literature, some on engineering, some on sales. They all have different requirements for how much English they need to know and different standards for grading, all of which is -not surprisingly- confusing for me at times. I work with 7 different teachers, but I tend to teach separately from them in small groups, as I mentioned earlier. Some teachers give me free reign to teach what I want. Others have requests. Some of these requests arise organically - for instance, I was discussing the regional differences in culture, attitude, way of life, etc. in various parts of the US and a teacher asked me to create a fun quiz/game for the students to test their knowledge of US geography, ,history and culture. I divide them into teams and ask them 30 questions about the US - 5 Overview questions, and 5 questions each about the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West. This gives me the opportunity to teach about the settlers from England, Native Americans, the western frontier, various wars (Civil War, Mexican-American War, etc.), food - of utmost interest to the French-, current politics, and more.

Sometimes when I am teaching I get questions that take me back. For instance, just yesterday I was teaching about Thanksgiving when one of the older BTS students said, “May I ask you a question - what do you think of the gun laws in the United States?” This is such a tough issue for me, and something really difficult for French teenagers and adults alike to understand. I explained that the Constitution is the original, founding document on which our government is based, and in this document, it states that citizens are allowed to own guns. I explained that the Constitution can be changed, but it is extremely difficult, and it is typically to add to new laws, not to reverse old ones. That being said, each state has different laws in regard to guns, some of which are more strict than others. Chicago was the last place in America that has a total handgun ban, and that was reversed by the Supreme Court last summer, citing that it is unconstitutional. I also explained that I personally believe guns are too easy to own and there should be much stricter licensing laws. The student then cited the movie Bowling for Columbine, in which a boy and his mother walk into a supermarket and buy a gun. I replied, “Yes, that is sad and shouldn’t happen. That might have taken place in a state such as Texas, and I haven’t been there, but anywhere I have lived, the notion of buying a gun in a supermarket is ridiculous and it would be impossible.”

Then back to Thanksgiving…which in fact, I wasn’t completely prepared to explain. It went a little something like this: Well, when the pilgrims came from England, they met the Native Americans. And there was some war, then peace, then war again, back to peace, back to war, and then a big meal where everyone ate turkey. I tried to enforce the idea that Thanksgiving is about coming together with family and/or friends, and it is about giving thanks. It is not a religious holiday, but an American one, honoring the tradition of coming together from different backgrounds. I tried to get each student to say something they were thankful for, but they had a difficult time with this concept. Several needed lots of prompting and finally said family or sports. Good enough.

Another funny thing about teaching is this: I feel terrible giving bad grades, even when the students deserve it. Kalli or Dan, if you’re reading this, how do you deal with this? I am bereft.

Beaujolais Nouveau and Fondue

This past Thursday was a special day in France. It was Beaujolais Nouveau, a day when the Beaujolais wine region of France releases its new wines for the year. These wines are not particularly good; in fact, it is just a pretext for une fete (party). But that's fine with me. In the salle de profs (teachers' lounge), there was a potluck for Beaujolais Nouveau. This is a picture of the potluck, which was from 12-2: standard lunch break for the French. I brought banana bread, which dooesn't exist in France. Since the French are food snobs, there was a lot of suspicion surrounding my bread loaf, which they call a cake since this does not qualify as bread to them. It was gone in about 20 minutes, so I mark it as a success. Of course I tasted the wine, which is very fruity - kind of like grape juice gone bad. Just kidding, it wasn't that terrible. But definitely nothing like the excellent Bordeaux I had that night for dinner...

That same night, another professor on my floor made fondue as a birthday dinner. I am continually humbled by how nice my friends and colleagues are. Some students on the floor joined in and we had a nice little fondue party. I am also continually amazed at how seriously the French take their cheese. For this was not just fondue - it was fondue Genevoise - Geneva fondue. This is different from fondue Savoyard or any other type of fondue. I am pretty sure it just means it's made with different cheese. Geneva fondue is made with Gruyere. It was delicious!

Hiking around the Bastille

Last weekend, I went to Grenoble again to spend some time with other English language assistants. We spent our Saturday on a hike to, and then beyond, The Bastille. It was foggy in the city when we left and the hike was not looking promising, and when we reached the Bastille we were in the middle of a cloud. Grenoble , which is in the department of Isere, has a rich military heritage. The Bastille is the home of the French Mountain Troops. Grenoble and the department of Isere were particularly active in the French Resistance against the Nazis during WWII, and they even have a museum dedicated to Grenoble's role in the Resistance. The picture here was taken by the memorial by the Bastille and the sign says Paix - Amitie, which means peace and friendship.

