22 jours qui restent

So, here I am, finally updating. Sometimes when I seriously think about the fact that I have probably written less than 20 entries in here I get a panicky feeling. It's a little sad for me because I had really planned on writing in it almost every night... I guess I just never got in the habit... and here I am, with 22 days left of my stay here. Time flies, and I have been undeniably busy. On top of the busy-ness, my computer screen's backlight (I suppose that's what it is), decided to break, and I have been successful at shining my lamp into it (literally), so I can see what I'm doing, but nevertheless, it is quite difficult.






Since I have not informed you all of what is happening in Rennes, I will start from the Loire Valley and work forward, since so many big things have been happening!





The Loire Valley... WOW. What an experience. I went with my friend Kelly, who is the girl I am closest to in my program. It was an adventure, and we made 230983 mistakes (a little exaggeration there, but still). Read on for more...





Day One


We get on the train at 8am and are headed to Le Mans, where we would change trains. We had a wonderful time time chatting on the train, and giggling at the little French 1 year old who kept giving us his toys. We arrived in Le Mans before too long, and found the "voie" for our other train. We waited in the cold, taking photos. We got on the train and soon arrived in a little town called Château du Loire and tout de suite got on our autocar (or bus), which would take us to Tour, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tours, the big, Paris-like city, located at the center of all the Châteaux we were going to visit.
Our bus stopped in front of a rather large Gare (train station) called St. Pierre Tours. Kelly and I assumed that this was it, and hopped off the bus. Upon walking into the gare to figure out where to go, we wondered why it was pretty much empty while we started at a map. The map was a bus map, and we soon realized that we had gotten off and the wrong gare, and that there are two in Tours. We got off at the one which was far away from Centre Ville. We soon realized after that that somehow neither of us had written down the address of the hostel. Luckily, Kelly's guidebook said that we should take bus 4 and get off at Vieux Tours. Problem was, Vieux Tours was not a stop on the map. After about a half hour of this, we decided it was finally time to ask someone. (Why didn't we do that to start with? We were nervous and scared, I suppose.) I bought a map of Tours while Kelly asked someone, and the woman confirmed that yes, we got off at the wrong gare, but also informed us which bus she thought we should take. We decided to stop at the tourism office to begin planning which Châteaux we would see over the next three days. We couldn't tell exactly which stop to get off for that, and when we thought we were getting close, and staring at the map, I happened to look up and notice the bright neon lights "Office du Tourisme". So we quickly got off the bus. Oops! The office of tourism was closed. Planning to come back later, we carefully noted the opening hours. We caught another bus, and took the bus towards Place Plumereau. Kelly's guidebook had said our hostel was near Place Plumereau. We weren't quite sure where to get off, but we took action and decided, but unfortunately got off one stop too late. We set off to search for the Auberge de Jeunesse (youth hostel), and using my map, went in EVERY POSSIBLE wrong direction before finally going towards Place Plumereau (how??? I don't know!). Finally we arrived at Place Plumereau, and by this time our backs are hurting and we're tired. We smile and jump for joy, only to realize that the hostel is not IN Place Plumereau. Kelly verifies in her guidebook, ok, it's 984 feet FROM place Plumereau. Sadly we realized that there were 6 winding streets going off of Place Plumereau. Time to ask someone! I went into a Tabac to ask, and felt guilty so I bought crackers, and asked the cashier. Malheureusement (unfortunately), he had no clue, asked two other customers who also had no clue, and told us to ask the bar "en face". We went out and realized we had no idea where en face was, because bars filled Place Plumereau. We wandered looking for some nice French person to ask. We ended up asking a chef and he knew where it was!! We were off!! Only to find that the Auberge was closed. Yup...closed until 5, and it was barely 3. I laughed pretty hard at this one, though I could see Kelly was fuming. We decided to go back to the Office du Tourisme before eating lunch because if we didn't, they would close. After taking the bus, we arrived, only to discover that they were STILL closed. Freaking out, we read the sign again, and realized that we didn't read the jour feries (holidays), and that Thursday, November 1st was Toussaint, a national holiday in France. Oops. This time we read the sign a few times verifying the time it would open the next morning, and went back to lovely Place Plumereau to eat lunch. Random funny event: There were at least two birds flying around the restaurant, and the waiters pretended not to notice, even when a little boy was crying, "Il y a un oiseau! Il y a un oiseau!!" Weird.
After lunch, we successfully checked into our hostel and spoke French with the wonderful hostel lady who basically runs this incredibly GIANT hostel all by herself. We relaxed in our room for a little while, then went on a walk around the centre ville (downtown). We found a movie theater but decided we didn't want to walk back at midnight so instead we bought some nutella and a smirnoff drink to share and went back to our hostel. We had a wonderful night and talked a lot, as usual, and also planned out which Châteaux we hoped to see each day.

Day Two
We left early and went to the tourism office (which was open this time!!). We picked up the brochures for the companies that do minibus tours (where you get to see 4 châteaux in one day), and headed over to the gare to figure out what trains went to the châteaux. To make a long story short, we planned out exactly what we wanted. We were going to see Chinon and Azay-le-Rideau by train that day (Friday); Chenonceau, Amboise, Chambord, and Chiverny on Saturday with the minibus tour; and Blois and Chaumont on Sunday by train.

