Le Viaduc de Millau.
Family friends that took me with them to Millau, Laure (10), her dad Marc, and her grandma.
Me at "Micropolis" the bug museum. I was standing in a house of butterflies.
My host-sister, Celine, super-crepe-making stars. She insisted on the apron.

Well, I'm on vacation, folks!

I mean, I'm always on vacation, since I'm not really a full-time anything, but school's out for Le Caousou for 10 days! Whoohoo!

It has been very relaxing, actually. I sleep until 8:00 or later, I actually have a chance to read, mail my post cards, go to the movies, etc. I've been reading in English and French (or at least trying), which works out pretty well. Camille and I are reading the same series (it's originally English, translated into French) so I read in French and ask her questions, and she reads in English and asks me questions. It's easier than having to look up every other word in the dictionary. I've also been watching more movies in French, and I made it through my first French film, no subtitles, (French or English) and totally understood what was going on! Score for Meghan! There is hope for me yet. It was a really cute story called "Faubourg 36" - I recommend it if it makes it to the states. It's about a 30s era theatre in Paris.

On Monday I went with some family friends to south central France, to a town named Millau. We stopped on the way there to go to an insect museum called "Micropolis," which was wonderful, I absolutely LOVE museums! And then we went to the main attraction - le Viaduc de Millau, the highest bridge in the world. It was designed by a British architect and mad by a French engineer, and its highest point is 343 metres (1,125 ft) and 2,460 metres long (1.5 miles). I'll try to attach some pictures, but I'm not sure if they turned out very well.

This Saturday, we're having a family halloween get-together. Halloween isn't very big in France, and that's putting it lightly. No one really knows when it is, and no one carves pumpkins. If kids try to dress-up and trick-or-treat, they are usually shouted at (plus some profanity about not being in "beep"-ing America) and the door is slammed in their face.

So. Things have definitely got to change here. I asked my family if we could carve pumpkins, and the official jour de decouper les citrouilles (pumpking carving day) is Saturday. We're also going to have pumpking soup, pumpkin tart, and pumpkin something-else. I'm very exctited! I decided trick-or-treating may not be the best idea. One, because we live in the country and do not have very many neighbors, and two, because there is only so much one girl can change at one time. After all, I would hate to be cause of a world-wide candy shortage because all of a sudden the French are eating the most candy in the world on Halloween. Catastrophic, it would be, as yoda says.

I'll post our pumpkin pics as soon as they're carved!

Ciao!
Meghan.

Picture-perfect weekend.

It's sunday night and I thought I'd share some of my lazy weekend with you. Nothing too exciting, but definitely relaxing. Friday night was spent playing a trivia game with the family and friends...it was like a toned-down version of Trivial Pursuit, but in French. Fun! Saturday I spent trying to fix my computer internet connection, and finally Thierry was able to help that night to get it working again - all it took was to turn off my computer and re-start it. Brilliant. Saturday during the day I got Camille to take me out and we went bike-riding to a lake near Montpitol, stopping on the way to see her old elementary school and eat fresh figs right off of the tree. Fresh fruit is amazing, and I'd never had figs before. Then we walked to the lake, where there were several people kite-surfing. Sunday was also laid-back, did some homework and class prep in the morning, helped make a "tarte aux pommes," like an apple pie (by the way Dad, the Jarlauds were impressed when I told them about your apple-pie making skills), then watched a Woody Allen film in the theatre - "Vicky Christina Barcelona," in VO (Version Originale - so it was in English with French subtitles...first time I'd heard the actors actual voices, not dubbed over French voices, which are very entertaining, because they're usually higher than the actor's voice). And now it's off to bed before school tomorrow. Enjoy the pics from this weekend!

Another week of teaching down...and it gets easier all the time. I begin to notice differences in education systems, and one of the biggest (for me, at least), is having time to ask teachers questions. At Sitka High it was always easy for me to go in during the school day (lunch, lab, or office hours) and say "hey, so, calculus basically hates me, and I have no clue what to do" or "Physics...so, what exactly is gravity?" That time with the teacher, doing homework, trying to figure out how the world works and why preceding direct objects have to agree with past participles in French, was basically what kept my afloat in high school.

And I mean really - you don't realize how much the teachers at Sitka High were there for you until you enter a whole new way of learning. So thanks, Sitka High!

At Le Caousou, it is (of course) different. There is no lab. No office hours. You go to school when your classes start, and you leave when the day is done. Wednesday is activity day - badminton, tennis, swimming etc. But if you don't get it, well - "tempis." Too bad. Pay attention in class next time, pal.