By lunch, we had hiked above the clouds and had an amazing view of the surrounding mountains, which included the Chartreuse and Belledonnes ranges. You could even see Mont Blanc from where we were (I live right next to Mont Blanc, and it's a three hour train ride to Grenoble...).

This hike reminded me of two things:
1) the view is better when you've earned it
2) if you don't like where you are, keep climbing


We could have spent all day Saturday soaked in fog in the city, but instead watched a sea of clouds creep beautifully between the mountains. I am thankful for the reminder that obstacles should not mean resignation. In fact, they should inspire motivation.

Lessons in authenticity

Part of why I came to France was because I just wanted time to think without the everyday routines or distractions of my life in the USA. I knew I would have lots of free time here (I do) and plenty of time to reflect (I have been). It's not easy accepting that I am the type of person who must philosophize about nearly everything - it's actually a pretty annoying personality trait.

I explained my hiatus in many ways - I wanted to travel, I wanted to try teaching, I wanted to improve my French, all of which are true - but ultimately I just wanted a different perspective of the world, and maybe myself. I felt before I left- and still feel- the need to justify my time here again and again. But the truth is, there is nothing to justify. It's just a choice. My choice.


Since I left my job in Chicago, and since this job is temporary, I have spent a lot of the time thinking what I will work at, and how I will make money. (Sidebar: I hesitate to use the word career because I am not sure that would accurately describe my trajectory, which has more zig and zag than a career, I fear.) I separate working at something and making money because what you work at (life goal(s) is not necessarily what puts dollars -or euro, or yen, or pesos- in your bank account.

All of this free time spent thinking is hard, mainly for two reasons:
1. I am forced to think about myself very critically - which I sometimes then feel guilty about, because why I am thinking so much about myself anyway?
2. There is pleasure in hard work, which I'm not doing.

However, I am learning to listen more to my inner motives. And that's something.

Authenticity is difficult. We find plenty of ways to hide our true feelings and intentions. I think this happens more as we get older, when trying to navigate the waters of social conformity or rebellion. We become aware of others' expectations and reactions. As children, we don't think about these things.

In France, linguistically, I am a child. This in turn affects my behavior and thought. I am going to loosely analogize this to linguistic relativity, which is the idea that "speakers of different languages will tend to think and behave differently depending on the language they use." To take a famous example, this theory means that if my language has 40 words for the "snow" (icy snow, snow that came early this year, slushy snow, big wet snowflakes, powdered snow, etc.), I will see nuances in snow that I would not if my language had one word for all snow. Therefore, I experience snow differently depending on my language. This is not really what I'm talking about though (hence, loose analogy). In France, I do not have full capacity of the language. This leads me to explain things in simple and often blunt ways - like children do. I also run into frustrations when I can't communicate properly. Ex: Yesterday at the post office. A package sent to me is being held at customs. I cannot communicate with the postman what needs to be done to obtain this package. This results in me crying - again, like a child. Is it easy to lie in another language? Nope. It's enough effort to think of how to communicate the truth, nevermind a lie. Children also don't lie well. For all of these reasons and more, I often feel like a kid. And it puts me face-to-face with my most essential reactions, desires, thoughts and motives. This is part of how I have found my authenticity.

I have been trying to understand how "authentic Amanda" operates in the work world and this much is clear: I like working in service of others, but not under direct supervision. I like being in charge. I dislike inefficiency. I don't like complainers. I am empathetic. I cry under too much stress. I enjoy hard work - it makes me feel useful. I also enjoy coffee breaks and naps. What this will all mean when I come back stateside and have to start thinking again about a retirement fund, I am not sure. But when I think, what have I accomplished so far with my life? and What will I do in the future? I at least know that I will remain true to my authentic self and continue to live life whole-heartedly. And that's not a bad place to be for 25. Neither is France. It's fondue time.

From Geneva to Grenoble

I am back at school today, after a two-week vacation. I spent a weekend in Geneva and several days in Grenoble (as well as several days doing next to nothing in my quiet town).