I bought my tickets for Chinon and Azay-le-Rideau, using my 12-25 card, which gives me a pretty good discount. Kelly had forgot her's at the hostel, so she wanted to run and get it before buying the tickets. While she did that, I booked our minibus. We ended up randomly meeting another American and a girl from South Africa in the gare, and they invited us out for drinks that night. When Kelly tried to buy her tickets, the woman basically said, "I'm sorry, you're going to have to come back tomorrow, our printers aren't working." Freaking out, we asked the woman if there's anything we could do, and she said no, but upon talking to her colleague, the printer magically worked and we got the tickets. Finally we were off!

On the train to Chinon the ticket man asked to see my 12-25 card, which I showed him, and he told me I needed the real version (which I thought was just temporary, and left at the hostel), rather than my actual card (very confusing). He told me that I'd have to get off and change my tariff at Chinon. I said ok, though I was confused. Turns out he was very nice, and explained to the ticket man at Chinon to "ok" my tickets. Kelly and I had a lovely 30 minute walk along the Loire River to get to Chinon, which turned out to be, of course, amazing. There was hardly any people there, and we arrived just in time to go on an English guided tour. We were with the SWEETEST woman and it was just the two of us. We spent the next couple of hours exploring Chinon and taking tons of photos. Here is Chinon's history, if you're interested... if not, scroll down for a link to my photos!

Sitting high on a plateau, a huge ruined castle dominates the town. The site appears to have been used for a Gallo-Roman castrum. Towards the end of the 4th century, a follower of St Martin, St Mexme, established first a hermitage, and then a monastery on the eastern slope of the town. This foundation flourished in the Early Middle Ages, with a large and highly decorated church, a cloister and a square of canons' residences. Unfortunately the all too familiar pattern of Huguenot damage in the sixteenth century, followed by closure and partial demolition during the Revolution of 1789 and onwards has left only a much-damaged facade and tower, although the building is now being restored as a cultural centre.The mount of Chinon was fortified as a stronghold by Theobald I, Count of Blois in the year 954. In the 12th century Chinon, located in (then) Kingdom of Anjou, which was then independent of the kingdom of France, was a primary residence of Henry II (Angevin King and King of England) and served with Poitiers and Bordeaux as a key southern capital of the vast Angevin holdings. Henry was responsible for construction of almost all of the massive chateau, built over 1,300 feet long and 250 feet wide with a clock tower (14th century) rising 115 feet high. King Henry died in Chinon castle after being defeated by his sons Richard and John in a rebellion aided by Phillip Augustus of France; he, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their son King Richard the Lionheart were all buried at nearby Fontevraud Abbey.

In the keep or donjon, called the Tour de Coudray, Templar knights were imprisoned during the brutal suppression of the Templar Order that occurred in 1307. Some of the prisoners carved odd symbols into the walls of their cells: Hearts, Stars of David, grids, and other geometrical patterns. It is unknown if they were random symbols, or represented a code of some type.

The chateau was a residence of Charles VII, the Dauphin of France in the early 15th century. Joan of Arc arrived at the castle, at the beginning of her quest to liberate France from the English; March 8, 1429; it was here that she recognized the Dauphin from amongst his courtiers, a feat which helped to persuade him to accede to her urging to declare himself king and raise an army to liberate France.

In 1562 the chateau came into the possession of the Huguenots and was turned into a state prison by Henri IV of France. After that it was abandoned until 1793 when, during the Reign of Terror, the castle was temporarily occupied by Vendeans. Soon though, it was left to decay until Emperor Napoleon III began a partial effort at restoration.

Here is a link to all the photos on facebook, including the ones from before Chinon: http://colorado.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2214748&l=1d55f&id=10200941

More to come soon... I'm going to go Christmas shopping and go see a movie!

Je vais la garder pour toi

Eating a yummy chocolate thing for dessert, I asked my host mom, Yvonne, about what she does at Christmas. We shared our Christmas traditions... and I told her how much I'm looking forward to it....

"Je suis contente de rentrer pour Noel, mais je veux bien retourner apres." (une visage triste a ma part)
Yvonne, avec une sourire mignon,
"Et je veux bien garder ta chambre pour toi."
Apres, on a rit, parce qu'elle connais que je ne peux pas rester, mais mon coeur etait plein de joie, parce que je vois bien qu'elle aimerait que je reste.

Ahhh la tristesse va arriver quand je vais dire au revoir a ma mere d'accueil, avec ses habitudes organises et propres, avec ses jupes jolies et la visage d'une jeune... oui, elle va me manquera beaucoup.

Mais c'est comme ca, comme elle dirait, c'est comme ca la vie. J'imagine maintenant, devant mes yeux, quand je range toutes mes affaires, quand je laisse ma chambre (avec un mur rouge et ma propre douche et...), quand je descend toutes mes valises et quand je la regarde. Je peux presque deja voir, sa sourire fiere, quand je part, et elle va fermer la porte, et elle va rentrer chez elle, et elle va regarder la tele, et plus tard, quelqu'un d'autre va arriver. C'est comme ca.

