Ancient Arenas in Pink

I am sitting in Imst, Austria, looking out a large window at the Austrian Alps and at a tree with yellow leaves. The mountains are covered in fog, and are possibly being covered in snow as I type, but I know they are there. My first morning here I woke up, looked outside, and went for my camera. Jonna and her roommates live in a village, in a valley with mountains all around, it is gorgeous. Today we are going to hike down the hill she lives on to find pumpkins at the market. Then we will carve them while watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which she brought from home for our holiday enjoyment. We are also going to bake banana bread and we leave for Salzburg tomorrow afternoon. I love this vacation.

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When I arrived in Paris, last Friday, I could feel that my life here in Europe was finally going places. It felt so good to be back in that lively city and to recognize the buildings and shops and streets that I know. I can't wait to spend a whole weekend there in November. Marjerie met me at the train station and we walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg, which is, by the way, beautiful in the Fall, to find a sandwich shop near the Odeon. She lives across the street from the garden, I was pretty jealous. Paris felt familiar and exciting; I can't wait to re-explore the neighborhoods where I lived for those few weeks in 2007. 

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Milan hosts the beautiful Duomo - the one with dozens of spires with statues atop each one, and a golden statue of Christ atop the center spire. Also, in Milan, is Da Vinci's The Last Supper, which we did not see because that requires a 3 month advance reservation thanks to Dan Brown. We did, however, stumble upon Michelangelo's unfinished Pieta sculpture, with the upright Mary, in the Castle of Milan, along with a ceiling fresco painted by Da Vinci himself.

Verona was picturesque-Italian but also very touristy. Jonna and I made the pilgrimage to the five main cathedrals in Verona and saw Titan's Assumption. We also managed to have gelato, pizza, and wine every day so we considered it a successful trip to Italy. 

But the most important thing to remember about Verona is Juliet. More specifically, Juliet's left breast! Yes, the main tourist stop in Verona is a bronze statue of the unfortunate lover, standing tall in the courtyard beneath the balcony. People come from all over the world to rub the left breast of the statue because it supposedly brings good luck in love! As soon as we read the myth, Jonna and I were determined to make it to that statue and come back with photographic proof of our newfound luck in love. We were almost pushed out of the way by a huge crowd of about 50 Asian tourists who came in right after we did, but we held our ground (literally, I would not budge from the statue until Jonna came up and took my place for her photo) and got our pictures.

We also saw the fountain of love and couple of ancient Roman gates and bridges in Verona. Our hotel was right in the center of town and our room had a view of the ancient arena (think a smaller Colosseo) out the window, which the town lit up hot pink at night, for some reason. It was a nice little city and small enough to see almost everything in the twenty-four hours we had.

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I just looked up to find that the clouds have moved even lower, and it is now snowing the day before Halloween. That's Imst for you. We may need to re-think this pumpkin business...

Odds and Ends

I made my first 2008 purchases at H&M yesterday; you may not know this, but that's a pretty big deal. And, once again, just like in EQ 2007, my two favorite pairs of jeans are practically worn through and will need to be replaced pretty soon here. Anyone who has ever travelled for an extended period of time with their two favorite pairs of jeans knows what I'm saying here. It's the end of an era.
After my little shopping expedition, I went with the other English assistants to go cosmic bowling for Marie Claire's birthday. I got a little competitive and ended up with the silver medal! (I still can't get over my olympics hype.) I also gave everyone on my team nicknames, which I would shout or cheer when they were up to the lane. And let me tell you, Hananana, Dandamaaaan, and Maury! Maury! had a better time because of it.
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Tomorrow I leave for Milan! Then Jonna and I are going to Verona, Innsbruck, and Salzburg to complete my two week vacation. I am, at the moment, brushing up on my vorreis and grazies and per favores because, as I recall, Italian's weren't too keen on piping up in good ol' English for the stupid foreigners (their words, not mine, trust me) or even French, for that matter. But they did appreciate a polite, stupid foreigner so I'm hitting every Italian phrase website I can find.
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I am getting a little homesick - definitely missing Autumn in Seattle with it's corn mazes, halloween decor, and the new pumpkin/gingerbread flavors of lattes and muffins. But I think once I start travelling more this life will be a bit more enthralling. I have been stuck in Angers for the last three weeks and it's starting to get to me. It has been fun teaching though, so I think this year will go pretty well in the classroom. There are lots of fun seasonal activities, books, and games out there. But, ugh!, I had to send one little boy out of the room the other day and he wouldn't move out of his seat! He just sat there saying, "Non, non, non, non..." over and over again, while I stood there with all of his things in my hands! I finally had to go over and get his teacher across the hall, who made him leave. He started crying on the way out so, even though he was a little bratty, I immediately felt like the worst English assistant ever. Hopefully this vacation will help him forget that he doesn't like me right now!