Geneva:
La place de Jean-Jacques Rouseau
La Musèe d'histoire et d'art
La Musée de la Croix Rouge - Museum of the Red Cross
Le jardin botanique (botanical gardens - complete with freely roaming peacocks)
Indian food for dinner! (As you can well guess, that doesn't exist in my neck of the woods)


Grenoble:
House parties, bars, Halloween festivities
Relaxing on a rainy Sunday
La Musée de Grenbole - lots of art here
A burger topped with Canadian bacon and chevre cheese - yeah, it's worth talking about

What did I learn in these places? A lot about art, including the discovery of some new faves. Ex. Georgette Argutte - http://www.aguttesembat.com/page08.html

Also, I tried a yummy digestif called Chartreuse, which is a specialty of the Grenoble region: http://www.chartreuse.fr/

Okay, but I prefaced this post with a promise to do truths and myths about the French.
So here we go.

The French smell bad: Myth. Every French person I've met seems to shower on a very regular basis. Beyond that, there are copious amounts of cologne, perfumes, sprays, deodorants, and other such things at the store to make yourself smell even better.

The French are communal: Truth. In the professor break room, there is always coffee, and a dish rack with loads of cups in it. Thinking these cups belonged to individual people, I was sneaky about only taking coffee when no one was around and then walking into a computer room, in case the owner of the cup I was using saw me. Then I brought my own cup, only to discover someone else using it. Turns out, the cups are for everyone.

French people are rude: Myth. People here are overwhelmingly nice to me. Granted, I'm in the country and that means that same thing it would in the US countryside, but still...People drive me around to do errands, explain everything from how to cook certain things to bank accounts in English, give me old appliances, furniture...it's awesome.

French people like to smoke: Truth. A lot of people smoke. Even the kids - lots of students at the high school take cigarette breaks.

French food is delicious: Truth and Myth. French cuisine is fantastic (and don't the people know it!) but it's not the end-all, be-all. Give me some hot wings and a pint of Goose Island 312 anyday of the week over a croque monsieur.

Lastly, the French are lazy: Well, as Matt recently put it, the French like to work hard to ensure they don't have to work too hard. Yes, they are fighting the retirement reforms like crazy, but they aren't lazy. They take their time and need a bit more prompting perhaps than other cultures. But who can blame them for not wanting to work? Who sincerely enjoys working? At least they're honest with themselves... Right? Maybe.

Do You Believe in Magic?

It's been an eventful 2 weeks in France. I have successfully done the following:

- Obtained a magic key (hence the title of the post) that unlocks all the gates at the high school
- Obtained a TV and a mini oven for my room (thanks to the generosity of other teachers)
- Seemingly have secured getting internet (after the vacation, bien sûr)
- Taught French students about the Puritans, the Civil War, the Gold Rush, the Mexican American War, the Civil Rights Movement, country music, the concept of "soul food," and the term "laid-back." I've also discovered my favorite way to teach is through music. Next up for the French kiddies: The Devil Went Down to Georgia.
- Gone to a concert
- Played (and lost) a game of poker
- Most importantly, I made French friends!

I cannot stress the last point enough. My welcome (in French: L'accueil) was great, and the English teachers really went out of their way to make sure I wasn't alone. However, having friends my own age who aren't my direct colleagues is really good for my morale! Since making friends, I've gotten to do normal things like have a drink in a normal bar (not a dancing box), walk a dog at the lake, and play a game of poker - they type of things that I've found are surprisingly necessary for my equilibrium.

Last night, I went to see a concert. First act was an amazing solo pianist - Chick Corea. Second act was even better, a swiss band called Rusconi. A bit like Sigur Ros, these guys did amazing things a piano, and acoustic bass, and drums. They are definitely worth checking out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9bDis29qXw.

In the 3+ weeks I've been here, I've noticed some things about the French that are surprising, and break some preconceived notions I had. I've also had many experiences that confirm lots of stereotypes, both in good and bad ways. So I think I'll dedicate my next post to Truths and Myths about the French. (Ex. The French smell bad: Myth. The French smoke a lot: Truth).

Oh, and the strikes? I've quickly become accustomed to the fact that going on strike is a national sport for the French, and is usually nothing to worry about. It also means I don't have to work as much :)

Le week-end

So this past weekend was the first weekend in my town. Unfortunately, everyone leaves the dorm to go back to wherever they're from, so my little "chambre" (bedroom) feels more like a prison than living quarters. Luckily, the Frenchies have reached out their generous hands and invited me all around town and then some. The married English teachers have sort of adopted me - they've lent me a bike, did a load of laundry for me, have fed me more meals than I can count, and brought me to the store to do shopping. Among all these glorious things, they teach me about apertifs (small amounts of alcohol drunk before a meal), local cheeses, desserts, and main dishes. My french culinary education is coming along quite nicely. The way of life here really isn't so different as some might imagine. The two things that have been the strangest to adjust to is 1) the main meal here is at lunch and 2) bread is rested directly on the table, not on the plate. Also, lunch and dinner is almost always followed by a cheese course and coffee -- to no one's surprise, this pleases me.