Je vais prendre plein de choses avec moi....
~~ La cuisine... comme elle fait les repas...
~~ Toutes les soir quand on a fait les gallettes et crepes toutes les deux
~~Quand je ne connais pas les places pour les vaisselles...
~~Les temps quand j'etais fache contre Yvonne a cause de les murs qui etaient autour d'elle et je ne pouvais pas les detruire.
~~Les temps quand elle a devenue plus en plus ouvert.
~~Quand elle a rit... toutes les weekends aves ses amies quand j'ai appris beaucoup et ma comprehension a devenu mieux.
~~Quand elle m'a raconte les histories de sa vie et de ses amies...
~~Quand elle m'a ammener a Fest Noz pour ma premiere fois....


Il n'y a aucune facon de dire merci a Yvonne....aucune facon. Mais je vais essayer. Je vais essayer.

Yvonne

I am a person who loves to tell people how much I love them. It gives me much joy to tell loved ones I appreciate them, what I appreciate about them, why they are special, what I hope for them....

It's funny that I got placed with a host mom who almost never gives compliments, praise, etc. It's funny because I think most of the time I don't even notice. I think in th ebiginning, I just assumed that all French people where like that, until I met my host mom's friends. I am always overjoyed to be in the presence of all of Yvonne's friends, and I realized why. Because they are very warm. This Saturday morning, I came downstairs to find Yvonne's fried Jacque and his wife Veronique. They were going to take me to Dinard because my host mom had to go really early to meet someone who was installing a heater in her veranda. Anyway, this man Jacque was so sweet...he gave me four (FOUR!) bises and was immediately asking me all sorts of questions, telling me how great my French is, etc. I was so happy, and felt so welcomed, which I have to admit, is not always the case with my host mom.

We spent the weekend with them and also with her friends Monique and Bernard (bear-nar), and Monique was also one who spent a few minutes of her time telling me how sweet I am and how good my French is. I

I feel like her friends bring out the best in Yvonne. Yvonne becomes more affectionate, more open... and I begin to see that she also does, in fact, find me to be sweet, and mature, and blahblah all these things her friends make a point to say about me.

I was talking to Yvonne in the kitchen after we got home, and we were talking about Friday night, when she went out to a dinner party and I made crepes for the first time all by myself. I asked her if I put everything away correctly, etc., and she said yes, but then went on to tell me that she doesn't compliment very much, and doesn't expect compliments, but that everything that her friends say about me is true, and she's very happy to have me here... It made me really happy. It's funny that I just grew up expressing myself that way...telling my family and friends how much I love them, and I have no doubt I'll be like that with my own children one day... lots of positive reinforcement, lots of loving comments...

There is so much less of that here, in general. And it works, here. People have relationships, very strong relationships, without that. Yvonne's grandchildren adore her. It's as if people don't NEED compliments... they somehow just know. Relationships take longer to form, but when they do form, they are real - not superficial at all. Since Yvonne's sometimes so hard to crack, I don't know if we'll ever be really close...but who knows.

Now I've come to understand this system of relationships here, since I really am a part of it, and I happened to be placed with a very French woman who sometimes has a bit of a wall. No matter how much I see that it works here, I still have this cling on my own culture. I look at my life in the United States and all those in it, and I imagine what it would be like if I was French. First of all, I probably wouldn't have met Kevin, because if he was French, he probably wouldn't send a message to a stranger, and if I was French, I probably wouldn't have a facebook profile which revealed my dreams about the world (if you're confused, you can ask me). Furthermore, if I was French, I probably wouldn't be as close with Kev's family, because I probably wouldn't be invited over so quickly, and after I was invited over, I probably wouldn't chat with his parents the way I do, I would probably "vous" them, etc etc. I love my life, and I love the fact that Americans can ask each other personal questions, or just share a lot of things with each other, and become closer by doing so. I appreciate the open-ness of America, and that people truly open their arms to each other, and I do believe that a lot of the time, it is genuine.

All that being said, it is a ride here. My host mom is a bit of a mystery, and every time she shares something personal with me, it's like I open a new present. I am grateful for the experience of discovering who she is... My hope is that I can find more and more ways to spark her into telling me a story, because those are my favorite nights. We sit at the table for over an hour as she tells me all about something that is important to her... our soup lasts longer, our salad lasts longer, our meal lasts forever, and our dessert takes time too. It is those nights when I imagine that I see a sparkle in her eye of warmth and love before I head off to bed.

One time Kevin and I got into an argument about me being myself here. It really got me thinking. The truth is, sometimes I'm not, and sometimes I feel like in French I'm someone else, because I can't express myself the same way. In French maybe I'm different, and that brings me sadness. I want so much to be who I am no matter what culture I am in, what language I am speaking. It is just hard when you're surrounded by everything you've never experienced. I try harder and harder and harder, and I know I succeed more and more. But there are those times when I come up to my room, and I think, if I was really being me, I would have given my host mom bises (kisses on each cheek, which really replaces hugs here in France) before I went upstairs. I would try to break down her wall... It is just hard sometimes. In the beginning, I just followed whatever she did...I mean, you don't want to make mistakes in a culture you're not familiar with. But now, I do wonder sometimes, what I could do to break down the wall...if I could do more than I do now... if I should just talk about personal things, ask super personal questions, compliment-away... because that's who I am, isn't it?? What's sad is that sometimes the problem is vocabulary. I think about my friends and family and Kevin... small talk leads to big talk. But when you don't have much to say in a foreign language...it's hard to get to deep subjects. And if you do get there, you may not understand them. You may not know how to respond in the way you would. For me, at this point, sometimes when I am talking about something serious in French, and I don't know how to express something, the ENGLISH version of what I'm trying to get out does NOT come to me. Imagine that, can you? You've completely lost the words. You're own language doesn't surface to help you translate. You literally can not express yourself. Sigh... that's the way it goes.

