Back back back it up

Okie dokie. This is my blog to document my teaching experience in Rouen, a city about 1 1/2 hours north-west of Paris, for the 2009-2010 school year. I figured I'd dig into my late-blog that I occasionally updated with my roommates to document a bit of the process to this point.


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Friday, January 30
"...I've applied to go teach English in France next year but I don't find anything out until May. What an excruciating waiting period. The other night, I had a dream that I found out I got accepted early but I was placed in a city that I had never heard of. So I Wikipedia'd it in my dream and the article said, "In that city, it rains all the time. And you will have no neighbors." That's all it said, and I was really depressed. But at least I found out, right? So when I woke up, I was in a bad mood about the impending rain, and then relieved that I got accepted, and then disappointed that it was all pretend."

Wednesday, April 8
"...I just found out two days ago that I got accepted to the France Assistantship program, and I'll be teaching in the rainy parts of northern France (vaguely around Rouen, a city that is vexing my grandmother greatly when she tries to pronounce it). I'm incredibly excited and happy. Unfortunately, I don't know more until I get my contract in the mail in June-ish, but for now, just the fact that I'm living and teaching English in France next year is enough to keep me floating on air."

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So, my dreams predicted some things -- I am in rainy northern France next year. The guy who taught at my school in my position for two years said, via facebook message, "Weather is a bit shit over there. Its going to rain most days at least part of the day. Rain coat, umbrella! Winter coat too, it will get cold in winter." But you know what? I'm coming to terms with the inevitable rain. Perhaps it will turn me into a romantic poet and I can lean against the window, watching the rain drizzle down the pane and think about days gone by. But more likely, I'll learn to live in and love the rain and go on drippy adventures and splash in puddles and have spontaneous dance parties like the one with Amy months and months ago. That's the plan.

I've found out some other details -- for one thing, I've apparently been placed in a fine arts high school -a magnet school of sorts- in which the kids can study drama, music, dance, and other fine and applied arts. It draws kids from all over the region and has around 300 kids who live at the school. Looks like I'll also be able to take advantage of the school housing. They're putting me up for €115 a month which is amazing, considering I'm on a €780 monthly salary. Another neat tidbit I've learned about my school is that they teach great foreign languages: English, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Chinese. Dang!

The contact person at my school is a really nice man named Christophe who volunteered the following information via email: "By the way, there are about 15 English teachers in our school and most of them are decent people." So, you know, that's good. He's recently informed me that the teachers are fighting over my 12 hours a week -- apparently they all want me to be the assistant in their classroom.

So, what else...? I've decided that I'm going to do a "photo-a-day" exercise while I'm in Rouen. My dad gave me a new digital camera for graduation and I'm terrible at remembering to use it. Donnie usually steals it from me and that's why we have good photos of any significant (or not-so-significant) event. I'll have to get better at remembering to use it more often. But I figure, once I step out of my apartment and run into a giant cathedral (as the streets of Rouen are littered with cathedrals, apparently), I'll remember to use it a bit more.

Alrighty, this is far too long already. I'll try to update a bit more about the last two weeks I spend in America and my preparations for la belle France. With love,