It's looking sunny in Paris

Thursday, October 22, 2009
What a wonderful day. I went to my Thursday school only for the morning, and the kids in the classes (1st graders and 3rd graders) remembered EVERYTHING that we discussed last week! Colors for the 1st graders and animals for the 3rd graders. Then in the afternoon I went to my last orientation session for assistants and had a good wrap-up of the program, got all my questions answered, and was able to talk with another girl a lot about teaching styles. She has a certified K-12 teaching degree from the US and it was great to get ideas from her and feedback about good ways to approach this English teaching program. Then I zoomed to the library in my 30 minutes remaining before they closed to look up more housing options (literally, when a room is posted in the morning, it’s quite possibly taken by noon). So, I called 4 different places and got meetings at 2 of them- great odds! And I was able to set up the meetings for this weekend before I leave for Amsterdam, so I’m determined to have permanent housing for when I return next Friday. I also have another call to make on Saturday morning to a lady who’s out of town right now, but has a room to rent in her apartment. And I responded to an ad placed by a French family looking for a native English speaker to talk with their kids 10 hours a week in exchange for a room. All seem like great possibilities, and aren’t way over my initial budget.
I emailed Leah Martin, one of my best friends from elementary school, the other day because I saw on her Facebook profile that she’s currently living in Paris. We both moved away from Urbandale, IA the summer after our 5th grade year and have seen one another a few times since then, so I was excited to learn we’re both living in the same city halfway around the world! While writing her a text tonight I received a phone call from an unknown number, and it just happened to be her calling while I was writing. It’s an awesome feeling to catch up with a friend that I haven’t talked to in 4 years. We’re upset we didn’t figure out beforehand that we were both going to be here because we would’ve been roommates otherwise. This is her second year living in France- last year she was an au pair in a city about an hour and a half from Paris (Reims, in champagne country- one of my best trips ever during study abroad… I’m sure the girls who went with me will agree). This year Leah’s living here in Paris working on her first year of her master’s degree, so there will be many ‘catch-up’ chat sessions in the near future, they’ll just be happening in a café in Paris rather than over the computer in the US- I’d say the cafés present a more appealing atmosphere!
So, even though it’s been cloudy and rainy in Paris, I’m looking forward to a great weekend getting together with old friends (Leah as well as another college friend from Tridelta, Chrisi, who happens to be in Paris working too)! Then I get to go see Dad in Amsterdam next week for 4 days, and still have another 5 days off from work to look forward to after that. Not that I dislike work, but I’ll spend some more time at the Louvre, browsing some street markets around Paris, and hanging out with all the other teaching assistants who are also on holiday until November 5th. I figured out a few days ago that the Daylight Savings time change is this weekend in Paris, but next weekend in the US, so only a 6 hour time difference between us for a week! It really does make a difference for me, standing at the phone booth at 10:30pm making a phone call as opposed to 11:30pm. In the very near future, I have a sure-to-be fun conversation awaiting me when I call Nancy in a half hour- we got cut off last weekend because my phone card ran out. I did loads of laundry the last two days (yay for more socks), cleaned the apartment, and figured out my teaching itinerary for the next few weeks. Life is good, even better because it’s in Paris. I think about all my friends and family back in the US every day, keep the emails and blog comments coming because I love to hear from everyone, even if it’s a quick Hello! Let‘s me know you haven’t forgotten me over here. A helpful tip I’ve learned in Paris- always bring an umbrella in your bag, you never know when you’ll need it. And I find if I’m prepared for the predicted rain, it never actually comes. Tchao et bises à tous!