Tomorrow I'm going to bring my host mom flowers. Flowers speak any language, and she loves them.

Loire Valley here I come...

So, change of plans... Kelly and I decided to go the Loire Valley to see CASTLES instead of Annecy, because it's about 125 euros cheaper and it's what I really wanted to do anyway. Kelly didn't want to originally because she's already been, but she decided she'd rather do that than go to Annecy (long story about that, but anyway). I'm extremely happy, because now I get to see the Loire castles!! It's going to be amazing!! We're staying in Tours, and will travel to castles around Tours for 4 days! I'm so excited! Just to give a lil preview...

I'm so lucky.

Annecy!

GUESS WHAT?! My friend Kelly and are are going to Annecy, France next weekend! I'm sooo excited! The tickets were a little expensive, since it's the holiday weekend, but I know it will be worth it. Check out how incredible it is...









You can also check out more photos if you google (image search) Annecy, France.

I'm so excited! We're staying in a hostel that only costs 15 euro a night - nice!

More photos from my Normandie trip (Sept 22-23)

Here are more photos from my Normandie trip...These are from the Museum of Peace in Caen...

This says..."When we say mean things to people, that makes them very sad in their hearts!"

This says... "If I were a magician...Peace Non-Violence."

"Why fight?"

The following photos are from Arromanches...here is a bit of history... (merci wikipedia)

The town lies along the stretch of coastline designated as Gold Beach during the D-Day landings , one of the beaches used by British troops in the Allied invasion. Arromanches was selected as one of the sites for two Mulberry Harbours built on the Normandy coast, the other one built further West at Omaha Beach. Sections of the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches still remain today with huge concrete blocks sitting on the sand, and more can be seen further out at sea.

More to come...

A is for Atlantic Arc

Because of the fact that cities such as Glasgow, Cork, Cardiff, Brest, Nantes, Angers, Bordeaux, Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz, Bilbao, Santiago de Compostella, Braga, Oporto, Lisbon, and Seville share the same geographical position as Rennes, the cities of the western edge of the European Union have grouped together to establish a balance in the European development process. They share a common culture, identity, and other resources, and are thereby expressing their desire for stronger corporate action as a network.
The first conference of the cities of the Atlantic Arc took place in Rennes on the 6 and 7 of July, 2000.


OK, that wasn't that interesting, but I'm going through the whole book. :)

Yoga me manque

I miss yoga... I've been craving it, and therefore doing some research about yoga here in Rennes. I found a couple places, but basically, there are a few studios and just one teacher (the owner) who runs them. I decided to go to this studio called Pur Yoga. http://www.puryoga.fr I arrived, and immediately loved the ambiance and the instructor...she's young, and just extremely calm and sweet. She showed me around, and then yoga started. There was about 7 people, and it was extremely simple...mostly stretching and relaxing. Though I did enjoy it, I realized that if I really wanted, I could do this at home (and not pay the 12 Euro). It was relaxing, but certainly not a workout. However, I'm glad that I went, and I may go again, but...

At times throughout the hour I thought of my yoga studio in Boulder. www.corepoweryoga.com I thought of all the people there, the INTENSE workout, and the meditation. And I missed BOULDER, oh I missed it with a passion. I think next semester I'm going to be a yoga maniac and do it everyday. It is so amazing for your body...I remember how good it felt to walk slowly out of the studio and hop immediately into the shower and then feel extremely refreshed. Oh yes...that will be something wonderful to come back to.

For now, I think I'll use my little rug as a mat and buy yoga on demand. :) I need some yoga, everyday!

Henriette et maman

I love Henriette... she is the sweetest lady. She has so much love, and it just spreads. Whenever she sees me now, after having spent a considerable amount of time with me in Dinard with my host mom, she always gives me bises and usually rubs my back or arm. This I appreciate so much, because of the lack of contact here in France. We had a lovely dinner tonight with Henriette...my mom loves to make amazing Quinoa and we had it with tofu (well, that was just me...they had some rather nasty sticks of meat), with some really good veggie sauce. Oh yum.

I can tell my mom is getting closer to me, which makes me overjoyed. After dinner she told me I didn't have to do the dishes and then she gave me some huge kisses on each cheek...something I realized we haven't done since we met. Needless to say, there was a lot of happiness in my heart as I skipped up the stairs.

:)

A is for Anne of Brittany

I have this little book called Rennes A to Z, and it's quite interesting, so I decided I would post a letter and it's explanation now and then to give you all an idea of what Rennes is like...

