First Days

First days are always overwhelming, at least that's what I keep telling myself. I have been awake since 4 am yesterday and it is now 8:26 am - to me at least. It's actually 17h26 in France which means it's been 12 hours since I've had anything to eat. I got off the plane in Paris to find an e-mail from a guy named Carl who was sent to meet me when I got off my train in Angers this morning. He and a director of all the elementary schools, named Didier, who can't speak a word of English! (All I have to say is, it's about time I met someone who has to speak to me in French. But be careful what you wish for because I only understood half of what he was saying.) They took me straight to the two schools I will be teaching at. The first one is in a low-income area, which apparently means the children are mainly from Muslim families. The second school is an experimental program in which ONLY English is spoken all day long and the kids just have to do the best they can. That should be easy for me at least! After seeing the schools, Didier, Carl and I went straight to some lady's house because she is renting out one of her daughter's rooms while she is away for school. (A lot of people in France rent out one room or a disconnected apartment to make some extra Euro every month.) I would really rather have my own place than live in someone's home though, so the search for housing is still on! In fact, I am off right now (ok first find some food and then) to look at a couple of places before I hit the much needed sack. My room has two beds for some reason, even though I paid for an individual room, which better not mean they will try to give me an unwanted roommate.