On Saturday, I took a bike ride 8km into Sallanches. Riding the bike was MUCH better than driving. I got to smell the horses, hear the cow bells (yep, the cows really do wear bells), watch the smoke from fireplaces disappear into the mountains...If I had a beret I'm pretty sure I could have been cast in a movie. Once in Sallanches, I went to the general store to buy folders to keep my dozen classes sraight. Then I went the fromagerie (cheese store) I had spotted once before. I dared to go into this cute-beyond-words little store and squeaked out, "I'm not from here and I'd like to buy some local cheese." The woman was very obliging and started handing me tastes of various things, 5 in total. I bought 3, placed them carefully in my backpack, and hit the road. That night, I brought the cheese and some wine over to the English teacher's house, where we ate dinner before heading out to meet some other teachers from the school. Natalia, Blandine, and I ended up going out dancing, which is not called a club, but a box ("la boite"). So, to the dancing box we went. Much like in any club, I felt a little uncomfortable, moreso because I was with two 40 year old women, each of whom had 3 children, and one of whom could be called my boss. Nevertheless, I am glad I went.

The next night I went bowling with my surrogate family, and Sunday night I had dinner at yet another English teacher's house (Sandrine), after which we went to a concert - an American arist curently touring France - Raul Midon : raulmidon.com. He's a blind one-man band definitely woth checking out if you like jazzy blues!

Finally, last night I went rock climbing. I went with Jaques, who is a philosophy teacher who lives on my floor of the dorm. (Olivier, my boss, and his wife Nadine were also there.) Jaques and I wil begin English lessons for a small fee - 10 €/hour - since he is starting a Master's soon and will need to take classes in English.

Today a small step was made in finding other youngins, as I finally have found a 26 year old female Spanish teacher! Just as exciting, she is from Marseille. A conspicuous attempt to gain friendship with her has thus begun!

Climbing Mont Envers

Yesterday, I climbed Mont Envers. It's a mountain right next to Mont Blanc, and it's awesome. I went with the students of technology/engineering. (At my high school, half the students are general high school students, and half are tech students. These students have finished their BAC -equivalent of a GED but harder- and are pursuing further education but not at a traditional university.) The tech course is two years. These students are anywhere from 18 to 24. Every year, both the first and second year students do this hike as a bonding experience. It was really great, not only for the scenery, but to hang out (finally!) with some people relatively my own age.

There is only one female in the second year tech course, and she sleeps right across from me in the dorm. There are two young women in the first year class.

All the students were very nice in sharing their wine and cheese with me at lunchtime. They also were pretty impressed I could keep up the hiking pace (about half the students opted out of the hike to take the train, but of course I chose to hike!). They said "L'ameraine est bien" - "The American is good."

We exchanged some information about music, they helped me distinguish the difference between "la rue" (street) and "la roue" (wheel), and I taught them a trick for saying the "th," as in "think." It's a sound that doesn't exist in French.

Tonight, I am going dancing with two female teachers...they are both about 40 years old! Should be interesting... stay tuned!

First week of classes

I finished my first official week of classes. One class was finishing a unit on violence in the US. This was really interesting, since France has really strict gun laws. It's difficult for the French to understand the second ammendment. It's also startling how many people die from firearms each year - over 11,000 in the US. That's more than 40 per day. Half of the people who die are between the ages of 10 and 24. It's hard to be a representative of the US in this context. I can do nothing but lament this sad reality. At the same time, the teacher who was teaching this class gave the students a story about how teachers brought guns to school in a small town in Texas (population 300). This was an unfair representation. I tried to explain that in the northeast, I knew only one person with a gun and it scared me the first time I fired a pistol (which was only last year). I also tried to explain that gun-related violence affects different populations disproportionately -blacks are twice as likely to die from guns than whites - red and blue lines on graph.