Anne was only 11 years old when she inherited the Duchy of Brittany, an event which led to a great deal of political intrigue. King Charles VIII of France seized Nantes and Guingamp, and his troops besieged Rennes, and so to save somethiing of the situation, the strong-minded young duchess agreed to marry Charles, the marriage contract of 6 December, 1491 stiplulating that from then on Brittany was to remain part of France.
After Charles VIII's death in April, 1498, Anne regained her position as duchess, but this only lasted until her net marriage to Louis XII, Charles VIII's cousin. Anne had eight children during her two marriages of whom only two, Claude, the future wife of Francois I, and Renee, survived her.

Chacun son truc

I just got back from a weekend toute seule avec ma mere (all alone with my host mom). It was quite relaxing, but my french had a relapse. After zooming into heaven of flunecy for two days, I plunged into the hell of "Je/I" "Tu/You" (basically talking in Franglais - English/French). It's painful. Oh well. We did a lot of driving through small, adorable villages, which was lovely, ate together, watched the rugby game together, slept a lot too, and swam in la piscine de la mer. That means pool of the ocean - for some reason, French people think it is really good for you to swim in ocean water (is it? I don't know either way), so they capture the water and heat it so you can swim. We swam in an olympic-sized swimming pool of ocean water. :) Something I find interesting is that the US is extremely into swimming. We push our kids into the pool at age 2 or smaller, which I think is a good, fun thing to do, because kids love the water. But here, though swimming classes are available, it's a slower process. My host mom told me she didn't take swimming lessons until she was 33, after she had her children, because she was always extremely afraid of the water. The only reason she took them at that age was that she didn't want to pass that fear on to her children. :)
Something else that I love also is that French people think it is so good for you to sleep in. So if I take a nap, my host mom doesn't wake me up for at least an hour, even if we have some rough plans. This morning we slept in super late (on accident) and my host mom was surprised she didn't wake up but was extremely happy to have slept in (didn't feel like she was losing the day, being lazy, etc).

Tomorrow I teach English and will be observed for the first time (ahhh!). I hope everything goes over well...

Since my internet is letting me upload photos faster now, here is a bunch of photos from the past few weeks. Here are some of Rennes...

Hotel de Ville


Mes amies in front of typical French architecture


Having fun on La Rue de la Soif

Here are photos from my weekend trip to Normandie (the region).

Villedieu-les Poeles
La Fonderie de cloches
This is one of the only bell-making shops still in existance in France. We got to see how bells are made.


Our cute tour guide and all the tools they use to make designs and words in the bells.


Villedieu-les-Poeles


Villedieu-les-Poeles


We found a galleterie/creperie for lunch. :)



Caen Memorial - A museum for Peace
Caen, France
"The pain boke me, the brotherhood raised me up...

...of my injury broke through a river of liberty."

Caen Memorial - A museum for Peace
Caen, France


Caen Memorial - A museum for Peace
Caen, France


Caen Memorial - A museum for Peace
Caen, France
"Cultures of Peace"


Caen Memorial - A museum for Peace
Caen, France

Much more to come...

Update (finally!)

Seeing as more and more amazing things happen to me everyday, and I find myself busy all the time (in a good way), I have decided that the best way to continue this blog is to start right here, right now, with what is happening, because if I put off updating because I know I have to go through everything I've done, it's just never going to happen.

So here I am again, and will hopefully be updating every few days with current news and wonderful happenings. Every now and then, I hope to include lots of photos from the past two weeks so that you can all see my incredible experiences.

Today I taught English - I'm teaching "grande section" - which is 4 and 5 year olds, as well as "CE1" which is 6-7 year olds, or the equivalent of 2nd grade. This has been quite the wonderful experience. The kids love me, and one of my most favorite things is when I'm talking quickly on the side with the teacher (she's Canadian) in English and they just stare at us as if we just created some kind of miracle. Today was the first time that I taught all by myself, and it went wonderfully! With the grande section, we do mostly songs, but they do understand lots of English. Some are more motivated than others - it's adorable. They're at the age when sometimes they feel like shooting their hand up in the air, but after you call them, they have no clue how to answer your question and they just sit there with huge goofy smiles. Others would rather roll on the floor or suck on their thumb than do the Hokey Pokey. But all are very cute, and most respond to me quite well, probably because I'm new and I speak an exotic, exciting language!!! (hehe) My favorite memory from that class was today... Tugdual is one of the kids very eager to learn Anglais (English)...he is always raising his hand and speaking quite well...he said "Hello Annie" before I even began teaching, which is kind of a big deal. Anyway, after class they line up two by two, and he was holding a little girl's hand, and basically just looking at me. Then he was touching my hand with a huge smile on his face and saying, "Goodbye Annie!" in such a loud, proud voice. In his joy, he just started singing, "Bye, Bye, see you on Thursday, Bye, Bye, See you on Thursday..." (the song that we sing at the end, but at this time, had already finished it), all the while looking right at me. What a sweetie!

Then I taught CEI, where the kids are cute, but nevertheless have a few more behavior problems and aren't as fascinated with me (oh poor me). However, I taught them the Moose song from Y.O.U. joy songs (my youth group in high school). Basically, it's about a moose who likes to drink a lot of juice. They loooved it...particularly the part where we make random noises and jump all over the place. For this class the challenge is classroom management and I have to admit Michaela (the teacher) has to intervene more than once when things get roudy and speak in quick little bursts of French discipline. Hopefully I'll get that down, but seeing how discipline isn't my forte in English...

