Cleaning out the fridge

I'm updating you on my adventures in the first month of living in France...click here to see the first batch of leftovers.

October 9  I might as well be in America...

In which: I discover that the cornfields of France look a lot like the cornfields of Indiana, make a disappointing visit to the other side of the Atlantic ocean, shop at the French version of IKEA, and continue to aid in the destruction of French cuisine.

It's true: a cornfield is a cornfield is a cornfield.  No matter that the cows in the nearby fields are called "les vaches" and the car whose window you're looking out is a tiny Peugot.  

It's still corn. 

I saw a lot of it today while Alain, Sylviane and I drove a few hours to buy a shelf off the French version of Craigslist and to get their GPS fixed(at a French mall…fyi, pretty much the same as an American mall, just different stores) .

We headed towards the coast near Dieppe. I was very excited about getting a cheap shelf for under my sink and about putting my feet in the English Channel and taking some fun pictures to share with all of you.

That didn't go so well.

The problem is, I can communicate in French, but not well. So little things, like asking if there is an IKEA near to the mall, turn into my friends thinking I really want to go to IKEA. Like really. So they hurriedly drove past the beach…stopping just long enough for me to take this:

Without even getting out of the car.  French-napped again.  

But I'll be going back to the coast.  There were beautiful sailboats.

But then I did get to go to Alinéa (the French IKEA…they have so many stores that are really similar to IKEA, it's crazy) and buy a new floor lamp and some new curtains.  

Then I was French-napped again.   [French-napping: (verb) when you're traveling with French people and you don't really understand where you are going, but you don't know a polite way to say, "Where are you taking me? I would like to go back to my apartment and explore more of Elbeuf."] 

My friends here think, "Oh Elizabeth is American. She must like American food."  

And I do.  But I'm in France.

However the only KFC for hours around is close to Alinéa and Alain really wanted to go.  So another visit to a little bit of America…

But the French KFC doesn't even have mashed potatoes…or BISCUITS!

I'm sad for the French.

Some leftovers...

When I was living without the Internet, I wrote a lot of blog posts. 


In an effort to give you a little taste of my life in the first week or so living here, I've decided to post them anyways, despite their untimeliness. 

Saturday October 2

In which I: visit the market, buy my first Pain au Chocolate, contribute to the decline of French food, and make a new French friend.

Today I went to the market in Elbeuf. They closed down part of the road down town and had all sorts of merchants. The fruits and vegetable were all at one end with the butchers and cheese merchants. The other end was all sorts of different merchants, mostly various cheap knick-knacks but also some sewing notions and yarn and a booth where people could buy tights and socks and little French maid costumes. I bought a tablecloth for my new little table for my new apartment.  Also I bought my first pain au chocolate. (For the uninitiated, this is a croissant filled with chocolate--Yum.)

After the market in Elbuef, Alain and Sylviane (the couple who let me stay in the apartment they owned at first and have helped me so much) picked me up and took me to the bigger market outside of town. Well, it would have been bigger, but it was raining, so many people were gone. I bought a vacuum for my new apartment (because it has carpet!!! yay!). 

Sylviane and Alain had their niece, Naomi, and their nephew, Sydney, with them. Naomi is just a bébé and Sydney is three years old. And he wanted to go to MacDo. For frites. 

Yup…my first week in France and I ate at MacDonalds. 

Abbey- In France they actually have the Happy Meal BOXES.

It was interesting because many of the menu items were in English (Chicken McNuggets, McChicken, etc).

After the meal, I got French-napped. 


French-napping: (verb) when you're traveling with French people and you don't really understand where you are going, but you don't know a polite way to say, "Where are you taking me? I would like to go back to my apartment and explore more of Elbeuf."

So instead, they took me to see my three schools despite my explanations that my teacher would be taking me there on Tuesday. 

Then we went to visit Alain's mother. 

After that, we returned to their house where I met Sylviane's brother, Vincent. But we all had fun speaking English and French while discussing everything from the differences in our school systems to politics in both countries and whether or not I am single…

All in all, a good day.  And tomorrow is moving day! 

October 3  Moving Day!

In which I: go to church for the first time, move to a tiny new apartment (in the rain), meet a creeper and fight with my French cell phone.

By the time you read this, moving day will be over and done with. But right now, I'm right in the middle of it.

How is it that even in France, despite the fact that I arrived with only a suitcase, a duffel bag and a backpack, I have amassed WAY too much stuff?

For any of you who know me, you know I'm a pack rat. I come by it naturally; I'm descended from a long time of pack rats. Stuff follows me and finds me and I don't even have a closet to stuff it in here.  Although I do have two armoires…which is part of the problem.

I was looking forward to finding an empty little French studio, searching markets and trash piles and scouring IKEA for furniture and other necessaries and living a life of minimalism for the year.

But I have very, very helpful French friends. (Thanks, Mom!)

So I have a real bed with a bed frame, a futon/couch, and lots of other furniture. This is great and Sylviane and Alain's family all helped me move, which was fabulous but there might be too much stuff in this little room.

We'll see.