It's hard to tell if this is a setback for a lot of students. Also, because it is a private school, there isn't a lot of variation in the social class, and the teachers always comment (in relieved voices) that there are no discipline problems.

Life goes on though - the students are quick and this IS the their learning style. It's how school is. They laugh and joke around just as much as Sitka High kids do. In fact, teaching class sometimes feels like student council all over again "Quiet! Quiet please! HEY! I SAID QUIET!"

And then I threaten to take away the Pictionary opportunity next week...silence ensues. Mwahahaha.

The Denali Moment.

After working in the tourist industry all summer long, I was chalk-full of hilarious and utterly ignorant tourist questions (one of the most popular being "what is the elevation here?"). One story a river guide told us while we were rafting the Tatshenshini this summer, was about a group of guided tourists also floating down the river, who kept asking their guide "when is the Denali moment? When is the Denali moment?!"

They expected their trip to be exactly like all the beautiful pictures they'd seen - but of course, you can never count on Alaska, can you? Gorgeous and sunny one moment, hailing the next.

I came to France hoping that at some point I would experience the French version of "the Denali moment," but after living in AK, you learn to just take it as it comes.

I got it this morning.

I don't have classes until 4:30 this afternoon, so I got to sleep in (although I can't sleep any later than 8:30) so at 9:00 I had on my running shoes and was headed down the road in front of my house. With a lime-green-neon windbreaker on because 1)it is a windstopper (Cecile told me) and 2) French drivers are crazy. She was definitely right about the crazy part. I jumped a couple times when the cars zoomed past me at 120-130 km/hr (75-80 mph).

The sun was just rising, the sky was blue, and I ran to a pink brick church in Montpitol, past several large green fields. All right - some of them were brown fields, because it's not sunflower season anymore, but I still thought it was gorgeous. So without writing anymore boring details, I'll just say I stopped running, and appreciated what I was running in. And thought "dannit (word attributed to Julia Bovee, who cannot say "dangit" so it comes out as dannit instead) I should have brought the camera." Then I realized that sometimes, my memory is just good enough. I'll run again, and take a picture, but the first time (sorry guys) is all mine.

And then there are the other AK moments -

Like the one where I sent the whole house (included some very good friends) into uproarious laughter after revealing my extremely white legs. Perfect. Last night Camille assured me that they will bring me to the beach this summer.

It sounded more like a science project than anything else.

Oh well. I guess I can live with that. : )

hello, class.

I have survived my first week of teaching!

Survived might be a bit of a strong word...since it was most definitely not a life or death situation. The students are great - very smart, happy to reply, and impress me with their English. What I did not expect, however, was how quickly I was put into their classrooms!

I did not know what to expect about working at Le Caousou...I knew I would be with English classes and teachers, and I was willing to do anything. What I did guess would happen though, is the standard American definition of "teacher's assistant" -- I would be in the classroom, with the prof, walking around, helping students, presenting about Alaska every now and then, doing pronunciation excercises, etc.

When I arrived at Le Caousou last Tuesday for my first class (7th graders), I found the room I was supposed to be in, introduced myself to the class, and then turned to the prof, to see what she would like me to do. "Well, you're free to do whatever you want - the room next door is open, and you can take half the class for half an hour. We'll rotate for 2 hours, so you'll actually have 4 classes. Ok?"

2 minustes later and the scene is set: 20 7th graders, my own class room, and no lesson plan! AH! So, I employed some old SHS skills: I improved. Luckily, I had some ideas with me I had been thinking about all week, and I had brought photos. Tuesday was "informal Alaska day" and I answered questions about Alaska for two hours. Half an hour for each class, in fact, turned out to be not very much time. Here are some choice quotes:

"How cold is Alaska? Do you have igloos?" (Meghan tries to convert Fahrenheit and Celsius in her head...).
"Do you see penguins?!" (Explains that penguins, in fact, like to stick to the bottom of the earth).
(After learning that polar bears only live in Barrow) "How many times have you been to Barrow?!" (My disapointing response..."I have never been to Barrow, but when I do I will send you a picture of a polar bear!").
"Do you have a dog? What is it's name?" (Oh no...how do you explain what a Barnacle is to French 7th graders who have never even seen one? The closest I got was "escargot").
"Woah! That's a big fish! Did YOU catch that?" (Victory! I am now cool because I have gone halibut fishing).

I'm sure there will be more.

The rest of the week went a little more smoothly...I came with lesson plans, and am starting to see how each prof's teaching style is different. Most of the time I do have my own classroom and give my own lessons! I even assigned homework (I am so horrible...). I do try to keep things fun though, and have a bunch of good games to play (while speaking English of course).

I have to go eat an apple now. And make some more lesson plans. : )

Ciao!
Meghan