COFFEE! MEXICAN FLU!

Firsts first: I got a coffeemaker. It's beautiful.

It's nice to be settling into my new residence. Living out of my suitcase for a week and a half was a little uncomfortable. Finally, I can hang up my giant American flag! With sticky tack, because the rules for the room said no tape - but if that doesn't work, of course, well - the flag must fly somehow.

In buying items for my room I decided to spend a little extra for the pink rolls of toilet paper that are popular in French bathrooms. First of all, I think they are hilarious. Additionally, I just wouldn't want to miss out on that cultural experience.

I got to watch a few classes at the junior high where I'll be teaching four one-hour classes per week. Here's what I observed in the first class I watched:

At the beginning of class, a student was made to stand in front of the class and ask questions in English. The young boy executed this daily task with an odd courteousness and an interestingly affected voice.

To one student.
"What is your name please."
[mumble mumble]
"How is the weather please."
[mumble mumble]
"How are you please."
"Fine, thank you."
"What about you Slimane."
"Fine, thank you."

Catch it! Bin it! Kill it!
In the next class, the English teacher had a slide printed off from an annual British awareness campaign for the flu: "Catch it! Bin it! Kill it!" After a little preliminary discussion about some of the words on the poster and the layout of the poster, she asked an open question to the class: "What do you know about the flu?"

I was somewhat surprised by how eager the French children were to demonstrate their knowledge of the flu:
-It is a virus.
-It comes from Mexico.
Good!

Speaking of sickness, I learned yesterday that as a worker in France I am entitled (starting four months from now) to one month of paid sickness and one month of sick days paid at 50%. Pretty cool, huh? Oh wait... the catch being, when you're taking a sick day, you can only leave your house for two hours, and they will CHECK your home to make sure you haven't left. If you have, you're in serious trouble with the government.

France is a little bit different from the States.

I wrote a diary entry his morning on my way to Nantes for an English teaching assistantship meeting. Here it is:

October 5, 2009
Dear Diary,

Today I got on the 7h05 train to Nantes with Kelly. We almost missed our bus - we walked outside just in time to run it down! All thanks to our very hot instant coffee with no milk to cool it down. At the train station, Kelly bought us breakfast while I went in line to buy the tickets. Apparently (she told me this while we waited on the bench for our TER train), the lady at the counter gave her a lot of trouble while she was ordering. She wouldn't let her buy jam with her croissants + pastry order -- the jam comes "only with the bread!" That's a rather different mentality than in the US, where at least if you offer to pay you can usually get anything behind the counter.

Here's a sketch of what I see out the train's window:
It's still dark outside.

Where's Waldo? And Who The Hell Is Charlie?

There are lots of funny translated titles in French bookstores: Dr. House, Les Frères Scott ("The Scott Brothers" = One Tree Hill), but this one takes the cake (and eats it too). "Où est Charlie?" (pronounced Ooo eh Sharley) - Really? That doesn't even rhyme! If Waldo's name must be changed I would prefer "Où est Jorge?"!

That said, I did enjoy seeing Charlie in the bookstore.

I still haven't quite figured out how to eat on the go in France. There just isn't as much fast food, so when outside the big city centers you're on your own. My attempted "cheap lunch on the go" last Friday in Varades consisted of:

• 3 slices of uncooked-looking ham bought from the butcher
• 1 small bottle of warm milk bought at a corner store
• 1 apple washed in bottled water
  

This meal cost about 4 euro - pretty good. For another euro, I could have bought a baguette and made a sandwich, but I was feeling adventurous and back-to-my-animal-roots by eating the ham all by itself.

Only one McDonald's exists in Ancenis, and yesterday I found it:


There's McDonalds, looming on the horizon, ostracized to the giant commercial center just outside the small town's boundaries. This commercial center has apparently sprung up in the past 10 years or so like a cancerous growth.

But returning to "McDo" (as they call it) - I knew that I should perhaps not go to France and visit the McDonald's. But it called to me. I was hungry and the damn restaurants were too expensive. And as for the taste, and the smell - how could this be wrong when it felt so right?


I decided to get a Big Mac in honor of Matt in Cincinnati. Maybe fast food really is an addiction, because that greasy Big Mac brought with it a wave of satisfaction unmatched by all the finest wines of France.

There was no dollar (or euro) menu, unfortunately, and a small cup of "iced tea" with no ice (they consider it A-OK to call it iced tea and include no ice) costs something around 2 euros. That sucks! I really don't find it all that great that they sell beer, either, since I really wouldn't feel like paying for beer with my Royale.

Oh, and besides McDonald's, I also saw a beautiful 600 year-old castle and a quaint little house.



Wow! That's one leafy house.

Speaking of houses, tomorrow I move from the 3rd floor of an English teacher's house into a dormitory 0f Ancenis. I'm very excited! The reason being, of course, that even though I make plenty of coffee and even worked at Starbucks, I've actually never bought or owned a coffeemaker. This is my first priority upon moving into my new home. I'll also be buying plenty of rice, couscous, pasta, an iron, and a radio. Stay tuned! (groan).