This is actually a particularly intriguing topic, since the French education system, and style of teaching, is entirely different from that of the Etats-Unis (US). It's quite amazing that what I've learning in my education training is not at all what they use here. The teachers are what we would call "cold", strict, and demanding. Michaela did her training in Canada and has expressed to me that it is quite different here, and it took her awhile to get used to it. I think we both cringe when the teacher of the CEI class practically pushes her students and grabs their arms in ways that look frightening. The relationship between the teacher and the student is very authoritative. Despite my obvious rejection to this and compassion for the children, this education system does "produce" brilliant, hard-working children, who have no more psychological problems than those in the US.

To put this in perspective, here's a little blurb about what I've experienced about cultural differences here in France.

~French people, particularly in this area of France (Bretagne) usually come off to Americans as "cold". This basically means that they do not greet strangers as we do in the US; they don't talk to strangers (or even casual friends) about personal experiences; things like income and divorces are never talked about; emotions are not as openly expressed as in the US... the list does go on.

You can imagine my reaction to this culture on the first night of my stay with my host mom if you've read that entry. I'm so thankful to be staying with a French person, because I believe it's the only way I can truly begin to understand this culture. For example, the first night I did not exactly feel welcomed, and couldn't help but imagine I was in the US and what a US host family would be trying to do to welcome a foreign student. In the US, host families are more than likely to be "over-welcoming" and basically in the person's business, ALL with good intentions - to make sure they're comfortable, find out what they need/don't need, how they're adjusting. Here, French people (in my experience and in the experience of others in my group), are more likely to leave you alone and let you deal with everything by yourself, ALSO with good intentions - to let you experience this as an adult and take care of yourself. Now, of course that's a guess, because I'm not one of these said French people, but that's what I've gathered.

So an American here almost automatically feels lost, confused, un-wanted, un-welcomed, and just weird. I've been here for about a month, and found that almost everybody, when recounting their story of arrival, says that they cried and felt at least one of the emotions I mentioned.

If you think about it logically, a host family here is doing what? They have chosen absolutely voluntarily to host a student, and though one could try to argue that it's for the money, I'm entirely convinced that they are interested in other cultures and generally wanting to be of service to someone in their adjustment to another culture and learning the language. Do you think that they want the foreigner to feel lost, confused, un-wanted, un-welcomed? No. It is a matter of cultural differences. All my life I never realized this about our American culture, simply because I never experienced anything else. I think I probably thought it was human nature, or something like that.

After a couple days with our host families we realized this, and also realized that they are, in fact, nice people, and that they are not cold, and not mean, etc. I found my host mom to be interested in what I have to say, to always greet me with a smile. She began to point out things in town she thought I would be interested in and encouraged me to try new things. She is always concerned about what I eat and if I eat enough and wants me to get the best treatment. I know she cares. I know, in my brain. But something that I'm realizing is, I can't shake my culture.

A few days ago, I got homesick for one of the first times. Yes, I've missed my family and Kevin, but this was the first time I was homesick for the United States. I think that I came here expecting to get a negative view of the US from the French, and I also expected to agree with a lot of it. Mostly because I consider myself to be very liberal with politics, and I disagree with a lot of the things our adminstration does. I did encounter negativity about the US, but what I've come to realize is, a lot of the negativity is a bunch of misconceptions.

Funny story...
As a gift for my host mom when I got here, I gave her a 2008 calendar of the Rocky Moutains, which basically had beautiful photos of the mountains from Colorado and Wyoming. She was quite pleased. Later at dinner, I asked her if she'd ever been to the US and she shook her head and gave me one of those, "Are you crazy?" looks. Then I asked her if she ever wants to, and she said that she didn't, but then again, she didn't know there were places like the photos on my calendar. She thought it was all big buildings. I was shocked that she thought this, but it wasn't the first time. One weekend, a couple Chinese girls who stayed with my host mom came to visit her, and I asked them if they've been to the US, and one said that she doesn't like huge cities, so no. I found myself explaining that the US isn't covered in massive buildings.

Two other stereotypes I've come across multiple times...

1. Everyone is fat.
2. Everyone, and I mean everyone, doesn't care about the environment and wastes all the time.

I agree that the US does have a large obesity rating, and it is true that as a whole, our country isn't that great about working to protect the earth and our environment. However, it seems that some French people actually think that not one American cares about the environment. My host mom, who's sixty, found it "tres bizarre" (very weird) when I was telling her about all the energy research Kevin's doing. She told me that she didn't know anyone cared about that in the US.

I never thought I'd be defending my country, or feeling insulted, because I've never been very patriotic (if at all), but here I am. I found myself wishing with all my heart that French people who detest Americans, or even those with misconceptions (like my host mom) could see all the goodness in our country. I think that perhaps, for them, it's hard to visualize how HUGE our country is (France is roughly the size of Texas, after all). There are so many people, so many sub-cultures.... and yes, of course there are people who waste entirely too much and of course there are huge, fast-paced cities, and people who think relaxing is not an option, but come on...

