Getting to know you...

I've been in Toulouse for a week now. I'm starting to see what Toulousians (I think I've made up that word - "Toulousians"...oh well) do, how they greet each other, what they do on the weekend, how they get around, and what life is like here!
Thursday and Friday I was with Cecile, running errands and seeing the town. We went shopping downtown - very different than the Sitka-style shopping I'm used to. We walked by Dolce and Gabanna, Yves Saint Laurent, and other french designer names I hadn't even heard of. They do have malls, too...the most prominent called "Lafayette" which is probably the equivalent of a Nordstrom's is the US. That's just clothes though.
As far as I can tell, grocery shopping isn't quite the same either. I haven't gone grocery shopping yet - but I know they don't get all their food in one place like we do. Bread is bought at a Boulangerie Patisserie, not the regular grocery store.
For fun, we play beach volleyball on the weekends, or last night, we went roller skating from 9:30 to 11:30.
It's called Rollers a la Rose (or something like that)...after Toulouse's "Ville Rose" nickname. At 9:30 everyone who wants to rollerskate congregates at Le Capitole (town square) and we skate around the city for about 2 hours...skating for 20 minutes, then stopping to wait cross the road, then skating. Their were several hundred people there, little with helmets, elbow pads, knee pads, and pads to protect your hands, to the "pros" - who skate backwards, sideways, jumping, in yoga positions, or in a ball.
Celine took 5 years of iceskating, and is a dancer. Camille, is good at anything, and loves to go fast. Thierry and Cecile have been doing it for a while.

I, of course, had never done it before.
And I don't think 3 or 4 days of skating on swan lake amount to much. However, they did help...I was a little wobbly at first. But it really is not that hard, and I got the hang of it after a while. Most of the time Camille grabbed my hand and pulled me alongside her so that I wouldn't be the snail at the end of the line, but I held my own, and I didn't fall down, hallelujah! Before we started, Thierry said "Now is the time to put your hands together and pray." I guess it worked, and I'm excited to go next Friday night. Maybe I won't need the elbow pads, kneepads, and hand protection again...

I'm going to try and post the pictures I've been promising. Hopefully I'm as lucky with them as I was with skating...

Ciao,
Meg

Cheese, please.

One thing I haven't mentioned yet, is how we all get through our day over on this side of the world....
I'm talking about food. Of course. Breakfast usually consists of a hot drink (coffee or hot chocolate), cereal if you want (usually also with chocolate in it), bread with butter and jam, and milk or orange juice. You pick and choose what combination you want. Lunch is a larger meal - more like dinner. I've had everything from chicken to pasta, to couscous and veggies. Dinner is smaller (most of the time) and served later...usually 7 or 8. Most of the time there are a 2 courses. The main dish (an omelet, veggie puree, chicken), and then the cheese...
Oh, the cheese. You really don't realize how insanely PLASTIC American cheese is until you come to the place where cheese was invented. All right, I don't know who invented cheese, but the French certainly do have the highest appreciation for it, I think. And it is strong. I liked strong cheeses back in the states too...but this is a totally different beast. Usually you tear off your hunk of bread, choose a cheese, slice off a slab (I take slivers, since I'm so "inexperienced"), and there it is. Camembert, fromage a chevre (goat cheese - the one I have the most trouble with), Parmesan...it's all there. My favorite so far is a piece of parmesan, and then you eat it with cherry jam. Bizarre, I know, but I love it! Foie gras is also a new experience. I try not to think about what it's made of...and just eat it. I've only been able to eat a little, it's one of those acquired tastes, I think. The acquired taste that ALL of France has!

Le Caousou

Today was my first day at the school where I will be teaching. Le Caousou (prounounced ¨luh cow-zoo" - don't laugh at my wonderful phonetic spelling) was originally a large hospitol during World War II. The students range in age from 3 or 4 - elementary school, which is in another building down the street from the building I work in, to the equivqlent of a high school senior in my building. Camille, my older sister is a senior, or in french "terminale." Celine is the equivalent of an 8th grader, or in french "cinquieme" (which means 5th grade).