And although I'm really excited about this apartment (although I'll be more excited after the electricity is turned on tomorrow), and its view of a church and closeness to the supermarket, I'm a little nervous.

I'd been in my apartment alone for all of ten minutes when a guy stopped and started to talk to me through my open window (I really wish I didn't live on the first floor.  Good thing for the shutters.) He left after a few minutes of my confused face and "I don't understand."  Except I really did understand when he asked if I wanted to get to know him…I just didn't want to.  

(Don't worry Mom. It's cold now, and I'm keeping the windows closed.)

Also I have 4 messages on my French cell phone and no idea how to listen to them...

Update: I figured out how to listen to my messages... and I'm unpacking my clothes... and I have carpet.

A good day.

October 3 Nighttime

I'm alone in my apartment in the dark…eating peanut butter by the spoonful (which is a bad idea-- peanut butter is very hard to buy here, but I have no other food)…hoping my computer won't die.

Don't overestimate how lucky you are to have electricity. 

October 4 

208 Days and 52 minutes...

Today I miss all of you…I can't wait until my Internet is hooked up, even though it won't be the same.

It's different than that.

A very nice French woman from my church, Sylviane, has taken me under her wing and helped me with everything from paperwork to housing.

And she's great.

But I miss all the people who I love.  Hugs to you all.

(Okay, I have a few more to post, but I think that's enough for now...It's a blog, not a novel.)

If I take one more step...

Photo Credit

...it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been.

Today, I've been in France for one month. Now, France is not the farthest away from home I've ever been (that's Cambodia), and I'm sure I went more than a month without going home while I lived in Indiana. But home was always a possibility. This feels like the place where distance and time combine to make me feel like Sam as he took that step away from the Shire. 

(Am I a dork for referencing Lord of The Rings on my blog? Yes. Get used to it.)

One month also seems like a good time to finally share this blog with other people.

But I have a lot to catch you up on. So here's the short version:

Housing: I've rented a tiny French studio in a little town, Elbeuf, near my schools. When it's decorated, I'll share pictures.

Schools: I'm assisting with English classes in three French elementary schools. My tasks and responsibilities vary depending on the school and the teacher, but everyone has been helpful. The students think I'm very interesting, which is a nice change.

Language: Living in another language has presented challenges that I didn't expect, like people assuming I'm stupid because I say things like, “I train station go. Where?” But my listening (or guessing) skills are growing exponentially, and my speaking skills are following, just at a much slower rate. I say “oui” a lot, in various tones of voice, depending on how much I understand.

Other:

I've eaten so many pastries...and so much delicious bread. I love grocery shopping.

Flattering, no?

I visited Paris for a day with a few other Americans.

 I got to see the English Channel, I've seen three movies in French without subtitles (Social Network wasn't such a good idea...too much talking, not enough action), I found the library, and I've filled out more paperwork than I could ever imagine...and I'm not done yet.

But I'm excited to share my adventures and misadventures with all of you here.

Bisous! (That means kisses!)

On Living Without the Internet

Written October 1


My current apartment doesn't have internet…um yeah. This is a new mode of life for me. I'm used to all the information I need at my fingertips, easily accessible.  Now I have to visit other places, use the French keyboard on Sylviane's computer, live without Hulu and blogs and Google. I've been getting well acquainted with the contents of my itunes and with the PhotoBooth on my mac. (Maybe someday I'll share some of the ridiculous videos I've been making. is ) But it's making it much harder to search for apartments, look up the bus schedules I need and communicate with new friends when French cell phone minutes are very, very expensive (think one Euro for two minutes).

It's making me very grateful for the internet, but also reminding me that I can spend time doing other things….like my dishes…which I am off to do now!

P.S. I figured out another result of no internet: I write really detailed blog entries….which then cannot be uploaded. Once I start working, this flood of information will probably cease, so enjoy it while you can.

How to take the Romance Out of France in 3 Easy Steps

In which I: buy insurance for my apartment, arrange to hook up the electricity, fail to set up a bank account and start the assistantship.

1. Understand very little French, especially of the official, house-renting/cell phone buying/ insurance kind. But it's important to understand just enough that you want to try and you feel you could understand if you just scrunched your face up a little more into a look of intense concentration.

2. Try to actually do any one of these things: set up a bank account, buy insurance, or hook up electricity for your new apartment (which by the way, you're not even really sure you want). Or, if you're really insane or convinced that nothing can remove the romance from France, do all of them…in one day. (If you want to be nice to yourself, pick October 1st…on the first of the month, all the French offices are empty of people-I don't understand why, but it's true)

3. Find yourself buried under piles of paperwork the likes of which you have never seen before….Then walk home in the rain, getting lost and cold. When you finally find the way to your apartment, you will walk too close to the road and a car will splash water into the tops of your boots.

P.S. Mom, thanks for the wonderful job you did Scotch-guarding my boots. My socks stayed completely dry until the aforementioned car splashing incident. 

And although anywhere else, all these things might have brushed the bloom from my experience, I also have another guide:

How to Keep the Romance in France:

1. Have a French friend who will help you with all these chores, allowing you to mostly sit by smiling blankly as French whirls about your head. You won't feel very grown up, but you will feel grateful.