There is so much good in the US. I think some French people would appreciate the welcoming nature of Americans (especially because most of the time it is genuine).

Now, all that being said, I'm not trying to bash the French culture. I'm just becoming more and more amazed as I discover that Americans DO have a culture, and that there are things that I appreciate and things that I don't appreciate about that culture. What's incredible is, it is MY culture. In school growing up, we learn about "culture" as if it is something exotic - something much different from us. Though I could probably characterize US culture in a couple ways, it would only be from things I've heard, like about our technology/inventions, cinema/music, etc. But I never realized that there are things, like what I've described above, that uniquely characterize Americans, that are positive, and that I can't find here in France. Realizing this sometimes makes me miss the US, but it also widens my consciousness in so many ways. I am adapting to another culture, and it's beautiful.

The truth is, there is SO much that I love about French people/culture.

~They are very encouraging of relaxation. Sleeping in isn't considered lazy. They get at least 5 weeks of vacation a year.

~They are very clear about "who they are." I haven't met a French person who doesn't really know what they want to do and is just mosey-ing around in college or otherwise. Our moniteur/monitrices (French students who help us out), when describing themselves, tell us what they like, what they don't like, and in general conversation, NEVER beat around the bush about what they believe and don't believe.

~Relating to that, it is entirely acceptable to disagree wholeheartedly with your best friend. Our coordinatrice (adult coordinator who grew up in America and married a Frenchmen) told us that when coming here, she was surprised to find that at a party, two very close friends could get in a heated debate, "arguing" with each other quite loudly and forcefully, and then leave with bisous (kisses) and with a nature of complete acceptance and no grudges. This is incredible to me - because Americans are much more attached to what each other believes, or thinks, or whatever.

~French people care about what they eat. The food is amazing. Every morning bakeries display an amazing amount of goodies along with their bread. There are so many bakeries in town, the kind which we find maybe one per city in the US, and they bake fresh daily. When friends come over, the meals are huge and long, with multiple courses. (By the way, entree is not the main dish, America. Entree is the apetizer. Sheesh.)

~French people care about making things beautiful. This means art, parks, buildings, houses, gardens, food. SO MANY French people have this small beautifully-designed window sills covered in flowers...they're everywhere. They care very much about their history, so lots of things are preserved beautfully, including architecture. When walking through parks and through town I can't help but feel joy in just looking around me. I am thankful to be surrounded by beauty.

~Public transportation is awesome. Rennes is the smallest city with a metro, and it rocks! I take the bus AND the metro to get to school everyday but it only takes me about 20 minutes.

So, I'm loving it here.

I hope I will update more often, I really really hope. (I was going to add promise but I don't want to break it!)

I love you... yes, you!

Here I am

Well, I decided it was about time to update the blog, before it gets too late to remember everything that has happened.

My first two weeks in Rennes have been overwhelming, amazing, and very exciting. I will start by including some stuff I wrote in my diary right before I arrived...

From 6 Septembre 2007

Right now we are driving in l'autobus to meet our host families in Rennes. I found out a little bit about ma mere d'acceuil. Apparently she has several children, and her daughter is a host mom for another girl, Ludmila, who is from the Ukraine. And apparently, she's the best vegetarian chef. :) Being vegetarian is weird because I feel like as much as it's part of who I am, it's not all of me, and in this type of case, it has to be the deciding factor. For example, if I wasn't vegetarian, I would have really emphasized that I would want to live with small children and also no smokers, but I didn't want to limit my options even more. I feel like I would have liked to live with a family instead of just one person, but at the same time I know this happened for a reason. Who knows...maybe I'll be more comfortable with her and we'll be friends. It's all up in the air for another hour...

Later...

OH my God I feel like my brain might explode. I have had incredibly overwhelming evening. I was so so nervous about meeting my host mom and it was as nerve racking as I'd imagined. When I first met her, I didn't know what to say and it was very strange. There was another girl in the car and she didn't introduce me until we sat down for dinner later. Talk about culture shock! This is absolutely NOTHING like it was in Paris. It's like entering a world that is completely different from your own and not being able to clearly communicate. I thought that after SEVEN years of French classes I would know something, but I feel like I know absolutely nothing. It makes me angry with the school system in the US because I feel like I should know so much more. It feels unfair because if I knew even just a little bit more, I would feel like I could communicate. But at times tonight, it was like I was speaking like a 4 year old. It was terrible. I felt powerless. Especially when we spoke about me being vegetarian, and she basically didn't understand why I am vegetarian...I had this whole thing planned out about the factory farms and treatment of animals, and I did say it, but my host mom explained that she always buys free range meat and that here in France, they treat animals differently. After that, I had a really hard time explaining why I still couldn't eat the meat. She told me eventually that she respected my decision even though she didn't understand. At that point, I was feeling awful, but afterward, things got better. As I got more comfortable, I was able to speak more, and found her to be actually quite nice. It was just so hard to warm up to this culture. I can't wait to start the pre-program and classes because hopefully my French will come back and I won't always feel like my words are stuck in my throat. I think I could always take grammar tests and get good grades, but I've never in my entire academic career spoken French in such a natural context. Even in my French CONVERSATION class, we talked about GIVEN topics. I've never had to express myself like this, and it's extremely overwhelming. I have hope that it will get easier since this is now my home for the next 3 and half months. Oh, by the way, it turns out that the girl in the car is Mai - another foreign student from Vietnam. She is staying with us through September. I really like her - she is really friendly and helps me a lot with my French.