The building itself has an old kind of beauty - creaky floors, a brick exterior, but it seems to support many people fairly well. As far as I can tell, there are around 150 to 200 students in each grade, but it's difficult to say. I will love working here, although it is completely different than any other school I have visited. increase the number of people by 3 or 4 times, add a bit of a confusing floor plan ( although I'm always lost, even in Sitka), add another language that you haven't completely grasped and (pardon the pun) - voila! My first day at Le Caousou...I will get it soon though - Agnes showed me around today, all of the other teachers are extremely nice, and my schedule isn't too booked up. I work 7 hours a week in classes of differing ages, and I will be taking 2 university classes in the mornings Mon, Tues, Wed, and Thurs. The students are extremely nice and (I think) excited to learn more English. Or probably just hear the crazy Alaskan speak French! Many of them remember JR, and smile in recognition of his name, and declare that he was "trop sympa!" (so nice!). I have quite a name to live up to, but I'm very glad there was someone as nice as him last year also.

I better go start to look for my family. Most likely I will not find Celine's room on the first try...hooray for a non-existant internal compass!

Ciao!

"Thank you for flying with us today, and we hope the rest of your travels go smoothly."

I made it.
I am now officially in France!

I'm not really sure how long I have spent in those large containers of recycled air we like to call planes - but I'm home with the Jarlaud family and it's around 7 P.M. I believe.

The Sitka-Seattle flight was fairly normal...always see people you know. Like my dad - we flew to Juneau together, and Jackie and Jo DiGennaro were on the Seattle leg too. I was lucky enough to be stuck next to a very opinionated and grumpy elderly couple, who kept yelling at the waitress “I. Want. A. Doughnut! No, a doughnut! What, you don’t have doughnuts? A muffin then. Fine, we’ll take the goddamn snackpack… no ice in that orange juice!”

They were extremely sociable people, as you can see.

When I got into Seattle, the usual stuff ensued. Check-in, security, wait to board. My cross-atlantic flight was 10 hours long, and a bit cramped. The service was really good – I like flying Lufthansa, but I had a faulty tv screen in front of me, so I was only able to watch one in-flight movie. After that, I read, tried to stretch (with little success), and read some more. Every now and then I tried to sleep, and I think I got an hour or two in. The man sitting next to me was really nice – and turned out to be a fish biologist from Germany visiting a friend who works at the NOAA lab in Juneau. (Keith and JoJo, maybe you know her – she had a very German sounding name and was part of and education program, I think? I know she worked at Aukebay). We had a good time talking fish for a while after that, and then we landed in Frankfurt and I rediscovered my legs.

Frankfurt Airport is, essentially, a large shopping mall with airplanes parked outside the perimeter. And throw in some more security and passport checks. Looking for a Hermes scarf? LaCoste? Yves Saint Laurent? Go to Frankfurt. I spent the next 3 hours in a nice waiting lounge in front of my boarding gate, with a coffee shop right behind me playing Alicia Keys the whole time.

I read more.

Then I got on my last flight, to Toulouse - which thankfully, was only 1 hr. and 20 min long. I slept, then we touched down in Toulouse, and you wouldn't believe what I saw there

Blue sky. I know, right? And I had to take my fleece coat off too! The Jarlauds were waiting there for me - Thierry (dad), Cecile (mom), Camille (my age), and Celine (a little younger than Maggie). It was a happy reunion, and then miracle of miracles - BOTH of my bags made it - and in-tact too!

I spent the rest of the day (got home around 3:00 France time) relaxing in the house, unpacking, and eating French food...YUM. Keith, you will be proud, I refrained from seconds, but I tried one of everything. Foie gras is a taste that will take some getting used to...but the mousse au chocolat didn't need any getting used to at all.

Now I have some sleep to catch up on, and I don't think I'll have any trouble doing that.

Gros Bisous! (Fat kisses).

24 hours to blast-off

Hi guys!

After some research, I decided to set up a blog and also post notes on facebook. So. Here is the beginning of the promised blog - let's hope I keep up with it! I'd love to hear back from you, so feel free to comment on any of my posts.

I leave for Toulouse tomorrow morning on the early flight out of Sitka. I will fly Sitka to Seattle, Seattle to Frankfurt on Lufthansa Airlines and Frankfurt to Toulouse. I've heard Lufthansa is a great airline, and my trip is pretty straight-forward. I'm hoping for a good ride.

Packing is almost finished. Surprisingly, it was easier than I imagined. My strategy was: "Take the clothes you wear. Put them in the bag. Don't forget toothpaste."

I'd reccomend it.

My luggage consists of a faithful L.L.Bean duffel bag (did I spell duffel right?), and a large hiking backpack. Hopefully they will get there in good condition.

I'll sign off now, and I look forward to writing more in the future.

Ciao!