Today, I paid $4.34 for a Diet Coke and I don't regret it :D

HELLO EVERYONE!


So much to tell you...let's see what I can get out before I fall asleep...


This weekend was GREAT! We (the other primary La Rochelle assistants) mingled at my house. It was fun. On Saturday night, we rendez-vous'ed at Emily's (American assistant here in La Rochelle) place and then walked in to town later that evening. I was going to meet up with this girl named Kelley, who is an American assistant in the near by town of Rochefort. We had been talking for awhile, via facebook, and were finally going to meet eachother in person. When we got there, we were greeted by about 10 other assistants whom we've haven't met yet. Most of them were from near by towns and came in to L.R. (La Rochelle) for the night. The ones we met mostly knew eachother, because they went to the orientation in Poitiers. We (the L.R. assistants) didn't know anyone, because we had our own orientation in L.R. We met people from Australia, Mexico, Germany, Scotland, Canada, England and India. It was SO awesome. We didn't get to hang out a lot with most of them, because they had a ride that was leaving. It was crazy when we were sitting at a cafe. I looked around the table and saw so many people, from ALL around the world, in one place and one time. It was so amazing. I am so lucky to be able to have this opportunity. Meeting these people is one of the best parts!!!!

(Left to right) (row 1) Emily (American assistant), Jaime (Canadian assistant), (row 2) Cathy (Scotish assistant), Me (I rock), (row 3) Laura (American assitant) and John (Australian assistant) Not everyone who we met up with is in this picture (obviously), but I just like sharing pictures :)

Sunday was a very, very, very, very lazy day. I woke up, ate and then Laura and I watched a movie. After that, I'm not quite sure what I did. Again, very lazy day.


Monday was a first visit to one of our schools. I visited the school right by my house. I really like it and the teachers there seem pretty cool. The kids are SO awesome, too. They had so many cute little kid questions for me like, "Do you like chocolate?" They asked them in English, too, which is impressive. The schools here are very different compared to the U.S. Teachers are much more strict and yell at the kids. Not that it's not an effective way to run a class, it's just I am not used to it in anyway, because if a teacher would treat a child in the U.S. like they do here (in the classroom), someone would get sued. Though, someone's always getting sued for something in the states. I have to note, too, that the kids had IMPECTABLE handwriting. They all write the same, too! Even the teachers. It's just the way everyone is taught and they inforce it in schools, so everyone rights the same. But, dang! These 8 and 9 year old children had a hundred times better handwriting then me! No lie! A typical school day in France is from 8:45-5, but they have a lunch break from 11:45-1:45 and about 4 "breaks" aka recess, that last for about 20 min. each. It's actually a pretty good idea, because the teachers will teach one subject and then there will be a break. The kids get their giddy-ness out of their system and when they come back to start on the next subject, they are ready to go. Pretty productive in my mind.


Yesturday, Tuesday, I woke up and caught the bus into town with Lee. We met up with the others and went to eat lunch at the IUFM (a teacher training school), before having to go to a meeting. I came home, did things around the house and that pretty much ended my day.


Today, I went into town again with Lee. We met up with a few of the others and went to the "Prefecture" to get our carte de sejour papers. A carte de sejour is basically a green card, so you can have the legal right to work. Unfortunally, we ended up not getting them because you have to come on Friday's before 10:30??? We were told something totally different, which was to go before noon on any day, but that didnt work out. It's so frustrating, because we just need these papers! The longer we wait on them, the longer it will be until we get money back from housing assistants (which shouuld be almost 130ish euros per month! CHA-CHING!!!

I'm pretty sure I know where I am going for the first vacation we have (October 25th-November 6th). First, it will be Toulouse for a few days, then off to Marseille to enjoy the beach and then...CORSICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SOOOOO excited to visit the place where Napoleon came from and the place he loved so much! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I can't wait to rent Vespas and cruise around the country side!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure you can't tell I'm excited at all. I think I am going with Melissa Siltman (my friend from MSU) and Kelley, the girl I was telling you about up there ^ a few paragraphs. Should be a WONDERFUL TIME!


ANYWAYS!


Tomorrow, Lee and I have to go to the school that I visited before. We are really not sure why we are going, because we were never told, but we have to bring our lunch and be there by 10. Ill let you know how that goes.



Now, I must sleep.




VIVE NAPOLEON!!!!!!!