Voila! That was my first night...since then things have vastly improved. I can't believe it's only been a little over 2 weeks..I feel like I've been here for a long time. I won't try to remember every single day, but here are some little stories and memories from these 2 weeks...

~I spent my first weekend here in Dinard, a small town on the beach, about an hour (by car) from Rennes. It was wonderful! We went to the marche, which I loved. I bought two scarves and a children's book. Here are some photos from the weekend...

This is my host mom's house...the shutters are closed because we are leaving...


The inside of the house...beautiful...


The ocean....




From the market...




This is my host mom, Yvonne, and me on the beach in Saint Malo (right next to Dinard, where her house is). This was a fun night because we went out for a walk in Saint Malo, and then afterward, we saw an outdoor movie for free!


This is me on the bridge, on the way to Dinard...


On Sunday, a bunch of Yvonne's friends came over. First, we went to pick up two girls from the train station, who stayed with Yvonne in the past. Then, Yvonne's friends and their foreign student came over and we had a massive lunch. After, we all went to the beach. Since this was my first weekend, I had a lot of trouble communicating, but overall, it was fun.

Here is a funny story about learning to speak French...

When we were at the market on Saturday, I walked around with Mai while Yvonne went grocery shopping. When I wanted to buy a couple scarves, I asked the woman how many euros they were. She responded in English, that they were 10 euros or 2 for 15. So, not really hearing that she was speaking English, I responded in French. Then, she said in English, "I don't speak French." To which, I looked at Mai and said, in English, "Ohh she doesn't speak French." Mai looked at me strangely because she hardly speaks English. My brain was completely confused. :) I told this to my host mom and she told me that it means I'm starting to think in French...who knows...

On Monday, I had my pre-program classes at a building in centreville (downtown) called Centre de Langue et Communication (can you guess what that means)? I discovered I had been placed in the level "Seuil." To give you an idea of what that means, here are the levels: Introductif Fondamental, Introductif, Intermediare, Seuil, Avance, Autonomie. I was fairly happy with this placement, though I really wished I got placed in Avance. The classes went well, but the days were extremely long. We began at 9am and usually didn't finish until about 6pm. We began with a language course, had a break for lunch, and then had a civilisation course. My favorite civilisation courses were... a course on French slang, and another on Breton food (regional). The teachers were all very patient and I generally enjoyed being in classes. I started making some closer friends...especially Kelly, who you'll find in a lot of my pictures. One of the things I enjoyed the most was our cultural adaptation courses. I am extremely impressed with CIEE (my program) and how well this pre-program was put together. Loren (my program director) has dual citizenship in the US and France, and I think as a result, he truly understands what we need to be aware of. He has already thought of, and witnessed, things that American students need to understand while living in France, and therefore, he is totally prepared.

As part of our pre-program, we went to the Institut Franco-americain and watched part of the movie, "Bowling for Columbine." He wanted us to see it and discuss it because it brings up some very important questions that French people may ask us about. Apparently the movie was very well received in France, and we had a huge discussion about the reasons why. I loved the discussion and felt that I got to know some of my group members a bit more.

One other activity I loved was "conference sur le vin", or conference on wine. A man who specializes in wine came and gave us a huge presentation on wine (2 hours!) while we enjoyed tasting 3 different wines. It was amazing. :) I loved how much passion this man had about wine! I learned a lot and had fun, too.

My second weekend here, we went off to the beach again! This time, we brought my host mom's granddaughter, Josefa (pronounced Jo-say-fuh), and Ludmila, another girl from my program. On Saturday, we went to the market for a little while, and then we went to Saint Malo so that Ludmila and I could see the medieval city, surrounded by a wall. Here are the photos...



Josefa had to pee.. :-O

Wow...





The view from the top of the wall that surrounds the city (you can walk all around it)...



Looking inside at the village...

And outside again...




This is awesome...they made a stone pool full of sea water that naturally holds sea water when the tide is low...



Voila! Beautiful Saint Malo. I think I will go back there this coming weekend, because I feel like I didn't get to experience it all. I loved spending time with little Josefa...she is adorable, and very head-strong, and quite intelligent. She corrects my French by saying, "One does not say this, one says this:...", in French of course. We played some imagination games...she loved pretending it was someone's(one of our) birthday, and we would talk on the phone, and give each other presents. I think talking to her really improves my French! By the way, she's only almost 6 years old, and she's at least 3 times better at speaking than me. Oh well, I guess I would beat her at reading. ;) Maybe...

This past week, I was finally able to really explore Rennes...and I loved it. I am so blessed to live in such a beautiful city. Here are some photos...

This is what I see when I get off the metro everyday...



Rennes cobblestone streets...

Une belle piscine (pool)...


Le Jardin de Thabour...













That's all for now... I will update soon with more photos of Rennes and of my adventure to Normandie this weekend! I hope everyone is doing well...

Much love.