2. Meet your contact teacher and understand almost all the French words pouring out of her mouth.

3. When you are wandering lost and cold in the rain, searching for your apartment, discover the LIBRARY and a USED BOOKSTORE!

4. Stop at the grocery store and buy dark chocolate cookies…yum.

So despite everything, France retains its shine. 

And tomorrow is Saturday, which means the Market!

Quick, catch up!

Written on the evening of September 30th

In which I: rent an apartment, cook on my gas stove, buy the card for my cell phone, and learn the French word for peanut butter.

I currently have keys to two French apartments! The one I'm living in now and the one I'm renting starting Monday. I went to look at an apartment today, thinking we (Sylviane, who is loaning me an apartment for now and me) would look at the apartment and then look at some others and then make a decision. But once I pronounced the apartment "bonne" (good) the paperwork started to fly. 

The French (and the French government) love paperwork. I'm amazed any trees are still standing in France. 

Sylviane had to fill out pages and pages of papers to be my guarantor (which I didn't even realize was necessary). I'm so grateful to her--she's making my life in France so much easier. She had to write whole paragraphs of information on one paper. I have a paper that says whether my apartment is at risk for floods, volcanos, tornados, earthquakes or avalanches. (Don't worry- the only box we had to check was floods because of how close Elbeuf is to the Seine…that's right, I live on the banks of the Seine!)

And this is only about half the paperwork necessary for the completion of the contract. Oh la la!

Of course I forgot all my important paperwork and didn't even bring enough cash for the deposit…I didn't realize I would be renting it already.  i'm still a little worried that there might be something better out there, but I know I need someone who speaks French to apartment search with me and I can't drag Sylviane around for days.  I wouldn't mind living in Rouen, the nearest big town, but the bus ride is over 30 minutes each way. I'll see.

Elbeuf is a nice town too, just smaller. I went exploring a little today until it started to rain and I discovered lots of hairdressers, shoe stores and rental agencies.  

 Also I bought a SIM card for my phone. It has four euros on it which equals about 8 minutes of talking in France…I think I can receive calls for free though…message me if you want my number.

Also I managed to cook chicken and pasta on my gas stove, improving on my usual meal of baguette and peanut butter. I tried to describe to Sylviane and her husband Alain what peanut butter is:

Sylviane: What are you eating? (in a concerned voice)

Me: Bread and…I don't know the word in French….buerre (butter) of peanuts?

Sylviane and Alain: (guessing possible French words) Cheese? Butter? Chocolate? Ham?

Eventually we decided to wait until we got back to the apartment and I just showed them. So here is your French word for the day: "beurre m de cacahuète"  

Tomorrow, I have lots of other exciting adventures planned; I'll be doing more things that I might find boring in the States, but I think they're exotic here.  Also, I meet my contact professor and the other assistants.

Let's start at the very beginning...

Written on September 30th

Hey Blog Readers (I hope you are real and not imaginary…comment and let me know you're out there),

This blog is to record my time teaching English in France from October 2010 to April 2011.  You lucky people are going to be witness to my experiences, adventures, mistakes, classroom fun and my feelings and thoughts as I explore a new culture, a new language and a new land.

Well, that's enough of the boring stuff…

Now for some details: 

I got to France on Tuesday morning. My trip here was crazy, mostly because I met two other assistants also en route: on my flight, a girl also doing the program in another town in Northern France and on the train from Paris to Rouen (roo-on), an assistant from Panama on the train. We had a fun time communicating because he only spoke a little English, some accented French and Spanish. At that point I was so tired I only spoke a little English, and hardly any French. 

Anyway, I was picked up at the train station by an American pastor and his wife and son. They fed me dinner and took me to their church where I struggled not to succumb to jet lag during a prayer service. It was a very good service, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open…any of you who know about my nodding, this was the worst ever. Despite my pinching any part of my body available, I almost fell off the chair during prayer.

 But I met so many people, received many petite bisous (kisses on both cheeks) and most importantly met the couple who is currently renting the apartment where I am staying. They are super nice. They are giving me all the furniture in the apartment whether I decide to rent it or not and the wife took me to find my job, a supermarket, let me use her internet and gave me a cell phone! Tomorrow she's going with me to see another apartment. God has really blessed my whole trip so far.

Other highlights of my first few days:

I discovered I was pronouncing both Rouen and Elbeuf incorrectly (Roo-on and L-buff)

I slept in till 1 in the afternoon my first day. My apartment is on the first floor so it has metal shutters on all the windows for privacy and safety. They shut out ALL the light, which is making it hard for my jet-lagged body to adjust.

I bought my first baguette.

After my first French bath, I realized I didn't have a towel and dried off with a washcloth and two hand towels (Mom, should have bought that camping towel! But thanks for the sunny hand towel-it was very useful!)

I figured out the bus system and attended a French bible study in Rouen. I understood more than I expected too, but also accidentally told a girl that I was staying in France for 7 years, not 7 months.

I got French dust on my Toms!

I learned how to light my gas stove…yeah I'm nervous about that one…I actually have to light a match and hold it in the gas.