Dodging the Law

My first day working at the market was yesterday and I honestly don't know if I am going to work there again. Not because I didn't like it, not because I was fired, but because the cops came by while I was there! Yes, one of Monica's customers heard my accent and actually went straight to the local police department to tell them an American was working in the market!! (Talk about uppity bourgeois.) Monica is technically supposed to declare her employees but she never has for Marjerie or her other French friend, a man who works with her. And, of course, no one ever said anything about them. The police came after about two hours and I had to step out of the truck to be interviewed.
"Is she paying you?" I was asked by the very large French policeman.
???What do I say??? I wondered wildy.
"Umm, I'm not sure," I stalled. "I think so, but I don't know for sure if she is or how much it is..."
Monica told me later that I should say no; that I am only in the market because I am curious and wanted to help her out a little.
I am totally dodging the law here in France! And this is the reason why I don't know if I'm going back to the market; because the people (ahem, one person) protest. Monica didn't even pay me for my three hours work. But that was so she could honestly say that I didn't receive payment when she goes to her business counseling summons on Monday, and then she can give me a "gift" later for that amount.
The work itself was easy enough. After about half an hour I had learned all of the names for the Cambodian food; which was good because there was almost a constant line of customers all morning! Monica really does need help in there so I hope this works out in the end.
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School has been pretty fun so far too. French teachers do not smile at all in class, which I can't stop doing, and they are very harsh to the students, which I can't start doing. So I have basically become the English-speaking pal of every kid out there. They crowd around me at recess saying, "Laura, comment dit-on cheval en anglais? Comment dit-on école en anglais?"
And I say, "horse," or "school," or whatever else it may be. Then they all laugh and run off screaming, "horse! horse!"
In class I read them books and ask them what English words they hear. Or we go over autumn words with worksheets. Or play games with numbers, days, months, etc. I have quite a few songs up my sleeve too, though I doubt they'll remember them all. Mainly, I want English class to be something that everyone, including me, looks forward to. I took French for so long because it was just so much fun and I want the students to look at English the same way.

Duchesses and Markets

I was downtown with Marjerie the other day when I saw my first Duchess. I live in Marjerie's room, in her mother's house, while she is away at architecture school in Paris. She comes home some weekends and her English is about as good as my French so we have some interesting conversations. We had just gone to step into her mother's office for a minute and say hello before our movie started, and we passed a lady on her way in as we were walking out. Bonjour! We all said, and Marjerie and I made our way past the lady and out the door.
"She is a duchess," said Marjerie, offhandedly.
"She's a what??" I demanded.
"You know, the old royal families had cousins who were called dukes, counts..."
"Yeah, I know what a duchess is," I amended, "but I didn't think they existed in France. Or just walked around in Angers!"
And Marjerie went on to tell me that her city apartment was in the same building as Sofie's office and they saw her sometimes when she was in town, away from her, get ready for this, castle.
"She has a castle?!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, but a very little one." Marjerie said apologetically, as if this fact changed things.
"Oh, well, if it's only a little one..." I said, laughing now.
"Yes, it's only a little one." Laughed Marjerie, getting the joke of it all now. And then we went to our movie; and, I, at least, spent the rest of the evening wondering if the gentleman walking in front of the me on the street was a Duke.
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Saturday I went with Sofie to the Lafayette Market to get coffee with Monica and to buy some fresh vegetables. But with Sofie, it was a little more interesting than that. She only speaks French to me and I only speak broken French to her, so she does most of the talking when we are together.
"That man is a womanizer," she whispered by the green beans. "He is sixty-five but he is with a girl in her twenties!"
"French men are never loyal," She murmured over our two café crèmes. She had just said hello to a male friend of hers, and to a woman with her husband and baby. "They are not like American men. They all leave their wives with the children and find a mistress."
One man cut in front of her in line to buy olives so she complained in a loud aside whisper to me that some people don't understand that there is a line and it starts in a certain place. Then she turned with a dazzling smile to the olive vender who held out his hands and said it wasn't his fault, he was just handing out olives.
Monica came to meet us for coffee and Sofie adamantly affirmed that Monica needed me on Wednesdays and that I had a visa so it was legal for her to pay me. I start next Wednesday at 10 am. All in all, it was a very lively morning at the market with Sofie.