I also taught a class that was doing a unit on English advertisements. For the other classes; I talked about Chicago (sports, deep dish pizza, etc) and the United States in general, which included drawing lots of improvisational maps of the US on the chalkboard (yes, chalkboard - not whiteboard) -- good thing I paid attention in geography!

Training

I spent the weekend in the mountains at a training session with the other 225 assistants in my region. It was like camp - there were rooms with 8 bunks in each one, and freshman-year dorm-style showers - just all lined up next to each other. You had to pull a chain for the water (which was cold) to come out for 30 seconds. There were cows and horses everywhere too. I pet a horse :)

At training we learned about what is acceptable and unacceptable to teach (religion is COMPLETELY off limits!), and we learned some specific activitites we can do with the students. For me, it was also the first time I was able to converse with other Americans in 5 days. I know that does't seem like a lot, but try to think if you've ever gone 5 days without talking to a native English speaker... it's a rare ocassion I think.

I spent a lot of the weekend trying to find other English language assistants who lived within an hour train ride of me. I found 2. Nevertheless, it was a great bonding experience, and it was a relief to talk to people who were dealing with all the same things I was - culture shock, French bureaucracy, etc. Also, I think I secured some visitors since I told everyone how close to Chamonix I was (Chamonix is a world famous ski resort).

It was sad to say goodbye at the end, knowing that I was headed back to my remote corner of France alone. But on the bright side, my French will improve much faster I hope!

Little Town, It's a Quiet Village...

Well, I'm here in Passy. It was about an 18 hour journey of trains, planes, and automobiles. The flight on Sunday was a little rough due to the shenanigans of the night before, but thanks to Scandanavian Airline's personal entertainment console, I spent the day like any other hungover Sunday -watching a cheesy romance movie, a rerun of Glee, and playing Tetris. After a stop in Stockholm, I headed to Geneva. Then I took a train to Geneva's central train station, at which point I hopped on the #16 tram to a more obscure train station, where I then boarded a train to Passy! Once I was there, Olivier (my boss), along with 2 other English teachers, picked me up. It was 4PM on Monday by this time.

I waited at the school for a while since the "intendent" (person in charge of housing) wasn't in his office. After an hour or so, I was shown my room - a bed, a desk, a wrdrobe, a sink, and a window. There are a few students on my floor plus two professors.

That night, I went to the next town by car with Raph, another English teacher. He helped me get a SIM card for my phone, and I found an outlet converter. I got some food too. We stopped at his house for a drink. He is married to another English teacher at the school, they have three kids, and they live across from a horse farm. He invited me to stay for dinner, but I was in desperate need to sleep at this point, I declined and he brought me back to the school. On the way back, it was turning from dusk to night and lights from the houses dotted the mountainside - it was a really remarkable sight!

The next day, Miriam (another English teacher), went to the grocery store with me, where I scored some yummy wine for 4€. I drank it with another professor who lives in my dorm. He was telling about the regional cheeses but we segued rapidly into religion and then movies. He seemed very disappointed that I did not like Hitchcock and I recommended that he check out Wes Anderson.

Today I taught two classes, an advanced course of 7 students in which I spoke only English and a lower level, larger class which was more difficult. I played them some music - Can't Take My Eyes Off of You by Lauren Hill. Then I walked around the town for a couple hours and took pictures.

My pictures aren't loading right now, but I'll get on it ASAP and hopefully I can show you the town soon!

Sweet Home Chicago

Well, I'm under the week mark for when I'm leaving the U.S. While reflecting on my time spent in Chicago, as well as on the title of this blog, I realized that the reason I originally came to Chicago was for education - at Loyola University Chicago. And Chicago felt foreign to me at the time. A native of the east coast, I didn't understand why people in the midwest were so friendly. It seemed ingenuine, and sometimes suspicious. Over the last six years, I've learned to adjust and even appreciate the upbeat midwestern attitude. I've especially learned to love the city I live in, so I've decided to do a tribute to the city...

The Top 5 Things I'll Miss About Chicago.

5. American Sports

I'm no sports buff, but I enjoy a hot dog and some beers at Wrigley Field like any true North-sider. I also have a recently-developed appreciation for American football. Large men in lots of padding knocking each other around sounds really stupid, but I don't know what I'll do with my Monday nights without that ridiculous Fox football robot.