Firsts and Seconds

I had my first day of teaching yesterday and it was interesting to say the least. I was supposed to introduce myself and then observe a typical English class, but that's not exactly how it worked out. Instead I ended up teaching all 5 classes all on my own. I hadn't prepared any lessons or worksheets so I mostly winged it. "What English words do you know?" I would ask. Then I did whatever counting, colors, and days of the week exercises I could think of off the top of my head. I had the children in one class count backwards from 10 to 1 and then yell "BLAST OFF!" But they had no idea what "blast off" meant, so I drew a rocket ship on the white board and wrote FRANCE on the side. The whole 12 hours a week thing is a bit off because I end up planning for classes during a lot of my free time. I'm excited to do activities, songs, and games on Halloween and Thanksgiving though, because it will all be new to these kids.
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Good news: The lady I live with is letting me use her daughter's bike which is nice because walking takes so long since I live about a mile from the Centre Ville. They also found me a second job! (Yes, I know I am a workaholic.) One of her other daughters works at a big open air market, that takes place every Wednesday and Saturday morning at the Place Lafayette (by the gare, which is the train station), in a Cambodian lady's food truck. Well, Sofie, the lady I live with, knew that Monica, the Cambodian lady, needed some help on Wednesday mornings. I don't have to work on Wednesdays because there is no Primary School on Wednesday in France. So I met Monica yesterday and, poof!, I start work at a real, live French marché next Wednesday! That should lead to some interesting stories, don't you think?

Un Jour Douillet

I just got back from visiting the western French coast with my new friend from Munich. We decided, after careful deliberation Friday night, to go to La Baule on Saturday morning. It was great to see the ocean again (oh, how I miss it) but it is very windy there and it was also very cold. Good thing I have my new ski anorak (thanks again, mom). The first thing Katrin and I did was go to a supermarket and buy some bread and fromage for a picnic sur la plage! We also had some chocolate and mademoiselles (which are satsumas).
After the picnic we decided to walk along the beach in our winter coats. The beach was deserted except for us, but the fact that we were the only customers did not sway the multiple beach restaurants to let us in out of the rain for a little coffee. C'est juste un restaurant, they all said, (meaning one would have to buy more than a single cup of coffee) as we gazed at the rows and rows of empty tables. So we kept walking, and got lost for a while looking for another beach, and then we had some galettes (salty crêpes) for dinner. Mine was with ham, cheese, and egg, very good, especially when eaten from a cone of paper and accompanied by a cup of cider. The crêpe guys thought it was great that I was from Seattle so halfway through our dinner, they put on Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and started singing along! Katrin and I couldn't stop laughing, it was such a bizarre song for three French men to be singing while they put chairs and tables away for the night.
Today we just walked some more on the beach and went to see Mama Mia in French, to get out of the pouring rain outside. We were both trying to think of the French word for 'cozy' all day because it really was un jour douillet. And, there, I've just found it in the dictionary, I'll have to tell Katrin.

The other day on the bus...

Last Saturday I took the bus to town from my hostel with lots of things on my mind to take care of. It was a pointless trip though; I think the jet lag has just caught up to me and I was exhausted – not in the mood to walk around looking for a Thomas Cook to exchange my traveler’s checks. Not in the mood for crowds, though I did stop and watch a skateboarding and rollerblading exhibition, something to tell Megs about later.
On the way into town, the bus halted all of a sudden at one stop. The cars around us kept going; we were the only ones stopped. The engine was still running so I had no idea what was going on. Others started getting off the bus to check out the problem and they were all drifting to the front end, a crowd gathering around some scene that was completely hidden from my viewpoint in one of the back seats. Suddenly, I heard a siren begin and end pretty quickly as it came up behind us. I was contemplating getting out and walking (just one or two more stops, not far) when two EMT’s walked briskly by my window rolling a gurney with an empty BODYBAG resting on top, on their way to the front of the bus. A memory of Karl (fellow American Assistant) telling me that the buses here were known to hit objects and not stop flashed through my mind.
HOLY COW! I thought, my bus just freaking KILLED somebody!! I didn’t even feel a jolt! My desire to get to the American Library was suddenly dwarfed by the idea that I did NOT want to step off this bus and see a dead body. So I sat there another 5 minutes, wondering how long the police investigation would take. Would they take the body away before that happened so I could make my escape? I didn’t have to wait long for my answer; about five minutes went by when the EMTs rolled back by my window, this time with an elderly man sitting propped up on top, clearly, indisputably alive. Whew! I was so relieved that I missed my bus stop and decided to forget the American Library and head straight to Thomas Cook, which I never found, and then conclude my pointless trip downtown with a petit jambon beurre: a few slices of ham and LOTS of butter on a small baguette.