4. Nightlife

Chicago really loves to drink. There are probably more bars in Chicago than there are grocery stores. Probably not something to brag about, but it does make for some long, fun-filled nights. From the historic jazz club (and Al Capone's old haunt) The Green Mill to always-intoxiated Wrigleyville to dancing at downtown clubs, Chicago has a diverse and lively nightlife that will fit anyone's personality. I had so many pictures to choose from here, but this won one because I love group dancing. And I have a feeling that's not going to happen in France.

3. Free stuff

Like any city, Chicago is expensive. BUT, Chicago has a ton of free stuff - you don't even have to look that hard. There are tons of festivals, especially in the summer. All the parks there have contributed to earning Chicago the nickname of the "Green City" (even though they don't have recycling pick-up in most wards - that gripe would go on a different list). Millenium Park in particular is a great place to check out free music and dance performances. You can pack a picnic and lounge on the enormous lawn, equipped with speakers seemingly hanging from the sky. Sound cool? It is. If you live in Chicago and haven't done this, shame on you.



2. Restauraunts/Food

Much like the nightlife, Chicago's food options are diverse. There are Chicago favorites like Chicago dogs and deep dish pizza (pictured here), family-owned BYOB places like Andalous Moroccan (one of my personal favorites), and truly world class dining (TRU, Alinea, Custom House, lots of steakhouses...). You can eat Thai, Indian, Ehtiopian, Italian, French, Mexican, Argentinian, Brazilian, Turkish, Lebonese, Vietnamese, and even American food. You probably don't even have to go more than 5 miles to get to any of these.

1. Lake Michigan

Swimming in it, sailing on it, flirting with skin cancer while lying beside it: Anyway you slice it, I love Lake Michigan. Yeah, Chicago is great for all of the reasons I listed above, but then put all that next to over 13 miles of beach front? It doesn't get much better. While writing this, I'm having a hard time figuring out why I decided to leave. It's something most take for granted, but Chicago beaches are public and free. Also, there are no jellyfish or sharks. I love you, Atlantic Ocean, but I'm just sayin'.

Wrapping up summer

Ten days ago, I finished the Chicago Olympic Triathlon in just under 4 hours, and completed a goal that I've been working towards all summer. Finishing the race also serves as signifying the end of summer. Now that the daunting task of completing a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride, and 10km run is behind me, my mind and body is freed up to think about what's next.

So, what is next?

On September 26, I am flying from Chicago to Geneva and then taking a train to a small town called Saint Gervais-les-Bains, which is right next to an even smaller town called Passy, which will be my home from October to May. I’ll be teaching English at a “lycée professionnel” there. A lycée professionnel is loosely the equivalent of a vocational school in the U.S. Most of the kids I teach won’t be going to a university (I refrain from using the word college because “college” in French means “middle school”). I will teach 12 hours a week, on a schedule yet to be determined. Two hours a day, six days a week? Four hours on three days? I don’t know.

I don’t know exactly what the housing situation is yet, although I do know the school has offered me a private room amongst the other boarding rooms the students stay in. This includes a community kitchen and bathroom(s). I have a suspicion I’ll have a low threshold for living in this environment for long (Sharing a bathroom with teenage girls? I’ll politely decline), so I am already exploring my options to live in a rented room in the area, even if it means a small commute.

I don’t know how I’m going to pack everything I want to bring, and where I’m going to put everything I want to keep but not bring (the storage locker I am renting in Chicago is practically full already).

What I do know is that I’m encouraged to bring teaching materials with me. And I’m really excited about that. I’m really excited to push the kids to learn the English language, and to share some great English literature. I'm planning to select some easy-to-read passages from a variety of English-speaking authors – Maya Angelou, JD Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Jamaica Kincade, and Annie Dillard. Yes, I know it's a little ambitious, but setting high expectations for myself and others is nothing new for me. I want them to understand some parts of American history and culture that may get overlooked in texts.

Anyway, all that will come later. For now, my stomach is doing somersaults while I figure out the logistics of moving to another country. Ideas and suggestions are always welcome!

First Post

I was told as a communication major in college that I had to orient the audience to the subject at hand. Without further ado...

This blog - A Foreign Education - will be about the time I spend teaching English in a small town in the French Alps. It will be about my struggles to learn French more fluently, the exploration of culture, diversions into other countries, and every once in a while it will be about what I teach French high school students about English language and American culture.

Someone once told me, "everyone is a learner and everyone is a teacher." Hopefully this blog will embody that idea but discussing what I learn and teach, in and out of the classroom.

Bienvenue, and I hope you enjoy! :)